A/N: Hey, I know that this is pretty unrelated to the story at hand, but holy crap, Three Houses is amazing! I know that it's not for everyone, but I'm just having so much fun! If you've ever been interested in Fire Emblem before, this is the perfect place to start. I'm currently playing through the Black Eagles route and plan on two more paythroughs for both the Blue Lions and Golden Deer (in that order).
Now, on a chapter related note, this will be the first chapter to deviate away from the main four viewpoints for a bit, mainly to give them room to breathe and myself some time to gather thoughts on what'll happen next. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this next chapter as we find out what everyone else is up to!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or My Hero Academia. They belong to Monty Oum, Kohei Horikoshi, and their respective publishing companies. Please support the official releases.
I do not own the cover image
Chapter 56: Perspective
Tomura was not normally what one would call a patient man. In most cases he tried not to reveal the truth regarding that and give off the opposite impression: that he was a cold and clever manipulator first and a bloodthirsty man second. Which, most of the time, was indeed the case. However, his current company wasn't exactly going out of their way to make that easy for the white-haired man.
First was Dabi, who'd busied himself in one corner with Purgatory out and about, clicking the barrel out and in and out and in and out and in and out again. It was annoying, to say the least. It had been fine when the boy had simply been cleaning it, but now it seemed as though he was just doing it to satisfy a tick that kept going off somewhere in his head. While he couldn't really blame him, it was beginning to get on his very last nerve, which had held for a surprisingly long time.
Then there was Himiko, who was off in the opposite corner of the room and a decent distance away from both him and Dabi. However, that didn't mean that she couldn't be heard. In fact, the distance seemed to make her constant tirade of aimless babble all the louder, and all the more noticeable. She spoke of what she usually spoke of, hoping to get to spill blood from a cute guy or two in Mistral, maybe even some girls depending on her mood. While the revelation about girls was somewhat surprising to him, it was still no less annoying than her chatter about boys. Maybe she'd talked about it before and he hadn't bothered to listen all that closely.
Twice was up on deck and currently ensuring that the ship flew smoothly. While he would've preferred Torchwick or Spinner be on that job, Twice was surprisingly good at it too, so the three of them agreed to take flights in rotations. It wasn't ideal, as the orange-haired thief was arguably the better pilot out of the all of them, but it did give them all a mental break and a literal one whenever they required it.
"Sir?" a familiar voice asked, causing Tomura to look up and see the dark mist of Kurogiri standing in front of him with his usual bartender getup. It was a bit reassuring to know that, despite everything that had been happening recently, some things would never truly change.
"They're ready to talk diplomacy?" Tomura asked.
Kurogiri gave a nod, causing the mist around his head to wave to and fro slightly. "Yes. I understand that it's been a trying time for you, so if you feel stressed, we could-"
"Please, no more delays! I'll take talking about just about anything over sitting here with nothing to do for even a minute longer," Tomura exclaimed.
They quickly made their way up the airship, choosing to ignore the admittedly beautiful Mistral scenery to instead make their way to the captain's cabin, which had been converted from its description to something equivocating that of a war room. The desk remained towards the far end of the room itself, with bulletproof windows covering some spare inch of every wall in the place and a simple but still classy chandelier to light the room.
However, that was basically everything that had remained the same. The large round table in the center of the room was covered in papers of all varieties: maps, financial documents, information, etc, and the chairs were now an odd number instead of the starting even sue to his frustrations and accidentally destroying a few of them without noticing.
Torchwick was busy sifting through a few documents himself with the help of Compress, pointing to various places and points on a map of the entire city of Mistral. From the rich and classy Sky districts to the rotten and crime-ridden Cavern Districts, the map itself was absolutely huge and took up almost a quarter of the table by itself, and most of the places they'd confirmed that the group had taken over were highlighted in red. That was at least half the map, if not even more than that. Chisaki's group was certainly prolific, Tomura could give them that
Well, alias Overhaul. How he got that name had quickly become infamous among their Lodge. Apparently, in addition to the almost uncanny way that his semblance worked, able to deconstruct and reform anything he touched, Chisaki had totally overhauled his Yakusa group and managed to reestablish control of their territories within six months. That had only been two years ago. Now he controlled a majority of Mistral's crime that didn't already have primary focusers. After a while, he'd either have the other leaders in his shadow or in the ground.
"Okay, so if he hasn't made a move on the Ports yet, then the mafia around there could still be a viable threat to-" Torchwick began saying as he saw Tomura and Kurogiri enter, cutting himself off as he then greeted them. "Boss, Mist Man. How're things?"
"If I have to wait too much longer, I might attract some unwanted Grimm," Tomura admitted. "Let's just get started."
