' tale as old as time '

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Nostalgia. When the youth woke up on a desolate alleyway, familiar days of the times before she was invited to join All For One and the rest took over. The street rats scampering and playing around with the garbage cans, the nasty smell of sewers and decomposing garbage inside metallic cans, the azure skies above tainted with grey clouds.

A violent shudder crawls on her spine when she thinks of the upcoming rain, but she tries to stand despite the wobbly legs and tries to walk on the streets. Donned in casual clothes- a russet colored jumper over an ice blue blouse paired with flip flops, she maneuvers easily through the crowd and when she spots the perfect spot to garner the attention of concerned citizens (if there were any, she thinks bitterly recalling her days of struggle) or heroes, she takes in a deep breath and let the tears flow.

Scratched feet wanders, tears falling from her face and when she bumps into a personage, she would have regained balance but chose to fall to the ground and release another downpour of tears.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" the person who bumped into her yelled, but it was drowned out by the sea of voices in the streets.

Capricious girl Kaede would have ripped him to pieces but she clings to the last thread of patience and opts to answer with her staged, preordained words. "I-I'm lost." And I you hope you are too, until it's revealed that you aren't really lost, but dead. Torn to pieces and disemboweled, you piece of shit.

"What?" the person asks and when she looks up to see him, she's meet with crimson irises and a scowl. A person no older than her wearing a white school shirt and baggy pants that he handled quite fashionably, but the youth still wished a thousand tragedies to befell him.

Already rid of patience, she replies with words partnered with a glare. "I told you, didn't I? I'm lost," she even elucidates the last word and she swore that if he didn't leave, somebody would shout bloody murder.

"Well you're fucking rude for someone who's lost," he said and she was still sprawled on that dirty concrete- Tomoe would have a field day with lecturing her of the importance of hygiene, and she would have a blast ignoring him- and when she was reminded of Tomoe, she was reminded of Tomura who she played video games with and sensei who taught her with patience. Patience.

"And you're too curious for someone who doesn't give a shit," she replied, minus the glare and people would have thought that she wasn't making any progress, but this was improvement in her book.

"You look like you're starving," he pointed out, both hands in his pockets and his blonde hair caught the sunlight and darkened over the edges as it was protected by the shade of a nearby tree.

The youth crossed her arms over her chest, pondering if she should stand up, but the thought that she preferred not to was stronger so she remained. "Well I've been lost for one day, seven ho- I mean I've been lost for almost two days now."

"You have endurance for someone who looks weak," he said.

The youth agreed with that, this body, whoever it belonged to, that almost indecipherable scream at the back of her (?) head, was by all means weak. It would help her. It should because she's sacrificed so much for this.

"And you're too curious, I repeat," she said, slowly getting rid of the expletives, naturally (as if) reverting back to benign lost girl who did not lace acid on her words. "If I wasn't thinking straight, I'd say you're almost concerned, but that'd ruin your future as Most Villainous Person in the Planet."

That seemed to irk him more than her earlier jibes so the explosive blond raged. "What are you talking about, you bitch?" he asked, and it took buckets of patience to not respond to the name calling. "I'm going to be the top hero and surpass All Might!"

The youth scoffed. "Good fu-freaking luck," she said and added, "You need a plethora of it."

"You judgmental bitch!"

The youth scoffed again. This boy, he had something more underneath him if you look close enough, but she hated him, the shallow part of her did- which was more than seventy eight percent- and she wanted to rip him to shreds because of it, but there was something.

"Says the person, who verbatim: someone who looks weak," she spat. "If that's not judging me, then I don't know what is."

"It was an observation, dumbass," he told her and she rolled her eyes. "Now take back that stupid comment about me!"

Her lips opened and underneath all that dirt and slight yellow, her teeth would have glimmered under the sun. "It was an observation, dumbass," she mimicked with a high pitched tone and she saw miniscule explosions on his palms.

A flashy and powerful quirk, she thought, but then all thoughts stopped when those explosions stopped and he reached his hand out to her. "You need help right?" he asked. "I'll get you to the fucking police station."

"If you're just helping me to prove your heroism, go get a rope and hang," she told him and bones were almost revealed as she clenched her fists too tight. Memories surged her brain and she wanted to eviscerate something. Maybe she'd start with him.

"I'm helping you," he said and exasperated by all this glorified bullshit- the youth didn't even know what she was thinking, she turned back to him and was the one surprised with the sincerity in those eyes.

"Why would I even stay if I didn't want to?" This question was softly spoken, almost as if he was ashamed to reveal it and she doesn't even realize that tears are falling from her eyes, but this time, they aren't because of fear or an act, they're genuine.

Pressing a hand to her lips, she fought to squelch the tears. This reminded her so much of younger days, of days before numbers and murder and betrayals and acts and powers. Of when the daisy chains she weaved were beautiful enough to make her smile and the sun wasn't watching murders in shadows and knives glinting against it rays, it was watching a girl who was simple and normal. A girl who liked flying paper aeroplanes and loved watching them soar across the sky, envisioning a streak of rainbows where they flew and the paper boats and cranes who sank on the rain puddles were the saddest things she'd seen.

Dainty fingers brushing against poorly mixed pain and pressing them unto cheap bond papers provided by the teacher who always had a No. 2 pencil pressed on her ear, and creating a pastiche of weird things and she'd call it art and she'd use red watercolors not blood to paint and she'd draw those scarves she always liked with those quilts and she was fascinated with weather, rainy sunny cloudy windy stormy, not the various organs that appeared when she created perfect lines across stomachs.

