BNHA: Undying (Ch 38) (Patreon)

After having Kurogiri send our new tes- *cough* friend someplace to wait for… experiencing a variety of activities, Himi and I sit in the bar and drink some drinks while getting comfortable to listen to him talk with Stain.

Or as we think it will end up, him failing to recruit a clearly skilled rogue to the party. Or maybe an assassin? I don’t know about his outright fighting skills, so it’s possible that he might also be a good warrior? Or maybe like one of those ‘skilled in many but master of none’ people Shiggy always complains about. Something about how they lack commitment.

Either way, I’m interested in hearing both of their ideals and seeing how it compares to the one I’ve developed over my months of being with Himi. Coincidentally, she shares the same ideal because she actually believes in it, rather than just because I do. It’s a nice couple ideal to follow.

Ooh, but it looks like the two of them are done with trying to intimidate each other with their stares!

“So, you’re Hero Killer Stain. I thought you’d be taller.” Shiggy starts us off with a sass attack! How will Stain respond!?

He snorts. “And for an organization presumptuous enough to call themselves ‘The League of Villains’, I expected their leader to be old enough to drink.” And he shoots back with a perfectly valid concern! Especially since All For One is the actual leader even if he is hands off. Sort of like how a parent is in charge of their child until they decide to abandon them.

Seemingly to counteract that point, Shiggy holds out a hand and Kurogiri slides a glass of alcohol into it. Keeping a pinky lifted, he takes a drink while maintaining eye contact with the Hero Killer. After draining it he lets out a dramatic sound of satisfaction.

“We’re villains. We don’t care about things like that.”

“I do! I don’t want my cinnamon bun to taste like bourbon!” Shiggy does a great job of ignoring Himi thanks to his copious amount of experience doing it. Stain doesn’t, as shown by the flicker of movement from his eye as he undoubtedly makes a note of her seemingly inane comment.

But was it really? Himi is many things: cute, crazy, sadistic, bloody, a blood enthusiast, and my girlfriend, but she isn’t dumb. For all I know her making her opinion known at that moment could have been meant to establish that while Shiggy is the de-facto boss of the League, the members aren't being forced to serve him due to fear or awe of his strength. Which would mean that he has certain other qualities that convinced us that he should be the leader.

Or it might have just been her making sure her opinion is known. Either way, Stain scoffs and crosses his arms. I take note of the knives strapped to each arm, preparing to flip my own should things turn violent. “Tell me, what is your ideal? Why do you desire to go against those society has labeled as ‘heroes’.”

Shiggy tilts his head, and I’m on the literal edge of my seat as I lean forward to listen, my hands clenching the rim between my legs to ensure I don’t accidentally fall off. Despite being here for nearly ten months, I haven’t actually heard what his ideal is, why he wants to take down heroes. Specifically, All Might.

“Why…? Obviously because I don’t like them. Why wouldn’t you get rid of the things you hate?” The genuine bafflement in his voice is enough for me to slip, landing face first on the floor.

Seriously? That’s it!? I mean, I’m not complaining, but still. That’s kind of a deluded and childish reason. But thinking about it, that also fits Shigaraki. He absolutely hates needing to do things that he doesn’t like. Which unfortunately includes cleaning up the dust from when he decays something. I’ve been thinking of getting one of those robot vacuum cleaners to help with that, but realized that there’s a better way.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked with my cousin, and I’m sure that she can make one better than what we could buy. Might take some effort to get a secure connection set up so that the authorities won’t be able to track us if we ever give them a reason, but it shouldn’t be too hard.

But anyways, Stain doesn’t look like he’s a fan of Shiggy’s reasoning either. At least if the way he’s straddling him with a knife impaled in his shoulder is any indication. But then again…

I side-eye Himi, who makes eye contact before blushing and looking down while covering her cheeks with her sleeves. “Baka Izu, don’t ask for that when we have an audience.”

“I wasn’t asking!” I’m quick to shut that down. I have no interest in letting people outside our relationship see the expressions she makes during those situations!

Feeling the knife in my hand, I’m reminded of what I was supposed to be doing. Having an ‘oopsie’ moment, I’m relieved that Stain hasn’t made any moves to kill Shiggy. That would be awkward to explain to his Sensei. Thankfully it seems that he likes to monologue about his own ideal.

“You lack conviction, even in your own desire. Without conviction, you will achieve nothing. Which is how you ended up like this.”

“You’re being a little rough, don’t you think? Kurogiri, send him away.” Contrary to my expectations, Shiggy is pretty calm. I honestly thought that he would freak out the moment he got hurt. Then again, he has been trained by All For One, so it makes sense that he’d be more competent than he appears.

“Apologies, Tomura Shigaraki, but I cannot move. It must be the Hero Killer’s quirk.” I have to do a double take upon seeing that Kurogiri has blood staining the sleeve of his uniform. Were we really that distracted!?

