Chapter 4
Izuku's head had finally cleared. The 3rd stage of Soul Revelation's effects was unconsciousness, while the 4th and Final Stage left the victim in a daze for almost an entire day. After all, the brain had to reorganize itself to accommodate the memories of a lifetime. Of course, with everything that happened, he was in the hospital. Izuku was confused, and not just because of the new memories he had in his mind.
He had memories of an abusive childhood with a madman for a father who had plans to take over an entire ocean. He escaped thanks to his older sister, wound up stranded on a rock for days, and nearly starved alongside a pirate who sacrificed so much for him. Eventually, he worked with the man who saved him in a restaurant until he met a man made of rubber who recruited him into his ragtag crew. That crew, known as the Straw Hat Pirates, was his family in all but blood.
He didn't understand any of it, but what was stranger than the memories was that he sometimes acted like the man from those memories, like flirting with the nurses, not to mention the sudden urge to start smoking, among other things. "What's wrong with me?" he muttered to himself. That was when there was a knock on the door. "I'm coming in anyways!" said a voice. It was the hero that Nezu called. "Izuku Midoriya, right?" asked the hero. "Yeah, who are you?" asked Izuku. "My name is Hibiki Kinzoku, but I'm also the hero Orchestra Rave!" said the hero, now identified.
"No way! I've heard of you!" yelled Izuku, going into full fanboy mode. "You're the Music Player Hero! You turn music into conclusive blasts that you can use to attack and fly! Not only that but you're a technological genius and sometime about three years ago you became an accomplished inventor."
"Wow! A hero fanboy! Wished someone should have warned me," joked Hibiki. "So what of it," said Izuku, glaring at him. "Okay… someone has conflicting personalities," said Hibiki, sitting down. "I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong with me," said Izuku. "Let me guess. You got a ton of memories from someone from a completely different world stuffed into your head and now you're dealing with the problems that come with that," said Hibiki. "How could you know that?" asked Izuku. "You're not the first person to fall victim to that Quirk," said Hibiki. "What did she do to me?" asked Izuku, remembering the last thing before everything was a blur after falling victim to Priestess' Quirk. "She made you remember your past life," said Hibiki. "Wait… everything that happened…" said Izuku. "Happened to you in a past life…" said Hibiki, nodding. "What seriously?" asked Izuku. "It's true," said Hibiki. "Everything that happened to Sanji…" said Izuku. "Happened to you in another life." Said Hibiki, "Which is why your Principal asked me to be a counselor for you and all your other classmates who also fell victim. There are four others. We're going to have a therapy group to talk about everything in about half an hour."
"Why?" asked Izuku.
"Unless your life was filled to the brim with sunshine and rainbows you have a lot of problems going on inside your head." Said Hibiki.
"No, of course it wasn't." said Izuku.
"Good," said Hibiki, "Even if it was, you still have friends and family that you will never see again. People who you loved and who loved you back… all gone instantly, like a snap of the fingers."
He thought back to his crew and a few other people.
"You're right." Said Izuku.
"So many people are hurting because of her, and I want to help her other victims." Said Hibiki.
Izuku nodded, knowing he was right.
"Tick tock! Tick tock! Tick tock!" said Aiko from a device on his belt.
"Seriously…" said Hibiki.
"Come on I'm supposed to give you the same amount of time with each kid and you're only halfway done!" said Aiko.
"Sorry…" said Hibiki, "I see you later."
He placed a clock on the nightstand.
"Aiko will tell you when it's time for the session." Said Hibiki, "Don't worry, she'll only enter it when it's time to give you privacy."
"Oh come on! I won't blackmail him with anything." Said Aiko.
"The fact that you keep bringing that up means that you probably will at one point," muttered Hibiki.
"If I haven't turned evil yet, doesn't mean I'll suddenly turn evil!" countered Aiko.
Hibiki closed the door to give Izuku privacy.
He began to think about everything. He hated a lot of stuff that happened in his past life, but at the same time, it was extremely comforting to know that those memories of that pirate crew were true, both the good and the bad times. However, something hit him. Something happened in his childhood, not just one but both of them. "How can the same thing have happened to me twice…" he muttered to himself before he heard another knock on the door.
"Come in!" he called out, wondering if Hibiki had forgotten something. It wasn't Hibiki but rather All Might in his skinny form.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Better." Said Izuku.
"There's a lot we need to talk about." Said All Might, sitting in the chair.
"Yeah." said Izuku, nodding.
"First off I don't want to burden you with everything if you want to quit being a hero." Said All Might.
