Dust choked the third-floor corridor.
The building groaned, a deep, metallic protest that Rui felt in his very marrow.
Down below, the world was ending in a series of staccato cracks and booms.
Rui pressed his back against the cold concrete of a structural pillar, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. 'This is insane. This is absolutely, fundamentally insane,' he thought, his eyes wide as a secondary shockwave rattled the floorboards.
'I saw this on a screen. I watched this with a bag of chips in my hand. How the hell does this shitty system expect me to go through this ?!' he thought, his face remaining terrifyingly calm despite his fear.
Rui took a slow, deliberate breath, forcing his hands to stop shaking.
He looked down the hallway just as a massive explosion, larger than the others, tore through the center of the building.
The heat was nearly a physical slap.
"DIE, DEKU!"
The roar echoed up the stairwell.
Rui peered over the edge of a jagged hole in the floor.
He saw Bakugo, a silhouette of primal fury, lunging through the smoke.
He saw Midoriya, bloodied and desperate, trying to find his footing.
He looked so scared.
Rui had his own experiences with facing his bullies during his time in school but his bullies never had TNT in their skin.
He felt a sudden, sharp instinct to run, to intervene, to do something.
But as he stepped forward, his boot slipped on a patch of debris.
His body, although ridiculously strong and fast, was clearly untrained for such a landscape and it showed as he lurched, his arms windmilling for a second before he caught himself on a rebar pipe.
Right, how could he forget, he was a level-five pervert, not a level-fifty hero.
If he got in between those two, he would become a smear on the wall…. Besides, he wasn't supposed to disrupt the continuity unless he wanted to find out what severe punishment the system was talking about.
Suddenly, a voice crackled through his earpiece. "Tanaka! Iida here! The Hero, Uraraka, is approaching the weapon room on the fifth floor! I have secured the area, but I am concerned about Bakugo's erratic behavior! Are you in position?"
Rui cleared his throat, his voice coming out in a smooth, adult baritone that betrayed none of his terror. "Copy that, Iida-san. I'm tracking them. Bakugo-san's… occupied. Stay on the weapon. I'll act as the last line of defense if things get messy."
"Excellent! Your composure is a credit to our team!" Iida replied, sounding genuinely inspired.
Rui leaned back against the pillar, scoffing.
Composure? He was literally holding onto this pipe so he wouldn't fall over.
Just then, the building suddenly gave a massive lurch.
The air pressure shifted violently, a vacuum-like pull that popped Rui's ears. He looked up just in time to see the ceiling above the central atrium disintegrate. Midoriya had fired his quirk upward, shattering the floors to give Uraraka a path.
Concrete rain fell. Rui scrambled backward, his tactical suit's agility bonus the only reason a slab the size of a microwave didn't crush his legs.
Through the dust, he saw Uraraka propel herself over Iida's head, clutching the fake weapon with a shout of victory.
"THE HERO TEAM… WINS!" All Might's voice boomed through the speakers.
Rui let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding since the entrance exam.
He slumped against the wall, his legs finally turning to jelly now that the fight was over.
He sighed, closing his eyes in relief.
Canon preserved.
Midoriya was alive, Bakugo was humbled, and Rui was still very much in one sexy piece.
Mission accomplished.
He walked down the stairs as the dust settled, meeting the others in the ground-floor lobby. Bakugo stood alone, his head bowed, the smoke still drifting from his gauntlets.
Midoriya was being loaded onto a stretcher, his arm purple and twisted.
Rui walked past them, his expression unreadable. He caught Kyoka Jiro's eye. She was looking at him with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. As the class began to filter back toward the monitoring room, she slowed her pace, falling in line next to him.
"Hey," she said, her earphone jacks twitching nervously. "You were on the third floor, right? Near the blast zone?"
Rui kept his gaze forward, his 'Salaryman Poker Face' working overtime. "Yeah. It was... loud."
Jiro snorted, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Loud? That's it? I watched you on the screen, Tanaka. You didn't even flinch when the ceiling came down. I thought you were just some creep who couldn't keep his eyes to himself during class, but..." She paused, looking away. "I guess you're slightly less horrible than I thought. You did really well keeping your cool in there with those power kegs ."
Rui didn't break character. He let out a low, tired hum. "Being calm isn't the absence of fear. It's just trying your best regardless of being afraid."
He gave her a slight, mysterious nod before walking ahead. Inside, he was doing a victory lap.
'Did you hear that? "Less horrible!" That's practically a confession in tsundere-speak!'
[System Alert! Side Quest: 'The Third Man'- COMPLETED. Rewards: +100 Ero-Points. Harem Progression: Kyoka Jiro +40%. Status: Deeply Intrigued. Stage Two of the Harem Protocol will be initiated soon. Prepare for 'The Private Invitation'.]
Rui's stoic mask faltered for a second, replaced by a weak, slightly overwhelmed smile.
'Oohhh... so that was the Harem progression? I just had to act like a weary adult for five minutes? This system is weirder than I thought.'
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