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When she had been little, Hagakure wasn't completely invisible. People had thought her a ghost, although she guesses she was fortunate that for the first few years her parents could see her at all. As time went on though, she vanished. Her colors faded away. She wasn’t too upset when no one knew where to look and ended up staring right at her forehead hoping it was her eyes. She wasn’t too upset when people forgot she was standing there, it was natural. She used it to her advantage. She snuck up and startled people for fun. It was really annoying though when people knew she was there and ignored her, pretending they didn’t hear her shouts, pretending that the floating clothes didn’t contain a person. Because she could never tell if it was real if it was them or her.
She was determined to be recognized, she had to be. She was determined to make herself known, so she had applied to UA, she was determined to stand out as a Hero. She hadn’t known what to expect for a test, but robots that were trying to kill the examinees were too much. It didn’t help that people didn’t see her and she got pushed into more than one attack.
She was not made for this, her quirk wasn’t offensive or flashy like those around her. She started pushing other examinees into the robot’s attacks when they almost hit her or accidentally shoved her into an attack. She started yelling at them too, “watch it.” To which they usually looked frantically around until they saw the floating clothes. Most of them apologized for overlooking her. Some didn’t. A few told her that it was her fault and that she should be the one to watch it. How on earth could she watch everything around her? Her quirk wasn’t having eyes all over her head. She could only do so much.
She really didn’t mean for it to happen. It was a complete accident. But she had pushed someone in frustration. It just happened to be the exact time a robot made a wide swing with one of its limbs. It hit the student in just the right spot, launching them into a building, they fell to the ground with a sickening slap. Hagakure was horrified. She turned and saw so many gazes resting on her. They watched her the rest of the exam, they were scared she was going to sabotage them. She ran and tried to collect as many points as possible. She couldn’t escape the feeling of having eyes watch her. A completely foreign feeling. The zero pointer was released, and Hagakure ran. She couldn’t describe what it was but people were avoiding her. They noticed her, they didn’t forget she was there, they didn’t ignore her.
The exam ended. She went home feeling like she failed. And she hated herself for what happened but not because she had caused it but because she didn’t regret it. She shuddered. What did it say about her that she didn’t feel bad about causing a fellow tester injury?
There wasn’t much she could do but wait for results. She went home and washed the dust and sweat off but she didn’t feel clean; no, the dirty feeling went far deeper than her transparent skin. But at the same time, she was glowing. People had noticed her, had watched her, hadn’t forgotten about her or ignored her. She fell into bed an invisible smile plastered on her face. She knew if people could see it they would call her sick. But they couldn’t so she didn’t try to hide it. She never had to hide anything with her quirk. It did that for her.
She woke up several weeks later to find an envelope from UA. She opened it quickly to find a hologram. All Might stared back at her. She was ecstatic until she heard what they said. The student she had pushed had been seriously hurt and was in a coma. They weren’t expected to live for much longer. It had been worse than any of them had thought it would be. Not only that but she hadn’t earned enough points, she had been denied on two different fronts. She was shocked and felt like crying. She was going to fade into non-existence. People were always going to forget her. She was going to be lost in a sea of outstanding.
Unless.
Everyone in the exam hadn’t forgotten. They had watched her like hawks. No like mice, staring at the hawk. She had been the center of attention. She did have another option. She could become a villain. She had already nearly killed someone. It didn’t hurt this realization as much as it should have. But she had wanted to be a hero, to stand in the spotlight. But that door had been closed to her. She smiled a wicked grin, that was sharp and cruel and villainous. Not that people were any wiser to this sudden change.
Three weeks later and people were watching for her. She had a wanted poster, or the invisible person equivalent to a wanted poster. She had a villain name of her own choosing. She watched as Heroes looked for the lack of. It was amusing honestly. Watching people search for what would be seen as nothing. She had burned buildings at first, she needed to be flashy and gain attention. But that hadn’t been enough. No, then she had started doing public executions. Walking into a crowded place and she would choose a person at random from the crowd and stab them without warning before she was lost in the sea of people once more. She may have wanted to stand out more but she wasn’t going to ignore her powers to do so. She grinned as she scanned the crowd, looking for a suitable target.
Her eyes flitted from person to person with manic glee. Who to kill. Eenie Meenie Miney… oh. What was that? It looked like a group of UA students, uniforms still intact. She pulled a knife out of her sleeve. She saw a hobo near the students except they were listening to him, so maybe a teacher. That made her nervous. All the teachers at UA were pros. But she could disappear so she had no qualms about trying anyway. She walked to the bathroom and removed her clothes. This would be the biggest crime yet. An act that would cement her as a truly terrible and threatening villain. The only sign she existed was a floating knife. She watched as the group split.
One group headed one way the other group the other way. Eenie Meenie Miney left. She stalked a few paces behind the students. A slight skip to her step. She followed behind the students slowly gaining on them, careful not to bump into anyone.
She slowly started eliminating her choice of targets. She finally decided on who to take out. She grabbed them a hand over their mouth. And stabbed the knife into their abdomen. He struggled in her grip and she twisted the knife before pulling it out. Blood dripping to the ground, in gentle little patterings. It reminded her of the rain, she loved the rain. She stabbed again in a different spot. She heard people start to notice the boy struggling against no one. Hagakure felt the boy in her grasp pull her hand off his mouth. “It’s The Phantom. Get Aizawa.” He called.
She smiled at the name, her name. The name she had made for herself. She saw people start to run. She stabbed the boy one more time before dropping him into a pool of his own blood, the red contrasting the green. She chased after a brunette, her feet light. She caught up and pulled the girl by the hair. She stabbed her and watched as she turned trying to spot the floating knife in a sea of color, already putting pressure on her wound. She couldn’t spot the sliver of a knife and Phantom left her to search blindly for something that she couldn’t see.
