Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

I killed a man when I was fourteen years old.

I’d like to say it was an accident, or that it was someone who was utterly despicable and deserved his fate, but it wasn’t. 

It wasn’t as if I had a personal vendetta against him, either. In fact, I didn’t even know his name. So, when you think about it, it’s probably stupid that I’m crying over a man I know nothing about.

But I can’t help it.

It’s been days since then but my mind is filled with nothing but the screams of an innocent man.

My crime was not one of passion, but rather one of convenience, and somehow that makes me feel worse. 

He was just a normal man in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess we are alike in that sense. Or were alike, I suppose.

There was so much blood and screaming and then it just stopped all at once. Suddenly, I found myself missing his screams as the silence was so much more final.

The silence consumed the alleyway and slowly, it ate away at my soul (what was left of it, at least).

My sister was with me at the time. I remember her laughing (the sound far too hollow-sounding) and then thanking me for not getting any blood on her Versace sweater.

I guess she was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t help.

When I didn’t return her joke and merely stared at the carnage before me, she sighed and moved to put her hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, Mari-tan.” She assured me.

They were empty words, promises she herself did not believe.

I had found my voice after a few moments, but it wasn’t the same as it was before. “I’ll have to kill again,” I said aloud, grimness in my tone that I certainly didn’t have before.

“It’ll be for the Family,” Yua said in return. I think she was trying to reassure me, but the mention of the Family just made me feel sick to my stomach.

We stood in silence for a few moments after that, Yua rubbing circles on my shoulder with her thumb as my sins festered inside of me.

“I don’t want to work for All For One,” I told her.

She laughed again, but it felt mocking more than anything. “We don’t have the luxury of choice, Mari-tan.”

I stared at the man I killed. “We could run away,” I suggested. It was something I thought about often. Leaving the Family, leaving the wretched man named All For One and refusing to join his gang. “Like Kaasan did.” 

I wasn’t watching Yua’s face when I said this, but judging by the sharp inhale I heard behind me, she wasn’t as serious as I was about leaving. “You know we can’t, Mari.” There’s a pause. “Besides,” she began again. “It would break Tomi’s heart, wouldn't it?”

I grimaced at the reminder.

Yua laughed at me, shrill laughter doing little to combat the screaming silence of death around us.

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I sat on my bed and cried that night.

Sopping, ugly, fat tears ran down my face drowning me in my misery and sin.

Welcome to the Family, the letter in my hand read.

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My name is Mari Yoshizawa, and I am about to join a gang.

Not just any gang, either. But instead the notorious group of criminals known simply as the League to most. A cesspool of violence and death that I’d been groomed to join since a young age.

It all had started with my mother. She never liked to talk about it when I was around but Yua has told me more than a few things my mother let slip while drinking away her woes on the kitchen counter.

The leader of the League was a wicked man that went by the moniker All For One. I always thought it was fitting, considering the man’s deeply selfish nature. 

My father left my sister and I at a young age and when our family was at its lowest, All For One entered our lives. My mother had been struggling to raise us, growing increasingly concerned about the holes in our school socks that she couldn’t afford to replace and the shady neighbourhood that we called home. 

I wish I could give you more, she was always telling us. Then came an offer she couldn't refuse. 

All For One had no children of his own and wanted a legacy, so to speak. Most of the gangs in our area (and oh boy, were there a lot of them) decided their heirs that way. He came across my mother by happenstance and offered her the world in order to create his Family.

Things moved very quickly after that. 

Yua and I suddenly found ourselves living very different lives. The neighbourhood we called home was still just as shady as before, with mysterious disappearances and warnings never to stray too far, but it became far more discreet.

The mysterious red stains on our walls were still there, but they were cleaned before we could see them. Faint screams of agony could still be heard in the distance, but our mother would merely increase the volume of the shiny flatscreen we had in our new home.

In exchange for our family living comfortably in luxury, my mother agreed to marry All For One and start his Family. Unofficially, Yua and I were now members of the League but we couldn't claim as much until our initiations when we turned 14. 

 (Yua was never the same after hers).

I don’t think any of us were happy at the time, but we were certainly living much better than we were before. 

Life was okay for a couple of years and really, that was all we could ask for.

It was okay up until the point my mother disappeared into the night one day without a word, the night before she was to marry All For One.

After that, it became very much not okay.

I was 12 and Yua was 16 and suddenly, we were without parents. 

All For One was undoubtedly outraged, but he never let it show. He merely showed us strained smiles and continued to fund our lavish lifestyles.

(I asked him where Kaasan went. He smiled at me, showing far too many teeth and said he didn’t know. We never mentioned her again after that).

Reflecting, I think All For One did truly love my mother. But I certainly don’t blame her for not loving him.

A couple of months after she left, All For One brought home a boy. A scrawny looking thing with hollowed cheeks and a sunken stare. His name was Tomura and he declared him his successor to the League. The unofficial “son” that my mother refused to give him, I suppose.

Tomura was strange and far too jumpy, but he wasn’t a bad kid.

(It wasn’t until I took my first life that I would understand what made Tomura so paranoid).

We got along well enough and spent most of our days playing video games together.

Undoubtedly, All For One noticed our budding friendship and decided to secure his Family in a different way. I was to marry Tomura when I was of age, finishing the job my mother started but could never finish. I was to marry him and produce the next heir for the League.

I agreed (though I doubt I could refuse anyway) despite Yua’s protests. Tomura was five years older than me so Yua would be a better fit for him, but All For One said it had to be me.

He said it’s because we got along better, but I got the feeling it was just because I looked more like our mother than Yua did.

All For One often told me that. He would never explicitly say her name out loud, but in the quiet hours of the night, he would stare at me and then smile, muttering something along the lines of "you look just like her".

I think it was the hair. Yua’s hair was an unruly mess of black curls that she got from our father, but my straight hair was all my mother’s. I started to wear it in the same style, too, since she left. I didn’t even notice I had until All For One and Yua both commented on it.

Either way, Yua and I were far too involved to escape now. 

I completed my “initiation” a few days ago, and tonight would be my official induction ceremony.

I wasn’t allowed to watch Yua’s when she did hers, but she assured me that I was worrying over nothing.

Despite that, the festering sickness in my stomach from the killing still hadn’t subsided.

I hate this. 

I think I understand now more than ever why Kaasan left. This feeling of control… the idea of having your entire life decided without your say in the matter... It’s horrible.

I glance over at Yua, lounging on the couch watching reality TV, as I think all this. “Yua-nee,” I begin after a moment. She rests her head in her hands and turns to me. “Are you… happy? Living like this?”

