Chapter 18: Ryukyu Agency
Name: Luna
Quirk: Bast – She can assume the abilities of any cat, from regular housecats and lions to hybrids such as ligers and tigons. Her quirk is named after Bast, the Egyptian goddess of cats.
Appearance: Though usually taking on appearances of the cats' abilities, her usual look has been compared as eerily similar to a character of the anime RWBY known as Blake, however she has a tail, and they are complete opposites in terms of personality and choice of dress. She's 14.
Warning: Language and Adult Themes
Specific Warnings: Language
"Come in." said a softspoken voice, and, with a deep breath, Luna entered Ryukyu's office.
The first thing Luna noticed about the office was how spacious it was. There was enough room for seventy people to stand comfortably, without any discomfort.
Ryukyu was sitting at her desk, overlooking a document of sorts. She was in her hero costume, consisting of her classic dark red qipao and headband with four dragon claws covering the right side of her face. Her desk consisted of a brownish-red wood, with red carpet and wallpapers. Despite the massive amount of red, however, it didn't feel overwhelming. The space was simple, but not minimalistic in any way. The occasional plant, framed photos, and even occasional award allowed for the eye to wander and be pleased without being subject to sensory overload.
When she looked up at Luna, she smiled, revealing a yellow reptilian eye and sharp, pointy teeth. However, her smile was gentle, soothing, not malicious, or scary.
"Ah, you must be Aizawa-chan, yes? Please, sit." Ryukyu gestured to the two red, velvet chairs that faced her desk, and Luna sat gratefully.
"Thank you for accepting me for my internship, Ryukyu-sama. I am very grateful for the opportunity." Luna said, dipping her head in respect.
Ryukyu inclined her head. "No need to thank me, Aizawa-chan. It is I who should be thankful; I know Endeavor, Best Jeanist, and even Gang Orca asked for you, so to have you here is a very nice surprise."
Luna smiled, immediately losing all tension accumulated during the day. "I felt that you would be the best. You are the strongest hero with a Transformation type Quirk to my knowledge."
"Oh, stop, you're making me blush." Ryukyu said teasingly. "So, I take it you've met my secretary, Takahashi-san?"
"Yes, we've met … though I don't think she likes me very much."
Ryukyu laughed softly at that. "Ah, yes, Takahashi-san is very … confrontational at first glance, but I can assure you that she is not always like that. Takahashi-san prefers to be on guard with strangers. Better safe than sorry is the motto she lives by."
"Ah, of course. Perfectly understandable."
"Regardless, since you're here now, why don't you ask Takahashi-san to assign you a desk area for now? I'll send a message later so you can join me personally on patrol later."
Luna stood and bowed deeply to her new boss. Already, Luna felt good about her choice. "I shall take my leave, Ryukyu-sama. Thank you."
Luna left and closed the door with a soft Click and approached the Doberman secretary, who Luna now knew was called Takahashi-san.
"Takahashi-sama?" Luna asked.
The woman eyed Luna distastefully, but this time kept her tone in check. "Yes?"
"Ryukyu-sama asked me to be assigned a desk for now."
"So, you're staying? Congrats, I guess." The woman said, typing something into her keyboard and overlooking what appeared to be several floor plans. "There's a vacant desk one floor down. When you enter, look for a man named Ito. Bastard has a weird, white mask on. He'll tell you what to get started on."
"Thank you."
"Whatever."
Luna descended a floor and asked around for Ito. She soon found him helping someone out with something on their computer, calmly explaining what to do.
"Ito-sama?" Luna asked. The man turned, and she was interested to see the man wearing a smiling, white mask, with all accents, contours, and "shadows" done in yellow instead of black. The eye and mouth openings seemed to be covered, as tiny white pinpricks of light barely escaped the eye sockets, and the mouth cavity was completely black. As for the rest of his body, it was covered in black; his boots were black, his jeans were black, and he even wore a black jacket. He currently had his hood on, so he kind of looked like one of those Anonymous hackers Luna heard about when she still lived in Canada.
"Yes? What can I help you with?" Unlike Takahashi, Ito's voice was slow, melodious. If Luna had to describe what it sounded like, a slow creek would have done the job.
"I'm new here, for my internship, and I was asked to be assigned a desk by Ryukyu-sama, and Takahashi-sama said there was an open slot on this floor?"
"Ah, you must be the new girl mistress was talking about - Zouyu, right? Regardless, welcome! It's nice to see a new face around here. If you would follow me."
Ito spun and began to amble along towards what Luna assumed was her new desk.
"By the way, I saw your performance at the U.A. Sports Festival, and I must say, well done; it was impressive."
