Chapter Text
Heroics was taught by All Might.
Soon, Kusuo would discover that Heroics was his least favourite class by far. But that was later. For now, he was standing in the changing room, hands wrapped around his costume suitcase. With a click, it opened. Staring, Kusuo reached down and lifted up his custom-made hero costume.
To be honest, when he had to submit his design over the holidays he was completely stumped. Especially considering he had never thought about it before. After politely discarding his mothers ideas and ignoring his fathers, Kusuo finally settled on a vague sketch. It was odd seeing it come to life.
Anything flashy was definitely off the table. Nothing too similar to the black clothes disguise; no one needed to connect any dots. He wouldn’t be wearing anything stupid either. Something practical, casual even.
Walking through the large tunnel, Kusuo winced as he reached the light on the other side. Sun illuminated the fake city, rays falling gently on rooftops and cobblestone. All Might’s permanent grin was reflecting the sunbeams aggressively.
Half of the class was already changed and ready to go, looking every bit like the heroes they were determined to be. Suited in grenades and outlined in black and orange, was Bakugou. The gauntlets looked fine as long as they were far away from Kusuo. Aoyama was dressed in an extravagant costume – similar to one of a knight – topped off with large red-tinted glasses. A quick glance around the group and Kusuo noted that Iida looked like a missing part of an engine. Well, if the shoe fits.
A hand rested on his shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face the boy with too much exposure to hair gel.
‘Why’s he in normal clothes?’
“Hey Saiki! Woah, where's your costume bro?” Kirishima asked, confused.
More like where's yours.
Dressed in a pastel pink hoodie vest and an off-white collared long-sleeve undershirt, Kusuo gave the shirtless guy a once-over. With brown combat boots and a small utility belt, he wouldn’t exactly describe his own outfit as “normal clothes.” A crowbar was hanging from his hip. He’d even swapped out his usual green glasses for a strapped pair so they wouldn’t fall off. Really, Kirishima was just exaggerating.
-“This is my costume.”
“Ah, right! I get it now, you wanna blend in with the civilians so the villains don’t know you’re coming! That’s so manly!” Kirishima clapped Kusuo’s back before marching off to greet others.
Obviously, that boy had no sense of fashion. Besides, there were a handful of others in non-flashy outfits. Take long ears, Jiro Kyoka, for example. She was wearing a ripped salmon coloured shirt and black jacket. Albeit not the greatest colour palette, but at least it wasn’t pretentious.
“Soon we shall begin our combat training!” boasted All Might, posed as though for a statue. Blessed with the privacy of his own mind, Kusuo groaned.
Almost everyone had emerged from the tunnel, with the exception of one person. Midoriya. Fashionably late, as they say. A couple of seconds ticked away. Finally, he appeared.
Oh. Yikes.
Deciding to do him a favour, Kusuo deliberately tuned out any stray thoughts, – including his own – instead focusing on the hero teaching the lesson. Battle training; fighting one another. It was right from the get go as well, not even a lick of training. What a hassle.
“For today, you will be split into two groups. Heroes and villains for two versus two battles!” All Might triumphally declared. His eyes passed over each and every one of his students, lingering a little too long on a certain teal-suited boy. If Kusuo didn’t know that he was Midoriya’s mentor, he would certainly be questioning a couple of things.
“We don’t get any basic training?” questioned the frog girl, Asui.
“This is a battle to understand the basics!” All Might answered, teeth still shining, “Now, the scenario will be that the villain team has a nuclear weapon hidden somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must either catch and immobilize the villains or get the weapon back before the time runs out!”
The man stood up straight, a hand on his hip. “The villains need to protect the weapon for the whole time or catch the heroes! Pretty simple, right?! Groups will be decided by drawing lots!”
Whispers began to start off, excited and nervous. Though Iida quickly shut them down by snapping his neck towards the noise and narrowing his eyes. Teams of two began to be picked out of the box. All Kusuo could do was pray that the rest of the afternoon would fly by and he could arrive home peacefully.
“Team E! Ashido Mina and Saiki Kusuo!”
Squealing, the pink-skinned girl skipped over his way. She grinned teethily at him, gold eyes shining.
“Hey! Don’t you think it's cool that the two people with pink hair got grouped together? Call me Mina, by the way!” An arm wrapped around Kusou’s shoulders in a friendly gesture. He looked down at her, taking in her fluffy light pink curls. The colour blended in with her skin and with Kusuo’s vest.
‘Alright! We’re practically the dream team! What should we call ourselves?’
“Whats your quirk? Mine's called acid! It’s pretty self-explanatory. Basically I can just make acid.” Mina stated, far too in his personal space for his likings. She continued to ramble, mind racing as fast as her mouth. Impressive, even.
‘The Pinky Two? The Pink Twinks? Flamingo Amigos? Ooh! Fla-migos!’
“We gotta do our best to win, alright? We got this in the bag!” Using the hand that wasn’t strung around his shoulders, her fingers curled into a fist, hovering expectantly.
