Chapter Text
He was sitting in the library, in a corner. It was quiet, he liked it that way. He could focus on his studies. Most of the things he’s studying, he’s just revising. He finished middle school, both on paper and in reality. Astris – the nerd she was – made sure that he had the proper education. It was fun, he liked whenever his sister got to a topic she was excited about and was able to explain it to their siblings, and whenever they understood it she felt so proud, Filius always enjoyed seeing how her face lit up at the little ones doing math equations, she loved showing new topics, you could always tell whenever she liked a topic more than the others. Biology was the best subject for her to teach, chemistry was a strong second.
She always made Fil, Seoung and Renne do more homework, teaching them harder subjects. He didn’t mind it though, she loved teaching and he loved learning.
So when Haruki now has to study for U.A applications, he realizes he knows most of this. A lot of the history pre-quirk era he remembers from his childhood, English was the language they spoke in the cult so that’s fine, Astris taught him enough math to get by, even if he struggles a bit he figured it’d be enough to pass.
His biology is excellent for obvious reasons, he did have to know everything about the human body in order to modify it. He did hate the experiments, but back at the start. He actually enjoyed them, he liked feeling powerful, liked being worshipped. Eventually though he realized how messed up the whole situation was. But he was the one who suggested some of the changes made into his body, he and Astris sometimes brain-stormed together on the things they could modify. But even so, most of the modifications were made by fathers request, he hated them whenever they were.
When he was doing his own experiments he knew what he was doing, where, what it would take and where he got the ‘parts’ to do it.
When Father made the doctors at the cult do some experiments he never knew what it would add, if it would leave a scar – it usually did – and how they got the things they were putting into him.
His wings weren’t his
He knew they weren’t.
They took them from someone, that was one of the reasons he cut them off. He didn’t deserve them, he couldn’t bear to look at them. All he saw was his father’s face, the feelings of the person they were taken from and the feeling of Raine’s hands on them
He quickly regained his composure, pushing the memories away.
His chemistry knowledge was decent, a bit under the average but he could study that to make up for it. His Japanese was lacking,
Many of the people from the cult were Japanese, so he sometimes got taught a word or two, but when he got out of the cult he was basically clueless and had to learn it from scratch. It was difficult but he now considers himself fluent. Well he used to, now that he looks at the answer sheet to some online quiz he did, he’s terrible.
The textbooks in the library not helping him in the slightest, they all just repeated the same advice, which he did not understand. It was infuriating, ‘language rules were stupid.’
He couldn’t memorize them, there were too many, and anytime he tried to go with his gut he just got it wrong. It annoyed him. He couldn’t fathom the idea of being able to speak the language but suddenly writing in it is the problem. He speaks just fine. Maybe with a slight accent but that’s barely noticeable, at least nobody ever said that they couldn’t understand him.
And he made sure that his vigilante mask concealed any accent. So he didn’t have to worry about that.
He checks his phone, the sudden light making his eyes close for a second, after regaining his composure, he sees a couple of notifications.
Zuku
“Wait that’s so cool, it sucks that Eraserhead wasn’t mentioned in it more. :(“
Izuku read the article, Haruki usually just liked the message he sent and read the article in his free time, Izuku actually responded.
‘Was I meant to be doing that this whole time?”
“yeah besides from what it reads it seems like Eraserhead actually did most the work since he was the only hero at the place”
“It would be so cool if he got any type of publicity right? Like I get why he doesn’t but he does a lot of work around Musutafu”
Zuku was right, Eraser did do a lot. Every patrol he had to avoid him, he was always there. They didn’t meet every time since Fil made sure to sneak past, probably didn’t work but he didn’t get called out so that’s the only thing that matters.
“Yeahhh, maybe in the future he’ll get the recognition he deserves :’]”
Haruki wasn’t a fan, no of course he wasn’t. if anything he was only recognizing that Eraser does a lot, and doesn’t get rewarded for it nearly as much as he should. Compared to ‘other’ heroes.
Endeavor.
‘of course Endeavor, fuck that guy. There’s something off about him. I dunno what but he just gives me the ick.’
The dude’s strong but he’s so annoyinggg.
Max answers, dragging out the ‘annoying’. After which he disappears,
“I hope so! :D” Haruki loved the little emoticons, after seeing Izu use them so much he started picking up on them and caught himself typing them out way more often than he would admit to.
“Also my mom’s asking when you’ll be coming over again haha”
Okay both of you are literally so awkward it hurts. Max appears again, looking over Haruki’s shoulder onto the phone. He didn’t need to, he knew what the text said simply because Haruki knew, he was only doing it for dramatics. Like everything he did.
‘what? He was asking cause his mom was probably pestering him about it!’
Sure thing, what’s next? A girlfriend who goes to a different school?
‘shut up Max, that’s not even funny…’
“I could come over if you’d want, Ik you’re busy with school so I don’t wanna interrupt.”
“No, no it’s fine really! I liked hanging out with you last time! Maybe Wednesday?”
Oh that’s soon.
Well it would still be a couple of days from then but it’s still really soon, though Haruki didn’t mind, he wanted to hang out with Midoriya this week anyway.
“Alright! 4pm?”
“Yep! See you then!! ^^”
He was going to hang out with Midoriya again, ‘and he enjoyed the last time!’
He liked hanging out with Izuku as well, even if they were talking in passing at the library, it was nice. Comforting, the boy had an aura around him that made you feel like you were heard, like he was listening to everything you said, even if it wasn’t important, even if it was something stupid like memes or dumb things you saw on the internet.
He still made sure the conversation was pleasant, he still asked questions, he still listened.
Haruki looked over the next notification, seeing it was from Shinso.
Laundromat boy.
“That’s intense.”
It was a basic full body workout…
‘don’t shame. Everybody starts somewhere.’
