Chapter Text
For as long as Ochako could remember, the thin red string had always been snugly wrapped around the ring finger of her right hand.
In her generation, where quirks had become so widespread that it was rare to find a fully quirkless person, soulmate bonds too were rapidly becoming commonplace. Of course, platonic soulmates were easier to find, what with the bunch of yellow strings on her (and as she imagined, almost everyone’s) hands, she didn’t have to worry too much about finding her next bff for life. She might bump into someone in the mall tomorrow and the slight tug on her index finger would mean one of the yellows had been filled in. Had the strings of fate been visible to all human eyes and not just to those of the holders’, the world would have been transformed into a colorful web of yellows and greens and blues, occasionally splashed with a dash of red.
Ochako found two of her platonic soulmates in middle school and the rest in high school. The sweet green-haired boy who tripped over his shoelaces and would have fallen down at the entrance of the school had she not taken away his gravity in that split second. The same boy who heroically jumped in to save her from one of the robo things about to drop on her exhausted body. Midoriya Izuku or Deku, as he chose his hero name. Also, the very boy she crushed on so hard and almost wished had been the one to activate her romantic bond. But no such luck. Clear as day, she had felt the familiar tingle down her index finger on touching him for the first time. And later on, she learnt that he too had a red string and that it had already found its other end, long ago, in his childhood friend —Bakugou Katsuki or Kacchan (as Deku liked to call him)—the explosive boy who seemed the exact opposite of everything Deku stood for.
Three more yellow strings led to Iida, Mina and Tsuyu—no big surprises there.
Ochako was yet to find out who her romantic soulmate was. She still remembered the first time she got to know the significance of the solitary scarlet string.
(Mom, Mom, look here, she was babbling happily even as she struggled to free her fingers caught in her hair. I have one on this finger the same color as your dwess.
Really? Her mom carefully pried her fingers away from her hair. You have a red thread on your finger, Ochako?
Rwed! Yes! I have so many yallow and one rwed too!
Red strings are so rare, her mom mused, combing her hair into a tiny ponytail. You are so lucky to have a red soulmate. Your dad and I are in the yellow but we didn’t let that stop us from falling in love with each other. Red is just...so much more perfect.
What does it mean, Mom? Red...sourmate? How do I find it?
She laughed and patted her head. It is not a...‘it’, Ochako. They are a person. And don’t worry; they will be there for you. Eventually, you will find your way to them.
Ochako pouted and folded her tiny arms, not satisfied by her vague answer. She would find her way to them? What did her mom mean by that? However, she let her confusion rest for the time being and asked the more important questions. Will they be good to me, Mom? Will they buy me mochi?
Yes! Of course! Lots of mochi!
Yay! )
Oh, but how wrong she had been.
But it wasn’t just her mom who had the wrong idea about romantic soulmates. Even Mina and the other girls were pleasantly intrigued when they heard she was bonded to someone like this.
“Ochako, are you kidding me? You have a red string around your ring finger? That’s so romantic!”
She bent her ring finger and straightened it again, watching the crimson thread, invisible to all eyes in the room except hers, ripple and flutter with her action. It looked so delicate like it could snap any moment but she knew better than that. She had it since birth and no matter what damage she caused to herself or to her surroundings, the flimsy thread always remained steadfast inside her palm—the connection to the person on the other end unbroken. “Is it that big of a deal? Deku has it too.”
“Frankly, I pity Midoriya,” Tsuyu remarked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “The quietest boy in the class has the loudest one as his soulmate? Guess it is as they say, opposites...attract?”
“Although I believe it works okay for the two of them, doesn’t it? Say, when Bakugou gets too explosive or violent, all Deku has to do is to place a hand on his arm and he calms down immediately. Must be the soulmate effect, huh?”
“Yep. He is the only one who can control Bakugou. Almost like his kryptonite.” Jirou twirled one of her long earlobes in thought. “So, in class 1-A, it’s just these three who have red strings? I wonder who it is for you, Uraraka.”
