47 Dominos and Butterflies: Ch 6

This chapter is sponsored by: My Fading Sanity!

Get it while it lasts! Stock is fading quickly!

(Guys I'm having to finish this in a fucking Pizza parcking lot, on my fucking phone. please, how do people tyle like this, I'm gonna die of something, I don't knwo whate)

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~Vreshhhwer pchaow wwawawawahhhawooomath~

*Shitty Time Travel Noises*

Note from Future Zack: The plan to post on FF.N, wait a day or two for everyone to point out all my spelling and grammar mistakes, fix them, and then post to Ao3 seems to have worked remarkably well.

-Rain of Sins-

-Dominos and Butterflies: Ch 6-

The blazing sun beat down on the fields of UA intensely, unimpeded by any cloud cover whatsoever, and the general lack of shade from the field being, well, a flat field, just served to make it all worse.

Normally it would have just been whatever. Who cares if it's a bit hot? UA is a Hero school, you were training to fight some of the biggest baddies in the world, toughen up buttercup.

But today? The first day that UA's new schedule went into effect?

In Momo's opinion: it was fucking bullshit.

"COME ON MAGGOTS!" Their drill instructor shouted at them from the front of the running formation. "Keep up the pace! My grandmother could move faster than you lot! AND SHE'S DEAD!"

The newly formed HC-1, Hero Class year 1, formed from the reduced 1A, the remains of 1B, and any Gen ed students that made the cut for the open spots, panted like dying dogs as they pushed themselves to not fall behind.

When they had heard they would be running today, they thought they knew what to expect. They were wrong. Most running wasn't really 'running', it was a fast jog that was about pacing yourself over a long distance. This running was literal running, only two steps short of a full dead sprint, around the entire UA building, multiple times.

To their left, marching in a uniform line, and overall not looking like they were about to keel over, was a small contingent of ten Safety Commision troops.

"Hut! Two Three Four! Hut two three four!"

Now, it wasn't like the Hero class was being completely humiliated by any stretch, there was actually quite a strong showing on their end.

Leading the pack was a large beast-like man that hardly even seemed winded, right on his tail was Ida who, even though he wasn't allowed to use his quirk, had been running nearly all his life.

Behind them was a group consisting of what most would consider the more physically fit of the class.

Kiroshima, Ojiro, Shoji, and Sato all jogged like troopers, focusing on putting one foot in front of the others, and ignoring the sweat pouring down their brows.

Bakugo was also in this group, smoky whisps coloring his heavy breaths as he forced himself to ignore the pain in his legs and just fucking move. Momo was right behind him, pushing herself to keep up even though the pained expression on her face made it clear she maybe hadn't recovered quite fully yet.

There were also others, students originally from 2B that she didn't know the names of yet. A guy with white hair and bushy eyelashes seemed to grow more and more irritated as he and Kiroshima stayed neck and neck. There were two mutants, a lizard with tusks, and a girl with horns. And Kendo was here, the only one she could name, encouraging everyone to keep going.

It wasn't a horrible showing from some of the class's best physical fighters.

But others…

"This suuuuuuucks!" Mina sobbed as she stumbled forward, her form could barely be considered "running" at this point. Thick globs of sticky clear fluid dripped from her face and body, her quirk making her sweat thicker and less efficient at shedding heat, which in turn caused her to sweat more.

"Please…" A girl with a mushroom clip in her long mess of hair whimpered. "Make it end."

"I'm gonna die." Denki said, his face beat red.

"Not if I die first." The annoying blond next to him snapped. "Stupid class 1A."

"We're *gasp* We're in *gasp* the same class now *gasp* you idiot." Jiro barely managed to get out. She was walking strangely, but the pair of shoes moving on their own next to her suggests she and Toru were leaning on one another.

"Lord give me strength." Ibara muttered to the heavens. "Guide my path and make swift my steps. Lead me to victory in your name, and grant me the fortitude to endure."

And behind even them was the newest Hero student, with messy purple hair, who looked like he was three steps from passing out, throwing up, or both.

No one was allowed to use "alternative forms of transportation" during this exercise, which meant no sliding for Mina, no vines for Ibara, and no bike for Momo, it was pure endurance training.

"Uru, please!" Mina called out. "Tell me your secret!"

Oh right… her.

Momo pulled her head up, her vision wobbling as she did so, and half heartedly glared towards the front, at the girl who had somehow decided to just not die like the rest of them.

