WHOOPS! I DROPPED AN IDEA!
[•元•]
Kazuho Haneyama is skeptical. But she would be lying if she hadn't said that she was a little bit excited.
In her hand is a single piece of letter addressed to her made from a rough skin of a birch tree, written in clean cursives with black ink, and smelled strongly of pine. The sender was anonymous.
The letter was a surprise in itself. Nobody had ever known she had been alive for the past five years of hiding.
Not only did someone had actually found out the location of where she is, he had also acknowledged her specialty.
There is no other way to put it but 'it could be a trap'. But she remembered that she had cleaned up all her tracks when she came to Hokkaido. So if what this person is saying is true, then maybe there was hope after all.
Hope for someone else just like her.
Nonetheless, she needs to watch out for any chances of a foreign-looking person. God knows that they want more than just her ability.
She stopped in her tracks, looking at the marketplace while careful to not get caught in anyone's eye. She's anxious, terrified, but she needs to remind herself that she is now 15.
Her parents aren't watching her anymore, she should let herself know that this is all for their cause.
The bustling crowd around her broke her out of her thoughts. Even though it is currently way past 9 p.m., there are still dozens and dozens of brothels and pubs still open to the nightly.
She can hear the faint sounds from the brothel as she pasts by, she tries not to think very hard of it. After all, only the politicians and those alike are wealthy enough to get in there, and they didn't like a beggar-looking girl like her to be around.
"Patrols... damn them!" She thought to herself as she stopped by an intersection of the town. "I should wait until they leave, they might think I'm a burglar!"
Her breaths mark the air with a light fog. Sometimes she hated the winter, it always gave away where she was. But it's not like she couldn't... use her specialty... per se.
From the other side of the building she can hear footsteps of the Japanese Officers patrolling the area for any signs of criminal activities. Her heart got caught in her throat, and her body stiffens in accordance to the cold that envelops her.
"-running around at night." She heard one of them say.
His friend gruffly answered him, "Let 'em. The Quirked People will be dead by next winter, anyway."
"It isn't like we can't shoot 'em off right now, right?" One of them proposes.
"Are you shitting me? It'll cause too much ruckus! Hell, even First Lieutenant Togata is a Quirked! They keep too much tabs on the Quirked, is what I'm thinking. I say we kill them off, won't need any more of of 'em freaks around."
Kazuho stopped thinking at that moment. Wondering if she WAS meant to die a long time ago. Her abnormality wasn't supposed to exist in the first place. Could she say the same about herself?
As the Police Officers walked away from the intersection, lantern in hand and rifles clutched to their sides. Kazuho finally makes her move.
The night is not getting even darker, and she is wasting time to meet with the man who had, again, known about who she is.
Suddenly, she felt angry. What if all of this was a ruse, just to humiliate someone like her like how they always did. Will her hope of vengeance for her loved ones be fulfilled?
Not long after she finds herself standing in front of some rundown bar in the middle of the town. Oak door and walls painted white with dust-ridden windows illuminating from the inside.
She knew that she had found herself in front of a bar because she could smell the alcohol from a mile away. This place wasn't meant for her.
With a big gulp, she braces herself to go in. Once inside, she realizes her biggest nightmare is in the room with her: a company of drunkards.
"They're probably veterans from the civil war. Typical, old men..." Kazuho thought, looking at each and every bloated old man in the room. "They hadn't noticed me just yet, so that's good."
There is another problem that came to mind: where is this person who wanted to meet her so badly? She came all this way, didn't she? So where is he at?
And then, like an elephant in the room, her eye catches the sight of emerald green next to the counter.
But that's not only what made her practically puzzled. The mere stature of the boy is, frankly, not fitting in place. To explain it shortly: he is young.
Could this be the man? Kazuho fears that she could be wrong.
The... teenager then turns his head, looking at her straight in the eye with his crimson ones. His face can be seen ridden with tiny freckles to fit with the childish look that he has. But when he half-smirked at her the moment they laid eyes on each other, Kazuho realized that she's staring at the man she had been looking for.
