9 years ago.
Ryo was sitting on the floor of his own room inside the complex, surrounded by toys that had been placed there to make that place seem normal.
There were colorful blocks, All Might dolls, toy cars, building pieces, and a few children's books on a low shelf. The room was too clean, too white, and too organized to truly look like it belonged to a child. Even the toys looked as if they had been chosen by adults who had read in some manual that children needed them.
Ryo had a red toy car in his hand.
He pushed it forward, then pulled it back.
Pushed.
Pulled.
Without any enthusiasm.
The car passed between the other toys scattered across the floor, but Ryo barely looked at them. His empty eyes were fixed on the small wheel turning slowly.
"When is Mom coming?"
She had said she would come later.
But "later" in the complex could mean anything.
Ryo pushed the car again.
It hit a blue block and turned sideways.
Ryo did not move to fix it.
He just kept looking.
Then two small hands covered his eyes from behind.
"Guess who?"
The voice came playful, cheerful, and far too close.
Ryo went stiff for a moment before letting out a tired sigh.
"Toga..."
Ryo carefully held her wrists, pulled her hands away from his face, and turned around.
Toga was behind him, kneeling on the floor, her two ash-blonde buns slightly crooked and several loose strands falling near her face. She puffed out her cheeks, clearly sulking.
"I already told you about that, Ryo-kun."
Ryo blinked.
"What?"
"I already told you to call me Himiko."
Ryo looked away.
"But..."
Toga leaned forward, bringing her face closer to his.
"Hi-mi-ko."
Ryo leaned back a little.
"O-Okay."
She kept staring.
He pressed his fingers against the toy car.
"...Himiko."
Her face lit up immediately.
"That's much better!"
Before Ryo could react, Himiko threw herself against him in a quick, tight hug. After a few seconds, she pulled away and looked at the toys scattered around.
"What are you playing?"
Ryo looked at the floor.
"I don't know."
Himiko tilted her head.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I just threw everything on the floor." He touched the toy car with one finger. "The only thing I moved was this car."
Himiko looked at the red car.
Then she looked at Ryo.
Then at the car again.
"That looks boring."
Ryo pushed the car a few centimeters.
"Yeah..."
"And sad."
"That too..."
Himiko stayed silent for a second. For her, that was already a long time.
Ryo kept looking at the toy car.
"I wanted my mom to be here."
Himiko's expression changed.
She looked at Ryo from the side, as if trying to understand the weight of that sentence. Then her yellow eyes shone with an idea.
"I know!"
She stood up.
Ryo lifted his gaze to her.
Himiko pointed one finger upward as if she had just discovered the solution to every problem in the world.
"Let's play hide-and-seek!"
Ryo stared at her.
Then lowered his face back to the toy car.
"No."
Himiko blinked.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pleeeease?"
"No."
"Cooome oooon, Ryyyyoooooo..."
She crouched down, grabbed his hand, and tried to pull him up.
Ryo resisted without much strength, but also without any desire to stand.
"I don't want to."
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't."
"I decided that you do."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does."
Himiko pulled harder.
Ryo stayed sitting.
She tried pulling him by both arms, but he only slid a little across the floor.
She moved behind him and tried pushing his back. Ryo leaned forward, but did not stand.
"You're too heavy!" she complained.
"I'm sitting."
"Then stop being sitting."
"No."
Himiko pouted.
Then she looked around, saw the toy car, and picked it up.
Ryo looked at her immediately.
"Hey."
She smiled.
"If you want the car back, you'll have to play with me."
"That's theft."
"It's not theft, it's me doing it."
Ryo stared at the toy car in her hand.
Himiko took a few steps back.
"I'm going to run away with it."
"But you can't run in the hallway..."
"Then come stop me before I run!"
Ryo sighed.
Two minutes later, Himiko left the room holding his hand, smiling as if she had won a war.
"See? Good thing you agreed!"
"I didn't agree."
"Yes, you did. You're coming with me."
"Because you forced me..."
