Chapter Text
Her eyes open in a warm, comfortable bedroom. The few decorations are barely noticeable in the dim light; even if her night vision is better than most, she can't really tell color apart super well. They seem... painfully generic, like someone looked up ‘girl’s bedroom’ and put it together. Who did she stab to borrow their bedroom?
She slid out of bed, walking towards the mirror. Better to get a good look at herself; she wants to look the best for Izukun and Occhan, after all, and the last thing she remembers for both of them was the battlefield. Maybe this was her victory lap? She can't remember
winning
, but, yannow, if she didn't, she'd be in Tartarus, and not this girl's bedroom. The face that stares back is...
very
uncute, if she's being honest. Deep bags, sandy blonde hair limp around her shoulders.... fangs, too. Maybe she wanted to be this girl because it reminded her of her? That'd be weird.... but she might just be out of options. She can't feel any of Izukun or Occhan's blood in her right now…
and after that fight, she doesn't
want
to be herself
Her ‘go’ bag isn’t around here, either. She usually keeps it nearby just in case she needs to leave immediately; too many times over the last few months, she needed to bail immediately because Touya decided he needed a walk and a smoke, or Shiggy dusted a wall, or Mr. Compress wanted to practice juggling… Anyway. No matter how cute or uncute this girl is, she’s got to get going, before someone started looking for her. The heroes, one of her PLF underlings looking for a promotion, Mister Stainy… someone’s going to want to know where she’s at, and she’d rather find Izukun and Occhan and make sure they’re safe, and full of tasty, tasty blood. …that’s weird. Her bag isn’t nearby. Maybe…?
Did they... bring her here? Maybe they're downstairs, just waiting for her? Oh, that'd be the best ! She knew she picked them for a good reason! In fact, she can hear people downstairs right now... She inhales, exhales, and vanishes as she creeps downstairs, her footsteps cat light, and readied to spring on her loves...
"...looks like the demon's managed to keep her urges under control ."
"She's been eyeing that boy... Saito, wasn't it?"
"She knows better. If she lays a finger on him, we'll report her to the authorities."
She slunk back up the stairs, her presence diffused into the atmosphere. The door closed, and she looked long and hard in the mirror. It was... her, wasn't it? The uncute girl. A dull reflection... and that's why she didn't have Izukun's blood, or Occhan's. This was... she had time traveled. Somehow. Before.... before Saito.
She felt the wash of hunger, now, underneath her fuzziness, the endless pit of need and want . She hadn’t had blood for years, now, and she can feel the physical hunger and the need underneath, to be someone else. She needed to escape, but… if she wanted to see Izukun or Occhan, she couldn’t take anybody’s blood. Not Saito’s, or… anybody’s. She could survive another year without. She doesn’t know where Izukun or Occhan are now , but she knows where they’ll be.
They won’t let someone, a
villain
, like her, with a bunch of bodies in her past, into some place like UA. Unless, of course, she’d never
stabbed
anyone and stole their blood in the first place. Once she got in… then she’d be able to teach Izukun and Occhan to love her, and teach them how bad and wrong this whole ‘hero’ thing was, and then, she’d be able to see all her friends! Like Shiggy! And Touya! And Twice!! And… Magnee. Her and Twice, they’d be alive right now, wouldn’t they? Oh, man! This whole ‘coming back in time’ thing is turning out even better than she thought! First thing’s first, though; she needs to get out of here. The Toga house hasn’t ever been cute, and she’ll wither like some sap in Shiggy’s hands if she stayed too much longer. She moves quickly, pulling together a small duffel bag, with underwear, socks, clothes, box cutter, whatever change she can scrounge
(a lifetime ago, the money she had been pinching to run away)
, and a map of nearby cities and prefectures. Knotting sheets together, she quietly opens her window, waves cheerily at the bedroom of the daughter of the Togas, and slips away into the night.
The second time being homeless is harder than it looks! She's really trying not to build up a rap sheet again, buuuut it turns out she survived last time by stabbing people and borrowing their apartments for a few nights, and she really can’t do that this time around. She takes her time traveling to Mustafu; it's the closest city to UA, and she wants to make sure she has an easy time getting to and getting away from the school, once she gets in.
Luckily, there's a nice homeless shelter in the city. It's supposed to be for Quirkless and mutants, but she can fake the first easily enough. She uses it sparingly, just enough to keep warm, get a meal once a week, and figure out how she'll survive the rest. A lot of dumpster diving skills got unrusty all of a sudden, and she makes sure she knows the routine to stop by the various charities for some food here and there. She also makes sure to spend a fair amount of time in the library; it turns out there's a bunch of books in there that are free to read, as long as she lets the librarians know when she's leaving! And they don't even ask her to pay anything! She'll have to remember where places like this are after she meets back up with the League; maybe she can talk Shiggy into saving all the librarians? Something to think about.
