Chapter Text
‘I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HE-’
Izuku let his hand gently come down on his alarm clock and groaned when he saw the time.
Christ, it was too early to be awake but Izuku knew he needed to get up and move if he wanted to have enough time to go for a run and actually make himself some breakfast today.
He rolled himself out of bed, landing on his feet and stretched, enjoying the tight feeling of his muscles.
Quickly, he grabbed a pair of workout clothes and ran out of his front door towards the beach.
Ever since he cleaned the beach, it’s been one of his favorite places to run along, if only to breath in the early ocean breeze before anyone else has the opportunity to do so.
The beach is someplace Izuku started thinking of as a safe place for him. The smell of the ocean and the feel of the sand underneath his feet calmed something crazed within his mind and Izuku had little doubt that he could spend a whole day sitting and staring out to see where the sky and the sea touched each other.
All too soon, Izuku was running back to the house, a little more than hesitant to deal with whatever might be behind the door waiting for him.
For the first few days of school, his mother had been incredibly overbearing and worrying over letting him leave the house. But after that, she seemed to go back to being content with ignoring Izuku’s existence and working overtime to get out of the house.
He’s not really sure which Inko he prefers dealing with.
On one hand, the overbearing thing makes everyone look at their relationship and see a worried mother and a fondly exasperated son, which means no one butts into his personal life.
On the other hand, it’s always weird in his house, like something has always been slightly off and only a select few can actually feel it.
So he walked in through the front door with his breath held tightly in his chest as he toed off his running shoes and silently made his way towards the kitchen.
Izuku sighed a breath of relief at the impersonal note sitting on the kitchen counter, all but promising that Inko wouldn’t be at the house for three days and he was on his own for the meantime.
With more of a pep in his step, Izuku made his way down the hallway, took a hot shower, threw on his school uniform and tossed together a simple breakfast before heading out. Izuku smiled to himself, excited about his day.
It was going to be a good one. He could just feel it.
Apparently, Izuku’s sense of what a good day meant was fucked up.
He already knew this, since he had lived most of his life thinking his day was a relatively peaceful one when Kacchan and his cronies only yelled about his worthlessness before leaving him alone.
But still. Izuku had hope that he could’ve correctly guessed how well his day would’ve gone had stupid (and, quite frankly, rude) villains not interuppted their rescue training.
Izuku got dropped off through a warp villain’s quirk towards the shipwreck zone with Tsu (even while they were facing villains, she still demanded that they call her by her given name) and Mineta.
Quite honestly, Izuku didn’t know what Mineta was even doing there, since the boy was busy crying more than Izuku could ever hope to as Tsu and Izuku tried to come up with a plan to get them back to shore.
And, with two broken fingers, Izuku and his two classmates finally made it back to the edge of the center plaza.
Surrounding his homeroom teacher were all of the villains that had been standing but were now knocked unconscious.
Suddenly, the big, bulky villain -Nomu?? - that’s what the thin, handy villain called them- darted towards Eraserhead and slammed him into the ground, over and over until the man’s blood was splashing every time his head made contact with the puddle below him and Izuku could hear Eraserheads skull squish as it kept making impact.
Izuku wanted to throw up, or scream and cry, or fight all of the villains and hurt them as well but his body was frozen, even as his thoughts ran rampant.
Quickly, the villain with hands all over him dashed over to where Izuku, Tsu, and Mineta were watching.
Izuku felt his body surge into motion and yanked Tsu back behind him, pushing his two classmates away.
He felt the moment the hand villain had finally reached them and placed his dry hands directly over Izuku’s chest. In that moment, Izuku idly berated himself for thinking that broken fingers ever hurt because this was agonizing and burning pain.
A guttural scream ripped itself from Izuku’s throat as the itching pain made its way through his body and mind. Even through the pain, Izuku could feel his skin and muscle and bone flake off into nothing as it turned to dust before his watery eyes.
He forced himself to look at the malicious and pleased grin on the villain’s face, lips spitting with how wide it was.
Manic and gleeful eyes met his own and Izuku could only vow to himself that he would make this villain’s life a living hell in his next life as darkness overtook his vision and he stuttered out his last breath.
‘I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM HE-’
Izuku slammed his fist into the alarm clock, not even caring to look at the time as he bolted up in bed and looked around his room, trying to calm his racing heart.
He looked around his room, trying to find anything different. Anything that would indicate that he hadn’t just had the most vivid nightmare of all time.
He doesn’t usually have nightmares that are vivid or new. Usually they’re just recurring nightmares of Kacchan’s lackeys or his father coming back.
This…was the first time he’d ever thought of his classmates and teacher dying by a villain attack. Izuku doesn’t even know where this came from. He didn’t think they were supposed to have a field trip today. He’s never even seen the inside of the USJ.
Izuku just sluggishly made his way off his bed to lay back on the floor, wondering where that specific nightmare could’ve come from. Maybe his subconscious was worried about something?
Whatever it was, it was going to have to wait. Izuku pulled himself into a sit-up and nodded to himself, opting to do a small core workout rather than going on a run today.
In all honesty, he truly didn’t feel like leaving the house but it would make him feel much better to see all of his classmates and teacher alive and well.
So he just mindlessly let himself workout, enjoying the tightening and flexing of his abs, feeling a bit sore and marginally better by the time he was finished. Izuku got up and took a quick shower before throwing on his school uniform and heading out to the kitchen, wondering what he should make for breakfast.
As he came out, he nearly had a heart attack when he looked at the note his mother had left for him, already knowing what it was going to say.
With shaky hands, Izuku threw the note away and turned back towards the coffee machine, desperate to have some warth flow through his system.
Izuku let himself compartmentalize as he stared at the coffee. He didn’t actually know if the note was from this morning or yesterday, since he ran out of the house and almost missed the train the day before. He could have subconsciously seen the note and made it a part of his nightmare. That’s entirely plausible.
Then there’s the whole…field trip issue. Izuku has always had the most wild imagination but he’s never been able to recall his dreams and nightmares so vividly before. They always fade away as he opens his eyes, only leaving him with a sense of unease for the day.
Right now, Izuku cringes as he remembers what happened to Aizawa-sensei’s brain and how it seemed to be falling out of his head, only to get pushed right back in as his skull met the concrete.
It was a new feeling of disturbed that Izuku didn’t think he would’ve reached as he became a pro-hero. He should’ve recognized that something like his nightmare could always happen and that’s why he was training to be better but goddamnit he really doesn’t know how to handle that.
Izuku felt annoyed as he realized what could have happened. His nightmare was just like a gory movie he had watched a few weeks ago. Maybe his brain just decided to omit some details, switch some plot lines around, and give him a horrific nightmare? Possible. But something still felt off.
Izuku just sighed to himself as he made his way towards UA. Hopefully he’d figure out what felt wrong.
Izuku officially feels like the white girl in one of those psychological horror movies.
Just a tad too stupid to figure out what was happening, scared beyond measure, and way too annoyed at himself to care completely about what was going on.
The villains showed up in the exact same manner that they did last time, the warp villain warped away Kacchan and Kirishima again before they warped Thirteen’s attack back at them, splitting their suit and injuring them. And then the villain warped everyone around to various parts of the USJ.
This time though, Izuku got warped away with Ojiro and landed in the fire zone. The fire surrounded them and villains began making their way towards the both of them. Izuku just grimly nodded towards his partner, who responded in kind, and the both of them started fighting for their lives.
Izuku powered up One for All and punched towards the new wave of villains and the fire, effectively shutting the fire down and knocking them back or unconscious with the air force he had sent their way.
Sure, he had a broken arm now but it didn’t hurt as bad as he thought it would.
Suddenly, a pained cry sounded from behind him and he turned, just in time to see a villain get the upper hand on Ojiro, stabbing his tail roughly before slicing at his throat, and his classmate dropped heavily to the ground.
The villain just grinned with wide, manic eyes and Izuku growled as he felt One for All activate again.
There was something about the villain’s eyes that reminded Izuku of the villain from last time that made him want to tear every one of these villains apart, piece by piece.
So Izuku launched himself over to the villain and struck him as hard as he could, letting out a muffled grunt when the villain retaliated and stabbed his lower stomach.
Izuku dropped to his knees as he watched the villain fly through the fire and land with a thunderous crack on the ground. He let his hands grip at the knife embedded in him as he breathed heavily, trying to push past the pain and force himself up to his feet.
As soon as he got to his feet, Izuku stumbled and fell back down, watching as darkness started to creep in around the edges of his vision.
He could only let himself succumb to the darkness as he listened to the conscious villains surrounding him laugh loudly at his failure.
‘I AM HERE I AM HE-’
Izuku bolted up out of bed and raced around to the bathroom, frantically pulling his shirt up and off of him as he did so.
He could still feel the blood coating his fingers and sticking to his shirt. The image of the villain slicing Ojiro’s throat was branded behind his eyelids, making it impossible to calm his frantic heart.
He burst through the bathroom door and took the image of himself in. His chest was heavily moving up and down as he tried to breath and force back the bile in his throat. His arms were perfectly fine, with an exception to some mild scarring that wasn’t there before.
Tentatively, Izuku ran his finger across his chest, noticing the faint handprint resting directly over his heart. A bit lower, a white line where the knife had embedded itself into Izuku rested, breaking up the symmetrical outlines of his abs.
Izuku exhaled roughly and let his hands run through his hair as he stared at himself some more.
It wasn’t some terrible nightmare, nor was any of this part of his imagination. He was really stuck dying and watching everyone else die over and over again because of an attack that’s supposed to happen today during their class.
But why was this happening? What was making him relive this awful day over and over?
Perhaps a time looping quirk but those are heavily regulated so anyone hoping to be a villain with that quirk would be easily recognizable.
So what the fuck is happening to Izuku?
Is he supposed to save everyone? He let his eyelids close at that thought as he felt heavy tears running down his face.
He’s just some worthless kid who got blessed with a quirk not even a full month ago. How the hell was he supposed to save his classmates and defeat the villains?
Obviously they have no qualms about killing children (even if they are heroes-in-training - they’re still just kids). And the warp villain talked about their group wanting to kill All Might, even though the man wasn’t even there for the class.
And he’s not blaming All Might! Not at all! Because he has absolutely no idea how All Might would even help them past defeating that monster that sits in the plaza each time. And obviously his mentor was busy doing something else today! Which…which is fine.
Izuku wonders if he could write all of this down somewhere. Everything else seems to be resetting except him so he’s not sure if it’ll be worth it. Then again, he’s always worked better seeing his thoughts spread across a notebook.
Izuku quickly made his way over to the kitchen and started on a fresh pot of coffee before going back to his room, getting dressed and grabbing a notebook.
He made his way out to the dining table and began writing down everything that he knew about the attack and the villains.
Occasionally, Izuku got up and poured himself some more coffee as he wrote out everything that he could remember. He felt vaguely settled afterwards, looking through the notes he had just written.
It seems like his death is the reset for the day, so even if a classmate or teacher dies, all he has to do is make sure he dies too.
That way, the class would be relatively safe until he could figure out how to help everyone.
Izuku sighed to himself as he left the house, grabbing his coffee mug on the way out. At this point, he couldn’t give a shit less about what others thought of him.
He needed some coffee to get him through this mess of a day.
Izuku was, admittedly, very close to murdering someone and becoming a villain himself.
Maybe not technically a villain, since the only people he wants to kill happen to be villains but he can’t really bring himself to care about the schematics.
He tried to tell Aizawa-sensei to not jump into the fray at the plaza but of fucking course his teacher didn’t listen to him. Izuku just cursed loudly, taking a small amount of time to smile at the disbelieving cackle from Kaminari, and jumped down into the plaza with the man.
He fought like his life depended on it, not sparing a single glance towards Aizawa-sensei, who was still trying to get Izuku to leave him. And then someone else seemed to jump down, after the warp villain showed up to warp everyone away.
Izuku let his body turn with the leftover momentum from his punch and saw Kaminari going at it with the rest of the villains, grinning viciously.
He looked over towards Izuku and hummed questionably before asking, “How often do you come here?”
Izuku just laughed, although it sounded more like a cackle, letting relief flood through his bones as he jumped in the air and twirled around a villain, locking them into a headlock and punching the top of their head, knocking them out.
“This is my third time sightseeing. How ‘bout you?” Izuku responded, looking over to notice that Kaminari had smiled genuinely and his eyes seemed so full of happiness.
“Really?” Kaminari said with feigned intrigue, whipping around to kick a villain away and tazed them with his quirk. “Me too!”
Just like that, Izuku had found someone who could help him help their classmates (and prevent him from murder should he get to that point).
That was his downfall when he kept his eyes on Kaminaris, completely forgetting about the decay-loving psychopath behind him.
Izuku just groaned as he felt the familiar feeling of his body decaying away and listened to the horrified cry of his teacher, not even bothering to hide it when he rolled his eyes at the monolog the villain was spouting.
Izuku was pretty sure Kaminari muttered something about a hand fetish and unoriginality but he wasn’t too sure, since he was quickly falling into that familiar pool of darkness.
‘I AM HERE I AM H-’
Izuku slammed his alarm clock against the closet door, taking a second to breath before jumping out of bed and sliding into his desk chair.
He had an idea, especially since he now knows that Kaminari was stuck in the time loop with him.
Izuku let himself pull up the anonymous tip line for the police and typed up all that he could remember about the attack, what time it happened, and who was likely going to be there.
