\\ Rini //
\\ Before The Fight //
.
.
.
After Nezu and all the adults had their meeting, they called Edgeshot and Kamui Woods along with a few other Heroes to join our fight. When we had the team, I had to look forward in time again to help them create the perfect plan with the help of Nezu's genius pointers.
To clarify, I had to look again because the future was already being altered and since there were so many variables I needed to give them the best plan of action based on my vision.
In the end, the plan resulted in this:
Our class would still arrive at USJ with Mr. Aizawa and meet Thirteen so once the villains arrive they won't suspect anything. While we enter the building, the Pro's and the UA faculty would split into teams to confront the villains dropped in the different rescue zones. To increase our likelihood of success, All Might would be positioned in the treeline and tackle the big guy into a headlock. While the head villain gets distracted, on the roof of USJ, Pro Hero Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, Sir Nighteye, and some of the UA staff would drop in on the main villains from the skylight.
Then the fight would commence.
From what I saw, the villain army would be dealt with, but the main villains would prove to be the most difficult to capture thanks to the big bird beak guy called Nomu. He was fast. Like All Might fast. And that's where my vision got rocky. The outcome I saw resulted in the villain covered in hands ordering Nomu to kill Sir Nighteye.
I told them this would happen. I told them they needed to work fast in order to prevent it from coming true. But after spectating the fight from the top of the stairs, it was clear they weren't fast enough as everything was playing out exactly the way it wasn't supposed to play out.
However, I was not going to stand by and allow that future to become a reality. Not on my watch.
While my classmates were being evacuated outside by Thirteen, I ran towards the fight with Hitoshi hollering after me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
I couldn't answer him as I ran full speed down the stairs towards Sir Nighteye and Mr. Aizawa. My legs were pumped full of adrenaline and it was a miracle I didn't trip down the stairs.
At that very moment as I dashed down the stairs, the head villain was still on the ground staring at the warp guy. He was checking him to see if he was conscious and breathing.
"Rini!" Hitoshi cried out from behind me somewhere.
I couldn't look back. I didn't have that kind of precious time to spare. The clock was ticking and every second was just as precious as gold.
Come on. Come on. Come on, I thought as I made it to the bottom.
Just then, All Might said his line:
"Give up villain, your escape route has been cut off and your surrounded by these fine Heroes of justice."
I had exactly nine seconds left before he made his command.
Everything looked like a blur as I ran past all the chaos like it was nothing. I watched from my peripheral view as our Pro Hero teachers tackled villains to the ground or used their quirks to detain them. If someone fell in my path, I jumped or weaved to get past them.
Then I finally crossed Mr. Aizawa.
He was the closest to Sir Nighteye, only fighting ten feet away from him in a back to back fashion. He took the ones on the left while Sir Nighteye took the ones on the right. His scarf flew out towards me unintentionally and I cartwheeled into a somersault to avoid it. My long hair flowed along with my actions and magically didn't tangle during my gymnastic routine.
While I was still midair and upside down, everything slowed down as my eyes met his. I saw the moment he realized it was me flash across his eyes and watched how his stoic expression morphed into one of stunned horror. He couldn't get a word out. He was probably too shocked to see me running full speed ahead into danger when I was supposed to be escorted to safety by Thirteen.
Within the milliseconds of my body still vaulting through the air, I sent him a look that could be read as "sorry sensei but you all weren't fast enough" before briefly closing my eyes.
When I finally stuck the landing, I continued my sprint and started my mental countdown as Hitoshi, and now Mr. Aizawa, were shouting after me to stop.
Five.
The main villain turned his head and searched the crowd with his piercing red eyes.
Four.
He finally spotted Sir Nighteye and slowly lifted a finger to point at him.
Three.
He said "Nomu" and got the beast of a mans attention.
Two.
Grinning from ear to ear, he finally gave the command "kill that man" in a bone chilling voice.
One.
In the blink of an eye, I leaped straight for my mentor with tiny tears of relief and fear in my eyes. My arms were outstretched wide and I squeezed my eyes shut as I flew closer and closer. Suddenly, I full on tackled him out of harms way as a gust of dust appeared right where he was once standing and the Nomu froze and looked around in confusion.
A few milliseconds later and we were tumbling across the ground as All Might sprinted into action. He engaged Nomu again and then threw him into a pile driver move, burying his beaked head in the ground. The impact caused the ground to crack and dust to kick up. Everyone paused in their own fights to witness the number one Heroes might.
While that was going on, Sir Nighteye and I stopped rolling across the battlefield. I released him at the right moment and positioned my hand on the ground so I could hop into a kneeling position. My knees hit the ground hard and I felt my fingertips on my right hand scrape against the pavement roughly as I slowed myself to a stop.
