Our Teacher is a Devil (Youjo Senki x BNHA)

Chapter 15

Not much beside Himiko got the jump on her these days. More than two collective decades of training and constant vigilance gave Tanya the skills to easily stay on top of most fights. One needed to heighten their awareness and evolve their sense for danger of any kind, in order to not get killed by stray bullets, assassination attempts or bloodthirsty madmen lying in ambush. She could defeat ordinary, run-of-the-mill villains with her eyes closed by now.

Although the Japan of the twenty fourth century was filled with a diverse array of enemies with unpredictable skill sets and abilities, in reality a confrontation with the so called ‘villains’ was rather mundane. Most of them tended to flaunt their imaginary superiority either directly or by brazenly using their quirk in public, so identifying and disposing of them was child’s play.

And there exactly was the biggest problem.

It was only ever easy until it was not.

If ninety nine percent of the criminal population was dumb, boisterous and/or unhinged then the remaining one percent was all the more dangerous for it. Those that did not fit the schema could inflict far more damage on society by being sneaky and cunning. They got overlooked by law enforcement, because they knew how to blend in with the crowd instead of presenting themselves on a silver platter.

They weren’t spouting pathetic speeches about how unjust they had been treated or about how much fun it was to crush someone’s skull. They were not stupid enough to rob a bank in broad daylight or attack the UA sports festival with knifes drawn, shouts of glee on their lips.

Tanya saw the Nomu when it rampaged around and instantly connected it to the League of Villains, an inexperienced terrorist group full of dreamers and small-time killers. People like them lacked a proper vision and calculative mindset to be anything other than barking dogs. Their assault on the USJ training facility had been terribly executed, regardless of the half decent preparations that went into it.

Subsequently she deemed their raid on the UA stadium a mad attempt for revenge, performed without cleverness or hidden agendas. Of course she kept her guard up for any unwelcome surprises, but by the time she incapacitated, i.e. crippled , the Nomu and went over to the panicking civilians she believed the violence to be largely over. After all, dozens of pro heroes were present as visitors for the event.

Then the building started crumbling and she figured it had been a desperate last strike by the League to send a message by killing a large number of spectators. Not too bad of an idea, but a few bombs would have done a better job in her opinion. If it came to massacring droves of people quickly, explosives were unmatched.

She kept the disintegrating floor from breaking away with her barriers which took considerable effort, seeing as she was stabilizing tons of stone and terrified humans. Nonetheless, she was able to quickly evacuate the collapsing stands before most of the heroes even arrived from the other side of the stadium. Being able to fly at lightning speed was wonderful to reach disaster zones, despite how dizzy the sudden accelerations and decelerations could make her feel.

Ten civilians, twenty, thirty...

Their number blurred as she pushed her quirk and concentrated solely on effectively saving as many as possible. Erecting a temporary pillar here, carrying a hyperventilating woman there...

So focused was she on rescue that she fell for a trap that normally would not even deceive a rookie. It was perhaps the second most embarrassing mistake of her career as a professional hero! Tanya had not expected a villain to masquerade as a helpless citizen after the brutish approach earlier. If he had not telegraphed his attack in such an incredibly obvious way then she would have fallen prey to his scheme.

How? She should have seen it coming! His relaxed demeanour in the face of death and the fact that he sat right in the middle of where the disaster originated from... Overlooking those apparent hints nearly ended her third life!

It was a disgrace that stoked the bright flames of indignation in her chest which had been first ignited when she realized that the entire world was probably able to see her bra through the hole in her uniform. Luckily, covering herself with a silver veil was simple, even though she looked like an awful fashion designer had wrapped her in aluminium foil.

A shout of “ HAVE NO FEAR FOR I AM HERE! ” snapped her out of her spiral of self-critique, directing her surging anger at another target.
All Might was apparently saving the last couple civilians and placating them with his usual brand of energetic confidence. It was loud. It was grating. And it was totally unearned! She was the one who nearly got killed right now! Where had this asshole been while she did her job?
“Do you make a habit out of showing up too late?” she sneered coldly.

Her voice was not very loud, but enough for the number one hero to hear. Slowly he turned towards her, his trademark smile nowhere in sight.

“I APOLOGIZE FOR ARRIVING SO LATE! AS SOON AS MR. PRINCIPAL INFORMED ME I FLEW OVER AS FAST AS I COULD!”

Closing the distance, Tanya got right up in his face and hissed: “Is that the best excuse you have? The media will never know, but I hope you are aware that a lot of today’s calamity could have been prevented if you did what you were supposed to. You failed your duty, All Might.”

She didn’t care that she was making an enemy out of the most influential man in Japan or that one snap of his fingers could break her barriers and splatter her entrails all over the floor. This close call with death was pushing memories to the surface of her mind that lay long forgotten. Old hatred and even older fears clawed at the edges of her sanity, reminding her of times full of blood and acrid smoke.

When she had been called the Devil.

“I know. I do not seek forgiveness for my mistakes, but let me attempt to make this right. I am sure Nedzu will chew us all out later anyhow.”
Huh? He admitted to his mistake? At least that was a beginning…

~[#҈#]~
​

Indeed, Nedzu looked deadly serious when he called the teachers together as soon as they had given their police interviews, sent everybody home and underwent medical checkups. Surprisingly, Aizawa was present as well for some reason. From his brief explanation it seemed to have something to do with confiscating a sports car and crashing it through the police blockade, but that sounded far too absurd to be true.

All Might was missing, though his stand-in Mr. Toshinori was able to represent his interest. The principal did not question why a mere assistant was privy to this meeting, so Tanya held her tongue. She had the suspicion that he might be secretly Himiko in disguise, considering the strong stench of blood on his person and the tiny spot of dried red on his chin. Not many other people had vampire quirks after all. Later she would need to lecture her partner if she was getting this sloppy in a room full of pros.

Another odd face was an unannounced man clad in a beige trench coat and white gloves who most likely was a criminal investigator of some sort. The way his presence purposefully blended into the background was telling for someone who had received intelligence training, but the standard issued boots and the lack of those dead, placid ‘government-agent eyes’ indicated that he was not from the secret service.

Only someone who completely lost connection with normal, everyday life to become a shadow of society could look so apathetic. It was one of the major reasons why she tried to involve Himiko in peaceful ordinary experiences and pull her away from an existence of pure bloodshed and corporate busywork. To see that wonderful spark inside her go out would be... most unpleasant.

Then again, this trench coat guy could just be faking it. Without reading his mind she would never know.

Fitting to her gloomy thoughts, the orange light of the afternoon sun seeped through the windows and cast the conference room into an ominous glow. Long shadows obscured the principal’s expression which made the suffocating silence in the air even more menacing. Nedzu’s paws lay carefully folded on the conference table, giving him an outward appearance of calmness that fooled nobody.

