A plain looking boy with wide eyes and messy dark hair walked through the streets of Musutafu. He wore a school uniform, but everyone that turned to look at him, didn't exactly recognize it. After all, that was the uniform of a school on the other side of Musutafu.

Not many people would recognize it after all. A few adults did point judgemental glares at the boy. It was a school day after all, but no one said anything, just shaking their heads and continuing on their way. So the boy did so as well.

It had been a while the boy had eaten, but his appearance didn't let that be seen, perfectly concealed as his appearance was.

The boy walked into the garbage dump that was Musutafu's Dagoba Beach. One moment his shoes tapped the pavement, and with his next step, his bare feet sank into the sand.

The boy walked through the sand, dodging the garbage and stepping into the sand as much as possible. This place was where society dumped their filth, the waste of space that had no further use in their pristine streets and clean society.

It was the perfect place for an outcast.

Bare feet met the cold touch of the ocean. The water was gray, the trash around it tainting its clear color and showing a reflection to what so called normal people deemed appropriate.

Gray goo slid off the boy's body, dissolving clothes and skin, showing a much softer skin underneath, wrapping a slender body.

Toga Himiko let the warmth of the sun envelop her nude body as the goo that formed her disguise fell off into the water, dissolving into it as if had never been there in the first place. The only thing on her person was a cutter in her right hand.

Himiko used the dull water to wipe her face. She had become Saito-kun in order to escape school, dodging heroes and police easily. She had been ecstatic for finally being herself. It had been a high so intense she had cried.

And right after that, she became Saito-kun! It just made her body shiver and twitch. She loved him so much, seeing him bleed right in front of her had just made her want to become him, so she did.

Himiko remembered the scared face he made as she plunged the cutter into his chest, blood spurting everywhere, staininging her uniform and hands.

"Ahh~ Saito-kun~ such sweet blood~ will you let me drink more~? Just a tiny bit, sucky-suck~"

She giggled, covering the wide face splitting grin on her face with her hands. There was no one in this dump for a beach, so Himiko didn't need to hide her smile anymore. Still, some muscle memory is hard to forget.

Himiko had drunk enough blood to be able to become Saito-kun for at least another hour or two. She'd need to go back to the city again, get some clothes, as they had melted into the goo she had transformed with.

Also, she needed more blood. Her smile dropped. She had seen reports on TVs exposed on the windows of some tech stores of what had happened in Railosu. Everyone had turned on her the moment she showed her true face.

It was a hard pill to swallow, and she had almost dropped Saito's skin when she heard her parent's words spill out from the TV, demonizing her.

Everyone else that went on TV had said things like how her quirk was meant just for a villain, and how dangerous people like her were.

She was alone, everyone saw her as a monster.

Well, there is that strange girl from second year that stood there the entire time while Himiko drank Saito's blood.

It's that quirkless girl that had the shark girl constantly try making her life impossible. Himiko had seen her also wear a mask, so she wondered what she saw on Izumi when she finally broke it.

"Caw!"

Himiko turned to look at a crow looking straight at her, from the top of one of the piles of trash.

"What are you looking at, birdy?"

It cawed again, flying off and leaving Himiko alone again. She sighed, getting off the water and walking back to the street.

She transformed back into Saito-kun, covering her body in his clothes and skin. Himiko, or rather Saito, walked through the most populated streets of Musutafu, and managed to use the sharp instincts that his quirk gave him in order to swindle a few wallets.

He pursed his lips, in an expression he had seen the real Saito-kun made. He stopped, looking around and seeing the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall on the other side of the street.

He shrugged his shoulders, and went inside, using the money to get himself some cute clothes. The employees at the store did give him a few looks after seeing the clothes he was getting, but after being glared judgmentally, they averted their eyes quickly.

Himiko had one hour left of being Saito. He started looking around, hand in the pocket that had appeared with the transformation. He grabbed the cutter and looked around, searching for heroes or police that could recognize him.

Not seeing anyone, he doubled a corner, and after a few minutes, instead of Saito, a blonde girl wearing cute clothes and a facemask over her mouth came out.

Himiko acted as normally as she could, making sure to not bring attention to herself. Hiding was pretty easy, but if the search team tasked with getting her got close, she knew they'd have a way to work around her quirk or any other disguise she had, so she had to find someone cute and blood to become to!

It was very important for her, but she had a very sharp cutter! If she couldn't find anyone cute enough, she'd make them cuter with the cutter!

"Have you heard what happened to Taser?"

"Yeah. Honestly, what are the heroes doing? They didn't even catch the villain, bunch of lazy fucks"

Himiko stopped, looking to her side at two men leaning to the side. Her frown was concealed by the facemask, part of the reason she wore it was to be able to show genuine emotions alongside hiding herself.