“if it’s too much I can search for something less demanding?”
“no, no it’s good. My body just HURTS”
“lmao, rip then”
Cringe. And forced.
‘”cringe” is cringe’
Haruki rolls his eyes, he was going to be as cringe as he could. Who cares? Not him
Is there anything you do care about?
‘Shut up max.’
Eraser
:https:/article.idk.how.to/make/links.com
‘okay what the fuck is this?’
“New vigilante Filius caught on camera during mission?”
‘ W H A T ‘
Haruki reads through the article, which does in fact have a photo of him, nothing identifiable though. Just him in his costume fighting a random villain on the street, he doesn’t actually remember that fight. He runs into petty criminals every patrol, he can’t even begin to remember every single one. Unless their quirk is something noticeable or they do anything note-worthy, then he remembers them, but this criminal seemed boring. His quirk just giving him more muscle, of course. Very common quirks, many people had them.
The article describes him in a… very incorrect manner.
‘6’3? 24 years old? Eye color: purple? OKAY THAT IS NEITHER MY REAL EYE COLOR NOR THE CONTAC LENSES THAT I WEAR, HOW??’
Max starts laughing on the floor, amused by the incredibly inaccurate article.
“LMAO” Haruki texts back, he didn’t know what else to say. ‘wait.. does Eraser understand slang?’
“???” ‘he does not.’
Kinda funny that he doesn’t, like how does this 30 year old man not know basic slang? These words were around when he was growing up, how can he not know them?
“Laughing My Ass Off… means that it’s funny”
“not you?”
Eraser I thought you were meant to be smart. What’s with this texting skills… Max says in between laughs.
“the pic is me… the article though…”
‘Seen’
…
‘are you kidding? AGAIN?’
Haruki closes his phone, Eraser won’t respond, if he was going to he would’ve responded immediately.
Haruki looks back at the books laid out in front of him, and then back onto his phone
“15:42”
Time goes by fast when you have to study huh? He needs to start picking up harder parts of the books about the things he’s studying, he knows that usually the textbooks in school don’t teach everything that they should. So learning a few books ahead might be helpful.
He puts the books he already finished at the shelves, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do when he finishes studying the new books. He has to study somehow, or he’ll forget everything. But he can’t just repeat the things he already learned. He’d get too bored and stop studying completely.
He picks up the harder versions of the books he had, but when he takes them out another book falls out.
“Japanese sign language for beginners.”
‘oh?’
Looks like he found his answer. Sign language, seems useful to know. He was going to have to clean his house again as a pre-caution but he decides to check the book out and take it home. talking a bit with the nice librarian, whom he once again forgot the name of before going out. The streets full, people returning from work or school running all around.
He walked back to his apartment, the books he checked out in his bag. He could try to hack into the U.A systems. He didn’t want to cheat his results, or look at the test before. He would get caught, his hacking skills weren’t that good. And he’s heard rumors of the principal knowing ‘everything’ that happens, so he wouldn’t want to risk it.
Seems a bit creepy but whatever. So maybe just to see the teachers? He knows that Eraserhead is one, but who are the other ones? Probably all pro heroes, might be dangerous if one of them has a mind reading quirk.
Haruki never met a person with a quirk like that, but he can imagine how terribly that would go, so he’s always been a bit paranoid about it after leaving the facility.
He’s learned that Shinso has a similar quirk, Brainwashing, he wonders how that would work with Max inside his head, but it’s too risky to test out.
When Haruki gets back home he uses his make-shift broom and tries to clean up. Some dust gathered over the couple days but it’s all relatively clean now. He puts his books in the corner of the room, still needing to find/make a desk.
He sits down on the floor, after forgetting that his hammock still needed to be washed.
The smell lingered, he could feel it from the other side of the room. Why is it so intense?
He opens up his laptop and tries to hack into the U.A systems. And to his surprise, it worked.
He was able to see the teacher and student files. Except oddly enough the application tests were in fact still not accessible to him.
‘so that’s what they meant by “the principal knows about everything”’
Why the fuck would he let you hack into their systems? I don’t think you understand what you’re doing…
‘Max…’
Shut up, I know, I know. you always say that.
He looks over the teacher list
“Snipe” “Nemuri Kayama - midnight” “Shota Aizawa – Eraserhead” “Ectoplasm” “Ryo Inui – Hound dog” “Higari Majima – Power loader”
‘no mind reading quirk for now’
“Sekijiiro Kan – Vlad king” “Ken Ishiyama – Cementos”
“Hm?... oh he works there?”
“Hizashi Yamada – Present Mic”
Who?
‘The radio guy. That’s his name. He looks… different from what I imagined but it’s cool.’
Oh, okay?
And then, Haruki reads something he thinks he wasn’t meant to see.
“Yagi Toshinori – All Might”
‘HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT. FUCK. NO WAY. NUH-UH.’
HAH! Good luck with that!
‘IF HE CATCHES ME, HE CATCHES YOU, YOU DINGUS.’
Well yeah but they won’t see me.
Haruki just sighed, this was probably not meant to be public knowledge. Not like he has anyone to say it to. Well maybe Midoriya, but he shouldn’t. he really shouldn’t.
But the urge is still there. He’s still trying to find out whether Izuku is a trustworthy person. Well Haruki knows that he is, but the things he wants to tell him are way beyond the normal trust someone can put into one person.
He wasn’t going to tell him about the cult, no that’s out of the question. No one will know about that, at least not until father is gone.
Not until his siblings are out, not until he knows that they’re safe.
After getting over the new info he found, he snoops around some more. He finds out that Eraser did in fact expel a whole class on the first day, meaning that the article he read a week ago was not lying.
Honestly? He’s not surprised. That seems exactly like the thing Eraserhead would do.