"At your leisure," Compress said as he leaned his cane against the table itself, waiting for Tomura to go to the head and sit as the others took their places at the table.
"I hereby call this meeting to order, discussing tactics and diplomacy for the meeting with Kai Chisaki, yadda yadda yadda, something about honor and presentation, let's start talking and to hell with the rest of the formalities," Tomura said. "Always wanted to do that."
"Well, as Compress and I were saying, Chisaki's loyalty to his group is... well, to spare you a lot of bullshit psych jargon, it's basically fanatical. Which is understandable, given where he comes from. Still, that doesn't change the fact that his actions are borderline sociopathic, especially recently. There were rumors that when he found a defector in his ranks, he had the woman tortured to death and threw her body into the middle Mistral's main river," Torchwick explained.
"Okay, so don't get on his bad side," Tomrua said simply.
"That's not just it. The man barely felt anything when he did it. Not even guilt," the orange-haired thief further expanded. "I knew the person who was executed personally. She'd been with Chisaki's group for a really long time. Long before Chisaki himself joined, in fact. She didn't like what their group was becoming. And when he started mentioning the potential of those damn bullets he had on the brain... it was enough for her to go turn herself in. I tried to talk her out of it, but she said she'd rather rot in jail for the rest of her life than let one of his guns fire even a single one of those bullets."
"And that was because of an idea for... bullets? What kind bullets?" Tomura asked in surprise. They were obviously important, but what could they do?
"The hunter killing kind," Torchwick simply replied. "The idea was that if he could make bullets that completely destroy someone's Aura, he could 'free them of their burden.' Hypocrite. The only thing he'd be doing is causing mass chaos throughout the city. I get why some people would want to use them. Hunters in Mistral aren't exactly humble or generous, but still... the power to render someone Fractured by something so mundane is... unsettling. Shatter Bullets aren't something to be used lightly."
"And that brings us to this," Compress said as he pushed a document forward. "It's been recently discovered that one of the final prototypes of these bullets have been made. As soon as they perfect it, they'll likely begin mass production. They'd be unstoppable."
"How the hell is he making these things?" Tomura asked. "No material on Remnant is capable of rendering someone Fractured, manmade or otherwise."
"We don't know. It's one of Chisaki's most guarded secrets, in addition to where they're stored. And, currently, those are the main reasons we can't afford to get on his bad side. In effect, we know too little about his greatest potential asset. And that's not even accounting for manpower, connections, double agents and total influence," Torchwick said. "If it wasn't for our partners, I'd say that he's probably one of the most dangerous people in Anima, if not Remnant as a whole."
"That's quite the claim," Kurogiri said. "Even moreso coming from someone as well-traveled as you are."
"We'll save idle chatter for later. What're our main strategies?" Tomura asked.
"Well, there's the one that everyone knows and hates. We offer our services and... work under him for a while. Bide our time, gain some influence, have some people turn a blind eye to Salem's forces, stuff like that," Torchwick said hesitantly.
Everyone would hate this plan. In particular, Dabi, Himiko, and their white-haired leader himself. Dabi because he had a general problem with authority, Himiko because she would have a problem with orders that came from anyone but Tomura, Compress, and most of all Torchwick; and Tomura himself because the only two people he respected enough to take orders from were either locked up all the way in Atlas or so far away they couldn't currently give any without the help of a communication Grimm.
"And the other?" Tomura asked, not exactly hoping for much.
"Is going to be much harder, but it'll give us much more flexibility," Compress began to explain. "Simply put, we'll propose our plan in a way that benefits his cause, so long as we're placed on equal footing authority-wise. Perhaps we leave a few of the finer details out so as to not give him the full picture and make it more difficult for him to interfere, but if it works, we'll not only get into his good graces, we'll likely be considered partners for the time we're in Mistral."
"but that'll be really hard to pull off because of how skeptical and paranoid he can be," Tomura guessed, to which Torchwick simply nodded in confirmation.
"He doesn't often show it, but when someone pisses him off really bad, he can be rather... unhinged, to put it very, very, very delicately," the orange-haired thief explained. "Our best bet would probably be offering our services and then work our way up to a partner-esque relationship with his Yakusa group, but I don't think anyone on this boat wants to work under him for too long."
Tomura sighed as he rubbed away the ache that had come to the center of his forehead, careful to keep his pinky away from touching his bare skin. "Alright, I think we can all agree that this'll be difficult either way. Let's say we reconvene in a day or two and see if we can potentially combine the strategies when we all have clearer heads. Agreed?"
The sigh of relief never escaped the lips of anyone in the room, but they seemed grateful to be granted a break from the chaos nonetheless. He couldn't blame them either; they'd all been cooped together on this ship so long that they could all do with some stress relief.
