Chapter Text
Bakugou woke up in the middle of Scramble Crossing. He was lying on the ground, people walking all around him, oblivious to him being there.
He clutched something round and small in his hand. He looked down to see a black pin with a strange design almost resembling a skull of sorts on it.
What the hell is this? He flipped the pin and voices flooded into his head. Gritting his teeth at the noise, Bakugou glared at the pin, squeezing it in his fist.
I don't understand...What are all these voices? What's happening? Where did this pin come from and what am I doing here?
His phone beeped. Bakugou stuffed the pin in his pocket and pulled his phone out. The screen was lit up with a new text and he opened it, frowning at the odd message inside.
Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure. -The Reapers
The hell? He deleted the message. As soon as he'd pressed delete, his phone beeped, and the message reappeared. With a huff, Bakugou moved to delete it again when his hand suddenly throbbed with pain.
He looked down to see a red timer etched on his skin counting down the minutes from sixty. With each second, the timer counted down. He frowned. First the pin, then the spam, now this? Worst of all, he couldn't remember anything.
Strange red symbols appeared around him and out of them leapt bright green frog like creatures. They were bigger than any frog he'd ever seen, and they leapt at him. With an angry cry, he punched one of the frogs. It fell down and jumped right back up.
"What the actual fuck?" Bakugou shouted, flinching as the creatures attacked him. "Hey!" He yelled at the people around him, but no one seemed to notice his predicament. A low growl rose in his throat.
He didn't like it, but it'd be better to run than get his ass kicked by a bunch of frogs.
The frogs chased after him. He brushed past people who didn't even seem to notice him there. Despite his shouts and violent shoves, no one budged or paid him any mind. His heart pounded in his chest as he kept running, the frogs in pursuit.
High above two girls sat on a rooftop. Both had black wings and watched the scene below; the people wandering around aimlessly, unaffected and oblivious, and the players being chased by the frog creatures.
"I can't believe we have to do this again..." The brown haired girl sighed.
"We haven't gotten to do this in forever! I love it!" The blonde protested, shaking her fists. "Besides, we need to earn the most points. Then maybe we'll get promoted."
"Yeah, yeah." The first one huffed. She glanced at the blonde girl with a small smile. "How about a game?"
"What kind of game?" Her eyes lit up at the suggestion, and the first one laughed.
"Reaper Sport Three, a player hunt. Whoever gets the most players wins."
"What? That's lame! I'm gonna beat you obviously." She stuck out her tongue.
"You doubt me that much, Toga?" The brunette chuckled. "Loser buys the winner ramen."
"Fine, fine. But only because I'm hungry!"
Bakugou raced towards the Statue of Hachiko, the frogs still chasing him. All around him people were either completely ignorant to the monsters in the streets or being attacked and vanishing in static, their screams piercing the air.
"Leave me alone!" He screamed as another frog attacked him. He swiped at it, but his attacks did nothing. No one came to his aid either, and his heart beat wildly against his chest as he found himself surrounded by the strange creatures.
"Hey! Forge a pact with me!"
"Huh?" Bakugou demanded as he saw the blond haired boy run towards him. A strange black streak ran through his hair. Bakugou's eyes widened as he realized the boy was talking to him. "You can see me?"
"What? Of course I can, you're a player, aren't you?"
"Player?" Bakugou started to ask when one of the frogs attacked him. The strange boy's hand glowed with energy. He electrocuted the frog creature, sparks flying from his hand, turning the creature into static.
"We don't have time for this! Forge a pact with me, please!" A pact? What the hell?
"Fine." Bakugou huffed if only because the frogs had surrounded them, and there wasn't much other choice. He didn't know what the boy was talking about, but at the moment, his priority was defeating these frog creatures.
A strange light shrouded then, and Bakugou felt heat course through his body. As the light faded, he felt a strange tingly feeling in his bones.
"This pin, use it." The strange boy tossed him a pin with small explosions depicted on it. Bakugou clutched it in his hand and looked down at the strange object with a frown.
"The hell is this?" The frogs attacked, and the boy rushed at them, disintegrating them with his electrical attacks.