She got up to him, taking notes of his seemingly unruly hair of forest green. Kazuho immediately knew what to do in these situations: hold her nose high and attain dominance.
"You there..." She said sharply. "Are you perhaps Midoriya Izuku?" She asks him in a sort of whispery, demanding voice as she places her hand on her hip.
The boy merely chuckles and nods, in his hand he holds a glass of transparent liquid, yet smelling a faint bitterness. "Vodka? I guess that's a trend these days..." Kazuho thought.
"Will you accompany me?" Midoriya Izuku seemingly asks.
Kazuho is taken aback, is his hospitality this good or is he actually asking her to drink with him?
"I'll... pass..." Kazuho turns him down. She couldn't lie to him when it came down to alcohol tolerance.
"Oh, no worries, you look too young for these drinks anyway." Midoriya Izuku says with a slightly awkward-ish laugh. "I am merely asking you to sit with me."
"Sure. I can do that." Kazuho blurts out. She manages to throw him the most convincing smile before asking, "So... what business did you want with me?"
Midoriya Izuku himself is looking like he is affixed to Kazuho's face. Her uncomfortable expression makes him realize his mistake.
"A-ah sorry..." Izuku says as his face starts to red. "It's just that... I never thought you'd be cuter in person."
"Geh?!" Kozuha yelps, her face flushes instantly.
Oh, how Kozuha wants to prove him wrong so badly. Every time she looked at herself in the mirror, she needed to be reminded of her disgustingly curly hair! How can he say that so easily?"
"D-don't joke around!" Kozuha said angrily, her mind spinning. "Just start with why you're here to meet me!"
"Well..." Midoriya Izuku starts, rubbing the back of his head with obvious embarrassment. "Before we start, I'd like to apologize for suddenly calling you out like this. I know how you've been in hiding for years, and considering who you are you're probably less than prepared to meet me right now, but I just want to let you know that this is urgent-"
Something dread came to Kazuho's mind. She just realized that this person is a chatterbox!
"Look," Kazuho says as she stops Midoriya Izuku mid-sentence, "whatever your deal is, I ain't gonna hear it. I just want to know why you want to talk with me and how you've found me."
The instant she demanded all those things, one thing was clear on her mind: she can't really trust this person. In the last few years she'd been living in Hokkaido, nobody had ever recognized her, not even the Japanese Police. But suddenly, out of nowhere, he began to ramble on about her like she had been his best friend.
This is new territory to her, and she needs to tread it carefully.
"Right... yes..." Midoriya Izuku says with a cough as he straightens his purple tie. "A-anyway... I know how it feels for you to be suddenly called out of the blue. I apologize, but it's only because I have something to offer."
"Oh... a client..." Kazuho almost wanted to slap herself in the face at the slightest thought of him considering her more than a worker doing his dirty deeds.
She didn't liked to admit it, but she used to put her specialties into questionable uses.
"Alright..." Kazuho said with a sigh. "I just hope you know what you're bargaining with."
Something lit up in Midoriya Izuku's face. "Well, of course! After all, the only reason I came to you in the first place is that I know you're the only one who could do it!"
"Ok, bud," something is ticking Kazuho off. Whether that is because some random guy just took her as someone who'll do anything for him for any price, or because the same guy looks like he doesn't even know what he's getting himself into.
"lets make this clear, alright?" Kazuho said harshly, "You don't understand who you're talking to, and therefore, I don't think you know what you're trying to bargain with. So I suggest this, bub, go back where you came from. Maybe they'll be shallow enough to be paid by you."
With a huff, Kazuho begin to stand up. Maybe she hasn't made it clear yet that she didn't wanted to take anymore requests. She plans to go home and contemplate on her decisions, how naive she was to believe this man had promised her something.
"Ah, wait! Before you leave!" Midoriya Izuku raises his voice. "There is something I'd like you to see."
"Whatever it is you can shove it up your ass!"
"Even if it's a pardon from the Emperor himself?"
Kazuho suddenly falls ill, her gut clenches in utter disbelief. She looks back at him, a glare full of daggers shot at his way.
