[•元•]
"He's awake..."
Denki groans in confusion, hearing the voice of a femal had brought him out of his subconsciousness.
With a quick beat of both eyelids, he adjusts himself to the sudden light that brightens his vision. He tossed and turned, trying to figure out what had made it so difficult to do.
Until he realizes the rope that tightened around his wrists.
"What... the..." He mumbles out, head tilting left and right. "What the..?!"
"Easy there." Said a voice to his right, hidden by the darkness of his still stinging eye.
In truth, his whole face seems to be in great pain, and he didn't knew how long he had been like this. And when the heat that envelops his body seems to be rising greater and greater, yet he could still feel the chill of winter, he realizes that he might be sitting somewhere near a campfire.
His eyes are still blurry and runny, his head stuck in a flurry of headaches, but he could make out the sound of footsteps in the snow.
"Can you see me?" The owner of the footsteps said. Male, Denki settled.
"Where am I?" It was the first thing that came to Denki's mind the moment he could make out the trees and the figures of two people dancing in his hazy vision.
But his question was never answered.
"Good." The male voice said. "You can talk."
Denki sees him walking past his leg, before proceeding to lean himself against the nearest tree. When he could suddenly make out a young face filled with freckles and green hair that bested the tree around them, something inside Denki churned.
"Oh, fuck!" He swears, throwing his head away from the other male. "You know, this usually never happens..."
"Yeah. I'll bet on that." Izuku Midoriya says with more than enough interest to roll his eyes. "How are you feeling, by the way?"
"Ask me that again once you've untied me..." Denki grumbles.
But then, his eyes suddenly falls upon the sight of Izuku Midoriya's companion. Namely, the female youth with wild bushfire hair gleaming from the campfire.
Denki can't lie to himself, it was like love at first sight.
"Well, I'll be damned..." Denki still manages to whistle. "How you doin', baby girl? I know I can feel myself getting a tad bit cramped up in here."
His smooth talk only brought Kazuho Haneyama, the girl that he tried to swoon, to make a face such full of disgust it could only be counted as a world record.
But Denki seemed more than relentless to pursue her.
"I don't know if it's the fire, or is it you, babe, that made me heated up like this?" He made the most, dazzling smile that he could make, while being perfectly aware of his beaten up face. "Because I know a red-hot spunk when I see one. And I'll tell you, girl! Just looking at your hair, as it was kissed by the most beautiful of fires, I can feel myself burning up with passion-"
"Your efforts are horrendously boring, let me tell you that." Kazuho sneers in response. "I can tell that you've never gotten laid in your entire lifespan."
Denki raises one of his eyebrow in a seductive way. "Well, I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but it sounded like you wanted to take my first time."
"You should really feel bad..."
"Alright," Izuku cuts them both off, "Denki, I want to ask you some questions."
Denki clicks his tongue. "I have nothing to tell ya'..."
"No?" Izuku sarcastically asks. "What about this, then?"
And before Denki knows it, something falls near his leg, something golden and shiny almost as if it was...
"How do you explain that?" Izuku asks again, pointing at the single gold nugget.
Denki pales. His eyes shimmering with dread and shock.
He is well known to be one of the most elusive criminals living to this date, but from what Izuku heard, Denki was quite popular for stealing valuables objects from unfortunate passengers.
The blonde also wears layers of clothes including a worn out kimono and sandals made out of interwoven plant barks. A clear sign of a traveling man.
It didn't raised any more questions of who he was and what he did. But for a lowly criminal such as himself, it was an oddity to see him with a Quirk like both Izuku and Kazuho.
The bushy haired girl also thought about that the moment Denki ambushed them. She knew what the Quirked meant to the nation in today's times, and how the empire treated them like some sort of long forgotten objects, replaced with much better ones to suit their needs.
She had no doubt of what kind of man Denki was: a thief, a menace, and a harasser.
But to see that he was also one of her kind...
