Chapter Text
Everyone in the classroom stared at Shura in shock, their mouths open and eyes wide. Would she really put Rin in that kind of danger? Finally, Shiemi voiced what they were all thinking, “Isn’t that dangerous for Rin though?”
Konekomaru stood up from his seat. “Yeah, it doesn’t sound like a very smart idea to put Okumura up against someone with such dangerous power,” the small boy agreed.
Shima nodded in agreement with Moriyama and Koneko. “Okumura’s strong and all, but didn’t those explosions shake the building earlier?” Shima pointed out with a hint of fear in his voice.
Kirigakure gave an offhand wave and shook her head. “Nah, Rin’ll be fine,” Shura said dismissively, much to everyone’s surprise. Shura, upon seeing the odd stares she was getting, crossed her arms, “What? You think that kid can do any real damage to the son of Satan?” Rin winced when he heard the title she had used instead of his name.
Everyone remained silent at her question. The swordswoman smirked and continued, “Exactly. Rin’s gonna be fine.”
Rin stood from his chair, Kurikara in hand, and yelled, “Let’s go then! I want to kick his ass for all the shit talk from last night.”
Shura snorted before she attempted to calm Rin. “Chill out. You’ll get to kick his ass after we finish class.”
The minute the half-demon heard her, his fire seemed to fizzle out. He sat back down and slouched in the chair, letting out a groan of annoyance. “Really?”
“Yep.” Shura made sure to pop the ‘p’ for emphasis. Kirigakure walked over to chalk board. “It’ll only take ten mintues and then you can let loose against Bakugo.”
“Master, we should attempt to kill All Might again. There’s no way we can fail with Nomu; after all, the Symbol of Peace is certainly weaker than he used to be and even more so since his encounter with Nomu,” the voice of Shigaraki urged as he motioned towards Nomu.
“Patience, Tomura. We don’t want to make any hasty decisions that may cost us Nomu,” All for One pointed out to his apprentice, causing him to grumble out an annoyed, reluctant agreement. “Besides, I want to be sure All Might will die the next time he encounters Nomu.” Tomura’s eyes flashed towards the monitor with curiosity.
Before he could ask what All for One meant, the door to the old bar creaked open, and Yuso walked through with a small group of people following him. Shigaraki easily recognized a few of them from their attack on the USJ.
“I brought those reinforcements you wanted,” he announced, despite the obvious success of his mission.
“Ah, good to see you didn’t mess it up like you did before,” Tomura joked, earning a sharp glare from the mercenary. Yuso attention was quickly drawn away from the jab when All for One spoke.
“Glad to see you’re back. There was something I wanted to ask you.” The redheaded villain’s brow raised with curiosity and he told him to ask away. “Despite Nomu’s strength and speed, he was unable to defeat All Might in their first encounter. If Nomu were to have another confrontation with All Might, I want him to crush the Symbol of Peace.”
Yuso face twisted into nasty grin at the idea of All Might’s death. “I’d love to see that pain in the ass bite the dust. But what does that have to do with me?”
“I was just getting to that,” the boss villain said. “Do you happen to know of any powers that could aid us in destroying the Symbol of Peace?”
Yuso was silent for a moment as he thought through the number of dimensions he had extensive knowledge on. Finally, he spoke, “Actually, the one that I sent the explosion brat to has something that could give All Might some real trouble in a fight.”
“Good, now we can kill two birds with one stone,” All for One commented, happy that the coincidence had fallen in their favor. “Oh, and Kokan gave me a message earlier. The pros are already aware of Bakugo’s disappearance and are making plans to find him.”
Yuso sighed tiredly, adding in an annoyed tone, “I’ll give to those Pros. They work fast, too fast.”
“I didn’t expect them to begin planning that quickly, but aside from making things a bit trickier, it shouldn’t affect our plan much,” the boss villain said nonchalantly. “Oh, and I’d suggest you and your group get ready, Tomura,” he added. “Kokan’s made arrangements for you to meet him in one of his hideouts. He said he had some new trinkets that may be of use to us.”
Midoriya lifted up the permission slip for Aizawa to take. “Um, here’s my slip, sir,” he said as his teacher took the paper from him and muttered a thanks that could hardly be heard above the buzz in the classroom from the other 1-A members.
After glancing over it to be sure there was a signature, he grabbed a note from the other side of his desk and handed it Izuku. “We’ve paired you up with another student and a pro hero to assure your safety. Go find your partner. Once everyone is here, we’ll go to the courtyard to meet with the rest of the pro heroes,” Shota explained quickly, his eyes glued to the many papers on his desk.
Izuku nodded and took a look at the note. “So Todoroki’s my partner,” he mumbled, looking up and scanning the room for the other teen. After spotting him, he made his way over, greeting Shoto.