Sir Nighteye did the same move in my peripheral and he stopped himself just a foot behind me. When I knew he was fine, I stood up quickly and studied my finger tips that were now bleeding. I knew I should have gone with fully gloved hands in my costume design.
"Damn that hurt," I huffed with a wince.
"RINI?!" He yelled while grabbing my arm and spinning me around.
I flinched at the suddenness and looked up at him with a guilty expression. His face held the same kind of horror Mr. Aizawa's had when he realized I was joining this fight. It was a look of horror that a father would have if he saw his child playing with fire. And the longer I stared into his scared eyes the more I felt guilty.
"THAT WAS EXTREMELY RECKLESS AND DANGEROUS! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!" He yelled, but his voice did not match his expression. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.
As the other Pro Heroes were finishing up their fights around us and All Might was dealing punches at Nomu, I frowned and looked down at the ground in shame. He was honestly right. If I didn't time that right we could've both been killed. Thankfully though I did time it right and we're standing here alive, so I expressed that to him.
"I'm sorry but you guys were too slow and my vision was about to come true so I did what I thought was nec-"
Before I could finish my lightning fast apology, he pulled me into a comforting hug. One hand was cradling my head while the other wrapped protectively across my back. I blinked a few times in mild shock then accepted the warm and brief hug. It lasted for a few seconds before he pulled back then rested his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.
"I. . . I'm sorry I yelled. . . you scared me half to death, Rini. . . But thank you. . . You saved my life," he apologized in a quiet and deeply grateful tone.
I stared blankly at him in return for a few more seconds before I offered a sad smile. I wanted to say something, anything, but the words were stuck in my throat.
Just then, Mr. Aizawa and Hitoshi caught up to us and skid to a halt. Sir Nighteye released me right before Hitoshi clutched me into a hug and Mr. Aizawa gently wrapped his arms protectively over us with his hands on either our heads. I felt smothered but in a good way.
"Don't you ever do that again, you hear me," Hitoshi grumbled into my neck.
"What he said, you problem child," Mr. Aizawa whispered while he rested his chin on my head.
At their words, I huffed out a tiny laugh before smiling brightly and closing my eyes in the process.
"Your laughing at a time like this?! Unbelievable," Hitoshi pulled back and scolded me, but I didn't care.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as they held me close. I still felt a pang of guilt in my chest for scaring them so I made a mental note to apologize and make it up to them properly when this fight was over.
Which was far from over.
"Hey! Where did you come flying out from!? And how the hell did you manage to outrun Nomu!? He's supposed to be faster than All Might!" The head villain yelled at us from his spot across the battlefield.
At that moment while I was still wrapped in their arms, I took the opportunity to look ahead for a short hour so I could predict moves and help in combat. But instead of seeing this fight ending in victory, I saw the villains escaping.
When I opened my eyes, Mr. Aizawa and Hitoshi released me from the hug and took up their fighting stances. Sir Nighteye did the same and glanced at me to say without words to get myself into position too, but when he saw my face he furrowed his brows. He knew instantly what my look meant.
Suddenly, All Might and Nomu came barreling across the field again. This time Nomu was digging his claws into his side harshly, blood beginning to stain his Hero costume and drip onto the ground. The number one Hero grunted in pain and gripped at his wrists and managed to get free again. Then he continued his barrage of punches and the force from them started making strong wind gusts. The Pro Heroes that were left standing started getting pushed back, including us, while the two power-stocked men duked it out.
"Nomu has shock absorption you idiot! He was created to take you on at full strength and the only way you can defeat him is to gouge out his flesh! You've met your match!" The villain yelled in an aggravated tone at All Might.
"Thanks for the tip! But I've actually known this whole time, I was just trying to wear him out! But now I know I'm going to have to push myself past one hundred percent, and force you to surrender!" The number one Hero announced in his booming voice.
The moment he said that, he delivered a stronger punch that literally blew us away. We all fought the hurricane-like force winds and tried to stay on our feet, but it was impossible. We had our hands on the ground trying to grip onto something and kneeled to avoid getting thrown backwards.
During the jaw dropping display of power, the main villain also got blown backwards but he made sure to grab the warp guy. And be it because of the wind gusts or some other factor, it looked like he woke up.
"The warp user woke up! We can't let them escape!" I hollered over the wind while pointing at the villains.
Sir Nighteye and Mr. Aizawa looked at where I was pointing and their brows shot up in realization. Hitoshi saw too and his mouth fell open in worry.
"Can you cancel his quirk over all this wind Eraserhead?" Sir Nighteye asked before another wind gust blew us back for a moment.
"I can try!" He yelled back as he fixed his goggles and activated his quirk.