She makes sure to scrape enough yen every couple of days to get clean, and get her clothes clean. She's so hungry , but she keeps a hold on it; she kept a hold for stupider reasons years ago, she can certainly keep it in for Izukun and Occhan. They'll be so proud of her for not getting any of that tasty, tasty blood!
Life progressed as expected for the next... three months? She'd been keeping count on a calendar, and she knew it was getting close (eight months away!~) when she bumped into a tall, skeletal blonde while she was trying to pick out a treat at the combini. (she may be homeless, but she still needs something nice once in a while!) She can smell his blood on him; Before, like with Saito, it may have been enough to break her grip on herself, but the blood smelled rotten and ruined. Someone who'd been hurt a long time ago and hadn't ever healed right.
"Oh, sorry, miss. Are you alright?"
"Just fine, mister! Thanks for asking!" He looks over her, blue pupils in black eyes, and something tickles the back of her memory. He seems familiar...
"...not that it is my place to judge, but... here. If you need some help, call this number." He hands her a business card; a 'Naomasa Tsukauchi'? Who was that? Not anybody she remembered from the last time around.
"Thanks, mister?" She looks up, and the skeletal man is already walking out the door, some bento stuff in his bag. ...man, he looked so familiar, too! This is gonna bug her all day! So uncute!
As it turns out, it took her about ten minutes before a memory clicks into place, and she realized she just bumped into All Might.
"...I’m gonna avoid this area, until he's gone. That... that seems like a good idea." She may not have stabbed anyone, but she knows heroes tend to bundle up homeless kids and 'help' them over to orphanages, and being in a home would make her whole 'get into UA and pretend to be a hero' plan a lot more complicated. Plus, even odds she'd end up in one of the 'Sensei' orphanages, like Touya talked about, and then she'd have an even harder time of it. Best for her to run and keep clear of this area until after she's in UA.
(and not because she remembers seeing Shiggy's sensei and All Might matching blows, back and forth, and despite everything, All Might still coming on top; she may not be a villain yet, but he still strikes fear into her heart)
...it is a very conflicted Himiko when she found the few hundred thousand yen someone slipped into her pocket. Well, at least she'll have nice, cute clothes for the entrance exam!
It's finally exam day! She made sure she wore her new, cute skirt and cardigan, one black, one (blood) red, and she brought her gym uniform. (and everything else; on the plus side, being homeless meant she could keep all her stuff together all at once!) She showed up bright and early, humming to herself as the gates slid open; she didn't really have anywhere else to be, and maybe they gave extra points if you showed up super early?
"...and what's your name?" The teacher(? probably, anyway. She didn't have the head for all the teacher's names and quirks, that was more Shiggy's thing) asked.
"Naomasa Himiko!" As it turned out, the business card paid off! She made sure to practice the kanji over a few days, just to make sure she remembered to sign off with them properly.
"...ah, yes, Naomasa-kun. You're here rather early; I believe Lunch Rush has some breakfast prepared, if you would like." Wow, getting in on the exam early, and getting breakfast handled? Clearly, UA had no idea what they were offering to her. She grinned, the cat poised over the canary.
"Thanks, sensei!~" She ran inside, looking for... oh, there were some signs! It was probably the same place they were doing lunch later, so she followed the arrows and sprung into the cafeteria. It was... really big. Is this how the heroes lived? Totally unfair!
There were a bunch of adults sitting in here, all over the place; little groups and cliques, and she could see the different relationships between years. Then she sniffed, and she could smell BLOOD.
The room flickered in heartbeats as she moved, the pig’s blood in the porridge ensnaring her senses and reeling her in, like fish on baited hook. Her fangs clattered against the plastic as the porridge poured down her throat, chashu and greens and rice in a sticky slurry, filling her up. Her tongue swept the plate, making sure all the tasty food filled her up properly.
"...and who are you?"
"Whaaa?!" She leapt to her feet, startled, as the last few minutes finally finished rushing in. "Oh, I'm really sorry! I was really hungry, and your food smelled reaaaaallly good."
"That was a bowl of cháo huyết."
"That was a bowl of delicious! Can I get another one?" Wait, be polite. It was a hero thing, right? Or maybe just an Izukun thing? "Please?"
The man looked her over. His hair was a bright grey, and he had two fangs jutting up; like her cute ones, but more… dog-like. Like a pitbull. "...yeah, I can get you another one. Me, too, actually; why don't you take a seat and tell me a bit more about yourself?"