Hesitantly, Kusuo lifted his own hand. With a large grin, she smacked their fists together. Depending on who they were against, her quirk would be pretty handy. Not a bad match up, everything considered.
All Might had finished off with the rest of the groups and had moved onto who would be versing who. Hopefully they wouldn’t be up first.
Clearing his throat, All Might reached into the box and whipped out the two unlucky teams that would be facing off first. A quick mind read told Kusuo all he needed to know.
“Team F versus Team E! Let’s go zygotes!”
In sync, Mina and Kusuo turned to look at Sero Hanta and Hagakure Toru.
– · Ψ · –
“Okay. I’ve got a plan.” Mina clapped her hands together. They were both standing next to the heavily realistic nuclear weapon fake on the fourth floor. As the villain team, it was their job to guard and stop the heroes. Raising an eyebrow minutely, Kusuo looked at her to continue.
“So like, Sero’s all tapey yanno? So I was thinking I could use my acid to dissolve his tape! That way we don’t have to worry about him zooming by and trying to take the weapon.” She tapped her chin considerately as her eyes roamed around the empty room. “The real issue is Hagakure. How can we stop an invisible person? We don’t have anything to detect her.” Frowning, she scrunched her face up in concentration.
It took a couple more moments before she came to a so-called brilliant solution. Mina spun around on the heels of her shoe, curls bouncing.
“Aha! I’ve got it! Okay, so since we can’t find her, we don’t need to find her!” Haughtily, she rubbed a finger under her nose. “You can just take her out when we know her position, as soon as the round starts. You can just hop on down outside the building where they’ll be like a second after it starts! Then go POW POW and BOOM! One problem down.”
Mina cocked finger guns at Kusuo, “Easy-peasy!”
-“So you’re on Sero and I’m on Hagakure.”
“You got it! This is great how quickly we’re both on the same page. We’re destined for greatness for sure!”
Resigned, he projected a mumbled agreement into her mind. The preparation time was almost up; the battle would begin any second. A blaring noise sparked from the speakers. All Might’s voice rung out,
“Alright! The five minutes is over, now let's start the indoor combat battle training between Team F and E! You now have 15 minutes before the round is up!”
With a smile on her face, Mina turned to stare at Kusuo expectantly. He sighed. There were so many flaws in this plan. Nonetheless, he willed his body to flicker and teleport directly outside the entry of the five storey building.
The only person there was him.
Evidently, the hero team had enough brain cells to not use the front door as a way to infiltrate the villain base. Phase one had already failed. Should he go back to regroup? Or, maybe not. As he paced around the skirts of the building, the thoughts of his target began to waver into Kusuo’s mind. Using the wall to cover his body, he peaked his head around the corner.
Sero Hanta and presumably Hagakure Toru were using the elbow tape to scale up the base. Kusuo lifted up two fingers to touch his earpiece.
“Found them.” He mumbled, throat hoarse from unuse. A crackle of static sparked from his ear before an excited voice shot through.
“What are you waiting for? Go get her!” Mina responded, voice muffled. “I’ve got everything covered back here. Go go go!”
An invisible hand that was most likely receiving a piggy back from Sero lifted open the window on the second storey. It seemed that he would have to ambush them from up there. Kusuo unhooked his crowbar from his belt. After rolling his shoulders, he held the weapon above his head. Let's make this quick and easy.
Glitching, Kusuo now stood right before the two heroes who were clambering in through the window. Sero’s eyes went wide as they landed on him. A feminine gasp could be heard. Many of his other quirks were telling Kusuo that Hagakure was climbing inside first, and Sero second. Meaning that his target was directly in front of him, in arms reach.
Kusuo smashed down his crowbar.
A line of cloth-like tape went flying straight into his chest, forcing him to stumble back and miss his swing. The invisible girl launched herself at Kusuo. Their bodies collided and he could feel fingers grappling to get ahold of his weapon. He glared at where her face would be. That’s not happening.
“Sero! Tie him down!” The wrestling continued. Kusuo jabbed his elbow into what he hoped was her eye socket.
‘How am I supposed to get him if you’re on him and I can't even see you!?’
“Right! Uhm!” Sero shot out two lines of tape, aimed dead centre at Kusuo’s torso. Unluckily for him, Kusuo teleported a couple metres to the side out of harm's way. A surprised shriek erupted from the spot he was just at. The tape wrapped around an invisible body, efficiently putting Hagakure out of commission.
“SERO! I SAID HIM NOT ME!” Her body fell to the ground with a loud thud. She flopped around uselessly. Sero cursed, apologies spiralling out of him.
“Shit! Sorry! I’ll get you out of that, gimme a sec!”
Now it was him against Sero. Kusuo was pretty sure that this was supposed to be Mina’s job. Legs pumping, he shot towards the constricted girl on the floor. Hagakure made a valiant attempt to roll away from him but failed. Crowbar still in hand, he wrapped his arms around her body and snatched her off the ground.
Whirling, more tape came flying at him. He barely had half a second to teleport away just to not get hit. Mina jumped in shock, eyes bouncing between Kusuo and the invisible body he was carrying that was wrapped in tape.