She wandered looking for another student. That was when she ran into a black-haired boy. She misses her black hair, or she misses being able to see her black hair, even if the color of her hair mixed with the color of her surroundings. She plunged the knife into his gut. He flailed trying to push her away. But she had already stepped back. He spun around and around trying to predict where she would strike from next. That was when the green-haired boy charged at her. Wait, what?
“You won’t get away again Phantom.” He said and she started moving a bit and the boy changed his direction to match her change in position. First off how much endurance did he have? She had stabbed him 3 times, 3 times. Second, could he really keep track of a knife in a sea of color? He tackled Her and the knife when spinning out of her grip. “Sero find Aizawa now.”
“Dude you’ve been stabbed, maybe relax,” Sero said, clearly trying to keep the panic down.
“We can’t let her escape, get Aizawa.” Sero didn’t argue anymore. He ran in presumably the direction to get Aizawa.
She struggled against the weight of the boy, she was agile but not very strong. She was surprised she was able to hold the boy for any length of time earlier. She knew this was playing dirty but she hadn’t gotten this far playing fair. That and if he miraculously survived he wouldn’t forget her. “Seriously can you at least let me put some clothes on before you straddle me like that.”
The boy flushed and fumbled, “oh my gosh you’re naked? Uh..” she pushed him off and reached for her knife. He grabbed her again, her fingers just a few centimeters away from the blood-soaked blade. She struggled against his grip, straining to just get a little further so she could get her knife. His grip didn’t even seem to be weakening. How on earth did he do it? What was he made of, sheer determination?
By some stroke of fate, someone kicked her knife closer to her and she grabbed it. She twisted in his grip. Getting in a position where she could stab him again. The knife fell over and over again until the grip lessened. Blood was pooling around her. And she saw his smile. He didn’t care that he was going to die. He was stopping her.
The blood coated her transparent skin. She stabbed again and again. She stabbed until he went slack, his heartbeat gone. But she stabbed several more times just to make sure this kid didn’t somehow survive to chase her again. She pulled her legs out from under him, red staining her lower half. She ran. She heard people giving chase to her and she was leaving a trail. Note to self next time make sure it’s raining when you decide to stab someone more than twice or book it when you’re done. Because she didn’t have time to wash it off, and now she was going to get chased
She looked behind her to see the hobo man gaining on her. Okay so he was a Teacher, and by the way, he moved he was a very skilled pro hero. She ran, it was easier to get lost than most people, seeing as only her bottom half was visible.
A thought clicked. Rain, water, fountain. There was a fountain in the middle of the building. She bobbed and weaved, through people who didn’t understand the severity of the situation; blood-stained feet leaving a trail right to her. She heard water, she heard droplets hit streams. She smiled a wicked grin, her eyes sharp enough to kill. Of course, these expressions were purely for her.
She ran and jumped into the fountain, the cold water raising goosebumps as a cloud of red surrounded her. The knife was still in her hand as she trudged through the liquid. Aizawa was right behind her so she bent down submerging herself in the frigid water. The red was whispering into the rest of the water creating a cloak of sorts, to hide her. The water shifted around her. She jumped up plunging the knife into the man not worrying where she hit. She didn’t pull the knife back out deciding instead to leave it lodged in the teacher’s chest. She jumped out of the pool, the blood a faint memory of what it was.
She was still leaving tracks but at least these were as transparent as she was. She ran outside getting lost in a world of shapes and colors. She dashed into a nearby alleyway; she peeked her head out to watch. She saw Aizawa look for any sign of her. He stared right at her and for a moment she thought somehow he could see her.
But he doesn’t, they never do.
He pushes a hand through his hair as he sighs. He walks back the way they came. Hagakure walks in the opposite direction. There’s a sinking feeling in her chest she can’t explain. Who was the boy she killed? How had he held out for so long? Where did he keep all that energy? Why did he stop her at the risk of his life? He could have survived, he almost survived. She looked at her hands. How on earth did you hold on to something that was hurting you?
She shook the thoughts from her head. The Phantom had struck again, and she was as elusive as her namesake. She smiled. She would be in the news again. She could feel it. UA students attacked by Phantom, the headline made her feel elated. Maybe she could make this a habit, killing UA students, if the press would go as wild with it as she thought. She walked away. She was non-existent to those around her, and while she knew it was to her advantage in this situation, she couldn’t help the longing to be seen.
She walked to her new home as her parents were good people who would turn her in the moment she stepped foot in her old home. She put on a dress. The dress she wore at home. To feel like she stood out. It was an elegant ball gown. It was close-fitting and had a slit up the leg showing off nothing. But she felt important, which is all she needed. She turned on the news and waited. Waited for her headline. It felt good to be noticed.
Uraraka sat with Sero in the same hospital room. They had their wounds addressed, it wasn’t bad, at least not as far as UA injuries. Not as bad as Midoriya’s wound would get. He broke his bones after all.
She looked at Sero. They had been there, had seen it, had been attacked, and yet it was Him who died. Midoriya was always so reckless, did he ever think about how much his death would hurt them. Seriously how dumb was he that he let himself get killed trying to stop a villain who had already stabbed him.
No one said it though, not even Bakugou. Everyone was too busy avoiding the topic. Everyone was too busy trying not to cry.
She really hoped they caught phantom before she lost anyone else. Losing one was hard enough.
Phantom got more press than she ever had before. Looked like UA students were the way to go. She smiled.
This would be fun.