She sat on a bench near the spot the two men were hanging out. They were speaking of Taser, the hero that was in charge of her search team. She had seen him and his sidekicks a few times. Avoiding them had been more annoying than difficult, with all the patrols near the alleys she had stayed some nights, and having to make her use the time of her becoming Saito more times that she had liked to, but the reason she didn't find him cute at all was the dissonance between the things he said about her on TV and the way he really thought about her.

He thought of her as nothing but a villain to catch to boost his popularity. The way he talked on TV and the methods she had seen him use to try to lure her out had told her as much, saying he would just focus on catching her so she didn't hurt anyone, trying to gain sympathy points, while he then disturbed anyone that he suspected could be her transformed, not caring about them at all.

It was ironic then that Himiko had managed to avoid his searches and then sneak closer to Taser to see what he was about. Her quirk was perfect to get close to someone without them knowing it was you, so Himiko had taken full advantage of being herself in order to learn more about the man hunting him down without him even realizing she had that close to him.

What she found was a greedy, fame obsessed hero that didn't care at all about her or anyone else for that matter. She got so close that she could even have stabbed him, but decided against it because of all the sidekicks that were around him every time she had seen him search for her.

Himiko didn't want to get closer to that creep, but she still needed to know what he was doing, considering she was his target, and decided to listen in to the conversation of those men. By the way they were talking, they were angry that the heroes hadn't caught the villain yet.

Hearing the public start doubting Taser was kinda funny, but she should have expected that. She had managed to avoid him for more than a week without even being spotted after all.

"It's honestly embarrassing. He was in the top 50s in the ranking even."

"Yeah, like, a villain manages to take him out like that, and fucking disappears? And no one manages to find him? Why didn't they immediately start looking when he was shot!?"

Himiko blinked a few times. Did she hear right? Were they talking about Taser…having been killed?

She got up, completely giving up on listening to them continue to ramble on the heroes being a disappointment. She knew that much already.

Himiko went outside the mall, and made sure she didn't get too close to police officers and patrolling heroes that might see through her facemask and recognize her (she really needed to restock on blood).

She entered Musutafu's public library, and went towards the section with the latest newspapers. Himiko had once gone here for a boring school project, learning that the library usually gathered newspapers for people to read.

At the time it felt like useless information she would never use other than for that stupid project, but right now, Himiko was glad that she had done it. School wasn't a complete waste of time after all, but she still was glad she wouldn't return to that place full of fake friends.

Himiko found that day's edition, seeing the front page directly talking about Taser's death. She read it, her yellow pupils becoming thin slits as she devoured the information. Apparently he had been shot in the head! With his brains and blood spilling out everywhere!

Well, the article didn't exactly use those words, but Himiko was honestly surprised there was a villain bold enough to actually do that nowadays. She had been born in All Might's era, where criminals were too scared to actually target heroes like that, but apparently Taser was such an ass that he had brought a villain to actually take some balls and killing him!

Himiko giggled after the thought. Oh, how she wished she had seen it. The only time Taser could have been cute, the moment where his blood had been all over the ground!

Her facemask could do so much from hiding the sick blush that covered her face, her mouth splitting into a thirsty grin, her eyes thinning from her grin.

"Hmmm, wish I knew who Killer-san is~ feels like they also like cute things~ hehe~"

And with that, Himiko left the newspaper at the library, going outside and skipping her legs. She wanted to meet Killer-san, if only to share her love with them and then be able to become them.

Himiko was even drooling, staining her facemask as she thought about it. She needed something to drink, her heart too excited by the new information to calm down.

She saw some a thug with busted lips hanging on an alleyway, and her grin expanded outside of her mask's grasp.

Himiko checked for any heroes or police officers nearby, and after seeing none around, tore the mask off her face. Her fangs and beautiful hungry smile was out for the world to see, and she hopped towards the alley, making the thug look at her with a frown.

"What's with that stupid grin, bitch? Get away before I get angry."

Himiko ignored him, and without skipping a beat, she whipped her wrist, revealing the cutter hidden under her sleeve and buried it right below his ribs.

A gasp escaped from the man, who tried to hit Himiko, but she got away from him.

"Wh-what? Are you crazy!?" He coughed some blood after saying that, the blade having made a hole in his lung.

"Shhhhh~ if you keep talking you are only going to make the bleeding worse~ and that would make you cuter mister~ so please keep talking~!"

The man fell to one knee as Himiko mocked him by bringing two fingers over her lips in a silent gesture. She giggled, as he fell forward, the hand clenching the while below his chest not helping at all stopping the bleeding.

Himiko hopped closer to him, using her foot to make him roll to look up at her. He looked at her with a terrified expression, his face becoming pale from the blood loss.

"Wh-why are you d-doing this?" He was shivering, and coughed up more blood, making him even cuter. "W-what h-have I-I ever d-done to you?"

