Chapter 9: Your heroes are human too

"This could be the last chance you have to fly."

'Battle Scars' by Paradise fears

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Kill your heroes.

"To kill one's heroes is not to literally axe your heroes, but to kill the glorified version of them you hold in your mind. This isn't to say you should kill your dreams, or not have people you look towards for guidance or inspiration. Instead, I think of it as allowing your heroes to be real human beings, and, in turn, you allow yourself to be held to attainable standards."

2015/03/07/killing-your-heroes/

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When Touya finally told Keigo just who exactly 'Sumire-san' was, it was quite a comical sight.

"Wait," Keigo had paused, coming to a realization. "Sumire-san founded Verity?!"

"Did I stutter?" Touya replied. "Yes, she did."

"But the Legend of Shiryou was the founder of Verity-"

"You dumbass chicken, Sumire-san's last name is Shiryou."

"..."

"..."

"...What."

Touya sighed. "What now?"

"Sumire-san's full name is Shiryou Sumire?! As in Shiryou of the Commission? As in the Legend of Shiryou?!"

"Just realize?"

"Shut up Touya, I'm having a crisis here."

"How is it a crisis? I thought you would have put it together by now. That's why I didn't say anything"

"Hey, it's not every day you figure out a childhood legend of yours is real, and you're apparently now a part of an organization said Legend founded."

"Oh my gods, it was so obvious-"

"Shut up, Touya!"

Like said before, it was a comical sight indeed.

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Eight days had passed since Hawks' disappearance act. And while Keigo's mind was always thinking too fast for his own good, there was one burning question he could not shut up about any longer.

"Hey, Touya?"

"Mmm?"

"When am I going to actually meet Sumire-san?"

They were in one of Verity's many gyms, both laying on the floor side by side with absolutely no care for others who saw them.

Were they hogging the space? Yes.

Did they care? Lmao, nope.

(That morning, Keigo had been extra fidgety, so Touya dragged him down to the gym, grabbed a blunted katana, and told him to spar.)

(By the way, Touya completely sucked at weapons.)

(And he was only a bit better with hand-to-hand, and that was only thanks to the training he received back at the Commission. Honestly. He relied on his quirk much too much; Keigo made a mental note to beat it out of his thick skull.)

(So yeah, the morning basically ended with an impromptu crash course on 'how to fight close range' from yours truly.)

Touya rolled over so that he was supporting himself with his elbows. "You know, I actually thought she would've been back by now."

Keigo squinted. "She does make monthly check-ins, right?"

"When she can, yes. And only to Verity's base. As I said before, she should have been back a few days ago. But don't worry, this isn't the first time she's been held up."

Smiling, Keigo stretched, jumping to his feet and calling his feathers back from where they had been scattered. "Well, I'm just excited to meet the Legend of Shiryou in the flesh, you know?"

"Sumire-san is unreal," Touya agreed, picking himself off the floor.

"I heard Kyrie mentioning her," Keigo said. "He said that because she once worked for the Commission, so she might know how to crack that code."

"There's a good chance she might," Touya confirmed. "But we won't know for sure until she physically gets back. So give it a few more days until you start worrying, alright Birdie?"

"Yeah, I'll do that."

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"Hawks-niisan! Hawks-niisan!"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Niisan, can we do your naillllllllls?"

"I—what? C-come again?" Keigo parroted, voice cracking.

"With nail polish! Can we do your nails? Pleaseeeeee?"

"..."

A few moments later, one Takami Keigo found himself surrounded by 12-year-olds painting his talons a vibrate shade of gold.

In his defense, they used puppy eyes on him.

("Puppy eyes? Seriously? And you actually fell for it?"

"Shut up, Touya, stop laughing at me!")

Keigo wouldn't admit it, but he thought the end result looked pretty good. Not bad at all for a bunch of middle schoolers.

(Touya was still laughing.)

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It was no secret that besides Touya and Hinode, Keigo wasn't very familiar with the other members of Verity.

Sure, he knew Natsu through Touya, and he had crossed paths with both Kyrie and Naoka, but he didn't know them.

(Touya had crossed his arms and told him, "you have no social life. Now is the time to change that. Go, Birdie. Socialize."

"Why can't you come with me?"

"I won't be long. Gods, how did you get so spoiled like this?"

Keigo pouted.)

