A/N- Boy have I been busy with behind the scenes stuff. Between concepting the next few arcs, drafting chapters, helping a few friends prepare an event week and getting kicked out of my house, I have been very busy. I tried to make this chapter extra special to make up for it- 2 Pieces of artwork! I heavily recommend checking out the AO3 version in order to see them. I hope you enjoy!
DioHeavenly on Twitter, heavenly-dio on tumblr, check it for artwork and cut content
Underground Champion Arc Part 1
With a single, tired eye, and his crazy, blood junkie sort-of girlfriend by his side, Shogeki looked at the folder in front of him. Nedzu had dropped it on the desk without nary a word, but the eager way in which the mouse's eyes looked back and forth between him and the folder told him that he'd probably hate it. He quickly skimmed it, figuring it was more ridiculous, tedious bullshit he'd have to keep an eye on before sitting up straighter and suddenly snatching it off of the desk. He read the briefing in full, desperately flipping the pages as he tried to find a way out before turning back to the principal. "No."
"No? But it's such a fascinating idea?" Nedzu argued.
"NO!" He yelled, standing up, "You cannot be serious! This is your plan?!"
"For once we're in agreement." Aizawa spoke up, "A shame it only took almost 2 years for us to get to that point." The three of them were in Nedzu's office, joined with an irritated Miruko. What had started as Shogeki's bi-monthly report on Toga's behavior had quickly devolved as things normally do when this specific group of idiots are forced into the same room. Now, instead of talking about whatever LoV plans Toga might have been privy to, or her progress in therapy, they were having the dumbest possible conversation.
Shogeki reached over and grabbed Toga by the back of her cardigan, lifting her onto her feet. "You want me to take this girl, a known criminal and super-murderer, and try to turn her into a proper fuckin' hero?!"
Nedzu shrugged his shoulders, "Well, to be fair, it wasn't my idea. Tesuto-kun has been observing Toga-chan's progress since the very beginning. He suggested the possibility of taking her potential strengths and shaping them into the foundations of a perfectly fine hero."
"Aww, Tessy believes in me? That's so nice of him- Aki-chan remind me to make him something nice later." The boy dropped her, leaving her to fall back into her chair as he rubbed his hands over his face.
He gave a long, tired sigh. "Look, I already have my hands full with my internship and classwork. Plus, I have to head down to the support department later and try to hunt down Pockets and see what the hell is going on with my new costume-"
"Why didn't you just go to my guys, I'd have hooked you up?" Miruko asked from the side.
"Your people don't like me very much. Last time I went they tried to convince me to wear latex." Shogeki said.
Miruko began to shriek with laughter, "Oh man! If that's not a sign they're trying to sabotage your ass, I don't know what is!"
"Maybe if your guys didn't suck shit they'd be a bit more professional!"
"Toga-san," Nedzu spoke up, looking towards the blonde girl. The girl in question jumped in surprise- She normally wasn't allowed to speak during these meetings. "What would you say are the hallmarks of the ideal hero?"
The question was enough to get Aki-chan to stop arguing with the bunny lady, both of them turning to look at her, waiting for her answer.
"Oh! Um, what Stainy said!" She answered, drawing more than a few frowns from those around her.
"Starting to see things my way yet, rat?" Aki-chan's verbal jab cut through the silence in the room, causing him to receive a very physical jab from his boss.
"What would say Stain believed to be the ideal hero?" Nedzu then asked.
"He said that heroes have to always smile and help people, and should do it because they want to!"
Aki-chan received another jab, probably to keep him quiet.
"Hmm." The mouse hummed in thought, before turning to Aizawa. "How is she in combat?"
The underground hero sighed, giving Himiko a withering glare. "She's proficient."
"Stop helping." Aki-chan said, pointing at Aizawa, as Nedzu began typing into a computer.
"Aki-chan! Come on, have faith in your cute girlfriend!" Himiko whined, flailing her arms around.
"I'd sooner have faith in Dabi apologizing for my eye."
"Here you go, Toga-san." Nedzu had walked across his desk to hand Himiko a small piece of plastic. Oooh, was this a debit card?! No, she's not a hero just yet, they wouldn't be paying her right away like this.
"The idea that you are giving her an actual UA Identification Card, one that has her real name and picture on it, leaves me wishing that this entire plan blows up in your face." Aki-chan drawled, leaving the blonde to stick out her tongue at him.
"Don't worry, Shogeki-kun, you'll have plenty of time to see to her training personally!" The principal said, catching the boy's attention.
"Excuse me?"
The mouse looked over to Miruko, who was busy typing on her phone. After a few moments of total silence within the room, she glanced up, jumping when she noticed everyone around her staring at her.
"Oh! Shit, yeah, uh, stop coming to work." She said, pointing lazily at Aki-chan.
"The f- That's not how that works!" The cyclops yelled, "Just fucking suspend me properly, why do you constantly push me through all of these bullshit hoops?!"
"Well, technically, you didn't do anything worth suspending you." The rabbit hero explained, pocketing her phone and crossing her arms. "But at the same time, another student at UA had a run-in with the League of Villains. And unlike the other times, you were left permanently crippled."