"Hut! Two, Three, Four!~ Hut! Two, Three, Four!~" Ochako giggled as she sang the tune the guards were chanting. She skipped, SKIPPED, along the track, right behind the teacher. Her gym uniform was completely dry, showing she, very literally, hadn't so much as broken a sweat the entire time, despite the grueling heat and intense running.

Momo loved Ochako, she really did, the cinnamon roll was so sweet and a good friend, but damn it! Get back here and suffer with everyone else! This was Bull Shit!

The group began to slow as they approached the main entrance of UA, marking their third lap around the campus.

The Safety Commision paramilitary soldiers immediately lined themselves up in a line, backs straight, arms behind their backs, at attention to the teacher even as they all breathed heavily.

Class HC1 more or less just collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap.

"Absolutely disgraceful." 'Professor' Ito glared at them with a stone chipped face. "You're supposed to be the ones putting down Villains? You couldn't outrun a tire on an upward slope!"

One of the new rules the HPSC had pushed on UA, was the breaking of the "only Hero staff members" tradition, and their teacher for the new EPC class (Extensive Physical Conditioning) was a retired admiral, Ito Sukeyuki, who had made a name for himself during several large skirmishes against a self declared quirk warlord in eastern Siberia.

The guy was old as dirt, but good lord, he kept himself in shape.

"You lot have been conditioned to excel in brief bursts of high intensity action, and I'll admit, you're pretty damn good at that. BUT GUESS WHAT!?" He shouted, causing Mina to squeal as he leaned at her. "NOT EVERY OPERATION IS DONE FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU TO GET BACK HOME FOR TEA TIME! Do you know what happens when you run out of stamina in a real fight?"

"N-No sir?"

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Birds in a distant tree flew away at the volume of the ex-admiral's shout. "So I'm gonna have you run again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until you can measure up to these chumps, who can at least keep after a Villain if they decide to climb a stairwell!"

He waved at the HPSC specialists, which prompted a snort from down the line.

"WHO WAS THAT!?" The admiral whirled on them. "WHICH OF YOU LAUGHED?"

"I did, Sir!" A woman with long brown hair shouted, pushing herself up straighter. "I apologize, Sir!"

"You're damn right you apologize!" Ito snarled as he marched over. "I dragged you idiots here to give a good example, not to get snarky about outlasting some students! Do you feel pride in beating students?"

"No Sir! I don't, Sir!"

"Well it sure looks like it!" The admiral gave a slow clap for her. "Congratulations Specialist, you beat a group of children!"

The woman's face twisted in shame, but she refused to break her salute and kept her eyes firmly forward.

"Run it again!" Ito snarled. "All of you! You're not children, you get to do grown up exercises! Lap the entire facility! Including those fake cities! GO! GET OUT OF HERE!"

""SIR YES SIR!"" The group shouted in unison, before jogging off.

"Aren't those guys the new campus guards?" Jiro rasped, somehow managing to get the words out between desperate gulps of air. "What gives? Just send them after the Villains."

That prompted a barking laugh out of the old man.

"Oh don't worry, they get sent in too, their jobs just aren't as flashy as yours will be. Those idiots have a minimum of a decade of training under their belts, and you lot managed to keep pace with them, albeit barely, with only half a year of training. That's some real potential." His face broke the stoic frown he'd held the entire lesson, for a smile that was somehow even scarier. "And I'll prove it, even if I have to beat it out of you."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and most of the students very rapidly began retreating from the crazy teacher who had decided it would be a good idea to drag some of the off duty specialists, ones tasked with guarding UA and fighting off the League of Villains if they showed up, into the first lesson to help set an example for first year students.

"And you, girly." He turned to Momo, who snapped to attention. "You kept up even after rejecting my offer to sit out for your injuries." He nodded slightly at her, a modicum of respect evident in his gaze. "Keep up the good work."

-Rain of Sins-

Momo sighed in relief as she collapsed into the soft, welcoming cushions of the lunch bench, dropping her tray of food unceremoniously onto the table. Her long hair, usually so well cared for, was a complete mess, damp with water, and not even given the effort to put it up into a ponytail.

The twenty minute break after EPC to rehydrate and take a cold shower, before lunch, was her new favorite part of the day. Period.

Bakugo half heartedly waved two fingers in greeting at her, across the table.

"Someone looks like a bundle of sunshine."

"Please tell me we never have to do that again." Momo whimpered as she dropped her head into her arms.

"Only on Mondays and Fridays."