She doesn’t react immediately. She is silent for a few moments. “I’m happy we’re together, Mari-tan.” she decides on, her tone suspiciously neutral. 

“But are you happy with this situation?” I press on. “Taking orders, working for him?”

“How I feel..” she starts, looking away from me. “... doesn’t matter right now.” Yua gives me a pointed look. “The only thing you should be worried about is your appearance tonight,” she tells me.

“I don’t see why we have to live like this,” I tell her. “We could leave.”

That makes Yua sit up in her chair and look at me, alarmed. “This again,” she mutters. “Mari-tan, you need to understand that it’s not possible.”

“But Kaasan-”

“She got lucky. If we tried to leave…” she looks down and clenches her fists. “Who knows what he would do.”

“We could go to someone else,” I suggest. “A different gang, like Endeavour’s.”

Yua hardly shares my enthusiasm. “They’re all the same, Mari. We have it good here, don’t mess this up for us.”

But I wasn’t done. “What if I started my own gang,” I said aloud. The look Yua gives me is beyond disbelieving. I continue, despite her gaping. “We could start something else, a place where children aren’t forced to marry, mothers don’t walk out on their kids, and no one has to kill to join. I could create a gang where you could be happy, Yua-nee.”

Her disbelief turns into something far more sombre at my last line. She sighs and gives me a resigned look. “Don’t be ridiculous, Mari. Something like that is impossible to do.”

Does that mean we shouldn’t even try?

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The person looking back at me in the mirror is not Mari Yoshizawa.

Mari Yoshizawa would never look so groomed, with blood-red nails painted on and ornamental hairpins in her hair. The red and purple traditional Yukata that I wear is stuffy and far too complicated to get in and out of. 

Yua finishes tying the obi into a neat bow behind me. “You look beautiful,” she tells me. 

“I don’t feel it,” I mutter back.

Yua laughs at my displeasure. She moves some of my hair from my shoulder and stands behind me in the mirror. Similarly, she also dressed for the occasion but looks far too happy to doll herself up.

“I look like Kaasan,” I say out loud. This was undoubtedly intentional on Yua’s part. 

“It’s her dress,” she tells me with a mysterious smile. I stare at myself in the mirror for a few moments before Yua suddenly grins at me. “I have something else of hers for you, actually.”

I turn away from my reflection and back to her with a dubious stare.

Her Cheshire smile is on, which means she's definitely up to something. She moves to the end table behind us and reaches into one of the drawers. From it, she draws forth an intricately designed box. A pink flower pattern is etched into it, with gold accents on the sides. 

“This is for you,” Yua says, presenting it to me.

“Always shoot true,” I say aloud, reading the inscription engraved next to the lock.

“And never miss,” Yua finishes the second line. With trepidation, I unhook the lock and reach inside.

“Yua.”

“Hm?”

“This is a gun.” 

In my hand was a small pastel pink gun with a silencer attached. Yua grins at me. “Well, you can hardly keep using mine now, can you?”

I had used hers just once, and that was for the initiation that was forced upon me. I frown at her. A gun of my own implies I’d have to do it again.

Which, I always knew, but…

“I don’t want it,” I say, shoving the firearm back in her hand.

Yua scoffs at me. “Keep it,” she insists. “You never know when you’ll need it.”

I hope I never will.

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There are too many people staring at me.

It makes me feel sick. Sicker than that day in the alleyway, knowing that the ones staring were the reason I was a killer. 

My movements are stiff and my steps are reluctant, but my audience doesn’t dare comment on that. No, not in the presence of him.

All For One awaits me on the other side of this room. Like an executioner standing by the guillotine.

The induction ceremony was simple, Yua told me. The killing is the real hard part, she added with a laugh, which I did not return.

Apparently, all that needed to be done was to kneel before All For One with all the members of the gang as witnesses and have him kiss your forehead. After that, he would tell you “Welcome to the Family" and everyone else in the room would say it back. 

I’ve never seen one before but Yua assures me they’re always, without fail, incredibly boring to watch. She’d seen a lot since she officially joined four years ago.

She told me there is nothing to worry about but as I approach All For One I can’t help but feel like there are shackles around my ankles and chains on the manicured hands that are not my hands. 

I swallow nervously and look around me. My eyes find Yua, and she gives me a cheery thumbs-up that clashes horribly with the serious mood in the room. I also find Tomura, my fiancé, I suppose, and he gives me a nod with far too much pride in his eyes.

I feel sick again.

All For One smiles when I reach him. I perform my kneel with shaky legs, despite my mind protesting, begging me to not give away my freedom like this.

When I stand All For One is still smiling. He leans down but before he kisses my forehead, he whispers something in my ear. 

“Every day you look more and more like your mother,” he says. “It’s an honour to have you part of our family. And now that you’re here, you can’t ever leave like she did.”

And then he places a chaste kiss on my forehead like nothing had ever happened. 

He clears his throat. “Mari Yoshizawa, welcome to the fam-”

They say it’s dangerous to try and domestic a wild animal. Something about their survival instincts kicking in.

I imagine it was something like that which caused me to do what I did next.

With fear seizing my heart I reached for the item strapped to my leg in a frantic panic. 

Bang!

Goes my mother’s gun as I fire it wildly in All For One’s direction.

Bang! 

It goes again as I witness All For One’s face morph into an expression of utter betrayal.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Goes my thunderous heartbeat as I make a break for the exit.

There’s a collection of shocked gasps before they are all on me. Traitor, comes the angered shouts. 

They shoot at my feet and chase me through the many tunnels of our underground hideout.

There are tears in my eyes, my head hurts from the sound of all the guns going off and never before have I been this close to death.

And yet, all I can think is that this moment is the freest I’ve ever felt in this wretched life of mine.

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I escaped but it was very, very narrowly.

I’d like to say it was from skill but I’d say it was luck more than anything. I haven’t returned to the house since, as that was and truly All For One’s territory and going back would be a suicide mission.

Despite the events happening mere hours ago, and every detail etched into my mind perfectly (like the surprise on All For One’s wrinkled face when he realised what was happening - which I will forever cherish in my heart) the whole thing still feels like one giant fever dream. 

Currently, I was “hiding out” in our old house, the shithole we resided in after dad left. Unsurprisingly, they hadn’t managed to sell it since then. 

It seems not even the squatters dare enter this humble abode, either, judging by the thick layers of dust covering what little furniture was left.

It’s a horrible place to live, really. Borderline inhabitable. But in a weird way, it felt nice. Nostalgic. Free. 

I take a deep inhale. This is what freedom smells like.

Well. Either freedom or asbestos. More than likely both.

