Intermission 4: Ibara Shiozaki

Tags: no sex, just a bit of lore and bad feels.

Location: U.A medical room

"Just one question per day, please." I was currently on the bed; he had lost his right eye after Draw's encounter, not to mention he broke so many ribs and bones, but why was it that he looked so good before? Simply put, it was his quirk. As Draw said, no one was better to take a hit than him; his resilience was over the clouds, and the fact he could grow organs and body parts and regenerate himself by putting everything together in his body was great. Even as he spoke, he was currently healing himself, but due to the severe damage and how complex it was to make an eye from almost scratch, he really needed to focus on other aspects first.

"One question?" Ochaco looked confused; the four girls that were with us at the construction zone were currently with me and Tokoyami at the U.A. hospital beds. Although Tokoyami's wounds were less severe than mine, he went to grab us some lunch.

"What was all that about saying all the truth, Kero?" Tsuyu seemed upset about me.

"Yes, and I will... One question at a time because I don't feel like bombarding you with information—that and I am still a bit scared."

"Hmmmm, fine. Well, one question per person; we are four..." It was Mina, Momo, Tsuyu, and Ochaco. Damn it, how I wish they were all in nurses' outfits; that would be a dream come true.

"Well, I will start," Mina said. "Who were those three guys?"

"Wasted question! Those were my classmates, and I already explained everything to Tokoyami, so if you want the whole info, you can ask him."

"Jack, I don't think you should take this as a game." Tsuyu mentioned with a calm face

"I am not; I am honest. Next question."

"Okay, why did they attack us?" Momo asked next, another wasted question. Good, good, I am procrastinating the truth. "They wanted to make the construction company stocks devalue so my-" Well, not all the truth. "So my father could buy it and increase their own stocks and make buildings there." Some were quiet as they heard the part about my dad. "AND NOW LET ME FINISH. They were actually working in secret to get all this information out to the public, and there will most likely be a conference and some documents being leaked soon. This is just Nemo business, its the usual, we are very shady when we do hero work, there is a lot of paperwork behind it, so please do not try to contact authorities about this information yet. Give us some time, if anything I will fix it, please."

"Is your dad a villain?" Ochaco asked worriedly.

"Very much so, yeah, more like a capitalist psychopath? Uuuh, yeah, that's the term. He is tons shit loaded in money, like a pure scumbag. You see why I hate my dad? I am a product of my dad, funny enough, but not like in the normal way, a literal product, I am aware he made me with the purpose of having a great quirk a powerful quirk, I came out with a good one, but not the one he wanted. But saying more is answering other questions. And I don't feel like answering stuff about my dad one after the other"

I looked at Tsuyu; she had the last question.

"I will save my question for later, Kero."

"You can't do that. Momo, tell her she can't do that."

"Will see you later, Jack. Take care, okay? I checked your wounds, and it seems like you will be okay for Saturday's class."

"Dang, I wanted to stay in bed some more."

"Take it easy, Jack." Momo gave me a kiss on the cheek as they all left me on the bed there. At least I got a kiss... I grabbed the TV remote and turned on the television. Looking around at all the news channels, I wanted to hear as much info as I could about the incident I currently had. I have spent around 30 minutes to 1 hour watching just a bunch of television news channels... And some cartoons too between breaks.

But as I was waiting to see something, someone knocked at my door. "Come in, it's open." The person that entered was someone I was not expecting. I recognized her because she was one of the 3-B class girls. I couldn't remember her name. "Hiiiii... You..." I coughed, trying to remember her.

"Do you know me, Jack Anderson Matsumoto?"

"Please do not ever call me by my full name; Jack is just fine."

"My sincerest apologies; I didn't mean to hurt you. Let me repeat my question, however: do you know who I am?"

"Uuuuuh... No, sorry, I am bad with names, but I know you are one of the girls from 3-B."

"My name is Ibara Shiozaki."

"Ibara... Shiozaki... Uh, what's better to call you?"

"I do not mind either. I know you don't use honorifics either, so I shall forgive that as well."

