~O~

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❝Hey, hey, do you know? Who protects this place from nefarious apparitions?❞

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"What are you hiding?"

The green haired boy looked as if the question caught him off guard for a moment before he swiftly turned his gaze to the floor, choosing to fidget with his fingers instead of looking at the brunette in the eye or answering the question itself.

She had asked him the exact same thing so many times since they met but she never was so direct and so stern with her question. Well, she wasn't with any of her many questions. Maybe she was and playfully brushed it off but that wasn't the problem here. The problem wasn't the questions itself either. The problem was the answer.

What was Deku hiding?

What did he have to hide?

What part of his past was so important that he had to hide it from Uraraka and Bakugou?

What part of his past did he even remember?

What part of it was even his own—

"Well… Your silence only confirms there is something you're hiding, a lot of things actually." Uraraka continued, "I-I… I'm not sure if I'm even right here but…" A deep breath, "I've been thinking about it for a while now. You stopped us from looking for those mysteries without even knowing what they pointed at, which was in itself a shock as they're your mysteries and you didn't know anything about them. You get it too, don't you? They're yours but you don't know them… Just like your past."

Just like his past.

Just like his past that he forgot.

Just like the memories he couldn't tell even if they were his own.

The brunette curled up her fists, she bit the inside of her cheek before continuing softly, "I saw something here… Only a little while ago, behind one of these doors. And I can't really stop thinking about it, but I know it won't help at all telling you what it was because you said you don't remember anything from your past... You don't know anything about your past, that was what you told me... I don't know how much of what you tell me is actually the truth but… But I chose to trust you. And I will keep doing it because I can't — I don't know why but I can't just not trust you… Deku-san, I think those nine mysteries hide your past. That's why you don't know what they're about and that's why you forbade us from going after them… Because something happened and you forgot and you're not ready to face it even after all this time and—"

The green haired apparition dared to meet her gaze at last and perhaps a part of him didn't expect the girl to be so stubborn on the subject of mysteries, another part of him hoped to see that glint of determination shining in those chocolate brown eyes. He did, he saw that glint and somehow that little part of his tattered soul felt a bit more relieved, a bit more light. Although Deku didn't know why he felt that at the moment, maybe he didn't want to know either.

"Deku, you don't have to hide from us."

And that was the first time when Uraraka did not use the suffix with his name (Deku? Was that even his real name? He didn't really remember) That was when the brunette truly sincerely wanted the green haired apparition to believe in her words, to believe in her. He remained quiet, perhaps he was left speechless. Maybe he didn't have any words for her, maybe he couldn't reply to that, maybe he just didn't want to. A part of Deku didn't want to know his past, didn't want to be open and just wanted to hide away from all prying eyes and rest in peace because for fuck's sake he's dead — he's been dead for so long, he just wants to rest.

"You're not alone," Uraraka added, "Not now at least…."

Perhaps, Uraraka did not know the weight of those words but a little hidden part of Deku did.

Deku almost gasped at those words but bit his lip and let his feet touch the floor once again as he was previously floating, emerald eyes blew wide open before the boy rubbed his scarred hands up and down his face to cover up his expressions that he couldn't suppress anymore. Of course, his actions earned a fair bit of panicked responses from the others around him.

Uraraka began flailing her hands around while Bakugou and Shinsou stepped closer, "Oh my— I'm sorry if I said something wrong or insensitive! I was just— I was just trying to tell you that—"

"I-It's okay." Deku cut her off then and there, not letting her explain any of her actions — there was nothing for her to explain truthfully. "It's okay… You didn't say anything… Wrong. Just— Fine… Fine, do whatever you want to do about the mysteries but head back to your dorms for now. None of you should be lingering around here at this time, you know. Aizawa probably gave a lot of homework, hm?"

"But, Deku you—!"

"Off you trot, there's a math test to be studied for." With that, Deku snapped his fingers and the will-o-wisps rushed forth to push the three students towards the exit of the boundary. There were many protests and explosions but the will-o-wisps were known for getting the job done at all costs and quite efficiently too, therefore, it was only moments later when it was only him and the fifth left in the boundary. The silence reigned the boundary for a while, Deku not having any words to say for what just happened and Daigoro himself not wanting to push the matter. The ninth realized it a long while ago that the others knew something he didn't, maybe something about his famously forgotten past. That was perhaps the reason why they always knew when to give him space, when he needed time and just the quiet to compose himself.

"Number five," the green haired apparition spoke up without even turning to look at the man behind him — perhaps Deku did not want any more quiet to compose himself, perhaps he didn't want to hold his pieces together any longer. Maybe it was time the ninth decided he wanted answers too. "We need to talk. All of us."

By the younger one's tone, Daigoro could tell it was something they should've talked about a long time ago, a time some of them weren't yet lost and replaced. He questioned for confirmation, "Aizawa and those two Clock Keeper kids too?"

"No," The green head's tone was stern, "Just us."

Deku really did not want to hold his pieces together himself any longer.

~O~

It wasn't long before the wonders gathered in what one could say was their everyday meeting room without Aizawa and the other two clock keepers. The room was spacious, only being illuminated by lanterns that were perhaps floating midair or hanging to something the human eye couldn't see. The floor below them was as hard as concrete and the ceiling looked never ending, like an outstretched darkness looming overhead. If one squinted they could see a few Mokke lurking in the corners, mumbling incomprehensible phrases over and over again. Every one of them was seated on comfortably cushioned thrones, three of the nine thrones being unoccupied as the second, third and eighth wonders weren't present. The one's present sat in silence for a while, waiting for the ninth to address the matter they were all gathered there for. The only sound that could be heard aside from the pink apparitions' mumbling was repetitive ticking of a clock.