“No idea.” She shook her head. “As long as it isn’t Mineta or Neito, I am all good.”
The girls started laughing at her quip but Mina, ever the hopeless romantic, impatiently tugged at her arm. “Come on, Ochako-chan, you are so half-hearted about this matter. This is your soulmate we are talking about. Your soulmate! The one who is destined to be with you forever! In a few years’ time, you would be waking up beside him every morning after whole nights of—”
Ochako cleared her throat loudly. She was pretty sure her cheeks were already burning red with Mina’s stupid implications. “Mina! Shut up—I’d never! Moreover, you are wrong. In a few years’ time, I would be busy with my hero work, so busy that I won’t have time for all the romance and soulmates and stuff.”
“Aww, don’t be such a spoilsport.” Mina scooted closer to her, her grin widening suspiciously. “What if he too is a hero? I bet, for all the coy acts you put up now, the two of you would be fighting villains in the streets and kissing by the sidelines and the reporters would be happily clicking photos of the power couple of the new hero society.”
“Power couple?” Ochako scoffed. “If anyone becomes the power couple, I bet it would be Deku and Kacchan. No. 1 and 2 heroes. They are gonna be super famous in their own rights. Plus when it finally comes out about their soulmate bond, the press will have a field day.”
“Hmph! Still, I am super curious about yours too. Who could it be? Do you guys have any guesses?”
Yaomomo seemed interested yet confused about the whole conversation. “Have you made contact with all the students in our class?”
“Yeah? More or less? Though I am not sure if I ever touched Todoroki-kun.”
Tooru and Mina raised their brows and voices in unison. “O-oh, Todoroki! He is handsome and talented and perfect—”
Before they could churn out a dozen more synonymous adjectives for Todoroki, Momo interrupted them. “But Todoroki-san doesn’t have a red thread. At least, that’s what he told me the other day.”
Yaomomo, being a fellow recommended student and his deskmate, was one of the few who might manage to get a few words out of the taciturn Todoroki on any good day. She must have the information on good authority. From the drop in their expressions, Ochako guessed the two girls, who seemed more excited about the whole matter than herself, were rather upset with the idea of Todoroki being her romantic soulmate going nowhere. What did they get from setting her up with some guy anyways?
“I still don’t get what’s so special about this,” she said presently. “It isn’t like you guys won’t get into a relationship later on, right? It isn’t like only those who have red threads will have life partners.”
“Yeah, but love like yours is more absolute, you know,” answered Jirou. Even she was on board with this love-y stuff? Ochako had thought of her as a levelheaded girl and not a lovey-dovey airhead like Mina or Tooru. “Once you find them, your life will definitely change for good. One of my middle school friends met hers during our seventh grade, okay? And the way she describes her life after she met him honestly makes me envious too. She says that it is almost like they have been cut out from the same soul or something because they so instinctively know everything about each other.”
Know everything about me? I don’t even know if I have toothpaste at home for tomorrow. “Plus, another important fact—” Mina chimed in eagerly. “Your quirk won’t have any effect on him. Meaning, you can touch him all you want without fear of floating him, ha-ha!”
“Really?” Well, that actually sounds...nice. Ochako could hold hands with them, lace their fingers together or hug their side but they won’t hit the ceiling even if she presses all five fingers to their skin. But she didn’t want to lose herself in such reveries while she had more important goals in her life to achieve. Well, again, if they too were a hero, they could actually help and inspire each other to continue on their hero dreams, no matter how hard the journey might be. That’s why she had desperately wished Deku to be the guy for her. She was easily inspired by him even though he wasn’t bonded like that to her. Kacchan was a lucky guy and the idiot didn’t realize it even after years of being together. “How do you know this?”
“From my cousin. Her quirk is similar to mine; although more corrosive. She couldn’t hold anyone by their hand, not even touch someone for long without damaging their skin and things. But then, her soulmate came along and when she realized there was someone in the world on whom her quirk finally had no effect, she was super happy.” Mina shook her fists in comic frustration. “And it’s like how Kyouka says—they make me so envious, ah! They are always so in love with each other that...uh, just being around them would make you feel like a miserable third wheel.”
