~One Week After the 'High Point' Raid~
"You know that you didn't have to come with me all the way out here, Midoriya-kun." Togane said to her partner in her usual no-nonsense tone.
"I know." The green haired man answered. "But Kaniko-senpai doesn't like people going out on assignments alone."
"She worries about us too much."
At the moment, Midoriya and Togane were on top of a large building overlooking the western part of Kanagawa prefecture. The wind was blowing like it was nobody's business and sundown was only about thirty minutes away. As one would expect, the two Inspectors were on the job. Now that most of the team was assembled, they were finally able to conduct missions as they normally would. Which meant that the two Shiketsu graduates were back to operating as a two-man team.
It had actually been quite a long day for the two of them. Not only had they spent the entirety of their morning tracking down and following their latest target. A solid hour and forty-five minutes had passed ever since they perched themselves atop the roof of this building. This was pretty much the norm for them though. And it certainly wasn't the first time that an assignment ended up lasting an entire day.
Thankfully the chances of someone running into them right now was highly unlikely. Otherwise they would've had to come across the sight of Togane laying on top of some blankets with a sniper rifle tucked into her shoulder. Along with Midoriya right beside her with a pair of specially made binoculars pressed up against his face.
"Alright, I have eyes on the target." Midoriya then said, earning a quick hum from the brunette.
"Same here. We'll wait until he's either right in front of his window or on his balcony."
"No problem."
The object of today's hunt was a man known by the name of "Slugger". A decently popular local hero who was apparently a huge baseball fan. Which was pretty evident by his hero costume and title. They had gotten the assignment from Kaniko yesterday and tracking the man down was nowhere near as difficult as they expected.
"I still can't believe that this clown is working with the yakuza. You would think that he'd be smart enough to cover his tracks better if he was going to be taking money from them." Midoriya remarked.
"Well, I'm sure he wasn't expecting someone like Ishikawa to hack into his bank accounts and track down where all his money was coming from. But what do you expect?" Togane replied nonchalantly. "This guy's been working as a hero for around nine years. Even after the HPSC restructured the entire hero industry, a lot of them still think that they're untouchable because of their job."
"Not gonna argue with you there. A lot of the older heroes nowadays still think that they can do whatever they want."
Another few seconds passed before the brunette woman decided to change topics. "Speaking of which…Kaniko-senpai told me that you live next to a hero now?"
"Yeah, I do." Midoriya nodded. "She's one of the people we worked with to go handle Takeshita last week."
"That's kind of ironic, don't you think?"
"Huh?" The green haired man then turned to face her.
"A 'Hero Hunter' living next to a pro hero. It's like the plot line of some bad romance novel or a poorly written fanfic." Togane explained. "Granted, I know you don't hate heroes nearly as much as I do. But I can tell that it's probably a bit uncomfortable for you."
"Well…at least Vine isn't as bad as most of them. But I don't know her all that well, so I can't say for sure."
Out of everyone in their group, Togane definitely had the biggest axe to grind against heroes and hero-centric society as a whole. Similar to Midoriya, she didn't have what one would call an easy time growing up. But their reasons for picking this line of work were vastly different. However, this similarity on top of the fact that they were classmates was actually a major reason why the two of them were such good friends both in and outside of work.
"Let's just hope that she doesn't end up on our radar in the future. That'd be an awkward situation to have to deal with."
"You got that right."
Another five minutes or so passed after their brief exchange, and the two Inspectors were starting to get a bit impatient. However, their prayers were soon answered when Slugger finally walked out of his apartment and onto his balcony in open view. Taking a moment to sit down in one of his chairs while scrolling through his phone.
"It's showtime." Togane said while looking through the scope of her rifle. Causing Midoriya to do the same.
"400 meters from us to him. Wind at thirty-five kilometers an hour. Three buildings. No other civilians in sight, either inside the apartment or on the other balconies. Everything looks good to me."
"Alright, I'm taking the shot."
"You did remember to get tranquilizer bullets and not regular ones, right?"
