BNHA: I am Reiji Toga

A civilian's scream pierced the air, desperate, raw.

"Someone do something! That kid's going to die!"

And then Reiji clicked his tongue. He couldn't keep waiting for Izuku to arrive. If Katsuki ended up dying now, another key pillar would fall. Besides... He also couldn't let someone die right before his eyes.

His body moved.

One step.

Another.

And suddenly he was running.

There was no warning. No war cry. Just a brutal impulse, born of the panic tightening in his chest and a truth bigger than himself: no one else was coming.

"Hey, you!" a hero shouted upon seeing him cross the security barrier. "Don't even think about coming closer, back up!"

But Reiji had already left the ground.

A metal hook whistled through the air, aimed at his waist. Reiji twisted his hip at the last second, the cable grazing his jacket before falling harmlessly to the asphalt. There was no hesitation, only efficiency. Another hero, closer, extended an energy shield. Reiji read it before it even formed. He slid beneath it, placing a hand on the hot ground, and then propelled himself forward, dodging another attempt to intercept him.

"Stop him! That civilian is putting himself in danger!" a heroine shouted in an authoritative voice, but there was a hint of doubt in it. They saw him move and knew he wasn't an ordinary teenager.

By the time anyone tried to reach him, he was already at the foot of hell.

The air was thick. The smell of combustion and sweaty flesh mingled with that of smoke, scratching the throat like sandpaper. Flames roared in the distance, and the sun was barely a white smudge behind the dirty clouds floating across the street.

And there, in the middle of the chaos, was the sludge villain.

"AHAHAHAHA! SO STRONG AND SO USELESS!" He squealed in a viscous, distorted voice, as if his vocal cords were made of rotten jelly. "C-Come on, BOOM BOY, DO SOMETHING! BANG BANG, BOOM! DROWN, COME ON!"

Katsuki Bakugo's body was suspended in the air, enveloped in a slimy mass that stuck to his skin like boiling tar. He tried to move, but every spark that formed in his palms was instantly smothered by the corrupted mud that coated him.

"G-Ghh... haag...!" Bakugo coughed, his eyes bloodshot. "L-Let me go, b-bastard!"

"AH, AH! LOOK AT HOW HE FIGHTS! HOW YOU MOAN! YOU'RE MY NEW FAVORITE GUEST!"

Reiji didn't think. His footsteps approached at great speed, echoing loudly in the scene.

The villain turned upon hearing him, too late. Reiji's fist closed and struck the villain directly in the eye with force, provoking a deafening shriek.

"AAAAAGHHH! MY LITTLE EYES, MY LITTLE EYEEEEES!"

The mud shuddered, as if shaken by an internal earthquake, and for a second, it loosened Bakugo's airways.

The blond fell to his knees, spitting out mud and saliva. He coughed so violently that his body doubled over. His chest rose and fell in desperation.

"GHHK—KOFF! SON OF A BITCH... KOFF...!"

Reiji knelt beside him and placed a hand on his forehead.

His blood responded instantly.

Dark. Alive. Precise.

It flowed from his palms, spreading over Bakugo's body as if it had a will of its own. It slid between the gaps in the goo, separating the sludge inch by inch, surgically pushing every infected gram away from the teen.

"WHAT—WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THAT BLOOD ISN'T YOURS! I DON'T WANT IT! I DON'T WANT IT!" The villain shrieked, shuddering like a slug exposed to the sun.

Reiji said nothing. His eyes were fixed on his task. Every pulse of blood was a command. Every cell expanded, stretched, and pushed aside the enemy mass as if recognizing it as an intruder. It wasn't a perfect technique. It was a brutal instinct.

The creature roared, trying to envelop Bakugo again, but Reiji's blood repelled it violently, as if it held an unbreakable will to protect.

"STAY AWAY! DON'T GET INVOLVED! HE'S MINE, MINE, MINE!"

But he no longer had control over anything.

Reiji didn't just ignore him…

When the villain realized Katsuki was no longer an option, he threw himself at Reiji. Before a large bloodstain covered his vision.

