Capítulo 2333: 75
Chapter 75: Tattletale
A/N: And here we go with the continuation! What will the aftermath of the battle be like? Well, see the chapter title? I'm sure some of you can infer what it means… ;)
As for the intro here… I'm Sorry. ( No I'm Not - Edit: Eh guess it's not too bad on this site. Less options to change the text... ;)
Izuku tumbled to the ground, the jaws of the dragon releasing him from its grasp. He rolled to a stop, feet meeting the ground as he fell into a crouched position. In one fluid moment he had his knife out, pulled straight from its sheath and pointed out in front of him.
Izuku was ready to fight tooth and nail for his life, to fend off and evade Nine until whatever backup could arrive did. There was no way that his mere body and his bugs would be able to fight somebody like Nine. He was expecting a fight of attrition, a fight for the death.
He wasn't expecting to balk at what he saw before him.
Nine was on the ground, laid flat on his back, completely unmoving. Fourth degree burns covered the entirety of his body, mottled brown and black skin staining his limbs and torso. Smoke rose from his body, the smell of burnt skin steadily reaching for Izuku's nose.
Izuku held back the bile in his throat, just barely.
Movement.
The corpse — No. Not a corpse. A living, breathing body, of a man barely holding on to life. — When Nine moved, Izuku could see the muscles stretching and contracting, and the fluorescent white that peeked through the skin.
Izuku couldn't resist; the vomit was let out in full force.
"YOU!" The harsh growl fought its way into the air. "You… You bastard!"
Nine moved — no, struggled. He struggled with his movements, taking a near minute to fix himself until he was sitting upright, facing Izuku head on. And it made it worse — his lips were gone, teeth showing plain as day. His nose was missing, burnt off for sure. And his eyes…
Izuku stumbled, falling flat on his behind. "How… How are… You shouldn't— I didn't think—!"
"It was you," Nine continued, ignoring Izuku's sputtering. "I knew it… knew it… knew it… knew it the moment it happened." He breathed in — a horrible, hollow sounding of his chest, in and out.
"You were just floating around up there… The whole thing… Your plan… It had to be your plan." Nine shuddered. "I can feel it. My quirk is gone. My weather manipulation… But… I still— but… You'll pay—!"
It was almost like last time. Nine screamed, his piercing yell one of agony. And the blue draconic construct erupted from Nine's back, shooting forwards straight towards Izuku. But it was slower, sluggish, lagging. Izuku rolled out of its way, the blue blue flashing past him.
"You'll pay!" Purple lasers this time, shooting through the air. A whole volley of them shot through trees, bushes, rocks. And they just barely missed Izuku's flailing dodge.
"Stop it!" Izuku pleaded, diving towards the group to dodge a blast of air. "You're already really badly hurt!"
Izuku ran toward the villain, a small cloud of bugs following in his wake.
Another barrage of purple lasers, but sloppy, unaimed. Nine slumped forward, out of breath. Izuku paused, bugs flying forward as scouts. But when the man simply heaved, almost still, Izuku willed himself to walk forward. Eventually, he stood before Nine, knife poised at the man's neck.
"Stand down, Nine. You lose."
Nine lifted his head, glancing at Izuku, his eyes shimmering an eerie glow. One of his quirks, nut ultimately useless for him now. He left out a laugh. "I don't get you. You don't have a quirk. And yet… and yet your bugs."
Nine sighed. "What are you waiting for?" He pushed up his neck against the knife.
Izuku gulped. "What?"
"Do it. Kill me. Finish it. I can't — I won't go on like this."
"No." Izuku tensed. "I won't." He breathed. He pulled the knife away, moving it to his side. "I can't."
"And why not?" the near dead man seethed.