That comment was enough for Togane to lift her head up and shoot a blank stare at Midoriya's face. Even if the woman hardly ever expressed her emotions in any major ways, her eyes always gave away exactly what she was thinking. And right now they were telling Midoriya that she wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Sorry for asking….."
"Whatever…." The brunette woman sighed before getting back into position. Once she had Slugger back in her sights, Togane's orange eyes began glowing. And after letting out a quick breath she squeezed the trigger, sending the tranquilizer bullet flying between the three buildings that separated her and her target.
Under normal circumstances, most people would've considered this shot way too difficult to make considering the amount of wind and lack of light. But thanks to Togane's quirk 'true shot', a power that allowed her alter the trajectory of any projectile that she launches. Something like this was childsplay for her.
Through his binoculars, Midoriya watched as Slugger passed out after getting hit right in the middle of his left shoulder. Signifying yet another successful hit for his partner. "Alright…" The green haired man then stood up and stretched out his arms. "I'll go and grab him. He'll be out for at least two hours so I can handle it myself. Can you pull the car up to the back of the building?"
"Good idea, you are better at this part of the job than I am." The woman agreed.
"Well, we all have our strong suits."
"Just the kind of thing I'd expect to hear from the NPSC's "Ghost"."
"Whatever.…" Was all the green haired man said before leaving Togane to pick up her equipment and make the journey over to the building where Slugger was.
The following evening proved to be quite an entertaining affair for Shiozaki. Mainly because it was her turn to host "girl's night" for her and her friends.
At least once a month, herself along with Kendou, Tokage, and Kodai would all get together for a night of relaxation and just general goofing off. Yanagi and Komori were always welcome to come as well. But the two of them lived too far away to be able to frequently fit the trip into their schedules. And their old classmate, Pony Tsunotori, was now back in America. So of course she wasn't going to be able to make it anytime soon. It was a pretty rare occurrence when all of the girls from the former class 3-B could all gather in the same place. But when they did manage to do so, the one thing that Shiozaki could say was that it was never dull.
"Alright, so what are we gonna watch first?" Tokage questioned the others. "Cheesy romance flick with vampires, cheesy romance flick with zombies, action flick with a lot explosions, or an action flick with romance and explosions?"
"Are those really all the movies you bothered to download before coming here?" Kendou deadpanned.
"Somehow I knew that you were going to pick something violent." Shiozaki added, wondering why they let the 'lizard tail splitter' user be the one in charge of the movies. What was the problem with something sweet and wholesome for a change?
"Hey! Those sappy movies that Ibara picks out puts me to sleep. And Yui always ends up picking some pre-quirk era animated movie that's way too hard to follow."
"Hmm…" The black haired woman crossed her arms in obvious displeasure at Tokage's accusation.
"Anyways…" Kendou spoke up. "How long until the food gets here?"
"It should only be another twenty minutes or so." Shiozaki answered.
"Good, because I am starving. I overworked myself yesterday and I still haven't fully recovered yet." Tokage followed up by dropping herself down on the sofa next to Kodai. All while taking another sip from her glass full of sake.
Despite the obvious annoyances that were sure to come with entertaining guests, Shiozaki very much enjoyed spending time with her friends like this. Now that they were out of school and working nearly everyday of the week it was hard for them to reconnect as often as she would like. On top of that, it wasn't exactly easy to make friends when you were a pro hero. So you were pretty much stuck with people who were in a similar line of work. Or those that you already knew.
That wasn't a bad thing by any means to Shiozaki though. There were plenty of heroes who were wonderful to be around. But it just wasn't the same as spending a leisurely night of fun with people you practically grew up with.
"So Ibara, are you ever going to tell us about that job you and the others had to pull with those NPSC guys?" Tokage then asked.
"I was wondering about that too." Kendou piggybacked.
Although there wasn't any strict guidance on them keeping the nature of the 'High Point' raid a secret. The vine haired woman was aware enough to know that she probably shouldn't go around talking about taking down a hero who was involved in a number of criminal activities. Of course she trusted her friends to keep that information under wraps. Even Tokage, surprisingly. But she thought it was best to just keep most of the details to herself.