Momo whimpered pathetically in response. Her legs had gone past the point of pain, and now she couldn't even feel them.

"How about we do some more off the books training after school lets out today? I've got this killer new flying kick I want to test out."

"How about I taze you?"

"How about I throw you in a river? Oh, wait-" Bakugo made a show of tilting his head to look at her dripping hair. "It looks like you already took care of that yourself." He snarked, but there wasn't any heat to his voice, and the friendly smirk on his face gave away the jest.

Momo rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that found its way onto her face.

"If we have to run again in the next class, please do, actually."

"Nope, no running, but it is still a workout."

Momo groaned.

"Yeah, I second that, but hey at least this one will be fun." Bakugo pulled out a piece of paper from his bag and slid it to Momo.

Lacking the energy to pull her head off the table, Momo settled for propping her chin up with her arms, and hummed as she glanced over the schedule. Really, she already memorized it within the minute they had received the paper, but her brain was in rest mode at the moment, and didn't feel like spending the energy to remember.

Art had been completely removed, alongside optional classes like drama and singing. English class had been restructured to "Foreign Communications" which was apparently not focused on teaching them to speak fluently, but instead to learn general phrases, meanings, and how to quickly communicate basic ideas across multiple different languages. Math had been changed to a once a week class, and PE had been transformed into the Hell they had just escaped from.

Hero class was also gone. Split up into rescue training, combat class, and public relations. Logically, she knew that was actually a good idea, it gave overall more hours of the day to train them in the most intensive parts of being a Hero, and allowed each class to truly give them specialized training, rather than having a single class that tried to juggle covering all three at once.

…But something about the fact that THE "Hero class", the one that had made UA what it was, the class that All Might had signed up to teach, had been disbanded… It stung.

The new schedule was interesting, but Momo knew that they had gotten off light compared to the rest of the school.

The Business course had been completely axed, its funding being diverted to the Hero and Support courses.

Meanwhile the General studies program was being completely restructured. You could still get the credits you needed to graduate with a diploma, of course, but with all the new classes, it was clear they were trying to turn it into a pipeline to push promising students into the police force, like the Hero course did for the Hero industry.

"Think we should sign up for some of these new Gen ed classes next semester?" Bakugo asked as he took a bite of his burger. "I know we don't need the credits, but learning crime scene investigation sounds like it could be interesting."

"Forensic Science could be useful to have under our belt in the field." Momo hummed as she finally found the energy to pull herself from the table and begin eating at her massive tag of food, easily doubling Bakugo's plate in size.

-Rain of Sins-

Combat class, it turned out, took place in a room previously only used for upper years. It was a huge room reminiscent of a drama theater, with sloped stands of seats, dipping down to a large stage that was flush up against the back wall. The giant screen that hung on the wall, above the stage helped sell the similarities even further.

Of course, rather than a stage for singers and actors, it was broken up into two arenas that were scarred with signs of previous combat.

"Alright, I know you're all sore, but remember, today's all about pushing your limits." Vlad King crossed his arms as he looked out over his new class. Really, Aizawa should be here with him. They were supposed to be dual teaching this class, after all, but the underground Hero was in a meeting with Nezu, so the awkward first day fell on his shoulders alone.

"As you can probably guess from the name, 'Combat Class' is focused on combat. You'll be sparing against one another here. Sometimes alone, sometimes in teams. Sometimes with gear, sometimes without. Your grade in this class isn't just based on winning, it's also about growth and displaying solid tactics." He paused and gave a moment for the info to sink in. "That all being said, we have two arenas, are there any volunteers?"

"Oh! Oh! Me!" Ochako hopped up from her seat in the stands and held a hand up, surprising the people who knew the girl. "I want to try!"

"Ms Ururaka, I'm glad to see some enthusiasm." Vlad jotted her name on his tablet. "Anyone else want to try?"

"Sign me up!" The boy with bushy eyelashes stood up.

"Ah, Tetsutetsu. Full of spirit as always! Would you and Ms Ururaka come down and-"

"No, I don't want to fight her! I want to fight him!" He pointed down at a familiar cluster of spiky red hair.

Kiroshima looked at where the boy was pointing, looked behind himself, only to find a wall and confusion. "Wait, me?" He pointed at himself.

"Yeah! You! I challenge you!"

"Now listen, guys." Vlad spoke up. "Challenges aren't really what this class-"

"You're on!" Kiroshima stood up and pointed right back at his metal mirror. "I'm rock hard, and ready to rumble!"