"...okay?" He was kinda weird. But... nice. That was the best word for it; it reminded her of when she borrowed someone else's face for a bit, and she got to pretend she was N o r m a l. She glanced down at her hands, just in case she'd somehow managed to be someone else, another whole lifetime away.
She looked up when he came back and sat down, the bowls still smelling amazingly tempting. She took it a little slower this time, calling on old, rusty etiquette skills to look like she wasn't homeless and feral, like Compress did that one time. Two times. (twenty six times)
"So, what did you say your name was?"
"Naomasa Himiko!" Nailed it. He stirred his porridge before sticking a spoonful in his mouth.
"Naomasa-kun, huh? You're here for the exam?"
"Yep! I wanted to apply to UA!" Crap. She needed a good reason to be here, because 'I'm here to steal two of your students and love them and show them how to love me' is probably not a good idea. "I... wanted to be a hero, and... prove my Quirk isn't villainous?"
"What kind of Quirk is that?" Another spoonful of porridge.
"A... blood Quirk." That shouldn't be too revealing.
"Ah. I was wondering why you found my food so appetizing."
"Because it has pig's blood in it?" He looks a little startled that she knew.
"You can taste the difference?"
"Why shouldn't I? It tastes like chashu. It makes for a yummy breakfast with this porridge!" He grunts, before finishing up his bowl.
"I'll take this back up for you, but... I think I have something for you to take home." A teacher wanting to help her when she wasn't being N o r m a l? UA was a strange place.
"Okay!" She hummed softly to herself while she waited. No point in trying to rush away, she imagines even the non-Hero teachers can keep up with the Heroes. Let's see... there's Eraserbrain over there... and that's actually about it. Wow, she really doesn't know that much about heroes, huh? She looks up as the guy returns with a small bag of red candies.
"Suck on these, one at a time. It'll help during the exam."
"Thanks!" She takes them, before opening the baggie and sniffing. They smell like... "Why do they smell like blood?"
"They're little blood candies."
"...thanks." She will not cry. Not in this cafeteria full of heroes. She will not.
"No problem." His hand reaches out and ruffles gently, unsettling her buns. "If you pass, I'll see about getting you into my class." She cannot speak, because her chest is close to bursting, but she makes sure she nods, at least. He gets up, a half grin, fang prominently displayed, before he walks away, giving her a little bit of privacy while she grapples with her tears.
A few hours later, she's bouncing in place while she waits for the exam to start. They give everyone a pencil and a packet (she checked; she had the time to run around and take a look), and the testing area looks... fairly normal, if absolutely massive; they could fit the whole PLF in here with space to spare!
Once people start coming in, by twos and threes, she sits in her seat and waits. No point in people watching; she might be able to pick out someone she knows in the crowd, but there won't really be a way to make contact, so why bother? Her foot taps a steady rhythm with impatience, and she waits for something to start.
She gets it when a pretty lady steps up. Her hair's long and dark, but she looks familiar; maybe one of the corpses during the MLA raid? She'll have to think about it some more.
"Alright, children, it's time to prove your youth!" She pulls the whip off her waist and snaps it forward. Maybe she could get a whip while she's here? It would give her some range, and whipping Izukun and seeing all the blood dripping off his back, his face pleased and pained... it gives her the shivers . "You have three hours to complete the exam! Any cheating will result in immediate disqualification! Open your packets on my mark!" She picks up the packet, pausing for a moment to pop a candy in her mouth. It tastes like clover and laurels, which is a cute combination for such a big man! The whip cracks, breaking her concentration, and she shouts, "Begin!"
The test isn't nearly as bad as she was worried about. Her studies, self-directed as they were, at least got her most of the way to a passing grade, she thought. Some of it was her future knowledge (Shiggy was a huge nerd, and bragged about passing the UA test with ease, just to show off how unprepared the heroes were, if even villains could ace it), but some of it was just stuff she knew. She always had been good at English, and the math stuff was something she liked Before, (always easier to have one right answer to a question, and not a bunch that changed based on mood, time of day, and the season; history tasted too much like the Toga's moods) and the Heroics stuff she knew from being on the other end of the laws.
It still ends up taking her almost the whole three hours, though.
Once the packets were pulled together, the lady sauntered off (and wow that catsuit didn't hide anything ; maybe she should get one for her, Izukun, and Occhan's private nights?) and a blonde with cockatiel hair stepped up. She wasn't the best at eyeball measurements (that was more Jin's thing), but that hairdo had to be at least a foot tall, right? How did he style it? A ladder?
"...of them more like an obstacle, than a target." Oops. She maybe should be paying more attention? Hm... three types of... robots? Different point values... so she just needs to break robots? That doesn't seem too bad... "Good luck out there! You're going to need it ."
