"We're going by bus. If you want to leave your costume behind, that's on you. Now, go change."
Aizawa-sensei's words hung in the classroom as my hands gripped the box holding my costume. While conversations flowed with emotion, I quickly left the place. This wasn't just a little school trip; this was the first glimpse of how dark this world could get—the "villains" of this story.
I am conscious that, as an outsider, the term of what is "evil" is very crooked in my perspective. This manga portrayed evilness in what you could call a soft way. It had its moments, but compared to other works of fiction, it didn't seem like much. Now that I'm inside of it, though, it feels personal enough to make me nervous.
The school felt empty. Since I was the first one to leave the classroom, it was normal for me to walk alone in the hallways, oddly familiar if I must say. I tried to move the box to look at my phone; it had been vibrating for a while, and I was getting worried it was my mom. I didn't need any bad news today.
The box got in the way of my sight, and as I rounded a corner, a body intercepted my direction, sending my backside straight to the floor in an instant. My phone dropped and made a sound I didn't like, but before my eyes could follow it, a hand lifted it up and handed it to me.
The blue eyes and orange hair tied up in a pony tail, along with the soft smell of perfume that invaded my nose, made me doubt my words in front of Itsuka Kendo, from class 1-B.
"Are you alright? You didn't hit your head, did you?"
Her almost jokingly tone brought me back to reality, standing up in silence as I put the box on the ground, my hand reaching for my phone that, to my disgust, had a little crack in the corner of the screen.
"Thank you... and your name is?"
I asked, trying to recompose myself from my earlier mistake. My eyes were locked on my phone, which, thanks to whoever was up there, didn't spill the ink. The phone was cheap by normal standards, but it cost me hell to find.
The notifications end up being from a web page I followed, so I just put it in my pocket with a stern face
"Itsuka Kendo. Aren't you Matsumoto? From 1-A?"
"I'm surprised. How do you know me?"
I asked sincerely, almost hurt by the fact my name was already that known. Seriously, why me? Aren't Bakugo or Izuku more interesting? It seemed my plans of not drawing too much attention were failing miserably, but I guess I could still work normally with that variable...
"Pff, everyone knows about you. Your quirk is very noticeable, you know? It's impressive, to say the least."
She said, moving her body into a more comfortable stance. With a soft smile, she looked at me, crossing her arms. As I was about to respond, a voice called me from behind.
"Yo! You extra! Aren't you going to come and change?!"
The raspy voice of Bakugo informed me that I had lost enough time with this girl. He walked past me, dripping that negative energy so proper of him. His face burst with anger as he looked at me one last time before opening the very close door of the locker room. Kendo and I looked at each other before a little laugh escaped our mouths.
"I'm sorry for that, Itsuka. A pleasure to be meeting you."
"It's okay, Matsumoto-kun. You're a little rude in your manners, but you're alright. Let's hope we meet again in better circumstances."
She said as we shook hands before we continued in different directions. I grabbed the box from the floor and headed to open the door to the changing room.
The fresh air struck my face, which didn't seem to bother me at all. My previous interaction with that girl helped my brain to calm down a little, but as I got on the bus, I couldn't help but be nervous. Yes, I had the upper hand in knowing everything that was going to happen, but I knew this wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed.
"Keep me entertained, Michael Bianco."
Were the words The Wanderer told me the last time I saw him, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't the type to just stare and wait. He liked to intervene, and I was sure as hell that he was going to affect this first event. How? I had no idea, but I was prepared for any eventuality.
I had been training day after day and thinking about what to do for this plan to come out. All Might was part of my plan; I needed him to be at least in a less messed-up state than in the original show. Considering this was the day he received one of the first important wounds I needed to avoid, it was obvious I needed to take down the Nomu.
How? I had Bakugo, Shoto, and Izuku as my pieces to find a way to deal enough damage to the thing before the other heroes arrived. I thought my chances were in my favor. Shigaraki was a problem, but he was still not a fatal opponent. If I managed to make him interested in me, I could distract him long enough. My regeneration came in handy against his sealed decay.
The bus started, and the air entered, refreshing my face. I might have seemed disturbed because Uraraka waved her hand in front of my face, making me wake up from my daydreaming.
"Are you alright, Akuma?"
She said in her usual sweet, energetic voice. She started using my name after I insisted there wasn't anything wrong with it. We weren't close, but at least I could treat her like a friend for now.
"I'm fine. It's just oppressive, the sensation of being surrounded by pro heroes, isn't it?"
She nodded her head, smiling as she asked something to one of our classmates. The conversation on the bus seemed to be active, but I was still working on the perfect plan. Hmm, sigh, there were so many possibilities it wasn't even worth it. I leaned back on my seat; after all, if that guy modified the event, I would need to improvise.
