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If there’s one thing that has always marked Number 6’s artificiality, it’s been his blank wrist.
It’s funny, really. There’s always been fiction dedicated to the concept of people born without a soulmate, but it’s never been charted in real life. Even the quirkless are born with a name on their wrist, and they’re at the bottom of the food chain on being favored by fate.
Maybe the emptiness is an exchange for the powers he possesses. Nobody has multiple quirks, except for the boss and all the monsters in reserve for a big fight. But he was created with them in mind, with combat his sole purpose. If he was to ever have an identity, he would have to fight for it. In some ways, 6 supposes that he’s already fighting.
Every single day since he’s received His quirk has been hell. For his whole life, he’s been guided and encouraged by his creator. That consistency shattered into pieces the moment he was well adjusted to Overclock. Now, he’s aimlessly on missions, controlling cannon fodder to cause chaos and rack up test results on the Trigger drug. There’s nobody to tell him what to do, tell him that he matters.
He longs to find writing engraved into his skin when he wakes up one day, to have someone to run to. To have someone who will care, who won’t leave. And to have someone who will finally love him, for the hollow shell he has found himself stuck as.
Deep down though, Number 6 knows it’ll never happen.
Koichi was in his second year of high school when the strangest chance was provided to him.
He’d been sat next to a girl with some kind of technology influencing quirk, although he’d never found out the specifics. His social awkwardness had always pushed people away, but he was always just a simple guy.
According to his peers, his charm had always been that simplicity. It wasn’t rare for the odd girl to ask him to pretend to be her date to a party, and he’d always found himself complying.
To no surprise, the girl in the seat next to him had ended up asking.
“I have, um, like, a whole thing to do on Friday night,” Koichi had said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. It was dumb of him to value the premiere of a new document on All Might over helping someone out, but she had been occasionally rude to him throughout the year.
“What if I could offer you something in exchange?” she had asked. “You know I’m good with computers!’
Koichi’s eyes had drifted to his wrist, with hesitation. The documentary was always going to be there, but a guide to his soulmate was no permanent offer.
He’d ended up complying within a minute.
Yet, the kanji of “偽直変え我” bared a singular, heartbreaking result.
Nisenao Kaega had died three years prior.
Fate has never been kind to him. Number 6 knows this, and he’s accepted it for the longest time. But a spark of hatred within him is set ablaze when O’Clock chooses a different successor - a random college student no less.
It’s not even simply jealousy that keeps that flame alive. If O’Clock had chosen any hero, or sidekick, or even student in a hero course, it wouldn’t anger him like this. Yet his idol had chosen some random wannabe vigilante to mentor, who wasn’t even powerful in the slightest. It was like the universe was having fun as it handed 6 further misery.
Haimawari Koichi had robbed his destiny from right under his nose.
Number 6 has never felt such bloodlust before.
So he follows. He follows “the Crawler”, as he’s newly been dubbed, and his friends, hiding within the shadows. Watching curiously for an answer of why O’Clock would choose to support this boy instead of someone like him. He and Pop☆Step are nothing special, nothing more than people who are slightly better than the rest of the crowd.
Why them? Why not him?
The question latches onto him, like a parasite. It never fades, it only gets worse. Inflicting a sickness upon him, one with no known cure.
To his surprise, O’Clock decides to leave the duo to their own devices. His priority is his daughter, the former host of the Queen Bee. Glimpses of Tamao had always flickered in their few conversations, and 6 can’t find the strength to hate her. It’s not her fault that she was the latest host to the villain. Just like it’s not his fault for being created.
For the latter, he wishes it was.
“Koichi, what’s up with that guy?”
“Huh?” Koichi asks, looking at Pop☆Step with a dumbfounded expression.
Pop points to a rooftop adjacent to the table they’re seated at. To Koichi’s surprise, there’s someone sitting on the edge of it. The stranger locks eyes with him for a second, and Koichi flinches. He can’t see the other’s eyes very well, but he knows the intensity of the gaze. Whoever this is, they’ve got an interest in him.
Before he can make any kind of move, the stranger vanishes out of sight. Koichi finds himself left baffled, and looks back at Pop.
“Do you know what that was about?”