We all watched with bated breath as his hair floated up into the air, but after another strong gust it fell down, signaling that he couldn't keep his eyes open. He didn't stop though, and he tried again as All Might and Nomu took their fight into the air.
At the sight of All Might launching Nomu into the air only to punch him back into the ground made Hitoshi and I stare at him in awe. The shockwave from the impact once again caused Mr. Aizawa to blink and let his hair fall down. When we looked at the villains, the pale blue haired man was clearly helping the warp guy up and he was shouting at him to get them out of there.
We were running out of time.
"He's going to make the warp gate in exactly ten seconds!" I announced over the chaos.
Just then, All Might landed directly beside Nomu who was literally floating a few feet off the ground from the sheer force of impact.
"Now, for a lesson. You may have heard these words before, but I'll teach you what they really mean! Go Beyond, Plus Ultra!" All Might yelled before dealing his final blow.
In one solid punch to the gut, Nomu went soaring through the air at lightning speed. He flew straight through the dome and created a gaping hole, causing the lights to explode in the process. The entire building started to shake and the ground tremored.
Everyone stood in a stunned silence at his impressive and unbelievable strength. Well, everyone except us as we were focused on the two villains.
Now that the wind gusts were gone, Mr. Aizawa blinked a couple times before locking his gaze onto the warp villain.
But he was too late.
During the last second of All Mights fight, the villain managed to open a portal. The head villain stepped through it backwards and the last thing we saw was the piercing red eyes hidden behind the hand on his face. They held such fury and frustration that could rival anyone elses. But at the last second, he looked directly at me with pure hatred.
In that moment of our eyes meeting, I physically felt what he clearly expressed in his eyes:
'I'll kill you'
Then the warp gate closed.
And we failed to capture the two villains responsible for this fight.
.
.
.
\\ 3rd Person POV //
\\ LOV Hideout //
.
.
.
"THEY KNEW WE WERE COMING!"
Tomura started throwing a tantrum the second Kurogiri warped them back into the bar. However, since he was scolded and warned by his Sensei that whatever he disintegrated he had to replace it himself, he started doing the only thing that helped curb his anger.
Clawing at his own neck with no regard for his wellbeing.
With both hands furiously scratching at his neck, he tried to find some form of calm from the self harming habit he's always had since he was a kid. Scratching and clawing at his own neck like some animal scratching at their collar always helped soothe him for some reason. He couldn't help it.
"My apologies Shigaraki Tomura, but the schedule-"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE SCHEDULE! THEY KNEW AND THEY GOT IN THE WAY SOMEHOW!" he cut off Kurogiri.
The misty man, still a little groggy from Edgeshot's tampering, supported himself on the edge of the bar counter and kept his head low while Tomura ranted.
"Those damn heroes knew and they were waiting for us! We escaped by a hair! And all those underlings I went through the trouble of gathering, gone! Even All Might was powerful, he wasn't weak like you said, Sensei. You were wrong. So wrong!"
He continued clawing at his neck and grumbling curses under his breath as he tried to process all that happened. He replayed the fight in his head. He recalled the little details that weren't a coincidence. Like how All Might was obviously hiding to the side to specifically engage a fight with Nomu. Or how two major Pro Heroes like Edgeshot and Kamui Woods were there specifically to get him and Kurogiri. And most notably the fact the pink haired girl, who he already found strange, somehow knew he was going to order Nomu to kill Sir Nighteye yet tackled him to safety.
Suddenly, he stopped scratching.
Tomura slowly let his hands lower to his sides as he stared blankly at the bar counter. His mind ran laps at the possibility of mistakenly blaming his failure on Sir Nighteye, the only known Pro Hero with a perception quirk, when he should be blaming it on someone else.
That someone else being the pink haired girl.
As he replayed the events in his mind, the pink haired girl wasn't faster than Nomu. No. She simply timed herself perfectly to get him out of the way before Nomu struck. And prior to that, she was standing at the top of the stairs unsurprised and unfazed as if she had seen everything coming.
"Are you done throwing your tantrum, Tomura?"
A voice the dusty man-child knew all too well echoed through the darkly lit bar and snapped him from his thoughts.
The voice belonging to his Sensei All For One.
He turned and looked directly at the TV fixed on the wall displaying "Sound Only" on its screen. His red eyes squinted at it and he felt his expression sour.
It wasn't a tantrum, he thought bitterly.
"I'll take your silence as a yes," the voice added and Tomura rolled his eyes.
"I was thinking, Sensei. . . Sir Nighteye was there and I thought for a moment that he was the one responsible for my failure. . ." He trailed in his raspy voice, but he immediately caught his Sensei's attention.
"Nighteye? He was there?"
"Yes. Him and a couple other Pro Heroes that weren't faculty got the drop on us. They almost had us."