"It really wasn't all that exciting." The woman began explaining. "It was actually a pretty standard raid operation. We even finished in about thirty minutes."
"So you're telling me that the NPSC asked you guys to help just for some basic raid?"
"Their team was understaffed and the police department had the same goal. So it made a lot of sense."
"Hmm." Kodai nodded in understanding.
"Well whatever the case was, I'm just glad that you and Yu-san are alright. I always hate having to do those kinds of jobs." Kendou smiled.
"Yeah, raids are always a fucking hassle."
"Setsuna…language."
"Sorry." The green haired woman held her hands up defensively.
The group of four continued chatting away for the better part of ten minutes before the sound of Shiozaki's doorbell caught their attention. Since she was the closest one to the door, Kendou took the liberty of being the one to answer it. Without even bothering to look through the peephole, the orange haired woman gladly opened the door.
"Alright, time for pizz- what?" Kendou paused upon seeing that person standing in the hall wasn't wearing a "Pizza-La" uniform. Or holding five large boxes containing pizzas of various toppings with an extra order of breadsticks.
"I'm sorry…I don't have any pizzas on me." A confused looking Midoriya said before glancing to his right to double check that he had the right apartment.
Luckily Shiozaki was close enough to recognize the man's voice. "Midoriya-san? Is that you?"
Before the man even had a chance to answer the question, Tokage was quick to jump off the sofa to verify that what she heard was correct. And in the blink of an eye she was standing next to door. Almost bumping shoulders with Kendou. "Hey, it's Mr. Inspector. How's it going?"
"O-oh uh, hello Lizardy. How are you?"
"Pretty good, thanks for asking."
"What are you doing here?" Now it was Shiozaki's turn to make her way over to the door.
"I'm sorry, Shiozaki-san. I didn't know that you had company over." Midoriya immediately apologized. "But uh…to answer your question…I dropped by to give you this." The man then handed over a similar looking container to the one that Shiozaki gave him last week. Actually, it was the exact same one. Except instead of being filled to the brim with cookies, this time the piece of tupperware was loaded to the brim with what looked to be brownies.
"Oh man, those smell pretty good." Kendou said while inhaling the aroma.
"What is this for?"
"Well it would be rude of me to not return this container after you were nice enough to make me a gift. And I thought that it would only be fair to show my appreciation for what you did. Fair warning, I'm not really the best baker in the world though."
"How kind of you." The vine haired woman smiled. "But you didn't have to go through the trouble."
"Don't worry about it. Just think of it as me returning your kindness."
"And his kindness smells pretty damn good too!"
"Setsuna!" The vine haired woman admonished her friend's behavior.
Shiozaki proceeded to take the container from the man's hands and thank him once again for the kind gesture. She honestly wasn't expecting him to do something like this. Mainly because hardly anyone ever did. But it was nice to know that her newest neighbor was polite enough to return her belongings.
"Anyways, you guys have a fun night."
"What, you're leaving already?" Tokage then asked. "Why don't you come in here and join us for a bit?"
"What?" Midoriya, Shiozaki and Kendou all gave the woman the same confused expression.
"C'mon, a cute guy suddenly swoops in and delivers us food in our time of need and you won't even invite him in? I thought you were better than that Ibara."
Aside from the notable amount of redness that appeared on Midoriya's face after indirectly being referred to as "cute", Shiozaki was quick to catch onto what her friend was trying to do. And the vine haired heroine didn't even bother trying to hide the annoyance on her face.
"That's alright." Midoriya waved off. "The last thing I'd want to do is disturb you guys."
"Nonsense! Come on in and pop a squat." Without any warning Tokage grabbed the man by his shoulders and dragged him into the apartment. Catching everyone else completely off guard. Shiozaki had half a mind to berate the woman right then and there for doing something so ridiculous. But she didn't want to chew out her friend right in front of Midoriya. Plus, this is really just the kind of thing that she expected Tokage to do. So found it hard to be that mad at her all things considered.
