...And here comes the plot with all the subtlety of a brick. Think I'm probably going to have to give up on the POV's eventually too, they might start to get limiting...
Shigaraki hates this time of year. It's bad enough to live in a world where heroes are everywhere and seen as the pinnacle of society, why does he have to live through a day of publicly celebrating rookie would-be's in the process?
The UA Sport's Festival is just another one of life's frustrating subplots that has no value, and for the life of him, he can't understand the appeal for the common folk. Tonight he'll be re-watching the events in detail with commentary from their informants to find weak links or possible blind spots, but other than the profit the League can make from heavy under-the-table betting, such a blatant display of hero worship disgusts him.
However, much like root canal surgery or the cleaning of a septic tank, even the worst things in life have a purpose. Today, just about every big name in Musutafu is over at the school, gawping at baby heroes trying desperately to make a name for themself, leaving the streets in the hands of overworked interns or the genuinely devoted hero.
It's a well known fact in the city – if anyone is going to commit a crime, they'll likely try today. There's just too much ground for the backup to cover - and the police force go through more quirk-use violations within their own ranks during the festival than they do all year.
It also means that UA's own little neighbourhood is lacking it's usual faces, and Shigaraki can step inside a hero haunt without any fear at all.
Takesushi immediately endears itself to him by not having a single television screen blaring. Most restaurants open today have at least one screen airing the spectacle, which is probably why it's so quiet compared to other buildings in the area. He can see the chef preparing something at an empty counter, and there's a short brunet teen carrying something from a fridge and working out of sight in the kitchen.
As for other customers, he spots Kurogiri at a table, picking delicately at a few plates, and there's an elderly couple by the window. He eyes up his options, and picks a small table just to the side of Kurogiri, keeping him at his back and the exit in his sights.
"Where is she?" he murmurs, just loud enough that his ally can hear.
"Shift change. Just swapped with the other girl," Kurogiri replies, popping a piece of sushi into his mouth. "She'll be out in a moment."
As if summoned by their conversation, Shigaraki's target walks out of the kitchen, dressed in a simple navy dress and white apron; carrying a simple platter to the couple by the window. He grins, scratching at his neck in anticipation.
Once her current table is seen to, the waitress walks over, not batting an eye at the man sitting with his hood up. Working in such a hero-filled area has probably dulled her reactions for anyone out of the ordinary by this point.
"Welcome to Takesushi," she says. "My name is Chrome, and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you a drink?"
She's so poised and polished, Shigaraki almost wants to dig his fingers into her neck and squeeze. But he holds back – the information they've gathered on this young woman suggests that this is all an act - she's a broken monster that learned how to hide it. That's something he needs right now, badly. The failed attack on All Might had brutalised their numbers to a measurable extent. He needs more party members, and this Chrome is exactly what he needs – quality over quantity.
As he throws out a random drink order, the door opens, two more customers entering and taking a seat at the table nearest to the door, and Chrome quickly greets them before heading away.
"Is she the only one in?" Shigaraki says, scratching at the table. Kurogiri shakes his head.
"No. One girl and at least two other teenagers upstairs, and the teen in the kitchen helping the chef," he lists.
"But none of them are receiving quirk training?" Shigaraki confirms, and smiles when Kurogiri nods. Perfect – then they'll be no issue at all.
Shigaraki timed this attempt as well as he could. They need to have interacted enough with the girl for her guard to be down, and to start their recruitment pitch right before the first year final matches take place. It's always the most highly watched event, even tipping out the third year's just due to the complete insanity that always gets churned out with new names. Everyone will be getting off the streets and avoiding trouble just to make sure they have a good seat. If anything goes wrong, the delay before any kind of dangerous force arrives will be at its longest.
Unfortunately, that also means laying low till then, and he's never been a fan of sushi. He finds himself picking at it, mentally noting to get something a lot more cooked for dinner.
At long last, the planned time finally ticks over on his phone, and he gestures for Chrome to walk over.
"It's quiet," he says to the girl as she wanders over to collect his empty plates. "Why don't you sit down for a bit? I'd love to chat."
Chrome gives a classic waitress smile. "Sorry, but I can't really stop when I'm working."
Shigaraki smiles. "Come on, nobody will notice if you rest for a few minutes. Love to know why someone your age isn't glued to the TV today."
