Chapter 76: Oh, my Knight

So many questions, so many mysteries. Who is Shuri Mari, what is her story, and how does she even plan to get onto U.A. grounds when the event is closed to the public? Well, she has a knight in shining armour of course

At U.A., the clock was ticking away as it approached 9AM, when the Culture Festival would officially kick off. But even with less than 30 minutes left before them, the students were still busy getting things ready. Most of it was last-minute adjustments or moving things into place for their class projects.

Class A was no different as the dancers dressed and the band got into the right mindset, though not without challengers.

“Oh, my nerves are killing me!” Kaminari gripped as it was only just hitting him what they would be doing.

"Just take a few deep breaths, centre yourself so it doesn't seem as overwhelming," Yaoyorozu advised, doing her own breathing exercise to keep a level head.

“As? Shouldn’t it make it…what’s normal overwhelming? Whelming?” Kaminari asked as Tokoyami checked on his guitar for the 8th time, as if something could have happened in the few minutes since he last inspected the burrowed instrument.

“It’s not as if we’re calm, Yaomomo is sweating, and my hands are shaking. This is meant to be an important day for us, I would say bigger than the Sports Festival, as this isn't for us." Tokoyami's blunt statement didn't help either Kaminari or Yaoyorozu to centre themselves, as it wasn't as if they had particularly good showings at the Sports Festival, both losing in the finals pretty handily.

“Like that helps with my nerves.” Hagakure’s outfit shifted around, conveying what her unseen face couldn’t.

“We went through the trouble of having shirts made, so put yours on, Bakugo!” Jiro yelled. She and the band weren't dressed all fancy like the rest of the dancers, who were in bright yellow and white costumes, with the girls going with skirts and dark blue leggings.

On the other hand, the band was wearing their regular uniform bottoms but orange tees with large white 'A’s printed on the front. Bakugo had pointedly not swapped into his yet and was making a fuss about it.

"Oh my God, these outfits are super cute, and all we need is to jazz up some dresses." Ashido did a twirl in hers, loving how the skirt seemed to fly out like a flying saucer shape, but not so much that it exposed more of their legs.

“We’re all super sexy!” Mineta declared with a jump for joy.

“Has Uraraka made it back from her errand?” Todoroki asked as he and Aoyama walked over to the gym. They needed to get the former rigged up and test the riggings.

“If she hasn’t made herself known, then I would imagine she’s on her way.” Aoyama, wearing his hero costume, replied with little concern.

Todoroki wasn't as chill about this, as Uraraka never ran late without a good reason. Still, she hadn't called to explain what that could be. Was it just a delay, or something else? “Cutting it close, isn't it? We're meant to perform soon, and rigging you up will take time."

Aoyama hummed, but his belief in his new friend wouldn't be easily questioned. “She’ll be here, have a little faith, Todoroki.”

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At that same time, Togata rode with Aizawa towards campus. The third year was impressed with the blue and white striped sports car, but the underground pro corrected the assumption about the car's ownership, as it was Present Mic and was merely borrowing it.

The reason? Mic would be busy hosting the festival, and someone needed to pick up Eri from the hospital. Soon enough, she'll live at U.A., as they helped train her on her quirk. Looking back at their rear of the car, where their previous cargo sat, Togata gave Eri a big smile. “We’ll be there super soon, just you wait, Eri.”

“Okay.” Eri nodded but didn't smile, but Togata took the fact that she wasn't frowning as a win.

Turning again, Togata pulled out the festival schedule and read it. "Alright, then, according to the schedule, class 1A's performance starts at 10AM, and class 1B's will be at 11AM. Then it's chow time and the beauty pageant." He listed that his own class, along with Amajiki and Nejire’s, would be hosting similar events, so he should be able to make it back in time to offer support to them.

Eri's confused look only made her all the cuter. How could Chisaki ever mistreat such a face? “Class 1A?” Eri asked, Togata snapping his fingers as he remembered they hadn't explained that to her yet.

