Chapter Text
It was the middle of the night, and, in a dark alley, a scream could be heard.
A man looking to be in his mid-thirties standing menacingly with a sword glistening with blood, currently looking at the back of the running man he was supposed to kill.
“ Are you fucking kidding me… ” he muttered tiredly and passed a hand in his hair in a poor attempt to make himself look less dead .
The Slasher was not having a good day.
…Which was weird, considering it had started relatively well: he had a good breakfast and didn’t get stuck in traffic at all. He had even managed to avoid a stupid villain wannabe that had decided to destroy half of the roads in the prefecture. Slasher couldn’t understand what drew them to this kind of villainy, it was way better to do like him and act in the shadow where your whole life wouldn’t be compromised.
Then, horror struck.
He had gotten caught in a robbery while buying himself eggs. The two guys were only using their quirk to threaten the poor lady who had been working there and it gave him the opportunity to jump them from behind and beat the shit out of them. They hadn’t even brought guns! How were they expecting to do any damage? Having a quirk did not mean that you could give up on everything else. Slasher was able to make pretty much anything sharp if he touched it, but he still used good old katanas.
And while he was patting himself on the back for being an upstanding member of society, the lady called the police on him. The Slasher.
Not that she knew that.
It was still hella annoying though.
So he ran away and his whole day had been trashed trying to avoid the nosy justice seekers.
It’s not like it had never happened before, but it still pissed him off. He carried on with his day and just as he thought this shitty Monday couldn’t get worse, he had screwed up on his night job.
A fatal mistake.
And here he was now, standing alone in an alley like the shady guy he was, entertaining the idea of simply going home and taking a break. Permanently.
Listen , Slasher didn’t do failures in general, and today was filled with them. His pride had taken a heavy blow.
“Huh? Who the hell are you, you shady bastard?”
He wasn’t that shady…
He acted on the moment, whirling around and pointing his bloody sword at the newcomer. He looked at the boy in front of him and made a questioning sound. Where the hell had this kid come from? Slasher hadn’t even sensed him.
Nevermind that. What the fuck was a kid doing in an alley at 3 a.m?
He looked the kid up and down, sneering at the finger that was pointed at his face. “I’m not anybody you need to care about, brat. Get the fuck out of here before I decide that you’re the perfect replacement for that slippery bastard who escaped me.”
He wasn’t into killing kids, but he could always make exceptions. He had done enough bad shit to not feel too guilty about it.
The kid gaped at him with those weird eyes of his before a metallic sound was heard and a giant big ass sword came into Slasher’s sight.
How the fuck was a child able to lift that thing, it looked heavier than him!
“You were about to kill someone, weren’t you?! Anybody ever told you that was a really shitty thing to do? You can’t just end someone’s life like that!” The kid shouted at him, clearly angry at Slasher’s behavior. Who the hell did this kid think he was? Some kind of All Might junior?
“Drop the sword, Killer guy!” The kid lifted the giant black sword above his head in a fighting stance the Slasher had never seen before. Was this kid serious right now? Did he want to fight him ? The Slasher? Because of some dude that had escaped him?
Was he an idiot?
“Now kid,” he started in a condescending tone, not wanting to deal with this tonight. He had better things to do for fuck’s sake. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I’m in a bad mood right now and you’re not helping by shouting left and right. Do me a favor and fuck off! ” He gripped his katana harder in his hand. This was going to end in a murder. He just couldn’t catch a break today, could he? There always needed to be a guy who thought he was the real thing to try and stop him. Couldn’t they mind their own business for once in their life?!
“ Stupid All Might wannabe. ” He muttered under his breath.
He heard a faint growl coming from his new opponent. “I don’t really care about you, Killer guy, but if you’re going to harm someone, then I’ll have to stop you!” The kid crouched, his muscles tensing– and holy fuck why was this kid so fucking bulky? Was he a boxer or some other shit? --and lifted his sword in the air.
“Oh, and by the way, I ain’t gonna be a ‘All Might’ or whatever you’re on about–”
He didn’t even have time to try and block.
The impact came in full force, the kid had thrown himself with what seemed like inhuman strength–there was no way it wasn’t a quirk–and the black sword collided with his chest so hard he thought his internal organs might be permanently damaged. He fell on the floor bonelessly, blood flooding his mouth.