“Soon, Ochako too will be like that,” Tooru giggled. “Soon, we will have to deal with a now-shy Ochako indulging in PDA without a second thought.”
Ochako rolled her eyes but it was more in her attempt to keep her cheeks from blushing. “I’d never! I have standards, okay? I, um, I—”
“—will only do it in private?” Mina started to giggle too, joining the other girl in her teasing. She really won’t give up a single chance to poke fun at her, would she? “Anyway, weren’t you ever curious about them? Never followed the red thread to see where it goes?”
“I did once,” she admitted in a small voice. She did get curious and follow her red thread on a foolish whim of a thirteen year old but almost got lost in the suburbs. A kind hero had found her and brought her to the nearby subway station. Otherwise, she would have been forced to spend the night in the cold streets whereas her soulmate would be none the wiser about all her efforts she put in the name of love . “It led me to some very questionable areas so I got frightened and returned home. I think they live in a dumpyard or something.”
“Maybe, if you kept going, you would have eventually found them.” Yaomomo agreed with what Jirou said but added it’d have been dangerous to venture alone.
“Well, what about now? How about we follow your thread to check if it is someone in the school? We can do that, right? Ochako, come on!” Mina jumped to her feet first, followed by her partner-in-crime Tooru and together they pulled her up by either hands. Before the other three girls could protest about their planned adventures, she held up her hands. “I know, I know. We won’t go out of the school gates. Just within the premises. It has to be someone from here. I feel it. Maybe, it is some hot senpai of ours, eh, Ochako?”
Ochako shook her head at Mina’s wild thoughts but said nothing. She led the way out, her companions patiently following her as she pulled up the thread from the ground, little by little, and took careful steps forward. As it turned out, it wasn’t anyone from the school. The thread was very clearly leading them out of the main gate so they had to give up on their wild goose chase.
“Well, then, guess it’s someone from another hero high school after all,” Mina summed up dejectedly as they returned to their class.
*
Mina was wrong. Her mom was wrong. Everyone who ever thought that the rare scarlet strand stood for idyllic romance and nothing else was wrong.
Ochako didn’t particularly need anything from the mall, but when the others prepared for a class outing to the new outlet opened recently at Kiyashi, she decided to tag along. She had nothing better to do anyways and the finals were just over. Plus, tomorrow and the day after were off for them before their summer training camp in the woods.
However, as soon as they reached the mall, everyone scattered off to do their own thing with a unanimous decision to assemble back at the entry point in an hour. Finally, it was just her and Deku gaping after their friends who ditched them without another thought. Realizing it’d definitely feel like a date if she agreed to shop alongside him and in her desperate attempt to shroud her pointless one-sided crush on him, Ochako scampered away without an explanation or a reason for her action.
Which probably made her look even more suspicious.
And, which was the reason her Fates handed her a platter full of pain and suffering that was to last for a lifetime.
If only...
If only she didn’t return to Deku after regretting her action that she thought must have left him hurt and confused.
If only she didn’t interfere in the scene that nobody else in the mall bothered to interfere.
But Deku was her friend. Even if he might never reciprocate her feelings, he was still her friend. Plus she was training to be a hero. This was what heroes did, right? They saved everyone even if they were not visibly struggling or crying out for help.
That’s why when she saw tears forming by the sides of his eyes and his face turning blue from how strong his companion’s chokehold was, she immediately recognized that something was wrong. “You are a friend? No, you are not...! Get your hands off him?”
“I am fine, Uraraka-san,” Deku blurted out immediately. “I am fine, so don’t come any closer!”
The hooded guy was suspicious enough in his bearing but then he chuckled and put up his hands in a placating gesture, his grin so unnaturally wide and creepy that Ochako shivered in disgust. Who was he? Why was he trying to choke Deku? “Oh, I didn’t know you had a friend with you, sorry about that! Well then, I am off.”
