With only a few days left until the start of the Sports Festival, I couldn't help but pass my days as a normal student. Before you said it, no, I was still focused on my goal here, but unlike any other, I was having a blast. People can work and be happy at the same time, you know?
I was scrolling through a forum page talking about recent news surrounding heroes, villains, and vigilantes. As you might guess, the front page this morning was the new, self-named murderer in town, Karma, previously called the Ghost of Musutafu. Opinions were obviously mixed, but there was an inclination to call him a "deception," considering he was acting as a helper of the police instead of a cold-blooded murderer who moved by the law of "eye for an eye."
It was obvious he lost all his fans; after all, we weren't aiming for that in the first place. With this done, we could just wait for it to work. The men he killed weren't random; they were club owners, yes, but also enemies of one of Shigaraki's scouts. It was a favor that I was sure he was going to like.
"Yo! Akuma, what are you doing?"
The voice of Kirishima made me stop. I turned around to see the guy along with Bakugo. To be fair, we didn't talk that much, so let's hope he was in a good mood.
"I was just leaving, what's up?"
"We were wondering if you wanted to join us to train."
For context, after our first training session a few weeks ago, they really liked it, and we continued training after class almost every day. But since the start of this week, Aizawa told us the gym was closed for some reason. I was no one to protest, so I was surprised he found a way to be able to train.
"Sure, dude, let's go."
I followed them to the classroom. It was empty. Bakugo looked annoyed as we entered. My senses warned me an instant before Denki and Mineta jumped out of nowhere directly upon me.
I didn't know what this was about. Considering them, it was going to be some stupid shit, but let me have fun. Denki tried to go for a grab as Mineta, who was lighter, was falling for a downward attack. I let Kaminari's arm pass me, dodging his grab as I hit Mineta in the chin from below, sending him flying to a nearby desk. A quick mutation appeared on my stomach; an arm came out of it to grab Denki's forearm. With him unable to move, I used my other arm to put him in a shoulder lock.
All this happened in an instant.
"AGH!"
"I told you this wasn't going to work."
The annoyed voice of Bakugo sounded over the grunts of Denki, who was on the ground with his arm in an uncomfortable position, to say the least. Kirishima was clearly shocked but finding it funny, almost laughing.
"Care to explain?"
"YOU! YOU ARE HOPELESS!"
The sound of Mineta's cries distracted me. He sounded really offended, pointing at me while tears rolled in his eyes. I let go of Denki's arm as his body dropped to the ground, completely defeated.
"Man, what the hell is all this about?"
Turns out Mineta overheard a conversation that some girls of our class had about me.
"And we thought that you don't deserve to be called a man, so we convinced Kirishima to help us putting an ambush, sniff."
"This is so surreal I can't even think about something to say."
"I told them that it was stupid, we don't even know what they were talking about you."
"I HEARD THE WORD 'HANDSOME' BEING SAID! YOU ARE BEYOND SALVATION! USING WOMEN LIKE THAT!"
"Calm down, I don't even have anything to do with all this."
"Liar!"
"Okay...."
Yep, this was beyond my realm of experience, because what was this situation? Denki and Mineta were looking at me like I was the worst person alive, as Kirishima laughed in the background with Bakugo, who didn't seem happy around us.
After a whole half an hour, I convinced them I wasn't a womanizer like they thought. It sucked because my metro already left, so no chance for me to go back home on time. Instead, I was walking the corridors with my newly formed group, talking about trivial things.
"C'mon, Akuma, be honest—who's the cutest in the class?"
Asked Kirishima, while the others listened carefully. I could even see Bakugo staring at me in silence.
"I don't know, they are all the same to me."
"Come on, dude, you can say it, we aren't going to judge, man."
"I'm serious, it's not like I...."
We turned the last corner. Nearby the exit was standing Uraraka, her left hand playing with a string of her hair and the other one grabbing her briefcase. She looked at us and waved her hand, showing the little points on the tip of each finger.
"Akuma! I was waiting for you."
She said in a friendly tone. For an instant, I could feel two hell spawns being summoned behind me. The anger irradiated by those guys made my skin shake a little.
"Let's go, don't worry, Akuma, I will control them."
Kirishima grabbed Denki and Mineta with his arms, making sure to close their mouths before exiting the campus. Bakugo followed them, looking at me with a stern look, but nodding as he left. I guess his opinion of me didn't apply to his manners.
Uraraka got closer, her big eyes and smile almost hypnotized me. She looked cute, let's be honest. I cleared my throat with a cough, putting my fist to cover my mouth as my other hand was placed on my hip before speaking.
"What is it? I thought you left a long time ago."
"I was about to leave, but Deku mentioned you went off with Kirishima and Bakugo, so… I figured I'd check in. You know, just in case."
She played with her fingers, moving them in different directions as she explained. I softly laughed before answering.
"There is no need for any of you to worry that much for me. We live closely, right? Should we take the train? I don't want you to walk alone."
"S-sure! Let's go."
We walked in silence for some time. I used my phone to briefly communicate with Karma; he seemed to be doing well. I ordered him to patrol a different area this time. Considering he was already a criminal, we had to avoid a manhunt for now.
"Did... mmm."
Uraraka seemed to have trouble starting a conversation, thinking to herself with a confused look.
"Have you heard of Karma?"
"Um? Oh! Deku showed me an article in the morning; he was saying something about a vigilante doing some bad things."
"Yeah, I heard he killed 3 people yesterday."
"Really?! And how is that?"
The conversation started to have a flow. The distance from the school to the station didn't feel like that much with her around me. After I paid for both of our tickets, we entered and waited for the machine to move.