But she's seen and known too much and Kaede, Kaede is desperate to escape this rapture she's sank unto. She's a monster and she will destroy so she does the best she can to destroy. It's like a field of dainty flowers in her dreams and in her hopeless wish to break free, she wounds herself with the thorns until she's bleeding into reality.

"Don't cry!" he screams, looking left and right, seeing the stares of the various passers-by, screaming, "I swear I didn't make her fucking cry! I don't even know her fucking name."

Kaede hates how she's feeling this way because of him. How she's returning to lesser times because of a boy. All For One taught her numerous things, but he forgot to remind her to be careful of boys, because boys unraveled girls and poured the stars in their stomachs down boys' throats to fill their own with more cosmic bliss.

In a flash, he had crouched and let her see his back, so when she didn't do anything but simply stared, he held her hands and wrapped it around his throat. He stood up and clutched her legs too, so he was giving her a piggyback ride.

"Oi, you're heavy," he commented and she hit the back of his head with her palms- "that hurt you bitch!"

"Serves you right," she merely huffed.

"I'm going to drop you, you little shit," he gruffed between gritted teeth.

"I have a name loser," she said with equal distaste.

"I'm not a loser, bitch," he responded and she tried to hit the back of his head again, but he caught her hand with one arm and the next thing she knows, she's slipping from his hold so she clutches to his neck.

His head is turned away from her, but she knows it's probably twisted in a glare. What a lousy, predictable boy. And oddly comforting.

Pastel colors blurred around her as they walked and she buried her head unto his nape and without meaning to acquainted herself with his scent which was cinnamon melding with spicy spices. The youth abhorred this boy. With his crimson eyes and blonde hair, cinnamon scent and changing personality with sharp words and more underneath. She loathed him.

Kaede was horribly attracted to him too so there was that.

"My name's Kai," she says, using the nickname she was horribly fond of. Fond thoughts for a boy she was fond of.

"That's not a half bad name."

She smiles. "I agree."

Toying with her fingernails caked with dirt, she did her best to ignore the strange looks they were giving her. There were also various oohs and aahs, gushing adults who saw bliss in children carrying each other. Children at the age of twelve and eleven. Children who had known the world more than they ever would, staying in their foolish shelter of lies and cowardice.

Heart venomous, body tired and mind hopelessly lost, they arrived at the police station and he was quick to talk with the policemen. With minutes upon minutes of piling up, Kaede's tongue itched to count, to steady the axis of her world once again, but she knows that she's starting a new one so those things have to be left behind for now.

"Thank you," the words came out as a strangle cry against her lips and she looked at him, tried to remember the shape of his face and those eyes and ears and hair and skin and nose and lips that would inevitably be lost at the passage of time. "You're still not a hero though, but you will be."

"Be a great hero," she tells him. So I will have my fun destroying you and the good, rotting side of me that has been awakened by you.

He grinned. "I will," and seeing the upcoming policewoman added, "See you later."

"See you never."

He gave her the finger and she directed a glare at his direction.

And that was that.

A couple of seconds later, the policewoman enters, her face kind and compassionate and Kaede would have snorted but this current personage seemed to be retaining some of her affections and she's making Kaede feel things that she wasn't supposed to. Emotions she didn't find the need to have.

"What's your name?" the policewoman asks, realizing that she never asked for her name, but covered the embarrassment with a smile on her face, turning to the youth. The boy has left, grumbled underneath his breath about a grumpy old hag and a useless dad and told her he'd be the best hero even without her telling him to do so.

The youth looks up at the policewoman with big, unfamiliar cornflower blue eyes, smiling as she did. For destruction. For annihilation. For her dreams. For sensei. For Tomura. For Tomoe. And most of all, for herself.

Silver grey hair, curious blue eyes, a warm smile and a warm personality to disarm, to wrap them around her ten fingers. Eleven years of age. The name that she stole. The girl whose identity she stole.

"My name is Akihisa Yuko."

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E N D O F C H A P T E R
- s h e d d i n g

□ thoughts...?

□ for those who didn't get it, this'll be a long-ass explanation.

□ so i have some explaining to do. y'all remember tomoe's quirk: hijack. it's basically the main player for this whole scheme. tomoe uses his quirk on kaede to transfer her "consciousness" to another body. that body belongs to the real akihisa yuko. so when hijack is used, nothing changes in the body except for who controls it. so in a way, kaede's soul is in yuko's body. and that whole chapter "her name is mizuki kaede and..." was kaede wrestling with yuko's "consciousness".

□ yuko's consciousness is overpowering kaede's and if kai loses, she will be stuck in yuko's body forever and her mission will fail. so she tries to remember herself hence the chapter. and if you backread, you'll notice that kaede's and yuko's personalities are merging because as explained by all for one, the longer hijack is used, bits and pieces of the one being hijacked cling to the hijacker. just like tomoe temporarily forgetting who he is and developing feelings he didn't have in the first place, some of yuko's feelings cling to kaede. and vice versa. that's why after more than 3 years, kaede begun forgetting her real self and we have the current yuko. and the nightmares are memories who she really is and shedding is kaede basically remembering her "true self".

□ thanks for reading!