Nozomi Tendo.
Charged with first-degree murder.
A murder that involved her very own father, a leader of a yakuza family.
Poisoned. The same way Nozomi poisoned enemies of the family, those who failed to pay their debts and those doing shady business of their turf. It was almost as if it all pointed back to her.
Nozomi Tendo. Born, raised and moulded by the yakuza she would call family. Daughter of the big boss of their specific yakuza family, simply called the Tendo family thanks to her father's efforts in the criminal underworld. While not the only child, she and her siblings definitely grew accustomed to their life.
There was one thing that she and her siblings really took to...
"Here you go, Nozomi," one of the yakuza grunts handed her a small panda-like toy that had features that were definitely not seen on a panda, like the devilish wings on the back. A rare one that cost a bit of money due to its rarity.
"Thank you!" Nozomi's small child arms took the small plush into her arms, "do we really have to go to school?"
The grunt sighed, "it'll do you some good..."
The young green eyed girl sighed, as her eyes looked up at the yakuza grunt. Both green eyes free from a future suppressing eyepatch, the young girl and her left sclera being completely black had to ask. "Really?"
"Yeah, it'll help you be smart. We need some brains, you know. Oh cr- damn, we'll be late."
It was the special treatment that received from the other yakuza members.
Whether out of respect for her father or they were just bootlickers hoping to get ahead of the competition, it didn't matter to the children. They simply reaped the benefits. Having essentially bodyguards that took them to school, got them toys that they wanted whenever they asked and generally...just anything that they asked for. Within reason.
Completely spoiled.
That wasn't all however, as Nozomi and her brothers grew up, they got more and more in touch about the yakuza world and each developed their own perfect ideal of the yakuza. It was also where the two, Nozori and Nozomi went down their different paths.
Both developing different outlooks down opposite roads that became more apparent the older they got.
A man's head slammed into the ground while laughter came from above. "Useless piece of shit! We warned you about what was going to happen if you continued your shit on our turf!" a young man laughed, definitely a year or so out of high school. With a sick, sadistic grin the violent young man picked up the man's head up and slammed it again and again into the pavement over and over. "See what happens? Break the rules and you get punished!"
The man didn't even move as they barely held onto life, but then a voice called out.
"Nozori..."
The young man turned his head around, spotting the sight of his younger sister who stoically crossed her arms. "Nozomi. What's up?"
Seeing his younger, teenage sister, he almost let the man go. Almost.
"I was looking for you, father wanted to speak with you." she added, giving the man on the ground a look. "Who's this?"
"Eh, just some fucker who thought that he could continue what he was doing on our turf," he grinned, "so I taught him a lesson he'll never forget. It seems like he doesn't plan on stopping, so I was left with no choice but to make sure he'll never do it again."
Yet for Nozomi, the sight of the bloody man sent a different signal. "I do hope this won't cause our family problems." she looked back at her older brother who just gave her a funny sigh. "Murder is one way for the police to get on our backs."
"Not like the police can do anything to us." he smirked, slamming the man's head harder into the ground, to the point where it sounded like something had cracked.
Raising the man's head once more, a disappointed look painted Nozori's face. "And all that talk about not dying so easily. What a pathetic piece of shit. Boring."
With hands in his pockets, Nozori walked right on by after dropping the no longer breathing man's head back on the ground. "Come on then, let's go see what good old dad has to say then."
Giving one last look to the body, it was beaten to hell and back. A busted face, broken limbs that twisted in unnatural ways. This man was beaten black, blue and red. Pools of red surrounded the man as they lost a lot of teeth. Needless to say, the amount of violence used to just kill the man was excessive.
Not like she could say anything about it. Her hands weren't clean either.
"...how excessive." if it were her, she would have used her trusty poisons. Following her older brother, the two headed back home and it was clear to any who saw the sibling pair walk side by side.
It was like looking at a yin and yang symbol.
One went down the selfish, violent road that embraced the criminal activity and the other took the sympathetic and calculating road in order to help the needs of the family and their members.
Complete opposites.
Opposites that continued to drift further from one another over the years as new news came forward to the family.
News that everyone heard about. Talks about the next head.
Nozori.
"As it looks, Nozori will become the next head, Nozomi." one of the yakuza tattoo artists yawned. "That true? Is that why he came by ready for his back tattoo to be fully inked?"
The twenty year old Nozomi Tendo nodded, "that's right. He's the firstborn anyway."
The tattoo artist stretched, "huh...I thought it would be given to you."
"Same." the normally sophisticated lady frowned. While she knew that Nozori was going to be the next head of the Tendo family yakuza, it wasn't comforting news. "I fear for what will happen to the family if he truly becomes the head. Many other members were thrown under the bus thanks to him. All injured and worse."
"I see what you mean," the tattoo artist sighed as she nodded to the other yakuza tattoo artist. "I heard the other day that instead of doing things cleanly, he solved such an easy problem with unnecessary bloodshed. Oh, going somewhere?"
"...yeah, sorry. Thank you for at least humouring me." she bowed her head as she stood.
"No, thank you for helping us with the whole ink shipment. It's really appreciated with the amount we go through here."
As the yakuza boss' daughter walked away, the frown on her face never lifted.
Nozori was a fool to be put in charge of the family. Someone who didn't care about fellow family members and as her tattoo artist friend mentioned, solved problems with only violence. Almost broke a gang war out between them and another smaller family.
"The family would just go down the hill on fire with him at the helm!"
Title or status be damned. She would keep the family alive and thriving. A violent man would not lead them into prosperity. It would only lead to the worst possible situation.
So she got to work.
Actual work that lazy slob that was her older brother refused to do. Nozori kept to what he was doing, only joining in when there was violence to be had or whatever interested him, more so if he wanted something. That left many other positions unfilled.
The business side of the yakuza was just as important.
Something that Nozomi picked up on when she was much younger. She spent years of work with the business side, such as helping with the tattoo artists some members of the family went too for example. Nozori considered it boring work not worth his time. It's also why Nozomi took it up.
Besides, that fool was the type to kill a small business owner when the job was to extort money or make them pay 'protection' fees.
Something that actually happened once...
Working with casinos, small businesses, gambling dens and bars. She even stuck her fingers into the pockets of real estate and clubs. Strip clubs, hostess clubs, love hotels, places to lease and sell, she gave a lot of revenue back to the family.
Something that attracted attention from many yakuza.
Her father included.
Nozomi was slowly gaining favouritism with the family. Of course, she too had to dirty her hands even more as she prepared bottles of poison, slipping it into cups of tea she gave people who dealt with the family. Sometimes even carrying small needles filled with poison. The indebted, enemies, shady business on their turf. She dealt with it all herself and it was never the levels of violence her brother showed.
In fact, it was a lot less traceable, something that helped in Nozomi's goal in becoming the head.
More and more years passed as the day the next head was about to be announced and Nozori was riddled with excitement. The day he would take the throne was right around the corner. There were still a few months, but it was practically in the bag!
Nozomi was confident as well as she talked with many yakuza grunts, captains and lieutenants. Something her brother noticed. When she left, bringing more and more revenue and prestige to the family, everyone was talking about her!
Nozori, on the other hand, as he listened to everyone go on about Nozomi, bit his tongue when he heard how everyone was favouring his sister. "What the hell?" he scowled, "I'm supposed to be the head, why are they all talking about her like she's the saving grace of this family?"
So he went for a walk, listening to many groups chatting about...Nozomi.
"Man, Nozomi's really gifted."
"Shame she won't be the head. She really upped the ante, this is the most successful we've been in years!"
"I think the head's gonna make her the next head instead." The sole sentence made Nozori's heart stop.
No, that can't be true. Useless shits like them dared to talk shit on him?! The heir?! A part of him planned on running over and slamming that fucker's head into the ground until it came off. Maybe flay the man in front of his family or something, but instead he stomped away.
