Chapter 31: The Circuitry of Chaos and the Deer-Scented Destiny
(Sunny Midoriya POV)
Sunlight is a lot like a script-edit. If it's too bright, it washes out the scene. If it's too dim, nobody knows what's going on. Today, at Dagobah Municipal Beach, the sun was being very uncooperative. It was shining directly into my eyes as I leaned against a discarded refrigerator that I had recently painted to look like a 1950s diner booth.
"Izu-chan, stop trying to explode. You aren't Bakugo. You don't have the hair for it," I chirped, my voice echoing with the sound of a slide-whistle. [WHEEEEE-OOP!]
My brother, Izuku, was standing in the middle of a cleared patch of sand. He was glowing. Not the 'I'm a protagonist' glow I usually have, but a jagged, flickering, 'I'm-about-to-shatter-my-own-arm-into-Lego-bricks' kind of glow. Red lines were spiderwebbing across his skin, and the air around him was humming with the sound of a transformer about to blow.
All Might, in his skeletal 'Small Might' form, was hiding behind a rusted car, clutching a clipboard like a shield. "Young Midoriya! Remember the egg! The microwave! Don't let it pop!"
"The egg is a lie, Toshinori!" I yelled, pulling a giant megaphone out of my back pocket. "An egg is just a chicken's way of making more chickens! We need plumbing! We need infrastructure! We need... THE BIG DAMN SOLUTION!"
Izuku gasped, his knees buckling. "Sunny... it's... it's too much! It's like a tidal wave in a teacup!"
He lunged forward, his fist cocked back. He was focusing every single drop of that titanic power into his middle finger. It was the 'Sacrifice Play.' The 'Season One Drama.'
[NOT ON MY WATCH.]
I snapped my fingers. [POP!]
Time didn't stop, but the frame-rate definitely dropped to about 12 frames per second. I zoomed across the sand—not running, but my legs turning into a literal blur of white-and-red circles like a Roadrunner cartoon. I reached Izuku just as his finger was about to go crunch.
"Script Revision!" I shouted.
I reached into the air and pulled down a giant, neon-blue circuit board that was roughly the size of a billboard. I slammed it into the sand right in front of him.
"Look at the wiring, Izu-chan!" I grabbed his shoulders—which felt like grabbing a vibrating jackhammer—and forced him to look at the glowing lines. "You're trying to send 100% of the city's power to one single lightbulb! Of course the bulb is gonna explode! You need to be the grid! You need to be the wires!"
"The... the grid?" Izuku wheezed, the red sparks dancing in his eyes.
"Total Flow, kid! Don't push the power—invite it to dinner! Let it circulate! Turn your whole body into a lazy river of destiny!"
I reached behind his head and pulled out a giant, golden faucet handle. I 'attached' it to the base of his neck with a loud [CLANK].
"Turn the valve, Izu-chan. Not all the way to 'Flood.' Just keep it at a nice, steady 'Simmer.'"
I mimicked the motion. Izuku, bless his earnest heart, actually closed his eyes and visualized it. I saw the energy shift. The red lines on his arm didn't vanish, but they started to spread. They moved down his torso, into his legs, and around his neck.
He wasn't a firework anymore. He was a neon sign.
"Full... Cowl..." Izuku whispered.
He took a step. The sand beneath his foot didn't just move; it exploded in a small, controlled burst of green electricity. He looked at his hands, which were now wreathed in emerald lightning.
"Sunny! I... I can move! I don't feel like I'm breaking!"
"That's because you're finally following the blueprint!" I grinned, my teeth doing a literal [DING!] of white light. "Now, do a backflip! The narrative demands a celebratory stunt!"
Izuku actually tried it. He soared twenty feet into the air, trailing green sparks like a caffeinated comet. He landed with a thud, his face face-planting into the sand, but he was laughing.
"I did it! I actually—ARGH!"
The lightning vanished. Izuku crumpled into a heap of sore muscles and overtaxed nerves. Turns out, even with a better blueprint, building a skyscraper in ten seconds still hurts.
"Help... everything is spicy..." Izuku groaned.
"Enter the Medical Wing!" I announced, waving a gloved hand toward the shoreline.
Aqua was currently standing in the surf, wearing a white nurse's hat that she'd taped to her head. She was holding a plastic bucket and looking deeply offended by the existence of salt water.
"I am a Goddess of Purity! Why am I treating a boy who smells like burnt toast and gym socks?!" Aqua wailed, stomping her way over to us.
"Because you're the only one with the 'Divine Refill' quirk, Aqua-chan!" I chirped. "Heal him up, or I'm telling the grocery store to stop stocking your favorite expensive snacks."
Aqua gasped, her eyes turning into giant blue dinner plates. "You wouldn't! You monster! Fine!"
She knelt next to Izuku and raised her hands. A shimmering, sapphire glow erupted from her palms. "NATURE'S BLESSING: HOLY WATER REJUVENATION!"
Instead of a boring medical glow, a giant, cartoonish waterfall manifested out of thin air and dumped approximately fifty gallons of sparkling, mountain-fresh water directly onto Izuku's head.
"GLUB-GLUB-GLUB!" Izuku sputtered.
Within seconds, the bruising on his arms faded. His exhaustion vanished. He sat up, looking soaking wet but 100% refreshed.
"Wow... I feel like I just slept for twelve hours," Izuku said, blinking water out of his eyes.
"And you look like a drowned rat! You're welcome!" Aqua huffed, tossing her hair. "Now, Sunny, I demand a tribute! My mana is depleted! I require a strawberry crepe with extra whipped cream!"