Luna colored slightly at the praise. "It wasn't so great. If I had a better grip on my Quirk, I think I might have gone onto the finals."
"Humble, or unwilling to take praise?" Ito mused before shaking his head. "Anyways, here we are."
"Here" was a desk tucked into a corner of the building, right next to one of the massive windows that allowed copious amounts of light into the building. And despite being in the sun's path, Luna didn't feel a difference in temperature, and the sun appeared to be shaded out.
"Ah, you've noticed. The windows are specifically designed so as not to allow discomfort from the heat or light of the sun. Regardless, I would suggest you just get accustomed to your new work area. I do believe mistress sent me a reminder to show you the locker room within a few minutes. No use starting anything if you're going to stop anyways."
Luna nodded her thanks, and Ito pulled out a golden pocket watch with a dragon engraved into it. Luna sat down and began looking through the desk. It had a fairly new computer, with office supplies neatly organized on the desk. Hole punchers, staplers, staple-removers, pens, pencils, highlighters, sharpies, what have you. The desk drawers turned out to be mostly empty, with one being filled with printer supplies such as paper and ink.
"If you would follow me, Zouyu. It is time." Ito announced, carefully depositing his pocket watch.
Luna grabbed her suitcase which contained her hero costume and followed Ito, who entered the elevator and descended to the second floor. After walking for a bit, Luna stood in front of two rooms, with one containing a door with a male figure, and another with a female figure.
"These are the locker rooms. Just choose any vacant locker and write your name in the designated area. Please be quick, you have exactly seven minutes and thirty-two seconds." Ito said, once again pulling out his pocket watch.
Luna nodded and entered, finding a vacant locker relatively quickly and writing her name with a whiteboard marker on a small, rectangular whiteboard. Luna quickly stripped and put on her costume, hesitating a second before grabbing her helmet.
When she exited, Ito was standing in the exact same place as when Luna entered. He looked up and nodded.
"Very nice. We have just enough time not to be late. Can't keep mistress waiting, can we?" Ito asked rhetorically before they once again entered the elevator, where Ryukyu was waiting.
"Oh, Ito-san, Aizawa-chan. What a coincidence. I was just leaving to find you two." Ryukyu greeted.
"Perfectly timed, more like. But yes, mistress, we were lucky." Ito dipped his head in acknowledgement.
"I wish you would stop calling me that. It makes me sound like I'm above everyone one is some way when I'm not. I'm a hero, just like everyone here."
"Mistress, I have explained this before; it would be scandalous to refer to you by name. I am the employee, you are the employer."
"Everyone else seems to be fine with calling me Ryukyu-sama."
"I am not everyone, mistress."
"No, you are not." Smiled Ryukyu. "That's a nice costume, Aizawa-chan. When we get back, I would like a report on how everything words, including the helmet."
"Yes, Ryukyu-sama."
"I shall take my leave, mistress. Have a pleasant patrol." Ito said, waiting by the entrance while Luna and Ryukyu exited.
"Thank you, Ito-san."
With that, the two left the office and began to walk the streets.
"Aizawa-san, what is your hero name?" asked Ryukyu, nodding to the gawking civilians.
"Zouyu, Ryukyu-sama."
"Excellent choice. The Zouyu is one of my favorite mythological beasts. Regardless, when we are in patrol, you are only to refer to me as Ryukyu, and I will address you as Zouyu. Understood?"
"Yes … Ryukyu."
"Hmm, that's good. Anyways, I would like to ask you a question. What do you think is the purpose in me patrolling right now?"
Luna tilted the head slightly. "Isn't patrol a necessary act to make sure nothing bad is going on?"
"Yes, but why me?"
Luna thought of the answer as they crossed a street. "Is it to reassert your presence, Ryukyu? So villains and criminals don't think you're just a name?"
"That's part of the answer, but not the entire one. Try again."
Luna furrowed her brow, not understanding. What could she possibly gain from doing it herself instead of sending out her regular sidekicks?
"The answer, Zouyu, is that it is so everyone can see me, yes, but so I can see them. If they see me regularly, civilians begin to think me as one of them, for the most part. They become more willing to trust me, more willing to help out when asked. Their everyday life becomes slightly less harrowing, if they know their local hero is constantly alert, and every little increment of peace we give is a small victory, Zouyu. Remember that."
Luna nodded seriously, taking in the information.
The rest of the patrol ended pretty peacefully, though they were occasionally stopped by fans who wanted Ryukyu's signature. At every opportunity, Ryukyu pushed Luna to make conversation with the civilians, which Luna tried. It was a bit of a mess, as Luna was not comfortable with speaking to new people, but Ryukyu just smiled.
