(Pov: Riku Shindai)
Brmmm...
The first thing he heard, was the humming of some kind of machine. No other noise was to be made out beyond that.
'...where?'
He got his answer a heartbeat later. His Cursed Energy sensor deployed, assaulting his brain with the information of his surroundings.
'A Hospital?'
Not many people were in the hospital, with only a few patients whose emotional state was dull, a sign of them being asleep.
For a moment, he just remained there, slowly scanning the hospital all the while thinking back to what had caused him to be here in first place.
'...ah. The villains... and Midnight who put me to sleep.'
A quiet growl escaped him as he thought back to those events. Then, he promptly heaved himself up.
Riku's body moved with deceptive ease as he sat up on his bed. His muscles did not ache, contrary to what should've been normal after such an incident. He did not feel any pain or lingering wounds decorate his body.
Shink.
'...?'
His right arm, sunk into the Mattress. Riku froze for a moment, confused as to what could have caused that sound.
Then, he noticed it. 'A blade?'
He recognized it instantly. And he remembered using it in the same moment.
The blade of Exorcism. Or blade of extermination. Both were used to refer to the blade the original Mahoraga had on his arm.
It was a weapon imbued with Reverse Cursed Energy, capable of annihilating Curses far more efficiently than regular Cursed Energy was capable of.
'But this is not the same...'
He had already used it. His blade too had been imbued with positive energy, but he had used it to heal wounds, to force them to close the moment they were cut.
Again, the events replayed in his mind. His memory of after he'd been knocked out was fuzzy, but he knew what he had done.
And it still did not bother him.
'It was not Human. No different than those robots i fought at the entrance exam.'
Another quiet growl escaped him as his tail twitched. He felt strange. He had never considered himself a cruel or calm person. While yes, he was the sort of person who'd encourage death penalty for people who'd done specific crimes, he had always thought himself incapable of committing murder or anything violent, even if someone was deserving.
But, he had done just that. And he didn't feel any different because of it.
'No way for that to be normal.'
With a Shink, he pulled his blade out of the mattress, holding it out in front of him. His hand slowly traced against it, finding it clean of blood or residue. He attempted to move the blade, maybe pull it into his arm or make it disappear, but it remained there, fixed on his forearm.
'...please make it i can control the presence of the blade.'
His blade however, remained. Riku remained there for a moment, thoughts flashing in his mind about how troublesome such a blade would be in everyday life.
Then, he stood up. The bed creaked as his body left the bed, momentarily fazing him. Wearing a white Hospital Gown, he slowly stepped towards the door, then went his way through the hallway.
'Everyone's fast asleep... But someone is at the Reception.'
Incapable of telling apart Night from Day, he guessed the time using common sense. The lack of presences, voices and emotions bubbling around him, made it clear it was nighttime.
'Hmm. Now, how to not give that poor dude a heart attack?'
Someone walking around in the hospital at night, with the body of an All Might sized Mutant. If whoever was at the reception didn't flinch, they might be a Sukuna level threat.
"DOOG GNINROM."
(GOOD MORNING.)
"WAH?"
And flinch, the man did. Now standing behind the desk at the reception, the man watched with rising emotions as Riku approached, before remembering he was in a world in which Mutants were commonplace.
"Ah, um yes. Good Morning... Well, its actually the middle of the night."
Heaving a deep breath, the man recomposed himself before continuing.
"Well, how can i help you? Do you need something?"
"I YLNO EKOW PU WON. ESAELP LLET EM EREHW I MA DNA WOH GNOL I SAW EREH."
(I ONLY WOKE UP NOW. PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I AM AND HOW LONG I WAS HERE.)
The man perked up, his emotions shifting a bit, before changing from confusion to recognition.
"Ah! I assume you are ... forgive me, i cannot recall your name. But i was told of Student staying here after the incident at UA. You are at the Tokyo Central Hospital. It is now ...2h in the morning and it has been roughly 11 hours since your admission here."
The man checked his watch as he talked before standing up and leaving his counter.
"Sorry, but would you please return to your room? I have been instructed to let the Doctors know when you're awake. There should be a command in your room to contact a nurse in case you need anything."
Riku's wings twitched in light annoyance, unwilling to go back just yet.
"DLUOW TI EB EBLISSOP OT TEG EMOS DOOF NO EHT YAW?"
(WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO GET SOME FOOD ON THE WAY?)
"Of course, there is a vending machine this way."
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(Timeskip: A few hours later) (Pov: Izuku Midoriya)
Izuku, had not slept well.
The only things on his mind had been the events at the USJ. He had found himself incapable of thinking of anything but the League of Villains, their Goal, his classmates and his Quirk.
And, while being tired felt horrible, his worrying throughout the night had indeed helped him figure out a few things.
Especially about his classmate, Riku Shindai.
Izuku had been horrified. Even now, his stomach still churned when remembering the warm feeling of blood splashing onto him while Shindai mutilated the Villain.
The metallic smell. The sight of the crippled Nomu. Shindai, bearing the brunt of numerous attacks. The Nomu, unflinching against Izuku's quirk.
Stress, fear, worry, disgust had caught up with him in that moment and that was why he had fallen unconscious.
Then, he had thought about it. Like, the entire night. And he had come to a single conclusion.
'Shindai wanted to save everyone, but did not know any other way.'
And neither could Izuku. The fact that All Might's Quirk had failed against him, made it abundantly clear that no normal means would have worked against it.
'I really need to apologize to him...'
During that entire fiasco, he had thought of Shindai being extreme. In his mind, he had dubbed him as someone whose mindset would not allow him to become a Hero. It was momentary and he was not thinking straight, but it had been disrespectful of him nevertheless.
'...i could go now. Although he might still be asleep.'
The two were sharing the same Hospital, due to one of Izuku's arms being broken. He had forgotten about it due to Adrenaline during the fight, but his Smash he used against Mineta's Quirk had broken his right arm.
Luckily for him, he had been in good shape besides that, meaning that Recovery Girl had been capable of healing it.
'...Still. I managed to do it once. A Smash against the Nomu, without breaking my arm.'
A light pride swelled in his chest at the thought, before vanishing. It had most likely just been a coincidence and he was aware of that.
'Still... its better than nothing.'
Izuku clenched his fist whilst frowning. The League of Villains attack had showed him how weak he was and how little time he would have to improve. Their leader was dangerous and their ambition, strong.
The only reason everyone had come out mostly unscathed, was thanks to Shindai.
'...'
"I wonder what his Quirk really is..."
"Its exactly as you know, Adaptation."
"AAH?!"
His thought was answered by a familiar voice, coming from his right. Izuku jumped backwards, before recognizing the figure.
"ALL MIGHT!"
"Its Toshinori or Yagi here, young Midoriya. Don't let the hospital know i am here."
Izuku settled down, slightly sheepish. "Right."
His mentor simply continued, unperturbed.
"His Quirk is exactly what it says it is. Young Shindai is capable to adapt to Phenomena, but its unknown what the conditions are for it to happen. Or if there even are some."
Izuku nodded, slightly numb. He had theorized a lot about his Mutant classmate's Quirk, but found himself still unable to form a strong hypothesis.
"The problem with his Quirk, is that he can't really control it. And given that the Quirk influences him, he might not be capable of always controlling himself. The board of directors of UA is currently arguing with the Hero Public Safety Commission and the Quirk Safety Bureau, whether he can stay at the school."
Toshinori Yagi's blue eyes shone darkly as he spoke.
"Your classmate took a huge risk in order to protect you all. I know that you and your classmates probably feel a bit awkward about him, but young Shindai's intentions were nothing if not Heroic."
Izuku nodded again. He had already come to that realization but remained hooked on something else his mentor had said.
"Ehm, you said... he might need to leave the school? Is he in trouble?"
His inquiry was met with a shrug.
"An uncontrollable Quirk is dangerous in Hero work. For a Hero, control matters more than the Quirk itself. He should be fine however, the Principal is covering for him. Although there is a chance that he may not participate in certain events until he controls his Quirk."
A bit of guilt rose in Izuku at his teachers statement. The events of the attack had him feel like he should have done more, especially given the legacy he had inherited but it seemed that Shindai had put in the most effort, only to draw worse results.
Silence reigned for a moment before Izuku remembered something.
"Ah! ALL... Yagi. During the battle, i managed to punch the Nomu without breaking my arm!"
"Ohoh! Really!" The man broke out in a large grin, before his expression settled on confusion as he stared at Izuku's cast.
A bit of embarrassment sprung up in the boy.