"This gold was not in my satchel yesterday, nor have I ever remembered myself putting one in it." Izuku calmly said as he crouched near the tied up man. "Now... what we're you doing putting things where they don't belong?"
Denki stayed silent, until he suddenly bursts out laughing. "Dude... why do I care?! Like, come on, I have no idea where that nugget was from. I'm just a petty thief, alright? Why the hell did you think I tried to rob you?"
Izuku says nothing, his face also never seemed to change from the blank look that he gave the entire time he spoke to Denki. But then, he sighs, before picking up the gold nugget once more.
"This is worthless, then." Izuku says aloud, walking towards the campfire. "You won't mind if I destroy it, right?"
"... what?"
"And besides... it's not like this single piece of gold is real. Must've been a rock, painted golden with acrylic." Izuku says again, lifting the gold nugget just above his head. "So... what's there to do but to burn it?"
Kazuho stays solely by her own doubts and thoughts, she can't say that she agrees with him, nor can she say that she actually needed the gold. Her only better judgement of this was to do nothing, and hope that Izuku knew what he was talking about.
And, in an instant, Kazuho sees Denki Kaminari in a brink of yelling. He is sweating profusely, while tossing and turning, trying with all his might to free himself.
"Y-you're kidding..." Denki says in a shivery tone. "Do you even know how much that's worth?!"
"So it was real gold, then?" Izuku patronizes, walking closer and closer towards the fire. "Why put in my satchel, then?"
"Just take it!" Denki demands, gritting his teeth while yelling. "Just take the gold and let me go already!"
But his pleads are deem worthless as Izuku's arm begins to glow a bright red hue. "Why should I?" He growls to Denki.
And just like that, just as the little gold nugget begins to let out a little cracking sound between the tip of Izuku's fingers, Denki breaks.
"Stop! Stop! Wait! Don't break it, please!" He cries, pathetically kicking the snow under his feet. "Just... put the gold down, and we can talk..."
Kazuho furrows her brows, finding the situation quite troublesome. She had believed that The Lightning Bandit had some alternate motives, but she couldn't put a finger on why.
And when Izuku had finally made him to break, she couldn't help herself but to feel slightly interested.
The crimson glow on Izuku's hand immediately darkens before it disappears, he then places the gold nugget inside his suit pocket before finally approaching Denki once more. The false samurai bends down, gaining eye level with the other male.
Denki can feel himself shaking in his zori sandals, it wasn't the cold that was chilling his spine anymore, it was something else much more sinister.
He can see the gleam in Izuku Midoriya's eyes, resembling closely to that of a blade to his own katana. Yet, rather than a gleam of sliver-ish light, all that Denki could make out from the abyss that consumed him the moment he laid eyes at the samurai, was crimson.
The Lightning Bandit now knows that he has no other options than to submit. This man in front of him will not hesitate to kill.
Izuku finally asks him again, "Why were you trying to frame us?"
Kazuho listens from afar, furrowing her eyebrows at Izuku's question. She can't deny that it did looked like an attempted framing, but that raises the question of why. She can't put up a finger on who had the brightest idea to frame a well-known descendant of a samurai, but it might just be a random attempt.
Denki finally calms down before answering, "That gold don't belong to me. Some folks from Honshu owns them, you see. They came to Hokkaido looking for more."
"More?" Kazuho unknowingly says. "What more? The gold rush ended in 1878, people wasn't coming to Hokkaido no more since the placer mining in Bankenai stopped producing gold dusts!"
"But that's the thing!" Denki tells her. "There were no gold left in the rivers, or lakes, or even oceans. But these folks were greedy, you know? They started stealing 'em, from Ainu tribes."
Kazuho freezes, she can't believe the vileness that some people had. "Why?!"
Izuku then suddenly rams his fist at the tree bark right on top of Denki Kaminari's head. The Lightning Bandit seems bewildered, but Izuku merely gives him another homicidal look.
"Who the hell are these people?" Izuku hisses at the other male, before barking at his ear. "What do they want?!"