"Nobody is perfect, Zouyu. It takes time, and so will your social anxiety." reassured Ryukyu.
They returned an hour later, with Luna trying to internalize the city's layout in her head. She thought she had a pretty good memory of what directions they went, but Luna would need to look up a map to attach the directions with street names.
When Luna exited the locker room with her hero costume stored there, Ito met her on the way to her new desk.
"Ah, Zouyu, you're back. Normally after patrol, you would need to fill out some paperwork describing everything that happened, but mistress would like a detailed description of your hero costume and Quirk. Please do that first, then the patrol paperwork after that. Once done, seek me again." Ito left as suddenly as he appeared, leaving the girl with questions.
How did he know my hero name and the fact that Ryukyu-sama wanted my info?
He seems to know a lot of things, kitten. I wouldn't be surprised if that was his job.
I thought he was just a manager.
Maybe that's only a part?
Yeah. Probably.
When Luna sat down, she saw two different packets on her desk, one regarding her Quirk, and another about patrol recollection.
Luna got to work, carefully writing down everything about her Quirk, including limitations in her progress regarding hybrids, extinct cats, and Bast. The deity was a little miffed about it but understood that the her presence probably should be explained in case something was to happen.
Luna looked it over once to make sure no mistake was made before nodding her head and beginning to work on the patrol paperwork. This packet was a bit thicker and required Luna to go in great depth, going so far as to ask every street she passed through, and the amount of time spent on each street. Luna had to pull up a map and list several dozen streets which Luna tried to internalize.
When Luna finished, she let out a little sigh and overlooked it. It wasn't particularly difficult, just very tedious to do. Luna kind of hoped there wasn't much of this but considering the fact that she probably had to patrol at least once a day, she wasn't exactly a happy camper.
Regardless, Luna took both packets and began to look for Ito, who was found near a water cooler, drinking the water through a straw. When he noticed Luna's presence, he turned to face her, his plastic cup still in hand.
"Are you finished?" Ito asked.
"Yes, I finished both packets. Where do I have to place them?" Luna showed the packets, but Ito waved them away.
"I trust you to have finished them. Drop the patrol packet in that corner area where a bunch of cubbies reside, in the one that's labeled 'Patrol'. Take your Quirk packet and drop it off with mistress's secretary." Luna's face soured slightly, and Ito let out a rumbling chuckle. "Ah, yes, I don't envy you. Takahashi-san is difficult on her best days, and I daresay you being a cat makes it an altogether unpleasant experience. When you're back, come to your desk, and I'll give you an overview of what the majority of your internship will entail: paperwork. I'll also give you your schedule."
Luna groaned internally but did as Ito asked, dropping the patrol package into its respective cubby before going back up to the top floor. When she arrived, she found Takahashi bristling aggressively, her ears pointed forward and her face contorted into a fearsome snarl.
"Look, moron, I don't know who the hell you are, but let me explain this for the umpteenth time; you can't just barge in and expect a meeting. You could be the Prime Minister and you would still need to book an appointment." The man standing in front of her didn't budge. "Leave. Before I make you."
The man huffed and stormed into the elevator, shoulder-checking Luna before slamming a meaty hand onto the ground floor button.
"You'll have to pay for damages, asshole!" Takahashi added as the elevator doors closed.
Luna nervously approached the fuming secretary, who was now pacing in front of her desk to relieve some of the anger.
"What?!" Takahashi snapped, glaring at Luna. Her instincts went haywire, screaming at her to get as far away from the angry Doberman as possible, but Luna handed Takahashi her Quirk packet.
"Ryukyu-sama asked for this." Luna said stiffly, her tail twitching at the aura the dog-woman exuded. Takahashi skimmed through it, grunting once she finished.
"'Kay. I'll give it to her."
Luna nodded and left, but before the elevator doors, Takahashi gave Luna a strange look, as if just now noticing her feline extremities. Luna shuddered before calming herself down.
When Luna approached her desk, she found Ito standing as still as a statue, the tiny pinpricks of white that were his eyes never leaving his pocket watch. He pulled up a chair and Luna sat down in hers, and he gave her the schedule.
"You'll be asked to wake up at around six in the morning and asked to be in the office by seven. The hour in between will be divided between morning exercise, breakfast, and whatever morning rituals are needed for you to prepare for the day. Most of the day will be spent doing paperwork, but there will be about three hours of combat training in any regular day. You will be going on at least one patrol with the mistress's various sidekicks to get used to them. And … that's about it, really. Nothing too complicated, I hope."