Chrome's smile shifts into something slightly more genuine, and Shigaraki intentionally moves his head to look at the duo by the door.
"They're not going to need help for a bit," he notes, the two focused completely on the dish in front of them, and then turns his head over to Kurogiri, who has paid but is calmly sipping green tea. "What about you?" he asks with a grin, and his partner merely gestures with his cup.
Chrome steals a glance over at couple in the booth, and then over at the kitchen, but to Shigaraki's delight, the chef nods at her, and she happily takes the excuse and sits down.
"So, I ask again," he says, leaning forward, chin on his knuckles. "Why aren't you watching all the future heroes in your age group show off?"
Chrome rolls her eyes, though there's still something of a smile on her face. "It's not really my thing," she explains. "My brother's and sister all know someone competing, so they wanted to watch. I've never really cared about heroes, and someone needed to work today, so Tsuna and I volunteered."
Her head glances towards the kitchen, and Shigaraki mentally notes that 'Tsuna' must be the brunet he's caught sight of a few times. The boy is surprisingly clumsy for someone trusted in the kitchen judging from some of the sounds he's heard, but the chef's unintelligible comments have been more indulgent than angry.
He fights down the urge to scratch his skin at how domestic it all is. This is a foster situation – while he's never known the horror, half the former League of Villains were card-carrying members of Japan's orphan and foster systems – which really says all anyone needs to know.
'Focus Tomura' he thinks to himself. 'We have a job to do here. And she's already given you the perfect opening'
"Not a fan of heroes, hmm?" he says, and Chrome pales, hands waving as she gives a nervous laugh.
"No, I mean-it's not like I don't like them," she explains. "I just, I think it's all a little over the top, I guess. I'm not used to it being such a big deal, it wasn't really a thing where we lived before."
"It is a little over the top, isn't it," Shigaraki says with a genuine bark of laughter, and Chrome's shoulders relax completely.
"Yes," she says, clearly in relief. "It seems like it's all anyone can talk about sometimes. I mean, the way I understand it, they're meant to be public servants, but they're also kind of like idols? Yamamoto doesn't really get it either, but I guess it works here."
Shigaraki grins wider, dropping his arms to the table as he leans in.
"Does it?" he asks. "Or do we all just think that because that's what they want us to think?"
Her smile fades as little, and her head cocks slightly, but she's clearly waiting for him to explain, so he does.
"Heroes," he says, not longer trying to hide the disgust in his voice. "We're told to elevate them and put them on pedestals. They're the reason we have peace, why our society works. All Might is treated like a God among mere insects."
Chrome leans back slightly, but she isn't arguing, and Shigaraki grins.
"Nobody ever seems to asks if our society truly works," he continues. "Without All Might, peace would crumble, and how strong can peace be if it relies on just one man. Because that's what he is, when all is said and done, a man. Wouldn't things be better heroes weren't even a thing? After all, how can you have heroes without villains?"
Chrome bites her lip and glances over to the stairs.
"Y-you should speak with Hayato," she says. "He's talked about this a little, but-"
"I'd rather talk to you," Shigaraki interrupts, though he notes that name down for future research. If his quirk is useful, maybe they'll return for a sequel. "In order for heroes to make sense, they have to have an enemy to fight. Which means some members of society must be pushed down in order to elevate the minority. And when that minority is so damn exclusive, the rest of us just get pushed around."
He leans back in his chair, taking in the now very suspicious waitress. Even with the eyepatch, she looks so unassuming. But Shigaraki's seen her medical files himself, given to him by his master in preparation for this very meeting. She's a walking example of how awful the world can be – carrying the evidence of her mistreatment around her, hidden only by her quirk. Abandoned and discarded, relying only on the abilities she managed to develop for herself. Shigaraki can respect the hell out of that.
"You know all about that though, don't you Dokuro Chrome?" he says, and the girl flinches.
"...How did you know my full name?" she asks, hands clenching into fists.
"I know a lot about you," Shigaraki explains. "I know that your family threw you away when you needed them. That you're only alive because you learned how to make it on your own. No doctors or heroes, just your own force of will. You could do anything you wanted to if your truly wanted to with a quirk like yours."
Ah, there was anger. Good, he was getting ticked off at the quiet mouse act.
"Like I told the doctors, and the heroes, I'm not interested in using my quirk," she says. "For someone who agrees with me on society, I'm surprised you think that."