(They knew what it was, they always knew but there never was a time for them to address it directly. Maybe now, they could set aside their differences and just talk it out.)

"He's back." Deku blurted out, stoic expression, monotone voice.

The green haired apparition didn't wait for anyone to word their thoughts, he ignored Nana letting out a frustrated sigh, an irritated, "Dammit," from the fifth and how the first gritted his teeth to keep himself calm. "The Mokke saw him yesterday in the empty room by the cafeteria. Two students also encountered Tenko earlier... Or whatever's left of him."

Number four — a white haired man of lean built with two parallel scars running down the left side of his face spoke up, "Well, I don't think we know the extent of their powers as apparitions or how far in the living world they can go — I suggest we investigate it a little more before taking a direct action. If they were to bring harm to the students, I would know and we could take immediate action."

"To form a proper strategy, we do need to know the extent of their powers, it's true. But we can't waste too much time. Or any time at all." Nana solemnly added. 

The fifth added, recalling the previous events of the day, "The boy did use his quirk on the girl, we can't really take any chances if they can directly come in contact with the students."

"Only three types of people are capable of even seeing an apparition." The sixth — En stated, "An exorcist, someone with an enhanced sixth sense or… Someone with a short life span. Ochako Uraraka is the girl you're talking about, I suppose? She easily fits the last case, doesn't she? However, Shinsou is a part apparition, so of course he could see him. Bakugou could be a case of the enhanced senses but we can't be too sure."

"I was…" Deku mumbled, not quite meeting any of their eyes. The boy shifted his distant gaze to the ground instead, "I… Wanted to, um…" The other apparitions patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts. Even though he didn't need it, Deku took a deep breath before saying, "I don't want to wait anymore."

Nana chimed in, "Now? You want to stop him right now?" The green head nodded slightly, "As fast as we could at least. I don't want to— I can't wait for us to gather Intel on him. I just… I just want to end it."

"We… We can use the Mokke to let us know when and where he shows up next. Then, maybe we can corner him and fight together?" The first suggested, "There are still far too many risks in that. The students and faculty aside, if he turned out to be stronger than us, the supernatural order would collapse and there would be nothing left."

"I can… I know how to—" Deku did not know why his words jumbled up whenever he talked to the other wonders together but they always did, much to his dismay, "I know a way to stop All For One." The boy scuffed his red sneaker on the ground, trying to ignore the attention on him. He had never said the man's name like that, not as an apparition at least. "I've been thinking about it… For a while now. I can— I can end it. It might take some time but it won't affect the living world. At all."

Deku stood up, his scarred hands shakily gesturing as he explained his strategy, "We'll merge the boundaries — Yoichi's and Shinomori's. Yoichi's boundary is the trickiest to get around. Many high level apparitions can't tell if they're even in his boundary. He wouldn't know it either. From there, we will connect his goal — say point A to point B which will be the fourth's boundary. Nana or Daigoro can merge them easily. Then, with En's help we can just— we can just end it." He gulped before continuing, "We can alert Aizawa in case things go out of hand. He'll inform the faculty and they can evacuate everyone if we can't hold him back. Almost every apparition in this school cannot leave, the stronger ones can at most reach the bottom of the hill but that's it. His limit shouldn't be anymore either."

"That can work pretty well. Albeit we still need to be extremely cautious. Not even a little detail can be out of order. The devil we're up against has a sharp eye unfortunately." The fourth pondered, "As for his specific goal that number one needs to replicate. Any ideas what it could be?" The white haired apparition replied, "That wouldn't be a problem, I know what he's here for. Anything else?"

Deku pulled at his lips before looking up and asking, "Reportedly, he also said something along the lines of 'that time is nearing.' What time did he mean? Did something happen that I don't know of?" The boy was only met with silence. None of the others replied to him. Distantly, he could tell the Mokke stopped their cultic activities as well. The others seemed to glance at each other uncertainly, as if they weren't sure whether to answer him or not.

The green head found his voice getting smaller and smaller as he asked, "Is it really connected to the mysteries?"

"What?"

"That time… My past… Tenko… Eighth," Deku listed grimly, "Perhaps his goal too..." Before anyone could say another word, he shook his head sideways and said, "Ignore that. I don't know why I-I said that… Let's just focus on the plan and… Yeah, let's just focus on the plan." Deku did not want to wait any longer, if the mysteries did lead to his past then he didn't really want to prolong his questions any more. But a part of him was scared of what he would find. There's two voices in his head, two different jumbled up memories and he was scared to find out which one of them were truly his. He wasn't ready yet. On one hand, there was an open sunny sky and laughter everywhere. A candle on a nightstand that slowly became dimmer and dimmer until its flame went out. There were plenty of handwritten books lying on the floor, an empty room and hidden vault — the memories of a boy falling. On the hand, there was nothing but blood and fear. An eternal darkness with death forever looming overhead. 

He wasn't ready to know who he was yet...

"I see…" The rest didn't seem to argue with him, "What about Tenko?"

"For him I was, well uhm," Deku cleared his throat before suggesting, "I was thinking that eighth can handle him."

The eighth…

~O~

Rumor has it that there was a teacher at UA High who could see all apparitions. Which teacher? No one truly knew. His identity was a well kept secret. Perhaps, the principal knew but to everyone else, the man was merely a myth. Did you know who took care of wandering nefarious apparitions that could be a threat to the living? Who banished suffering twisted souls back to the far shore? 

From the sunset to the sunrise, he exorcised harmful apparitions.

The eighth,

Toshinori Yagi.

~O~

I can't name chapters (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ')