Blood is enchanting, Dazai decides. His vision flees past older marks on his arm, instead, he inspects the vermillion beads of liquid drying on his skin. He loves and hates it at the same time. Which to anybody else must seem totally fucked up, but Dazai is content with his situation. It is sick enjoyment to him, to see how much blood will slip out of his flesh. Count the drops that land on those cool bathroom tiles. Watch them spread.
Although the deep scars etched across him stay, he is never satisfied. A greedy little boy, they used to call him. Always wanting more.
Dazai robotically bandages himself up, like thousands of times before. The mundaneness of it all is frightening in itself.
Miraculously, Chuuya and he were granted separate bathrooms in this tiny apartment. Since he has his own, it's much less bothersome to keep clean. He tidies up a bit and walks out to find Chuuya devouring a bowl of cornflakes. He obviously doesn't care enough to greet Dazai or even look at him, but when he does decide to turn his head, he bursts into laughter at the sight of his work partner.
"You... you have to wear THAT? Hah...hahaha! Oh my god, you look like an idiot." Chuuya howls, ignoring the frustrated glare Dazai sends his way from the living room couch.
"Chuuya is such a bully! His brain must be too small to comprehend how great I look. Girls will be swooning, men will be dazzled." He says snootily. Referring to Chuuya in the third person is another way to get inside his head, and piss him off at the same time.
"Like hell anybody would love you when you look like a decaying mummy!" Chuuya swipes his fist at Dazai. He dodges, obviously.
Dazai sighs, tutting at Chuuya.
"They're mysterious! They keep my charm at bay! Who knows what someone would do if they saw how sexy my collarbone looks?! We'd need an ambulance!!"
"Whatever." Chuuya goes back to eating. Now that Dazai takes a closer look at him, his eyebags are massive. A long day then... No wonder he didn't respond like a yapping chihuahua.
Dazai groans at the prospect of school. He wants to sink into the couch and suffocate. He puts his face into the cushion in a half hearted attempt, but then he just feels stupid.
"Chuuyaa." Dazai whines as he's ignored by the ginger. "Chuuuuyaaaa. Chibi. Hatrack. Shortstack. Milk consumer." That gives him a raised eyebrow at the last one.
"Can you pass me my textbooks?" He asks, sprawling across the couch, "My legs are numb. My arms are falling off. My spirit is depleting at the idea of school. You have to help my poor soul!!"
Chuuya ignores him, opting to finish his eggs on toast. Dazai claws at Chuuya's form in the air, before dropping his arm entirely as he goes back to trying to suffocate himself.
"I guess I'll just die then." His voice comes out muffled.
"Have fun with that." Chuuya scowls. He is clearly not a morning person either.
Dazai crawls over toward his small stack of textbooks, whining the whole way there. Chuuya, in retaliation, kicks him in the direction he was originally heading. He's tempted to thank that little ginger. Dazai stuffs them into his backpack and sulks all the way out of their apartment building. What a dreary start to the day.
Dazai feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He almost groans at the prospect of answering, but decides to face whatever punishment he's been served now rather than later. He presses the answer button while scowling incredibly hard in an attempt to develop laser eyes and melt his phone.
"Mori." He sighs, continuing his walk to school.
"Good morning Dazai, I assume you know why I'm calling you. What was your motive for letting those children go?" Usually, phone lines aren't safe to talk about important details, so they have to be vague. At least outside of Yokohama. Since everyone knows about the Port Mafia, there's no point in keeping it a secret. The government knows somewhat about it and hasn't made any attempts to stop them either. Except...
"Hmmm.... To piss you off!" Dazai replies lightly and casually, like talking about the weather. He's actually scowling at the air, but Mori can't see him. Knowing the man though, he's aware of exactly what Dazai's doing.
"If you really insist, I won't push for an actual answer. I can... move past this little incident. Think of it as a learning experience. If I were to punish you though... there would be a lot to clean up. At least one of us would have fun."
"What did I ever do to deserve such a kind and caring Boss!" Dazai sarcastically thanks him.
"It's because you're so cute, Osamu!"
Dazai hangs up the phone. Bleh, this day is going to be horrible. Just like every other day, unfortunately.
He wonders once again why heroes are so flashy, while he looks up at the towering building of UA. Very uninviting. It feels like it's going to fall and crash onto him.
Ok, he doesn't really have room to complain. The Port Mafia has massive skyscrapers. But at least they are somewhat covert! Wait.. hero schools don't have to be hidden though, cause they're, y'know, legal. It still sort of feels like a waste of space. He guesses he can't judge until he actually sees the rest of the facilities.
He strolls into the giant building alongside many nervous faces. It seems like he isn't the only lost one. The 1-A door is huge!
It is loud. Like, very loud. Filled with eager kids chatting amongst themselves. He stands in the doorway, unsure of what to do. Is he supposed to take a random seat? Dazai just decides to sit near the back. He blames Mori for the lack of social skills with people his own age. Chuuya is not a good person to have a nice conversation with...