His mouth continued to move so she guessed he was whispering something else to Deku before rising and walking past her. She could see nothing of his face obscured under his heavy bangs of gray hair (and she didn’t want to, of course) but neither of them could have predicted what was to happen next.
It was a gap—an almost negligible gap wherein the strange guy was preparing to thrust his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie and Ochako hurrying past him to reach Deku as quickly as she could. He was coughing and clutching his throat clearly breathless and in need of her help. The gap that was just enough for her forearm to brush against his. (Or, perhaps, it was his against hers? Ochako was not sure. It might have been by coincidence or destiny or by design of her cruel Fates or whatever.)
Everything happened so fast that she couldn’t process it immediately. One moment, she was worried and trying to get to Deku—the next, she found herself staring in horror at the slight tremor through her ring finger, the slight tug at the thread that had been left dormant and untouched for the past sixteen years of her life and that certainly was not meant to be activated in the vicinity of a man like him. Yet there was no mistaking what she was seeing with her eyes: her red string was held taut at his left ring finger; the length of the thread, what felt like extended beyond infinity till yesterday, had reduced to the few feet between them.
He must have felt it too for his blood red eyes flickered down to his hand in confusion and then up at her, gleaming murderously from behind his unkempt bangs as he realized what just happened and as if he wanted to strangle her then and there for something that was beyond her control.
“Wait, Shigaraki Tomura!” Deku’s choked voice snapped her out of her trance. Shigaraki...?
(She had waited for years for this moment. She had imagined this would be the most special moment in her life. That at the end of her string would be the guy of her dreams—the prince charming from all the fairy tales she used to read as a child.
He was not either.
He was not a hero. Not a civilian. Not even a vigilante.
He was a villain. )
“What is All For One after?”
Ochako was the first to break away from their heated gaze. She crouched down next to Deku, her heart swirling in a hurricane of emotions. She didn’t want to blurt out what had just happened without thinking it over once again. Neither did she want to worry her friend anymore.
Apparently, the gaunt villain had come to the same conclusion. He turned away from them, his hands now in his pockets and didn’t bother to look back as he muttered, “Who knows? More importantly, next time we meet will likely be when I have decided to kill you.”
She rose to her feet in terror or protest (she wasn’t sure for whom the threat was meant) but he didn’t wait. He continued to move through the unknowing crowds and soon disappeared, the red thread growing longer and longer with how far he had moved away from them.
Tomura was having the worst day of his life.
Before today, he thought it had been when he was shot in both hands and legs and forced to make a hasty retreat from USJ through Kurogiri. Sensei had trusted him to finish off All Might but he pathetically managed to not only lose their best noumu but also suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the wretched heroes.
But Sensei was gracious as always. He gave him another chance to correct his mistake. And another. Even after Stain was arrested, Sensei merely asked him to gather new troops. Use the popularity Stain left behind and recruit new people to the League who believed in his cause. Sensei might have been very understanding of the situation but Tomura definitely wasn’t. He hated everyone recognizing and cheering for Stain while he was as good as forgotten in spite of his involvement in both USJ and Hosu City. Why was everyone looking at a lowly pawn instead of the final boss of the game?
Even the two potential recruits the shady broker and Kurogiri had arranged for him to meet dared insult him to the face with their talks of Stain.
(I will make Stain’s will into a reality.
Just answer what you have been asked.)
And so, to clear his head and get a new perspective on the whole situation, he had gone out to the mall and had the chance encounter with Midoriya Izuku.
(Thinking back to it, didn’t he get more than what he bargained for?
Probably.)
Sighing heavily for what felt like the hundredth time since his return, he propped up his elbow on the bar counter and swirled the last of his drink before ordering for a refill.
“You have already consumed too many drinks, Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri noted. “You should probably stop now.”
“Shut up. I am not a child, Kurogiri. I don’t need you to check on every single thing I do.”
