Chapter 3: A Wild Hero Appears
Mornings at the Amai household were always a huge hassle, especially for Hina herself. Taking care of her six younger siblings was a chore, and for her, the day started at five in the morning. The shrill tone of her alarm stung her sensitive ears, forcing the tanuki-faced woman to get up. She quickly silenced the alarm, lest she awakens her siblings. Sitting up in bed she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, slowly looking across the room she shared with her four younger sisters.
The youngest Yuki was curled up right next to her, pawed hands gently batting at the air in her sleep. Hina gently stroked her head, her sister purring as she did so, one of the many side effects of having a cat quirk. Sayuri was the next youngest, this one instead laying spread eagle on the floor, her black and white tail swiping side to side, Hina was glad that Natsumi had gotten her quirk under control, waking up every morning to the smell of a skunk was a pain. Finally, the second oldest, the twins Keiko and Natsumi, were sleeping completely still on their own bed across the room, their extremely slick-looking otter tails sticking out from underneath her sheets.
Hina sighed and gently moved Yuki, letting the kitten take her place on the bed. Tiptoeing around Natsumi and the various junk and toys scattered about the floor of the room Hina made her way to the door leading her to the hallway. More clothes and toys were spread throughout the tight hall. A door on the opposite side of the hall had the other bedroom that her brothers shared, Katsuro and his bear ears barely visible underneath a large blanket, Keiichi was laying on his back, growling as he snored, his wolf ears twitching as he let out the occasional yelp, and finally, Yoshito hanging from the top bunk of the bunk beds by his tail, probably dreaming of bananas.
The first thing on the agenda for the day was breakfast. For most families this wasn't too much of a problem, but the Amai household wasn't most families. Feeding a family of nine the most important meal of the day was no easy task. Four pounds of ground pork, a dozen eggs and half a slab of bacon were taken out of the refrigerator and Hina gloved her hands thus preventing her from getting fur into the food, not that it would have mattered to her voracious younger siblings.
She started work on the ground pork, carefully forming the meat into patties while she let the skillet warm up next to her. With each patty slapped onto the skillet she let her mind wander, trying to balance the checkbooks in her head. She sighed as she thought about the expensive breakfast she prepared, it would likely be the only meal of the day for her siblings, so it had to be hearty, but it had to consist of all this meat due to her and the rest of the families unique digestive tracts, one of the disadvantages of a mutation type quirk.
While the meal was one thing, her mothers nightlife was a whole different set of circumstances. She worked as a hostess and often gets quite wasted along with her clients, racking up huge bills at bars across the city. Hina really didn't want to prop her mom up or her addiction, but she couldn't bring herself to do that, leaving her siblings high and dry. Their combined incomes barely covered everything as is, though she was able to save a little bit every check in the hopes of getting an apartment for her siblings and herself.
Shaking herself out of thoughts, she had a couple dozen of the pork patties on the skillet and it was time to get everything else going. The bacon went on next with the eggs getting cracked into a frying pan. It took a little over an hour, but eventually breakfast was finished. She left the whole meal out on the counter for her siblings to dig into once they got up. Her mother was no doubt blacked out drunk in her bed, a bottle of sake in her hands.
The next thing on her agenda was getting ready for work. The bathroom just like the rest of the house was littered with things, dirty clothes and toys making it a hazardous environment. She carefully navigated the metaphorical minefield and showered. Changing into her hero costume, a maroon bodysuit that allowed her great mobility and was expanded to function with her quirk.
As she tightened the straps on her costume she heard the first sounds of her siblings awakening. Upon coming out of the room she found that her eldest sibling, Natsumi was already up, tearing into a pork patty and some bacon as well. She perked up upon seeing her older sister and smiled as Hina got her portion of the meal and put it in a lunch box.
"Getting out of here early sis?" The otter quirked girl asked as Hina threw the lunch box into a backpack.
"Yeah," Hina nodded as she slung the backpack over her shoulder, "Tell the kiddos I love them."
"What about mom?" Natsumi asked as she bit through a piece of bacon.
"Just make sure the hag does her part." Hina grunted heading to the door after giving her sister a kiss on the head.