“No. I’ve seen him watch you before from a distance though.”
“For how long?” Koichi asks again, raising an eyebrow.
“I mean, I’ve seen him around ever since you went and saved that spikey bastard from the rogue vigilante,” Pop states.
Since the incident with Stendhal? That’s been a good month, Koichi thinks.
“How have I never noticed him?”
“Because you’re a dumbass,” she replies.
“Hey!”
“I’m sorry, you’re kinda a dumbass,” Pop corrects.
“Still rude!” Koichi insists.
“You know it’s true.”
Koichi sighs. “Yeah, it is true,” he states.
“So, are you gonna do something about your stalker?” Pop inquires. Koichi looks back at her, initially without any reply.
“I mean, it’s not like they’re doing anything…”
“It’s still weird!”
“Maybe they’re just a fan?”
“I have weird fans, and they don’t stalk me everywhere for a fucking month!”
“Whatever,” Koichi concludes. “If they don’t do anything, I’m not gonna go harass them.”
“You’re too nice, y’know?” Pop tells him. Koichi can’t help but to blush, and looks away quickly.
“Pop…” he says quietly.
“Yeah, you know,” she says. “Stupid.”
Koichi can’t help but to smile.
Whenever he finds himself out in the world, without any commands from his creator, 6 has noticed that a feeling of emptiness always comes to the surface. It’s never present in the field, it’s never present observing the Naruhata vigilantes. Watching TV, playing video games with Tomura, quirk training… the feeling doesn’t exist there. It’s only ever when he finds himself out in the open.
Perhaps it’s not such an unexplainable state of mind. He can’t walk down a busy street without feeling isolated, despite the population density. 6 has the inability to bear acts as simple as watching people dine outside, or wait in line to enter a store for some new limited merchandise of All Might. The emptiness takes hold, dragging him into the depths.
He’s lonely. He’s so pathetically lonely. Number 6 doubts that any real human feels like nothing simply by watching random other people interact. His state of being nothing more than some science experiment only makes him desperate for recognition. For anyone to look at him and think he’s worthwhile.
People, as 6 has learned, are too cruel to give chances to anything they don’t understand.
Sometimes a stranger will try to strike up a conversation with him. They never last long, because 6 will say something that scares them off. His inhumanity persists within his words just as much as it does under his skin.
A quick glance at his barren wrists draws him back into reality. Nobody will ever give him a chance.
“Woah!”
Koichi barely slides out of the way to dodge the attack of the villain, and hears some kind of disgruntled comment from Pop. He doesn’t make out the words, as he makes sure to focus on the fight.
His opponent, some kind of transformation type user with enhanced speed and strength, looks back. Koichi’s nearly certain they can see the panic written on his own face. He’s definitely no reassuring hero.
“Why’re you just standing there‽” Pop exclaims. Her words send the villain into a rage, as they charge after Koichi. The vigilante darts off down the street, his pathetic stature only made worse in an embarrassing incident like this.
The chase doesn’t last for long, as Koichi finds himself outsped. There’s no time for him to react as he’s pinned down against the ground, at the mercy of his enemy. The possibility of death is now right in Koichi’s face, thanks to his mediocrity.
Suddenly, the sound of a gun firing disturbs what feels like deadly silence. The villain lets go of Koichi, who awkwardly slides backwards to stop in shock. The man who had pinned him down has been shot, the bullet barely missing the area of their heart for immediate lethality.
Shit, shit, shit, the vigilante thinks. He glances up, in hopes of catching his murderous savior. A figure stands on top of a building only a good three hundred feet away, slinging a rifle onto their back.
It’s the same person who’s been following him.
Koichi opens his mouth to yell, to get an answer of why he’s being followed, but nothing comes out.
And with his silence, the other vanishes once again in a flash, likely due to whatever quirk they possess.
The fear that Koichi feels from the sudden appearance and attack of his stalker is far greater than it was when his life was being threatened only a minute ago.
He needs an answer.
But until they cross paths again, Koichi’s priority should be making sure that the collapsed and wounded man doesn’t die. He pulls out his phone to dial the emergency number, all the while still wondering what's going on.
“Ah yes, little Koichi. You owe me for that, master.”