“It is with my greatest regret that I have to announce the second emergency conference of the UA faculty this year. Although you all have performed amiably in the defence of our school, the possible long-term consequences of this catastrophe are going to be severe. Already I have been messaged by multiple members of the school board who want to implement drastic changes to the way our school is run. I presume that many more parents will also want to reconsider the enrolment of their children in our institution. Even the Hero Public Safety Commission has approached me just half an hour ago with the demand of more oversight into our internal security.”

Shocked gasps rang out among most of the gathered teachers.

“Of course they have no legal rights to do so, but I doubt that will stop them when the media campaigns against our independence. Public support will naturally be swayed to what they perceive as the ‘safer’ alternative.”

A hair-thin smile spread over his animalistic face.

“Argent, what do you think of this extraordinarily quickly made proposal? Would our situation improve if the HPSC got more influence over us?”

Why was he putting her on the spot like that? Tanya understood why he would be sceptical of her, but such blatant antagonism was undeserved.

“I cannot say. I am not an expert in this field. In fact, coming to decisions beyond my actual job description is rarely something that is required of me, despite my willingness to learn.”

Saying ‘I am not involved in this debacle, but also am not allowed to talk about it’ any more clearly would be dangerous.

“Is that so? Then Midnight, what would you make of...”

On and on the questions went, ranging from innocuous to organizational. What version of the story they would present at the press conference, what ideas they had in order to improve themselves and the security in the future, how to best pacify the legions of angry parents that were going to show up and so forth.

That was until Nedzu all of a sudden dropped a metaphorical bomb on them.

“Now to the most concerning topic of this meeting. Our dear Eraserhead here has returned to UA high school for the first time since his injury... today. ”

Oh…

‘Himiko what have you done?’

Uncontrollable noise broke out as every emotion from shock to confusion was expressed among the teachers. The news that a shapeshifter had managed to trick all of them appeared to hit Midnight and Present Mic the hardest.

“Calm down!” the Voice Hero shouted, overpowering the frantic discourse with the help of his quirk. “There must be a mistake! He visited last week!”

“No, I am not mistaken. Else Mr. Aizawa would be able to recall such an event happening, don’t you think? Not to mention that the security information leaked to his impostor was the same that provided the villains with an opportunity to break into the sports festival. Isn’t that strange...”
Nemuri winced in discomfort, now aware that she was partly to blame for the incident.

“But who could predict something like this? Were there any rumours circulating in the criminal underworld perhaps? You are the most active hero out of all of us at the moment, Argent. Have you heard of any possible plans that the League might be hatching?”

“I am not an underground hero. I don’t make a habit out of listening to the chatter of random thugs in dirty alleyways.”

“So you heard nothing at all?”

Why was he so insistent on her spelling out the truth? There was some sort of ploy at work here for certain. What if he believed to have found incriminating evidence on her and was now attempting to goad her into revealing it?

“Nothing. It was not my assigned case and I learned early not to stick my nose in other people’s business. Even if I had possessed the faintest inkling that any organization, let alone the League of Villains, was planning an assault on UA then I would not have sat by idly. It was as surprising to me as the rest. Believe it or not, but I have not climbed the public rankings by withholding information on villains.”

At this point she was becoming rather annoyed. For a being who claimed to be the smartest mind on the planet, the principal sure was lacking in interrogation skills.

“Please forgive me. My question came off as rude, but I never tried to insinuate negligence on your part. It was merely harmless curiosity.”
As if! He sounded so painfully sincere that it was almost comedic.

“And why, if I may ask, was your first response to use lethal force against the Nomu?” glared Aizawa from across the table.
Really, what had she done to deserve this much hostility?

“ You are the one asking this? After getting near fatally injured by a creature of similar design? I acted with the best interests of myself and my students in mind. So I chose the fastest way to take down and permanently immobilize the largest threat on the field. The police report on the first one declared it officially brain-dead which makes eliminating those weapons both legally and morally acceptable. You would have done the same.”

She was losing her relaxed composure, but having to deal with the unprofessional behaviour of people who were dumb enough to voluntarily pursue heroics without adjusting their worldview was draining. Many experienced heroes killed at some point in their career! It was only natural when one participated in violence that a slightly too hard kick or an unfortunate fall would end a fragile human’s life. Endeavour exterminated a few villains per year with the thermal shock of his flames alone!

If Tanya’s covert operations far away from the public eye had not forced her to learn the delicateness of a spine or the frailty of internal organs the hard way then she would not have the flawless track record in her day time job. Through much bloody experimenting she knew exactly how much pressure she could put on each body part, giving her an advantage over those who studied anatomy only theoretically.

“And what about the villain that you maimed on live TV?”

Her face scrunched up in distaste. This bastard just had to remind her of that failure. Losing control like that was going to haunt her dreams for a while.

“He came very close to touching me with whatever powers turned an eighth of the sports stadium into rubble. Forgive me for prioritizing my own safety over that of my assailant. The loss of a few fingers is hardly worthy of outrage.”

Aizawa’s eyes flashed a venomous red, but he finally ceased his unnecessary critiquing.

Snickering broke their impromptu staring contest and continued to spread through the entire room.

“Pardon me, what sort of joke am I missing?”

Midnight looked at her in a way that made her quite uncomfortable, but Tanya refused to show weakness and turn her body away from her leering gaze. Oddly enough, the laughs were only increasing in volume. Cementoss was pressing his lips together and looking away with a slight frown, but most of the others were openly giggling like children.

Ultimately it was Present Mic who burst out in full laughter and pointed his finger at her.

“Hahaha... Roses! Hahahaha!”

“Wha-“

She looked down where he was pointing and discovered to her growing horror that the reflective veil preserving her modesty had mysteriously dissipated. Her printed undergarments were openly visible! Eraserhead, that absolute prick had cancelled her quirk!

“Aghh! You pervert! ” she yelped and reflexively conjured an opaque cylinder around her whole body.

These degenerates pretended to be heroes? Disgusting!

“Hahahaha! Who would have guessed them to have a flower motif? Hahaha!”

Never would she let Himiko gift her any piece of clothing again! In the name of good work relationships she had perhaps been too lenient with her kohai. Cuteness of any kind was going to be forbidden from this point onwards!

~[#҈#]~
​

“Anything noteworthy to report?”

“You know that I am technically not allowed to disclose any details of an ongoing investigation, Nedzu.” answered the detective.

“I was not asking for that. I have a law degree after all. But as a friend... could you tell me what I should keep in mind to better manage my dear colleagues?”

“Mmm... As a friend I would say that most of them are very honest. You should not be overly worried.”

“Most of them?”

“Well... That some statements were identified as lies by my quirk was fairly troubling...”

“Oh? Could you give me examples? Purely for educational purposes, you understand.”

“Argent, was... at least not completely convinced that her success is not based on withholding information on villains... In and of itself that is not too worrying, but...”

It seemed that provoking Degurechaff had paid off. Argent was far too comfortable in her role if she remained unchallenged. Questioning her in a room with witnesses forced the young hero to react to his probing under enhanced stress. In a rush to appear as believable as possible Degurechaff had less time to come up with a strategy and hide her secrets.

