"Damn brat" said Shigaraki, massaging his swollen cheek while sitting down on the bar counter. Their new hideout was a bar just like the last one but much more spacious.
"He's just angry, and shouldn't you have been just as angry? You lost an important chess piece, Shigaraki, and now there seems to be a new opposing King on the board. You may lose even more pawns if you don't step it up." replied Kurogiri, cleaning a shot glass. Out of all the responses Kurogiri thought Shigaraki would say, he wasn't expecting a chuckle.
"Of course I'm angry, we expected that shithead to try and join us, not try to make us his underlings. He's a cocky bastard, and that's how we're going to take him down." growled Shigaraki. He furiously scratched his neck and continued, "We lost a strong pawn and that's going to hurt us, all of us, for sure, but we're going to hit back harder and we're going to exterminate these Yakuza dinosaurs."
Kiriyama Ken was lying down on the grass next to a tree, with his forearm covering his eyes. He had just finished venting his anger by slashing at trees with a blood sword he created with his quirk. Now that the anger was beginning to fade he was just lying on his back feeling tired...Tired and sad. Magne had just died. Died in a horrific way, right in front of his eyes. He couldn't believe it.
"Weren't we going to talk again, Hikiishi-san?"
"I didn't know you guys were close," a feminine voice suddenly said. Kiriyama slowly sat up to see Toga with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Kiriyama looked at her with a face void of emotion and said in a monotone voice, "How long have you been here, Toga-chan?"
"I've been here for a while now," she answered. Kiriyama sighed and stood up. "Come on, let's get you home."
"I don't really feel like going home yet, I don't want to leave knowing you're feeling down," Toga replied. Kiriyama forced a small smile. "Thanks for your concern but I'm fine, Toga-chan. Now, let's go."
Kiriyama turned around and began to walk but stopped and his body stiffened as a pair of arms wrapped around him.
"I told you not to run away last time, didn't I?" the blonde said from behind Kiriyama. The black haired teen's gaze dropped to the ground. "Run away from what?"
"From telling the truth," she answered.
"Why should you care?" he asked.
"You're my friend, my first friend, my only friend," said Toga.
"We're just teammates," said Kiriyama. He felt her arms tighten around him. "Do you really think that, Kiriyama-kun? That we're not friends? Didn't you say we were? That I was also your first friend?"
"Sorry, I did say that. I'm just frustrated that's all," he said.
"I know you are. I think we all are," she replied.
"You're being strange, Toga," Kiriyama pointed out. The blonde loosened her grip a little. "I'm always strange,"
"Yeah, but not like this. You'd usually just have a crazy grin on your face and way too cheerful tone in your voice, for a villain," said Kiriyama.
"Yeah, I guess I've just had a lot of time to think about things," she replied, with her arms tightening around Kiriyama.
"Think about what?" he asked.
"The villain alliance, my new friends, you," she answered. Toga was now holding on to Kiriyama for dear life and he could feel her heart racing. He softly asked, "Really?"
"Yup. And it's not really me acting different, it's more like I'm finally being myself," she released Kiriyama from her embrace. The boy turned around and saw her flashing him a sad smile. "What do you mean by that, Toga-chan?"
"I think you're right about my quirk messing with me. Every time I see something violent, or just a drop of blood, I'd feel the desire to hurt others, the need to bleed, thirst to kill," answered Toga. Kiriyama tensed up as he saw her look so... vulnerable and how genuine she was acting. "Whenever my blood lust settled I'd always feet terrible, and I'd escape that feeling by becoming someone else. I had to become someone else because I didn't want to be myself. My bloodthirsty, crazy, murderous self and the guilt of killing was really wearing me down. I became someone else and I wouldn't feel the guilt anymore. And I guess at some point I just embraced the insanity that came with my quirk so I could live as myself without having to deal with that guilt... and I would've stayed crazy if it wasn't for you."
Kiriyama's eyes widened and opened his mouth to respond but he wasn't able to think of anything to say, he just stood there at a loss for words. Toga looked down and fidgeted with her cardigan's sleeves. A light, chilly breeze blew and Kiriyama shivered, snapping out of his shock. "Er, Toga..."
"I really like how cute my skirt is, but it isn't really good for the cold," she said, trying to change the subject. The wind blew harder and both teens shivered. "It's getting cold and late, let's go home, Kiriyama-kun~"
Toga skipped past Kiriyama with her usual smile back on her face. The boy stared at the girl's back for a few seconds still a little shocked and trying to process what had just happened. She didn't look like herself. Well, she didn't look like how she usually does. Her eyes were full of clarity and not a hint of insanity in them, and she wasn't smiling, it was nothing at all like he was used to. She told him personal things, she told him about her feelings. Kiriyama thought he was right after all. Without her quirk making her go crazy, she was just a teenage girl with her own problems.
"Fine," he said. Toga stopped skipping and without turning around, she asked, "What?"
