It was... Surreal.
Monsters she feared being more humane than humans. They were just as kind as her old neighbours. More gentle than the old folks of her old home. The few that had a more grounded form were taking great care to settle her and the others.
Amane had been guarded, tensed and coiled like a spring ready to release. But hours turned to days and the days stretched to weeks, the good will shown to them had whittled down her paranoia and it was hard not to. A roof over the heads and warms meals tend to have that sort of effect, coupled with how they were treated, Amane slowly but surely began to see herself accepting this as her new home.
Amane wanted to repay the favour.
So one day, she asked about what she can do for them. The person she asked this about simply gave her an endearing smile and said that praying to their Kami is more than enough.
It was this advice that irrevocable changed her fate.
~~~
"What is taking those idiots so long?" Grumbled one of the Daiguji. He was pacing back and forth in front of the All Might, albeit with a bit of a distance.
The Daiguji are nervous but they kept up a facade I. Front of the the symbol of peace, even as the man was locked in a mental prison that one of the robed Daiguji was having a visibly hard time maintaining. They couldn't have him find out that the blessing they relied on has expired early. They were fearful of what happened to the Naishoten, to have bearer of the blessing fall was something never heard of before. They immediately wanted to leave as soon as they felt the cold dread climb their spirits when the grace of their Kami disappeared but they were also loyal to a fault.
Even if they already succeed in their mission, they didn't want to leave without the Naishoten who they saw as a family.
Truth is, they are absolutely terrified.
Their actual combat capabilities are only slightly better than the average person. They achieved their rank of Daiguji primarily by ceremony and service, most of their current strength came from blessings or relics that they were cleared to use.
As for why they were the ones chosen to partake in this mission? Self-control.
Most of their religion's members are either hedonists, eccentrics or extremists. It has been decided that they, relatively stable members of valid authority, would be the ones to hit U.A. while the others were delegated decided to hit less sensitive targets such as parks or busy street crossings or hero agencies.
They were even entrusted with the [Woven Sky], a valuable space-trapping relic the size of a snow globe with every centimeter of it's surface littered with seals.
Truly, being handed with this mission left them wanting to prove themselves.
Now, however?
Their confidence was disappeared as soon as the explosion began, a telltale sign of the Naishoten's blessing being gone.
Sure, they also have blessings and boons of their own, one befitting of their ranks and contributions to their Kami. The Naishoten on the other hand? She was a cherry-picked child personally favoured by a Kami.
If her blessing failed, then theirs wouldn't even stand a chance. Especially so when they didn't even know a blessing from a Kami would fail.
They have seen and heard of others who tried the same, all of them failed without exception... Until now.
So yes, they are scared. Quite terribly so.
And their fears only grew when the Daiguji who left to collect the Naishoten didn't return. Even more so when the one holding All Might at bay was grunting from the strain of maintaining their quirk.
~~~
"I want those three tied yesterday! Do none of you know how to tie a knot?!" Screamed that blonde Pomeranian at the few people around him. "And did any of you even pat them down, huh?!!"
"Stand down Bakugou! There's no need to raise your voice." Momo lightly chastised him, though most of the heat isn't there as it was instead replaced with exhaustion. All of us were tired, the Pomeranian is just an outliner, even the Momo looks worse for wear. The Prez made some ziplocks in her hand and gave them to the one next to her. "Use these, and please make sure that they're properly bound. Also, have any of you checked their person for any weapons? If not, please check for any. We wouldn't want them to cause another commotion."
I walked up to them. "Hey Prez, I was wondering if you're gonna get info outta them? Only fair if we get some payback, right?" I struck my knuckles together to exasperate my point.
"What? No!" She exclaimed. "I understand if you're feeling frustrated, Akiyama-kun, but this isn't something that we should do!"
"And why not? C'mon Prez, they're villains! They deserve what's coming to them!"
"I hate to say it, but I agree with the Nimrod- Shut!" He pops tiny explosions in his hands when I was opening my mouth. "These fu***** villains came here and maimed da** near everyone. We want answers, Ponytail. And if I have to beat it out them, the better."
"K-kacchan, you can't! That's not how Heroes work!"
"Oh, great. Cinnamon roll here probably has another lecture on being a goody two shoes. What next, giving them flowers and chocolates?" I sneered at the wimp. Honestly, the guy could use a bit more of a spine.
"Shut it, Deku! No one asked for your opinion!"
"Geez, do you ever tone down your voice, or is it because your quirk is turning you deaf?" Momo look relieved to see the two of them coming over as she slid to their side.
"Say that again, I dare you, Ears." He narrowed his eyes into a glare. "I dare you. See if I don't blast that other ear."
"Kacchan...."
A shiver went down my spine. And by the looks of it, I wasn't the only one. Bakugou kept up his facade of confidence but with his cold sweat was visibly moving. He met the protagonist's gaze, clicked his tongue and strode to the now-bound idiot trio in robes.
"Oi." Before anyone said anything, he slapped one of them hard, jolting them awake as the goody trio behind us chastised him. "The fu** went into your heads to attack U.A.?" They glared at him but kept quiet. Bakugou slapped him again. "Answer me, da-" He got spat in the face. "You piece of- come 'ere you-!"