With a content sigh and my mother’s gun still firmly in my hand, I lay on our carpet of questionable smells and textures and dream.

It was the best night of sleep I’d had in years.

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I am awoken the next morning by a kick to the leg.

I blearily awaken and hastily reach for my gun. Someone else grabs it before I can.

“You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met,” comes a voice from above me. I blink and am not surprised to see Yua standing above me. She’s the only one who would dare enter this building, and the only one to ever think to look for me here. 

I rub my face and sit up. “What’s your point?” I grumble back.

Yua kicks my leg again. “I can’t believe you shot All For One,” she says, shaking her head.

“Don’t worry,” I tell her, moving my hand dismissively. “I missed, anyway.” It wasn’t like I was trying to kill All For One, after all. Merely give him a clear message.

You do not own me.

“You attempted an assassination of our gang leader in the middle of your fucking initiation ceremony.”

Yua didn’t swear often, not unless she was really pissed, so her words sound foreign and strange to my ears. I blink at her.

“I didn’t want to work for him.”

“Well, that’s too fucking bad!” She shouts at me. “That’s how the real world works! And if All For One hadn’t forbidden any members from going after you, then you would be dead right now!”

She goes on after that, lecturing me on my safety and how reckless I was but it all goes in one ear and out the other.

“He what?” I echo in disbelief. 

Yua bristles once she realises I haven’t been listening to anything else she’s been saying, but answers me anyway. “He said you were under his protection still. No one from the gang is to be in contact with you.”

“But you’re here with me.”

“Of course I’m here with you, I’m your sister before I’m a member of the Family, you idiot.”

She’s silent after that, as am I.

All For One was protecting me? The implications of that were… terrifying, to say the least. All For One only protected what he considered his. 

“I’m not going back,” I tell her, meeting her gaze with fierce determination.

“Were you not listening to what I just said?” she snaps back, annoyed. “I’m here as your sister, not for him.”

“Oh.”

Yua sighs. Then, with reluctance, she sits down next to me on the stained floor of our childhood home. 

“So,” I begin after a pause. I turn to her. “What now?”

Yua puts her face in her hands and sighs. “Who knows.”

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Yua stayed the night with me, despite the horrid conditions of the house. 

It was in the quiet hours of the night, mind whirling as I watched Yua sleep (and snore) next to me that I began thinking about the future. 

What now? I asked her but I think I already knew.

I examine my sister’s sleeping face with a smile.

“Now, I’ll create a gang where we can be happy, Yua-nee. Like a real Family.”

I then look away from her and begin walking around the house to clear some of my thoughts. Despite my bold escape I can’t help but remember All For One’s words. 

You look just like her.

I catch my reflection in the mirror.

All I can think about is how everything I see represents what I hate.

The person looking back at me in the mirror is not Mari Yoshizawa.

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“Oh my god, Mari-tan! What did you do to your hair?!”

I thought I pulled off the bald look far better than All For One ever did.

Chapter Text

DEN OF SNAKES 

Mari Yoshizawa was more than just a little terrifying.

Or at least, that’s what the humble opinion of Midoriya Izuku was as he watches the way her dark eyes narrow on him. She was different than what he expected. Somehow, despite the rock-bottom reputation she had at UA High, she still seemed even worse in person.

Her eyes are a dark black, a black so dark that Izuku can’t see where the pupil ends and the iris begins. They are the kind of eyes that reveal nothing and flinch from nothing. They are burning coals, enraged and cool all at once. 

And now those eyes stare down Midoriya Izuku - those eyes see everything he is doing, everything he has ever done, and perhaps everything he will ever do. 

Mari Yoshizawa, at some point in her rise to infamy at UA High, had been given the nickname Medusa. The student body called her this because of the very same eyes that were currently examining his soul. One look into a man’s eyes and she owned him, the rumours said. She consumes them. Paralyses their very beings and devours them whole. 

Izuku can’t help but think how very fitting of a name that was, at this very moment. 

Mari Yoshizawa gives him one last indecipherable look and finally, she speaks.

“Are you certain that this is the road you want to take?”

There’s something about her voice. Maybe it’s the way it’s so much deeper than any other girl in their year, or the way it always remains so perfectly flat. Or maybe it’s the tone of finality she uses when she speaks. Either way, Izuku has to suppress the urge to yelp when she asks him this.

“Yes,” he manages to reply, if not a little shakily. Dark, dark eyes narrow to the point where he thinks they might disappear. Izuku swallows and follows his response up with, “I’m begging you.”

Mari Yoshizawa doesn’t quite smile at his plea, but something in her dark, dark eyes akin to amusement shows and she tilts her head to look at him appraisingly. Strands of pink hair move around her, almost hypnotising in their bounce. 

Izuku’s eyes fall on the tiny plastic red devil horns on her head, and wonders (not for the first time in his life) if they were more than just a Halloween costume decoration in July. 

“Then beg,” she tells him, and somewhere, lightning cracks in the background as she grins at him with all teeth showing.

Yes, Izuku decides, watching this terrifying display, Mari Yoshizawa is infinitely worse than the rumours make her out to be.

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“You look like an egg,” Yua tells her as she gargles mouthwash in a stained sink. “A fuzzy egg,” her sister adds with a scrunch of her nose. 

Mari Yoshizawa spits out her mouthwash and locks eyes with her sister in the rusted mirror. She gives her a thoroughly unimpressed look which causes Yua to cackle. Mari ignores her and walks over to the living room to put on the rest of her school uniform. 

Yua, continuing to not make herself useful at all (as usual), props her legs up on the couch and watches as Mari starts to do her school tie. The nineteen-year-old narrows her eyes on Mari’s head.

“I don’t see why you had to shave it all off,” Yua muses out loud. Mari, pointedly, does not reply and continues her struggle with her school tie. “You had such lovely long hair. Like Kaasan.”

Mari fumbles with her knot again and curses. 

“I just don’t see the point of it all," her sister finishes with a sigh.

With a frustrated grunt, Mari aggressively throws her tie to the ground and turns to Yua. “It was to make a statement,” she grits out. 

Yua lets out an amused sort of huff and stands from the couch. “I’m sure All For One was wrecked when he found out you copied his hairstyle.”

“That wasn’t the point-” Mari begins, frustrated, but Yua cuts her off.

“I know,” is all her sister says, solemnly, as she picks Mari’s tie off the ground and begins tying it for her. Then, when Mari says nothing in reply, she chuckles and asks, “Is not knowing how to tie your tie also a statement?”

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” Mari dismisses. “UA High is a literal dumpster fire. I doubt anyone who turns a blind eye to the drug deals and after-school bashings will care if I don’t wear my tie.”