“Oh, that’s Uraraka, Froppy, and Bakugo's class. You saw them practicing the other day, remember? The beauty pageant isn't a class thing, but Nejire will perform, so I'm hoping we'll see it." He gave a quick rundown, focusing on the people Eri would know and recognise from the raid.

Eri could recall them a little. Froppy seemed nice with her, and so did Uraraka. Bakugo…was that the loud one? She didn't know what to think about it. He was angry-looking, but he didn't hurt her. It was strange.

It was not strange enough that she didn't want to come, as she enjoyed spending time there the first time, and the festival sounded like a lot of fun, with a lot of candy apples. But there was still something she was curious about.

“Will Pyre be in the beauty pageant?” Eri asked. To her, it seemed like a good question. Pyre didn't belong to one of these class things; Lemillion would have said so. So maybe he would be in the beauty pageant, whatever that was.

Aizawa would swear till the day he died that he did not crack a smile at the question, or let out a short, near inaudible snicker at how much on the spot Togata was. Particularly because, as someone on the team hunting the Thunder, he was well aware of how some elements of society perceived them.

For Pyre, that typically meant levels approaching concerning degrees of popularity and admiration, not just from the merch, as the magiothermokinetic villain was pretty popular and no doubt could have become…what was it that Nemuri called it, a trap idol?

Togata needed a moment to collect his thoughts after getting some…odd images in his head. "Well, that'll certainly cause a stir, but I don't think so, but he'll be there. The principal used some crafty Nezu tricks and arranged something, so he wouldn’t tell me what.”

Aizawa nodded, though he had a suspicion about what the principal had done.

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"Good morning, All Might." All Might looked up from his phone to see Midnight approaching him. The retired hero nodded in turn, but she noticed how distracted he looked. "Oh, you're looking tense. Did something come up?"

"Something seems to be the name of the game," All Might replied as he held up two pieces of paper, permission slips that had recently been approved.

Bending a little, Midnight read through both of them, finding one for Uraraka and another for Mellissa. The latter might not have been a student but was still under their protection. “Permission to leave the campus? Why would Uraraka ask for that?”

"Her class needed some rope for their big performance, and she rushed out to get some. Mellissa also stepped out to get some apple pie, which she insisted was better than what Lunch Rush makes." All Might explained, to which Midnight snorted at the second part.

“She shouldn’t let Lunch hear that, he takes as much pride in his food as Mic does his radio show,” Midnight quipped, but frowned as she thought about it. "I can see why Uraraka would rush out, if it's important to their performance, she really didn't have many choices, but why did Mellissa need to leave now?"

Mellissa seemed almost as excited for the festival as young Eri had been. Still, with the time approaching its start, she could imagine she and Uraraka weren't back yet. Why was that? Couldn't Mellissa have gotten this famed apple pie afterwards?

All Might had asked the same thing the night before when Mellissa had approached him about this. "Said something about the place selling out fast, but that was almost an hour ago, and she hasn't called yet. She promised she would." He gave Midnight his niece's answer and added his reason for concern.

“Do you-” Midnight immediately asked, but All Might held his phone up.

"No, her phone has a tracker on it. She came up with it so we could track her in case the League or someone else made a move. According to her, it also tracks her speed, location, and heart rate, and outside a brief panic a few minutes ago, it's been stable." He explained.

“Could be because it was stolen.” Midnight suggested, as she doubted the thing was hooked to a pacemaker or something. It probably was tracking Mellissa's heart rate through something like a wristwatch. It could have been stolen along with the phone if it looked valuable enough.

"It went crazy in a café, and out of curiosity, I called them." Midnight might have teased him for being overprotective if he had called the bakery Mellisa had just been to, but she would have let it slide. If anything, it was underprotective, given how dangerous things had been.

As for how he even got in contact with the business, she imagined it wasn’t hard for the former symbol of peace to get their management talking. "According to them, nothing happened. Someone matching her description came in with a white-haired woman. They needed to be getting along pretty well. They had their meal and left, and according to the tracker, they're heading back here."