"Wait, listen! You can't just- Ugh." Vlad sighed and massaged his forehead as the two boys completely ignored him and made their way to one of the arenas.

"Double the class, double the headache." He muttered under his breath erode relenting and punching their names into his device. "Would anyone like to volunteer to spar with Ms Ururaka?"

For a moment, no hands went up, and he was worried he might need to draft a name, but thankfully that was averted.

"Put my name down, Teach." Bakugo lazily raised his hand. "It's been awhile since I've gotten to let loose."

The teacher nodded and tapped a few more things on his tablet, causing the arts screen hanging on the wall behind him to flicker to life, displaying the faces and names of the current combatants, along with a count of their previous wins and losses (Something that was a 0 for every one, considering it was the first class).

"Alright, Kiroshima and Tetsutetsu, make your way to arena one, Bakugo and Ururaka, make your way to arena two."

"Hey." Ochako bumped Bakugo on the shoulder, and whispered to him as they walked down the stairs. "Thanks for volunteering! I know no one wants to do anything after the last class, so it means a lot from a friend."

"Don't mention it, it's no problem." Bakugo scoffed as he felt a pang of indignation hit his chest.

There was no doubt which of the two was the better fighter. The only reason she'd be thanking him was that she trusted him to not embarrass her on stage.

Try being nice to other people.

Ugh… Why did she have to be right?

"Win conditions are pinning your opponent for ten seconds, knockout, surrender, or out of bounds." Vlad called out as they took positions on either end of the arena.

It was about the same size as the one used for the sports festival, just instead of concrete, it seemed to be made of some kind of hard plastic plates.

"Hey, Ochako, go easy on me, would ya?" Bakug joked, shooting her a grin as he cracked his neck. His posture was relaxed, his back slumped, and although he wasn't going as far as to have his hands in his pockets (that would be rude), it was obvious he wasn't exactly on his toes.

"Where's the fun in that?" She smiled back at him.

It was good to see her in a cheery mood, especially after what happened the other day with Tsu, but… was it just him or did Ochako seem cocky?

"BEGIN!"

Ochako blitzed at him, launching herself though the air at speeds only possible when weightless.

Bakugo barely had time to react, his instincts causing him to lean right to duck out of the way. A hand grabbed his arm and pulled, Ochako using him as leverage to firmly plant her feet back on the ground.

He spun around, eyes wide, and explosions cupped in his hand, but as a gut flipping sensation of weightlessness gripped him, he knew it was too late.

Ochako twisted and hurled him up and out of the arena at a ridiculous speed. Years of training kicked in, and Bakugo created small explosions in his hands to maneuver himself in the air, unfortunately none of those years of training was done in a weightless environment.

The small explosions that usually had the perfectly measured force to turn him around once, sent him spinning like a top, and careening towards the wall. He panicked and tried to course correct with a second volley of explosions, but all that did was make the situation worse, sending him in a different direction with even less control.

To Ochako's credit, she released her quirk in an attempt to help, but it really only just made it worse.

Bakugo's stomach twisted on itself as weight came back, and his momentum roughly changed direction again, rendering his third and final attempt at corrective maneuvers useless as he slammed directly into the hard floor.

"Bakugo is out of bounds." He heard the teacher bark in the distance. "Ochako wins by ring out."

Bakugo gagged and sputtered, his body fighting itself on whether it needed to pull back in the air that had been knocked out of him, or cough up the bile in his throat, while his brain was still processing what had happened.

"Hey." Ochako's head popped into his vision above him with a sly grin. "Take me seriously next time, okay? I want a real match with you sometime, oh and Momo too! Sparing with her would be fun!" She gave him a wink before skipping off. "I look forward to it!"

He blinked, staring in bewilderment at the bone white ceiling far above him, as Ochako wandered off.

"Yeah," He coughed. "Sure. Sounds good."

He shook his head to gather his bearings, and began pushing himself to his feet, muttering a "thanks" as a familiar hand grabbed his arm and helped pull him up.

"Man, she really laid you out, huh?" Momo giggled. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just caught off guard is all." He flashed her a smile to show he wasn't upset. "I'm actually impressed, I'll have to catch her sometime and get her to teach me that flying grapple into a throw move."

"Yeah, tell me about it, I didn't think Ochako had that in her. I'm proud of her for improving so much." She gave him a pat on the back. "On the bright side, if she's that good, we might be able to get her to spar with us during our off hour training."

A loud, annoying toned voice from the stands cut into their conversation.