"Well, that can't really be true," Shigaraki mocks with a laugh. "Otherwise you would have left All Might to rot in that shopping district."
Her one eye widens in shock.
"I'll be honest, I would have preferred that," Shigaraki admits. "But I bet it hurt, having to rely on a civilian to his job. How scared he must be, to know how weak he's becoming. How quickly his precious 'peace' is coming to an end."
"How do you know about that?" she says with a hiss. "That...event, was meant to be confidential."
Shigaraki smiles. "We know lots of things. It comes with being someone society rejects. You understand all about that, don't you?"
To his delight, her eyes narrow, any fear vanishing in place of anger and wary apprehension. Good girl. "I think you should leave now," she warns.
"But you haven't even heard why I wanted to meet you so bad," Shigaraki mock whines, hand half reaching over towards her.
"Chrome!"
Both snap their heads up and glance over at the door of the kitchen. It's Tsuna, the boy that's been working in the kitchen. His eyes are awkwardly wide, and he looks terrified, as if he knows exactly who Chrome is sitting across from, despite having never once been in view of him, or close enough to hear the conversation.
Clearly, his waitress sees it too, because Shigaraki can all but feel the girl tense up, chair shifting slowly across the ground so she's no longer in grabbing distance. In fact…
There's a rumble from above, and just out the corner of his eye, Shigaraki spots three teens all but throw themselves down the stairs, barely noticeable from his angle. One's carrying a wooden sword, while another is frantically wrapping tape round his wrists and the other-is that actual dynamite?
A casual glance back to the counter also reveals the chef lifting down a sword from above his work bench, hidden from customers view. He never once takes his eyes of Shigaraki.
Amazing, he thinks. One word from that teenager and the entire restaurant has gone from placid to hair trigger.
How did he know? Kurogiri was watching the kitchen to make certain they couldn't see or hear anything untoward. Some kind of clairvoyance quirk? Perhaps they should have paid more attention to the other quirks in the building.
"Tsuna," Chrome says, eyes flicking between the brown haired teen and Shigaraki. The boy looks like he wants to bolt out the door, but is quick to scuttle over to her, grabbing her shoulders as she stands up. The other trio are now in the kitchen doorway, looking tense.
"Get out," Tsuna tells them, voice impressively smooth. Shigaraki smiles.
"No," he says, and snaps his fingers.
Their future victims quickly snap their heads back as they hears seats being pushed away. The two customers by the door immediately stand - both grunts brought in by Kurogiri. One, a muscled man whose quirk creates a shield stand as Vanguard, blocking the exit. The other is a man who can fuse with metal, and he's standing by the shield's side, already flicking a butterfly knife between his fingers.
In the booth, the elderly couple move out, the illusion dropping to show a woman with a spider-like head and a man in Gothic garb. Slowly, heads turns back to him, and Shigaraki grins even wider.
"I work for, lets call it an independent party," Shigaraki says. "You're very interesting to us, Chrome. All that power and no interest in heroics? In fact, I'd say it's an almost dismissive opinion of them. My boss and I really think you could do great things with us. I'm sure if you hear us out, you'll see things our way."
"Boss?" Chrome whispers, and Shigaraki almost does a double take at the term. Is she already-
"Bad idea, Chrome" the teen behind her says, and Shigaraki frowns when he realises she was addressing him. "I don't know what he wants, but you can't go with him."
Whatever his reasoning, any hesitation Chrome might have had vanishes, eyes narrowing and clenching her fist.
"I want you to leave," she says. "And don't come back."
"You heard the lady," the chef says from the kitchen, and Shigaraki grimaces when he realises he's got a phone in his other hand.
"Pity," he growls. "We really wanted to do this civilised. Maybe once we show you how serious we are, you'll understand. We weren't asking."
And with that, he lunges for Chrome, hand outstretched. Tsuna's eyes widen, and he throws Chrome to the side, himself lunging to the opposite.
"Don't let him touch you with his fingers!" Tsuna yells, just before he hits the ground. Shigaraki would be impressed he figured that out so quickly, if five finger quirks weren't frustratingly common.
His attack however, unleashed the hounds. One of the men at the door – the grunt that can fuse his body with metal – slips his knife into his arm, creating into a short, sharp sword appendage and jumps over the counter, aiming for the chef.
