"Hey, what are you doing?" Allen whispered to Mina. It wasn't that it bothered or embarrassed him—but it had truly come out of nowhere.
Mina smiled. "I'm acting like a girl who developed Stockholm syndrome with her kidnapper."
"What kind of scenario is that during a bank robbery?!"
"Hehe~" Mina simply laughed while rubbing her face against Allen's chest.
Mina Ashido was a cute and cheerful girl. Her hair was short and pink, her eyes black with amber pupils, and her skin carried the same pink tone. However, this wasn't a permanent mutation like Shoji's arms, Tokoyami's head, or Tsuyu's tongue.
The pink tone of her skin and her peculiar eyes were similar to Toru's invisibility—both were due to their inexperience with their Quirks, as neither could consciously turn them off.
Allen had a theory: if Toru managed to use her light-reflection ability to the point of exhaustion, maybe she would become visible. Likewise, if Mina used her acid until it was exhausted, her skin and eyes might return to normal.
'What am I even thinking about?' Allen shook himself out of his thoughts.
"Don't mess with me!" Bakugo shouted, his eyes bloodshot. But both Mina and Allen ignored him.
"Before you blame me—this time I had nothing to do with it," Allen said only to his Chat. Of course, he knew they wouldn't believe that off-camera he hadn't done anything to make Mina like him.
"Stop playing around!" Kaina shouted through the speakers.
Allen could almost hear everyone screaming from where he stood.
He had to make a decision—and like a professional, he chose to adapt so the scenario could continue.
"Haha... ha...." Allen's laughter turned malicious and cold. "What do you think of my hypnosis Quirk, hero?!"
"Huh?! You bastard—you dare use something that dirty?! I knew you were trash, but I thought you at least had limits!" Bakugo yelled with contempt.
Allen felt the urge to punch the idiot who didn't realize he was acting out of necessity to adapt to the situation.
"Doesn't matter! Just die!" Bakugo growled before jumping toward Allen.
"Did this idiot forget about the hostage?!" Kaina was left speechless.
Seeing Bakugo attack, Allen smiled with disdain and extended his hand. Bakugo also grinned, ready to fight.
"Die!" Bakugo shouted.
"Shut up!" Mina, annoyed by his presence, threw acid at Bakugo.
"You! ahhh!" He was drenched in it and started screaming.
"Hmph" Mina huffed with her hands on her hips.
"Are you crazy?!" Bakugo roared in anger.
"You deserved it! Who told you to rescue me, idiot?!" Mina scolded him irrationally.
Fortunately for him, Mina could control the acidity of her Quirk, so the liquid only caused pain.
Both Aizawa and Present Mic opened their mouths—they had been heroes for many years, and it was the first time they had seen a hostage attack a hero to defend a villain.
The monitoring room was just as stunned—how was this even a kidnapping?!
"Fine..." Despite the pain, Bakugo stood up while steam rose from his body and his skin turned red. "I get it—you're that villain's accomplice! Then I'll kill you too!"
You didn't understand anything!
As if this wasn't absurd enough, now the hero was threatening to kill the hostage.
Bakugo wasn't just talking—since he now saw Mina as an enemy, he attacked her. Brave as she was, Mina wasn't afraid of Bakugo, so she took a fighting stance.
"Hero, your opponent is me—leave her alone," Allen stepped protectively in front of Mina. Knowing Bakugo was stronger, he prepared himself to defend the hostage from the hero.
"Aw!" Touched by the gesture, Mina hugged Allen from behind as hearts seemed to pop out of her head.
This made absolutely no sense anymore!
"You bastards can flirt in prison!" Bakugo attacked. At this point, had the hero become the villain of this tragic love story?!
At the last moment before Allen used his template, a shot pierced through the ceiling and slammed into Bakugo's stomach like a cannonball. He vomited midair and crashed into a wall.
"You damn brats! I told you to take this seriously!"
Kaina stood atop a building with a cigarette in her mouth and her rifle-shaped elbow raised. The woman wasn't joking and didn't hesitate to shoot Bakugo, who was now knocked out.
"That's scary..." Mina shivered and instinctively grabbed Allen's arm. Yeah… maybe they had played around too much.
"Being a hero is a dangerous profession," Allen simply shrugged.
....
The test continued, this time on the first floor of an office building. The hostage was now Momo, who remained silent with her eyes closed while Allen held her the same way he had held Mina.
"Momo..."
The girl didn't even react to Allen's words. He smiled faintly and leaned closer. "Momo, are you angry?"
Feeling Allen's breath, Momo blushed slightly but remained indifferent.