As soon as that was done, Izuku went to the UA homepage and pulled up the codes, looking through it all for a backdoor and finally finding one that he could use with relative ease. Quickly, he searched for Kaminari’s file and found his phone number and address.
Izuku typed in the two and sent Kaminari a message as he walked out towards the kitchen.
As expected, the notebook he left on the dining room table was gone and put back against the shelf in his room. He grumbled to himself as he grabbed the note his mother left him and threw it away (again) before wandering over to the coffee pot.
His phone dinged but only to tell him that he couldn’t message anyone at the time, which worried him.
He knew Kaminari was stuck in the loop with him, that much was obvious since only him and Kaminari seemed to be the one changing places during the attack.
So are they stuck in this time loop with no effective way to get any outside help? Izuku took a look at his phone, noticing how he couldn’t access anything messaging or calling wise.
He raced back into his room to look at his laptop, groaning when he noticed that his tip for the police didn’t even go through.
Izuku just took a deep breath to steady himself and tried to focus on drinking his coffee, ignoring the salty tears that were mixing in with his bitter drink.
Alone. That wasn’t a new concept for Izuku but it still sent a pang of hurt through him all the same. Especially since he knows Kaminari is stuck here with him as well, which means they’re both being isolated from the outside world.
How lovely.
Izuku just resigned himself to grabbing his coffee mug and making his way over to Kaminari’s house, which was closer than he thought it would be.
He stood awkwardly in front of the front door, shifting his backpack around and slipping his mug into his left hand before knocking.
A few seconds later, the door swung open wide, with Kaminari panting and quickly ushering him inside the house before closing and locking the door.
“Hey.” Kaminari said breathlessly, eyes wide as he took in the sight of Izuku.
“Hey yourself.” Izuku said quietly, grinning from ear to ear.
He was so happy that someone else was living through this nightmare with him, as terrible and selfish as it was.
“I tried to call into the school but nothing is working.” Kaminari said with a slight frown, walking back towards his kitchen as Izuku followed him, nodding along.
“I-I’m not sure why but I couldn’t get anything out either. I tried to give a tip to the police but it didn't go through.” Izuku said, silently confirming that they were on their own for this.
Kaminari just sighed and tiredly nodded. Izuku felt his curiosity peak when he noticed a small white line across the other boy’s neck, right above his Adam's apple but he knew better than to ask about it.
Especially since Izuku wasn’t even ready for people to ask about his own scars (although he wouldn’t mind sharing them with Kaminari - the only one who could hope to know how he felt about the failures painting his skin).
It was odd for Izuku to see the usually vibrant boy looking so dull and muted, although Izuku could guess that he looked the same.
It was as if Izuku was slowly going colorblind, not able to stop and look around at the once vibrant world around them. That doesn’t surprise him, since he’s never really looked around at the world before and admired its beauty but it still felt like a loss of some sort.
Kaminari walked over to his dining table and gestured for Izuku to sit down. “Have you eaten yet, Mido?”
Izuku shook his head and walked over. “Not yet. And call me Izuku, please.”
Kaminari gave a weak grin and sent Izuku a cheesy thumbs-up as he responded, “Then call me Denki! Now, eat up! We’ve got villains to fight and friends to save!”
Izuku smiled weakly as he felt determination coursing through him. Yeah, they would fix the loop. One of these days.
Apparently, one of these days means not anytime soon.
Izuku and Denki had gone through four more loops at this point, with various classmates dying in more and more gruesome ways before they themselves were killed.
The worst was watching Aizawa’s neck snap clean, his head nearly rolling off his shoulders, because he had been curb-stomped by the Nomu against a corner on the fountain. It was morbidly fascinating to watch the fountain water quickly change into a pink color with Aizawa’s blood, as if it was food coloring.
Izuku just grumbled to himself as he walked over to Denki’s house and let himself in. The two boys had grown much closer over the past couple loops, talking about things that no one else would really understand and cracking the most morbid jokes in an effort to keep themselves sane.
Izuku got Denki used to physical touch fairly quickly too, since he was worried about zapping Izuku on accident but Izuku just shot him a deadpan look and had said, “After all of these loops, you think a little zap from you would hurt me?” and Denki officially caved to that.
Since then, the boys would automatically seek out comfort from one another. Izuku rested his forehead on Denki’s back when the other boy was cooking and Denki would do the same to him. Denki draped his feet across Izuku’s lap when they were sitting down on the bus to the USJ or just at the dining table.
Izuku also tended to just close his eyes and enjoy the weight of Denki’s chin resting on his head as they absorbed the fact that they were alive and not as dead as they seemed to be a few loops ago.
They had also tried to tell Aizawa-sensei about the incoming attack on their fifth loop, with Denki’s insistence. Izuku didn’t really trust Aizawa to believe them and Izuku was right; Aizawa just thought they were paranoid during that loop and kept glancing at them like they were crazy.
Izuku didn’t even bother holding back his bitter laugh when the villains came that loop, exasperatedly pointing out the villains to their teachers before diving into the plaza off the stairs, right behind Denki once again as he listened to the other boy make fun of everyone’s mother while they fought.
Izuku opened up the fridge and got started on making some eggs and rice, opting to wait a bit before he worked on the fish.
One thing that he had found out quickly was that Denki woke up about an hour after Izuku and most of the time, Izuku couldn’t just be alone in his house.
So he would walk over to Denkis, let himself in, and get started on breakfast. It eased something dark and anxious in his mind whenever he came over to see Denki, just to ensure that the boy hadn’t actually died right before his very eyes a few hours prior.
Izuku also learned that Denki liked waking up and smelling the food, knowing that Izuku was already there as he got ready for the day.
Izuku just threw the fish in the oven when Denki came down the stairs and rested his forehead against the back of Izuku’s shoulder as Izuku continued to sip his coffee and flip the eggs.
“Hey, Izuku?” Denki asked, slurring his words a bit. Izuku hummed and felt Denki shift around a bit before he continued. “Why do you use all of your power?”
“What do you mean, Denki-kun?” Izuku asked, intrigued with what Denki was thinking about.
If Izuku learned anything from these time loops, it was to never underestimate Denki. The boy’s attention was hard to grab, sure, but Denki was an absolute beast whenever he was fighting since he could focus on so many different things at once.
Denki just groggily hummed from behind Izuku as he lifted his arms to wrap around Izuku’s waist and snuggled closer. “You always use all of your power whenever you fight but you taught me that I didn’t need to and turned me into a human taser. So why do you do it?”
Izuku blinked to himself and ignored the urge to scream at his past self for being so stupid as he turned off the stove. “I don’t know actually. I guess I always just assumed I’d have to use 100%. That seems silly now that I say it out loud though.”
Denki snorted and finally released Izuku as he wandered over to the rice maker that was beeping. “It does seem silly.”
