Chapter Text
His head was throbbing—presumably from the fall. Bakugo opened his eyes, but immediately shut them again because of the bright light. His body ached from lying on the cold, hard floor. When had he managed to get home and fall asleep? The last thing Katsuki remembered was a villain who had blinded him with some Quirk. A villain?
Katsuki jolted upright, causing his head to spin, and he leaned on his arm to steady himself. Bakugo opened his eyes slightly to look around and figure out where the hell he was. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the light, he was able to look ahead, but all he saw was an endless white expanse and nothing else. The expanse had no horizon, no shades of color—only emptiness all around. Maybe this is heaven?
"Hah," he said with a smirk that bordered on hysteria. "Dying from a blow by a weak villain—how stupid."
The villain Bakugo had encountered while on patrol was nothing more than a pathetic mugger, and capturing him shouldn’t have taken even five minutes. The villain didn’t even use his Quirk while running away from him. “Not a combat Quirk,” Katsuki thought at the time, and chased after him with explosions while the man tried to escape in a car.
“Kirishima!” Katsuki jumped to his feet. Damn it, not this. Kirishima couldn’t have died with him. Just not this, damn it. He frantically began looking around, ignoring the pain in his temples, but saw no one nearby.
Bakugo ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it back, and began rubbing his eyes.
“He’s not here.” Bakugo scanned the area once more and moved forward. The illusion wasn’t working, no matter how hard he tried. What if this wasn’t heaven? Maybe it was something in between. Then there had to be a way out—a passage between worlds and all that.
His head was splitting, and his stomach was churning with hunger, but Bakugo kept walking.
“If you can feel pain in the afterlife, then the afterlife is total crap. Although, maybe this is the path to hell,” Katsuki said rather quietly. There was no need to speak loudly here—no one would have heard him anyway.
Bakugo walked for what seemed like hours. Or maybe he was just going in circles? He didn’t know. He walked and walked, refusing to give up, until he realized it was pointless. His mouth was parched; he gathered saliva and swallowed it, but the thirst wouldn’t go away. His legs were buzzing from the long walk, and his shoulders were stiff. Bakugo unbuckled his arm guards and tossed some of his gear onto the floor. Then, grabbing his shoulder, he stretched his arm muscles—first one, then the other—and massaged his neck. He glanced ahead once more and exhaled. There was nowhere else to go. And no reason to.
“Fuck it,” he said, lying back down on the floor, spreading out like a star and covering his eyes with his hand. He was so tired. Exhaustion was making his eyes shut; he just wanted to sleep in his own bed. “Shit,” he clenched his hand into a fist. “Shit. SHIT.” — Bakugo pounded his fist on the floor, causing blood to seep from his knuckles. “Okay, I get it, I’m dead, but maybe you’ll send me somewhere now, huh, God?”
He opened his eyes wide and stared at the ceiling, frozen in place. A sign with writing on it hung from the ceiling. Hung? More like it was levitating. Why hadn’t Bakugo noticed it before?
Katsuki squinted, reading the words carefully.
“You have been selected to participate in an experiment. To take part, confirm your agreement to start the game. Welcome!”
After reading it, Bakugo grimaced. His teeth ground together, and his brow furrowed. So this wasn’t paradise. Most likely, it was some trick by that villain. He was manipulating space or something like that. But that didn’t matter right now—he needed to deal with the problem. He didn’t want to play by someone else’s rules. But then again, what choice did he have? Get stuck here for all eternity? He had to get out, no matter what. And take that scumbag out.
“Fine. Fuck it. I agree,” Bakugo growled. “Bitch. I agree.” He raised his hand to unleash an explosion at the sign, but only a few pitiful sparks sputtered from his hand. “Damn it.” Bakugo pulled his hand back.
The sign began to blur in the air, the walls started to sway, then a bright flash made Katsuki squint, and he realized he was falling.
He came to when he felt someone’s hands on him. Bakugo shook them off, jumped back, opened his eyes, and assumed an attack stance.
“Hey, bro, easy there—it’s me.”
Standing before him was Kirishima—still in his hero uniform, but clean, with his hair falling down. That wasn’t how he remembered him from last time. Kirishima looked well-rested and smiled nervously as he looked back.
Bakugo looked around. A bed, yellow walls, a table, chairs, a TV, a window. An ordinary room. Sterile, but ordinary. NOT THE VOID. Katsuki shifted his gaze back to Kirishima.
“Where are we?”
“If only I knew, Bakubro. I woke up in some kind of void, then there was something about the game starting, and I agreed. And here I am,” Kirishima put a finger to his lips, looking up thoughtfully. “Judging by how I feel, I’ve been in this room for a day now. There are no clocks, so I can only guess. I thought I'd stay here alone, but then you showed up." Eijiro shifted his gaze to Katsuki and smiled. "I'm so glad to see you safe and sound.
Katsuki felt a warmth in his chest, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud. With Eijiro here, he felt calmer. That goofball was alive, and he… was okay. Bakugo opened his mouth, then closed it, shook his head, and spat out:
“Where’d you find time to wash up, you idiot?” Bakugo walked over and lay down on the bed. It was so soft and warm.
