Instead of a quick one-day shutdown, U.A.'s council decided to lock the school down for a full six days this time, digging deep into the U.S.J. shitstorm to figure out what the hell went wrong. Six damn days of no classes, no training, just a tense limbo while they poked around.
During that stretch, I shot Toga a text to stay put, no visits, no popping by. The cops were swarming everywhere, taking statements, sniffing around the incident like bloodhounds. They claimed it was all "handled," but there was still a mountain of loose ends to sift through. One of the biggest? Why my Quirk's report from enrollment didn't line up with the chaos I'd unleashed at the U.S.J. They'd caught wind of me torching the Nomu with white phosphorus - moves that didn't match the tame "body hardening" I'd scribbled down on the forms.
I'd seen that snag coming from a mile away, so I played it off smooth when they grilled me. Told 'em I lose my shit too easy when I tap into that side of my Quirk - makes me unpredictable, so hiding it was just common sense. They didn't push too hard, probably 'cause I was still half-wrecked in a hospital bed, but they slapped me with a warning: Quirk disclosure's mandatory, no exceptions. Handed me a fresh form to update since I couldn't exactly limp my ass to city hall in this state.
Did I fill it out straight? Fuck no... not the full truth, anyway. Half-truths were my game - I wrote down that I can shift my body and objects into specific materials I've absorbed, capped at three types max. Enough to cover my ass if I pulled some off-the-books shit later, but vague enough to keep the real juice under wraps. No way I was spilling the whole deal, not when I'd already seen how fast things could spiral.
After three days of lockdown, the chaos started settling back into something resembling normal. I pushed hard for an early discharge - wanted to get back to class, shake off the hospital stink, and kick off step two of my headspace plan. The docs grumbled, but I wasn't about to rot in that sterile hellhole any longer than I had to.
I'd braced myself for the class to give me major stink-eye after the Toga fiasco, but nah, they didn't sweat it as much as I'd figured. Me, though? I felt the shift the second I stepped back into the classroom. The glances I caught weren't like before - curiosity, sure, but mixed with doubt and a faint edge of wariness. Couldn't blame 'em.
"Torching a villain alive" and acting like a total lunatic - staged or not to dodge Quirk scrutiny later - wasn't exactly the kinda shit that screamed "trustworthy classmate." Still, I'd take it over outright hostility any day.
"Ryuga, you feeling better?" Ochako asked, her big eyes tinged with worry as she hovered near my desk, hands fidgeting like she wasn't sure what to do with them.
"Chill, I'm still kicking," I shot back, flashing a faint grin to ease her up. "These scratches? Nothing next to the shit I've been through."
She nodded, but that concern didn't fully melt away - her brows stayed furrowed, her voice soft. "Still, be careful. Everyone's been worried about you."
I shrugged, keeping it loose even as her words hit a weird spot. "Thanks, but don't fuss. I've eaten worse than this before and walked it off."
Then Bakugo snorted from his desk, loud and sharp, cutting through the cozy vibe like a damn chainsaw. He leaned back, arms crossed, clearly pissed at the warm fuzzies creeping in. "He just burned a guy to death - y'all forget that? Quit acting like it's nothing."
I spun to face him, meeting his glare head-on, his eyes boring into me like he was daring me to swing. "Bakugo, even half-dead and outta control, you couldn't take me so quit stirring shit…"
The room went dead silent, every pair of eyes snapping to us like we were about to throw down right there. Bakugo grit his teeth, his fists clenching so hard I could hear the knuckles pop, but before he could fire back, Aizawa-sensei rolled in, his tired glare slicing through the tension like a blade.
"Alright, sit down and shut up," he barked, his voice low but firm. "We've got big announcements today."
Bakugo grudgingly dropped into his seat, his scowl still burning a hole through me, and I eased off, forcing myself not to let that prick get under my skin. Not yet, anyway.
…
After Cementoss droned through Modern Lit class - some bullshit about metaphors I tuned out - and lunch rolled around, Aizawa-sensei called us back in to drop the Sports Festival details. He stood at the front, bandages still wrapped around his arms from the U.S.J., and laid it out straight. "This isn't just a flex-fest. Pros scout interns here too. You need to give it everything - this chance doesn't come for everyone, especially those with standout Quirks or combat skills."
That lit a fire under everyone's asses, as the room practically buzzed with energy. The U.A. Sports Festival was the school's biggest damn deal every year, a shot to shine bright and catch the eyes of pro heroes looking for fresh meat. Fun? Sure, if you call sweating your balls off and pushing past your limits "fun." Exhausting? More like shitting-my-pants tiring. But I needed it - needed to scope out how the class fought, figure out hard counters for every Quirk in the room. If I was gonna stay ahead of this game, I had to know what I was up against.
I sipped my soda, wandering the halls as the post-lunch buzz filled the school. While others yapped about strategies and who they'd crush, my brain was grinding on my own plan. Post-festival, I had to derail the timeline, throw a wrench in the canon shitshow before it could steamroll us all. How exactly? That was a "cross that bridge when I get there" problem. For now, I'd focus on what I could control.