Stomping away, Nozori soon came to overhear something he really shouldn't when he headed straight for his father. He was the head! Not Nozomi!
Once he got there however, he did something unthinkable.
For once in his life, he stopped to think, without barging in he listened as his father spoke behind thin walls. "Nozomi is showing a lot of promise. All I hear is good things about what she's done for the family." a sigh came from the man, "I believe it's time to announce the new head of the family."
Nozori seethed, almost cursing at the happy tone that left his father's mouth. So he raised his fist, clenched real hard and-!
He knocked on the door as seconds passed on by.
"Father. Do you have a minute? I have some important business to discuss."
He will not let that cold bitch of a sister become what was rightfully his!
...
As the twenty-nine year old Nozomi looked down at some papers gathered from the week's business report, she looked over to the phone.
Seeing the private number, it gave her some caution. "Hello?"
"Nozomi..." that voice!
"Nozori..."
Silence sat between the two drifted apart siblings. "Nozomi...I messed up."
Closing her eyes for a moment, she eventually asked, "what did you do?"
"Hey! I didn't do a thing!" he shot back, "I didn't do a thing..."
She blinked at the sudden tone. Just what was he on about?
"Can you come here? I think I'm over my head here. I talked up some drunk richies and well, it's not going how I thought it was going. You're smart and good with business numbers, can you come check it out? I would leave but I'm alone."
Withholding a sigh, she said, "I'm on my way." hanging up immediately after he gave the address, her first thought was that her brother was an idiot.
But maybe, this was a good chance?
Following her brother's directions, she stood in front of a dingy motel. "Really, Nozori?" this was beneath them, but she walked up the door right to the motel room. Remembering that he said that the door was unlocked, she opened the door to see…
"Dad?!"
She burst into the room as her father was slumped over a chair, leaning back as an empty bottle of water was on the floor, spilled. "Dad?! DAD?!" no matter what she did or checked, it was clear...her father...was dead.
"Nozori! That...that….NOZORI?!"
As realisation dawned on her, she didn't notice the multiple lights behind her before it was too late. Suddenly forced on the ground by a cop, it was then that she really realised the situation she was forced in.
Her dead father. Multiple cops. A killer nowhere to be seen and a scapegoat right in the jaws of the law.
She was being blamed and pinned for the murder. That jealous fool. Nozomi tried to fight her way out right as she heard another cop mention the use of poison.
Trying to fight her way out, even claiming that she wasn't the murderer and that it was her brother who committed the crime. Looking right at one of the cops, they suddenly let go.
"What are you doing?" one shouted. "Grab her!" When the cop went to raise a taser, he suddenly holstered it away as Nozomi sent him a glare.
"Be careful! It might be a quirk from the tip!" the cop at her father's body shouted as she joined in to take her down.
Great, that was just what she wanted to hear.
After a short struggle, Nozomi Tendo was eventually taken out.
Charged with the murder of her father and using her then confirmed quirk, she was trialled and gotten her sentence. A good amount of hefty years as she was thrown into the slammer, being transported to her new residence.
Styx.
"I'll get you back, Nozori. When I get out of here one day, I'll make sure to finish what you started."
Nozori had it coming. One day the cold dish of revenge would come for his head. Until then, Nozomi waited as fifteen years passed within Styx. It was the start of a long waiting game.
It had been fifteen years since she'd been in Styx and now a forty-four year old woman, Nozomi, was faced with a difficult situation.
A small part of the co-ed ward was in chaos as Nozomi was under the attack of two assassins she had managed to break free from for a short while with Sora. It was a narrow escape.
Moments Ago
It wasn't going to be easy as the two suddenly attacked!
Well, it was mostly Kara taking the reins as she leapt into action. "You're not going to get away that easily." uttered the assassin as she threw another feather like a dart.
It easily pierced into the back of Nozomi's leg. As soon as it hit, a new tingling sensation ran through her body, this time around her leg which she quickly dealt with despite slowing down. Something that Sora noticed when she wasn't by her side.
"Like I said, you're not getting away that easily."
It was only a matter of time.
When Sora stopped, that's when the other acted.
The assassin lady that they would later come to know as Kirigaku, released more mist from her body. As mist shot out towards them, someone else shot out of the mist. It was some other inmate that lunged at them.
It took all of them by surprise.
"Who-" Nozomi coughed as Kara jumped to the side away from the sudden arrival.
"Hey, mind waiting a second?" Sora asked, winking but the inmate just charged right on. Sadly for Sora, her quirk wasn't always a guaranteed few seconds control.
As the new inmate lunged, a feather shot through the person as they...disappeared into rolls of mist.
"Eh?" Sora had no time to process what she just saw as the feather pierced her side. "Agh!"
Being hit with something that acted like a dart hurt a lot.
But now, Nozomi glanced at the other assassin. It all made sense now.
Illusiomist: Kirigaku can release mist from her body that can produce illusions! Whether within the mist or formed as mist! As mist, it can also provide a handy smokescreen.
"So she's the reason why I ended up punching Sora..." Nozomi kept her composure. She didn't want a repeat of that.
It made the desire to leave more crucial.
When she shot a sideways glance to Sora, it seemed she realised that too. That was one conversation and explanation avoided.
Though right now both of their focus was on the pair before them. Despite not being aligned with one another, Nozomi couldn't help but note their surprisingly on sync performance.
"I guess that's just one thing about assassins. The ability to perform in sync with another while on the job."
But one thing still gnawed away at her.
Why was the other assassin attacking them? They clearly had no real attachment to Kara's hunt.
So what was their aim? Their ultimate goal and motive here? It wasn't an open contract that any old assassin could pick up, nor did this woman care about the contract. Was she really here to waste time or-
"Agh!" Nozomi dropped to the ground from Kara's sudden attack.
Normally it would have been a normal, bog-standard punch if it weren't for the sole fact that the blue nitrile glove the assassin wore was taken off and stuffed into one of the prisoner uniform's pockets.
"Don't think I need to wear these for a while," Kara frowned, putting the gloves away for now.
That only meant one thing.
Nozomi's body could feel the numbness slowly settling in right where she was punched.
Sora on the other hand rushed in, only to be engulfed in thick waves of fog. The same went for the assassin and the sophisticated yakuza lady.
Yet, as mist surrounded them all, not once did the other assassin attack. However...
Shrouded by mist, Kirigaku put a finger behind her ear as she gave a few nods here and there. "...Roger that, already on my way." an unheard whisper came from the centre. "I shall bring some tagalongs as well, same as you. See you soon." as she removed her hand from behind her ear, she suddenly shot out from the mist, accompanied by four misty figures that took on her appearance.
It was so sudden that not even the other assassin could keep up with the sudden attack on her target. Kirigaku and the mimicking mist lookalikes began their assault on both the slim woman with noticeable muscle and the milky white skinned, hourglass figured former yakuza heir.
Nozomi who was already under fire from Kara's recent attack was now hit quite a few times as those mist lookalikes threw a couple of feints, opening her guard more. When she finally managed to throw a punch, it went right through one of those 'clones' and into Kara who rushed in.
As Kara stumbled back, that's when Sora was hit from all sides alongside her current battle partner. Throwing punch after punch, Sora only effectively hit one of the mist clones or she got baited into leaving an opening as a sudden strike really knocked the wind out of her.
Yet, from the mist, more and more Kirigaku lookalikes emerged with the real assassin moving between targets.
"Shit," thought the previously affiliated street thug. "I can't get a hit on her! Nozomi is having trouble too." A slight glance showed Nozomi defending herself quite well...if any one of those mist clones were the real deal of course.
"You should worry about yourself more," a cheeky tone was the last she heard as more wind was knocked out of her. As Sora fell to the ground, she was quite literally kicked while she was down and now, flat on the ground.