"E-easy, man!" Denki pleads, pulling his head away from Izuku's face. But the Bandit still has a confident gleam in his eyes. "T-they were a bunch of nobody's!"
"Then, where do you fit in?" Izuku suddenly lifts Denki by the collar, prompting him to stand up while his arm is till tied painfully to the tree behind him. "You are a Quirked, that's saying something, no? And it seemed to me like you had backstabbed these 'bunch of nobody's'. If I didn't knew any better, I'd say you were a Yakuza!"
Denki's eyes widen, he is speechless. And then, just as he was going to deny Izuku, the samurai rips the kimono off of the Bandit. And lo and behold, as it is lightened by the fire, a beautifully drawn tattoo, colored in red, black, and white all over, portraying the battle between two gods: Raijin and Fujin.
The tattoo spreads all over Denki's left side, his ripped kimono shows the true colors of the Lightning Bandit.
"God... dammit!" Izuku curses as he proceeds to release Denki, making the other man slouch down against the tree bark before flopping into the snow beneath. Izuku walks back towards the fire, still cursing. "Now we have bloody Yakuza in our hands!"
"Look, mate," Denki says aloud, still trying to plead for his life, "I'm not a part of them anymore, okay? Let's just... give me the gold, and pretend none of this ever happens, alright?"
"You stole the gold, didn't you?" Izuku asks him again, now his voice sounds deep and similar to that of a growl. "What could have possibly passed your mind to steal gold from Yakuza's?!"
Izuku walks back to him in a rather hasty way, making Denki catch himself off guard as his eyes fell upon the samurai's rage filled ones.
"Hey! Hey! Easy!" Denki kicks the snow below him to stop Izuku from ramming onto him. "W-WAIT! WAIT! I'LL TALK!"
Izuku looms over him, his arms crossed. "Go on..."
"Y-yes... these guys are more or less Yakuza's." Denki explains. "Y-you're right. I was trying to frame you for my crimes, okay?!"
Perhaps that would calm them down, Denki had thought. But he can't be so sure, maybe he can get them to be off of their guards before shocking them and the rope that binds him from behind to free himself.
"What did the Yakuza's want?"
Denki blinks out of surprise. It wasn't Izuku who had asked, but it was the girl behind him. She looks more or less interested, angry, and confused.
"What could they have possibly want from the Ainu?!" She yells at him, rather sharply.
Denki gulps, no trying to find out what the samurai's companion might be able to do when she's angry. "They want nothing. Just the gold. The Yakuza's really needed funds, and they were running out of it. A lot of it."
"Funds?" Izuku questions, his face darken. "Funds for what?"
This time, it is Denki who seems confused. "W-what? You're all Quirked aren't you?"
"And what does that mean?" Izuku presses.
"The Yakuza's are building a plan, aren't they?" Denki tells him. "That's why I came to Hokkaido in the first place. Said that I'll get paid a good price for my service or something."
"And what kind of service is that."
Denki scoffs. "Well, it's nothing now. Me and the rest of the junior Yakuza's had left long ago. I mean, all of us had our own reasons."
Now this is a surprise. "And that's why you stole the gold?" Izuku questions him again, exchanging shocked glances with Kazuho. "What did the Yakuza's want with Quirked people?"
"Heh, pretty quick to catch on, are you?." Denki chuckles, "But these people ain't no joke. They gathered the Quirked from different parts of Japan. But I guess the words didn't spread to Hokkaido. Months after the announcement spread, there were about 40 Quirked people working under them. Well... I mean, we all left... so that makes about zero."
"These Quirked... they were all Japanese?" Izuku asks.
"Well, yeah!" Denki nods rigorously, "The Yakuza's were a split organization off of the shogunate back in the Edo era, weren't they? Of course, since the Russo-Japanese War started in Port Arthur, they began to grow. The last thing they'll want would be to stain their lineage with foreign blood."
Izuku stands up, nodding to himself in understanding. He looks back towards the fire, before glancing at Kazuho. The girl catches his attention, which she merely responds with a throw of her look. She looks troubled.
