MHA Universe, Earth, Japan, Musutafu.
The first week after U.A. Sports Festival preparations were announced passed quickly. And just as mentioned, all the students, from Heroic Classes to General Study Classes were training frantically to make a name for themselves during the Festival.
But most of the Hero student were wondering why the other courses were training so hard. And the answer was provided by a General Studies student name Shinso Hitoshi during a random encounter with Izuku, Tenya, and Ochaco.
According to Shinso, if a General Studies student performed well enough, he or she could possibly replace one of the Heroic Studies students in the Hero Course.
Naturally, when this news made it back to Class 1-A, a lot of the students were shocked. And that led to the issue being brought up with Shota during one of the homeroom classes that took place after the conversation with Shinso.
"Aizawa-Sensei,, I heard about something from another student." Ochaco said after Shota made his morning announcements. "Could you let me know if it's true?"
"What is it?" Shota asked in his usual tired tone.
"They said that if a General Studies student performs exceptionally well during the Sports Festival, it's possible for them to replace a Hero Class student, pushing the Hero Course student into General Studies." Ochaco explained. "And… I just wanted to know if that's really true."
"I don't know why you would think it wasn't." Aizawa replied in the same tone. "Hasn't it been obvious from the start that all of you are competitors? Why would you think that you could underperform and not be replaced?"
Shota's blunt response caused uproar among the Class 1-A students. Though, there were students who were not affected at all, as well.
Naturally, those were the most confident students in the class, such as Tatsuo, Sakura, Akatsuki, Katsuki, Shoto, and a few others.
"And that's why every teacher and faculty member keeps telling us to continue improving." Tatsuo said, his voice cutting through the din of uncertainty Shota's response created. "Studying at U.A. is like rowing a boat upstream. If you're not moving forward, you're falling behind."
"Well said." Shota replied with a nod. "Like Soramoto said, if you don't wanna get kicked out of the Hero Course, then work hard to make sure that doesn't happen. There's nothing else to say about it.'
A similar conversation happened in Class 1-B, as well. Though, their homeroom teacher, Kan Sekijiro, aka Vlad King, was not so blunt about it. Either way, those conversations lit a fire under the first-year Hero Course students, causing them all to train even harder than they had already been.
That same night, back at the Static Shock Hero Agency, Tatsuo and Alfonzo were training in the top floor gym when…
*Thud!*
… a familiar sound rang out from the skylight. And sure enough, when they looked up, Rumi was pressing her face to the glass while staring down at the two with battle hunger in her eyes.
"God damn it, she's back." Tatsuo muttered to himself. "I do not have the energy for this."
"You shouldn't have to worry about anything, T." Alfonzo said while patting Tatsuo on the shoulder. "She said she was never fighting you again, remember? So, she's probably here for me."
In response, Tatsuo turned to Alfonzo with a deadpan expression on his face while his eyes were practically screaming: "Neither of us know that's bullshit. So, stop trying to feed it to me."
Alfonzo only shrugged in response as he raised his right hand and used his [Quirk] to open the skylight.
Wasting no time, Rumi dropped through the open skylight, landed gracefully, and then strode towards the two. And just as Tatsuo expected, she almost completely ignored Alfonzo as she stepped up to Tatsuo and poked him in the chest with her right index finger.
"Fight me." Rumi said, her "request" sounding closer to an order.
"What happened to never fighting me again?" Tatsuo asked while tilting his head.
"Hmph!" Rumi snorted derisively as she continued to poke Tatsuo's chest with increasing force. "There's no way I'm letting some snot-nosed brat draw with me. So, get ready, we're fighting again. And we're not stopping until we determine a winner"
"You mean until you win, right?" Tatsuo asked disdainfully. "yeah, no thanks."
With that said, Tatsuo turned around and started walking towards the bench press.
"You don't get a say in this." Rumi said as she stepped forward and grabbed Tatsuo's right the shoulder.
As soon as Rumi's hand touched Tatsuo's shoulder, both she and Tatsuo disappeared from the gym. Then, after only a second, Tatsuo reappeared without Rumi. He then fell to one knee with evident exhaustion on his face while breathing heavily.
Seeing this, Alfonzo could not help but smirk at what he saw.
"So, where did you send her." Alfonzo asked curiously.
"A beach in Okinawa." Tatsuo replied while trying to get his breathing under control.