"HA! That's 1A's best?" A blond haired kid laughed as he leaned over the railing "The guy who scored first on the entrance exam and won the Festival? Oh wait! He didn't win, did he! WHAT A JOKE!"

Momo's smile immediately died, and she felt her eye twitch as she began walking over to the blond, but was held back by a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't bother with him." Bakugo sighed, but from the strain in his voice it was clear he was also annoyed and trying to hold himself back. There was also a tinge of… self loathing? "It's just an uppity asshole that feeds on attention, not even worth the air you'd waste talking to him."

Momo watched Bakugo as he walked away, glancing back over her shoulder where Ochako had gone, before grinning ang following him.

It looked like everyone was growing today! But still… something was bugging her

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME! I'M- auahhgahf!" Neito was swifty cut off as Kendo chopped him in the neck.

Two more fights went before the bell rang to dismiss class, and Vlad stepped up to give one last announcement.

"Recordings of your fights will be available at any time, if you wish to review them. Watching yourself from a third person view is a great way to find mistakes you otherwise would have missed."

The class gave various calls of affirmation as they filed out of the classroom, leaving Vlad King alone.

Well… mostly alone.

He glanced wearily to arena one, where Kiroshima and Tetsutetsu were still going at one another with no sogn of stopping, and sighed.

-Rain of Sins-

Ochako hummed happily to herself as she washed her hands in the empty restroom, a giant grin plastered on her face.

She felt amazing! Like she was soaring above the clouds! Like she could take on the world! She'd been at the front of everything today, and had even beaten Bakugo! Granted he had been taking it easy on her, but still! People were actually noticing her! She'd even overheard several of the old class B students talking about recruiting her for the team rescue exercise tomorrow!

She wasn't useless anymore!

She leaned down, cupping water in her hands and splashed it on her face to clean off any dirt or sweat. She might not have gotten dirty enough for a shower, but she didn't want to catch any bad habits.

As she popped back up, something caught her attention, and she leaned in and narrowed her eyes at the large stream of blood running from her nose, down her chin, and dripping into the sink. Had she scrubbed her face too hard?

Luckily her Papa had taught her a trick for this sort of thing. She tilted her head back slightly, pinched her nose hard, and counted to twenty. When she let go, the pressure had helped the blood clot, and the bleeding had stopped.

Problem solved! She dried her face with a paper towel, turned off the water, and went on her way.

And so she skipped out of the restroom whistling a happy tune, blissfully oblivious to the idea that maybe, just maybe, there were side effects to an unprepared body being given multiple quirks, and that there might have been a more sinister reason that [Numb] was the very first of the quirks she'd been given.

…And that it might be making her not feel more than just an upset stomach.

-Rain of Sins-

Dixie hummed, as he stared at the wall. He was in a relaxed posture, his hands in his pockets, but there was no hiding the interest in his eyes. Even his usual smirk was absent.

The entire wall was covered with newspaper clippings, photos, evidence documents, written testimonies, over a year's worth of investigation mapped out in extensive detail.

It was very impressive, and was made all the more impressive by the fact he wasn't in a Safety Commission building.

Around him, HPSC personnel buzzed around an incredibly organized Hero Agency, working with the various Sidekicks to prepare for an upcoming operation.

"This is very well put together, if I hadn't read your records I would have assumed you must have worked as a detective at some point." The Chief of Security tilted his head to look back over his shoulder. "Is there something I'm missing, Nighteye?"

"Not necessarily." Sasaki Mirai said, his voice monotone and flat, refusing to let any emotions slip. "I'm just a particularly organized person."

"I suppose you are. Not every person can keep a Hero agency competitive without, well you know, a Hero. You're kinda lucky in that regard."

Nighteye's expression twitched, his mask slipping for a fraction of a second.

"Yes." He agreed, even as the word burnt like acid on his tongue. Even as it caused phantom pain to rocket from legs he couldn't feel anything else from. Even as it seemed to pull him even further down into the wheelchair he would forever be chained to for the rest of his life.

"I am rather lucky."

Dixie stared at him for a moment, waiting for any meaningful reaction, before nodding and turning back to the wall, but his thoughts lingered on the Hero.

A man who could provide evidence to every crime you ever committed, and every crime you ever would commit. The HPSC might pride itself on its ability to cover up its trails, but what use is that when someone could just snap their fingers and… know everything.

Wouldn't it be so convenient for everyone if he just disappeared?