He looks through some of the student files, which all seem like the regular stuff. His quirk is legally listed as “basic enhancements” so that’s what he will have to stick by in U.A. He never planned to show off his actual quirk. Nobody knows about that.
And if he can help it, nobody will.
And hey, ‘basic enhancements’ isn’t exactly a lie, he does have more stamina, strength, jumping height and speed than the regular human. And it’s easier for him to gain muscle or increase his limits.
He stands up and stretches, turning the radio off. It was nice music but he was going to have to make that drying rack, then find a bowl and buy some laundry detergent.
The drying rack should be easy, just a couple of planks will do wonders. If he could find string it would be ideal but he won’t.
Planks are everywhere, the apartment he’s living in has them scattered all around. He didn’t even have to leave his floor to find any. Which he really should clean up the whole upper floors, since nobody can get to them anyway. But he was busy most of the time, so he always put it off. He cleaned up his room today but his floor was still dirty, not to mention the other floors.
He finds enough planks and since he has no un-bent nails he just uses duct tape.
He puts it up on the roof, hoping that it won’t get spotted, he put it near the two walls, hoping that it will conceal it a bit more, but if you’re searching for it you’ll find it without a problem.
He quickly realizes that assembling that took him way longer than intended and the store near him is going to close soon. And it had such low prices too! usually some promotion going on.
So he quickly got out of his apartment and ran to the store – realizing halfway there that he forgot his wallet and then had to quickly run back to get it.
But he finally got some detergent, it was pretty cheap. And there was indeed a 2 for 1 special so he lucked out. He also got some quick foods he could eat over the week. It wasn’t much. In fact it was barely anything but it was good enough for him to not starve. And he bought a 5l bottle of water. He will need it if he wants to wash his clothes regularly. Going to the drinking fountains with a laundry bowl probably won’t look good.
His reputation is already shit but doing that would just confirm the fact that he was homeless.
When he got back he manages to find a nearly-uncracked bowl inside a dumpster. Not missing Max making fun of him for digging in trash again. It was the perfect size for laundry. He didn’t really know how to do laundry, since back when he was a kid his mom did it, and in the cult the peace keepers did it. So he never got taught how to.
Living on his own has taught him a lot of new skills. Though he still is missing many basic ones.
He gets back into his room and immediately googles ‘how to do laundry’ before adding ‘by hand’ to his search.
Turns out most people use washers. Makes sense but his building doesn’t have electricity, nor does he have the money to buy one.
He puts away a decent chunk of his money into a hidden compartment in his floor. Apartment savings
If he kept doing jobs like those he could actually earn enough for a small apartment. He would have electricity, running water, a fridge and in general, a house.
As much as he liked the fact that no one could track him inside this building. It was falling apart. So he needed to upgrade pretty soon.
His studies are easy so far, maybe he could try to do 2 big jobs per week? At that rate he would have an apartment before he joined U.A. and then he wouldn’t have to use Midoriya’s address to put down for the application.
‘Okay so new goal?’
When he was washing his clothes he remembered about the 3 missions he picked up. He texted the clients back during the past week, they’d discussed pay and other details about the jobs. He could finish the spy job today. That millionaire lives close to Musutafu and usually these types of guys don’t really care if anyone was watching. He could find some incriminating things pretty quickly. If he does the 2 missions the money will add up to be basically a 1 big mission pay off.
And then there’s the big mission he picked up. He had to somehow break into a police station, he couldn’t go as Filius. If he did then they would have more things to put into his file. And every police officer would now have a reason to not give up chasing him.
And Eraser would probably not fix any more of his injuries. Which was nice of him to do. Normally he would’ve let the bullet stay and heal it up with it still inside. Eventually his body got rid of things like that on it’s own. Though it always did leave a scar.
It left a scar anyway, probably because he was stopping it from healing at first. But that’s fine, he can handle another scar. And at least this time it’s in an easy to hide place.
If he picked up another big job that week he would probably get some form of publicity. Since many of those jobs are about helping civilians. Out in the open. And he’s been slowly gaining popularity as is. He hopes he won’t be shown on the news anytime soon.
He finishes washing all the things that reeked of cigarettes. Knowing that soon he’d have to wash them again for the same reason.
He didn’t have the urge to do it again yet. But he knew that eventually he would, he still had a couple of things that he planned to do, and none of them enjoyable.
So he probably will smoke again. One of those things is visiting their graves.
he probably will have to get rid of weeds and plant some flowers around them, he knows that he doesn’t want to. It still hurts. He still remembers holding their bodies, and then burying them into the ground.
He somehow made two gravestones with his quirk. He doesn’t know how, he can’t replicate it now. He just did back then. Yeah after that he’s going to need to smoke at least a whole pack.
He snapped out of his thoughts just as he realized he’s been washing his hammock way too much.
He took it out and hanged it out on the drying rack. Along with his vigilante outfit, he would have to go out with that outfit he wore during his infiltration at the hospital.
If he adjusted it a little but it was still really similar.
It was pretty early “20:21” his phone said. When he was looking at the time got another message from Eraser.
“you’re patrolling tonight”
‘…what?’
Is that supposed to be a question?
‘I… actually… can’t tell.’ He looked at the text message with confusion. Wondering what to respond.
“my leg is fine.”
He said. Getting straight to the point, if Eraserhead was asking, it would probably because of getting shot. And if he was telling him, then he doesn’t know why the fuck the pro hero would do that.
“district 7 building 2, midnight. Meet me.”
‘WHAT?’ this was making less and less sense the more he texted Eraser.
Why would he want to meet him? Is he going to be there with the police? Is it a plan to arrest him? He won’t come. No way. Too risky.
“I need help with a job.”
