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"Hm. Fuck," Shihai mumbled. He stared with tired eyes at the pile of knocked over props with the touch of spilled paint upon them. His gaze slid up to stare at the one who caused the mess. Tsuburaba stood above the chaos that had reigned on the props that were key to their precious play.
Like he was frozen from gazing straight into the eyes of Medusa, Tsuburaba remained in his spot for what felt like hours. "O-Oh jeez, oh god, Kuroiro-kun I'm sorry, I wasn't watching, and I needed to get back to Honenuki-san, I can help fix it! They can wait, I'm so sorry–" He stuttered, the words were tumbling from his mouth like a waterfall as his hands waved frantically.
"It is alright," mused Shihai, interrupting his friend, "I can repair them myself before we rehearse tomorrow. You seem quite busy yourself and should head back to Honenuki."
"A-are you sure?" Tsuburaba asked, voice quiet.
Shihai gave a slow nod while waving his hand to shoo Tsuburaba off. Despite how long they have been setting the play up, Shihai does remember the process of all the props that were made. It should be fairly easy to fix the ones that got ruined and clean off the ones that got dirty.
Once he knew Tsuburaba had left the room, Shihai pulled his hood over his eyes. Slumped against the wall, he groaned. It's going to be a much longer night than usual.
Rehearsal was over for the day. Shihai made it through the rest of the evening by avoiding most of his classmates' gazes as he worked through menial tasks. No one asked him about any props. He sighed, shoulders relaxing, once everyone was released back to the dorms.
A couple of his more dedicated classmates, such as Monoma and Honenuki, stayed around the stage to talk about last minute ways to improve the play. Shihai waited for most people to leave before he began the process of fixing props in the shop room the school supplied them with. He shut the door and dimmed the lights, as not to arouse suspicion from the few students left behind.
After working through most of the props, Shihai realized it was already 4am. He wasn't working at the best pace, but it was the only thing he could work with. He yawned, longing for a break, but if he stopped now he risked falling asleep at a moment's distraction.
He moved on from one of the false swords he had to start from scratch. It looked better than the original, he dared to believe.
Staring at the large dragon prop, he nearly passes out right there. The end of the tail was half-covered in blue paint. Not contrasting against the glittering, emerald green scales but certainly not blending in. If he looked closer, there was even a bright red scale sticking out near the base of the tail–
Bright red? Where would that have come from?
Shihai shuffles his way closer to the dragon and stares at the mysterious scale. It was a clear, fiery red that glittered unnaturally against the dragon's other parts. This had to be some sort of mistake. He surveyed the rest of the prop to be sure that it wasn't a part of some pattern, but it was the only one he could spot. "I cannot dwell on this any longer," Shihai mumbles to himself. Dismissing the mystery for later investigation, he reaches towards the piece to pull it free.
A bright light suddenly envelops him, blinding him momentarily. When he gains his vision back, he realizes that he no longer stands in the shop room he worked in before.
"Where the fuck are we?" Awase shouts indignantly.
Shihai stares at the vast room before them. The stone walls were cleaned spotless as red flags with gold trimming were adorned. A great wooden door stands tall at what he assumes to be the entrance to the extravagant room. Long, curved staircases decorated each side of the room and led to the rest of the facility. It takes a few moments to remember that Awase was there as well.
What?
Shihai spun around, only to meet the gazes of Awase, Shoda, and Monoma. They all dressed in the medieval-themed costumes they wear during the play. When Shihai looked down, he realized he also wore similar clothes, including the cloaks that draped over each of their shoulders.
"Call me crazy—" Monoma starts before he is interrupted by Shihai.
"You're crazy."
Monoma stares at Shihai for a long time.
"Anyway," Monoma continues, "This place has a similar appearance to the palace of our play, does it not? Was our play so well put together that it has become a reality?" He flips his hair, accentuating how cocky he is behaving.
"That's it," Shihai decided. Everyone turned to look at him. He continues, "I must have lost consciousness while repairing the props. This is an elaborate dream."
Awase makes his way over and smacks Shihai on the back of the head. "That feel like a dream, shadow bitch?"
"What do you mean- 'repairing the props'- Kuroiro?" Monoma asks. He gazed at Shihai with squinted eyes as he crossed his arms in disapproval.
Shoda also spoke up, "Were they broken, Kuroiro-kun? The show is in two days- why didn't you tell anyone?" His voice shook slightly as he reminded Shihai of his doom. Oh, how Shihai desperately wanted to slip into the black of his cloak and hide.
As it crossed his mind, he grabbed onto his cloak to activate his quirk. "My quirk has malfunctioned..." He mutters.
"Do not add to our time of crisis! Awase! Weld him to the ground so that he will answer our questions," Monoma commanded, throwing his hand out and pointing at Shihai.