"Sir, this is Bravo one. I have a visual and a clear shot, but it won't last long. Requesting permission to fire."

Nighteye might say that's not how his quirk works, but his refusal to tell anyone how it did work painted a different picture.

The Safety Commission had risked far more to quiet far less risky leaks in the past, why they had allowed Nighteye to persist as a loose end for so long, he couldn't understand.

But he had other, more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, so he pushed those thoughts aside, and focused his attention on the middlemost photo on the wall.

Kai Chisaki, head of the Shie Hassaikai.

-Rain of Sins-

Koku Hanabata hurried his way down the hallway to the meeting room. He was supposed to have been here over an hour ago, but the meeting he was set to attend was very private, and he couldn't chance anyone tailing him.

'Especially since I can't even trust my own party members anymore.'

When he finally arrived at the doorway, he took a moment to adjust his suit before entering.

Inside, sitting alone at the end of a large table was a tall middle-aged man, with a prominently long, pointed nose and sharp chin, as well as short, orange-brownish hair.

This was Rikiya Yotsubashi, the President and CEO of the Detnerat Company. Or as everyone invited to the meeting knew him as, Re-Destro, the Grand Commander of the modern Meta Liberation Army.

"Ah, Hanabata, nice of you to finally join me." The Villain CEO waved at one of the many empty chairs. "Unfortunately everyone else has already left."

"I'm sorry sir!" Koku apologized as he took a seat. "Things are getting bad. My party is practically tearing itself apart! We all agreed to oppose that fucking 'security' bill, but we've been dealing with nothing but scandals and corruption allegations over the last week! Then the vote comes around, and half of our seats vote yes! Now Toruso is trying to break off and start a different party, our public opinion is in free fall for betraying the values our party was founded on, an-"

Rikiya held up a hand to silence the politician's ramblings.

"I'm well aware of your problems, and how coincidentally every other party that was against the bill seems to be having similar issues as well." The Villain sighed. "And if it wasn't clear enough who was behind it, all the other lieutenants seem to be having difficulties with them as well. Slide and Go has been 'requested' to assist on several HPSC operations. Curious' publishing company was made an exceptionally lucrative offer to run propaganda pieces about how people shouldn't fear the new bill, and enjoy the 'stability' it will bring. When they refused, they were offered more money, and when they refused again, their website and broadcasting channel began to have technical difficulties that keep it down for days at a time."

Koku tapped his hands together as he tried to think of a way to say what he was thinking without upsetting the man who's quirk gave him violent mood swings.

"You seem, uh, rather calm about this, sir. Shouldn't this be a big deal? With the HPSC sticking their noses everywhere, isn't there a chance they could find us out?"

"Trust me, I'm taking this seriously, I've just more or less been expecting this since the HPSC started taking a proactive role in the festival investigation." Re-Destro waved him off with a resigned sigh. "The government is spooked, and the HPSC is circling around in the air like birds of prey. They are dangerous, yes, but their attention is solely focused on that hoodlum upstart group, the League of Villains. Losing our cool as they swoop down and pick off the mice beside us is exactly what they want. They want threats to panic and reveal themselves, so they can be swiftly dealt with without having to divert search resources away from the League."

"So what do we do?"

"The same thing we've been doing." Re-Destro sat back in his chair, his eyes glinting like hard steel as he looked into the distance. "We sit back and gather strength, while we gradually spread our message through public outlets like your party, and Curious' news company. Then, when the time is right, The Meta Liberation Army will take Japan by storm! Be our opponents Heroes or the Safety Commission, they have only fought against Villains and thugs who want for nothing but greed and destruction! When they meet us they will not find lowly Villains, but a hundred thousand strong army of trained revolutionaries!"

Re-Destro stood from the table, his arms outstretched.

"They will fall beneath the might of our truth! The revolution of Destro shall come to Japan, and the people will be freed of their shackles! Quirks will be unbound, and we will finally have the basic human right that has been denied to us for so long!"

Rikiya looked to his lieutenant, a rare smile blooming on the perpetually stressed man as he held out his hand.

"Come, my friend. There is much work to be done. The revolution awaits!"

-Rain of Sins-

Deep below Japan, two men stood in front of a particularly large incubation vat, a large reptilian nomu suspended in the tank for improvements.

The shorter of the two shivered, this time from something other than the near freezing temperature of the Origins Lab.

"Are you alright, Ujiko?"

"My boy, I tell you, I just had the most odd feeling. It was almost as though someone told me a very, very, very bad idea, that they were convinced was very, very, very right."