Luna shook her head, staring at the schedule intently. Breakfast was supposed to last about twenty minutes, and early morning training about thirty, leaving about ten minutes for freshening up for the day. Lunch was about thirty minutes, starting at one, and the three hours of combat training were divided up into one-hour intervals, the first being from nine to ten, the second from two to three, and the last from five to six.
"This is fine." Luna answered after studying the schedule.
"Good. As for right now …" Ito then began to show her what type of paperwork she would be expected to fill out and what programs to use to turn everything in. She was also handed a decently thick binder in case she forgot anything,
"Head swimming yet?" Ito teased after the lecture.
"I think … I'm good." Luna said with a delay, which Ito noticed.
"Uhuh. Anyways, since we're about to close up, I'll show you where your dorm is for the week. Follow me."
Luna trailed after Ito, her head pounding slightly after the training she just went through. She didn't think it would be that bad…
When the two entered the elevator, Ito pressed the 'U' button, and the elevator began to ding as it passed the floors before finally stopping.
Luna peered into the hallway, which surprised her as it revealed a bunch of what she assumed were dorms.
"Though employees aren't forced to stay here, most do because getting up any earlier is an unnecessary hassle. Everyone has their own housing unit that they either own or rent, so it's not like they would be homeless in the event they were fired or quit. And here is yours."
Ito motioned to one of the dorms, which was labeled as one-hundred-seventy-two. On the wall to the right of the door was a small plaque which read 'Zouyu'. Waiting for Luna was her other suitcase of clothes and personal belongings she decided to bring.
"So this is where it went." Luna noted absently.
"It was brought here when you went out on patrol with mistress. Regardless, let me fill you in on two rules. Firstly, there is no mandated curfew, so you technically could be up until five fifty in the morning and sleep the last ten minutes if you wanted to. You can come and go wherever you want, just check yourself out at the front desk, where the night shift crew are, and you're free to go. Secondly, nothing remotely loud after ten thirty. You can still do whatever you want, just make sure it's not loud enough to bother anybody else down here. We have a couple of employees who are very light sleepers and have a lot of trouble falling back asleep. And that's it for the most part. If you have questions, the night shift front desk will help. I'll let you settle in. Goodnight, Zouyu."
"Goodnight."
The door was shut softly, and Luna decided to explore her suite first. It wasn't anything too grand, just a main room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a stocked kitchen. Luna was famished, so she quickly prepared a sandwich while she set some pasta over the stove.
Luna then decided to quickly empty her suitcase, which just consisted of her clothes, a phone and laptop charger, her laptop, her sketchbook, a few pencils, and her toiletries. It didn't take long, so Luna just went back into the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, Luna was enjoying a bowl of pasta with some basilico sauce (without onion, of course).
While she ate, she decided to contact a few friends.
Hey Shoto. How did your first day go? – Luna
Luna had to wait a minute before she got her reply.
Got beat up a bunch. Yelled at some. Mostly trained with my flames. – Shoto
How did yours go? – Shoto
It went pretty well. Met Ryukyu, she seems nice. Seems like I'm stuck with paperwork for most of the time, with training and patrol spread out in intervals. Seems like it'll be decent. – Luna
That's good. – Shoto
I want to continue talking, but I also want to sleep … - Shoto
Well, don't stay up just for me! – Luna
Goodnight, Shoto. – Luna
Goodnight. – Shoto
And with that, Luna decided against sending anyone else a message. They were all likely just as tired as Shoto was, so there was no need to bother them.
Luna didn't feel like she wanted to stay up any longer, so she threw a blanket over herself. She had a feeling she would need the extra sleep.
"Do you have what I want?"
"Y-Yes, here." A folder was given to the original speaker, and he quickly skimmed through it. "S-So, is m-my debt p-p-paid off?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's gone."
With that, the informant was decapitated with a clean swipe.
"Tsk. You got some on me."
"Sorry, boss."
Luna's phone alarm woke her up, and Luna fumbled for a bit before her hand slammed the 'off' button before retreating into her nest of blankets. She groaned slightly before forcing herself to go into the bathroom.
Five minutes later, Luna was ready for the upcoming exercise. She slipped outside of her suite, waiting patiently as others trickled out of their rooms.
"Would all employees fit for the morning exercise please make their way to the entrance of Ryukyu Agency. Thank you." A voice said over the P.O. system, and everyone made their way to the entrance.
There, Ito was already waiting.
"Thank you for joining me on this fine day. It's currently about seven degrees Celsius, so I hope you brought your jackets. Anyways, we're going to take it a bit slower today because of our newest intern, Zouyu." Everyone gave her a quick glance before turning their attention back to Ito. "Regardless, you have five minutes to stretch, and then exercise how you see fit. Want to do cardio? Go ahead. Want to run the entirety of your twenty-five minutes? Nobody's stopping you. The only thing is that the indoor gyms are currently being remodeled, so they won't be available for another day or so. Have fun."