"You're defenseless, neutralized. I can take you into custody and then—"
Nine moved, fast, faster than he should've been able to. He sprung from his spot, kicking up dust, the sound of bones breaking and skin tearing following along with him. His hand reached up, out, forward, straight towards Izuku's face—
It'll be fine. Right? Right?! Just like All For One! It's the same quirk in play!QA can't be stolen! Shecan'tshe'ssentientandaliveandstickingtomeandwillstaybutwhatifshedoesntidon'tlikehernowallshedoesiscausemeproblemsishoulnthavegottensocloseidiotbutwhatificantihavetomakesure—
Slash.
The knife pierced his throat, cutting straight across its horizontal length. The body fell forwards, over on top of Izuku, lifeless, dead. Izuku fell to the ground in a thump, the man's dead eyes staring right back at him.
Dead.
Izuku pushed the body off, blood spurting out and leaking all over as the knife left the wound. He backed off, crawled, scurried away, deep breaths deepbreaths deepbreathsdeepdeep—
Another smell hit his nose… Something... familiar...
"You know, I didn't think that you'd actually do it. Call me surprised."
…
That wasn't QA talking.
Izuku spun around, two… three figures suddenly in the clearing with him. Harrow — no, Ruka. Shigaraki. And ever slowly, the black ashen man that Izuku had seen before, when the League had been attacked by the Kentaro.
"You," Izuku crawled backwards again, away from them. "What are you doing here?"
Shigaraki smirked, a vicious and sadistic smirk. "I was going to tie up some loose ends. But…" He looked over the carnage, the aftermath of the execution fight.
Shigaraki walked over to Izuku. He held a hand out and placed it right on Izuku's head.
Izuku froze, his breath catching in his throat. His head, he could he could… feel— Nothing.
"Ha!" Shigaraki laughed, patting Izuku on the head. "The look on your face." He lifted his hand up and waved it in Izuku's face. "It's my prosthetic, see? You know, the one you gave me?"
"Tomura!" Ruka yelled. "Hurry up! The doctor's waiting."
"Yeah, yeah!" Shigaraki started his way back to the girl. "I'm getting there."
A black ooze appeared behind the Trio, the same black ooze from back in Kamino. The giant, ashen man fell into a heap, his remains flowing to the wind.
A claw sprang forth from in front of Izuku, violently pulling his chin forward. "We'll be seeing ya, Squirt," Ruka said, almost uninterested if the look on her face was anything to go by. " Look forward to it."
"Yeah," Shigaraki said. "We'll be leaving you. For now."
"But—" Izuku sputtered.
"Fuck off!" Shigaraki interrupted. "Idiot. What? Going to ask us to actually take you?"
…
"Yeah, didn't think so."
The portal closed, the clearing empty aside from him and the cooling corpse.
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Izuku shot out of his bed, breaths heavy and heaving. His eyes darted around, meeting the walls of his dorm, the All Might smiles and skittering bugs telling him he was home.
In. And. Out. And. In. And— "Right… Right. It's…"
Nine's lifeless corpse flashed in his mind. "It's over."
He felt movement at the foot of his bed — Spurt, the coconut crab patting his leg beneath the sheets.
"Oh," Izuku sighed, rubbing his face. "Hey bud. Sorry. Just… bad dream." —ThE hAnD—-
"Memory," Izuku corrected. "Bad memory. You know?"
Spurt nodded. He rose a claw in the air, motioning it around in a circular motion before settling down on Izuku's leg.
"Yeah," Izuku sighed. "Yeah, it's that thing that nobody here really knows about yet. That thing with… that guy."
Nobody knew about what he'd done. Or none of his classmates, at least. It was fairly easy, lying through his teeth, spinning a tale of a wandering Shigaraki teleporting in to tie up some loose ends. It was what was going to happen, after all.
Spurt shrugged, then tapped his shell. Afterwards he hopped off the bed, moving his way towards his home in the closet.
"Yeah," Izuku responded. "I guess."
