Sometimes, Hizashi is my spirit animal. XD

Shota was glad that he was able to sleep last night without any weird dreams waking him up. Still, at times, he found himself mulling the dream over in his head. The weirdest part about it to him was that he could remember every detail as if it was something real that he had actually witnessed in person.

They were currently in the middle of English class. Hizashi would always be the first to throw his hand up and shout out answers, unfortunately for Jaz, who sat at the desk directly in front of Hizashi. Every time, Jaz would reactively wince and his ears would flatten, but he never said anything about it. Hizashi noticed his reactions and eventually forced himself to sit quietly and, with seemingly much effort, resist blurting out the answers. Shota found this a tad interesting. It was obvious how antsy Hizashi was becoming, rapidly tapping his feet on the floor and biting his lip. Every now and then, he would make a strange little sound almost like a whimper or grunt.

Michiru had taken notice of his behavior as well and turned her head a little to watch him curiously.

After a few more examples and questions, Hizashi couldn't stand it anymore and suddenly leaned forward and used his hands to flatten Jaz's ears down and cover them while he lifted himself in his seat and loudly shouted the answer, causing everyone to look at him, surprised. Even the English teacher looked frazzled.

"E-Er, yes, that's correct, Yamada. Thank you."

Satisfied, he plopped back into his seat, removing his hands from Jaz's head and folding them neatly on his desktop. Jaz turned to look at him, bewildered.

"Um, what did you do that for?"

He smiled politely. "No reason. Your ears are super soft, by the way."

Suddenly embarrassed, Jaz blushed and quickly turned back around. "Th-Thanks!"

Michiru giggled. "Is he going to do that every time, now?"

"Hopefully not," Shota muttered. "That was even louder than usual…"

She smiled at him before turning back around, and he suddenly felt odd again. Almost like a light and fluttery feeling. He suddenly remembered Tsume's recommendation and his face felt warm. What the hell… He lowered his attention to his desktop and stared hard at a blank sheet of paper for the last eight minutes of class before lunch.

After receiving his lunch, Shota was about to make his way out of the cafeteria to go to the roof, but Hizashi had suddenly appeared and threw his arm around Shota's neck.

"What are you doing?!"

"It's getting cold now. You should stay inside."

"Okay, but where are you dragging me off to?"

His question was answered when they stopped, and Shota managed to twist himself around to see Jaz and Michiru looking curiously at them from where they sat at a round table in the corner of the cafeteria.

"Oh, hey!" Hizashi smiled at them. "Mind if we join you two?"

"Um, not at all," Michiru replied.

Before Shota could protest, Hizashi pushed him into the curved seat then sat beside him to block him from escaping. He leered at Hizashi, who only grinned in response. Hizashi had blocked him between himself and Michiru.

"So, we have a math exam coming up," Hizashi said. "This is only you guys' third day and the exam is in a week. You think you'll do okay?"

Jaz prodded at his food with his chopsticks. "Math is not my best subject…"

Michiru nodded. "I don't really have any difficulty with it, so I think I'll be fine. I've tried to help Jaz with it but I'm better at teaching…anything other than math."

"He should get a tutor then," Shota said as he began to eat.

"A simple solution, it would seem," she smiled, "if not for the fact that Jaz would be too nervous to focus with a stranger."

"Hm." He looked up at Jaz with his eyes only. "…You're very timid for someone attending a school for future heroes."

Michiru's ear twitched at his tone and she narrowed her eyes very slightly. "You have a habit of pointing out the obvious, hm? I wonder how good you are at spotting the hidden things…"

He looked at her, confused and a little surprised.

She smirked and turned her attention back to her meal. "The Tora Clan can get away with things others cannot, but in exchange, we are subject to following different, stricter rules."

"…The two of you didn't sign up for this by choice?"

She turned to face him again, looking quite pleased. "So, you are perceptive. Or maybe I made it too obvious?"

