(Kata POV – Shopping Mall, Prior to AFO's Attack)
"That was fun." Mina stretches her arms over her head as she walks beside me, practically bouncing with each step. "Like, really fun. But…" She sighs dramatically, then grins. "Guess it's time to meet up with everyone again."
'She sounds more satisfied than disappointed.'
"I had fun too." I reply, my voice carrying its own satisfaction. "I'm looking forward to the next time."
She blinks, then smirks. "Oh? You're already thinking about the next time?" She leans closer, eyes sparkling. "Wow, am I that amazing?"
"Yep." I answer immediately.
She freezes.
"…Wait, no. You're not supposed to agree like that!" She splutters, cheeks darkening as she lightly punches my arm. "You're supposed to hesitate, get flustered and shy! Or, at the very least change the subject!"
"I don't see the point." I shrug. "I enjoyed myself. Why would I be embarrassed about that?" I pause, glancing sideways at her. "Unlike some people who can't be honest with themselves."
She flinches. "H-Hey! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Her eyes dart around as she starts whistling very suspiciously.
I sigh, shaking my head even as a smile graces my lips.
'I saw you staring at my hand and hesitating.' I think.
"I wonder about that." I say cryptically. "Guess I'll have to step up."
"Huh?" She looks at me, confused. "What do you mea—"
I step closer and take her hand, and her entire body locks up.
"H-Hey—!" Her face turns a vivid shade of pink as she looks around wildly. "W-What if the others see?!"
"So what?" I say calmly. "We're not doing anything wrong." I tilt my head. "Unless… you're embarrassed?"
I grin slightly. "Didn't know the mighty Mina Ashido was so shy."
My provocation is successful.
"I'm not!" She protests instantly, her pride flaring even as she weakly tries to tug her hand free. "It's just—! You know Himiko and the others like you too, right?! What if they see this and think—"
"I know." I say simply.
She stops walking.
"…You do? Based on the way you act, I'd think you were oblivious." She mutters the last part.
"I do. I just don't make an issue of it."
Her voice softens. "Then… aren't you worried they'll be upset or hurt?"
"That the date they set up for you went well?" I chuckle. "It wasn't exactly subtle. Besides, they'd be happy for you. They aren't that petty."
She goes quiet, thinking.
"You really don't mind?" She asks curiously. More to confirm something she was almost certain of anyway.
I consider her question seriously.
"I'm happy." I say after a moment. "And a bit worried at the same time."
She frowns slightly, but I continue before she overthinks it.
"I'm happy because… it means a lot that you'd all feel that way about me." I glance at her. "You're incredible people."
She nods sagely. "Correct. We are extremely incredible."
I smile.
"But I worry." I continue, quieter now. "I don't know if I could make you all happy."
She listens quietly.
"I'm not all that expressive." I admit. "Neither am I especially fun. I don't really know how romance and love is supposed to work, and I don't always understand my own feelings well enough to explain or express them."
There's more. Much more.
'I'm not like you guys.' I think. 'I've killed. I've done numerous evil things I'd do again without hesitation.'
I don't regret it, but…
'I feel like an impostor standing among heroes.' And worse than that… 'I'm afraid of what would happen you all knew.'
'I'm scared they'd hate me…'
I push the thought down, steadying myself almost immediately after it came.
'They're just thoughts.' I tell myself. 'I've handled worse.'
Even if they're forever part of me, they don't define who I am.
Mina slows, then squeezes my hand.
"You know…" She says softly. "You're way more expressive than you think."
I look at her curiously, but she doesn't elaborate.
"You're kind." She continues. "You listen. You care. You just show it differently compared to most people." She smiles warmly. "And honestly? That's kind of… really romantic."
She pauses.
"And—we— I—" Her face transforms into a deep pink. "W-We l-l-lo—!" She panics even more. "I mean like! Like you!" She blurts, then immediately points ahead. "LOOK! EVERYONE'S WAITING! WE'RE ALREADY LATE!"
She tries to flee…
But doesn't get far.
I tighten my grip on her hand slightly, amused.
"You're rushing over there pretty fast." I say lightly. "Weren't you worried they'd tease you?"