Izuku smiled and rolled his eyes fondly. With the domestic ease that came with an isolated existential crisis constantly happening, Izuku and Denki flowed around each other in the kitchen, expertly grabbing the plates and utensils and moving the pans of food over to the dining table.
Denki plopped down in his chair as Izuku refilled his coffee and sat across from Denki, immediately feeling the other boy’s socked feet come to rest on Izuku’s thighs.
Something interesting Izuku learned about Denki was that he didn’t need coffee or anything caffeinated to keep him energetic. The electricity that constantly flows throughout his neurological brain waves keeps his dopamine levels high.
This isn’t to say that Denki couldn’t get sad or depressed (the time loop made that particular fact quite clear when Denki would wake up and cry for the losses he had seen that no one else would remember) but the boy was constantly feeling the urge to do something, unable to sit too still for any reason.
And, Izuku learned quickly enough, Denki doesn’t necessarily think inside the box. True, Izuku tends to spend his time looking for answers so far out of the box that no one really knows how he came to the conclusion that he did but with Denki, he doesn’t even know where the box is. Which is why Izuku is always so fascinated by what Denki has to say. The other boy comes up with ideas that would’ve taken Izuku weeks or months to think about.
So Izuku decided to think about One for All in relation to percentages as he ate. If he was using the quirk at 100%, then obviously he couldn’t handle the drawback. But if he could lower the output, maybe at around 20% or so, then Izuku could potentially use the quirk without any issues and not have to fight through the pain of a shattered arm anymore.
Honestly, it sounded like a dream come true.
The idea of using his quirk at less than 100% was a dream come true. But, as it turns out, Izuku can only really get it up to 5% at the time.
Which means he used 20% against the villains and still ended up breaking his bones.
Although the skin around it wasn’t as dark purple as it was whenever he shattered his arms so he whooped and hollered for joy, even as he was violently grabbed by the Nomu and flung towards the fountain.
He pushed the quirk into his legs and twisted in the air, landing and shattering the middle area of the fountain, causing water to spray everywhere.
Izuku watched as Denki backed up and stepped in the water-zone and fried everyone touching the water as he jumped up, cackling to himself a bit when Denki looked at the ground and fucking shrugged before he turned around and kept fighting.
But they both knew they were fighting a losing battle since they hadn’t had the time to destroy the Nomu quite yet and Handy was still scratching his neck furiously as he watched Izuku and Denki decimate their ‘firing squad.’
“Nomu!” Handy screamed as Izuku landed beside Denki. “Kill those brats!”
Izuku groaned as Denki mumbled, “Not this shit again” and they both dodged the monster as it came flying towards them.
Izuku could hear Aizawa’s scream vibrate through his mind as Nomu grabbed Denki and broke his arms before stabbing it’s beak into Denki’s torso and violently ripping it out, dropping Denki to the ground in his own ripped out flesh and blood, mixing in with the water below him.
He just let the Nomu grab him and shot a vicious smirk towards Shigaraki as the Nomu snapped Izuku’s arms clean into two before slamming him down, over and over on the plaza floor.
He felt himself splash in the pool of his own blood, giggling to himself as he thought of what happened to Aizawa during that first loop before gagging on his own blood.
He almost felt bad for how hoarse and raw Aizawa-sensei’s screams were but he knew the man wouldn’t remember this in a few hours, so Izuku let himself be smashed into the plaza two more times before he suddenly blacked out without warning.
‘I AM HE-’
Izuku smashed his alarm clock again, not even caring about the dent he made in the wall since he just knows he won’t be winning this loop today.
He grabbed his school uniform, stuffed it into his bag, grabbed his keys and walked out the door, determined to see Denki alive and well before he could actually start his day.
His walk to Denkis was short. Or maybe he just didn’t remember the whole thing. Either way, Izuku finally found himself walking through the front door, setting all of his stuff in the genkan and laid out on the couch before breathing in deeply.
He knows he’ll feel ten times better when he actually sees Denki but for now, this is enough, just being here was enough. Izuku let himself play on his phone, still very upset that he couldn’t access any news sites or hero forums because of this damn time loop.
He let himself lose track of time as he laid there, trying to think over the attack and what they needed to do differently this time to win.
“Zuku…” Izuku heard Denki call out for him.
Izuku popped his head over the couch and softly smiled at the other boy, relief coursing through him as he looked at Denki, alive. “Hey, Denks.”
Denki turned towards him and walked over to the couch, unceremoniously dropping onto Izuku, pulling a grunt from him.
Denki circled his arms around Izuku and just held him tight. Izuku didn’t mind the occasional zing that sent sparks through him as Denki hugged him. If anything, they just reminded him that Denki was alive and here with him.
“I have an idea,” Denki murmured into Izuku’s hair, shifting slightly to lay completely on Izuku. Izuku hummed and ran a scarred hand through Denki’s hair, marveling at how soft it was, despite how it looked. “Knives.”
Izuku grinned and tugged on Denki’s hair a bit, encouraging the other boy to look him in the eye. “Knives?”
Denki nodded and a faint smirk pulled at the other boy’s lips as he looked down at Izuku. “Yeah. I want knives.”
Izuku hummed as he pretended to contemplate it, even as a smirk overtook his own grin. “Knives sound like an amazing idea. Who are we going for first?”
Denki’s smirk grew wider and much more vicious as he thought about their first victim. “Nomu.”
This loop. Loop 10. It was the most promising loop that the two boys had ever had.
Before they got to their classroom, they ran into the support course labs and begged for knives to be added to their hero costumes.
Thankfully, no one asked too many questions, although they had to wonder why it was so easy for weapons to be approved and given to them within the day.
Eh. Questions for when they’re not dealing with a never-ending time loop.
Afterwards, they could hardly sit still throughout the morning classes. It was getting more and more difficult to talk about the same things with their friends and pull on their bright smiles for the class and teachers but they managed to fool everyone (the last time they asked for help, they were looked at like they were going insane - they refused to be banned from the field trip just because people think they’re losing it - so they’ve opted to keep quiet).
And then they were on the bus, traveling to the USJ. The two boys were set with determination and nerves running through them, despite the obvious exhaustion weighing on their shoulders.
As soon as they were in the building, they made their way towards the front, not willing to take their eyes off of the fountain, even for a second.
Then the warp gate came and Izuku launched himself off the landing pad they were standing on with his quirk coursing throughout his body, ignoring whatever Aizawa-sensei was yelling about. He heard Kaminari join him a second later, dashing down the stairs.
They quickly met the fray of villains and took them out, until there was a small crowd left. Izuku made a mad dash towards the Nomu as Shigaraki screamed for the Nomu to kill them.
Denki covered Izuku by going low and sending lethal shockwaves through his knives as he plunged them into the legs of the monster while Izuku launched himself upwards and stabbed the exposed brain repeatedly, not pausing to let the regeneration take over.
