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The villain’s hand reaches for Asui (call me Tsuyu) and Izuku’s mind conjures up an image of his classmate disintegrating to nothing just like what happened to the skin of Aizawa-sensei’s elbow.
The hand makes contact, all five fingers pressing onto Tsuyu’s face and the villain lets out a long sigh as nothing happens.
“You really are too cool, Eraserhead.”
His words are low, almost a mumble meant for his ears alone but for once it isn’t Izuku’s feet that are moving without him thinking.
“I-I know right? Even knowing that he’d be outnumbered against this many villains and how unsuited his fighting style and quirk are for this kind of drawn out battle he still didn’t hesitate to jump right in so we could escape. I-It’s honestly a testament to your training that you were even able to land a hit on him. N-Not that I’m trying to imply anything about your skill level I’m genuinely impressed is all! Did you time it for when he would blink? That would honestly make more sense then simply rushing at him without any protective gear or weapons though you clearly rely on your quirk as a weapon. Still it isn’t often that the leader jumps into the fray himself and even manages to land such a devastating blow without taking any damage of his own. Th-that’s pretty amazing if you think about it, especially since you can’t be much older than we are and you’re already worthy of leading such a huge undertaking. Most villains that hang back when the battle starts are doing it because their forces are just cannon fodder to hide the fact that they themselves are powerless but you were watching for an opening the whole time right? Have you seen Eraserhead in action before or was this the first time?”
It’s as Izuku pauses his ramble for a response that his brain catches up with his mouth and he startles in place expecting the villain to hit him.
Said villain merely tilts his head at Izuku in contemplation while finally stepping back from As- Tsuyu. She stumbles backwards, falling into the water with a muted splash but the villain pays her no mind as he continues to stare down at Izuku. “First time.” he finally says. “Eraserhead isn’t like All Might or Endeavor; there isn’t any footage of him floating around.”
“Yeah!” Izuku bursts out semi hysterically. “I know! Eraserhead’s marked so high on the unofficial underground ranking” (There’s a very quiet “The what??” from off to the side but Izuku forges on.) “but there is literally no merch or photographs available or anything! I didn’t even realize it was him when class started, I only put the pieces together when he erased my quirk! Which granted in hindsight that’s a bit of a giveaway-”
The villain snorts and Izuku cuts off while once more bracing for a hit. Nothing comes so Izuku slowly continues talking.
“It’s actually really impressive then that you were able to figure out his quirk’s specifics in a single battle. I thought for sure that since you mentioned being here to kill All Might and that you knew he was supposed to be here that you must also have done research on Aiz- Eraserhead before coming. Especially since you have the um weapon to kill All Might so all the masses of troops must have been brought to deal with Eraserhead right? That’s why you didn’t care about leaving some mutation quirks down here when the mist was scattering the villains right? Because Eraserhead would still have to use his quirk regardless since he couldn’t take any chances based on looks alone and just trying to erase a quirk and having that be ineffective might throw him off a bit. And his fighting style really isn’t suited- even without specific footage it’s not hard to determine that of course, even I knew that when he was preparing to attack you guys. That’s part of what makes him so amazing though right? That he knew he might not make it and that someone might be able to figure out his quirk and take him down but he did it anyway to protect us.”
The villain looks away though Izuku could swear his face is less pale than it was before. It’s almost tinged pink in places though it’s hard to tell for sure what with the hand pressed over his face. “Yeah that was the plan. Couldn't have Eraserhead backing up All Might since Sensei wasn’t sure how Erasure would affect Noumu. The npcs were to distract him so I’d have time to figure out his quirk before removing him from play.”
“W-Wow” Izuku manages, compartmentalizing the tidbits of info and the casual talk of murder for later. “Your sensei must think really highly of you to leave an experienced pro like Eraserhead to you.”