-We've heard that it was pretty bad here on the island. But nothing beats actually being here. So, would you mind giving a first-hand account, Mister?-
The sound of a struggle, two bodies pushing against the other as both vied for control. All the while, Izuku — freshly showered and groomed — began his trek down the stairs. He heightened his focus, making his bugs place a larger gestalt of their senses towards the commotion.
-Aha!-
-Arrgh! What the heck Kaminari?-
-Come on, Sero! We were already there! Let's listen to something else… Oh! Like this! It's super relevant-
-Guys, play nice!- Uraraka this time, on the next couch over. -Eri's right here!-
-Sorry Uraraka!- Kaminari exclaimed. -And you too, little Eri!-
-Hey- Jirou said. -I'm here too-
-Umm- Kaminari trailed off. -Yeah? And?-
-Well? Where's my apology?-
-For what?!-
Jirou smirked. -Being annoying-
Kaminari pouted. He then turned back towards Sero, completely ignoring Jiro's request. -Here!-
A different voice, another reporter. And the specific news segment news was quite familiar, or at least to Izuku it was.
-So, Uwabami! Glad to have you as a guest today!-
-And I'm glad to be here- A bout of silence, probably a wink made at the camera.
-You wouldn't mind if I started with the juicy stuff, would you?-
-Of course not, go on ahead-
-Alright! Ahem. Well, rumor is that you may be one of the next targets of Stain and his followers. What do you think of such claims?-
-Utter nonsense, of course! I've done nothing wrong as a hero! If Stain doesn't see that, then he's a fool-
-Oh, how's that?-
-Well… Hmm… I— Aha! Take in the Dragonfly kid, for example.-
Izuku sighed. He knew what was coming next. The interview wasn't exactly new, after all. And rumor had it that Stain was lingering around Shimane, which just so happened to be where Uwabami was born, and where her agency was located.
-What about him?-
-Well, let's get the obvious thing out of the way! He controls bugs! Like, eww!-
-Yes… Izuku Midoriya. We learned of his quirk during the Sports Festival, did we not?-
-Mhm. And the recent video with him in it made me want to hurl just as much as wanted to back then-
-Really now? Calm me intrigued-
-Mhm. Did you know that it's rumored that his performance at the Sports Festival was one or the reasons that the pesky League of Villains kidnapped him in the fir—
-Yeoch!- Kaminari's voice.
-The heck, Kaminari- Jirou. Ah, Izuku's savior from hero gossip. -You really gonna listen to them badmouth Midoriya like that?-
-Hey wait, just me? Sero was listening too!-
-You took my phone!-
First floor. Just a little further until the common room proper.
-Hey- Kaminari again. -I'm just curious about what others think! I mean, I know he's not at all like that-
-Anymore-
-Oi!-
-And how about if Midoriya were to walk down here right at this moment? What'd you do then?-
"Hey everyone," Izuku greeted as he turned the corner. He also sent over a black widow to play with Eri — much to Uraraka's chagrin.
"And it doesn't really matter," Izuku continued. "I could already hear it all the way up from my room."
Jirou sent a glare over at Kaminari. "Dude."
"Sorry, Midoriya!" Kaminari prostrated himself before Izuku. "I didn't consider your feelings!"
Izuku sighed, waving the boy off. "It's nothing I haven't already heard before. It doesn't really bother me all too much." Yeah, keep telling yourself Izuku. Just, keep, doing it.
"Still though," Kaminari said as he stood back up. "I'll be more considerate next time, 'kay?"
"Mhm," Izuku hummed. "Anyways, any of you happen to know where Momo is? I kinda have to do some planning for some training exercises for the class, as per orders of Aizawa."
"She's not in her room," Jirou said, looping one if her ear jacks around. "I can tell you that much."
"Hmm…" Uraraka paused in braiding Eri's hair as she thought. "I saw her go out earlier, if that helps. But she didn't say where she was going, sorry."
"Well—"
"Ah!" Uraraka suddenly erupted. "That's right! She was with Todoroki!"
"Oh?" Izuku muttered, filing away the fact. "She's probably busy doing something with him then."
