Switcheroo \BnHA Various x Reincarnated!OC\

17 - Harsh Reality... Or Not?

In one of Japan's many commercial buildings, there stands a karaoke studio fondly named, "Equivalent Exchange". Surrounded by businesses such as izakaya bars, saunas and mahjong places, the karaoke's convenient location makes it a desired destination. Unfortunately, if one is to state a flaw, it would be the thin walls.

"♪ We should have been pursuing the dream's continuation... ♪"

A mass of black fog quietly appears in an empty bar of the same commercial building. Shortly, out comes a man with hands attached to parts of his body, and he falls powerlessly onto the wooden floor.

"Ouch... I was shot in both arms and legs... We completely lost. Noumu was defeated too. All the underlings were taken down in a flash... Those kids were strong... The Symbol of Peace was healthy. That's not what you said, SENSEI!" The man protests, his bloodshot eyes glaring.

"No, we just weren't prepared enough," a calm response reverberates from the screen in front of Shigaraki as Kurogiri emerges from the fog, which then dissipates like it had never been there.

"♪♬ The winding, narrow road trips people up... ♪♬"

"Yes, we underestimated them," a second voice says from screen, before quickly changing the topic to their creation. While the two voices from the screen and Kurogiri discuss the aftermath of the artificial human Noumu, Shigaraki speaks up, having suddenly recalled something.

"Right... There was a blue kid with a strange Quirk... and another, a kid as fast as All Might..." his short, uneven fingernails scratch the floor, irritation dulling the pain from his bleeding wounds. "If they hadn't gotten in the way, we could have killed All Might..."

"♪♬♫ It's not like I want to return to back THENNN! ♪♬♫"

"Yes, it felt like my energy was being sucked out of me by those... petals?" Kurogiri adds in from the side.

"Petals, you say," there seem to be some mirth in the voice of the man Shigaraki calls Sensei. "It must be his daughter. Also—"

"♪♬♫ SINS DON'T END WITH TEARS! YOU CONTINUE TO HURT WHILE SHOULDERING THEM! ♪♬♫"

"......... Recuperate in the other hideout."

♪♬♫ ♪♬♫ ♪♬♫

※※※

"My bad, Senshiro!!" A spiky-haired boy shouts, his palms pressed together in front of his face as though in prayer, and his eyes shut tight.

"???"

Following the whole incident with the villains, the students were released after the barest minimum of questioning. It seemed that the police were going to carry out investigations while the teachers and staff did the cleaning up and dealt with the injured... namely All Might, Thirteen and Aizawa, and the only student with heavy injuries, Izuku.

Renka had waited till she saw from a distance Izuku's safe discharge, thereupon he left with Ochako and Tenya. It was enough to know that he was safe, even if he wasn't sound. With dark thoughts still swirling in her head, she didn't want to face him yet. Then, just as she was leaving the school gates herself, she was ambushed by her redhead classmate.

"Kirishima-kun?" The bluenette tilts her head questioningly.

The usually confident boy looks strangely fragile at the moment as his frustrated voice squeezed its way out his gritted teeth, "I heard what that villain said, I knew the meaning of his words... but I couldn't move, I couldn't react. Even though I was the closest to Bakugou and you...! If you hadn't pushed Bakugou, if All Might hadn't shielded you...!!!"