"But now we're going to have lots of fun!"
Ryo looked down at her hand holding his.
He did not pull away.
They stopped in a hallway of Block A, where the walls were white, the floor was clean, and nurses walked back and forth with clipboards. That part of the complex looked almost like an ordinary hospital. Almost.
Himiko placed the red toy car on a small table near the wall.
"Rules!" she announced.
Ryo looked at her with little enthusiasm.
"You count to thirty. I hide. You look for me."
"I already know how to play hide-and-seek."
"Then you know you can't peek."
She pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then at him.
"No cheating."
Ryo raised his hands to his face.
"Okay..."
Himiko smiled.
"Count out loud so I can hear!"
Ryo closed his eyes.
"One..."
Himiko took one step back.
"Two..."
She turned and started running.
"Three..."
"You'll never find me!" she sang, disappearing down the hallway.
Ryo continued counting, uncertain.
"Four... five..."
Himiko ran through Block A with quick, light little steps, dodging nurses and supply carts. Some staff members turned their heads when they saw her pass.
"29-A," a nurse called, surprised. "You shouldn't be running."
Himiko only waved.
"I'm playing with Ryo-kun!"
"Again with that boy?" another staff member commented, holding a clipboard.
"He's my friend!" Himiko answered without stopping.
The man frowned.
"Yes, yes... friend..."
The word came out with a strange tone.
But Himiko did not care.
She kept running.
She passed through an area with glass doors, where patients were being observed by doctors. Some were sitting on beds, others were watching television, others were talking with family members under supervision.
Himiko looked for a place to hide behind a pile of sheets, but thought it was too obvious.
"Ryo is smart," she murmured. "He'll look there."
She moved on.
The hallway led to a transition area.
A green line on the floor indicated authorized passage for low-risk patients. There were signs on the walls with arrows, numbers, and warnings.
Himiko did not pay much attention.
She was too busy looking for the perfect hiding spot.
She passed through a pair of automatic doors when a staff member lifted his gaze.
"Hey, vampire girl."
Himiko stopped for half a second.
Her smile faded.
The man in uniform looked at her.
"You're far from your ward. Go back."
"I'm playing."
"Playing with who?"
"With Ryo-kun."
The man's expression changed.
"That boy?"
Himiko puffed out her cheeks.
"He has a name."
"Right, right, go back to your ward before you cause trouble."
"I'm not going to cause trouble."
The staff member did not seem to believe her, but he also did not care that much.
Himiko turned her face away and kept walking, now a little faster.
She did not like it when they called Ryo "that boy."
She also did not like it when they called her vampire.
Or 29-A.
Or "the biting girl."
She was Himiko.
And Ryo was Ryo.
That was obvious, but she did not understand why people did not care about it.
Little by little, the hallways became less crowded.
The walls were still white, but the doors became thicker. The windows looked thicker and sturdier. The lights were colder. The sound of her own footsteps began to echo in a different way.
Himiko stopped at a fork in the hallway.
There was a yellow stripe on the floor.
And another red one farther ahead.
She looked back.
Then forward.
"If I hide really far away, he'll never find me."
She smiled again, but with less confidence.
Even so, she continued.
The next doors opened after a staff member passed through with an access card. Himiko took advantage of the gap and slipped inside before they could close completely.
On the other side, the complex looked like a different place.
Block D.
She knew the name because she had heard the adults say it before.
It was where they kept "the difficult ones."
At first, there were still normal rooms, with patients accompanied by doctors and security agents. Some people had strange quirks, but they did not look dangerous. A woman with transparent skin slept in a bed. A boy with crystals growing from his arms read a book. A man with blue smoke coming out of his mouth talked to a psychologist behind a divider.
Himiko walked more slowly.
The doors became heavier with every hallway.
The signs changed.
Green.
Yellow.
Orange.
