Matsuru always thought he had a rather quick reaction time. With his quirk, Judgement Gaze, he's able to quickly discern any minute movements with his opponent. Whether it be a quickened heart rate, a short inhale, or the tiniest handshake. Usually, using these observations with his heightened cognitive state, he can make an estimation on what his opponent will do and quickly act on it within fractions of a second. This, of course, has its share of downsides. Namely, he has to be focused on the enemy. If they are a skilled opponent, any subtle movement can be the meaning between life and death.
He always knew he had a quick reaction time. But he also knew believing yourself to be the best at anything is a surefire way to have your hubris be the end of you. He always knew others around him were better, or more skilled, at many things than he was. It was upsetting to him, but it was reality.
Matsuru always held a rivalry towards Yusuke. He disagrees with many things he does, and holds contempt towards him when he comes ahead of him. But, there is one fundamental truth Matsuru learned from their early years of sparring against each other.
Yusuke always had a quicker reaction time. He could read their emotions, something Matsuru could never do. Matsuru always saw this as an undeniable truth, that his "unbearable rival" had the quickest reactions he had ever seen.
Matsuru never saw Clap attack Hebi and Haru. He barely registered Yusuke stepping in to defend the two students. What he did see was his cousin get skewered by a dozen tentacles and fall onto the floor a bloodied body.
He froze for what felt like an eternity. His muscles clamped up, his eyes shaking, his mind screamed at him to run for help but his legs refused to cooperate. Images kept flashing through his mind of that night he encountered Keyaru. The first, and what he hoped to be the last, night he fought against a Nomu.
The mangled corpses of all the poor bystanders flashed through his eyes. Some of their faces were contorted in screams, some in shock, and others into indescribable emotions. That sinister laugh echoed as well, Keyaru’s ominous words ringing.
““Know this, Sherlock… Our little dance won’t end tonight. Soon, when the time comes, we will see eachother again. And when we do, let’s finish our danse macabre!”
Is that what he meant? Another massacre? Is this vengeance? A sick play? Nothing more than the whims of a careless madman acting as God? More and more thoughts and what-if’s kept circulating. And in those few moments where the Observant Hero, Sherlock stood still, he felt truly hopeless.
As he was just about ready to snap, a sudden silence filled his mind. It was loud, soft, peaceful, and pure nothingness at the same time. He could have sworn he felt the presence of another person, or being, near him. He looked around, and he didn’t see anyone. Just a neverending landscape illuminated by the soft blue hue of a snowstorm.
Wait a moment… This mindscape… He’s been here before, and recently. He knows where he is.
Matsuru let himself to giggle a bit. “Snow Resplendence… Is this what you meant,
Harpy?” He called out to the empty snowscape, only to be met with his echoes. Last night, he went to visit Rin in her dorm. They were both sucked into this place. One of her… lets just call them *personalities* approached him, spoke to him, warned him. Were it not Ravens making an unexpected appearance (and nearly getting her head lobbed off) to deliver an ominous threat, he would say that his meeting with Harpy was the weirdest thing that happened that night.
Unsatisfied with his lack of answers, he settled with a status quo. He was locked in a dreamscape. Outside of here, his class and peers are being attacked by Nomu’s. Yusuke is down, but certainly not dead… “Wait, didn’t Yusuke tell me something beforehand?”
"I don't have time for your jokes. Please help my friend, Kanako...her mind is stuck inside the Nomu, we've trying to keep it still and it's a battle of attrition on our part, Senpai. Go inside her mind, I'm sure you felt Ladyice's telepathic Quirk too...those apparitions…
“Ok… I have so many questions… You better live through this Yusuke.” Matsuru muttered to himself. So, that presence he felt, it has to be Kanako… Who was Kanako? “Fuuuuck, not now brain.” He said in frustration. “Concentrate, Sherlock. Find that presence, make a tether… AND PULL!”
He felt some sort of link form between him and that presence. WIth a small prayer, Matsuru forces this link to pull his direction. In truth, he doesn’t know if this will bring Kanako back… He’s just hoping.
That mental tug was excruciatingly painful. It felt like someone hooked a rope onto his brain and tugged with all their might. As bad as it was, Matsuru held firm. Yelling out in a mixture of pain, defiance, and determination, he kept pulling at the “connection”. After what felt like an eternity, he felt the other end go slack… He did it.
Panting & recovering from that whole ordeal, Matsuru allowed himself a moment to think. Sitting down on the ethereal blue floor, he rested his hand on his fist and opened his mind. Activating his quirk, his brain started processing information at the rate of a super computer. Within mere moments, he had a plan. “These Nomu’s regenerate at a rapid rate. Their skin is near impenetrable, and they have no obvious weak spots… I have to kill it in one blow, and I will only have one shot.” He thought to himself.
Matsuru’s mind went again to his first encounter with a Nomu, but this time when Rin came to his aid. “When she used her quirk, a strong enough blast of ice seemed to stop its regeneration, if not slow it down… I know what to do.”
As if the dreamscape was responding to his wishes, he found himself returned to reality. Just in time to see Haru smite Clap with a ray of iridescent, radiating sunlight. Averting his eyes, Matsuru knew this would be his chance. He took a deep breath in, drowning out the noise and chaos. Soon, he couldn’t even hear the shrilling scream of Clap. The only thing he heard was his heartbeat, and the memories of his scolding father. The same speech that came to him when he was on the verge of defeat all those nights ago surfaced again.
*thump*“You are a Yaoyorozu, and that surname is everything to you.”
*thump*"It is your life, your light, your sacred duty."
*thump*"Above all, above everything and everyone else, above being a perfect hero. You will make sure to not abscond that name! Am I understood?”
*badump*
“Yeah, fuck you dad.”
Matsuru sprung forward, accelerating himself with a bit of flame manipulation at his feet. As soon as Haru’s display of power ceded, Clap was met with a corrosive-tipped spear lodged into its abdomen. Matsuru, holding onto the shaft, capitalized on Calp’s disorientated state and rushed the Nomu. He hoisted himself from the ground to the Nomu’s head. Matsuru saw up close and personal what Clap looked like. Or, at least, what was left. It’s face was singed and seared from the photon beam.
Matsuru clasped the Nomu’s head in a vice-like grip. Pushing down with all his might. Clap panicked, thrashing like a beached fish in an attempt to get Matsuru off of him. It was a struggle, but he stayed on. “May you be born away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.” He muttered to the Nomu. His words were like bile, laced with venom and spite.
He focused all of his willpower into his two hands. His left, a frigid cold. And his right, a hellfire. He grunted in pain, but he kept the temperature lowering and rising. After a brief moment, a flash and boom knocked Matsuru away, sending him a couple feet back.
He spat out blood, he heard ringing in his ears, he couldn’t feel his hands… But the headless corpse of the Nomu was splayed out five feet from him. Motionless. Lifeless.