Ida, Izuku, and Ochako's little crew were buzzing hard about it nearby. Ochako, usually so laid-back, was the most fired up, her excitement cracking me up and sparking a twinge of envy I didn't expect.
Back before I turned into a hikikomori pre-isekai, I'd dreamed of buddies like that, someone solid to spill my guts to, to lean on when shit got dark. Here, even when I fucked up royally, I got encouragement, support, a pat on the back. Back there? Shit was grim. Real fucking grim.
Bullies beating my ass bloody, forcing me to run their errands, making me the class laughingstock ; teachers covering for 'em, parents and anyone who could've stepped in ignoring my pleas no matter how loud I screamed into the void. That apathy, that cruelty, it festered, made me sick - shoved me into a 20-square-meter hole to rot, cutting myself off from the world. Guess that's why I vibed with Izuku so hard and loathed Bakugo with every fiber of my being. They mirrored my past - Izuku was the me who took the hits and kept going, Bakugo was the bastards who dealt 'em out without a shred of remorse. That's why I couldn't shake this messy tangle of feelings whenever they were around.
Alright, next move's locked in. Change the timeline? Easy… well, not quite, i needed a pinch of shady shit to pull it off. Start with what I could handle now—prep for the Sports Festival first. Top priority: Make that jerk behave. Had to prepare carefully before I could bury Bakugo in his own crap and turn the tables for good.
…
That night, under a moonless sky, me and Toga hit Aldera Junior High. I'd KO'd the guard with a quick jab to the neck - nothing lethal, just enough to drop him - and stashed him in a locked storage room, out cold but breathing. Toga, grinning like a kid on a sugar high, morphed into him with a smear of his blood she'd swiped, her Quirk twisting her into his lanky frame.
We snuck inside, her practically bouncing with excitement like this was some thrill-date bullshit. Me? I was all business, laser-focused on tonight's goal.
Aldera was where this body I'd jumped into, Izuku, and Bakugo had all gone to school. The memories tied to this place were fuzzy as hell - fragments of someone else's life I couldn't fully grab - but I'd read the manga enough to know the score. Bakugo and that whole class had fucked Izuku up bad here in junior high, grinding him down until he was a shell.
Some versions of the story spelled it out clear: if Izuku had never met All Might, never gotten that nod of approval, good soul or not, he'd be 100% turned into a top-tier villain, big-brained and dangerous as hell on a global scale if he'd been pushed too far. That's how toxic this dump was, how disgusting the shit that went down here had been.
"Ryuga, what're we digging for?" Toga asked, twirling her little knife between her fingers like a pro, her voice cutting through the dark.
"Files. Old student lists, grades, notes, anything I can use,..." I said, scanning the shadowy rooms with my dim flashlight. "Gotta double-check some shit to keep this smooth…"
"Then we hit somewhere fun, right? This place is boring as fuck…" Himiko whined, her impatience creeping in as she shifted on her feet.
"Relax, I'll treat ya after. But we've got work first…" I replied, my eyes hunting for the target room through the faint beam.
We crept through the dark halls, the moldy stench and stale air making Toga grimace, but she stuck to me like glue, her morphed guard form keeping pace. At the main office, I checked the door - locked, naturally. I was about to Quirk it to dust, turn the handle to ash with a touch, but Toga grabbed my arm, dead serious for once, her grin sharp.
"Hold up, I've got this," she said, pulling a DIY lockpick kit from nowhere - some bent wires and a thin metal strip - and went to work like she'd done it a hundred times.
Seconds later, the lock clicked open, crisp and clean, catching me off guard. She smirked, proud as hell, brushing her hands together. "Not bad, huh?"
"Not much of a surprise... But, good job."
I started ransacking the file cabinets while Toga played lookout, her eyes darting to the hall. The office was a cluttered mess - papers strewn everywhere, dusty binders stacked haphazardly -but after half an hour of fumbling through the chaos, I struck gold.
"Here we go," I muttered, yanking out a fat stack of last year's student records. "Bakugo Katsuki… Midoriya Izuku… even those other punks. All here."
I flipped through the pages, snapping pics with my phone - addresses, psych profiles, grades -piecing together the dirt I needed. Toga shifted behind me, her impatience bubbling up again. "Ryuga, you done? We should bounce before shit hits."
"Chill, I've got limits. Just need teacher notes, then we're out," I said, diving back in.
Finally, after more digging, I snagged the last file from the bottom drawer. Bakugo's record was a goldmine. Scribbled notes like "needs attitude adjustment," "lacks patience," and "potential violent tendencies" inked in black and white. Perfect.
"Alright…" I shut the drawer, rearranged the mess to look untouched, slipped out, locked the door behind us, freed the still-out-cold guard from the storage room, and ghosted into the night.