"I'm just a hostage. I have no reason to make conversation..."
"I knew it—you're jealous..." Allen teased.
"That's not true," Momo replied, looking at him with disdain.
Due to how close their faces were, they truly looked like they were flirting—something that annoyed everyone again, some out of envy, others out of jealousy.
Meanwhile, Sero Hanta was entering through the second floor thanks to his Quirk "Tape," which worked like Spider-Man's webs. It wasn't very offensive, but it was quite useful when used properly.
'I'm in...' Hanta thought.
He moved quietly across the second floor and, upon reaching a railing, saw Allen from behind.
"Hanta might have a chance!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"Hm, he managed to get behind Allen," Itsuka nodded.
Under normal circumstances, Hanta wouldn't stand a chance—but to be fair, Allen was giving them an advantage by acting like an overconfident second-rate villain.
"Idiot..."
While the students thought Hanta had a chance, Kaina just scoffed.
"Sensei?" Iida asked nervously, not wanting to anger Kaina and end up like Bakugo.
"Just watch."
The moment Hanta gathered his courage, he launched his tape toward Allen to trap him and pull him away from the hostage.
'Got you!'
As the tape moved forward without resistance, Hanta smiled, thinking he had succeeded.
"No—I've got you..." Allen smiled.
Hanta's eyes shrank as he watched his tapes get sliced to pieces. Allen turned around with his arm around the waist of an embarrassed Momo—and in his other hand, a long katana with a blue sheath.
Allen looked at Hanta with a gaze that was both noble and disdainful.
"What's wrong, hero? Aren't you coming?"
"...!"
Hanta reacted on instinct—he used his tape to grab a desk and hurled it at Allen.
"Damn it!"
Out of fear, Hanta realized too late that this was equivalent to attacking the hostage. Allen smiled as his thumb slightly unsheathed the katana.
It took only an instant—Hanta couldn't even react before seeing space itself slice apart in front of him.
The desk shattered. His tapes were cut. Even the upper part of his suit was sliced open.
The most terrifying part for Hanta was that the katana was still sheathed.
"How is that possible?"
"Who knows? It's your job to figure it out, hero," Allen replied with an arrogant and disdainful tone.
[Template: Vergil "Son of Sparda"
Origin: Devil May Cry
QG 2: (Good) 5 min]
"I give up..." Hanta let himself fall to the ground.
....
The next one to try was Momo. This time the hostage wasn't a girl but Shoji. Allen had locked him inside a room while pretending to make a ransom call.
This was meant to give everyone different kidnapping scenarios to face.
Outside the building, Momo created a screwdriver and infiltrated through the ventilation ducts.
Once she reached the area, she came out directly into the room.
"You really made it?" Shoji looked surprised to see Momo.
"Sorry for the delay. I'll get you out of here, but you need to stay quiet," Momo smiled. She always prioritized civilians' safety.
Shoji nodded.
Present Mic and Aizawa were satisfied with Momo's actions.
Lady Nagant, on the other hand, showed no expression but shook her head.
Momo knew that with Shoji's size, getting him out through the vents would be impossible, so she approached the door and created a lockpick before opening it. However, when they stepped out, they found Allen sitting on a plastic chair in front of the door with his katana resting on his lap.
"Run!" Momo threw several smoke grenades and urged Shoji to flee. She created a police baton from her arm and attacked Allen.
"You're brave, hero!"
He stood up and drew his blade—the police baton was cut instantly. Realizing this, Momo fell to her knees, accepting defeat.
"Tell me—how did you know I was coming?" Momo asked.
Allen didn't have detection abilities at the moment.
"I didn't. I just put the hostage in a room with an obvious entry point like the ventilation and waited."
"...!"
Momo was shocked—had she been led into a trap from the very beginning?!
....
This time the location was a park—an open area. The hostage was Kaminari, who was tied up like a worm on the ground while Allen drank canned coffee on a bench.
"Hey, don't you think this deal is way too unfair?!"
With the girls, Allen held them carefully and even asked if he was using too much force—but with him, he was treated like a sack of potatoes.
Allen raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Of course it's unfair."
Kaminari was left speechless by Allen's shameless admission—this bastard had no heart when it came to guys.
Suddenly, a snowflake fell on Allen's shoulder, and in an instant his body was frozen, leaving only a large chunk of ice.
"You let your guard down too much." Todoroki jumped from a tree, landing in front of them. He wasted no time untying Kaminari and pointed in a direction. "Please go that way."