Still, she was no simple puzzle to crack.

“Interesting...”

“Nedzu, let me remind you, my quirk is not perfect. It does not filter for objective truths, only for what people believe to be true or untrue at any given time. This could mean literally nothing. ”

“Of course. I am not assuming any guilt here. Although... if we for a moment take her statement at face value... then the implications are very, very remarkable.”

“Ugh, I know that I am going to regret this, but please explain.”

“You see... Our beloved Ms. Degurechaff has not been a hero for very long. In fact, she has been in the public rankings for barely over a year. That is certainly not long enough for her to be tempted to fall back on such unscrupulous methods in order to achieve fame. Corruption of this breed evolves in heroes who are so deeply unsatisfied with their career progress that they see no other alternative but to cheat their way to the top. Yet based on her stellar ascent towards the number seven spot this is highly unlikely...”

“A powerful quirk like hers makes that a somewhat straightforward process.”

“Only a potent quirk would not have been enough, but it definitely helps. Anyways, due to being closely associated with the Hero Public Safety Commission it stands safe to reason that she faces stronger and more severe oversight than most in the business. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Detective Tsukauchi hummed noncommittally, however his furrowed brows showed that he was pondering intensely over what Nedzu was saying. Perfect.

“If the public success of one of Japan’s brightest rising stars is partly the result of corruption then it stands to reason that her benefactors would be the first to notice. And if the HPSC is aware of this... then that would be quite the scandal. They might not simply be condoning it, but possibly even endorsing it... Why else would a young woman with keen intellect, outstanding discipline and an astonishingly powerful quirk be indirectly collaborating with villains in her first year on the streets?”

“Careful , Mr. Principal. This train of thought might take you to places that could be unpleasant even for a figure of your renown.”

The detective’s lips were pursed in the grim realization that he could not intellectually disagree with him, but was also not very fond of the uncomfortable conclusion that that led to. Upsetting the belief system of humans almost always resulted in denial.

“Why, I was only speculating. Never in a thousand years would I accuse our benevolent and capable government of such heinous crimes.”

He was lying and they both knew it.

 

Chapter 16

Izuku had seen what happened to the Nomu and he wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Heroes shouldn’t kill, yet his teacher appeared to have done just that. From his perch on the very edge of the awning above the stadium he could observe nearly everything that was unfolding below. The gruesome spectacle of the black monster being ripped apart had been mostly obscured by the dust in the air, but the bloody aftermath still made his stomach churn.

Mangled limbs...

Flayed skin...

And the ripped innards...

All spread out like a macabre art piece in a growing puddle of red.

Why did she do it? Couldn`t there have been a different way to resolve this situation?

Argent was a rescue hero (although she disliked that term) with a flawless record. She did not kill or maim. It was antithetical to the character profile he had scribbled in his notebooks. Never before did Izuku see so much gore and unfiltered violence in a single place. Media reports were automatically censored when things got that bad and for all the bullying his life had thankfully been rather peaceful up until now. Only Eraserhead’s injuries could compare, but even those were not lethal!

Despite mortal danger, nobody died at the USJ or the entrance exam.

Witnessing his first true murder, changed something inside Izuku, but what exactly that was, he could not tell. The Nomu was a weapon, a brutal, vicious, brainless abomination of muscle and violence. However it was also a living being...

What was he supposed to feel about it being killed? Satisfaction that it could harm no one else? Relief that his classmates would be safe from its rampaging onslaught? Disgust at the loss of life?

And what did it say about him that he just felt... nothing?

“Deku!”

Ochako’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Should we get down there and help the others out or do you think we should stay up here where it’s safe?”

“Ehm... W-why are you a-asking me?” he deflected.

“Because you are our team leader. And you are the smartest among us.”

“Hey, I resent that!” cried Hatsume who was leaning dangerously over the edge of the roof; probably trusting in her hover boots to keep her from harm should she fall.

She was right though. He could not abandon his friends and teammates now. Similarly to how he could not abandon the civilians in the stadium. A true hero saved people whenever possible! All Might would not sit around and mope. Instead he would act!

“We are going down there and help with the evacuation. Ochako, we will need your quirk once again for a controlled descent. Tokoyami, have Dark Shadow keep his eyes out for any villains that may ambush us. Hatsume, do you have anything with you that could be of use?”

“Of course! My awesome babies will certainly come in handy!”

Yes. Together they would brave this storm and act like real heroes! Izuku had the feeling that Ms. Degurechaff would disapprove, but he could not suppress his daring desire to help. Even if it was stupid, he would not stand by and do nothing!

~[#҈#]~
​

Ochako was kind of amazed at how well she had reacted. One moment her heart felt like it was going to fall out of her chest and shatter on the concrete below from the pure dread that was filling her mind and in the next she was already leading dozens of people to the exits. As easy as vowing to be brave in the future was, in reality it took far more than a few bold words to actually move and willingly step into danger.

She had known that of course, but only now could she fully understand how difficult it was. Her body did freeze up for a second and her memories flashed back to the recent instances of her utter powerlessness. When she saw the purple smoke and the monster erupting out of it she was sure that somebody was going to die. And worse, a small, shameful part of her was glad that she was high up in the air, out of reach of the monster that began terrorizing her classmates.

Her friends were fighting for their lives while she watched and did nothing. Again.

Luckily Ms. Degurechaff showed up from... somewhere and took care of that problem. The gore though had seared itself into her imagination and was sure to haunt her dreams for many future nights.

Nevertheless, she pulled herself together and fell back on her new favourite strategy to do when in doubt: Ask Izuku.

His confused green eyes had cleared almost immediately and sharpened into stunning emerald orbs of absolute conviction. He knew what to do and she happily grabbed onto his plan like a lifeline. Regardless if it worked or if she went into more danger, anything was better than doing nothing, as she so painfully learned.

Ochako would stand strong, not as a victim or a damsel in need of rescue, but as a hero!

~[#҈#]~
​

Outside the teachers’ lounge the members of the UA faculty stood around idly or left the school in different directions. The only reason Tanya had not stormed past them already was that she would under no circumstance admit weakness and give off the impression that she was fleeing. They might laugh about her, but she was not about to run away like a little girl from her bullies!

This forced appearance of casual disinterest however was also why she wanted to curse rather strongly when her currently least liked person stopped her in the middle of the hallway.

“What is it?” she asked with carefully masked disdain.

To his credit, the bandaged man did not squirm under her gaze that had sent many accomplished villains running in the past.

“I wanted to apologize. I was unaware of your... state of undress and used my quirk without thinking. It was an accident caused by my emotional investment in this case that made me act so regrettably.”

“ Hmph. ” she commented with no change of her expression.

Aizawa continued with a small bow: “It was irrational of me to use my quirk as an intimidation tactic in this environment and I want to assure you that something similar will not happen again.”

Tanya seriously considered just suing him for sexual harassment, but being petty would not bring her dignity back. Making enemies with the staff and wasting much of her free time on a pointless court battle was also less than ideal. Not even factoring in that Nedzu would definitely assist his loyal subordinate which made her chances of winning slim to none.