Midnight breathed a little sigh of relief. It seemed like this was merely a false alarm, one that wouldn't result in the Culture Festival being cancelled before it could start. "Sounds like she just made a friend. Lord knows the girl needs it. She spends all her time at your place, not what I would call a healthy environment for a young woman."

As she walked off, All Might narrowed his gaze on her back, not out of lust like so many others, but annoyance and suspicion. “What are you implying?”

Midnight turned her head, enough so that he could see her sultry eyes and the quick lip lick she did. “Oh, nothing at all, senior.” She purred, but All Might only took offense.

“Se-I’m not that old!” All Might yelled back, as sure as he wasn't in the best shape anymore, but that was due to a major injury that should have killed him. The fact that he managed to survive 5 plus years was just a testament to how healthy he had once been and still was.

Midnight didn’t buy him, humming as she tapped her chin before she pointed a well-manicured finger towards him. “How much older than me are you?”

All Might hated being the second-oldest member on staff. When the oldest was someone like Recovery Girl, that didn't mean much, as she had been employed at U.A. longer than he had been a hero. She had started as their nurse before he even enrolled.

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With their meal stalled, Shuri left behind a large tip for their waiter, the man too engrossed by her beauty to take offense at it as he focused on the fact she left a note reading 'U cute.' With hearts drawn around it.

Izuku didn't know why, but he liked seeing the man lose it. He wondered if that was part of why pretty girls always did stuff like that, but he would investigate that later. Now, as 'Shuri', he strolled up the road towards U.A., the clock ticking as they were minutes away from the festival starting.

The town was quiet, or it would have been if they hadn't picked up a construction site in the distance, being the centre of what seemed to be the more loony of villain/hero fights. “Oh my, they seemed to be going at it.” Shuri mused as she caught how the steel was bending and flexing like rubber, or being thrown around like it was little more than twigs. There was a flash of pink occasionally, though Shuri couldn't say if that was just Uraraka.

“Worried it will backfire on you?” Mellissa asked, the two walking close to one another, almost as if they were merely friends on their way to the event.

"Of course, if Uraraka can't handle it, then she may need to bring in help, and I doubt U.A. would be able to just continue with such an interruption," Shuri responded honestly, but her face was pinched as she wondered what to do if things became difficult. “If that were the case, I may need to use more…drastic options to complete my job.”

Mellissa didn’t want to see what drastic measures meant. "She'll handle it, whatever it might be; she won't lose." She spoke without pause or hesitation, as, despite everything, she had faith in Uraraka. Uncle Might had picked her to train personally, and she had more than proven he had been right about Uraraka.

Shuri smiled cheekily at Mellissa. "You have faith in her; that's good to hear. Even heroes need people to rely on."

"Odd thing for a villain to say," Mellisa replied, as it seemed like a villain would want heroes to stand alone.

Shuri hummed, an amused smile forming. "A villainess? Yes. As a fellow human, I wouldn't say so. You might distrust me, even hate me for actions I haven't done, but I don't really hate you or most heroes."

Mellissa pursed her lips, wondering what Shuri's deal was. She knew she was a well-connected villain who wasn't above threatening children with the same tone and presence one would have when ordering a meal. Still, at the same time, she hadn't reacted violently or angrily to anything Mellissa had said or done.

She wasn't connected to any one villain group, by Shuri's own admission, she was a middle woman. Mellissa knew it meant she knew a lot about other criminals. If she so chose it, she could come forward, help the pros put away a lot of other bad actors, and cut down on illegal trading. She could probably negotiate for a lighter sentence or immunity and a new identity if she wasn't truly evil. Yet, here she was, handling a delivery job for one of Japan's most wanted, for a criminal group that had an international warrant on their heads.

Why?

Seeing that the woman hadn't given her reason not to and seemed more than willing to talk, Mellissa asked, "If you don't, and you claim you don't commit serious crimes, why are you a criminal then?"

"Being the unwanted child of a billionaire doesn't give you many options in life. You learn how to operate with the scraps you can get…" Shuri rolled her eyes, but Mellissa could detect a hint of frustration and pain in her words.