During the assault, Kara quickly jumped back in, not wanting the other assassin to take out her target. In the middle of which, she threw some fists right at the tomboy who tried her best to get back up, only to go back down with a new tingly and slightly numb feeling. The assassin 'Pitohui' carried on with her task, pushing Nozomi into a corner with each attack. Kirigaku on the other hand? She stood next to someone else as she let the other woman have her fun.
"From what I've seen here, it'll be better if you'd stay down," Kirigaku looked down at the knocked down convict. "Hm...actually, you should get to that co-ed ward, at least then you won't suffer what she's going through. Give it some thought."
The illusionary mist assassin walked away, not quite towards the other pair, but not away either. Almost as if she was a spectator, placing her hand behind her ear once more as her mouth moved. Sora didn't see nor hear whatever it was she was doing, she was too focused on herself, just laying on her back.
As Sora laid on her back, a hand placed itself on her face. "...what am I doing? This isn't worth it, I get nothing good out of this..." Sora Natsumi's blue eyes glanced over at the older woman she was supposed to be helping and her mind just wandered.
Sora Natsumi never knew her parents. In fact, in her eyes they might as well never existed. If they were alive, she wanted nothing to do with them. Why?
Sora was abandoned at a really young age. Practically a baby in front of an orphanage... if you count a brief distance away and without a knock on the door as an indicator.
It was thanks to that kind old lady that ran that specific orphanage that she was alive today. A miracle really. The orphanage wasn't really grand in any sense, more on the old side that really needed a new makeover.
This was the place Sora Natsumi grew up in.
"Sora, please pay attention," one of the workers huffed, tapping at a chalkboard. "You need to learn this."
"Yeah, whatever," Sora straightened up, not really paying attention to the class. "How boring." she thought with her head in her hand.
"Now you see, Japan is-" and the worker went on and on about useless things. "Now if you multiply by-" again and again with the same boring shit.
"Excuse me, can I go to the bathroom?" Sora blurted out in the middle of class, her words sounding ever so sweet to the teacher. "I'll be back as soon as I can, teach!"
The teacher found herself saying, "be back in five minutes." unaware of what happened to her.
Murmurs from a few other orphans as Sora strode right out. From a very young age she realised something.
Almost every person in the world, over eighty percent of the world's population, had a superpower called a quirk! A percentage that was constantly increasing with each generation! More and more of the ever growing quirkless population was dwindling! Someone lacking a quirk was practically rare nowadays.
And the young thirteen year old girl knew just what her quirk was, though it took her a few times to catch on.
The young tomboy had a charming voice. Asking politely and as sincerely as possible, she convinced her teachers to let her go and leave class whenever, convinced the other kids her age to do what she asked of them and she was able to make an adult do something they would never do. She quickly came to learn what her quirk was capable of doing!
Though, she also learnt how weak it could be too.
Not only was it a short lived command and how she had a limit, but it didn't work on everyone. She could ask the old lady that found her to let her go do multiple things, but most of the time her quirk didn't work on her. It taught her a valuable lesson.
Her quirk had weaknesses.
"Ah well," the young tomboy put her hands into her pockets with a growing grin. "It was a boring class anyway. Who needs that shit."
The young girl walked off, further away from what she promised.
She was skipping class...again.
A real boon of her quirk, got to skip out on all the boring shit.
Now she could do all the fun things!
Sadly, this was a way too common occurrence with the young girl and it only got worse the older she got.
With no knowledge of her parents with poor education, bad attitude and no interest whatsoever in studying. No passion to go to a proper school and get a legal job. Sora turned her head to the more shady business to make a living when she got old enough to enter the workforce.
All on a whim!
She was already good at it after all.
Everytime she skipped out on going to the orphanage's classes, she went out and used her own quirk on the others, meeting other kids away from the orphanage got her loaded! In a way a kid would think they're rich. It became handy skills for the tomboy despite all the lectures she got.
It didn't take her that long to find herself a job. A real steady income.
"And why should we just accept some random lady's offer? What can you do?" the crook huffed as the nineteen year old Sora as another crook rolled their eyes.
Picking up the packet of some drug they had on the table before she came over, she looked it over in the air. "Well now, mister~, how about you take this bag for yen and then we can really discuss the plan?" she leaned over, reaching her hand out.
The crook took the bag and Sora's own found itself with a few big small notes of yen.
It wasn't long before the crook looked down at their hands and at the drugs he held.
"Boss," the other crook huffed. "It seemed she got you good."
"Huh," they sighed, "it seems you have something to back you up there. Very useful for our 'trade'...very well, you're in."
Still leaning forward, the blue eyed Sora smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you."
It was a surprisingly steady income, then again business was booming recently.
Sitting by herself, Sora looked up to the ceiling. She had heard rumours of police activity increasing in their area while heroes were too busy dealing with some other antics. It would be tough to find another group to deal with if something ever happened to this group, especially with all the fights in the area that probably recognized her face.
The thought of the gang getting into serious trouble that really ruined everything to the point of it all crumbling down in failure never bothered the blue-eyed Sora.
It wasn't like she was going to risk it all just for these guys.
They were just a simple means to her own pay-check.
"Good things never do last, do they," she sighed to herself. "Maybe I should start putting my resume in the next city over?" she thought sarcastically as she looked out the window.
Now there was an idea. Switching sides as soon as this lot was defeated or almost defeated by a stronger force. "I wonder if they'll accept such a blind one-eighty?" It was a good thing she kept these thoughts in her head.
Standing up with a stretch when she glanced at the desk clock, she grinned. "Time to get to work!"
Despite being able to convince people to buy the gang's products and drug trafficking, she was also in charge of weapon smuggling and theft of many things.
It didn't end there however. It wasn't all just business, quirk usage and getting a steady flow of cash to use on whatever she wanted. On occasions, problems rose up. Mainly with rival gangs and sometimes with clients provoking them or otherwise.
So Sora had joined in with the common solution they used.
Violence.
"Phew," Sora wiped her forehead, "they certainly put up a fight, huh."
She immediately swung her fist down as one thug refused to lose consciousness. She kept wailing until they eventually did.
"Ah yeah, this is common. Don't worry about it." one of her co-workers (in a way) waved their arm around.
"Get them!" another set of voices shouted and in some more ran.
"Seems some of them haven't learnt a lesson." another ally coughed and soon Sora dived in, fists already flying around.
Giving a few cute words to the man who suddenly attacked his friend, Sora gripped his arm and twisted until he was on the ground. "It can be used in combat...great!" she thought to herself as she dealt with the new wave of crooks.
As her fellow gang member said, it was a common occurrence. Not every day common, but a lot more common than what they'd realistically liked. It didn't help that sometimes she started a few problems herself because she saw someone attractive, like that last wave.
How was she supposed to know that one person she flirted with was taken?
That was neither here nor there though.
There was another problem with this though. As violence was the solution a lot, it caused a commotion and commotion brought unwanted attention.
"We cleaned these idiots up," one of the crooks cracked their neck as she looked down at yet another rival gang that wanted to take out the competition.
"Guess we better clean up," a buff man sighed.
"They barely put up a fight! Way too easy." Sora grinned, walking away from the easily defeated gang. "Didn't have to break a sweat."
As she left the room, that's when her body froze in place.
Suddenly, the door burst opened with an echoing slam followed by a bright bang as more footsteps entered. Those who were lucky enough not to be flashed, realised immediately.
"It's a raid! Cops! Scatter!"
Police stormed the building they called home, taking down and pinning many more of the criminals of the gang. The ones who didn't pin the others? They stormed every room, following after every criminal before them.
Yet it was clear to everyone who could still move, run and get away… they needed to get out of there, no matter who was left behind. However, the first person to ever consider this scenario of ditching the ones who were caught was none other than Sora.
She had already left through an open window, but it seemed she wasn't alone. She wasn't going to risk her life for a group she barely cared about. She might have known them for a while, but it was only a source of income to her.