The mechanic, Amber, and the yellow-haired kid that Keigo never got the name of, were sprawled across the couch in front of the TV, video game consoles in hand. A small crowd had formed around the pair.

Nearing, Keigo caught sight of what he assumed was Mario Kart midgame.

Yellow-haired (dammit, what was his name? Hinode mentioned it during the meeting, but what was it?) actually looked closer to his age as opposed to a teenager. But no way was he going to stop calling him the Yellow-haired kid. If he was younger than him, he was a kid.

Chin-length, spiky yellow hair parted at the middle and mischief ridden, bright yellow eyes hidden by plastic rimmed glasses. A thin scar running from his cheekbone to his chin. And from what he could tell looking at the screen, he was losing.

On the opposite side of the couch was Amber, legs crossed and a victorious smirk present. Despite the name 'Amber,' the kid (an actual kid this time, looking around middle school age-ish?) had faded and obviously dyed green hair, and was sporting a leather motorcycle jacket out of all things.

"What is it, pikachu? Can't even beat a little kid like me?"

Keigo suppressed a snort. Of course video games would include taunting. Though now he might be able to learn their names.

"Little kid? More like a midget gremlin sent to taunt me from hell."

"You know, you're not much taller."

"So you don't deny the title of midget gremlin."

"Go, Amber!" A voice exclaimed.

"Come on, Levin, you can't let Amber beat you!"

(Ah, so yellow-haired pikachu's name was Levin.)

Cheers erupted around him as the two characters on the screen crossed the finish line, one significantly slower than the other, and furthermore ending the game.

To absolutely no one's surprise, it was Amber's win.

"Congratulations to Amber, being the winner of this night's Mario Kart Tournament! And congrats to Levin for being the runner-up!" A young boy with a head of a wolf and holding a whiteboard half his size announced to the crowd.

Cheers met the boy's announcement, and almost immediately Amber exclaimed, "round two!"

"Another tournament?" the little wolf-boy asked. "Levin-nii, it isn't too late, is it?"

Stretching, Levin grinned. "It won't be if we play 12 people all at once."

More cheers, so loud Keigo had to smile.

Amidst the chaos of finding the extra game consoles and setting everything up, Keigo sensed Touya and Naoka (through his feathers he had given them) entering the room, most likely to check out the commotion.

"Touya, Naoka!" Keigo waved the moment they came into view. "What were you guys up to?"

The moment they were within hearing distance, Touya replayed with, "writing up this week's shopping list."

Keigo's eyebrows furrowed. "Shopping list?"

"We ran out of a bunch of stuff, so we need some pretty specific things," Naoka elaborated. "Food and water is covered, and Natsu gets most of our medical supplies. But things like clothing and burner phones we have to physically get ourselves."

"And fire resistant staples," Touya put in.

Naoka snorted. "Exactly. Imagine Natsu taking fire resistant staples. It'd be so suspicious."

"Doesn't Verity have contacts to do these things for them?" Keigo asked.

"We do," Naoka agreed. "But honestly? It's small enough of a chore to do ourselves. And not to mention," she said, lowering her voice. "I want a reason to get outside once in a while, you know."

Just then, Amber's voice interrupted them. "Nova! Want to join?"

"What're you playing?" Was Touya's instant reply.

"Mario Kart! We got an extra controller!"

Touya shrugged. "Sure. Ready to get beat, kiddos."

"How are you so sure about that, Nova-nii?" a different kid asked. "Amber's our reigning champion!"

"Brats. I have Fuyumi for a sister, what do you think?"

Keigo smiled as he watched Touya being handed a controller as he bickered with the children around him.

"You two're close," Naoka commented from beside him.

"He's Touya," Keigo told her. "We grew up together."

She only hummed in response.

(If anyone was wondering, Touya lost the game. Amber won.)

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The next day, when Keigo had all but sashayed into Touya's room for no real reason at all, he came to an unusual sight.

Touya, perched on his chair, eyes glued to his laptop screen and cups of coffee littered around him, was madly typing away with a murderous expression on his face.

Keigo's first thought upon seeing him was I want some of that coffee.

His second thought was Tou definitely pulled an all nighter.

His third thought was wow, my thought process is really screwed up.

So, upon being presented with such a sight, Keigo smartly did the (il)logical thing and said, "hey there, Hotstuff. Who's murder are you planning this time?"