-“I did what you said. It’s your turn now.”
Confusion blinked away from her face, immediately being replaced with exhilaration. Mina raced out of the room cackling. She made a good villain.
Glancing down, Kusuo looked at what would be his empty hands and floating tape wrapped tight. If he focused for a couple of beats, he could use his X-Ray to see past her invisibility. Though he’d rather not. He didn’t need to see her face to know that she was pissed. Hearing her thoughts was enough.
‘I’m never trusting Sero again.’
Kusuo couldn’t blame her. Though he had to figure out a spot to detain Hagakure properly, in case Sero managed to break past Mina. The very empty room besides from the nuclear weapon wasn’t all that helpful.
‘If this kid drops me I swear to god-’
He adjusted his grip on her. There should be a couple of crates outside in the hallway, according to his clairvoyance. Kusuo walked out of the room, gaze landing on a large empty brown crate. Big enough to fit a first year highschooler. Jackpot.
Moving her so that she tucked under one arm, he dragged the crate inside the room, resting it into the corner against the wall.
“Oh my god don’t you dare put me in a box. That’s like illegal! You seriously can’t do that!” Hagakure squirmed against him. Ignoring her protests, he kicked off the top of the crate. Gently, he discarded her inside.
“Oh come on! I know you’re supposed to be like a villain but you don’t have to go this far! Can we talk this out? Pretty please??”
Kusuo stabbed his crowbar into the sides of the box, creating holes big enough for air to come through. Then he picked up the top from the ground and placed it back where it belongs. Darkness consumed the inside of the crate.
“THIS IS LIKE A VIOLATION AGAINST MY RIGHTS! SERO AND SAIKI YOU ARE BOTH SO FUCKING DEAD TO ME! LET ME OUT!” Frantically, her head banged repeatedly against the side of the wooden box.
-“Don’t do that. You might get splinters.”
The banging stopped. Kusuo nodded in satisfaction, eyeing his self-made prison. One down. One to go. This villain stuff was pretty easy. He picked up a couple of smaller crates and moved them around Hagakure’s cage. From a simple glance, you wouldn’t be able to tell that she’s hidden in there. At least not until she opens her mouth, but Kusuo had no control over that. He spared her one last glance before resuming his post at the weapon.
Minutes ticked past and Hagakure’s violent complaints died down. Mina should be fighting Sero by now. Judging by the biceps that she had flexed to him whilst they were waiting for the round to start, she wouldn’t be an easy fight. In fact, he was a bit worried for Sero.
A high pitched scream snapped Kusuo’s attention upwards. Who was that?
The door came crashing down and Sero flew into the room screaming his head off. His clothes were half-dissolved and his skin was an angry red. Mina was right on his tail, acid bubbling in her palms. Oh my.
Tape launched hysterically out of Sero’s elbows, aimed straight at the nuclear weapon. Mina screeched out in horror. Realizing that her teammate had entered the room, Hagakure began to yell and thrash rapidly in her box. The three were like a group of wailing banshees with the amount of noise coming from them.
Sero was already halfway rocketed towards the weapon. If he touched it, the hero team won. Kusuo gripped his crowbar and flashed midair. Appearing straight into Sero’s path, the two boys crashed together; Sero’s tape cut off and he lost his hold on the weapon. He fell to the ground with a manly shriek.
Kusuo teleported back down safely, though a little bruised. There was a flash of light pink and Mina drove her heels into Sero’s stomach from where he was splayed on the floor. He wheezed, hunching inwards.
“SERO! SERO LET ME OUT! HELP!” cried the crate, unaware that her rescuer was already taken care of. Mina grinned manically, foot pummeling into Sero again and again. She was enjoying this far too much.
There was a cough then a pause over the intercom; All Might seemed to be clearing his throat.
“Okay! The heroes are down! VILLAIN TEAM WINS!”
Ceasing her torture, Mina bounced over to where Kusuo was standing and jumped onto him ecstatically. He stood dead-still as she squeezed the life out of him.
“Yay! We actually won! Team Fla-migos forever!” She said, lifting him upwards with crazy strength and jumping up and down. After this lesson, Kusuo would make sure to keep his distance for a while.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE HEROES ARE DOWN?? SERO??”
– · Ψ · –
The four students were ushered into the room where the rest of the class was held. All Might greeted them with enthusiasm, congratulating them on their heroic displays. Once everyone had settled down, the hero turned to face the class.
“So kids! That was a nice battle, right? Who do you think the MVP of this first round was?” questioned All Might, voice booming.
A singular hand shot up quickly, clashing with the majority of blank stares.
“Yes! Yaoyurozu?”
The tall girl opened her mouth, her calculating gaze eyeing all of the participants. “All Might sensei, the MVP is clearly Saiki. He intercepted the heroes right at the start, preventing a stealth infiltration. In doing so, he effectively allowed for a hero to immobilize their own teammate. Saiki then proceeded to capture a hero and detained them. Nearing the end of the battle, he additionally stopped Sero from retrieving the nuclear weapon in an efficient manner, although rash.”