"Wait… what?" asked Izuku.
"I guess I have known that you wouldn't want to quit." Said All Might, "About 94 percent of Priestess' victims quit being heroes."
"Why?" asked Izuku.
"Most people didn't have fighting abilities or were anything close to heroes in their past lives." Said All Might, "It quickly got to them and they didn't have that drive anymore. I have heard of those who weren't fighters in their past life continuing to be heroes, but it's rare." Izuku was going to say something, but All Might stopped him. "I already knew you were a fighter," he said.
"Wait! How did you know about that?" asked Izuku.
"After you were hit by the Quirk, you entered a sort of flight-or-fight feral state. Thankfully it allowed you to recognize friends and foes. From what I heard you let loose on many of the villains." Said All Might.
"Wait… if I was fighting why did the hell you think I would quit?!" yelled Izuku, acting like his past life.
He then started blushing.
"Sorry about that I didn't mean to yell at you like that!" said Izuku.
"It's okay, it's actually very common for people in your situation to switch between the personalities of this life and their past lives." Said All Might.
"Oh okay…" said Izuku.
"Anyways we weren't sure, due to the fact that well… you're the first time she went after teenagers." Said All Might.
"I guess that makes sense." Said Izuku, "But I can't just give up on my dream. I was part of a crew, and we each had a dream that we strived for. If I just gave up on my dream in this life, I feel like I would be letting them down."
All Might smiled and nodded.
"I can imagine my captain saying something along the lines of 'Go be a hero and share your meat with everyone.'" Said Izuku with a wistful smile.
There was an awkward silence.
"What?" asked All Might.
"It had to do with his idea on what makes a hero." Said Izuku going back into Sanji mode, "The shitty idiot had a lot of weird ideas…"
"So a crew?" asked All Might.
"We were pirates," sighed Izuku, knowing it had to be said eventually.
"Wait… what?" asked All Might.
"Look we were criminals but the government was more often the bad guy! They did a lot of terrible things so they could stay in power!" said Izuku, panicking.
"I see…" said All Might.
"Besides we were seen as heroes on so many islands because we saved them," said Izuku.
"I'm not judging you for being a criminal in a past life, it was just very surprising," said All Might.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief.
"Judging by the fact you referred to picturing your captain saying something to you, you couldn't have held that position, so what were you?" asked All Might, "Considering the fight you put up you had to have been at least the first mate, right?"
"I was the cook," said Izuku.
"Seriously?" asked All Might, staring at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Izuku, glaring at him.
"You know there's other stuff we have to talk about." Said All Might, changing the subject.
"About what?" asked Izuku.
"I fought at the USJ." Said All Might.
Izuku froze when he said that.
"You saw the news that morning, did you?" asked All Might.
"I did." Said Izuku.
"I'll be lucky if I can hold the form for an hour," explained All Might, "It didn't help after I heard about what Priestess did to you."
"I'm sorry." Said Izuku.
"It's fine." He said, "These things happen."
They sat silently for a few minutes before looking at the countdown clock. There were less than 10 minutes.
"Maybe I should give you some alone time before your therapy session." Said All Might.
"Thanks." Said Izuku.
"Everything's going to change," said All Might.
"I know you don't have to tell me," said Izuku, back in Sanji mode. He started to move his hands like he was trying to light a cigarette before he caught himself. All Might looked at him strangely. "Chain smoker," sighed Izuku. "I see…" chuckled All Might as he left, leaving Izuku with his thoughts.
"I didn't ask who the other four are," thought Izuku, realizing his mistake. "Oh no… what if one of them… is…"
He paled. He wasn't sure if he could handle Bakugo being one of them, not when he had those memories now.
"Hey! It's time for your therapy session." Said Aiko from the clock.
"Oh…" said Izuku.
"Wait… you have to bring me, I'm the one leading you to the room they set up," said Aiko from the clock.
Izuku held the countdown clock and followed her instructions. "Deku!" called Ochaco as the two crossed paths while heading to the room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the considerably friendlier voice.
"So you fell victim too," sighed Ochaco.
"Yeah," sighed Izuku.
He faced her, and his eyes turned to hearts.
"Uh… Deku…" said Ochaco.
"Oh sorry about that… " he said, leaving Sanji mode.
"It's fine," sighed Ochaco, and then she blushed slightly.
"Is something wrong?" asked Izuku.
"Oh no! Everything's all right!" she said, clearly flustered.
"I'm sure it's just your past life personalities emerging," said Kyoka.
He mentally sighed in relief that at least two out of the four others were not Bakugo.