At the sound of Keigo's voice, Touya startled, pausing in his marathon of… whatever he was doing.

"Keigo?" he muttered, peeling his attention away from his computer screen. He then rubbed his eyes, careful of his staples, and yawned. "Oh. It's you."

"Who else?" Keigo replied, jumping onto the other man's unused bed and snuggling under the blankets.

"What are you doing here?" Touya asked, twisting around to face him.

"Annoying you."

"Figures."

"What were you doing?"

Touya blinked. "With the computer?"

"Yeah."

Another yawn. "Organizing evidence."

A pause.

"Evidence of…?"

"Of us. Of the Commission's misdoings. Statistics and numbers and stuff. Cross referencing more stuff. Like illegal dealings. And records of bribery. And quirk trafficking and all that. Just organizing everything and anything the Commission has ever done on a single spreadsheet, basically."

Keigo blinked. That was… highly impressive.

(Though he wasn't sure as to why he was even surprised at this point.)

Dropping a truckful of random evidence on the public's heads, no matter how good it is, had an entirely different effect than dropping a truckful of organized and neatly graphed evidence. It was the same difference of wreaking havoc through fear and terrorist attacks and wreaking havoc through technically legal means while making sure the public's sense of safely remained intact.

Immediately following his train of thought, Keigo came to an entirely different question. "...how long have you been at it?"

"Since last night, why?"

Narrowing his eyes, he rolled off Touya's bed and ruffled his feathers. "...Go to sleep, Touya."

In response, the blue eyed man sent him a look that said make me, I dare you.

But even though Touya was stubborn as hell, Keigo knew that for some reason Touya always seemed to listen to him.

"Todoroki Touya, that spreadsheet of yours is not going anywhere, and neither is your unholy amounts of coffee." Then, using his ultimate dad voice he picked up from that one time he met Best Jeanist, he said, "get some sleep."

Cue a murderous glare from a certain fire user that would have been much more threatening if Keigo hadn't seen the same glare pointed at a piece of fish. (Disclaimer, it kind of ruined the effect.)

But despite that, Keigo held his gaze, until Touay finally broke away with a muttered "fine, you chicken."

Keigo smirked in victory.

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It was completely unexpected.

Touya was asleep and Hinode was making more of her poisons again (a 5 hour straight task, mind you), so Keigo was by himself that morning.

He had entered the kitchen for a cup of coffee (or two. Or three) and had bumped into Levin, the yellowed haired guy from the Mario Kart game, who looked half asleep and was rummaging through the cupboards.

The moment yellow-haired caught sight of him, he paused in his rummaging, straightened up, and turned Keigo's way. "Oh hey. Hawks, right?" He asked.

"You remember," Keigo noted, leaning against the counter. "Levin, right?"

He nodded. "You're hard to forget. Nova-senpai doesn't get along with just anyone."

"So I heard," Keigo replied, voice light as his feathers got to work making his coffee. "We met from before, haven't we? Were you the kid that was craving celery and snuck into the kitchens at 5 in the morning?"

Instantly, Levin flushed, and Keigo smirked. So it was him… before, he didn't know for sure, but the guy's reaction's all but confirmed it.

"That was yeas ago," he muttered.

Keigo hummed, hiding a smile. Ah, teasing the younger ones was always so much fun. "But why celery?"

"I-urg!" At his exclamation, Keigo raised his eyebrows. This one sure gets railed up easley...

"Why chicken nuggets?" Levin shot back.

"Wh- wait, how do you know about that?!"

Levin smirked, scoffing. "Nova-senpai used to call you the cannibal chicken, you know."

Keigo's jaw dropped. On one hand, the nickname was totally uncalled for. On the other… Why did he expect anything less of Touya?

The yellow-haired boy (how old exactly was the kid?) smiled, then grabbed a bag of cereal from one of the covers, and started cleaning up after himself.

"Hawks," he spoke up, a hint of hesitance present.

"Yeeess?" Keigo drawled out. Did the kid want something from him?

As it turns out, he was right, because the next words out of the yellow-haired kid's mouth were, "could you oversee our training session?"

Keigo was surprised at the request, but decided not to show it. He wasn't exactly the most patient teacher around, after all. "You're training session?"