She tucked in a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“The hero team had a decent plan at the start, but their teamwork exposed flaws. A lack of communication brought their downfall. Ashido also created a plan, but her execution was too reckless. She spent more time toying around with the heroes than quickly finishing them. This allowed them to get close to the nuclear weapon, almost costing the villains the win.”
All Might blinked. “A-ah! Yes, absolutely correct! Indeed, Saiki is our first MVP! Congratulations young man!” His large hand smacked down on Kusuo’s shoulder supportively, causing him to stumble. He glared at the old man out of the corner of his eye.
“Alright! Now let's see who's up next, shall we?” All Might produced his two boxes with the list of teams inside. As he dramatically prepared to announce the next villain team, there was a tug at Kusuo’s long-shirt sleeve. Midoriya was standing behind him, eyes sparkling with interest.
“Um! Saiki! I was wondering, what is your quirk exactly? I’m not trying to be c-creepy or anything! I just noticed that you can teleport, obviously, but the way you talk is odd!”
Kusuo stared at him, taking in his horrible bunny looking suit.
Midoriya immediately backtracked, hands waving frantically, “Oh no! Not like that! There's nothing wrong with the way you talk! It’s just, when we were watching you speak, or at least I think you were speaking, we couldn’t hear anything! And your mouth wasn’t moving either, but Ashido seemed to know what you were saying! Oh and you did speak, when you used the comms, but that was it. Is it part of your quirk or are you and Ashido just close?”
The boy fidgeted with his hands, looking at Kusuo with wide eyes. It was at this moment that Kusuo realized there wasn’t much of a height gap between the two; he was only about a centimetre taller. Embarrassing. Just great.
-“It’s part of my quirk.” Kusuo watched in slight fascination as Midoriya’s face lit up at the sight of his mouth not moving.
“Oh wow! Of course! S-so um, do you mind explaining the exact details? I don’t really understand how it relates to teleportation! Oh, but you don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable!”
Sighing, Kusuo realized that there was no way out of this conversation. Oh well, he had already planned for situations like this years and years ago.
-“My quirk is called dual projection. I am able to project myself both physically and mentally. That’s why it looks like I’m teleporting, and I usually speak by projecting my voice into people's minds. There's a radius limit for both aspects.”
A mental notebook spawned into Midoriya’s mind and he scribbled away, listing every detail for him to jot down in the future.
“Dual projection! That’s so cool! If you don’t mind, how far is the limi-” Midoriya broke off as his team letter was called out. The other half of Team A, Uraraka, walked on over. She rested a hand on her teammate’s shoulder. Flushing, the boy turned to face her.
“Deku! Let’s do our best! We’ve got this!” She cheered, pumping a fist.
Deku? What kind of nickname was that?
“Oh! Are we the hero team? Who are we up against?” Midoriya craned his head over the group of people, searching for the letter of the opposing team in All Might’s hand. Instantly, he froze. Kusuo’s eyes followed his gaze to two figures waiting by the door.
Bakugou grinned ferociously, Iida standing at his side. Dread and panic swirled in Freckle Face’s mind, taking turns at destroying his new-found confidence that was already hanging on a thread.
Smiling, Uraraka guided a shell-shocked Midoriya outside of the monitor room. At least this time Kusuo gets to watch instead of fighting himself. By the looks of it, this round will be interesting.
– · Ψ · –
It was a shitshow.
The hero team won, somehow. Iida was announced the MVP. By the look on his face, today was likely one of the best days in his life. He was the only one who wasn’t injured, didn’t create a mass explosion and destroy the building, and actually thought things through. Which was solid reasoning. Though Yaoyorozu could probably explain his actions much better.
Bakugou’s mind was rambling on and on about Shitty Deku. It got to a point that Kusuo had to edge away so he was out of his mind-reading radius. Uraraka was on the verge of puking, and Midoriya was carried out on a stretcher. Unlucky guy. Frowning, Kusuo reflected on what he just witnessed on the battle footage. Obviously, Bakugou and Midoriya have many unsolved problems. What was really strange was Midoriya. To be specific, his quirk.
For him to be tutored by All Might himself, there had to be something special about him. Number one heroes don’t go around teaching anyone. Sure, he’s smart. But there had to be something more than that. The other day, Bakugou commented that he was quirkless, and he was still thinking about it just moments before. Midoriya definitely had a quirk. A very powerful one at that.
Tightening the strap on his hero glasses, Kusuo pondered deeper. The explosive boy was telling the truth, or what he thought was the truth. There was no reason to lie, and his mind was dead-set on it. Maybe a late awakening? Quirks not appearing over a decade was extremely rare, impossible even. So far Kusuo was the only exception to that.
Midoriya’s quirk name was weird as well. Normally, the name of the quirk was self-explanatory. Like Ojiro's ‘tail’ and Kaminari’s ‘electrification’. ‘One for all’ made no sense. The amount of power was also boggling; even the quirk user’s body could not handle it. That was extremely dangerous.
Kusuo couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about Midoriya was off. Unsettlingly so.