With that, Ito turned away from everyone and began his stretches, and everyone followed suit. Some got together in groups while others stalked off by themselves, wanting to be alone. Luna was one of them, as she currently didn't know anyone. Well, she knew three people, but two were not currently here, and the third clearly wanted to be alone.
Luna didn't know if she was allowed to use her Quirk or not, so she played it safe and instead began to stretch, starting off with some cherry-pickers. After the five minutes, she saw a bunch of people begin jogging up and down the street, taking it slow. Luna shrugged and decided to do the same.
The twenty-five minutes flew by, and when Ito announced it was time to go, Luna actually felt a little disappointed that the time went by her so quickly. The exercise wasn't anything too difficult, but it woke her up, which Luna supposed was the point.
She took a quick shower and changed into some fresh clothes, depositing the clothes she wore for the morning exercise into the washing machine that was in her suite. A dryer was sitting next to it, but Luna didn't really have anything to dry, so she headed off to breakfast.
When she arrived at the cafeteria, Luna was informed that because she was an intern, she got food for free (as long as it was a reasonable amount), so Luna just grabbed a small plastic container with some cereal and a small box of lactose-free milk, as well as an orange juice box.
Luna sat by herself at one of the emptier tables, eating in silence while sometimes flicking her eyes around the room, though she wasn't really sure why. It's not like she was in any danger, she was in one of the strongest agencies in Japan, for Bast's sake, surrounded by dozens of strong sidekicks.
Speaking of the feline, she was absent from Luna mind, probably asleep somewhere in her memories. Luna kind of got used to the fact where Bast had her 'days', where she wasn't really herself. Bast assured Luna that it wasn't anything too bad, just some memories of the past that weighed her down.
Luna suddenly felt someone sit next her, and when she looked up, it was to her surprise that it was Ito, who was drinking some sort of liquified sandwich. He didn't say anything, but Luna appreciated the silent companionship regardless.
"You must be wondering about why I'm drinking a sandwich smoothie." Ito asked as he finished.
"Just one of the questions swirling around in my head." Luna agreed softly.
"Well, we have a solid five minutes, so I'll try to answer some of them. Regarding my food, it's a bit complicated, but the main point is that I don't have a face underneath my mask. In fact, my mask is my face, so I have to eat like this."
"So, were you born with your mask?"
"Yep. It developed and grew over time along with my body."
Luna hummed, taking a sip of her orange juice.
"Why did you decide to sit here? Surely you must have friends here?"
Ito sighed. "Not … really. We're acquaintances, sure, but to say we're friends is a bit of a stretch."
"Oh. Not even Ryukyu?"
"Mistress isn't here; one of the perks of being the head of an agency is coming in whenever you want. Besides, as much as I admire her, she's still my boss." Ito paused for a second. "But there's another reason as well. One of our employees was discovered dead in an alleyway this morning."
Luna breath hitched and looked up at the man once more. His mask now was frowning, but it looked like it was painted that way. Luna reasoned it must change with his emotions.
"And what's more … Mistress ordered a search of information, checking if anything was missing. Your Quirk packet you turned in yesterday to mistress was missing."
Luna froze, staring at the man in horror. "Missing?"
"We've been informed of the Phantom Cloak's keen interest in you, so I was asked to stay near you for the remainder of your tenure here unless you're with someone else just as competent as me."
Luna sighed, visibly deflating. "I'm sorry."
Ito's mask morphed into one of confusion. "What for?"
"I'm supposed to be a hero in training, but all I'm turning out to be is a hassle for everyone."
"Zouyu, you are not a hassle."
"Yes I am. I don't want to have to force you to babysit me."
"Hey, look at me."
Luna glanced up at Ito, whose mask was now one of concern. "You're not forcing me to do anything. You have done nothing to warrant this aggression, so it's not your fault. You are not a hassle." Ito paused, before chuckling. "Besides, it beats having to stay with Takahashi-san all day."
"I heard that you prick! And fuck you too!" Takahashi shouted across the cafeteria.
"See what I mean?"
Luna giggled a bit at that.
Ito pulled out his signature golden pocket watch and checked the time.
"Well, it's practically time, so let's go, yeah?"
Luna nodded and tossed her plastic cereal bowl into the recycling trash can. When she sat down, Luna discovered a pile of packets that required her attention. Ito was kind enough to assist her when she asked for it, but Luna mostly kept quiet, skimming the binder he gave her yesterday when she had a question.