"I won't run away anymore," said Kiriyama. He looked at the ground and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and began, "I'm upset about Magne's death and I'm even more upset that Shigaraki ordered us to back down,"
Toga turned around and faced Kiriyama. He was looking at the grass and his dark bangs hid his eyes. "And I feel so powerless and I hate feeling like this. I hate it. I couldn't stop her death, I couldn't avenge her, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do... I don't want to wait for orders from Shigaraki but I know I'll just screw things up if I act on my own. I want to kill Overhaul and get revenge but that won't turn out well at all. Magne shouldn't have died, we just started to know each other and she told me that we'll talk another time. That's impossible now..."
He looked up and his eyes met Toga's, "And I'm also feeling a little scared."
"Of what?' asked Toga.
"Scared of losing more friends. I don't want to lose anymore, I don't want to lose Mustard, I don't want to lose you."
Toga moved towards him and took hold of his hand. Kiriyama looked at their hands and felt his heart race. He raised his head and gazed into her golden, cat-like eyes. She opened her mouth and said, "I don't want to lose you either, you're my one and only, precious friend."
Her golden eyes stared deeply into Kiriyama's, mesmerizing him. Her porcelain skin seemed to glow as it basked in the moonlight and Kiriyama's heart beat faster. She had never looked so pretty - no - she had never looked so beautiful. Kiriyama felt a warm feeling in his stomach and it seemed to flip around inside him.
She gave him a bright smile and continued, "And you don't have to worry, Mustard and I will be fine. I promise you that we will,"
He returned her smile with a small one of his own, "Thank you, Toga-chan. Let's head back,"
ONE WEEK LATER
Shigaraki knocked on the door to the basement of where the Eightfold Cleansers resided. The door was opened by a man who wore a plague doctor mask, a white coat that reached his black boots and its hood covering the rest of his head. Shigaraki entered the room and quickly examined it. It was a white room, with just two couches facing each other, a table in between them, and a poster on the wall with an 8 pointed logo and the words 'EIGHTFOLD CLEANSERS' underneath the logo. The room was immaculate, no stains, no traces of anything dirty.
"Can't say much for the decor," commented Shigaraki.
"I'm not partial to messy layouts," replied Overhaul, who sat on the couch that was placed farthest from the door. He sat next to a tiny person who was holding a bundle of cash and wore a similar pointy mask but in white and a black full-body costume. Shigaraki raised his deathly pale hand and scratched his neck. Overhaul frowned under his mask. The blue haired man spoke, "You made me walk circles around the basement floor for half an hour! I felt like a damn ant! How the hell do they make places for yakuzas?"
"We can never be sure who's watching from where, or what a guest might be thinking. There are a fair few routes leading from the basement floor that are connected to each other. And this reception room is a hidden room on this floor," explained Overhaul.
"The fact we're still alive and kicking is thanks to these here cramped quarters," added the tiny man next to Overhaul. "Also! About the phone call the other day, what's the big idea? You'll side with us conditional on the terms?"
Shigaraki sat down on the opposite couch and placed his right foot on the table, "Don't take it in such a self-serving way. This is just a confluence of interests."
Overhaul frowned once again under his mask, "Put down your foot, you're going to leave dirt all over the table."
"Wanna try that again, oh capo? How about a nice 'could you please put your foot down?' Cuz in this situation you ought to be bowing your head." said Shigaraki. "First of all, we're not gonna be under you. We'll be doing as we please. Let's split it even. If we're gonna join hands, as it were, then I'm willing to cooperate."
"Is that your condition?" asked Overhaul. Shigaraki raised his ghostly hand and held just his index finger up. "There's just one more... This 'plan' you've been talking about... let me in on the details. It's not an unreasonable demand. I want to see for myself whether there's any merit in lending our name to you."
Shigaraki raised his left foot and slid it under his right leg. "Although..." Then, all of the sudden the man in the white coat and the tiny man in black lunged at him. The man in white, an advisor of the Eightfold Cleansers, held a pistol to the back of his head while the tiny man's arm transformed into an enlarged, over-sized, beefier version and was placed threateningly, next to Shigaraki's right cheek. The man in white, Chronostasis, spoke, "You've been carrying yourself mighty free there, pal."
The tiny man, chief of the Eightfold Cleansers' HQ, Mimic, had a furious look in his eyes, "JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, PUNK?!"
"Right back at you. The life of one of you disposable, fodder, meat-shields of some small-fry mobster... is not equivalent in value to the life of our tranny," replied Shigaraki. His voice got rougher and was coated in anger as he said, "Not to mention that goddamned brat hit me and gave me a swollen fuckin' cheek."
"Chrono, Mimic, settle down," ordered Overhaul. Chronostasis lowered his gun and Mimic backed away from the blue haired man. Overhaul continued, "He came to us proactively to see what we're all about. Let's listen to everything he's got to say. He was in the middle of talking."
Overhaul gestured Shigaraki to continue. The blue haired man reached into his black hoodie's pocket and pulled out a bullet. "It's gotta have something to do with whatever this is."