Every time he thought about it, he got the same wary feeling he had whenever Kusuke would announce another “brilliant idea”. He blinked. Was Midoriya Kusuke’s hint?
No. That’s silly. Midoriya had nothing to do with Kusuke’s unknown location. He wasn’t one of his little projects. He was a real-life, breathing, living person. Otherwise Kusuo wouldn’t be able to read his thoughts. Right…?
Kusuo shook himself. Of course he was right. This line of thinking was ridiculous and not helpful at all. Midoriya had his own secret that was completely unrelated to Kusuke, and Kusuo was going to figure it out.
What? No he wasn’t. He isn’t nosey.
Actually, this wasn’t being nosey at all. It was a way of cutting off loose ends. Once he figured out this mystery, it wouldn’t distract Kusuo from his search anymore. So really this was just the next logical step. Simultaneously, he would look through Kusuke’s facilities in Japan and find out what exactly was offputting about Midoriya Izuku. Two birds with one stone.
The sound of All Might’s next battle announcement drew him from his thoughts. Team G and C were up next. Villains Koda Koji and Ojiro Mashirao were up against the heroes, Todoroki Shoto and Shoji Mezo. He predicted that this match would fly past in a heartbeat.
A few minutes went by, and Kusuo was proven correct. The ice boy, Todoroki, froze the entire building including his opponents. It was quick and easy with so little hassle that he was a bit envious. However the attention that Todoroki got afterwards was nothing to be jealous about.
Endeavour's son was truly a force to be reckoned with.
The rest of the matches were sensible and entertaining to watch. U.A really selected the best of the best. Each and every student was already perfectly capable. There was an interesting variety of quirks in Class 1-A. There were emitters, transformer-type quirks, and a refreshing amount of mutants. Presumably, Class 1-B would be similar.
Clearing his throat, All Might gathered all of the students. He waved them over with his large hands and relentless smile.
“Congratulations everyone! That was some good work out there! We didn’t even have any major injuries other than young Midoriya either!”
Way to single him out.
“You all did a wonderful job for your first training. Let’s keep up this attitude for the next lessons to come! Now, you must all get changed and get ready to return home. I shall share the results with young Midoriya! Remember, Plus Ultra everyone!” All Might turned around, dashing through the tunnel like a cheetah. About two seconds passed and all that was left of their teacher was a pile of dust.
“Why was he in such a hurry?” mumbled Ojiro. Good question. Now was the perfect time to get an answer.
Kusuo headed off to the changing rooms. There were no cameras there. Wealthy schools like U.A had enough space for everyone to have individual changing stalls instead of changing all together in the open. Perks of the elite. Holding off dressing for now, Kusuo crossed his eyes in concentration. His clairvoyance activated.
Immediately he pinpointed on All Might. The man was running at top speed, but he wasn’t headed straight to the infirmary like he said. Instead, he bolted to a staff-only zone, clothes smoking. Mentally, Kusuo frowned. It wasn’t All Might’s clothes that were smoking… it was his skin.
What?
In the safety of the student-free corridor, Japan’s Number One hero began to heave, sweating profusely. His signature grin was gone, replaced with an exhausted expression. Kusuo had never seen the man not smile before, it was always smacked onto his face; he had begun to wonder if All Might had cheek paralysis. What on earth was going on?
Then, he began to melt. Steam arose from All Might’s body and engulfed him whole. The shadow of his form shrunk, muscles collapsing and bones dissolving. It came to a halt when the cloud of steam dispersed. A skeleton man, weary with sagging clothes took All Might’s place.
What the fuck.
The Not-All Might hacked out a cough. With his trembling bony hands, he wiped away at the sweat that formed on his ghastly face. After collecting himself, the man embarked on his journey down the hallway. Kusuo watched as Not-All Might made his way to the Nurse’s office. The path he took was not one a student had access to.
He opened the door. A small little old lady came into view. She was perched on a chair that was comically too large for her. Lying unconscious on the nurse’s bed, was Midoriya. His costume was in tatters, arm in cast and IV hooked up. That matchup really did a number on him.
The little lady tsked as she noted Not-All Might’s presence. A scathing glare was sent his way.
“The school year has just started. Haven’t you been looking after him? Why has he been here three times already?!” She hissed, scowling.
Not-All Might raised his hands in apology, “I know, I know! I’m sorry, Recovery Girl.” He cleared his throat, staring at the sleeping student with a sentimental expression.
Rolling her beady little eyes, Recovery Girl spun on her chair to face the man. With a wrinkled hand, she pointed to Midoriya as she explained his condition to Not-All Might. Apparently he was okay for now, and just needed a whole lot of sleep.
“Jeez…” She shook her head, “I know he’s your favourite and you passed your powers to him, but you shouldn’t spoil him! Look after him better! Tell him to stop being reckless! How hard is it to scold someone?”
Kusuo felt his brain come to a stop.
“I know, you’re right… But can you please not talk about One For All so loudly?!” Maybe-All Might made a shushing gesture with his hand. This caused Recovery Girl to spin her chair back round to her computer, nose haughtily in the air.
