No Regrets || Lying Hero Deku AU

Chapter 28

Togata couldn't say anything. Bakugo turned towards the center of the room, focusing on the villain, who was looking back at him curiously.

"Huh. You really think of us as ants, don't you? It's pretty annoying, you know, whether we're weak or not compared to you." All for One chuckled, and Bakugo kept the glare on his face, but Togata could see it grow. Togata himself turned towards All for One, his own glare hardening as he tried to regain his composure.

"I must say, you're quite amusing. Maybe you still haven't processed your situation? Is this your way of denial?" All for One clicked his tongue as he stood up, walking up to the floor tile closest to him but not stepping on it. "I must say, it's astonishing."

"Call it what you want, but you should know better than anyone that I have nothing left to lose." Bakugo smiled at him, the smile not reaching his eyes and yet not fake. It was almost as if he was mimicking sarcastic amusement, talking in the same tone as All for One. All for One simply huffed in response, crossing his arms on his chest.

"It's not worth trying if you're going to lose on the first tile."

"Who said I'm losing? You haven't even started the game." All for One's eyes widened slightly, before narrowing in slight disbelief as he watched Bakugo contemplatively.

"Oh? You know that I haven't activated it yet?" Bakugo smirked at him, huffing out almost pridefully. The smirk didn't reach his eyes though—his eyes were filled with distaste, with vengeance, with the storm that had gathered from those few yet hurtful nights he had tried to fall asleep, them ending in him suffocating from his sobs and spilling more tears than he had ever in all the years he'd lived.

"Come on. Start the game, and I promise not to disappoint." Bakugo teased, taking another few steps forward so that he was right in front of the first tile.

Truth is, he is scared. He is scared, but he also knows that if he doesn't stop the ringing in his ears, his fear would be the death of him. He wouldn't let himself die so idiotically, so pathetically, without becoming the top hero, without destroying All for One, without bringing Midoriya back. He couldn't.

The feigned impossibility of death gave him courage. And so, when the villain walked back towards his throne, sitting on it and pressing the evident, red button at the armrest, he jumped without thinking, knowing the pattern all too well in his head.

After all, this game wasn't about the tiles you stepped on. There was another rule to it, something that would've killed off the rest of the heroes, but not him. Why? Because he knew Midoriya, and even though All for One was the one who created the game, Midoriya had influenced him, and All for One thought of a pattern seemingly subconsciously.

That subconsciousness that All for One never realized was Midoriya.

Without knowing, All for One had created a pattern that Midoriya had implanted into his brain, a pattern All for One most likely thought was random, or from some sort of song from a long time ago to which he didn't remember anything but the melody of. But that wasn't the case. And now, All for One was doomed to not enjoy the level he had worked so hard to create.

Bakugo knew the pattern by heart.

Jump. Jump. Jump again, and then two times in a row. More jumping, more timings, and soon, he found himself humming the melody, remembering those faint days he had spent thinking of that song, being praised for his creativity, and then marching in front of his friends as he chanted the song.

"Forward march and here we go! Members of the agency Ba-ku-go!..."

After a few seconds, he stepped on the last tile of, finishing off the song. And he knew that this would happen, but the realization of his situation still had his heart dropping.