"Deal! But first... we have a meeting at the Boom-Boom Den!"
[Scene Shift: Bakugo's Bedroom - Friday Night]
The air in Katsuki Bakugo's room was approximately 40% oxygen, 30% sweat, and 30% suppressed homicidal urges.
The entire Chaos Crew was squeezed into the space. Bakugo was sitting on his bed, looking like he wanted to explode the very concept of 'friendship.' Kaminari and Mina were arguing over a bag of sour gummies. Jirou was sitting on a stack of amps, tuning her bass. Tokoyami was in the darkest corner of the room, with Dark Shadow wearing a tiny party hat.
Even Momo Yaoyorozu was there, sitting primly on a folding chair she had created herself, looking slightly fascinated by a poster of a heavy metal band on Bakugo's wall. Mei Hatsume was underneath Bakugo's desk, her legs sticking out as she tried to 'upgrade' his computer's cooling fan with a jet engine turbine.
And Toga? Toga was perched on the windowsill, her camera out, filming everything with a predatory glee.
"I'M TELLING YOU FOR THE LAST TIME!" Bakugo roared, his palms popping. "NO ONE IS SITTING ON MY DRUM THRONE! IT IS SACRED GROUND!"
"But Bakugo-kun, it's the only seat with a view of the monitor!" Mina chirped, poking his cheek.
"I'LL BLOW YOUR FINGERS OFF!"
I popped up from the floorboards like a jack-in-the-box. [BOING!] "Alright, settle down, extras! It's Friday night, which means the script calls for a rhythm-based confrontation! Clear the floor! It's time for... FRIDAY NIGHT FUNKIN': CALAMITY EDITION!"
I snapped my fingers, and the room's lighting shifted to a deep, neon purple. A giant, floating speaker set manifested in the center of the room, and two glowing podiums rose from the floor.
"Rules are simple!" I announced, pulling a red baseball cap out of my ear and putting it on sideways. "Follow the arrows. Hit the notes. If you miss, your podium gets five inches shorter. First person to hit the floor has to buy the whole crew pizza!"
"I'll take that bet!" Kaminari shouted, jumping onto the left podium. "I've been practicing my finger-speed! I'm the king of the beep-boops!"
"Oh, you're on, Sparky!" Jirou smirked, stepping onto the right podium. She plugged her earphone jacks into the machine. "I literally have audio-cables in my ears. You're doomed."
The music kicked in—a high-speed, 8-bit synth track that made the walls vibrate. Neon arrows started flying up the screen.
[LEFT, DOWN, UP, RIGHT!]
Kaminari's hands were a blur. "Beep-boop-ba-doop!"
Jirou was effortless. She wasn't even looking at the screen; she was feeling the vibrations. "Too slow, Denki."
The rest of the crew was cheering. Mina was doing a dance in the background. Momo was taking notes on the 'Biomechanical Feedback of the Rhythm Device.' Mei popped her head out from under the desk, her goggles whirring. "The haptic response on those podiums is suboptimal! I can add a localized earthquake generator to increase the difficulty!"
"NO!" we all yelled in unison.
Toga leaned in close to my ear, her breath smelling like strawberry gum. "Sunny-kun... who do you think is going to win?"
"The audience, Toga-chan," I grinned. "The audience always wins."
Kaminari eventually hit a 'Death Note' and his podium vanished, sending him sprawling onto the floor. "NOOO! My pizza budget!"
"Pepperoni and olives, Denki! Don't be cheap!" Mina laughed.
[The Finale]
As the night wound down and the smell of cheap pizza filled the room, a hush fell over the crew. They knew what was coming. It was the ritual. The moment that decided our next 'Performance.'
I walked to the center of the room. My white gloves were glowing with a faint, mischievous light. I reached into my chest cavity and pulled out a giant, shimmering wooden wheel.
THE WHEEL OF CHAOS.
On it were a thousand different songs, challenges, and narrative shifts.
"Alright, family," I said, my voice dropping into that deep, showman's baritone. "The UA Entrance Exam is right around the corner. We need a final morale-booster. A song to unite the masses! A song to break the internet so thoroughly that Nezu has to buy new servers!"
"Spin it, Gag-Boy!" Bakugo muttered, though he was leaning forward, clearly curious.
I gave the wheel a mighty spin. [WHIRRRRRRR-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK].
The colors blurred. Names flashed past: 'Never Gonna Give You Up' (Close call!), 'Godzilla' (Too much property damage), 'Barbie Girl' (Bakugo would have actually killed me).
The wheel slowed down.
Click...
Click...
It landed on a bright, pastel-colored slice with a small icon of a girl with deer antlers.
[シカ色デイズ - SHIKA-IRO DAYS]
The room went silent.
"Deer... colored days?" Momo asked, tilting her head. "I am unfamiliar with this composition."
I felt a chill run down my spine—the good kind. The kind that meant a viral masterpiece was about to be born. I looked at the crew. I looked at Bakugo, who was staring at the antlers on the icon. I looked at Toga, who was already imagining the choreography.
"Oh... oh no," Jirou whispered, recognizing the rhythm. "Sunny... you wouldn't."
I grinned, my eyes turning into two literal spinning deer icons.
"Oh, I would, Earbuds. I absolutely would."
I reached out and grabbed the 'THE END' text that was trying to scroll across the bottom of the screen. I crumpled it up and threw it at the camera.
"Don't go anywhere, folks!" I chirped, winking at the reader. "Because in the next chapter... things are about to get... DEER-IOUS."
[FADE TO BLACK AS A FAINT 'NUN' SOUND ECHOES IN THE DISTANCE]