Mellissa wouldn't pretend she knew all wealthy people, but she couldn't recall any families named Shuri; she could easily just be missing one. Or it could be as she suspected, and Shuri Mari was just an alias; it would fit for a middlewoman of the underworld. Either way, there were definitely some parental issues there.

Shuri continued, not knowing what thoughts were shooting through Mellissa’s head. "I'm not interested in changing the world, grand acts of destruction, or revolution; as long as I can put food on the table and keep a roof over my head, I'm happy."

She paused her words, even as she continued to walk with refined grace and poise. Mellissa wondered if that resulted from a wealthy upbringing, even as the unwanted child.

"Still, I know what it's like to be unwanted, to be left alone by those you should be able to trust and love…I wouldn't wish that on anyone; you might as well kill them, it's much more merciful than forcing people to crawl out of that hole.” Shuri seemed to shiver, and Mellissa wondered what she remembered, but she didn't prod further.

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“Mellissa!” Mellissa stiffened at being called, but relaxed when she turned and saw it was Uraraka, looking worse for wear, but still on her feet.

“Ochaco!” She called out to her friend, happy she seemed all right, and now had someone else with her other than Shuri. Speaking of Shuri, she seemed quite unfazed by the arrival of a hero student, and a powerful one.

“What are…who are you?” Uraraka asked, still on guard after she had finished handling Gentle, a fight which proved far more emotionally taxing than she would have liked, as the man wasn't the strongest threat, but his convictions, his reasons for why he did what he did, and the genuine and deep love he and La Brava shared.

It made her hate that they were villains at all, as that…those weren’t the type of people who become villains…right?

Shuri stepped towards Uraraka and offered a hand for the student to shake, which she reluctantly did. “Shuri Mari. I bumped into Mellissa here earlier. She thought I was related to someone she knew, " she joked. Uraraka didn't need much to see where Mellissa had been coming from, as this Shuri woman looked like she could be Eri's much older sister or her youthful-looking mom.

“I went out for something,” Mellissa answered the unspoken question as Shuri and Uraraka broke their handshake. Did you…you know?" She didn't say what it was, not with the present company and the lack of details between the three, but Uraraka managed to get what she was asking about.

"Yeah, it's been handled, so we can get going. We're late as is." Uraraka replied, as Gentle and La Brava wouldn't be causing any issues for them. In fact, she would have arrived sooner if not for the fact that she did Gentle a favour and took La Brava somewhere far before she reported and trapped and restrained Gentle to the authorities.

"So we are. Let's hurry up, ladies." Shuri noted before she turned and started to power walk. Without losing a hint of poise, she took off jogging, moving faster than most could sprint.

"She's fast," Uraraka called out as she tapped Mellissa, rendering her weightless, and took off after Shuri.

“Uraraka,” Mellisa whispered, drawing Uraraka’s attention. “She’s not a regular civilian, she’s a villain.”

“She’s what?! Was she threatening you?” Uraraka immediately zeroed in on that, as Mellissa would have called or screamed if she could. But when she spotted the two, she acted as normal as…well, normal!

Mellissa shook her head, though Uraraka didn’t feel any relief from that, not when she saw the look in Mellissa’s eyes. “Not me, she had a picture of Eri. She claims she’s here to deliver something to her from Pyre.”

“Him?” Uraraka scowled, recalling all the times she had faced off or seen that monster’s handiwork. Thanks to him, Iida was still out of school. “But wouldn’t she trigger an emergency?”

Mellisa was well aware of that, but it wasn't as if she could handle herself and not cause a fuss. “I didn’t have much choice, I didn’t realise she was dangerous till it was too late.”

Uraraka shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Mellissa. Not all villains make it obvious they’re bad guys.”

“Ladies!” Both looked up, seeing that Shuri was still ahead of them, and despite their pace, her makeup looked as clean as when she put it on that morning. "Are you going to keep gossiping, or are we going to pick up the pace?"

Uraraka didn’t like the situation. “We’re too close to the school now, if we have a fight then…”

“We need to just trust nothing will happen.” Mellissa prayed that whoever was by the main gate could handle this woman without needing to set off the alarm, but she also found she hoped she really was just a middle woman acting as a delivery service. The fewer reasons she had to act out, the better.

