Souls Hero Academia (Rewrite)

Izuku pursed his lips, eyes glued to the arena as the medi-bots hauled an unconscious Kirishima off the stage. Shiozaki was left behind, eyes closed as she clasped her hands in prayer. He grimaced. There was a reason why he shied away from miracles. Why put your faith on those that never even responded?

His fingers rolled on the armrest of his chair, sometimes clenching, and sometimes not. As the religious thorn-haired teen left the stage, Izuku let out a breath. No wonder he and Patches got along, they both hated those of the cloth in their own, strange ways. Izuku for being torn down again and again ever since he was conscious enough to decide right from wrong, and Patches for hating those in power that exploited those underneath.

Sighing once more, he searched within his mind the next participants in the event, and a smile came across his lips. Looking at his feathered friend, Izuku patted him on the shoulder, eliciting a confused squawk from the teen.

"Midoriya? Mayhaps you tell me why you look like I am about to head to mine demise?" Izuku used his free hand to point towards the section of the stadium which housed the general classes. Still confused as to the action, Izuku sighed and just straight up told him.

"Good luck fighting Himi." Izuku just left it at that, the ominous vibe that hung around the air causing the avian-mutated teen's feathers to ruffle.

"… Ah…" All he had to do was think back to the second event to realize how the girl moved… How the girl fought… Dark Shadow, his fun-loving quirk, suddenly materialized from behind him, his eyes looking a little concerned.

"Ei, Fumi. I don't like the eyes of that girl." Dark Shadow shivered, shadowy claws gripping onto the avian head's shoulders like a vice. "Gives me the heebie jeebies…"

"Ow, would you please let go of my shoulders, Dark Shadow?" Tokoyami winced as the undoubtedly sharp claws dug into his skin.

"Ah, my bad." Dark Shadow let go of his shoulders and slunk back into his host's body, but not before giving another word about Himi. "Just… Be careful, Fumi. Something tells me you're not gonna like her fighting you."

"… Any pointers, Midoriya?" Tokoyami asked Izuku, his tone betraying his unbothered facade.

"Nope. Git Gud." Izuku gave Tokoyami a bright smile and slapped him on the back, eliciting a squawk from the avian head. "Good luck out there."

Grumbling to himself, Tokoyami left the booth, feathers ruffled as he opened the door that marked his exit. Once he was gone, the rest of the class focused on Izuku, their curiosity worn on their sleeves.

"Hey, hey, Midori." Ashido, the gossip queen as per usual, was the first to approach him, hands fiddling with a pen and notebook. "Can you tell us anything about… Uh… What was her name again?"

"Toga Himiko, kero." Tsu answered with a finger on her chin.

"Right, Toga? Anything you can tell us about her?" Ashido leaned forward, stars in her eyes as she entered into matchmaking mode.

"She likes drinking blood." Izuku shrugged and waved the pinkette off. "That's all you're gonna get out of me. You want to ask a question about her? Ask Himi directly."

"Ohhhh~ Himi~ Pet names already?" Ashido grinned, followed by some whistles from the class and outrage from one specific grape-themed midget.

"Yes? Why? Is that a big deal?" And now it was Ashido's turn to have her jaw drop to the floor, along with some of the class.

"A big de- Of course it is!" Ashido leaned forward even more, her piercing yellow eyes backgrounded by the black sclera making it seem like she was the spawn of the devil himself. "You're calling her by a nickname you gave her! And she's fine with it! If that doesn't scream dating, I dunno what is!"

"Dating?" Izuku tilted his head at the observation. "You think me and Himi are dating?"

Furious head tilting was his answer and that in turn just made him more confused.

"Welp, too bad. You're wrong." Izuku shrugged then looked back at the arena, the rubble still being fixed by Cementoss as he used his quirk to fill out the gaps. "At most, we're just living with each other because she has no other place to stay."

"… I feel so… so sorry for that girl." Ashido groaned as she trudged back to her seat.

"Dude, why your head gotta be so dense?" Jirou was next to point at him with her verbal barb.

"… Dense?" Izuku tilted his head once more, fingers coming just beneath his chin as he tried to knock his head around with his free hand. "It is hard…"

"Oh for fu- Never mind." Jirou groaned into her seat, eyes staring daggers at Izuku all the while.

"Bruh, and here I thought Midoriya was getting it on with the chick." Mineta slumped into his seat, a sigh of relief exiting his mouth, only for his cheek to be slapped by an extended tongue, courtesy of Tsu sitting just a few chairs away.