“Morning,” came Todoroki’s short reply as Izuku sat in the desk next to him. “I never expected the villains to go after Bakugo, especially on school grounds,” he commented monotonely.
Midoriya face turned somber. “Yeah, it was a gamble, but it paid off for them. I hope they haven’t done anything to Kacchan.”
Shoto shook his head. “It’s likely they’re going to use him as a bargaining chip. If they harmed him or even killed him, then they’d lose any advantage they could gain from him,” he reasoned.
Izuku nodded in agreement, though there was a bit of confusion still evident on his face as he cradled his chin in thought. “I just don’t understand why they’d do such a dangerous move. If they had failed, then whatever plan they had in mind wouldn’t work. I’m sure the heroes could’ve gotten them to talk too, so they even risked revealing wherever it is they hideout in between attacks.” By now, the greenhead had gone into one of his mumbling fits.
Todoroki cleared his throat, breaking Midoriya out of his mumbling. Before he could apologize, Shoto continued the conversation, “It may have been a dangerous move, but it was a success. As far as I can tell, they’re gathering as many pro heroes to help in the rescue as possible. Even Gran Torino is going to be participating.”
His partner’s last statement caught the greenhead’s attention. “Wait, Gran Torino’s helping too?” he asked, getting his answer in the form of a short nod.
“He’s the pro heroes we’re paired with. You didn’t see?” Todoroki held up the note he was given, pointing out the retired pro hero’s name.
“No, I completely forgot to check what pro we were assigned to,” he admitted with embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Before either could speak again, Aizawa called for the room to get quiet and began to call roll. Once he confirmed that everyone (besides Bakugo) was present, he stood from his desk to make an announcement. “Everyone go get changed into your costumes. We’re going out to the courtyard to meet with the rest of the teachers and pro heroes. Find the pro you and your partners have been assigned to and listen close because they’ll explain more of the plan to you and answer any questions you may have. Don’t treat this like a joke. We don’t need any other students being kidnapped. Is that clear?”
There was a collective “Yes sir” from the class in response as they all got up from their desks and went to change.
“Alright, good,” Shota sighed, relieved. The worst was still to come, and he was sure the pros would give them a better idea of just how serious this was.
After a few minutes, everyone was suited up and lead to the courtyard by Aizawa. The walk was surprisingly quiet with only a few hushed conversations to be heard.
Once in the courtyard, Izuku and Todoroki began searching among the crowd of pros for Gran Torino, though the greenhead kept getting distracted by recognizing so many heroes he looked up to. “There’s Edgeshot..! And Gang Orca too!” he said excitedly, peering over some other students to get a better look at the two pro heroes.
“Midoriya, we need to find Gran Torino,” Todoroki reminded his green haired partner.
“O-oh, right,” he said, remembering the more important task. “This is the first time I’ve seen them in person before.”
“Too busy fangirling over the big shots to worry about me, eh?” Gran Torino’s gruff voice joked beneath the two boys, startling both. He looked the same as when Midoriya interned with him, but he now held a bag in his right hand.
“Sorry, sir,” Izuku apologized with a bow. “I didn’t expect to see them here is all.”
The elderly pro shook his head with a sigh. “They’re not the only ones who’re coming. From what I heard, several of the top ten are showing up. UA isn’t taking a kidnapping lightly.”
Before Midoriya could comment, Shoto spoke up, “Our homeroom teacher said you’d fill us in on the plan.”
“Yep, that’s what I was told to do,” Gran Torino chuckled, opening up the bag he held and digging around in it. After a moment, he pulled out a few devices. “Take these,” he handed one ear piece and one circular tracker to each, leaving one of each for himself. The retired man pointed to the ear piece with his stubby finger. “This is our way of communicating with everyone else. If we see anything that could lead us to Bakugo, then we report it in.” He moved on to the circular tracker, holding it out for them to see. “If you run into a villain that you can’t handle or get captured yourself, push the button and it’ll emit a signal that everyone else can track.” The two students nodded, clipping the tracker to their costumes and fitting the communicators into their ears. “As for the plan, Principal Nezu has it so every pair of students is assigned to a pro that they need to stick close to at all times to avoid anyone else getting nabbed. The equipment is just an extra precaution.”
The green haired teen rubbed his chin in thought. “It’s a smart plan. If someone else does get caught, then we’ll be lead right to the villains and Kacchan!”
Gran Torino nodded, smiling. “We’re hoping we’ll find the villains before that happens. We didn’t call in this many pro heroes for nothing. Just this morning, the cloaked villain that captured your classmate was spotted in a bad part of Hosu. That’s where we’re going to be.”