“--I’m gonna be the Wizard King you bastard!”
…What the fuck
The kid let out a victorious shout and the Slasher could see him admiring his sword as if it was the first time he had used it. The muscles in his body trembled in pain, so much he didn’t try to stand up. One hit. It had taken an infant one hit to put him on the ground, unable to move.
‘Who’s this kid?’
He’s a fucking monster
“I can’t believe I just used it! Did you know it came with my grimoire? I’m so happy, I can finally become a Magic Knight! Isn’t that super awesome, Killer guy?” The kid rambled, speaking to him as if he could answer. Slasher idly wondered what drugs the kid had smoked. Magic Knight, where were they, in a fantastic movie?
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the sharp pain it procured him. He couldn’t do this anymore. He was quitting for good. He could become a gardener for all he cared for.
“Ju-Just call…”
The kid looked at him, tilting his head like a curious bird. “You okay, Killer guy? Were you saying something?”
“Just call… ”
“You should talk louder, Killer guy.”
“Just call the fucking police already!” He yelled in frustration, completely forgetting any pain he was feeling prior to. Couldn’t the brat just hurry up?! He was having a moment here and making life-changing decisions in the middle of a dark alley that wasn’t like a five-star hotel made him angry. He couldn’t believe that this was his life. Didn’t he want to become a businessman or something when he was younger?
He’d definitely take that over getting beaten up by the Demon Child
“The police?” The kid asked and Slasher’s brain short-circuited. “What’s that? Are they your friends?”
‘Are they my friends ?’
He tried his best to lift his concussed head and looked the kid in the eyes, searching for some kind of emotion that would betray the joke.
He found none.
This was…
He put his own existential issues to the side for now and took in the puzzled face of the child who had just fought him like he was used to it. Used to violence. To make it clear, Slasher was a villain. It was his part-time job, in a way. He wasn’t the most understanding guy nor was he the most caring. He was killing people because it was what he was good at. He had a talent, and because of that, he ended up losing some of the basic things, and becoming apathetic in general. Slasher didn’t care about kids, not anymore. The problem right now is that he has seen a lot of children being ignorant about some part or concept of society, may it be because of a bad background or the refusal to learn. But this was…it felt different.
He had never met anyone who didn’t know who the police were.
Absolutely no one.
(You had to live in a small ass cave not to know about the motherfucking police.)
The green-eyed kid looked to be in the middle of his teenage years, he was pretty small but he had a good build, so he was definitely well-nourished. Nothing seemed wrong with him if you ignored the ugly clothes that didn’t look from the right era and the Big Ass Sword .
“Don’t you know who the police are?” He asked carefully. Slasher tried without success to think of a way a high schooler could not know about the police. His mind was completely blank, it was simply impossible.
Maybe he’s a lab rat or something.
“Not really, no. Is it something I’m supposed to know?” The brat asked and Slasher couldn’t help but think that This was what he had been reduced to. Fuck.
“Yes, kid. It’s kinda worrying that you don’t if I’m being honest.” Slasher scoffed. He wasn’t fit to deal with traumatized children. He didn’t do worry , but he was going to faint at any moment and the police finding him was a better alternative than anyone else fetching him from the alley to kidnap and torture him. He was a wanted man, he needed to be cautious about that kind of shit.
It just really was his luck that he had to end up with the only kid in the world that didn’t know what a police officer was.
“So, who’re they?” The brat leaned against the black sword, looking ready to stay here all day if needed.
Slasher closed his eyes for a second before reopening them. He swore to god if he didn’t need the brat to pull him out of there he would strangle him. “The police are the good guys who arrest the bad guys. You call ‘em when you see someone like me hanging around. Is that clear enough or do I need to tell you about the exact date of their creation and their whole ass goals and ideals for the world?” He spat the blood that had accumulated inside his mouth and rested his head on the floor. He was tired as fuck. Fuck. He didn’t want to faint, that would be the last blow after getting the shit beaten out of him by a child.
The kid ohh’ed in understanding, his eyes becoming suspiciously shiny. “So they’re Magic Knights! Couldn’t you have said that before?”