"*Whistle* Damn, you went all-out." Alfonzo said sounding quite impressed. "That explains why you look so tired, then. You just made a nearly 4,000 km round trip in a little more than a second."
"Yeah, I pushed myself a little." Tatsuo replied dismissively. "Anyway, I'm done with training for tonight. I don't have the [Energy] to keep going."
"Understandable." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "go get some rest. But you should probably be careful for a while. Mirko is gonna be ungodly pissed about this."
"Yeah I know." Tatsuo replied as he finally got his breathing under control. "But it was totally worth it. The look on her face was priceless."
With that, Tatsuo started towards the gym's locker room to take a shower. Meanwhile, Alfonzo watched him go with a wistful expression on his face.
"Damn… I wish I could have seen it." Alfonzo muttered regretfully.
*Beep!* *Beep!*
At that moment, Alfonzo received a text message alert.
Pulling his lPhone out of his pocket, he looked down, seeing that the text was from Tatsuo. And when he opened it, he could not help but smile brightly.
The message had no text, making the term "text message" a bit misleading. Instead, it was a picture. A picture of Rumi, to be precise.
And in that picture, Rumi's face was illuminated with the light of a phone camera's flash. And that naturally caused Rumi to squint her eyes. However, Rumi's beautiful face illuminated by a flash was not the main selling point of this picture.
Instead, what really made the picture stand out was the expression she was wearing. One filled with rage that had clearly just transition from confusion once she realized what had just happened and what she figured would happen next.
Alfonzo's laughter was loud enough to carry through the walls into the locker room, causing Tatsuo to crack a smile while he got undressed.
"Ungodly pissed might be an understatement." Alfonzo muttered while putting his lPhone away before getting back to his own workout.
MHA Universe, Earth, Japan, Yokohama.
Another week passed after the incident with Rumi. Since then, not much has happened. And Rumi, not wanting to end up halfway across the country again, has not tried to fight Tatsuo since then.
However, tonight, in Yokohama, at the abandoned bar the League of Villains used as their hideout, Tomura and Kurogiri were welcoming a guest.
"Stain, welcome to the League of Villains headquarters." Tomura said in the most charismatic tone he could muster as Kurogiri led the Hero Killer towards the bar. "Please, have a seat. What would you like to drink? It's on us."
"Why would scum like you be looking for me?" Stain, aka Akaguro Chizome, asked in a gruff, disdainful, and dismissive tone. "IN fact, give me one good reason why I shouldn't just cut you down right now?"
"Now, now… There's no need for such hostility." Tomura said, his smile undiminished. "Although we're not on the same side, there's no reason for us to be enemies. Especially since we share some of the same… core values."
Hearing Tomura's attempt at sounding charming and welcoming made Stain's stomach lurch and his hands clench involuntarily. The thought of stabbing first and asking questions never was growing in real time.
"We both despise the Hero society." Tomura continued, unaware of the danger that was growing only a few seats away from him at the bar. "While I despise this society for its over reliance on Heroes, I know you hate it because there are too many so-called 'fake Heroes.' Heroes who act for the wrong reasons. Am I right?"
That was no secret. Stain had never hidden the reason why he began hunting Heroes. So, with Tomura droning on about his ideals, Stain's plans to stab, cut, and slice Tomura were solidifying.
"Get to the point." Stain said coldly, cutting off Tomura before he could go into another hammy monologue.
Meanwhile, Tomura,, after being interrupted, paused for a moment. Then, his smile, which he still thought was quite charming, began to cramp. Next he started scratching his neck, a subconscious action he took whenever he was flustered or angry.
And when Stain saw this, he nodded his head.
'Yeah, this looks more natural.' Stain thought to himself. 'The way hew was acting before was going to make me either throw up or stab him in the liver… Or maybe both…'
"If we want to clean up this corrupted Hero society…" Tomura continued after a few seconds, his confident tone replaced by visible frustration. "Then, we need to start at the top. The way you're taking out B-list Heroes is inefficient. You should aim higher. Aim at one of the top ten on the Billboards."
Stain's murderous impulses and nausea came to a sudden halt when he heard Tomura's suggestion. And for the first time, he took a proper look at the younger man sitting down the bar.
As for Tomura, when he saw the genuine intrigue in Stain's eyes, he regained his charismatic, only to him, smile. Then, he stood up and began pacing as he continued.