As I looked at my classmates laughing about Bakugo, I recapped every interaction with some members of my class, those who I thought were the most beneficial to me. It was obvious that, at this point in the timeline, we were just getting to know each other, but I was happy with the results my interactions with them had given me. I was already a good friend in their eyes, at least that's what I thought. Knowing beforehand each of their personalities and personal struggles sure helped to bond a little more deeply than usual.
"The quirk of Matsumoto sure is striking!"
"It's kinda gross, if I'm being honest."
As some affirmative murmurs reached my ears, the conversation struck a nerve in my head, and maybe I was too obvious in my eyes because they all stopped gossiping about me after I looked at them. Hearing the hidden laugh of Ochako did make my day a little bit better, though.
"HELLO!"
The chubby heroine called 13 appeared in front of us, guiding us to the building and doing a whole essay around each part of it. Listening to her made me think about the old days; going to conferences and learning new things was always something that I liked in the past, but that was outside of the matter right now.
"This lesson will serve as a new starting point. Let's train your quirks for the future of humanity!"
The little cheers didn't wait as the presentation ended with that slogan. Honestly? Society was too pure, too optimistic for someone like me, and it was healing my soul, like a breath of fresh air in a burning forest. But now, yeah, there was no time for philosophy.
A black mist appeared there in the center of the building. Aizawa screamed so close but at the same time so distant, because my eyes were focused on just one little detail.
The U.S.J. attack was composed of Shigaraki at the head, a lot of unimportant villains, and a Nomu, especially designed to kill All Might.
Now..., I didn't think I needed glasses, so why the fuck were there two of them?
The muscular beast was standing there; it was like an unmovable object, menacing to the sight. But, the problem wasn't that. My problem came with the slightly smaller version of it, floating and moving its grotesque wings, showing its claws and teeth while Shigaraki talked.
"VILLAINS?"
The air smelled like tension as the group tried to step back. My problems lay with something else. Aizawa almost died against one Nomu, so two of them? He was going to get killed in an instant. Hundreds of thoughts raced through my mind as endless possibilities and results clashed against my purpose. "I can't win completely" was what my head shouted. If I had to sacrifice my status quo to make my teacher survive, so be it.
"AKUMA!"
The scream of my sensei struck my ears. The worries inside of it almost made me want to go back, but there was no turning back. My jump was enough to avoid most of the front line. Those criminals looked at me like fresh meat; I was a student after all, they thought I was weak.
That would be their last mistake.
I landed on the body of a muscular man. Using his arms to stop me, he tried to grab my leg. When he did so, the leg broke into thousands of strings that surrounded his entire body. Before I landed, another one jumped in. I used my hand to propel myself against his hand, grabbing his hair to do a full spin and destroy his spine in one single kick.
Now on the ground, I avoided most of the others. I heard Aizawa shouting at me to stop, while fighting those behind me, but my objective was clear: I needed to at least weaken those two enough for All Might to not be harmed.
"Oh ho, it seems that the UA has some interesting people alongside their students."
A hand coming out of nowhere grabbed my arm. Before I could react, the pain struck me as my forearm was reduced to ashes. My regeneration failed as Shigaraki's "decay" continued. My only resort was to cut the arm entirely.
"AHG!"
I screamed, sitting on one knee as my arm started to recompose.
"You are a bold kid, trying to attack me instead of doing as your little teacher told you. Your quirk is interesting. Let's see how much you can regenerate, shall we?"
"NO!"
My professor's knee almost made Shigaraki pass out. Aizawa quickly recomposed himself before putting his body to protect me.
"AKUMA! This is the last time you disobey me! You almost got killed!"
"Teacher, you can't fight them..."
"And who are you to tell me what to do?! Get out of here!"
His voice was a mix of anger and worry. Shigaraki looked at us with that maniacal face of his before the Nomus behind us started to move. I couldn't escape, that was for sure.
"I'm sorry, but I can't leave you here!"
"Matsumoto!"
I ran towards the flying Nomu, that instantly responded, swinging its wings as it closed the distance between us. Two discs flew out of my body, missing it and then coming back, surrounding the body of the beast and limiting its movements.
I jumped in the air as that animal struggled to move, almost falling from the air. I used both of my legs to hit it in the nape as my body was above it. Tied and without range of movement, the thing could just go straight to the ground, impacting and destroying the concrete.