It seemed like Ito fell asleep on several occasions, but whenever an unknown sound was made, he stiffened ever so slightly before relaxing. Luna assumed his Quirk had something with being able to sense his surroundings. Besides, Luna never caught a whiff of sleep scent she became so proficient in picking out while living with her homeroom teacher and his wife.
The one time Ito reacted was when there was a loud rap against the window, which caused the both of them to jump. Ito shoved his hand into a pocket before withdrawing it when he saw it was just a window cleaner outside, grinning cheekily.
Luna huffed, annoyed for being so scared by a simple prank and watched as the man doused the window with apparently hot water, as the window began to steam. When Luna looked, she saw the water was actually coming from the man himself, through little taps where the top of his fingers were supposed to be.
Luna allowed herself a few seconds before continuing her packet, which was actually a formal complaint lodged against Takahashi. According to policy, an apology email or letter was supposed to be sent out to the person who complained, so Luna worked on it. When she finished, Ito quickly scanned it and allowed it to pass onto Ryukyu, who had final say in these things.
Regardless, the first two hours passed relatively quickly before Luna was asked to stop and go put on her hero costume for her first training session. When she asked who it was with, Ito didn't comment; instead, his mask now had a yellow, coy grin.
When Luna exited, it was to her surprise to find Takahashi leaning against a wall, looking bored. When she saw her, Takahashi gestured to follow and led Luna into an empty room, void of anything interesting, with grey, drab walls.
"So, as much as I don't want to do this, Ryukyu-san asked me to train you because we have similar Quirks in that they are Transformation type Quirks. Go ahead, give me a crash course of what you can do. And no mythological bullshit, either. I know about your supposed ancestor that's currently sitting pretty in the back of your hollow skull."
Luna growled slightly before quickly transforming into her most common forms, including the nightstalker form. When she finished, she waited for Takahashi to say something.
"Well, I'd say you know how to change pretty well, so I don't think you really need to work on that. What you do realistically need is training your senses. Tell me, how good is your hearing?"
"Uh, I can perfectly here conversations from about forty-five feet away with perfect clarity."
"That's it?" Luna's brow furrowed. "You do realize you cats are supposed to have better hearing, right?"
"Cats can hear more high-pitched noises, not necessarily longer distances." Luna pointed out.
"Bah, excuses. What about smell?"
"Maybe twice as good as a regular person's?"
"Now that's truly pathetic. Your sense of smell is supposed to be at least nine times more, and that's if you're unlucky. Thirteen times is about average, if I remember correctly. Sight?"
"When I focus, I can see about three times better?"
"Supposed to be five. Okay, I got some rough measurements with. Now, come at me."
"Excuse me?"
"You deaf? I need to assess your fighting abilities. Without you bullshit tactic."
Luna grumbled but transformed and leaped at the woman, who was able to bob and weave without significant trouble.
"You're supposed to be trying, you know." Takahashi taunted, and Luna's eyes hardened. She began to seriously scratch the woman, and she got close several times, going so far as to get a decently sized tear in her shirt. But she didn't even make contact with skin.
Without warning, Takahashi transformed into a massive Doberman, and began to attack Luna, catching her off guard. Luna got a few bites before she finally began to fight back.
If a passerby were to witness the fight, they genuinely wouldn't be able to see anything concrete besides a mass of shifting limbs, with the occasional flash coming from their eyes. The occasional screech and bark pierced the scuffling.
Finally after a few minutes, Luna was pinned against the ground, Takahashi hovering her teeth slightly above her exposed neck. When Luna tried to move, Takahashi growled menacingly and let her teeth make contact with her throat without hurting the girl.
The two transformed back, with Takahashi brushing herself off, looking none the worse from the encounter except for a couple scratches and bite marks. Luna, however, was not as decent. She now sported several decently sized bruises, along with several puncture marks from where Takahashi bit her and some decently deep scratches.
"Not bad. Usually I'd be able to restrain someone within a minute, two at the maximum, yet you held on for approximately seven."
"Only?" Luna said, dismayed by her performance.
"Psh, please. Be happy it wasn't shorter; I didn't want to get serious and crush your dreams. Okay, your combat's pretty good for your age, but pretty good isn't good enough. You need to be better." Takahashi paused, looking at the dejected girl in front of her. Perhaps she took pity on Luna, because she sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. "Look kid, I'll be honest. You did pretty damn well all things considered. However, I need you to keep pushing."
Luna nodded seriously, now slightly happier. The resulting hour was spent with Takahashi assessing Luna's abilities. There were a few times when Luna wanted to do nothing more than curl up into a ball, but she'd rather go jump off a skyscraper then admit defeat to the woman.