"Will do sis," Natsumi nodded as Hina left.
Letting out a sigh of relief Hina started on her way to the bus stop. She tightened her grip on the backpack as she thought about her mother. Hina sighed, kicking a bit of trash on the ground. She hated how little time she had for herself, if her mother actually pulled her weight, then Hina wouldn't be as overworked as she was. However as it was she was up helping her siblings in morning, going to work to help pay the bills, then working to help out her siblings after getting off of work, Natsumi helped shed some of that workload while she was gone for the day, but it didn't change a thing.
The bus arrived and Hina got on, her deep brown eyes staring longingly out the window. Ever since she graduated high school her life has been a constant bustle. She couldn't remember the last time she took a vacation or even the last time she went out for herself. She loved working for the Fur Force, but she just wasn't getting paid enough to take a day off. She relished in her usual days off, but those were mostly spent wrangling her siblings, shopping for groceries and cleaning the house. She'd love to go out, maybe find someone to spend the evening with, it'd been a few years since she last went on a date. She broke up with her high school girlfriend shortly after graduating, it was definitely a long time coming, but Hina still missed her.
The bus eventually came to a stop near the Fur Force headquarters. Hina got up, heading off the bus and towards the office that Miruko rented. It was an above a convenience store, which Hina would definitely frequent more often if she wasn't spending so much on rent as is.
The inside of the office was well furnished and Hina had her own desk to do busy work at. Her desk was directly across from Yagi, who seemed to not have shown up yet, but the only other desk in the room had Okami sitting at wolf heroine had long and beautiful white hair, eyes as golden as the morning sunrise. Her quirk gave her the powers of a wolf, including sensitive ears, a nose that can pick up the faintest scent and razor sharp claws that could reportedly cut through steel sheets. She was a very quiet and powerful hero, not much was known about her, even Hina didn't know her that well. All Hina knew about her was that she was the underground hero specialist for Fur Force.
Hina waved at Okami, the white harried woman simply raised a hand in response and went back to her paperwork. Hina sighed and sat at her desk, setting her backpack down next to it. Miruko walked into the room and sat on the only open spot on Hina's desk. The tanuki girl blushed as she looked up at her boss, Miruko still looked and operated as an amazing hero, even though she lost and arm and a leg fighting All For One, she was still one of the highest rated heroes in the country.
"Tanooki I gotta special assignment for ya," Miruko mused as she looked down at her subordinate, "We're getting a newbie tonight, I need ya to show him the ropes."
"Him?" Hina pipped up, while it wasn't a hard and fast rule, Miruko hadn't hired a single male to the Fur Force, sure all of them were women, except for Yagi who was non-binary, it was still a bit of a shock.
"Yep," Miruko ruffled the top of Hina's head, forcing the tanuki girl to blush once again, "We got Koji Koda joining us."
Painkiller:
Eyes the color of glowing coal sitting in a sea of black ink stared at the television screen once more. The screen played the same news report over and over again, the report revealing Hijiri had been arrested and then severly injured while in custody. Painkiller did not like the sound of that, it hadn't exactly been a secret that there was a hero going around and abusing their power to get information, and this seemed like the exact sort of situation that would have the loser Hijiri reveal who she was. Fortunately Painkiller had only met him at night, and in locations that tied to her in no way, the city park and certain abandoned warehouses.
Her scarlet eyes darted to the flashdrive in her hand, something she had found years ago, and something she had grown very attached too. If Hijiri had been successful no doubt the airplane would have been taken down and been the frontline news story for weeks to come. It would have been the perfect time to get exactly what she needed for the flashdrive. Now she'd have to change her plans.
In the time after All For One's defeat at the hands of Japan's greatest heroes, there was a severe power vacuum in Japan's criminal underworld. While she wasn't as powerful or nearly as influential as him, Painkiller helped fill that void. Villains needed leadership, and that's exactly what she offered. Fortunately she avoided outright detection and existed mostly as an urban legend, however those that took those legends seriously would no doubt classify her as a B-rank villain.