Izuku began to walk towards the first floor closet. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. I mean, I could call, but I don't want to interrupt her in the middle of whatever. And besides," he opened the door, causing the floor mop to clatter to the floor, "I still have cleaning duty."
"Again," Kaminari added on. He blew a raspberry. "Honestly. With all the punishment time he's given you, I'd swear that Aizawa-sensei has some sort of hate boner out for you."
"Language!" Uraraka and Jirou both yelled, covering Eri's ears.
"Wha?" Kaminari sputtered. "I just said—" He threw his hand up in the air. "Nope. I'll leave it there."
Sero gave a comforting hand on Kaminari's shoulder. "Good decision, man."
"Kaminari does have a point though," Uraraka said. "Aizawa does give you a lot of punishments."
Izuku shoved the mop back in, saving that certain task for later. "It's not really punishment. Well, not this time, at least. More… reflection time, I guess. He didn't want me lounging around idly fiddling my thumbs after… Well, after some stuff."
"But so soon?" Uraraka questioned. "I mean, we just got back from Nabu yesterday!"
Izuku reached out for the duster, closing up the closet after he held it in his grasp. "Truth is, it's nothing I don't deserve. I get up to a whole bunch of stuff that you guys don't know about."
"Makes you think," Jirou said. "Midoriya's supposed to be the class rep. And yet, he's the one in the class with the most detention and punishment time."
Izuku sagely nodded, moving into an exaggerated bow. "Seems that I've been a horrible role model for you all. Please, don't follow my example — Well, unless you know how to survive an hour talking with Nedzu over tea. I wouldn't share the burden."
"Yeah, no thanks dude," Kaminari said. "He still gives me the creeps."
"Yeah," Izuku muttered. "He still gives me the creeps as well." He sighed. "Well, I better get at it. This place hasn't been at all in the time we've been gone. I'm going to have a lot of work ahead of me."
There had been a party last night; something to celebrate a job well done for two weeks of work on Nabu Island. It was a pretty festive affair, with a good majority of 1-A and 1-B being amicable with the idea of hosting it together.
It wouldn't have to be bad, Izuku supposed, if he had actually had the time to wind down. Instead, he'd been pestered with the same questions he'd been asked since the past week. 'What'd you do to get Setsuna so mad?' ' Was Shigaraki really here? And that harrow girl too? And with some other guy?' 'You sure that you're fine, Midoriya?' 'What happened to Nine?'
And worse, Setsuna had still been… well, not exactly avoiding him, necessarily. But not going out of her way to be around him either. From the few times Izuku had seen her she was either sulking or temperamental, no doubt still wondering about that quirk destroying bullet.
But Izuku knew there wasn't much he could do about it. He'd need to tell her about QA, and that'd just put an unnecessary burden on her. She didn't need his troubles.
Izuku huffed, heaving the trash bag in his hands over to the designated campus dumping grounds. After all, a party meant lots of food. And, quite obviously, a lot of food meant a lot of trash.
It took him a bit to get there, trash bag thrown over his shoulder so it'd join the rest of its brethren. And there he was, dusting off his hands, that he sensed a slight bound of movement behind suddenly appearing.
"Why is it always when I'm taking out the trash that I'm being cornered by y— Oh."
Izuku had turned, stopping mid-sentence when he'd noticed who was behind him. He had been expecting Togata, not…
"I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with isolation it provides. Not much regular foot traffic where all the trash is dumped. Provides ample openings to talk about One For All without having to worry too much about eavesdroppers, as well."
"Oh." Izuku twitched. "QA."
"Heh. You don't sound all too thrilled to see me."
"No" Izuku narrowed his eyes, "really?"
The swarm clone stared at Izuku for a couple moments before eventually turning around and gesturing to follow. "Come. Let's talk."
Izuku hesitated, stuck between following or staying put. But he relented, forcing his feet to catch up to the retreating QA.