So, he went up to the deck and then to the helm, where Twice was currently keeping the ship steady on its course for Mistral. They'd have to land a ways outside the city to keep unnoticed, but otherwise, the ship would be one of their most valuable assets. It was cramped as hell, though.
"How long until we can touch down unnoticed?" Tomura asked Twice.
"About twelve minutes. Then we shall soar above the mountain peaks!" was the man's overly enthusiastic answer. His contradictions often made it... difficult to determine what he actually meant, but one like this was fairly easy.
"Why do you ask? Do you want to see the clouds perfect forms, so crisp and white and marvelously part at the mere presence of the-"
"I need... to go for a walk. Preferably somewhere with Grimm that... wander onto the main path."
.
..
…
"... understood," Twice said in a tone Tomura had never heard from the man before. Was he actually scared?
Made sense to him, at least. If he knew someone that needed to use the same method to calm down that he did, he would feel just a bit threatened. But that was an idle thought for another day. For now, it was time to do what he promised and go for a long, stress-relieving walk.
(meanwhile, just over the retaken quarter of Vale, Coco's POV)
It was official. This day had been long and exhausting. She didn't blame her team one bit for sleeping through most of the ride back, and she probably would've joined them if it wasn't for the fact that she was currently flying the ship taking them to Vale and currently keeping them from plummeting to their sudden and painful deaths.
Okay, Coco, you really need to stop thinking so morbidly. Urgh, I need sleep. Or coffee. One of the two. Oum, I miss good coffee.
Then she got the message across the main screen, and answered it with two quick taps. "This is Cloud Jumper, requesting permission to land. Sending the clearance code."
"Acknowledged. Please hold while the code is processed and prepare for the password," the operator said as Coco prepared to dock.
She then heard a yawn beside has as her teammate, and boyfriend, woke from his long nap at the sound of the monitor's admittedly loud voice. He opened his pale blind eyes and cleared his dark auburn hair from his eyes out of habit, and said, "We're back already?"
"Already? Babe, it's almost four in the afternoon," Coco teased.
"That early? Man, I thought I'd have more time to sleep," Fox admitted in disappointment.
"Hey, don't blame me. That swarm of Nevermores moved on and I took the original route," she said.
"Never said I was. Just complaining at nothing, I guess. Urgh, I miss sleeping in," Fox said with another yawn.
"Me too, Foxy. Me too," Coco sympathized, putting a reassuring hand on her lover's shoulder. The last time that anyone in CFVY had gotten a full night's sleep had been... a month and a half ago? Maybe? It was hard to remember. Either way, most of them were sleep-deprived and she still had a meeting to attend with everyone else as the leader of their primary scavenging and scouting force. It also didn't hurt that she could fly one of the only airships they had.
"Code cleared. Awaiting password," the operator said.
"Supreme Espresso Deathtrap," Coco quickly responded.
"Password confirmed. Welcome back, Captain Adel. You're cleared for landing," the operator finished before hanging up.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that password," Velvet said, rubbing her left arm in slight discomfort.
"Hey, we all know the chances of someone actually guessing that password are stupidly low," the brown-haired leader countered.
"That is only due to the sheer absurdity of the password itself," Yatsu said, eyes still closed as he leaned against the back of his seat.
"That was the point of it," Coco said as they touched down, the whirring of the engines slowly fading out as she opened the main door. It was time to offload and refuel.
When they emerged, standing in the entrance, as always, was Toshinori Yagi, better known to the masses as All Might. If someone had told her that All Might's real form was a gangly as hell guy with a hunched posture and messy haircut a year ago, she'd have either laughed in their faces or smacked them upside the head for saying something so ridiculous.
Now though? She had to admit, while his real appearance did take some getting used to, seeing him always there to greet her and her team after a mission was incredibly reassuring. Still, the man gave his smile and asked, "How'd it go?"
"About as well as we expected," she admitted. They had never been expecting a miracle when they went to Vacuo's border, but they hadn't expected their forces to be spread that thin. Then again, considering the fact that they had the second largest mass of land to cover and that Vacuo had unnaturally anarchistic leanings, it hadn't been that much of a change in status quo.
It was weird, seeing both the country that was affected by the fall the most and the one that was affected the least share the same continent. The point, however, was that they wouldn't be receiving any help from Vacuo anytime soon.
Toshinori sighed at the news, and motioned for her to follow him to the meeting room. Coco briefly turned to her team and said, "Gotta go run through logistic crap. See you guys in an hour or two."
"At least get some coffee so you don't drop dead!" Fox called after her.
"Way ahead of you, Foxy!" she responded. Coco hoped that her team would at least be granted a day or two off. Maybe she and Fox could have a bit more alone time too. But that was wishful thinking at this point. For now, she needed to focus.