As feet hit the ground running, the bluish haired crook passed on by a few others she came to know during her time as a part of this gang of criminals who ran to see what the loud bang as police stormed the entire operation, eventually taking those idiots in the process.
Hearing multiple charging footsteps behind her, Sora refused to look back as she ran out of their base of operations, into the streets and crowds before eventually entering dark, empty alleyways. Always being followed by the cops hot on her heels.
"I'm not that worth it, I assure you. I'll really love ya if you let me go," was just one of many attempts to get her chasers to stop chasing her. Yet, while one or two came to a stop, the rest didn't. Her limit was two people at a time and of course, her ability to convince someone failed her once again. It didn't help that her Plus Alpha or Quirk Factor was in her voice-box.
She was tackled to the ground as meaningless chatter by the police consumed her ears. She didn't really care for what they said as she was lifted off the ground moments later.
It was the last time she was able to walk down a street.
Standing once more, Sora couldn't help but sigh to herself. "This isn't my style," she thought to herself. "Nozomi might give me a much better time here, hell I recently got co-ed ward access thanks to her, but...risking my life like this for her?"
Clenching her fist as she felt a tingle, she couldn't help but wonder to herself, "come on, just ditch her and get out of here. You bit off more than you can chew, this is your last chance to get away without being involved. Let her deal with this herself, it's not my problem..."
"...goddamn it," she ran forward, right past the mist woman. "Goddamn it all. What am I doing?"
Looking back and seeing the mist woman follow right behind her, she kept her eyes on the prize as she darted right to Nozomi and Kara.
She only had one chance to pull it off perfectly before future attempts got...suspicious.
With Kirigaku still behind her, she pushed past Kara and was almost immediately assaulted with a handful of feather darts. The only reason she didn't was thanks to what Sora managed to achieve.
"Hey, Kara right? Are you really going to let this other assassin take your kill? Kinda pathetic really, come on, Nozomi's on her last legs there."
"Uh?" came the reaction from both Kara and Kirigaku. It wasn't until Kara realised how close Kirigaku was to Nozomi.
"What do you think you're doing? I told you it's my job to deal with her..." Kara glared at the dark brown haired woman while the bluish-grey haired woman with noticeable muscle on her slim build got closer to Nozomi Tendo.
Unbeknownst to the assassin Pitohui, she was already under Sora's Charmer's Voice.
"Hold on a second-"
Kirigaku had no time as Kara kept blocking her path.
Sora knew they didn't have much time as she picked up the older woman as they eventually ran to the co-ed ward. "You owe me a favour, Nozomi!"
The yakuza daughter and supposed kinslayer couldn't help but smile.
Back in the present time, Nozomi looked over at the two new arrivals. It was none other than Fushiko Karakuri and Chikuha Ueno!
"You guys are fighting without me?!" with an arm over her forehead, Chikuha looked like she was going to faint or at least fall backwards. "I can't believe you didn't invite me to join! I'm wounded over here."
Sarutobi, who leaned back around, kept a close eye on the new two.
He wasn't the only one to keep an eye on the new arrivals.
This brief moment, this sudden distraction from the fight, gave an opening to a small few. The first to seize this moment was Juro!
Juro quickly, but quietly (as they could), made their way over to the person they had just warned about this kind of situation not that long ago. Preparing to use their quirk if they had to, Juro managed to get away before they were noticed a few seconds later by Anayama.
Yet during this, Sarutobi's focus was on the one with the biggest friendly smile. Karakuri.
"From what we got from observation, Chikuha Ueno is the type to enter fights regardless of whatever's happening. Fushiko Karakuri on the other hand...we don't have much on her." Sarutobi couldn't help but roll his neck around, making sure he heard at least one pop or crack while he did so. "There's no bonus in killing people off the list, but we do have to make a commotion at the very least."
Anayama sighed as his stomach mouth mimicked a yawn. "I think we've done enough-"
"Aw come on, don't go saying such things right when the shit is getting good!" The slightest instance of a dropped guard revealed a person to the mountain that was Anayama. A person who had managed to get real close.
Chikuha!
"I just got here after all!"
She already threw her hand, well, it was what was in her hand.
While Anayama quickly raised his arms at the sudden attack of a...handful of dirt. "...wha-?" it didn't take long for the mouthless man to quickly realise her quirk as multiple small pieces of thrown dirt exploded like the crackling of multiple mini fireworks!
While Anayama was struck with the multitude of explosions, Sarutobi was already on the move. For them, this battle changed from a weird sort of free for all to a potential five-vs-four battle. So, he got ready to deal with the other new arrival.
"Haha, see you're having fun right, Chiku-huh?" Fushiko's eyes widened as the icy cold, blue eyed Sarutobi raised his hands.
No longer were they normal hands. No.
Sarutobi's fingers and thumbs had changed completely, taking the appearances of sharp, slightly curved blades. Pretty big ones at that. Now armed with what appeared to be bladed claws, the speedy assassin was already on the offensive as he swung his open claws down.
"Hey, wait a-" Fushiko watched as her arms popped right off with incredibly clean slices thanks to the assassin. It wasn't done there though as the assassin left one final slice to her feet, popping them right off. It only left the cheerful joker to fall to the ground face first.
"Incapacitated." Now Sarutobi returned his focus to the others.
"Fushiko!" Sora managed to shout out, but two familiar faces blocked the way. "Charmer's Voice isn't going to be as helpful as it was back then...they're both prepared for it."
Nozomi held her eyepatch. If only she could get this thing off. "It might not be too effective though if Kara truly knows the ins and outs of my quirk..."
Kara was already preparing to throw a bunch of feather darts from the looks of it, both hands were pretty full of them. Raising her hands for a throw as she darted around, Kara fell to the ground as she locked onto a pair of slitted eyes.
Kirigaku seemed to have stopped moving too, caught in the crossfire as she looked over to see Juro Raisa walk up. "Nozomi...Sora..."
"Juro, thank you for your assistance," started the yakuza woman, "we need to move quickly."
"Where do we go?" Sora tapped her foot on the ground as Juro focused their gaze on the currently paralysed duo not that far from them. "Home?" she added with heavy sarcasm.
Nozomi sighed to herself, "it doesn't seem like that guard will be helping us in any capacity..."
"That big guy is probably an assassin working with these other lot, they have no intention of stopping those other assassins either." Juro huffed, rubbing their eyes.
"...I don't know how helpful this will be, but if I could get this eyepatch off, we might be able to defend ourselves a bit better." Nozomi bit her bottom lip, she was one of many inmates that wore quirk cancelling gear and quirk adaptive gear.
Some inmates wore specially made prison uniforms that can change with their body, some wore clothing or accessories that hindered them. There were some inmates that wore straitjackets that prevented physical changes. Nozomi was one of those with an eyepatch that prevented the usage of her quirk.
Funnily enough, Sora used to be one who wore a quirk-suppressing or cancelling piece of clothing. One that locked itself around her mouth that distorted the tone of what she said. Still legible but not in a way that would activate her quirk.
One way to remove these highly made pieces of technology?
Trust.
It was a rather simple answer, but one that proved to be effective. Sora managed to get her anti-quirk mouth guard removed because she proved trustworthy enough to not use their quirk after a few months of getting it put on her.
At least, not using her quirk for her own advantage and only on really small, minor things that didn't cause any problems. Like the game of basketball a while back. How time flies.
Of course, not every quirk had a perfect counter to suppress and most started off without one of these anti-quirk accessories. Though some started off with them on, like Nozomi.
Now, Nozomi over the fifteen years she had been in Styx, she definitely built up enough trust to take it off. Yet, Nozomi chose to keep it on. Whether willingly or because she didn't know that she could at one point, it didn't matter now.
Right now, it still being on (aside from a few instances of a breather by the guards) was proving to be a hindrance.
There was another problem that attached itself to her quirk specifically, and that was the mental fortitude of others. With these kinds of assassins, it would be a gamble...but for allies? She had to try it. She had to try anyway for both.