Besides, she doubted that Midoriya would even agree to stay. He probably had something to do and assumed that the last thing he wanted was to be surrounded by a group of women and some bad television.
-(o)-
To be honest, Midoriya was wondering how he found himself in this painfully awkward situation.
The green haired man was simply expecting to come over, drop off the brownies that he made, say thanks to Shiozaki one last time and then leave. He certainly didn't plan to end up getting dragged inside of the woman's apartment by one of her friends. Only to find himself surrounded by a bunch of people that he hardly knew.
He had half a mind to just get up and leave immediately. But he didn't want to come off as rude after being brought in. Even if Shiozaki wasn't actually the one to invite him in the first place.
It didn't even take a full thirty seconds for Tokage to introduce the other two women that were present. The first being Itsuka Kendou, a battle hero working under Death Arms. And Yui Kodai, a rescue hero who usually operated in Shimane Prefecture. Naturally, Midoriya politely introduced himself to the two ladies before trying to figure out the best way to get out of here as soon as possible. He honestly didn't like the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of heroes who looked like they were already making their way through a few bottles of wine and sake.
"Midoriya-san, I am so sorry! Please forgive me for Setsuna's rude behavior." Shiozaki bowed towards the man.
"It's fine." He waved his hands in front of his face. "There's really nothing to be sorry fo-."
"Oh man, these brownies are amazing!"
"Hmm." Kodai silently agreed with Tokage's declaration after taking a bite of one herself.
Shiozaki was all but amazed at how the two of them could just casually partake in the treats that weren't even meant for them without a care in the world.
"So Freckles, Ibara tells us that your little raid mission was a success."
Midoriya instantly shot the woman a curious glance. But the vine haired woman was quick to quell any possible concern that he might've had about her leaking what was certainly some sensitive information. And reassured him that she left out all of the important details concerning 'High Point' and Takeshita.
It was then that Midoriya took a moment to look around the woman's apartment. The decorations were pretty much what he expected based on what he knew about Shiozaki. The place was very clean. There were a lot of flowers and other plants that he couldn't identify. But what stuck out to him were the numerous religious artifacts hung up on the walls. Along with a few pictures of Shiozaki and whom he deduced to be her classmates from her time in U.A..
"Setsuna, you really need to learn about social etiquette one of these days." Kendou sighed.
"That is quite the understatement." Shiozaki wholeheartedly agreed.
"Oh come on guys, I'm sure that Freckles here has no problem being around four beautiful ladies on a Saturday night." Tokage joked before taking yet another brownie from the container. "Isn't that right?"
"Tokage-san, I t-think you might have the wrong impression of me." Midoriya gave her a nervous chuckle.
"I doubt it. Anyways…tell us a bit about yourself. Most people don't get a chance to have a sit-down with one of the NPSC's infamous Inspectors. We already know that you're a pretty good cook. Actually…Ibara knows her way around a kitchen too. Maybe you two should get together sometime and exchange recipes. Like a cooking date or something."
That comment was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back as far as Shiozaki was concerned. There was no way that she was going to allow anymore of this embarrassment to go on if she had anything to say about it.
"Alright, I think we've taken up enough of Midoriya-san's time." The now blushing heroine declared before grabbing Midoriya by the wrist and leading him out of her apartment. Making sure to shut the door behind her.
Once the two greenettes were out in the hallway and away from the others, Shiozaki wasted no time in apologizing for what just happened. "I am so sorry, Midoriya-san."
"It's fine, really." He gave her a half-hearted laugh. "You really don't need to apologize."
"But I do. That was totally uncalled for and you no doubt have better things to do." She countered.
"Honestly I don't. I was really just about to go head over to that bowling alley that's not too far from here."
'Bowling?' The vine haired woman's ears perked up. If there was one thing that Shiozaki loved almost as much as being a hero, it was bowling. Some would even say that it was her favorite thing to do besides tending to her many plants. "You mean the one a few blocks away from the train station?"