The blood crawled like a living creature, enveloping every drop of the villain's body. At first, it was like a net, separating everything that touched Bakugo. But now it was something more… something complete. A crimson cocoon, growing second by second, hardening, compacting.

Reiji gritted his teeth, feeling how with every desperate attempt the villain made to squeeze through the tiny cracks, he had to sacrifice more of his own blood to hold him back.

"NOOO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" the villain screamed, twisting his body uselessly. "I—I'M THE PROTAGONIST! THE VILLAIN IS STELLAAAAR!"

There was no room for his voice.

Nor for his form.

Reiji felt his body burning from the inside out. His chest tightened, and every muscle vibrated with a savage urgency. Fatigue. Hunger. Pain. All the symptoms pounded together, like an invisible avalanche crashing into his bones.

His regeneration was working overtime to sustain the fine, dense use of his Quirk.

The blood solidified at his command, encapsulating the enemy in a borderless prison. Every attempt by the mud to squeeze out was met with greater pressure, absolute constriction.

"AGHHRRR—! T-THIS IS NOT... IS NOT... FUNNY!" The monster screamed one last time, its voice trailing off beneath the reddish wrapping. Its body twisted, shrieked, moaned... and then stopped.

Silence fell like a slab.

Only the faint crunch of blood completely curdling remained as a residual sound.

Reiji took a deep breath.

And he staggered.

His vision blurred for a second. He'd lost too much blood; luckily, his regeneration was working at a rapid pace.

The price of that containment technique was brutal: he'd used more volume and precision than usual. The blood coated the enemy like a second skin, controlled to the limits of his willpower.

And now, the price was taking its toll.

His legs trembled.

His chest burned.

And that feeling...

That need.

His tongue went dry. His throat grew raw. He felt the twisting urge that always came when he pushed his Quirk beyond its limits: a rusty, urgent hunger that demanded blood. Not his own.

Someone else's.

He clenched his teeth tightly, closing his eyes for a second, stifling the roar that rose from within.

'I can't succumb now...'

Next to him, Katsuki Bakugo was breathing, lying on his side. He was conscious but seemed to be still catching his breath.

The heroes, a few feet away, continued to watch, in complete silence.

Some with admiration. Others with alarm. They all knew what they had just seen: a civilian who had done what they couldn't.

Reiji straightened his back as best he could, maintaining his composure. He knew eyes were on him.

But it didn't matter.

Bakugo was alive.

The villain had been subdued.

The silence lasted only a few seconds.

Then came the murmur.

First, an isolated voice in the crowd.

"Did that... that boy stop him?"

Then, another.

"He's not a hero, right? He doesn't have a uniform..."

"But he saved him! He saved the other boy!"

The words grew, multiplied, pushed against each other like waves. Suddenly, the crowd behind the tapes began to talk nonstop. Some recorded with their phones, others pointed at Reiji, as if still trying to comprehend what they had just seen.

A teenager, without a badge or license, had restrained a villain… alone.

A few feet away, the heroes began to react.

The first to approach was Death Arms, his face sweaty and his voice tense.

"Hey, kid! Back away from there! You've done enough!"

Reiji didn't respond. He just turned slowly, his eyes lowered, his body still trembling from the demands of the Quirk. His gaze met the hero's, and for a second, it was as if something invisible was pulling him back.

Death Arms blinked. It wasn't fear. It was hesitation. His instincts kicked in, somehow... The boy in front of him seemed to be looking at him like prey.

Other heroes arrived as well. Kamui Woods moved steadily, but without aggression. The one who did seem most concerned was a support heroine who was muttering about legality, jurisdiction, civil intervention…

"He can't use his Quirk in public! That's a violation! Even if he saved—!"

"Shut up!" someone in the audience shouted.

"He was dying, idiot! If it weren't for him, that kid would be dead!"

Emotions were running high. Logic was broken. And amidst all the chaos, Bakugo was still lying there, breathing heavily, his gaze barely focused, his lips moving soundlessly.

Reiji bent down, using what little energy he had left to gently lift him up.