As they passed through the various places on their route to the meeting place, Toshinori quickly answered requests and gave orders as they went with all the tact and skill that he could muster. He was an amazing leader, despite the fact that he often struggled as a teacher. With the position they were in right now, it was almost like Remnant expected him to be both at once. She and the other commanders helped out where they could, but he really was what kept them going, kept all of them together.
Everyone was waiting rather patiently once they entered, with Port and Oobleck discussing something or other in excited but hushed tones, probably a breakthrough in some kind of tactic or development in their available tech. Well, Port was usually the one who led and fought alongside the majority of the border defenses, so Coco wasn't surprised that he was excited to have something that might save lives on hand.
Then there was also Eddard Stark at the other end of the table with crossed arms. Actually, he'd asked to be called Ned just last month. It felt a bit odd to refer to someone like that by a name that implied a lot of familiarity, but it was simultaneously reassuring all the same. He oversaw a majority of the operations of their border defenses and was doing a damn good job of it. Even his eldest sons, Rob and Jon, had joined them and currently led their own squads against the constant stream of Grimm. The rest of his family had been sent to Mistral for their safety. Coco hoped they were doing alright. Judging from his demeanor, so did Ned.
Peach was there as well, sitting next to Glynda with her lab coat halfway off her shoulders and a generally groggy look constantly shrouding her hair-veiled face. It was strange to see someone who was so energetic yet so sarcastic be unable to even make the most basic of comeback quips. Still, she was overseeing the operations of their medical centers, and she was doing it masterfully. No doubt thanks to her semblance making to work itself a lot easier, but it was still very tiring work.
Glynda herself looked as she always had, even back when Coco and her team had started their first year: calculated, poised, and prepared for damn near anything. Well, anything except the sheer amount of insanity that Aizawa and his teaching philosophy of 'sink or swim,' to put it mildly. Still, she was exactly the one they needed to lead their assault team. She was already making quick work of the lower district next to the port, and they'd probably have back within the next two weeks or so.
Aizawa... wasn't around currently, but he was the head of their primary rescue team. He'd been sent to Mistral about a month and a half ago in order to help out with a desperate situation that was developing there. Hopefully, they'd actually get some reinforcements out of this and be able to push further into the city. Hell, if they had more weapons and people to use them, they could probably retake another half of the city within a week.
Coco also couldn't help but notice that ever since the aforementioned insomniac had left, Glynda had been a bit melancholic. Not to the point that it impeded the work she'd been assigned, but it was still noticeable to anyone who cared to look. Well, the two had worked pretty close when Aizawa had been here, and they had been getting along rather well despite everything they'd been through. Assumptions could be made about them, but it wasn't as though they were deliberately keeping stuff secret from everyone else. There wasn't time for that now. If you were dating, you were dating. Or doing... other things. Either way, no one much cared for the moment.
"Alright," Toshinori said as he sat at the head of the table, everyone else instantly coming to silence as he did so. "Is everyone ready?"
"One sec," Coco said as she steadied herself, leaned her head back, and began to chug every last drop of coffee in the mug she held. It was bitter, kinda weak, and all the sugar and cream in the world wouldn't have made it remotely enjoyable. Still, this was what passed for coffee here, so she grinned and bore it.
With that down her gullet, she placed the mug off to the side of her chair and sat right between Peach and Port, crossing her legs out of habit as she then waited for Toshinori to give the word.
"... alright then. Let's get the meeting underway."
(meanwhile, somewhere in Mistral's middle districts, Aizawa's POV)
Not for the first time, Aizawa missed waking up with Glynda next to him. After they'd finally started to work on their respective flaws and damage, it had turned out that they were much more compatible than either of them had originally thought. They got along a lot better when they didn't let bias and experience dictate absolutely everything. The latter often helped, but sometimes it could hinder them as well.
Aizawa had started sleeping a lot easier when she was with him. Especially during the harder days. It was going to be a time to adjust without her here for a while. That and she was practically like a living furnace; she was so warm. It was a blessing on the colder nights. And he missed that small but genuine smile that she'd rarely shown to anyone. Hell, he'd only seen it a few times himself, and that had been when she was only half awake.
Still, he wasn't going to get anything done by sulking here in his bed. There was work to be done. As fast as his still tired body would let him, he rose out of bed and let a yawn escape his lips, stretching his arms upwards before heading into the small shower within his temporary apartment and turned the water to just above warm.
He stripped himself of his nightclothes and let the water roll down his body, soothing his muscles and soaking his hair with it. It also let his thoughts drift as his new morning routine began. After he'd landed and almost immediately found himself overwhelmed by all of the people here, Aizawa had quickly been found and escorted by a couple of the employees of the agency he had been working with for the past few weeks. Those two had been Osamu Dazai and Doppo Kunikida of the Armed Detective Agency, or ADA for short.
