"The Outsider"
The first thing anyone remembered was the sound.
A sharp, echoing crack — like stone splitting under pressure.
At first, most of the Class 1-A students thought it was just Nomu throwing rubble, or another villain smashing the scenery. The USJ was already chaos: broken glass, screams, water flooding, lightning from Kaminari, Todoroki's ice spreading across the battlefield.
But then they saw him.
A boy none of them recognized.
A boy who looked like he'd crawled straight out of some horror movie alley — skin pale, hair wild, clothes torn and filthy.
A boy standing in the middle of their battlefield like he had been dropped there by the darkness itself.
MOMO YAOYOROZU – POV
Momo's breath caught the moment she saw his eyes.
Wide. Terrified. And glowing faintly with that unnatural violet tint.
"Hikaru…?"The name fell out of her mouth before she could stop it.
Her pulse spiked. She hadn't seen him since that night — the night he saved her life from those kidnappers. The night he told her to run and then vanished into the shadows before police arrived.
She never forgot him.
But the Hikaru she saw now felt like someone else entirely.
He stood defensively, back hunched, shadows curling around his feet like smoke coming from an invisible fire.
Students around her whispered:
"Who is that—?""Some villain's kid?""No, wait, I've seen him on the news—""That's the demon child!""The one who murdered—"
Momo flinched. She hated that nickname. But she couldn't deny the fear in their voices.
And the fear in his eyes.
He wasn't looking at them like a predator.
He was looking like a trapped animal begging not to bite.
MIDORIYA – POV
Izuku Midoriya recognized him almost instantly.
Hikaru Amano…The kid the media twisted into a monster. The child everyone whispered about in middle school corridors.
But now, standing face-to-face with him, Midoriya's analysis brain kicked in instantly.
(Quirk observation #1: The shadows move BEFORE his muscles do.)(Quirk observation #2: The shadows are responding to fear stimulus. Possibly semi-sentient?)(Quirk observation #3: He's arguing with something… internal?)
It was bizarre. The shadows reacted like living creatures — coiling, tightening, twitching in ways Hikaru himself clearly didn't intend.
He wasn't attacking.
He was fighting himself.
Midoriya swallowed hard.
This kid…He wasn't a villain.
He was drowning.
KIRISHIMA – POV
"Uh… guys?" Kirishima whispered, shielding the more shaken students behind him. "That dude looks unstable."
"Unstable!?" Mineta squeaked. "He looks like something that crawled out of the sewer!"
"But he's… a kid," Toru Hagakure said softly. "Pretty beat up too."
Kirishima squinted. The guy was shaking, breathing hard, clutching his head like he was trying to rip something out of it.
And then he yelled:
"STOP IT!"
Everyone froze.
Kirishima muttered, "Yeah, uh… I think he's having a breakdown."
TODOROKI – POV
Todoroki didn't speak at first.He simply watched.
Hikaru's quirk… no, whatever the shadows were — they weren't responding like quirks normally did. There was no activation posture, no intentional movement. It was like watching two separate beings occupy the same body.
Todoroki frowned.
"He's not in control," he stated quietly.
That alone was enough to make a few students take several steps back.
Because heroes feared one thing above anything:
A quirk user who couldn't control their power.
AIZAWA – POV
Aizawa's instincts screamed danger the moment Hikaru appeared.
Not because the boy was attacking. But because the boy's quirk was attacking — completely independent of him.
Shadows lifted a villain by the throat and slammed him into the ground with a force that would have killed most grown adults.
Aizawa gritted his teeth.
(This kid… He's barely standing. His quirk shouldn't be able to override him like this unless—)
Unless it had been doing this for years.
He saw Hikaru scream at his own shadows, "DON'T KILL THEM!"
And Aizawa's chest tightened.
The boy wasn't a threat.
He was a victim.
SHIGARAKI – POV
Shigaraki's eyes twitched with annoyance the moment Hikaru dodged the villain's attack and slammed him with that creepy shadow-thing.