One of them leapt at Bakugou. He held up his hands to shield himself, and explosions burst out from his palms and set the frog aflame, causing it to disappear in static. He tried it out on another one of the creatures, and it leapt back as the burst nearly hit it. He tried again, and this time it exploded in a burst of fire and light, turning into static.
"What was that?" Bakugou demanded once the frogs had all been destroyed.
"It's called a psych. Each of us has one, and it allows you to fight these monsters they call Noise. Mine's electric. Yours seem to be explosions. Glad I chose a strong partner." The boy laughed, and Bakugou frowned.
Partners? Psychs? Pacts? Noise? What was he talking about? What was all of this?
"I'm Kirishima Eijirou, by the way! What's your name? I figure we might as well get to know each other since we'll be spending this week together in the Reaper's Game." The boy, Kirishima apparently, smiled. He held out his hand, and Bakugou stared at it, uncertain. This was too weird, all of it. Now that the frogs or Noise or whatever was gone, there was no need for him to stick around.
"Hey man, you ok?" Kirishima frowned. His brows creased, and he put a hand on Bakugou's shoulder. Bakugou shoved his hand away and started to run, wanting to get away from him and this whole damn place. He shoved people aside, but none of them seemed to even mind or notice him there. His heart pounded, and his head throbbed.
Why is this happening? What's going on? What the hell was this stupid game, and this weird kid with electrical powers?
Another one of those stupid frogs appeared and attacked him, a whole group of them with it. He swatted at them as they leapt at him and hurt him with their attacks. How was it possible for a dumb frog to do that much damage?
There was a spark along with a crackling noise, and the frog dissolved in static. More thunderbolts rained down destroying the rest of the nasty little creatures. He spun around to see the boy running towards him, a concerned look on his face.
"Where are you going? We made a pact. We're both gonna be erased if we don't stay together!" Kirishima put his hands on his knees, his breathing ragged. Bakugou bit his lip. He didn't like this one bit, especially the whole part about being erased. Whatever it was, Kirishima seemed pretty concerned about it happening to either of them. However, he wasn't in the mood to deal with this at the moment.
"Leave me alone. We beat the frogs, so we're fine."
"No! We made a pact, we need to stay together. Don't you wanna win?"
"Win?" Bakugou frowned. Win what?
"The game!"
"Game?" Bakugou crossed his arms. "I didn't sign up for any fucking game."
"The Reaper's Game. We'll die if we don't work together. You have the pin too, don't you?" Kirishima gestured at Bakugou's black pin. Bakugou frowned looking down at it. So this is called a player pin?
"And the timer." He added. Kirishima lifted his hand as he spoke. He had red numbers etched on his palm, too, which now read 30:38. The seconds kept ticking down. Bakugou looked down at his own hand which displayed the same time. He frowned.
He didn't like the idea of putting his trust in some random stranger spouting nonsense. But if this guy could fend off the stupid frogs chasing him and also had the pin and timer, then...
He really had no choice, did he?
"Fine. I'll be your partner." Kirishima's face broke into a wide grin, and he tackled Bakugou into a hug. Bakugou shoved him away with a grumble, but the boy seemed undeterred, keeping up with his stride.
"Hey! Where are you going? We gotta get to 104 or else we'll be erased. Don't you remember the objective?"
"Objective?" Bakugou stopped walking and turned towards the boy, folding his arms. "What objective?"
"Didn't you get the text?" Kirishima bit his lip. He looked uncertain, and Bakugou shook his head.
"What fucking text?"
"The objective for the game! The Reapers sent it out to all the players."
Bakugou gritted his teeth. He remembered getting a spam text earlier, but he'd deleted it. Was that the text this guy was talking about? He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves before he exploded.
"Alright. Fine. But first, explain what this game you keep going on about is exactly."
"You really don't know?" Kirishima tilted his head. Bakugou glared at him, and he sighed. "It's ok. I'll explain. In order to get through the game, you need a partner. You both just need to survive seven days completing the objectives they text you, and then you're safe. You get to be revived and go back to the world of the living again!" The boy grinned giving him a thumbs up.
"World of the living?" Bakugou repeated, dumbstruck. Was he dead, then? No, that was impossible. He noticed Kirishima looking at him, concern in his eyes.