"NO! Really, i did. I used One for All 3 times. The first time, i broke a few of my fingers when being split up by the Mist villain. But then, during the fight, i managed to use it against the Nomu without breaking anything! Although... i broke it again when executing my plan with Mineta's quirk..."
All Might stared at him for a moment, holding his chin.
"Huh. You didn't break it? What do you think was different?"
Izuku stared at his hand for a moment.
"Maybe... maybe because i tried to use the power on a person. And Shindai stood close too, so i didn't really think about it..."
All Might just smiled.
"It means you managed to control One for All, even just subconsciously. That is great News!"
The smile was reciprocated as the reality of his improvement settled in the green haired boy's mind.
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(Pov: Riku Shindai)
"...EMOC NIAGA?"
(...COME AGAIN?)
The doctor in front of Riku's bed looked up from his notes, his emotions portraying slight awkwardness and discomfort. But he repeated himself nevertheless.
"The blade on your arm, is a mutation sprouting out of your bone. Retracting it or making it disappear is impossible. Unless your Quirk somehow changes that."
'...so i'm gonna live the rest of my days with a knife at hand?'
A blade. A pretty cool blade in his opinion. But moving with something like this, constantly at hand would be a nightmare.
He remained silent, ignoring the doctors awkward shuffling of his notes. The doctor then spoke up again.
"And we also attempted to look into that "Reverse Energy" you showed us, but we were incapable of making a clear analysis in such a short time. What i can say for now, is that the energy is definitely a polar opposite of the "Cursed Energy" you usually emit.
This is just a hypothesis, but your "Reverse Energy" is capable of tapping into Cell memory and essentially rebuilding flesh and bone from what your body remembers present. It is essentially one of the highest form of Regeneration i have witnessed. Your blade however, is capable of taking this energy and condensing it outwards, meaning you are capable of healing others in crude ways. It seems like you are not capable of fully regenerating another persons limb."
The doctor looked up from his notes.
"Essentially, you have powerful regeneration, which will tire out your mind. And you can apply that regeneration outwards through the blade, although only to close open wounds."
'... well. I guess that's a pretty good power up.'
"Then, we also have a hypothesis, following the events of your... instincts. This is rather simple, your brain essentially induces a heavy rush of adrenaline, whenever your Cursed Energy senses anything your brain could translate as dangerous.
That means, your reflexes are now a lot faster than your brain. You will likely act before you think."
'...and that's a problem.'
The moment he'd sense danger, his body would react pre-emptively. That was... safe but definitely not good.
'And i bet this dude doesn't have a solution either...'
A quiet growl escaped him. It looked like someone wanted to screw him over and that someone was succeeding.
'...I'm gonna have to adapt a solution... Maybe if someone is capable of controlling emotions... or something? Or can i learn to think faster than my reflexes?'
He'd rather have the Adrenaline Rush go to his head in order to prepare him, not that his body immediately goes to kill mode. Riku sat there, slightly annoyed as he mulled over the topic while the Doctor left the room.
A light jolt suddenly appeared in his head as a ripple made itself known in his Cursed Energy Sensor. One of his classmate's was seemingly approaching his room. As always, the boy whom he recognized, carried a plethora of emotions with him, anxiety, guilt, worry, determination, confusion.
'...Midoriya... was it?'
Moments later, his classmate stood in front of the door and knocked.
"EMOC NI."
(COME IN)
The boy entered, anxiety remaining prevalent in his emotions. Riku did not particularly care much for other people's feelings, he had long gotten used to sensing them after all, but he did wonder where all that guilt came from.
'...maybe he feels like he could have done more to help during the fight?'
Slightly curious, Riku turned his head towards his classmate. A soft growl rose from his throat, making a sound he'd consider a greeting.
Midoriya however, saw his towering Mutant-classmate sitting on a bed, the blade of Mutilation still on his arm, baring his teeth in a grin while growling.
The anxiety in the room spiked, but Midoriya did not pull back.
"Uh, hi. Shindai. I wanted to see how you're doing."
'I guess he really just isn't any good at social interaction.'
Feeling a little bit helpless at his classmate's social anxiety, Riku did his best to be eloquent with his answer.
"M'I DOOG."
(I'M GOOD.)
"Uh... i see. That's good."
"SEY."
(YES.)
'Fuck.'
For a moment, the nervous wrack and the socially retarded Mahoraga remained in Silence. Then, the nervous wrack's determination shone through.