"'Unlike the other times' my ass, didn't Togata's boy fuck up his arms to the point of tendon damage?"
Nedzu jumped in, "Yes, but he can still use his hand. There are permanent muscle damage that he is going through therapy to address, but there is very little that therapy would be able to do for your missing eye, Shogeki-kun."
"Not like therapy of another variety wouldn't be good for you." Miruko mumbled.
Before Aki-chan could argue- or before even Toga could defend her hubby, his temper was perfectly fine in her opinion- Aizawa began to leave the room. "The decision has been made, no use arguing it now." He said, "Go tell your classmates the news."
Aki-chan growled, before grabbing her hand. "Let's go girl, bad news ain't gonna deliver itself." He pulled her along roughly, but who cares! He was holding her hand! Himiko couldn't stop the squeal of joy that escaped her, swinging their hands back and forth as they made their way back to the dorms.
"So, does this mean I'll have to move out of our honey chamber?" Himiko asked, finding some fun in his brief confusion.
"It's called a dorm room, and probably, I don't know. If you getting your own room in the girls dorms means I'll be able to have a decent night's sleep for once, I'm all for it."
"But what about our cuddles?!" She whined.
"What about you latching onto me like a leech during the night?"
"Hmph!" She pouted, turning away from him. He's always like this, making it so hard to show him her love! Maybe she can ask to have another dinner at his father's place? Then she can cook more dinner for him! Ooh! She can just ask Kaisha-chan if she can help cook tonight's dinner? But will Kaisha start crying if Himiko asked? She does that alot, but maybe if Himiko is suuuuper nice when she asks, it'll be okay!
"… What the hell is going through that skull of yours?" Aki-chan asked, bringing her out of her planning.
"Oh, uh, do you think Kaisha-chan will cry if I ask her to help make you dinner?" She asked.
Aki-chan turned and gave her a withering look, before sighing. "You've lost your talking privileges for the day, be quiet for a while."
"Okay!"
"Shut it!" He snapped, leading her to the door to the dorms. He fished out a key to the door- Ooh, she'd have to get one of those, so much to keep track of- and unlocked the door. They made their way into the common room wh-
"Sakana, what the fuck?!" The boy exclaimed, throwing his hands up in annoyance. Glancing past him, she began laughing hysterically, the sight of the clown girl hanging from the ceiling fan by her rubber arms causing her to lose her composure. Diariseki-kun stood nearby, a smug look on his face as he rubbed his hands together. Standing next to them was Hamada and Aka Ao, the blind boy cradling a very broken coffee mug.
"Eh." Sakana-chan struggled, her arms seemingly tied up into a knot around the fan. "Ergh, eheh, eeeeeeh… I'm stuck."
"Woohoo! Yeah! Five thousand yen, all for me!" Diariseki-kun cheered, holding his hand up for a high five. When no one responded, he quickly high fived himself, clapping his hands together lamely. Himiko tried to hold herself together as Aki-chan calmed himself down, walking over to Sakana-chan. "Sakana. Why are your arms tangled in the ceiling fan?"
"Uhhhh… The clown looked around seemingly trying to think of an excuse before quickly giving up. "Uh… Yo… Yoshio bet me five thousand yen that I could loop my arms through the ceiling fan without getting all tangled up in it."
"Hmm. Hmm. Diariseki," The blue boy straightened up as Aki-chan turned on him. "Why did you offer that bet to Sakana?"
The bomber shrugged his shoulders, "I lost five thousand yen to one of Pocket's scams earlier, figured I'd try to make that money back somehow."
"Hmmmmmm… Hamada." The water girl jumped, looking like she was about to start crying, "Hamada, why did you break Aka's coffee mug?"
"… No."
"No?" Aki-chan rose an eyebrow.
"No. If I tell you you'll just yell at me."
Himiko put a hand over her boyfriend's mouth to stop him from answering. "Hamada-chan, if you answer the question, I promise I won't let Aki-chan yell at you."
Hamada-chan still looked a little wary, but she took a deep breath before saying, "Everyone else was breaking something, and I didn't want to feel left out, so I grabbed the first thing I found and smashed it."
"And the first thing you found was Aka-kun's coffee mug?" Himiko asked.
"Mhmm."
Himiko heard a slight cracking noise, turning to see Aki-chan was clenching his jaw with enough force to start breaking his teeth. Holding in a giggle- Ooh, the damage he could do with those teeth- she placed a hand on his arm. "Uhhh, Aki-chan? You alright?" Himiko asked her boyfriend, who had moved his hand over his face. He slowly pulled his hand away and clenched it into a tight, shaking fist.
"... 9, 10- Okay!" He perked up, seeming to have returned to normal. He turned to Aka, "Aka, send out a quick pulse, everyone is here, right?"
"They should, I don't remember anyone talking about any plans for the day."
"Okay, good, thank you. Clown." Sakana shot up straight, looping her knotted arm around and giving him a salute.
"Loopsie the Clown, reporting for duty, Shock Jockey, Sir!" She shouted.
"Get yourself together and rally the troops, we've got some…" Himimo noticed him give her a side eyed glance before sighing, "Ugh, we've got some news."
"What kind of news?"
Another side eye glance was shot her way. "The not good kind."