Whoever this kid was, he was NOT part of his plan.
"A brat," Shigaraki hissed, scratching at his neck until faint red lines appeared. "A glitch. A little piece of trash in the middle of MY playground."
Kurogiri tilted his head. "He appears to be a civilian—"
"No."Shigaraki stepped closer, eyes narrowing.
"Look at him. Look at those shadows. That's not a kid. That's a broken toy someone threw away."
He grinned, childlike and cruel.
"And I HATE broken toys."
THE STUDENTS – MASS POV
The tension in the air was like electricity.
Everyone watched as Hikaru staggered away from the villain he'd unintentionally crushed. He backed toward the students with shaking legs and wide, terrified eyes.
"Stay away," he begged. "I don't want to hurt anybody."
But the shadows…The shadows around him didn't listen.
They twitched like they were hungry.
Several students backed away. Mineta nearly fainted. Jirou clutched her chest.
Even Iida, normally the voice of order, couldn't form a full sentence.
"What—w-what kind of quirk—does that!?"
And then…
The ground rumbled.
Something massive stepped into view.
A heavy thud echoed across the battlefield.
Then another. And another.
Students turned.
The Nomu towered over all of them — a grotesque fusion of muscle, exposed brain, and engineered brutality.
Its blank eyes locked onto Hikaru like he was prey.
Momo gasped. Midoriya trembled. Kirishima cursed.
And Hikaru… Hikaru froze.
For one moment, his quirk went silent. Like even the shadows held their breath.
The Nomu roared.
Then it lunged.
The Nomu's arm swung like a demolition ball — fast, brutal, precise.
Hikaru didn't even see it.
But his shadows did.
They erupted from his back, forming three — no, four — massive tendrils that wrapped around the Nomu's arm, stopping it inches before crushing Hikaru's skull.
The students gasped.
Midoriya whispered, "That shouldn't be possible…" Todoroki murmured, "His shadows reacted faster???" Kirishima muttered, "Dude, what ARE you?"
The shadows didn't stop.
They attacked.
Violent.Instinctive. Uncontrolled.
The tendrils shot toward the Nomu, wrapping around its other limbs. Cracking bones. Tearing ligaments. Pulling.
And then—
RIP.
The Nomu's arm tore off. Then another. Then its leg. Then the last one.
Blood splattered the ground in black arcs.
Some students screamed. Some turned away. One vomited.
The Nomu's body collapsed in a wet, heavy thud.
Hikaru stood there trembling, panting like he'd just woken from a nightmare.
The shadows retreated slowly into his back, like snakes slithering under skin.
He turned around, eyes unfocused, lips pale.
The students stared at him with pure horror.
For a moment, everything was still.
And then-
A horrifying crunch filled the air.
The Nomu's muscles bubbled. Stitched themselves. Regrew.
The students screamed warnings, but it happened too fast.
The Nomu swung its newly formed arm.
And this time…
The shadows were too slow.
The blow hit Hikaru like a truck.
His body flew across the battlefield, smashing through a broken support pillar and slamming into the concrete wall behind it. Stone cracked. Dust covered everything.
And when it cleared—
The world went silent.
Momo screamed. Midoriya froze.Todoroki clenched his teeth.
Hikaru was pinned to the wall by a long piece of rusted pipe skewering his abdomen. His right arm hung at a disgusting angle. His leg—
Kirishima gagged. A bone poked through the skin.
He was broken. Completely broken.
There was no chance—No way—No hope—
That he would stand again.
And yet…
His eyes moved.
Barely.
Slowly.
Painfully.
And then the shadows appeared.
Two silhouettes formed beside Hikaru.
A man. A woman.
Their bodies vaguely human, but twisted by darkness. No faces. No details. Just hollow shapes looming over him.
Students panicked.