"Say... uh. I wanted to apologize. And... thank you. Both. About what happened at USJ."
'Ah, so it really was guilt over the attack.'
"I... for a moment, i was really scared. Of...you. After you cut that Nomu's limbs."
'...huh. I guess i should have expected this... maybe?'
Not everyone could stomach or justify mutilation. Even back in his past life, plenty of people were against things like the death penalty, even if someone was genuinely deserving of it. The idea that life mattered, no matter what form it took, was embedded into some people's minds.
Honestly, he kind of disagreed. While he thought to understand where people with these opinions came from, his idea of society and law had always been more safety related than justice related. That meant, truly dangerous people had to disappear. One way or another. Even if it may have been unfair.
'But... the people here put quite the importance on Justice.'
That, or maybe it just the fact that watching someone's limbs get cut off was simply a traumatizing experience. Especially when the world wasn't drawn with a pen.
Riku, for a moment, remained lost in his mental musings while Izuku awkwardly shifted around, wondering if he had offended him or hurt his feelings. Then, the Mutant finally snapped out of it.
"I KNIHT S'TAHT LAMRON. ER'UOY YLBABORP TON ENOLA HTIW SIHT."
(I THINK THAT'S NORMAL. YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT ALONE WITH THIS.)
Relief washed over Midoriya's emotional state, but his guilt did not lessen.
"Still, i wanted to apologize. And also just ask how you're doing."
"SA I DAIS. M'I DOOG. YLLATNEM DNA YLLACISYHP."
(AS I SAID. I'M GOOD. MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.)
"Does... it not bother you? At all?"
'Nope.'
Riku paused before answering. Not because he didn't have an answer, but rather because he didn't know how to pass on his answer without sounding like a sociopath.
"I SAW TON YLLUF SUOICSNOC. TUB DAH I TON ENOD TAHW I DID, YM SETAMSSALC DLUOW EB DAED."
(I WAS NOT FULLY CONSCIOUS. BUT HAD I NOT DONE WHAT I DID, MY CLASSMATES WOULD BE DEAD.)
Midoriya remained momentarily silent hearing this, but his rising Guilt spoke for itself. For some reason, he seemed to think himself responsible for everyone. Constantly blaming himself in a "I should have done more" manner.
And honestly? It bothered Riku a little. Personally, he had always considered altruism to be dangerously close to Arrogance. The assumption that everything rested on your own shoulders? Not the same thing, but just a bunny hop away.
He was strong. He had dealt with the issue. And now, someone like Midoriya worried for him? Or felt bad? The guy had broken his arm with his own Quirk. Riku would rather he focused on that.
"AYIRODIM. ENOYREVE THGUOF. OS DID UOY. T'NOD KNIHTREVO TI."
(MIDORIYA. EVERYONE FOUGHT. SO DID YOU. DON'T OVERTHINK IT.)
"Huh?"
The boy in question was a bit startled before relaxing. The guilt finally shifted a bit.
"I'll... try to. Thank you. I'm gonna go now."
"DNA LL'UOY TEEM IMAYOKOT NI EHT YAWLLAH. LLET MIH OT SSAP YB EHT GNIDNEV ENICHAM."
(AND YOU'LL MEET TOKOYAMI IN THE HALLWAY. TELL HIM TO PASS BY THE VENDING MACHINE.)
It wasn't as though he couldn't do it himself.
But food and drinks were always better when someone else brought them.
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CHAPTER END.
Hi, i got lost on the road of Life. (Gooning to that Chainsawman fic. Its peak, read it. "The Pig-Devil." Author has mastered his craft.)[1]
So, the real problem was with motivation. That being said, i promised to bring this fic to 50 ch, hopefully more, so i'll continue. With better quality than this chapter, this is just a reintroduction.
And holy shit, i want to write about Kenjaku. I recently watched that episode of S3 in which he brings the people to leave the Culling game Area and it reminded me of how great the best character of all of JJK is.
I'm literally binging the Bleach Manga in order to know what i'm writing. Doing the same for Naruto, for the Mechamaru fic.
And another bastard gave me the great idea of a Hanami fic, with Hanami in Naruto, as an result of Wood-release experimentation. I can't get it out of my head. Someone, please write those ideas before i do. On god, i'm losing it.
[1] "Iluvolderwomen" had to remind me of my work here...