She passed through an area where a woman cried inside a padded chamber while small blades grew and fell from her skin like metallic leaves. A man was locked in a room with walls covered in claw marks, muttering to himself while shadows moved behind him. In another cell, a slightly older child was suspended in the air, surrounded by threads that seemed to come out of her own hair and strike against the glass.
Himiko began squeezing her hands together.
"Maybe this is too hidden..."
She looked back.
The hallway seemed longer than before.
Then she heard a low sound.
A dragging sound.
Coming from farther ahead.
Himiko swallowed.
Even so, she walked.
The stripe on the floor was now red.
The lights blinked at slow intervals. Each door was a reinforced chamber, with thick glass in front and plaques attached beside it. No names appeared. Only codes, warnings, and descriptions.
She passed by a cell where something large breathed behind a curtain of steam.
In another, a person with too many eyes stared at the ceiling without blinking.
In the next, a man with bone plates tearing out through his skin repeatedly slammed his forehead against the wall while screaming in pain.
Himiko became smaller.
Her smile had disappeared.
Finally, she stopped in front of a darker chamber.
At the center of the space, there was a dark red puddle on the floor.
It did not look like blood.
Not exactly.
It looked like something alive trying to pretend it was.
Himiko approached the glass, curious despite her fear.
There was a sticker attached beside the chamber.
She read it with difficulty, moving her lips.
"Subject... R... eleven..."
Below, in smaller letters:
Danger Level: Red.
Description: Parasitic tumoral mass. Unstable organism with aggressive symbiotic bonding. Capable of adhesion, expansion, partial mimicry, and attempted fusion with living hosts. Direct contact prohibited.
Himiko tilted her head.
"You don't have a name either?"
The puddle moved a little.
Himiko held her breath.
The red mass trembled, then began sliding across the floor of the cell toward the glass.
Himiko placed one hand on the glass, uncertain.
"H-Hello..."
The mass stopped on the other side.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then a thin tentacle emerged from it.
It slowly climbed the inner surface of the cell until it reached the height of Himiko's hand. The tip touched the glass on the other side, exactly where her fingers were resting.
The touch was soft and almost gentle.
Himiko smiled a little.
"Do you want to play too?"
In the next instant, the mass launched itself entirely against the glass.
BANG!
Himiko screamed and stumbled backward, falling seated on the floor.
The red slime spread across the transparent wall, pressing against the glass as if it wanted to pass through it. Tentacles struck, scratched, dripped, and reformed, all trying to reach the little girl.
The impact echoed through the hallway, and that made the other cells respond.
A roar came from the left.
Then a scream.
Then pounding.
BANG
BANG
BANG
The red lights began blinking faster.
Something slammed against a reinforced door.
Another chamber shook.
One voice began laughing in a broken way.
Another cried.
Another screamed words Himiko did not understand.
"Stop..." she murmured.
Her hands went to her head.
"S-Stop, please..."
The pounding continued.
The sound grew louder.
"Stop!"
Himiko's voice broke.
The red hallway disappeared for an instant.
In its place came children screaming.
A classroom.
One of them with an arm marked by a bite.
And the others with horrified looks.
"Monster!"
"She bit him!"
"She's disgusting!"
"Don't come close!"
Adults.
Teachers.
Her parents.
Her mother's face distorted by fear.
"Why can't you be normal?"
"Monster."
"Monster."
"Monster."
Himiko curled up on the hallway floor, covering her head with her arms.
"I'm sorry..."
The pounding continued.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
The red slime struck the glass again.
BANG!
"I'm leaving..." she whispered, trembling. "I'm leaving, so stop..."
She stayed like that for a few seconds.
Maybe longer.
Sitting on the floor, small, curled up, surrounded by screams and impacts from people who were not children, but sounded like every child who had ever screamed at her.
Then a voice called from far away.
"Himiko!"
She opened her eyes hesitantly.
At first, she thought she had imagined it.
But the voice came again.
"Himiko!"
Fast footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Through the blinking red lights, Ryo appeared.
He was breathless, his face tense and his eyes more alive than usual. They were the same black as always, but they were alert in a way Himiko rarely saw.
