"I never knew climbing a ladder could be this nerve-racking," Jirou grumbles and glances at the mouse-sized people fighting down below. The ladder rattles at the slightest movement, making a round of shivers crawls up her nape. Her stomach swirls as she urges herself to step on another rung.
"Keep it up, Kyoka-chan!" Ochaco cheers loudly, her head sticking from the roof panel above. Behind her, Iida, Mineta, Midoriya, and Yaoyorozu are giving Jirou an encouraging grin.
"Oi, Jirou! That's pretty unexpected of you. I didn't know you have a girly side like this!" Kaminari chortles. "Why are you so afraid, anyway? If you ever fell off, you would have Arata-chan and Melissa-san as meat cushions!"
"What did you say, Kaminari!? I would so love to slip down if you were the one under. Let's see how comfy of a meat cushion you'd make!"
"I did offer to go last! But then, you girls started complaining that you're all wearing dresses so we boys had to climb first!"
"It's not fair at all!" Mineta whines and taps his feet on the metal floor. "Bakugou, Kirishima, and Todoroki could be staring at your skirts from down there for all we know!"
"Mineta-kun... I think it's physically impossible..." Deku says. "Besides, it seems they're busy fighting the villains."
Tilting her head up, Arata grips the next metal bar and sends a concerned look at her short-haired friend. "You don't have to hurry, Kyoka-chan. Be careful. This ladder is a bit slippery. Just now, one of the shoes I'm wearing slipped off..."
"Maybe Todoroki-kun could bring it to you later, Arata-chan," Melissa chimes from a few steps under her. "Like the Prince Charming in the Cinderella story."
"Pfftt!" Jirou bursts into laughter. Together with her steps, they send tiny vibrations along the ladder. "Their reenactment would make one hell of a movie! A bonus point if her shoe managed to knock out either of the villains in the process."
"Oh, you're kidding me." Arata rolls her eyes, embarrassment coloring her voice. "I doubt that. They're fighting on the other side of the botanical garden."
I'll search for it just to make sure, she glances underneath and squints her eyes, trying to spot a half of her pair of high-heels among the greenery.
Rather than a shoe, the one Arata manages to spot is a soaring blur of purple, its bat-like wings fanned out like giant curtains of darkness. A single flap is all it takes to close its distance with them—with Melissa—shooting upward with familiar, flashing yellow eyes and ram horns.
Is that the demonic creep? Is he intending to take Melissa-san with him?
"Hey! Hold on tight!" Arata screams in alarm. "A villain is approaching us!"
Neither has the time to be surprised, because just a moment later, a slam wobbles the whole ladder. Jirou yelps, almost getting thrown off if not for her death grip on the metal bars.
"Oof!"
One of her feet accidentally hits Arata, who barely manages to latch onto the ladder after slipping into a couple of rungs down.
"Sorry! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Her right arm throbs in protest under the strain and her shins hurt, but Arata couldn't care less. In no condition she wants to fall and splat on the ground like an egg. More importantly, what about Melissa?
The ladder's metal joints are still clinking against their bolts when the demon appears behind Melissa. One arm swiftly slinks around her shoulders, tilting her chin to face his. "Hi there, Miss Shield. I've been hoping to meet you."
His skin is cold to the touch and Melissa squirms under his hold, struggling to break free. "Let me go!"
"Melissa-san, don't look at his eyes!" Arata tries to stretch her body and kick the demon-like man, but her heel doesn't even skin the top of his head. "He will hypnotize you!"
"Hm? I wonder where you got that info." the villain, Ephialtes, snaps his head up, just in time as Arata looks away, avoiding his yellow eyes. "It's not common knowledge."
Huh... It looks like he doesn't recognize me.
"Go away from Melissa-san!" Arata bites out. She would so want to get her point across with a glare, but she figures that looking at his eyes might be a bad idea.
"My, my, I can't do that. It will defeat my entire purpose flying up here."
This is bad, Arata groans. In the background, she can hear the panicked conversation of her friends, all caught off-guard by this unexpected development. A ladder isn't the best place to fight a villain on. The footing is unreliable. A wrong move will result in a fall, and that risk is too big to take.
"Get off, you jerk!" Eyes shut, Melissa wriggles and throws an elbow back. Ephialtes glides back and ducks, dodging her blind, desperate attack with refined elegance. Clicking his tongue, he lets out a heavy sigh, yet the polite tone of his silky smooth voice is unchanging.
"Why are the best ones always the least obedient ones? You're beautiful, but I don't have time to play mind games with you now, Melissa Shield. Let's just go straight to the next step, and—"
It's hard to see what item is exactly in his grip, seeing that his back obstructs most of Arata's sight. But, when a metallic glint enters her peripheral vision, a jolt zaps straight to her head and her instinct takes over her body.
"Get your hands off her!" Arata growls, adrenaline swirling in her veins, flooding her being with a wave of burning energy, thrumming as it flows.