That is when she sees a little worn out paper being hold in front of the now standing Midoriya Izuku.
A little worn out paper... which was unfortunately a photo of her and... another young men.
"This is you, correct? About five years ago, today?" Midoriya Izuku presses on.
With a clench of her fists, Kazuho faces him. "... So what? A lot of people did photoshoots, who wouldn't? It's an American product!"
"Yes, but, the one who is in this photo is you." Midoriya Izuku says. "The last known kunoichi and descendant of a shinobu: Pop Step."
Kazuho is frozen, literally rooted to the ground. Even if she did used her talent to ditch it and ran, there was no telling what Midoriya Izuku can do afterwards.
Frankly, she knows nothing of Midoriya Izuku, and for that it made him twice more dangerous than he seems.
"You still have a question to be answered, right?" Midoriya Izuku offers her a table again. "Should we continue? I promise to make it worth your while."
Midoriya Izuku is questionable, Kazuho concludes. But still, she can't lie but to say that he had caught her interest with the face that managed to find any tracks that she had left behind. And that's saying something.
So Kazuho decides to sit and listen to whatever he has to say. "Worth my while, huh? How can someone like you possibly do that?"
Then, after a quick sip from his little shot of poison, Midoriya Izuku reaches towards the gap between under the counter front and the seats. From there, something gleaming catches Kazuho's eyes.
A sword, katana to be exact, sheathed in red and green cloth with a beautiful sakura tree guard right between the mouth of the sheath and the handle.
The metal that formed the guard itself is already shining silvery bright under the lantern filled room. The pattern on the sheath reveals the look of cherry blossoms falling in the wind painted in a shiny color of black.
"Your family served the shogun, didn't they?" Midoriya Izuku rhetorically asks her before he pulls the sword slowly of out its socket. "Then you'll know the similar patterns of flowing water the Damascus Steel makes."
Kazuho can't believe her own eyes as they fall upon the sight of the katana blade. When opened, the steel was so rich in color she could make out the colors of the waterfall ricocheting off of it. "Damascus steel..." she thought in awe, "how could he obtain such a... just who is he?"
"After all," Midoriya Izuku adds as he inserted the blade back to its rightful place, "only families true to the shogun had ever held such high-quality steel."
"That is how I got in contact with you, too." Midoriya Izuku tells her. "Your family was very popular, even in today's time. Well... considering how you all lived in the dark, I guess the ones who did knew you also knows about your feats. Including me, of course."
"How come I have never heard of you?" Kazuho asks him.
"The same way I've never heard of you." Izuku notices the puzzlement in Kazuho's face before adding, "I mean, no offense, but I only knew of your existence after I learned about your heritage."
"I see..." Kazuho says with a rather sad look on her face.
"I'm sorry... is this too much for you to digest?" Izuku worriedly asks her.
"No... it's just..." Kazuho lets out a dry laugh as she stares at the floor. "I never thought that after all this time, anyone from under the shogun's reign would come after me."
Izuku ponders upon her statement. "True. Back then, if this was to happen, it's because you've broken a vow and I'm here to execute you!" He says with the most innocent smile.
"Are you, though?"
"Of course, not." Izuku laughed it off before grinning darkly at her. "If I did, I would've done it days ago!"
Kazuho can't do anything but to smile awkwardly. It's not his joke, it's because she knows that maybe this was all too much for her to handle.
"So, why then?" Kazuho asks him as she leans towards the counter. "Why did you came to me? Why now and why me?"
"Because," Izuku begin as he also starts to lean back, "like I said before, you're the only one who can do it. And, well, have you ever heard of one Tsar Nicholas the Second?"
"The Russian Tsar?" Kazuho thought with confusion. "What's that gotta do with anything?"
"He is a Quirked, just like us." Izuku reveals.
But such revelations meant basically nothing to the likes of Kazuho, frankly because after her family severed ties with the leaders of the nation there was no reason for her to go back again.
She merely nods, awaiting for Izuku's next reply.