‘Yeah sorry, I didn’t know about your magical knight or whatever, my bad.’ He thought sarcastically.
“My name is Asta, by the way!”
‘I don’t care, I’m about to faint, my clothes are bloody, I’m gonna get fired, my name’s the Slasher, how ‘bout that you shitty kid?’
“Cool,” he said instead.
The kid asked him something, but he could feel his head becoming cloudy. Slasher closed his eyes and felt his muscles relax, all the energy leaving them. It seemed like the adrenaline had finally worn off.
Someone was shaking him, trying to keep him awake, but he was already gone.
His last thought was how he was going to find the kid and absolutely kill the shit out of him if he woke up strapped to a torture table.
.01
He woke up strapped to a chair.
‘Fuck my life’
He glanced around in barely concealed panic before seeing the handcuffs that were restraining him.
Okay, that was better. He was strapped to a chair in an interrogation room.
Those fuckers hadn’t wasted any time to put him in there, he had been unconscious just a minute before! Well, from what he remembered.
The door opened a few minutes later and the Slasher was impressed by how much those interrogators disliked wasting time. There was one time he had waited for two hours before getting fed up and escaping. The police really needed to up their game, it was just ridiculous at this point.
A man in a brown coat sat in the chair in front of him, putting a pile of papers on the table. He seemed confident enough, Slasher realized. He held his shoulder high and didn’t appear to be intimidated one bit. Must not be new to the field, he concluded.
“My name is detective Tsukauchi Naomasa and I will be the one to ask you about the circumstances of your arrest, Slasher.” The man said, offering him a polite smile.
He nodded.
“I would like to offer my apologies for the hurried interrogation, but as you are aware, you are a highly dangerous criminal and some people must have decided that it would be best to question you the moment you got out of the hospital,” Tsukauchi said and Slasher couldn’t help but snort at the tone used. Clearly, the detective was as displeased with this situation as him but was concealing it so as to not appear salty.
Slasher decided that he liked the guy.
“It’s fine,” he rasped with effort. He may have gone to the hospital, as proved by the bandages he could see peeking out of his clothes, but he still felt like utter shit.
“Now, before we begin, I am legally obligated to tell you that my quirk is called Lie detector, meaning that I will know whether you tell the truth or not. I would advise you to think about what you will tell me today, as anything could be held against you in court.”
Suddenly, Slasher didn’t like the guy very much anymore.
“Y-Yeah, that’s cool.” He hesitantly said. How fucking convenient was a quirk like that? He couldn’t be that unlucky, could he?
The detective raised an eyebrow at him, saying nothing and Slasher understood his mistake. The guy was a human lie detector for fuck’s sake, of course, he could tell that Slasher didn’t find anything cool about his quirk.
This was going to be a pain.
Maybe it was time for Slasher to finally consider hiring a lawyer.
“First off, do you remember anything about your capture?” The detective asked and Slasher blinked in confusion. Wasn’t he going to ask why he killed people or shit like that? The man wanted to know about the ‘Alley incident’?
“Yeah, I do.” He answered cautiously. It wasn’t a lie, but he didn’t understand why the detective cared about that. Wasn’t it the perfect scenario for him? The police had wanted him out of the field for some time now, surely they had more pertinent questions than that.
“Perfect. I assume you were incapacitated by someone?” He nodded, the brat sure had incapacitated him. “Do you happen to have seen what they looked like?”
The Slasher stopped breathing.
They were after the fucking kid and his Big Ass Sword.
Of fucking course they were! The kid wasn’t a hero nor a police officer, what he had done was essentially vigilantism! Was the kid dumb or something?
Slasher was going to kill him so hard.
“It was an idiot that was clearly on drugs. Kid kept going on about magic knights and magic books and magic swords.” He said with a sneer. It wasn’t a lie. Slasher was almost a hundred percent sure the kid had taken something before they had unfortunately met.
“You’re…not lying.” The detective observed in awe and he snorted. Of course that sounded completely made up, but the kid himself felt like a fever fucking dream.
“Impressive, I know.”
He faintly heard his interrogator mutter about children and coffee before sighing and focusing on him again.
“And do you remember what they looked like? Did they tell you their name?” Slasher internally laughed. The detective almost sounded scared of what he would answer.
