After decaying the body of Gigantomachia, Shigaraki struggled to take out 2 empty syringes, his head pounding along side the thumping thunder in his heart. Soon, his legs gave way to the ground. Adrenaline could only mask the body exhaustion to some extent. Something white before his eyes, he fell unconscious.
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"..."
"Are you still going to hate him, Mirio Togata?"
Nezu spoke into the earpiece, his voice eagerly waiting for his student's decision. The latter, whose body emerged from the ground. The blue polka dot eyes stared at the lying villain. The student hero paid no mind to the weeping of Meta Liberation Army soldiers whose body was destroyed. Every other heroes had evacuated inside to aid the students, successfully repelling the infiltrated enemies.
"Yes. He is someone who got Nighteye-san dead... But I am better than a murderer. If I cannot bear the pain from those who need saving, how can I be called a hero?"
"Good answer, Togata-san. Nighteye would be proud of you."
"Hahaha, not outside. He will be proud but outwardly, he will be telling me to stop wasting my life as if it is free."
A laugh resounded, drawing the attention of the few fortunate people.
"I will bring this villain to you. Just give me some time to take care of the remaining."
And Mirio disappeared from the perspective of everyone still awake.
"Where is that guy!? He can't g-"
Thunk!
"He is over the-"
Thunk! Bam! Bam!
The series of impacts to the head could be heard.
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'Lucid dream.'
'Yes.'
'And you are?'
'Your emotion.'
'Emotion can't be talking.'
'So is the slave under All For One's finger.'
'Emotion can't be talking because All For One stripped most of it out of me. Why are you in my brain?'
''...That's unexpected. Tch"
The sound was clearer now. In front of him was a wrinkly man with a massive head. The clicking of the mouth as really grating on the villain's nerve. He used his quirk on the very first thing he had used it on once again, the mind.
"How, ah! Your quirk. I see."
"Not anymore."
With a wipe of Shigaraki's hand, a part of his memory decay off into nothingness. He had used it the first time to forget something. He was unsure the content but it must have been a bad memory...
He opened his eyes once more just like that day. The difference was that now he had a responsibility to take care of. Lying on the hospital bed with monitors recording his vital signals, Shigaraki was only met with a bear rat.
"Oh, you wake up. Your action proves that you are indeed trying. I am always lenient with those who can see themselves getting better."
"... How did I get back here?"
"One of my teaching faculty brought you back."
"I thought you would be holding me in a jail or something."
"How could I do that for someone like you?"
"Is it the incident where I killed Nighteye?"
The air dropped a few degree with the nonchalant statement.
"Of course not. That deed is grave but I am not qualified to give out a sentence to you."
Shigaraki looked upon the wall opposite of him where a lawyer certificate with the principal's name was boasting its presence. Nezu kicked off the chair to stand on the infirmary bed, blocking his sight.
"What do you want me to do?"
Shigaraki could try to kill Nezu right here and then but he could not guarantee an escape with the current state of his body. Even with a modified body, using two concentrated dose of Trigger still left the quirk weaken to nothing.
...He could not feel the pack inside his pocket.
"Such wonderful concoctions. I will let you hitchhike on UA, monitored. And I a-"
A ring of a phone interrupted Nezu as he sighed and brought it out to see the content.
"... wear this on your neck. Just go around and get familiar with your room. Take your keycard. Any quirk used without permission will be handled by something you are familiar with."
"Got it. Thanks, Bear-rat-sama."
Shigaraki left a mocking remark at the retreating figure of Nezu.
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After running for a long time, Izuku spotted the structure clutching the flying UA. He hastened his mother to his back before climbing up with his fingers punching holes into the carbonized wood. As he climbed higher and higher, the commotion above heightened and lessened, signifying a fight must have been finished. Readying his remaining aura to speed up and joining in the fray, he jumped tens of meters in one motion and then repeated.
As he reached the top, he witnessed the ground dotted with craters all over the place, mangled corpses in those he could look down. As he made his way into the desolate first floor of UA, someone stopped him in his tracks. An unkempt man with a visor hiding his eyes whose hands were holding the dirtied gray scarf.
'Since he is not attacking first, a hero teacher ... this look, is it Erasure-san? It has indeed been sometime since I last saw him.'
Relief came after the realization. Izuku hated having to kill righteous people especially those working in the dark unrewarded to keep everyone safe.
"Can't you talk?"
"Hard t-to do."
Exhaustion slipped into the hoarse voice as Erasure, aka Aizawa, turned around and led Izuku to the infirmary. He could see someone was in the sleeping bag on Izuku's back so his priority was saving this person.
"Infirmary."