From there it only took about 15 minutes for the class to gather together in the common room, and as usual Himiko was surprised by just how many people were here. Yeah, sure, it was only 21 people including herself, but… She'd never really been around for stuff like this. You know, classrooms, social cliques, proper… Proper friends. She glanced to the side where Hamada was trying to use an entire bottle of glue to fix Aka Ao's coffee mug and smiled. She already had a boyfriend, and he certainly didn't seem to be going anywhere. Maybe she should focus on getting some real friends, huh?
"They're all so lively aren't they?" Himiko asked, giggling when her boyfriend looked like he wanted to slap her. The entire class had been assembled, and a good portion of them didn't seem too happy about having their days disturbed.
Aki-chan turned away from her, taking a deep breath. "Fucking SHUT UP!" The class quieted down, leaving Himiko's ears ringing. Boy, Aki-chan sure knew how to be loud, huh. "Jesus Christ, can you people not all be together in the same room without making me wish for death?!"
"Wish hard'r ya slagget!"
"Thank you for your meaningless contribution, Ainsley!" Aki-chan snapped back.
Himiko tugged on his sleeve, "Is this really the best way to tell them the news?"
He sighed, "Well it's either we rip the bandaid off now or we wait until Hamada accidentally tells the public when she freaks out when confronted by the nearest microphone."
"Well, the public will have to know eventually, why not-"
"Nedzu is a schemer. The plan didn't call for the public to know yet, so I can only assume he's trying to set it up for minimum backlash."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"What are we whispering about?" Hamada-chan asked, squeezing her way in between them, much to Aki-chan's ire.
"Alright, fuck it, time to rip off the bandaid- Listen up jackholes!" The boy caught everyone's attention, "Toga's gonna be a hero… That is all, go- go away, that's all there is to it."
The silence that met his statement was enough to make even Himiko worried. She grabbed his hand, "Uhh… Yay! I get to… To, ya know, go to classes with all of y-"
"Hold on a fuckin' second!" Hone's voice broke through the silence, the anemic boy standing in the doorway to the kitchen, "You mean to tell me that the upper brass are actually tryin' to turn that thing into a hero? This some kinda fuckin' joke or somethin'?!"
"Do I look like the kind of person who makes jokes, like, ever?" Aki-chan responded.
"Fuck you, jackass, answer my question!" Hone moved from the doorway and pushed poor Kaisha to the side, closing in on Aki-chan.
"Fuck off, go talk to the staff about it." The cyclops shot back, holding his ground despite Ishi's weak pleas to stay calm.
"Don't fucki-"
"Boooooo!" Diariseki interrupted them, "Your bit sucks, get some new material!"
"Fuck you bitch boy!" Hone turned on the blue bomber, bone spikes beginning to peek through his skin.
Aki-chan also turned on the blue mutant, "Diariseki, your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what makes you cheer."
Himiko couldn't hold it in anymore, and doubled over laughing, drawing the ire of a few students. "Oh man, going to classes with all of you is going to be the greatest! I'll even be able to show off my moves against the rest of you!"
"Alright, now hold on." Konchu spoke up, her voice buzzing like a hive of insects. She made her way closer to the couple, a disapproving look on her face, "We put up with quite a lot from you, Shogeki Akira, far more than we reasonably should. But this is far more than justifiable. Toga Himiko is a murderer, fair and simple, and pushing for her to be a hero is madness."
"Alright bug, you don't seem to understand my angle here." A loud cacophony of buzzing and clicking came from within Konchu's body, the humanoid insect growing agitated, and her hive growing restless along with her. Aki-chan continued, "You seem to be under the impression that I 1, care about your opinion, which I don't, and 2, don't agree with you."
"Wha?" Doro popped up in between them, the mud-covered brunette smushing herself between her girlfriend and the cyclops. "Aki-chan-"
"Don't call me that."
"-But you're supposed to love and cherish your girlfriend, just like Saki loves Rika!" With that, Doro spun around and wrapped Konchu into a large bearhug. "Saki LOVES her Rika!"
"Saki, no, now is not the time!" Konchu said with a blush, "I'm trying to argue with this arrogant larvae!"
"Uh, if I can try to just, y'know, fit right in here, thank you." Totsu managed to push himself into the ever-growing pile of bodies trying to make their point, "I don't think that's the point he's making Doro-chan." He said, trying to calm everything down. "He's trying to say that it's not up to us. The principal has made his decision, so now all we can really do is help Toga learn the hero ways. Easy."
"Ah ser'sly dou' this'll werk, ah ca' nae be the only one, righ'?" Ainsley voiced his own opinion, making Himiko stomp her foot.
"That's not true, Tessy believes in me! It was his idea!"
"Tesse'?" Ainsley raised an eyebrow.
Aki-chan sighed- He's been doing that a lot today, he looks tired- "She means Tesuto."
"Of course I believe in you Toga-san. You have plenty of potential, it would be a real shame to let it go to waste." The scholarly student explained, as his girlfriend turned to him with her arms crossed.
"'Tessy'? Since when has that been a thing?" Rifuto asked.
"Oh, she's taken to calling me that lately, I thought it was quite adorable."
