~O~
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❝Have you heard about seventh of this school's wonders? The Misaki Stairs... ❞
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"Oh my~!" A long-drawn exclamation came from Deku with a smile as he took the scene in front of him into observation.
There in the library where they had talked about where the nine mysteries could be hidden, now both the ash blonde and brunette were sat on their seats across the wooden table after school had ended, while heads slammed in their textbooks as if they were pillows and their hands hung limp on their sides.
Exhaustion was something a high school student knew all too well.
But when you're in UA's Hero Course - and a part of Class-1-A, well, things were a little bit more 'tough'...
"They dead." Squeaked out a Mokke who was on the table with a few others, enjoying another bag of candies.
"Pitiful souls." Another one spoke.
The rest followed with,
"Should we bury them?"
"Candy."
"Take out their eyeballs."
"Tear apart their skin."
"Fill them with candy."
Deku decided it was best to ignore the rest of the Mokke's violent and inhumane ideas as he floated over to Uraraka with the will-o-wisps fluttering with him.
"Say, Coconut head, what happened?" Deku asked in a playful whisper as he nudged the tired girl.
"Hngh... We were training and Mr. Aizawa thought it was the best time to punish the whole class for playing paintball in the dorms... He extended our training time and then faked another villain attack. Now he gave us extra homework. This is torture... Mental and physical torture, I say... Can't we report this abusive behavior to the police?" Uraraka replied with an unusually dull voice.
Ah, how it hurt Deku to see this innocent coconut child without all her brightness...
Unfortunately, he happened to know what would bring the great sunshine back but that happened to be more troublesome for himself. Oh, the sacrifices he had to made...
"Say, Deku-san?" Snapping him out of his thoughts, Uraraka drowsily asked, "Did these kind of things happen to you too when you were a student here?"
"When I was a student here? Hm..." The green head put a finger to his chin, ransacking his head for a satisfactory answer.
And sadly that satisfactory answer didn't happen to exist so he told her all he could, "Can't tell... I don't have any memories from when I was alive."
"What?! You don't remember anything at all?!" Uraraka exclaimed in question as she stood up and turned to face the green haired ghost. Bakugou too, upon this revelation, sat up straight, a bit of confusion lacing his expression.
Deku replied with a smile, "Yup! No memories. I don't remember anything. Not even my real name!"
"Not even your real name-! Deku isn't your real name?!"
Bakugou quirked a brow, "Who the fuck would name their kid 'useless', Round Face?"
The brunette turned to him abruptly, "What?! But I thought Deku meant 'you can do it' or something!"
"God, you really have a coconut instead of a brain..." The ash blonde groaned.
"Hey! That's mean!" Uraraka pouted, curling up her fists.
"Wow, like I really care about that..." Bakugou rolled his eyes before getting smacked on the head by the green centred will-o-wisps. He yelled, "The hell?!"
Deku suggested, putting his hands together, "That's enough for a day, I believe. Let's change the subject... I may have found where the first mystery is~"
"Woah really? That's great! Let's get to it!" Uraraka threw her fist in the air excitedly.
"Wow~ All the drowsiness gone in an instant! At least let me explain first..." Deku said.
"Oh yeah. Sorry." Uraraka apologized before she quickly took a seat again.
"So, as you know or you don't know, before me there were seven other stronger apparitions in this school who have their own boundaries and were responsible for all the spiritual maintenance. But since I tagged along, the main responsibility fell onto me! In a way, you can sat, I'm the leader of stronger apparitions of this school!" The green haired boy explained.
"But you also have to keep in mind that where I have haunted this school for decades, there was a huge time period in the midst where I was busy with things at the far shore. My rumour basically died and so I disappeared. With me gone, the system fell as well. Resultantly, some of the seven strongest have either been replaced or vanished as well. In simpler words; entering their boundaries and searching for the mysteries won't be as easy as it was fifty years ago. Things have changed. I hope I can fix them again since I'm back in action as your supernatural leader! Though they were never good enough to begin with..." Deku scratched the back of his head sheepishly with the last statement.
The ash blonde asked, "What do you mean they weren't good enough?"
"Well, I guess they didn't like some newbie ghost leading them... They always seemed to avoid me. Of course the act like they don't, but I'm not that stupid. I know they avoid me. I never understood why..." Deku replied.
"Probably because of your shit personality." Bakugou stated, resting his face in his hand.
"Now, now, I'll be ignoring that..." Deku shook his head slightly, "I think the first mystery must be hidden in the seventh wonder's boundary. You've heard of it, right? The Misaki Stairs."
"Oh I've heard about it from Mina! Actually she told me about all the seven wonders UA's got!" Uraraka beamed.