It didn't help that Sarutobi was already on his way!
"Hey-" Sora began at the approaching assassin.
Sora's mouth was immediately covered. "Don't use your quirk on that guy," the yakuza hitman hissed. "He'll use your quirk against you if you do."
"Damn it..." Sora was released, staring at the assassin who wasted no time as soon as he was finished with Fushiko. A new plan was needed.
Out of the corner of their eyes, the image of Sarutobi approaching, Kara and Kirigaku freely moving once more and Chikuha throwing bomb after bomb at the defensively stanced Anayama, the tomboy quickly rushed in with a new plan. What a quick thinker!
"Chikuha, let's swap!" Sora shouted out, giving the bomber a big thumbs up.
As Chikuha made another explosion, a grin overtook her face. "Sure! Let's switch it up!" quickly jumping from Anayama who was on the defensive, she quickly rushed right at the current trio.
Sarutobi came to a sudden stop as he was suddenly hit by a sudden drive-by of explosions.
"A explosive-type quirk, huh?" the apathetic assassin jumped back from the explosions thrown his way. "Better make it count...ammunition is required."
Deciding to back away for now to gather ammo, it gave the group one less problem to worry about for now as Chikuha intercepted the now freely moving Kara and in turn, Kirigaku who was cut off by an explosion.
"Now, now. Why is everyone so quick to just ditch me when the fun's about to start?!" a piece of rubbish in her clenched fist exploded. "We're fighting...got it!"
"Fine," Kara raised her fists. "If you're so desperate to get in my way, I'll just have to go straight through you!"
"That's the spirit!" a chortle came out of Ueno's mouth. "You're in this too, alright!"
Kirigaku could only shrug as she released more mist. "Are we almost done, Anayama?" rolling her arm around for a second, it wouldn't hurt to play along a little longer.
"Now this is what I'm talking about!"
The first to attack was Kara, throwing the bundle of feather-darts from before right at the woman who stood in her way.
A disappointed look painted the brown haired assassin's face as thrown bits of trash blew up just as her feathers got in range. "Onto Plan B then." and so, she jumped back right as Kirigaku's mist lookalikes came out of the woodwork.
"Whoa! You gotta send more if you plan on taking me down!" a single swing at the closest lookalike made the confident expression Chikuha wore turn into one of disbelief. The way her fist connected with their face, it didn't feel right.
The lookalike she punched...turned into mist. "Eh?!"she quickly turned to the next one, only for it to pass right through her (technically it dispersed on contact but that's besides the point). "Wait...where's the real one?!"
She lashed at another, then another, yet no matter how many lookalikes came at her, it became increasingly obvious. Not once did any of these mist figures that took on her appearance keep their own guard up.
They didn't even try to fight back!
"Is she not taking me seriously?!"
It was also then that she had another thought.
As she turned to shout, "OI! Don't run away now-" a fist came out of the mist that surrounded the bluish-green haired prisoner. A solid punch at that.
Chikuha caught a glimpse of Kirigaku fading into the mist right after as she tried her best to regain her footing.
"So that's how you're gonna play, is it?" her hands dived into her baggy pockets, grabbing hold of whatever she had remaining in there. Which was a lot. A sudden fling of her left compass-tattooed hand shot out a small rock she had happened to pick up in the outdoor area of the female ward.
Watching it fly into the mist, a sudden loud bang parted the mist!
She couldn't help the grin on her face as she threw more and more, making more of those wonderful bangs and booms.
It was time to lure her out.
Kirigaku had different ideas as the clones came out once more. It wasn't just of Kirigaku, Kara lookalikes joined in too, after the first one made its appearance, only to be blown to bits by a stray bomb.
Stopping her explosions as the mist thinned, she punched and kicked through the mist clones, looking for the original once again, that's when she spied something from the corner of her eye! Kara holding a plucked feather aimed right at her!
And Kara spiked the dart.
Right for the throat!
Despite the additional tingling and numbness her skin and feathers brought, the feathers were still akin to darts. Hit a vital and it would turn the tide, pulling them out left wounds fresh with blood.
The target quickly raised her constellation tattoo covered right forearm at the sudden spiked throw. It was faster than what she was expecting and then… "Tch-agh..." the dart connected, piercing her forearm like being hit in the arm with an actual dart. "Fuck that hurts a little..."
For Chikuha, the following feeling was instantaneous.
"This feeling..." pink eyes glanced down to their arms as a tingly sensation ran through them, "it's...kinda like what happens when I fight Yua!" It was unlike the skin irritation that she knew, but the feeling grew.
"If that's the best you can do, you'll make this boring!" with a quick yank of the feather, it popped out of her skin with ease. The tingly feeling remained still, but it started to feel different. Like it was going numb! "You can have this back! I'll show you what a true bull's eye is!" gripping the feather in her hands, Chikuha returned the favour with a grin, letting the feather soar through the air!
As the feathery dart was thrown right back at the assassin, Kara watched as the feather suddenly exploded when she jumped to the side!
Being blasted back from the impact and onto the ground, it felt like Kara released the breath she didn't even know she was holding back.
"So she can turn anything into a ticking time bomb when she touches it...it's a good thing my first feather hit then," getting back to her feet, she watched as more explosions completely eradicated the figures of mist.
"Seems she's trying again, but why isn't she getting close? Is she even trying to fight?" Kara's eyes widened as she got to her feet. "Is she trying to slip out unnoticed?!"
Gritting her teeth together, Pitohui kept down as she watched. Only the mist lookalikes of Kirigaku and herself engaged in fighting with the explosive convict.
Looking over her shoulder, the assassin saw the 'other' group that held her own target. "Maybe...just maybe..."
A sly smirk appeared on the usually hooded Pitohui's face as she (hopefully) signalled the other assassin, keeping the bluish-green haired bomber busy with lookalike mist figures, over.
"If she just wants to keep fighting us like this...then let's make this a group effort!"
As the battle between Chikuha and the two assassins duked it out and Sarutobi out gathering ammo with Fushiko on the floor, unmoving, Anayama was in his own fight.
Facing off against three different inmates at once, Anayama opened his abdomen-mouth.
Despite the disadvantage of a three against one battle, Anayama stood his ground quite well. Incredibly so.
He wasn't just a mountain in appearance for nothing.
Right now, the problem was the quirks of his opponents.
It wasn't even considered a fight! Sure, they all knew how to fight to some degree, like how Juro landed a punch right where his jaw would be on his face, but it was mostly a hit and run job. Sweating, freezing, being told to do this and that which gave openings to be hit.
Anayama knew, they were playing it safe.
Coinciding how when he landed a strike, Sora was sent tumbling to the ground further than where she once stood. In terms of physical power, he was stronger without a doubt.
He did note one thing though.
"These effects are weakening. The paralysis wasn't as long as last time..." that only meant one thing for the mouthless man. "Just gotta keep going!"
Charging through with speed many wouldn't associate with his muscular form, he landed something similar to a one inch punch right in the loan shark's stomach.
Poor inmate. Didn't have a chance to even fucking wheeze.
"Hmph. Just a little bit more than we can continue..." As the abdomen mouth opened, Anayama continued his charge onto Nozomi and Sora.
"...he's getting used to our quirks..." Juro coughed out somehow after they were swatted away.
"This is going downhill fast!" sweat started to roll down the older inmate's face as her already milky white skin seemed to grow paler. "Juro and Sora will soon be on their last legs, he always keeps breaking out of their quirks right when we need it."
As Anayama swatted Sora away, their eyes locked with one another. The surrounding area might as well be non-existent in the black void as the looming jaws of death seemed way more sinister than ever before in this battle.
Was it always grinning? Were those teeth always so sharp? A cold breath trailed out of the sides of the abdomen mouth, like it was inviting death in.
The situation wasn't looking good as the numbness from Kara ran through where she was whacked, it did help inadvertently with a previous attack, but now…she was starting to lose her cool.