O’Clock looks back, confused.
“What do you mean?”
Number 6 can’t help but to laugh. “Why, I saved his life! You were too busy hanging out with a gang of lunatics to keep an eye on your successor.”
“What does it matter?” his idol growls.
“Everything, I’d think,” 6 states. “Act soft about him now, but I know for a fact you really don’t give a flying fuck about him. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m a good shot, you’d have seen Haimawari Koichi announced as dead in the news.”
“And you act like I would care more about you?”
“Well, yes. I have more talent and secrets than you could ever believe, as I presume you’ll learn over time. All the Crawler has over me is a more personable and good-mannered nature. But being a good person only gets you so far as a hero,” 6 points out.
“You’re damn right about that one,” O’Clock agrees. Perhaps 6 should stop thinking of him under that name. But Knuckleduster doesn’t have a fun ring to it in his opinion, so he’ll have to settle on the man’s given name.
“‘Course I am, Oguro Iwao. We both know your little mentee would have graduated from a hero school as nothing more than a sidekick to one of his classmates. So, will you accept me as your true successor?” Number 6 purrs.
“O’Clock’s no hero, with a quirk or without. And Overclock being given to some insane impersonator? You’re nothing but the worst kinda villain.”
Number 6 freezes up for a second, taking those words in.
“Ah. So I’m a villain then,” he says quietly. “I guess that’s that.”
And with nothing more than a few quips, 6 lunges in for the kill.
Koichi finds himself staring up at the endless sky. He and Pop have decided to take a break, after going around and looking for trouble to try and prevent for most of the morning. In the past, he’d never found himself nostalgic in the slightest. But now, he can’t help but reminisce about the start of what led him here.
“Do you ever miss Master?” he asks, almost mindlessly.
“That old fucker? No, I can’t say I particularly do,” Pop replies. “What’s got him on your mind?”
“I’m just worried about him."
“He’s too stupid to die.”
Koichi lets out a laugh, and Pop joins in. Knuckleduster is definitely someone who’s too stupid to die, but the possibility still lingers. There’s no guide to finding him either, since they have no idea of his real name.
At least he’s not gone for certain. Not like Kaega, who Koichi’s never even met. And he never will, because his soulmate is dead, and died at only twelve years old.
“Longingly gazing at your wrist isn’t gonna do shit,” Pop states, snapping Koichi back into reality.
“Huh?”
“If you’re looking at the name, there’s no way you’re gonna see it while wearing armored gloves,” she tells him with annoyance.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Koichi says quietly. “He’s gone.”
Suddenly, it’s like the world has frozen. Pop looks back at him, with a mixture of shock and concern. She reaches her hand out to hold onto Koichi’s wrist, but he draws it away.
“Koichi!” she exclaims. “What the hell?”
“I never asked you about any of this-”
“Yeah, ‘cuz I’ve never ran across an Oguro Tamao in my life. You’re hiding shit.”
“Like you were trying to hide that you and Knuckleduster were pretty much robbing me of necessities?”
“Stealing food isn’t a big deal. Saying some vaguely ominous thing like ‘he’s gone’ is gonna spark some questions.”
“What does it matter to you?” Koichi asks.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you went quiet when finishing your sentence. So if you’re up to educate me, what happened to your soulmate?”
“Never met him,” he says. “In high school, the person seated next to me helped me look him up in exchange for me pretending to be her boyfriend for a party. There was only one result with the specific kanji, and I’d found out that, well,” Koichi pauses, unsure of how to continue.
“Is he dead?” Pop finishes in a whisper.
All Koichi can do is nod, as he tries not to tear up. He never knew them. Plenty of people never met their soulmate - the vast majority, actually. He shouldn’t be this upset. But it’s not like they just won’t run into each other - there’s no chance. That boy is dead, and he’s been dead for five years.
“Woah, I didn’t mean to get you all sad,” Pop says. Koichi meets her eyes, which alone tell how worried she is for him.
“It’s fine. I shouldn’t be lingering on the past anyway,” he replies. “I have a whole future ahead of me.”
“If you don’t get arrested, you idiot.”
“I’m not gonna get arrested for stopping a minor incident or using a quirk in a non-offensive way, I’ll just get a bunch of tickets.”