Yua shakes her head at her. “Tsk, tsk, Mari-tan. Just because you’re going to a delinquent school doesn’t mean you have to stoop to their level. And besides, UA High was reputable once upon a time, wasn’t it?”

“Sure, when self-righteous and bigshot lawyers like All Might use to go there,” Mari says with a scoff. “It’s more like a drug den with textbooks now.”

“It’s about your image, Mari-tan,” Yua says, tightening the tie so it sat perfectly on Mari’s uniform. She stares at Mari and then smiles before looking thoughtful about something. “Wait, what’s wrong with All Might?”

“Dude sucks ass,” is all Mari says in response, turning away from her sister to grab her school bag and shoes. 

Yua mutters something like “teens” under her breath as Mari begins to walk out the door.

“Have a good first day at the drug den, my fuzzy little egg!” Yua calls as she leaves.

“I hate this place.”

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Mari Yoshizawa, bald at fourteen, now fuzzy egghead at fifteen, liked to think she was a simple girl. 

She wanted to live a quiet, unassuming life. Her life up until this point has been all sorts of mafia-parent bullshit which she certainly did not ask for (nor deserve) and thus, she thought that she was more than entitled to a simple, peaceful high school career.

Granted, she was technically still on the run from one of the largest gangs in Japan, went to one of the most notoriously crime-riddled schools in the prefecture and had the ultimate goal of starting her own gang, but that didn’t mean she doesn’t get a peaceful life, right?!

Had she incurred the wrath of a deity in a past life? Took a piss on a religious statue when she wasn’t looking? Because seriously, why the fuck does the universe keep doing this to her?!

This is all Mari Yoshizawa can think as she stands by the gates of UA High, listening to the ramblings of the blue-haired boy before her, who strangely reminds her of Clippy the Office Assistant from the old Windows Vista system. 

The spectacle-wearing paperclip had stopped her just before she entered the school, incoherently shouting at her with an assortment of stiff hand gestures. Midway through his ranting and poor attempt at the Robot dance, Mari’s head stops ringing and she starts to process what is happening. 

“A school tie must be worn at all times-” she hears him say, wildly gesturing to the UA tie that sat in her hand which she had taken off just moments ago (if only to spite her sister). 

“What,” is all Mari replies.

Her deadpan does not phase the other student as he steam-rolls over her confusion and continues, “Such tardiness with your school uniform will not be tolerated! UA High is a respectable establishment-” Mari has to physically restrain herself from snorting at this statement “- and it is clearly stated in subsection 14B of the UA handbook-”

“-You mean the handbook those students are currently setting on fire?"  Mari interrupts finally, pointing behind the blue-haired embodiment of a colonoscopy to a student literally producing a lighter and setting the handbook on fire. 

The colonoscopy, alarmed, begins wildly gesturing at them. “SERO! KIRISHIMA! STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY!”

He flails in their general direction with great bravado, but it seems to do him little good. The two students laugh and give him a mocking salute in response.

“You got it, vice prez!”

Despite the obvious sarcasm in that statement, it seems to appease the “vice prez” regardless as he lets out a sigh of relief and turns back to Mari.

“I know you are new here, Miss Yoshizawa, but-”

“How the fuck do you know that?" Mari interrupts, stepping back from him with a defensive stance. There was a reason she chose such a shit hole of a school, after all. No one cared what happened to the kids at UA High. They were nameless faces. Soon to be crime statistics. Which is what Mari had been counting on to avoid the attention of the League.

The colonoscopy merely gives her a prideful smirk in response, answering, “I know every student at UA. As vice-president of the student council, I consider them all under my care!”

Yikes, thinks Mari. If this exclamation point of a man is the vice-president, I can only imagine how utterly insufferable the president must be.

(Almost as if answering Mari’s thoughts, almost as if to prove how truly insufferable he could really be, Monoma Neito chooses to make his entrance at that point.)

“Tenya,” a new voice suddenly calls, making the blue-haired colonoscopy turn away from Mari. “I’ve got it from here.” It’s another student, a blonde with the kind of arrogance you can spot from miles away.

Though ‘Tenya’ does seem uncomfortable leaving Mari with the blonde, he nods anyway and says with a salute, “Of course, Student Council President!” 

The colonoscopy makes his exit after that, sending weary glances Mari’s way as he does. Mari blinks and lazily moves her eyes to meet the President’s. He’s shorter than the Vice but exudes an aura of false importance; one of arrogance that has not been earnt, one that Mari is all too familiar with.

His eyes are a dull grey, but they shine with something mischievous, something sinister, that Mari can’t quite place. She ignores the shivers going down her spine and stares at him with cool indifference. “Are you going to get on my ass about my tie, too, prez?”  

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, without a single pause, the blonde replies, “About the tie? No. But I can still get on your ass if you’d like me to, Mari-tan.”

Ignoring the implied innuendo (because what the fuck) Mari is surprised to hear mention of her name yet again, let alone with the same suffix that only her sister uses. 

Mari's eyes narrow. She licks her lips nervously. “Who are you?”

Grey eyes dance with mirth in front of her. “Weren’t you listening? We’re the student council.” 

Mari does not reply, instead mentally assessing the threat of the scrawny blonde in front of her. The blonde takes this moment of quietness to pluck the tie from her hand and place it around her neck. Slender fingers, frighteningly slender fingers, brush against her skin as he wordlessly begins doing it up from her. 

Mari is altogether too confused with the situation to say anything in response, so she merely stands still, stunned, as the blonde tightens the knot. 

“UA High is a dangerous place,” he begins conversationally, with a tone someone might use to comment on the weather. “There are a lot of powerful people here, you know. And some of them might not take too kindly to where it is that you’ve come from.”

The knot is tightened again, to the point where it becomes hard to breathe-

“You’d do well to watch yourself here, Mari-tan.”

He lets go, suddenly, and turns away from her before Mari can say anything in response.

Her school tie feels more like a noose around her neck than anything else at that moment. 

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Mari was foolish to think that her run-in with the student council would be the most outlandish part of her first day at UA. It was, after all, notorious for a reason.

After the incident at the gate, the school bell rings, and Mari meanders her way to her first class. Politics and Law, she thinks with a grimace as she stands in the doorway of the classroom. The irony of teaching such a class in a lawless dumpster of a school like this is not lost on her.

The class she enters is ancient. It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned for the better part of a decade, the desks are covered in crude drawings of dicks and weed and the insufferable scent of teen depression and antiperspirant is heavy in the room, to a suffocating extent.