“The world is overrun by fakes. Petty criminals like you who chase petty dreams.” Stain brings a second blade to bear, hovering over the hand Shiggy refers to as ‘father’. “They must all be purged.”

But before the blade can so much as scratch the hand, Shiggy grabs it, ignoring the way it slices into his hand. “Watch it. If you touch this palm,” his red eyes flash, and Satin’s own widen. “I’ll kill you.”

“You sure talk a lot, Hero Killer. Conviction.” The scoff in his voice is obvious when he says that word. “I may not have something as loaded as that. But if I had to choose something though, it would be killing All Might.” With the knife decayed he clenches his hand into a fist and it crumbles to dust while Stain glares down at him.

“If society wants to worship trash like him I’ll destroy their beloved Symbol of Piece and then crush them while they’re in shock!”

Stain looks like he’s about to stab him again, but Shiggy sweeps out with a hand, prompting him to jump back to avoid being decayed. Shiggy rises and looks at the blood leaking from his shoulder and hand with annoyance. “How irritating. We don’t have a healer in our party, you know.”

“It seems our goals fundamentally oppose each other.” Stain says, though the smile on his face reveals that he’s not upset about that. “However, this wasn’t in vain. We both agree that we need to destroy the present.”

“Shut up, I’m done with you. Leave. Drop Dead. I don’t care.” The dismissive way he treats the Hero Killer does nothing to banish the light of excitement in his eyes.

“I was testing your motives. People always show their true colors when on the verge of death.” He sheathes his knife. “There is a warped sprout of conviction within your eyes. How will it bloom in the end, I wonder.”

“You’re even crazier than Toga. Someone like you will be no good for the League of Villains.” He once ignores Himi’s interjection of ‘you do care!’, clearly wanting to go back to his games.

Kurogiri, now able to move again, makes to open a portal only for a gesture from me to put it on hold. At the curious looks, I explain.

“We’ve heard of Shiggy’s ‘convictions’, but not yours, Stain. All you’ve said was that you hate fakes and those who lack convictions. So, what’s yours?”

He stares at me with narrowed eyes before grunting in acknowledgement. “I seek to kill the fake heroes so only true heroes like All Might remain. While those wi-”

I can’t help  it. I do want to listen to the rest of his explanation, but really? He thinks All Might is a true hero? That statement is so ridiculous that I laugh. The hostile glare he shoots at me just makes me laugh harder!

After a whack from Himi’s frying pan though, I manage to shake off most of my amusement. I still let out the occasional chuckle though. “All Might is anything but a true hero.”

My claim garners the interest of everyone except Himi, who’s the only one I’ve mentioned to that All Might is… Well, not my dad. Father or guardian would imply that they at least raised me, which isn’t accurate either. Sperm donor? I guess that works.

Anyways, the point is that she’s the only one who knows the full story. It’s not that I’ve explicitly hid it from the League, but I haven’t really had a reason to share it. I don’t think that Stain would join the League, or be a good fit like Shigaraki said, but maybe it will help everyone to understand my ideal.

“All Might had two children. One with a powerful quirk, and the other lacking a quirk at all.” I find it funny how Shiggy and Kurogiri’s eyes widen as I start my story. They know about that, how my family treated me, but I never mentioned that All Might was the neglectful father.

“The quirkless boy was neglected by All Might, who acted like he didn’t exist. The all too brief times where he remembered that he had a son just made the rest of his life all the more miserable-”

“You lie!” Stain snarls, his hand drawing a blade once again.

I smirk back at him. “I don’t but if you ever run across either All Might or a girl named Izumi Yagi, ask them what Izuku Yagi’s life was like. Only one of them could tell you, though whether or not she’d be honest about it is another question entirely.”

I shrug. “But either way, knowing about how hypocritical the “Symbol of Peace” is,” I can’t help but put air quotes around his title, which seems to anger him more if the bloodlust he’s giving off is any indication. It’s not as oppressive as All For One’s though, and if I didn’t buckle under his there’s no way I’ll buckle under Stain’s.

“I’ve come to a single truth about the world.” I show the room a face-splitting smile. “People will do what they want, regardless of how it will affect others.”

He takes an aggressive step forward. “A true hero-”

“Saves people, like they want.” I interrupt. “People who don’t commit crimes might not do so because they want to be good, or they want to not go to prison. People become heroes because they want money, fame, to help people. Heck, they might want to become heroes just because it’s the ‘cool’ thing to do!”

I scoff dismissively. “But once you boil everything down to its base, past all the flowery words, the excuses, the justifications, the convictions, you get people acting based on their own selfish wants.”

I meet his rage filled eyes with my cold ones. “You want to kill fakes because you want heroes to embody the ideal, not the reality.” I take a sip of my drink. “In the end, you’re just as fake as the ones you hunt.”

With a cry of rage he leaps at me, only to fly through a veil of misty darkness that appears in front of him. I chuckle while shooting Kurogiri a thumbs up.

“Thanks for the save Mamagiri. Less blood dirtying up the bar to clean up later.”