"Wait," Hizashi said. "Are you for real? Did your parents make you guys sign up or something?"

"No. My parents are gone. My father died just before I was born and my mother just after. I only have Tsume, and he did not make me do anything. Jaz's mother is gone as well, but his…father is still around. He was not very pleased with any of it, either…"

"So, the rumors of your clan living forever are false then?" Shota asked. "Figures."

"If by 'living forever' you mean our longevity, then no, that is not false. At least, not entirely. As adults, the Tora and Ookami-Kage age incredibly slowly and live far longer than any other human. Some reach a hundred years before age begins to show. I think the oldest member of the Ookami-Kage was one-hundred and thirty-four before they all vanished."

"WOW!" Hizashi exclaimed.

"But that doesn't mean we will never die one day," she continued. "And we are certainly not immune to fatal illnesses or injury."

"So, your parents died of illness or injury?" Shota inquired.

"My father from illness and my mother, who was not Tora, died from complications during childbirth."

"Looks like you and Shota have something in common," Hizashi said without thinking.

Michiru tilted her head a little but continued, "Jaz's mother was the Tora of his parents, and she passed from the same sickness that took my father."

"So, who made you two sign up for a hero school?"

Michiru went to answer him but stopped when Jaz made an odd sound. "Mm. That's right. I forgot… This is a clan secret." She looked a little disappointed. "It's something we're not to discuss with outsiders that are not close with the clan. I'm sorry I brought it up…"

"Huh," Hizashi leaned back. "I guess if we wanna know, we'll have to get all buddy-buddy with you guys, right?"

"Er, well that's not exactly –"

"Hey!" He suddenly leaned forward and slammed his hands on the table. He pointed at Jaz. "I can help you with math, yeah!"

"Y-You can?" He was surprised, more so because of Hizashi hitting the table and startling him.

"Yeah!"

"O-Okay…" Jaz shrunk down in his seat, earning an amused chuckle from Michiru.

"Well," she smiled. "We can't tell you our secrets just for that, but there is an exchange we can make."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Nothing physically valuable like a prize or money, but I can talk to my brother about it and likely allow you access to our property."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I understand that the school's training grounds and gyms are only accessible within certain timeframes and under certain conditions, yes? And for you, public use of your quirk is forbidden. I'm offering you a training ground with no limitations, if you'd like. My brother and I own a very large expanse of land near the coastal cliffs. It's our private property, so you could use your quirk all you want there. It's just an offer."

"Cool! Sounds good to me."

"Near the cliffs?" Shota said. "That's a little far from here."

"That's exactly why we travel to and from here in our beast forms," she nodded.

"What kind of land is it?"

"Mostly forest. Our house in located in a large clearing. To the east are the cliffs. Northeast of the clearing will lead to an expanse of rocks and crevices devoid of vegetation. There's a winding river that crosses through the forest, as well, and falls down the cliffs to the ocean."

"That's a lot for two people," Hizashi said.

"Maybe," she said. "It's the land my great grandfather claimed and built the house upon. I'll mention it to Tsume after school today."

"Yeah," Hizashi said. "He meets you guys outside every day, right?"

"It won't be every day. I'm sure there will be some days where he will be working late or out of town for work. When he's not doing rescue work, he does a lot of work in the underground and shadows. Sometimes he gets pretty busy…"

He looked at Jaz. "And you don't live with them?"

"Er, no. I live with my father on the edge of town. It's not terribly far from Michiru's home."

"What does he do?"

"Nothing special. He's a carpenter."

…

When the final bell rang to release the students from school for the day, Hizashi joined up with Michiru and Jaz as they left the classroom and walked with them outside. Shota had unintentionally followed them and ended up catching up to them by the outside wall surrounding the school grounds, stopping when Michiru sent him a smile.

"See you tomorrow," she said.

"Er, yeah." He lingered awkwardly for a moment, then turned and continued on his way. He was a tad startled when he rounded the corner and came across the large blue tiger on his way to meet with Michiru and Jaz.