“Yes, yes. Whatever you say, Mr. Natural-born Hero. The grand Symbol of Peace. I’d bow down if I could but you’d have to understand that my back isn’t what it used to be.”
Frowning slightly, Maybe-All Might clutched the loose fabric that hung off of him with his skeleton hand. “My injury and this form of mine may be common knowledge among the U.A staff and a handful of pros, but the secret of One For All is only known by you, the principal, my close friends, and young Midoriya.”
The old lady hummed, flicking through tabs on her computer, “Is being the Symbol of Peace really that important? Life would be easier if you just told people the truth.”
“If there is no Symbol of Peace, society will be seized by evil. Villains are growing in strength every day. The people need someone to rely on. Someone unshakable. That is the responsibility of someone with great power.” Probably-All Might’s piercing bright blue eyes were filled with conviction. The Nurse smiled softly.
Sensing a lull in the conversation, Kusuo uncrossed his eyes. The bland walls of the changing stall stabilised before him. He stared at his school uniform with a blank expression. There was far too much to process.
All Might gave Midoriya his quirk. Quirks can be given?
The man had an injury. Who injured the Symbol of Peace?
Now Kusuo was even more annoyed. He didn’t expect U.A to hold so many secrets, especially troublesome ones like this. Absent-mindedly, he wondered if Kusuke knew about this. Probably. His brother knew everything. In fact, there was a high chance he was watching Kusuo right now. Creep.
Sighing, Kusuo slipped out of his hero costume and dressed himself in his school uniform. Basically all of his classmates had already left the changing rooms; the clairvoyance took a while. He neatly folded the costume, placing it back into the case. Once he deposited it in a shoot that sent it to the cleaners, Kusuo made his way back to the classroom of 1-A.
When he opened the door, he saw around 12 heads swivelling to face him. Tsk. He wasn’t in the mood for social interaction.
“Saiki! What took you so long? Do you wanna stick around until Midoriya wakes up?” Kirishima asked, leaping over towards him.
-“No thank you. I have to go home now.”
“Ah, that’s okay! Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. A couple of other people left already!” He gave Kusuo a thumbs up. Some of the others wished Kusuo goodbye. Once his bag was secured on his shoulder, he began his journey home.
– · Ψ · –
The train ride was peaceful enough for Kusuo to collect his thoughts. Really, his mind was still unravelling non-stop. There was no way he could sit still after this. Okay. Kusuo closed his eyes and inhaled. He needed to focus.
Every important thing that he knew could be broken off into two sections.
Section One: All Might. He has a second, weakened form. He also has some sort of injury, likely a problematic one if it had anything to do with him trembling and coughing. All of this was a secret that All Might wanted to keep from the public, to keep his image.
Section Two: All Might gave his quirk, One For All, to Midoriya. Meaning that Midoriya now has the quirk of the strongest man in Japan. How and why, he didn’t know. Kusuo didn’t even know that passing on quirks was even possible.
Kusuo narrowed his eyes, staring at his reflection in the train window.
So now he knew a bunch of secrets that only a select few were privy to. Great. None of this is even relevant to his goal. Why did he just waste his time? He has more important things to do.
Finding Kusuke was his top priority. The state of the hero society wasn’t even in his top ten. Kusuo ignored the tiny voice in his head that sounded eerily similar to his brother, Who gave All Might an injury that still affects him to this day? Right now, he needed to head home then continue his search, no matter how fruitless it had been so far.
The train eased to a stop. Doors opened mechanically, piles of people exiting and entering. Kusuo easily became one with the crowd. Orange and yellow highlighted the crowd as he walked, eyeing the sunset. By the time he arrived at his front door, the moon had already begun its climb.
His mother’s familiar thoughts comforted him while he maneuvered out of his shoes. Kusuo poked his head around the corner, watching as Kurumi hummed while she cooked. Lost in her own little world, she didn’t notice as Kusuo made his way up the stairs.
Kusuo chucked his school bag into the corner of his room and sat down on his chair. His eyes found the stolen research papers on his desk. It had taken a while but he’d finally solved majority of the code on the encrypted files.
He reached over to pick them up. One of the many photographs fell from the papers. The picture was of one of Kusuke’s old experimentation projects. A greasy middle-aged man who was unlucky enough to catch his brother's attention. Kusuo could barely remember what had become of him, it had been so long ago. Dead, most likely.
Not many people could survive Kusuke’s research on permanent quirk removal. He wrinkled his nose. Up until recently, Kusuo was under the belief that his brother had given up on destroying quirks. The television call they had months previous was the first time in five years that he had mentioned his original goal.
The coded papers only refueled Kusuo’s memories. As predicted, once cracked, they had nothing to clue him in with Kusuke’s location. However, the code itself was enlightening in its own way. The symbols that Kusuke used to encrypt the pages were designed similar to Greek letters. Whenever the papers referred to Kusuo, he was labeled as the Psi symbol. It reminded Kusuo of the symbols engraved in the underground tunnels they used to use. Sewers abandoned by the government, was a more appropriate term.