In another life she would have arranged a demotion or manipulated the brass into relocating this guy to the most unpleasant parts of the front, but those times were behind her. Aizawa appeared suitably regretful, so perhaps he would learn from his mistake without such drastic measures.

“You should be more careful with your quirk cancelling in the future. Who knows which side-effects that could have on other people. Someone who passively relies on their quirk to stay alive could be seriously hurt simply because your ‘emotional investment’ made you lose control of yourself again. See to it that you teach your students the dangers of unsolicited quirk use in the future and then hold yourself to the same standards.”

Man, her temper was slowly boiling over from this miserable day. Not that she let her frustration show on her face of course, but she wanted to get home as quickly as possible and take a long, relaxing bath before she accidentally destroyed something.

With a curt nod to her fellow teachers she exited the building in an almost hurrying fashion and flew off with maximum speed.

~[#҈#]~
​

Haggard.

That was how her senpai looked. Like some disgusting leech had sucked off ten years of her beautiful life, diminishing the normally blazing fire in her eyes and burdening her shoulders with an invisible weight that seemed to shrink her small frame even further. Witnessing the sun of her personal universe so dimmed physically hurt Himiko and she desired nothing more than to see her light up again with life and joy as she properly deserved.

Jumping up from her spot on the couch where she had anxiously awaited the return of her beloved, Himiko hastily closed the door behind her senpai and helped her take off her shoes before embracing Tanya in a tight hug. The target of all her affection remained stiff as a board and made no attempt to hug her back.

“It’s okay. We are alone. Let it out.”

Only after she rubbed her beloved’s back in soothing circles did she relax, slumping into her like she only did when they were unobserved. If the feeling of worry had not overshadowed anything else in Himiko’s brain at that moment then she would have been giddy that Tanya trusted her so much as to let her guard down so much.

As much as it hurt to let her go, the younger girl knew what had to be done in order to soothe the agitated mind of her senpai. Chocolate coffee was not something that could be served every day, but tonight it would work wonders for her love. A good bath would also do her well considering that the filthy hands of that maggot had nearly touched her wonderful skin...

The spoon in Himiko’s hand slightly deformed as she thought about that wretched scum who dared to-!

No, she needed to calm down. Her beloved needed her with a clear head right now. Vengeance could wait for later.

Tanya sat still on the couch where Himiko had deposited her, eyes closed and rhythmically breathing in and out. Silently she sat the steaming mug down on the table in front of her to let the smell slowly rouse her from her meditation. Interrupting her love when she was ordering her thoughts would be akin to blasphemy!

It did not take long for her nostrils to twitch and eyelids to crack open, filling Himiko with joyful anticipation. Reverently she watched as her goddess’s slender fingers grasped the cup and brought it to her lips.

Would it taste right? Had she messed up the recipe? Would she disappoint her senpai with a culinary failure? Oh, the shame-

The minute tugging at the edge of Tanya’s lips dissuaded her fears and she let out a sigh of relief. Ever the attentive one, her Senpai naturally noticed and gave her a small smile.

“I’m fine, Himiko. Just a... disappointing day, I guess...”

Of course she was not ‘fine’! Nobody on this planet knew her Tanya better than she did!

“Senpai, are you really alright?” she whispered, peering deep into those azure stars that enchanted her heart.

“Perhaps... not.” Tanya admitted dejectedly as her gaze turned towards the floor.

Himiko patiently waited, absentmindedly trying not to stare at the hole in her uniform too much. If Tanya wanted to open up and share her thoughts then she would need time.

“I almost got killed...”

Oh, Shikaragi would be begging for death when she was done with him!

“Dying doesn’t scare me. It’s just... It has been a long time since I was in a situation like that. I got distracted and ‘whoosh’ ... I could have lost it all. Makes you think, doesn't it... ha ha...”

Huddling closer, Himiko slipped an arm around the person that mattered most to her in an attempt to ease the pain with her companionship. Apparently it worked because Tanya leaned a little bit into her touch.

“And... It seems my time as a teacher is rapidly approaching its end and I will not leave as a positive example to be remembered, but as a mockery. A shame really... I liked that job. The food was good. And until today I thought the faculty wasn’t too bad... And I think without my interference All Might is going to ruin their education... These kids really deserve better... But that is the way of the world. We must adapt and roll with the punches. Yes, exactly!” she spoke distractedly as if to convince herself of the truth of that statement. “ Everything changes and we must change with it or suffer the consequences. This life is no different.”

‘This life’? What was her beloved talking about? What a strange figure of speech.

“I am so, so sorry that this happened. If I had known what he planned I would have squished that worm before he had any chance to come close to you. Maybe things would have been different-”

“No, Himiko. There is no use in thinking about what could have been. I am not mad at you in the slightest. Even if you had known, the higher-ups would not have allowed you to share it with me. Plausible deniability and all that hogwash. In the end we both made it out healthy and with our secret identities intact. That is all we can hope for as long as we are agents of the HPSC.”

‘As long as we are its slaves’ went unsaid.

They both sat in companionable silence until the coffee mug was emptied and dusk was replaced by night.

“I am going to draw you a bath, if you are alright with that. The one with lemon bubbles.”

“That would be very nice. Thank you, Himiko.”

Overall her senpai looked a lot better now, but she was still not completely recovered. With tender love and care she would be back to her usual unshakable self in no time!

Humming cheerfully she entered the bathroom and prepared the water. As sad as it was, the tub was too small for two people, but she would not have done that anyway. Her beloved needed the space right now and she wasn’t in the mood for that specific kind of intimacy. The missed opportunity was regrettable, but that sacrifice of skinship would prove her devotion even more.

“It’s ready!” she chirped when she turned off the faucet.

No response came from downstairs.

“You can hop in, Senpai! What is it?”

Any further word froze on her tongue as she entered the living room. Tanya was glued to the screen of her phone. Lifting her head at a snail's pace she turned in Himiko’s direction, her face once more a hollow mask.

“A new order came in.”

Himiko’s blood froze. This couldn’t be good!

“It appears that my service as a teacher just got drastically expanded. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this is not a good thing.”

~[#҈#]~
​

Nedzu knew that the fight was lost when Endeavour’s name was dropped as a supporter of the ‘security oversight program’. He would need way too much time to work against the media presence that the number two hero could conjure with his far reaching PR network and he had his paws full with other problems at the moment.

What exactly had persuaded the Flame Hero Endeavour to take a stand with the HPSC was anyone’s guess, but Nedzu strongly suspected that it was connected to the recent developments regarding his son, Shoto Todoroki. Where the young boy had previously refused to use the fire side of his quirk during the official recommendations exam and in the first week at school, this attitude changed after Argent forced him to attend regular meetings with Hound Dog.