To his credit, while the man swears and drops the phone, he immediately raises his sword to block the attack, and both vanish out of view in the kitchen. The other stays at the door – he can repel any physical attack with his shield so long as he sees it coming – to cut off any retreat. The fist fighter almost leaps over the fallen body of Tsuna to get to him, yelling 'Extreme defence!' and dropping something white and woollen on the brunets chest. He immediately tries to punch their guard, only for him to raise his arms – and a translucent shield form in front, protecting him for the hit.
Kurogiri stands, trying to slip past the others in order to reach Chrome – only to find his way blocked by the younger swordsman, the blade glowing blue and a smile on the teens face.
"Something tells me it would be very bad to let you move," he says. What he thinks he can do with a weapon against a man made of fog, Shigaraki doesn't know, but he's hardly worried.
Chrome has stumbled to her feet and stepped back, but putting distance between Shigaraki has put her in reach of their other allies, and she finds herself tag teamed by the illusionist and the spider. They were hired specifically for their quirks – she's a good match for the teen and he can spin sticky rope for restraint, so they'll have her pinned in no time.
Instead, he focuses on the teen on the ground. The one that caused the alarm in the first place; who Chrome calls 'boss.' How interesting. He must be important to her.
She'll probably be far more willing to listen after watching him crumble into dust.
The brunet is in a kneeling position when Shigaraki steps forward, reaching out to clamp a hand on the top of his skull.
"Don't you touch the Tenth!"
Before he can close the distance, something explodes right next to his shoulder, and he curses as he's blown back. His target is blown back too, making a high pitched squeal.
"Hiieee! Hayato!"
"Sorry Te-ah, Tsuna!"
Shigaraki hits the ground and rolls to his feet, smashing his hand on a table and letting it decay in frustration. The last teen – a silver haired punk – is already digging out another stick of dynamite, and Shigaraki is just a little baffled that a civilian would be carrying something like that on hand.
(Later, he'd realise that if he'd been less mad, this is when he should have realised something was up).
"You're in the way," Shigaraki growls, letting his focus transfer while Tsuna gets to his feet, picking up the random item his other sibling had dumped on him (a strange pair of mittens, and unless Tsuna is the bastard child of Best Jeanist, he doesn't see how that will help him). He's got time to take out bomb boy first.
Both of them however, are looking at the pile of dust that used to be a table beside him. Tsuna's eyes are starting to bleed a radioactive orange, while the punk makes a 'tch' sound and gives a vicious smirk.
"So that's your shtick, huh?" he says, and his fingers start glowing red. "I got this bastard Te-gah! I got this Tsuna! You help Chrome."
Tsuna nods, not an ounce of fear in his form now that his eyes have changed, and he moves away. Before Shigaraki can even think of stopping him, there's another bomb being thrown his way.
Like fuck is this asshole blowing him up again.
Instead, he lunges towards him, ducking under the flying projectile and reaching for the teen's neck. His eyes widen as Shigaraki avoids his attack, and his hands flare even brighter red as they rise up and catch both of his with open palms.
"Fuck!" he yelps, stepping back to brace himself as the taller man looms over him, trying to push him back. Shigaraki grins in anticipation, clamping his hands down on the glowing red hands, eager to see them crumble.
Except...they don't. And his grin falters when he finds himself trapped, hands locked against the silver haired teens in an awkward match of strength, his opponent recovering and pushing back – his red aura flickering with a yellow streak here and there.
He doesn't understand, his quirk is active! All five of his fingers are on this brat's hands. He can see the skin trying to decay!
But then he catches sight of his own, and suddenly becomes aware of the pain in his fingertips. He curses, yanking his hands back and throwing himself backwards and half into a table. When he lifts his fingers to his eyes, he grits his teeth in anger.
On his hands, the outer skin looks shredded. Like his opponent somehow turned his own quirk back on him. When he looks up at the teen, he's staring him down with explosives in his hands, and while he's gratified to see something resembling decay on his hands, it's barely there – as if he'd managed to heal the worst of the damage. What the hell is this?
Behind him, there's a painful grunt, but its the sound of a window smashing that forces his head to turn.
What he sees blows his opponents quirk out of the water.
