96 Chapter 96: In the Face of Death

Izuku was very, very nervous.

It was after Amai's school held the sports festival, and Yami had returned…but he didn't look to be in the best of moods.

Not that he looked particularly angry or sad but he seemed…lost.

And so Izuku sat Yami down on the couch in his office and talked.

"Ok, something is clearly bothering you," Izuku told him, "So, just tell me what it is, and we can figure it out ok?"

Yami nodded. "Amai class."

Izuku felt a growing pit in his stomach when he said that, his mind racing with possibilities, none of them good. "Oh…did they react poorly to you?"

"They went insane," Yami stated. "Insane with fear."

"Well that's a little bit of an exaggeration don't you think?" Izuku asked.

And then Yami told him, exactly what happened.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was bright and early on the day at Anaxes Elementry School, and all the students were outside in their gym clothes.

Amai was standing in her class, watching as the parents flooded in, anxiously waiting for Yami and her parents to arrive.

"So Nigai, I heard you invited a boy to the festival to cheer you on!" Said one of the girls in her class with elephant ears. Looking very smug.

"Huh?!" Amai gasped, looking at her in shock. "How did you know about that!?"

"I heard you while you were talking to the teachers about it." The girl said, pointing to her ears.

"Wait Nigai has a boyfriend!?" Another girl gasped.

"No way really!?" gasped yet another girl.

"Wait! Yami's just a friend!" Amai shouted, her face turning red.

But her words fell on deaf ears

"What's he look like!?"

"Is he cute!?"

"Is he super strong!?"

The girls all swarmed her, absolutely dying for some juicy, juicy gossip topics.

"Wait! I told you it's not like that!" Amai repeated.

"Amai!"

Amai's eyes widened, and she saw her parents, walking towards her, alongside Kirishima who was sent by Izuku to watch over Yami.

Her father is where Amai got most of her looks from. Being a standard handsome, blonde man, wearing a black suit.

On the other hand, her mother was so drastically different, that you'd likely never guess they were related. With green skin, big black bug-like eyes, long brown hair, and bug-like antenna coming out of her forehead.

"Mom! Dad!" Amai gave a sigh of relief as they came closer, but quickly realized something. "Wait! Where's Yami."

"Oh, he's right behind me," Kirishima said, moving out of the way to reveal Yami to Amai, and her class.

Yami was currently wearing his Ageis Cloak, with the hood up, meaning all they could see was a boy in a black cloak with white bones on it that was emanating darkness, and a pair of beady red, glowing eyes under a dark good.

And so that had about the reaction you would expect.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Most of the class, including all the girls around Amai, ran back in terror.

"It's the Grim Reaper!" One of the boys shouted in fear.

"He's come for our souls!" Shouted another boy as he cowered against a wall.

"Nigai's dating death itself!" Yelled a girl.

"Wait that's kind of cool!" Shouted a boy.

"Nigai I'm sorry about that time I stole your pencil! Please don't let your boyfriend eat me!" Shouted a girl, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Nigai I'm sorry about the time I tripped you in class! I don't dislike you I just got jealous because you're so pretty!" Another girl apologized.

"Guys, he isn't death!" Amai insisted, but everyone was too busy freaking out to notice.

"Everyone stop!" Said one taller girl, the class rep, getting everyone's attention. "Running and screaming won't help us! Clearly, this is all Kakei's fault!"

"What!?" Screamed an outraged girl with a goat head, presumably Kakei. "Why is this my fault!?"

"Because you're the one who poured milk on her that one time! Now she's come back with her lover's death to claim her revenge!" The Class Rep claimed. "The only way to get out of here with our souls! Is to sacrifice her!"

"Yeah!" Shouted all the other students, who immediately surrounded Kakei, with dangerous looks in their eyes.

"She always makes fun of everyone in class!" Shouted another student.

"And she trips anyone going by her desk!" Shouted another. "Let's get her!"

"Wait! Stop!" Kakei cried out desperately, as she started to cry. The other students grabbed her and held her up.

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" The students carried Kakei towards Yami, intent on offering her up to save her own life.

"Enough!" Amai's teacher came running in, seeing the massive commotion, along with everyone else. "What on earth are you doing! Let Kakei down this instant!"