"Huh." Izuku scratched the back of his head in thought. "That is odd."

-Rain of Sins-

The final bell rang out across UA, marking the end of the school day.

The sound washed over Shoto Todoroki like a cold wave of shame and guilt. Slowly he pushed himself onto his numb feet, and picked up his bag. His legs were sore and slightly dead from sitting in the same spot all day.

Sitting on the cold, stone benches outside of UA, for the entire day, would do that. Especially considering they were almost certainly mad for decorative purposes, and no one was expected to actually use them.

But uncomfortable as they were, Shoto had sat on them all day, and had never once managed to make himself get up.

He couldn't attend class. He couldn't! Momo was there! Bakugo was there!

…Ibara was there.

He couldn't face them. Not after all that he had done.

But he also couldn't stay home. Being in that house with him made his skin crawl, it made his head hurt, it made memories surface, and it caused his fire to burn under his skin.

He couldn't stay home, but he couldn't go to class, and it wasn't like he had a life outside of UA. All his life was, was the pursuit of usurping him with only his ice.

But he already failed at that, hadn't he?

He shook his head and forcefully pushed those thoughts aside.

"I can still do it." He muttered to himself. "I'm not him, I'm not!"

"Shoto?"

He froze at the voice, the hair on his neck standing on end, and his heart racing.

Slowly, like a deer in headlights, he turned to the voice.

There, at the top of the stairs, looking just as shocked to see him, as he was her, was Ibara. Quickly her expression schooled into a neutral one, and she began walking down the steps towards him.

His mind told him to run, but his legs were frozen, unwilling to move. And his whole body grew colder and colder as she approached, as if his quirk had activated on instinct. But as a thin layer of ice began to form on his hand, he realized it had.

But if the cold bothered her, Ibara didn't show it, her steps unfaltering as she descended towards him, like some sort of divine emissary.

When she was only five or so steps away, she stopped, still a noticeable height above him.

"Long ago," She began. "Back when we were under attack at the USJ, you told me the only reason I was able to forgive as I do, was because I had never been given a reason to truly hate someone. And at the time I must admit, I thought you were just being melodramatic." Her eyes narrowed and suddenly the temperature seemed even colder, despite his quirk not working any harder. "I was wrong."

"I trusted you Todoroki, and how did you repay that trust? You berated me for weeks on end, you brushed off my concerns, said cruel and unwarranted things to me for daring to worry for you. You froze me in a black of ice, with only my upper face exposed, and left me to freeze. I was down there for hours, Todoroki."

Shoto flinched back, her eyes were cold, and her words sharp, but the use of his family name over his personal name stung especially.

"Alone in the dark, unable to move, as my limbs slowly lost feeling. Unable to do anything but sit and panic as people began screaming in terror above me. Unable to call for help as the building began to shake. Do you know who found me?"

Shoto didn't answer.

"Do you know who found me, Todoroki?"

"A teacher?"

"Villains." She bit out. "Villains found me, Todoroki. Villains found me first, and if it weren't for the sheer chance that they used a bat that cracked the ice, rather than literally any other attack, I WOULD BE DEAD RIGHT NOW."

"I-" Shoto's mouth felt dry, his head spinning. "I didn't mean- that not what I-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!"

His mouth snapped shut and his eyes widened like balloons as Ibara, calm, peaceful Ibara who only ever seemed to speak in whispers shouted in pure fury.

"It doesn't matter what you meant! I TRUSTED you, and you repaid me by almost getting me KILLED!" Ibara was shaking, tears in her eyes, throat burning from even short bursts of screaming.

"And when I got out, you know what I did? I was panicking, I was hurt, I was cold, but I sucked it up because people were in danger! I pushed it all aside and tried to help! Because that's what you're supposed to do, help your neighbors, and treat them as you would yourself! A-And it hurt! The building was collapsing, so I tried to hold it together, b-but it was so heavy, and I just kept ripping a-and being pulled apart!"

At this point tears were streaming down her face. "I prayed! I prayed, I prayed, I PRAYED! And I tried so hard, but it hurt, and I kept tearing, a-and even with ALL MIGHT helping, people still died! An it tears at me when I'm alone, because if only I had just been faster-"

"Ibara-"

"THEY DIED AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING! BECAUSE I WAS LEFT TO DIE BY MY ONLY FRIEND! AND BY THE TIME I GOT OUT IT WAS TOO LATE!"