Line break

The festival was well on its way by the time the group of three made it to the main gates. Waiting for them was Aoyama, holding up Uraraka's costume, while Snipe and Thirteen stood to the sides, acting as security. When Aoyama saw them, his face lit up, happy that his faith had been rewarded, even if they only had 20 minutes before their performance started. “Uraraka!”

"Sorry, I'm late, Aoyama. There was a bit of trouble in town, and I kinda fell." Uraraka didn't like that she had to lie, but she could and would explain things when the festival was over; that way, the teachers wouldn't be compelled to act and risk the rewards of everyone's labour.

“Oh mon Dieu, was it off a building? You look terrible!” Aoyama called out, as it made even less sense that Uraraka would be that beat up. If she fell, she could use her quirk, and she wouldn't hit the ground, so what happened to distract her?

Snipe asked the same question, even if his focus was on the third person, who seemed to be in suspicious shape for a civilian, if she could outpace Uraraka and hardly look winded. Thirteen had similar concerns, as maybe Uraraka was slowed by Mellissa, but it wasn't likely with her quirk. Besides, she was more focused on the fact that Uraraka had clearly been involved in an altercation, but wasn't calling it such.

Was it just to not worry Aoyama and her classmates, or because she didn’t want to admit to it and risk the school calling the police? It wasn’t as if they would, as it seemed like the incident happened far from them, as Ectoplasm or Hound-dog would have surely picked up something.

Aoyama shook his head, clearing such thoughts, and quickly handed Uraraka her costume as she put down Mellissa. “Never mind, get changed. We won't have time for a rope test, so I hope you didn't skimp on the quality."

“I didn’t, we’ll see you later, Mellissa?” Uraraka took the offered clothing and moved to follow Aoyama in, pausing just long enough to speak with Mellissa.

"Of course," Mellissa replied as Snipe held out a hand, stopping Shuri from entering.

"Hold it right there, ma'am. Sorry to say, but the Culture Festival is closed to the public this year. I'm going to ask you to leave." Snipe spoke up, the woman pausing, her smile shrinking as she reached for her pocket.

‘Oh no-’ Uraraka screamed, moments away from crying out a warning and activating One for All.

‘She wouldn’t, if she tries anything, it’ll ruin the festival!’ Mellissa couldn't do much but could try to buy them time to handle the threat.

This threat never came as Shuri didn't pull out a weapon, but a fancy-looking ticket—one which she had purposely not shown Mellissa earlier. "I'm aware of that, Snipe. However, I was told that you would invite people in should they have invitations."

Snipe accepted the ticket and looked it over, and as the moments went by, they could tell he was as surprised as they, just for different reasons. "Well, I'll be damned, this is legit. It at least looks like it, but we weren't informed that you'll be arriving."

Shuri didn't flinch or twitch at his subtle accusation; she merely nodded, presenting herself as a calm, capable, and poised young maiden. "You can call up the principal and ask. I'm sure I'm in there. Just look for the name Shuri, " she suggested, acting like it was a minor error that wasn't worth getting irritated by.

Snipe didn't immediately respond; instead, he glanced at Thirteen. "You three, get moving. You're late as is. And Mellissa, perhaps you should give your uncle a call." Thirteen eventually spoke up, tapping her wrist as if she had a watch.

“As for you,” They turned back to their guest to see them off, hoping they wouldn't bring them any issues, only for a new voice to speak up.

"I see you've seen my plus 1 for the day's events," They all turned to see Sir Nighteye approaching, the man in his typical hero attire, with a face with as little humour as he was known for. Still, he had stunned them when he walked past them to stand next to Shuri. “Still, don’t merely take my word for it. Feel free to call the principal and confirm her presence isn’t a cause for alarm.”

Now, none knew what to make of it. The pros had nothing to say, but Mellissa and Uraraka couldn't believe it. Shuri was a villain. Why was Sir Nighteye helping her- no, why had he helped her? She was in plus one, so he had to get her in already. Did he now know who she was?