“He had a big ass sword and green eyes. His clothes looked like they came from the wrong era and he was too loud to be a normal human being.” It had been too dark for the Slasher to see the kid’s hair, but he remembered the glowing green eyes and fucked clothes.
“That’s…and how about his name?” Tsukauchi asked and Slasher’s mind blanked.
The brat had said his name, but Slasher had been too mad to listen clearly. What had it been…Ostrich? No.
Dental? Didn’t sound right.
Astronaut? Too long.
Pasta? Yeah, that’s what the kid said.
“Pasta.” He said.
If it wasn’t for the shitty situation, he would have laughed at the look of pure dismay on the detective’s face.
“...Right.”
The man wrote something on one of the sheets and got up. “This will be all for now, thank you for contributing to the case of this new vigilante. You will be placed in a temporary cell where an officer will take care of further questioning.”
And with that the detective left, leaving Slasher gaping.
Had anyone fucking told him that he could annoy his interrogators into leaving, he would have led a way better life.
He had spouted so much shit he had scared the detective away.
“ Oh my god. ” He whispered in awe.
He’d have to thank Pasta for that.
.01
Tsukauchi Naomasa wondered if anyone had spiked his coffee on his way to work.
He was currently sitting at his desk, back from questioning the infamous Slasher, a villain that had slipped under their radar for four years now. Naomasa had been surprised when he had been told that the villain had gotten apprehended and wondered who finally got the slippery killer.
Turns out nobody knew who had done it.
There was no trace of anything in the alley where Slasher had been found by a civilian who had happened to stumble to the scene. The only thing they had of the person who did this was the multiple broken ribs and internal bleeding of Slasher.
That was enough to light his curiosity.
The medical report had clearly shown that all the damages were done in a single hit, leaving him to wonder what kind of powerful quirk the person had.
The villain had already been placed in a room when he arrived and Naomasa couldn’t say he didn’t dread the answers he would get.
The last thing he wanted was another vigilante to make themself known.
In the end, there was no need to worry since the vigilante was apparently a green-eyed child with strange clothes and a ‘Big Ass Sword’ who was named Pasta.
Worse, the Slasher hadn’t been lying.
This was not normal.
He wasn’t embarrassed to admit that he had left the room after hearing that. Naomasa could only wish that this had been a one-time thing and that he would never hear of such an individual ever again.
(He still made a file, just in case.)
He fiddled with his phone and wondered if he should do something about this Pasta vigilante. He had taken out the Slasher, which was no small feat. He was obviously a dangerous individual.
He opened his phone.
Tsukauchi Naomasa
Can I send you a file on a new vigilante?
He got up, deciding that he would go and see the scene for himself. Maybe they had overlooked something. Naomasa wasn’t convinced by Slasher’s story, something had seemed off. He knew a lot of the criminals that he interrogated tried to weasel their way out of his quirk, Slasher wouldn’t be the first. The villain had truly believed what he said, which was why the situation was a bit more tricky, but there was a way to mess with his quirk. If you believed what you said, whether it was right or wrong, it wouldn't show as a lie.
And this was the reason why Naomasa doubted.
When he arrived at the location of the alley, he bypassed the tapes and the first thing that caught his eye was the blood.
There wasn’t a lot, but it still indicated that Slasher had been hit with quite a lot of power.
There were no cameras near here, something that should definitely change if they wanted to have it easier. It didn’t help that the number of crimes committed had risen quite a lot these days. The underground world was shifting and it worried Naomasa.
Something was going to happen. Soon.
“Tsukauchi-san?”
He nodded at Sansa and the officer walked to stand by him.
“Did you find anything interesting?” Sansa asked and passed him a cup of coffee, which he gladly accepted.
“Apparently, Slasher was stopped by a new vigilante. We’re not sure if he will become more active or if this was a spur of the moment thing, but we should still keep our guard up.” He said tiredly. He had the feeling that this vigilante would make his stress levels and his paperwork quadruple.
‘Please let it not be another Crawler.’ He thought in despair. He wouldn’t be able to handle another one. Naomasa would have grey hairs if this kept up.
“I feel like that’s going to suck.” The feline said and Naomasa couldn’t help but agree with him.
