Chapter One


A/N: I am using They/Them pronouns in the story but please feel free to change them while reading. I will also try to write this in a way that Y/N can be all genders, so if you notice any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them.

Y/N = Your Name
Y/VG/N = Your Vigilante Name
Y/L/N = Your Last Name

Maturity rating for later chapters.

!Important info for the story!
Y/N has an Emitter-type quirk called Kamaitachi. It allows them to create wind-blades or air cushions by breathing. They could cut themselves and they're out of breath a lot.


The cheering is what wakes me up. Groggily scratching the back of my head I get out of bed and walk towards the small hotel window. On the other side of the street is a huge crowd in front of an electronics shop.

They are watching something that I can't make out. Someone bolts out of the crowd and into the convenience store a few doors down. A look at my watch – it's way too early to be awake – leads me to let out a sigh and get dressed.

Since I won't be able to sleep with this huge a crowd cheering, clapping and whatnot right across from the hotel, I decide to grab some breakfast. And maybe check out what these people are being so damn loud about.

I don't have to wait for the second part tho, because as I get down into the dinner hall of the hotel, the TV in the foyer is running and there is a crowd around it as well. One of the employees waves me over and points to the TV.

"The UA Sports Festival is today. These kids are all so amazingly strong, they'll make good heroes one day."

she turns back to the TV and with her eyes glistening keeps watching as some kids compete in a cavalry-battle. One group with their 'rider' with green hair is getting targeted by almost everyone else. He narrowly evades another boy with spiky, blonde hair. But in the end, a boy with two-colored hair and his team manage to snatch the headband. It really sucks up ones concentration and soon I am part of the excitedly cheering crowd.

The cavalry-battle ends with the green-haired boy's group in fourth place. A boy with bushy, purple hair makes third. Spiky hair and his companions are in second and the hetero-chromatic haired one makes first place. After the results are announced, a commercial break plays.

It gives me time to finally get something to eat. Now that my concentration is no longer getting sucked into the UA Sports Festival, I can feel how hungry I really am. The crowd disperses and everyone heads off to their own destination.

I decide to go for something light today and grab myself a few toasts. I soon turn back into my thoughts while I eat. The only thing I remembered from the names read aloud with the results is the one of the boy with white and red hair. Todoroki Shouto.

His last name reminds me of something. Or rather, someone. He is an interesting guy, I can say that much.

I finish my breakfast and get up to take my plate to the dish card. On my way there, I overhear the conversation of two people animatedly talking about Todoroki. And it finally clicks.

That kid is the son of Endeavor, number two pro hero.

The realization sparks another thought however and I am none the better for it. I absentmindedly place my plate on the card and walk back to my room.

Not looking where I'm walking, I trip up the stairs and hit my shin. My checks flare with embarrassment for half a second until I take a careful look around and realize nobody was around to see my little mishap just now.

With a deep breath I continue my way and round the corner into the hallway – only to make another mistake and crash into someone.

"I'm sorry, I was in my mind just now, so I didn't see you. Can you get up?", I stammer, checks again heating up as I rub my butt.

"I wasn't really paying attention either, so it's partially my fault, too", is the reply. The voice is smooth and the r a little rolled, almost like a purr.

I look up to find myself face to face with a half-human-half-tiger person awkwardly smiling at me. My first impulse is to recoil and take a step back, but I fight it and smile back at them. Mutant-types have it rough already and while I don't approve of how they're treated most of the time, being this close to a half-tiger person still makes me a little nervous.

I almost miss the short look of surprise swiftly crossing their features. Guess they're used to people being afraid of them.

"Well, then, I'll be on my way if you're fine?"

I nod in reply to their question and we both walk away. I make a point of keeping my wits until I close the door to my room behind me to avoid any more embarrassments today. And who knows, the next person I bump into could be not even half as nice as this one.

I sit down on the bed and let my thoughts drift again. They almost immediately return to what occupied my mind earlier.

'If that boy with red and white hair is Endeavor's son, how come he doesn't have a fire-related quirk?'

I mull over that for some time but can't find a logical answer. The only helpful thought is that his two-toned hair suggest he does have a fire-typed quirk as well, but then, why isn't he using it. Endeavor is the best example for how strong a fire quirk can be and with the boy being his son, he should have one about as strong as his father's.

I run into dead ends left and right and nothing sensible comes of my musings, so after some time I forcefully push it to the back of my head. It takes a couple of tries and pops up time and time again.

Frustrated, I fall back onto the bed. All the energy I had half an hour ago suddenly leaves my body and I don't feel like doing anything besides stay right where I am.

The mercy of sleep stays away from me and so I'm absorbed into my mind again. A thousand thoughts a millisecond run through and I can't grasb any of them properly. One is what to do, the next is about a squirrel hopping by in the tree and yet the one after that is about where I should go.

It's tiring, but I can't change anything about it. The clock ticks, each tick a minute. But I can't count them. My mind always strays again, picking up another random thought.

I sit up and reach for the remote to my room's TV to turn it on. Mindlessly zapping through the channels, I almost miss a news report.

"UA's Sports Festival is still in full force and we can clearly see, our next generation heroes are strong and capable. After the one-on-one battles, Bakugo Katsuki earns himself first place, Todoroki Shouto comes in second and third place goes to Fumikage Tokoyami. Midoriya Izuku, who won the race in first place and placed fourth with his team in the cavalry battle did not make it onto the podium, despite showing how strong he is.

This concludes the Freshman stage of the UA Sports Festival."

Pictures of the respective person are shown as their names are mentioned. For some reason Todoroki looks a little dejected and absentminded. The stark contrast to Bakugo, chained up and seemingly shouting makes me chuckle a bit.

