Work Text:
[A/N: This one-shot takes place after Chapter #13 of OASIS, when dorms have been introduced.]
The girl who went by Tooru Hagakure was still a little bit confused at how they got to this point.
Word for word, beat for beat, things made sense. She was eating lunch on the roof because she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Shoda, Shoji, and Ojiro were much the same, so they also were eating on the roof, and that made sense to her.
Tetsutetsu and Komori eating on the roof made less sense, as did Kamakiri, but that part was pretty easily explained by them wanting to enjoy the air, and they weren’t bothering Tooru, so she put that out of her mind.
Tooru supposed the part where things stopped making a proper amount of sense was when Tetsutetsu pulled out a flashlight he had for some reason- who knows why- and turned it on to show Komori something. Now, that might not have been a problem, but Tooru was in the way of the beam and she hissed and flinched away as Tetsutetsu shone it directly into her eyes.
“Whoops! Sorry, Hagakure!” Tetsutetsu said, starting to turn the flashlight off, but Komori grabbed his arm.
“Wait! Holy shiitake!” she said, gesturing towards Tooru. Tooru turned behind her and saw…
A rainbow pattern cast on the bricks?
“Didn’t you say we could manipulate light in the future?” Tooru asked her.
She frowned.
“That’s odd,” she said.
Tetsutetsu grinned. “It’s cool! Looks kinda like a prism or something!”
Tooru waved a hand up and down, watching the ripples echo in the light.
“I mean, it’s neat,” she admitted, “but I don’t really see anything coming out of it.”
I don’t think I can unlock my light abilities early, she didn’t say.
Shoda put his lunch aside and sighed. “Fuck it, we’re exploring this.”
“Shoda?” Shoji asked.
Shoda stood up an dusted off his knees. “Quirk Analysis blogger xX_GreenAllMightFan_Xx at your service,” he said.
Shoji blinked. “I thought that was Midoriya.”
“What? No. Why would Midoriya have an analysis blog named xX_GreenAllMightFan_Xx? It’s named after my favorite color and favorite hero.”
“I just thought…” Shoji started, only to shake his head. “Nevermind.”
“Anyways!” Shoda said, waving a finger in the air. “It’s time for SCIENCE! ”
The door to the roof slammed open and a girl with pink dreadlocks fell through. “Did someone say babies?”
“No?” Tooru said.
Hatsume frowned. “Did someone say science?” she asked.
“Yes?”
Hatsume beamed. “Close enough to ‘baby’ for me!” she decided, plopping happily onto the ground criss-cross applesauce.
Ojiro looked around at all of this, shrugged, and went back to eating his sandwich.
“So! What do we know?” Shoda asked, underlining that at the whiteboard.
Tetstetsu raised a hand. “Hagakure’s powers mess with light on the visible spectrum.”
Shoda nodded. “Correct. What else?”
Komori raised her hand. “Hagakure’s invisibility quirk could result from a complex integration of biophotonic lattice structures within her cellular architecture, which induce a complete photonic bandgap across the visible spectrum, effectively creating a metamaterial skin capable of full-spectrum light manipulation. These nanostructures, composed of quasi-crystalline photonic arrangements, are embedded in her dermal and epidermal layers and enable coherent light scattering and refraction, redirecting incident photons to seamlessly traverse her form without absorption or reflection. This photonic lattice is dynamically responsive, regulated by a bio-neuro-optic system that synchronizes lattice orientation and spacing at the molecular level, maintaining optical transparency even under varying light intensities. Additionally, specialized cells within her dermis emit phase-canceling photonic pulses that induce destructive interference, further nullifying any residual visible light signals. The precise quantum alignment of these biophotonic lattices is controlled by unique chromophore proteins, which are powered by her body’s ATP metabolism, creating a biologically sustained, full-spectrum cloaking field that renders her effectively invisible.”
Everyone stared at Komori.
“Uh, mushrooms,” she said.
Shoda shook his head. “Moving on,” he said, “how can we test it?”