"Thanks, thanks."

"And you sure know why I am here, right?" She had a serious face as she spoke to me; she probably wanted me to talk about the situation of the incident. It was hard for me to figure it out; maybe she was a close friend with Setsuna and- Then it hit me: I did meet this woman before; she saw me naked coming out of Setsuna's bedroom.

"I uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh- What was the question again?"

"Do you know why I am here?"

"Oh. No. Never."

"I had a dream."

"Oh thank god- I am sorry I spoke too loud. Continue."

"Oh, you are a believer of God as well?"

"..." Oh right, this is the crazy religious girl that had all that imagery of his religion in her room; she was really freaking me out. "I believe there is a higher power watching us."

"I am like that as well."

"Cool." Man, why do I get the most awkward talks? I should be talking about the last baseball game or maybe what my favorite food is

"Do you believe in fate?"

"I believe there is a plan for all of us?" I was trying with every ounce and molecule inside my body to avoid her scolding me or converting me to whatever random religion she believes in.

"I do as well, but I believe fate can be changed for the better. You see, I have been dreaming about you often. I had a terrible dream that included you where I was able to see your glorious naked form on the afternoon after you had done unspeakable things to my friend."

"Yes. Sounds terrible."

"And since then I haven't been able to get you out of my mind."

"..." Oh great, the crazy ones like me.

"I believe that this must be a sign for me to face you. Tell me, Jack, are there any sins you would like to confess? I promise that whatever you do and tell me will never leave this room."

I had the funniest joke I could ever make in my life, which was confessing to a fake ****, but I am sure that would be a god-awful idea, pretty funny still in my mind. "I feel that sometimes my sins weigh me down."

"I have been there before. We are all sinful creatures, but that does not mean we cannot achieve good. Tell me, do you believe you are a bad person for doing a bad action in the past?" And now she was hitting me at home; I didn't like that, nope.

"No, I don't think so."

"Me neither; we can all change for the better; we just need a helping hand sometimes. I heard you faced some villains back at the construction zone."

"Yeah, I kind of defeat them and stuff." I felt pretty good about facing them.

"Your body is hurt; may I see it?"

"Uuuh... Yeah, whatever?" She slowly touched my face; it felt weird. I didn't ask her or let her do that. Maybe she didn't notice I was uncomfortable about this.

"This is alright; your head is a bit hot. Did you catch a fever?"

"I did not catch a fever; you are just too close, and my body has been greatly harmed, so it's probably just my blood."

"I see, so you believe the cause is my person? Can I ask a personal question?"

"No?"

"Oh, apologies. I guess I touched something I shouldn't have." She looked quite sad at that moment, which made me feel bad for her.

"I am joking; you can ask, don't worry."

"Would you happen to find my body lecherous by any chance?" She moved her hair to the back almost as if to show me, but I was kind of shocked about the way she asked.

"You areeee very pretty."

"Is that a yes?"

"Sureeeee? I feel a bit uncomfortable with these questions if I am honest."

"I am just trying to get a sense of who you are, of what you do, of what you want."

"Well, since you are asking, I would like to know where these questions come from."

"Jack An- sorry, just Jack. Jack, do you have something that you are hiding, something that you regret, perhaps something inside of you that you may or may not think makes you evil?"

"May I ask what you are assuming that I have?"

"I am not assuming; I am asking."

"Then... no?"

"You sound unsure."

"You put me in a weird position, lady; you just barged in and asked me if I am evil."

"Are you?"

"Of course not, I have never done something bad on purpose."

"But you have done something bad that you regret, haven't you?"

"... It's Tsuyu here; I feel that I need my morality lawyer right now."

"We have made good progress for today. I am trying to figure out who you are. So far you have shown me that you do not wish evil, but there are things about you that might be evil, and you believe those things are hurting you. I assure you that next time we meet, I will help you cleanse that evil out of your body."

"Okay, so. I can refuse, right?"