Distantly, Izuku could hear Shigaraki screaming about his experiment and rouge characters. Izuku scoffed to himself as Denki shouted, “I bet you have a sticky controller! Don’t you, Handy?”
Izuku cackled at that, distantly registering how insane he sounded, before he felt the air shift and cursed loudly as he jumped off the Nomu, effectively avoiding the warp gate that Kurogiri had sent his way.
Denki’s own curse was cut off as a warp gate sent him away, hopefully not outside the USJ or anything (that was an unknown and Izuku was not growing fond of unknowns at this point), and Izuku took off, intent to stab Shigaraki at least once before they died.
Izuku threw his knife and grinned evilly when he noticed that it had embedded itself in the palm of Shigaraki’s hand.
And then Kurogiri sent him away in a warp gate, landing into the shipwreck zone. This time, he landed in the water and opened his eyes to be greeted with a grin of a shark’s mouth.
Izuku screamed and slashed with his remaining knife, but failed to see the eel mutant behind him and was paralyzed as soon as they reached him.
Izuku felt his consciousness dim even before they went at him since he was slowly drowning. He could feel sharp weapons held against his throat as he shut his eyes.
He wasn’t really sure what killed him that time but he knew he went out screaming and in pain.
‘I AM HERE I AM-’
Izuku smashed the radio to pieces, ignoring his almost broken desk and groaning as he sat up in bed.
He felt sluggish and much too tired, knowing better than to think that his problem could be solved with coffee at this point. He made his way to the bathroom and furrowed his eyebrows as he saw his newest scar along the side of his neck.
Gingerly, he ran his fingers across the sharp bite mark embedded in the side of him and held back the bile threatening to surface. Did they really eat him?
Sure, Izuku had faced death and actually died ten times now but he’s never been eaten before. There’s something different when he realizes that he was literally taken out by gross, leering cannibals this time.
Jesus, he wants to throw up. Or actually stay dead one of these times.
Izuku quickly shook that thought away, berating himself for thinking such a thing. He might want to die, true, but he refuses to leave Denki stuck in this harsh cycle all by himself.
He just forced himself to take a shower, basking in the hot water before throwing on his school clothes and walking out the front door, keys and notebook in hand.
During his walk, he couldn’t help but glance around in surprise. A few loops ago, Izuku could’ve sworn that the grass in his neighbor’s yard was a vibrant green rather than a dulling, muted color.
The more he looked around, the more he saw other things losing color slowly, as if color was becoming obsolete in this time-looping-world the two boys were trapped in.
What made it worse was the people. Other citizens who were also walking around the morning (just as they did every damn morning of the time loop) were draining in color.
Their hair, eyes, skin, clothes, and accessories were slowly fading. Some were already graying. Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if that was dependent on the original color or some unknown time limit on the specific item.
Maybe this phenomenon could be attributed to the time loops, since no one else seemed to find an issue with their dull, muted colors and continued to go about their day as normal.
Izuku just shook it off. He was in no position to care about the colors of the world right now. He’ll deal with the issue later (because there has to be a later).
Izuku decided to sprint the rest of the way to Denki’s house, knowing he would’ve been caught up in looking around if he hadn’t done so. He let himself in, like every other loop, made his way to the kitchen, and started on a boring meal while he opened up his fresh notebook.
He needed to think about this logically. The knives had undoubtedly helped throughout their endeavors, so those will need to stick with them. The quirk usage is good, better than Izuku could’ve ever hoped for, but it still isn’t enough to let the two of them brute force their way through the villains. Both of their hand-to-hand combat could rival Present Mics’ at this point in time, though they’ll need to focus more on footwork if they want to be on par with Eraserhead soon.
Izuku sighed as he set his pencil down and turned around to wash the rice and start the rice maker. He made his way over to the stove and whipped up some eggs, carefully adding a bit of milk and spices this time.
Izuku smiled to himself as he fondly remembered the morning Denki had gotten on him about not adding anything to their food and talked about how spices were something the other boy gets excited about tasting since a few of his taste-buds had been fried (presumably) from his quirk.
He poured in the eggs onto the pan before setting the bowl down and beelining towards the coffee machine.
After his coffee had been made and the eggs, rice, and fish had been plated, Izuku sat down at the dining table and got to work with his notebook once again.
Their strategy usually consisted of: keeping everyone alive and knocking out the big baddies.
The immediate jump into the plaza seemed like the best bet, since no one but them had outright died when they did so. Granted, whenever Aizawa-sensei got too much attention from Shigaraki, the man-child would execute him via Nomu before focusing on Izuku and Denki.
So what do they need to change? Maybe if they can guarantee their classmates and teacher’s lives, all while escaping death themselves, things will go back to normal?
Although, they have no outside help coming once they enter the USJ. Izuku remembered the first loop where Aizawa-sensei had asked Denki to use his quirk in hopes of letting them contact the main campus.
“Hey Zuku,” Denki called out as he draped his arms around Izuku’s shoulders and placed his chin on Izuku’s head, absentmindedly tracing Izuku’s newest scar along his neck. “Whatcha writing?”
Izuku just sighed and leaned back to enjoy the comfort Denki was giving him, sliding his eyes closed as he gestured towards the notebook. “Everything we know. I wanna see what strategy we should try next.”
Izuku heard Denki hum as he leaned over Izuku and started flipping through the pages, consuming the information almost as fast as Izuku had written it out. “What about going for Handy first?”
Izuku snorted at the nickname but frowned as he thought about it and lightly shook his head, feeling Denki jerk his chin off of him. “Kurogiri would just come for us. We need to take out their transport first. Then it would just be Nomu and, lastly, Handy.”
Denki hummed in contemplation but Izuku didn’t even need to open his eyes to see the other boy’s excited and feral grin.
“I’m in.”
Their new strategy was, admittedly, amazing. Izuku wanted to curse at his past self for not thinking about this sooner but he knew that just wasn’t feasible.
The first loop with their new strategy, Izuku refrained from strangling Denki when the boy let out his Indiscriminate Shock when they jumped down and fried everyone except Kurogiri and the Nomu, accidently falling into old habits.
The next time, Denki managed to keep his decibels around 50,000 volts as he targeted Kurogiri’s metal chestplate while Izuku attempted to distract him.
It worked but Nomu had already started its beating on Aizawa-sensei while Shigaraki was in the middle of decaying Tsu’s face. Izuku and Denki both winced at the sight of their classmate’s face slowly becoming a puddle of blood and dust. They had no idea how they would play off a handprint scar on their face if they died like that.
Needless to say, they both refused to continue that loop. They had promised that they were going to get everyone out alive and it would stay that way.
There were more failed loops Izuku could mention, more tears that came from his companion as they cried together and held each other, basking in the morning before the shitstorm, remembering that they were alive and their classmates were still breathing.
There were a few times Izuku had cried just looking at Aizawa-sensei in the morning, though he played it off to the best of his ability and Denki had gotten choked up talking with Ashido and Sero.
