It Can't Be Him... (Villain Kaminari Story)

CHAPTER 3: Forest Flames

*flashback*

"What would you like to know, Shigaraki?"

"Tell me. Where are you now?"

"..."

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"Kaminari? What are you doing back here?" said Mina, poking her head from the wall. The boy jumped, his heart ran miles. Mina smiled, "The curry is ready, by the way! We poured you some! And we saved you a seat too!"

"Ah, really? Thanks, I'll be right there!" he forced a smile, hoping that Mina wouldn't notice the sweat dripping off his face. Thankfully, the girl suspected nothing.

"We'll be waiting!" She skipped away and disappeared to join her friends. He waved and slowly waited for the trembling of his body to stop. He grasped his wrist to decaccelerate the beating of his pulse, but it hardly did much.

"Shit, that was a close one..." he whispered to himself, "That girl..."

The screams of the students filled the entire forest. Blue fire destroyed the trees like a wolf devouring a piece of fresh meat. The League of Villains found themselves all over the forest, hunting down and injuring the U.A. citizens of the training camp. The villains showed no mercy this time—no. This time, they were going to win and get what they want. Bakugo, that is.

"Kacchan! If you happened to be named Kacchan, do not engage in any combat! Do you hear me, Kacchan? Stay right where you are!" Mandalay's voice filled all their heads, loud and clear. Unfortunately, the yellow-haired boy was forced to play along.

Pretending to be worried for their dear friend Bakugo, trying to act intimidating and question Bakugo's whereabouts when a villain showed up in the room. Acting confused about the entire invasion. He couldn't believe he'd been able to pull it off. He'd rather not play this stupid game of acting and join the others, but he did not have a choice!

Mina, Sero, Kirishima, and Sato were all in the same room with him. It was the classroom in the middle of the training camp used to educate the students that failed the practical exam. Just when their class was about to end, the villains raided the camp and set blue fires on all the trees, leaving all the students and the teachers in a state of panic.

The yellow-haired boy couldn't care less, and he would much rather get all of this over with.

Although...the fire was fascinating. He always loved fire. It was beautiful, warm, and great at dancing in the darkness. It brought death so quickly, yet so satisfyingly. A few seconds in it, and your body slowly, slooooowly crumbles into a pile of ashes. He smiled at the thought. Ever since teaming up with Shigaraki, he's seen many piles of ashes and dust. Shigaraki's quirk, Decay, has always been captivating to watch. He's also very fond of Dabi's quirk, Cremation, which is all about fire and burning, and very entertaining to him.

"Hurry up, you imbeciles," he grunted under his breath, already impatient from the villains' slow pace, "Why are they having so much trouble with this one guy?"

"Kaminari?" his 'friend' Sero appeared next to him by the window, "Did you say something?"

The yellow-haired jumped.

"No! I mean...No. I'm just...I'm worried..." he said, making a fake look of despair, "I wonder if Bakugo will be alright." Sero gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder in return.

"Bakugo..." Kirishima looked to the ground and clenched his teeth and his fists. The yellow-haired boy watched him and was almost amused by the red-head's anxiousness, since he knew Kirishima didn't think of Bakugo just as a "friend".

Tch. Love. Well, it's not like he didn't know what it felt like. After all, believe it or not, he, too, had a certain someone in his life. But now...well. Now, he was abandoning her.

When the teachers left the room, the boy leaned against the wall, trying to match Kirishima's exact expressions and convince the others in the room that he was just as scared as all of them. When the others turned their attention away from him, he reached inside his deepest pocket and crushed the headpiece that he used to communicate with the League of Villains.

He looked out the window and watched as the trees burn....Burn....Burn...

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"Burn....Burn....Burn!"

A large wave of people rushed past Todoroki in high speed, screaming for their lives. Their faces full of terror and shock, not daring to look back. Todoroki was thrown off his track and pummeled to the ground as people got more aggressive.

"Move it!"

"Run!"

"GO, Go!"

"Call the police!"

People ran faster, immediately taking shelter in a building or crossing down an alleyway. In all the confusion, Todoroki sat back up and looked around. What were people so worked up about? Before he could question anybody about the commotion, a stores-owner opened his door and grabbed a runner by his collar.

"What's going on? Why are you running?" the owner demanded.

"The Harukoshi Hospital! It's all going up in flames! We have to go before the fire gets even worse!!!" the man cried in agony, releasing himself from the owner's grasp and continuing his gallop. Todoroki froze. Time stood still for a minute, and the man's words rewinded in Todoroki's head.

No. NO!

He didn't want to believe it, and he didn't have time to think twice about it. Heartbeat accelerating, Todoroki dashed as fast as he could towards the hospital. Though it was difficult against the crowd that ran the opposite direction, he became even more aggressive than all of them. He used all his force to push past the people and slide his way through the gaps. The container of soba dropped from his grasp but he didn't bother to retrieve it. The only thing he was worried about was...

"Mother...MOTHER!" he cried.