The most notable part of the room, however, was the complete lack of life in it. Despite the bell going off at least ten minutes ago (Mari was too prideful to say it out loud, but it took an embarrassing amount of time to find the classroom) there is no one else in the class, not even a teacher. 

Mari looks around confused for a moment before the scent of nicotine reaches her nose and the sliding door is slammed open behind her. Mari turns and her dark eyes widen as they meet the perpetually pissed-off gaze of Bakugou Katsuki.

Katuski is just as she remembers, with narrowed red eyes and hedgehog hair but the cancer stick in his mouth is certainly a change since middle school.

Mari says nothing to him, has nothing to say to him, and Katsuki does not say anything either. His eyes lock with hers and he scoffs and pushes past her to take a seat at the very back of the classroom.

Red irises do not stop staring through her, not even when he scrapes his chair on the wood floors or when heavy combat boots slam on the desk in front of him. 

Katsuki lets out a long inhale and blows out a puff of smoke as he goes to look outside the window next to him.

Dramatic, as per usual. Maybe some people just never change.

It’s surreal seeing the blonde after all these years, and he somehow looks both the same and like a completely different person. 

Mari does not say anything, even when she sees him glance at her every time he takes another drag of his cigarette. Another moment of tense silence passes before the door opens again and Mari turns to face the two students from this morning that were setting their handbooks on fire.

Neither speak to her but instead offer a polite smile before they notice Katsuki. “Bakugou!” The red-haired one with canines shouts, making his way to the blonde’s desk. “You’re early for class today!”

He was actually almost fifteen minutes late, but Mari doesn’t care enough to point this out. 

The two boys take their seats next to Bakugou’s desk. The brown-haired one props his feet on his desk and pulls out a handheld GameBoy, while the red-haired one brings out a stress ball. The two boys idly chat to each other, occasionally saying something like ‘Isn’t that right Bakugou?!’ which will cause the blonde to let out an affirmative grunt. 

Mari, realising just how long she’d been idling in the doorway like a bad video game character, decides to choose a desk and sit down. She chooses the front if only to sit the furthest away from Bakugou as possible.

She spends the next ten minutes with her head on her desk, quietly bemoaning her own existence. 

.

.

.

The rest of her classmates enter in the next ten minutes, with the teacher being the latest of them all. A tired-looking man with greasy hair approaches the front and lazily introduces himself as Mr Aizawa.

He, much like the students, clearly had no real desire to be here. But then again, does anyone at UA High really want to be here?

At one point Mari’s name is called to the front, and she delivers an unenthusiastic introduction of herself, ignoring the way Katsuki was staring at her like he could make her combust through sheer willpower alone.

Unfortunately for Katsuki, Mari Yoshizawa wasn’t quite that self-destructive yet. Getting there, for sure, but not at that level for now.

Mari mutters an insincere “Please take care of me” and bows to the group of future convicts before her, narrowly missing a spitball that was aimed at her head as she does. 

Aizawa gives her a flippant gesture to go back to her seat and Mari does so gladly. Once back at her desk and spends the rest of the lesson perfecting the art of crawling into herself at her desk.

The rest of the classes up until lunch are equally as awkward and harrowing for Mari Yoshizawa’s soul (if she still had one).

.

.

.

Lunch is meant to be a student’s momentary escape from classes and thirty minutes of limited euphoria. This was not the case for Mari Yoshizawa.

The lunch period at UA High felt more like being in a Roman battle colosseum than anything else. At the very least, Mari is sure the rate of mortality here must be similar. 

The black-haired girl watches with apprehension at the sea of criminals before her. UA was not immune to high school cliques, and that much is obvious just from a glance at the school. Aside from a table presumably just for the Student Council (Mari desperately tries to avoid eye contact with the Student Council President, even though he’s currently staring holes into her skull) the rest of the cafeteria was in utter anarchy. 

Food was being thrown, students were gambling in corners, and there were brawls. And fucking lots of them. At a glance, she recognises Bakugou in one brawling group. He’s not actually fighting (surprising, considering his adoration for violence) but instead is watching it with his shoes propped up on a bolted metal lunch table (bolted to the ground presumably so the students didn’t throw them at each other). 

Bakugou has the redhead and brunette from Politics on either side of him and the sight makes Mari involuntarily shudder because it reminded her too much of the power structures of the Family. 

She shakes her head, telling herself that UA High is nothing like the Family, and Bakugou isn’t just another gang leader like All For One. But then a girl with pink hair brings Bakugou his lunch to him on a tray, once again, just like All For One used to be served, and it occurs to Mari that it actually is extremely likely Bakugou runs his own gang here.

It wasn’t really a secret that there were small gangs at UA High, which is part of the reason Mari came here to form her own. The police really didn’t care because most of the time they were too small to bother bringing a stop to them. They were also formed from minors which made a lot of people underestimate them (which was a pretty big mistake in Mari’s opinion.)

With a grimace, it dully occurs to her that when she did form her own gang here, Bakugou would likely be one of her first rivals. It didn’t scare her, per se (she’d dealt with the blonde enough times in the past to not fear him anymore) but it did seem very troublesome. 

Mari ponders strategies to use against him when she’s brought out of her thoughts by someone brushing against her. She jolts from the contact and goes to cuss the person out, only to come face to face with a grinning blonde that’s about her height. 

Mari grimaces (the blonde seemed way too excited for this interaction to be a normal one) at him. She’d already dealt with far too many troublesome blondes today.

She prepares to tell him off, but the blonde beats her to it. “Do you come here often?” he asks her with a wink.

She didn’t, obviously, but Mari is altogether too confused to answer him.

He follows his question up with, “I’m just kidding. I know you don’t,” he laughs as he says this, which confuses Mari because he didn’t say anything that was amusing. 

“You’re the new kid, right?” he continues.

Mari blinks at him. Firstly, she was not a “kid”, she was someone who had taken a life and it was insulting to be referred to as ‘new kid’. Secondly, why is this blonde with a shitty brown streak in his hair speaking to her in the first place? Students of UA High were only this friendly if they were plotting to steal your wallet after you talked to them.

Despite these points, Mari just gives him a cautious nod. The blonde practically beams at her in response. “Great! I heard you were starting today!” How, exactly, he heard that Mari did not want to know. “I figured I would introduce myself; my name is Kaminari Denki!” with an annoyingly large grin he offers an outstretched hand to her in introduction.

Mari stares at this “Kaminari” with great apprehension. Finally, after a moment’s pause, it seems the blonde isn’t going to retract his hand. Narrowing her eyes at him, Mari says, “If you are going to take my wallet, I’d highly advise against it, as you may lose your hand.”

