Shigaraki yawned his alarm blaring, coaxing him out of his slumber, he slapped at it (Making sure his thumb was tucked in) until it shut off. Dragging himself up he crawled to the bathroom, showering before brushing his teeth, staring in the mirror.
He saw red eyes staring back at him, his hair had become an absolute mess, soaked it covering most of his face, water pooled under him, the constant dripping from his waterlogged hair quickly making a pool around him.. He groggily dried his hair and the floor with his towel. Putting on his gloves first, he changed into a basic t-shirt and sweatpants.. Reaching the main office he saw the boy who had taken him in, who had fallen asleep on the front desk. He shook Hayate, trying to wake him up.
“Five more minutes…”
“Get up asshole, you can’t run the place like this. Take the day off, I can cover.”
He looked up, the bags under his eyes darker than a black hole, encompassing his eyes, as if ready to devour them. “I’m fine, I just needed to close my eyes. Enjoy your morning.”
Shigaraki wasn’t having it though, and dragged Hayate off the desk, practically carrying him to his room. “No one comes to this shitty place in the morning anyways, so sleep already, you can’t do anything as a damn zombie.”
He chucked the younger boy into his bed, who passed out before he could come up with a retort.
Taking a stranger in when you can’t even take care of yourself. What an idiot. But he couldn’t help but let out a small smile as he closed the door, grabbing some coffee before sitting at the front desk, pulling out his phone.
He sipped on his drink as he scrolled through hero forums, news sites and just about anything else he could find. The news had been all about the local vigilante. Who had been saving people nonstop. People began calling them the cities guardian. Constantly there, ready to help people.
After about an hour a customer showed up, staring him down.
“Excuse me”
Shigaraki put his phone down. “Yes?”
The customer huffed ‘About time”, they were a middle aged man, their rustled business suit matching their sour expression. “What do you want?”
The customer sneered “A room, should be fuckin obvious..”
Shigaraki scratched at his neck. “Well I’m sorry, but you didn’t seem too bright, had to make sure you weren’t lost.”
The man fumed at that “What did you just say to me? I swear kids these days are worthless, I’m shocked this place is still running with a runt in charge, hiring hooligans, his parents would be so disappointed.”
Shigaraki stood up, his hands tense, “What did you just say?”
The man sneered, “I’m just saying how it looks, I mean this is a mockery! the boy should’ve been the one…!”
The man had been ready to say more, but Shigaraki wasn’t having it, he punched the man, who fell over, stunned from the hit. Shigaraki picked him up by his tacky suit, dragging him out of the cafe. Shoving him into the large puddle, rain pouring down on him. This seemed to bring him out of his stupor. “Who do you think you are!’
Shigarki leered at the man, pulling one glove off. “Never come back, or I’ll do much more” he picked up a rock off the ground, disintegrating it as an example. A crazy grin lit up on his face as he saw the man's face light up in fear.
“You, you’re crazy!” he hurriedly picked himself up, backing away, nearly tripping on the curb. “You’ll regret this!”
Shigaraki's smile didn’t fade as he headed back in.
“Serves the damn npc right.”
Sitting back down he couldn’t have seen the younger boy, who had heard the entire exchange, crying to himself as he drifted into sleep again..
A different day.
Shigaraki had managed to procure some games with some less than legal methods. He had been playing the newest installment of one of his favorite series. Star Crusader. A fun action game, where you get to fly your ship throughout the stars, making friends with and fighting different species of aliens. He had been having fun, but he felt like he was missing something.
Just then Hayate walked in, stretching as he stared at the screen. “What are you doing?”
Shigaraki waved a hand “Playing”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s an action rpg” he said, looking back at the boy.
The boy in question stared at him, confused
Shigaraki paused the game, before fully turning “have you never played a video game before?”
The boy shook his head “No, my parents said they’re bad for you.”
Shigaraki scoffed “Then they didn’t know what they were talking about, here try” He passed the remote to the unsure boy. Who stared at it.
“This is to move. This is to look around, this is your shoot button, how you switch weapons, and here is your reload button and the one that lets you switch views.” he said this all, pointing to the corresponding parts of the remote. But the boy didn’t seem to fully understand, seemingly overwhelmed. Shigaraki sighed “No one living with me will be game illiterate, here I’ll explain slower this time.” He went through all the controls, letting the boy feel them out. By the end of the session the boy could play, albeit clumsily. Shigaraki nearly cringed when the boy fell off the same roof 4 times in a row. But he could tell they were getting better.