“So there’s a bathroom here. There’s even food. Are you hungry, man?” Kirishima walked over to Bakugo, looking down at him.
“Hell, yeah.”
Kirishima nodded and ran over to the fridge, pulling out a sandwich and some iced tea.
“Here you go.”
Bakugo sat down and snatched the food from Kirishima’s hands, unwrapping it. Just as he was about to bring a bite to his mouth, he paused:
“Is it poisoned?”
“As you can see, I’m fine.”
Bakugo nodded and began to eat quickly. Too quickly—he coughed. His hunger was making itself known.
Kirishima tapped him on the back:
“Be more careful.”
Bakugo shot him an angry glance and, without saying a word, went back to eating. Kirishima, meanwhile, sat next to him with his hands folded, idly moving his fingers.
Bakugo finished eating and washed it down with tea, downing half the bottle in one gulp.
“Did you manage to figure anything out?” Bakugo set the bottle down on the floor and looked at Kirishima. Eijiro shifted his gaze to the window and pointed at it.
“That's not a window—it's a screen. It's an image, a fake. There’s also a locked room in here. There’s no other way out,” Eijiro swallowed, slumping over. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get out.”
Kirishima uttered that last sentence while staring at the floor, as if he wouldn’t be able to bear it if he looked Bakugo in the eye. Katsuki shifted his gaze to Eijiro and raised his hand toward his hair. But he caught himself—froze for a moment—and then punched him in the shoulder.
“Shitty hair, we’ll get out of here,” Katsuki growled. “You just didn’t have the brains to check everything out properly.”
At least, he tried to stay positive.
A clammy fear was growing inside him, but Bakugo suppressed it. Only a clear head could find a way out. Katsuki stood up, wiped his hands on his pants—wincing at the feeling of his clammy palms—and began pacing the room, searching every corner. Kirishima just stared at him and said nothing—and that made Bakugo nervous. It would be better if that jerk were blabbering on, as usual, about anything at all, rather than… this.
Bakugo surveyed the room and the bathroom, noting that he stank and needed to take a shower. He walked over to the screen—sure enough, it was just a picture of the city at dusk. Although from a distance, it looked like a window. A tablet was lying nearby. Bakugo picked it up and turned to Kirishima:
“What’s this?”
“I don’t know, it wouldn’t turn on. Maybe the battery’s dead, but there’s no charger here,” Kirishima said, getting up and walking over to Bakugo.
Katsuki swiped across the screen and pressed the power button. It beeped and lit up.
“Oh,” Kirishima said, surprised. “It didn’t used to do that.”
“Hah, yeah, of course,” Bakugo chuckled and sat down in a chair. Kirishima sat down next to him, and they stared at the screen. It turned on, and the words appeared:
“Welcome”
The screen flickered, and the image changed, opening an app window.
“To end the effect of this Quirk, you need to score 1,000 points. Points are earned by completing tasks. See the ‘Rules’ tab for more details,” Kirishima read aloud and shifted his gaze to the menu on the left, where several items were displayed.
“Sounds like nonsense,” Bakugo commented and navigated to the rules menu.
The tab read:
Rule #1
Players receive 100 points for each completed task. Points accumulate toward checkout or can be spent in the store to purchase items and equipment. You’ll be offered several tasks—just choose one. If you’ve already made a selection but decide to change it, cancel your choice and select another option.
Rule #2
Meals are served in a closed room at 8:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. The room opens at the specified times and remains open for one hour after the specified time. If you refuse to complete your tasks, meal service will be suspended until you resume working on them. You have 24 hours to complete the tasks.
Rule #3
A special room is designated for picking up items from the store. There is also a laundry basket in the room. The next time the room opens, you will receive your washed clothes. At the start of the game, each person is given two extra sets of clothes.
Rule #4
You may not leave the room. A penalty will be imposed if you attempt to damage the space.
Rule #5
All necessary equipment will be provided to complete the tasks.
Follow the rules and you’ll make it out alive!
“What kind of nonsense is this? Are they implying that we’ll die if we don’t follow the rules?” Bakugo roared, jumping up from his chair.
Kirishima stood up, placed a hand on his shoulder, and began pushing him back into his chair.
“Please, calm down. Let’s finish reading this and then decide what to do. We need information right now,” Eijiro tried to speak as soothingly as possible, though the way his hands were shaking made it clear he was nervous. This struck a chord with Bakugo, and he sat back down, continuing to flip through the tabs.
Next was a tab for a store where you could buy anything—from a TV to sports equipment. The cost of items ranged from 2 to 100 points, depending on their value.
Next was the tab about the players. It listed their ages and brief biographies. It also displayed their total number of points. Right now, they had 10 points in their account. And the number of days spent in this space—Day 1.
And the last tab—tasks. Kirishima and Bakugo exchanged glances, swallowed hard, and clicked on it.
As he read, Katsuki clenched his fist, digging his nails into his palm. Kirishima blinked, and a quiet, shocked voice escaped his lips:
“No.”
The mission options read:
- Player Katsuki Bakugo must draw 200 ml of blood from player Eijiro Kirishima.
- Player Eijiro Kirishima must bring player Katsuki Bakugo to ejaculation.