Kurogiri didn’t say anything after that. He simply did as he was ordered and returned to cleaning his precious wine glasses. Honestly, he wished he said something. He knew in his heart that it wasn’t fair to Kurogiri but he didn’t care. He needed something to take out his pent-up frustrations on and who better than his oldest companion—the misty bartender who never displayed any kind of emotions—whose sole reason for existence was to look after him. Tomura didn’t know how to feel about Kurogiri. Or, what he felt about him. Definitely not respect or awe as he did for Sensei. Maybe, he liked him like he liked his video games? After all, Kurogiri was a programmed noumu that could think for itself. Not unlike a supercomputer.
Just then, the television screen lit up and Sensei’s powerful voice reverberated through their tiny bar. “Ah, is Tomura still upset over what happened today?”
“Sensei.”
His teacher chuckled lightly. Naïve Tomura, Sensei would say in that slightly derisive tone characteristic of him, causing his irritation to bubble under his skin but calming him down at the same time. As impatient as always for the results, aren’t we? You should know better than anyone else that perfect results take time. Ten years, twenty years...however long it might take, Tomura, you must not falter from your path. Strive towards your goals, make mistakes, learn from those and rise again.
Of course. Sensei was not wrong. Sensei could never be wrong. His explanations always put his perpetually restless mind at ease.
And yet today, those explanations did not suffice.
“Soulmate bonds were unheard of in my generation. But again, quirks too were, but look at the state we are in now. You say you made up your mind about what you are going to do as my successor?”
“Yes, Sensei,” he answered without hesitation. Midoriya opened his eyes to what he had been groping around in the darkness all this while. His own conviction. Stain might have thought that he didn’t have one, but he had. He always did have. Only with what he realized today, he could now channel his heart and soul into achieving what he wanted. He was not confused anymore. “I am going to destroy All Might and show the world how weak their justice is without him.”
“Excellent!” Sensei seemed delighted with his words which made his heart soar. It was only on rare occasions Tomura got to hear genuine satisfaction in his voice. “In that case, let me enlighten you with some knowledge about that which you are unnecessarily frustrated over. Your green string stands for sibling bond. Correct me if I am wrong, Kurogiri.”
“Right as always, sir.”
“And so, when Tomura touched the young hero, his green thread found its other end on him...? Hmm, I believe I can easily explain it. Tomura, are you listening?”
Sensei knew him so well. Yeah, he wasn’t listening. He was actually rewinding the entire episode in his mind. Roaming around the mall, watching people go about their lives like some hero would save them if he suddenly decided to wreck the place, spotting the shock of green hair and the pair of bright red shoes not unlike his own (which pissed him off some more), casually flinging his arm over his shoulder, the thread around his pinkie immediately activating with a bright green glow...
(They are fated brothers? What a fucking joke.)
And that only made him choke the little piece of shit a bit more, absolutely enjoying how he squirmed in his place—breathless and blue and unable to call attention to himself without harming the people around him.
Well, at least, until the wisp of the girl arrived on the scene and demanded he get his hands off him. Tomura had assumed she must be his date or soulmate or something and decided to leave her to take care of him when the most unthinkable thing in his life happened.
(At this point, he was definitely gonna reserve himself a seat in the front row of Hell and then stomp straight over into Heaven to punch the God which decided his fate, right in its face or its crotch or whatever was accessible in the moment.)
Well, either way, he wasn’t ready to tell Sensei about the bunch of other threads on his hands. The one connecting him to Midoriya was only the first of a dozen to activate and he absolutely hated it. He didn’t even want to know who the second green string led to. Especially not after he got the solitary red thread activated on the same day and he was still reeling from the shock of it. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl and dig his nails into his neck till he drew blood. Sadly, he got no relief.
“Yes, Sensei. I am listening. I was just wondering if the green thread actually stands for blood enemies and not sibling bonds.” And red stands for murder, perhaps? The one that must be killed off to pass the level? Tomura could see no value in the girl other than being a useless faceless NPC to be finished off during a grinding session.
“I see you are developing a sense of humor, Tomura, ha-ha. But no. If green is indeed a sibling bond between you and Midoriya, it is probably because of me.”
