Two months later, and Izuku had successfully managed to fully recover his injuries, and return to training himself in the art of being a criminal, as Himiko put it.
The case regarding Izuku was stilted, in terms of its progress. Katsuki had most of the answers that Tsukauchi needed to progress. The detective struggled to connect with Katsuki on multiple other occurances, but failed to do so as he locked himself away in his own room, not responding to anything regarding the case.
Of course, this frustrated and worried Tsukauchi, as well as Inko as they probably would've made a lot more progress if they just got him to speak... Nothing worked though. The best thing that they could do for the time being was put missing posters all over the city, hoping that somebody was aware of the boy's whereabouts.
It wasn't certain of course, but it was better than sitting around, lying in wait until Katsuki decided to break out of his shell...
"Tomura, I know we've had this conversation several times by now... but if you want to take down All Might yourself, you need to become a better villain... And that means getting more members under your wing. You can't rely on Kurogiri for the rest of your life you know."
Spoke a man over some speaker. It was Tomura Shigaraki's mentor, who he simply called 'Master'
He sat with Kurogiri, a being covered in black smoke, who wore fancy dated clothes, and spent most of his time taking care of the other villain.
Tomura scratched his neck in annoyance. He hated having this talk with Master... It always made him wonder why the hell he should work so hard if Master had all the resources needed to take down the symbol of peace... That's what he always said, and yet Master always kept prying, trying to convince Tomura to expand his horizon.
"Don't you want to become the symbol of terror? Not even I could be as great as I am without the villains I have under my disposal. It is important that you at least get someone you can use. And if you're too lazy, you can just get someone willing enough to do the work for you!"
The man continued to pry, only giving Tomura more reasons to break out of that immature shell of his, and become a formidable force just like him.
The mastermind's successor groaned, scratching his neck harder than before as he grew more frustrated. Even he could admit that he was right, on every point he made including this one. He really was just lazy... And unmotivated, as he thought what he had now was good enough...
"Tomura, I do believe you have what it takes to recruit at least one person into the league of villains... Just follow what master has to say just this once."
Kurogiri chimed into the conversation, which earned the being a harsh glare from the mastermind successor. His crimson red eyes flashed through his lockes of light blue hair, and the disturbing zombified hand placed on his face.
Tomura hated Kurogiri's words of encouragement, as it meant that nobody could truly argue about this matter anymore, Tomura believed Master was right, Kurogiri believed Master was right, and Master believed Master was right.
"Ugh... Fine... I'll do it... But where the hell do I even start??"
Tomura asked, his tone winey and filled with frustration.
"Well first I suggest creating your own criteria as to what you believe would make the best pawns. Are they loyal? Are they strong? Are they smart? Are they versatile? Are they completely disposable? It all depends on what you yourself want Tomura."
Master answered Tomura.
"Alright, well wouldn't it just make sense to have all of those qualities? Have some strong people, loyal people, smart people... I want all of them in one person... But I don't know where to look..."
Tomura said, Master laughed.
"If you want all of those qualities, you'll have to muster an army of people... So for now, stick to one quality that you want, and find someone with said quality."
Master then suggested, Tomura sighed and nodded before asking:
"Okay, well let's say I want someone smart... Where would I find a person like that exactly?"
Tomura arbitrarily decided on one of those aforementioned qualities, since he didn't think it would matter too much right now.
"Hm... Well it isn't every day that you find a particularly smart villain... Most of them are like me, they hide in the shadows, bide their time, and wait to strike at the best moment, when they're at their strongest, or when their goal seems the easiest. I'd suggest looking around in less populated areas, abandoned places and alleyways to be specific, those are home to some of the worse, most intellegent villains in this world."
Master answered with a chuckle.
Tomura sighed and nodded. At least he had an idea as to where he could look. With Kurogiri's help, getting from place to place wouldn't be too much of a hassle...
Tomura was prepared to find this smart villain, and recruit them into his league, he was going to fufill this mission, impress Master, and move on with his life. That right now was his goal.
Meanwhile, Izuku and Himiko continued Izuku's training from where he had left off, two months back when he had gotten beat up.
He still maintained hope, confidence, and knowledge on how to pickpocket, though there had to be better ways than picking fights to steal stuff from them. He has to get better at thinking up reasons for approaching people, and reasons on why they shouldn't pay attention to the thing Izuku is trying to steal...