The group had been gaining notoriety around Mistral as of late, but they weren't often heard of outside of Anima. Which didn't surprise him very much, given the communication situation these days. Still, they'd been doing a lot of good, and he hoped that he could help with that and, hopefully, get some reinforcements for Vale along the way.
Doppo Kunikida was someone who he could see himself working with long-term, if it ever came to that. Strong-willed, tactical, sure of every action, and a budding leader on top of it all. Not to mention the versatility of his semblance, Lone Poet, despite its limitations. His experience working with the police force and expertise with wire guns before the ADA didn't hurt either. It wasn't exactly a shock to Aizawa that Kunikida was the potential next in line for leadership of the ADA. But the guy was also fairly... hardheaded, and as stubborn as a Taurus Grimm. And his taste in women was... unique, to put it mildly. Thank you so much for that, Dazai.
Fitting, then, that Kunikida's looks matched his personality to a T. A tall but slim build with deep, green-grey eyes. His dirty blonde hair was parted to the right at the front and with a rather neat but spiky pattern that ended in a long ponytail, and had a pair of glasses over his eyes that Aizawa had never seen him without. His attire consisted of a beige vest over a black long-sleeved dress shirt, a red ribbon tied into a bow around the collar, beige pants, and plain brown shoes. All in all, a model leader, if a bit uptight.
His partner, Osamu Dazai, was the complete opposite, and his personality reminded him of his old partner's if he'd ever decided to get a bit unhinged. This guy was kinda lazy, definitely walking the line between sanity and madness, and a suicide enthusiast for a reason he really didn't want to know. Still, despite being quite bizarre, he was good to have around in a pinch, and could get surprisingly intense and downright bloodthirsty in the right circumstances. And his semblance...
Aizawa sighed as he banged his head against the shower wall in frustration before turning the water off. Of all the people who had to have a semblance so similar to his own, why the hell did it have to be that one? What made him all the more annoyed was that Dazai's semblance, No Longer Human, which was a weird name even by his standards, seemed to be a more convenient version of Aizawa's, only requiring physical contact from Dazai himself to cancel it. It was so ridiculous he'd even earned a nickname: Reset, which he would admit sounded much cooler than Dazai's semblance name.
Then again, the touch thing also meant he didn't have a whole lot of ranged options, but that didn't exactly matter when Dazai was so versed martial arts that it didn't seem to matter how far away you were; he would get to you eventually.
His looks, again, seemed to match his personality all too well. Similar to Kunikida, Dazai was both tall and slim despite his dexterity and strength, with a deceivingly handsome face that belied his cunning nature, with mildly wavy, short, dark brown hair and narrow, dark brown eyes that never seemed to smile when he did. At least, not completely. His bangs often framed his face, while a few gathered at the center of his forehead. He always wore a long sand-colored trench coat, the belt of which he left untied. Under that was a black vest over a striped dress shirt that is light blue in hue. He wore a bolo tie, which was held by a brown ribbon and a turquoise pendant. He also donned beige pants, dark brown shoes, and had bandages wrapped around his entire body; only his face, hands, and feet were left uncovered.
Aizawa had no idea why he bothered to wear those things at all, and he doubted that Dazai would tell him if he asked. Other than what he had in front of him, the man was a complete unknown. It was a bit unnerving, to be honest.
When he managed to dress for the day, quickly grabbing something simple to heat up in the microwave from the fridge; it was all he could afford at the moment, he heard someone give a quick knock to his door. Sighing, he grabbed the now warmed burrito and went to the door with a bit already in his mouth.
Standing outside of it was Atsushi Nakajima, one of the newest members of the ADA, and, additionally, one of the most powerful people in it, sans Dazai and Fukuzawa. He was quite skittish at first, which Kunikida had told him was the result of a rather traumatic upbringing and confidence issues, so Aizawa never commented on it and tried to treat the boy normally. Atsushi was actually quite nice and very dedicated to his work, but also seemed unaware of certain social cues, a bit quiet when he wasn't busy, along with a mild obsession with money. If he ever met Izuku, the two would get along very well. They were only a year apart in terms of age, Atsushi being seventeen and all, and their personalities basically guaranteed they'd be fast friends. He hoped that green-haired scatterbrain was doing alright.