"There was a rumor that he is assembling his own army of Quirks as a form of terrorism in Japan. Some even say that thy are recruiting the Japanese." Izuku explains. "Have you heard of the attacks in Tokyo, Honjo, Kyoto, et cetera?"
Kazuho furrows her eyebrows at this. True, rumors do go around even in Hokkaido, but she didn't expect some of them to be true.
She had never seen a Russian until that one time she came across a family of Ainu people emigrating from the north. She always thought that they were just that, fishermen. But if the words flying around her really were true, then there's no doubt that her position might be in danger.
"You might already have known about the Russo-Japanese War brewing in the far south. No more men left to look after the country as they all went to war, right?" Izuku says. "That is why, I had thought that it might be a good idea to assemble a team of our own."
Kazuho can't help but to scoff. "A team? You mean like, an actual team of superhumans?"
"Well, yes, if you'd prefer to refer ourselves like that." Izuku nods.
"Sorry to burst your bubbles, chief. But as you can see, there aren't many of us left." Kazuho says without a hint of mercy. "Even you tracking me down was just luck."
"What if we did it together, though?" Izuku tells her. "Shouldn't our odds be increased gradually?"
"That is if there's another Quirked alive!" Kazuho retorted. "I've never seen one in years, and I don't even know what you can do. Sure, that katana can only by held by someone with the title of a Quirked, but how can I know you didn't just leech it off of someone?"
Sure. Her skepticism was questionable, but she had good reasons merely because the fact that something she had experienced many years ago.
"I know, I get it, I'm the last person you want to trust right now." Izuku says. "But if we don't do anything, we're still going to decline. And the faster we decline, the lesser there are of us to leave a mark in the future. Do you really want that?"
"I..." Kazuho almost bit her bottom lip, but her cheeks did clenched. He was twisting words now, and she hated it. "You know that's not possible..."
"Why is that?"
"Because heroes don't exist anymore..." Kazuho hated saying that, she really did. It wasn't because she knew that there weren't any chance of the golden age to come back again, it was because even if someone did tried to play hero, more and more unwanted troubles are caused.
It was for a good cause, she believes, when people who tries to take justice to their own hands no longer exists.
"But that's wrong." Izuku suddenly says, his tone sounded more like a growl than anything. "Even if you believed that we Quirked no longer runs the justice system, justice in itself can never be abolished! Even in this lawless world that we live in!"
Kazuho feels herself being put in a corner, she can't understand the fire raging inside Midoriya Izuku's eyes.
This man isn't playing around, he actually believes in these heroes. Kazuho wants to choke on her own ironic chuckles that escape her mouth.
Maybe... just maybe... what he's saying is true? Does he really want to revive the golden age of heroes.
With a small smile, she decides to ask him something. "Do you really think that we can-"
She stops.
She sees something right at the corner of her eye.
A nozzle of a gun pointing straight at her.
"GET DOWN!" Izuku suddenly shouts as he pulls Kazuho by the shoulder.
Little did the shooter know that Izuku is fast. Faster than most human, maybe it's because of his Quirk, or maybe it's because of his constant body-shaping training. Whatever it is, thanks to that, his katana swung right into the shooters wrist before the gun and his hand fall to the floor with a thud.
Kazuho was out of harms way, thanks to Izuku who pushed her beforehand. The sound of a man crying out in pain fills the pub.
"EEEAAYYAAAAHHH! MY HAND! MY HAND!-SLASH! THUNK!"
Kazuho watches as the head of the shooter rolls at her direction, blood trails squirted off the neck, which was cut cleanly like she has never seen before.
The pure disgust that builds up in her stomach is immediately set aside when she realizes the uniform of the man who had just tried to shoot her from behind the counter.
"I-IT'S A JAPANESE OFFICER!" Kazuho screams in pure thunder-stricken expression.
The drunkards around them finally notices the ruckus, and the disembodied head on the floor. Like a hers of wildebeests, they all start to scramble.
"SHIT! THEY'RE FIGHTING HERE?"
"OH MY GOD... RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"GYAAAAH! THE POLICE ARE HERE TOO?!"