What…
“WHAT THE FUCK????” Haruki screams out. There’s no way that this is happening. Why would Eraserhead need HIS help? This was so weird. He didn’t understand any of it.
“…” “what” he texted back
“I need help with a job.” And then quickly “well, me and Tsukauchi need help with a job”
I no longer understand anything.
“why would I do it?” Haruki texts back
“You will get paid. Either in money, or in information. The pay you want will be discussed today, if you come.”
…okay this would make that mission way easier.
You can’t ask them for the info the client wanted. They’ll know who got it.
‘fuck.’ Okay maybe not, but he could do something else. If he could pick up the money at the police station stealing the info would be much easier.
“could I pick the money up at the police station?”
“I’d imagine there’d be no problem but I have to ask the detective.”
He thinks for a second before responding.
“see you.”
“seen”
Of course he leaves us on seen again.
Haruki sighs and runs his hand through his hair. A lot was just dumped on him.
If Eraser texted him 5 minutes ago he would’ve still had his costume. Now it was wet.
He turns on his radio and begins studying sign language. By the time he has to leave to patrol he’s learned some common phrases, it wasn’t much but it was something, and besides he was studying this in his free time.
He put on the black-white jacket, wearing his black turtleneck underneath. He can’t wash his mask as it’s not waterproof, though it doesn’t really smell of smoke at all, which is odd since he did wear it while smoking.
But he’s not about to start complaining. He puts on the tracksuit pants again, his regular black boots also not needing to be washed. He did reinforce the boots they had spikes on the bottom of them so that his kicks hurt more. He liked kicking people. It made him feel more powerful, and his legs were stronger than his arms.
he tied his bangs back with a rubber tie, as he didn’t have regular ones. it would be a pain to take off with his tangled hair but it was either this or let Eraserhead learn that his hair is a very specific shade of blue. He got some other gloves, these ones fully black and latex, he didn’t like that fabric but they were the only other gloves that matched.
He put in his contacts and went out. It was around 23:10 when he started patrolling, so he decided to finish that one job while he was at it. He found the millionaires house, the lights were still on.
It took him 20 minutes to find something incriminating. Recording with his phone he saw how said millionaire had a very, very big passion about gun ownership, and drugs. Of course it’s drugs. It’s always drugs. The gun thing was small, he did not have a license. And he for sure wasn’t in the military so those riffles were definitely illegal.
He took pictures and videos until he had to go.
He jumped onto the rooftop of the building Eraserhead sent him. He did not feel his quirk, but Max’s presence decreased. He was still there. Which meant he was adapting. One day Eraser won’t be able to get rid of him. Which made Filius have goosebumps. He didn’t like the fat that his quirk was able to evolve without any work from him.
“You’re late” He hears, ‘how did he even know I was here?’ and of course his quirk didn’t pick up on him AGAIN. Eraserhead looks back before clear confusion is seen on his face.
“Emergency situation. Don’t mind it.” Filius declares, walking closer. He didn’t have his capture tape, he didn’t have the addition to his shirt that made it so that he could stick his bo staff there, so he had to hold it.
Eraser shrugs, making sure to keep his distance.
He’s trying to gain your trust. He will arrest you the second you walk closer.
Filius shuts the voices out of his head. He cannot get distracted right now.
“What’s the job?” He says, before adjusting his mask realizing that the voice changer is way too robotic than it normally is.
Eraserhead raises an eyebrow and sighs again.
“We need you to look into someone.” Fil smirked. The police wanted him to do something illegal? Now that was interesting. He expected something tedious that they just didn’t want to do. But no, this was something they couldn’t do.
“They are suspected to be in possession of drugs, illegal weapons and has had reports of sexual abuse against him.” Eraser continued, trying to gauge reaction. He probably had some sort of bug on him. Are they trying to catch Fil admitting to doing a crime? Why? they already had enough incriminating things about him. There’s already an arrest warrant out for him.
But that also sounded oddly similar to the guy he just got the footage on. No way.
‘there’s just no fucking way…’ he thinks, internally face-palming.
“oh? Can’t the police do that on their own?” He asks, reading the heroes every move, every change in expression no matter how small, every breath he took.
“No warrant.” He adds, “the guy lives on the outskirts of the town. District 4 Building 32 in the town over.”
‘HOLY SHIT THAT IS THE SAME GUY.’
Filius sighs at the irony, the fact that his work and the polices work somehow interjected twice in a row just baffled him. It seemed like all that luck he had for finding new things for his apartment was actually just rewards for this bullshit.
“Can you do it?” The hero questions, tilting his head to the side.
“give me a second I have to see something.” The vigilante responds as he takes out his phone and texts that client. And of course that they’re ecstatic about the turn of events. Apparently the entire job was just to have evidence against their abuser.
So now Fil will get money from the police and from the client. Okay, not bad. Still it makes Filius kind of pissed off, why is he actually considering helping the police?
“Fine. Do you need proof of all of those things?” he asks crossing his arms.
“That would be ideal, but if you only manage to get proof for the drugs and guns that would already be plenty to arrest the guy. Especially since recently he’s been keeping to himself, he might not have another victim until a few more months.” Filius could feel the hatred dripping from Erasers tone, he clearly had the same stance about people like the target.
“Got it, time limit?”
“A week, if you need more text me.” Filius raised an eyebrow, pretty long time frame, especially considered that he already had said evidence. But he could get the last one. He knows he could. The evidence he has so far was from the windows of the guys mansion. The guns were in a room with no windows but there was one right outside the door. There were a few rooms Fil wasn’t able to gain access to, one of them the guy entered multiple times. That’s the room the proof is in.
It had to be.
He realized he’s been staring for a while without responding.
“I don’t work for cheap”
“140 000 yen” Fil nearly choked on his own spit from that, there’s no way he heard that right. The price was insane. He lowered his tone and tried to keep it as monotone as possible
“Excuse me?”