So Nozomi closed her eyes as quickly as she could. "Calm." her mind chanted as a refreshing feeling replaced the stress of fighting the mountain before her. "Focus." she opened her eyes, regardless of the eyepatch concealing her quirk!
Macro: By looking at someone with her normally concealed left eye, she can send simple commands to one's subconscious to make them do something without them realising what they're actually doing for a moment! A plus is that she can use it on herself without needing to use her eye.
"Get ready," she said, coolly. Now focused on the goal in front of her, the rightful yakuza heir was ready.
This was her quirk. In a way, she supposed that's why she got on a little well with Sora. Personalities might be different like night and day at times, but both of their quirks involved some type of manipulation.
However, now she needed to get this eyepatch off if she wanted to use its effects on another person.
Now with a clear mind, she backed away from the guard...whoever they were. "Juro, Sora. Get ready."
"Oh? Going for another strategy?" the 'guard' asked, "not like it changes much though. You'll still rely on your weakened quirks."
Panting, yellow eyed Raisa looked over towards Nozomi who just gave them a nod. Sora on the other hand, gave a nod as she watched Juro sprinted forward, slower than before for obvious battle related reasons. As their eyes locked onto the target, they mustered all their strength to get at least one last paralysis on the tall, muscular guard.
"Knew it." Anayama inwardly grinned, unmoving.
It didn't stop there though as Nozomi and Sora ran forward next, though as Anayama was focused on the target in front, Nozomi, Sora slipped around the back, jumping up on the now free from paralysis man. It didn't even take a minute.
In the man's ear, she whispered, "can you help take that eyepatch off? We'd really appreciate it." As she asked, Juro used his Basilisk again, weaker as it caused nothing more than sweats.
The mixture of the uncomfortable sweat and the sudden sweet talk request, Anayama blinked as his hands meddled with the eyepatch of the inmate who turned her back on him. He managed to work the eyepatch off a bit, but that's when realisation clicked.
"...wait a-" he suddenly kicked the older woman away, but as he went to swat the other, she dodged. "Clever combination..."
Nozomi, getting back to her feet as quickly as she could, couldn't help but smile. They did it. "At least Kara isn't messing with us, but it's time to leave."
While the black, magnetic eyepatch wasn't completely off, it was now loose! Loose enough for her eye to peek out and see the sun (more or less).
Her left eye with a complete black sclera was revealed to the world! She could work the rest of it off in a bit, but for now, as she stared at Anayama...
It gave Nozomi the perfect chance to use her quirk!
Like the simple commands she gave herself when the stress of the battle was making things difficult, Nozomi Tendo could send these very same signals to her target. It wasn't without its faults though, seeing as the eyepatch obscured and blocked her vision negated its use, obviously.
It was based on her eye after all.
How far she can see with it, who she's looking at, their own mental fortitude. It didn't matter right now as she glared with her dark, black sclera filled left eye.
"Stop."
The signal was sent and for a brief moment, Anayama found himself stopping for that brief second.
"Stop." the signal repeated, the urge to stop grew slightly as Anayama stood his ground. "Stop."
Compared to Sora's quirk, in terms of giving commands, Sora's was more complex. Nozomi could only send really basic signals such as 'stop' while Sora could tell them to stop, jump and run away all in that order if she wanted to or making them do a little dance while doing their taxes.
So...aside from that difference of commands, what else was different or even the same in comparison?
One similar feature of both quirks was the instance of being somewhat short lived when they worked. Only lasting for moments or seconds at times, but Nozomi's Marco definitely had some differences.
"Stop." another signal was sent as Nozomi Tendo blinked. "That should do it..."
As Anayama stood his ground, Nozomi sent another command, exactly the same as the last! He didn't really know why, but he just...stood there.
"Hm? What's going on?"
Unlike Sora's Charmer's Voice, Nozomi's Macro could be easily repeated without that much chance of failure. Strengthening not only the effects of the command but also continuing the command itself! This was just one of the strengths of the yakuza's quirk!
"That should give us some time, where are the other guards?" Nozomi's hand almost reached for her head. It wasn't that bad yet...
Juro huffed, "no idea. Apparently the alarm went off earlier and it feels like there's less around? I think they're dealing with whatever happened elsewhere." they frowned at that. "Whatever happened out there, these guys are definitely taking advantage...but what's their true goal? It's clear that we're not their true targets...well, aside from Nozomi's assassin..."
"Whatever, who cares!" Sora grabbed the two. "Let's get out of here while we still can!"
Fleeing the scene of the crime as Chikuha dealt with the other two problems, the small group managed to put quite the distance between them and the battle, but Anayama's voice called out. "Leaving already?"
He was already moving, slightly. Sluggishly. It wouldn't be long until he charged though, right as he moved his hand into that abdomen-mouth.
"An assassin's mental fortitude would put up quite the fight with my quirk...wait, what's that in his hand-"
Pulling his hand out, the assassin brought out a small green vial.
A thought was shared among the three, "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Without a second to waste, Anayama injected himself with the strange green liquid.
The results were instantaneous.
Anayama's Jaw of Death opened wide and out came those same arms, darker in colour slightly and much, much longer, extending further out of the abdomen mouth than what they showed previously. That wasn't the only thing however, instead of the pair, they were assisted with more arms than the regular two. A total of six, long dark purple arms fired out of the mouth.
All these hands formed fists as they whipped around towards the inmates.
"Might as well get some data while we're at it," it wasn't long before Anayama was back on track, taking on the three. It was mostly whacking them around sacks of potatoes.
The arms were fast, incredibly so as they bent and waved around, making it harder for the three to figure out how to properly dodge until it was too late. As it stood, they either failed to dodge the first hand or they successfully dodged the first one, only to be hit by a second arm.
To add salt on top of this cake? Anayama didn't even take a single step in a long time since he injected the green liquid.
"Deactivate!" Nozomi sent another command signal as Sora and Juro fell to the floor as the black magnetic eyepatch hit the floor.
The arms slowly retreated for a while as the world seemed to feel like it was spinning. She sent the same signal, again and again as the arms returned into the open large stomach-mouth.
While it lasted for a short, decent while, the arms burst out once again as Anayama waggled his finger back and forth.
"Did that green liquid...help his resistance? No...it shouldn't...it's AGh!" Nozomi gripped her head as it pounded, feeling her left eye twitch as the world seemed a little fuzzy or blurry out of it. "It's starting...I've overuse-"
Sadly for her, the sudden pain she received left her wide open as the hands gripped onto her. Not only her though, but the others as well.
As each pair of hands grabbed hold of the three convicts and raised them into the air as Anayama didn't even move an inch from where he stood, the prisoners were brought close to the open maw. The teeth seemed sharper as it opened wider and wider.
In the back of the open mawl, a dim light grew more and more.
Brighter and brighter it became, it felt almost warm from where they were held. Nozomi realised, "if this is the first time he's using this on us...was he not taking us seriously?!" she could only think of one type of attack that 'light' could be. It wasn't a pretty picture.
And if it was enhanced by that drug that helped improve those arms… "Survival rate will be zero!" Despite all the injuries, pain, numbness for some and general exhaustion slowly catching up on them, they still found the ability to struggle.
Why?
It was their bodies' self preservation instinct for survival!
As they struggled, Nozomi closed her eyes. "Calm." and the refreshing sensation ran through her body once more. It was time to act now more than ever. "Drop. Drop. Drop." opening her left eye, she sent signal after signal as one by one they were released, but she wasn't done yet. She had one last trick up her sleeve, even if it pushed the consequences of overusing her quirk faster than normal. Anayama might have dropped them, but that didn't stop the attack he was planning to fire at them!
If heroes had super-moves and how some villains mocked them by using their own, Nozomi had her own special super-move!
She called it-!