Izuku grits his teeth in pure anger, and Kazuho can see the veins popping out of his whitening knuckles. The girl is already on her stances, ready to activate her Quirk to jump out harms way. But when she sees the state that Midoriya Izuku is in, she is suddenly filled with wary and fear.
The young man in front of her, while holding a blood stained sword, gives off the most worrisome aura Kazuho has ever felt.
The darkness of the night that envelops his form still can't hide the murderous feel that spreads out towards every direction.
He is muttering, Kazuho can't hear it but it certainly isn't worth listening to judging from the dead looks on his eyes.
Kazuha wants to lash out. No, she NEEDS to lash out. She can see the flashlights of the patrolling police officers shining right from outside the bar, this is NO time be muttering about anything!
"Hypocrisy in power..."
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS THIS INSTANCE!"
"... bloaten' old drunkards running politics..."
"I WON'T ASK AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKER!"
"... uneducated swines running around our country, doing whatever they like..."
"ALRIGHT, MEN! KILL THIS FREAK!"
"... and I'm the freak?"
Izuku shoots Kazuho a look of homicidal rage, before shouting at her, "BACK THE FUCK AWAY!"
The girl hasn't had time to prepare herself for what was coming, she didn't even knew what was coming. But from the looks of it, it's not going to be pretty.
Her shinobi instincts kick in as her feet leaps her up towards the ceiling, several times higher than what an average human can.
From above, Kazuho can see Izuku emitting faint red sparks all over his body as he pulled his katana back. The blade, as the watery metal gleams in the light of the torch, begin running with numerous little red lightnings.
His move was short, unseen even. And when it's done, right when the tip stops at the other end of his body, a surge of power is released.
SLASH!
KA-POW!
Kazuho can't believe her eyes. She had seen numerous of Quirked men doing extraordinary things, but the young man who had just blown her away with just a single attack - along with the rest of the pub.
"KYAAAAH!" Kazuho squeals in fear for her live as she clings into one of the roof beams next to where she had been.
"The sheer force of that sword swing is terrifyingly powerful! Just... who the hell is he?!"
Kazuho can't think straight for a full four seconds before everything passes as if nothing had ever happened.
The girl stares in awe at the destruction below: it is a miracle that the pub is still standing, considering that the entire front wall had been cut clean in a diagonal line.
When Kazuho's feet lands right at the floor, she is surprised that no debris of wood came to scrape at her sandals. By the looks of it, everything in front of Midoriya Izuku had been cut and blown away from him.
Kazuho shoots a worrisome glance at the young man who stares at his massacre with eyes shimmering with agony.
"Do you see?" Izuku suddenly said. "Do you see how easy it is to kill people? Imagine that once we've armed every person in Japan with machine guns..."
Kazuho stays silent, she keeps herself reminded of when the day the industries began to take control of the world, and how she couldn't do anything about it.
"I-it's the way of life..." Kazuho tries to reprimand. "I mean, everyday we keep finding more and more ways to kill ourselves. How would playing hero make any difference?"
"Because there would be order." Izuku responds, sitting at a nearby seat lightened by the bright of the moon. "We make guns, sure, but if we keep the guns away from them-"
"No gun injury." Kazuho finishes with a slight tone of exasperation. "Yeah, I know, your point? What the hell do foreign imports of firearms have anything to do with the Quirked?"
"Because mere guns can't kill The Quirked." The young men lets out a faint smile. He gazes at the blue moon above them, a look of melancholy fills his expression. "Wouldn't it be good if absolute power is the symbol of protection and order of our country? Imagine how great it would be for the whole nation if everyone's absolute?"
"And you're optimistic," Kazuho asks him, "that this vision of a great country is exactly like how good it sounds?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Because it sounds like a load of pipe dreams."
"And how would you describe a perfectly formed nation?"
Kazuho can't come up with another excuse, and lets out a loud snort. "And you don't think nobody will come after us? Not even the Tsar, the Japanese Military, or even the many, many Quirked criminals of Japan?"