The hero put a hand into his pocket. “200 000 yen? We do not know your rates.”
‘We. So they are listening.’
“That’s enough. Guess the police really is desperate to get this guy.” He responds looking to the side and onto the city.
All the answer he got was a grunt from the hero. They stood in silence for a while before Eraser spoke again.
“You’re not limping anymore.” He states, but it’s obvious it’s just a question.
“High pain tolerance. Remember?”
Another grunt. Seriously he spoke less than Fil did. And that’s an achievement. Silence fell between them again before Filius remembered the question he wanted to ask.
“Do you listen to black metal Eraser?”
Eraserhead looks at him, Fil hasn’t even realized that he has been looking at the city lights with him. His eyebrows twitched, his gaze sharp, clearly looking for a double meaning in that sentence.
“sometimes? Unless you meant something other than the music.” The hero answered, still looking right through fil. ‘if looks could kill huh?’
“knew it.” Fil stretched, before standing up quickly. He felt quirks, many of them, all suddenly increasing in power. ‘Shit, trigger’
Two emitters, four transformation, three mutant, and one accumulation.
“Eraser. Come.” He says quickly, running onto the next rooftop, running towards the feeling. They were strong quirks, his head hurting slightly from it. When they reach the scene they see many people fighting each other, all seemingly on trigger.
Fil boosts himself into the air by extending his bo staff and swings himself at the now giant… DRAGON? WHAT? WHY? HOW?
The dragons wings seemed to be not small enough to fit in the street, breaking a couple of windows, the police will be here soon, with pro heroes. Fil had to be quick. He looked at the other villains.
They all had weaker quirks, the most dangerous one was probably the one that let that one guy turn anything into a liquid, but it seemed to tire him out pretty quickly.
When fil was losing his momentum and began falling down he flips his bo staff and extends the katana that’s hidden inside it. the black blade identical to the one he fought in the facility. The black roses reflecting the light from the light posts on it.
He falls back onto the dragon-person and slices at their back, making sure not to go too deep. Just to hurt them, maybe immobilize them, but nothing that would permanently damage them.
They shouted and tried to push him off, breaking the cement on the street in the process.
Eraserhead is fighting the smaller villains. His quirk does nothing to the dragon, Filius stands up and attacks again hitting the dragons neck, they shriek and finally manage to knock him off. He holds himself up by a windowsill on one of the buildings. seeing someone recording from the inside of the apartment. He makes a heart with one hand to the camera before he leaps off and aiming for the dragons eyes, trying to kick him he misses and hits their neck again.
Ouch! No more voice for you!
Max is back. Alright meaning that Eraser is far away for his quirks radius to not work anymore
He’s fighting those other villains a bit further away.
Fil holds onto a balcony on the other side of the road, the dragon now attacking him. Breaking the brick of the buildings in the process. ‘Shit’
Fil falls onto the road, hearing a loud ‘crack!’ in the process.
Oh, damn RIP your shoulder.
He stands up, his shoulder now broken, starting to heal. Luckily no blood spilled. He was right handed so this made the battle so much more inconvenient. He takes his bo staff in the other hand, it was numb. But still usable, he runs under the dragon. And slices at it’s legs. Trying to make them fall over.
After many tries, many cuts and many hits from the dragons tail it finally falls to the front. Not hitting any more buildings.
Fil climbs up to the top of it. looking for Eraser, trying to see if he’s still fighting. He hears cheering from some of the windows.
‘Damn, I got spotted by way more people than intended’
He gets slightly embarrassed, hoping the masks covers his red face. He then raises one fisted hand, just like he saw many heroes do.
He then swiftly boosted himself off the ground again, leaping in the air after sensing some quirks still fighting nearby.
Fil and Eraserhead fight off the remaining villains before Eraser ties them up and they bring them to the main guy.
When Filius sees some other heroes arriving he knows that his time is up. He glances at Eraser, seeing him nod. So he runs – Before the heroes see him – he runs away.
He hides out in some alleyway, waiting a few minutes for his hand to heal. It was 3 am now, his patrol would have to end in a few hours, he had to make the most of it.
After his shoulder healed he headed back into the mansion. ‘Better to get this over with’ he already knew what he was looking for.
The security on this place was tight, but not tight enough. Fil could easily break in. he went in using the fireplace, maybe a dangerous choice but he did not feel like hacking into a window.
He sneaks around the house heading up the stairs, surprisingly there is nothing. No alarms, no sensors, no nothing. This guy was reckless.
Filius reached the door and saw that it had a padlock, he saw the code. During the 20 minutes he was scouting his house before he had entered that room 12 times,
‘172816212230’
Random numbers, safe, the door opened with a small click. At which the lights in the bedroom turned on, He quickly entered the room and closed the door behind him. They lock once again. He can see the light turning on in the corridor, a shadow appearing on the crack in the floor. Fil stands behind the door, his bo staff in his hand, set to the lowest setting with the katana poking out.
But after a few minutes the shadow went away, the lights turning off again.
He looked around the room he was in, it was lit up by a red light. A black room? Not many people use polaroids in this century. It was a machine of his times, the guy probably paid a fortune for the camera. They were collectors’ items now.
He looked at the pictures, just what he was expecting. The photos of his victims.
It was sick. Fil took out his phone and took as many pictures of the room as he could. He then unlocks the door again, this time by using a spare lockpick – thanks eraser for the idea of getting one.
He got out, the door not clicking this time. Filius walks over to a window on the second floor, since those didn’t have any security on them, he sneaked out easily. Walking back to his apartment.
Laying on the floor, no longer having his hammock to sleep on. He pinches his nose bridge, right on top of his piercings. Which he put right back in after returning.