Kaminari blinks in surprise for a moment and then bursts into nervous laughter. “No, no, I’m not here to do anything like that,” he says this as if the idea of him bringing any ill-will towards her was the most outlandish thing he’d ever heard. He continues, “I’m not, like, part of the gangs or anything here,” he adds pointing a thumb in the direction of Bakugou’s group (confirming Mari’s suspicions of him being a gang leader, how fun).

Mari wastes no time with her next question, cutting straight to the point. “Then why are you speaking to me?”

The blonde seems to shrink slightly at her cold tone but continues anyway. “Um, because I was, uh, lonely? And I figured you would be... Well, alone too. Cause it’s your first day and all, you know…”

He was approaching her because he was lonely? How desperate was the boy in front of her for friends if he was approaching the new student with empty eyes and a black buzz cut? Granted, she wasn’t much more intimidating than the other students here, but still...

UA High was not where one went to make friends.

“Right,” is all Mari can find herself replying with.

Kaminari continues, unbothered by the disbelief in her tone. “Yeah! So, how’s the first day? How do you feel?” he asks.

Mari takes yet another moment to answer, surprised by his sudden shift back to a happy-go-lucky idiot and because it had been a very, very, long time since someone had asked her that.

Perhaps it is the stress from that day or the deep desire to get him to just go away already, but Mari answers him. 

“I kind of want to die.”

Without missing a beat, Kaminari smiles wide at her and replies, “You’ll fit in just fine around here then!”

It is just as he says this that Mari finally notices that Bakugou has left his table and gaggle of gang members, and at one point strolled over to where she and Kaminari stand and talk. He stands over Kaminari, menacingly, who unsurprisingly fails to notice him.

“It seems like a rough school at first but it’s really not that bad-”

Kaminari is interrupted mid-sentence as Bakugou punches him in the back of the head. Mari blinks once, twice, and then a third time as Kaminari shouts in pain and turns around.

“B-Bakugou! Funny seeing you here!”

“Shut up.”

Bakugou punches Kaminari in the stomach and Mari stands there in shock for a few moments, wondering if she should have just gone to Shiketsu High School instead.

What the fuck had she gotten herself into?

Chapter Text

THE PYTHON: I

Mari wonders if getting beaten up was a common pastime at UA High.

None of the students gathered in the cafeteria seem particularly bothered by the sudden outbreak of violence, at least, so she figures it must be pretty common.

The only one visibly protesting was Kaminari Denki , the student who was currently getting the ever-loving shit beaten out of him by Bakugou Katsuki.

She is somewhat curious as to what the cheery blonde could have done to incur the wrath of the explosive boy, but knowing Bakugou it could have been anything from killing his family to breathing too closely in his general vicinity.

What she is more curious about, however, was what she had said in her two-minute conversation with Kaminari Denki that had given him the impression that she was, by any stretch of the word, a moral person.

Clearly, there has been a miscommunication.

Never before has someone looked at Mari Yoshizawa with the amount of hope Kaminari Denki is currently staring at her with.

It is not quite a cry for help in those tear-filled golden eyes of his, but instead a sort of expectation that Mari will lend a helping hand in this situation.

Which is the kind of naivety she can expect only from someone who hadn't encountered Mari Yoshziawa before, who was known to be an apathetic asshole at best and a sadistic devil at worst.

She could help, she supposes. She could try and get a teacher (though she doubts the teachers at UA would care) or even try talking Bakugou down, from one childhood classmate to another. 

Realistically, Mari knows she should help, too, but she finds it very hard to justify the effort it takes to deal with Bakugou just to help out a student she'd known for a running total of about three minutes.

Standing still, Mari deliberates on her choices as Kaminari Denki takes a rather painful-looking uppercut to the chin. A cost-benefit analysis is created in her head, interrupted by another yelp from Kaminari.

There’s blood dripping from his nose and bruises already forming on his face.

“B-Bakubro! I was kidding! I swear! Just let me go!" his voice is several octaves higher, and it sounds like he’s holding back a whimper of pain. “How would I know how big it is-”

His plea falls on deaf ears. Bakugou interrupts Kaminari’s dying soliloquy with another punch to the stomach.

A heavy sigh leaves Mari's mouth. She supposes if she is starting a gang here, she has to start opposing Bakugou sooner or later.

She moves to stand between the two, grabbing Bakugou's arm as he goes for a fourth punch.

Bakugou, along with the gaggle of UA students that had gathered to watch the fight, turn to look at her. 

Mari hates the feeling of so many people staring at her. 

“Stop it, Bakugou,” she says quietly, but firmly.

Bakugou’s eyes widen in shock before he yanks his arm away from her hand like it burned. 

His lackeys from earlier stand from their seats at the nearby lunch table and appear behind him, standing menacingly. A silent threat.

Mari’s outnumbered and she knows it, so she tries to play this carefully. She regards him with cautious defiance. 

“And who the hell do you think you are, extra?!” Bakugou sneers at her.

It takes Mari a moment to realise that yes, Bakugou was talking to her and yes, he was pretending they did not know each other.

If these were less tense circumstances, Mari probably would have laughed in his face at his pathetic attempt of acting cool.

Did Bakugou expect her to go along? To pretend she forgot the way he stared at her for fifteen minutes when she entered Politics and Law this morning? Or that they went to middle school together for three years? 

It seems like Bakugou's arrogance has only gotten worse over the years.

Just this once, Mari decides to humour him.

“My name is Mari Yoshizawa,” she declares, not just to Bakugou, but also to the majority of UA that seems to be watching or recording their confrontation. Yua always said first impressions count, and if Mari is going to be making a name for herself here she might as well be as dramatic as she can be. 

“Consider this a coup d'état. Things are going to change around here. And I’m going to start these changes by knocking you off your high horse.” She adds.

Bakugou seems surprised for a moment but doesn’t let it show for long. Something dangerous changes in those wild red eyes of his. Something familiar and terrifying to Mari Yoshizawa. 

Bakugou laughs. He throws his head back and his body shakes as if he’s been told the best punchline in the world. 

When his laughter subsides he grins at her like he’s doing an incredibly accurate impression of the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. 

Even to Mari, someone who has known Bakugou since Kindergarten, it is still unnerving.

“If it’s a fight you’re looking for, Mari Yoshizawa, it’s a fight you’ll get. I’m more than happy to beat the shit out of two extras today.” Bakugou lowers his knees to a fighting stance. “I just hope you’ll put up a better fight than that loser.” He jabs a thumb in Kaminari’s direction.

“Hey!” Kaminari protests, but it doesn’t sound all that convincing with the blood coming out of his mouth.