His semblance... could he even call what Atsushi had a semblance? It was bizarre: a mix of abilities that meshed and matched until they finally worked together to form the ability Atsushi had titled Beast Beneath the Moonlight. While long, the title of it was certainly accurate, as when fully unleashed, that was exactly what he became. At least, according to Dazai and Kunikida. Apparently, he was able to regenerate entire limbs in seconds, and transform parts of his body into that of a monstrous tiger form to grant himself greatly enhanced speed, strength, and durability. It had even earned him a few nicknames. The most popular was White Reaper, for what reason Aizawa currently didn't know, but his favorite was probably Crouching Midnight Tiger. It seemed to fit him much more. If Aizawa ever saw Atsushi's ability in action, it would be something to behold. He wasn't sure which one was the quirk or the semblance or just his baseline faunus ability, but he could only deactivate one of those three.
On that note, Atsushi, as ever, had light gray hair, pale skin, and is of average height with a slim build. He had segmental heterochromia, consisting of purple with yellow along the bottom curve of his pupils. His hair was short and swept forward in loose, uneven spikes with a lock left long on the right side of his face, and a prominent black steak running through it. Above that was one of his faunus traits: his striped ears that were the same color as his hair: light gray and black, which poked through the mess and always seemed to be downfacing ever so slightly. Atsushi wore a white button-up with the sleeves pushed to his elbows, a loose black tie, black pants, black, fingerless gloves, black shoes, and a suspenders/belt combo with a long stretch of the belt dangling loosely from the buckle, almost making it seem as though he had a second tail. His second aforementioned trait had the same color as the first, and always seemed to be waving about lowly whenever he was doing something mindless or wasn't performing his unusually limber and dexterous acrobatics.
And, now that Aizawa was in front of him, his tail suddenly spiked in minor surprise before hanging low again, his ears turning further down as he said, "G-good morning, Mr. Aizawa. Mr. Fukuzawa has requested your presence as soon as possible."
"I kinda got that part. Why didn't he just call me? It would've been much easier," Aizawa asked, taking another bite of his burrito once he had.
"He didn't elaborate much on that. He just said I should get you to the agency as soon as possible," Atsushi replied, clearly growing somewhat anxious the longer he stood there.
"Maybe it had something to do with the weird power surges last night. They could've been from the primary tower," a soft, feminine voice from behind Atsushi said.
And, as if on cue, over Atsushi's shoulder popped his partner in metaphorical crime, Izumi Kyoka. She was something of a contrast to Dazai in terms of displayed personality, being very quiet and reserved towards people she wasn't familiar with, ie: him, initially. However, after he accompanied her and Atsushi on an assignment, he'd learned that she was really just a fifteen-year-old girl through and through, and seemed to be infatuated with everything around her, even the sights that she'd been to before, according to Atsushi. She especially seemed fascinated by food. Izumi loved baked sweets and fried tofu. It was actually a bit of a drain on Atsushi's wallet, but he never seemed to mind. And it wasn't as though she didn't return the favor. She did treat him to sushi once that job was done.
Izumi's semblance was also odd. Aizawa hadn't seen it for very long, only a brief flash, but it seemed to be some sort of spirit-like entity, one that he was tempted to relate to Lancelot, though the two were very different despite the similarities. Izumi didn't seem to use it very much, according to Dazai, mainly because she was still getting used to controlling it. She did have enough control over it to knock people out, despite the fact that it had a particularly sharp blade as its primary means of offense.
Izumi herself was actually quite short, with dark blue hair that was tied into two low twintails with flower pins. The girl had blue eyes and, as always, donned her signature red Kimono with patterns of sprouts, with its yellow Datejime neatly tied, with red, triangle pattern gloves on her hands, with yellow cloth pads tied to the backs of them. Izumi also wore long white socks and sandals; while on her arms, she appears to wear yellow and red wrist pads. She also had a tiny rabbit doll and a CIS on a necklace cord.
"I mean, I noticed that too, but I don't think it could've just been from the tower," Atsushi countered.
"Then the only conclusion to come to would be that it came from multiple sources to go through the entire city simultaneously," a third addition said, causing both Atsushi and Kyoka to jump as they remembered exactly who they'd brought with them.
This one was Ranpo Edogawa, and, for a time, he annoyed Aizawa almost as much as Dazai still did. He was lazy, childish, constantly distracted people from their work, and could be something of a hassle to deal with. Despite all of that, and the fact that he'd almost driven Aizawa crazy within the first few days, Ranpo was also ridiculously smart. If he had to put it into words, the guy could look at you and deduce your life story within a minute or less.
That was mainly due to his ability, Super Deduction, which essentially allowed him to compile fine details from a scene and put them together coherently in a matter of seconds. When Aizawa asked Fukuzawa why Ranpo wasn't more famous considering his semblance, that was when the man had corrected him, and stated that Ranpo didn't have one. In fact, he was a Fractured who was simply gifted with incredibly powerful mental faculties. It was a bit jarring to hear that, and to hear that most of the ADA was built around Ranpo and his ability, but after a while, it did make sense. Though he did wonder why exactly Fukuzawa chose to trust him with that information... Still, Ranpo was a bit annoying to deal with, even at the best of times.