"But Sensei, we offer her to Nigai's boyfriend the Grim Reaper, or else he'll take our souls and turn them into jewels for Nigai!" Said one girl desperately.

"I…he…you…what?" Amai's teacher had the most confused expression on her face, before turning to see Yami. "Oh. Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. They see one scary-looking person while I'm not here, and they instantly go to ritualistic sacrifice!"

The teacher gave Yami a pleading look. "Young man, could you please take off your hood, it seems to be scaring them."

Yami, still too mystified by this to say a word, nodded, and removed his hood, revealing his face.

Amai's teacher flinched and quickly realized that removing the hood may not help this situation.

But she didn't realize just how bad things were going to get.

"Wait! I know him!" Shouted one girl. "He's Yami Midoriya! The brother of Lady Kiba! And the creator of her dark army!"

"When he was a baby, his parents were killed by wolves, but he used his powerful quirk to slay them! And then he lived in the wilds, killing animals to survive until the Caretaker found him, and he's been building Lady Kiba's army ever since!" Said another girl, who was also a fan of Kiba apparently.

"Lady Kiba once made an entire video where she ripped her own brother apart for hours and said she'd do the same to anyone who hurt one of her sisters." Said a boy, who was also a fan of Kiba. "If he and Nigai are together, that would make Nigai Lady Kiba's sister-in-law!"

"What!?" Amai was just stunned, at how fast they were jumping to conclusions.

"Lady Kiba fought off pro heroes, U.A. students, and even her own brother, who was the size of a skyscraper and head three heads full of razor-sharp teeth!" Said the first girl in a panic. "If she comes to take her revenge, she'll kill us all painfully!"

"Quick! We need to sacrifice Kakei before it's too late!" Shouted the class rep, before looking at a boy with a cube for ahead. "Hokan! Do you have anything useful for sacrifices!?"

"Of course!" Hokan opened a portal and took out a massive pointed stake, some firewood, some rope, a few matches, and some torches.

"Perfect! Tie her to the steak and burn her!" The class rep demanded.

"What is wrong with you kids!" The teacher shouted, before using her quirk and extending her arms, to grab the now crying Kakei away from the group. "Are you ok dear?"

Kakei sniffled, before pushing herself away from her teacher and looking at her with tearful eyes. "Sensei, thank you but…I need to do this."

Her teacher, as well as everyone watching, was utterly flabbergasted, as Kakei went back to her classmates, and let them take her. "I…wha..I…f-for what reason!?"

"I..I've had a lot of time to think since they said I was offered as a sacrifice," Kakei said, as her class tied her to the steak while listening intently. "My class hated me so much, they instantly choose me to sacrifice. And they did it because I've been such a mean person to all of them. They all grew to hate me. But…I don't want to be hated! Back at my old school, I used to have lots of friends, and then everyone turned against me when I got my quirk and started looking like this! After I transferred here, I didn't want to get close to anyone, because I didn't want to feel betrayed again! So I treated everyone so badly, so they wouldn't get close to me! But I didn't want to make everyone hate me! I…I just…I want people to like me, but it's too late. Hopefully, if I sacrifice myself so everyone can live, they'll like me after I'm dead."

Am I being pranked right now? Yami thought to himself, as he tried to comprehend, what the hell he was looking at.

All the students were now giving the girl pitying looks, most of all the class rep, who looking up at the tied-up girl, with tears in her eyes.

The class rep looked down, clenching her fist and gritting her teeth. "To think I just thought you as a bully. I didn't even notice you were suffering this much. I…I should have done something! Darn it I should have reached out to you somehow! No one deserves to be that lonely. I've failed you as class rep. But…maybe it's not too late! We can still-"

"No." Kakei shook her head. "Someone has died in order for everyone else to live, and I've already accepted my fate. Just please…promise you'll all remember me fondly."

"Is this some kind of play?" Amai's father asked their teacher, looking at the now crying

"If it is, I was not notified." Her teacher responded.

"We promise." The class rep said tearfully, before giving a melancholy smile. "And if it makes you feel any better, I think you're pretty cute."

Kakei smiled, as she cried even harder. "Thank you."