"Well I don't like it, so stop responding to i-"
"FOCUS PEOPLE! Come on!" Oh no, it looked like Aki-chan was beginning to reach an upper limit on his stress for the day. Maybe she could try to de-escalate the situation?
"Uh, hey, everyone! What should by hero name be? Any ideas? You all have more experience than me, so I wanna hear your ideas!" She said, trying to catch their attention. It didn't work, only managing to catch the attention of the class president, Chisana.
The healing pixie fluttered in front of Himiko, his compound, fly-like eyes studying her closely. "Hmm," He hummed before backing away, "Well, I do see what potential Nedzu-sensei may be referring to. However, as class president, I cannot allow such an obvious disgrace to hero society be allowed to join the ranks of those she has previously tried to murder!"
"As top of the class, I cannot believe you're standing against me. You're about as threatening as a cosmic brownie." Aki-chan grabbed the pixie and threw him away, grabbing everyone's attention again. "Also, I should mention that I already tried to argue against this and the rat wasn't listening. All we can do at this point is try and make sure this fails as safely as possible."
Sakana scoffed at him, "Oh come on, Shogeki, don't you have any faith in her? I mean, look," The rubber girl bounded over to Himiko and used her stretchy arms like string, puppeteering the girl like a marionette, "With us heroes pulling the strings, we can make sure she's taught all the right lessons!"
"Ooh! Make me do the Charleston!" Himiko laughed, having the time of her life as Sakana did her best to dance alongside her. Their laughs died down when they caught the look of death her boyfriend was sending their way, leaving Himiko to be dropped to the ground like a puppet without their strings.
"Alright, let me lay down the law one last time before I lose my temper." Aki-chan tried to get back to business.
"Can't lose what you never had." Uzumaki-chan said without looking up from her game. Himiko was able to notice the smallest little twitch her boyfriend's eye was able to make before he continued.
"Nedzu is making her a hero. Some of you are happy about this, some of you are optimistic, some cautious, some furious. I, personally, am in the furious category. But Nedzu doesn't want to hear any complaints. So for the love of god, just fucking help me out with this before I kill myself."
"Killing yourself would be doing the rest of us a favor fuckfa-!"
"HONE I WILL TEAR YOUR ARM OFF AND FEED IT TO TOGA!" Himiko felt herself blush at the idea if getting such a treat, but Aki-chan finally losing his temper was enough for Chisana to flitter back into the fray, the pixie doing his best to try and stomp an angry, destructive… violent… bloody fight.
"Alright, meetings over, everyone fuck off to somewhere else. Uzumaki, you stick around, I need to ask you something." Aki-chan's calm voice told her that a disaster- or party, depending on who you asked- had been avoided, leaving everyone to very quickly disperse and return to their own devices.
The red headed Uzumaki remained in her seat, eyes not looking away from her phone, "Why am I being singled out?"
"You know, you're kinda cute." Himiko spoke up, leaving the girl to glance up for a quick moment.
"I'm not into girls." Uzumaki-chan responded, her quick refusal making Himiko pout.
"What, suddenly I'm not enough for you?" Aki smirked, which caused Himiko to jab him in the ribs like she saw Miruko doing earlier.
Uzumaki-chan clicked her tongue. Maybe she was getting impatient? She looked pretty bored, so maybe- "I don't have all day, could you hurry this up?"
"Bullshit, you don't have all day. Second I turn my back you're gonna go back to practicing at some, like, fighting game thing or whatever."
"Well duh, tournament is coming up in like a week, gotta get that trophy, ya'know?" She shrugged.
"… No. I don't know."
… It seemed like Himiko was gonna have to save yet another conversation today, Aki-chan really didn't deserve her sometimes. "Sooo, Aki-chan, why did we need Uzumaki-chan again?"
He rose an eyebrow, "Why did we nee- Oh, shit, yeah. Uuuugh." He rubbed at his face again, letting out a long groan from deep inside of his chest.
"Awwww," Himiko looped their arms together, "Is baby tired?"
"Yeah, I haven't been sleeping well since the fight wi- NO!" He shoved her to the ground, "No! No, I am fine! Perfectly fine, leave me alone!"
"Yeah, I'm out of here." Uzumaki said from the doorway, trying to retreat to her room.
"No! God damnit, why can't anyone listen to me today?!"
The redhead scoffed, "Look Shogeki, I'm gonna be really real with you. I don't want anything to do with you or Toga. None of my business, you know?"
"Alright, that's perfect, I just need to buy your blood."
"Really?!" Himiko couldn't believe her ears! "Oh Aki-chan, you're the best I love you!" She flung herself at him, trying to pull him down and plant some well deserved kisses on his cheeks.
"No! God damnit, get OFF OF ME!" He tried shoving her away, but Himiko wasn't planning on making it easy on him this time!
"¥50,000."
The couple stopped fighting, turning to look at the redhead. "Excuse me?" Aki asked.
Uzumaki held up a finger, "That gets you… 1 bottle of blood."
"… The hell is your problem? ¥50,000 for a single god damn bottle?!"
"Tournament fees are expensive. You want my blood or not?"
Gritting his teeth again, Aki relented, "Fine. Come on, we'll need to go to Recovery Girl's office to get it taken."
