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Chapter 94 - Chapter 91

Momose Amane used to be a simple, happy child.

Born to a normal civilian household, her early years of life were spent accompanied by her loving parents. Her father, a craftsman and a calligraphist, taught her how to work with wood and ink. Her mother, a musician, taught her the joys of music. The family of three residing in one of Japan's many countryside villages, peacefully getting along with both nature and their few dozen or so aging neighbours. Amane being the highlight of the people's day as she just so happened to be the only child born in the last five years.

Due to how little people there are, everyone happens to know everyone else and they exhibit a sense of camaraderie, helping each other when needed be. Because of this, there are no local villains and crime rates are low enough to be nonexistent.

They say that it takes an entire village to raise a child, this much is true. Especially in the case of dear little Amane.

Her quirk, [Multiply], allows her to be in multiple places at once. They aren't clones, neither are they echoes. Each and every single instance of them is Momose Amane, and at the same time, Momose Amane is them all at once.

At first, everyone was surprised at such a quirk. Then it turned to happiness at her good fortune, then wry smiles as they now had to look after the energetic child. But even so, everyone was endearingly spoiling her, the star of the village.

Amane's senses aren't delegated or divided. She experienced everything her other bodies did in real time. The scenes and views, the hugs and head pats, the food and snacks, everything came to her without getting diminished. Fortunately, she was still young, she only managed to multiply into four of herself at the time, and as she had no particular need to train, the limit stayed that way for a long while.

Unlike other children her age, she was never interested in what the heroes did. Sure, she roots for the good guy and get just as happy as anyone else when they see the news on TV and the like but for the little girl, they always just seemed so far away. To her, the fights and battles she sees on screen weren't any different than the shows she frequent. Anything that violent was impossible to think about happening in her peaceful village, the most seen were some of the adult's roughhousing when they were drunk and got into a particularly heated argument.

To Amane, it's always been that way, up until a certain day when she was still seven years old.

She doesn't remember it well, but some of the scenes vividly stayed with her.

Her village crumbling under the flames, the searing embers falling like fresh snow. With tears in her eyes, Amane didn't know whether it was because of what she lost at that time or if it was because of the heavy smoke getting to her eyes, what she did know was that the her lungs felt like they were burning at the time.

Or rather, her entire body felt like it was burning.

And it was. One of them was being baked alive, next to her parents in the car they were driving.

The little girl screamed in agony at the pain she went under. The heat and flames left her body burned to charcoal, yet she was still barely alive.

That day, Momose Amane experienced death for the first time. Not because of the fire, not was it the infections. The girl died of asphyxiation, the fire having consumed her entire supply of oxygen in the confined space.

Before her other selves lost consciousness however, one of them, the one that was frolicking in the forest in secret, caught a group in the sights of her blurring vision. A gathering of figures, so impossibly thin, dancing in circles with maddened peals of laughter.

~~~

"You're really gifted aren't you, Nii-chan?" She sweeped her stick over me in a swift arc.

"I'm not your brother." I rolled under her attack and away from the timed kick while also having a nearby head fire a blast from behind her.

"Nuh-uh! Everyone is a part of the one big family in my religion!" She countered by swatting the beam away with her attack, all without taking her eyes away from mine.

"Sorry, but I'm not part of your religion." I fired another laser from my own eyes while making distance.

"Not yet! You'll convert soon enough." She took it head-on with her stick as she closed the gap between us again. This time she aimed for another strike, using her stiff weapon with enough speed to mimic a horse whip. "And then we can talk about a lot of things! I can tell we're pretty similar, after all!"

"Really?" I jumped and flew above her, throwing heads that would explode. "I doubt it."

"No, really! Also, no flying, you cheat!" The heads went off but she was completely unscathed. More of her appeared by her side and they began throwing spears and each other at me. "Listen, listen! You see, I'm sure now that we're up close! Your heads aren't clones, are they? They're all you, just like mine are all me!" I avoided the spears that aimed for me and tried to fly higher, only to be air-tackled by one of them. "I noticed you wince or twitch whenever one goes out!"

I'm not that obvious. Are her eyes that sharp? "You say that but it doesn't seem like you're getting hurt." I spun in midair at just the right angle to get her off me, all at the cost of my PE jacket.

"That's because of Lord Kinnu!" Her eyes brightened up at that. She's just that genuinely loyal to whoever that is. "It's because of his blessing that I am free of pain and suffering!"

An insult to her lord here would have angered her and give me an opening. However, invoking the name of a divine that set all this up doesn't seem like a good idea, for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is currently in the sky right now. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and made a few more exploding heads to blast them away and give me some breathing room.

"Also! Also! Your gaze!" I had to avoid that one. This girl throws spears like like an olympiad. "I saw you sneak glances whenever Boomboom used his quirk! You're just like me aren't you, Nii-chan? You've been scarred by the flames!"

I felt something pierce my shoulder.

Turns out, she made one of herself ahead of her, right in front of my face, leaving me now space or time to dodge.

Before I knew it, more spears took their chances.