Her eyes widen in realisation, then dread sets in… and finally, she slumps in resignation. "…My fate is sealed."
We walk the rest of the way hand in hand.
'Somehow, she always knows how to comfort me without knowing the full story.' I think fondly. 'Maybe I really am more transparent than I thought.'
I'm sure nothing could ruin my happiness in this moment when…
Something… someone enters my Radar's range. Someone I had been waiting for.
I don't react outwardly.
Instead, as we pass a quieter stretch of the mall, I form a clone, transferring most of my focus into it, and send it away instantly.
'I want to stay here.' I think firmly, grounding myself in the present. 'But it's something I have to deal with.'
(Shigaraki POV – Musutafu Street)
'I hate them.' The thought repeats over and over as I walk, hood pulled low, hands buried deep in my pockets as I drift through the crowd. 'I hate them all.'
They move around me like I'm not even there… laughing, chatting, smiling like the world isn't rotting beneath their feet. Shoes scuff the pavement. Voices overlap. Someone bumps my shoulder and doesn't even notice.
Their smiles.
Their stupid, careless smiles.
'How can they do that?'
'How can they laugh like everything's fine?'
A few people notice me, more through luck than awareness. They flinch, and step aside as their eyes slide away too quickly. They don't know why they're uneasy, only that something's wrong… with me.
That makes my lip twitch.
'It pisses me off.'
My fingers flex inside my pockets, my skin crawling as an itch creeps up my arms, across my neck, under my clothes.
'What gives them the right?'
Every second, somewhere out there, someone is screaming. Someone is dying. Buildings collapse. Blood spills. And yet…
They smile.
I grit my teeth.
Heroes.
Rules.
Justice.
Pretty little words that wrap around their tiny brains and tell them, "It won't happen to you."
That it'll always be someone else.
My hand slips free from my pocket.
'Why don't I just show them?' The thought blooms vividly within me.
Flesh crumbles beneath my fingers as their bodies turn to dust mid-scream. Panic rips through the street as their fragile little world collapses in seconds. People trample each other, crying, begging—
My breathing quickens as my hand rises.
Just a little more and—
'—No.' I stop myself with a snarl, fingers trembling as I shove my hand back into my pocket. 'Not here.' I click my tongue.
Killing them now wouldn't mean anything. It wouldn't change anything. It'd become another random disaster more will think will never happen to them.
And still the itch doesn't fade.
I keep walking, swallowed by the flow of people, even though none of them feel real. They live in a world of delusion, while I live in reality. Destined to never see eye to eye.
'What makes us different?' The question digs into my skull. 'Why do they get to exist like this? Why do they get heroes?'
And why—
'Why are they admired?'
Stain.
That damn brat… Kata.
My jaw tightens.
Stain killed heroes and people admired him. That brat beats him, and they worship him.
And me?
Ignored. Overlooked. Treated like any other common thug.
The attack on the USJ didn't change that. The Nomu attack in Hosu was overshadowed by Stain and the brat. Nothing I do gets recognised!
My fingers claw at my neck, scratching hard as the flesh itches painfully.
'What am I missing? What am I supposed to be? What do I need to do?!'
The noise of the crowd blurs together, their laughter warping, sounding distant and oh so irritating.
'I don't belong here.'
I stand, looking to the sky as everyone simply warps around my stationary form.
'I never have.'
That's what happens when you exist in different worlds.
But one day…
'I'll drag them all into my world.'
I glare at all these smiling idiots.
'I'll make them understand…' I think. 'How fragile their world of rules, order and justice really is.'
I grin faintly, a sick satisfaction curling in my chest, as I'm close to enlightenment…
Then it falters.
"…Wait." The word slips out rough, scraping from my throat. "Something's… wrong."
The crowd keeps moving.
Feet shuffle past me. There's no caution, disgust or fear directed towards me… from anyone.
It's too… calm.
My eyes flick from face to face.
"These idiots are dumb…" I mutter. "But not that dumb."
They don't look at me, like I'm invisible. They walk around me, almost subconsciously, but no one reacts to me.
My frown deepens.