"Let me go smoke first." Uzumaki began heading towards the door, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.
"You can't smoke before getting your blood taken, are you stupid?"
"Well, I guess you're waiting a bit then." The door closed behind her.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Stop tripping over yourself will you? I'm trying to keep us professional."
"That's easy for you to say ." Himiko grumbled, trying to keep her balance in her new body. It's been months since the last time she used her quirk, and it was taking her longer than usual to get used to Uzumaki-chan's longer limbs. Normally she'd change her body so many times in a month that getting used to the new ones were a breeze, but after going monogamous for so long, the sudden change was tripping her up a tad.
Eventually they arrived at what Aki called the Support Offices. Apparently, unless you had a deal with someone in the Support Department, you couldn't make requests directly, and had to go to the offices to file a request. Since Aki was so unlikable, and through what he had described as 'Pocket's Fuckery', he never made a deal with anyone, meaning if Himiko wanted support items and a costume, this is where she needed to go.
"So," she started, bracing herself against the wall to keep her balance, "What kind of costume will I be getting?"
"Don't worry too much about it, I'll make sure it's as cute as it is functional."
"See, you care sometimes, you thunder tsuntsun." She loved teasing him, he would always grit his teeth and try not to scream.
"I'm not a-! Ah, whatever, can't be fuckin bothered today."
She skipped ahead of him, finally getting her feet to listen to her, "Soooo, what's it gonna look like?"
"Don't know just yet, but we'll figure it out. Really I just need to get Pockets to find someone willing to make the damn thing, we can worry about designs later." He stopped suddenly and began knocking on a door to their left. He pushed it open a moment later, leading them into an empty office room. He looked around, throwing his arms up weakly, "Where the fuck is everyone?"
They walked over to one of the bigger desks, where Aki picked up a bright yellow piece of paper that seemed to stand out.
"What's it say?" Himiko asked.
"Most of the offices have been given an additional week off to prepare for an incredibly important exam taking place very soon." He explained, giving a quick summary of the apparent note.
"Odd that the support department doesn't tell people these things, isn't it?" A voice spoke up from behind them. Before they even turned around, Himiko saw how Aki crushed the paper he'd been holding in his now shaking hands. His breathing quickly became ragged as he slowly turned around with anger in his eyes.
"Kazuki." He growled, staring at the tall, tanned boy standing by the door. He didn't respond, merely holding the door open for the smaller pale woman to walk into the room behind him.
"Hello Shogeki, how have you been?" The newcomer- Kazuki apparently, eh, the name was fitting- greeted, which, for whatever reason, only seemed to infuriate Aki even further.
"Kazuki you motherfucking son of a BITCH!" It seemed like all of his pent up anger from earlier suddenly boiled over as he stomped towards the taller boy. While Aki took the time to start screaming- Oh he looks so hot with his face all angry and red like that, mmph!- Himiko took the chance to sidle up next to the only other woman in the room, who had been watching the altercation with rapt attention. "Hiya!" She greeted,with a smile- Heroes should always be smiling, that's something Stainy preached about, wasn't it?
The woman ignored her, keeping watch and waiting to see if the fight would escalate any further than where it already was.
"Sooooo," Himiko tried again, brushing her disguised red hair out of her eyes, "How many times have you stabbed your boyfriend?"
"I'll have to inform you that you are mistaken. Kazuki-san is not my boyfriend." Her voice was cold and spoke of little patience. That was weird, what she said though. The fanged doppelganger could have sworn she smelled love in the air, but maybe she was just smelling herself. Himiko figured she'd probably back off, after all, it wouldn't look good if she was causing trouble on her first day of school, right?
"I've already stabbed my boyfriend twice." She giggled, cupping her reddening cheeks, "He didn't bleed the first time, but the second time I managed to get him in the arm with a screwdriver that had a rubber handle. Ooooh, he was so mad at me, just remembering it sends shivers up my spine!"
This seemed to have caught the other woman's attention, finally moving her chilling eyes to stare at blonde-turned-ginger girl. "I don't quite believe I caught that properly, would you mind re-"
"I heard a rumor once-" Himiko whispered, leaning into the woman's face, grabbing her hands and holding them in her own, "It said that if you stab a boy three times, they propose to you!" She squealed, bouncing on her feet. Her face felt flush, and she felt out of breath, but she just couldn't help herself! She was so close to getting her happy ever after, and she wanted to talk to other girls about it! Hamada-chan got jealous when Himiko brought up her boyfriend, and Sakana-chan always seemed awkward. None of the other girls really talked to Himiko, so who was she supposed to gossip with?!
"… If I may, I would like to see your student ID." The woman said, moving her hands to clasp Himiko's own, reversing their previous position. "I'm surprised such a … unique individual such as yourself had managed to avoid my eyes for so long. I'd like to know your name. We may just share some, let's say common interests."
"Oh! Sure!" Himiko reached into her pocket, trying to find the little plastic card that the tasty stuffed animal gave her earlier. She held it out for the other woman to take, but both her hand and the card were suddenly swallowed up by Aki's much larger hand.