Awase leaps forward and latches onto him, pulling him down. Monoma's triumphant laugh rang throughout the large room. Shihai groaned tiredly and gave little effort to shove his friend off.
"Hey..." Awase started, "my quirk actually isn't working." He stared at his hands, pressing harder on the ground and Shihai's cloak. His eyebrows were knit together tightly. Shihai closed his eyes to think. Was this his fault?
"Oh jeez, what's happening?" Shoda's eyes searched the room, "Is this some sort of villain's quirk?" He held his fists up close to his body, stepping closer to the group.
Monoma squinted his eyes at Awase and made his way over. Crouching down, he casually brushed his hand against Awase's hair and then placed his hands in a similar fashion against Shihai's cloak. When nothing happened, he placed his hand against his chin and stared at the ground. "A villain's quirk would not be out of the question," Monoma guessed, "but how would they have gotten to us? When?"
Everyone goes quiet as worry fills the room.
"I do not have many answers," Shihai admits, breaking the silence, "but I do know that as I was repairing the dragon prop, I found an out-of-place scale. When I attempted to correct it, I was met with a bright flash of light, and once my vision cleared, the four of us were here."
"That is-" Monoma paused squinting his eyes and still staring down, "-extremely odd..." He trails off, mumbling to himself about quirks.
"Then-" Shoda freezes when he realizes everyone has turned towards him, "-uh- Maybe, the dragon has to do with getting back to UA? If... If that's what caused it maybe we'll find answers if we get to it again? It's not like we have any other options..."
Monoma spreads his arms wide, making his cloak spread out dramatically. "Marvelous," He exclaimed, "You're correct, Shoda-kun. As we have nothing else to go on, we shall seek out the dragon."
As if on cue, a stranger enters the room, frantic. "Messenger boy!" He shouts, jogging towards Shihai, "Did you deliver the letter to the prince?" Worry decorated every crease on his poor face. Unfortunately, Shihai had no answer for the boy.
"What letter...?" Shihai asked, eyebrows turning upward. They're all a little lost in this situation, but Shihai still feels shame in not knowing what to do. He might even be the one responsible and what is he to do if he can't do anything for his classmates? It is an awful feeling.
The stranger looked up and down Shihai, probably searching for a sign of the letter. "I passed it to you earlier and watched you place it in your cloak! This is important– please! It must be given to the prince!" His hands wave frantically as his panic grows.
Shihai, knowing he never placed the letter among his belongings, still checked, for the sliver of hope that it appeared, and he would feel like he had done one thing right that evening. Grabbing a hold of nothing and pulling his hand out, he nearly collapsed from guilt, but when his hand was in view, he realized the letter was there. A quiet "Oh?" Was the only response he could create.
"Oh, thank god!" The random boy exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Now–" the boy's face changed to a sinister grin and stared upon the four students, "–begin your journey so that I may watch upon you and judge your skills!"
Shihai nearly jumped from such a quick change in attitude, but all he really felt was tired. He heard a chorus of gasps from his three classmates behind him. Shoda threw himself forward to challenge the mysterious person, but as soon as he were about to make contact, they dissipated into smoke.
"It most definitely seems like a villain now!" Shoda noted, turning back towards the other three.
Monoma shook his head to clear his surprise. "Kuroiro, hand me the letter. Let us see if it plays out like our show," he demanded.
Shihai obliged. Monoma gently took the letter from his hands and unfolded it to read. He spent some moments reading the letter. Shihai, watching Monoma's face get slowly more concerned as he read, felt a pit growing in his stomach.
"Hey, drama queen... what does it fucking say?" Awase questioned, eyebrows turning upward and voice wavering.
Monoma takes a deep breath. "My father... the king has disappeared..." His voice is quiet like it was forbidden. As if the news he spoke would cause worlds to end. It was completely different than the panicking tone he uses during actual rehearsal. "The letter is the same. We have to run through the play to find the way out of here," he declares, determined.
The tall wooden doors open on their own. A loud creak echoes, warning us of danger. When we turn to see, past the door there is nothing but pitch black. "Eternal darkness calls to us to signal the beginning of our quest," Shihai mutters.
"It's exactly like the blackout on the script," Shoda notes for the rest to hear.
The four of them travel through the doors to await what comes next.
When the castle closes off behind them, the darkness clears to reveal a forest in front of them and beyond. A single, twisting dirt path stretches into the chaos of trees and green.
The boys began their trek down the path. They walked until their breaths shortened and their legs burned. They kept walking, in hopes of finding an exit near, a place for the next scene to play. It feels like too much time has passed for the path to keep going.
Shihai has had enough of the pointless walk. "What scenes happen within this forest? There must be some sort of cue that the villain awaits. We cannot just walk on forever until our bodies give out from this endless path," he stresses. The lack of sleep pushes him to anger.
Shoda steps forward and faces Monoma, "It's the scene where we mock you, telling you to go back to Gondor and give you the ring of your family, right?"
