It was no surprise to anyone that Sundays were Ibara Shiozaki's favorite day of the week. After all, it wasn't just because it was a holy day. This was also the one of only two days out of her weekly schedule that she had to relax, unwind and enjoy some of her favorite activities.
Like usual, her day started off with early morning service at the local church not too far down the road from her modest apartment on the northern side of Kanagawa Prefecture. In truth, this small church was a major factor in why she decided to move to the area in the first place. Establishments such as this were already hard enough to find anywhere in Japan these days. Especially ones that were a relatively short distance from the hero agency that she was currently working for.
Following her weekly worship, the vine haired woman would spend most of her morning gathering up groceries and supplies that would be used to tend the many flowers that lined her apartment and the outside of her balcony. A hobby of hers that she enjoyed since the days of her childhood. Although her friends would make a few passing jokes here and there about how gardening was an activity that could almost be considered stereotypical for someone of her talents. Shiozaki firmly enjoyed tending to the wide array of seasonal plants that brightened up her mornings.
It had been almost three years ever since she and her friends graduated from the illustrious U.A. High School. An institution that many across the country would consider to be the top heroics academy in all of Japan. But to the now twenty-one year old heroine, it felt so much longer than that. So much had happened since those days that her time as a student seemed more like a distant memory than anything else.
Nowadays, the vine haired heroine was working under Kamui Woods at his and his wife's hero agency. She would forever be grateful to the man for taking her in and allowing her such an opportunity. Even more so since they were in the process of relocating when she submitted her application to him. And now that she was long since done with her one year of mandatory sidekick status. Shiozaki was a full fledged heroine who was determined to spread peace and joy throughout the world to the best of her abilities.
Kanagawa may have been one of the more safer parts of the country. But there was no shortage of miscreants who strayed from the righteous path. And it was no issue for the woman now known as "Vine" to do her duty as not only a heroine, but as a devout follower of God's will to do all that she could to lead these misguided souls to a brighter path.
Many people these days were uncomfortable with how closely the young woman identified with her faith. Which is something that she learned to get used to over the years. But even she would admit that it was uncommon to meet many followers such as herself. Especially in the last couple of centuries. And more often than not, these same people often felt the need to question her and her devotion rather than just accept her for who she was. Luckily, none of that mattered to Shiozaki. Nothing in the world could break the bond that she had to her religion. And the people she deeply cared about accepted her with open arms. Which was more than enough for her.
As Shiozaki continued her journey down the city streets, she took a moment to consider whether or not she should take a detour through the local park. It was a particularly lovely morning that promised nothing but beautiful and comfortable weather. Something that was a bit of a luxury during this time of the year. The sun was shining, there was just the right amount of cloud cover in the sky. And the air was as fresh and pristine as it had been in weeks. To be honest, It would be foolish of her not to bask in the radiance of nature's beauty when given the opportunity.
With her mind now resolved, the woman turned the corner at the nearest intersection and began the short journey over to the park that she had visited many times before. She didn't want to take too much time since she was still carrying several bags full of groceries in both hands. But the dazzling sight of freshly blooming autumn flowers more than made up for the added burden on her hands.
Eventually, Shiozaki found her way back to her apartment. Her cozy abode could be found in a decent sized building in a quiet part of town. In her opinion, she was fortunate to find such a lovely place at an affordable price. The neighborhood was great, as were the people. It was close to her job. And the landlord even gave her a discount on account of her being a pro hero. So it was a win no matter which way she looked at it.
Aside from herself, most of the residents were either your typical hardworking salarymen and women, small families and a few elderly folks here and there. And despite the small children who would routinely make a habit of running up and down the hallways playing games with their friends, the place was mostly quiet and serene. Something that she certainly wasn't going to take for granted anytime soon.
As the vine haired woman entered the lobby on the bottom floor, she gave a polite bow to the building manager who was sitting behind her desk with a latest issue of the local hero magazine in her hands. The two exchanged a quick greeting before Shiozaki made her way into the elevator and pressed the button to take her up to the third floor. Upon exiting the elevator, the woman leisurely strolled down the hall towards her apartment. With all of her daily errands now finally out of the way, there was little more to do than get an early start on making her lunch for the day and relax.
After turning the corner onto the next hall, Shiozaki couldn't help but stop and pause at the unexpected sight before her. That sight being a myriad of boxes and assorted pieces of furniture packed outside one of the doors. 'Is someone moving in?' She thought to herself with a curious expression on her face. It had been quite a while since the last time the building got any new residence. The most recent that she could remember was the young woman on the fifth floor whom she helped out about six or seven months ago.
After a brief moment, Shiozaki continued walking down the hall. Her apartment was the last one on that floor, so she was going to have to navigate her way through all the boxes to make it to the door. As she got closer and closer, the vine haired woman took the opportunity to get some insight as to who her new neighbor was. She wasn't the most perceptive person on planet earth. But from what she could see, there was really only enough luggage for one person.