“And then you’ll be drowning in debt to the police.”
“Okay, yeah,” Koichi concludes. “But I want to put this behind me.”
“Then we’ll put it behind us,” Pop states. “Hey, do you wanna go get lunch?”
“Do you have money?”
“No, but I presume you do,” she says, baring a smug expression.
“Fine.”
“You’re too nice, y’know. He would have been lucky to have had you.
Koichi can’t help but to think that he would have been lucky to have had Kaega. But those thoughts don’t matter anymore.
“Wanna race me to wherever?” he asks.
“You’re on!” Pop exclaims, bounding off with her quirk. Koichi smiles and follows. The future is still as exciting as it’s always been, soulmate or not. He won’t waste his time with his head in the past. Looking forward is all he can do for now.
“I think I should be allowed to oppress eight year olds for hoarding the TV here all to themselves.”
“Shigaraki Tomura is fifteen years old, Number 6.”
“Whatever!” 6 exclaims, throwing his hands up into the air. “He’s smaller than me!”
“And he’s older than both of us,” Kurogiri adds.
“Psh, whatever,” the bioweapon mutters. He walks over to the sole free TV within All For One’s preferred base of operations, and leans over the couch to direct a death yearning glare at his creator’s favorite child.
“I’m not giving you the TV no matter what,” Tomura states.
“‘Course you ain’t, you little asshole.”
“Number 6-”
“It’s fine, Kurogiri,” Tomura tells his glorified babysitter. “6 is just being himself.”
“You defending me?” 6 inquires, raising an eyebrow.
The boy pauses for a moment, likely thinking of what to say.
“Nah,” he comments. “Master would be mad if we got you upset, that’s all.”
“Thanks for the thoughts, kiddo.”
“You’re not welcome.”
Finding himself still bored, 6 hauls himself over the back of the couch to sit next to the closest thing he has to family. Tomura has no response.
“You wanna let me play?” 6 asks, staring at the screen.
“Breath of the Wild is a singleplayer game,” Tomura mutters. “I’m pretty damn certain you know that.”
“I don’t take time to identify the pixels on the screen,” 6 states with a wave of his hand. “Video games aren’t all that important to me.”
“Cool. Don’t care.”
“I figured you wouldn’t. Nobody ever cares,” 6 says in a near-whispering tone. “Nobody ever will.”
“Are you still being pissy about soulmates and shit? It doesn’t matter, you know. Kurogiri doesn’t have one either,” Tomura replies.
6 looks over to Kurogiri, still standing in the same place as before.
“He’s made of mist, Tomura. I don’t think he’s got skin.”
To 6’s surprise, his almost-little brother pauses the video game to look at him.
“You do realize all of this is a bullshit RNG, right?” Tomura asks.
“What?”
“Random number generator?”
“No, not that.”
With a disappointed glance, Tomura extends his wrist, displaying the name engraved into him.
“There’s over seven billion people on this big fucking sphere of rock. What are the damn chances of me ever meeting some fucker named ‘Iguchi Shuuichi’? This country alone has way over one hundred million people.”
“Isn’t it age based?”
“One hundred million people, 6. At the very minimum, a good five percent of the population is gonna be around my age.”
“What does it matter? You’ve got a name to guide you.”
“I’m not some freak who’s gonna stalk someone on the internet that I don’t know,” Tomura declares. “But the chances aren’t shit, 6. Name or no name, it’s nearly certain you aren’t gonna run into whoever you would have got anyway.”
“Huh.”
“RNG, 6. It’s a RNG.”
Number 6 quickly decides to take those words to heart.
The relief that he feels after narrowly escaping Endeavor is almost surreal. Koichi can’t help to realize how close he was to getting arrested, or worse. But for now, he can rest.
“Hello there,” someone says in a raspy voice.
Back on the alert in under three seconds flat, Koichi turns around to face the shadow of a man leaning up against the wall behind him.
“Oh,” Koichi says quietly. “You’re the guy from earlier… ‘Oh clocks’, right?”
“Tch. Close, but no. Not at this moment, thanks to you,” the other says. “The tale of O’Clock II… well, it hit a snag before it could even begin.”