"Can I not fucking look away from you for 2 minutes, Uzumaki?" He breathed, his voice slightly raspy. He must have been close to screaming himself hoarse. He then turned to the other girl and shoved her back, "Do me a favor and stay in your lane, gi-"
"Apologize immediately, Shogeki." The taller student from before had rushed over, pushing Himiko to the side and roughly grabbing onto Aki's shirt.
"God damnit, I get that you probably don't want to hold onto your purity forever, Kazuki, but you could not be making your stupid 'White Knight' schtick any more obvious. Trust me, it doesn't make you look any more fuckable than you already aren't."
"She has higher standards than that." Kazuki responded without hesitation.
Himiko felt a sharp pain somewhere in her chest, and the feeling seemed to have been shared with her Aki, who let out an audible wince.
"Oooooh," He hissed, "Oohoh, ow, really? You're gonna kick yourself in the dick like that?"
The other girl suddenly snapped her fingers, "Now I remember, the red hair and the glasses, I very much should have recognized you sooner. You must be Uzumaki Ume, the telekinesis hero student." It took Himiko a few seconds to remember about her disguise, but she eventually nodded slowly. The girl clapped her hands together, "Well, I very much apologize for not recognizing you sooner. I am Saito Yui, Class 2-I, top of the class."
"Quit your shit girl, no you're not." Aki interrupted her, "Pockets is at the top of 2-I."
"… Would you happen to be referring to Okane Yashin?"
"Yes, that dumbass, sticky fingered dirtbag, he's kind of hard to forget once you meet him."
"Um… Okane-san isn't in 2-I, he's top of the class in 2-J." Saito clarified.
"What?! That lying bastard, that's the only reason I ever bothered signing that stupid fucking contract of his!"
"Ignoring him," Saito said, placing a soft hand on Himiko's shoulder, "I don't believe you've been involved with an internship this year, have you Uzumaki-chan?"
She shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of, nope."
"Well, if that's the case, then I doubt that a long ranged fighter such as yourself has managed to get into a training accident severe enough as to damage your entire hero costume."
"Uhh… Yesss?"
The woman suddenly grabbed her shoulder tightly as her kind gaze sharpened, "Well then, in that case, why would you be coming to the support department looking for an entire suit to be made, hmm?"
"I- I just wanted a change of pace is all." Himiko lied, trying to signal Aki to help her get out of this situation. She didn't think this lady was that cute anymore, not one bit!
"And why would you be here with Shogeki of all people?" Saito pressed on, "His fighting style and mannerisms have screamed 'Lone Wolf' since his first Sports Festival. For him to suddenly have a change of heart of that magnitude, well, I can't help but feel the slightest bit suspicious."
"I've… been having some money troubles, and, Shogeki-san-" God that felt weird to say, blech- "is helping me find a good design without it being too pricey…?"
"Oh? Well, isn't that so very kind of him?" She leaned her face until her nose was almost touching Himiko's "It's so weird, but last I checked, Shogeki Akira was far from being a kind and caring soul."
"I've been working on that, believe it or not." Oh thank the lords above, Aki-chan to the rescue.
Wait what?
"Wait what, you have?" She glanced over to him, "I thought you were being weirdly civil today."
"'Civil' isn't really the word I'd use, more like 'Tolerant' but yes. I have been trying. Not hard mind you but y'know, effort is effort."
Kazuki rose an eyebrow, "That's rather admi-"
"I don't remember asking for your fucking opinion, Kazuki!" Ah, there's her angry boyfriend again, she rather missed him for those brief few seconds.
Saito cleared her throat. "Well Uzumaki-chan, if you're looking for a job for some additional funds, I suppose I could-"
"Fuck off, lady." Aki cut her off- so assertive!- before jabbing his thumb towards the door. "I'm taking care of this one, and if I'm ever in a rut, a real rut, I'll hunt down Pockets. That scumbag has more back alley deals going on than a proper crime lord."
The door to the support offices were suddenly kicked down, a lanky, frantic boy running inside. He scrambled over to them, almost touching Himiko on his way over, making her shy away from his gross hands. Did he never wash them, it looked like they were caked in glue!
"I heard people talking about money! Where is it?!"
"POCKETS!" Aki-chan yelled, which, ow, but he suddenly shoved her aside to begin chasing after this new weirdo.
…
It kind of feels like Aki-chan attracts all of the weirdos around him.
"Uzumaki," Oh, that's her! "This is my… Agent, Pockets. Please give him as much trouble as you can."
"You know, I try my best to help you out as much as I can, Shogeki." The green haired, pointy-eared "agent" countered, "I got that costume redesign from the blue guy, although I wanted to run it by you for a final confirmation."
"Yeah, sure, just hurry this up, I'm in the middle of-"
"Hey, wait a minute, what's up with your eye?" Himiko watched him poke Aki's eyepatch, causing her favorite electrical outlet to wince in pain. Pockets glanced at Himiko, who pouted- Uzumaki had both of her eyes, meaning she had to leave behind her eyepatch- The cute one that matched with Aki's own. It wasn't fair! She wants them to be cute together! "I don't remember you being all inta fashion trends and what have you? What made you start?"
"Getting my eye destroyed through immolation, now do you have my fuckin' suit or not?"
