Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 95: Transformation

"Are you sure you're ok to be out here tonight?" Tensei had always been too caring for his own good, but a lot of the time, Shouta just wished he'd just let things go. "You did just survive a major villain attack, what? Three days ago? And I know that Mic took a couple personal days because of everything, so don't you dare try to tell me it's illogical to take some time off!"

"I'm fine." he grumbled. "My injuries were mostly superficial and Recovery Girl already gave me the all clear."

Tensei gave him a look, "That's not what I meant and you know it. Not all scars are physical, Shouta, you know that."

Instinctively, Shouta reached up and ran his thumb along the new scar on his face. Considering the way Shigaraki's hand had touched him, it was honestly only sheer luck that the disintegration hadn't reached the eye itself. With a five point contact quirk, Shouta had expected the fingerprints to be much more distinct, but the cracks in the skin had branched outward and connected them into an almost semi-circle shape where the skin and part of the muscle had flaked away before he'd managed to activate his quirk and stop the damage. It was definitely ugly and impossible to hide, but Shouta had never cared much about aesthetics anyway. Plus, his scar was nothing in comparison to the changes that Kurogiri had gone through.

"I'm fine." Shouta repeated. Maybe if he said it enough, he'd be able to convince himself too. "It's illogical to worry about that until we have confirmation that it actually was him at the attack."

Tensei rolled his eyes, "I don't know if you just haven't been paying attention, Shou, but humans aren't exactly logical. And you heard the description your witness gave of what Kurogiri looked like before the experiments. It's him. You know it is."

"It's a strong possibility." Shouta admitted. "But why would the villain factory keep him captive for so long? It's been ten years, Tensei. It just doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe his quirk was just too good to pass up?" Tensei shrugged. "But he's alive! That's better than we ever expected, right? We probably even have a chance to get our friend back..."

"Don't hold your breath." Shouta inturreptued. "You weren't at the USJ. You didn't see him attacking the students. Even if he is Shirakumo on some level, he's firmly on the side of the villains."

"I guess you're right." Tensei groaned. "I just really wanted our friend back, you know? It'd be so cool! But I guess life's more complicated than that."

"Isn't it always?" Shouta was tired. He really wanted a nap, but he knew he'd never be able to sleep with everything that was going through his brain. What he needed right now was to get his mind off of everything, and if he was able to check up on a troublesome vigilante while he was at it, all the better.

"Have you seen Viridian since the attack?" Tensei asked for a moment. "Does he even know the details of the attack yet or are we just letting him get whatever's on the news for now?"

"Officially, no one's talked to him." Shouta scowled. "Unofficially, he probably knows just as much as we do at this point, if not more. I found out yesterday that Kacchan has been meeting him behind my back."

Tensei looked like he was trying not to laugh, "Well, you gotta give the kid points for taking initiative."

Shouta shot him an exhausted glare, "He knows what Viridian's quirk is."

"Wait, really?!" Tensei's eyes widened. "Why haven't you brought the kid in yet? Is his quirk not on the registry or something?"

"I said that Kacchan knew Viridian's quirk, not that he had told me." Shouta shook his head in frustration. "He absolutely refuses to give me anything except that it's apparently weak. That's all I've got."