Izuku looks back at Denki, who seems dormant. The samurai decides to leave him before approaching a Kazuho. He walks past his sword, which was being rested against another tree, along with the red of his equipment that had spilled out of his ripped satchel hours earlier.
Kazuho looks at Izuku once the two of them are merely inches apart, the two shares the same uneasy expression.
"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Izuku starts.
Kazuho nods without a hint of doubt. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing." Izuku simply says. "Their goals are still shady, we can't trust a Yakuza for what it's worth."
A silence, until Izuku decides to sigh.
"But... regardless, it's the easiest way there is." He settles.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... look at it this way: these people are onto something, something big. We know that because we're dealing with Quirks now." Izuku tells her, looking ever more so content. "I know that we can't trust Yakuza's for anything, but I can't just let this slide. We both have the same path, but different goals, as far as I'm concerned."
Kazuho makes a disbelieved look. "But you said—"
"I know what I said!" Izuku snaps under his breath. "And I am still skeptical. But we both have the same goal in mind, don't we?"
"No." Kazuho scoffs, almost as if she is trying to wake herself up from a dream. "No, of course not! My... weren't we the last of the race who were devoted to the shogunate? The same people who these Yakuza's were built up against?"
"Times have changed, Kazuho." Izuku tells her in a stern voice. "The shogunate is no more. There is only industrialization and modernization. The old times should be buried for it does not control us anymore."
"And whose to say the Yakuza's have changed?!" Kazuho hisses as she takes a step closer to him. "Weren't they the backstabbing savages, believing in their own stupid paths and oaths?!"
"And how does that makes us any different?"
"We're different," Kazuho presses, "because we aren't what we were anymore! You said that! I'm... I'm not going to meet some shady underground clan and beg for power! That's what you want, isn't it?! Power! You don't care about your so called 'better future'!"
"Kazuho!" Izuku shouts at her unknowingly, "This is not about that! This is about the chances of whether or not anyone would stand in our way! Power doesn't mean shit now! If you have money, you have power, that simple! As painful as it is for me to say it, the Yakuza now has the upper ground, and it doesn't look good for any of us. Do I think they're siding with the Russians? Americans? I honestly do not know, which is far worse. We don't live in the past anymore!"
The girl in front of him meekly stares back into the crimson eyes that burn embers with fury. The descendant of the Shinobi hangs her head down, pursing her lips as she did.
"For what is worth," Izuku continues, "we need to confine our suspicions for ourselves. What we're aiming right now is certainty. That the Yakuza does not involve with us any further. The gold in their hands, which we still don't know how much is worth, is being used for purposes that could threaten us. Kazuho... we need to check!"
Kazuho's face contorts into a look of irritation, "That Ainu gold... it doesn't belong to them... and you want to leave it like that?"
"... For whatever's necessary..."
"You monster!"
Izuku merely waves his hands aimlessly at the air, "Well what am I supposed to do, then?! Their gold is stolen, period. We don't have anything to do with that. But the Yakuza, however, knowing that they are employing Quirked, does!"
"Then, if not for me, do it for your damn cause!" Kazuho pleads.
Izuku blinks at her, in which she responds with a quick and painful tug at his collar. He is now a mere inch away from her red face, close to anger but not quite.
"Whether it was Yakuza, shinsengumi, or imperials, the root stays the same," Kazuho harshly tells him, "They are slimy snakes! Bandits, killers, and the likes! You want to restart the rebellion with them again? Fine by me! But the Ainu stays out of this!"
Izuku is taken aback by her sudden outburst. He watches her as she walks past him.
"You!" Kazuho says with ruthless eyes, mercilessly glaring at the tied up bandit who merely squeaks fearfully in return, "How much was that gold worth?!"
"8 m-m-million yen..." Denki manages to mutter out.
Izuku gasps silently, looking at the back of Kazuho's figure in surprise. He had expected that they had something close to a hundred thousand yen, but more than a million? His suspicions are proven true, this money gamble isn't an easy play, the Yakuza's are planning something.
