Scumbag Hero Academia Chapter 28

Events had occurred outside Saiki’s awareness. Without warning or explanation the mall had been evacuated. Only later had he found out why it was. Tomura Shigaraki, the man who had been behind the attack on the USJ, the leader of the League of Villains, had appeared. Accosted her and quietly held her hostage for a good few minutes. At least until a random passerby had seen a dingy looking man with masses of scars and a demented grin holding a scared teenage girl by the neck and quietly called the cops.

For whatever reason, Shigaraki left willingly as the cops arrived on the scene. A confusing turn for the madman based on everything the UA students had seen from him at the USJ, not that anyone would have been glad at him going on a murderous rampage starting with Izuku. But it was certainly out of character. The other students had tried to ask her why interspersed with attempts to make sure she was okay, but she had no concrete answers. And then she was taken in by the police to give her statement.

Saiki had been... Unsure how to feel about all of that at the time. He was relieved Izuku was okay of course. One of the most notorious villains of the modern age had taken a personal interest in her for some reason. That was more than cause for concern. Worse, for all Saiki had been worrying about the gap in power between him and her, that didn’t stop Shigaraki from appearing and putting her instantly at his mercy. One of the most promising future heroes rendered helpless in less than a single moment. What did that say about what they would be up against in the future?  There are so many news reports about heroes standing victorious over villains. But villains don’t proudly stand victorious. They stay in the shadows continuing business as usual. He has to wonder, just how safe is their society from the criminals who never get brought to light? The League of Villains... They’re significant because they do proudly announce their actions. And for how successful they are despite that, it has a chilling effect on everyone.

These thoughts and wonderings continue to rattle around in Saiki’s head even as the students ride a bus through mountain trails, travelling toward the summer training camp. Kyoka and Momo try to get his attention, bring him out of his brooding but with only limited success. The students all chatter around him but all he does is sit pensively, chin propped on his hand.

The bus stops at a parking lot on the edge of a steep cliff. Despite the buses for classes A and B leaving together, the second bus is nowhere to be seen when the students disembark. Confusion gives way to dawning understanding as Aizawa outlays their new situation. As well as introduces two of their instructors for the training camp. Two members of the Wild Wild Pussycats, a famed hero team that specialises in mountain rescue. By Saiki’s opinion the two women in their thirties are a little old to be going out in cat cosplay but heroes are heroes. You live the gimmick. At least he isn’t so unaware as Izuku who mistakenly comments on their long careers, thus indirectly on their age, the blonde of the pair taking offense.

Her partner, a brunette, explains what the situation is. “The location of the camp is over there,” she points over the edge of the cliff, “At the base of the mountain. It’s 9:45 now. You need to get there by– Hey, hold on a second!”

Saiki doesn’t care to listen. He knows well enough where this is going. Get to the camp on foot. Fine. He can do that. Even as the Pussycat tells him to wait he’s already vaulting over the guard rail and sliding down the mountainside on his heels. For such a minor warm up of a training exercise, Saiki’s only complaint is that they have to do it in their school uniforms. He’ll have words for Aizawa later about that. The school better reimburse him for these clothes since it’s their fault they’ll get ruined.

He acknowledges the other students coming down after him, many of them not entirely willingly judging by the landslide. His own feet touch down on solid ground first and he’s already running. He hears what has to be Katsumi blasting her way off of the slope before he sees her. she’s grinning at him. That vicious grin she uses to show excitement. Approval. But as she looks at him, the grin drops. For whatever reason her joy turns to a frustrated scowl before she turns to look ahead again.

Maybe she could somehow see through him. That would explain why she had been so excited at first. He’s doing exactly what she wanted him to. Taking action. Not caring about how impossible his dreams are, just reaching for them anyway. And it would explain why her mood turned so quickly. If she could see through him. See just how little his soul is in it. He’s acting like his old self, the young man who would do whatever it takes. But it’s just that. Acting. Going through the motions of how he’s supposed to be. Even if his heart isn’t in it.

