Mystery from Another World--MHA

Part 18: Festival and what followed

The tour went well, and Eri at least didn't act scared of Shine--or no more than she was of anyone. Shine knew Mirio was going to report this back to Eraser, but she didn't say so.

The next day it was the actual festival, and the campus was crowded with all the classes outdoors at once. Shine spent the time going from place to place, talking to lots of people...including the General Ed and Business Course... She actually made friends with them. The Business students liked that she understood economics fairly well, and General Ed liked that she wasn't a hero...They really didn't know that much else about her.

Shinso kept eyeing her, but he didn't speak.

The Hero Support crew had less interest in mingling, but Shine took a look at the items too. She thought Batman would be horrified at how clunky a lot of them were, and Wally really ought to come by and check it out, but he was still helping.

Wally was actually the one who had the more exciting time that day. He knew that Deku had left early to get rope and didn't think much of it, until it was nearly time to start and people were wondering where Deku was. Wally already knew the kid well enough to suspect if he was late, it had to be for an unusual reason, so he slipped away to dash around campus and look for him.

With his speed, he had very little trouble finding Deku somewhere on campus but away from the educational area, fighting a villain. Wally would have had no trouble winning said fight, but he didn't want to blow UA's reputation by being caught on campus fighting a villain, so he decided to watch and see if Deku could handle it first.

It was a bit weird, actually. Deku fought the villains in question with a bit more anger than he usually displayed, like he was venting some frustration, and the villains really didn't seem that bad... a little weird, but Wally listened to their talk and thought that they weren't really evil... a little misguided...Reminded him of some people he knew.

Finally, Deku won the fight, but didn't seem that happy about it, and the teachers arrived to clean up after it and arrest the criminals. Wally felt sorry for them. Maybe they'd get a light sentence since no one had been hurt.

Deku was never going to make it back in time though, and he started running, but Wally caught up to him. "Hi, kid, want a lift?"

"Mr. West!" Deku sputtered, "Where did you come from?"

"Nebraska, originally," Wally sad. "Or heaven, if we're being really specific... Actually, I saw the whole thing, dude."

"You did?" Deku said, "but why didn't you---?"

"I didn't want to get UA in trouble," Wally explained, "But are you okay there? You seemed kind of stressed."

"Oh, I'm fine..." Deku said, not sounding fine.

"It's too bad about that guy. He didn't seem so bad," Wally said. "A little loony, but not hopeless..."

"Mr. West," Deku said strangely, "Do you think that some villains, might not really be villains... if things went differently for them?"

"Oh, I'd say a lot of people wouldn't be criminals if things went differently for them," Wally said, "You see, you guys call every criminal a villain. That implies all criminals are deliberately trying to screw people's lives up. That's just not true. A lot of criminals are desperate, slightly unstable people who think this is the way to solve their problems, some of them think they are driven to it, and some of them are dragged into it by family or friends. Some even get in an accident that drives them crazy. It's real sad, really. We have to have compassion for them."

He frowned. "A villain, on the other hand, a true villain, would be a villain whether they had an easy life or not, because there's something in a villain that completely disregards other people and any kind of moral compass that doesn't match exactly what they want. That's what I call a villain. There's enough of them to worry about without confusing things. But, hey, I don't think crime is excusable just because some people don't want to commit it. There's a lot of other things to turn to other that crime. When a person turns to that, it's because something in them broke, and they either don't think they can fix it, or think it's easier to just stay that way. That's a choice, buddy. But, I guess, it's one all of us are tempted to make when we snap."