"Those gold you stole..." Kazuho starts, her face darkens, "were they stained with blood?"
"I-I-I don't k-know!" Denki squeals pathetically, unable to move himself out of the devil's flames, "Honest! I'm a bandit, not a killer!"
"You said that there were 40 Quirked under the Yakuza's regime," Izuku suddenly asks, "Can you give us names?"
Denki, now with a trail of snot running down his trembling lips, slowly turns his shaken expressions to Izuku, "E-eh? I... er... well... there was this prostitute in Hakodate, she has this bright pink skin and can kill any men that touches her... then, there's the last descendant of the Kirishima Clan with blood of the Yamato people, known for his unkillable nature... a foreign advisor from France, working under the imperial administration, his work in espionage is quite possibly the best around... not to mention a weapons trader, with eyes as sharp as an eagle's, receiving commendatory letters from the head of the clans..."
These are informations Izuku has never heard of. Last he remembered about the Quirked was that they were being wiped out during the Satsuma Rebellion, and he knows only a dust out of the whole mountain of Quirked.
"Then there's this..." Denki continues, looking downwards with a heavy gaze, "A samurai, like you, with Emishi blood thought to be long gone, and the last of his Clan, Bakugou Katsuki."
Kazuho lifts her eyebrow, glancing past her shoulder towards Izuku, whose blank eyes speak a thousand words. The light of the flames dancing on his face as he smirks it himself.
"Bakugou Katsuki you say?" He remarks.
"You know each other, eh?" Denki scoffs, "The sword gave it away. The guy uses the same kind of flowing metal as you. I would've noticed if it wasn't for you trying to kill me."
"And the gold?" Kazuho asks again, "Do your pals still the rest of the 8 million yen?"
"Gone, remember?" Denki tells her, "We stole it all, gave it to the Yakuza, then we stole it again. We tried to evenly split it between us, but the head of the clan would just find out eventually. We had an epiphany, we couldn't share it in case one of us decides to tattle. We started killing each other for it. I, of course, ran away with a single piece. You know what you're bargaining now, but are you up for being chased by both the Quirked and the Yakuza?"
And so, that is their situation. Three factions, each with different goals. Yakuza wants their gold back, the Quirked wants the gold for themselves, and Izuku Midoriya and Kazuho Haneyama who, by the time Denki has finally finish his story, both have conflicted needs.
Izuku looks at his companion once more, needing an exact confirmation of what they should do next. When Kazuho turns around and walks away, she suddenly reaches toward Izuku's pocket before taking out the gold nugget from before.
"K-Kazuho?" Izuku asks in worry.
"The gold goes back to where they belong," Kazuho snaps nonchalantly, putting the nugget in her own small satchel near a tree, "Then, you can do whatever the hell you want."
She hasn't face him at all. Izuku merely sighs, trying to remind himself of the goal in front of him. Though, he could slightly understand Kazuho's chivalrous cause. He used to be in her shoes, after all. But when the Meiji Restoration came, he realized that he must grow up. Perhaps he is being selfish, but it is all for a good cause.
... One that Kazuho does not approve of, it seems.
"If we do this," Izuku starts, crossing his arms as he does, "then we're gambling with our chances as well. Do you know that? It wouldn't be just the Quirked to come after the money."
"I know," Kazuho shrugs, still refusing to look at him, "but what does that make me if I didn't? You wanted a perfect world, but what's so perfect about the minority being turned powerless by the misdeeds of others? I couldn't live with myself thinking that I could've done this long ago but I didn't."
"And if you fail?" Izuku presses, "Could you still live with yourself then?"
She then finally faces him, giving him a serious look, "Could you?"
Damn her, Izuku thinks. She knows well how to twist with his words. It is as if she has known him long enough after only three days. His ambitions are on the line, but he knows that. If he chooses to go forward, what would happen to the gold? What would happen if the Quirked got to the money before him? What happens if the Yakuza's decided to be distrustful?