Some sort of creature appears out of the forest. He doesn’t break his stride. Act. Don’t react. He leaps upward, snap kicks the thing in the face as he goes over. As gravity reasserts itself he drops both feet into the thing’s ‘neck’, bounces off and keeps running. If the rest of the class can’t deal with it when it’s that off-balance then they’re beyond help. He keeps running. More monsters appear. He considers taking a detour to deal with a flying creature only to hear a nasal cry of “I got it!” Taking the word of whoever said that, Saiki continues, seeing the aerial monster lassoed by tape and brought down as he runs past unperturbed.

So this is their first obstacle.

It isn’t even enough to make him break a sweat.

And yet he’s still not enough. He’s not enough and he never will be!

He screams. A yell of frustration and rage as his feet drive right through another dirt monster. Some of his classmates take it as a battlecry. A rallying call to action to inspire them. They can’t be more wrong. It’s the self-loathing of someone on the verge of giving up everything they ever dreamed of.

-(-)-

Several hours later, the students of Class 1-A arrive at the campgrounds. All of them a haggard mess of dirt, mild injuries and exhaustion.

Well, all except for one. Saiki appears out of the trees, Kyoka leaning on him for support as they approach their teacher and the Pussycats. The blue-haired boy is at worst mildly winded. A fact that gets disbelieving looks sent his way from the more physically fit members of the class. It should lift his spirits, handling the challenge better than anyone else has. But the challenge wasn’t in the difficulty of the task but in their stamina. That and durability are things that Saiki has never questioned about himself. He can survive longer than anyone. An incredible feat.

Meaningless. Against someone who could kill him with a touch to the neck. Against someone who can punch hard enough to rend solid steel. Against someone who can warp him to an environment even he can’t handle.

His self-recriminations are stalled as he realises the blonde Pussycat he has yet to learn the name of is hovering around him. Or rather him, Todoroki and Iida. “What’s she doing?” he asks the other woman.

“Oh, she’s just a little enthusiastic about finding a mate,” the brunette answers as though that’s a reasonable explanation.

“Cougar. Got it.”

It isn’t a polite thing to say. Or a smart thing. She is a pro hero after all. But even receiving a look that promises a painful vengeance for calling her that, he can’t bring himself to care.

“Well, all of you head into the cafeteria. You can eat, then wash up in the hot springs before bed.”

The class drifts inside the building, Izuku lagging behind to introduce herself to the little kid that’s also at the camp for some reason. Her attempt at a handshake is slapped away.

The kid isn’t his problem. Izuku isn’t his problem.

Saiki eats mechanically. The food is good. Not on par with Lunch Rush but that’s an unfair standard, and not even his standard. Saiki’s idea of acceptable cuisine is far worse than this, and yet he can’t bring himself to enjoy it. He eats. Gets his fill, then leaves before anyone else for the hot springs. Momo tries to talk to him but he barely even hears her.

He sits on the edge of the hot spring wearing only a towel around his waist. When he had left the cafeteria he had thought he needed space. Needed to be alone. Needed to get away from the voices of everyone else just for a moment. He had been wrong. He had been away from everyone before. Home alone after work. Even then the doubts had sounded all the louder. Things that could distract him, keep his mind off of all of it, they had kept his mind busy. Hadn’t let him dwell on his feelings of inadequacy. At some point between then and now, that had stopped mattering. Whether it’s with others or all alone, his worries about his own inferiority claw at him.

He picks up a loose stone. Skips it across the water.

...

He doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore. Shaking his head, he rises, steps out of the water and turns around.

To see a woman right behind him, blinking furiously. “Uhh...”

“Hello!” the woman not quite shouts. “I’m Ragdoll!”

“That’s... Nice?” As he gets a better look at her he sees she’s wearing the same outfit as the Pussycats, yellow to the others’ red and blue, meaning she must be one of them. Her seafoam green hair hangs down to her backside, her yellow eyes continue to blink furiously as she grins at him. “This is the men’s side of the hot springs...?”