"WHAT ARE THOSE!?""IS THAT HIS QUIRK!?""IS HE SUMMONING SPIRITS!?""He's talking to them—WHY IS HE TALKING TO THEM!?"
Hikaru coughed blood, leaning toward them.
"Why…?"His voice cracked.
The shadows didn't move.
"Why me…?" His voice broke further.
The shadows only grew darker.
He screamed — a desperate, broken sound:
"WHAT HAVE I DONE!?"
No one answered him.
Not the students. Not the heroes. Not the shadows.
Only pain.
Only agony.
Only despair.
Students stared in horror as the shadows approached him again, their forms stretching like black fog.
Hikaru looked at them with pure terror.
He knew them.
And he hated them.
"No. No, no, I don't like this at ALL—" Mineta whimpered, nearly collapsing.
Tsuyu swallowed hard. "He looks like he's talking to ghosts."
Jirou hugged herself. "He shouldn't even be alive."
Sato whispered, voice trembling, "Why isn't he passing out…?"
Every pair of eyes was locked on the boy who should have been dead several times over.
Every heart pounded like a drum.
Every instinct screamed to run.
But none of them could look away.
MIDORIYA – POV
Midoriya's hands shook violently as he scribbled in the notebook tucked under his arm — he didn't remember taking it out, but his body acted on habit.
(Quirk Observation #4: The shadows respond to trauma stimuli. Possibly emotional triggers.)(Quirk Observation #5: These silhouettes are DIFFERENT from the shadow appendages. They have humanoid forms—self-contained entities.)(Quirk Observation #6: Hikaru recognizes them. He fears them. Deeply.)
Izuku's throat tightened.
This wasn't a quirk out of control.
This was a quirk tormenting its user.
A curse.
Hikaru lifted his head again, blood dripping from his chin in steady, sickening rhythm.
He whispered:
"Why…?"
And Izuku flinched as if the word had been hurled at him.
This was no villain.
This was a child begging to understand why he was suffering.
MOMO YAOYOROZU – POV
Momo clutched her chest.
Her breath shook with each inhale.
He saved me… this boy… this broken, terrified boy saved me.
And now he was impaled, whimpering in front of ghostly figures only he could fully comprehend.
"Hikaru…" she whispered, though she knew he couldn't hear her.
She remembered his eyes from the kidnapping incident — how sharp and focused they were when he protected her. And now those same eyes pleaded for mercy from invisible monsters.
Her heart cracked.
This boy didn't need judgment.
He needed help.
TODOROKI – POV
Todoroki's frown deepened.
The way Hikaru looked at those silhouettes…
That wasn't fear of his quirk.
It was fear of two specific people.
People who hurt him.
People who scarred him.
Todoroki felt a chill crawl down his spine — a strange, unwelcome sense of familiarity.
He murmured under his breath:
"No child should look at their parents that way."
AIZAWA – POV
Aizawa's fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.
He wanted to erase the quirk. He wanted to disarm the shadows. He wanted to rip the pipe out and help the boy stand. He wanted—
—but he was trapped in Kurogiri's mist, trying to protect the students and simultaneously fight off villains.
"I have to get to him," Aizawa growled.
"That kid isn't the threat."
His voice shook with something rare:
Anger.
"The threat is whatever made him like this."
THE STUDENTS – MASS POV
Suddenly, the silhouettes stood straighter.
Their heads snapped toward the Nomu — unnaturally fast, like mannequins being repositioned.
The monster's nostrils flared.
It sensed something.
A threat.
A presence.
Something older, darker, more dangerous than itself.
Even Nomu stepped back.
Shigaraki frowned.
"What… is that?"
A chill swept over the battlefield like winter wind.
Toru whimpered. Sero held his breath. Kirishima instinctively hardened his skin.
Something was about to happen.
Something wrong.
SHIGARAKI – POV
Shigaraki hated unpredictability.
He hated things he couldn't control.
And this boy — this shadow-infested brat — was the epitome of that.