Still, it takes my mind back to my entire thought process about Todoroki and his family. I missed out on the one-on-one battles. I would have loved to see these.

I never made it into one of japans hero schools myself, partially by own choice to be honest. But getting to see what those kids who did make it are capable of is still worthwhile. Even it is just to gauge who I could be up against in the future.

The show that plays rips me out of my mind again and I instantly get absorbed by it. Thought, my thoughts and questions still play in the back of my head, I soak up what happens on TV like a dried out sponge.


It's already dark outside when my attention span is getting shorter again. I turn off the TV and get up from the bed. The world outside the window changes colors as the sun sets and streetlights turn on.

It could be beautiful, if there weren't so many rats crawling under the surface. The underground is filled with people who steal, lie and hurt others solely for their own benefit. I can't keep up with all of them, but taking out ones here and there is far more satisfying than knowing they exist and sitting back.

Especially since I don't want them destroying this city.

I walk over to the closet and change clothes. My new outfit is better suited for jobs in the dark than what I wore during the day. Cleaning up anything that might give me away if someone decided to raid this room in my absence, I mentally prepare myself for what I plan to do tonight.

I lock the room and open the window. It's just big enough for me to climb in and out of. The cool night air hits me as I ever so quietly climb up the side of the building to the roof. Just as I look up to grab onto the railing, I see something moving in the sky.

It looks almost like a bird, but it's way too big for any type of bird I know. Giving it no mind, I climb over the railing and softly land on the rooftop.

There is movement in the corner of my eye, but when I turn my head there's nothing. Shaking my head, I rule it as branches moving in the wind and walk to the other side of the roof. Down the side of the building is a back alley.

It's always a test of courage to just let myself fall from a building and measure the right moment to use my quirk. I missed the sweet spot once or twice already and injured myself.

With a last deep breath, I step over the edge of the roof. My stomach lurches into my throat and my eyes water from the air rushing past. About twenty metres into my free fall, I take a very deep breath and blow it out again. My air cushion is barely even visible to the naked eye.

But I can feel it the moment I dive into it. My fall slows down significantly and I am able to grab onto the rain gutter on the building across the back alley. The distance between the buildings is a mere five metres so it's not too far to the other side. I climb down the rain gutter a few metres until I notice a loose screw a little below me.

'I have to avoid it to not pull off the gutter...'

With another deep breath, I push off the wall and fall again. In order to not get too fast until I can hold on to the gutter again, I create another air cushion every few metres down. I find a place safe enough to grab on again and create a bigger cushion this time to slow down enough so as not to strain my arms too much.

I climb down the wall this way until about ten metres above ground. The back of the hotel has a big double door where the workers bring out the trash and above it is a lamp. I wait until I'm sure it's safe for me to go down all the way and push off the wall again. With one last big breath I cushion the last of my fall and land safely and quietly on the back alley's concrete paving. After hiding behind the trash containers just to be safe, I calm down my breathing.

With this obstacle behind me, I recall the map of the underground and it's entryways. There is one not too far away from here where I can get in and out without being noticed so I make my way there, always avoiding the main streets.

As I turn the corner I already see the rundown abandoned building at the end of the street. Quick, insuspicious glances to either side prove that this isn't exactly the most frequented place and I swiftly enter the building. It would definitely provide a great hideout, if it didn't look like falling in on itself every second.

I walk through the rooms and halls as quietly as I can and keep my eyes peeled for any sort of entrance. Though there probably won't be one in plain sight, it also helps me see if I can use this to drop of my catch later on.

At the very back of the last hallway is a heavy metal door. I open it to find a stairway that seems to go all the way to the top of the building. There is nothing interesting otherwise and even stepping into the shaft and taking a good long look around provides no new insight.

Just as I turn around, I hear a small click from underneath me. I freeze on the spot and look down to my feet, only to realize that the left one is pushing down one of the floor tiles. Curiosity grabs me and I carefully remove my foot to have a good look at what I just stepped on.

It seems to be just a regular ceramics tile like the others around it, but something seems off about this particular one. Apart from the fact that it just behaved as if I ran into some sort of trap. I push it down with my hand this time and again, the small click sounds. But this time, it comes up further than the tiles around it when I release the pressure on it.

I push my fingers into the small slit and carefully pull it up. The tile loosens and reveals a handle in a pocket underneath it. I grab it and pull.

It comes up a few inches, then won't budge anymore. Remembering the crime show I watched earlier today, I try turning it. Counterclockwise works and another, more audible click is my answer that I just opened something.

'Most likely some sort of trapdoor or something... let's have a proper look'

I pull the handle upwards and a good section of the floor tiles comes up. The underside is definitely concrete, but it looks as though it was made like this when the house was build. If not, this is a very clean cut.

With the sparse lighting inside the building, the ladder attached to the top of some sort of shaft is barely visible and something tells me that this isn't the most common way to get into the underground.

'Do I want to find out if the ladder is broken... well, I need to get down there, so...'

I reach out to touch the top of the ladder just to make sure it's attached securely and I won't fall god-knows-how-deep once I step onto it. It feels cold to the touch and not at all like wood as I first assumed.

'Metal? Makes sense given how smooth it is.'

I carefully let go of the trapdoor handle and notice the door falling shut very slowly. Seems as this is how it appears as regular flooring from the outside even if someone stepped through. But it also gives a rather short time frame to get down the first two or three steps.

Otherwise it would turn any person's fingers to mush the moment it actually fully closes.

Reevaluating the distance, I push the door itself up a little and swing my legs into the shaft. My feet find the steps after dangling in the air for a second and I start climbing down into the unknown.