"I mean think about it." Tomura said, his tone increasing in fervor with every word. "the No. 2 Hero, Endeavor. It's clear to anyone who has ever seen him, he's no real Hero. He causes more injuries to suspects than any other Hero in the country. Sure, he also has the highest case completion rate in history. But at what cost? So many of those he arrests have been seriously injured or crippled."
Stain nodded in response to that.
"Then,, there's the No. 4 Hero: Hawks." Tomura continued. "He's no Hero. He's simply a hired gun for the government…"
And Tomura continued to tear down the top ten. And everything he said about the other Heroes on the top ten of the Hero Billboard, Stain completely agreed with it. In fact, he was just about to praise Tomura for not including All Might and Static on his list of Heroes he ranted about.
All Might needed no mention. For decades, All Might has thrown himself in front of every threat that he could reach, saving millions of lives without asking for anything in response. Hell, he never even took cuts from the merchandise with is likeness. Nor did he complain about not getting paid from it. Instead, he allowed it to be created to inspire the next generation.
Then, there was Static. Although he had only been a Hero for three years, or so, he did not accept the paycheck that all Heroes received from the government, either. Instead, he made all his money off of the support equipment he sold to other Heroes. And while some people would try to say that if he were a real Hero, he should supply other Heroes for free, Stain knew that was just stupid. He needed to live, too. As long as he was not making Hero work into a business, Stain had no problem with him.
But just before Stain could finally say something nice to Tomura, Tomura ruined that himself.
"But the worst of all these fakes has got to be Static." Tomura said, doing his best to control Stain's opinion of the No. 3 Hero. "Sure, he saves a lot of people. And sure, he doesn't receive any money from the government for his Hero work. But what kind of Hero charges other Heroes, who are also risking their lives, for equipment to make their jobs safer?"
Immediately, Stain's expression turned colder than it had been at any point since he entered the bar. And Kurogiri noticed it immediately.
'This is bad.' Kurogiri thought to himself. 'Tomura-Kun is using the wrong approach to win him over. Honestly, it would have been better to direct him towards a Hero that Static is close with. Then, when he came to intervene, Stain would have no choice but to fight him so that he was not arrested. But to direct him at Static directly was a terrible idea. I should have made him tell me his entire plan before setting up this meeting. Damn ..'
For the next few moments, Tomura continued to sling mud on Alfonzo's character as a Hero. And with every word, Stain's previously diminished murderous intent was re-emerging.
Eventually, there came a point where Stain could no longer take it. And when that time came…
*Shing!*
*Thud!*
*Splatter!*
"Huh?" Tomura, interrupted by a flash of movement and the sound of something falling to the floor, intoned in confusion.
At the same time, purplish-black mist engulfed Stain, who had just drawn the sword on his back and cut off Tomura's left hand. A moment later, when the mist dissipated, Stain was no longer in the bar, Kurogiri having teleported him all the way to Hosu, a ward in Tokyo.
And just as the mist dissipated completely…
"Ahh~~~~~~~~~~!" Tomura screamed as he clutched the stump where his left hand used to be after finally registering the pain. "Damn that mother fucker! How dare he cut off my hand. I'm going to kill him. I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"
'You brought this on yourself, Tomura-Kun.' Kurogiri thought to himself as he stepped out from behind the bar to check on the status of Tomura's cut off hand. 'No matter how you spin it, that Static is not one of those fake Heroes Stain despises. And when you spin him as one of them, it only looks like you're trying to use him in stead of helping him. *Sigh* He's still too young and impulsive.'
Kurogiri eventually reached Tomura's cut off hand and looked at the cut.
'Well, at least it's a clean cut.' Kurogiri thought. 'But without Dr. Garaki, having this reattached is going to be much more of a hassle than it should have been. Now I understand why Sensei was so angered by his assassination.'
"I'll contact Sensei to see how we should proceed." Kurogiri said as he picked up the severed hand and returned to the back of the bar. "But we'll get your wound bandaged first. Hopefully he has a way to reattach your hand. Losing it would make your combat effectiveness drop by half. And we cannot afford that right now."
With that, Kurogiri returned behind the bar t put Tomura's hand on ice. Then, he returned to Tomura's side with a first-hand kit in hand and began tending to his wound. And from there, the League of Villains plans stalled for the foreseeable future.