Rin leaned against the wall of the hallway next to the classroom door, glancing down the corridor impatiently every few seconds. He had been waiting for Shura to bring back Bakugo for fifteen minutes now, and he was getting restless from all the waiting. “What the heck is taking her so long?” he muttered irritably.
The sound of footsteps coming from the opposite direction attracted the hybrid's attention. He turned to see the other exwires and Yukio walking towards him. The only one who was missing was that kid with the puppet whose name Rin never bothered to learn. “Is she still not back?” Ryuji asked once they had reached the door of the classroom.
Rin shook his head, pushing himself off the wall. “What’re you guys doing here, anyway? I thought you would go to the dorms or something,” the half-demon commented curiously.
His younger twin adjusted his glasses and sighed. “I’m here to make sure things don’t go wrong. Shura didn’t tell me about her plans before she put them into action, so there’s not much I can do but watch over things.”
“Well, I thought it’d be a good idea to come watch you fight,” Konekomaru admitted with slight embarrassment. “We all need to get to know your fighting style better if we want to work with you, so this is a good opportunity.”
Shima nodded. “Besides, I’d rather watch you fight this guy than do homework,” Renzo said, stretching his arms behind his head.
“I was worried you’d get hurt, so I came to watch as well,” Shiemi added quietly, looking down at the ground and fidgeting with her hands. “If something happens, Nee and I will be there to help.” The girl’s familiar chirped in agreement from her shoulder.
Rin raised a brow in Izumo’s direction. “What about you, polkabrows?”
Kamaki’s indifferent demeanor quickly swapped to anger when she heard the nickname. “For the last time, the name’s Izumo Kamaki, not polkabrows!” she replied hotly, crossing her arms. “And I’m only here because Miwa suggested it. Exorcists need to know how those around them fight, or things are bound to go bad.”
The sound of footsteps resonating down the hallway shifted everyone’s attention away from the conversation to the end of the hallway, where Shura and the boy with spiky blond hair could be seen. Though Katsuki seemed calm, the second he laid eyes on Rin, his desire to fight flared up. Except for Rin, the exwires stared at Katsuki. It was hard not to with the costume and oddly spiked up hair.
The pair reached the rest of the group. “Well, what kind of party is this?” Shura asked jokingly, grinning. Yukio sent her a glare, angry that he hadn’t been informed about her plan, but she easily ignored it.
Koneko stepped forward and cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind, Ms Kirigakure, we’d like to watch.”
“Sure, I don’t care,” the swordswoman replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Enough talk!” Bakugo interrupted impatiently, startling everyone with the volume of his voice. “I’m ready to kick fang face’s ass!”
To say they were shocked to hear someone other than Suguro insult the son of Satan to his face would be an understatement. There weren’t many people who would do something as bold as that. The only reason Ryuji had done so was because he hadn’t been aware of Okumura’s lineage and by the time her found out, the two had become friends.The name seemed to get under the hybrid’s skin too. He bared his teeth in anger and growled, but Rin held his tongue.
“He does know he’s talking to Satan’s son, right?” Shima whispered uneasily to Miwa and Bon.
Unfortunately, Shima had talked just a little too loud and Katsuki had heard. He turned his fierce gaze on to the pink haired teen, freezing him in his tracks. “Yeah I do, and I don’t give a shit,” he growled in response. “He’s still gonna lose!”
The demon’s eye twitched with rage. “Yeah right!” Rin shot back, arms now crossed. “Last night was a fluke. You won’t get me twice in a row!”
Katsuki raised his hand up, a few crackles and pops accompanied by small flashes of orange. “You wanna quit talkin’ and find out then!?” he snarled as the pops got a little louder.
Kirigakure could tell things were only going to escalate from there. “You two better save it for the field because you’re not gonna be fightin’ in the middle of the hallway,” Shura said sternly, sending both of them a dangerous look.
Her statement brought up a question that none of the exwires had considered: Where would they have the sparring match? The training room was too small and full of valuable equipment that could be destroyed in the match. They could hold it outside, but that would run the risk of others discovering Rin’s demonic heritage as well as Katsuki’s strange powers.
“Miss Kirigakure?” Shiemi spoke up, “Where are they going to have their match?”
The scandalously clad woman hummed, a grin forming on her face. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. “I was wondering that myself when Mephisto appeared and gave me this key,” she chuckled. “He said it lead to an old building they had made for tamer meisters that should be perfect for what we need. It didn’t get used much, but they kept it around just in case the school ever got a lot of tamers. He said he’d already be there waiting for the match to begin,” Shura finished, turning and walking back down the corridor. The students, Bakugo, and Yukio followed suit until they reached the large double doors that acted as the main entrance for the Cram School.