“Tell me about it.” He muttered and took a sip of coffee. His phone pinged in his pocket and he sighed. “I need to go, have a good day, Sansa.”
“Don’t kill yourself trying to catch this vigilante, Tsukauchi!” The officer joked and Naomasa huffed. “Wait, before you go, what’s the name of the new guy?”
He grimaced, shaking his head at Sansa. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.” He said looking pained. It seemed to do the job as Sansa backed up a little bit in fright. It was better to let him draw conclusions, he decided, everything was better than Pasta .
He looked at the text he got and snorted.
Eraserhead
Can I even tell you no?
Of course the lazy man would try to get his way out of doing work. Naomasa knew he was the one who dragged Eraser in half of those cases, but he could at least act like he was interested!
Tsukauchi Naomasa
Sorry, but I need you on the case. A new vigilante made himself known.
He quickly sent the link to the file to the underground hero. Naomasa would have to go and check on Slasher later on. The villain didn’t seem to care about staying silent, making gathering info significantly easier. He didn’t get an answer right away, Eraser was probably admiring the ridiculous file Naomasa had just sent him.
Eraserhead
Pasta?
Tsukauchi Naomasa
…Yeah
Eraserhead
There’s no way I’m reading this correctly.
Well, Naomasa would pay to see Eraser’s face tomorrow when the news of Slasher’s arrest got out. With chance, the media wouldn’t question too much about how he got caught.
Eraserhead
…
I’ll see what I can do.
Naomasa laughed, breathless.
This was surreal.
.01
Not too far from where the ‘Alley incident’ had just taken place a couple of hours ago, a boy was walking toward the nearest grocery store.
To keep it short, Shindo Yo had lost a bet.
The boy wouldn’t lie to himself, this was the last thing he had been wanting to do with his day, but he didn’t really have a choice. As much as he liked his classmates in Ketsubutsu, they could be ruthless monsters.
Who made someone walk to the farthest grocery store just because they had lost a bet? Couldn’t he have been allowed to take the train? At least!
He put his hands in the pockets of his uniform and used a sickenly polite smile to cover how pissed he was. This whole situation was just unnecessary torture.
When he finally got to his destination, he was radiating cold fury. Yo quickly took some sodas, two sandwiches, a dozen eggs–he’s not here to ask questions, but whoever put on the list that they wanted eggs should be ashamed of themself--and a bag of chips.
(This was the moment he decided that he would gain the respect of his classmates and become the top dog of his class so that he wouldn’t have to do something like this ever again.)
He quickly paid and made his way back. It would take him at least an hour to get back so he would have to expect a beating from his teacher. He could already see the amount of homework he would be given.
‘Damn you Tatami.’
“Are you alright? You look like hell.” A voice said and Yo’s left eyebrow twitched.
He smiled sweetly at the boy sitting on a bench, choosing to ignore the massive black sword next to him. “Why, thank you for noticing. You must be praised for those all-seeing eyes of yours.” He said with all the false admiration he could muster. If he had any chance the boy would understand that Yo didn’t have time to talk to some nobody. Social cues were important nowaday. If only people saw them.
“Why do you look so fake?” The boy complained loudly.
(In Future Yo’s defense, Asta was the one who started it all.)
“Why do you look so dumb?” He spat back.
They glared at each other, neither of them wanting to be the first one to break eye contact. There was no way he would lose to some guy with worn-down clothes looking homeless. He was a hero in training, some boy with a weird sword didn’t intimidate him. Talking about the sword, was it even legal to carry something like this around?
The boy’s stomach growled and his green eyes widened, breaking away from the contest. “You win this one, Fake bastard, but I’ll get back to you one day!” He said loudly while pointing at his face.
Yo snorted. “You can always try, dumbass.” He said and swatted the finger away from his face. A shock of dark energy rippled through him, similar to cold shivers and he stubbornly ignored it. He didn’t know what the guy’s quirk was but it looked like he’d have to avoid contact from now on.
“I mean it!” The boy crossed his arms. “I’m gonna be the Wizard King one day, you’ll see!”
‘Wizard King’ Yo thought, 'Maybe he’s a theatre guy, he doesn’t look like someone who would enjoy roleplay though.’ He observed.