"Stop. Jump. Run. Fight. Block. Stop. Run. Jump. Assist. Deactivate. Activate. Focus. Run. Stand. Sit. Jump. Stop." multiple commands rushed themselves into Anayama as he suddenly froze in place save for a couple of twitches. It didn't end there however as more and more commands kept pouring in!
Scramble!
A little technique she picked up on that involved issuing multiple different commands, and thanks to the process of all of them almost instantaneously, it was effective as some sort of stunlock...
But…
Sora gasped as she took notice of the former yakuza heiress. "Nozomi!" blood was running down her nose, her head was pounding. Hard. Harder than ever before as it felt like she was wearing the eyepatch again or was keeping her left eye closed for the longest wink ever as the blood kept pouring from her nose.
Overusing her quirk brought consequences.
With the help of Sora and Juro, Nozomi found herself fleeing the co-ed ward as quickly as they could. While she could have commanded him to cease his quirk usage, stunlocking him for a minute or two kept more problems off their back. In the end though, she was just glad to be out of this mess.
As Anayama remained unmoving from where he stood, rocks and other useless junk rained down from above the fleeing group.
"Wha-" Sora didn't have any time to process what happened next as all the little bits and bobs exploded!
Nozomi felt herself being blown into the air a little before she came crashing down just as fast. "That assassin...he's got...Chikuha's qu-!"
It was just in time for another volley of small, tiny explosions.
Sarutobi landed himself right on top of the 'guard' Anayama, and his hands were already rolling around some more junk to blow up as he looked over to the other person throwing bombs around.
A bead of sweat rolled down Sora's face. "Shit, he's going for another bombing run! Juro!"
Juro could only shake their head. "My eyes need more time...I can't stun him right now."
For Nozomi, her hesitation was brought on due to what Juro revealed about the assassin's quirk in that brief moment. It would be dangerous to let the enemy use it, if only once. "But, if it's only once, he might send a simple command that might be countered." She still lacked information about that copycat quirk, aside from the glances he shot Chikuha after every bombing run.
Sarutobi stood tall as he landed on the ground, glancing right at the explosive inmate as she threw her own timebombs around the ward. Ready for a second round, Sarutobi fell to one of his knees.
"...what?"
The assassin looked down to see an arm gripping his leg. It must have been what threw off his balance, but...
It wasn't connected to anything or anyone.
The oddly coloured pinky on the hand did seem familiar in a brief passing moment sort of way.
He wasn't the only one confused as a voice made herself known with a giggle! "Let me give you a hand!"
When he finally saw the person behind him, the mimic saw just who it belonged to.
Fushiko Karakuri.
Levitamputate: Fushiko can detach and reattach parts of her own body (from her limbs, hands, feet, eyes and ears)! When detached, she can control them telekinetically and they retain their function as if they were attached! However, separated body parts away from the main body for too long will see negative consequences.
"So that's her quirk..." Sarutobi's expression never changed as the incredibly pale woman with the messed up pinky laughed.
"I gotta hand it to ya there," the people nearby were unsure if they wanted to groan or not as Fushiko walked up.
One thing was clear though.
She was not taking this seriously in any sort of manner.
"It'll be dangerous to copy that quirk," noted the assassin as the arm released its grip, returning and re-attaching itself to its owner after flying around her for a bit.
"Fushiko...she's alright!" Sora pumped her fist up as Nozomi and Juro let out completely different sighs.
Anayama on the other hand...
"Finally," he rolled his arms around, taking a step for the first time in quite a while. "Kept me down for a while there. Maybe now I can fire away." Not the best thing to hear there.
Juro immediately leapt into action despite rubbing their eyes.
Back with the one who tripped up the black haired assassin, she just laughed. "Man, you should have seen your face...well, I hope it was funny like the rest of them!" she waved her arm over at the trio of inmates working together. "You're guys faces! It was incredible, I have never seen you look so shocked before!"
"Fushiko...now's not the time to be joking around," Nozomi was the one to call out, "we need your help here."
"A helping hand you mean?" the bob flared inmate replied as one of her hands came off, floating towards the trio as the assassin stood back up.
"No, that's not-"
Without a word, Sarutobi's hand popped off his wrist at surprising speeds!
Sailing through the air, the detached clenched fist hit the original quirk user right in the stomach, but it didn't stop there. No, Fushiko wasn't just hit for the sake of battle, she was being pushed away quite the distance.
"Rocket punch! Gotta write that down!" the victim thought to herself, but as the seconds passed when she landed on her butt a fair distance away, "hey! What was that for?! I wasn't ready! You could have just said something!" for extra measures, she stuck her tongue right out at him as her hand returned.
Sarutobi huffed, fist reattaching itself to the wrist. "Fool..."
When the icy blue eyes returned to the others, they watched as Anayama smashed Juro's head into the ground with ease, though with no real force behind the attack. Cold sweats broke out on the muscular mountain assassin, but that was it.
Juro wasn't paralysing anymore.
Even as Sora quickly tried to talk the man out of it, it only ended up with Juro being kicked back to them. "Damn it..." the former loan shark grunted.
"Fushiko," the yakuza heiress continued from a while back, "we really need your help here."
For once in quite a while since she's been in Styx, Fushiko's smile dropped. It wasn't by a lot, but it was noticeable as with her smaller smile she looked around.
"What to do...this is getting way too heavy here..."
Well, there was one thing.
It was incredibly simple!
"I'll just let them deal with it!"
As she turned to leave, giving a nice friendly smile, Nozomi sent a signal. "Assist." If she was being honest, doing this to Fushiko felt wrong, but in these circumstances... she sent a repeating signal. "Assist."
Instead of running, Fushiko was now closing the gap...right as a familiar sound grew.
An explosive one.
The sound of bombs going off grew louder as tiny clouds of mist rolled through the battleground. "Stop dodging and fight back!" came the sudden shout from Ueno. That's when they realised, the other three finally arrived back to the group.
Now it was going to be a full on five against four battle.
"Shit," Juro's snake eyes looked around them. "We're surrounded. Those four assassins can still keep going despite the attacks they took, Chikuha is a wildcard and Fushiko refuses to take this seriously without Nozomi's quirk...but, Nozomi and I risk overusing our eyes further and Sora, I have no idea what might happen to her throat. Plus we have to worry about Sarutobi's quirk if one of us uses one of our own quirks..."
Juro wasn't the only one there to come to a similar conclusion.
Right next to them was a tomboyish prisoner with bluish-grey hair. She carefully observed the scene around her before deciding to do what professionals called…
Winging it.
"Hey, Chikuha," a sweet, honey-like tone came from Sora. "Go all out. Blame it on me if you want afterwards..."
Crossing her arms with a tap on the ground, the bomber immediately grinned. "Sure thing!"
Nozomi watched as Chikuha pulled out more random stuff from her pockets. All to use her quirk with as the yakuza daughter couldn't help but break out a little sweat from what will come now.
Out of all the people in the female ward, Nozomi knew who the true ones with power were. Unlike Akita, who regarded herself as the top dog of the ward thanks to the numbers of her group, three inmates stood out to the yakuza daughter whether or not they had the intention to stand at the top.
The first was Ashita Insatsushi, the information broker within Styx.
It wasn't a surprise to see just why Nozomi thought this. Ashita was the prison's info broker and that alone was enough of a reason why Nozomi saw her as one of the real top three. She had a guaranteed way to get information from others, it was almost as if she knew and her sources of how she got this information was a mystery.
They say information is power and Ashita definitely proved that. With all the information and as some say dirt, it was easy to see how that information could be used for her benefit.
The second was Sae Kumiza, a surprisingly well known inmate within Styx. Sae wasn't known for a good reason though as Nozomi came to learn pretty quickly. In fact, the people who knew her before prison were considered her enemies.
She was the reason why a handful of inmates were in Styx to begin with, it was quite similar to Mariko who had enemies in prison. After learning what her quirk did, Nozomi was certain that Sae could quite easily handle herself with many potential foes. It could end a fight pretty quickly without much pain or death.