It was most tempting to look into his psychological profile, but Nedzu would not breach the trust of a student under his care. Not yet at least…

However, he didn’t need to see the contents of the school counsellor’s notes to discern the origins of young Todoroki’s dislike for fire. His father was a career oriented man who surely drove his progeny to excel in anything if it benefited his image. Furthermore, Endeavour’s harsh and distant attitude was apparent even in his fan interviews, so it stood to reason that his parenting as a single father away from the public eye would only be worse. How much worse Nedzu shuddered to imagine. There was a rather prominent burn scar over his son’s eye after all...

The principal made a note to investigate this further, which judging from the already booked out calendar on his desktop would have to wait for a while. Nonetheless, caring for the well-being of his students was no less important than the rest of his tasks and he would give this case all the attention it deserved.

Back to the most pressing topic at hand: the encroaching tentacles of bureaucracy that the HPSC attempted to slither into his domain with the finesse of a charging bull.

Normally he would have been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the generally slow-moving governmental apparatus, but for the finished letter to appear mere hours after the ‘sport’s festival attack’ as the media unimaginatively called it was highly concerning.

Their proposal for the ‘security oversight program’ was pretty straightforward and consisted of two parts: A bi-yearly examination of the internal security by an independent team of experts (which was not too unreasonable) and the permanent installation of an ‘Autonomous Danger Mitigation Manager’ into the school hierarchy.

What precisely that job description entailed was hidden behind three whole pages of flowery legal speak, but for an intellect of Nedzu’s calibre it was so obvious that it could as well have been written in red paint on his office wall. This meant that a government puppet with access to everything vaguely related to the protection of UA was about to legally infiltrate his home.

Such a transparent ploy was to be expected after they had forced Ms. Degurechaff to substitute for Aizawa, although the principal was glad that his employee got the time to properly heal instead of overworking himself like usual.

Truthfully, he could still cash in some of the many favours that humans around the earth owed to him in order to avoid these changes, but if he put up a fight then the HPSC would only double down harder on their efforts to undermine his authority. If his worst assumptions were true then they were not above causing villain attacks on civilians or infiltrating his campus in disguise. Rousing their anger would escalate the situation to levels that even he could no longer control.

It was better to lull them into a false sense of victory, to make them believe that they had won the battle and weaken them instead where they would not expect. When the rules of battle stood not in your favour then you needed to change them. And the HPSC did present him with the perfect opportunity...

The tool with which they sought to monitor him was not as willing or as obedient as they thought...

“Yes, Ms. Degurechaff, I am sure we can work together wonderfully in the future. UA Highschool aims to make true heroes out of everybody who enters its halls and you will be no different.”

EDIT: I always forget to link my discord lol so here is the link
https://discord.gg/g8sjcNqBQW
Join if you want to talk about yout life, Youjo Senki or anything inbetween. I am always open for feedback and requests

 

Chapter 17

The school remained closed for the rest of the week, although that did not mean that the students were left to their own devices. Homework and assignments continued to be sent out digitally, cementing UA’s reputation for constantly demanding excellence from all who attended it. Heroes could not afford to waste time and even a villain attack was apparently not enough to let the kids slack off in their studies.

Kaminari was among those that complained the loudest over the class 1-A group chat. In his mind it was ‘totally unfair’ and ‘downright criminal’ to burden them with algebra and English grammar after nearly ‘getting squished by a giant crow’, as he put it.

Mina found that pretty funny, even if she agreed with his dislike for homework. Sitting in her room and typing up text after text was rather boring and she couldn’t even get out, because her parents fretted way too much. They were under the impression that she would get attacked by a villain as soon as she left the house, which obviously sucked. When she told them as much they did not react well and threatened to revoke her pocket money. A disaster! How else would she get into the arcade or buy sweets!

So she reluctantly played her role as a good daughter and spent her free time chatting with her friends online. She learned something new about all of them in the last few days, except maybe Bakugou and Mineta who either spammed uppercase profanities or uncomfortably sexual stuff respectively until Yaomomo, ever the reliable admin, blocked them.

Another exception was Iida who remained eerily silent. Nobody knew what was happening on his end and he answered none of their messages to Mina’s growing concern. The rule-loving boy could be a real stick in the mud, but he was also a valued class member, so they all had to stick together and support each other. Such absolute radio silence was highly worrying.

Izuku, or as Ochako called him, Deku, had let it slip that he knew what was going on or at the very least possessed a good theory, but he selfishly refused to share. Something, something, ‘privacy’ and ‘personal matters’. As brilliant as their little broccoli-boy sometimes was, he could also be annoyingly stubborn. Maybe she should bring Ochako to tease her soon-to-be boyfriend until he told them?

Nah, she was not that curious yet.

Then the email came...

[From: UA_Principal@UAHS.net]

Dear students,

I want to take the time to once again personally apologize for the incident on the day of the sports festival and the one at the USJ training facility. None of you should have had to experience what you did and I as the headmaster of this school should have prevented such a tragedy from ever occurring. The fault lies not with the brave teachers who risked their lives for your protection, but with me as the head of security.

For this you have my intense regret and I promise that we as a faculty have taken every possible step to ensure that something like this will never happen again.

Nonetheless, we cannot reliably predict the future, so we will do our utmost to support your transfer to a new school should you wish to quit the hero course here at UA. We understand that you may no longer feel safe in our care even with improvements being made and nobody will judge you if you choose a different place to carry on your education.

Not a chance! As if Mina would give up her dream because of some villains attacking her class! This was what being a hero was all about, wasn’t it? She worked too hard to throw her chance of becoming a top hero away now!

Also, by the virtue of these extraordinary circumstances we have opted to reactivate the dorm program. For all of you who choose to stay enrolled in 1-A and 1-B we will be offering rent-free rooms in our freshly built dormitory! This will give us the opportunity to protect you around the clock and eliminates the risk of travelling from your home to school. Your parents/guardians have been informed of this and naturally need to record their permission to allow it. [More information is available by following this link to our website.]

Oooo... That sounded kinda awesome? On one hand she would spend less time with her family, but on the other she could get to know her new friends even better! Furthermore, she could wake up later for school, because she wouldn’t have to take the bus! Mmh... Decisions, decisions...
Lastly, I want to mention your internships. Since your performance at the sports festival was lamentably cut short, the pro heroes in the audience were unable to gather enough information and come to an accurate conclusion about who of you they want to invite for the upcoming internships.
Oh snap! She had totally forgotten about that!

To mitigate this, I have personally contacted roughly 150 heroes who I believe would be well equipped to deal with your individual quirks and personalities. Attached to the end of this mail you should find a list of two to four pros which in my humble opinion are the best suited to teach you their particular way of surviving and thriving in the industry.

Mina skimmed over the rest of the principal’s message, but what really interested her was who her ideal teachers would be. Someone glamorous? Maybe from the top fifty?

Mina Ashido:

- Clean Angel (Rank 572) Quirk: [Detergent] Produces streams strong biological detergent from her fingertips
- Yakoly (Rank 689) Quirk: [Hot Tongue] Can spew small amounts of lava from his mouth

What? She had never even heard of these guys! This sucked! Life was truly unfair!