At the end of her session, Luna was panting heavily, drained from her assessment tests.
"Okay, listen up kid. Two sessions per day will be devoted to training your senses, especially your sight and smell; you were given two great tools which you currently aren't using that well. The last one will be dedicated to combat; you're much better off with fighting than sensing. Go ask Ito to take you to Volkova down at the clinic, and she'll give you a pill or two to take care of your wounds."
Luna exited, but before she could ask for Ito's assistance, he beckoned and led her into the infirmary, where a woman with jet black hair and steely grey eyes sat a desk. When she looked up, Luna shuddered at the piercing gaze.
"What do you need?" Volkova asked with a very slight accent. It sounded slightly Russian, but Luna didn't know for sure; she only met one or two people from Russia, businessmen her father invited to their house at some point there. Luna didn't even remember what they looked like.
"Zouyu need something some bites and scratches." Ito explained, and the woman grunted. She pulled out what appeared to be a metallic stamp, but she pressed it into her arm. Luna looked, curious as Volkova pulled out a pill from the stamp and handed it to Luna with a glass of water.
When Luna drank, she felt her wounds begin to itch and stretch, healing themselves in a matter of seconds. The new skin was still slightly pink and felt weird to the touch.
"You should be good. And tell Takahashi to be more careful; she was close to the artery on the girl's forearm." Volkova said, tossing the metallic-stamp thing into a nearby bin.
Luna bowed her thanks and took a quick shower before following Ito back to her desk, where the packets looked like they doubled while she was gone.
Luna got to work without complaint, now working on punching a bunch of information into an Excel sheet.
"So, that's your resident doctor here?" Luna asked.
"Yes, Volkova is our resident doctor. She's quite nice once you get to know her, but she makes it a point not to get too attached to her coworkers."
"Oh?"
"Not my story to tell. I only know because I'm her superior."
"Is she Russian?"
"No, I believe she said she was from Estonia. Not a great place to be, I'm not going to lie. It's currently going through a massive civil war at the moment, but Volkova came here when she was young, when the USSR tried to reform before collapsing again."
"Why'd it collapse?"
"Supposedly they turned on their top ten heroes, who were themselves powerful enough to cause a civil war, which divided the country again, and, well … you get the picture. I believe the reason they tore each other apart was because the other heroes were sick and tired of their rankings, believing it was because they paid their own version of the Committee to keep them there. News flash: they weren't."
"Oh."
"Yeah, crazy."
After that, Luna kept quiet, popping an earbud into her left ear while keeping her right ear clear, in case Ito had something to say to her. He didn't for the most part, instead only talking when he noticed a mistake Luna made and corrected her.
When Ito announced lunch, he stuck close to Luna, never straying too far from her. When Luna asked about the necessity, considering they were surrounded by sidekicks, Ito merely explained that Ryukyu asked him to stick close, so he would do what was asked of him.
The rest of the day was spent in a similar fashion, except for the patrol she had to do, without Ito, as he judged the sidekick leading Luna to be of decent caliber.
"You got the streets down, Zouyu?" asked the pinkette that was currently leading the patrol. Surprisingly, the woman was more like Aizawa than some bubbly princess, which suited Luna just fine.
"For the most part. I got the streets near the agency on lock, just some of the farther streets that are still giving me trouble."
"That's fine, we're not going too far anyways. We were asked to patrol nearby."
When they rounded a corner, a woman dressed completely in black sped by.
"Thief! Stop her!" an elderly woman cried.
"Go ahead, Zouyu. I give permission for you to use your Quirk." The pinkette drawled, assisting the poor woman.
Luna transformed into a cheetah and took off after the thief, who was surprisingly quick. Nothing Luna couldn't handle, however. Luna tackled the thief, sending her sprawling.
The purse was sent flying, which Luna caught and whirled around to face the woman. Said woman was currently scowling and shot towards Luna. Most wouldn't have been able to keep up, but with Luna's transformation, it wasn't too hard.
Luna took a page out of Takahashi's book, bobbing and weaving between the woman's blows, which clearly agitated her and caused her to fight more erratically. It appeared the woman was able to manipulate shadows, using her own to speed herself up or even use as a makeshift weapon, such as when she fashioned a gun and began to shooting phantom bullets at Luna, who was now trying with all her might to get close enough to the woman and avoid being shot: her experience in the Yaoyorozu household was enough for her.
Thankfully, the pinkette who led Luna appeared and shot a pink gumball at the shadow woman, who was struck in the pack of the head before it encased everything except her head.
