A few minutes later, Aizawa came in.
"For today's hero basic training... It's turned into a class with three instructors, All Might, me and one more person." He spoke.
As soon as he said that, a hand was raised, "Excuse me! What will we be doing?" A boy, Sero, asked.
Aizawa immediately showed them a small paper with the words 'Rescue' on them, "Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between. It's rescue training."
Everyone started chattering about what they were about to do and that seemed to irk Aizawa.
"Hey, I'm not done," he deadpanned, staring straight at them, "You can decide if you want to wear your costumes or not this time," he clicked a button on a remote and the compartment with their hero costumes slid out of the wall, "Because there are probably costumes that limit your abilities, too. The training will take place off campus, so we're taking a bus. That is all. Start getting ready."
Nothing bad would come out of him wearing his costume, so he decided to do so.
_
They stood in front of the school, waiting for the bus to arrive.
As soon as it arrived, Iida started giving instructions about how they should be sitting, but his plan went to waste when they got inside. The bus was different than what everyone expected. The seats weren't like those in a normal bus, which was something Arashi found himself being glad about. If the seating arrangement was to be used, he would be next to Bakugou.
That isn't something either of them want, he'd guess.
Arashi sat, leaned against the window, quietly staring outside and watching as the scenery changed with each passing second. He would've preferred if everyone was quiet, alas, it wasn't meant to be.
"I say whatever comes to mind," Asui spoke, turning to face Midoriya, "Midoriya..."
"Um, yes, Asui?!" The boy's nervousness caused him to be a bit too loud.
"Call me 'Tsu'." The girl told him.
Once again, nervous, Midoriya averted his eyes, "Ugh...! Um..." He mumbled out.
"Your quirk is like All Might's." She declared, unblinkingly staring at the boy.
There was an immediate reaction from the green-haired boy, "Huh?! You... You think so?" He spluttered, looking unbearably anxious about something, "But... I'm... uh..." He turned away from her, staring off.
"Wait a sec, Tsu, All Might doesn't get hurt when he uses his," Kirishima spoke up, "They just kind of look the same." From next to Asui, Midoriya breathed out a sigh, almost out of relief.
Relief? That was oddly suspicious.
"But it's nice to have a simple augmenting-type quirk. You can do lots of flashy stuff!" Kirishima extended his arm, looking at it as he activated his quirk, "My Hardening is strong against others, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like much."
Midoriya leaned closer, looking at his arm, "I think it's really cool! It's a quirk that can definitely pass as a pro's!" He praised.
Kirishima pulled his arm closer, "A pro's, huh? But you have to think about popularity as a hero, too, you know?"
"My Navel Laser is pro-level in both flashiness and strength." Aoyama spoke up.
Ashido placed a hand on the blond's shoulder, "But it's not great that it gives you a stomachache." She smiled at him, making Aoyama's expression shift into that of mild disappointment.
"Well, if you're talking about flashy and strong, it's gotta be Todoroki, Bakugou and Genzai, though, huh?" Kirishima looked at the three boys.
Great, now he was dragging into a conversation which he didn't want to be a part of.
Bakugou briefly glanced at Kirishima, before he huffed and turned away.
"Bakugou is always mad, so he doesn't seem like he'll be popular, though." There was an immediate reaction to Asui's words.
"What the hell?! You wanna fight?!" He roared, grabbing the seat in front while he glowered at her.
That was nothing new, it was actually expected. Seems like he seriously can't say anything without yelling like he's trying to talk to a deaf person. How wasn't he deaf at that point?
"See?" Asui pointed at him, completely ignoring his behaviour.
From the side, Kaminari spoke up, "We haven't known each other that long, so it's amazing that everyone already knows his personality is crap steeped in sewage."
Well, that was actually a good description of Bakugou's personality.
Bakugou turned his attention to the blond, "What's with that vocabulary, bastard?! I'll kill you!"
Arashi really couldn't stay quiet any longer, "You certainly like the sound of your own voice, don't you?"
As such, the fuming blond's attention was directed at him, "What was that...?!" He bit out, the lines of his face shifting into a positively pissed one, more so than usual.
Oh? Was Arashi someone Bakugou didn't like in particular? How nice... "Do I need to use sign language again?" He nonchalantly asked, before feigning realisation, "Oh, never mind, it didn't work last time."
His words resounded throughout the now silent bus and he was a bit caught off guard since no one said anything. One brief look towards the other occupants and he found himself being stared at.
How awful that feeling was.
Biting back the obviously not needed words, he turned away from them and continued on looking out of the window, focusing his attention on nothing in particular.
