Back to the First Day of Summer Break
Ayano groaned, finally waking. There was a piercing ache in her head, a sharp ringing accompanying it.
She reached to touch the spot of pain, feeling a warm liquid as well as a thin layer of crust. The wound on her head was still bleeding but the initial blood had already dried as it dripped down the side of her face.
She examined the rest of her body for injuries. Feeling a soreness around her torso, she tried lifting her shirt. She gasped in pain, having immense difficulty moving so much.
Eventually, she was able to ever-so-slowly lift her shirt to see the damage. The entire right side of her torso had been blotched with bruises, her skin exhibiting a deep purple tone. There were splashes of red here and there.
She let her shirt drift back down. There was definitely a broken rib or two. Probably some internal bleeding as well.
Luckily, her fingers were mostly unharmed. She sighed with relief. Despite what they had been through, she valued her hands much like a surgeon would. They were nearly everything to an inventor like her.
Aside from some other large cuts and bruises around her body, it seemed like her torso held the greatest extent of damage. Although, it was growing more and more difficult staying conscious with the constant pain and excessive blood loss.
There was no time for weakness though. She was attacked by the League of Villains while in the Development Studio of U.A. and taken to an unknown location. She needed to analyze her surroundings to figure out where she could possibly be. And what of Fujiyoshi Yuudai? He had left the studio just before the villains arrived.
Ayano slowly shifted her head around, taking great care in trying not to agitate her wounds. She seemed to be in some type of warehouse, technology and metals surrounding her. Large pipes crawled along the walls and ceilings, big bins littered the floor, and the sounds of whirring machines echoed.
Sensing someone's presence, she swiveled her head to see them, wincing from her head wound.
"Ohhh, you're awake. Good. I didn't want to wait any longer for you."
Ayano recognized him as the hooded man from the mall. The leader of the League of Villains. Shigaraki Tomura.
He was followed by a few other villains, the only recognizable one being the one with the warping powers. Ayano made a quick mental note of the faces of the unfamiliar villains. Some were not the same ones who came to attack her at U.A.
"Now, now. There's no need for that." Shigaraki said in response to her glaring. He treated her like a child yet, he spoke like one. She disobeyed him.
"Stop that. I really don't like that look." His tone getting a little darker.
"Where is Fujiyoshi Yuudai?" She demanded, her glare intensifying.
Shigaraki backpedaled at that. "Heh, what are you, a hero? Why don't you worry about yourself first!" He lunged at her, his hand wrapping around her neck with only four fingers touching skin.
Ayano hadn't even flinched, her glare never diminishing. Shigaraki clicked his tongue, completely dissatisfied with her reaction. "Che...You're no fun."
"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so much sooner." She explained.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue again. "Well, you're right about that, but people should still get at least a little scared. It's no fun when they don't."
Ayano was beginning to wonder if that blood lust and conviction she saw at the mall was just fleeting. Was he doing this just for sport? How ridiculous.
"But I shouldn't be so rude to our guest." Ayano gave a short laugh at that. "You call someone you severely injured and kidnapped a guest?"
"Well, if you hadn't resisted so much, then maybe it would've been more pleasant." Another villain spoke up. He had black, spiky hair that loomed over his turquoise eyes. Parts of his body held patches of wrinkled, purple skin. A color quite close to the shade of Ayano's large bruises forming on her torso.
Before she could respond, Kurogiri intervened. "We apologize for our rough handling of the situation, but we thought you might not agree to speak with us civilly under different circumstances. Of course, you might not do so now but your wounds prevent you from acting out."
He was right about that. Ayano was in no condition to fight back. Whatever they wanted from her, she'd have to listen. Besides, any information she could get would be useful.
"So, what do you want? I highly doubt you brought me here for some tea party." She remarked sarcastically. Shigaraki opened his arms to each side of him, as if putting himself and the other villains on display. "Sasaki Ayano, won't you join our party of villains?"
"I refuse." She immediately responded, not even wasting a millisecond. A brief, somewhat awkward, silence followed. Shigaraki's arms slowly fell to his side. With a severed hand directly latched onto his face, Ayano couldn't see his expression but she was sure it probably didn't look too happy.
"Come on, now. Don't you think this society values and praises heroes too much? Violence is looked down upon, but when the 'heroes' use it in the name of justice, they're applauded. How is that fair? All they care about is fame and fortune, turning a blind eye to those really in need. You must feel the same way. You were pretty ruthless during the Sports Festival, and those weapons you make are dangerous to boot."
She narrowed her eyes. "I acted that way to prove a point. If you took that sign of aggression as me displaying my villainous inner self, you are sorely mistaken. Also, I do not make weapons. I make support items."
Shigaraki laughed. "Support items? Those are weapons! No way around that. Do you think you're some self-righteous person by saying 'support item' instead of weapon? Support items hurt people. Heroes use them to hurt people. They're weapons."
"I wholeheartedly disagree. With our clashing beliefs, I do not think I would be a suitable member of your organization." Ayano was faintly reminded of her first few conversations with Fujiyoshi. Shigaraki sighed in annoyance.
"You and that Fiji-kid or whatever sure are different." The man with purple patches of skin remarked.
"What have you done with Fujiyoshi Yuudai." Ayano asked, getting back to her first question. The man smirked. "We didn't do anything to him. He turned you in allllll on his own."
Her eye twitched. "Ridiculous. You honestly think I would believe such a blatant lie?" The man shrugged his shoulders and shook his head nonchalantly. "Believe what you want. I'm just telling the truth. How do you think we knew you were going to be at U.A. at exactly that time and how do you think we knew you were going to be alone?"