It was an underground system used by villains and criminals alike, nicknamed the Labyrinth. Kusuke would make him use his invisibility on the both of them so his brother could steal parts he needed for his projects. Kusuo suspected that the symbols were an easy navigation technique amongst the maze-like underpasses, but that was only a guess. The Labyrinth was already a location marked on his list of Kusuke-related places. It wouldn’t hurt to check it out tonight. Even if he couldn’t find anything to do with his brother, there was a chance he could find someone with something to do with Kusuke.
Maybe then he’d finally get a step closer to winning the game.
The clock ticked steadily. Kusuo opened his desk drawer and hid the files. After cracking his back, he stood back up and walked over to his closet. His only black clothes stared at him. Sighing, he reached for the contacts on his bedside table.
Since his mother hadn’t seen him enter the house, Kusuo sent her a message saying he was staying a little longer at school to train. Not exactly the most believable, but he knew she wouldn’t question it. The tunnels were spread all over Japan; easily accessible but heavily guarded. Criminals were very paranoid. Luckily for him, invisible people could easily slip any precautions.
Shrouded by his quirk, Kusuo peeked his head into an unsuspecting culvert. It was one of those small tunnels that allowed water to pass through. This particular one, however, was completely dry. If he squinted, he could make out a tiny η symbol. Bingo.
It was a tight fit. Kusuo had to crawl on all fours just to squeeze through. After a few minutes, the path finally grew enough for him to stand up. He continued to wander the corridors, until eventually he spotted the first camera. There was still time before his invisibility ran out, so he made it past easily. Next was a group of a dozen mutants, also dressed head to toe in black. A quick overglance told Kusuo that none of them had enhanced senses, so he walked past freely.
Footsteps and whispers filled his mind. Kusuo had arrived. Further down the tunnel, dispersing the darkness, were fire-lit torches. They were the only source of light underground. Kusuo could make out shadows flickering on the walls as people walked past them. Makeshift stalls and crates upon crates emerged into view.
Time was ticking. He found a corner completely cloaked in shadows and stood there. Kusuo didn’t bother to activate his quirk once it fizzled out. This was the sort of place where everyone looked like a cliche thug, he would just fit in with the background. Besides, he predicted he’d be here a while.
Stepping out into the firelight, Kusuo focused completely on the thoughts of the crowd. Villains and crooks of all ages hummed in his mind, overlapping.
‘A fortune teller in this place? What a shitty scam.’
‘Fucking hell… the price for quirk boosters went up.’
‘-yeah yeah, pleasure doing business with ya, bitch. Move it, I have more customers.’
A wrinkly hand yanked Kusuo’s wrist. Darn it. He knew he should’ve dodged. Annoyed, Kusuo turned his masked head in the fortune teller’s direction. Unlike most people, her face was on display. Green eyes sunk into a decomposing face, skin creased and melting off. The woman's hands were shaky; unkept nails digging into the sleeve of his jumper. Her mind was unstable, a mass of hissing and whispering that went round and round in an endless circle.
“Y-you…! I see b-bad things…” Emerald eyes darted around his body, as though committing every bit to memory. “Do not tr-truh … f-fox.” She swallowed, shaking his arm frantically.
Kusuo could feel her quirk pulsing from where her hand clutched onto him like a lifeline. He truly had no idea what she was doing, or what she was seeing. Every thought of hers that entered his mind was corrupted and impossible to interpret.
“M-many many… he plans. R-rabbits should run.” Her grasp was suffocating now. “S-silly rabbits… all caged up. So silly!” Swaying on her swollen feet, the woman’s head creaked back and a hoarse cackle trickled out.
He yanked his hand back from her burning grip. Whatever spell that had taken over her vanished, and the old lady crumpled to the ground in a heap. Hesitant, Kusuo was unsure whether to help her or leave her. But in a matter of seconds, the ongoing crowd stepped over her body, and successfully pushed him away. Kusuo brushed his sleeve. He turned around, tuning back into the waves of thoughts.
Mercenaries for hire. More quirk boosters for sale. Stolen support gear.
‘This shit cost me an arm and a leg. There’s no way I’m selling U.A’s floorplans for anything less than 50 million yen.’
Kusuo snapped his head to a rounded man dressed in a suit and an elephant mask. He was leaned against the wall, half covered by darkness. In his gloved hands was a silver metal case, locked to oblivion. It wasn’t obvious, but to the trained eye, the man in the suit had several bodyguards hidden around him. He was currently in conversation with what looked like a talking flame.
A head of purple fire lit up the elephant mask, bobbing as it spoke. The elephant man made a couple gestures with his free hand, waving it around casually. The fire flickered slightly, before lighting back up brighter than before. Kusuo frowned. He couldn’t hear even a whisper coming from the flame’s mind.
There was nothing. Empty. Like a corpse. He shrugged it off; he’d met others unaffected by his mind-reading, and there were bigger things to focus on at the moment.
‘You bitch of course it’s legit. I got this from that creepy hacker.’
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t flaunt my mouth for nothing. I can assure you that this is accurate to U.A’s current buildings. I bought this myself from a trusted source. If you’re unhappy after the purchase we can always talk again.” The elephant man was definitely flashing a smile from under his mask.