"Enough being a perv, kero." Tsu said while retracting her tongue. "Anyway, the arena's fixed. The fight's about to begin, kero."

As she said that, the entire area went silent, all of their eyes glued to the empty arena waiting to be filled with more teenage blood… metaphorically speaking, that is.

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Fumikage gulped as his feet guided him forwards towards the light. His heart pounded within his chest, hand gripping against his shirt tightly. He felt his back stir and out came his partner, his other half.

"Yo, Fumi. Ya sure you feelin' good?" Dark shadow grabbed at his shoulders, a habit the sentient quirk picked up on whenever he was feeling down back when he was little, shitty childhood that he had.

"I'm fine, Dark Shadow." Fumikage waved him off, but his other half proved better at reading his emotions.

"Ya know, Boss is a real unit, handling that crazy chick like nothing." Fumikage squawked indignantly at the sudden crude joke.

"D-Dark Shadow! Cease saying crude things about Midoriya right this instant!" Dark Shadow chuckled, his grip on his shoulders lessening.

"Why not? You know it's true." Dark Shadow floated around him with a knowing grin, his claws still not letting go of his shoulders. "You've seen how the girl acts around him. I swear, it's like they're already fucking each other when no one's looking."

"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage's feathers puffed up, quite thankful that no other people could see his embarrassment. "Why must you badmouth Midoriya's lady friend?"

"Not like I'm wrong." Dark Shadow let go of his shoulders, a smile hanging on its face. "Anyway, you feelin' fine now?"

"… I must admit, despite your crude words and disgusting repertoire… thank you for keeping my mind off of things." Dark Shadow slunked back into his body while giving off a faint chuckle. "That being said, could you please tone down the crude remarks? It would be wonderful if you didn't try to embarrass me every few seconds or so."

"Nah." Dark Shadow slithered out for a brief moment just to boop Fumikage on the beak. Waving him away, Dark Shadow slunked back into his host's body as Fumikage used every profanity under the sun to insult his other half.

As the light grew stronger and brighter, Fumikage's heart began beating rapidly again. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried about the incoming fight between him and Midoriya's lady friend. As his other half has said, time and time again, he didn't like the way the class 1-C student carried herself.

It somehow felt like he was standing right in front of an apex predator, and with his avian mutation quirk, his instincts were more well-developed than others without animal mutation quirks.

More steps forward and he could finally hear the loud roaring and cheering of the audience. He felt a deep pit within his gut, his inner introvert complaining about being on the spotlight in front of thousands, if not, hundreds of thousands of people watching his every move…

Then he thought back to his childhood days, where his former classmates mocked and berated him for being different. That he wouldn't amount to anything just because he had a bird's head. The only he friend he had during that time was just Dark Shadow…

A smirk floated up on his face, the pit within his gut subsiding, but still remaining. If only they could see him now. Here he was, in one of the most prestigious academy in Japan as one of the elite few who managed to land himself in one of their hero courses.

It was a highly contested spot that even his former classmates weren't able to get in, much less even get a spot in U.A.'s General Course.

Ah, who was he kidding, with how popular the U.A. High School Sports Festival was, with even some of the schools temporarily shutting down classes just for the students to watch the festival either in person or at home, there was no doubt that they were watching the livestream.

From mocked and berated, to acknowledged and loved… Indeed, today was going to be a banquet large enough to fuel the dark side within him…

Now if only he could provide a good showing against Midoriya's lady friend, that would be splendid. He didn't want to be seen as the hero student who lost to a general course student with pure, physical combat…

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Himiko singsonged as she skipped through the dark hallways, the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter and brighter as she approached. While she skipped through, her mind couldn't help but focus on Zuzu, or rather, how he would react to her fighting his classmate.

A frown overtook her lips. The hero class were on the spotlight because in a few more weeks, the Hero Agency Internships would be starting as part of their midterm finals. Obviously, the hero students would be sent to the Hero Agencies to learn under them, the general class would be doing normal school stuff, the support class would be interning under famous support companies, while the management class would be learning under other those that handle PR for various Hero Agencies.

It was a bit confusing, but otherwise a simple system. So, there left one thing for her to ponder… Should she hold back against Zuzu's classmate?

Just one look at how the bird head handled himself told her all she needed to know that all his strength was focused on just his quirk. The bird head himself had no combat training whatsoever, and her days slipping through alleyways upon alleyways during her… dark time helped in indicating if someone was a danger to her health or not.

Bird head didn't give her that sense. His quirk, on the other hand, did.

Biting her lip strong enough to draw blood, her mind continued to twist and turn, trying to think of a way to get Zuzu to appreciate her more and more. She didn't want him to hate her, the only person who had accepted her for who she was in the entirety of her life.