Speaking of which, that brought her to the third.
The third, was standing right in front of her and perhaps the scariest one in her opinion. Chikuha Ueno.
While Ashita had seemingly endless information at her fingertips and Sae possessed a quirk that allowed her to defeat strong opponents with ease and without the risk of murder, Chikuha had raw power. Her quirk allowed her to make timebombs out of whatever she touches.
A powerful and potentially deadly ability that packed quite a punch.
Styx was home to many powerful abilities just like Chikuha after all.
And Nozomi was witnessing just how powerful Chikuha could be.
Chikuha was ALWAYS up for a fight, all the while having that grin or smile on her face. As Nozomi watched as Chikuha glided around the battlefield tossing at first small timebombs, it was clear to almost everyone that she was enjoying this.
It was only the start.
You see, every time Chikuha joined in a fight in Styx AND used her quirk. It was NEVER enough to kill whoever it was on the other side.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" The bomber taunted the assassin, throwing a bigger explosion right at them.
There was simply no malicious intent in those attacks.
Both inmates and guards alike, not once did her explosions in Styx cross the threshold that was death.
Where was the fun in that?
The bomber leaned forward, already in arm's reach of various objects. "Let's get started, shall we?" without much hesitation, whatever she grabbed was tossed into the air.
It was then that Anayama felt...cold as he and the others noticed Chikuha tossing various things into the air, before the ones in her own hands were ready to be pelted.
Seeing the large grin on Chikuha's face, the 'guard' Anayama ran back to the two other assassins, Sarutobi and Kirigaku. He needed to make it in time as Chikuha threw everything up into the sky. Nozomi and Sora looked up at the now speckled sky from where they were. Fushiko quickly made her way over to the previously mentioned pair while Kara and Juro started to make a break for it. Chikuha on the other hand, just screamed.
"LET'S FUCKING GO!"
As it rained down with a multitude of various objects from small rocks, utensils and whatever else Chikuha could get her hands on, time felt like it slowed for at least a second when it finally happened.
Everything that rained down...
Exploded!
It was nothing like the time she decided to greet the new arrival Demelza or when Shi came barreling after said greeting of the prison's fresh meat.
No, this was something more. It packed more than a simple punch.
In random continuous intervals, large explosions ran throughout the co-ed ward's outdoor area! It kind of resembled some odd looking fireworks from a distance as it engulfed the outdoor area turned battlefield.
The only thing that could be heard was the banging of multiple explosions.
It was like the ground was rumbling!
For those who were in the fray right now, it felt like an endless barrage as everything Chikuha had touched exploded. All different time bombs going off at various times. Some counted down faster than others, some took longer to explode.
The end result was the same. Seemingly countless explosions raining down on the field.
By the time it all came to an end, the damage had already been done.
The small part of the battlefield that was engulfed by explosions, it looked like No Man's Land!
The ground stained grey like ash as the normally even footing of the ground was now replaced with multiple small craters from the carpet bombing technique.
A breeze rolled through the singed ground as a cough made itself known after the longest time. "Gah, what the hell..."
One of the first to open their eyes to the scene of the crime was none other than Sora Natsumi. As she looked over the battlefield, she took in the ashen and singed ground. "Guess we're lucky..." her head hit the ground, trying her best to catch her breath.
Next to her was Nozomi and Fushiko, up a bit further was Kara and Juro who tried to escape, but it seemed the force of the explosions sent them to the ground too. "Huh..." once again, Sora couldn't help but think about how lucky they really were.
It was a good thing that Chikuha's carpet bombing was focused mostly in that area...speaking of which, slowly looking around, there was a figure standing in the middle of it all. The bomber herself. She was the only one standing after that bombardment.
Chikuha Ueno was standing tall, unaffected by her own explosions but as she put her arms high into the air, she quickly dropped to her knees as exhaustion ran through her entire body.
"God damn, that was great, huh?" the bomber smirked to herself as she just sat there, drained and fatigued.
Sora couldn't even shake her head as she managed to flip herself over, feeling just as much exhaustion as Chikuha did. It really took the energy right out of her. As she stared up at the ceiling, she did her best to at least look at the other group that was with them.
Anayama, Kirigaku and Sarutobi...
The large muscular man that was Anayama covered the two underneath him, shielding them from the fierce bombardment above. His back was practically steaming from the explosions that rained down.
"Are they...down?" the tomboy prisoner thought to herself as she looked back to the slumped over Chikuha, still on her knees.
If Nozomi was conscious right now, she would probably confirm herself on the thought that Chikuha was indeed one of those potentially powerful inmates. However, when it came to her own personal observation of Chikuha Ueno and her timebombs, it was only observation.
Observation and her own thoughts on the matter. Anyone can obtain a victory yet suffer a defeat.
There was one thing that most inmates learnt when arriving in Styx.
Styx was home to many strong monsters.
It was true that Chikuha was always up for a fight and that while in prison she never killed anyone or had malicious intent in her actions during prison fights, to say that her explosions didn't cause death, that would be a lie.
She was just having as much fun as she could in Styx.
Sora blinked as she tried to sit up, to no real avail.
As she managed to look around the battlefield for one final time, the only thing she knew for sure was, "we're not going to get out of this so easily..." the new sounding alarm was different, incredibly so as she could almost hear a stampede towards their location.
It was only a matter of seconds before the main force of the guards came rushing to the scene...and the consequences that followed right behind it.
Elsewhere, away from the co-ed ward, roughly at the same time before chaos unfolded, some other people were continuing their own task.
"So, where do we go from here?" asked the stoic Yua as she looked back to the information broker.
Right now they were on the search that Shi Banken set them on and thanks to Sora who noted the odd behaviour whenever it came to Koneko's cell and the additional help from Fushiko who let them all know about the inmate going somewhere with the guards, the search was on yet again.
The information broker had just relayed what Fushiko found out and it definitely got Sae up and ready.
With the same playful smile, the information broker waggled her finger back and forth. "The real question here is: who?"
"What do you mean?" came Sae's voice as she walked over.
"Trying to find someone who walked with the guards is pretty difficult going off what only Fushiko told us. We have no idea just where they went out of her view." Insatsushi shook her head. "One way is to either find Koneko herself or we go get information from some other people."
"I doubt anyone would be willing to give secretive information like that out," added the oleander flowered Yua.
"Don't worry! I got a handy trick around that!"
As talk soon turned into a plan, two pairs of eyes watched the trio very closely.
"Should we go now?" a tall, muscular figure asked. "It seems our suspicions are confirmed, they're on the way there."
The muscular figure shook their head. "I didn't think that a bunch of inmates would be the ones looking for it."
The smaller crossed their arms that carried a clank as they touched together, their voice being higher than their partner's voice. "Yep, definitely a surprise there." they paused before looking up at their muscular partner. "The trio itself was suspicious from the get go. Ashita and Yua I'd understand, but Sae? Now there has to be something as to why they teamed up and look at what we found because of it."
"Should we intercept them now?"
The smaller, veiled figure shook their head. "No, that would put them closer on the right track...but, it is our job to make sure no inmate on this side gets there, you know."
"Playing it safe...that might be the best option, but that doesn't change the fact that a clash with them will be inevitable." a huff came from the taller. "It's either now or when they learn about Limbo, thanks to Insatsushi with them."
"...it's really a now-or-later situation, huh?" the veiled one sighed. "Both of which will have them learn about it as soon as Ashita gets to work."
Now faced with a situation of whether or not to act now or wait. It didn't matter in the end as the attention of both figures were on the information broker.
A tough situation with them learning from their attack or from some other source before inevitably clashing. In the end, doing their job or not, she would learn just what they were really guarding.
Slinking back into the shadows, the pair watched the trio some more. Weighing the options and the job they were assigned to do.
It was only a matter of time before the clash.