But despite all of that, it is a path safe from the circumstances of dying. He is not gambling with money anymore, he's gambling with his and Kazuho's lives. Denki had confirmed it, it is a very dangerous game. But if he wins...
"Fine," Izuku decides, "we'll do it this way: once we search for the money, there's this problem of the Quirked who has the rest of the gold, if we can manage to get them to side with us, perhaps we can promise the Ainu for cooperation."
"As in?" Kazuho asks.
"Not rewards," Izuku reassures her, "but a trade deal. Or more specifically: a firm. They are the ones fighting in Port Arthur aren't they? And since they hold the money necessary for our cause, we can promise them protection in exchange for funds. After the war passes, only some of them would die in a satisfactory retirement, but even so none of us could promise a bright future for everyone, which is why this deal is the safest way we can reach our goal. We can call it a public demo, if you want."
Kazuho stays silent, her true thoughts are unknown to Izuku, who merely waits for her response patiently.
"The country is in disarray," Izuku adds, "everyone is killing each other, and the war isn't stopping as far as anyone could see. What we don't need now is an even bigger conflict. If we can create an equal ground for protection for every man and woman in the country, perhaps both our society might improve. Imagine, a world where heroes live once more as a Symbol of Peace and not tyranny."
"Psh..." Kazuho snorts in disbelief, "Look at you, talking about heroes when even you refuse to save the one who needs it."
"Who would you save?" Izuku starts asking, "One individual or the rest of the world?"
"Both," Kazuho answers him without a hint of doubt, "I would save both."
Izuku goes silent, "With a Symbol of Peace guarding us all, everyone would be of the same state of tranquility. We need everyone in the country on our side. It is for the greater good."
"... You can be so frustrating sometimes, you know that?" Kazuho suddenly sputters out, "Good cause this, good cause that, but when will it actually happen? All I see is rash decisions, fueled by the intense anger of your childhood trauma. Tell me, Midoriya Izuku, is the cause really for the people, or for your own selfish needs?"
Izuku says nothing in return. He looks back towards the idle Denki Kaminari, still tied to the tree as before. He tries averting his attention away from his conflicted feelings.
Kazuho's figure bends down towards the bark of a lone tree, there she proceeds to settle herself a bed on the mattress of leaves on top of the piling snow.
"Tomorrow we head to Sapporo," Kazuho tells him, settling into her seal fur coat as she nestles under the thick leaf blanket under a tree, "I know an Ainu settlement there. Once you get your info on your Quirked, you can do whatever you want."
Her figure slowly descents into slumber, leaving Izuku alone by the fire as the darkness slowly swallows her up.
The greenette hears a soft sneeze from behind him.
"You... uh... you don't mind sharing some of that coat, do you?" Denki asks him, smiling doubtfully in the process.
Izuku took a while to process his words before sighing. He reaches towards the pile of items that they had stacked on top of each other hours before. From the he pulls out another set of clothes from his bag and proceeds to lay them on top of the Lightning Bandit.
"Kacchan..." Izuku thinks to himself as the nights begins to grow ever so dark, the crackling of fire is the only thing keeping him company, "I don't know what to do..."
[•隙•]
In the darkness of the night, blood spills.
A man watches from the yearning of his own soul, towards the disgruntled look that he has in his own reflection.
The koi that swims in the pond immediately looks away from the man's gaze, though his attention is neither on the fish nor his face. However, there is a streak of crimson, running down the surface of the pond, mirroring back the chapped-lip man's smile under the waning moonlight.
As the ooze spreads to the homes of the pitiful koi, the man walks away with a satisfactory smile. His geta clicks on the bamboo bridge that supports his weight.
He then jumps over a limp body, already dead. Red is his face and cold is his heart. A sword falls flat in front of him.
The looming man does not care for the body, nor does he care for the ruckus that he made earlier. He hears something from beyond the sound of the waterfall of the shishi-odoshi. Two men, shouting raspy breaths.