He now still has to: track someone and bring them over to the client. And steal the info from the police station.
He sighs, the radio on, it always was recently. He found comfort in the music it played, and present mic’s personality was something that cheered him up.
He picks up his phone again.
Eraser
“Are you safe?”
Huh? What… why is he asking that?
‘is Eraserhead… checking up on them?’
“yes.”
“The villains are currently detained, the city is being restored by Cementos and other heroes. Thanks for the help.”
Aw, you got a thank you for your help, how sweet Max’s voice filled with mockery. Haruki shook his head sighing.
“Seen”
Haruki didn’t want to respond, he was too tired to. Instead he updated his client.
“I have enough evidence, the police will get it in a week. The guy will be detained shortly after”
He texted, not bothering to read the response.
The sun was now rising. He decided to go for a run. Putting on a white tank-top, revealing his scars again. Some black cargo pants, one of his better pairs of clothes.
He’s been working out before his patrols, but he still needed to get stronger. And additional exercise won’t hurt.
Haruki ran around the beach in Musutafu, it was littered with trash. It sucked, he hated how much people litter, littering was one of the worse crimes in Haruki’s mind.
He noticed something though, a desk. He had to get that, it was a decently sized desk, light wood with three drawers. Haruki dug up the desk and returned home, he got looked at by everyone he passed but he was happy.
He placed the desk right at one of the corners of the room. Haruki went onto the rooftop seeing if his clothes were dry yet, seems like they are.
He takes his vigilante costume and the hammock, putting the costume onto the floor and hooking up the hammock to the ceiling again. The radio playing some old song. Old even for Haruki. He hummed along when he began cleaning the desk. Eventually setting all of his books and notebooks on it, and his clothes into the drawers.
While he was at it he decided to clean out his floor, he swept the floors and went over them with a wet rag – which was all he had.
In the process he found some scrap and parts of fabric he could make something out of. He decided on gloves, and so he made a needle using some blood from his hand, he had thread already lying around from old clothes that fell apart. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to use but he didn’t have anything else.
He made a pair of fingerless gloves. They were black with parts of it being blue. Surprising that the fabrics he found were his exact color palette. Maybe they got ripped off of some of his clothes when he was entering his floor?
It was clean now, he liked it that way. He enjoyed the cleanliness. The entire floor empty, but there was a couple more rooms that were now accessible as before they were covered by junk.
He found a bathroom, but obviously it didn’t work. He got bored so he continued cleaning the floors until he finished most of the building. He picked a building that didn’t have many other homeless people in it, just so that there’s a lower risk of being mugged. He found an old couch on one of the floors, bringing it up to his floor was a pain.
But eventually he did it. now having a couch in front of his hammock. He went over it with the same wet rag to clean it up a bit, the springs from it were sticking out in some places but it was still usable.
His place was starting to become cozy, he really felt like it was his home. Sure it looked old and dirty, and it wasn’t an actual house but it was his.
He was going to have to move all of this stuff to his new apartment when he finally gets it. which with the money he gets from this mission it will put him about 1/4th of the way there. He’ll have to go apartment hunting. He sighs out of relief, things were starting to seem better. He was finally able to make good money. He was glad.
Haruki had to go take a shower now. He decided to sneak into a gym.
It wasn’t that far away, maybe a bit of a walk but nothing too far, the sun was already setting, he had to be quick. Before the gym shut down. He managed to sneak in fairly easy, he gets into the showers. The warm water hitting his hair, it felt amazing. The laundromat usually mostly had cold water, Haruki didn’t mind it that much but it was still nice to feel the warmth.
He let the water fall onto him for a few minutes, before he started to wash himself. Using some nearly used up 3 in 1 shampoo. He hated it, it was terrible. But he wasn’t able to afford better ones. He walked out of the showers, getting dressed again and sneaking out. The city during the night was beautiful, it was even more beautiful out on top of the buildings, but the sight of the street lamps lighting up the street and lights still on in the apartments gave him an oddly comforting feeling, it felt familiar, the cold night air hitting his lungs, it was going to be autumn soon. He heard that the winter in Musutafu can be brutal, he might have to invest in some kind of heating system, ‘maybe he can buy a bunch of those pouches that you poured hot water into?’
‘no that was a stupid idea.’
He started mumbling while walking, obviously picking up the habit from Midoriya. He didn’t have a good idea for what to do for winter, maybe he could just buy a shit ton of blankets?
He gets knocked out of his thoughts by a familiar feeling, Eraserhead’s here.
“Kid, why are you out past curfew again?” The hero said, jumping down from some building.
Haruki jumps up, he knew the hero was there but whenever he’s not wearing his costume, his presence in general makes him uncomfortable.
“G-gym?” Haruki replied, voice cracking again. He had proof since his hair was still wet from the shower he took. He didn’t look into Eraserhead’s eyes. He felt like if he did he would get attacked.
Eraser scoffs moving closer to him. Haruki was about to start running, thinking that Eraserhead figured out who he was and was now going to arrest him. But when the hero reached him, he just held out his hand …holding a nutrition bar? The same present-mic themed one. It tasted great the last time he ate it, peanut butter flavored.
He stares at the bar in shock, blinking rapidly.
“Are you allergic?” Eraserhead questions, tilting his head to the side, slightly furrowing his eyebrows.
“Huh? No, no I-I’m not!” He says, voice cracking again. As if he was going through puberty again – did he ever go through puberty though? – he grabs the nutrition bar from his hands and begins to eat it. “why?” he asks faintly when the hero turns back, stopping when he hears the question.
“My… roommate got a bunch of these for free one day. I think they taste like shit while he’s allergic to peanut butter.” Eraserhead answers looking over his shoulder “So I’ve been taking them on patrol and giving them out to anyone who seems like they might like them.” He adds.