"Yes, that's correct. You have the ring?" Monoma presumes.
Shoda pats his own pockets and checks inside the cloak. He twists and turns to try and find anything but comes up empty-handed.
"Perhaps..." Shihai interrupts and once again reaches under his cloak. When revealing his hand again, the ring is held in his palm. "It must be due to my job of handling the props," he decides, “I probably will hold whatever props we contain for a scene.” He passes the ring to Monoma who holds it high above his head and revels in its beauty, according to script. The ring lights up, chasing all the shadows in the vicinity away. The boys hide their eyes from how blinding it is.
“I don’t fucking remember this happening in the scene!” Awase noticed.
“Oh? Do you not? I wonder why, you imbecile,” Shihai remarked, smirking behind the hand he used to cover his face.
The light stopped shining so bright as Awase marched over to where Shihai stood.
“I will smack you, you ultragoth piece of—”
Shoda shouted at the two, “Stop it you two! We have more pressing matters to worry about!”
Shihai just snickers to himself as Awase stops in his tracks. Monoma brings the ring back down and looks to the forest wall. “A new path has opened for us,” he announces as he immediately walks in that direction. Entering the path, he doubles over in pain.
“Monoma!” Awase shouts as he lunges forward, “Are you alright? What happened?” Shihai stalks forward, glancing to the surrounding area to check if there are any visible pursuers. Shoda quickly helps Awase in lifting their friend to a standing position.
“No, I am fine,” Monoma assures, “I have just been hit by awful hunger pains. It is the signal for the next scene to begin."
“Ah, this is the sword battle scene, yes?" Accurate to his words, as he speaks, Shihai pulls a short sword out from his hidden inventory. He hums to himself, realizing that instead of the fake swords they use for props, this is a real sword that they are expected to swing at each other. He reaches back in and unsheathes the second sword. One of the swords is placed on the ground for his hand to be freed. Reaching in a third time, Shihai pulls his hand back out only to find that nothing was there. He hums. “I can not retrieve the food until after a battle.”
"Gah! Let's get it over with then! –” Monoma winces before marching over and snatching a sword from Shihai’s hands and then pointing it towards him, “–Hand it over! Your prince orders you!”
Shoda startles, “Monoma, this isn’t the play! Kuroiro-kun isn’t part of the scene! Is it okay for you to be pointing the sword at him—”
“Nonsense, Shoda, I will be alright,” Kuroiro stated, “It is not very often I would get to challenge our dear Monoma to a battle with real swords, anyways!” Shoda gasped, horror painting his features, after hearing that the swords were real. Shihai lifts the sword and crosses it against Monoma’s. “Afterall, an empty stomach makes a fiend of everyone, even a prince.”
Awase laughed, “You’re such a dramatic bitch! I can’t believe you remembered Monoma’s lines.”
The sword battle began. A glorious dance of metal ensued between the two, and the forest went silent except for the sounds of clashing blades. Dirt was kicked about, and leaves flew rapidly throughout the clearing that they fought in. Monoma swung at Shihai, only for the swing to be parried. A part of his cloak gets slashed in the process. The duel lasts for ages. Neither opponent coming out on top. In a fit of luck on Shihai’s end, Monoma slips up and stumbles back. Shihai takes the opportunity to kick his friend back and point his sword at him. The same way Monoma pointed the sword to Shihai in the beginning of the challenge. Monoma grinned, “A spectacular performance, Kuroiro. I know I was supposed to lose, but you fight quite well with a sword. Perhaps you should get one added to your hero gear.”
Shihai reaches back into his cloak and retrieves the dried meat. “The parcel to satisfy your hunger. I had a good battle,” As he stretches his arm out to share the food with Monoma another light flashes. His vision is completely obscured for another moment.
He can see again, barely. They have been moved to a larger, darker part of the forest. A tall rock wall stands before them.
“Up at the top!” Monoma moves all their attention to the top of the rock wall. There stood what looked like Kodai, slightly leaning over the edge.
“Someone, help me…!” She shouts, but her voice sounds… wrong. As if someone else were trying to use her voice, but they had none of the right tones and did not know her at all. An enormous dragon flies out from behind her and she screams in terror as she is pushed off the wall. Monoma rushes forward to help her, while being followed by the rest. “Watch out!” He warns as he catches her in his arms, but they both fall over.
“It’s the dragon!” Shoda shouts, declaring to the rest.
“Run after it!” Awase demands.
As the two spoke, both them and Shihai ran to help Monoma and Kodai up. Upon getting closer, they realize the person Monoma caught is not Kodai at all. The strange boy from the castle has reappeared, disguised as Kodai. Monoma startles, nearly dropping the boy.