"Yeah," he said, fidgeting with his hands. "It's just Cantare, Forest and me, and uh, we've kind of just been making do with whatever the Commission taught us all those years ago. Evanescence's style doesn't suit any of us; we're more heavy hitters. Nova has taught us some things, but well, he's Nova. No offense, but his hand-to-hand sucks."

At his words, Keigo straightened. They… wanted to learn to fight. But why? And he mentioned Cantare; if he was training with Cantare, then he wouldn't be trying to seek outside help.

(He remembered Cantare, from back in the Commission.

When he reached 15 years old, more than ¾ of the original agents had ah, failed the program.

There was only him, Touya, and four others left. One of the others was Cantare, a girl with a powerful sound-related quirk.

He didn't know her that well. By 16, the remaining recruits no longer were allowed to have meals as one big group.

She was strong; on the rare days they were made to spar with one another, the two were almost equally matched.

In reality, Keigo had known that if anyone could graduate the Breeding Program, it was either him, Touya, or Cantare.

But then, when he was 17 years old, she disappeared.

The next day, they told them she had failed the program.

Keigo didn't understand.)

"What are you training for?" he asked instead.

Collecting puzzle pieces.

"Training for?" Levin parroted.

"Yeah," Keigo said, voice still light and carefree. "Why are you training."

The yellow-hair boy let out a small 'oh', then almost immediately flushed. "Actually… when all this is over… we want to be real Heroes."

Keigo stilled. Whatever answer he had been expected, this certainly wasn't it. "...Heroes, huh?"

"Yes," Levin stated, voice firm. "And your fighting style suits the three of us. And yeah, of course we watched you, you're on national television real often, you know?"

Keigo hummed, one of his feathers snatching a plain coffee mug. "Why can't Cantare just train you? She's pretty strong."

At this, Levin 's hands stilled, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "You don't… know, do you?" He asked, words picked carefully.

The moment the words left his mouth, Keigo's smile instantly froze. Something must have happened to her.

"No, I'm pretty sure I don't. Mind filling me in?"

He was hesitant. "You know how her quirk works, right?" He asked.

Keigo shook his head. "Not really. She was Nova's sparring partner, not mine. I know the effects are similar to President Mic's quirk, but other than that, not much else."

"Ah." The kid was definitely uncomfortable now. "So basically, she used to speak or sing or whatever, then she would amplify and direct the soundwaves she produced."

Keigo did not miss the use of past tense. "Used to?"

"... there was an accident."

Keigo made a go on gesture. If he was saying what he thought he was saying…

"Her vocal chords were slit."

...ah.

He had guessed right, then.

A tense silence hung in the room.

Then, after a long moment, he asked, "can she still use her quirk?"

Levin smiled, eyes brightening. "Yeah," he said breathlessly. "You know, she wouldn't give up. Serena couldn't heal her, because the wound was so old and internal injuries are Serena's weak points. So she still can't speak. But she managed to figure out how to manipulate outside soundwaves, including the ones other people make. When you fight her, even the smallest of sounds you make can be your downfall."

"That's impressive," Keigo remarked. Most Pros retired if they lost their quirk. And if Keigo himself lost his wings… he would rather not think about it.

"So will you oversee our training?"

Keigo raised an eyebrow.

Well.

He didn't have anything better to do...

And that's how Keigo ended up with two new Kohais and a new friend.

(Levin and Forest being his Kohais, and Cantare being his friend.

But there was one thing he was mildly confused about.

Cantare, even from back then, had never wanted the path of Heroism. She had never said it, but she had made it clear enough.

From what he had gathered, she was like Touya in that sense; eliminating those she deemed scum. Luckily, her sense of justice was a mile wide, and her protective nature rivaled even Touya's.

She, like Touya, was a vigilante at best. At worst? Most possibly a serial killer.

But, when that Levin kid spoke… They wanted to be Heroes?

What changed?)

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"Touyaa~"

"What."

"Guess what happened todayyyy?"

"What."

"I got two new students! And when all this is over, I want them to be my sidekicks!"

"I-what?"

"Tokoyami-kun needs to meet them, all my kouhais in one place! Imagine, Touya!"

"Keigo, what did you do?"

"Alright, see you later, Touya!"

"Keigo!"

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The next morning, Touya burst into his room at approximately 4:38 in the morning.

"Get up, Birdbrain. Sumire-san just got back!"