Tsume nodded to him as they passed each other. "Good afternoon, Aizawa Shota."

"Er, hello." He shot a quick glance back at the tiger before continuing.

"Michi!" Tsume smiled happily as he padded over to them. "Jaz! Ah, and friend! You are?"

"Yamada Hizashi!"

He nodded. "Your aura is bright and sunny. You're quite friendly, aren't you?"

"I think I can get along with pretty much anyone," he boasted.

"Haha! That is a good thing! Do you mind if I call you Hizashi?"

"Go for it. What should I call you? I bet I can come up with lots of cool nicknames."

"Oh? Heheh, well I only go by Light Claw when I'm working, so you can call me Tsume. Unless your nicknaming skills are as great as you claim?"

"I'll think of something. You bet!"

"I look forward to it, then!"

Michiru chuckled. "Brother, Hizashi wants to help Jaz with his math studies. I offered him access to our property for training in exchange, but the final decision is yours to make."

"It is?" His ears perked up and he looked surprised. "Really? I thought you were the one in charge all this time!" He laughed as she shoved his shoulder. "Of course! Training, relaxing, visiting… Any friend of my sister's is welcome anytime. Ah," he suddenly looked a little bashful. "Maybe not today, though. I have to tidy the house first…I fear I may have been neglecting my dusting duties lately. So, if you'd like, you can come tomorrow after school. You and Jaz can work on his math work, then we can show you our land!"

"Sounds good to me. Hey, do you mind if I bring a friend?"

Tsume tilted his head curiously. "A plus-one? Certainly." He turned to Michiru now. "I will likely be a little late tomorrow, so I will meet you at home instead of here. Okay?"

"That's fine."

He nodded then smiled at Hizashi. "That's settled then. We'll be going now. I expect you to have a good name for me by tomorrow afternoon."

"You got it, Tora!"

…

The next morning, Shota was running a tad later than he had meant to. Everyone had already gone inside to their classrooms to await the bell. He paused a moment at the gate to watch two huge tigers bounding in his direction.

"For someone with lightning-based abilities, you sure are slow!" Michiru called over her shoulder with a grin.

"I had the lead until you tripped me up!" Jaz complained after her. "That wasn't fair," he breathed as they came to a stop by the gate. "You didn't say anything about using Quirks…"

She chuckled. "Well, I didn't say anything about not using them, now did I?"

He made a face of mock contempt, then transformed with her back into their human forms as they entered school grounds.

Michiru and Jaz were always the last ones to show up for class, usually appearing only a few minutes before the first bell. At first, Shota figured it was just because of how far they lived, but now he wondered if they always fooled around like this.

"Oh, hello," Michiru greeted him as they passed.

"Hello, Michi."

She stopped, her fuzzy white ears standing up, then spun around to look at him, surprised. "What did you say?" Jaz also looked a bit surprised.

For a moment, he was confused, then he realized what he had said. He had not actually meant to call her by her brother's nickname for her, but for some reason it just came out. "Sorry, I meant –"

She stepped closer all of a sudden and leaned forward to look at him. "I've only ever let Tsume call me that…"

He felt a bit awkward now. "R-Right. I mean, it was a mistake. He had actually mentioned it the other day and -"

"Tsume?"

He nodded a little.

"Huh." She straightened out and held her chin in thought. "…Well, okay. I guess you can call me that, too. But only since it's you."

What did that mean? "Uh, I don't have to. It was just an…accident."

"Pfft. Okay." She smirked. "But you said it, so now you have to."

"I do?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded and Jaz smiled behind her. "But now I'm going to call you by your first name. Okay…Shota?"

His face was a bit warm. "Um, all right, I guess… But what's the big deal with that name?"

She held a finger up to her lips and smiled at him. "It's a secret. Ah, we'll be late for class!"