Wait. Mellissa just realized that it meant Shuri wasn't lying. She hadn't sought her out and didn't need her help to get in, so she never asked. She already had a means in, and Mellissa was hoping that this wasn't another I-island. She didn't think her uncle could take learning about another dear friend making the mistake of working with villains.

She, Uraraka, and Aoyama would be ushered away, and Mellissa headed off to call Uncle Might and tell him part of what happened, saving the rest for later. Uraraka and Aoyama rushed off to get ready. However, Thirteen yelled that they should take a detour to see the nurse so Uraraka could get patched up.

All the while, Snipe was calling the principal, who confirmed Shuri's story. With that done, he could only trust in his boss as he handed Shuri her visitor’s pass.

“Here’s your visitor's card, Mr. Shuri. Be sure to keep it on your person at all times. Preferably in a pocket rather than your purse."

"My, are you implying U.A. students and other guests may try to steal my purse?" Shuri joked, but neither Snip nor Thirteen took the bait, leading to Shuri letting out a soft groan. "Oh, just kidding. It's a Culture Festival, time to have some fun. Even Sir Nighteye could find time to bring me out.”

With that, the two took off. Walking deeper into the school grounds, they drew some attention, namely because of Sir Nighteye’s presence. As he hadn't announced he would attend, once people noticed him, they noticed the beautiful woman at his side and immediately started making assumptions.

He didn’t care about them; he only focused on keeping up appearances, but his hands were never far from his weights. "Know that I'm not happy about this, and should you make a move-"

Shuri cut him off, similarly keeping up appearances as they pulled on his sleeve and directed him towards a stand which seemed to be run by some business course students. "I'm aware, but wouldn't something with your quirk already know if I will act out? I thought you checked before you ever agreed to this little scheme."

Nighteye didn't comment on that, as there was no way Pyre, or any villain, would know how his quirk worked. The less they knew, the better, as it meant they weren't as active when he was around. He could use his quirk on Pyre now, but he would save it if he acted out, though the principal had been sure the villain wouldn't.

“Just keep yourself and your pyromaniac tendencies in check. You have a free pass for the day, that's it. Once it's over, it's back to business as usual, Pyre." Nighteye frowned as they went to another stand, the man keeping the act as he won his ‘date’ a prize which she happily hugged to her chest.

Shuri let out a giggle, which showed they were having far too much fun with this than Nighteye would like. "Do keep referring to me as Shuri; we wouldn't want any unsightly rumours."

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Well, it’s a new month, the spooky month for those who celebrate it. I started writing this chapter a little late, as I had some things to take care of, but I was able to get it done. As we saw in the last chapter, I made some changes to the scenes as excluding Mellissa’s presence, she’s not at U.A. right now, she’s being held up by a villainess she’s ‘never seen before’, and while it is an act, Izuku is enjoying it a bit too much as you probably guessed, as he’s abusing the fact he’s seen as threatening to make threats without making threats, he’s letting Mellissa draw those conclusions.

Meanwhile, Uraraka is handling Gentle and La Brava. Unlike with Izuku, who chased them down all the way onto U.A. grounds, she's thus far kept them at that construction site, which I wanted to joke gives her +5 to all stats due to her construction family background. Gentle would get a boost if they were fighting in a tea shop, but alas, such places don't allow brawls; they are too inelegant.

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And we have another piece of Nezu's scheme to get Pyre into the school grounds for Eri. He knew about the disguise and issued a permit for it, and somehow, he got Nighteye to help with it, but how? Find out next time on Dragon Ball-

But seriously, I need you guys to give me your thoughts on Izuku and his acting as no lies, writing him, I was just writing a female OC for some story, which never even got more than an idea, and it's weird, like really weird, as I started the crossdressing thing as a joke. Still, both here and in Path of Waves, it didn't stay one. Now, Izuku regularly dresses as a woman, and he's a damn good actor, too.

It really makes you wonder if Midnight wasn't wrong about Pyre being able to be a trap idol, but only for villains.