My hand took control of the threads containing the Nomu, that was trying to crawl out of its imprisonment, launching bites that made my skin shiver. I squeezed my hand to make the strings embed in the body. As my opponent cried out in pain, I looked around. Some enemies were getting close to me. Shigaraki and Aizawa were having a match, but... where was the other Nomu?
A punch made my whole body fly away in pain. The hit was in my back and made my regeneration strike instantly, so that meant it was a lethal attack. Before I could land to try to recompose, two claws passed through my body. The flying Nomu grabbed me in the air like an eagle would do to a fish and started to fly away.
"AHG! You f****** piece of s***!"
I screamed as my body moved to try and cut the durable skin. I looked back to the ground; my classmates were having their own problems, since they were teleported to different places in an ambush. My eyes ended up looking at a certain place.
Denki, Momo, and Jiro were teleported to the same place as the original show, and were being overwhelmed by the amount of enemies there. A little smile popped up; Kaminari was the walking bomb I needed right now.
From my back, a reddish spear came out, formed from tension cords. The pointy head was probably capable of killing a human instantly. I pulled it out and balanced it, striking when the eye of the Nomu was in my sight, incrusting it deep enough for the thing to stop working, letting the claws go out of my flesh.
I grabbed the spear to not fall, doing a pull-up to end up on the back of the thing, that as a hurt animal, didn't know what to do. I pulled out a sword from my stomach and quickly hit the throat of the beast with it. The thing fought back, flying in straight madness, almost making me fall. In a moment of carelessness, one claw hit me in the face, breaking my helmet and destroying half of my face.
As I screamed in pain, the Nomu made me fall and flew above me, attacking me as we went directly to the ground, even destroying my chest plate. I could do nothing but avoid the claws of the beast before the sandstone where we landed hit us.
"WHOA! WHAT THE HELL?!"
I heard the scream of Kaminari, making my body contort itself in an inhuman manner to make the regeneration process more quickly.
The Nomu struggled to even breathe, incapable of flying again and without a regeneration quirk, it was doomed. But I was no better; my threads were at the limit, and I didn't think I had the time to eat right now.
"Hey brat, do you mind?"
I looked around; a bunch of villains and three of my classmates were looking at me weirdly, almost disgusted. I stood up and enthroned my index.
"So all of you are attacking us? Doesn't seem fair at all."
"Hah! Kid, if you think life is fair then you're not ready to be a hero!"
"I meant for you."
I lifted my hand while talking to them. My cords, thinner than what the eye could see, already moved into all of their bodies. With the fall of the same hand, those cords squeezed the throats of my enemies, depriving them of any air entering their lungs. After a minute, they were all lying unconscious on the ground.
"T-thank you, Akuma..."
Said Momo, who seemed scared. Maybe it was the fact I almost killed those guys? I mean, it was kind of creepy seeing their bodies fight desperately for air, twitching on the ground while saliva formed in their mouths like bubbles.
"My pleasure. I'm not in the best form right now, but I can still fight. Kaminari, I'm going to need you to come with me."
"M-me? Why?"
"Because there's a thing at least 10 times more dangerous than this thing, and we need to take it down."
I said while forming a cocoon around the body of the Nomu, that didn't move at all anymore. It wasn't dead, though. I felt bad for those who were killed to make this thing; they didn't choose to be converted into this monster.
"Are you crazy?! We can't fight that, we almost died!"
The voice of Jiro, backed down with the agreement of Momo and Denki, made me look back to see them looking at me scared.
"Aizawa-sensei might die if we don't help. I'm sure other heroes will come here, but for the moment, we need to do what's in our hands."
"We can't! We aren't professionals!"
"We have quirks, and that is all that matters. If you need permission to act, then you aren't a hero."
My words attacked the deepest part of their consciousness. As scared as they were, they couldn't prove me wrong. I pointed at Momo as I finished securing the cocoon.
"Grab Jiro, find Todoroki, and tell him to go find me in the center."
"Who do you think...?!"
Jiro tried to protest, but Momo grabbed her from the mouth and nodded at me.
"Understood. Please, Akuma, don't hurt yourself."
"It's too late for that, but yeah, take care of yourself too."
They left as Denki looked at me, clearly displaced.
"So what's the plan now, man? We just trained one day, I can't really fight that well..."
"I don't need your fighting, just your quirk. Come on, let's go."
I grabbed him and jumped away, holding him with threads to make the trip easier. He screamed a little, but we managed to get there at the right time.
"Izuku!"
I screamed upon seeing Midoriya with Tsuyu and the gremlin. I threw Denki, who stomped on the ground unharmed. Deku was having trouble deciding whether to intervene or hide, and that's when I was entering.
