No Regrets || Lying Hero Deku AU

Chapter 25

Togata was barely listening as the female voice sounded from an unknown source. The body of the man lay limply, lifelessly on the ground, and he couldn't get his eyes away from it.

He had seen dead bodies, as much as he hated to admit it. However, those dead people were quickly covered by blankets and put on stretchers, quickly carried away from all heroes and civilians' sight. But this...He was still laying there, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from him.

He was there, alive and well, and a second later, he wasn't. He just wasn't.

The woman finished speaking. All he understood from that was they were in deep shit and about to become players of some deadly game.

"I repeat, most of these games will be based on guessing. Should you guess wrong, you're disqualified, but if more than five people are disqualified, you are allowed to pass, and the game will deactivate on its own. Only when the tiles are gray does it mean you can pass freely, so do be mindful not to make assumptions that you can somehow outsmart the system in any way. That results in disqualification. I wish you the best of luck." With that, the message was over, and the heroes were left standing there, not knowing what to do.

They'd seen what they mean by 'disqualified'. It meant death. None of them wanted to die, so what could they possibly do but stand there and wait for some miracle?

"Does anyone..." The young man started, voice small and filled with nerves, "want to go first?" No one replied, which was expected. The female hero who had previously talked about being heroic was quiet too. Togata couldn't blame her. To be honest, he didn't think about her much—the thought of dying and watching the people around him die as well was consuming enough as is.

"Maybe there's a way around this. These are just tiles, right? We can go as fast as possible. That's not against the rules, right?" Another female hero offered, gesturing wildly as she tried to calm herself down, practically twitching.

"Well? Which one hero wants to give it a try? Any speed quirks around here?" Awase asked, scanning the crowd. Another male hero clicked his tongue at him in disdain, and Awase, quickly taking the hint, bowed his head and bit his tongue.

"I don't exactly have a speed quirk, but...It might help. She didn't say anything about quirk usage though, right? I don't want to..." Another female hero mumbled, rubbing at her biceps as if she was cold, looking down at the ground in fear as she spoke quietly.

"I believe she didn't. I...I wish I didn't have to ask this of you, but could you give it a try?" The heroic female hero walked up to the other female, taking her by the hand and holding it with her own. "We won't be able to get out of here unless we try. And if this really works, maybe we have a chance at winning and getting out of here!"

"Yes...I..." The brunette hero who offered her help seemed to hesitate, slowly retreating her hand. The other female hero looked at her in desperation, eyes wide and mouth pursed, and slowly, the brunette let out a small sigh. "This has to work."

She took a step forward, locking her hands together in front of her chest as if trying to protect herself, and reached the edge of the different-colored tile floor. There were different colored squares, and they were of a relatively big size—possibly about a meter—which increased the risks of trying to speed through the minefield.

"You can do this. We believe in you!" Sprinkler cheered, even though you could easily see how his hands were shaking as he held his punched-up fist in the air. The brunette hero smiled wobbly and nodded, turning back towards the field.

"Yeah...I can do this." She muttered to herself, just barely audibly. She took a deep breath before squatting down, leg dragging backward as if preparing for a sprint, some sort of dark purple electricity sparking under the soles of her feet before she sprinted.