It all seems so clear to her. The way his yellow eyes gleam and focus on Melissa. The way his hand swings to her shoulder. The way the item's pointed tip gives off a silver flash under the lights. And...
... The way she is in danger if no one interferes right now.
"Go to sleep, Melissa Shield."
"I said, get your hands off her!" I'm going to protect you, Melissa-san!
Just a split second before Ephialtes makes contact with Melissa, a 37-kilogram mass drops on his back—sudden and hard. A twinge explodes on his left shoulder blade, and he bets everything he has that it is not only because of collision. He winces in pain as the impact plummets him like a busted aircraft.
"Arata-chan! No!"
"It's crazy! She deliberately jumped!"
"— bringing the villain down with her—"
The shouts gradually sound inaudible, replaced with the rushing blood in his ears. The ground is rapidly approaching in his vision, the harsh wind that comes with it is making his eyes teary. Saddled by the extra weight, he can't even control his flight anymore.
Wings, he needs to flap his wings. Yet, whereas his right wing immediately opens wide, his left can't. It trembles miserably, impaired by a sharp, pointed object which is being pressed down by the girl on his back.
That bitch, she clipped one of my wings!
Unable to stop his descent, Ephialtes's face smashes to the botanical garden floor with an ear-splitting crash. Sickening cracks thunder in the air, a few of which surely coming from his ribs and legs, together with the white-hot pain spasming in his body.
Warm liquid starts to pour out, creating a pool on the white ceramic, seeping and painting its fissures with crimson. And, despite the nasty drop, the girl on his back stirs and props her own torso up, limbs shaking heavily under the crushing ache in her bones and muscles.
It is a wonder in and of itself that Arata hasn't fainted on the spot. Black spots dance in her vision and she buckles down, her elbows slamming the villain's back once again. A shoe rolls out from her grasp and tumbles to the floor with a clack, a hint of red trickling down its pointed heel.
"— Shit! Ara!—"
"— Oi, that extra—"
"Where do you think you're going, kids? Your opponents are here, not there!"
"— Arata-chan! Wake up!"
"Jirou-kun, Melissa-san! Get to the roof panel first for now!"
"— Is she moving!? Arata-san!"
Various calls for her pass through Arata's ears, but her head is too fuzzy to pay attention to either of them.
Is Melissa-san safe? Did I... Did I manage to knock him out? Ugh, I feel very dizzy... and my entire body hurts... Right arm, my right arm— I don't think I can feel it anymore... as if it has imploded and blown into pieces...
Her forehead brushes the villain's back as she struggles to support herself. Forcing herself to raise her voice volume, she tries to be as coherent as possible. "G— Get Melissa-san... out of here! All of you... just go to the top— top floor. This villain, h— he targets quirkless girls—"
All of a sudden, the dark, muscular wing under her twitches and arches upward. It comes down upon her in a flash. The blow connects with her abdomen with a loud thud, hurling her to the ceramic tiles. Pain bursts like fireworks in her stomach and back, almost causing her to black out.
"I didn't recognize you at first without that maroon hoodie, Little Red Riding Hood."
Impossible... That fall should've been enough to severely injure him. I used him as a cushion to break my fall, and yet, everything still hurt me so much... How come he still can move...?
Breathing momentarily cut off, Arata lets out a round of hacking coughs and gasps. Extending her arm, she grabs whatever around and reachable on the cold ground, then smacks it to the head next to her. Terracotta shatters upon contact, raining earthy soil and humus. She wishes it would be enough to incapacitate the villain, but...
"Normally, I'm very merciful towards girls—"
Ephialtes rises to his feet and his body convulses unnaturally. His crooked limbs contort, filling the air with horrible popping sounds, soil dripping from his shoulders. Blood thickens and ceases to ooze from his wounds, discolored flesh progressively mending itself. And, in place of his smooth skin, wrinkles and creases emerge, drawing years of aging in an instant on it.
What in the world...
"— but you've helped my prey escape, clipped my wing with a high heel, smashed a pot to my head, and cut off at least a decade of my lifespan. As restroom buddies, just between you and I, there is nothing I loathe more than looking old. Nothing, although males are a close one."
Arata isn't looking into his eyes, but promise of a threat lurks inside his voice, sending chills up her spine. Trying to collect what's left from her grit, she scrambles and backs away, ignoring the scorching ache in her limbs and abdomen with great effort.
"We're not 'buddies'," Arata growls, keeping her gaze at his hands, careful not to make an eye contact. Red blooms across the torso of her dress as she presses her left palm against the spot firmly, trying to ignore the throbbing, reopened cauterization wound underneath.
Dusting the soil remains from the intricate embellishment on his posh clothes, a smirk splits Ephialtes's face and his yellow eyes sweep over Arata, examining her from head to toe.
"To think a quirkless girl like you can do this to me... I'll make you pay for the years I've lost. Dearly."