When school was over later, Hizashi suddenly appeared and threw his arm around Shota's shoulders, steadily dragging him over in another direction. "Heyyy! Where are you going?"

"Well, I was going home…"

"Sounds boring. You should come with us instead!"

"Us?" Hizashi had guided him over to where Michiru and Jaz were waiting in the hall. "Where are you going?"

"WE're going to check out Michiru's place," he told him. "I gotta help Jaz here with his math. I saw it, and it's not math. I don't know what it is, but it ain't math."

Jaz's ears folded a little and he looked bashful.

"What does that have to do with me?" Shota grumbled.

"Nothing!" He shook him a little. "But it's not like you've got anything else to do!"

"Gee, you're so considerate…" He sighed. "I feel like I don't have much of a choice…"

"Nope!"

Michiru chuckled. "Hizashi, you really shouldn't force him to do things."

"Ah, he'll be fine. Let's go!"

Shota huffed and Michiru gave him an apologetic look before leading the way. "Normally, we take to our beast forms and run home," she said as they exited the building. "It's faster that way, but today we'll just walk. I mean, we could transform and then carry you guys…"

"That sounds fun," Hizashi smirked and looked at Shota. "We can have a tiger race!"

"Don't talk about them like they're just race horses or something…"

"I'm not!"

Michiru smiled. "Let's just walk for now. We can have a race some other time."

The walk across town took around thirty or so minutes before they noticed a steady increase in the amounts of trees and other foliage around them. Michiru led them along a relatively straight path the whole way, then turned off the main road and onto an old dirt trail leading up a slight slope. They were now surrounded by trees, but the path was still clear until they reached a large open area where sat a big, old-styled Japanese house with two stories. It was peculiar but nice-looking and fit well with the surrounding area. There was a big pond before the house, with a red-railed bridge that arched over it, and stepping stones after it that led up to the front door.

"Well, this is my house," Michiru said.

"It's big," Shota remarked.

They followed her over the bridge, glancing down at the koi swimming in the water below. There were a couple of lily pads floating at the edges and below the bridge where tiny frogs croaked contentedly.

A black cat leapt down from the roof as they neared the front door and meowed up at them. Michiru picked the cat up and nuzzled its head, causing it to close its eyes and purr loudly. "This is Pan."

"Pan?" Hizashi echoed the name.

She giggled. "Yes. Pan is my cat."

"Mrrroww," Pan purred and peered at the strangers with bright yellow, half-closed eyes. He looked very content as Michiru cradled him like a baby in her arms and scratched his shoulders.

"Pan is a great kitty. Aren't you?"

"Meoww."

She opened the door and went inside, holding it open for the others. Once they were all inside, she closed the door and gently placed Pan on the floor, then led them into the living room. "This is the living area. The kitchen is over on that side. There's a hall down here that leads to a bathroom, a bedroom, and the sunroom. Upstairs are three more bedrooms and another bathroom. Then we also have the attic, of course, but because of the two floors, the attic is pretty small."

"Why so much?" Shota looked around. "It's just you and your brother, right?"

"That's right. But this house was built by our great grandfather, so I suppose he had his reasons. Um, make yourselves at home. I'll go make some tea. Oh, um, you don't have to mind the cat, by the way. He likes attention but if you don't want him to bother you, he'll get the message."

"Well, might as well get started," Hizashi stretched his arms up then took a seat on the little couch by the tea table. "Okay, let's see that disaster of numbers."

Jaz grunted. "You don't have to put it like that…"

Shota sat himself in an armchair and examined the room. He was a bit surprised when Pan leapt up onto the arm of the chair with him and sat there to stare at him with expectant eyes. Shota stared at the cat for a minute, debating. Pan stood up again, standing on his tiptoes on the arm's edge, then stretched his neck out to sniff at him before lowering his head to present his ears. Shota glanced over at Hizashi and Jaz, who were looking over math problems, then lifted his hand to stroke the cat's ears. He resisted a smile as the cat immediately began to purr.