~[#҈#]~​

“Administrator M, sir?” Tanya announced her presence in her usual impersonal yet attentive tone, specifically tailored to appease superiors, but make it clear that she had not come to chitchat.

The dark-haired, plain looking man pretended to only notice her now as he plastered a smile on his forgettable face that could belong on a hannya (demon) mask rather than a human being. Silently she wondered if it pained him to express any emotion at all.

“Argent! Wonderful to see you. Glad you could come on such short notice.”

As if she had a choice.

“It is no issue. I always have time for the Commission.”

“Right, right. Let’s get down to business.”

Once again did he pretend to bring his documents in order, despite them obviously being sorted already.

“Yes, here it is... You have heard of our new occupational proposition, yes?”

She deigned such a stupid question not with a reply, but instead simply nodded.

“Well I am sure you enjoyed spending time with those children and now you get even more opportunities to do that! Isn’t it great?”

This guy should have visited a theatre club in highschool. How could he call himself a Human Resource Manager and not understand the basics of manipulation on a basic level? Tanya was not amused to be managed by someone whose job she could do better herself.

“I'm thrilled.”

“Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And you know what? Our analysts say that you will fit in perfectly. Hell, Nedzu himself recommended you for the position of ‘Autonomous Danger Mitigation Manager’ before we could!”

That was indeed surprising.

“Really?”

“Yes. We had to wait for his approval before we wanted to make a more direct move, but he beat us to it. Apparently your profile of him is incorrect, because he welcomed the change with open arms! Or, at least, you made a highly positive impression on him and he wants to keep you.”

Bullshit. The higher-ups could not possibly believe that. After years of failed plans to undermine the superintelligent animal they thought that he would cave in just because of the sports festival attack? Laughable. Absolutely ridiculous. Nedzu was so smart that his quirk could be called ‘minor foresight’ under the right conditions! Not in a thousand years would he reach out to the HPSC without at least a dozen plans in mind.

And she found herself in the middle of these schemes, like a fly trapped between the webs of two particularly hungry spiders.

Damn it!

“Of course you will still need to keep an eye on him, but with your new status you are going to have much greater access to the internal documents of this place. The committee has a vested interest in the youth and the future heroes of our glorious country. Together we can help keep them safe from corruption both inside and outside of society, don’t you think?”

“Ah, here comes the indoctrination.” she tiredly thought.

Wholly in contrast to her inner disgruntlement Tanya affirmed with a genuine seeming smile:
“I am proud to serve such a noble goal. Freedom and prosperity are mankind’s greatest treasures.”

“Oh? Have you gone under the philosophers, Argent? He he he...”

M’s laugh was awkward and stilted just like the rest of him.

“Hardly. I am a woman of action as my track record should prove. Was that all you wanted to discuss?”

“Yes, yes. Indeed. The finer details are listed in this folder here.” he said while sliding a moderately sized stack of paper over his desk. “Continue your duty and I am sure the higher-ups will be quite pleased. You will go far, Argent. I believe in you.”

The hungry gleam in his eyes told Tanya everything she needed to know about his intentions to use her achievements for his own promotion.
Wordlessly she packed the documents into her suitcase and moved towards the door. Not once did Tanya turn her back to him in the process.

“Administrator.” she nodded as an obligatory farewell before leaving the dingy office.

If she had not been sure that the hallway was lined with invisible cameras, she would have allowed her stoic face to morph into a deep frown. Instead Tanya simply did what she always did in these circumstances: Plunge herself head first into as much work as possible to make the numbness go away.

~[#҈#]~
​

Come Saturday morning, Tanya was making a traditional breakfast. She enjoyed the simple act of cooking in its peaceful productivity. When leading a life defined by violence, one needed to be careful in balancing out with simpler pleasures such as these. Stirring the rice, cutting vegetables, turning over the fish in the frying pan centred her mind and reminded her of all the positives that her third life still offered.
Not to mention that it was also healthy and cheaper than going to a restaurant.

Suddenly she heard the sounds of the front door to her apartment clicking shut. It appeared that Himiko had let herself in with a replica of her house key that she had managed to replicate by some unknown means. Tanya was proud of her partner’s skill to steal her original and return it unnoticed.

“Come in! I made enough for two!” she called over her shoulder.

Bouncing footsteps closed in on her location before a pair of slender arms circled around her form.

“Hi, Senpai! I’ve got some time to spare! My ‘ job’ is pretty uneventful at the moment and the leader of that silly circus is strangely indisposed. How long can healing one hand take? Jeez... A shame I can’t find him, ya know? I bet he has a wonderful singing voice... Would have loved to make his ugly mug a lot cuter with my knifies~” babbled the energetic girl, somehow making her plans to brutally torture a grown man sound endearing.

Normally Tanya was a quite vehement opponent of intense physical torture due to its ineffectiveness at procuring correct information and the target one painted on their back by engaging in such culturally shunned acts. The risks of being discovered were mostly not worth the effort in her opinion.

That being said, if Himiko wanted to let out some of her more violent tendencies on a piece of human garbage then she would certainly not object. Society as a whole would be better off without a man who possessed the power and ruthlessness to turn children into dust for his own amusement. (A small, vindictive side in her also delighted in the suffering of someone who had come horribly close to maiming herself.)

“Won’t that violate mission parameters?”

“He is just a puppet! They find a replacement for him within the month. Screw these paper pushers!”

Tanya could only smile at her subordinate’s antics for she felt much the same. Many years ago she herself had been a bureaucrat whose view of the world consisted of rules and guidelines, all forming the ultimate path towards a comfy future. Yet the hardships of war and corporate enslavement had shown her that laws and tenets were more flexible than she would have ever believed otherwise...

“So let’s use this time for something fun! I know you are free today!”

“What did you have in mind? The Art Museum? I heard that they still have the exhibition about that guy who made sculptures out of artificial meat. Mmmh?”

“Aww, thanks but no. I thought we could go hiking in the woods for a change? After the incident with the squirrel I was never allowed to visit free nature since I was nine. Also... I mean, we would be relatively alone and I could wear my true face? It’s not a problem most of the time, but I wanna be myself out in the open again. Feel the sunlight on my actual skin and stuff...”

“I understand.” Tanya plainly stated, for what else was there to say?

“Of course you do! Because you’re awesome, Senpai!” cheered Himiko, hugging her tighter.

“Get... off...” she wheezed under the crushing embrace of her colleague.

Not letting go, but marginally loosening her hold, the girl behind her continued to giggle. If she wanted to act that way, fine! Two could play that game! Instead of a leisurely walk through the forest, this would be an endurance run! One should never skimp out on training and this was the perfect opportunity to check the fitness of her student!

Tanya wanted to see if the vampiric girl would still have the last laugh after sprinting for two hours non-stop!

~[#҈#]~
​

“Huff... No fair... Huff... Agh... It hurts... It hurts so much... Huff...”

“We should do this more often. You’re totally out of shape! Do you remember that first month of your training? Perhaps a refresher is in order...”