He'd known Chrome could make physical illusions, that was the whole interest. But it's one thing to hear about it, and another to see the girl summon some kind of tentacle vine that was currently choking their spider-woman in its grasp. She'd smashed a window with her webbing, desperately trying to escape, but having no luck whatsoever. Chrome is also wearing a smile that Shigaraki would find delightful, if it wasn't aimed at his own men, her hands clamped around a trident she definitely didn't have on her a few minutes before.
By her side, Tsuna is dropping the illusionist to the ground, the man out cold. But he doesn't even look like the same teenager – his strange eyes are unnaturally focused, and there's a literal fireball on his forehead. The mittens are nowhere to be seen, but his hands are on fire, wrapped in strange leather gloves that seems unaffected by the flames.
"You okay Tsuna?" Chrome asks, eyes not leaving the man in her grasp as he gives a final few twitches. The teen just nods, glancing at the webbing now clumped on a table, and grabs a few pieces to wrap around his opponents wrists.
"Compared to Mukuro and Genkishi, he was nothing," he says, and then stands up to look at the fight at the door.
"Brother, status!" the brunet orders, as the fist fighter lands yet another punch, only for it to hit the repelling barrier. Judging from his hands, he's thrown more than a few.
"Stuck, to the Extreme!" he yells, frustration on his face. "I need to be faster to hit. Can I-"
"No!" Tsuna snaps. "Not without the rings. Takeshi!"
"Gottit!" the swordsman currently dancing around Kurogiri calls, and the blue flames on his blade triple in size. He ducks unto Kurogiri's attempt to grab him, and swings the sword like a batter in a game, sending the flames flying, and straight for Shigaraki.
"Incoming!" he yelps, ducking as the blue wave flies over his head. It travels across the room towards the door, and while he doesn't see the restaurant's fist fighter leap out of the way, he does hear their guard curse as it hits his repelling shield head on.
"Thanks to the Extreme! Takeshi!" his opponent yells, and when Shigaraki gets back up, his jaw drops as the boxer smashes one more punch towards their guard – and while the man tries to activate his shield again, it's noticeably slower than it should be. Instead of blocking, the man takes it full force with his quirk mid-activation, and goes flying through the door, smashing straight into the street.
The boxer fist pumps and roars in the delight, but Tsuna's bland expression doesn't change, his eyes merely turning towards the kitchen counter where they can heard blades clashing. The flames on his hands pulse, and he flies over the counter and into the other room to help the chef.
That's the point Shigaraki starts to to think they might have bitten off more than they can chew with this restaurant, and gets a sinking feeling when he glances over at his teleporting ally. Kurogiri should have been able to stop the teen for sending that sword wave, or at the very least sent it somewhere else.
Wait, now that he's looking, Kurogiri is definitely moving slower than he should be. There's a sluggishness that Shigaraki has never associated with the bartender, and he feels the hairs on his neck stand on end.
The teleporter is clearly coming to the same conclusion. "Dammit," he curses, watching the swordsman return his attention to him. "I thought you were just getting faster."
"Fuck...Kurogiri, get away from that sword!" he hisses. Kurogiri, for his part, risks taking his eyes off his opponent long enough to give him a look Shigaraki knows well.
"I'm trying," he snaps back, and Shigaraki grits his teeth. Whatever the sword brat's quirk is, it's slowing whoever he hits, and they can't afford to lose Kurogiri – he's their exit strategy.
"Swap!" he snaps, taking a risk and turning his back on his opponent even as dynamite is thrown again, focusing on the swordsman. That sword needs to go.
The swordsman, for his part, grimaces when he spots Shigaraki coming for him, and Kurogiri uses the distraction to – frustratingly slowly – transport himself to the other side of the room, cutting off the boxer who was heading back towards them.
The punk looks torn, unsure if he should pursue Shigaraki, or take out the only member he's has shown concern for. Though he starts grinning when they hear a thud – Chrome's finished playing with her prey and finally let her drop to the ground.
But before either of them make a decision, or the boxer can try to punch Kurogiri (and allow Kurogiri to transport him into the middle of a highway somewhere), they all hear a rumbling sound, and everyone throws themselves out of the way when a – Shigaraki isn't even sure how to describe it – beam composed of orange fire bursts out from the kitchen, vaporising part of the restaurant counter, sending their fusion henchman flying out the front window at speed.
Moments later, Tsuna lands in the vaporised spot, while the chef stumbles out the kitchen door, favouring one leg but still holding his sword.