"Did you lose your memory or something? They make you pay an entry fee to play the game, so maybe they took that from you. Although it seems like a pretty shitty thing to do on their part." Kirishima was rambling again about things he didn't know or understand, and Bakugou sighed, deciding it'd be better to just go along with it then confuse himself more.
"Let's just complete the stupid objective." Bakugou huffed. Kirishima brightened, and Bakugou followed the boy towards their destination.
"So we're headed towards 104. We gotta get there before the timer hits zero." Kirishima chattered. Bakugou followed him in silence still upset about the whole ordeal. It looked like he was stuck with the boy, though, so he might as well deal with him. Although he wished he'd shut up...
"Oh! You never told me your name!" The boy's voice pieced his ears.
"Bakugou Katsuki." He grumbled figuring it easier to tell the boy than be pestered.
"Alright Bakugou!" Kirishima grinned. The two neared 104 when Kirishima suddenly stopped. Bakugou kept walking and crashed into an invisible wall.
"Ouch!" He cursed and glared at the empty air. Kirishima frowned.
"But we need to go this way..." Bakugou ignored the boy's worrying, focused instead on the hooded man who seemed to be watching them. Two black wings stuck out of his back.
"Pact confirmed." Bakugou heard the man say. Kirishima, however, seemed oblivious.
"Is there something we need to do in order to take it down?" Kirishima frowned moving forward cautiously. His eyes widened as he passed through with no trouble at all. "Huh? It's gone!"
"I guess so." Bakugou shrugged certain whoever that strange guy was had something to do with it. Although he could have removed it earlier...
"Well, let's move on, then!" Kirishima turned to Bakugou, beaming. Bakugou frowned and cast a glare back at the man in the hood before following Kirishima to 104.
"We're here!" Kirishima cheered. Bakugou felt his hand tingle, and he looked down to see the timer vanish. Kirishima's appeared to be gone as well.
What a relief. That wasn't too bad. If every day was like that, maybe he could get through this and then things could go back to how they were...
He frowned. Or, well, however they had been before.
"Aww that's cute! You two managed to make it through the first day!" A cheery voice sang. Kirishima tensed, and Bakugou curled his hands into fists. "But then again, only the dumb ones would get themselves killed on day one."
A blonde haired girl jumped down from above. She had two black wings. Her hair was tied up in two buns, and she had long nails painted red. Her gold eyes glittered with malice.
"Who the hell are you?" Bakugou demanded.
"It's a Reaper." Kirishima gasped. The girl chuckled.
"Smart boy. Now since both of you are gonna be erased eventually, help me earn some extra points, ok?" She raised her hand and Noise symbols appeared in the air. More frogs pooled out of them.
"Bakugou! Ready?" Kirishima cried.
"Yeah." The two took out the frog monsters using their explosion and electric powers. The Reaper girl pouted, her arms crossed as the Noise all disappeared.
"That's all of them?" Kirishima huffed, his face flushed. The Reaper scowled and raised her hand, summoning another Noise, this one bigger than the others. Instead of a frog, the creature that formed was a huge bear.
Bakugou's eyes widened, and he heard Kirishima let out a nervous squeak. This one looks a lot more dangerous than those dumb frogs...
"Hey! Shitty hair! Don't mess this up."
"I-I've got your back!"
The bear roared and attacked them. Kirishima and Bakugou both jumped back to dodge. Bakugou punched it, an explosion forming in his fist as he did so. The bear flinched, and one of Kirishima's thunderbolts shocked it.
The bear recovered from the attack and swiped at Kirishima. He cried in pain as its claw sliced him. Bakugou punched the bear again. It roared as the explosions damaged it. Kirishima summoned another bolt of lightning, and the bear disappeared into static.
"Ugh! You two just had to be difficult!" The Reaper screeched. She stamped her foot before lifting off into the sky and disappearing from view. Bakugou glared after her, glad she was gone.
"We did it. But that...was hard." Kirishima's bright smile fell. "What if the next six days are even harder? What if we can't complete the objectives? I don't want to be erased..." He lowered his head, clutching his arm. Bakugou frowned. The boy looked upset, but he wasn't sure what to say to him. If there was anything he could say even.
Ugh...Why am I here? Stuck in this weird game with monsters who want to kill me and stupid objectives and this annoying kid. Even if he was useful as of now.
At least it's just six more days, right?
[First Day Closed]