"Villainy (n.):

A great way to meet new friends!"

-Your Sarcastic Author Who Still Hasn't Come Up With A Quote For This Chapter

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Approximately 7 months later

"Is everything ready?"

A rather tall white-haired man walked through the doorway. His eyes were a curious shade of red, a large assortment of dark circles, and a surprisingly normal skin tone. Despite those exotic features of his, the first thing you'd likely notice was the assortment of floating hands on his face and limbs. Right across from him was a mess of green that was writing in a notebook at almost supersonic speeds. The most surprising thing, however, was that the letters maintained their machine like accuracy despite the speed at the words were being written at.

"Yes. The only thing left to do now is to profile the newly enrolled students. Shigaraki, your preparations are complete as well, I assume?"

"Naturally. What kind of gamer would I be if I didn't get all of the quests done before the final boss was upon us?"

He finished his sentence with a gaze of disdain. Despite the handy-man's jargon, Deku was still able to puzzle out the meaning. When he said 'quests', he meant that he succeeded in all of the requirements that the plan required. And final boss meant All Might himself. Deku, at first, had no idea what Shigaraki was talking about when he started one of his gamer rants. He never had the opportunity to play video games when he was growing up. Mainly because he was too focused on watching heroes and taking notes, but also because his mother was barely able to keep up with everything. The rent, bills, mortgage... They were almost too much for the woman who was also a now single mother.

It already killed him enough to watch her push herself to unreasonable limits in order to buy him an All Might action figure for his birthday.

His mother... He hadn't thought about her in a very long time (The thought of her killed him a little each time). It was true that she never had faith in his dream to be a hero, but... She was so much more than that. She was a shoulder to cry on, a back to piggyback on, and a mouth to laugh with. She was Santa Claus at Christmas and the Easter Bunny at Easter. She was his only friend.

He could forgive her, love her even despite the fact that she never believed. In a way, it was almost a relief. The bubbly, happy, sometimes crying mother was a human too. She doubted things. But fate has always had a twisted sense of humor.

Because she wasn't wrong. He didn't become a hero after struggling through countless trials and tribulations in order to save people. That wasn't his story any longer. The only thing that was left now was a path drenched in blood, suffering, and revenge. A villain.

"...'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain', huh?"

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Kurogiri let out a sound of recognition.

"Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight, correct? That's quite an old classic, having been released in 2008... You aren't having second thoughts now, are you?"

Deku was content enough to let the question float around aimlessly, as his notebook took his eye and his thought process. He straightened up in his seat, dotting the last little period in place. It was a database of quirks; strengths, weaknesses, and counters that could instantly render them useless. It was a little surprising as to the amount of information heroes left the public in regards to their quirk. You would think that they would safeguard them with their lives, but they gave it out for free. Simply for even more fame and appreciation from the public.

He lightly swirled the non-alcoholic concoction that Kurogiri had made before chugging it down instantly. It served its purpose; it drew him out of his rambling train of thoughts. That was the one habit it seemed he would never get rid of. He focused his attention on Kurogiri once more, and with the ease of practice, he lightly drew his lips in a smile that was acidic to the taste.

"Of course not. I didn't go into this without being aware of the consequences... I simply laugh at the twisted irony of fate."

He turned and walked to the door after that, not bothering to say any more on the subject. Shigaraki who had been maintaining his silence until now, (a pretty rare feat) looked at Deku, and spoke,

"...What are you doing now?"

"I'm just going to go... interview some U.A. students."

Almost as if he was reminded of something, he grabbed his bag and flipped the black wig on his head. His freckles had long since vanished, replaced by a single mole on his bottom lip. His now black eyes were furnished with a pair of glasses. His persona had changed to an old but familiar one; a hero fanboy who wanted to one day get into the prestigious school of U.A (or Yuuei) itself. If he just so happened to want to know what kind of quirks got into U.A., well that wasn't too out there, was it?

~~~

It was a grand entrance; stone arches, vibrant patches of well-grown grass, and tall trees reaching up to the sky. The most attention-grabbing aspect of the school however was its' giant glass body building shaped like that of a fat 'H'. Unnoticed and unseen, a phantom of the past lurks. Right in time to capture a teenage girl with brown hair, and a male with a navy shade of hair. Oh, he had glasses too.

"Umm... I'm sorry to bother you, but-... doyouthinkyoucouldtellmeaboutyourquirks??"

Both of the two students were stunned by the rapid talking pace.

"...Huh?"

"Please talk slower young man!"

"Ah... Sorry about that... Uh, you see, I really, like really wanna get into U.A. ya know? I just wanted to... compare my quirk to those that actually like got in. See if I actually have a chance."

"..."

"I know that this is really abrupt, and rude, and awkward... Sorry, I- I'll just go-"

"Okay!"

The young girl simply smiled good-naturedly and agreed to his request despite the spasms coming from her friend.

'Checkmate.'

"R-Really?!"

"U-Urakaka-san? Why are you-"

She simply waved him off.

"It's fine! It's not like it's a big secret or something."

She picked up a little pebble of the ground, and placed it in her palm.

"Watch carefully, okay?"

That little pebble then went on to deny one of the most powerful forces in the universe: gravity. Even if he wasn't required to do so because of his disguise, he would have still agreed that it was definitely incredible.

"Woah... So cool!"

"Haha, thanks! Iida over here has little engines on his leg! He can go really fast!"

Deku carefully did a 90-degree bow several times before fleeing, trying his best to express sincerity that he couldn't feel. It was nice that they made his job so easy, however. He thought he would have had to pull out the secret weapons (crying, and puppy dog eyes). He sighed to himself as he thought about the number of students still remaining.

'It's okay, I suppose. A rather interesting change of pace. I can almost imagine myself walking among them, but this is my reality now.

I'm a villain now.'