23 A Familiar Face

A/N: Rawr...

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The next day, Izuku could be seen sitting on one of the desks in school, surrounded by his classmates who were urging him to follow them. Izuku decided to humor them and followed them right after school ended.

The students within the group consisted of Izuku, Ochako, Tenya, Kyoka, Tsuyu, Eijiro, and Momo. The others were busy doing other stuff, and the rest went home (Mina and Toru).

"So, where are we going?" Izuku asked with a deadpan, while the others ignored his sudden question.

"It's a surprise!" Ochako bounced around with energy, temporarily forgetting about the dark memories of Izuku she witnessed yesterday. If it was for Izuku's mental health, she would do anything… To repay him for saving her life against those… Sword-wielding villains…

Izuku might've said that they were no villains, but in the students' eyes, they were none other than villains that wanted to kill them. They can't break out of their hero-villain mindset that easily, even with a near-death experience.

"Anyway, could you tell us about your weapons inside that… Dimensional storage or whatever your quirk is?" Eijiro clasped his hands behind his neck as he walked, his carefree motion a signification of his 'focus on the present' mentality.

"Hm, I could, but not here," Izuku looked around, spotting various pedestrians walking about, going about their businesses in their everyday lives. "When we arrive at the place you all wanted to show me, then I'll show you."

"Sweet," Eijiro chuckled with a fierce grin. Momo was also smiling, albeit for another reason.

'Those weapons… Maybe I could try to replicate them if I understand the ores capabilities better,' she cupped her chin, her bountiful mammaries swinging underneath her arms.

"That said, Midoriya?" Tsuyu called out with a curious expression.

"Yes, Tsu?" Izuku shifted his gaze from the front towards Tsuyu in an instant, causing the frog-like girl to blush at his sudden use of her nickname with no hesitation whatsoever.

'Finally, someone who calls me that without hesitation,' her heart fluttered within her chest, joy coursing through her veins at one of her requests fulfilled by the scarred teen who saved her life back in the USJ. "Can you tell us about your other abilities? What you did back in the USJ… I know it was you who killed those underwater villains…"

Tsuyu dropped a bombshell at the group of students, while Izuku shrugged, not minding the sudden question.

"I knew you would figure something out," Izuku honestly smiled at her straightforwardness. Other people would skirt around the topic, introducing other points of interest before getting to the point.

Not Tsuyu though.

"In reality, I just don't have my dimensional storage," Izuku paid no heed to the shocked faces of his classmates. "There are other skills I can use, some might even pass as a quirk, but most of them I know are deadly, capable of easily killing a person."

The group of students blanched at the idea of freely killing people. Villains or not, killing was something they detested, something they grew to hate and not do. Meanwhile, Izuku did grow up like that, but being exposed to the world known as Lordran, his views on killing were now moot at this point.

"Look, I know as heroes, you don't want to kill people, but I'll have you all know that sooner or later, you will have to kill someone to save the others," Izuku recalled the time he killed Lautrec and his cronies to save Anastacia, he grimaced. "Anyway, let's ignore that topic for the moment and focus on walking, alright?"

The group that descended into an uncomfortable silence moved on, all of them silently observing the scarred emerald teen while the noise and chatter of the people in the background filled their ears, cars moving along the street and the occasional yelling person due to a villain…

Wait, villain?

Izuku looked towards the commotion, as well as the other students. A collective amount of people blocked an alleyway, with sounds of struggling happening within. The students, being the curious group that they are, rushed towards the group of people swarming the entrance of the alleyway.

Izuku and the others pushed through, not minding the grunts and yells of anger from the other people who were blocking the pathway. Izuku and the others pushed through, and their efforts were rewarded at the end of the grunts and shouts of annoyance.

When they got there, however, Izuku stopped wide-eyed at the scene.

"What the hell is he doing here!?" Izuku burst into a sprint towards the fighting figures within the alleyway. He didn't care for the shouting of his classmates, nor the shouts of panic coming from the bystanders, nor the heroes. His body moved on its own and pressed forward, not minding the consequences.

The hero who was currently in mortal combat with the villain-looking figure stopped and saw the figure of Izuku rapidly approaching.

"You! Kid, what are you doing here! Stay back, it's not safe!" the hero grunted as he blocked an attack from a spear coming from the villain-looking figure, who now closer, could be seen with a bald head.

"Please, stop fighting! Patches!" Izuku burst into the scene while hefting a huge shield to stop an incoming blow from the now named Patches. The bald man, Patches, quickly stopped trying to puncture the kid who suddenly sprang right in front of the greedy bastard who was almost dead.

"What the!? I know you!" Patches jumped back, spear and shield lowered to the ground. "You're that Undead kid who I sold my stolen- erm… I mean stuff I collected in my travels too!"

"Patches, do you still remember me?" Izuku stored his shield as well, right after Patches lowered his.

"Remember you? Of course, I remember you!" Patches honestly smiled at Izuku. "You're the first bloody Undead who rejects Greed! You're just like me, fellow Undead devoid of all worldly wants."

"… Yeah, I do remember you saying that…" Izuku shrugged at Patches who was recalling the days of trading between the two. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

Patches was about to speak until movement from the corner of his eyes brought him back up to high alert. Izuku noticed his action and shifted his gaze towards the hero, who was about to apprehend the Patches for being distracted.

Izuku moved to intercept but stopped when he heard the sounds of sirens coming from the direction where the bystanders were. Then he realized, he wasn't alone. He was so busy in his memories with the man that he forgot about the grim situation at hand.

Looking closer, he could spot officers about to cuff him as well.

"… This did not go as planned," Izuku sighed defeatedly, ready to get cuffed, not until his classmates rushed in to defend him. The officers pushed through the students and cuffed Izuku anyways, not taking NO for an answer for hindering the job of a hero and the act of vigilantism.

The students protested, but Izuku sighed in defeat. He allowed them to cuff him and haul him into the police car, begging Patches to follow his lead. As one of the few Undead he has ever trusted, Patches sighed as well and followed suit.

They shoved the both of them into the car, Izuku annoyed at their forcefulness, while Patches snarling at the officers, causing them to back off. They then drove off towards the office station, which coincidentally held a certain onion knight as well.

Gears began turning, and a new cog shifts in…

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