"Oh," Michiru said as she returned. "I see Pan has already decided his first victim." She began placing tea cups and pouring tea. "You're going to be stuck with him the rest of your visit today, you know."

"That's fine."

"Heh, yeah," Hizashi said. "Aizawa likes cats."

He grunted but continued to stroke Pan's head.

After a while, Michiru left again to go into the kitchen to begin cooking. For the first twenty minutes or so, Jaz was extremely awkward and bashful, timidly answering questions and hardly asking any. But Hizashi's charismatic nature and friendliness soon warmed him and got the Tora boy to speak up more and even laugh sometimes at Hizashi's over the top gestures and random inserting of English words or phrases in his speech. When Michiru returned, she found Jaz smiling while talking with Hizashi, it seemed they were done with Jaz's math work, and Shota asleep in the armchair with Pan curled up in his lap.

"Are you two done, or did you decide to start chatting instead?" she teased.

Hizashi looked back at her with a toothy grin. "No, we're done. He's got it now, right?"

Jaz nodded with a smile. "I, uh, was mixing up the order of one for a while though."

Shota opened his eyes and sat up straight, waking Pan, who arched his back in a stretch before leaping down from Shota's lap. At the same time, they heard the front door open and close and a man entered the room.

He was a young adult. Handsome and with a mane of dark hair that was well-managed and shimmered blue in the light. Shota and Hizashi had never seen him before, yet he was very familiar to them. The man peered around at them with familiar emerald eyes and smiled, speaking in a voice they recognized immediately.

"Your plus-one was Aizawa Shota?"

"Hm?" Hizashi turned himself fully around to face him. "Tsume? Hey, how do you know Aizawa?"

"We met briefly, rather recently," Tsume told him. He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his face and folding his black tiger ears back. "How ironic that he's the friend you wanted to bring."

"Heh, yeah. Why didn't you tell me you knew Tsume?"

"I didn't think it was important," Shota replied. "Besides, I don't really know him. …What time is it?"

"Almost six," Tsume said. "Ah, but don't think you're going anywhere yet!"

Shota paused; he was in the process of standing up. "What?"

"There's still light enough outside. Since you're here, you might as well come to see our land, too."

"Er, okay." He found it difficult to tell Tsume no, not that he really had any reason to.

"Great!" Tsume gestured for them to follow as he turned back to the door. "Let's go. We can eat after. Or, if you don't have the time, you can take some to go. I know it's a school night after all."

They followed him outside; Pan slipped out through their feet and trotted over to the pond to watch the fish.

"So," Tsume said. "This whole forest is called the Seinaru Mori. Most people don't know it has an actual name. Our great grandfather claimed this forest in its entirety so that he could protect it."

"From what?" Hizashi asked. "Loggers?"

Tsume chuckled. "Yes and no. I suppose they could be considered a threat to the trees, but it's what lives within the forest that he wanted to protect. And it's what we protect now, too."

"This is an animal reserve?" Shota asked.

Tsume smiled more. "If animals decide to make this place their home, then we will protect them, too."

He was confused. What was Tsume actually referring to?

Tsume spread his arms to gesture to the whole clearing. "This is a natural clearing in the trees, and, as you can see, it is where great grandfather decided to build our home. The koi pond is my own doing." He began to lead them across the clearing. "The forest itself spans about six kilometers. It used to be larger, but there was an incident long before we were born, so about three kilometers of what was once forest as well is now lifeless stone and jagged cliffs."

"That's a whole lot of property to look after," Hizashi said.

"Indeed. Let's not talk about the costs…"

Hizashi let out a laugh.

"Why keep it all, then?" Shota asked. "What are you trying to protect that needs so much space?"

"All in due time, Aizawa Shota."

"You…don't have to say my full name every time."

"Shota," Tsume corrected himself. He led them through the trees for a while, amused by Hizashi's uncomfortable-looking expression. "Not a fan of the woods?"