The villain preens at the praise even as he demers. “It wasn’t even that difficult.” he mumbles and Izuku is struck by the thought that perhaps this (boy? man?) person isn’t used to receiving compliments. “Eraserhead’s hair lifts when he’s using his quirk. The goggles serve to hide where exactly he’s looking at but even from a distance I was able to count how long the hair was floating versus how long it stayed down to calculate the cooldown on the quirk.”
The villain turns suddenly to sneer down at Aizawa-sensei whose bloody face has been turned towards them to watch the entire exchange. “You hear that Eraserhead? You need a haircut!”
“He can’t though.” Izuku mumbles, flushing at the sudden attention as both pairs of red eyes snap to him. “Um, that is, Eraserhead operates primarily at night and tends to focus on the less well developed areas of town. Staking out certain situations that he knows about in advance can give him time to set up nicely in wait but observing from a rooftop every time would be too disastrous a pattern to cultivate since the thugs and baddies would simply post a lookout up there or be sure to keep checking the roofs or simply keep their voices down and implement a silent mode of communication which wouldn’t allow Eraserhead to overhear. I’ve actually got a theory- though mind you since I only pieced together that my shabby teacher was Eraserhead a little over a week ago I haven’t really had time to fact check or anything but I think that Eraserhead’s costume is purposefully tailored to look shabby since that coupled with his long dark hair lets him stumble around the deserted streets and ‘collapse’ against alley dumpsters that he knows will be busy later and no one looks at him twice because they think he’s-”
“Homeless.” the villain breaths in a slightly awed tone. “Of course. That’s why no one ever sees him coming, he’s been there the whole time!”
“Exactly!” Izuku crows, slightly enthused at having someone agree with one of his theories instead of calling him stupid and yelling at him to shut up. “And the hair isn’t a problem then since it’s so dark it wouldn’t be visible!”
“Why does it float though? A secondary mutation offshoot that developed to keep his line of sight clear?”
Izuku gasps. “That makes so much sense! Especially when you take into account that the float effect isn’t just on his hair it’s also on the scarf around his neck! That’s why even though it’s been around as a capture weapon for literal years, most heroes don’t bother with it because they need to exert way more more pressure to fling it around as well as constantly ensuring they have an end handy while they pray it doesn’t all get tangled! Eraserhead on the other hand only has to activate his quirk for a second, even without a target in mind and the weapon unravels itself a bit and hovrs at the ready! That’s such a great theory though that it’s a spontaneous evolution to keep his line of sight clear. I kept thinking it was some kind of psionic wave being emitted from his eyes that affected his immediate surroundings.”
“Shigaraki Tomura. I did not wish to interrupt but I must tell you that a student-”
“Not now Kurogiri!” The villain’s- Shigaraki’s hand lifts and Izuku can see Aizawa-sensei activate his quirk from here. But Shigaraki doesn’t reach for him, doesn’t even seem to notice his favorite hero’s reaction as he scratches lightly at his neck. “We could both be right.” he finally muses. “The waves affecting his immediate surroundings are an evolution to keep his line of sight clear.”
He whirls around and crouches to Aizawa-sensei’s eye level. “Well Eraserhead? Did your hair always float or was that something that came later?”
Aizawa-sensei blinks even as blood continues to drip down his face from when the Noumu smashed it into the ground. He looks... dumbfounded? Confused maybe? Not at the question but at the fact Shigaraki is asking? Or maybe it’s that he hasn’t killed Izuku yet? Either way it seems to take an inordinate amount of time for his mouth to slowly start to open.
There’s an explosion of sound from the entrance and then All Might is there in all his glory.
Shigaraki sighs in obvious exasperation. “Ugh now you show up? I’m not feeling it anymore. Noumu.”
The huge black mass finally releases Aizawa-sensei’s head and looks up.
“Cover our retreat.”
Noumu screeches and leaps to attack as soon as All Might is in range.
Kurogri opens a portal and Shigaraki starts to step through. “This was fun Player two. We’ll have to co-op again soon.”
And then he’s gone, a first aid kit sailing through the portal to land at Izuku's feet.