Part of her wanted to take a quick peek to try and figure out who the new tenant was, but something like that was far from what could be considered polite. So the woman resigned herself to simply hoping to learn that tidbit of information at a later time. However, the woman got her answer a lot sooner than she expected.
Just as she was about to move past the door after stepping over one of the smaller containers, a lone figure suddenly appeared from the open entrance. There she was finally able to lay eyes on the subject of her curiously. Tall with short green hair and freckles. Those were the first features she noticed about the man now standing a couple of meters in front of her. Along with the pair of black sweatpants and the form-fitting green tank top that he was wearing. Upon first glance, he looked to be around the same age as her.
"Sorry, are these in your way?" The man said to her in an apologetic but polite tone with a slightly nervous expression on his face.
"Oh no, not at all." Shiozaki quickly answered with an equal amount of politeness.
"Let me go ahead and move these so you don't have to step over them." He then said before shuffling a couple of meters to his left, bending down and picking up the larger box that was also obscuring her path. "Sorry about that."
"It's no trouble at all." The woman waved off. "So I take it that you are new to the building?"
"Yes, I just started moving my things in a couple of hours ago."
"Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ibara Shiozaki, I live on this hallway as well." She then bowed in his direction, causing the green haired individual to do the same.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's a pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself. Shiozaki couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about this man that caught her attention. It would be difficult to put it into words, but the aura around him was different than most people. Maybe it was just a part of his quirk?
"Did you just move to this neighborhood?"
"Yes." He then stated. "I had to relocate to this area for my job."
"Well then, I hope you find everything to your liking. This is a lovely area to live in."
"Thank you for the kind words."
"Would you perhaps need any help in bringing the rest of your things into your home? There's still quite a bit of stuff out here."
"I appreciate the offer Shiozaki-san, but you don't have to do that. I can take care of everything myself."
"Alright then." The vine haired woman simply replied. "Well, if you are ever in need of any assistance, don't be afraid to ask. A hero's duty is to help those in need after all."
Once those words came out of her mouth, Shiozaki noticed the weird expression form on the man now identified as Midoriya's face. One that only lasted for a brief second. That was odd. Then again, he probably wasn't expecting her to introduce herself as a pro hero. It wasn't like she was trying to brag or anything of the sort. Such a thing was not in her nature. Practically everyone in the building knew who she was and what she did.
"I'll keep that mind, Shiozaki-san." Midoriya then said.
With nothing more that needed to be said between the two of them, the vine haired woman gave one more polite bow before making her way down the hall. Leaving the young man to ponder over the brief interaction that he just had.
'I really have to live next to a hero of all people? Well…that's just great….' He thought with a heavily sarcastic tone. 'At least she seems nice. Unlike most of the other ones I've met.'
And with that, the man known as Izuku Midoriya went back to moving his things into his new apartment. Secretly hoping that he would see as little of the vine haired woman as possible.
The following day proved to be quite the change of pace for Shiozaki. Usually the woman would have already been halfway through her morning patrol right about now. But today was different. The young heroine more commonly known to the world as "Vine" was on her way to the local police precinct with both her boss, Shinji Nishiya, more commonly known as "Kamui Woods". And his wife, Yu Nishiya a.k.a. "Mt. Lady".
The trio were currently driving down the freeway en route to their destination. Thankfully, traffic was rather light for a Monday morning. So it looked as though there wasn't going to be any issue making it there on time.
Shiozaki didn't know much about what was going on, or why she was suddenly asked to come with them after walking into work that morning. The only thing she knew was that they got an emergency request from the police chief to come in and take part in some meeting. And her best guess was that she was asked because she was the first person that the wooden hero saw after getting the call.
"So remind me again why we have to go all the way to the police department, Shinji?" Yu asked her husband in a groggy tone after letting out a rather dramatic yawn.
"The police chief said that he had a job that he would like us to take part in." The masked hero replied. "Apparently, most of the details are a secret. But he assured us that it would be worth our time. Besides, it's not like we can just ignore a job request from the police department."
"Did he tell you anything else, sir?" Shiozaki asked from her spot in the back seat of the car.
"Only that it's some type of joint operation. I guess they're short on manpower and needed to reach out to the local heroes for help. Sorry for asking you on such short notice, but Shinya-kun is still away on that job with his partner."
"There's no need to apologize, sir. I'm always glad to lend my support in any way possible."
"You're too nice, Ibara-chan. Don't be afraid to tell him off every once in a while." Yu chuckled.
"That's more than what can be said about you at that age." Shinji retorted.
That comment prompted the blonde haired heroine to give him an annoyed scowl before folding her arms and letting out a grunt. As weird as it was to say, Shiozaki always found herself entertained by the banter between the married couple. She wasn't naïve enough to think that marriage was always smooth sailing. But it was apparent to anyone that actually knew the duo that they loved each other deeply. And no amount of light teasing would be enough to break the bond between them.
In no time, the trio made it to the police precinct where they were quickly ushered into the main conference room by one of the staff members behind the front desk.