He stopped in front of her.
Looked at the cells.
Then at her.
"You shouldn't have come here!"
Himiko did not answer.
Ryo held out his hand to her.
"Come on, let's get out of here."
She stared at his hand.
For some reason, it seemed very far away.
A heavy impact came from the cell beside them, frightening her and bringing her back to the present.
She raised her hand and grabbed Ryo's.
He pulled carefully, helping her to her feet before he started running with her down the hallway.
"Pay attention to the signs when you're walking around the complex, Himiko!" Ryo said to her, pulling her by the hand as they passed the frenzied cells. "Green is where you can walk. Yellow only with an adult. Orange means don't enter. Red means never enter."
Himiko heard his voice, but not the words.
She was focused on feeling the warmth of his hand firmly holding hers.
No disgust.
No fear.
No uncertainty.
No judgment.
She looked at Ryo's fingers closed around hers.
And, for an instant, she imagined something else.
A tree in a kindergarten yard.
Herself crying while hiding, with the voices of other children calling her a monster in the distance.
Then Ryo appeared.
Not that sad Ryo from the complex, but the same Ryo from now.
He had his hand extended.
"Are you okay?"
Himiko squeezed his hand harder.
Ryo quickly looked back.
"What is it? Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"No..."
They kept walking.
When they finally crossed the door back into Block A, the air became calm again.
Ryo stopped, still holding her hand.
"We're back..."
Himiko stayed silent.
Ryo took a deep breath.
"With that, hide-and-seek is over..."
He looked back, then at the camera in the corner of the hallway.
"They'll probably scold us later too..."
Himiko did not answer.
Ryo turned to her.
"And you need to stop running off without looking where you're—"
He froze the moment Himiko hugged him.
It was not a quick, playful hug meant to annoy him or celebrate something.
It was tight and desperate.
She buried her face against his chest and gripped his clothes hard, as if he would disappear if she let go.
Ryo stayed completely still.
"H-Himiko?"
She squeezed tighter.
"Promise."
Ryo looked down, confused.
"Promise what?"
"Promise."
"I don't understa—"
"Promise that you'll never leave me..."
Ryo stayed silent.
His hands hovered in the air for a few seconds, not knowing where to put them. He looked around nervously, as if some adult might appear and scold them.
But no one came.
Himiko remained hugged to him.
Her tearful voice came out muffled by his clothes.
"P-Promise..."
Ryo lowered his eyes.
She was trembling against him.
Ryo swallowed.
And slowly, he placed one hand on her back.
He did not know if he was doing it right.
But Himiko hugged him even tighter, as if that was enough.
"Okay..." he murmured.
Himiko lifted her face a little.
"I promise..."
His voice came out low.
"I promise I'll never leave you."
----------------------------------------
"...Himiko?"
The word came out low.
Almost breathless.
Toga stayed still for a second.
The knife was still stuck in her hand, pointed at Ryo's face, but her wrist was still firmly held by his fingers. Her yellow eyes blinked once, then again, as if trying to understand why that boy had said her name like that.
Then she smiled.
"Wow..." she said, tilting her head. "How do you know my name?"
Ryo did not answer right away.
He just kept looking at her.
He would recognize that far-too-wide smile anywhere.
That was Himiko, it definitely was.
Toga widened her smile a little more.
"Do you know my work, by any chance?"
Ryo frowned.
"...What do you mean?"
The question barely came out.
Toga spun her body with surprising speed and launched a kick toward his face.
For an instant, she thought she had hit him.
Her foot stopped in midair.
Ryo had caught her leg with his other hand before the impact, his hand closed around her ankle with an almost impossible firmness.
"Himiko", he said, his voice growing more urgent. "Calm down."
Toga widened her eyes.
Then she smiled again.
With her free hand, she pulled out a syringe and threw it straight at his eye.
Ryo turned his head by reflex and raised his hand.