...Oh fuck all of this, Shigaraki thinks, and heads straight for the younger swordsman. He is taking out at least one of these brats for this trouble.
Unfortunately, said brat doesn't want to play ball. He makes an impressive twist to avoid Shigaraki's arm and aims the flat of his blade at the back of Shigaraki's neck. He however, drops to the ground and kicks his leg out, forcing the boy to fall to one knee, bringing his head into grabbing distance. His eyes widen, swinging his sword to block Shigaraki's hand, but it's a pointless gesture. He's about to get that pretty face slapped right off.
At least, it would have been, except Shigaraki feels killing intent coming from his left and back-rolls away to keep the chef's sword from removing his head from his shoulders.
"Don't you even think about it!" the chef snarls, yanking the sword out of the wooden floor. Shigaraki gulps when he notes just how deep into the flooring it went.
"Thanks Dad," the younger swordsman says, getting to his feet.
"Don't thank me, don't let it happen again," the Chef says, eyes focused on Shigaraki, who is getting to his feet in the centre of the room. Moments later, Kurogiri is at his back, as tense as he's ever been.
"Shigaraki, we need to go," he says, and Shigaraki scowls.
"No!" he yells. "I am not retreating from a bunch of civilians!"
Tsuna jumps from the counter, and Shigaraki gets even more pissed when he watches the punk step to the side while Tsuna moves towards them. He's watching the brunet with a slavish devotion that just makes him madder.
"Everyone okay?" Tsuna asks, not taking his eyes off his target. "How are your hands?"
Even though Tsuna isn't looking, the punk smiles like a toddler. "Nothing a few days wont cure! Better shape than Turf Top's at any rate."
"That was an extremely tough quirk!" the boxer roars, and Tsuna's shoulders relax minutely as he stands in front of the villains, just outside of grabbing distance.
"Careful," Chrome offers from behind them. "The mist one can teleport."
Tsuna nods, and glares at the two of them.
"We gave you a chance to leave," Tsuna says. "But that's before you damaged our home. You're going to surrender, and the police will arrest you when they arrive."
He's moving his hands strangely, but Shigaraki doesn't care. He steps forward, pointing a shaking hand.
"You and me, brat" he offers. "You got lucky, but I take on pros."
"Tomura!" Kurogiri growls, grabbing his shoulder in frustration. "Put that pride away."
To his dismay, the warper starts to activate his quirk, and Tsuna's eyes narrow.
"Not this time," he says, and he shoots forward, hands flung back as propulsion. Before Shigaraki can react, he's kicking Kurogiri straight on his metal collar. How he knew to aim there, Shigaraki doesn't know, but the teleporter crashes to the ground, and Tsuna sets one hand just above Kurogiri's own. Shigaraki's eyes widen in shock as from the fire, ice comes forth, and starts to travel down the man's shirt sleeve.
"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki yells in warning, half spinning on his feet and slapping a hand on the ice, forcing Tsuna to jump back. To his astonishment, it stays in place, not so much as chipping despite all five digits touching.
Thankfully, while the ice wont disintegrate, it hasn't reached the floor, so Kurogiri can scramble to his feet and try to free himself, though he ends up shifting out of his shirt to do so, and to Shigaraki's astonishment, leaves a significant chunk of his black, misty shell clinging to the crystal where his hand was trapped.
It's a small comfort that even Tsuna and this group of insanity looks surprised at it too.
"Kurogiri, your hand..." Shigaraki starts.
"Numb, but okay," the warper assures him. "But whatever that is, it's not ice. It wasn't cold to touch."
He's right. Shigaraki hadn't realised till the man pointed it out, but his hand isn't numb after grabbing it. Instead it tingles, a feeling that doesn't quite encompass hot or cold, and the villain hasn't the slightest clue how to describe it.
But whatever it is, Shigaraki's quirk doesn't work on it, and Kurogiri can't escape it fully. This just went from frustrating to dangerous.
He risks glaring at Tsuna once again - those calm orange eyes just appraising both of them with a quiet ferocity. The group isn't even surrounding them any more – they've all drifted to his side, like loyal soldiers.
"Who are you people?" he asks Tsuna, the boy they've clustered round, because this isn't a civilian reaction, and that's not a civilian quirk. Fire? Ice? Possibly clairvoyance? How is this person an unknown? It doesn't make sense!