Izuku caught on and the two walked to the destination in silence. Izuku spent the time looking around, seeing the destruction of the floor. As the two pulled the door open, Recovery Girl, a hero who had kept Izuku some time ago, welcomed the two.
"...Izuku? You jest! Who is that on your back?"
"My mom. She has stayed back and I found her fainted so I am bringing her to somewhere safe. I suppose Nezu has a way to get out of Japan?"
"Indeed he does. Lay your mother on that bed over there. Let me continue on with Nezu's plan. He has informed me about your arrival and a place for you has been arranged in the newly-built UA Dorm. You can stay here and get some rest. Seeing how haggard your eyes have become. And go take a shower, you stink. Aizawa, you too. Go get some rest. It is Yamada's turn to keep guard."
"Thank you."
Both men said their goodbye and left for their places. Izuku had caught the key thrown by Recovery Girl, room 404, and his brain thought how the bear-rat must have prepared that room as a joke at how his power could not be found in the quirk registry database.
" If you can, please tell me where the UA Dorm is?"
"Who... are you?"
Someone taller than the 150-cm-tall Izuku spoke to him first, his eyes red and his hair an ashen white. Izuku could peek at the scars across the chest from the dipping clothes. The lanky man asked for directions and if he was accepted here, he must be fine according to Nezu's standard.
"Follow me. I'm also going there. So what's your name?"
"Shigaraki. It is a pleasure to meet you."
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"So you are trying to travel around the world?"
After one day of proper rest and meals, Izuku had already recovered and was discussing his personal goals after reaching UA. In front of him was the bear-rat who was still in his pajamas since it was still early morning. The yawning bear-rat listened to him recounting a portion of his story before rechecking his intention.
"Yes."
"What are you looking for?"
"A particular city. An old one."
"...I can guess what your aim is. Is it related to what your mother wished for you to do?"
"...How do you know?"
"Nobody fainted and stayed alive this long, especially in the region where Endeavor has scorched everything. That means there is something happening between your mom and you, common denominators, and that leads to this need for travelling around. And let's say she is without a scratch after Endeavor's ... you know, endeavor, your need to travel the world is unfounded because YOU are going to this school in the future."
"What if it's just a teenager rebellion streak?"
"You do no rebellion, Izuku. Both of us are clear of that. And beside, Ina."
"What about her?"
Izuku had been preoccupied with his personal affairs to contact his friend. It had been quite some time but he had been so wrapped in this mess that he put her to the back of his mind. He was sorry for not informing her but he believed that she must have been safe due to her strength and her wits.
"She, no, her family has been taking advantage of by All For One. She was the hostage to keep her father, the one pulling the strings in the past, dancing on All For One's palm."
"Was? What happened?"
Nezu could feel a pressure clawing at his heart, the palpitation of brain in danger. He was stepping on a lot of landmines in Izuku's emotion but he needed to inform the boy of the truth despite how hurtful it could be.
"As her father has been identified as openly rebelling against All For One, my conclusion is that something has happened to break the relationship between him and the villain. The only possible explanation is the death of Ina since her father cares deeply for HIS family.
Furthermore, the quirks of your friend are prime target for All For One. I can already count improved regeneration, improved physiology efficiency, and a transformation quirks. All can be evolved further. It is a miracle that Ina has not been captured earlier."
The bear-rat sipped his morning tea, his eyes piercing through the shadows on Izuku's face. The edge of his mouth could not stop at frowning at the situation. Nezu and Izuku gave a minute of silence to commemorate Ina's death. The former let the latter had some time to process everything emotionally since the logical side had already been finished. There was no tears or name-calling, just silence, dead silence.
"...Thank you for the information. I will be going my way."
"Izuku, my school is willing to host you here. You are allow to set off after all of this is over but remember, I will be coming for you when it's time. And...sorry."
"..."
Izuku left back to his room, his face blank staring at the bathroom mirror as he splashed cold water onto his face. The droplets sliding downward on his face substituted for the real things. As he threw himself on bed once again, Izuku opened his System interface to look for something in his Inventory.
'Anything, something, at all!'
He had completed many things and had murdered many villainous people. Thus, his stats were very high with all normal ones reaching the ranges of 300s except for Luck and Endurance to be over 500. He looked at the cold numbers, uncaring of the experience he had been going through. As he scanned through his Inventory, he spotted something he had forgotten being there.
'A question to the world?'
He hesitated before choosing to use this. With only one opportunity, he needed to asked for something he could deduce more information.
"What form is Ina, my friend, who can transform into a xenomorph-like monster, is right now?"
As the 3d dice in his vision opened up, Izuku picked out a piece of paper telling him the answer.
"A spear whose nature is metaphysical?"