_
After the bus stopped, everyone made their way outside.
"Everyone, I have been waiting for you." A man in an astronaut suit greeted them.
Midoriya already knew who he was, apparently, "It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! The gentlemanly hero who has rescued tons of people from disasters!"
"Oh, I love Thirteen!" Uraraka exclaimed, wiggling in place.
Arashi stared at the hero in front of them in silence.
"Let's go inside without delay." Thirteen told them.
_
They stepped inside the giant dome that awaited them and were met with various scenes of disasters.
"A shipwreck... A landslide... A fire... A windstorm... etc. It is a training ground that I made with different types of accidents and disasters. It's called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint', or 'USJ' for short!" Thirteen explained.
Arashi watched as Aizawa walked up to Thirteen and asked him something, but he couldn't hear what they were talking about. After a few moments, Aizawa walked away and Thirteen faced them, "Before we begin, let me say one thing, or two... three... four... five... six... seven..." He continued on adding numbers, "Everyone, I am sure you are aware of my quirk, Black Hole. I can suck up anything and turn it to dust." Thirteen explained.
Midoriya leaned forward, "You have been able to use that quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?" The boy asked, obviously excited to be in the hero's presence.
"Yes. But it is a power that can kill easily," The moment Thirteen said those words, the overall mood darkened, "Some of you also have quirks like that, right?"
Arashi momentarily glanced down at his hands, slowly tracking his eyes over them. A quirk that could kill, eh? He never thought of it as something that can kill someone, but after what happened to his mother... maybe he should rethink what he has in mind for his quirk.
"In a superhuman society, personal quirks have been certified and stringently regulated, so that doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance. However, please do not forget that there are many quirks that can easily kill with one wrong step. With Aizawa's physical fitness test, you found out about the possibility of your own hidden powers. And with All Might's person-to-person combat training, I think you experienced the danger of using those powers against others. This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your quirks to save people's lives. You do not have powers so you can harm others. I hope you leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help others. That is all. Thank you for listening." Thirteen finished, lightly bowing to them.
"All right then, first-" Before Aizawa could even finish his sentence, the lights went out. In the middle of the building, right in front of a fountain, a giant purple vortex appeared, "Gather together and don't move!" Aizawa immediately ordered them, before turning to the other hero, "Thirteen, protect the students!"
Arashi watched as the vortex spread and unfamiliar people stepped out of it, "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson's already started?" Kirishima asked, staring at the scene.
From the looks of it—and the way Aizawa behaved—it didn't seem to be a lesson.
Midoriya stepped forward and Aizawa's voice rang out, making him stop in his tracks, "Don't move" The man raised a pair of yellow-rimmed googles over his eyes, "Those are... villains." He forced out, staring ahead.
Villains, eh?
Wasn't U.A. supposed to be protected? Where were the alarms? Was nothing working?
Quickly, villain after villain after villain left the giant vortex, easily filling up a rather big space.
And then...
Multiple voices rang out from around him and various questions were asked, but Arashi couldn't understand who was saying what over the piercing ringing in his ears. It rang and rang and he couldn't look away from the crowd of villains—couldn't look away from a particular one that stood out in the crowd.
It only took a few seconds, before that man zeroed in on him, as if instinctively seeking him out.
Steely blue eyes, ones that mirrored his own, stared back at him.
And Arashi's mind went blank—no, that would be a lie. His mind didn't go blank, no, it was filled with an unbearably hot feeling that travelled all the way through his body, itching to burst out at any given moment.
To think that he would see him so soon after what happened—after what happened.
To think that all the anger he had previously felt stood no chance against the hatred that was bubbling from within.
God have mercy on his soul, for he is about to taint it.
Just as he made move to step forward, none other than Aizawa turned around. For the briefest of moments, they looked at one another and Arashi didn't even try to hide the exhilarating expression he wore. For the briefest of moments, Aizawa's expression shifted into that of realisation, but then he turned back around and ran straight towards the villains.
Him realising what was on Arashi's mind meant nothing—absolutely nothing.
"Genzai, we need to go!"
A panicked voice rang out behind him and Arashi glanced back to look at Kaminari, "Go...?"
"Did you not listen to what Aizawa-sensei said?! We need to evacuate!"
Evacuate? There was no way he was going to escape now that he had finally shown up before him!
A hand wrapped around his wrist and he was pulled backwards, "Genzai, let's go! Don't just stand there, we need to move!" Kaminari was desperate to get him to safety, eh?