"Damn it…" he hissed, scratching at his neck violently. "Why won't he DIE?"
Kurogiri's voice was calm as always. "He appears to be in a state of quirk overload, Tomura Shigaraki. Interference may—"
"I don't CARE!" Shigaraki snapped. "I wanted All Might to feel pain. I wanted these students to feel fear. NOT FOR SOME HALF-DEAD STREET RAT TO STEAL MY SHOW!"
He thrust a hand forward at the regenerating Nomu.
"Finish him."
The silhouettes turned away from the Nomu.
Back toward Hikaru.
Back toward their son.
Hikaru's eyes widened.Tears — real tears this time — streaked down his dirt-covered face.
"No… please…" His voice cracked. "Not this…"
He knew what came next.
He knew what they wanted.
His breathing quickened, ragged and panicked.
"NO! PLEASE NO!" His scream shattered something inside the students.
"We have to help him!" Uraraka cried.
"But how!?" Kaminari yelled.
Everyone was frozen.
Even heroes.
Even villains.
Only the shadows moved.
The shadows reached toward Hikaru's chest.
Not gently.
Not lovingly.
Like claws made of smoke, ready to dig inside him.
Hikaru shook uncontrollably, grabbing at the pipe impaling him as if anchoring himself to the physical world.
"STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE!"His voice rose in pitch."DON'T DO IT!"
The silhouettes didn't slow.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't care.
They glided closer, lowering themselves until their formless faces were inches from his.
It felt like the world held its breath.
STUDENTS – MASS POV
"Make it stop…""Make it STOP—""What ARE THOSE THINGS!?""He's going to die—"
"NO HE WON'T!" Momo screamed, tears in her eyes. "He can't—he can't—!"
The class didn't know whether they wanted to save him…
…or run from him.
But they knew one thing:
Nothing about this was normal.
Nothing about this was hero vs. villain.
This was something ancient. Something twisted. Something that didn't belong in any heroic world they had trained for.
The shadows reared back like serpents.
Hikaru sobbed, voice broken:
"Please… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
The silhouettes lunged.
Darkness unraveled. Mist poured from their forms. Their shapes dissolved.
They flowed forward—
—and entered his body.
Like smoke forced into a collapsing vessel.
Like poison swallowed by a dying flame.
Like parents embracing a child they intended to destroy.
"What—WHAT—?!""They're going inside him—""Is he absorbing them!?""No, no, no, no—this is wrong—this is so wrong—"
Momo screamed, tears spilling.
"HIKARU, STOP—PLEASE—STOP—!"
But he couldn't.
He wasn't doing anything.
The shadows forced themselves into him.
His back arched.
His body convulsed.
His fingers clawed at the ground until his nails tore.
A thick, choking cry ripped from his throat:
"NO—!!! PLEASE—!!! DON'T—!!!"
Students flinched. Several looked away.
It was the sound of a child being dragged into darkness he never asked for.
Then—
His body started to rise.
Not willingly.
Not naturally.
Not humanly.
His legs trembled as the shadows jerked him upward like a puppet on invisible strings.
The pipe bent.
The sound of metal grinding against bone echoed through the dome.
"Stop… STOP…" he begged, voice cracking.
But the shadows forced him to stand.
His broken leg folded beneath him, then straightened with a sickening crunch.
His arm dangled unnaturally. His ribs jutted. Blood soaked the floor.
And yet—
He stood.
On a shattered limb.
With a pipe still shoved through his abdomen.
Tears streaked down his face.
A whisper escaped his lips:
"…I'm sorry."
His eyes flickered upward, full of guilt — directed at the students he had just terrified.
Darkness crawled over his skin like ink. His fingers twitched. His breathing hitched.
He could feel it coming.
He could feel the shadows devouring him.
"Please… s-stop…" he pleaded to the voices in his head.
"…don't do it…"
His final word before the shadows swallowed his face:
"Please…"