"Really? I find that interesting. . . I'm aware of his perceptive quirk, but as far as I can tell he can't interfere with the future. My battle with All Might five years ago is evident of that."
All For One spoke the truth, he knew of Sir Nighteye's quirk. The only reason why he didn't try to steal it in the past was due to the fact he found it useless in the long run. He didn't know how it worked but he did figure out that the Pro Hero could only perceive things like a glorified oracle and things were strictly left to run their own course. In other words, he didn't have any control over it. So hearing Tomura almost lost was interesting and could mean one of two things: Tomura was always meant to lose this fight, or Sir Nighteye tried and failed to change the future.
"There was someone else too."
Tomura finally threw that out there, causing his Sensei to hum a curious "oh" in reply. He took that as his cue to continue uninterrupted.
"There was one UA brat with long pink hair that didn't look fazed at our arrival. Then during the fight, she somehow got to Sir Nighteye before Nomu could kill him. She got to him and saved his pathetic life," he explained.
"Where is Nomu anyways?" Another voice, more gravely and elderly sounding, echoed from the TV.
He was the Doctor responsible for creating Nomu; who Tomura found extremely annoying.
"He was blown away," Kurogiri answered bluntly.
"What!?"
"It was All Mights doing. Without coordinates-"
"Forget about Nomu," All For One silenced them with his cold tone.
Everyone immediately understood by his tone that he did not want to be interrupted again. Kurogiri straightened his posture and Tomura tilted his chin up in acknowledgment.
"Tell me more about the girl you saw, Tomura. And don't leave out any small details."
Shigaraki tilted his head at his Sensei's command and thought back on every second he saw the pink haired girl during the lightning fast battle.
He started from the beginning and told him exactly what he noticed. Like how she was standing at the top of the stairs unfazed with her hands balled into fists confidently. How she looked down at him with a pitiful look just before All Might burst out of the treeline. How he didn't notice her rushing out to save Sir Nighteye when he ordered Nomu to kill him. How she shouted over the wind gusts during All Might and Nomu's fight while clearly gesturing to him and Kurogiri. Then finally how he gave her one last glare before escaping through the warp gate.
By the end of it, All For One was extremely intrigued and a devious smile stretched across his face into a grin.
Based on how Tomura described the incident and how he described the girl, she obviously had some part in his failure. He knew Sir Nighteye could have some influence in the situation since Pro Heroes arrived, but it became more and more clear that this pink haired girl was possibly a hidden pawn in their game of chess.
"It seems like your incursion wasn't a complete waste of time after all. You may have stumbled upon something worthwhile," All For One said with a light chuckle and didn't elaborate.
Tomura squinted his eyes at the TV screen in question.
"What do you mean, Sensei?"
All For One, on his end, sat back in his chair and put a hand to his chin. While surrounded in darkness, he smiled at the possibility of believing the pink haired girl - Rini - had a perception quirk.
In all his years of actively searching and failing to find the perfect perception quirk, suddenly his successor is practically delivered one on a silver platter after his failed attempt to kill the Symbol of Peace. At least that's what it seems.
"In the next few days, the UA sports festival will be broadcasted for all to see. I want you to watch and study the first year group the pink haired girl is in and report back everything you see. If my assumption is correct, she may have the perfect perception quirk I've been scouring the earth for and I must get my hands on it."
Tomura quirked a brow. Perfect perception quirk? Why did he have to watch the UA brats fight each other in a sports festival just to catch glimpses of the pink haired girl? What was he supposed to look for in the girl anyways?
Unknowingly, he started scratching at his neck again.
"Why do I have to watch those brainwashed kids with Hero syndrome fight each other? And if she seems so special to you why don't we just kidnap her and move onto the next level?" he grumbled.
All For One sighed at his successor.
"One, I want you to see what we could be up against in the future. And two, if the girl doesn't display any obvious quirk alongside her fellow classmates during the sports festival then that will answer my question and eliminate all of my doubt. You can't waste time by jumping to conclusions and making impulsive decisions," He explained.
Tomura slowly stopped clawing at his neck and tsked quite loudly. He understood what his Sensei meant now but still felt annoyed.
"Take this task seriously. She may prove to be a formidable player in your game. You've already lost one match because you underestimated them, don't repeat the same mistake," he added, causing Tomura to scowl at the floor.
Today was not his day.
Everything he worked for and planned went up in smoke in a matter of minutes when he stepped foot on UA soil. And now, after returning with his tail between his legs and explaining the UA girl with pink hair may have some perception quirk, he has to be a glorified spectator for the infamous UA Sports Festival.
Today was definitely not his day.
"Fine. I'll watch the brat."
All For One smiled.
"Good."
Unbeknownst to Rini, this was the start of all her troubles.
.
.
.