There was a small bout of silence, one broken by the eventual words of QA.
"You know, I find it a bit strange that, even after all this time, you have more friends in your rival class than in your own class."
"I—"
"True, really close friends, Izuku. One that you know you can trust your deepest, darkest secrets to."
QA took a right turn, much more of the beaten path of the school's greater campus. Though, considering the few stray individuals off the other path, Izuku saw the merit in the action.
"Nevermind the fact that most of them you met by circumstance. Momo as your partner in running the class with her being your vice representative, and Setsuna being the sole other individual to take an internship with Edgeshot. You stumbling into both Mei and Manga in your early years, Pony running into Manga when what she needed after moving over from the states was someone who understood."
"And, much more recently, Todoroki. Nevermind his previous admiration of you from the Sports Festival; his concerns for you have steadily grown these past few months. And better yet, he barely knows how to express himself to properly bring it up. It's kind of cute, really."
"What does this have to do with anything, QA?" Izuku scowled. "Look, I'm not done yet with my—"
"You. Will. StAy." The swarm buzzed.
Izuku huffed. "Fine."
QA nodded and then continued on her way. "Your other friends lie on the lower end of the spectrum. Kaminari hated you for a good while. You had a good relationship with Uraraka at the beginning of the year, but then USJ happened. She's still friends with you now, of course, but it took her awhile to get past her initial unease. Nevermind all the others who were put off by USJ — Kouda, Sero, most of 1-A... Everyone's warmed up to you now, of course — obvious exception aside — but that doesn't change the fact that most keep a certain distance from you."
"If this is about how Setsuna's been lately I'm fine with it." Though his voice was obviously strained. "It doesn't matter if—"
"I'm not done yet. Let me get my point across." The mass then made a noise, as if it was clearing its nonexistent throat.
"You can keep telling yourself that Izuku. But the truth is that your tight-knight social is rather lacking. Compiled with your tendency to scare people off with our bugs, you don't trust easy, and vice versa. People have to force themselves on you if they wish to even touch upon the prospect of becoming a friend, nevermind a close friend. And even then they have to worm their way in — pardon the pun, of course. Freakin' Negotiator, I'm telling you—"
"QA—"
"I know what you're going to say. I'm not really one to talk, considering my only friend from before my villainy days ending up treating me like shit, using all my secrets to make me feel like shit, thus causing me to get my powers in the first place. And there were my villain friends who were, of course, villains, and thus had somewhat looser morals, like them not—"
"QA!"
"about a kidnapping that we unknowingly helped—" QA cut herself off, taking a bit to regain her composure. "Sorry. I don't usually… Just go ahead and open the door."
"Door."
Izuku turned, and indeed there was a door. Taking a good purview of his surroundings revealed that they were at one of the outskirt buildings around campus that served more niche purposes.
Izuku narrowed his eyes, turning a gaze back at QA. "What are we doing here?"
QA merely gestured towards the door.
Izuku delved into a deeper inspection with his bugs. But then he realized: the room in front of him was blank, devoid of anything useful to his power. "What's in there? Why aren't there any bugs in there?" His head jerked back towards QA. "Or are you controlling all the bugs in there? Stopping me from seeing what's in there?"
"And if I said yes?"
"I'm not in the mood QA!" He slammed the door open. "Look! You can play all the games that you want, lord over all your information by being vague all the time, relay help in the most frustrating ways, bit I—"
He turned to face the room, and his words sputtered out as he took in the sight before him. Six unique gazes, each familiar to him all too well, focusing themselves on the commotion he'd caused.
Izuku himself shutdown at the sight of the gathering of his friends, his own thoughts and words running miles ahead within his head.
"Uhm."
A/N: And… it's another cliffhanger. But seriously, I promise that I'm not doing it on purpose! I just kinda had to cut this chapter short. It would've been a bit too bulky (like a certain other chapter) otherwise. Probably wouldn't do the scene justice if I continued here, so… continuation next week?
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