Ranpo was about the same height as Atsushi, which was surprising given his actual age, and donned a medium-brown hat atop his short, messy black hair. He never opened his eyes very often, but their color was that of a bold green. Over his shoulders was a brown Inverness cape that matched his hat and pants. Under that, he wore a dark grey blazer and a white button-up with a light and dark blue striped tie. Under his three-quarter length pants, he also wore long white socks that seemed to cover what would be the visible parts of his legs, and simple, black shoes. He also carried a pair of rectangular black glasses with him, which was Super Deduction's trigger.
"You know, you didn't have to come if you were going to be this annoyed, Ranpo," Atsushi said outright.
"But we were out of snacks, and you guys always forget something," the man simply stated. "Besides, I wanted to talk to Scarf over here."
"Please don't call me that," Aizawa said in annoyance.
"But you wear a scarf, and you use it when you fight. Therefore the nickname: Scarf," Ranpo explained, causing Izumi to nod along in agreement.
"It's a capture tool, not a scarf," Aizawa continued.
"Well... would rather I use your actual codename?"
…
"... fine, Scarf it is," he relented.
"Yay!" Ranpo said. "Now then, let's get to the tram and stop by the store! I... where is again?"
Right. The other thing that made him kinda annoying to work with. Ranpo couldn't go anywhere by himself. Aizawa sighed as he and the other two trailed behind Ranpo, just enough to ensure he wouldn't get lost.
"Oh, I just remembered. I still need to talk to you," Ranpo said as he gestured to Aizawa.
Reluctantly, the shaggy-haired man went quickened his pace to match Ranpo's and replied, "What is it?"
"The boss didn't give me too many details, but apparently, the cases within the city have been getting so large that we're going to be partnering with another group for a while."
"... which one?" Aizawa asked. The ADA had almost never asked for help from anyone before, so to hear this from Ranpo... well, something was probably brewing.
"Personally, I don't think we need the help; we have me, after all, but what the boss says goes," Ranpo said in seeming annoyance.
"Ranpo," Aizawa said. "Who're we partnering with? Seventh Heaven?"
"No, their boss is out on a job right now, and the bartender's still working out all the information that's been popping up recently," he replied.
"Then what about Shiro's group?" Aizawa further inquired.
"They were sent out on a mission just a few days ago. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it," Ranpo said.
"Well... if it's not either of them, who are we working with?"
"A very... large and particular group. You may have heard about them once or twice," Ranpo said as his eyes opened, giving Aizawa a serious look before continuing, "The Merry Men Mercenary Company."
(meanwhile, an undisclosed location in Atlas, Kimblee's POV)
Patience was a virtue of Kimblee's. No matter the conversation, the mission, or the task at hand, he was always unnaturally calm and calculative. Well, there were exceptions to the rule, some more than others, but in general he maintained his poise without complaint. He waited, always, for the opportune moment. Because the music that came after was truly... euphoric.
But then, when he was about to finish his routine, a knock came to his door. "You have a visitor. You'll have only five minutes, will be kept under armed guard, and there will be no physical contact between you. Is that understood?"
That... was a surprise. Which was saying something, because Kimblee was not often surprised. No one, not a single person, had come to visit him in all the years he'd spent behind bars. His parents were both dead, he had no siblings, nor did he have any romantic encounters while he'd been free. So... he prepared for anything.
"Calm yourself, Kimblee. Don't always assume the worst of someone you've yet to meet," All for One said as Kimblee was moved from his cell. He was tempted to thank the man, but one of the guards quickly told the scarred man to shut up, so he stayed silent.
The room he was taken to was black, with cold stone floors and a single table with two chairs, all of them bolted to the ground. Sitting in one of them was a man with wild grey hair tied back in a tail, his wolf ears poking just above his hair, golden eyes, with lightly tanned skin and a scar that ran diagonally from his forehead to his neck, with sharp facial features and a slim but muscular build. He wore a simple, sleeveless black vest over a grey shirt and black cargo pants and dark green combat boots.
"So... to who do I owe the pleasure?" Kimblee asked as he took the other seat.
"Ah, yes. My name is Magnum Malus Lupus, but you may call me Magnum," the man said politely, contrasting his rather intimidating look. "And my employer has taken something of an interest in you."
"And the variety of that interest would be...?" he asked patiently.
"Well, it may take a while to explain," the faunus said.
"Take as long as you feel you have to. I've been told I'm unusually patient," Kimblee said. "Though they'll only let us speak for about... four and a half more minutes."