The students lit the torches, and slowly approached the pyre.

"Are they actually gonna light her on fire!?" Kirishima said, finally coming out of his shock-induced paralysis.

"Light the…light the…" The class rep tried to give the command to burn her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "I…I can't. I just started to understand her! How could I bring myself to burn her now! It's not fair!"

Kakei was about to say something when one of the Kiba fangirls spoke up.

"Wait! Stop don't set the fire!" Said the fangirl. "I just realized something! What if this was a test!?"

All her classmates gave her concerned looks.

"Think about it! Why would she send him on the day of the sports festival! A day about overcoming challenges and improving yourself!" The girl continued. "It was a test! We're not supposed to sacrifice her, but the old version of her. The one that was being mean out of fear, so that way she could be reborn as a new, better version of herself! Right Nigai?"

"I…sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, you got it right." At this point, Amai still didn't know what was going on and didn't care. She'd just say the thing least likely to get someone burned alive.

"Of course! How could I have been so blind, everything makes sense! The class rep said.

"Oh does it now?" The teacher pinched the bridge of her nose.

"So I…I can live?" Kakei asked, sounding both relieved, and saddened. "But…then no one will accept me."

"Don't be silly, of course, we'll accept you." The class rep said as the students untied her. "So long as you promise not to be mean anymore."

"I promise but…I'm not really good at being around people." Kakei admitted shyly.

"We'll figure it out together." The class rep said, giving Kakei a warm look, that caused her to blush and look away.

"D-Did you mean what you said…about me looking cute?" Kakei asked sheepishly.

She nearly had you burned at the stake, not even two minutes ago why are you falling for her? Amai asked in her head.

"Absolutely." The class rep said, holding her hand, before looking at the rest of the class. "Everyone, we've overcome a great trial! Be proud of yourselves!"

"Yeahhh!" The class cheered.

"Now let's go get some celebratory ice cream!" The class rep said as she and the class walked off.

Literally, just leaving.

Everyone left just stood there in shock, trying to comprehend what they just saw.

The teacher was the first to react, throwing down her clipboard, and walking away. "I quit."

XXXXXXXXXXX

"So you're saying, that when you showed up, the kids there went so crazy with fear, that they attempted to make a sacrifice to you and Kiba, learned some kind of lesson…and then left." Izuku summarized, with a very perplexed expression.

Yami nodded. "Yes."

Izuku stayed silent for a while. Just looking at Yami. Trying to gauge if this was a prank or joke of some kind. Or a weird lie.

Now while Yami wouldn't be the kind of person to do that, Izuku couldn't accept a story that absurd off the bat.

After seeing that Yami seemed genuine, Izuku pulled out his phone to check the authenticity of the story.

"Hello, Mr. Nigai?...Yes, I'm calling about the sports festival. Yami just told me a…interesting story." Izuku said over the phone. "Hmmmm? Wait…that really happened? Including the sacrifice?...Really…o-ok then. Um. I hope you have a good day then. Goodbye."

Izuku set the phone down and turned back to Yami. "Ok. So…I…give me a second."

The two then sat in silence for a while, as Izuku tried to figure out what to even say after that.

After a lot of contemplation, Izuku finally spoke up. "You didn't make those kids go insane Yami. They were clearly in desperate need of mental help before they met you."

"They need therapy?" Yami asked.

"Yes Yami. Yes, they do, really badly." Izuku told him. " Don't take this as your fault, you didn't even say anything. Normal people won't see your face and try to offer the lives of their friends to you like some kind of ancient god. This was a very, very, very unlikely scenario. Ok?"

"Ok." Yami nodded. Accepting that this was just a weird, unexplainable thing that happened in life. It made more sense like that.

"How did Amai take this by the way?" Izuku asked.

"Had to work with different class. Because class walked off. Went well, won a lot. Pretend like nothing happen." Yami explained.

"Well, that's good." Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. "You must be hungry, why don't you go down to the kitchen and get some food."

Yami enthusiastically nodded, very much in the mood for something tasty.

As he got up to leave, Izuku said one last thing.

"Oh, and tell Kiba to come here. I need to ask her to tell her audience not to sacrifice people in her name." Izuku said.