He thought up a few things off the top of his head that could work. He decided to test them out now.
"Hey, Toga, is it okay if we go and find someone for me to pickpocket? I've been trying to think up some new ways to distract people, other than fighting them head on like last time... I just want to see if they'd work or not."
Izuku spoke up.
"Oh, of course! But if this does turn into a fight somehow, I'll kill that person with no hesitation. I can't have people hurting you like that again Deku."
Himiko expressed as she pulled out her trusty knife to further accentuate her point.
"Don't sweat it Toga, as much as I appreciate the kind gesture, I don't want to be weak, with that being said... I'll try to get stronger, so you don't have to worry for a second about me getting hurt again!"
Izuku replied with a assuring smile on his face. He wasn't sure as to how he'd get physically stronger though, there wasn't anything that could reliably help with building muscles, like weights and whatnot. Learning to fight was another obstacle in of itself since well... The most combat experience Izuku had up to this point was getting beat up...
Himiko seemed pretty strong, and while it did make sense for Izuku to have a weapon of some sort, due to him being quirkless and all... He wasn't sure the girl could teach him without the lessons just being all about killing. He still wasn't okay with that just yet.
Though, Himiko saw the good intent in Izuku's words and cheered up a bit, at least on the surface.
"Okaaayyyyy~ I'm not sure how to train you physically, so we'll have to leave that idea for the future! For me to teach you or for someone else to! After all, I doubt we'll be alone forever!"
Himiko replied, putting her knife away. Izuku nodded and the girl began to skip ahead.
"For now though, until you find that person, or until I find a way to make you stronger myself... I'll protect you..."
Himiko uttered out, taking a slightly more somber and quiet tone, which was rare to see from the girl.
"Fine... I guess that's fair... Thanks for being patient with me."
Izuku replied happily, and sincerely. The two continued to walk and chat until they came across a certain someone, a man with all dark clothing, aside from the bright red sneakers he sported.
"Hey! Sir! It seems like you dropped something!"
Izuku spoke up, raising the mystery man's awareness, his attention on full alert. He looked down and saw nothing, and looked behind him, nothing. He then turned his face back towards Izuku, the man's expression told Izuku that he was skeptikal.
Though he did manage to steal something of his, which was his phone. It hung out of the man's pocket pretty loosely, and Izuku was honestly shocked that it didn't fall out prior. He quickly slipped it into his pocket and listened to the man.
"I don't see shit, what the hell could you have seen that I could've dropped?"
He asked, his voice rasped and honestly sounded kind of freaky, like this man hadn't had a drop of water since he was pushed out the womb! In a way, his hissing sort of tone reminded Izuku of a snake.
"O-oh- I must have seen something hah! Sorry about that, sir!"
Izuku apologized, he might as well apologize for something, after all he did steal his phone.
Meanwhile, Himiko sat back and watched the two talk. She paid attention to the man's body language for the most part, and figured if he had any form of harmful intent, she would step in and kill him without a second thought.
"Ugh... Don't waste my fucking time like that again... Or I'll turn you to dust..."
The man threatened, walking past Izuku and beginning to head off.
"Ugh... I've gotta contact Kurogiri... I'm tired of wandering around here..."
The man mumbled, reaching into the pocket that held his phone. He was shocked to feel nothing there, but a few pieces of lint floating around inside.
He looked back at Izuku, and Himiko as the pair walked off together. He immediately suspected the two of stealing what was rightfully his... He turned heel and started heading towards the duo.
"Hey, fucker with the green hair, what did you do with my phone? It was just in my pocket a minute ago, but after talking to you, it seemed to have disappeared..."
The man spoke, his voice quivering with rage. Of course, Himiko found herself being on edge, as she clutched the handle of her knife.
Izuku casually looked over and pretended to be confused.
"Hm? I have no clue what you are talking about sir... I have no idea where your phone could've gone..."
The man gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"Stop with the bullshitting, I know you stole it!"
He barked, and took a step towards Izuku. Himiko pulled out her knife and pointed it at the man, who caught the blade in a careful but strong grip.
Izuku was shocked by the man's impressive reaction speed, how he caught Himiko's knife so effortlessly. It was almost like he predicted it's arrival! Did he have a quirk that improved those reflexes, was it natural, or did he get it through training?
His first thought was immediately disproven as Himiko's weapon started to crumble into little pieces, like dry wall almost. He must've had a quirk that allowed him to destroy the things he touched! That was really really bad, especially now since Himiko was rendered defenseless without her knife, and Izuku was defenseless from the start!
