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[Shhh]
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…
After Bakugo's whole fiasco, the last class of the day continued as normal—just with a heavier air. A declaration of war like that couldn't simply be brushed off.
Along the hour, odd glances were thrown Taka and Bakugo's way several times, and one person even shed a few held-back tears after the whole spectacle.
Still, even with the awkward mood both culprits had created, class gradually came to an end without issue.
When the school bell rang, Ectoplasm dismissed them and declared the school day over before picking his things up and leaving.
Immediately, everyone began packing up as well.
As the room started to move, a figure approached Taka while he gathered his things.
"Man, you really don't know the meaning of moderation, do you?" Jiro said, bag on and arms crossed, her expression deadpan.
"Moderation sometimes isn't enough," Taka replied calmly as he continued packing.
She didn't know how to respond to that. She could argue that had been straight-up bullying—but from what she knew about Bakugo… maybe moderation actually wasn't enough with him.
"Still, did you have to say the whole 'What's wrong, did you find something on the ground?' line?" she said, mimicking Taka's deep tone.
Taka paused mid-book shove.
Then, after a brief pause, he nodded.
"Like I said, moderation is not enough."
'Plus, I've been wanting to say that one for a while,' he added mentally.
Jiro's eyes squinted into narrow, dissatisfied slits. Clearly able to tell there was something not being said, but having no way to prove it.
Such were the struggles of not being born with mind-reading powers.
Close by, Midoriya slightly tilted his head towards them, wanting to speak up about the whole situation—he was partially the reason it even started, after all.
But with Bakugo sitting right in front of him, he held his tongue. Given how he got handled at the start of class, it wouldn't surprise him if he was more volatile than usual.
'Still… training, huh?' he thought, secretly (not really) looking at Taka out of the corner of his eye. 'Did All Might really ask him to help me?'
Was... his performance so far so disappointing that he had to ask a classmate of his to help him?
After a moment of gloomy silence, Midoriya shook his head.
'No.'
Sure, he hadn't been able to do anything during the villain attack, and he was still unable to use his quirk without blowing up a limb, but thinking like that felt too extreme—especially after the talk he and All Might had just had about the—
His eyes widened as something clicked.
'So that's it… It's because of the Sports Festival!' he realized, staring down at his hands. 'He must have asked Takahashi-san to help me prepare for the festival because of his strength…'
Once again, he sneakily turned to look at Taka.
'But even if he is strong… will he even be able to help me?' His brows creased dubiously, 'My problem is that my body can't handle One For All's power output. What can Takahashi-san even do about that?'
Although their Quirks seemed similar—both buffing physical abilities—in reality, they were completely different.
From what he'd overheard, Takahashi's physical strength translated into even stronger telekinetic power.
He, on the other hand, had to use his strength just to withstand his Quirk's output.
One needed strength to increase his power.
The other needed strength to endure his power.
Maybe, in those opposites, All Might had seen something Taka could teach him?
'—Or maybe he'll just teach me to fight. He seemed pretty experienced in his fight against Sato… and that mutant villain,' Midoriya mused, recalling Taka's baffling performance—and then realizing his own lack of experience.
At their first combat exercise, Sato had also said he had learned a lot from their fight.
Both were apparently even staying after class to train along with other classmates, so maybe Taka's training was effective?
'Maybe I should ask.' He thought, preparing to turn to his classmate to ask for more details. "Hmm?"
But before he could even finish the turn, lots of noise coming from outside the door stopped him.
As it did for whatever else everyone was doing.
They turned toward the entrance, baffled.
To their shock, a crowd had gathered outside, all peeking in with curious looks, like kids at a zoo.
"W-what the hell?" Kaminari muttered, creeped out by the sudden attention.
Uraraka, who had been about to leave, found the doorway completely blocked. "What is this? What happened?!"
Others just stared, confused or annoyed.
"Come on, we can't get out!" Kirishima complained.
Iida stepped forward. "Who are you all? Please stop blocking the entrance. It prevents us from passing."
The crowd ignored him, leaving him to clench his fist in frustration.
Thankfully, a hand patted his shoulder.
"Takahashi-san!" Iida exclaimed as he turned and saw who it was.
Taka stepped forward, walking toward the crowd with a calm stride.
"It's him!"
"He's the one who fought the villains!"
"He looks kinda intimidating…"
"Isn't he also the one who calmed everyone down when the press invaded?"
Murmurs erupted the moment he appeared.
Thorough them all, Taka remained completely unbothered.
He reached the door and stared the crowd down. "You're blocking the exit. Watching is fine, but leave a space so my classmates can leave."
The crowd didn't react at first, continuing to look him up and down as if he was a rare creature.
"Move."
"...!"
Only after he repeated himself—this time less gently—did they jump into action, opening a path instantly.
Once a proper path had formed, Taka huffed in satisfaction and turned back toward his desk to finish packing.