Tanya was not winded in the slightest. She had only covered half the distance on foot to give herself a modest workout which left her sweaty but not exhausted. Being able to comfortably ride along the path on top of an energy barrier akin to a magic carpet was most convenient in this case.

“Please! Huff... Don’t! Please! Huff... I’ll do anything!”

Pure desperation clung to Himiko’s voice as she obviously relived the hellish memories of her initiation in her mind.

“Wonderful. I am glad that you have chosen to clean my apartment. It’s gotten rather dusty as of late.”

“You are so mean! Huff!”

“Many have said that in the past. Most regretted it deeply.” Tanya quipped, although the upturned corner of her mouth showed that she was not being serious.

“Huff... Still... This was nice... Did you see that pretty bird... Huff... who followed us? Huff... It was so cute...”

“I guess it was. Here, drink up!”

Tanya threw an already prepared water bottle at the panting girl, trusting her lightning-quick reflexes to catch it before it hit her in the face. Himiko caught the drink blindly while she flashed a smile in appreciation which revealed her pointed canines.

“Let’s get home and change. Afterwards we will see what we can do the rest of the day. We both burned a few calories, so I can treat you to something nice. You’ve earned it.”

Rewarding exceptional behaviour was basic courtesy if one wanted to nourish good work relationships. It encouraged loyalty and diligence. Paired with a few words of praise it could go a long way to raise employee satisfaction. At least that was what Tanya told herself.

~[#҈#]~
​

Freshly showered and disguised they made their way through the city, visiting wherever they felt like, yet not actually stopping anywhere. They let themselves be guided by their whims and merely appreciated the scenery. Nevertheless they both made sure to actively stay away from areas with high crime statistics or an excessive amount of traffic cameras.

Barely forty minutes passed before Himiko found a charming little establishment to satisfy their growing hunger. Underneath the towering skyscrapers of the office district, tucked away into a side street stood a small European style cafe which served different sorts of cheesecake and carrot cake as this day’s specialty.

Despite its relatively hidden nature, business appeared to be going well as many seats were already occupied. The place was not too full to be obnoxiously crowded, but also not too empty as to make them stand out. In a nutshell: It was perfect.

Taking a spot outside to experience the warmth of the summer sun, each girl was fast to order cake and coffee for themselves. Himiko was not usually a ‘coffee person’, but whenever she was with Tanya she attempted to drink it as well. The pro heroine found that solidarity humorous enough to not comment on her behaviour.

From across the street her sharp eyes caused the flash of a camera. It could be an unknowing tourist or some Paparazzi who had discovered them. Hopefully they would be satisfied with the photo from afar and not come to demand an autograph. Ultimately though, such an occurrence was of no consequence for her, so she quickly ignored it.

“Woah... this is amazing! You should try some, Senpai!”

She turned her attention back to her partner only to find Himiko expectantly holding a fork full of cake in her direction. It looked indeed good, but manners prohibited her to simply eat food from another’s cutlery in public.

“Uh, thanks, I-“

“Come on, Tanya! Please! Give it a try! For me?” the momentarily disguised girl pleaded with her lip quivering slightly (a subtle sign that her emotions were spiralling out of control).

This was so awkward! Yet... she had to accept; else her sometimes psychologically unstable protégée would be grumpy for hours. The effects of over a decade of child abuse were slow to heal, so it was completely understandable for the previously isolated girl to become somewhat attached to her and indulge in such friendship-building rituals. After all, Tanya knew better than anyone that no other trustworthy people worked at the HPSC which made her the sole target of those adorable acts of intimacy.

Her refusal of this harmless gesture would possibly ruin the mood of their entire outing. Especially after she had punished Himiko already earlier. Was her dignity worth the hassle?

Hesitantly she leaned forward placing trust into her appreciatively smiling partner to end this embarrassment swiftly. Against Tanya’s hopes however the fork remained just out of reach, leaving her hanging over the table like an idiot. Himiko’s smile turned into an impish grin as she beckoned her closer with a single finger. Retreating now would be admitting defeat and as childish as the notion was, it bothered the heroine to no end to be so effortlessly outplayed.

Narrowing her eyes in challenge, she lunged forward, attempting to capture the morsel with her lips.

Himiko meanwhile began to snicker joyfully, moving the piece of cake away at the last second.

“Come on, Senpai! Don’t be shy~”

“Don’t go too far...” she warned.

“Of course not, my dear. Just a bit further~”

Slowly standing up from her chair Tanya glanced left and right to avoid making a scene and bent over to close the distance. This was definitely skirting the edge of what she dared to do while others were watching. People without context might mistake this for a sign of romantic affection or something ludicrous like that!

“Isn’t it great? So sweet...” whispered Himiko, wearing an enraptured expression that made Tanya’s stomach explode into hectically fluttering butterflies. To be looked at with so much concern and personal interest was a novelty for her. This was not a medical examination or the searching gaze of an employer scouting for talent... it went far deeper than that and she was unsure if she liked this feeling or not.

Undeniably the cake was excellent, nearly melting its buttery aroma on her tongue, but their eye contact felt so much more sensual and tangible that it nearly hurt. For a tiny moment, a split-second, the world around them took a step back and left them be. A small eternity connected the two girls with an untold sense of understanding and longing fascination. Two lives so similar, yet so fundamentally diverse collided in a grand harmony of opposites as they were, for the first time, close enough to fully intersect.

Only to be shattered instantly in a single, overwhelming instant of raw pain and surprise.

White-hot agony spread through Tanya’s whole left side before she faintly registered that she got sent flying. In vain she tried to stabilize herself in the air, but her broken body did not obey her commands and so she crashed helplessly into a wall on the other side of the street.

“Crack!”

She was uncertain if that was the feeling of concrete or her bones shattering. Her vision swam, her back felt like it was on fire and for a few terror-inducing heartbeats even her lungs struggled to draw breath.

Through the nauseating ringing in her ears, the heroine could barely make out a smug voice talking to her. It was unnervingly familiar; although she could not immediately place a name on the fuzzy face swimming into her field of view.

“Ha! You are so easy to find! Just skimming over the most popular channels on hero-net and everyone can trace your location! You heroes are so arrogant to believe that you are safe everywhere when in reality you are-“

He was interrupted by a blade of light projected from her fingertips slamming into the space where his head once was. Had he not been suddenly enveloped in purple mist and teleported to a different location then the villain would have received a crippling blow.

Tanya managed to clear her head enough over the course of his little speech to recognize the man who just evaded her attack as the same who ambushed her at the sports festival: Shigaraki, leader of the League of Villains, user of an extremely dangerous decay quirk.

“Hey! How dare you! You NPCs can’t just skip dialogue! This is my moment you stupid mini boss-”

Not waiting for his rant to finish, she pulled herself out of the human-sized crater in the concrete and layered as many protective barriers around her form as she could in such a short timeframe. Her busted ribs dug into her flesh, causing her to cough up a handful of blood.

