In the cloudy dark skies overhead, a lone red star shines bright as it brings a out a crimson hue on a lone mountain.
Littered across it's rocky surface are multiple Torii gates, one that occasionally manifests and demanifests various beings wearing a monk's attire. The gates are connected to animal trails and stone steps that the monks use to transverse the slope, choosing which ones hike towards their desired plateau.
Sitting atop one of the biggest plateau is a large, though unconventional, shrine.
And within the shrine lies the most important building there: The Honden.
Cheery laughter can be heard within the sacred building, along with the elated discussion between the pair of Kami that it currently houses.
"Hihihi, A windfall! An absolute windfall! Our numbers have at least doubled from the previous stunt alone! Imagine how much more we'd get for another stunt!" In his excitement, the green-skinned Kami keep accidentally flinging both his slime and sake around. Surprisingly, however, was the state of spotlessness of the other Kami before him.
"I understand how you feel, business is booming on my end." Replied the plain man. "But, more members mean more vectors to look out for. We still haven't scrutinized all of them so we can't say for certain of all their intentions."
The green-skinned Kami, though still quite elated, calmed down somewhat. "Right. Never really know if any of them are going to be sleeper agents or spies. But I still wouldn't worry to much about that, only a matter of time."
"Right. The little lass took it upon herself as her duty." The man smiled as he took a sip of his own alcohol, then sighed. "Too bad about my Naishoten still being out of commission. Would have sped up the process in a matter of days and not months."
"Speaking of, you just said where the little one is, where's the other two half-wits?"
The man smirked in amusement. "Where else? One's probably shacking it up with her favourite boy toy, and the other is definitely asleep somewhere."
"Tsk. If either of them were half as motivated as a child, we wouldn't be having problems that shouldn't have been problems to begin with." The green-skinned Kami downed a bottle of soju. "The problem of believers is being solved, now we just need a few other Kami in our ranks."
"True." The plain man agreed. "I hate that we have to share split our resources with any new additions, but what a Kami can bring to the table is undeniable."
"We got lucky with the little bobcut back then, managing to pull her in when she was in that sort of state. Shame about that other Kami we found recently."
"Who knew a Kami would enroll at U.A. as a Hero student? No shame or pride, that one. Ridiculous." The plain man drank from his cup.
"That power of his is versatile. Strong too. I'm not surprised the strike team failed."
"Which reminds me, have you heard of the rumor going around recently?"
"The one about a wasteful being? Already sent someone to investigate." The though of such extravagant expenditure caused the green-skinned Kami take another bottle and downed it. "Suspicious how someone like that appeared during this period. I plan to recruit them kicking and screaming if I have to, then drill into his head about wise spending." He gritted out.
"Feeling brave?" The plain man seemed amused at his display. "Don't you mean interrogate? About his origins of wealth and such? Or perhaps just his origins in general?"
"That too, obviously, but there is a priority to the process." He scoffed. "We find out where he's getting all that energy, and then afterwards, we figure out what to do with him."
"Well, from the rumors, it doesn't seem like our target is a Kami but we'll just have to take that with a grain of salt. It doesn't hurt to be cautious nowadays, especially when our group is in a critical point of development. We don't need stragglers hanging off our tail."
A though flashed through the green-skinned Kami's mind at that phrase. "Right. I heard there's more than a handful sniffing around for any of our trails. I took the liberty of sending my Naishoten to pull something off, buy us some time and cause more chaos. Should get us some new followers too. Two birds with one stone."
"Wonderful. I suppose I can use my newfound free time on something else!" The plain man chuckled. "There's a little side project I've been meaning to finish but I just couldn't find the opportunity to work on it until just now."
"Oh? What is it?"
"No way! You just have to find out when it's done."
"Really? Not even a clue?"
"Not a single one! However, I assure you that it is worth the investment!"
"Fine. Keep your secrets then, you creep."
~~~~~~
It had been a fairly normal day for Kosaka Kenta.
He was ready to do his usual routine; woke up, go for a quick jog, come back and freshen up to meet the new day.
It was supposed to be that way.
Instead, he found himself knocked unconscious during his jog and being woken up tied to a chair with a sack covering his face and his hands tied behind his back.
Just as he was about to break free, a mechanical voice made him stop.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, reincarnator." Kenta's blood ran cold as he paled considerably. "Because as far as I can tell, you're not the least bit bombproof after all."
"What?! Reincarnation? Who, me? No way! That's ridiculous!" It wasn't the best response, but Kenta was panicking.
"People like you never learn, do they? Always messing with things under the guise of playing by the plot, always treating people like your personal slaves and yesmen. Always, always the power-hungry sort, aren't you?"
"I don't know! I don't even know who you are! Kidnapping is illegal! I'll put you in jail for this!"
"Good luck with that." The mechanical voice scoffed. "No earthly cell can hold me. Not even those gamer-kin your ilk seemed impartial to can hold a candle to my might."
'Gamers?! No way, even with a cheat like that and they can't beat him?! Who is this guy?!!'
As if reading his mind, the voice continued to monologue. "I am Urbuk. The defender of this planet from outsiders like you." The voice paused, as if thinking for a brief moment. "Your kind has taken to referring to me as the 'TVA' of this world."
Kenta felt himself bluescreen from that statement but his kidnapper didn't give him time to adjust.
"Goodbye. And good riddance."