The money I used on the daily was thanks to Karma. He gave me half of what he stole from his victims and from his job, giving me a lot of independence. This wasn't nearly a bit of what I planned to achieve at the end of this history, though, only the start.
We found a seat fortunately. Only one stop was necessary for the train to crowd completely. The temperature started to rise as people looked at us weirdly. Ah, yeah, of course, the U.S.J. attack brought a lot of media attention, and we were UA students; it was normal for them to look at us with interest.
"It seems we are celebrities."
"Heh... I wouldn't say that, they just like to spy on us, it's strange."
I used my time to talk again with Uraraka. For some reason, she seemed to be looking at my eyes as she murmured.
"It was true...."
I wondered what....
"ACK!"
"Akuma?!"
My head hurt, almost like a hammer was hitting my skull wide open. I grabbed my hair with pain, bowing down, gritting my teeth. In my eyes, the metro and its people disappeared. Flashes of a place I didn't recognize were appearing and disappearing.
It disappeared in an instant, leaving behind only a migraine. I could feel the gaze of the people around me. It made me sick how no one thought of helping me. A hand posed on my head, it was Ochako, who seemed worried for me.
"I'm okay, don't worry, I just need to rest."
We descended from the train at Uraraka's stop since she insisted I couldn't be alone like that. Sitting on a bench, I chugged the soda Ochako bought for me from a vending machine. After 15 minutes, we went separate ways. My house was like 10 minutes walking, so there was no problem.
I know I'm close to home when the buildings start to look older in a state of decay, the trash starts to be visible, accumulating in the streets as graffitis plagued the walls around me, I took a deep breath, tasting the air covered in smoke
But to my surprise, and with a blink the environment changed. Another strike directly in my head came, leaving my vision blurred with the migraine becoming impossible to bear. Kneeling on the ground, I waited for it to stop.
The smell of blood appeared. At first, I thought it was from my nose, given the situation, but as I looked around, recovering my vision, I realized the bodies around me.
They were scattered like a fight had just ended. All of them were torn apart with violence, their guts spilling out as blood dripped on the ground. Some of them had their eyes opened, like looking at me, those eyes showing the terror behind their deaths, almost screaming at me.
My body twitched. Maybe I was in another nightmare? No, impossible. I could feel, I could hear; this was real.
I looked at myself to see the costume I made of Karma fully covered in blood. Questions attacked my weak mind while sirens blared on the outside. A message sounded on a phone.
I opened it to see a text from my own number:
"Why am I in your body, master?"
Holy fucking shit, this was what The Wanderer told me? An evolution of my quirk?! But why right now?!
The ceiling of whatever building I was in scratched away, like someone ripping open a tin can, only to reveal Mount Lady's furious gaze.
"HE IS HERE! YOU! YOU ARE ARRESTED!"
That fucking bastard modified the history once again.
I didn't have time to think. As soon as my legs recovered, I ran as hard as I could, moving in between containers to reach safety.
From the ground, multiple layers of wood appeared, grabbing my leg and making me fall. I didn't doubt and used the phantom bullet, setting me free as a real bullet struck close to my feet.
So three heroes were behind me: Mount Lady, Kamui Woods, and Snipe.
The giant fist of the hero destroyed the ground I was standing on. I lost my balance as I couldn't use my quirk here. Another bunch of wood tried to grab me but got instantly deleted by the fake Quirk of Karma. Run was the only thing I could do right now.
After avoiding some shots, I exited the building, running to the back of some complex apartments. I could feel the hand of that giant about to strike.
At the last moment, I jumped into an alley, avoiding what could be my final blow. I escalated the emergency stairs and entered the first available apartment, destroying the window and scaring the shit out of a family that was eating in peace.
I landed on their table, and as I was about to leave the room, a shot went through my shoulder. The pain injected into me, making me fall as blood splattered all over the walls.
I forgot to mention, but since Karma was supposed to be a normal human, we made his body more "realistic" with synthetic blood to spill if he got hurt, you know, to not raise any suspicion between our relationship.
Snipe entered from the window, pointing his gun at me. The fear struck me; his figure made me remember the difference between a pro hero and I. Maybe I was an outsider and knew some things they didn't. Maybe my quirk was more versatile. But I was still fragile. I couldn't run now, so I did the opposite.
I pointed my finger, and he doubted to shoot. The blast that came out of my body exploded the entire room, without hurting anybody inside of it thanks to my beautiful control of threads. It made my head hurt from the effort, yes, but thanks to that, Snipe was distracted, checking on the residents who were frozen in shock.
I crawled out, using my knees to move. My whole body was weak. The sound of Mount Lady's steps made me realize I couldn't escape running. With a glance, I looked at the bathroom, and an idea came to my mind.
I used my quirk one last time, now pointing above me. As they weren't seeing me, I used my strings to search all the rooms I was about to shoot. When I confirmed they were out of danger, the blast came out of my body, using a lot of my reserve on that single attack.
The result was immediate: a part of the building started to collapse as I closed the bathroom door. Lying there, I decomposed my body into strings that entered the hole inside of the toilet, following the pipes to the drain.
I didn't know what theories were going to be formulated about how an apparently normal human escaped so quickly, but I was sure they wouldn't be able to figure out Karma was my clone, so it was a win.
More importantly, as I was lying in the subterranean drainage, an idea was repeated over and over: I was now able to change bodies with Karma. If I mastered it, and made the change at will...
A smile popped out of my dirty body.
This was going to make things 100 times easier.