“Because of you?”
“Yes, because the one who stole parts of my power and converted it into the cursed quirk of One-For-All was my treacherous younger brother. You might know it as the superpower that All Might uses to punch villains all the time. It has its roots—no, in fact, it is entirely originated from me. A quirk stolen from me by my own brother whom I trusted with my life.”
“One-For-All?” This was new. Sensei’s brother stole his powers and created the quirk All Might used to crush his face six years ago? Tomura’s blood started to boil all over again. Talk about the ultimate betrayal. “So, where is your brother now?” he asked tentatively.
“Oh, he is long dead by now. Though I am sure some part of his soul lives on in All Might and now in this child—if our assumptions are right—because they have shared the same quirk for years. Such is the connection, the bond being reflected between the two of you since you are the next me and Midoriya will be the next him. And history will only repeat if you ever think this bond amounts to anything. He is sure to stab you in the back.”
Sensei paused for a moment for everything to sink in. So, that ...is the reason for the existence of the green string between them? But how would it explain the other green string? However, Tomura didn’t want to cross-question his Sensei. He could figure out the rest on his own.
“So, then, answer me, Tomura,” continued Sensei. “Are you gonna let such petty things hinder you from your ultimate goal? You are destined for greatness. No one should dare to stop you. Not even me.”
Tomura sat up straighter on his stool. Yes, Sensei was right. Why did he even let these unnecessary emotions get to him? All these fated bonds were stupid. He was going to kill everyone. Green, blue, yellow? Who cared?
*
Soon enough, he realized that the whole situation was a much bigger pain in the neck than he initially imagined.
Currently huddled over his desktop, his room pitch dark save for the soft glow of his computer screen and silent except for the feverish clicking of keys, Tomura sifted through the search results for legitimate pieces of information. Kurogiri had most probably shut down by now and won’t notice the faint light in his room. Not that he bothered, but he would definitely pack him up for the night and leave only after making sure he went to bed. He wasn’t a five year old anymore. Plus, he had a lot to sort out before he could even think of sleep.
And so he sat, feeling worse than a vengeful ghost as he scrolled down the wiki article, unable to register the text or its meaning.
(Why in the world did he put off reading about this shit till today? Was he so obsessed with quirks and All Might that he didn’t give a second thought about what might happen if he ever met one of the people he apparently was destined for?
More importantly, why the hell did he have so many strings on his hands?)
The answer to the first question was fairly simple. Denial. He was and had always been in denial that someone was out there in the world for him. Rooting for him. Caring about him. Why would there be someone destined for him who was born to destroy? For him who knew nothing but hate and rage? The idea of love was so foreign and so repulsive to him that he must have subconsciously buried it in the lockers of his mind along with whatever remnant memories he had of his family before he met Sensei. All he knew was that he killed them. That he had to keep their hands close to his heart and body so that he won’t forget the hatred he bore for them.
(Why? What was the reason he hated them so much?)
But he didn’t have an answer to his third question. For as long as he could remember, he always had a bunch of strings around his fingers. Greens, yellows, blue. Even the rare red one.
(Well, maybe not from always if he was to go by a faint memory that popped up in his mind.
See, Ten-chan. My red thread. Mom says it is present only for a special few.
But-but I can’t see it!
No? Guess only I can see my threads? Well, what about you? Don’t you have a red one?
Um, no—no red. Aw, Hana-chan, am I not from the special few then?)
Show properly whatever it is that you want to show, damnit! What am I supposed to understand with a few snatches of disjointed conversations from somewhere and pretty much nothing else?
He rubbed circles at his temple and tried to focus on the article but it was getting really hard, what with one side of his head throbbing from having inadvertently retrieved some bits of his sealed memories and the other on a continuous frantic loop showing the incidents from evening as if demanding how he was gonna handle all that mess.
“I get it, I get it,” he grumbled, exiting the text dump of the wiki article and scrolling down for some easy-to-understand pages, something with a lot of pictures. “So just shut up already.”