The teen however, seems oblivious to his breakdown.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he answers, eyes narrow as he raises his hands – that beautiful, eerie flame building up once again.
"And this is my family – who nobody is going to touch. Ever. Again!"
Faintly, Shigaraki hears something light up in the background, accompanying a weird slithering sound and a holler of 'Extreme.' But before he can register any of them, Kurogiri is cursing, grabbing him by the waist and throwing him into his own black hole.
As he hits the ground of the bar, he dimly hears an explosion above their heads, as well as the sound of glass breaking, before Kurogiri shuts his quirk down. When they finally look up, it looks like a good chunk of the bar got blown away in the ricochet of whatever made it through with them.
For a few moments, they just lie there, trying to process the last few minutes. Eventually, Kurogiri starts to lift himself up.
"What. The. Fuck?" the warper growls. "Nobody mentioned anything about the others."
Shigaraki crawls out from under the man, hissing as the burns on his hands protest.
"Chrome Dokuro was supposed to be the main catch," he says. "She's the one who turned down a transfer."
Kurogiri huffs, warping away for a moment, only to return with a new shirt that he immediately starts changing into.
"Starting to think she's the only one who turned it down because she's the only one who drew attention," he says. "Every one of them had combat experience – they were ready to take us out."
"Underground heroes?" Shigaraki asks, fear stabbing his chest. But-no, that didn't make sense… Kurogiri is already shaking his head.
"You saw their eyes, the chef went for your head, and the one with explosives was ready to kill," he replies. "Wherever they were trained, it wasn't for heroics. Not even close."
Shigaraki leans back on the bar, and smiles.
Now that he's out of the firing line and given space to think about what happened, its more interesting than aggravating. An entire family of - for lack of better term - hero level quirks, and not a one even looking at applying. The way they acted, and the things they said or let slip, do not suggest a fully legal life.
He'd gone looking for a party member and found a whole guild to play with. All he has to do is figure out how, and the League could have a major boost.
They'd overplayed their hand this time, Shigaraki can admit that. It hadn't occurred to them to check any of the other quirks in the building when Chrome was clearly the prize catch. Now there will be extra security, but he can wait. He just needs a bit more information before he tries again.
It really takes far too long for Kurogiri to get the files from the quirk registry, but when he finally shows up, Shigaraki all but yanks them from his hands, jumping onto the couch to spread them out of the table. Who are these people, and why is Shigaraki only learning about them now?
Astonishingly, not a single one has any red flags or warnings by their name for illegal quirk use. Most people end up with at least one citation when training their quirk, so how did they get that proficient while staying under the radar?
He's still mulling it over as he reads over the descriptions. He'd thought the punk might have some kind of repel or reversal quirk, but it turns out to be far more basic. It'sDisintegration, with a lot of similarities to his Decay, which might explain why his own quirk didn't work – they cancelled the worst of each other out? He doesn't like the idea of a copy joining his ranks, but it did mean he could delegate more if he did.
The sword boy has something called Tranquil Aura? Sounds lame but clearly the sword boy knew how to use it. That would be great for slowing down all those heroes that so laud their reaction times. The boxer is a less interesting, with some kind of stat booster called Extreme Activation? Pretty dull but it never hurts to have extra muscle. They're definitely lacking right now thanks to this little group.
Illusional Construction they knew about, and while the boy with Ranking never appeared, Shigaraki could definitely see the appeal of getting that in the ranks. It could be great for information retrieval.
He frowns as he shuffles past and finds only one more page. While he never saw her, Kurogiri made it clear there was another girl at the restaurant, but neither she or the chef's quirk's have been included. Did they get missed out? Kurogiri's not known for sloppy work. He'll have to double check with him later.
Regardless, he pushes them all to the side and lifts up the brief form regarding one Sawada Tsunayoshi. Who has some kind of sixth sense, along with fire and ice that aren't really fire and ice. Just what kind of chimera mutation of a quirk causes that? Is he some bastard child of Endeavour or something?
He reads the quirk's title and frowns.
Harmonisation. What on earth does that-
Shigaraki stills, reading the description three times before allowing it to register, and jumps to his feet, heading straight for the back room in order to make a call.
Forget recruiting for now. Sensei needs to know about this. Immediately.
Took way too long to find something that felt enough like pre-Kamino Ward Shigaraki considering he's basically getting humiliated throughout this. He's a hard character to grasp.