"Eh, I'd rather places with less…bugs." He shooed away a curious dragonfly. "I liked the clearing better…"

"Less bugs, huh? Well, you might prefer the jagged lands, as we so lovingly refer to them. Now, scenery and beauty-wise, perhaps not."

They stepped out from the trees to an area of dry, cracked ground and stone that looked as though it hadn't seen water in years. It was quite pitiful to look at, and Shota took notice of how the trees and grass stopped suddenly instead of filtering into the area, as if there was an invisible wall separating the forest from this place.

"You could do some training in the clearing, or here," Tsume told Hizashi. "Mind your step here, though. There are several large cracks and crevices in the ground that may prove to be impossible to escape from if you fall in and don't get found."

"Do you have to rescue animals from the cracks much?" he asked.

"No, not really. The animals avoid this place. Even the bugs." He winked.

"Why's that?" Shota inquired.

"There isn't really anything for them here," Tsume replied.

"So, what happened here? You said it used to be forest, too, right? How did it end up like this?"

"Ah. Well, our great grandfather fought a terrible villain here long ago. His quirks were…devastating to the land, as you can see." He sighed sadly. "Nothing will grow here since then, and the ground can't seem to absorb or retain any water that falls upon it. Nevertheless, we look after it all the same. Come. It's getting dark. There's one more thing I want to show you two. Luckily, it looks just as lovely in the dark as it does in the daylight." He led them back into the trees and pointed to his left. "If you continue that way, east, you'll reach the cliff edge. Below it is a long, thin stretch of beach. We don't own the beach or anything below the cliff, but there never seems to be anyone there anyway. It is a bit of a dangerous spot at times if you get caught in the hightide or storm surges. There are a lot of large jagged stones in the water there."

As they followed him, Shota wondered how they could so easily navigate these woods without getting lost, especially in the dark. Sure, they lived here, but they did not live in the woods. The clearing was pretty easy to get to, considering there was a relatively clear path leading to it from the main road, but everything in the forest looked the same. Maybe it was something to do with their Quirks, but Tsume was currently in his human form and seemed to be navigating the forest with great ease and confidence. Then again, if they really spent that much time going through the woods itself… They were bound to have a sense of direction somehow.

"Here we are."

Shota looked up and froze. They were standing before some kind of old stone shrine, almost completely covered with green moss. The shrine's base was protruding from a perfectly round, still pool of dark water that reflected the lights of fireflies dancing above it. There was a post on either side where they were standing in front of the shrine, and from either post hung an unlit lantern with a red tassel hanging from its bottom. Atop the stone base was a statue of what looked like some kind of strange amalgamation of a deer and a dragon, standing straight and tall with its ears forward and large stone eyes observing them silently. Aside from color and, of course, size, the statue looked exactly like the strange creature he had seen in his dream the other night.

"Neat," Hizashi said. "Is this some kind of shrine? I don't recognize that statue."

Tsume nodded. "That is Seishin Ro. Well, a statue of him, I mean." He glanced at the lanterns. "The lanterns are out. He's not here right now."

"Hm?"

"What is it?" Shota asked carefully.

"Tsume," Michiru said. "Why are you showing them this?"

"Why not?" He shrugged and let out a laugh. "No one ever believes us anyway, haha!"

She looked a little concerned but said nothing else about it.

"Seishin," Shota said. "You called it Spirit…"

Tsume nodded.

"Who… What is it?"

"Well, most people think us superstitious or even crazy, but the Tora Clan, just like the Ookami-Kage, have always had a close connection with the spirits. Nowadays, many believe them to be fairytale creatures and legends, thinking of spirits as only the souls of the deceased. But we know better." He looked at the statue across the water. "What we and the Ookami-Kage call 'spirits' are actually ancient beasts that manifested powerful Quirks long ago. Perhaps even before man did. These 'Quirks' changed their bodies and gave them abilities like those of fairytale creatures. Ro is an ancient spirit of the forest. And this forest, Seinaru Mori, is his dwelling."