The bus ride wasn't particularly busy, but she was more jittery than most. The boys and girls around here were super uncute; most of them looked like they thought they had already passed. So many fake apprentices here; Mr. Stainy would have a field day with most of this bus. It saves her some knives and time if they wash out now before they make even poorer heroes.
Piling out, she stretches out, letting her spine really roll all those little pops and cracks out of it, before stretching side to side, working every muscle loose. She was ready .
"And GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She breathed, in, out, and became one with the universe as she vanished into the city. "Did you think you were going to get more of a timer? This is just like real life!"
She's faster on her feet than the other examinees, so she's the first one who sees a group of the robots they're supposed to be banging up. They look at her (her breathing technique doesn't mask her from them? So uncute!), so she handsprings into motion, twirling on top of one as one of the others starts shooting at her! She dips, letting her mount take most of the gun fire, and grabs one of the metal shards that spray from the body like pointy blood from a body. She's got... a knife. No, wait, she's got two.
She carves through this batch and the next like a hot knife through butter (she laughs out loud when the joke hits her, which slows her enough to notice one of the two-point bots is about to hit a brunette - so uncute!, so she drives one of her knives into its face, another into its spine, and waves as she darts off), which gets her into a nice rhythm when she stumbles across another student. A small group of the one point bots is ringing a... boy with little balls in his hair? Quirks were weird (at least, she hoped it was a quirk, and not some strange fashion choice). She sprang forward, knives slashing power cables in throats and driving one shard into an eye sensor.
"...that was... awesome..." She grinned, fangs flashing, and she wished above all else she had some blood to go with all this cute knifework.
"Thanks!" She works another, bigger shard out of one of the ruined robots, before holding it steadily. "Be safe out there?" It should proooobably sound less like a question.
"Y-yes!" Nailed it. She sprinted back into the fray, knives flashing; she's having such a good day!
Well, up until the zero pointer arrived. She was paying attention, but they really underestimated how big it is. She starts running, vanishing from perception, as she outpaces the lumbering monster. Unfortunately, because she's moving so strangely away from the crowd, the robot's eyes are on her. This is what they use for testing here? So uncute! And they call her a villain! Well, she just has to keep it busy for a couple of minutes, right? The exam will be getting called soon? she hopes?
The next two minutes are the busiest of her life, this time around, and she makes sure this uncute sack of metal works for everything it tries. It swings at her a few times, ponderously slow, but with the full weight of all that metal behind it (it reminds her of the couple of times she tried to play knife chicken with Muscular), and she keeps just outside of its reach. Honestly, it's kinda fun! Which is why it's a bother when she hears "Tiiiiiimes up, little listeners!" The robot slows to a stop, and she pouts. Even more uncute! It should activate at the last minute and try to kill someone! It's like nobody here knows how evil robots work.
…Oh, right. Heroes. They don’t do evil robots.
"Is anyone in need of healing? The exams these days..." The voice of terror. She remembers Shiggy’s sensei's warnings; she looks ancient, but she's still capable of impaling someone on her cane, and she's perfectly capable of healing someone to death . (Touya asked if that was an exaggeration; the Doctor had a twenty six slide PowerPoint ready to explain how, and in what ways, her quirk could be used to make your death painfully slow. Super inventive!) She's just... gonna make sure she can't be found.
So she fades away again, booking it to the locker room so she can change clothes and get away from campus at all possible speed.
It takes a week before the exam results finally show up, and by halfway she's bored stiff. She took to practicing knife overhands and underhands by day four, and by day five she's practically crawling the walls. She occupies herself on day six by reading, and she begins to reconsider her ability on the exam portion. (she's gotten the math near perfect, but her grasp of history seems shaky, at best; which, she was probably misremembering from when she was in school, but still!)
It's day seven before a letter delivers itself to the warehouse she's been staying at. Her trusty boxcutter (never leave home without it!) splits the envelope, and a small disc clatters to the cement, before lighting up.
" I AM HERE! With a special announcement! " Luckily, she had scavenged a poster recently and had been training herself to get used to his face, or else she would be halfway across the warehouse by now. " Young Naomasa, you passed the written exam, if barely. " Yes! " However, it is not your academics I wish to discuss today. During the practical portion of your exam, you have scored forty-three villain points, more than sufficient to garner entry. That, however, is not the FULL story! You see, we also graded you on Hero points! " Gag. " Awarded due to diligence towards one's peers and saving the lives, and scores, of your comrades... you earned thirty-five hero points! " ...at least she earned more villain points than hero ones. So uncute! " Combining the two scores, you have earned seventy-eight points, putting you at number one in the entrance exams. Naomasa Himiko, welcome to YOUR Hero Academia! " She... passed? In first place? That was...
...so cute!~ Maybe she’d give herself a candy, as a treat…