They trained in the mornings with their quirks on the beach and Denki got more practice using his quirk as a dial-up and a taser at the same time, over and over. Izuku would practice running around, getting used to the speed and strength Full Cowling gave him and managed to bump himself up to a solid 8% sometime during the loops.
Together, they worked on their fighting styles and figured each other out during the loops. They learned each other’s moves and predicted each other with such accuracy, any hero-duo would assume they trained with one another for years.
They even skipped school a few times to continue practicing, wanting to see if it would have any effect. A few minutes after the USJ field trip would have started, however, they both fell into that familiar pit of darkness before waking up the next morning.
So they went to school and sat together during lunches, unwilling to separate for that long, although their friends were always surprised by the ‘newfound friendship’ between the two.
They leaned onto one another during the bus rides, not even realizing how worried their classmates and friends would get when two of their ‘lights’ in the class looked so world-weary. They didn’t notice how their friends looked at them with hesitance and nervousness when their eyes didn’t shine with excitement and determination throughout class, instead they held the depths of a losing-war.
But none of that even mattered to the two of them, since they knew their classmates would not remember how they had felt after the USJ happened. After their friends and classmates and teachers died in front of them once again.
They had gotten so close with the last loop, only for Nomu to go after Mineta, who hadn’t failed to cry every goddamn time this happened.
Honestly, Denki and Izuku shared a look before shrugging, not seeing any real harm to continue their loop but Izuku couldn’t ignore Tsu’s haunted look and Kirishima’s terrified gasp. Denki couldn’t forget how Ayoama was shaking like a leaf when he saw what was happening nor how Mina’s eyes looked so pained and dull at the destruction and death.
So they died.
They died and woke up, Izuku racing over to Denkis, shoving himself through the front door and running to Denki’s bedroom. He curled up against Denki and let his sobs out, knowing they wouldn’t wake the other boy until his cycle was done.
And then Denki woke up and held him, just as Izuku held Denki, and they cried together, trying to reassure one another through their own tears and heartbreak.
They sniffled together and Izuku pulled back Denki’s hair when he bent over the toilet and wretched up everything he could when the memories haunted him. Denki worked Izuku through his own panic attacks as he thought of being stuck like this, the end nowhere near in sight for them.
Because Izuku couldn’t forget how long it had been.
No matter how much he wanted his brain to shut up and forget, he wouldn’t ever stop counting how many loops they had gone through.
And he was slowly becoming more and more gray as time went on.
“I-I can’t watch him die again, Denks,” Izuku cried out, holding tightly to the other boy’s shirt as he sobbed, flashes of Aizawa’s eye forcefully popping out of his socket, rolling through the dirt and dust and blood-
That was the last time Izuku had ever wanted to see his sensei’s eye the color red.
“I can’t.” Izuku wailed, squeezing his eyes closed, tighter than before, as he continued to sob openly over an undead hero, quiet assurances from Denki falling deaf to his ears.
Denki hummed to himself as he traced over Izuku’s skin, tapping lightly on his chest. “When did you get this one Zuku?”
Izuku just sighed and traced Denki’s scar across his arm lightly, watching with fascination as goosebumps followed his fingertips. “That was my first loop. I was touched by Shigaraki first.”
Denki sighed, a frown painting his lips. “Gross.”
Izuku snorted and hummed his agreement.
Denki rushed to the bathroom, Izuku hot on his heels as he threw himself on the ground and started throwing up. Izuku just rubbed circles in his back, holding his hair and murmured assurances as Denki continued to heave.
Once he was just dry-heaving, he attempted to speak, grimacing as he swallowed. “I just - I can’t watch them die again!” He cried out, tears spilling down his face as he heaved again.
Izuku just kept whispering, “I know, I know,” to the other boy as he cried for the losses no one else would feel.
Izuku silently tracked over Denki’s newest scar; a decaying handprint right on the back of his neck, leading down and across his shoulders.
They skipped school that day and huddled up in Denki’s bed, content to lay there and silently mourn their losses.
Izuku couldn’t help but mourn his loss at wanting to help everyone.
Because while it was true, he wanted to help people, he now knows that he would only ever help the innocent. He would only ever be able to bring himself to feel empathy for the ones who were being hurt and broken.
He cried quietly, slowly feeling himself slip into that familiar and daunting darkness with a goodbye stuck in his throat.
‘I AM HERE I AM-’
Izuku tossed his alarm clock into the wall, using a percent or two of One for All.
He sighed as he looked at the new hole he had created and flopped back into his bed.
“I love you, All Might, but please.” He couldn’t help but plead out to any deities or existing gods as he spoke, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, as he whispered.
“If I’m going to hear your voice every morning, I need you to save us.” He winced as his voice cracked.
“Or save me from doing something I might regret.”
“We’re gonna win this one.” Denki said decisively, looking over at Izuku, who was staring into his coffee mug and seated at the dining table.
Izuku lifted his head up and could only smile at the other boy as he saw his hair almost glowing a bright yellow compared to the rest of his graying body and the determination lining Denki’s form, even as he tensely made their pancakes and bacon.
“We’re gonna win this one.” Izuku let himself repeat quietly, with all the weight he was feeling behind it.
The determination that day never faded from their bodies as they confidently went through their new normal.
Both boys had given up note-taking anything for the classes at this point, answered their teacher’s questions with ease, made light conversation with their friends, and strode onto the bus in their full hero gear.
They ignored Aizawa-sensei’s look of…interest? during the ride as Denki and Izuku fielded their classmates' questions and conversations like pros.
They completely ignored both Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen-sensei’s protests to them walking down the stairs before the speech was even given and avoided Aizawa-sensei’s capture weapon with ease.
Neither boy stuttered in their footsteps when Aizawa-sensei’s expulsion threat rang out, silencing the confused cries from their classmates.
Stationed at the fountain, Izuku stood a few paces behind where Kurogiri always showed up with Denki at his side, continuing to ignore the anger and confusion being pointed towards them.
And then, the villains arrived.
Before anyone could notice them, Denki lit up and tazed Kurogiri in the back of his metal armor as best he could while Izuku swung his arm, cracking with his own lightning, and landing a blow to where they assumed Kurogiri’s temple would be.
As Kurogiri fell to the ground, dark mist shifting violently in his unconscious state, both boys gave each other a vicious grin and turned towards their targets.
As expected, Shigaraki (aka Handy) called out a frantic order to Nomu while he scratched his neck.
But the boys had gotten faster, stronger, hungrier.
They dashed towards Nomu before the order was even out of Shigaraki’s mouth with Denki taking on Nomu’s legs once again as Izuku launched himself upwards and landed his knives in the exposed brain.