"You can refuse tomorrow morning when I arrive, but what's done today is done. God shall give us a new day tomorrow to change and be better. I shall help you follow the righteous path that you were meant to take. I shall not let you fall in a sinful way. I wish your salvation! So please drastically rethink your behavior and choose a new way of living, or else I will have to punish you for the sins that you cannot give away."

"Right, thanks, lady."

"Until tomorrow, Jack." She opened her arms, hugging my head. It felt strange, not lewd, but not comfortable either. Were all 3-B girls mentally ill or something? Wait, did she say tomorrow?

"Woah, I will be better tomorrow."

"That's the idea. I am glad that we are both thinking the same."

"You know that's not what I—"

"I will make sure to release you of your capital sin after today!"

"You really don't have to."

"Until tomorrow, Jack." She left the room in that instant, in a bit of a dramatic way; it almost looked like the light of the sun hit her as she left.

"My god, and I thought girls back home were crazy."

"Do not use God's name in vain!" She shouted from the hallway. I also felt embarrassed since she also probably heard the crazy part. I would need to apologize tomorrow. I just lay there, but the bed wasn't comfortable anymore; it felt really weird. Like I shouldn't be there in the first place, so I couldn't keep sulking anymore, I stood up after a while, passing a few rooms and noticing Tokoyami there sleeping. I felt guilty about that still; I wanted to apologize for not backing up his plan, even if things ended up well. He does look tired after all.

I kept walking the empty hallway, forcing most of my quirk to fix whatever bones and muscles had been torn and broken. I know I could fix myself up quicker if I just focused myself on fixing it, but I didn't feel like lying on that hospital bed anymore. I had to put up more work, I needed to get something rid of first to be honest.

I went to Heights Alliance without anyone noticing me; I didn't want anyone to stop me or see me, especially after the vine girl's weird introduction to my person. I opened up my bedroom; it felt nice, but I could swear there was something missing in my room. Has someone taken something from here?

I looked for my phone but easily found it on my bed alongside my broken hero costume that Momo had made with so much effort, now ruined thanks to Draw; it was burnt, scorched, so many holes, it smelled like ash and fuel; he really messed me up; I am not upset at him; he looked sad as well. Thinking back on it he kept asking to fight someone that could beat him, he said he wanted to get stronger but is he really doing it to become number one again like all those years ago?

I remembered what he said.

'I always thought I and Trivia would always be battling each other for rank number one, but the more I train and the more I think I grow, the more he gets stronger. I cannot face him properly; I am not on his level anymore. The peak is lonely, but I wanted to be the lonely man there, not the one everyone would still be able to see and say, 'He is not the strongest anymore.'

Face him properly? What does that even mean? Was he talking about himself? Does he really care so much about being the strongest? We never cared about that; all those years ago we were so happy with whatever rank we got and just existing like silly, dumb people that wanted to be 'heroes.' But when he woke up again, it's like everything changed; we were all put on a line and **** to stay behind him, following him through this path of excellence, and those that couldn't keep up were cut off. I know I am next, he let me know, but why haven't I been cut off? Is it because I am stronger than others? My quirk has really kept me afloat this time.

Was Draw having a bad time like me?

Does anyone else back home have a bad time like me? I thought of Portis for a fraction of a second, but couldn't face that yet.

I opened my phone to see 30 messages left by my dad; I read them one by one, but it was just him scolding me, telling me to call him now, telling me, and asking me if I was still on board with his idea.

Of course I wasn't, I realised already that if I help this man I would be hurting everyone at this school and they don't deserve to have someone like me around this place.

So I went and sent a message; it took me a while to get the right words, maybe a whole paragraph explaining myself? Maybe just something formal? But nothing fits right, so I decided to go with the most simple.

"Fuck off, old man." And I blocked him from my phone; I sighed and felt another weight lifted from me. I touched my belly as I felt it hurting. Drew really, really messed me up in our fight. I focused on realigning some of my bones and closing wounds. I had to forget fixing my eye for now; I will fix other things first, things I can deal with.

I lay on my bed really tired, exhausted from everything, really.

"I need to fix this somehow."

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