“oh.” That’s all that Haruki says, he didn’t know what else he could say. He didn’t know Eraserhead was the type to have roommates. And the way that he said that word, there’s something more to it.
He was still looking down, realizing how terrible he looked, his clothes ripped and stained, his shoes covered in grime and dirt. “thanks…” He finally responds, eating the nutrition bar. “it’s tasty…” He regretted saying that as soon as he said it. The hero literally just said that he thought the candy was terrible, saying that it’s tasty is literally such a weird thing to say.
“Glad you think so kiddo.” He turns back fully and pats Haruki on the head once. “Now go home. it’s late. You have school tomorrow.” His eyebrows furrow and his gaze hardens, Haruki flinched at the touch, he hasn’t felt like that in a long time. The last time was probably when his mother – the one at the facility – was still alive. It was a nice feeling, he could feel his face becoming even redder.
“y-yes sir!” He responded, a little bit too loud. Eraser lifts an eyebrow before turning back again and leaving. Haruki started to walk back to his house. He finished his nutrition bar and stuck the wrapper into his pocket before reaching a trashcan and throwing it out.
…
Eraserhead is following him. He can’t hear Max, and if he focuses he can feel the low buzz of his quirk, and the light gray aura around it. He hopes that the hero won’t follow him the entire way back. He can’t let him know where he lives. He took a longer route, luckily the one that also could lead to Izuku’s house. But when they reached the bad part of the city the hero stopped, Max returning to Haruki’s side. After 10 minutes he couldn’t sense his quirk anymore.
He’s definitely gay.
‘WHAT?! Max, you can’t say that!’
I mean it literally! The whole “roommate” thing is basically code for gay!
‘ still, none of your business’
Max sighs, shaking his head as he floats besides Haruki when they both go back home. When Haruki goes back into his room he realizes that he hasn’t actually written in his notebook in quite a while. He has so many things he has learned that he should probably write down. though the notebook can be easily read through if he ever looses it, he could write it on his laptop but even if he made as many pre-cautions as he could, it still can be hacked. There’s no one way to solve that problem. Some hackers are just too talented for Haruki to defend himself against. So the notebooks it is. He picks up one of his notebooks and begins writing. About all of the heroes he’s met, all the villains that were note-worthy, all of the quirks he felt and was wondering about, some new things about his quirk – and how Eraserhead impacts it.
He writes like crazy, switching between different languages on a whim whenever he forgets a word, his handwriting is messy, jagged, barely legible. That was a bonus in his books though, that meant that only he could read them. Any other people he would have to take a long time to decipher the words, and then would have to translate the words that he wrote in different languages.
The ones that he cycled through were polish – his native language, English – the one that he spoke during the facility and Japanese – whenever he could, just so that he could practice, he was getting better. He was proud of that, he liked seeing his progress. Everyone did.
Do you think that they miss us? Max asks, he was sitting on the hammock, looking between Haruki on the floor, the radio and the couch. The mood shifts immediately after he says that, Max’s usuall teasing tone gone. He wasn’t insulting Haruki, he wasn’t making fun of anyone, he wasn’t acting like he was better than everyone, he was just asking. It was a simple question, but they both knew what he meant, they both knew that they thought about their family every day, and every day he wonders what are they doing. Whether they’re alive. Whether someone took his place as the prophet. Whether they will remember him when he returns? How long even passed in there? time passes more slowly inside the facility. Incredibly slow. Maybe it was only a day there? maybe a month. He didn’t know. But he wanted to. He had a way to see where they were, Astris and him made themselves compasses that pointed to eachother. So even if they moved places, he knew where Astris was.
He knew that she was moving, he knew that she was alive. And she knew that he was alive. Which made him calmer, it made him think that no matter what, he can still save them. That he’ll be able to return and help them run away.
‘I… maybe. I hope that they… are but uh… w-who knows.’ He answers, his voice quiet, trembling, not certain of anything. he was looking around the room as well, his grip on the pen tightens, he stopped writing. No longer remembering what he was writing about at that time. Max is playing with his long hair, the light purple shining brightly in the moonlight.
I… he sighs, not knowing if he should continue. I know what we went through Haruki… I’m you. I’ve always been you. I also get those nightmares… well mine are a bit different, you don’t see them but uh… sometimes I just see how our siblings look at us.. w-when we return. He says, stuttering. It was new, Max never stuttered. They look at us… like they don’t remember anything… like they just …forgot.
He laughs faintly at the end, Haruki swears he can see him shaking slightly. He didn’t know what to do. Max wasn’t a real person. He was just a fake human inside his brain..
Right? … right?...
He didn’t know anymore, how can a fake human have dreams? How can he have his own thoughts? If Max has his own thoughts but Haruki doesn’t does that mean that Haruki is the fake human? Is Max real?
Haruki doesn’t realize when his breathing speeds up, or when he’s holding himself by his shirt. Not knowing what to think.
If he’s the fake one. What should he do? Should he let Max lead forever? Should he try to get rid of Max forever?
…I’m the fake one.
‘h-huh?’ Haruki looks up, eyes landing on Max. On himself, or a past version of him. He doesn’t know why Max stopped updating his appearance, he always did. Whenever Filius had a huge change in his appearance Max changed as well, he looked identical to him. Except for the part that Max showed his quirk. Max had horns, Max had different eyes, Max had black marks on his skin, Max had a tail. Everything else was identical. But somewere along the lines he stopped. He dressed differently, he wore his hair differently, he stayed the version he was in the cult. None of his scars showing.
Haruki didn’t know why. Why the person who was a copy of him suddenly looked so different?
Why did he not see himself when he looked in the mirror, why he didn’t see himself when he looked at Max? The only times he recognized himself was back with Kaori, back with Astris and Seoung and Renne and Nea and Bea and Haru, and even Raine.