On the other side, Aizawa lost his battle, hanging by an inch of his life, getting tortured by Shigaraki and the Nomu. If we didn't do something, he was going to die.
"Akuma?!"
"Listen to me, we have to fight. You and me against that thing. You can't say no!"
"Are you crazy? That monster defeated Aizawa, we have no chance."
Tsuyu interrupted me, talking as the voice of reason. Unfortunately, we didn't have that many options.
"Izuku, I'm going to act as a distraction. I need you to hit that thing as hard as you can."
"But! I'm not strong enough, I'm going to break my arm!"
"Look, I know you like All Might, but you don't have to be him! Don't use your quirk only in one limb! I've seen you fight, all that energy inside your body doesn't need to be used all at once."
Yes, I was spoiling him, but that was part of what it took. I was sure he wouldn't be able to fully adapt with that half-explanation, but we could make it work. His eyes lit up after some seconds; maybe he interpreted it in another way, but if he was sure, I was too.
"Kaminari, stay in the water. When I give you my signal, explode with all you have, understood?"
"S-sure, dude."
He didn't seem convinced, but "fuck it, let's ball with it." I ran from our hiding spot and was instantly detected. The Nomu dropped Aizawa on the ground as it turned to face me.
"I thought you were dead. Aren't you a lot more capable than other students?"
I ignored Shigaraki's words as the giant slug faced me. Its speed almost made me lose my balance, but I managed to dodge the first punch.
Sliding on the ground, I avoided the second one. Before it turned back, I used a tension cord that came out of my forearm as a whip, destroying the eyes of the beast on contact. The Nomu screamed in pain. Blinded for a second, I grabbed Aizawa and ran behind him.
Shigaraki cut the space between us instantly. I avoided his first grab, but my leg suffered the decay. Before I fell, I threw Aizawa out of his grab as a scream came out of my lungs.
"TSUYU!"
The frog girl reacted and snatched Aizawa mid-air. Using my arms, I jumped to get myself up, facing not Shigaraki, who stopped running after I threw the teacher, but the Nomu, completely regenerated. I blocked its punch; the force behind it made me kneel in agony. The second one went to my imaginary ribs, sending my body flying without resistance.
As I land on the ground, and without time to think the Nomu stopped in front of me, lifting both of its arms to hit me with all it had. Some might think I was utterly fucked, but I was an honest believer in heroic timing.
"TAKE THIS!"
The air froze as a blue glacier struck the Nomu, freezing its body and leaving it still. I modified my body, making my arms and hands the same size as the Nomu, and as the ice broke, I grabbed it in the arms-up stance it had before getting iced, leaving its stomach completely exposed.
"MIDORIYA! NOW!"
I screamed, and Deku followed my command, jumping from the bushes completely covered in a greenish aura. Shigaraki ran to stop him, but Todoroki intervened. They started having a fight that Shoto dominated easily.
"SSSSSSMASH!"
BOOM!
The whole building trembled as the hit connected, an explosion so big that it sent both of us, me and the Nomu, flying behind us. My body cried in pain as some of the attack transferred to me. As I was losing consciousness, I managed to see my plan worked: in the water, waiting for me, Denki Kaminari was already completely charged.
The fresh water invaded me with that. I detached my arms, and the strings that formed them were used to hold the Nomu in that position. As the beast dropped deep into the pool, I used its body as an impulse to get out of it. With a jump, I left the body of water, landing on the platform.
"DENKI! NOW!"
The electric explosion went off instantly. The water turned yellow for a second, and Kaminari ended up brain-dead. I grabbed him with a string and pulled him out to avoid him drowning himself.
Smoke came out of the water; bubbles indicated the Nomu wasn't dead, but Shigaraki already knew he was defeated.
"KIDS?! A bunch of kids defeated the Nomu?!"
Explosions sounded in the entrance, and all over the place I could see the faces of my classmates, this is....a good start
I had trouble standing up. My body was trembling, incapable of sustaining itself anymore. With no threads left, it was impossible for me to continue fighting. I looked again at the center of the U.S.J. This time, a black mist started to appear behind Shigaraki, indicating he was leaving. The other low-tier villains also started to run away in that direction. I felt weak, but I was happy to have won this fight. For a moment, I let my eyes rest.
"AKUMA!"
The sound of water moving interrupted my moment of peace. I couldn't react as a hand the size of my torso pierced through my skin, lifting my body in that moment. I could see everyone running to me. My core was safe, but I couldn't take it anymore. Bit by bit, my vision became more and more dark.
And, to be honest... I just wanted to rest a little...
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
This is by far the most large chapter I have ever write and I honestly like it, I'm going to try and get the next chapters the same length from now on, let me now what you think!