"…What does he do?"

"Well, he and the others used to do many things, but… Well, that's a bit of a long story that goes all the way back to the Ookami-Kage betraying the Tora… Put simply, Seishin Ro and the other spirits had to go into hiding. There is a darkness that wishes to consume them, and, in turn, consume all of us. To use them. These old beasts have always been able to use the abilities we call 'Quirks'. How humans obtained them…is still a mystery to us. But, born from this world are villains that seek to do harm to others. Emotion is a powerful thing. Hate and malice can brew up vile, wicked things, and spirits, as beasts, are vulnerable to the influence of light and dark, just as we are. Seishin Ro and the others are powerful. With the right conditions or vessel, they have the potential to preform incredible acts of power. But…if they are consumed in darkness and hatred, evil intent, they become wicked and violent."

"That does kind of sound crazy," Hizashi said. "But I don't have any reason not to believe you, I guess." He shrugged. "I mean, animals with Quirks aren't unheard of. So, the thing you guys protect is that 'spirit'?"

"Yes. Luckily, there are very few out there who even know of his existence."

"So, why did you bother telling us?" Shota asked.

"Few know of him, and even fewer know of how to capture him. And far fewer than that know of how to steal his power. It is impossible without the assistance of another spirit. Besides, the two of you seem rather trustworthy. Besides, I'm sure no one would believe you if you told them all of that," he laughed. "It's very dark now. We should get going. You all have school tomorrow."

Shota stared at the statue for a long moment before finally turning and following after the others.

When they returned to the house, Tsume prepared food for them to take home and sent them on their way. Shota was the last to leave, stopping at the door as Tsume opened it for him.

"Something on your mind?" Tsume asked. "You don't have to eat the food if you don't want to."

"It's not that." He mulled it over in his mind for a minute before looking up at him. "The spirits…are any of them dragons?"

"Dragons? I suppose, appearance or even Quirk-wise, you could consider some of them as such. Why?"

"Do you…" he felt weird asking, "know of any dragons that are gold and bronze colored? Or black?"

Tsume stared at him, his expression unreadable, then he smiled a little. "Those two are a part of that long story I mentioned. But, yes. The black beast is without name, a spirit born of pure evil and contempt. The golden one was born to defeat him."

"Does that one have a name?"

"Hm, I believe the ancient clan elders named him Nozomi, but I don't know much about him. How do you know them?"

"I don't, I just…thought of it."

"…I see." He smiled and opened the door again. "You're a good guesser, then. Off you go, now. Unless you wish to stay here for the night. It wouldn't bother me at all, but your parents might wonder where you are."

"I don't liv…" he stopped and stepped outside. "Thank you."

"Good night, Shota."

He glanced back at Tsume, then was distracted and looked down as Pan curled affectionately between his legs.

"Ah, Pan," Tsume called. "Come in for supper!"

The cat meowed happily and trotted inside, sending Shota once last smile with his gleaming yellow eyes before the door closed.

To be continued…

Okay! So, if you didn't get it from Tsume's explanation... The "spirits" are not literal "spirits". They're ancient animals/beasts of unknown origin that have powers one could reasonably associate with Quirks, but stronger. They actually existed before humans got Quirks, but only the Tora and Ookami-Kage clans knew about them (the two clans also had what is known as Quirks even back then, but they were so reclusive and hidden away that no one else really knew until years later when Quirks became more common knowledge).

The two clans somewhat revered these beasts, which they named "seishin" meaning spirit(s). They developed strong bonds with the seishin beasts and the beasts often appeared to help them, using their powers. Anyways, there's a lot more that comes after that, but I'm sure I'll find a place to actually explain it in the story itself, so you'll have to wait til then. Hope you're intrigued and have been enjoying it so far! If not, I'm not sorry.