Luckily he doesn't have to awkwardly wait for class to start, because a caterpillar (?) slides in. Dazai watches in morbid fascination as the yellow object slithers right behind the three kids having a conversation. For some reason, no one else seems to notice! Is this normal in Musutafu?? The caterpillar (?) pops up to reveal... an old homeless-looking man. Dazai almost mistakes him for an intruder, before recognising his scarf.
Eraserhead, his mind supplies him. Holy shit, that is the hero that he shot at a few weeks ago. Luckily he decided to not wear the bandages over his eye to school, or he would most definitely be recognised. He doesn't seem to look at Dazai weirdly either, so he takes it as a fairly good sign.
"If you're just here to make friends, pack up your stuff now."
He talks! What a shocking discovery. The trio hovering over near the doorway jump in the air. He swears he sees their souls leave their bodies.
"Welcome to UA's hero course. It took eight seconds for you to shut up, time is precious for heroes. I'm Shouta Aizawa... your teacher." He says with the most bored expression possible.
This guy really has a flair for dramatics. He could totally become an actor with a bit of training. The rest of the class looks at him with varying degrees of disturbance. So it isn't normal in Musutafu.
"Put these on," He reaches into his sleeping bag and pulls out a sports tracksuit (Who the fuck keeps a sports tracksuit in their sleeping back?) "and head outside."
There is a stack of uniforms that look identical to the one he pulled out near the chalkboard, labelled with each person's name. Dazai can't believe his terrible luck! On the first day, he already has to change in the locker rooms. Students hastily sort through the uniforms at the front of the room, chucking them in random directions. Fortunately, Dazai's uniform is one that had been thrown to the ground, so it is easy to retrieve.
Honestly, he sucks at directions, so Dazai ends up trailing after the green-headed kid and his little gang of friends. Speaking of friends, Dazai is still yet to make any acquaintances.
"Wow, our teacher seems wayyy too grumpy! Do you think all hero school teachers are like that? I might just die if that's the case." He says, approaching a yellow-haired boy with a black streak in his hair and a pink-skinned girl.
"I hope not, I'm already nervous about school this year. What's your name? I'm Kaminari Denki!"
"And I'm Ashido Mina! I'm pretty excited, we get to train to be actual heroes!" She enthusiastically says.
"My name is Dazai, it's a pleasure to meet you." He replies with a charming smile.
He watches the two of them converse, adding in a word or two every little while. Dazai jogs to the locker rooms when they enter his field of vision. Locker rooms... are going to be a total pain with all his bandages. Unfortunately for him, the room is almost filled up with students. Dazai selects a locker in a corner of the locker room and prays that no one notices his bandages. The issue is, if he changes in the bathrooms it's even more noticeable. Then people will start asking questions.
"Dude... what's with the bandages?"
Ah. It was bound to happen eventually. Dazai turns to the red haired boy to offer him an easygoing smile.
"Haven't you heard? Bandages are very stylish at the moment, it's a fashion statement!" He jokes. "And it helps my quirk." He tacks on for anybody who can't take a joke.
"That's so manly!" He answers, looking all impressed.
He puffs out his chest in respect(?) to Dazai, before putting the rest of his clothes back into his locker. Most of the other students mind their own business, but he can see a few curious glances.
"That's bullshit." The spiky blonde boy exclaims to himself, rather loudly. "Nobody wears bandages for fashion."
"He said it was for his quirk too." A boy with a tail points out, pointedly looking at the kid. "Not everything needs to be explained, anyways."
Dazai chooses to ignore the quiet conversation drifting through the locker rooms, opting to change as quickly as he can. Man, they are ugly. Even Chuuya has better fashion than whatever these are... and of course, since the world hates him, the sports uniforms are short-sleeved. Perhaps he should have specifically ordered a long sleeve one...
He joins the small crowd standing around Aizawa and waits for the rest of his new classmates to change. Once everyone is standing outside, he starts to talk.
"We're doing a quirk assessment test now."
A girl interrupts, "But we'll miss orientation!"
Others nod their head in agreement. Dazai doesn't particularly care, either way, he just wants to go home. He guesses UA does have a flexible learning routine then. He did kind of want to meet Nezu though... or not. It would be a nice challenge at least.
"Heroes don't have the luxury to go to things like orientation. UA prides itself on the flexibility it gives its teachers. You did tests like these in middle school, right? Standard fitness tests that you weren't allowed to use your quirk in. They're still measured without quirks nationwide. It's not rational" Aizawa explains logically and scans the group for someone. "Bakugou, you scored first in the entrance exam. What was your best score for the softball throw in junior high?"
Ah, Bakugou is that boy's name. He decides he should at least memorises everyone's names and quirks, just in case Mori needs the information.
"67 metres," Bakugou says. He looks neither impressed nor unimpressed at the whole lack of orientation. Despite how annoying he is, Dazai can tell he's trained his whole life to be a hero. His stance and confidence tell him so.
"Then try doing it with your quirk. You can do anything as long as you don't leave that circle." Aizawa motions to the circle next to him.