"O-okay sir! You've got us cornered here... Sorry... I did steal your phone... You see... The two of us have nowhere to go, nothing to live off of and nothing to keep us entertained, we saw your phone as a perfect way to fill that empty void in our lives!"
Izuku mostly lied to the man, he was truthful about all of these things but really, he could care less about his phone, he just wanted to test his skills.
Though, the man did seem a tiny bit sympathetic...
"So... Victims of hero society huh? You have nowhere to go... Nothing to live off of... and nothing to keep you two entertained... Say... I'll let you two off the hook just this once, if you join my League of Villains... And if you give me my phone back of course... You'll loose nothing, since you'll have all of those things that you living out here wouldn't have... I'm looking for new members to join my cause, to take down All Might..."
The man suddenly proposed. Izuku was shocked to see him acting so sympathetic, could he truly relate to Izuku and Himiko? Izuku was interested in what he had to say as soon as he said that. Not to mention, he was offering the two a place to stay, which totally beat their current living situation! Not to mention... The man seemed to have a disdain for the hero that shattered his dreams and gave him that false sense of hope for so damn long...
He was very much interested. He never put too much thought into wanting to eliminate All Might per say, but with how the hero has affected him and pushed him to this point, he figured maybe the world would be just a bit better without him around... So he wouldn't be able to crush anyones dreams ever again!
Himiko did seem a bit more skeptikal though. She didn't believe a word he had to say, and thought he was just faking his own emotions to try and reverse psychology his way into getting his phone back... Even if this League of Villains thing did exist, he never promised that she and Izuku would get to live freely exactly... Himiko liked doing as she pleased, but if she couldn't do that, and had to abide by whatever dumb guidelines that the villain organization might have, she'd really regret her desicion...
Plus, he never said anything about them being able to run free if they didn't like being with them, that only gave Himiko the impression that they either joined and stayed, or just didn't join. She'd prefer to have more freedom with what she could and couldn't do.
Regarding the league's goals, she didn't care much, it made since that they would have some sort of goal to strive for... But if that somehow affected her and limited her ability to be free, then she wanted none of that...
"I'm interested."
Izuku spoke up, having made up his mind already. He held out the phone and offered it to him. The man smiled under his hood, taking the phone.
"Well what about you blondie?"
He then asked, looking over at Himiko.
"I'm a bit more hesitant... Izuku was the one with the phone so you have no reason to kill me if I say no... Plus... You never said that we could do whatever we want, and you never said we would be able to leave. If I'm not allowed to make my own choices, then what's the point? It might as well be a job if that's the case..."
Himiko expressed. The man stayed silent for a second, thinking up a response.
"...Well what exactly do you like to do?"
The man asked Himiko, since he figured that it would depend on what she was doing, and if it got in the way of his endgame goal of killing All Might or not.
"I simply like killing people and drinking their blood..."
Himiko answred, seeming a bit embarrassed as she realized that this was the first time Izuku was hearing about her... fetishes. Though Izuku was pretty much oblivious to what she said, not perceiving it as her getting sexual pleasure out of doing that. He figured she did it for the thrill.
"I don't care if you do that. As long as you don't kill anyone important to our cause. If it makes you happy, you can leave the league whenever. Same for you green hair, since neither of you have quite proven what you were capable of, and have yet to prove yourselves to me."
The man spoke before dialing a number on his phone.
Himiko was happy about that aspect at least. While the number of people she could kill was a little limited, since people of importance were a big no no, it still meant she could do what she liked, and leave whenever.
"Alright fine! You've got a deal hoodie man~"
Himiko said cheerfully as the man started calling somebody on the phone. Out of nowhere, a large black portal summoned from thin air.
The man walked through the portal, and Izuku as well as Himiko followed suit.
They exited out the other side and were met with a dimmly lit bar area, with the bartender being a man who's body was seemingly made of black mist. Izuku immediatley connected the portals to being from that man, as his skin, and the portals as they shared color and consistency with one another.
The man that lead them inside put his phone away inside his pocket and pulled his hood down, revealing a full head of scruffy light blue hair.
"Welcome back Tomura. It seems that you have gotten some people on your side already. Very impressive."
The man made of mist spoke, his voice sounded dark, and a bit unnatural, almost like a robot of sorts... Though he finally had a name to call the man before him, Tomura.