“See it’s not so bad is it?”
The boy smiled when he took out some bandits. “It’s fun, I have to admit.”
This went on for a few more hours, before both of them had responsibilities to take care of. But Shigaraki couldn’t help but feel a little bit happier after the exchange. The strange feeling from earlier was gone.
Another day.
Shigaraki sighed. Laying on his mattress. He didn’t know what to do, he had gotten bored of all his games. And he had destroyed Hayate in Heroes Justice one too many times. The boy still refused to play it.
Not his fault that Gran Torino could break the physics of the game. Hayate complained that he didn’t play the newer ones, while they were better balanced. He always played the older Heroes' Justice's mostly because they didn’t have All Might in them. He still felt rage whenever he saw that man’s face. But now he also couldn’t get the feeling of the man’s neck, disintegrating in his hands. Nor could he forget the look the hero had given him. Shock obviously, but he couldn’t forget the other look the man had made. Regret. Whilst staring directly right at him.
He decided to check the news, to get his mind off of it. Something catching his eye.
Japan's most wanted.
He knew he shouldn’t, he knew where he’d be, but he was still curious.
These villains are extremely dangerous, and should be avoided at all costs.
#1 Izuku Midoriya - quirkless - please call if you suspect, apprehend or obstruct if possible.
Crimes include first degree murder of a Pro Hero, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and resisting arrest.
They chose two pictures of the boy, one was his UA ID, the other was him at the end of the sports festival, smiling alongside a boy whose hair was purple. He recognized the boy as the one master had been interested in. He still didn’t understand how a quirkless boy could be stronger than All Might. But it’s not like it mattered much now anyways, now that he could never go back.
#2 Shigaraki - Disintegrate anything he touches with 5 fingers begins to disintegrate, avoid at all costs, Call emergency services only when you are safe.
Crimes include first degree Murder of a pro hero, maiming of pro heroes, attempted murder of heroes in training, organizing a villain organization, conspiracy and breaking and entering.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
It showed a police sketch of his face, although the quality had been pretty bad.
He couldn’t help but be a little annoyed that he had been overtaken by the hero brat, he had to wonder what had fully happened, he had been out of the loop for so long. He might look into that later.
Sighing he put the phone away, stepping out into the shared kitchen. Looking for something easy to make. Putting a pot of water on the stove, he put it to a boil, pulling out some ramen packages. He picked the basic one. Watching the noodles boil as he zones out.
Another day.
Life seemed to be repetitive, work, game, sleep. But he didn’t mind it. He had even managed to convince Hayate to Make a game night, where they played games from several different genres. Hayate seemed to love platformers the most, especially Jester’s Saga. a game he thought was tacky, but he couldn’t help but be impressed by how quickly Hayate learned the game, beating the optional extra maps in a day. Performing precise jumps and air dodges. Shigaraki couldn’t help but gain more respect for the kid.
Today he was going for a new personal record, beating the final map in under 2 minutes. This was the 52nd attempt. He watched as the boy performed expert movements, the character evading flying axes and fireballs by mere pixels, ducking under kicks and navigating the bouncy interiors as if he were an acrobat. He touched the throne with a time of 1:58
Shigaraki stood up “You did it!”
Hayate spun around Jumping excitedly as he held up a hand for a high five. Which Shigaraki returned. “I Did that!”
Shigaraki put his hands in his pocket “Bet you can’t beat it again.”
“Bet, But if I do then you gotta do all the laundry tonight.”
Shigaraki dreaded the idea, but he wasn’t about to back down
“You’re on.”
He loaded the last bit of laundry into the dryer, finally done with the work. He didn’t mind it, he couldn’t be mad after the look of utter joy on his friend's face when he got the time of 1:57. He sighed, content.
Maybe this life won’t be so bad.
Shigaraki had become a bit of a legend with the customers. Unlike his more forgiving boss, Shigaraki was known to kick out anyone who acted in a rude manner. Especially if you badmouthed the owner of the cafe. The local community slowly accepted him, or at the very least accepted he was here to stay. Although Shigaraki had wanted to thank her, and ask her how she had known, he had never seen the mysterious old lady again, no matter how many times he had visited the mural. It had gotten to the point he had memorized most of the faces, and met a lot of the remaining family. He couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling as he talked to each of them, knowing he had been to blame.