He was himself. He was happy. Why did his father have to fuck that up? Why does he no longer feel like himself?
Why can’t he just go back to when he felt good. When he was oblivious to the pain that was happening to him or around him.
Back when Alekai wasn’t dead, back when Haruki was still just a foreign name that didn’t mean anything to Filius.
Back when he didn’t have a favorite color, back when the only reason it became purple was because Kaori said that it seemed like it would be his favorite color.
He couldn’t see it the same after that, purple was everywhere. He saw it in the sky, in flowers, in feelings, in quirks, in himself.
He loves purple now.
She was amazing wasn’t she? Always so confident, always so fiery,
‘that was the best part about her.’ Haruki answers, leaning against the wall. Sighing, remembering everything that he did with her
‘she was always so determined, like she knew exactly what was going to happen, even if she was just a human. She spoke like she knew what was going through everyones mind.’
Hahah, I remember how she was amazed by our wings. She knew where they came from, she still loved them. Max chuckles, his voice light. He was remembering everything too, he was living through those things as well, seeing them from an outsiders perspective, but he still saw them. Max sees himself as Haruki. Max thinks that they are one and the same. The exact copy but in different fonts.
And maybe he wasn’t wrong. Maybe there wasn’t a real and fake one. Maybe they were both real?
Maybe he didn’t need to decide who was the original. They both are, they’re both him.
And so, max disappeared, and Haruki couldn’t feel him anymore. He was just… gone.
Haruki tried calming his breathing, his heart thumping loud inside his chest, he doesn’t remember the last time he felt like this. The last time where he actually had an identity crisis. He was probably back at the cult. The first time they completely changed the way he looked, he didn’t recognize himself. He didn’t feel like his face was his, Raine tried to help him but his words fell slient on Filius’ ears, he wasn’t listening, he was just staring in the mirror, no longer himself, no longer anyone. He didn’t know who he was back then, and neither does he now.
Would he ever know? Does he have to know? What if he never knows? Can he ever be himself?
He isn’t human anyway, so who is he? He’s himself, yet who is he?
Did he stop being himself when he was 8? He missed his house, he missed his face, he didn’t remember it now, he missed who he was. He missed the childhood he didn’t have.
He didn’t know anything. He would never know the things that could’ve been.
He shakes his thoughts away again, standing up taking deep breaths, turning the radio on louder. Just so that he can silence his thoughts.
The songs quieting everything else out, he was surprised to hear present mic again. He was the host for a cuple of days straight now. He’s probably tired of it already. He normally he worked every Friday from 1am to 5am. But so far he’s been working everyday non-stop. With only a couple of hours of breaks. Was he overworking himself? Haruki was worried, he shouldn’t be. He didn’t even know the guy.
Still, over-exhaustion is terrible. He knows, he used to avoid sleep for as long as he could. He sometimes still does, it isn’t a good feeling. Sometimes he started seeing things, which – alright he normally saw things.. Max – but those were different. He didn’t think that seeing random flying tomatoes were supposed to be a sleep deprivation symptom but after that he definitely started sleeping a lot more often.
He sat back down onto the floor. Still needing a chair for his desk. It was a nice storage space so far, he placed the clothes that didn’t fit into the drawers onto the couch. His costume always on the bottom of the drawer, in between other shirts. That makes it less likely to be found. He scribbles down some ideas for upgrades, some things that he could buy. Basic hosuehold things were on said list. It was not something he was going to buy anytime soon, but it was a “in case im rich” kind of thing.
The list included things like:
-mugs, plates, forks and in general cutlery
-pillows/plushies
-a kettle
-a heater
-blankets.
-plushies crossed out. He wanted them, he always liked them. He just never got them, in the facility he couldn’t. He had one plushie, a small white sheep with a crown, Kaori gave it to him. If he had money his bed would’ve been stacked full with plushies. Actually scratch that, he wpuld not have a bed anymore. It would all just be a pile of plushies.
He sometimes looked over the toy store, they had those huge 1.80cm tall teddy bears, he always wanted one. It was bigger than him. It looked so fluffy. Sadly it cost a fortune, and it would probably get matted immediately inside his house.
He starts rocking his body to the music playing, it was a beautiful song. He didn’t know the name, but he recognized it from his childhood. It was always on the radio back then, that was another reason he liked the “Hands Up Radio” it played old songs, songs he remembered from when he was a kid, driving in a car for hours. Just zoning out, trying to sleep while the radio played some songs. So far Present Mic’s radio show was the only one that played songs from his generation. And he really liked it for that. It was different, it was nostalgic.
He hasn’t stopped playing that station ever, even if “Hands Up Radio” didn’t play at those times, Haruki was bad with time keeping. So whenever he heard Mic’s cheerfull voice he knew that it was 1 am already.
He wrote down more things, more tactics. More info about the teachers at U.A. and anything he would have to watch out for, he made strategies for how he’d hide his scars with the uniforms. He learned that wearing things under the clothes they give you are allowed, so he figured that if he got a few more turtlenecks he would be fine. Just washing them after every use and then putting it one again.
He sighed, knowing that this would have to be an investment, as he only had one turtleneck shirt. And he had to design his hero costume. But he was going to leave that for another time.
For now, he was going to go to sleep. He had a long day. He laid into his hammock, still slightly cold after washing it. He lowered the radio to a normal loudness and let himself lose consciousness.
He was in the white room again, the void ever so consuming.
Except, Max wasn’t here. He was gone, so Haruki just sat down and waited. Eventually realizing that he was sitting in a field, the sky a beautiful blue, clouds scattered around it. the grass a vibrant green, flowers growing all around him. He laid there just relaxing.
And for once, he felt like he would wake up well rested.