“Internal bleeding... damn it!”

Luckily Shigaraki seemed to be utterly convinced in his victory, because he obnoxiously shouted some nonsense about video games or something. That served Tanya just fine, for she planned to use his egotistical gloating to her advantage. Nobody revelled in their assumed superiority if they did not believe to already have won which bred exploitable complacency.

Looking around she searched for whatever had dealt such a crippling blow to her. Quickly her trained senses locked onto the shadow looming over where her table had been standing just a minute ago. Blinking her eyes to make sure that she was not hallucinating she focused on the... blob?

The black, ooze-like figure was difficult to describe. It was a ball of slime writhing with rippling waves of inky darkness that made it look more like a moving statue than a living creature. Parts of it were hardening and liquefying at random with long spikes erupting out of its centre semi-regularly. Seemingly the League was mo re crafty or advanced than the reports suggested if they could constantly produce new models of bioweapons.

Either this one was clever enough to catch her while she was distracted or the timing of the villain’s arrival was impeccable. Regardless, taking out the beast was priority number two, right after she hospitalized Shigaraki of course. Destroying the chain of command was always preferable to exhausting your limited resources in pointless attrition warfare.

Abruptly her heart was gripped by icy terror. Where was Himiko? Was she okay? Was she in critical condition?

She was the one person that mattered to Tanya in this universe and not being able to determine her wellbeing was horrifying. Beating the enemy could wait. Retribution was unimportant in the face of Himiko’s absence. Sooner would she let this city burn to the ground before she let harm come to her friend!

“...- But enough! I made my point. She’s regaining her consciousness, I think. Camera, zoom in! I want the entire world to see what ensues when some trash-tier NPC tries to challenge me! Nomu, finish her!”

Tanya winced as she wrapped herself in a skin-tight shield to perform evasive manoeuvres.

Meanwhile the slime merely wobbled vacuously from side to side.

“I said: Nomu, finish her!” shouted Shigaraki, raising the volume of his voice.

Next to him a figure made from purple fog materialized.

“Young master, I believe this is what the good doctor meant with ‘unstable’ and ‘not finished.”

“Yeah, no shit. That old fool can’t get anything right! How are we supposed to ever kill All Might if they can’t beat fucking mini bosses! Nomus were designed to be the ultimate weapons!”

“Complaining is of no use here, Shigaraki. You must adapt to the battlefield.” advised the mist man.

“Yes, you’re right. I rolled a negative check and now I have to balance my bad luck out with skill... Hey, wait!”

Making the most of that distraction, Tanya had created her own plan. From what she could observe, Himiko was not nearby which filled her with equal amounts of dread and relief. So, in order to find her friend she needed to go higher, but her wounded state weakened her ability to fly. Confusing potential snipers was key here.

In the absence of a smoke bomb she had instead formed a massive opaque barrier in front her and lifted herself into the air behind it. To sustain this construct she had to unfortunately drop a few of her protective shields, but as soon as she fled together with Himiko everything would be alright. She had to believe that…

Propelling herself upwards without gradual acceleration whiplash-inducing, but she needed every second she could get. When she reached the upper edge of obstruction Tanya was barely able to witness a catastrophe unfold itself.

Himiko had jumped out from inside the ruined store window of the cafe, her knife gripped firmly in hand as she aimed for Shigaraki’s throat. She swung with untainted murderous intent, all hints of her usual playfulness erased from the calculated motion. Agile like a cat rushing towards a mouse she aimed for the kill and would have ripped open his neck if he had not turned his head slightly at the last second.

The metal bottom of the hand-shaped mask on his face got in the way, redirecting the blade into his shoulder.

“Agh!” screamed the decay quirk user.

Instinctively his hand reached behind him to touch his attacker and Tanya acted.

She drove downwards in an attempt to cleave him in half, because separating them at that close distance was impossible. A deep-violet portal appeared in her path, but she dived around it, certain that the teleporting mist man would not be capable of redirecting his quirk in time.

Which turned out to be a false assumption.

Wallowing tendrils of darkness enveloped her form before she was spat out into even more black. Up or down were completely indeterminable to her as she clawed at the suffocating and viscous fluid that she was drenched in. The thick, inescapable darkness pressed itself against all her wounds, pushing bones further inward or rubbing scraped skin in an agonizing manner.

Then, all of a sudden there was light again and she gasped for air. Blinded by the abrupt brightness it took several long moments until Tanya understood her current predicament. She was trapped inside the slime monster that despite not obeying the commands of Shigaraki earlier was apparently functional enough to restrain her.

“Huh? It works after all! Wonderful! You see, I ordered this one directly to counter you, Argent.” sneered the bloodied man. From his cracked lips the title sounded like an insult.

Still, Tanya only had eyes for Himiko who was held to the ground by a burly figure whose naked torso left no illusions that his muscle mass was more than a match for the teenage girl below him.

“This Nomu can harden around you just like that and if you attempt to cut it to pieces then it automatically pierces you with its thorns! Not to mention that it can also reform, because it’s made out of goo! A totally OP build to destroy a spellcaster like you!”

Spells? If she had access to real magic from her lifetime of war then she would have wiped that bastard off the face of the earth long ago!
As if sensing her enraged thoughts Shigaraki bent down and roughly grabbed Himiko’s face, but left his pinkie raised in an unspoken threat to dissolve her at the slightest provocation.

Tanya’s adrenaline-addled brain hyperfixated on his fingers, noting that the fingertips looked brighter than the rest of his ashen skin. They were pink like a newborn, ill-fitting compared to the rest of his rotten persona.

“Who’s this? Does she mean something to you? Your girlfriend, ey? Hehe... I’ll make her suffer. Like you made me suffer!”

“Noooooo!” she shrieked without thinking, clawing and fighting against her restraints uselessly.

“What the...?” asked the bewildered villain as grey sludge began to stream down between his fingers, exposing Himiko’s real face underneath. His confused gaze wandered between his dirty hand and the naked captive on the street.

“Blood Dancer? What are you doing here?”

“GO TO HELL!” spit the now bare girl in an act of defiance.

“Don’t tell me... You’re with that bitch? No way...

“Let me go! You pig! You disgusting fuc-“

Himiko thrashed against his grip.

“SHUT UP! You’re a shitty traitor and I can’t tolerate this!”

He splayed his fingers and she knew instantly what he wanted to do and she was powerless to avert it.

No. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NONONONOONOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Time slowed to a crawl for the distressed Tanya as soul-crushing anguish set in.

She knew that she would not be able to save her.

Her most important possession throughout all her lives, a real friend, a companion, was about to be taken from her forever.

Survival did not matter to her any longer. Pride even less.

And so, Tanya begged with all her heart!

Tanya pleaded with all her soul!

“Please! Anyone! Being X! God! Whatever you want to be called! Please! Help! HELP ME! SAVE HER! PLEASE! I’LL DO ANYTHING!”

Tanya cried out into the obscenely silent void of her own mind...

And finally her prayers were answered.