One fateful day I thought: "Huh... Shoji kinda looks like Ranboo." And ever since then I have been unable to get the image out of my mind.

( https://pin.it/6UuB3sF )
So anyways here's the Shoji centered chapter he deserves. (+ B plot)

This book has only gotten like two comments in the past almost 20 chapters and it's starting to scare me. Y'all okay???

Ahhhh, had a nice break writing literally 20+ chapters in another book. Time to wrap this sequel up, shall we~? Some of our favorites may, unfortunately, not make it out alive~?

How dare you assume I've lost the plot. There was no plot to begin with!
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...

     There are some things that never change in a person, no matter how much they may try. You can completely reconstruct the body all you want.

     But that will never change the soul.

. . .

     Things were getting crazy out there. Shoji couldn't stop thinking about it while he got ready for bed. It was like the world was falling apart. But it wasn't the kind of issue that can simply be punched in the face.

     Those with quirks and those without quirks were fighting for victimhood. Some strange dispute over which side deserved more sympathy. Two opposing sides, once fringe groups such as The Meta Liberation Front and Humarise butting heads, has since turned into a nation-wide dispute. The one thing these two extremist sides can agree on is that heroes need to go. For one reason or another, heroes are to blame for all of this.

     The Quirkless minority like to b#### and complain about the power Imbalance leaning more and more out of their favor. Bullying is apparently more often than not directed at their kind now, simply for being "normal." And now with the quirk removing on the rise and even on occasion being used legally in common hospitals as treatment for dangerous quirks...there has been a dangerous rise in hostility toward Quirks as a whole. There are many even who believe the world should go back to the way it once was before.

     Those with quirks, however, argue that the Quirkless deserve this kind of treatment, as this is all merely retribution for how they have been treated for entire generations past. Only recently have those with quirks even gotten any sense of peace, as well as the ability to truly live out normal lives. No longer being hunted down and slaughtered like some of the earliest quirk users were. No.. returning the world to how it once was before sounded like a terrible idea. Those on the furthest extreme of this even believed it was those without quirks who were the diseased. And it was the Quirkless who should now be hunted down and slaughtered as a form of cleansing/revenge. Their kind were nothing but old news, after all. It was time for mankind to finally advance onto the next stage. Letting the Quirkless have their way was like treating monkeys as true equals.

     The most and utterly disturbingly ironic thing about all of this was the group both of these sides agreed to hate. While the two sides fought over which one of them had it worse, they stomped all over the true victims. The Animorph's who weren't even given a platform to speak from. Their issues were all but swept aside in all of this mess, them not even cared about enough to join the victim game. Meanwhile, extremists from both sides targeted the Animorphs for one reason or another.

     The Quirkless used the Animorphs as some kind of reason as to why quirks shouldn't even exist. Those who were pro quirks either didn't care, or even outright demonized them as well... As if being mistaken for Nomu on occasion wasn't bad enough... Now they were being labeled "wrong steps down the evolutionary path." Mistakes. Mishaps. Nothing but fodder to be tossed in with the Quirkless as impure imperfections of humanity. It was disgusting. Neither side, to their furthest extreme, had any sort of sympathy who needed it the most.

     ...And they were just supposed to take it???

     Shoji cleaned off his face, staring the scars up and down. Usually hidden, these massive gashing scars on his neck, mouth, and chin, were the very reason he still wore a mask.

     Before, he wore the mask because he didn't want others to pity him. He was an animorph from the countryside, after all. And the country was especially known for being...not so favorable.. toward his kind. So, it wouldn't take anyone very long to deduce the suffering of his origins. He wore the mask because he didn't want that to be the first thing for think about when they saw him. He didn't want them to see his painful, dark, tragic past. He didn't need the world's pity. That was useless at the end of the day. Rather, he'd prefer they see his heroic deeds and caring nature. Yes. Let them look at and comment on that instead...instead of constantly bringing up his past pains. It was a strangely honorable reason. He wasn't scared of letting people finding out; just didn't want that kind of attention.

     Now, however, his reason for wearing that same mask had unfortunately shifted quite a bit after losing his quirk.

     He now looked completely human. "Normal," as many would call it. And now that he was back to normal, people would only complain if he ever brought up his past traumas. They would declare his suffering obsolete simply because he found a way to fix it. In a way, he no longer felt worthy to bear these scars..weird as that sounded. He was no longer an Animorph, after all, so it was like that pain was all for nothing.

     Shoji blinked a few times after realizing he had been staring at his jaw again. He hummed softly, examining the torn tissue one last time, before heading back to bed.

     Once in bed, he pulled out his phone to check up on that Animorph convention he'd heard so much about. They strictly forbode any non-aninorphs, so he was automatically outed. But... It just didn't feel fair. The teen set his phone aside and laid on his back, staring blankly up at the empty ceiling.

     ...This was weird. He'd suffered so long as an animorph that the thought of now not being involved in a movement like this really stung. All he wanted was to make things easier for the future generations of kids like him.. That's really all he wanted. Nothing super flashy or drastic like Deku and Bakugo's ambitions, but they still meant a lot to him... It was weird to think Shoji was now separate from the very group he cared so much about. The people he was so willing to give his life for. Now...he couldn't even consider himself one of them.

     He sighed aloud and closed his eyes, then rolled onto his side... Nice as it was not being seen as strange all the time.. he wanted his old body back.

     He wanted to be himself again.

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Took quite a long break from this book, but I think I'm ready to come back. Not really here to finish this thing because anyone is interested. Clearly none of my readers are asking for updates or anything. But, I have a feeling leaving this book like this will leave me with nothing but regret for years to come.

If I had the time and energy, there is a LOT I would change about this book. That's to be expected as well. It was never supposed to be perfect.

It's likely from here-on that I won't be writing in as much detail or with as much passion, and that's alright honestly. I want to write all those ideas I had, lay some characters to rest, and finish off arcs I've been meaning to for ages. If not for anyone than for my future self.

Lately I've been writing in my other MHA fanfic that's been getting a lot of attention. The one about AFO's daughter lol. I've been quite pleased with that one lately, though I get that dreadful feeling I might one day see it in the same way I see this fanfic... Idk. I'll figure everything out eventually.

For those if you who are still reading, thanks guys. It sure has been fun.
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