Pretty much everything that happened in the major cities of Japan were because of her, the sell of trigger, exchange of illegal goods and services, and even hits on important people were carried out by her and those directly under her.
"Hey boss," One of her subordinates spoke up, her eyes darted to him, he was a man with pure white hair, skin and faded pink eyes, a result of his ablinism, "Want me to take care of him? I know you hate snitches."
"That won't be necessary Apex," She dismissed him, she was still confused about him, he was easily stronger than her, in fact he was likely on par with some of the higher ranked heroes in Japan, if she had to guess he was at least an A ranked villain, yet he did everything she asked, "If he's already spoken up I'm certain Knives is already on it. You know how she feels about those disposables."
"Alright boss," Apex sighed, picking at his sharpened teeth with a claw growing from his finger, "But next time let me at em, you know I'd love to."
"I appreciate the offer," Painkiller got up from her desk and walked towards her generals, Apex the Hunter, a villain known for his violent tendencies, but extremely ruthless and effective nature. Ursa the Beast, the woman towered over everyone else in the hideout, and she was sitting on a couch, taking up all three seats, something that was easy to do when your quirk gave you all the powers and abilities of a kodiak bear. She was the enforcer for Painkillers little squad, she had been arrested several times before, and bore the scars to prove it. Finally was Strings the Mastermind, the woman sat crosslegged on the ground, her face twisted in a sadistic grin, her frizzled blue hair and toxic green eyes seemingly staring at a camera no one else could see. Her pale blue skin looked paper thin, but she was largely one of the most important members of her team. Knives wasn't present, but Painkiller could excuse that, not only was she a member of Painkillers team, but she was also an independent assassin, using the money from her contracts to fund all their endeavors.
"However we have more pressing issues," Painkiller looked to Apex and nodded at him, "We can't perform the heist, we were supposed to be doing it today, but with Hijiri captured anything we try will be instantly noticed. Originally we were supposed to do this all together, but I think we can spare a few of you to cause us a distraction."
Apex grinned and grew more claws as his eyes narrowed, "Oooh, I love the way you think Painkiller, you have no idea how excited that makes me feel." His eyes narrowed even more, "You have no idea how much I want you now."
"Restrain yourself Apex," Painkiller extended her hand towards him, her blackened fingertips beckoning him to calm down, "You and Ursa will act as our distraction, you two are easily some of the strongest villains in the country right now, and I trust you won't get captured."
"You can count on us," Apex bowed, his eyes sneaking a peek at Painkillers exposed thighs, "Maybe after this we can consummate our love."
"Hold your tongue pervert," Ursa smacked Apex on the back of his head and kneeled before Painkiler, "Whatever you wish my lady," her scarred eyes looking up, "But even I must admit, I can't wait to feel the crunch of bones between my teeth and the taste of blood on my tongue."
"Thank you, Strings, you and Knives will accompany me on our heist," Painkiller announced, causing the insane looking Strings to glance up at her, the unsettling villain cocking her head to the side, "In only a short while, we're going to kidnap Kyudai Garaki."
Weekly Hero Rankings:
(In this AU, fans of heroes will come together every week and rank all the heroes currently in japan based on popularity, public appearances and resolved incidents. This isn't exactly official, but many hero fans consider it to be)
1. Hawks
2. Miruko
3. Kamui Woods
4. Best Jeanist
5. Fat Gum
6. Mt. Lady
7. Ryukyu
8. Endeavor
9. Burnin
10. Lemillion
..
23. Hiroto Yukio aka Yagi
…
137. Neon Hikari aka Bubblegum
…
290: Reza Hikari aka Ultraviolet
…
301: Deku
302: Nanako Haizono aka Dust Devil
…
320: Hina Amai aka Tanuki
…
352: Chargebolt
…
530. Yusha Kirameki aka Swap
537. Kaseki Shiryoku aka Basilisk
Changes: Bubblegum added to the list
A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I was a little busy with some stuff, so I'm just getting this done a month late. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, these next few chapters are mostly establishing characters more and getting the story moving forward. I hope you like the villains and can't wait to see what they're doing. Please leave any theories you may have down below. Please read and review. Go Beyond, Plus Ultra!