I step toward the nearest man, reaching out, and just before my fingers touch him—
"Hm… you figured it out quite quickly." The voice comes from directly behind me.
Every instinct in my body screams danger, and I spin, arm snapping out in a savage swipe, meeting…
Nothing.
There's no contact.
'What—?'
"There's no one—" My breath hitches.
"That won't work." The voice is behind me again.
I try to move.
Try.
But my muscles lock in place, straining to move, but unable to gain distance.
"Why…" I grit my teeth, veins bulging as I strain. "Why won't my body… move…!"
It's like being pinned under an invisible hand. There's no pain… just absolute, suffocating control.
I thrash inside my own skin.
But no answer comes.
Seconds pass. Maybe even minutes…
Then I blink, and the world suddenly changes.
The noise of the crowd is gone.
The street has disappeared.
Even the evening sky has changed.
Night presses in from every side, dim lights bleeding down cracked brick walls. A narrow alley, damp concrete, and cold air brushing against my skin.
"…Tch." My jaw tightens. Of course. "Just my luck. I go out to clear my head and run into some damn psycho."
"This is… unexpected." The voice is in front of me now and a figure steps into view.
My breath catches.
My fingers twitch restlessly.
"You—!" Rage explodes in my chest. "You little—!"
The brat.
Kata.
He stands there uncaring, his eyes looking through me, rather than at me. His expression is the same, annoying, blank mask he always wears.
I thrash harder, but remain firmly frozen still.
"Let me go!" I snarl. "I'll kill you—!"
He doesn't react.
Instead, he exhales quietly.
"…I get it now." He murmurs. "It's obvious now that I've seen it."
My chest tightens.
He finally looks at me, with the same uncaring indifference.
Anger flares inside me as I grit my teeth.
'Damn bastard! What gives him the right to look down at me?!'
"I just realized…" He continues calmly. "Your quirk has no vestige."
My scowl deepens. "The hell are you talking about?"
He ignores the question.
"That only happens in one case." He says. "When a quirk is artificially manufactured or modified."
The words slide into me like splinters.
I open my mouth—
"And the scratching…" He adds thoughtfully. "The constant irritation and how your body reacts. That isn't entirely psychological."
My heartbeat pounds louder.
"It's rejection." Kata says evenly. "Your body is rejecting an incompatible quirk."
'No.'
"AFO's quite thorough." He goes on, sighing. "He made sure he could get and brainwash you. He probably took your original quirk when you were a child."
My breath stutters.
"And replaced it with Decay." Kata finishes softly.
The alley suddenly feels suffocating.
"He needed you broken." Kata says. "Isolated. Easy to shape. So he made sure everything lined up."
My head starts to shake on its own.
"Your family's death." He continues. "How he conveniently found you at the perfect moment."
My ears ring.
"No…" I whisper. "Shut up…"
"He didn't save you." Kata says. "He used you."
My thoughts scatter.
Fragments flash through my head—
Master's hand reaching out to me.
Mine turning my family to dust.
That voice, telling me it wasn't my fault.
Master…
Everything…
From the start…
Was his doing…?
My chest constricts painfully, rage and disbelief crashing together until I can't tell them apart.
"…Liar." I rasp, but even I don't believe my words.
Because something inside me…
Something deep and festering…
Knows.
'It's exactly something Master would do…'
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A/N: Hello Everyone! How are you all? If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
So, this is the chapter. I've decided to change from * to @ for seperating the A/N. But that's probably not important 💀. Regarding the chapter, I initially wanted to get Shigaraki resolved here, but I decided to this worked best for what's to come.
Shigaraki is very different from how I write anyone else. I have to purposefully be chaotic, awhile I like structure🤣. So, hopefully it came out well. But, sequentially, Kata was vulnerable for a bit. And Mina, somehow, is good at comforting him without understanding what's going on. Super surprising. But it works well.
With Shigaraki... He's a bit different from canon, especially in his realisations and the direction he's going in. As for the timing, this is like a few minutes before the AFO attack, and a lot of things happening here have a reason👀 that will be revealed soon.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at [email protected]/AMV_WEAKLY
Anyway, that's all from me. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day/night 😁