"Yeah…" said Izuku.
"One of my old friends would probably figure that the dual personalities are something all that Quirk's victims have to deal with," said Kyoka.
"You know it's rude to leave us hanging." Said Aiko from Kyoka's countdown clock.
The three students headed to the room and saw Momo and Denki there.
"Oh, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari," said Izuku, mentally breathing a sigh of relief now that he knew none of the others were Bakugo.
"So it's you three," Momo said a little nervously.
"Yeah." Said Izuku, and then his eyes erupted into hearts again.
"Is he all right?" asked Momo.
"It's a personality trait he had in his past life," said Kyoka.
"I see," said Momo with a sweat drop.
They opened the door to find Hibiki there. In the room was a small circle of six chairs. "You all made it," said Hibiki.
"Why?" asked Izuku as he and the others took their seats.
"I'll explain after a few explanations." Said Hibiki, "First off, this group will have three basic rules. The first rule is the most important: What we talk about in the group remains in the group. Of course, you can tell other people about your problems, but you can't tell anyone about everyone else's."
Everyone nodded.
"The second rule: You have to refer to your past life as if it happened to you," said Hibiki, "There have been cases in the past where other victims tried to distance themselves, but it didn't end well for them."
The five teens were concerned by this but agreed to it. It helped Izuku that at least he wasn't trying to distance himself.
"And the final rule…" he said with the utmost seriousness. The teens were nervous about whatever this last rule was. "We have to refer to each other by either our given names or any nicknames we can come up with for each other," said Hibiki. This part just made the five sweat drop. "Unless you choose to quit the hero course, we're going to be meeting often, so we're going to be learning a lot about each other," said Hibiki. "Also, I was an American in my past life and it's common to use given names there," he mentioned. "You too?" asked Kyoka. "That question implies you were also an American in your past life. Interesting," mused Hibiki. "Just remember that nicknames also work," Aiko added.
"I should also properly introduce you to my assistant Aiko," said Hibiki. "Yeah, what is up with that voice anyways?" asked Kyoka. "Well to be honest I am not human, I am merely an AI." Said Aiko, "In fact my real name is A.I.K.O." "What does that stand for?" asked Denki. "It stands for Artificial Intelligence Knows Objectively," said Aiko. "Objectively what?" asked Momo.
Aiko dramatically paused before answering, "That I'm better than you," then played a repeating air horn sound effect, causing everyone there to sweatdrop. "But in all seriousness this guy likes giving his AIs he builds acronym names and that was the best O word he could come up with," she said. "Yeah…" sighed Hibiki, blushing. "I'm going to be here for most sessions," said Aiko.
"Anyways for sessions with a set plan, such as today, I'll use myself as a set example and will sometimes use my friend and hero rival Ryuji as an example as well," said Hibiki. "Ryuji?" asked Ochaco. "He's another pro hero who was a fellow victim. You might have heard of Dino Ace," said Hibiki. "Wait! I've heard of him! His Quirk is a dinosaur mutation that gives him claws and a tail!" said Izuku, going into fanboy mode and blushing. "Still the fanboy," cheered Ochaco. "Yeah…" said Izuku. "Wait… why are you friends with him?" asked Denki.
"You see the victims who remained heroes…" began Hibiki. The four who didn't know this fact were slightly concerned by that. "We tend to meet up often in different ways for therapy groups and other little get-togethers. We hit it off, so now we consider each other best friends and rivals in terms of hero work," he explained. "Why would you be friends and rivals?" asked Kyoka.
"It's kinda funny. While we were from different worlds, we were both heroes from America in the same timeframe, the late 20th to early 21st century," said Hibiki. "That's also the country and timeframe I came from in my world," Kyoka noted. "Could you be that student? The one who Nezu said fought alongside Ryuji in your past lives?" Hibiki asked. "I'd be able to confirm whether I'm that student or not if I knew who Ryuji's past life was," replied Kyoka.
"Ryuji and I were among the first heroes known to our respective worlds and became legends in our own right. He was actually sort of an All Might equivalent in his world, which is crazy considering how he got started. The first recurring villain he dealt with brainwashed him to fight those who would later become his teammates because she wanted to destroy them, but after he got free, he wound up joining them," Hibiki began. "Shouldn't you be talking about yourself?" asked Denki.
"I guess you're right." Said Hibiki, "I was the first hero in my world to go public, although I didn't have anything similar to a quirk. I just had a suit that gave me the power to fight. I had fought many villains in my past life, fought off against a god and alien invaders. I was even part of a team… In my past life, I was Iron Man."