"Oh!" Pockets cleared his throat, pulling out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. "Now, before we get onto business, I figured I'd give you that costume draft you've been dying to get your hands on." He tossed the paper to Himiko, who opened it up, her eyes going wide.
"Ooooh," She felt her cheeks flush again, "I think I've just gotten a taste for men in uniforms, rawr."
"Give me that you perv." Her boyfriend stole the paper from her, "Fuckin, can't get your head into gear for 2- God damn."
Art by mcharltonq on Instagram, go check them out!
Aki-chan gave a soft whistle, "Remind me to hire Diariseki more often. I can get him to draw up your costume."
"Uh huh," Himiko nodded, "I'd bet he'd make me look so hot."
"Hmm. I mean he's not a miracle worker but- guh! What is with everyone and jabbing me today, stop it!"
"Make me~"
"… Since when were you two fuckin'?" Pockets asked, raising an eyebrow, "Last time I checked, you weren't exactly too cool with any of the ladies in your class, Shogeki."
"It's, ugh." Aki pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, it's complicated, I'll fill you in some other time."
"Oh, Okane-san, if you have a moment? I have something that might interest a money-loving grub such as yourself." Himiko looked away from the picture of Aki's new costume to see Saito snap her fingers, Kazuki responding by opening the briefcase he had been carrying. She rifled around inside and pulled out a thick stack of papers, passing them off to the other businessman. "This is a small proposition I came up with after the last time our clients had a little spat between them." She said, watching as the conman flipped through the papers.
"'Little spat' my ass, last time that jackass and I were in the same room I'm pretty sure it exploded." Aki said, marking down a few notes on the costume blueprint.
"Only because you lack something that my Kazuki has in spades- Restraint. You lose your self control far too-"
"Easily, yeah, you sound like my grandfather." He frowned, turning to his agent, "What the fuck does she got you lookin' through?"
"One hell of an offer." Pockets mumbled to himself, "Just- Just give me a minute to look this over."
Saito-chan held up a patient hand, "Please, please, take your time Okane-san." She snapped her fingers again, signalling Kazuki to follow her over to the other side of the support offices.
Himiko tried peeking over Pockets' shoulder, but he was resolute in hiding it from her. "Yo, Shogeki, you're gonna wanna hear about this. Saito is trying to set up a god damn cage match between you and Kazuki."
"… A fuckin' what?!" He tore his eyes away from the picture, looking at his agent with disbelief. "Is she trying to set us up to kill each other?"
"Seems like." The elf-eared conman nodded, "Damn, the connections she's gotten written down here would make a Yaoyarozu cry, hot hell."
Himiko's eyes lit up, oh how fun! Aki-chan, beaten and bloody like he was when they danced themselves to sleep. Covered in blood, beating someone to the ground, standing over them as his body glistened with beautiful, sweet sweat- "Ow!" She rubbed the back of her head, Aki's sudden smack bringing her out of her daydreams. Today has been full of a lot of those.
"Look, this entire cage match shit sounds ridiculous, I'm not signing that contract." Aki said, going back to the costume sketch. What was he writing on it? Maybe his measurements- OH! She'd have to get those if she wanted to make him some nice gloves for the winter.
"… Alright, this seems like one of those things I'm not gonna be able to trick you into going along with."
"Hell the fuck no it isn't. Now go find me a support student to make Uzumaki's suit."
"Alright, I'll go ask my girl if she's busy. Probably is, but I'm sure a few nice words here and there and Mei'll sweeten up to me like always." The conman winked at Himiko and shot her fingerguns, leaving her to scoff as he walked into the other room.
"How do you think it'll go, Aki-chan?" She asked her boyfriend, glancing at the sketch. She'd been right, he was marking down his measurements.
"Well, this is Pockets we're talking about, I assume he'll reach either total success or total failure in his endeavors." He said, writing down the last few numbers.
"Hey babe!" They heard Pockets' voice call out, before a loud, booming explosion rocked the floor beneath their feet. Pockets flew through the doors and back into the support offices, crashing into one of the desks. His clothes were coated in soot and his right sleeve was somehow on fire. He coughed, patting out the fire and getting to his feet. "She's good to start whenever." He coughed, giving a weak thumbs up.
"… Riiiight…" Toga nodded her head, hearing her partner sigh beside her.
"So," Aki folded the paper back up, seemingly ignoring the situation and handing the sketch over to this Pockets guy once again, "When am I getting my new costume? I mean, not like I'll be using it much outside of class for the time being, but still. I'd like to at least have it on hand."
"Well, I'll be able to get it to you… Eh, let's say a week after you get a haircu-"
"Not happening."
"Shogeki just cut your fucking hair, you're starting to look like a street rat! I'm sorry for yelling." The skinny boy backed down quickly under the combined annoyed look from the couple. She rather liked Aki's long hair, it was soft. She enjoyed combing her fingers through it while he pretended to sleep.
"Look," Aki sighed, running his hand through the topic of their current conversation, "I very much don't enjoy the whole 'DNA infused clothing' thing. I think it's gross. It took me more than a full year to grow it back out after the last time I had to cut it. You've got enough cloth to make this costume, right?"