~~~

Momose Amane was found by an heroes amidst the wreckage of her village, alive but unresponsive.

She awoke in a medical facility where she was informed of the fate that befell her home. For a girl her age, it felt as if the world crumbled from underneath her feet. All that she's known; her parents, her friends and neighbours, all of it was gone like the ashes in the wind.

And as if her nightmare hasn't ended yet, the girl was also haunted by the crazed laughter she heard that day.

Even when the adults gave her some time to process the tragedy, somethings have needed to come to a consensus. Because her parents didn't have any other relatives to entrust her with, Amane was sent under a fostercare system.

Thankfully, it was one of the better ones that she was sent to. The place did good for her delicate mental state then, for that of a girl with no anchors left of the world.

The peace didn't last long however, as a certain organisation has gotten a hold of her personal information shortly after she was admitted to the orphanage. The HPSC took one look to decide that the girl and her quirk would be better suited for their needs before they dipped their finger to pull some strings.

Amane was promptly pulled out of the system and any information about her was scrubbed from the public records. It was then that the girl was taken into one of the HPSC's secret bases similar to the one that created the pro hero Hawks.

This was also where the already broken girl was broken down even further. The quality of her new life in the base was much harsher than the prisons she saw on TV. The rooms were cramped and cold, the sterile light devoid of warmth. The meals consists entirely of bread and an icky grey goo, the latter of which contained all vital nutrients needed for sustenance and growth. Worse still was that no mingling was allowed between the other children.

Day in and day out was filled with nothing but training and forced education. From basic knowledge and 'common sense', all the way to various martial arts and different ways of assassination.

It was dehumanising.

They weren't cultivating young minds, they were honing new weapons.

Bright and 'good' children are moved up in ranks and were given various perks like better meals and facility-approved books to read. They were even offered assignments to the outside.

Amane wasn't one of those children.

Her and her other selves have difficulty adapting to her new environment because of her mental state. This was only worsened further by literal bone-breaking training, competitive hierarchy between the other children, and the more experience in parts of her selves dying. Primarily due in part that the focus decided unto her would be reconnaissance, making full use of her senses as she was trained to be a spy. Furthermore, due of her quirk's nature, she was being groomed to become an inexhaustible supply of expendable assets.

Because this place gave priority to the strong, fragile little Amane was regressing further in mind.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, only a mere three months after she was admitted to the facility just so happened to be when a passing youkai began craving blood.

That was the day that Amane and thirteen other children were spirited away to the Other Side, all on the whims of a hungry, invisible creature.

They were sent somewhere dark and damp, presumably somewhere close to the ocean as hints of salt can be tasted on the air. It was only until later that she learned of what it actually was; A Nurikabe.

How and why this being acquired a taste for flesh and blood, she didn't know the answer to. What she knows was the blood-curdling screams that the hardened children let out when it was their turn to be brought out of the room they were locked in.

Amane couldn't do anything, she was broken and disheartened.

If the other kids, who were stronger than her in significant margins were helpless in their attempts to fight or escape, then what can she possibly do? So instead, she sat there, in the dark, accepting her fate.

~~~

"...What?" Even through the pain of being stabbed and pinned to the ground, I managed to eek out a reply.

"You don't have to feel shy about it! We're one and the same, after all!" I had to avoid another spear, this time from the side. "So-"

"That's it?"

"-Huh?"

"All that built up, for that?" It was honestly Incredulous. "You honestly think that I'll switch over to your side because we had one or two points in common? What are you, a ki- oh right. Sorry 'bout that last part."

Her and the others stood frozen around me had their mouths open in shock, as if I just ruined a perfectly good cake that they were about to dig into.

And that's perfect.

"But seriously, look, I understand that your power caused you some major issues growing up, I really do. But you should also understand that the world doesn't operate on convenient self-centred logic. Actions have consequences, just because you were dealt with a bad hand doesn't justify you taking that out on everyone else."

Yes, that's right. I'm treating you like the kid you are, giving you advice and worldly wisdom.

That face, Can't you feel it? The call of rebellion that arises when you're being taught? That's right. Good. Good.

Get angry.

"Ack!" That's right. Kick me, the weak loser, like the petulant child you are. "Guh!" Almost...

There!

The ground beneath us soften like watery mud causing us all to sink rapidly. I managed to get myself heads up, while still punctured with spears, before it hardened just as quickly.

And before anyone else moved, vines sprouted from the ground covering us in a dome and from the gaps I can see the liquid of Bondo's cemedine adding and extra layer on the outer section.

"Some friends you have there, willing to abandon you here with me." She smiled, as if she just proved a point. Or I assume she did by the tone of her voice. It's dark in here. "Lord Kinnu wouldn't do anything like that, y'know? It's not to late to join us~"

I also had a grin on my face, but I doubt she can see that. "The funny thing is, you're the one trapped here with me."

Without waiting for a reply, smoke erupted from me.

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