He tore and stabbed and slashed through the brain matter, grinning as he listened to the tortured sounds come from Nomu as he did so. Denki expertly slashed at well-known tendons in the legs, using his electricity to make Nomu seize up when he noticed the regenerative ability wasn’t working anymore.
They listened as Shigaraki called another order out to Nomu, even as it was falling over. Izuku rolled off the head and watched as Denki dashed out from underneath the legs as it crashed into the ground and laid completely still.
Dead.
The bloodlust from the two was palpable as they turned their attention towards the leader. Their final target.
“You damn rouges! What the hell are you doing at this level?!” Shigaraki screeched, frantically scratching at his neck as blood dripped down his nails and looking back and forth between Kurogiri and Nomu.
Denki and Izuku just walked forward, still grinning viciously at their target.
Denki flipped his knives as Izuku spoke, letting the malice and hatred drip off his tongue, deterring anyone from the ‘firing squad’ from interfering. “I’ve been wanting to do this since day one, handjob.”
Denki snorted and tossed his knife up again as Izuku quickly flicked his out and threw it towards Shigaraki’s neck hand. Unfortunately, Shigaraki moved his hand forward, so it didn’t go through and slice at his neck (but Izuku will take what he can get for now).
As soon as that happened, Denki rushed forward and started going toe-to-toe with the villain as Izuku jumped over and tried to get hits in from behind.
Shigaraki got a lucky grab in, taking Izuku’s arm with his hand as the villain grinned to himself.
That grin was quickly wiped off his face as it contortented into one of pain once Izuku twisted them around and stabbed Shigaraki in the back, right through his spine, twisting and ripping upwards before wrenching the thing out, not even making a face at his own injuries.
He ripped his arm away from the villain and let his grin grow wider when Shigaraki hit the ground, hands spasming erratically, moaning in misery.
Denki gleefully bounded over to Izuku and ‘accidently’ stepped on Shigaraki’s head hard and giggled at the pained whine.
Izuku watched as the cannon fodder looked around, clearly uncomfortable with the lengths Denki and Izuku were prepared to go to defend their classmates.
One idiot glanced between them and the dead Nomu before scoffing and walking up to them confidently. “I thought you lot were supposed to be heroes.”
Izuku and Denki giggled at the same time and grinned wider.
“We’re not heroes silly!” Denki admonished, bashfully ripping the knife out of Shigaraki’s hand.
“We’re students.” Izuku finished, giving his own cackle as he raced forwards and flipped over the man before kicking him hard in the back of his head. As he fell forward, Denki gripped him and smashed his head down onto his knee, letting him crumple to the ground once he let go.
They looked at the others and smirked in tandem. “Well,” they said together, watching with fascination as the crowd shivered. “Would anyone else like to try?”
They tilted their heads innocently, widening their eyes with eagerness as the other villains took a few steps back, obviously not expecting this outcome.
Suddenly, a dramatically painful groan came from behind them and they whipped around to look at their still-moving target, not seeing the wave of relief that washed over the others once their attention was turned.
“Damn NPC’s and rogue players and surprise levels!” Shigaraki screamed from the floor, moaning and groaning and he writhed around to glare at them. “YOU’RE TRYING TO RUIN EVERYTHING!”
Izuku burst out into laughter as Denki said, “duh” while the hand-villain just glared at them some more.
He stalked forwards as Shigaraki’s eyes snapped back to him and he hummed, pretending to contemplate the villain’s words.
“Well, Shigaraki,” Izuku started, part of him purring with pleasure once he noticed the villain’s shock, not expecting Izuku to know his name. “If you want us to ruin everything, we could make that happen.”
Shigaraki just sneered. “You hero-brats hardly know how to eliminate cannon fodder, much less me.” Obviously ignoring the dead experiment that lay a few meters away from them.
Izuku hummed again as Denki snorted. “You’re right. We wouldn’t want to eliminate you!” He said, pretending to be taken back at the idea, even as he smirked. “But, of course, that wouldn’t stop us from doing other things.”
Izuku walked back next to Shigaraki and stepped on his wrist before crouching down at the villain’s side. “You know, something interesting about five point touch quirks, is that you all have different nerves running through your fingertips,” he said in a dreamy tone, even as Denki snickered to himself and stepped on Shigaraki’s other hand before crouching down to mimic Izuku’s position.
“But of course, we couldn’t just get rid of your quirk by, say, chopping off your finger or hand. The body would just find some way to redirect the quirk into a new outlet.”
Izuku almost laughed at the tentative relief that sentence seemed to bring for the villain as he watched Denki trace his fingertips over his wound, frying the nerve-ending in his spine as Shigaraki choked on a scream. “What someone would have to do to get rid of a quirk like that, would be to, essentially, sever the nerves connection to the spinal cord. Interesting, right?”
Denki hummed and nodded along, pretending to be very interested in the story Izuku was telling.
A sharp gasp was the thing that brought Izuku out of it as he zoned in on the one person who would dare bring him out of this twisted mindscape before he gasped as well and his eyes went wide.
He didn’t pay any attention to the other villains as he hastily got up, fumbling to keep his jaw from dropping.
“He’s alive.” Izuku breathed out, hardly aware of Denki jumping up as well and paying attention to what Izuku was looking at.
“Holy fuck.” Denki said, just as breathless.
They didn’t notice the remaining villains part like the Red Sea for them as they raced over to Aizawa-sensei and hugged him.
They cried in relief, sobbing openly as they inspected Aizawa for any injuries, crying harder when they found none.
Denki moved himself to hug Izuku when he felt himself so overcome with relief, he couldn’t give the energy to control the small outbursts of his quirk.
Izuku responded in kind and latched onto Denki, sobbing with the boy as they both wore wide and bright smiles, hope flooding into their eyes, and tentative amounts of color coming back to them, banishing the grays.
Shouta narrowed his eyes at his students before turning to look at the other villains, surprise overtaking him when they all watched the scene with varying levels of horror and hurt (probably because of the assumption of his death) to concern for the kids.
Shouta just turned his attention back towards the students who, evidently, knew about the villain attack and were surprised at him being in one piece, as if he even had the chance to take much action since the two boys had taken out the villain’s leaders with brutal and alarming efficiency.
“What.” Shouta said.
It was not a question, nor a request. He needed to know what was going on. He almost dropped his quirk when he saw both of them smile even wider and more tears flooded down their cheeks as they sighed in relief, like getting their quirk taken away from them was a good sign.
“37.” Midoriya said breathlessly, nodding in agreement with Kaminari before holding onto the other boy’s hand tightly. Shouta raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
“We’ve been stuck here for 37 days.” Kaminari choked out, still letting his eyes rove Shouta’s body in wonder, as if he couldn’t believe Shouta was standing before them.
He just crossed his arms and glared harder. “How.”
Midoriya sniffed as he tried to pick his jaw up off the ground to explain. “Its - we think it was a time-looping quirk,” Shouta listened as some of the villains in hearing range sucked in a deep breath, wondering what that was about. “We’ve - we’ve lived this day for 37 days.”
