"I don't get it," Kurogiri asked. "Weren't you looking for a rematch?"
Shigaraki played with cards, laying them out one row after another.
"… rematch…" he repeated the word, tasting it like wine. "I do want it, but… the game has changed, Kurogiri."
Shigaraki flipped one of the cards.
It held the image of one of the Class 1-A students—Katsuki Bakugo.
He still did not know if it was the same boy who had attacked him at the LA Villains Detention Center in the USA. The voice in his head kept telling him that it was most likely him. But even if it was indeed him, this wasn't the rematch Shigaraki had in his mind.
"… Why have we kept losing so far, Kurogiri?" he asked.
The bartender put the glass down, narrowing his eyes.
"It's because we were playing a turn-based game," Shigaraki answered himself, smiling. "We attack with all our players. Then, the Pros appear and defeat us. The cycle repeats, but the outcome remains the same. No. We should have been playing a simulation game from the start."
"Simulation game?" Kurogiri asked.
Shigaraki chuckled. "Villains attack, Heroes defend… Heroes attack, Villains defend… Why must we take turns in all this? Shouldn't we plan for all these cycles beforehand, before making our final move?"
Kurogiri frowned.
This wasn't like Tomura Shigaraki at all.
Ever since they had returned from the USA, he had changed, becoming more childish… and, paradoxically, becoming more logical.
Not only had his Quirk undergone a change, but his rationality seemed to have changed as well.
It was yet to be seen if it had changed for the better or worse, though.
Shigaraki flipped another card, revealing Midoriya.
"I want a rematch against the world," he declared. "Against these students, who keep foiling our plans. Against All Might. Against the Pros. Against everyone! But…"
"But?"
Shigaraki flipped another card, eyeing Luke's image.
He crushed that card, a mocking laugh echoing in the back of his mind.
"But it's not me who should be taking the stage randomly," Shigaraki said. "I am the Main Boss. It should be the Mini Bosses who must confront the Heroes first, chipping away at their Stats, no?"
"I see…" Kurogiri nodded. "So, the members of Vanguard Action Squad are just pawns?"
"Haha!" Shigaraki laughed. "No—no! They are the Claws I can count on… Please don't make me sound so heartless… Haha! That's why I sent them together. Even if a few of them end up losing, their mere presence there is enough to scar society…"
Kurogiri noticed the grin under the hand on Tomura's face as he turned over another card, revealing a girl this time.
"Momo Yaoyorozu…" Shigaraki said softly, a red glow pulsating in his eyes. "What a wonderful Quirk you have… Haha!"
…
Training Camp
Class 1-A campsite
[Listen to him…] Miss Justice said, placating. [You are not Dr. Blessed. Ragdoll has her eyes on you. Remember. Also, Mandalay only mentioned that Momo might be only one of the students they are after. Not the only one. Think, prepare, and act. A Beyonder like you shouldn't be rushing into the unknown, losing all rationality. That's a one-way ticket to lose control… especially for you.]
Luke, who had been eyeing Todoroki blankly, felt his vision returning to his eyes as he heard Miss Justice.
His heart was booming.
Nyx's claws had dug so deeply into his shoulder that they had drawn blood as well.
Suddenly, Luke smiled and slowly returned to his seat at the back of his class. "… Sorry," he apologized to Todoroki. "Didn't know going to the bathroom was a taboo…"
"… What just happened?" Monoma asked, looking at Luke, Todoroki, and the wall of ice covering the door.
Not only he, but Kirishima, Mina, Sero, Sato, and Kaminari too shared a puzzled glance among themselves.
Only Todoroki kept standing straight, sweat drenching his back despite the cold mist lifting off his right side. Only he knew what kind of disaster they had averted.
Still, Luke regaining his usual self shocked Todoroki the most, as he had already prepared himself for the worst. The first thing I need to do next term… he thought, somehow bringing a smile to his face as well. … is to change seats with him…
As Todoroki began melting the ice, Luke wasn't behaving as nonchalantly as he showed.
A storm was raging in his mind as the Cryptologist let the Decryption ability he had been holding back on… loose.
No way Shigaraki hadn't sensed the similarities between the guy who kicked his ass in the USA and Bakugo, Luke decrypted as Nyx secretly performed Dream Divination under the table. If Momo is one of the prime targets of the Vanguard Action Squad, then it cannot be because of a personal grudge. Hmm… That limits their objective to kidnap a student, cause chaos, or… a show of strength.
In his past life, the League of Villains had kidnapped Bakugo because of the personality he had shown during the Sports Festival. They had mistakenly thought it would be easy to convert the boy to their side, as, in their opinion, the Hero Society had been oppressing him.
That clearly wasn't the case this time, though, Luke confirmed.
The entire event had undergone a defining change, altering not only the target and goal of the attack, but also the… the number of players.
Luke's eyes suddenly stirred as his mind raced like a bullet. There was one more change—the gravest—which he had ignored previously.
The Quirk Amplification Devices!
The original device was a state-of-the-art piece of equipment, which needed rare materials and technology that even Dr. Kyudai couldn't replicate. Not in a short amount of time.
Luke knew this because he had stolen all data about the device from I-Island.
And that's why he had not given many Villains wearing Quirk Amplification Devices any second thought.
One, forget eliminating the spiritual backlash of the device, as even creating a new device with the same efficacy from scratch would take over a year. It didn't matter if Dr. Kyudai had all the materials at his disposal. There was no workaround when it came to the time some scientific processes required.
Second, if Dr. Kyudai had indeed created multiple devices, then the only way it could happen was if he had restricted their power. Even then, given their bad experience with the device, they would only use it on Clones. Moreover, with the complexity of the processes involved, they could not endlessly create those devices. Otherwise, why weren't all the Villains wearing them?
So, there was no need to panic, even if it seemed things had taken the darkest turn.
BUT…
What if Dr. Kyudai had found a way to create these less powerful versions of Quirk Amplification Devices en masse?
Suddenly, an image appeared in Luke's mind.
A thousand Clones, with different Quirks, all wearing Quirk Amplification Devices…
Luke sat up straight, a chill running down his spine as he decrypted the final detail.
There was only one way for All For One and Dr. Kyudai to create an army of Clones, powered by the Quirk Amplification Devices.
It was to mass-produce the device —
— using Momo's Creation!
********************
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