“Huh?”
The man lets out a laugh, one that Koichi can’t help to be worried about.
“Well, it’s time to reset. Back to square one, pest. ‘Cuz you get the gist… I’m right back to being the nameless Number 6,” he says, in between heavy breaths.
Koichi takes a step closer, and pauses. The man’s left side is completely scorched, skin still melting off of him. Despite bearing a smile, Koichi can tell he’s in pain, even if he tries to hide it.
Without thinking, he approaches closer, stopping barely out of arm’s reach to the one who had just attacked him and Pop. The villain only looks back at him with confusion, finally giving Koichi a decent look at his face.
As noticeable as the scar that juts across his face, Koichi’s focus is on his eyes. Those golden glowing eyes are almost like Koichi’s staring straight into the sun.
“What the fuck are you doing, pest?” the villain growls, baring his teeth. “One step closer, and I’ll kill you right now.”
“We need to get you help,” Koichi tells him, ignoring the threat. “Endeavor really hurt you…”
“I’m fine, asshole,” the other states. “The woes of flesh ain’t the source of my problems anyway. My entire existence is nothing more than a joke, y’see? ‘Cuz my whole damn life has just been nothing more than a funny science experiment, leaving me to not know anything. I don’t even know who the hell I am. But you, oh, you…”
“I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“This fuckin’ plan was years in the making - my debut to the spotlight. My recognition, my chance to be somebody. ‘Cuz look, since right now I have nothing! And a guy with nothing is gonna be totally fine putting his life on the line to be someone, y’know? Nah, you can’t. You never could.”
“Please, just let me help-”
“Things happen to be clearer than ever though, thanks to you and Pop. Garbage like the two of you, who ruin people’s dreams…” the villain declares, taking a step forward. He jabs a finger at Koichi’s chest, startling the vigilante. “I’ll make sure you pests get what’s coming to you!”
“Wh-”
“Y’know, I’m entirely fake. The only thing left is my burning hatred for you and the girl, and until you’re gone, I’m nothing. So I’ll be back, Haimawari Koichi. For the both of you and your lives. I’m not in the state to fight right now, but you need to hear that. Meddle all you like, becau-”
Without warning, the man falls forward, and Koichi rushes to keep him on his feet.
“I’m here,” Koichi says quietly. “So let me help you, please.”
The other glares up, and suddenly forms a crazed smile on his face.
“I’m never giving up on my dreams,” he snarls, pushing Koichi backwards. Before Koichi can even process what’s going on, the other man has vanished.
Standing alone in the night, Koichi finds himself left with only questions, and no answers. Instinctively, he can’t help but to whisper pointlessly to the other who’s no longer there.
“Please, just let me help,” is all he can muster, before finding himself on the verge of tears.
Koichi can’t handle this.
So he takes his own leave, the interaction not fading from his mind.
Koichi’s going to help that man somehow, no matter what it takes. Because he’s not a person who’s able to leave anyone behind. Especially not someone who needs that much help.
Dammit. This fuckin’ hurts, he thinks, holding onto his arm that’s currently covered in dark scales.
Number 6 has been no stranger to pain over the course of his existence, but this is different. Never before has he been burnt down to the bone, barely clinging onto life.
The Doctor had been able to fix him of course, because the boss wouldn’t allow him to die. Now, his body’s almost entirely made of the parasitic cells that allow him to shapeshift.
It’s just as much a blessing as it is a curse.
He’s instinctively always wanting to shift, but fights against the urge. 6 won’t let himself get caught in the field simply because he’s feeling something. Every time he loses focus and lets his fingers turn to claws, 6 ends up hating himself for it.
Number 6 has to put that past behind him. In order to take down that pest, he needs to make sure he’s capable of taking down the Crawler. So he’s dug through all the notes that the Doctor has charted from the Nomu and their predecessors, and taken up studying the structure of the human body.
He’s not fast enough like this. He needs to be able to accelerate constantly. Even if the shifting hurts, even if he can’t go back, as long as he can beat every opponent, save for the likes of All Might.
Number 6 is going to break those barriers that O’Clock faced, no matter what.
It’s not like All For One would allow him to accept help from that vigilante anyway.
He’s in pain.