I grabbed Toga's arm and all her clothes - , hauling ass outta there. Her eyes still sparkled with that wild thrill; I kept my head straight, focused on the next step. "Where next?" she asked, hyped like a kid at a theme park, practically bouncing beside me.
"Night grub first," I said. "Gotta chew on this haul, as this might flip my next moves big time."
Everything was smooth - until Toga pulled a stunt that damn near derailed us. She stopped dead in her tracks just outside the school gates, lingering too long when we needed to vanish. I went to yank her along, but she - fired up with some crazy spark - canceled her transformation state by Quirk, spun around and kabedon'd me against the wall, her hands slamming on either side of me like some cheesy romcom bit. Awkward as hell, but kinda hot, I wasn't gonna lie.
Under the hazy streetlight and the quiet hush of the night, her golden eyes - back in her own form now - bored into mine, unflinching, no wandering, along with her naked body - of course because her Quirk requires her to be completely naked in order to function properly, this wasn't her usual playful gleam or that kid-like mischief. This was more than a weird brew of curiosity, teasing, and something deeper, something I couldn't quite pin down.
"Ryuga," she started, her voice slow and softer than I was used to, almost gentle but pressing in a way that left no room to dodge. "You really care about me, don't ya?"
It threw me - not 'cause I didn't know the answer, but her tone, soft yet insistent, caught me off guard, pinning me as much as her hands did. "Course I do," I said, keeping my voice steady despite the weird flip in my gut. "If I didn't, you wouldn't be in on my insane plans. But… why the sudden quiz?"
She smiled, tilting her head just enough to let her blonde bangs fall across her face. "Just wondering, no biggie…"
Still pinning me, she leaned in and kissed me - right there, not in broad daylight but late as fuck on the empty street. It felt weird, raw, intense in a way I couldn't shake off. I didn't pull away, just let her pour whatever this was out her way, her lips pressing hard against mine like she was staking a claim.
The kiss lingered, heavy and charged, until she finally pulled back, her breath warm against my face. I stood there, dazed for a second, my brain scrambling to catch up.
"What the hell was that?" I muttered, half to myself with confusion.
Toga grinned, that wild spark flaring back up in her eyes. "Just felt like it," she said, shrugging like it was no big deal, but the way she kept staring at me said otherwise. "Come on, you promised grub."
"Okay, but put some clothes on first."
"Finnnnneeeee..."
...
We hit up a late-night ramen joint—OV9, some hole-in-the-wall spot with greasy tables and flickering lights. Over bowls of steaming noodles, I chewed through the files in my head, piecing together how to use Bakugo's dirt to flip the script. Toga slurped her broth, chattering about how "boring" Aldera was and how she'd rather stab something than sneak around dusty offices again. I half-listened, nodding along, my mind split between her voice and the plan brewing.
After we finished, she grabbed my arm, tugging me out into the night. "We are not going home yet," she said, her tone shifting to something mischievous. "I've got a idea."
Before I could argue, she dragged me toward a nearby park, the streets empty and the air cool against my skin. My gut told me to pull back. Sneaking into Aldera was risky enough and I wasn't in the mood for more trouble, but her grip was firm, her energy infectious. We slipped past the park gates, the shadows of the trees swallowing us up, and she led me straight into a dense thicket, the branches brushing against us as we pushed deeper.
"Himiko, what the fuck...?" I started, but she cut me off, spinning around and shoving me against a tree trunk. Her hands were on me again, pinning me like before, but this time there was no streetlight, just the faint rustle of leaves and her golden eyes glinting in the dark.
"Shut up," she whispered, her voice low and husky, a grin curling her lips. "You owe me more than dinner for tonight."
And then she was on me, kissing me hard, her hands roaming, pulling me into her with a hunger that caught me off guard. It wasn't just a kiss this time; it was messy, desperate, her body pressing tight against mine as the thicket hid us from the world. My brain screamed to stop, because... Yeah, having sex in a random public park, middle of the damn night, this was too insane and unsecure - but my body didn't listen, caught up in the heat of her, with the way like she'd been waiting for this all night.
Clothes off, hands fumbled, and before I can do anything to against this, we were tangled up in that damn thicket, the rough bark digging into my back as she took the lead. It was slow and loud as hell, but reckless, a blur of adrenaline, her gasps and moans against my ear.
Luckily it was late at night so no one was here, otherwise this would have killed me.
But I have to admit that banging in the park like this...is kind of exciting...
Fuck it, no, why the hell do I suddenly feel like this...??
...
When it was over, we slumped there, breathless, her head resting on my chest as the night settled back into silence.
"Urghhhh" I panted, my voice ragged, my face burning even in the dark. "You're gonna get us caught one day."
She laughed, soft and wicked, tracing a finger along my jaw. "It wont," she murmured, her tone dripping with satisfaction. "You're mine, Ryuga. Don't forget it."
I don't remember what happened after that, but she said "it couldn't be more dramatic" which is enough to understand how "bad" my blackout time was...