“Well,” Mari shrugs, dropping into a fighting stance that mirrors Bakugou’s. “Consider that loser under my protection now. You mess with him, you mess with me.”

“Yoshizawa, don’t-” Kaminari begins, Mari interrupts. 

“Shut up, Kaminari.”

Bakugou laughs at this.

The air is notably tenser, even though no one was actively fighting yet. Mari shrugs her school bag off her shoulders and throws it in the general direction of Kaminari, who catches it with a groan.

It has been a long time since she has been able to look into Bakugou Katsuki’s eyes like this. There’s still something in them, something feral that she thinks Bakugou will never lose. Mari feels almost nostalgic with the pure anger the blonde is glaring at her with. All they need is a whimpering Midoriya in between them and it’ll be like they are all back in the sixth grade.

It’s a shame there is so much hatred in those red eyes of his, as Mari has always thought they were quite beautiful.

“You’re lucky, Yoshizawa,” Bakugou says, breaking the silence first. “I’m feeling rather generous today.” Mari highly doubts he is actually feeling that way, but she doesn’t want to interrupt the cool guy charade he has going on right now. She supposes this was just another part of gang politics she would have to become accustomed to; what kind of character to portray when the cameras are on. Bakugou continues, “I’ll let you have the first hit.”

There were some noises from the audience, various comments saying how “kind” Bakugou was, including a rather loud “how manly!” from one of the goons behind him.

Mari stifles a sigh. She supposes it’s time for her to get into character, too. “If you recall the outcome of our last fight,” Mari begins, trying not to shake from the number of eyes on her, “You would know that is a very bad idea for you.”

There are a few murmurs at this, Mari ignores them. Making a fist just as Yua had taught her when she was younger, she moves quickly towards Bakugou. He gives her a cocky smirk and doesn’t even make a move to block her.

In the end, this doesn't matter as her punch never lands.

Though she doesn’t hear anyone approach, moments before she strikes Bakugou her wrist is grabbed from behind. Both her and her opponent turn their heads to look at the newcomer.

It’s the arrogant student council president from this morning, holding Mari’s wrist between his fingers like it was nothing. 

There’s a sadistic gleam in his eye as he speaks. “No fighting,” he says simply - as if those two words held any real authority at a place like UA High - as if the school wasn’t known for being one giant cesspool of crime and student violence.

There are some groans of displeasure from the audience, a few shouted complaints but nothing is done to oppose the councillor. Mari forcibly removes her wrist from his hold.

Bakugou looks entirely unimpressed. “What’s the big idea, Monoma? You’ve never stopped a fight of mine before.”

Mari doesn’t miss the way Bakugou addresses him so casually.

Monoma. Well, at least she didn’t have to refer to him as “the president” in her head anymore. That was just ridiculous.

Monoma gives him a cruel-looking smile. "I’m feeling rather generous today, too. Generous enough to let the two of you off with just a warning for breaching school rules, at least.” Bakugou opens his mouth to retort, Monoma interrupts. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I don’t give a fuck who you fight, you know better than to do it on school property, Katsuki.”

Bakugou’s expression eases slightly but he still looks pretty pissed off. Mari supposes that's as close to neutral as Bakugou would ever get. The angry blonde turns his attention back to her.

“Don’t think this is the end, Yoshizawa. Looks like you and I are having an old school street fight.” He pokes her in the chest. “My boys will tell you when. I’ll show you how things at UA High are handled, new girl.”

It said a lot about her relationship with Bakugou that new girl was probably the nicest nickname she had ever gotten from him. 

Bakugou leaves, followed shortly by his gang. The bell for the end of lunch rings and the group surrounding her and Kaminari begins to disperse with annoyed groans.

Soon, it is just her, Monoma, and the bleeding Kaminari Denki.

Monoma looks at her. His gaze is just as unsettling as it had been earlier that day. “I won’t warn you again about that tie, Yoshizawa.”

Mari had undone it the second Monoma turned his back to her this morning.

The blonde stares at her slightly too long for it to be normal and then leaves.

Mari is annoyed but mostly relieved that it was all over. Dealing with Bakugou had certainly not gotten any easier over the years. 

She approaches Kaminari, who is not making any move to go to his next class. 

“Mari is a pretty name,” is all the bleeding blonde has to say for himself.

Mari says nothing to this, wordlessly grabbing her bag from him and putting it on. The blonde continues. “I really appreciate you saving me! No one has ever really stood up for me like that.”

That isn’t very surprising considering it was UA. Mari replies nonetheless, “It was nothing.”

And really, it was. Mari literally did nothing. All she did was aggro Bakugou and cause a scene. 

“It wasn’t nothing!” The blond protests. “It was really cool of you.” He offers her a smile that Mari doesn’t return. Wordlessly, she begins walking to class. Kaminari frantically chases after her.

“Super cool, I mean.” He continues. “But, there is one thing I wanted to ask you about,” and for the first time, the blonde seems to stop at this, playing with his hands as if deciding how to approach his next sentence. 

Mari glances at him curiously. He continues, “Well, um, did you have to wait so long?”

A pause. Then, with a flat voice, Mari asks in return, “What do you mean?”

Kaminari seems nervous. “Well, Bakugou got like three punches in before you intervened, and you stood there for a really long time, so-”

Mari interrupts him, too annoyed to want to hear another word. “Shut up, ” she tells him for the second time that day. “You lost the cost-benefit analysis in my head. You’re lucky I intervened at all.”

Kaminari opens his mouth to retort and abruptly cuts himself off by beginning to cough loudly. He coughs up a concerning amount of blood onto the floor in front of Mari.

There’s a moment of silence. Kaminari stares at the blood. Mari stares at the blood. There were some specks of red on her second-hand white converse now.

Finally, she speaks up. “You should get that checked out,” she tells him, not out of concern but merely because it seemed like the appropriate thing to say in this situation. 

“It’s nothing,” Kaminari says, blood dripping down his neck. It was pretty gross. “I think Bakugou just opened up my stab wound or something.”

Stab wound???? 

Mari blinks at him, trying not to show her alarm. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen people get stabbed before, but Kaminari just really didn’t seem like the type to seek out that kind of gang violence. 

It seems the blonde can see the unspoken question on her tongue as he says next, “I was mugged. Some League goon cornered me after school.” Mari tries not to flinch when she hears the word League tumble so casually from his mouth. Kaminari continues, “Bastard stole my KFC loyalty card. But oh well, that’s what happens when you don’t have a big gang backing you, I guess.”

A lightbulb goes off in Mari Yoshizawa’s head. A plan is formed. 