"Thank you, my hero!~" Kaminari tried to act like a grateful damsel, but it only earned him a disgusted look from Todoroki.
"You haven't won yet..."
"...!"
Todoroki grabbed Kaminari by the collar and leaped backward. The ice suddenly glowed before melting.
"You!" Todoroki gritted his teeth as he felt the heat coming from where Allen stood.
"Hello, hero," Allen said with a confident smile. He was in the same spot, sitting with both arms resting on the bench while parts of his body emitted flames.
"Fire?!" Kaminari exclaimed.
Todoroki's eyes filled with anger.
"Are you doing this on purpose, Allen Walker?!"
Everyone was shocked to see the usually calm Todoroki explode in rage. But he didn't stop there—he gritted his teeth and thrust his hand forward, freezing everything in his path toward Allen.
Allen chuckled before throwing a punch that turned into a horizontal column of fire.
"Hikken!"
Both attacks collided, creating a steam explosion that threw both Todoroki and Kaminari away.
Kaminari rolled across the ground until he hit his head against a tree.
"Kaminari?... damn it..." Todoroki stood up in frustration—he knew he had failed because he let the hostage get hurt.
"You're cruel, hero..." Allen said as he emerged from the steam cloud.
Todoroki was about to fight again, but his eyes widened—so did those of the spectators, while some girls gasped in fear.
"Allen, are you okay?!"
Kaina's anxious voice echoed through the speakers.
Allen looked confused for a moment before glancing down and seeing an icicle piercing his leg.
"Sorry." He grabbed it and pulled it out as if it were nothing. Unexpectedly, there was no blood, and the wound—surrounded by flames—began to close. "This template has the side effect of making me care less about dodging or defending against attacks."
[Template: Portgas D. Ace
Origin: One Piece
QG 3: (Poor) 1 min]
"Your power is cheating..." Todoroki growled.
Allen chuckled.
"There's no Quirk without a weakness..."
As he finished speaking, Allen's flames disappeared, and the card left his body before shattering. In the end, most of his templates only lasted one minute—something he could thank his bad luck for.
Todoroki, who had watched Allen lose his "Quirk," remained silent before standing up and turning away.
....
"Allen-kun is incredible," Ibara gasped.
"Si..." Ochako nodded in agreement.
"Incredible—and his Quirk is so unfair," Jiro sighed.
"I don't think so..." Deku said, defending Allen. Seeing everyone stare at him, he grew nervous. "Ah, sorry! It's just—I don't think it's only because of his Quirk!"
"He's right," Kaina added. "Don't you realize? A newly awakened Quirk is useless. You've all had years to practice with your Quirks—but every time Allen changes his, he has to adapt and master them in record time just to make them useful in battle."
Kaina's words made everyone realize that detail. In fact, no one had thought about it—while Allen could obtain Quirks constantly, copy-type Quirks weren't new. There were several people in the world with similar abilities, but they weren't outstanding because, no matter how many Quirks they copied, they couldn't use them at the level of the originals.
Kaina smiled. "Allen Walker isn't strong just because of his Quirk, but because of his ability to use it."
Once again, the class was left breathless.
After Todoroki's defeat, the rest continued trying, but no one managed to rescue a hostage. The class ended with a total defeat for the heroes' side—however, they had learned a lot about their own shortcomings.
....
(One week later)
Allen walked through the streets after saying goodbye to Momo, Itsuka, and Toru, who had returned with him.
As he walked without a care, he felt someone following him. He didn't worry—instead, he entered an alley before stopping and turning around.
"Hi~" said a girl standing in front of him.
She had light blonde hair tied into two round twin tails, amber eyes with intense pupils.
She was a beautiful girl in both face and body—however, she gave off the aura of someone unstable and troublesome.
She smiled with flushed cheeks and dangerous eyes.
"At last we meet, My Hero~"
Allen blinked, confused by the girl in front of him.
[Himiko Toga "No Alias"
Quirk: Transform]
The girl was someone relevant in this world—but beyond that, there was a strange gleam in her eyes, a mix of familiarity.
"Do we know each other?" Allen asked. You never know—even this girl might be someone close to him.
"You already forgot?~"
Himiko didn't seem sad that Allen didn't recognize her. She walked up to him and leaned against his chest, then looked up.
"Don't worry—I didn't recognize you at first either. But what a pleasant surprise when I realized it was you."
"..."
"It's been years, but I still remember you—my dear childhood friend🖤~" Himiko smiled widely, so much that it looked like the terrifying grin of a madwoman.
====
A/N: I didn't expect Himiko to be Allen's childhood friend either. 🗿
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