Kusuo watched as the flame head produced his own case, filled to the brim with cash. Eagerly, the elephant man extended his chubby hand for a handshake. The two men (?) shook firmly, then exchanged silver cases. There was a clank as the cases clinked together when they swapped hands.
Swiftly, the flame entity turned around. It strided forwards, walking straight into a purple blobby mess that materialized into the air. A portal. It rippled in the darkness, a void tearing into reality. The moving crowd remained unblinking as the flame head disappeared into thin air. It seemed that this was a common occurrence. Kusuo frowned.
Someone just bought the floorplan for his school. That sounds problematic.
If he wanted to walk the path of justice, Kusuo would’ve tracked down the probably-villain that would do something dangerous with the floorplans. Unfortunately, Kusuo was more interested in how such a mediocre person got their hands on information from a place with one of the highest security in the country. A hacker, he mentioned.
There weren’t that many genius hackers around. Even less with the balls to break into U.A’s system.
Kusuke? He was willing to bet on it.
Kusuo needed to squeeze any information out of that elephant dry.
Slipping past the wave of people, he ventured closer to the man. Several eyes jerked towards Kusuo. Elephant man’s bodyguards were on high alert. One of them stopped Kusuo in his path. A muscular woman with knives and guns hidden in every pocket and compartment of her jacket. Her lower face was covered with a cloth mask, but Kusuo could still make out the sneer.
Originally, he didn’t want to make a commotion. But this was the closest he has gotten to a real lead.
In a flash, Kusuo turned invisible and right-hooked the woman in the jaw. She stumbled back, but quickly came to her senses. Whipping out her knives, she began stabbing wildly at the air. Kusuo dropped to the floor and rolled out of the danger zone. The rest of the bodyguards began to circle the elephant mask protectively.
One of them definitely had a quirk that heightened their hearing, because he growled at the spot that Kusuo was crouched on, signalling an attack. The only warning he had before the shots rang out was the hardened determination throbbing from the woman’s mind. This split second was barely enough time for him to leap into the air; two of the bullets pierced through the hems of his pants, narrowly missing his skin.
Kusuo flipped over one of the bodyguards, grabbing their bald head as leverage. Successfully inside the circle with the elephant man, he grabbed the man and threw him as hard as he could. The bodyguards freaked, fists punching Kusuo straight in the face.
Cursing, he kicked off the hands that had found Kusuo’s invisible body with his unnatural strength. He shoved past them, shooting off to follow the grown adult that he had flung. Elephant man was screaming. The throw was powerful enough that he was still soaring straight through the air. His grubby hands had lost grip of the case, and it fell victim to gravity. Dozens of people from below swarmed to it, fights already breaking out.
Kusuo’s legs were practically on fire. He had caught up to the shrieking man now, directly below with arms outstretched. It was a second or two before the large man came tumbling down. With a grunt, Kusuo caught him. The second their bodies connected, he willed his invisibility quirk to spread like wildfire and it swallowed the stranger whole. Now only identifiable by sound, Kusuo ran down the winding tunnels.
-“Make a noise and I’ll kill you.” He threatened. Instantly, the man shut his mouth, preventing any blubbering from spilling out.
He took a sharp right turn, then a left. This path was narrowing down quickly but he kept pushing. Clairvoyance told him that the bodyguards had split up. Half on the money, the others separating to dash through the tunnels. Labyrinth was a fitting name. It was doubtful they’d find him now.
They came to a stop. Kusuo slammed the elephant man into the ground, listening as he squeaked in terror.
“W-what do you want?! The money! I d-dropped it!” he cried desperately, the elephant mask slightly slipping off his face.
Crouching down to his level, Kusuo deactivated his invisibility. The man jumped in surprise, hands trembling as he tried to scoot away.
-“How did you get hold of that sort of information? I thought U.A had as much security as important government facilities.”
“I… why should I tell y-” His sidetracking was cut-off by a harsh slap to his face. With this force, the mask really went flying off. Two wild eyes and black stubble stared at Kusuo in fear.
-“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“I- of c-course! You see, I bought the floorplans off of this man! H-he’s um, I don’t know his name, but he’s an odd one, that’s for sure! That fucke- fellow had like a w-weird metal headband? I uh, he said he hacked into the school computers. I don’t know how e-exactly… I just bought the documents…” No-longer-elephant man rambled nervously, looking back and forth between Kusuo’s hand and face.
-“Where is he now?”
“Uh?? I don’t exactly keep t-tabs? But! But, the last I saw him was maybe t-two weeks ago? We made the transaction. Quite a hefty one, mind you, but it was at my office. He reached out to me… so I agreed to meet him at my p-place. Is that… enough for you…?”
Kusuo narrowed his eyes. Two weeks ago. Kusuke confirmed in Japan. Hm.
Straightening back up, he turned back on his invisibility. The man had nothing left to share, evident in his thoughts. Now was a good time to head home, as dinner would be ready soon. Not bothering to spare the shaking man a glance, Kusuo left the Labyrinth.