“Light!” Tetsutetsu suggested. Shoda wrote it on the board.
“Lasers?” Shoji offered. Shoda wrote that down, too.
“Mushrooms?” Komori offered. “Unrelated to the light thing, I just think that would be neat.” Shoda shrugged and added it to the board.
Hatsume grinned. “I have so many babies for this.”
“Do you ever not have babies for something?” Tooru asked, curious.
Hatsume frowned. “The Moon.”
She did not elaborate.
After an extensive session of “throwing bullshit at Tooru and see what lands”, Shoda told them that he felt very confident in stating the limits of Hagakure’s quirk.
That point was immediately undercut by the twenty minute rant he went on about how quirks were bullshit and likely this explanation wouldn’t actually hold up, but it was the thought that counts.
“…And don’t even get me started on goddamn heat vision! Do you know what that would do to your brain? Your eyes? Anyone saying they can just shoot beams of pure, burning energy straight out of their pupils is either fucking lying, fucking delusional, or both. There’s nothing ‘super’ about turning your own skull into a goddamn microwave oven. And telekinesis? Please. You’re telling me someone’s brain can lift a whole city block without tearing their own body apart? Science doesn’t care about your ‘but it’s cool’ argument. Physics shouldn’t be fucking bending for anyone’s fun quirk ideas! And don’t get me started on…”
Shoji cleared his throat. “But how do her powers work?”
Shoda blinked and shook his head. “Right- basically, you can compress or diffuse sources of light shined on your body.”
Tooru raised a hand. “Meaning…”
“You can focus lasers or make them bigger, magnifying their power. I expect with some practice you’ll be able to do it on command, though for the moment it appears more instinctual.”
“So we just need to find someone who can shoot lasers!” Tooru suggested.
Tooru frowned. Where was there someone like that in canon…?
Himiko Toga sighed, her head hitting the table with a clunk. “Bored! Bored, bored, bored…”
It was a lazy day in the bar. Shigaraki was off doing who knows what, Anathema was off doing whatever else, and it ended up just being Fulcrum, Dumas, herself, Apostle, and Kurogiri. The nomu was behind the bar, cleaning a glass, and the other four of them were just sitting around a table looking for something to do.
“Five finger filet?” Fulcrum asked, holding up a knife.
Himiko stared at the man. “No! That’s the tenth time you’ve suggested that!”
Fulcrum shrugged. “I mean, I can play by myself.”
“That’s not any better!”
Dumas suddenly sat bolt upright, his fists slamming onto the table. “She has awoken,” he uttered. “I must go.”
Himiko blinked. “What?”
“You too have felt a higher calling!” Apostle chortled. “Go forth, my friend! Spread their light upon this darkened world!”
Dumas took Apostle’s hand. “I have need of your talents as well, mon ami .”
Apostle nodded solemnly. “I would be honored to help you.”
Fulcrum raised a hand, the back of it bleeding slightly. “What the fuck are you two talking about?”
“We must be off,” Dumas said, standing and wheeling around to the wall. “She needs us.”
Apostle grinned, holding his hands out wide and tracing a shield of glass around the two of them.
Kurogiri paled.
“Obligation Sparkle Beam: CANNOT STOP TWINKLING!” Dumas roared, a beam of light shooting out and exploding the wall.
Kurogiri’s head hit the bar with a thunk and the nomu let out a drawn out sigh.
Shigaraki came in from the back, took in the sight, and paused. “Are you… leaving?”
“I have a duty!” Dumas called, leaping up to the hole in the wall and perching dramatically. Apostle followed, a glass platform underneath his feet lifting him up.
Shigaraki crinkled his eyebrows. “What about your parents?”
“ Baise mes parents! ” Dumas called. “They understand our mission!”
Shigaraki shrugged. “Are you coming back?”
“Likely not!”
Shigaraki stared at them before sighing. “What the fuck, at least you told me. Have fun! Fuck up All Might for me!”
“ Merci !” Dumas called before leaping down out of sight, Apostle flying after him.