"Very well then," Magnum said as he began his coded explanation. So, this third party had taken an interest in him, eh? Then it was just as All for One had predicted. She was starting to make her move on Mistral. He hoped that it would be interesting to hear about. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, he'd even get to hear what melody her plan would produce.
But, for now, it was time to listen, and to wait. The opportune moment would present itself in time.
A/N: And that's all for this one! Sorry that I had to delay it, things have been getting pretty busy for me, especially since college starts for me pretty soon. The next chapter might be short or long, it depends on how much time I have to write it out, so stay tuned for the next one.
Also, the characters that were introduced in Aizawa's section (I'm sorry if it felt bogged down) are from a series called Bungo Stray Dogs, for those unaware. It has an anime that recently finished its third season and has a movie out, and I highly recommend it. It's really damn good! And now:
Review Responses:
Thunder Dragon: I thought after the... bleakness of 54, some optimism was in order. And I thought that the two talking about their feelings at that point made more sense than what I originally had planned.
Madmagusmax: Yeah, basically. They haven't gone on an actual date yet, but this was basically the perfect, and potentially only, time that they could've talked about how the felt about each other.
Gojifreak: Well, Sun won't stay the way he is forever, it'll just take some time to get in the right mindset. The others will be supporting him the whole time, but in the end, it'll really be down to him.
King Ceasar Jr: Thank you so much! I think I've still got a ways to go, but I appreciate the praise nonetheless! I did debate making it like that, but I think it might be a bit too early in their relationship to go quite that far. It could certainly happen a bit further down the line. In fact, it probably wouldn't make sense for it not to happen sometime in Mistral. I do plan for the relationship to be a two-way street (most ideal relationships of any kind usually are), so Yang won't be doing all the heavy lifting, but she did get stuff started.
DD Lore Nerd: I mean... yeah. Kinda. I plan for it to be a two-way street type thing, so Yang won't be doing all the charming. Though I do wonder how Izuku would go about it... it would probably be hilarious.
Odin's Eye: Yes, yes it has.
Black Fang: Indeed!
Midgardsormr Jr: Thank you! It's a bit of a hassle to juggle the emotions of different characters between scenes and chapters, but I genuinely enjoy writing them all. That was probably the scene I enjoyed writing the most in that chapter. It was my first attempt at that kind of scene, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Phoenix Wizard (1): I mean... *flips through mental and long-hand notes* … they're not gonna do that for a while, but... I mean, close enough.
Mecha Manda: I debated that, but I felt it was just a bit too soon to write a kiss like that. Maybe once they're in Mistral.
Phoenix Wizard (2): Erm... well, that's... not for a long while. It's a bit too early for stuff to be very risqué between them and, as Izuku said, I want this to be more natural. And yes, that would be very funny.
And now, this:
Omake: What Ever Happened to Crocea Mors 1.0? (canon, one week before Fonsett)
"I cannot emphasize this enough, Master: this is a terrible idea," Lancelot said as Jaune prepared his experimental Dust mix.
"It'll be fine, Lance. It's a controlled experiment with minimal interference. It's not like I'm gonna burn down the forest," the blonde knight countered as he continued to prepare.
"That's not what I'm concerned about. I'm concerned about your weapon's ability to hold a charge of this magnitude," the now floating helmet further argued.
"It will. At least, if Weiss' theory holds up," he said. It went that if Crocea Mors could withstand dust running through it for an extended period with releasing the effect on the blade, then, theoretically, it could also withstand combinations of more unstable types for short periods. So, why not go all-in?
"This will end badly, and you will hurt yourself," Lancelot said.
"Don't worry, my Aura's as dense as 2-inch steel plating. I'll be fine," Jaune said as he began the experiment, clicking the trigger for the Dust activation when suddenly-
Fizzle... Pop!
.
..
…
"... that... wasn't supposed to-"
CRACK! CRASH!
…
And a small, devastated squeal emerged from Jaune's throat horrified by what he had just done to his weapon in the search of knowledge. Lancelot, who was much calmer and realized that the weapon could still be repaired, simply sighed and said, "And that is why you never start with the riskiest option in an experiment."
After a few minutes of getting all the shards he could, Jaune later conferred with the team on getting it repaired along with some more armor. He needed the protection anyway, and the cost of the repair wasn't that astronomical, considering he still had most of the sword.
But what disappointed Jaune the most was that his combination had simply canceled itself out, destroying his sword by proxy. The simple lesson was: all four Dust types do nothing but produce duds and destroy whatever's channeling it. Never do it again.
A/N: That... wasn't the best written Omake, but it was a thought that wouldn't leave me alone! Let me know what you thought of it.
Next Chapter: Aug. 30th (probably)
Seeya in the next one!