He takes the softball and inhales deeply, before aggressively screaming 'Die!'. The ball flies out of sight with a controlled and pointed explosion propelling it. The rest of the class look vaguely scared and concerned about his outburst.
"Know your limits," Aizawa says almost bored before holding up the device and measuring the distance of Bakugou's throw.
"705 metres? Seriously?" Kaminari speaks, shocked.
A few voices speak up about how it looks fun, but Aizawa quickly shuts them down.
"This looks fun? You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that throughout the whole time?" He grins, "Alright, then whoever comes in last place in these tests will be judged to have no potential and expelled!" The crowd all gapes, the threat of expulsion breaking their carefree attitudes. What a turn of events! "Welcome to UA's hero course!"
Dazai really hopes he doesn't get expelled. That would be awkward to explain. And he is actually quite enjoying his time away from Mori, despite his continuous gripes about being in Musutafu.
"But it's only the first day! That's unfair, even if it wasn't the first day it's still going too far!" The same girl from earlier argues.
"Natural disasters, big accidents and selfish villains. Life is unfair, get over it. Heroes are there to combat that unfairness, and if you think you can just slack off over the next few years you'll be fast to leave UA."
Dazai hopes he won't have to stay at UA for the whole time. To backtrack on before, yes he doesn't want to see Mori. Yes, he hates this school. There's not really a positive alternative here.
Maybe he'll die before his mission is over! Best outcome out of them all!! He observes the students around him. A few of them have faces filled with determination and others seem like they are about to wet themselves. Dazai was actually looking forward to orientation too, to get an idea of all the facilities. He hears UA even has a private gym! Or three! Not that he'd use it though...
He's in the second race for the 50 metre dash, against Kirishima. He wishes the red-haired boy good luck and shoots off when the timer rings. Dazai is surprisingly fast, considering his agility is one of his better aspects. Unlike Chuuya, he doesn't have some crazily strong physique. His mind is his best weapon, so why become a brute too? 5.84 seconds is what the timer reads. Kirishima comes behind him two seconds later.
He does slightly above average for the grip test and mostly average for the rest. The only ones he remotely stood out in were anything to do with agility.
Since he wouldn't do outstanding in any of the tests, he would probably end up near the bottom. As long as he doesn't get last, Dazai has no care for winning childish games like these. For the final test, they go back to the ball throw. Dazai had observed his classmates throughout the previous trials and he has to admit they're all very creative. Uraraka (He finally learns her name after he overheard her introducing herself to some other random person) throws the ball to infinity, earning awe-filled comments from her classmates.
When Dazai takes his turn, he doesn't really know what to do. His ability is non-combative and he has no weapons to aid him. So he just throws the ball normally, which gives him a respectable score of 58 metres. The green-haired kid Midoriya, Dazai recalls, walks into the circle looking way tenser than anyone here. He is also the only other person besides Dazai who hasn't used his quirk yet. Maybe he's quirkless?
Midoriya moves to throw the ball, and Dazai can actually feel his quirk powering up. Until it just stops. Midoriya isn't expecting that either, he looks down at his hand.
"I erased your quirk," Aizawa reveals. "The entrance exam obviously wasn't rational enough for a kid like you to be accepted."
"You erased my quirk? Wait... those goggles! You can erase people's quirks just by looking at them! You're the eraser hero: Eraserhead!"
The class whispers to each other, trying to figure out who the man is by his hero's name. Apparently, Eraserhead isn't a well known name. The only reason Dazai knows about him is because of the unlucky encounter he had with him, and that he's vaguely heard Eraserhead mentioned in the mafia. Something to do with underground heroes poking their noses into things that don't concern them.
Aizawa continues his little monologue, "You can't control your quirk right? Are you going to become incapacitated every time you use it and have someone else save you?"
"That's not my intention!" Midoriya stammers as Aizawa pulls him in with his capture weapon.
"With that power, you can't be a hero." He says and silence persists in the area as Midoriya stares in shock and disappointment. "I've returned your quirk. You have two tries for the ball throw, hurry up and get it over with."
Midoriya just stands there, shaken and attempting to figure out a strategy He begins to throw the ball, and Dazai once again can feel this power. When the ball shoots out of his hands, Dazai feels something like a 'snap!' register by no longer human. Like a rubber band being pulled back and as soon as he let go of the ball, the rubber band was sent flying back to where it came from. It's such an odd feeling. The sheer amount of strength possessed in the quirk isn't the only thing that's odd. It's also like there's a presence in the quirk.
It soars through the air and students around him look captivated by it.
Midoriya turns to Aizawa caressing his broken finger. "Aizawa-sensei, I can still move!"
Their teacher grins sort of creepily if Dazai is being honest. But everything is over and Dazai is very curious about this quirk of Midoriya's. One that destroys the user's body? Sounds a lot like Arahabaki. Is he a part of the reason why Mori sent him here...?
Dazai is about to turn back to the changerooms so he can go home and have a well deserved drink (and maybe kill himself), but a flash of yellow catches his eye. Peeking out of the side of the building is All Might, making a relieved face.
Just who is Midoriya Izuku?