The syringe struck his palm and broke, the metal tip denting against his skin without piercing it.
The movement forced him to let go of her leg.
Toga took advantage of it.
She spun through the air, retreated with an acrobatic leap, and landed near a tree, light as if she were dancing. Then she brought her hands close to her face and made a shy pose, her shoulders slightly hunched.
"I did not expect to find fans here", she said, blushing in an exaggerated way. "Especially one so strong and handsome~"
Ryo stood still in the middle of the dust, his hand still raised, looking at her as if every word was hitting him with a delay.
"Fan?"
Toga blinked.
"Hm?"
"What are you talking about?"
She tilted her head, confused.
"You are not a fan?"
Her face fell a little.
"So you do not know about the murders?"
The world seemed to stop for a second.
The word passed slowly through Ryo.
His throat went dry and the color drained from his face.
"Murders...?"
Toga grimaced, as if disappointed.
"What a pain..."
Ryo took a small step back.
"No..."
His voice came out almost mute.
"No, no, no..."
The forest around them was still filled with distant sounds, but to him everything had become muffled. The trees, the dust, the leaves, the smoke, everything seemed far too distant.
She was there with villains, talking about murders and smiling about it.
"It cannot be real..." he murmured.
Toga looked at him more closely.
Ryo raised his eyes.
"Himiko..." His voice failed for an instant. "You are joking, right?"
She did not answer.
"You are not serious, right...?"
Toga frowned, finally bothered.
"What are you talking about?"
"Tell me it is a lie, please..."
"You are weird", she said, the smile returning crookedly, but now less cheerful. "Do not talk like that as if you already knew me."
Something inside Ryo broke.
He disappeared.
The gust of wind came afterward.
Toga felt her back hit the tree before she understood that he had moved. The trunk behind her groaned under the pressure of the displacement. Ryo was in front of her, one hand planted against the tree right above her head, his face very close, his green eyes shining with a mix of anger, pain, and despair.
"It is me!" he shouted.
Toga widened her eyes.
Ryo was breathing heavily, his hand trembling slightly against the tree that cracked under his grip.
"It is me, Himiko! Ryo!"
The name hung in the air.
For an instant, Toga did not move.
Her yellow eyes moved over his face. The messier black hair, the harder expression, the larger body, the different voice. The glowing green eyes that had not existed before.
But the way he looked at her...
The memory clicked into place.
"Ryo..." she murmured.
Her gaze lowered.
For a second, Ryo thought she was going to cry.
But no.
The smile vanished completely.
So did the blush.
The fake sweetness disappeared like a mask being ripped away.
In its place came a closed, deep hatred that he had never seen on the face of the little girl he had known.
Ryo froze at the change.
"Himiko...?"
Before he could say more, something struck his back.
A white beam wrapped around him.
Ryo's body was ripped off the ground.
His arms and legs locked in place while his entire body became trapped inside a white, translucent energy.
Ryo tried to move.
But nothing happened.
He tried to force his fingers.
Nothing.
The energy kept him immobile, floating a few centimeters above the ground.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"Well, well, well..."
Ryo felt his stomach sink.
Shigaraki emerged from the darkness between the trees.
The dark coat covered most of his body, and the hood still hid his face. One of his arms was raised, the wide sleeve falling enough to reveal only the white metallic glow of a device embedded beneath it.
The beam came from there.
Shigaraki tilted his head.
"...what an interesting reunion."
He moved his arm slightly.
The white field rotated Ryo in the air, turning him to face Shigaraki head-on. Then it dragged him close to Toga, leaving him suspended beside her like a piece trapped inside a display case.
Shigaraki looked from Ryo to Toga.
"I really did not expect this twist."
Ryo tried to move his jaw, but the field did not let him move even a single centimeter.
Shigaraki let out a low laugh.
"Who would have thought you were friends with my partner here?"
Ryo's eyes widened.
He looked at Toga.
"What...? She... No... it can't be..."
She did not look back.