Just a mere moment later, the two men with swords jump in front of the bridge with terrified looks on their faces.
The chapped-lip man casts a downwards glare, "So annoying..."
"Damn you, peasant!" Says one of the swordsman opposer, raising his sword upwards, "Die!"
CLANG! Goes the sound of metal hitting metal.
After a successful parry, the chapped-lip man kicks away his first offender before the second one approaches him quickly, the bloody katana on his hand mirrors the dark look on the chapped-lip man's face.
With a slice, the chapped-lip man gracefully cuts through the kimono that his offender wears.
The second swordsman opposer hisses in return, feeling hot wound across his chest. He looks towards the chapped-lip man in disgust, feeling himself being looked down upon.
They both raise their swords, metal gleaming in the moonlight. The first swordsman opposer immediately strikes forward, aiming an upward slice towards the chapped-lip man's neck.
The chapped-lip man reaches out his left hand towards the oncoming blade, and as the metal touches all five of fingers, it cracks.
The sword breaks effectively, dust begin forming on top of the white pebble path that they stand on. The chapped-lip man merely smirks in return, facing the dumbstruck opposer with a malicious look.
"RRRAAHHH!" The chapped-lip man growls as he lunges forward with the tip of his blade aiming for the heart of the first opposer.
The metal plunges through his opposer's ribcage, the swordsman makes a gaping look of shock in response. The second opposer looms over the chapped-lip man's figure as he keeps piercing his blade through the first opposer's heart.
His right hand shots out and touches the open wound on the second opposer's chest. In an instant, blood explodes out of the cracks that forms all over his opposer's skin in less than a second.
The second swordsman screams in agony as the first one dies quickly with a sword through his heart.
The opposers that dared to challenge the chapped-lip man's powers are now dead. Their bodies limp and their blood forms around the body in a messy puddle of red.
As he looks at the masterpiece that he created, black mist begins forming behind him.
"Two more guards disposed," Said the mist in a deep tone, forming two slit eyes in the darkness, "We should proceed, Tomura."
The chapped-lip man says nothing, he merely smiles at the body that lies before him.
"Yeah, but first, Kurogiri," Tomura starts, walking over towards the arm that spreads out from the rest of the body, "I must take a souvenir."
He raises his sword, the wrist of the dead body reflects on the surface of the blade, before slashing it down. A wet cut echoes throughout the night, blood sleeps into the pebbles, staining them from their purity.
Tomura reaches down, grabs the amputated hand, and brings it to his face, and much to his surprise, it is a perfect fit.
"Let's do well, today, Kurogiri," Tomura says to his mist companion, "Let the revolution start..."
[•終•]
[A/N]
• Placer Mining of 1878 :
The modernization in technology had a large influence in the development of mining. However, it took a long time to install geological knowledge for the exploration of ore deposits. In 1898, placer gold was discovered in Bankenai, Hokkaido. Gold rush occurred in Hokkaido at the Sea of Okhotsk coast. It is recorded that 200g of gold was taken on a daily basis. But, just after the discovery,all of gold dust was taken.
• Yakuza :
The Meiji Restoration, starting in 1867, gave Japan a rebirth and its first of many transformations into an industrial nation. The Yakuza also began to modernize, keeping in pace with a rapidly changing Japan. The Yakuza began to dabble in politics, taking sides with certain politicians and officials. The government did find a use for the yakuza - as aid to ultranationalists, who took a militaristic role in Japan's adaption into democracy. Various secret societies were created and trained militarily, trained in languages, assassination, blackmail, etc...
• Raijin and Fujin :
Japanese history is filled with devastating typhoons and storms that have wiped out communities and caused terrible damage. As a result, Raijin and Fujin are both feared and respected for their power over nature.
• The Battle of Port Arthur :
The Battle of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順口海戦 Hepburn: Ryojunkō Kaisen)[2] of Monday 8 February – Tuesday 9 February 1904 marked the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War.