—That was the plan, but before he could walk away, a voice rose from within the crowd.
"I came to see what the famous Class 1-A was like, but you seem pretty full of yourself. Don't tell me all of you act like that?"
Taka turned toward the source: a purple-haired student pushing his way to the front.
Instantly, he recognized him, although he had already expected him to be lurking somewhere amidst the crowd.
Shinso. The guy with mind control abilities—so long as you answered him, at least.
'So even though Bakugo wasn't the one who spoke, he still makes his little comments… Well, I guess ragebaiting is his biggest advantage.' Taka mused, tilting his head slightly.
Even if Taka had asked the crowd to move politely, he doubted this guy would have said anything nicer.
He had to act like a jerk—just enough for everyone here to get fed up with him, increasing the chances they'd react and answer to his provocations at the Sports Festival… and hand him the win.
"I have to say… what a disappointment." Shinso continued, eyeing the whole place as if it were beneath him. "You know, there are plenty of us who weren't able to get into the hero course, so we enrolled in other departments. But guess what? The school has given us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they might consider our transfer into the hero course… while also transferring someone out."
"Transfer someone out?!" Inside the classroom, those with less stellar performance repeated worriedly.
Taka didn't say anything; he simply stared at Shinso without worry—though he did flick a look to Jiro, who had been one of those who screamed in worry.
The purplehead snorted at Taka's silence. "Anyway, the point of all this is…" He pointed straight at Taka. "If you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. A declaration of war, if you may."
Silence fell as Shinso finished his threat, some inside sweatdropped at his boldness, while others just looked at him boredly.
Taka, on the other hand, simply stared quietly, letting the silence stretch out.
After enough time passed that it got awkward, Shinso frowned. "... You got anything to say to that?"
Taka blinked lazily.
Then lifted a finger to his mouth.
He didn't let out a sound, but the meaning was crystal clear.
Shhh.
Shinso's eyes shot wide.
"What's with that?"
"Rude."
"He sure is arrogant."
The crowd didn't seem to like the gesture much.
But that hadn't been meant for them.
Finishing his gesture, Taka smirked and then turned around to go back to his things.
That small smirk cemented it, shaking Shinso to his core.
'Does he know?' he thought, eyes wide and cold sweat filling his back.
While he left Shinso to spiral on his own, and the crowd to continue watching, Taka arrived back at his seat.
"What was with that shushing gesture?" Jiro deadpanned.
Taka raised an eyebrow. "You asked me for moderation, didn't you?"
"That was your definition of moderation?" she asked in disbelief.
A beat of silence passed.
"By the way, you and me are gonna be training during these next two weeks too." Taka suddenly pointed out.
"Eh?"
Another beat of silence followed, one filled with confusion.
Then suddenly, Jiro pointed at herself. "Me?!"
Taka nodded calmly, already grabbing his backpack and swinging it over one shoulder. "I heard that 'Transfer someone out?!' from you earlier. If you're so worried about getting kicked out, I might as well help you."
"N-no, I'm fine, that was… you know, crowd pressure."
Taka gave her a deadpan look. "Fairly sure there wasn't a prior arrangement to yell at the same time as others."
"W-we might have, you never know!"
"..."
"Please have mercy."
…
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| After classes, skies of the outskirts of Shizuoka |
…
As Taka flew at incredible speed across the orange-tinged sky, the distant city pulled closer and closer with each second. Yet his mind remained away from it, uncaring of his approaching destination.
'Aura Farming, huh?' He mused, recalling his performance today.
He'd say he'd done fairly well; his gains were pretty good for a relatively normal day.
Bakugo and Shinso had even volunteered to help him, letting him flex plenty once again. Yet for some reason—
'I'm not feeling it.' He thought, brow furrowing slightly.
All day, something bothered him. Every time he tried to aura farm, he felt more self-conscious than usual.
Ultimately, he powered through it, sure, but the wrongness never left.
'It must be… that,' Taka thought, his expression tightening.
Ever since yesterday's realization, the idea of aura farming felt off. After all, it was an obsession that had led him to forget a kid who was currently being tortured for profit.
Since then, the thought of going on with it as if nothing had happened, and obsessing over it again, bothered him.
As did the whole act he'd been putting up since entering U.A.
He felt like a clown performing for no one while the house burned down.
He'd thought about it a lot, and it wasn't just Eri. There were countless awful things happening out there, right now.
And what was he doing with all the power he had?
Playing pretend.
He tried ignoring it, telling himself it was just temporary guilt. But despite accepting it logically, the feeling didn't leave. It kept nagging at him, asking what the hell he was doing while a little girl was being cut apart or worse and rebuilt into drugs.
Sure, he had sent several of his clones to do the investigation and look for the Hassaikai's whereabouts while he dealt with his responsibilities at school. And even if he had stayed to help with the search, his clones were so many that his addition would be a minimal increase in manpower.