A shiver went down his spine. "SCREW THIS!! BOOST!" He broke through his restraints and began running in the opposite direction of ths voice. Unfortunately, in his haste to run, he didn't remove the sack covering his face and ran face first into an obstacle. "Ughhh... Ow.."
"Umm... You good?" A vaguely familiar voice call out from behind him and Kenta didn't hesitate to throw himself in their direction.
"You gotta help! Someone wants to kill me!" He explained.
"About that..." The sack was removed from Kenta's head. "You got pranked."
.
..
...
"Huh?"
Kenta finally took in his surroundings as Kizuki awkwardly stood to in front of him. They were in the middle of the woods, somewhere in U.A.'s vast grounds with no one else around but the both of them.
"Huh?" Kenta couldn't help but dumbly say.
"...Suprise?"
Eventually, reasoning caught up with and he began cursing out the redhead. "What the heck, man?!! Wh- why would you even do something like this?!!"
"I figured it would be a decent ice-breaker." Kizuki shrugged.
Kenta didn't really expect an answer for his outburst but the incredulity and indifference of the response rubbed him off the wrong way. "For what?!! A kidnapping? Really? This is seriously uncalled for!"
"Because I wanted to talk." Kizuki clarified. "Reincarnator to reincarnator."
The words uttered brought Kenta short as his mind tried to comprehend what he just heard. Automatically however, his first instinct is to deny it.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He huffed incessantly.
Unfortunately for him, Kizuki already thought that this might happen so he brought a hand to his pocket and pulled out a phone. "I have evidence that says otherwise."
What Kizuki did might have been a mean-spirited prank, but it was also a test. Anyone else would have thought it to be words strung together in one ridiculous sentence but the statements he proclaimed would have brought an entirely different reaction from anyone with an ounce of metaknowledge.
And if the boy in front of the Youkai couldn't take a joke and decided to be his archenemy because of a wounded pride? Well... Escalating powers can be dealt with a quick snipe from a far distance.
Under Kizuki's unwavering gaze, Kenta gritted his teeth and spar out. "Fine. Now what?"
"Nothing."
"...nothing?" Once again, Kenta was brought to a back foot at the redhead's response. He was wholly prepared for blackmail and not... Nothing. "What do you mean, nothing? I thought you wanted to talk?"
Kizuki simply shrugged.
Kenta waited for a verbal response, only to be met with indifferent silence and a bored gaze. The sounds of the winds rustling the leaves passed by them both and the boy slumped down on the seat at the absurdity of the redhead.
"Fine, whatever. I'm curious about some stuff anyway." Kenta spoke as he leveled his eyes to the redhead who was also sitting in front of his... On thin air.
Ignoring that, Kenta asked without thinking. "So... Did you get run over by a truck or something?" Kenta winced at his carelessness. Common topics are usually a great icebreaker but in hindsight, how someone died should've have been a big social faux pass.
Luckily, Kizuki didn't seem to mind much- "I was burned alive, thank you for asking." -though still a tad vindictive.
Wanting to backtrack but couldn't, Kenta had no choice but to charge ahead with a joke. "Really? Sick. Better than choking on instant ramen, eh? Speaking of, did you meet a ROB? I didn't. Can't believe fanfics lied to me, haha..."
Silence. Not even the winds or bugs could be heard.
Getting flustered enough that he was tempted to dig a hole to hide into, Kenta remarked indignantly. "Stop messing around and tell me what you really want to talk about."
Kizuki's gaze settled on Kenta's form.
"Urk!"
Suddenly, an unknown pressure radiated from from the Youkai and almost caused Kenta to fall face first unto the dirt. The only reason he didn't was because Kizuki chose not to exert to much force. The blonde teen felt exposed, as if nothing could be hidden from those sharp red eyes.
Kenta might have been a reincarnator with an entire life's experience behind him, but Kizuki also has the same advantage and more. Kenta was raised mostly the same safe environment, perhaps witnessing a villain fight from a distance or training with videos and going to dojos.
But Kizuki? He fought for his life, he struggled to crawl out of the depths of weakness and self-doubt, he survived a variety of near-death experiences multiple times, and most importantly, he lived without breaking.
In this instance, not just the experience, but also a fraction of the sheer metaphysical weight of Kizuki's existence bore down on the blonde teen.
It was in this instance that Kenta knew. He is severely outclassed.
"Enlighten me. What are your designs for this world?"
One sentence. Just the singular one, but to Kenta, each syllable pounded in his ears and vibrated inside his very core.
Shaking from his seat, he spoke with clattering jaws. "Live! Live! I-I just wanna live, man! Do stuff I didn't do l-like being a Hero! A-and get a harem and sh*t!"
"Is that so?"
It was a rhetorical question, Kenta realised as the pressure increased and his mouth shut tight.
No, it wasn't just the pressure.
There was deep, instinctual fear that prevented him from responding.
Kizuki's piercing gaze bore down on him like an imposing judge ready to impart his sentence.
How much time has passed? Each agonizing second felt like an endless loop, chipping away at his sanity as Kenta unwilling waited for the result of whatever unknown criteria that was required of him.
Eventually, however...
Kizuki finally opened his mouth.
"I believe you."
Kenta tried to look up with hope and relief. "You d-" and he was knocked out again before a vial an unknown liquid was shoved inside his mouth.
"Good thing I had extra experience in intimidation lately. Otherwise, this would have been a lot messier." Kizuki removed the empty vial. "Not like he'll remember any of it, though. Thank Nana for doing a rush order."