Mari tries to make her smile appear unthreatening as she looks into the eyes of Kaminari Denki. “I’m good with wounds. Can I patch you up?” 

.

.

.

Somehow, Denki Kaminari looks more nervous sitting on the sink of the girl’s bathroom with Mari than he did ten minutes ago while getting beaten up by Bakugou. Mari had brought him here to address his casually mentioned stab wound and other injuries from the fight. 

Kaminari seemed hesitant to take up her offer for her first aid services, but Mari didn’t really give him a chance to say no before she was dragging him to the bathrooms. 

A sink with running water would be good for cleaning the cut and there would be no one around considering lunch just ended. Though there was a group of three girls in the corner smoking a joint, Mari simply looked them in the eye and said “leave”. 

Now, Kaminari sits on the sink as Mari goes through her bag looking for bandages. She had kept basic first aid supplies on her since defying AFO and considering the reputation of UA she figured it would not be a bad idea to have them on her first day here. 

She was by no means medically trained but she at least knew how to properly clean and disinfect wounds. She used to do it often for Yua when she was undergoing her League training as a child. 

She feels a little nostalgic as she hits Kaminari on the arm and tells him to sit still. He reminded her of Yua in some ways, though mostly from his disgustingly upbeat personality. 

“Mari, I don’t think I’m allowed to be in here-” Kaminari says, squirming uncomfortably where he sat. The nervous look on his face reminded her of Midoriya. She didn’t like it. 

Mari runs a cleaning rag under the sink as she replies, “I do not see why a student at one of the most dangerous high schools in the prefecture is worried about sneaking into the girl’s bathrooms but chill out. There’s no one else here and there’s no way I’m going into the boys’ bathroom with you. Now, take off your shirt.” She tells him, looking away to grab some bandages from her bag.

Kaminari makes a strange kind of choking noise, not dissimilar to a cat hacking out a hairball and begins to stutter. Mari grabs the bandages and turns back to him. His face has turned several shades redder and is trying (and failing) to hide it with his hands.

“O-Oh, uh, wow! I didn’t realise this spark between us was mutual! Um, ok, this is going really fast, but I can work with it. You’re really direct, aren’t you Mari? I like it.”

Mari gives him a flat look. “That’s Yoshizawa to you,” she tells him firstly. “And please put aside your perverted delusions while I do this. I just want to patch you up.”

“Right,” Kaminari says as if obvious, but still looking like this was news to him. He shrugs off his black jacket and white shirt after a moment of hesitance. “I’ve always wanted a personal nurse, you know. I think they are kind of sexy.”

Mari ignores the blonde’s babbling and instead focuses on his wound. Luckily for Kaminari, it does not look too deep. She firstly begins by using her damp rag to clean off fresh and dried blood. 

She cleans the wound in silence until she notices how firm Kaminari’s chest was. Like, unusually firm. 

“Kaminari, are you tensing your body to appear more toned?”

“No.” The blonde replies, clearly struggling to speak properly.

She smacks him again. Kaminari laughs and relaxes his muscles, but not before asking, “Did it impress you?”

Mari does not deign him with a response.

Another ten minutes pass and Mari has disinfected and bandaged Kaminari’s stomach wound, as well as given him a cold rag to press on his bruised lip to prevent swelling. 

She steps away from him and asks, “How’s that?”

Kaminari examines her handiwork. He looks back up at her with a dazed expression. “I think I’m in love with you.” 

Mari doesn't bother to hide the disgust on her face. She replies coldly, "Don't be."

He laughs, "Sorry, sorry. You did great.” A pause, and then the blonde looks away almost wistfully. “You just don't get this kind of kindness at UA often." He gives her a light-hearted grin that shows bloody teeth. "A boy can't help his fluttering heart when a pretty girl stands up to his bully, you know?"

Mari thinks that it can definitely be helped and that Kaminari had extremely questionable taste.

"I didn't do it to be kind," Mari replies firmly. Kaminari gives her a questioning look, she elaborates. "I did it so you would owe me something."

She looks down at him coldly. "That's how you do things here, is it not? I help you and you help me."

Kaminari laughs but he undoubtedly looks more nervous than he did before. With a dry swallow he asks, "What kind of help are we talking about? I know the reputation we have here at UA but some things require a dinner first at least- "

Finally, the moment of truth. Mari steels her nerves and cuts the rambling blonde off.

"I want you to join my gang."

Kaminari stares at her. He doesn't speak for a significant amount of time. Mari thinks she may have made his brain short circuit.

"Your gang?" He finally responds, incredulous, as he stares at the black-haired girl. 

Mari nods. Kaminari continues, "Like an honest to god gang? Like something straight from the Yakuza series? Like we cut off a guy's fingers and send them to their family, like I stand behind you and say things like 'yeah you tell 'em, boss-"

Mari thinks he'll go on forever if she doesn't cut him off. "We won't kill anyone," she promises. It is a promise to herself more than anything.

She's optimistic but not unrealistic. She knows her hands are already burdened with sin, but she wants to avoid another killing for as long as she can.

She does not mistake this as something moral or righteous. She doesn't do this to be a hero. She does this because she is a coward.

She doesn't want to stain her UA uniform with blood. And she doesn't want to stoop to the level of the Family.

"Listen, I've heard this spiel before, okay? If I wanted to be in a gang I would just do what every other UA student does and work for Bakugou. But I'm not about that life! I'm a nice guy! I'm not interested in all that noise. I just want to graduate from this hellhole and get a nice job and wife with huge tit-"

Mari cuts him off. She is beginning to think she's getting a sixth sense for when Kaminari is about to say something stupid (which is most of the time he opens his mouth, anyway).

"It's not like that," she tells him firmly. "I want to make a place where people can feel safe." Her words are genuine but they feel foreign in her mouth, like she's an actor playing a role that wasn't meant for her. "I despise gangs, too," she adds.

"Having a gang seems pretty counterintuitive to that but OK." Kaminari sighs. He continues, "I don't entirely like it but I do owe you for today. And for whatever reason, I think you are being honest about creating a safe place." He looks down at his lap, unusually serious. 

"You're also, like, exactly my type so I think you could probably convince me to do anything." He looks at her earnestly. "I'm in. I'll join your gang, Mari Yoshizawa."

He gives her a warm grin and extends his hand to her. "Please look after me."

Mari gives something vaguely resembling a smile in return. After a moment of hesitance, she takes his hands in hers. It’s sweaty. They shake on it and a silent promise is made. 

A gang of two was better than a gang of one, Mari figures. Even if one of them was a complete idiot. 

KAMINARI DENKI JOINS THE TUNNEL SNAKES