“Yep. You’re in the right place!” she agrees.

“I am, yeah. And I’m only in a towel here...”

“Also true! I’m glad you’re respecting the rules of the hot spring!” Without a single shred of shame, the pro hero squats and flips over to get a good look under his towel. Saiki certainly isn’t ashamed or bashful so doesn’t try to hide anything but it’s still a little strange. “Impressive!” Showing that same agility again she comes right back up to her previous posture without a hair out of place. “Pixie-Bob will be jealous when I tell her later. Why are you here alone?” the cat-themed hero asks, changing the subject without a hint of warning. “Wear a towel, segregate genders, enjoy time with friends! That’s how hot springs work! You got everything else right! Are you stupid about people?”

It’s a novel experience for Saiki, being so taken aback by someone’s actions and attitude that he sputters in incomprehension. “Are you?!” he has to ask. She popped up out of nowhere on the men’s side of the bath, helped herself to an eyeful of his junk, asked him something that’s none of her business and then called him stupid! Where does she get off calling him stupid when she’s airheaded beyond belief!

“You’re the one all alone in a social space looking all angry at the world like that’s gonna change anything. Hmm!” The strange hero drums her fingers on her lips, still blinking rapidly even as she appears to be deep in thought. “I know!” Can she miss a beat if she was never on it in the first place? Either way she wastes no time with whatever conclusion she has come to. Her cat-ear-like headset is snatched off her head by her plush paws, the paws themselves following immediately after to be tossed onto the rocks. Then her strapped top and skirt.

Saiki stares, utterly perplexed. He isn’t unused to this kind of thing at all. He isn’t about to blush bashfully as she reveals her surprisingly perky bust given her age, or her tidy green bush. But he usually has to put in more effort for this kind of thing. Effort he hadn’t been interested in putting in at this moment. “Look, I’m flattered, and you’re hot,” despite the weird manic energy. “But I’m not interested–”

“Interested in what?” Ragdoll asks, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her body before taking a seat at the edge of the hot spring, dangling her feet in the water. Even for an activity meant for relaxing the hyperactive hero can’t help kicking her feet, splashing in the water. “Sit down! Relax! This is how you hot springs! Spending time with friends!”

Saiki doesn’t know when he decided to return to the water but finds himself lowering down into the hot water again anyway. When did he get sucked into her pace? “We’re not friends. You don’t even know my name.”

She waves off the comment. “I know every student! And I know where they all are right now. Still got a little while before they all come this way, but hey! If I get you to stick around until your friends get here, mission accomplished!”

“Right. Friends.” It’s a weakness he refuses to afford himself, admitting he doesn’t actually have friends in his class. Or out of it for that matter. It had never been a high priority, especially for someone who always had difficulties with that kind of thing when he was younger. He’d always been on his own, so he finds it easier to be on his own. At least that’s what he continues to tell himself despite his current evidence to the contrary.

“Mmmmm...”

He blinks as he realises the cat-themed hero has been staring at him unblinkingly. “What?”

“I’m gonna call you SaiSai!”

“... I’d prefer you didn’t.”

“You can’t stop me!” she shouts with a demented grin. “Why’re you angry?”

“I’m not a fan of nicknames.”

“Oh, not that! I don’t care if you’re angry about that! Why’re you glaring at the whole world and making everyone miserable?”

This woman has zero tact. “How is that your business?”

“For this training camp, the first year students of UA are under our care and tutelage!” she answers, sounding like she’s quoting someone else. “It’s our job to make sure you get the most out of it! If you’re a grumpypants the whole time you’re gonna waste it! That’s no good!”

“Grumpy?” Is that what she thinks? That everything he’s feeling is just him being ‘grumpy’? “Yeah, I think I’m done here,” he announces, putting one foot up on the rocks and heaving himself upward and out of the water, turning his back on the infuriating woman.

“Running away?”

He stops halfway to taking his first step away from her, his foot coming down only to pivot on it and face her again. “Excuse me?”

She isn’t the slightest bit intimidated now that his scowl is directed solely at her. She still wears the same manic grin as she removes her towel and sinks into the shallow water, swimming lazily. “It’s okay! You go ahead and hide on your own! It’s way easier than admitting to your problems out loud! You go on and be angry and alone! That’s the path to success!”

The audacity of this woman! She’s actively trying to piss him off even more?! It doesn’t matter that he can see what she’s doing when she’s so successful at it. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“I asked you first.”

He gapes at her not even looking at him, his fists clenched in impotent anger. “Fine. You know what?! Fine! Fine! You wanna know why I’m so pissed off?! Everything I’ve been working for has been a waste! Ever since I figured out what my quirk does I’ve bled myself dry to make myself stronger! Nearly killed myself over and over again for that little bit of extra progress! For years, for years! I put myself through hell knowing one day it’ll all be worth it! One day, I’ll be the best! I get a shitty job to make ends meet so I can pay for school! I sleep two hours a night so I can juggle school, work, training and recovery! I tear myself apart just for that one goal, that one dream, knowing if I work hard enough I can make it possible!

And then I got to UA, the best hero course in the country. My hard work was finally paying off. And I meet a girl who with a little more than a year of training blows me out of the fucking water! Everything I put myself through, all that suffering, all that pain, all of it pointless because someone happened to luck out with a  better quirk than mine! So sorry for being ‘grumpy’ about my dream being fucking dead!”

“Wow.” Ragdoll continues to swim, her eyes locked onto him whenever she’s moving in his direction. “That must be terrible.”

The anger is still there, but for Saiki it’s now mixed with an overwhelming amount of embarrassment for exploding like that. “Yeah... Well...” He doesn’t even know what to say anymore.

“And with that precog quirk it must be so much worse.”

“That... What?”

The hero rolls over in the water, switching to doing the backstroke in the small, shallow pool. “Your precognitive quirk that lets you see the future, obviously!”

“That’s... Not...” Saiki murmurs, confused. “I thought you knew who we all were. I don’t have a quirk that lets me see the future.”

“Really? Huh! I didn’t see that quirk on the list but you were so confident about what was absolutely going to happen I figured that had to be your quirk! How else could you know will and won’t happen years in the future?”

“... You’re mocking me.”

She doesn’t answer the question with words. Just a grin that’s somehow a little wider than before as she rolls back onto her front and gets her feet under her, wading to the edge of the water. “You’re a teenager. You’ve been at UA for four months. You have no idea what’s gonna happen in the future. You think the world’s ending because you’ve got a little competition?” Her wide eyes roll as she grins up at him. “Teenagers are so energetic about everything!”

She... Of all people, she does not get to say that.

With a handspring on the rocks, she launches herself out of the hot spring, giving Saiki a fantastic view as her legs split in the air before she comes down. She snatches up her towel and wraps it around herself again. “You can’t predict everything! You’re still super young! Take your opportunities, make the most of things! You’ll end up where you’re supposed to be!” Her ears twitch as she squeezes out her hair then gathers her costume. “And by things, I mean everything life has to offer! Whether that’s excitement, romance, or spending time with friends at the hot spring!” She grins at him again, winking before running around the edge of the hot spring to take her leave.

Footsteps catch Saiki’s attention from the opposite side. “Oh,” the bespectacled Iida murmurs as he appears, leading the other boys into the hot spring. “Saisei, you’re already here. We had Sato looking for you but couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Yeah,” Saiki acknowledges awkwardly, “I guess... I just needed to clear my head for a bit.”

“You doin’ okay, man?” Kirishima asks. “You’ve been kinda intense since we got here.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

The red haired boy blinks, as does Kaminari. Both boys recognising this is the first time they’ve heard him apologise for anything. Though Kirishima laughs it off. “It’s no big deal. You might wanna say that to Yaoyorozu too, though. Anyway, I’m beat! Let’s take it easy, yeah?”