"Bakubro, no!" And now his definitely-not-a-boyfriend came along to drag him away. From how smug Jiro is, she's probably the one to have called him over. Gotta admit though, the guy has some pretty good tolerance if he can move like that with those stab wounds.
Which reminds me.
"Hey. Which one of you is responsible to... Whatever it is that's going on here." He kept quiet. "Still not talking, huh? Well, it's a good thing you have this anti-dying field going on. Because what's gonna happen next isn't kid friendly." I winded my arm and prepared to throw a BOOSTED! Jab and-
Someone tapped my shoulder.
~~~
'How does one pray?'
Is what she asked the old priest once upon a time.
His reply was that prayer comes not from the thoughts, but from the heart. Who you pray to, what you pray of, where you pray from, when you pray and how you pray are of little importance. So long as your prayer came from a sincere heart, it was a prayer in every shape and form.
'There were those that hunt and offer part of their game and those that farm and offer part of their harvest. There were those that offer everything to their faith and those that only give a few coins occasionally. There are those who won battles and won wars, and there were those content to pray in solitude... Each person has their own way of praying, child. But for many, it all begins with saying a simple prayer of gratitude.'
'Gratitude?'
He nodded. 'A simple prayer of thanks before a meal. A simple prayer of thanks for bouts of luck. Even a simple thanks for witnessing another day.' He set his gaze over the non-existent horizon. 'Life isn't just about the grander things and lofty goals. Sometimes, it is the smaller things that prove to be of weightiest in importance.'
And it was so that she prayed.
Amane began fostering her faith, a gateway towards a deeper end. With the right words at the right time, a girl who was broken down into pieces, and then broken down again just as she was being rebuilt, is now unknowingly moulding herself to a new worldview; an ideology built on the whims of it's Kami.
She found herself building a rapport with more individuals of the religion as well as the others who came with her.
And for a time, the girl found herself enjoying life again.
~~~
"Where are they?! They're taking too long!"
"They might have gotten caught or something..."
"I don't I can hold on for much longer!"
"We have to make a decision soon."
"Alright, fine!" One of them turned to the one that imprisoned All Might in a psychic prison. "Pull through for one attack and knock him out! I don't know how much time that'll buy us but we need to move fast immediately after."
"Rushing through a rescue? I mean..."
"We just need to touch them! It'll be over pretty quickly. In and out, just like that."
"Hey, you ready? On the count of three!"
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
The figure released a psychic burst that rattled All Might's psyche and knocked him out, blood dripping from his nose as he laid on the floor.
The number one Hero might be lauded as one of the strongest there is with the determination to match, but even someone of his stature is susceptible to psychic attacks.
Sub-abilities of psychics that affect the mind such as telepathy and mind-reading are rare, but stronger ones are usually poached at the earliest signs and kept in reserve. For a psychic attack to make the symbol of peace bleed? That is attributed to the Daiguji's blessing.
As soon as All Might fell, the Daiguji immediately made their way out to the field. The pit in their stomach grew as they didn't hear a single clash of blades. When they came out to the field, instead of the sound of violence they were expecting, what greeted them was a mob of people in various states of recovery with their friends tied up and knocked out in one corner surrounded by a handful of other students.
Civilians, students, Heroes... The Daiguji felt dread as the gazes of everyone concentrated on their location.
Just as one of the Daiguji prepared to unleash his gift, another person suddenly appeared in front of them and struck with enough force to send them flying to the wall.
"...huh?" Said Kenta dumbfoundedly as he lowered his arm. "What the?"
While most of the Daiguji were groaning in slight delirium, one of them came to their senses faster than the others and fired a concussive blast of pure kinetic energy headed straight for Kenta.
The boy was struck at the side and fell on his bottom, hurt but not incapacitated. Though, this brief period did give the Daiguji enough time to reorient themselves as one of them fired a grappling hook-like object.
The Daiguji took hold of the wire and swung it around as it soared through the air. At the end of the wire is a weird metal tip that detached from the rest committing wire. Immediately, it began to pull other people towards it with great suction, the air and light rippled as the space around the item warped erroneously. The great pulling force kept dragging anything to itself as the thing began to slowly travel back it's trajectory in reverse.
Nearly everyone was keeping themselves and others near them from being pulled in, but unfortunate people that couldn't hold on flew towards the pseudo-singularity with only the echoes of their screams remained. The horrific show turned a few pale and sick as they redoubled their efforts to stay rooted.
As everyone tried to keep their distance from themselves and the item in question, the Daiguji remained unaffected from the effects and hurriedly collected their fallen allies, much to the frustration of the people watching.
There were some that tried and failed, their ranged attacks being sucked in such as Tokage losing her hands and Bondo wasting his cemedine. Those with crowd control methods such as Ibara and Sero risk their stability while those like Shinsou were promptly ignored as the priests were too focused on their goal.
As the Daiguji rounded up their allies akong with one of the Naishoten's body, one of them muttered something under their breath and the patchwork sky unraveled back into the blue noon sky. Afterwards, they wasted no time as they used another item to escape, leaving everyone to tide the pseudo-singularity by themselves.
Four minutes later, when the item returned to the original spot of there the Daiguji pulled the trigger, the item collapsed into itself and disappeared out of existence much to the relief of everyone there.
At the end, the attack of the Neo-Shintoists were a success and they managed to escape.