If anyone else was in this situation, Koichi knows that they wouldn’t stick around. He’s spent what feels like forever running and fending off the man who’d he met on the rooftop after narrowly avoiding Endeavor. It’s a pointless feat.
But even with his opponent being nothing more than a couple bones and a brain, Koichi’s determined to get through. The other is scared, and hurting, and every scream from them only compels Koichi to stand his ground further.
Deep down, Koichi knows that if any hero does show up, it will end in death. No hero will give the villain any chance to back down. He wouldn’t back down anyway, but his death would be inevitable.
Koichi has to get through to him. He just has to.
So they enter a pattern, the villain attempting to land hits, and Koichi defending. The same as it’s always been. The only new thing is that Koichi has never found his life this close on the line before.
And then the attacks stop coming.
His enemy freezes in place, non-responsive. Koichi comes to a halt, even though every neuron in his brain is screaming that it’s a bad move.
Without warning, the “right leg” of the villain suddenly detonates. He lets out an ear-piercing cry of pain, one that sounds far worse than anything else Koichi’s heard throughout their what seems to be endless fight.
He’s actually burning out at this point, screams the voice in Koichi’s head. You have to help him.
But he hesitates, reflecting on what words his master would have given him. Koichi has no doubt that Knuckleduster would promote killing a villain like this one, and there’s no way to save him that Koichi can thin-
The drones.
He had used all of those faceless drones to ignite himself. Perhaps he can merge back into them. Koichi’s pretty certain that the heroes back near the hospital would have been able to capture a few of them, and make sure they didn’t follow the villain’s commands.
The being of plasma lets out another screech, and Koichi turns his focus onto them. The primary body of the other is located within the head, even though it’s nothing more than some bones and a brain.
Without any further thought, Koichi is using his quirk to launch himself upwards, fear quickly gripping onto him. He has one shot at this. He has one shot to grab the host out of the monster. He could end up incinerating himself if he doesn’t protect himself correctly while taking the shot, or even worse (and more likely), miss his target.
He won’t let that be the case.
Koichi barely manages to grapple onto the villain. They cry out in pain once withdrawn from majority of the plasma, leaving Koichi to press the blazing skeleton against him tightly. The villain is flickering in and out, as the counter to his death approaches.
“You’re gonna be okay,” Koichi reassures the villain in a soft and quiet voice. “I’ll make sure you’re okay. I’m gonna be here. Just hold on a little longer.”
The quiet crackling of the plasma is the only reply he gets.
The timer is ticking, even with Koichi flying across the sky as fast as his quirk will let him. He can feel the other’s body cooling down slowly, he sees the brightness of their body fading in and out.
“Please, stay with me,” he chokes out. Koichi knows that he won’t be able to live with the guilt if they die.
“Okay,” is the quiet reply that Koichi doesn’t expect to get. His brain freezes in shock for a second, before processing that the other actually talked. That’s a good sign.
“Don’t worry,” Koichi murmurs. “I’m still here, with you.”
Suddenly, what’s left of his opponent in his arms starts fizzing away.
Dammit!
They’re within sight of the hospital, they’re so close. The other man can’t die on him now.
Surprisingly, Kazuho’s life isn’t actually the one treading a nearly invisible line tonight. It’s on the person who threatened her in the first place - threatened Koichi in the first place. Koichi braces himself not only for the eventual scolding he’ll receive from her and the rest of his friends, but the fact that he’s about to get arrested.
And the one who’s tried to hurt him has a slim chance of getting away. A chance growing slimmer and slimmer by the millisecond.
No one’s getting left behind tonight, Koichi concludes to himself. Instinctively, his hold on the villain tightens as he slows down to make a landing.
“The fuckin’ hell, Koichi‽” he hears someone, likely Rapt from the sound of it, scream at him. It’s nothing more than static in the background to him.
“Are there any of the bomber villains around?” Koichi asks, trying to hide the frantic tone in his voice.
He doesn’t wait for a reply though. Koichi isn’t gonna risk even the slightest bit of extra time, because it can mean death.
Luckily, Koichi manages to spot a few remaining drones that were captured.
“Outta the way!” he exclaims, startling the police officer watching them.