The door behind Shigaraki opened up and Anathema pushed by him. She took in the scene and pouted.
“You guys have all the fun without me!” she complained.
Tooru rubbed her eyes.
Dumas held two thumbs up with a grin.
Apostle waved.
“...Why are you in my bedroom?” she asked.
“You have awakened,” Dumas said, his voice echoing in his helmet, as though that explained everything.
That explained nothing.
“I mean, yeah,” Tooru said, “because you guys are wanted criminals that are standing in my bedroom.”
“We have come to offer you our services, o light bringer,” Apostle said. “Truly, my god is overcome with joy at our decision!”
Tooru paused. She did need someone who could shoot lasers…
“Well alright then,” she said. “But you’re telling my parents.”
“O, frabjous day!” Apostle praised.
“Say that after you’ve convinced my mom,” Tooru said, getting out of bed.
Approximately two months later…
Things were going… poorly, Toshinori had to admit. At a certain point he lost track of why, exactly, All for One chose now to attack, but the battlefield was on fire. There were unconscious villains littered everywhere, his students were all dealing with individual and deeply personal battles relating to their character arcs that were being completed in many varied POVs across a fanfiction writing project, and now the demon lord himself was taking the field.
With nary a whisper, All for One touched down upon the battlefield. “I see this is where you end, old fool,” All for One said, taking in All Might’s bruised body.
All Might winced, getting to his feet and drawing the embers of his quirk in closely. “Not without a fight,” he promised.
“Not today, villain!” someone shouted. All Might and All for One turned to see… young Dumas?
“Get out of here!” All Might yelled.
Dumas stepped backwards, Apostle standing in front of him with a bubble of glass, and then… Young Hagakure?
All for One frowned. “What foolishness is this, you foolish… fools?”
Dumas grinned under his mask, his bellybutton starting to glow. “This is our combo move! The pinnacle of quirks, passed down from generation to generation, from the dawn of quirks itself!”
All for One paused. “...Your ancestors were quirkless. You were quirkless.”
Dumas ignored him. “The three of us as one! My Navel Buffet☆Laser…”
Apostle stepped forward, his glass forming into a set of lenses. “MINE GOD IS ANGRY!” the bearded maniac shouted. “AND HE DOTH SAY: FUCK HIM UP.”
“Yes, quite,” Dumas said. “And, finally, the madame ,”
Hagakure stepped in front of the lenses and pointed at All for One. “Dayspring Ultimate Combo Move: Zhulong’s Breath!”
Dumas fires his naval laser into the lenses, which concentrate the beam of light into a single point in Hagakure with all the skill and precision of someone who’s an insane cultist that has had literally nothing better to do for years on end due to the “insane” part.
For a moment, there’s an unnatural stillness on the battlefield. Sparks dance across Hagakure’s body as they concentrate on the tip of her finger.
Then there’s a roar as a veritable roar of light shoots across the battlefield, instantly incinerating All for One and a large portion of the surrounding area.
All Might took in the destruction.
Hagakure gave him two thumbs up.
He gave his student two thumbs up back.
“See, what I don’t understand is how light killed him,” Kirishima said. After the big battle, everyone in 1-A was gathered around the dorm’s common area to debrief. Plus also Melissa Shield and Himiko Toga, who were sharing a couch with Yaoyorozu for some reason. “Shouldn’t he have quirks to block that?”
“Counterpoint,” Tooru said. “Laser.”
Kaminari raised a hand. “Also he was technically a vampire.”
“A vampire?”
“Immortal dude? Weak to stakes in the heart? Subsided by feeding on other people? Totally a vampire.”
Kirishima frowned. “I hate that I can’t technically refute that.”
“And what’s a vampire’s weakness? Sunlight! And lasers.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a classic part of vampire lore,” Uraraka argued.
Kaminari shrugged. “Yeah, but who’s going to tell the lasers that?”
Tooru laughed along with the rest of her classmates and leaned into the cushions, knowing that she could immolate any of them at any minute.