Shouta tried to wrap his mind around it, even as Midoriya hesitantly came forward again before diving in for another hug. Kaminari seemed to be restraining himself but one look from Midoriya had him jumping onto Shouta again, making him grunt with the sudden weight.
It wasn’t that hard to imagine either, since both of them looked too relieved to find him alive.
Although he still had his worries and more than a few questions. Apparently, one of the villains was confident enough to ask his most burning question as he tentatively hugged his students back. “How did it reset?”
Both boys whipped their heads around and dropped into an obviously practiced combat stance, ready to defend Shouta with their lives as they snarled and kept a hand on him to keep him behind them.
Midoriya tilted his head then and Kaminari shrugged as they loosened up a bit. Midoriya shook his head and Kaminari nodded, both of them relaxing.
If Shouta had any doubts before then, they were completely erased now. No one could or should be able to read each other like that in his homeroom. Hell, most of the pro-heroes Shouta works with wouldn’t be capable of such flawless communication.
“We died.” Midoriya said bluntly, like it didn’t even matter. Shouta just stared, in horror, at the back of his two student’s heads, not watching to see the villains do the same.
Kaminari just waved them off with his hand nonchalantly. “Don’t worry guys! You never killed us!”
Shouta glanced over them, begrudgingly feeling a bit of respect for the villains remaining, even if not killing children was the lowest bar to have. He saw some tension in their forms disappear at the news.
Shouta and a few others, though, glanced over at the unconscious (or dead?) villain covered in hands, the definitely dead monster that was called a Nomu and a (probably) unconscious mist villain.
One of the villains cleared their throat nervously and just pointed over her shoulder at the lanky villain covered in hands, as if that was even a proper question.
To his surprise, both of the boys hummed in unison as Midoriya nodded. “He killed most of us, actually, on more than one occasion.”
Kaminari nodded along, either not noticing or not caring that their company was rapidly paling, right alongside Shouta. “He was trigger-happy, so to say.”
The villain that had asked just tensed and nodded. “So, that was karma.”
Shouta felt a chill run down his spine as the two boys immediately shook their heads and Kaminari ominously said, “That was the beginning.”
She paled (again) at the admission and Shouta just brought his hands down on either one of their shoulders. They tensed but easily relaxed once they remembered who was behind them. “We’ll speak about why you two didn’t tell me about this later. You both need to get to an ambulance and speak with the detective once you’re ready.”
Midoriya whipped his head around, wide-eyed to stare at him. “You’re coming, r-right?” He whispered.
Shouta just glared as he saw Kaminari use the same goddamn puppy-eyes that Midoriya was doing and sighed internally as he felt himself cave (but really - he would never deny his traumatized students much of anything right now - not when they so obviously needed someone to associate comfort and safety with - even if he didn’t know why that was him, he would do it).
“Yes, I’m coming with you two.” Shouta said, watching as tension he didn’t even notice drained out of them.
They suddenly looked like tired and vulnerable young kids. Their eye bags were prominent against their skin, white marks imprinted on their bodies were visible to him now, making Shouta want to kick himself for not noticing them earlier.
He just nodded and glared at the remaining villains for good measure before walking them slowly up the stairs in silence, towards the police and ambulance cars waiting for them outside.
They both dropped to the ground, crying once again, after they stepped out, holding onto each other desperately as their eyes hungrily took in the outside world.
Shouta clenched his jaw in worry and pain for what he imagined what they had gone through alone. He couldn’t imagine the strength they must have for fighting to make it through 37 days of hell. He couldn’t begin to even think about the bond they must’ve made in that time.
They’ll be questioned heavily. That’s something Shouta’s positive about. But he refuses for anyone other than Detective Naomasa to talk with them, knowing he was the best detective at getting kids to open up and knowing whether or not they were lying about it all.
Afterwards, he’ll probably have to force them through some mandated therapy, especially since they don’t seem to understand when to register a threat and when someone is trying to help them.
It was inexplicably heart-breaking to watch Kaminari and Midoriya refuse different ambulances on the way to the hospital. Midoriya didn’t even break a sweat threatening to refuse care, even as blood dripped off his fingers from the large decayed area on his forearm, acting like he wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
They’ll also take a morality and ethics class of Shoutas, just so he can guarantee that the borderline torture and burtal murder (even if it was a monster) that happened today was just a snap or something they could come back from.
But that was all for Future Shouta to worry about. Current Shouta was dealing with a clingy Midoriya who was ignoring everyone but Shouta and Kaminari as Kaminari laughed at the paramedic’s obvious distress over the situation happening in their ambulance and refused care until Midoriya was taken care of.
He sighed and texted the detective to bring coffee for him before putting his phone away and finally deciding to try and pry Midoriya off him and towards the worried paramedics.
(Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work.)
Iwata Iwao - Test Subject 5441-09
Type: Normal Resistance - Currently undergoing Nomufication phase 4
(Beginning) Age: 28
(Current) Age: 35
Blood-Type: AB-
Quirk Name: Colorblind
Description: Eye-contact based quirk that allows the user to manipulate another person through previous/current event(s) repeatedly. Dependent on the user’s knowledge of said event.
Modified Description: No longer requires eye-contact. User has to have spatial recognition of another person(s) to result in the user being able to ‘loopback’ time for a specific event at their will for the other person(s) within 24 hours of said spatial awareness being made. During the ‘loopback’ the person(s) will have complicated contact with the outside world (Extent currently unknown).
NOTES:
- If said person(s) cannot complete their ‘loopback’ in a timely manner, their surroundings will become grayed and muted ( see test 14b - 14q ).
- Once the person(s) are grayed completely, they will die during their ‘loopback’ and the process will break for everyone (loopback will occur no longer and the timeline will go back to normal with the person(s) deceased).
WARNINGS: User must have a strong mental image of the event and place they want people to ‘loopback’ into. Failure to do so will result in a haywire ‘loopback’ that will leave difficult repercussions on everyone’s psyche (user and person(s)).
The user will experience phantom pains that said person(s) feel whenever an injury/death occurs, although research shows the user will gain no scars ( see tests 42a - 42j ). The user’s psyche will feel the person(s) 's most powerful emotion during the ‘loopback’ and must be prepared to handle themselves accordingly.
ADDITIONAL NOTE(S):
- The number of ‘loopbacks’ are entirely dependent on the will of the person(s) involved.
- The graying of themselves will only be complete once their psyche and will to live is destroyed.
- The graying is inconsistent between two or more persons experiencing a continuous ‘loopback’ and can be counteracted by unknown sources.
- If the person(s) 's will is stronger than the users, the ‘loopback’ can be defeated and forcefully remove the grayness from their world
( see USJ Attack: tests 231a - 232k for future reference ).