Suddenly, the heat pressed up against him subsides. Koichi halts right in front of the drones, panicking to stare down at the man he’s carrying. The plasma coating over the villain has subsided, and they’re nothing but a pile of bones and an exposed brain.
Koichi steps right in front of what would have saved the villain, sighing. He was too late by a matter of seconds.
“I’m sorry,” he quietly says, holding back tears. Koichi closes his eyes, letting reality take a hold of the situation.
The sudden touch of what seems to be an almost liquidy substance abrupts that reality, as Koichi looks down to see the now-melting drones attempting to pull the remains of one in his arms into its grasp. The vigilante lets go without hesitation.
The bones collapse onto the ground, making Koichi take a step back in hesitation. Nothing happens for what feels like an eternity.
Finally, the flesh goo (because that’s what it is, as much as he hates to admit it) coats over what little was left of the villain, before slowly reshaping into a humanoid form that struggles to stand up properly.
And with that, Koichi finds himself gazing at the faceless man, still coated in whatever plating from his monster form, who turns to face him. The man’s tail coils around his legs, almost as if he’s scared.
“...”
With no verbal response given, Koichi approaches, only for suddenly the other loses balance and falls to the ground. Koichi gets down next to him, finally letting his quirk stop bracing all of his broken bones.
“Hey. I’m here, like I promised,” Koichi tells the villain.
And just like that, he finds himself pulled into a sudden hug by the one who’d just been trying to kill him.
The novelty of dying for a minute or so is completely ignored by Number 6, who only wants to apologize. He’s never had to apologize before, at least not for anything actually important, so he lets his instincts take over.
6’s instincts call for him to fulfill that burning urge to ease how touch-starved he is. The vigilante awkwardly relaxes into the embrace, wrapping an arm back around in exchange. The other one must have been injured during their big fight.
He lets the face he’d been using earlier reform, and opens his eyes to take in the plot twist of his survival.
“Hey, you, are you okay?” Koichi asks, pulling out of the hold to tilt his head in curiosity.
“Uh,” 6 stumbles, looking up at the sky for some kind of answer.
“You don’t need to answer,” the vigilante tells him. 6 can’t help but to let out a sigh of relief, unconsciously reaching his hand out to hold Koichi’s.
“Wait,” Koichi says, grabbing tightly onto his wrist. “What the hell?”
“I know,” 6 states solemnly. “Side effect of being artificial - there’s nobody out there who’s supposedly for me.”
“What’s your name?”
“What?”
“What’s your name?” Koichi asks him, staring at his wrist. Annoyed, 6 can’t help but to glance at his arm that his former opponent is holding a bit too tight.
He freezes up.
Glowing in the same color as his scar, his wrist is marked with a name. “灰廻航一”. Haimawari Koichi.
“No fucking way,” 6 mutters. “That’s bullshit.”
Koichi looks back at him.
“The boss and his best bud made me. They made me. I’m not, I’m not-” he begins to stutter.
“It seems that was all a lie,” Koichi whispers.
“But I-”
“What’s your name?”
“I don’t have one.”
Koichi looks back with a frown, before removing the broken bracer on his right arm. Number 6 stares in confusion, trying his best to decipher the name from upside down.
“Nisenao Kaega,” Koichi murmurs. “He’s been dead for eight years.”
“... I can’t remember anything from longer than about eight years ago,” 6 admits.
“So that’s you?”
“All For One!” 6 snarls, staring angrily at the ground. “He took my life from me!”
“He can’t take anymore from you,” his apparent soulmate says. “I won’t let him.”
“You’re dying, stupid. Right? I broke half of your larger bones.”
“I’m in pain, I am not dying like you just were.”
Number 6 stands up, and looks down at Koichi. He turns his gaze to the approaching duo of Rapt and Moyuru, who both seem confused out of their minds.
“Make sure he lives,” 6 states.
He accelerates off without waiting for any response. No way he’s about to surrender his ass to the police with a revelation like this.
And when he finally stops to gaze back down at the writing on his skin, 6 surrenders to the oddities of the universe instead.
Number 6 is finally dead.
And Kaega is finally back.