Of course, he had to figure out a way to deal with that idiot and get her to shut her mouth (or shut her up for forever which honestly seemed a much better option) but he had to consider all pros and cons before he resorted to doing it.
If he could manipulate her somehow and get her to join the League? Would she be useful to him in any way? Well, maybe. Seeing she was hanging out with Midoriya, she could become an informant about their high school activities.
But this would mean telling Sensei about the soulmate bond between them and he would cut off his hand before he had that conversation. Sensei would be so disappointed in him. She was a hero kid, for crying out loud. It would be like a shoving-dung-in-face kind of disgrace to him. Heck, he was already so disappointed in himself for walking away from the mall like he wanted to avoid what had happened and not confronting the girl right away. Strangely, she acted like she was not at all bothered. Why? What was her game? Did she already know and purposely brush against his side to activate the bond?
Ugh, this was so frustrating.
Tomura seriously wanted to go out and decay a couple of claw machines within the excuse of rage quitting. But he didn’t. Today was a bad day. If two strings got activated in a single day, chances were high he might bump into yet another of them. He didn’t wanna take risks with nearly ten or so unfilled threads on his hands.
Finally, he clicked on one of the pages titled—Myths debunked: Red Soulmates? True love?
(He couldn’t help gagging at the title.)
He clicked on it anyways, half-hoping it would lead to some shady sites so he won’t have to lay his eyes on pictures of couples being giggly and hugging or whatever it is that they do when they are in love.
(He didn’t want to be loved; he wanted to be feared. How hard was that to understand?)
Gritting his teeth over the cheery pictures, he scrolled down for the text. It was a quiz sort of thing that he was supposed to take and with every right answer, he could build up his scores or check the correct answer if he were wrong. After all the levels he had passed, he was gonna lose to this? Never.
He clicked on the first question.
#1: Your soulmate won’t be affected by your quirk. (myth or truth?)
He scoffed in disbelief and punched the myth button. What bullshit. No way it could be the truth. His Decay won’t work on that girl?! (Seriously, what did she even look like? What’s her name? Her quirk?)
To his utter shock, the screen popped up with a Sorry, you are wrong! message.
And another line below it: It’s the truth!
With yet another paragraph of the cheesiest crawling-under-his-skin cringey shit about how lovely it would be to live without the fear of accidentally activating your quirk on your partner and a list of all things you could do thanks to this effect. Let me list all those things I couldn’t do if this is right.
(Well, joke was on them: he didn’t need his quirk to strangle her anyways.)
#2: You are always together in every pain and joy of your love’s life. (myth or truth?)
Again, he was wrong. Apparently, romantic soulmates could feel every little emotion of their partner, all the little joys and pains of life they were meant to live together. Do they mean literally or is it just for the sake of selling their stupid soulmate shit to me? If it was truly true, then the girl was in for a treat. She might have experienced joy and pain but never complete numbness, right? Her brains would probably overload and mush and explode with the feeling of nothingness that he experienced on a daily basis. Because numbness was all he had ever felt in his twenty years of life. Oh, and hate for every single breathing thing in the world. She just jumped to the first of that list too.
Another question gone wrong and he would have disintegrated the mouse (to add insult to his injury, the site showed the stats of him being on the last rung among all the people who had ever taken the quiz) but he managed to push himself out of his chair and started to stomp up and down the room, violently dragging his nails along his neck.
thisisbadthisisbadthisissofuckingbadthis—
Was there any way to undo the bond? Or, snip the string off his finger? He could snip his finger off his hand, of course, but he doubted he would lose the string that easily. Perhaps, losing his quirk might be all that’d happen and he wasn’t so foolish to risk it.
(Hmm. Maybe, he could force the girl to try it out and check what might happen?)
One way or the other, he had to hunt her down and silence her. There was no way he could let such an unpredictable character roam about and cause damage to him.
Follow the thread; find out where she lives.
But then, his eyes fell on the last question of the quiz and his world came crashing down.