She only stepped away from him and walked over to Shigaraki. Her face was still strange, without the usual smile, without the sick excitement from before.
Then she took a deep breath.
And as if putting the mask back on, she turned her face, and the smile had already returned.
"Shiiigiii~!" she said, her voice sweet and sing-song again. "This boy was mean to me a long time ago! Teach him a lesson for me!"
"Shut up."
Toga stopped.
Shigaraki did not even look at her.
Her smile trembled for half a second while Shigaraki kept his eyes only on Ryo.
"I will have a conversation with you later, brat."
Shigaraki snapped the fingers of his free hand.
"But first..."
The treetops moved.
A figure fell from a high branch with elegance, landing on the ground as if stepping onto a stage. Top hat, mask, refined posture.
Mr. Compress bent into a bow.
"What a dramatic scene. An old reunion, a captured protagonist, and an audience about to arrive. Worthy of applause, I would say."
Ryo ignored almost everything he said, because behind him, a larger shadow appeared.
Much larger.
The trees opened with heavy cracks.
A huge Nomu stepped out of the darkness.
Its head was covered by a white skull mask that hid almost its entire face, leaving only two empty red points sunken in the darkness visible. Its black torso was bare, far too broad, with exaggerated muscles compact like plates of living concrete. Its shoulders were enormous, its thick neck almost disappearing between them, and its arms looked like deformed pillars, too thick even for its own body. Veins bulged beneath its abnormal skin, pulsing like tightened cables, while scars and dark lines crossed its chest and abdomen. Each step made the ground sink beneath its feet, opening small craters in the earth.
But that was not what made Ryo's heart stop.
It was what it was carrying.
Dash was trapped in one of the Nomu's hands.
The blond was being held by the head, his body limp, unconscious. Blood ran down from his scalp, staining part of his face and light hair.
Ryo stopped breathing.
Shigaraki noticed his reaction and smiled.
"Surprised? He ended up coming at us out of nowhere, too bad he did not expect the big guy here~"
Ryo tried to force himself to move again.
Nothing.
Toga noticed Ryo's gaze on Dash and frowned.
Shigaraki brought his free hand to his hood.
"I prepared a little show for you."
He pulled the hood back.
Ryo saw his face.
The left side of Shigaraki's face was covered by a huge burn scar. The skin was uneven, stretched, marked in a cruel way. His left eye was cloudy, lifeless, and part of his head showed scar tissue where hair should have been.
But he had an enormous smile on his face.
Manic and full of excitement.
"I hope you like it", Shigaraki said, keeping Ryo suspended in the zero-point field while the Nomu raised Dash in front of him. "I planned it specifically for you~"
----------------------------------------
(A/N: I had been planning this path for much longer than you think, like almost ten chapters in advance. Because let's be honest, Ryo would wipe out the entire League so fast that not even a second would pass. He is simply far stronger than them.
But that would ruin some plans I have for things further ahead, mainly for All Might vs All For One.
But I also didn't want to create a bad excuse like "This guy did this so Ryo won't be able to do anything." No, dude, I'm not that lazy. Even taking someone hostage wouldn't work because Ryo is way too fast, and we also have Dash.
That's why I spent a good amount of time finding solutions, not creating new ones. I kept reading and rereading the fic until I remembered that I gave Shigaraki Syndrome's bracelet. And after doing some research, I discovered that this zero-point ray, besides moving at the speed of light, is the perfect weapon to restrain Ryo.
The problem is landing the shot... But that was solved right away with the encounter with Toga, which made him relax and lower his guard enough for Shigaraki to hit him.
Damn, I'm a genius.
Now, about the Nomu and what quirks it has to be able to defeat Dash, it is basically a USJ Nomu+ but with the addition of the quirk of a certain extremely stupid politician. I won't say the name of the quirk, but I already mentioned it in a comment I replied to in Chapter 20, in case you're curious.
For those who thought the cover was for the fight against Jack-Jack.
Sorry...
B-Bye! Bye! See you in the next chapter!)