After the… incident earlier, Shota Aizawa had made something very clear.
"Ren," he said in that tired voice of his, "you are not leaving this training field until you can teleport without opening a doorway into a villain organization."
Which sounded fair.
Reasonable even.
So naturally, about ten minutes later, I accidentally teleported him.
Training Field – U.A.
I stood in the middle of the training ground at U.A. High School, holding my deck of cards again.
Everyone from earlier was still watching.
Kaito.
Mina.
Kirishima.
Denki.
Izuku.
And Aizawa, standing nearby with his capture scarf wrapped loosely around his shoulders.
Midoriya adjusted his notebook.
"Alright, Ren. Try focusing on a fixed location."
I nodded.
"Okay."
I tossed a card onto the ground about twenty feet away.
"Simple jump."
Kirishima gave a thumbs up.
"You got this!"
Denki added, "Please don't bring villains this time."
"Working on it."
I focused.
Breathed in.
Stepped forward—
POP.
The world twisted.
Then snapped back.
I looked around.
Still at U.A.
Good.
Everyone clapped lightly.
Mina smiled.
"Nice!"
Aizawa nodded once.
"Again."
Alright.
Confidence growing.
I threw another card.
Focused harder this time.
Step.
POP.
This time I landed beside Kirishima.
"BRO!"
He slapped my back so hard I almost fell over.
"Okay that one worked too."
Midoriya was writing at lightning speed again.
I threw another card.
"Third jump."
Focus.
Step.
POP.
I appeared beside Aizawa.
He didn't react.
Just took a sip of coffee from the thermos he always seemed to have.
"…Good."
Then something weird happened.
The space around us pulled tighter.
Like gravity suddenly grabbed the air.
I frowned.
"…Wait."
The ground warped.
The portal twisted open.
And suddenly—
Everything changed.
League of Villains Base
I blinked.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
"…No."
We were definitely not at U.A.
The room was darker.
Industrial.
Broken furniture.
A familiar couch.
A familiar bar counter.
And sitting across the room was Tomura Shigaraki.
Next to him leaned Dabi.
Behind them stood Kurogiri.
All three stared at me.
Then I noticed something worse.
Standing next to me.
Was Aizawa.
Oh no.
Oh no no no.
I slowly turned my head.
Aizawa was… holding his thermos.
And casually sipping coffee.
Like we had just teleported into a normal coffee shop instead of a villain headquarters.
He looked around the room.
Then took another sip.
"…Ren."
My voice cracked.
"…Yes?"
"You teleported me."
I raised both hands immediately.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO."
Across the room, Dabi rubbed his forehead.
"…This kid again."
Shigaraki leaned forward slightly.
"…You brought a pro hero."
Kurogiri tilted his head politely.
"Unexpected, but fascinating."
I panicked.
"WAIT WAIT WAIT—"
I grabbed my deck of cards and started shuffling nervously.
"Everyone just calm down."
Dabi raised an eyebrow.
"You're giving orders now?"
I pointed to the cards.
"…Do you guys want to play Garbage?"
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then, unbelievably—
Aizawa pulled a chair over.
Sat down.
And placed his coffee on the table.
"…Deal."
My brain short-circuited.
"You want to—"
"Yes."
Shigaraki stared.
Dabi stared.
Even Kurogiri paused.
Finally Dabi laughed quietly.
"…You know what?"
He pulled out a chair too.
"Sure."
Shigaraki leaned back in his seat.
"…This is the weirdest day of my life."
I started dealing cards with shaking hands.
Five people sitting around a villain base table.
Me.
A teacher.
Three villains.
Playing cards.
Halfway through the first round, Aizawa spoke again.
Without looking up from his hand.
"…Ren."
"…Yes?"
"After this game…"
He placed a card down.
"…You're teleporting us back."
"Yes sir."
Another sip of coffee.
Across the table, Dabi smirked.
"You know…"
He looked at Aizawa.
"You're pretty calm for a hostage situation."
Aizawa shrugged.
"I'm not the hostage."
Everyone looked at him.
He slowly raised his eyes.
The red glow of his quirk flickered slightly.
"And if this turns into a fight…"
His capture scarf shifted.
"…you are."
Nobody moved.
Then Kurogiri calmly placed a card down.
"…Your turn, Ren."
I swallowed.
"Right."
Best.
Game of Garbage.
Ever.