Upon entering, they were greeted by a few on-duty officers and detectives. Along with the person whom they knew to be the department chief. A short and stocky man with neon pink hair and a pair of thick rimmed glasses. The heroes wasted no time in introducing themselves before taking their seats towards the back end of the room and patiently waited for the meeting to begin.
This wasn't Shiozaki's first time participating in something like this. Working alongside the police was pretty routine for pro heroes. But this was the first time that she could remember not having more than a suitable amount of information prior to even stepping into the building.
Another few minutes passed by as they continued waiting for things to begin. Which was more than enough time for Yu to begin mildly complaining about wanting to go back to her office and take a nap on her couch. As it turned out, there were still a couple of people who were missing. Just when Shinji was about to scold his wife for her lackadaisical attitude, the sound of the door opening drew everyone's attention. From where she was seated, Shiozaki had to turn around to see who the newcomers were. And when she did, her eyes widened at one of the individuals. One that she recognized almost immediately.
The first person was a short woman dressed in a grey pantsuit with orange hair styled in quite a peculiar fashion. If she didn't know any better, Shiozaki would say that it looked like she was wearing a crab as a hair ornament. But the other person was the one that she had her attention on. Behind the woman, was a tall man with thick green hair and freckles wearing a similarly colored grey suit. The same one that she had run into the day before. Except he was carrying a clipboard in his left and while holding a black metal briefcase in the other.
"It's him?" Shiozaki whispered, just loud enough for Yu to hear her.
"You know that guy, Ibara-chan?" The woman asked.
"Yes." she nodded. "I met him yesterday. He actually just moved into my apartment building."
"Small world, huh?" The 'gigantification' quirk user joked. "Hmm…he's pretty easy on the eyes, ain't he? And he's your new neighbor? Lucky you."
That comment was enough to force a bit of redness on the vine haired woman's face. Something like this was pretty common for her agency partner to do. But even after working with her for the better part of three years, Shiozaki still had an aversion to this kind of teasing whenever it happened. The only positive was that the woman was nowhere near as brutal about it as Tokage.
Without so much as a word, the newly arrived duo quickly made their way to the front of the conference room where the police chief took a moment to finally grab everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting today. I know that some of you didn't get word of this until a few hours ago, however we appreciate your cooperation and willingness to be here. Now that all the important parties are present, please give our guests your undivided attention."
That seemed to be the signal for the two individuals in the grey suits to give their introductions.
"Hello everyone, my name is Chief Inspector Monika Kaniyashiki! But you can just call me "Kaniko" for short. And this is my assistant, Inspector Izuku Midoriya." The woman spoke in a cheery tone before motioning over to the man who proceeded to give a polite bow. "The two of us are members of the newly formed, National Public Safety Commission's Special Investigations Unit Nine."
That comment seemed to be enough to elicit a few not-so-subtle murmurs and surprised looks from the members of the police staff around the room. Even Shinji and Yu were astonished by this woman's declaration. For a moment, it appeared that the 'vine' quirk user was the only who was left out of the loop.
"What's going on?" Shiozaki whispered to her fellow heroes. Curious as to what all the commotion was about.
"Oh yeah, this is your first time ever running into one of them, isn't it? I suppose that's a good thing." Yu stated.
"Are these two important? I've never heard of them before."
Shinji took the liberty of being the one to bring the young woman up to speed on what was happening. "The NPSC's Special Investigations Units are pretty much a group of government agents that work directly under the chairman. It's not surprising that you haven't heard of them before, they typically like to keep things under wraps."
"So what do they do?"
The two older heroes exchange a set of slightly uncomfortable looks between each other before continuing. "To keep things simple, they handle business that the government would prefer to keep secret. Everything from counter-terrorism, human/drug trafficking and…seize operations. Just know that if you're ever the target for one of those, your goose is cooked." Yu stated.
"Seize operations?" The vine haired woman quirked an eyebrow.
"They go by many different names, agents, inspectors, bloodhounds, enforcers...that kind of thing. But as far as we heroes are concerned, we usually call them by a different name."
"And what name is that?"
"Hero Hunters…."
A/N: Welcome to my new fic! For all of you who follow my other stories, I know that I said that I was going to wait to start uploading this one but well...I lied. This one is going to be quite different from my other fics if you couldn't already tell. But I wanted to try and mix things up and challenge myself a bit more. (This is my first real post-canon story.)
1. This story is still a work in progress. And I already have a couple of chapters down. But as usual, I like the readers to be as involved as possible with my writing. It just makes things more fun. That being said, which would you guys prefer?
-Should Midoriya have a quirk or not? Let me know what you want to see in the comments/reviews. The only thing that decision will change is basically the backstory and a few key events. But if you guys want to see a quirkless Midoriya story, then I'm all for it.
2. For those who follow my story: "Emerald Island", here's a quick update. I've decided that I'm not going to upload any more chapters until I'm done writing out the rest of the fic. It just works out better for me that way. Luckily I'm already over halfway done with my goal. So don't worry because I haven't updated it in a while, I certainly haven't abandoned that fic.
Thanks for reading, and don't be afraid to leave a comment/review. And have a wonderful day.