“A wizard king?” He asked.
The boy gaped at him like he had committed some sort of sin, making Yo wonder if he actually should know about what a wizard king was. Was it the new cool thing? He hadn’t heard anyone talk about it.
“How do you not know about the Wizard King?! He’s like the coolest and strongest guy out there!” His eyes glowed with admiration and Yo blinked.
“You mean All Might.” He pointed out flatly. Suddenly this all made a lot more sense. Yo knew that All Might was known from across the world and that each country had different cool aliases for guys like him. Honestly, it was like every top hero in the world was some sort of urban legend or something. He supposed that wherever this dude came from, the best hero was nicknamed the ‘Wizard King’.
It was a pretty funny name, Yo had to give it to the boy.
“Is he the strongest guy here? Killer guy mentioned him too. ” The homeless-looking teen asked and muttered the last part just loud enough for the high schooler to hear. He wasn’t going to comment on how suspicious a name like that sounded.
“Yep,” he said. The hero in training felt like the more questions he asked, the more confused he would become. He’d just have to roll with it
“I’m going to become like him one day!” The boy said and Yo nodded. It was a common dream, even he had it when he was younger.
“The name’s Asta by the way!”
He looked at the boy—Asta from now on, but it’s not like Yo was going to use it—and suddenly recalled why he was talking to a complete stranger in the middle of the street. He had gotten distracted by a homeless teen. Shame on him.
“That’s nice and all, but I really have to go, Dumb boy.” He told Asta and opened his grocery bag, effectively shutting the teen up in the middle of an indignant shout. He took a sandwich and threw it at Asta.
“Try not to die from hunger, Dumb boy.” He said with a smirk and dodged the fist coming his way. He turned away, wondering if he should stop at another store to get a new sandwich. He had just wasted one on a feral dude, after all.
“Wait!” Asta called behind him. “What’s your name, Fake dude! I can’t go and beat your ass if I don’t know that!”
Yo couldn’t help it, he burst into laughter. What the hell was this crazy day? He hadn’t laughed that hard in some time now, Dumb boy really had a knack for being ridiculous. A civilian, beating him? Now that was peak humour.
He abruptly stopped chuckling and turned to look at Asta with dark eyes. He could feel a smile full of teeth forming on his face against his will. “I’m Shindo Yo, future hero and nobody you will ever be able to beat.”
…There went his chances to look like a nice person. Tatami wouldn’t be proud of him.
However, Yo was surprised when Dumb boy grinned back at him with the same amount of challenge in his eyes. “I’m not giving up. Ever.” That was all he said. Yo was impressed, and maybe a little touched. A lot of people felt unease or hesitation when he acted like that for the first time in front of them, it’s not like Yo could help it. It was who he was.
Dumb boy didn’t even react.
This was oddly refreshing. Maybe he should try to hang around more people like that.
“Sure you aren’t, Dumb boy.” He waved as he departed.
“Fuck you, Fake dude!” Was the last thing he heard before disappearing into the crowd.
He looked at his phone. He had lost about ten minutes talking with that idiot. Nice.
He entered the train station, reasoning that if nobody knew he had cheated then they couldn’t hold it against him. Better be smart and avoid a scolding when he gets to school than be honest and missing half of your class because you couldn’t make yourself cheat a little.
While he waited, Yo purposely ignored how he had lost touch with his quirk in the middle of the talk with Asta.
Must be a coincidence.
.01
Sitting on a bench, a boy was looking around him in barely concealed horror. There were hundreds of people, more than he had ever seen in his whole life. They were everywhere. Some didn’t even look human!
Asta was…confused.
No, scratch that. He was terrorized.
This wasn’t like anything he’s ever seen. It was full of people with abilities that could be used without a grimoire and there were metal things that moved everywhere. This wasn’t Clover. There was no way it was Clover and Asta knew for a fact that no other country had these kinds of towns.
“ Where the hell am I? ” He whispered.
He had no idea what to do! He couldn’t even read anything! Was he dreaming? There was no way all of this was real, right? It looked like the future!
Wait…had he time travelled?! Was this why nothing looked normal? Was Yuno here too? Maybe he wasn’t the only one here.
Asta should’ve asked the Fake dude while he was at it, damn it.