The swordswoman inserted the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the doors open to reveal what looked like the inside of a stadium with a raised, rectangular field in the center of it. Everyone walked out to see the building was mostly empty besides the raised up stands that encircled the field. Everyone glanced around at the new surroundings, rather underwhelmed by its normality when compared to the usual extravagance of the Cram School.
“Ah, I see you’ve all finally arrived,” Mephisto said sauvely from his seat in the stands.
Kirigakura ignored the demon king and instead made her way into the stands along with Yukio and the other Cram students while Rin and Bakugo got on opposite sides of the field. Shura propped her leg up onto the railing and called out, “You two ready?” After receiving a nod from both, she continued, “Alright, there’s only one rule: Don’t kill each other. Other than that, anything goes whether is be fire or explosions. First to be knocked out of bounds or KO’d will be the loser. Ready...”
Rin took Kurikara out of its red sleeve and got into an offensive stance.
“Set…”
Katsuki turned his palms to the ground, readying an explosion to propel himself.
“Go!”
Without missing a beat, the half demon charged at Bakugo. He halted, however, when his foe launched himself into the air with an explosion. The blond landed behind Rin and swept his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall to the ground with a grunt. Katsuki threw his palm down in an attempt to blow up the hybrid’s face only for him to roll out of the way, leaving a scorch mark where he had been.
Okumura was hardly on his feet when the more aggressive of the two came charging at him. Rin swung the sheathed Kurikara to counter, hitting him square in the stomach and sending him reeling back. Taking the opportunity, he ran at him, hand balled into a fist and ready to send the blond flying. He looked up just in the nick of time and caught the half demon’s punch, nearly losing his balance from the force of it. Using his free hand, Bakugo slammed an explosion into his chest, sending him rolling across the field.
“Where are your flames?!” the blond yelled, seemingly pissed off. “You’re even weaker without them! And I won’t count this win if you don’t actually try, elf ears!”
The half demon picked himself up off the ground, baring his fangs in anger at the nickname. He had wanted to hold off on pulling Kurikara, but after that start, he may need to pull the sword sooner than he thought.
After not getting a response out of him, Bakugo propelled himself with his Quirk again, roaring, “Don’t ignore me, fang face!” This time the hybrid planned to counter instead of giving him a free shot. He swung his fist hard, hoping to land a hit, but was only met with smoke and air as Bakugo used another explosion to dodge the attack and make a smoke screen. Before Rin could even turn around, the blond had smashed another explosion into the half demon’s back, this time much harder than before.
Rin was forced across the field once again, groaning as he got to his feet. “You want my flames, huh?” he shouted, one hand on the hilt and the other on the sheath. “Then you’ll get them!” He jerked slightly, a spark of blue glinting from the base of the blade, and pulled the covering off, unleashing the brilliant blue flames to cover him and the sword.
Katsuki gave a broad, nasty grin, happy to see his opponent putting up a fight now. “Maybe now you’ll be a bit of a challenge!”
Okumura swung the sword sideways, sending a streak of blue flames at his foe. He just barely dodged the attack by forcing himself into the air, feeling the heat from the blue fire. This was gonna get way more interesting…
Rin attacked again, this time swinging downwards and throw more and more waves of fire at Bakugo, who was hardly able to dodge them in their quick succession. Finally, one of the streaks of fire hit their target, knocking him out of the sky. As his opponent fell to the ground, the half demon ran at him, punching him in the stomach and sending him to the very edge of the field’s boundary.
The blond coughed and gasped after having the wind knocked out of him. “I told you you wouldn’t win again!” Rin shouted, swinging his sword down and sending what he thought would be the final wave of fire. Katsuki rolled to the side to dodge, feeling the flames clip him. He got up off the ground, still catching his breath. By now the blond was drenched in sweat, something that seemed to please him.
One of his gauntlets glowed a bright red for a moment, interesting everyone who was watching. “You idiot,” Bakugo laughed. “You just helped me out when you used your flames.”
The half demon was too confused to care about the insult. “What?”
“My sweat is like nitroglycerin. That’s how I can blow it up at will. The more I sweat, the bigger the explosions get,” he explained, pulling part of his gauntlet back and aiming it at Rin. “The gauntlets aren’t just for show. They collect my sweat over time for one gigantic blast!” As Bakugo pulled the pin out, Yukio shot another tranquilizer into his shoulder. But it was too late. The massive explosion had been set off. Rin only had enough time to cover his face with his arms before he was hit.
Various cries of worry came from the exwires and exorcists alike, save for Mephisto who was watching with intense intrigue. Once the smoke had cleared, they could clearly see that Rin was out of bounds, not even on the raised field anymore and unconscious. Katsuki was just barely clinging to consciousness. “I… win…” he muttered before falling to the ground, passed out as well.