"You know the place?" He asked.
"Of course I do!" The woman almost shouted in excitement. "I go there all the time."
"I take it that you're a fan then?"
"I am! Bowling is an excellent way to relieve the many stresses of life." She continued while clasping her hands together.
'Weird, it's like her entire mood just changed.' Midoriya thought to himself. One second the woman was bowing before him at a million kilometers an hour. And now she was beaming at the mere mention of the activity. The man himself was pretty into bowling too. But definitely not as much as she apparently was. To be honest, the way she was acting right now reminded him of how he used to fanboy over hero stuff all the time.
"Well I guess that I definitely need to check the place out the. Especially if you recommend it."
"You absolutely must! The staff there is wonderful and the lanes are always in pristine condition. It's like the lord himself blessed them."
"Noted." He smiled.
Shiozaki quickly realized what she was doing and managed to recompose herself before she embarrassed herself any further. And with a quick cough into her hand she was back to normal. "W-well um…yes. I hope that you have a wonderful time, Midoriya-san. Have a lovely rest of your evening. And I once again apologize for what happened back there."
"You too." The man bowed. "Thank you for having me. Even though it wasn't intentional. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your night as well. And take it easy on Tokage-san. I think she was just having a bit of fun."
After one final goodbye, Midoriya made his way over to his apartment to get ready to leave. Just as he did that, Shiozaki turned around to do the same. Only to be met with the sight of a floating eye and ear hovering above the ground behind her.
"Setsuna…."
The two floating appendages quickly retreat back into the now open door of the woman's apartment. And Shiozaki had a feeling that it was time for her questionable choice of a friend to atone for her sins.
Once Midoriya was back in his apartment and getting ready to go out, his cellphone rang. He looked at the screen to see that it was Kaniko calling him. No doubt wondering if he was on the way yet.
"Hello?"
"Izu-chan, where are ya'? Are you on the way?" The crab-themed woman's voice could be heard on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, I'm just about to head out now. Sorry."
"Well hurry up! Ishi-chan and Togane-chan are already here. Don't think that you can skip out on our inaugural "team-bonding" night!"
"I know, I know. I'll be there in about twenty minutes." He told her.
"Hey, why don't you invite that hero girl you like to join us? We need a fifth anyway since we still don't have Yona-chan. That sounds like a good idea, right?"
"Are you still on that?" Midoriya couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. "And do you really think that having a hero around me and Togane-san like that would be a good idea?"
Kaniko was silent for a moment before answering. "Look Izu-chan…I know how you guys feel. I really do. But ya' already know that not all heroes are as corrupt as the guys we take down. Don't ya' think it would be best for you to…y'know…give them the benefit of the doubt?"
"I really don't feel like having this conversation again." The man replied. "I'll be over there soon. See you guys in a bit."
"Alright then. Catch ya' in a few!" Kaniko then said in an unusually calm voice before hanging up the phone.
With that, Midoriya finished getting dressed and made his way out of the apartment. And all the while having Kaniko's words echo in his mind.
A/N: I'm going to be honest with you guys, this chapter didn't exactly turn out the way that I had planned. It's a lot more difficult writing an adult AU fic in a way that doesn't seem too "cartoonish". Especially when Midoriya and Shiozaki are the ship. I really just can't rush things with these guys. But I'm still having fun with it and I welcome the challenge.
1. Next chapter is primarily going to be a Midoriya focus with some of his backstory (Not all of it though). Shiozaki won't be in it except for a bit at the end. And it's mainly going to be Team Nine chatting and goofing off.
2. For anyone wondering about what's going on with "Emerald Island", I'm roughly 70-75% of the way done with the remaining chapters. But I've hit a major snag in trying to make the time-skip part of it flow into the story. I'll find a way to make it work, but there are certain things that are just a pain to work through. Especially since I'm writing it in "fractions".
Like always, don't be afraid to leave a comment/review! And thank you all for reading!