Ayano processed the information for a moment before responding. "That has no bearing on his will. I am certain that you must hold something against him, if he even did do the things you are suggesting."
The man smirked again, chuckling. "You're really grasping at strings here, you know. You've got some faith in a guy you said you don't like."
"I may dislike him, but that does not mean I cannot have rational judgments. Fujiyoshi Yuudai is not the kind of boy you say he is." She responded with a small bite to her words.
He was about to offer another retort when Shigaraki interrupted. He began scratching at his neck. "This is annoying. Clearly, this isn't going to work. I was trying to play nice too."
"I want you to build us some weapons. For our attack on those cheeky, budding, heroes. Thanks for letting us know their location by the way." He laughed, waiting to see her reaction but not getting one. At least, not the one he wanted.
Somehow, she kept it all together. On the inside, she was screaming. Deeply regretting forcing Midoriya to take the tracking device. Even she was slightly surprised that she hadn't paled or given any other indication of her shock.
"What makes you think that I would help you, given my earlier iron-willed refusal to join you?" She asked decisively after she was sure that her voice wouldn't shake.
Shigaraki walked dangerously close to her. In her condition, Ayano was only able to remain sitting on the ground. "I think you're forgetting that we're villains here. We have ways of forcing you."
She raised a single eyebrow, challenging him. Shigaraki dug into his back pocket, producing two photos. They were candid photos of her parents going about their daily lives. Once again, Ayano took great care in not letting her emotions reveal themselves. She called his bluff.
"Quite the clever scheme you have devised. Though, not clever enough it seems. In his line of work, my father deals with pro heroes every day. He is surrounded by them, and had he chosen another path in life, he easily could have become one himself. You could not touch him even if you wanted to."
"If you did any research on my mother, you would have learned that it would be even more dangerous trying to touch her than my father. She is even scarier than he is."
Shigaraki just stood motionless, the photos still held up in his dry skinned hand. His arm slowly fell, a click of his tongue sounding throughout the warehouse. This time, it was much louder and more distinct, revealing just how annoyed he was getting.
Ayano smirked at him, adding fuel to the fire. He started scratching at his neck again. "Kurogiri." He ordered. The man of black mist complied with Shigaraki's unspoken command, using his quirk to disappear.
He reappeared with a young girl who seemed to be unconscious. She had pale blonde hair, put into two messy buns with strands of her hair sticking out in all directions and a fringe framing her face.
The man with patches of purple skin walked over to the unconscious girl, flipping open a knife and twirling it around.
Tilting his head, Shigaraki addressed Ayano. "I think you understand where this is going. You like to give off the sense that you're heartless but you're not. I'm pretty sure you'll agree once we cut up an innocent girl's pretty face, right?"
Ayano's poker face, once again, didn't betray her. "For someone in charge of the League of Villains, you are awfully terrible at making your lies believable." Honestly, Ayano had no idea if this was another bluff or not. Of course, she would never endanger an innocent civilian's life like this but she couldn't let them know that.
She was just stalling for time, hoping to find something about the unconscious girl that would prove that all of this was a ruse. Her mind was racing and she could feel her heartbeat quickening.
The man with purple skin chuckled. "You think this is a joke? Man, I really thought this would've convinced you."
"That girl is not unconscious. She is playing possum. Her breathing is just the slightest bit off from being completely regular, meaning she is not in deep sleep. This leads me to believe that she is just another villain." Ayano articulated.
The man shrugged. "Hey, whatever you say. Her life is in your hands right now." He tightly gripped the knife, aimed for the girl's face, and swung down his arm.
Just before the tip of the knife was plunged between her eyes, the girl grabbed his wrist. In one fluid motion, she pulled out another knife and swung it upwards at his throat. Just as she did, the man grabbed her wrist, the knife stopping a hair's breadth away from his Adam's apple. The two of them were frozen in that position, gauging the other with the knives mere centimeters away from the both of them.
"Heyyyy!! You were really about to do it just now, weren't you!!" She accused. The man smirked and shrugged casually. "I was just playing the part. Had to make it believable. Besides, it's not like we couldn't just find another villain to take your place."
The girl ignored him, prancing toward Ayano with a wide smile. "Hey there, Aya-chan! My name is Toga! I can call you Aya-chan, right? I'm gonna call you Aya-chan! Good job in figuring out our trick! I even said you wouldn't fall for it. A girl's intuition you know? Let's be friends! You look super pretty with all that blood covering you!! Can I have some???"
Ayano regarded her with careful eyes. She decided that it would be best not to respond to Toga's twisted idea of friendship. She simply turned her head to look at Shigaraki with her impassive face, as if to challenge him to use another unsuccessful trick up his sleeve.
Although internally, Ayano sighed with immense relief.
Shigaraki growled, finally having enough of these shenanigans. His nails were breaking through the skin on his neck, small trickles of blood flowing down his throat. "Everyone get out."
"Shigaraki Tomura—" Kurogiri began to protest but Shigaraki interrupted him. "I won't do anything that serious. After all, she's our...precious pawn..." His face was covered by a severed hand, but Ayano could just feel his manic smile behind it.
Kurogiri remained for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not Shigaraki really meant what he said. After some thinking, he used his quirk and opened up a portal.
"Awww!! I wanted to join in the fun! No fair!!!" Toga verbally protested, but went through the portal nonetheless. The man with purple skin silently followed, looking back once before disappearing.