Her feet mechanically guided her towards the light, and no sooner did her eyes squint as the sun directly above her head shone over her, the screams and roars of the audience nearly deafening her from the sheer noise alone.

She thought she had heard it all back during the first and second event, but nope, turns out that they were hyped to see two teenagers beat the ever living shit out of each other, the animals. And here she thought that they were the civilized ones.

Ascending the steps leading to the raised platform in the arena, she came face to face with the bird head, Tokoyami Fumikage, if she recalled correctly. On her right side, she saw Midnight, the NSFW hero that somehow still kept her job teaching literal children.

"Alright then, I want a clean fight." She recited the usual things she said towards the other competitors before them, some of which she already knew because she wanted to watch Zuzu closer during his fight against that harlot. Making babies with him… Tch… If anyone was going to do that with him, it was going to be her. "Are you two ready?"

Himiko nodded, a slasher-grin floating up her face as she assumed a stance. She decided then and there that bird head wasn't going to get special treatment. If he wanted to be a hero, then he better be prepared to fight against a superior opponent.

Midnight raised the flag and swished it down, immediately prompting Himiko to rush towards the bird head. She caught him barking something out, but her mind didn't process it as the next thing she knew, she was dodging feral attacks coming from the living shadow connected to the bird head.

She skidded across the ground as she tried to regain her balance, the soles of her shoes scraping against the rough concrete. If this was a smooth surface, she was sure that she would've already had her face meet the surface, but with it being rough as it was, it was enough to ensure that she got a good foothold while dodging the attacks from the shadowy quirk.

Her grin didn't fade as she bobbed and weaved. Every now and then, the shadow managed to scratch against her figure, the dark claws drawing a minuscule amount of blood, all the while bird head kept on watching her attentively.

See, this was what she was talking about. Bird head himself had nothing to contribute, other than being the anchor to his heavy-hitting quirk, and if what she saw earlier during the first and second event was correct, then the shadow was weaker in the light.

Sucking in a deep breath, she waited for the shadow to assault her once again. It didn't take too long to wait before bird head's shadow took the chance. Muscles taut and ready, she allowed a claw to gash her midriff, cutting through cloth and flesh alike. Blood spilled onto the concrete, shocking both the shadow and its host, and that was enough of an opportunity to finish the match.

She lunged, grin still in place as her wound leaked her lifeblood all over the place. Good thing she knew how to position herself when defending against sharp objects, otherwise, she'd have bled to death long before she managed to meet her Zuzu.

As she got closer, bird head still seemed to be in shock, but his shadow managed to snap out of it and grab at her heels. Still, it wasn't enough to stop her and with a brief tumble, managed to dislodge its claws nipping at her foot.

However, that one single moment was enough to snap bird head out of his trance and try to back away, but it was too late. With an explosive leap, Himiko clenched her fist and cocked it back. Bird head for his part, tried to block with his forearms, but her dance with Zuzu during that night, as well as subsequent dances during their free days, she learned a trick or two when it came to knocking someone out with a well-placed punch.

As she grew closer, she put her plan into action. Those inexperienced in a street brawl mostly neglected one thing when in a fight, and that was their balance. Bird head was keen on protecting his torso and head, but the same couldn't be said for his lower body. Feinting a punch was enough to knock him down a peg or two.

Snapping her foot forward, her foot impacted bird head's leg, the feathered one letting out a pained squawk as he dropped to a knee. Despite her slender figure, her legs were toned, and was also one of her more defining traits, if she does say so herself. Now if only a certain white-haired teen would recognize her advances, then everything would truly be perfect.

Now that bird head was down, it was time to knock his lights out. Cocking back her fist, she threw her entire strength against his beak with a loopy grin, only for it to miss a mark as she was shoved away by the shadow managing to catch up to her.

She grunted as she rolled on the ground, the shadow figure having a surprising amount of mass to manage to body her like a sack of potatoes in the air. She quickly recovered from her roll and went back to her feet, fully knowing that if her legs weren't on solid ground, it was a major disadvantage.

Squinting her eyes, her grin dropped as she looked at both bird head and shadow. Looking down, she saw her midriff still leaking blood, and that gave her a limited amount of time before she collapsed from blood loss.

Clicking her tongue, Himiko crouched down and prepared to pounce. Maybe she shouldn't have underestimated bird head, but then again, his shadow was doing the heavy lifting… Bah, enough. It was time she took this seriously.

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A/N: Feeling a bit lethargic this week.

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