“You’re lucky to have come out of all of that with only a limp,” the doctors had informed him. When she’d finally woke up, Kazuho had told him he’d been lucky to come out of the situation with his life. As always, she’s right.
Those statements are nothing more than thoughts in the back of his head now. Koichi leans back in his seat, eyeing his wrist sadly. He’s thankful that he’s managed to get a taxi ride home, because Koichi knows he can’t face conversation about this. It’s stupid and embarrassing. It’s so on brand for his life.
He barely notices the car coming to a halt.
“Is this the right address?” the driver asks.
“Um, yeah,” Koichi states.
“Your place looks like shit,” she tells him.
“... Yeah,” Koichi says. For some reason, the fully justified comment bugs him when it’s said by some random woman.
He gets out of the car, slamming the door to watch it promptly drive off. Even the random people who cross his path seem to find him odd.
“Doesn’t matter,” he mutters to himself, approaching the wall. He rests a hand on the building in order to slide up, but stops. He looks at the empty street, barren of anyone else. The villain’s attack had ruined half the place, but Koichi’s never found himself feeling so alone.
Whatever. He can call someone to come over when he’s up there. Koichi clings his feet and other hand to the wall in order to slide up. Getting onto his feet after moving around like that feels odd now, due to the injuries he’s suffered.
“Did I do that?” asks a distorted voice that nearly makes him fall straight off the building.
Koichi meets the gaze of the four-eyed monster that nearly blew his brains out, who is perched on top of the penthouse, tail hanging off the side.
“Kaega,” Koichi says.
“Started wondering if you had died, hero,” his soulmate jeers. “Woulda been a shame to lose you when I found you.”
“You would’ve been the one to kill me.”
“All misunderstandings,” Kaega states. He slinks off of the roof and comes to Koichi’s side.
“I’m not going to forgive you for everything,” Koichi tells him.
“I know.”
“You what?”
The shapeshifter stands up and melts back into the form that Koichi last saw him as. A clawed hand comes to rest on his shoulder for but a second, before it’s withdrawn.
“Wanted to apologize. I’ll be on my way now,” Kaega says.
Instinctively, Koichi finds himself grabbing tightly onto Kaega’s hand before he can take off.
“Don’t leave, please,” Koichi pleads.
“Hmm,” Kaega murmurs, detaching Koichi’s hand from his own. “That can be arranged.”
Before Koichi can continue his words, he finds himself being scooped up into Kaega’s arms. Finally able to get a good look at those golden and inquisitive eyes, Koichi finds himself speechless.
Apparently Kaega’s out of words to say, because all he does is lightly press Koichi closer against him. Kaega is incredibly warm to Koichi’s surprise - warm to the point that he might as well have a fire creating quirk.
“Do you want to like, uh, enter your place?” Kaega awkwardly asks.
“Sounds good,” Koichi murmurs. He barely takes note of the fact that the door is unlocked, instead losing himself in Kaega’s hold.
Kaega sits down on Koichi’s bed, letting go of him. Koichi finds himself not wanting to let go though, and wraps his arms around his soulmate.
“Didn’t think you were a cuddly pest,” Kaega mutters. “Worst kind, in my opinion.”
“I don’t see you pushing me away,” Koichi tells him. Arms wrap around him, securing his place on Kaega’s lap.
“Tch.”
“Come on!”
“You’re way too sweet.”
“What can I say? I’ve been missing you before I ever met you.”
“So,” Kaega trails off. “When’s the talk about my actions coming for me?”
“Not now,” Koichi tells him. “I just want to be with you.”
“You can’t imagine how much I’ve wanted this.”
“I figure I can’t.”
“Hey, answer a question for me.”
“Hmm?”
“Will you leave me?” Kaega asks, in a more vulnerable tone than anything Koichi’s heard from him before.
“Why would I leave you?”
“Everyone else has.”
Koichi sits up, and lightly pecks Kaega on the cheek.
“Never,” Koichi says.
“I really can’t get rid of you,” Kaega says with a sigh.
“Seemingly not.”
“That’s a good thing.”
Koichi can’t help but to smile, with Kaega mimicking. He can’t help but to conclude that wouldn’t trade his awkward soulmate for anything.
“You’re right. It’s a really good thing.”