"Nice job. Let's go collect the old lady and deliver this chump to the police." Said pinkette said, looking bored.
They delivered the thief without a hitch, though it was a bit funny watching the police roll the woman into a cell before the ball popped, splattering everything in pink bubblegum.
When they arrived back, they reported to Ito, who nodded and showed Luna how to fill out an arrest packet.
Luna was quickly called back to her second session with Takahashi, who began the combat hour. It was arduous, to say the least. Takahashi certainly didn't pull any punches, or paws, in her case. In the end, Luna had to go back to Volkova, who once again apparently stabbed herself with the stamp thing and gave Luna the same pill as before.
Time definitely slowed down after that, though. At this point, Luna was exhausted, both in mind and body. She was noticeable slower in filling out the packets on her desk, which only seemed to grow as the day continued. If Ito was disappointed, he didn't say anything.
When Luna was called to her last training session of the day, she was spent, but tried her best to follow through with the commands given by Takahashi, lest she anger the woman and make everything ten times worse.
When they finally finished, Luna dragged herself out of the room and back to her desk, where Ito sat, in the same exact position he was when she left. Luna managed to finish five more packets before her workday finished.
Ito once again escorted Luna back to her dorm, where Luna crashed into bed, not even bothering to change.
A thought for tomorrow. Sleep now. Luna absently dismissed the notion of changing into her pajamas before falling asleep not even a few minutes later.
"So, Friday is when we strike?"
"Yeah, master is giving us Nomus for that day. What are you doing again?"
"I'm stealing some more info on her. The packet wasn't enough, Scald said she supposedly was training, and her trainee probably took notes on everything."
"Why are you going after her, anyways? Is she like a princess you need to save to complete your quest or something?"
"I'm going after her because she's strong. Really strong. Once I break her and make her side with us, it'll affect U.A.'s reputation very negatively. Isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah. Any others we could do the same with?"
"I didn't have Scald research, but I'd probably be able to tell you after a while."
"Okay."
The rest of the week flew by, with Luna always ending the day exhausted, but happy. She managed to talk with a couple of her friends, including Tokoyami, Midoriya, Shoto, Jiro, Momo, and even Bakugo, though that was an extremely one-sided conversation with Bakugo raging about his "shitty hair and shitty boss".
Finally, Friday rolled around, and Luna was looking forward to it. This was her last day here, and she learned a lot, even if most of it was how to fill out paperwork. Despite that mass pain, she felt she had a direction to improve on regarding her senses. Takahashi was certainly gruff and rarely gave out compliments, but she said if Luna continued this level of training, her senses should be top notch after a couple of months, which Luna was happy about. True to Ryukyu's words, the Doberman woman grew noticeably nicer to Luna as the week progressed. Though Luna would by no means call her a friend, a friendly compatriot would work just fine.
She also grew pretty close with Ito throughout her tenure at the Ryukyu Agency, who was almost like an elder brother. Behind his professional business attitude, he was kind and funny. He would constantly crack jokes and lighten Luna's day, even if they were pretty terrible. And don't even get her started on the vegetarian joke, oh boy was it on another level of bad.
Ryukyu promised to spend the end of Friday with Luna, which surprised the aspiring hero greatly. Besides that Monday, Luna rarely saw Ryukyu, who was constantly busy with something important. When she wasn't tasked with providing protection for influential politicians or fighting crime, she was organizing and ascertaining the needs and wants of her agency. Luna wasn't sure how the woman had any free time left, or if she had any at all.
Luna hoped that her Friday would be spent pleasantly. Boy oh boy was she wrong.
Extra: The Vegan Joke, featuring Ito as the comedian and Luna as the victim
"Hey, Zouyu, the vegan called today." Ito said, not glancing up from the novel he was reading. Luna was currently skimming through the inventory she needed to input into the system, and paused, tilting her head.
"Who?" Luna asked, genuinely confused.
"The vegan; you know, the woman who eats plants?" When Luna gave him a blank look, his mask morphed into one of sheer pleasure. "I told you about herbivore."
Luna paused for a moment before getting the joke. She facepalmed as Ito roared with laughter, causing a few people to look at the two in concern and mild curiosity.
Hello everybody! Welcome back to Bast's Legacy! This chapter was basically set up for the next chapter, where shite goes down. If you noticed, I extended the Hosu incident to the end of the week, so that's a bit different. Just a heads up, Luna will not be fighting or getting anywhere near Stain; she'll have her own little battle ahead of her. Well, maybe little isn't the best word to describe it, but you'll see. Also, I wonder if anyone will get the mask reference. Sorry for the wait. Anyways, stay safe out there! – Bananaman out!