The purple vortex from earlier appeared in the ground and a purple, misty human-like shape left it, "I won't let you," It said, staring at them with glowing golden eyes, "Nice to meet you. We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous of us... but we have invited ourselves in to the home of the heroes, U.A. High School... in order to have All Might, the Symbol of Peace, take his last breath."
Who would've thought? They actually came to kill All Might, huh?
"I believe All Might should have been here. Has there been some kind of change? Well, that is neither here nor there. This is the part I am to play." The human-like figure spread its arms, the purple mist spreading further around it.
From the corner of his eye, Arashi noticed Thirteen uncapped one of his fingers, preparing himself to use his quirk against the misty man. But, before that could happen, both Bakugou and Kirishima jumped at the villain. The moment they collided, a giant explosion resounded in front of them, filling the space with thick smoke.
"Did you consider that you'd get beaten by us before you did it?!" Kirishima called out, standing guard with his quirk activated.
All that confidence was for nothing.
"Oh dear, that's dangerous," The mist swirled, retaining the man's previous appearance, "That's right. Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs."
"This is bad! Move away, you two!" Thirteen yelled at Kirishima and Bakugou.
Alas, things never go the way you want them to.
"My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!" The misty man exclaimed and the purple mist spread all around them, enveloping them in its darkness.
In a dark corner of his mind, Arashi hoped he would be able to meet him.
_
His hip slammed into the ground, causing an immediate throb to shoot up his side. Finding himself in an unfamiliar surrounding, he pushed himself to his feet and quickly looked around.
There was no one there except him.
The wind blew around him, producing light whistling noises that were loud enough to kickstart the ringing in his ears. He tried his best to ignore it and focus on his surroundings, but he could barely hear anything else.
"You've grown."
He certainly heard that.
Without a word, he turned around, but there was no one there.
"How many years has it been? Six? Seven?"
No matter in which direction he looked, he couldn't see him.
"Time passed rather quickly, wouldn't you say so?" His tone was nonchalant, as if he hadn't been away for half of Arashi's—his son's—life.
How disgusting.
"Enough with the hide and seek!" Arashi yelled, still looking around, "I have no will to play games with you, come out."
The buildings around them looked like they were on the verge of crumbling, if only the wind blew some more, maybe they would collapse atop them both.
"You used to love hide and seek," This time, the voice sounded closer than ever and Arashi didn't turn around, "It was one of your favourite games to play with me, wasn't it?" He forced down a shudder when a hand clasped him on the shoulder, fingers gently digging into the bone.
He loved playing hide and see, huh? "You weren't a murderer back then, were you?" Slowly, he grabbed hold of the hand, but did not remove it as he looked over his shoulder, "Why?"
There was no expression on the man's face, only infinite blankness. He still towered over him and the years that passed didn't matter at all, it seemed. His appearance didn't change, he was still the same as he ever was, as far back as Arashi could remember.
"Why?" The man asked, feigning confusion.
Maybe before—before it all went downhill—Arashi wouldn't notice, but he did now.
He was a bad actor now that Arashi knew everything.
"Why'd you kill her?" Ever so slightly, he increased the pressure on the man's hand, "She was... getting better, but you killed her," Intently, he stared at him, unrelentingly, "We could've been a family again—the family you ruined when you left."
He watched as the man's other hand reached forward, fingers inches away from his cheek, "Why?" He asked again, gently moving a dark strand of hair to the side, "Because you needed her—you depended on her," He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "And without her, you had no one to lean on—except me."
What...? Lean on him? He wanted him to lean on him—him, the person who killed his mother? The person who abandoned them and left them to fend for themselves for years? What kind of nonsense was that? Was he listening to himself?
"Lean on... you? You want me to lean on you?" It seemed far too unreal to be the truth, yet a quiet voice at the back of his head told him that the man wasn't lying.
"I am your father, aren't I?" Something akin to a smile curled the man's lips as he tilted his head. Tresses of gold slid to the side, brushing over pale skin.
Euphoria exploded behind his steely irises and Arashi felt sick to the core.
"I was going to move on," He told him, "I was going to finish school and get a proper job, so I could take care of her. Maybe once a day, the thought of you would pass through my mind, but I'd quickly let it go. I was prepared to forget about you—to cast you completely aside and move on with my life."
The more he spoke, the more could he feel the scalding anger bubble within.
"And now?" The man asked, leaning closer, "What are you going to do now?"
That was a good question.
God have mercy on his soul, for he is about to taint it.
"Now?" Lightning crackled around him, the sparks flashing and lighting up his features, "I am going to kill you."
~ ¤ || ¤ || ¤ ~
"Memories don't get destroyed. You get destroyed because of them."