Shoto stepped back in shock, while Ibara heaved deep breaths from her outburst. A suffocating silence fell onto the clearing.

"You told me the only reason I was able to forgive as easily as I do, was because I had never been given a reason to truly hate someone, and you know what?... I understand now."

Ibara whispered, her voice light on the wind, but as loud as thunder in the silence.

"...This vile weight in my chest, how could I have ever understood it through just words? It rips at my chest from the inside, and tears at my soul with thorns, wounding me in ways that seem to only fester instead of heal. It makes me want to lash out, it feels good to lash out! To share this- this black rot with others. It feels good to yell at you, and it's so, so tempting to strike out, to get justice for what you did to me."

At every word, something inside Shoto cracked. He knew that feeling, understood it with every fiber of his being. It was the same thing he felt toward his father, for what the man had done to him, his siblings, and his mother.

He really was Endeavor's son, wasn't he?

Shoto lowered his head and braced himself. He would not defend himself from this. This… this is what he deserved.

"It's so tempting. Every bone of mine sings in rage for me to do it." The sound of her moving vines filled the air, snapping loudly as they whipped against the concrete. "I want to."

The sound expanded, surrounding around him, and he closed his eyes.

This is what he deserved.

…

"...But I won't."

What?

He looked up at her in shock.

"Why!?" He demanded, because although deep down he already knew the answer, he refused to believe it.

Ibara looked down on him with a mixture of sorrow, pity, and deep frustration. Her eyes were red, her cheeks were tear stained, and her hand was clutched tightly to the cross necklace she always wore.

"Because…" She whispered. "I- I forgive you."

Shoto recoiled, as if burnt by something hotter than even a pot of boiling water. And something deep down, the anchor he had built his entire life upon, the unforgivable hate he held towards both his father and himself, cracked at the sheer impossibility he had heard.

"How? HOW!?" He screamed in anguish as he fell to his knees. "You know hate! You HATE ME! So how!? How can you!?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

He gasped and just for a moment, the picture of his mother replaced his classmate as she said the thing he'd been needing to hear for a long time.

"I forgive you Shoto."

It was too much.

"I'm sorry!" He sobbed, as decades of emotional repression came crashing down. "I'm so, so sorry!"

And as a pair of warm arms wrapped around his back in a gentle hug, he only cried harder.

-Chapter End-

Very obviously one of my set up chapters, laying the groundwork for later, and setting up dominoes, but honestly I'd say it's one of my better ones.

A different redemption path for Shoto? Well kind of. Cannon plot is more or less on the way out, the characters have been through different shit, and the butterfly effect is beginning to spiral out of control.

(Spoiler: the climax for this arc is completely different to that of the show. Like, the event isn't even based on anything from cannon.)

Shoto in this fic is more broken than he is in cannon, instead of having a big positive influence during the festival, he had a  massive  negative one.

And there's no one to fill in for Deku, no one is just that pure of a positive influence.

Bakugo would be able to help, maybe slap Shoto straight, and pull him out of pity land, while using him as an outlet for anger at himself, but Shoto neeeds to be in a recoverable state for that to work.

So who else works other than Ibara? Who's fundamental adherence to her religion's forgiveness principle, is able to show Shoto that blind hate isn't the only way.

Is it a perfect fix? No. There's a  lot  of things left unsolved including the whole "won't use fire" deal. But it has its pros and cons compared to Dekus approach in cannon.

Speaking of Ibara, man did I luck out when I randomly chose her to fill in Izuku's empty seat.

Not only has she been a good side character, several reviews have given glowing praise to her. Apparently people like my take of her genuinely just trying to be a good person that does her best to practice what she preaches without being annoying, rather than the "Holier than thou" portrale I've seen elsewhere (and initially thought of doing in this fic tbh)

*Sips Hot Chocolate*

UA is undergoing changes, some of which I generally would think are actual good ideas.

But then again it's  also  a power grab, so ehhhhh.

I wonder what the meeting with Nezu and Aizawa is about?

*Sips Hot Chocolate*

In matters of more plot important things, Ochako gets her first sugar high and we get a hint of the strings that come attached to her deal when she became AfO's puppet.

And the two factions people have been wondering when I will touch, are finally introduced into the story.

The MLA and Overhaul will be fun to use because, if it isn't obvious they both more or less step on the toes of  literally every faction currently on the board including each other.

They won't make any huge appearances until after this arc, but oh boy, that's some good firewood for later.

Next Chapter: Apr 29-30 (ish)