"Yeah yeah Kurogiri... Contact Master for me... I want to introduce him to the new recruits."
Tomura said to the bartender, apperantly named Kurogiri. The misty man nodded and pulled out his own phone, supposedly calling this 'Master guy' Tomura mentioned.
Kurogiri then hung up, and put his phone away, before a tv in the distance turned on. It was a static screen with the words 'Audio Only' plastered over it.
"So, you have new recruits Tomura? Already? Great job! You did well."
Spoke a hard to decipher voice over the screen. He seemed to be using a voice changer to mask his identity, which likely explained why he wasn't showing his face either. Either way, he sounded proud of Tomura, almost like a father cheering for his son, who learned to ride a bike for the first time.
"I would love to hear more about them. What are their names, and their quirks? Also, how did you meet them in the first place?"
The man bombarded Tomura with questions, seemingly filled with excitement.
"They tried stealing my phone, because they're broke and homeless... I offered them to join the league and give me my phone back, in exchange for a place to live and shit to do with their lives."
Tomura answered one of his questions.
"I do not know their names or their quirks though... The blonde girl had a knife but I got rid of it."
Tomura then added, seemingly disappointing the man.
"Well I guess I'll ask them personally and find out myself, as to what their names and quirks are."
He said, his tone sounding a bit less pumped as these two didn't seem like much to him.
"You, girl, what is your name and quirk?"
The man asked Himiko who replied thusly.
"I'm Himiko Toga, and my quirk is Transform. I can turn into people if I drink their blood. I can't replicate their own quirks or exact personalities but I can replicate their voices, and appearence of course. Depending on how much blood I drink, determines how long I can stay transformed. So basically the more blood I have equates to how long I can use my quirk."
Himiko explained. Come to think of it, this is the first time Izuku has heard about Himiko's quirk! He immediately began to take notes as she explained.
"Hm... Okay, seems like you'd make a great spy then. Alright, and what about you, the boy with the notebook."
The man adressed Izuku who looked up, a bit suprised as he was more focused on writing and paying attention to Himiko's quirk explanation. He may have lost intrest in heroes, but his intrest in quirks remained the same as it always was...
"U-uh... My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I know it's a bit hard to hear this but I'm... Quirkless... I don't exactly know what use I could be of you quite yet, all I'm really good at is taking notes on quirks, and I'm getting into stealing as well as pickpocketing..."
Izuku explained, he seemed a bit ashamed but the man seemed to see a bit of himself in the boy, as they shared that same intrest in quirks.
"Note taking... Could be good for keeping tabs on certain things I suppose, not to mention you must have good analysis skills. I don't exactly see you as being the strongest fighter out there, but you seem like a good fit for Tomura."
The man spoke, welcoming Izuku with open arms. Plus, if he didn't serve useful enough, he could always dispose of him, same for the girl. He wanted to wait and see first though, to see if their skills would prove useful enough for them to be good for Tomura.
"You think so? I'm glad to hear that I could be of use for you after all..."
Izuku said, genuinely happy that someone finally saw potential in the boy.
"Of course, I'm willing to give you two a shot, I think you would be good additions to the league. Anyways... You want a place to live, correct? I have contact with someone who ownes a private motel resort. You two can live there, as Tomura does as well. Though it might take a bit of time to arrange things so for now, you'll likely have to sleep in the bar."
The man then said. Izuku didn't mind the wait time. He would finally have somewhere nice to sleep for once, that wasn't his old home of course.
Things were finally starting to look up for Izuku, and Himiko as they found a place where they could possibly belong!
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was similar in length to the previous chapters, but I decided to make a little dip in action, for the time being. This is of course how Deku and Toga join the league, this definitely sets up more possibilities for the future.
It does feel a bit contrived, how Izuku and Toga did meet Shiggy, and I am sorry for that, though there wasn't any other super realistic way that I could think of, where they meet up. Though I believe a story has to consist of some conveniences where they are due, or else the story can't progress. Despite that, I'll try to make shit later on feel a bit more natural.
There wasn't a ton else going on in the chapter aside from Deku and Toga joining the league and the establishment of Shiggy himself. As expected though, since this was a short timeskip.
There isn't much else I've got to say though so as per usual, I encourage comments of any kind, (of course keep them nice, and constructive if critiquing)
Stay tuned for next chapter. This is the Writing Hero, signing out.