Izuku chuckles at her. "Remember when I said that you will get pardoned by the Emperor once you've joined me? I'm not lying.
"I plan to exact justice on everyone in the world! Once I've bargained with the Emperor, I will not only create an organization of superhumans, I will create a symbol of peace for Japan, and the rest of the world.
"We are one step away from a just and fair world, and I mean that for everyone. Even if it includes the corrupt police forces roaming freely around Japan and the criminally dangerous Quirked locked up behind bars.
"I see a society as a whole, and I see society now as a puzzle piece ready to be put back together again." Izuku takes in a deep breath before he glances at Kazuho.
"And... what do I gotta do?" The girl asks him with her arms crossed.
Izuku eyes her for a moment before smiling sincerely. He stands up, cleans his pants, before walking up to her. "Will you shake my hand?" He asks her.
"And risk my life hunted down and tortured for the rest of my life?" She sarcastically responds. "I don't know..."
Izuku merely laughs. "I was wrong the whole time about you." Noticing Kazuho's confusion, Izuku adds, "I have never met someone so clever yet so pretty."
Kazuho feels her cheeks burning, but she isn't going to fall into this trap again. "Oh? And what makes you think that I'm all that?"
"I am never wrong." Izuku states.
"And what if we're still hated?" Kazuho asks him, her nose flaring. "Folks like us aren't even worth much these days."
"And we'll stay the same if we choose to believe that way." Izuku retorts gently. "Don't you want to change people's views on us? Don't you want everyone to accept you for who you are?"
"Not gonna happen."
Izuku then slightly hits the back of his palm on her shoulder. "You won't know if you haven't tried. Besides, I believe otherwise."
"You're asking for suicide, bub." Kazuho returns his gesture with a slight hesitant nudge on his shoulder.
"Then I'd rather die together."
"No offense," Kazuho starts, "but from what I saw, you don't seem like the type of guy who can be taken down easy."
"Hehe, that's true." Izuku laughs awkwardly. "I really only die if I let the grim reaper even touch me."
"You have a humor I'll never understand, Midoriya-san."
"Please," Izuku chuckles, "Call me Izu. My friends call me that, too."
Kazuho scoffs. "And what makes you think we're friends?"
"Well, I'd rather not have you call me Deku the Death God. Only those who fear me calls me that."
The girl that hears that nickname suddenly feels a chill running down her spine, until she is brought back to reality when she saw his hand offered to her.
Kazuho can only think of one thing, "If I'm gonna do this, there's no turning back, huh? Becoming a protector of justice, hunted down by bandits and killers, rushing headfirst towards the gunshot... am I really ready for this? Will all of this be worth it?"
She tries to ponder upon her question one more time, until she hears the voice of a male on the back of her head saying: "Always help those who are in need of help."
The philosophy that she had forgotten years ago, suddenly came echoing in her ears again.
"Never hesitate to do the right thing." It said again.
Kazuho can only shake her head in rid of the tiny voices inside her had with a look of utter annoyance.
"That man had always been like that." Kazuho flashes back towards her memories. "This Izuku Midoriya... is no different..."
The both of them finally settle on their first agreement: to work together. Quirked and Quirked, both are aiming towards a brave new world.
[•終•]
[A/N]
• Russo-Japanese War :
A war fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.
• Kunoichi :
Kunoichi is a term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu.
• Shinobi :
A covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerrilla warfare.
• Tsar :
An emperor of Russia before 1917.
• Meiji Era Japanese Police Forces :
During the Tokugawa bakufu (1603–1867), police functions were based on a combination of appointed town magistrates of samurai status, who served simultaneously as chiefs of police, prosecutors, and judges.
• Damascus Steel :
Steel made with a wavy surface pattern produced by hammer-welding strips of steel and iron followed by repeated heating and forging, used chiefly for knife and sword blades.
This is a Deku x Pop Step fic, for those that didn't know who Kazuho Haneyama is.
Heavily influenced by Golden Kamuy by Noda Satoru, go check that manga out. 10/10 read.
Feedback and follows are welcomed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes. Thanks for reading.