"Just barely. There's a new method for infusion going around lately that's a bit experimental. Supposedly, once it gets perfected it'll be able to make the same amount of cloth with only 90% of the DNA it would normally require. Thing is, it's pricey, and your contract doesn't account for experimental methods."
"So, it's either cut my hair-"
"Or pay out of pocket." The agent finished, rubbing his fingers together in the universal sign for cash.
"God damnit, I don't have that kind of money. That kind of stuff is normally handled by the hero agencies, but they're being a bunch of cunts." He sighed, scratching his head in thought, "Dad and Sir are still covering Sir's hospital bill and I can't take money from them. Miruko somehow froze my bank account last Tuesday when I wouldn't laugh at her joke in a meeting with Fatgum. Fuck."
"Hmm, am I hearing that correctly, worm?" They both turned away from the slimy man and towards the returning Saito-chan, who's eyes now pierced through Himiko like a hawk. "Is the little hero student hurting for cash?" Her smirk grew as she took her suitcase back from Kazuki, opening it and fishing out the contract from earlier. She dangled it in front of him, "Sounds like a little worm is suddenly in a bit of a tough spot~" She sang, taunting him.
Ooooh, this bitch.
"Ahem." Himiko stood between them, crossing her arms. "It's very rude and impolite to eavesdrop."
"Oh, I very much apologize, Uzumaki-chan," Himiko stiffened up, Saito-chan's tone made it clear that she knew something was up. Aki seemed more irritated than earlier, and that Kazuki almost looked ready to fight should things get dirty.
Pockets didn't seem to like this situation very much. "Alright Shogeki, let's think about this for a minute. We both know that I'd kill a man to get at the amount of money you would rake in with a cage match."
"With everything I've heard about you, I'm kind of surprised you haven't?" Himiko cut in. The smile Pockets sent her way only made her more creeped out by him.
"But this is Saito Yui who wrote up this deal. I could spend weeks agonizing over this thing for loopholes and come up short. So if you're really gonna take this deal, I'm not gonna be able to help you back out."
Himiko looked at the girl from across the room. "You're gonna take the offer aren't you, Aki-chan?"
"… Not much of a choice, now is there?" He waved them over, snapping his fingers at Pockets, "Give me a fuckin' pen, will ya?"
A moment later and the deal was made, Saito scrunching up her nose as shook Pockets' glue covered hands while Aki slapped away Kazuki's offered hand. Without much more fanfare the duo left. Once they were gone, Aki wrote up a quick note and left it on one of the desks and they made their leave themselves.
"Hey, Aki-chan, why do you hate Kazuki-kun so much?" Himiko asked. His response was a series of low, grumbles that she couldn't quite make out.
Pockets scoffed from his place following behind them, face glued to his phone, "Are you really still that pissed off over something like that? Man, grow up, you need to let that shit go."
She looked at him over his shoulder, "Why, what happened?"
"Surprised you don't remember Uzumaki." Damn, how does she keep forgetting about her disguise? "Last year your class had a joint training session with that year's Class 1-B. Of course, Kazuki was the top of his class back then just as he is now. Our shocking friend here didn't know that Kazuki's quirk also increases his endurance and durability, not just his strength, so when Shogeki went to punch him in the face, he failed to compensate and broke the hell out of his right hand."
"Bastard knew exactly what he was doing, fuckin' playin' me." Her boyfriend grumbled from beside her.
"Dude, he tricked you fair and square. Seriously, loosen up your jock strap, you're taking this way too personally."
"I'll stop taking this personally when he's dead in a ditch full of heroin needles."
Pockets' hands flew to his head, "Jesus… Christ, ain't that a bit extreme?!"
"I thought that was pretty tame, actually." Himiko shrugged.
The conman stared at her bug eyed, before shaking his head and turning down a corner. Clearly he didn't want to be around them anymore today.
But boy, today had been so exciting! She gets to be a hero, she gets to use her quirk again, and she even gets to join a school again! School clubs, field trips, festivals! She'd finally get her chance to be a part of it all!
Oh, wait!
She skipped ahead of her boyfriend before she spun around, standing in front of him. Himiko took a deep breath, bowing slightly, "Please take care of me, Kira-kun."
She noticed how his body language changed just a bit. He gave a soft smile, one he thought she didn't take notice of. "Well, it's about time you call me a decent name." He gave her a bow of his own, before standing up and raising his hands, "Alright, enough of that, back to work. We still need to think up a new name to match your new costume."
"Oooh! Kitty!"
"I said it has to match your costume, let's wait until we get that before we decide on anything." She pouted, before skipping ahead of him once again.
"Sunshine!"
"Taken."
"Mad Girl?"
"Too close to Diariseki's."
"Harlequin?"
"Fuck off with that clown shit!"
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Both Kazuki and Saito are characters created by BlackJoker/NaturesStressBall. Go check them out, they do good shit.
A/N- Really quick, I wanted to address a slight change in the format I will be using for this story. Starting here, with chapter 10, I will be using an Arc system to keep track of things. The names of these Arcs will be various puns that I am able to come up with, as I am easily amused.
As a side note, please feel free to DM me, or leave a comment, if you wish to join the Discord server that I moderate for. We're always looking for new people to join in on discussions, character interactions, or to see artwork of the various characters in this story earlier than when I post chapters.