"Are you sure you two don't need some rest before heading there? Hm?" Deku asked as he bopped the brunette on the nose gently.
As the ghostly apparition got the all clear from the two, he smiled as the trio now headed out to the Misaki Stairs in search of the first mystery.
He wondered what it was...
~O~
The second staircase next to the art room was said to be haunted...
And haunted by this school's seventh wonder, one of the most powerful apparitions to roam the place.
The rumor had it that one must never, no matter what happens, set foot on the fourth step of the staircase. Because if someone did - even if it was just a mistake, they would be dragged down to the realm of the dead.... And then, their body would be shredded into a thousand pieces.
At dusk, the blood of these unfortunate victims would pour down on the staircase from right above the fourth step and their existence from the world of living would completely vanish. There wouldn't be a hint of them ever being alive.
Some students even claimed to have seen the blood rain upon the staircase during dusk and it only gave them another reason to be cautious around the staircase...
But regardless of what the rumors said, our brave three were already facing the cursed staircase with determination profoundly gleaming in their eyes.
"Ready?" Deku asked the other two. He was standing, or floating between them, holding both of their hands protectively.
"Ready," Uraraka replied while Bakugou gave a firm nod before the green head began.
"Alright then," He took the first step, "One!"
Another one with the two following behind.
"Two!"
A creak and another step,
"Three!"
And finally,
"Fou-!"
And within a blink of an eye, the terrain shifted. Though, they didn't get to see the passageway that led them all the way from the old staircase to this place - number seven's boundary as they seemed to have travelled under a millisecond.
And now, they found themselves standing on a relatively short wooden bridge with was accompanied by red furnished railings and a lantern on each side.
In front of them, was the boundary they aimed for...
Vast, beautiful and luminous in the dark of the night. That was what the boundary could be described as.
As far as they could see, an almost never-ending series of stairs stretched across the distance, touching the dark sky as they went up. Lanterns, wooden dolls, traditional decorations and various other things embellished the scenery. A Torri gate welcomed the trio as the entrance of the boundary and a shrine at the end of the enthrallingly long flight of stairs.
A twisting, turning maze of stairs... Adorned with Japanese tradition in mind.
This was where many were rumored to have died and forgotten.
Ironic as they were here for the first part of a forgotten story.
"Wow... So this is the Misaki Stairs..." Uraraka gazed at the sight that stretched in front of her.
"These stairs... It's like a maze." Bakugou mumbled underneath his breath as he observed the unordinary flight of stairs. Horizontal, vertical, some upside down and some rolled around.
"Well, that's just to fool the spectators. They're all normal when you step on them." Deku said, "So, let's get into it!"
And so the unnatural hunt began as they crossed the Torri gate and fully stepped into the seventh's boundary. Unaware of what would come next but fully prepared to deal with any trouble thrown at their way, the trio took to the endless stream of the cursed stairs.
As they moved up, they were met by a closer sight of the wooden dolls.
All of them... Resembled a UA student.
Their faces were hidden behind the white paper that had each of theirs name in blood red on it. The sight easily gave the two humans creeps but they both preferred to act unfazed.
After a countless number of stairs, they stopped for a break. As compared to the ash blonde and the brunette who had to walk on foot, Deku wasn't feeling any tired. One; because he was a ghost and two; he could float in the air. No need to stress your legs.
"Well? Where the fuck is the first mystery anyways?" Bakugou asked as he took some light support from a stool, panting.
"I dunno... It could anywhere~" Deku said as he looked over some stuff in a trunk next to Bakugou.
"The fuck do you mean?! Don't tell me you just dragged us into the nether without knowing where the shit is!!" Bakugou yelled at the green head while Uraraka nodded in the background as she fanned herself dramatically.
"Okay~ Won't tell ya then!" Deku smirked, giving a sideway glance to the ash blonde whose anger only rose at the ghost's actions.
The brunette, on the other hand, decided it would be best to ignore the upcoming bickering and teasing from the two boys. So, she began to look around as well.
To her surprise, the Mokke were there as well. And so was all kinds of other stuff but the Mokke were particularly interesting. I mean, what's more interesting? A pile of old things that should be recycled or some mysterious pink rabbit-like creatures making ramen?
The Mokke, duh.
Anyhow, in the middle of all this, there was the sudden ringing of a telephone. Upon hearing the sound, all three of them dropped whatever they were doing and turned towards the desk that sat isolated amidst all other things, with the ringing telephone on top of it.
Uraraka was the first one to reach out to the receiver.
She put the device next to her ear, a bit cautious as the two boys looked at her eagerly.
She spoke, "Hello? Wh-Who... Who is this?"
A pause accompanied with complete silence.
And then a woman's voice came from the other end of the call,
"I am... Misaki..."