“Oh, dear prince! Will you find your way out of this mysterious play, I wonder! Can you work with your classmates to help you get back?” Not-Kodai disappears in a plume of smoke, causing Monoma to be sent into a coughing fit.
“We must run, Monoma,” Shihai warns, helping his friend stand. They all begin running in the direction the dragon flew. The forest begins to clear around them. A grass field opens, and a storm rolls through the environment. Lightning thunders dangerously in the distance, yet they run straight towards where it hits. The dragon’s roar shakes the very ground they stand upon.
The dragon faces them, bright red scales glittering under the rain. Bright red scales just like the out-of-place piece Shihai discovered when repairing the prop.
“I know what I must do! Monoma, do you still hold your sword?” Shihai asks, yelling over the sound of the storm. He reaches into his cloak once more, pulling the very first scale he took that began this mess of an adventure.
Monoma responds with a yes as he turns towards Shihai and realizes what he means to do. Monoma runs over, takes the second sword from Shihai, and hands it over to Awase. “Aid me in distracting the dragon! Shoda, Kuroiro, get the scale where it belongs!” He commands.
“Follow me, Kuroiro-kun!” Shoda runs forward, taking a direct approach at the tail. He suddenly lunges to the right, pulling Shihai with him. The dragons tail slams on the ground where they previously stood. Shihai’s hand closes around the scale tighter. Lightning cracks the ground wherever the beast commands it to. Shoda pulls Shihai along as the dragon’s body maneuvers left and right to avoid oncoming attacks.
“Watch out!” Shihai shouts as the dragon’s tail swings overhead. Shihai and Shoda fall to the ground to avoid its power. The ground shakes as the dragon’s head lowers and roars in the face of its attackers.
Monoma, in front of the dragon, swings towards its face. The dragon stumbles back, almost falling right into Shihai and Shoda. Changing stance, it jumps forward and pounces on Monoma, pinning him down. Its wings burst out as it prepares to attack Monoma.
But it’s back is left wide open.
Shihai jolts towards the tail, arm reaching out. The scale is jammed right where it belongs, and the battlefield explodes into silence. No one moves, the storm is no longer. A bright flash blinds the group.
Shihai opens his eyes. He floats in an empty space.
“Please tell me I am finally resting,” he mutters.
A chuckle rings from his left and he turns to look. “Not quite yet,” the strange boy from the beginning tells him.
Shihai would jump back if he was not floating.
“I hope you are able to rely on your friends for help if you are ever in need of so in the future. It is lonely to try and do everything yourself,” the stranger says quietly. He looks very calm in this space. Shihai does not feel like he is in any danger. “I will be watching again when your play is shown during the festival, tomorrow. I hope it goes well!” He smiles at Shihai, and disappears again, and when Shihai blinks, the scenery changes to the backstage of the theatre room.
“That was fucking weird,” Awase declares.
“No shit,” Shihai responds.
Awase tackles him.
“It does not even look like our costumes have been through anything we just did, fortunately. Although, it’s still odd that we’re all still in those costumes in the first place,” Monoma decides, spinning to examine his outfit.
Shihai, now welded to the ground by Awase’s quirk, speaks up, “Well, it is proof it was not all a dream, at the very least.”
Tsuburaba’s voice can be heard from the hallway behind the door, “I think I heard something in here!” The door slams open and Tsuburaba stares at the four of them, in costume, backstage, at who knows what time. He blinks.
“Kuroiro-kun! We’ve been looking for you! What are you all doing here? Why is Kuroiro-kun in costume? Ack-Whatever- c’mon guys!” Tsuburaba motions for them all to follow him.
“Ah, right. It must be time for early rehearsal,” Shihai realizes, yawning.
Awase holds back laughter as he un-welds Shihai from the ground. Shoda elbows him in the side which just makes it harder for him to hold the laughter in and he cackles.
Tsuburaba pulls them all into a dark room. “I do not remember rehearsal beginning like this, ever before,” Shihai notes.
The lights flash on and streamers pop. Shihai’s eyes widen and he jumps from the sudden movements. The word “Surprise!” is chorused through the room by multiple classmates followed by, “Happy Late Birthday!” Shihai could make no words of it. He was holding tears back. His birthday had passed? He hadn’t even realized because of how busy everyone was.
”We were gonna celebrate yesterday on your actual birthday, but ended up having a lot of last minute work! Now that it's done, though, and the Cultural Festival is tomorrow- we have a little bit of time this morning to celebrate!” Tsuburaba cheered.
“Hey, Kuroiro,” Monoma puts his hand on Shihai’s shoulder and stands beside him, “we’ll help you fix the rest of the props after the party, alright?”
Shihai freezes for a moment, staring at Monoma.
“Y-yeah. Thank-you…” he mumbles. Lowering his face to hide his eyes. He had tears because he was tired, that’s all.
And if he saw the strange boy in the audience the next day… well… maybe it was just an elaborate dream.