Yet, going to school, doing his usual aura farming routine while his clones did all the heavy lifting to find Eri…
It only made the feeling worse.
Was aura farming really so important that he had to pour his everything into it?
Was an aura farmer even supposed to obsess this much with it?
Was he really one… or just a clown putting on an act good enough to fool everyone so far?
Could he... even call what he was now, an aura farmer?
"..."
Taka fell silent at his own questions, his knuckles whitening as frustration boiled in him, and he imagined beating down Chisaki good one he found his base.
He continued like that through the rest of the trip, letting his thoughts run wild as he observed the great view from hundreds of feet in the air, taking deep breaths every now and then.
Not long after, he reached his usual landing point.
A quick dive later, his feet hit the ground, dust blowing slightly upon his landing.
After that, he made the rest of the way on foot.
Not toward home—toward his base.
The Rockibase.
He got there quickly. After confirming no one was watching, he flew inside.
A minute later, he opened the door to the informatics room.
"You're back?"
"It was about damn time."
A group of clones looked up at him, their expressions matching his seriousness.
Taka stepped inside, eyeing them and the large board behind them. It showed a map of Japan, some spots marked with red pins, others blue. One clone sat with a laptop on his lap, typing away with a focused—and tired—look.
"Any progress?" Taka asked.
"What do you think?" the laptop clone answered without looking up.
One clone stepped away from the group and approached him.
"We said a week, but honestly? So far, it's been hard to find even the slightest clue. They keep everything lowkey. No personal info, no slips, nothing. And whatever they do show, it's probably not accessible with our current skills."
Taka frowned, falling into deep thought.
"Should we pry the answers out by hand? Surely there's some villains out there who know where they are."
A clone from the back spoke up. "If we do that, there's a chance they'll hear something and relocate. I think they mentioned they had multiple hideouts in the show."
"Right, right…" Taka clicked his tongue.
A clone lifted a hand lazily. "How about we go pry the answers from Nighteye? Surely that guy knows where they are. He'd been investigating them for a while in the show, right?"
"I'm fairly sure Nezu won't tolerate that much. We'll be already pissing him off by returning as Rockinesis, let's not add more reasons for him to spill the beans after this," Another clone said, deadpan on his face.
The clone from earlier shrugged. "I didn't say we had to be violent. We can just ask him. The guy can see the future; he should be able to tell we are going to speedblitz through Overhaul's base as soon as we find it."
"Nighteye…" Taka muttered, frown deepening. "Didn't Midoriya meet Eri in the same city as that guy?"
Silence filled the room.
Taka frowned, turning to them with a done gaze. "You guys didn't think of that?"
"We were busy checking for information online!" One of the retorted.
"And we only have one laptop! No matter how many we are, the number of laptops won't increase!"
"Some of us even flew to rumored spots we found online across several cities to check them!"
Taka sighed, massaging his temple. "Forget it. That narrows it down, right? We only need to search across the city where Nighteye's agency is located."
The clones nodded. Albeit, one of them still didn't look sure.
"Uhm, I don't quite recall the layout of the house… Do any of you?"
There was silence once again.
The clone spoke again. "Even if we find it, maybe we'll skim over it. A city is a big place…"
"We just need to find information about it now that we narrowed the area down to one city," Taka said, eyes narrowing. "And as someone has already said, we can just ask Nighteye for it. He should know how our involvement will end, given his foresight."
"But what if he recognizes us as Rockinesis? It won't be long before Nezu gets a wind of it."
Taka didn't even flinch at the question. "Doesn't matter. We were gonna ignore our deal with him sooner or later. I'm not postponing this for the sake of some stupid plan to aura farm anymore."
The clone nodded, somewhat wry-looking.
Another clone spoke again, his tone not so optimistic. "What if he doesn't tell us? We are a vigilante, maybe he won't even want to look into our future—or even if he does, maybe he won't even care about what he sees."
"Then…" Taka spoke, but he couldn't answer that instantly, his eyes narrowing at the complications.
Ultimately, however, he answered without hesitation.
"We survey the entire city, no matter how long that takes."
A collective nod followed, some wry, others just as determined. There wasn't a single rebuttal.
It seemed the time to raid the Hassaikai was approaching.
At least, that was the case—
—Bzzz—
Until Taka's phone buzzed.
"...?"
Frowning, he picked it up, gestured for the clones to shut up for a second, and glanced at the screen.
An unknown number.
He picked it up without much thought.
But as he put the phone up to his ear…
{"Well, well, well, we meet at last, my greatest rival, Rockinesis.}
-Click-
Taka hung up.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was really busy this week. Whenever I arrived home I was demolished, and probably slept less than 5 hours each day.
But alas, I'm free now. And I'm gonna sleep 12 hours from now on.
Until my classes start again...
Anyway, the plot moves. How was the reflection? Hopefully, the character development is showing; it was a pain to write.)