A deep guilt had slowly inched its way into his soul during his stay here, and now he couldn’t shake it off no matter how much he tried to.
There had been another person constantly at the mural, a boy in a hoodie that quickly recognized as Luruni. The boy would always leave some white flowers, exiting as quick as he showed up.
Eventually Shigaraki's curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to confront the boy.
"Hey Luruni!" The boy didn't even glance over, beginning to bolt. Shigaraki chased after the boy. Calling out to him as they ran. "I just want to talk!" He yelled out. But the boy continued his sprint. Shigaraki was panting, his muscles ached from running for so long. But eventually the vigilante turned into an alley. And was seemingly cornered. Shigaraki stopped breathing heavily from the exertion. "I just wanted.. to thank you."
The boy still seemed wary, "I really have to go." The boy tried to sneak past Shigaraki. But he grabbed onto the vigilante, looking at the boy face to face. And he was shocked by what he saw. It was the hero boy he had been told to watch out for, to hunt down if necessary. Standing in front of him was the quirkless boy Izuku Midoriya. He almost couldn't process the fact that he had been saved by what had originally meant to be his rival. But the boy intent of him wasn't the same as he was in the most wanted pictures. He had large bags under his eyes. He almost seemed pale. And the boy overall looked more like a zombie. "I… do you need a place to rest? Because I work at a net cafe, and they don't do background checks. So if you want to, you can stay there for a bit."
The boy stared back at him.
"And before you say you don't, you literally look like a zombie. "
The boy seemed to weigh his options, before sighing. "Yea OK, but just for the night."
Shigaraki didn't know why he had offered to help. But as they walked back Shigaraki felt relief.
He led the boy into the net cafe, passing Hayate who raised an eyebrow as he picked up a key, handing it to the boy. “Last door on the left, showers down the hall.”
The boy looked at both of them, bowing “Thank 11!.you”
Shigaraki waved it away “Take it as thanks for saving my life.”
The boy stayed for another moment, before heading off.
Hayate turned to him “So, you brought home a vigilante?"
Shigaraki was ready to defend himself "He looked like he was about to pass out when I caught up to him."
"Oh I don't mind, He saved your life after all, it's only fair."
Izuku had already passed out as his head touched the pillow. The first time he had slept on a mattress in months. Either sleeping on the couch in the hideout or pulling all-nighters. He had been working himself to the bone. And still didn't have anything to show for it. He hadn't gotten any closer to finding a way to beat Hawks, to stop the corrupt hero commission, Or hell, find the one who's been hunting him down, sending tons of villains and bounty hunters alike his way. And if the person after him was the ones the rumors mentioned, well he’d definitely need a way to even the playing field…
Shigaraki was on the night shift again, sitting on his phone he yawned, stretching, as he peered his eye from the phone he saw a familiar figure sneaking towards the door. His hair is now a bronze color, different from when they had first met, but definitely still the same long unkempt hair.
“Out already Luruni?”
The boy looked at him, still looking exhausted. “Thank you for your hospitality, but I need to get back out there” his hands seemed to ache for action, clenching and unclenching as they spoke.
“I won’t stop you, Everyone saw how dedicated you were in the sports festival after all, Destroying yourself just for a chance at being a hero.”
The boy seemed to freeze at the mention of the sports festival. As if he were a deer in headlights. “If you knew all this time, why did you..?”
“Help you, one of Japan's most wanted? Frankly I don’t know, I’m not a good person, nor do I really like heroes, but when I saw you, I just felt like… I don’t know how to explain it.”
The boy sighed as if he already knew the answer “You helped without thinking, right?”
Shigaraki shrugged, “You could say that.”
Midoriya looked at him, before reaching for his phone, shoving it into his face, showing a number “I can’t stick around, it’s too dangerous for you guys, but if you need help, Share your location with this number and I’ll come help.”
Shigaraki scoffed, saving the number as a contact “y’know most heroes don’t hand out their numbers, Seems like a bad move.” But the boy just smiled at his taunt “I’m no hero.” and walked out into the night, leaving Shigaraki with one number, and a lot of questions.