His arms could barely support the weight.

But he did it anyway.

The mass of hardened blood containing the villain trembled slightly. The subject was unconscious, but alive. The reddish coating had changed shape, enveloping him like an organic cell without external oxygen.

Reiji turned his face toward Kamui Woods.

"He won't escape. I've completely covered him. He has no way to replicate."

Kamui looked at him silently. Then he nodded, tense.

"Who are you?"

Reiji didn't answer. He only let the shadow of a slight, almost insolent smile rise.

"Just a student passing by."

Death Arms snorted through his nose, clearly uncomfortable with the answer.

"You know this is going to cause trouble, right? Intervening like this, without permission, without being part of the team of heroes..."

"And what were you proposing?" Reiji replied, without raising his voice. "Watching him die? Waiting for reinforcements while he suffocated?"

The silence was heavier than a scream.

No one said anything.

Even Shinso, who had reached the edge of the zone after escaping the civilian barrier, remained silent. He looked at Reiji as if seeing him for the first time.

A woman broke through the security barrier and shouted:

"That boy is a hero!"

The voice was followed by another.

And another.

And another.

Applause.

Sincere, chaotic, human applause. Not organized like at an awards ceremony, but instinctive, as if the body responded only to the impulse that something had been saved.

Reiji didn't smile. He didn't raise his arm. He didn't say thank you.

And though his body trembled and his mind burned… he still stood firm.

The applause continued.

And Reiji could only hear one sound: his pulse.

Too loud. Too insistent. Beating like tribal drums inside his skull. Heat invaded him, but not from combat fatigue, nor from physical exhaustion. It was something else.

His Quirk... was active.

But not in the usual way.

It wasn't his blood swirling into weapons, nor red-edged shields.

It was his body asking for the offering of letting him use his own blood.

'No... not now...'

Reiji gritted his teeth, and in that instant, his hands trembled.

The blood he'd used to cover the villain still beat with his pulse. It was still linked. He still heard it.

And that only made her more restless.

More alive.

Bakugo's breath was still hot on his arm, the weight of his body barely contained by his already declining regeneration.

But that wasn't what made him tremble.

It was the smell.

The smell of blood.

To open wounds, to sore flesh, to a raw wound. It was his drug. His curse. His primal urge.

He closed his eyes, but that only made everything worse.

'I want to taste her...'

That thought surged like an obsidian knife through his mind.

And then he doubled over, breathing hard.

A gag. Then another.

His legs gave way.

"Reiji!"

Shinso was already beside him, stretching out an arm, keeping the boy from collapsing.

"Shit, you're pale! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No..."

Reiji's voice came out hoarse, shaky.

"I'm not hurt... I'm hungry..."

His gaze lifted, fixed on Shinso's arms, where a small wound, perhaps from a graze during running, left a thin red line visible.

And for a second, just a second, his Quirk activated unintentionally.

'NO!'

Reiji gasped, staggering backward. His back hit the nearest wall.

"No... Shinso! Control me!"

The boy blinked, confused.

"What—?"

"Do it now!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Don't let me do anything stupid. Obey me!"

The tone was pleading and desperate.

Shinso opened his lips.

"...Stay still."

And it was like blowing out a candle.

Reiji's muscles froze.

His eyes were still open, but his breathing slowly began to calm, as if a mental barrier had completely blocked the murderous impulse brewing inside him.

One minute. Two.

Shinso said no more. He didn't need to. He just stood there, his fist clenched, staring at his friend as if he were holding a bomb about to explode.

Reiji, trapped by his will, let his head fall back. Sweat trickled down his neck. His throat burned. The need was still there, but it no longer roared. He just curled up, like an animal waiting to fall asleep again.

"Thank you..." he murmured through gritted teeth.

Shinso nodded, still holding the controller.

A few feet away, the heroes were still organizing. The police were arriving. Reporters were starting to film. Sirens mingled with the euphoria of the crowd.

Reiji smiled.

Not with joy.

With resignation.

"A hero," they said.

But they didn't know how close he came to becoming something else.