"Oh silly~ you didn't do anything~" She sat up on top of him, making him gasp in pain as more blood spilled from his wound and mouth. "Aren't you glad I made you so much cuter~?"

"Y-you are m-mad"

Himiko brought her hands, clenched into fists to her mouth, an extremely cutesy action that didn't fit a girl sitting on a man bleeding out. She giggled, unable to contain the rush of adrenaline that got a hold of her at the sight of so much blood.

"Of course~ I'm mad with love~" She leaned down, licking the blood that was staining his neck, and then without any sort of warning, dug her fangs into his throat.

His gasp died on his throat, as Himiko's mouth was flooded with the metallic liquid she adored. She moaned in ecstasy, feeding her need for blood, sucking on his neck.

At first the man tried to pull her away, his arms weak from all the blood loss, but after merely a few seconds, she stopped moving, his arms falling to his sides. Himiko kept sucking, her neck moving up and down as she drank more and more blood.

The hot liquid warmed up her mouth and throat, as its metallic taste flooded all her senses. Her face was red from how much she was blushing, her eyes almost rolling all the way to the back of her head.

When she felt the stream of blood stop even after she sucked harder, biting more and more of the neck, she finally pulled back. Strands of saliva and blood left her mouth, connecting her with her victim.

Himiko anxiously took her clothes off, as her skin started to melt in gray goop, she went lower, to the stab wound that she made earlier, and brought her lips to it, sucking from it as if it were her favorite smoothie.

Himiko didn't actually care for this man. She didn't love him like she loved Saito, like she loved Killer-san, but right now, she loved how he allowed her to be herself, to truly be herself and become him.

With a gasp, a perfect copy of that man got up, wiping his face and stepping away from the bleeded out man. He grabbed the clothes he had tossed earlier, to not be dissolved by the transformation.

The man left the alleyway, leaving his old self cold and dry on the alleyway.

He smiled a deranged smile unfit for the original man with that face. He was happy to finally be able to be himself, though he preferred to become people that he really liked, instead of a random street thug.

"I wonder where you are~ Killer-san~"

7 - Dream job

Izumi felt lighter on her feet. Even her path walking to school wasn't as boring and monotonous as before. Wuji and other crows frequently accompanied her on her way to school, either on her shoulder or head, or flying around next to her.

Other people's glares and disapproving looks didn't matter to Izumi anymore. She just glared back at them and they flinched away. Izumi had found her true vocation in life, becoming a full fledged hunter. She wasn't going to let anyone openly disapprove of her without meeting her defiance.

Her change didn't go unnoticed at school. At first Anshin and Kyosei tried to ruin her mood, but Samehada quickly told them to stop. That it wasn't worth it.

To any other, it seemed that Samehada had had enough of teasing Izumi and was finally leaving her alone. As a consequence, Izumi found less people talking behind her back or judging her for "fraternizing with flying menaces".

But Izumi and Samehada's closest friends knew better. Samehada was scared of Izumi, and didn't want to make her retaliate for anything her friends did. They didn't quite understand what had made Samehada act like that, and everytime they went to try to do something to find out, Samehada always managed to stop them.

The change in school life didn't make Izumi more interested in school at all. If anything, she showed her disinterest towards the teachers more openly, yawning in class and not paying attention to the teachers.

Izumi didn't destroy her old reputation though, and the fact she hung out with the murder more openly now, only made the students that weren't very familiar with her avoid her more, substituting the prejudices that in the past Samehada would feed them with their own now.

This also didn't bother Izumi at all. She was Karasu, a member of the murder. Trying to fit in with hero society had already been proven to be a lost cause, so she didn't bother thinking about it anymore.

She stopped going to the arts and crafts club, going everyday now to the station and taking the Shinkashen to Konukoru, to meet with the murder at the Nest or the abandoned building. There was barely any reason to do anything at the club after all, if she wanted to build something, she preferred the company of the murder, or (and Izumi won't ever admit it) Giran when he was around.

Izumi met Hatori at the station as always, grabbing the key and getting her hunting clothes from the locker. She noticed more crows than usual following her as she got to the usual spot, getting the nemean deer hide from the hidden safe in the forest.

She made her way to the abandoned building, at this point having become such a recurrent spot for Izumi and the crows it was practically an extension of the Nest. There were lots of crows already inside, a few of the elders beside them.

Izumi greeted them and saw Gorogoro on the side, resting with a bunch of other crows. They cawed after seeing her, curious about the deer hide, pulling on it, and quickly realizing its hardness.

She hunter plopped the hide on top of the table at the center of the building. She spread it around, making it cover most of the table. Izumi went to grab the shards of Kuro's metal that she had gotten when making the Black Arrows that had taken the deer down.

She pressed her fingers over the hole the Black Arrow had carved when it had carved right through the deer's tough hide. Grabbing the shard through the side without the edge, Izumi started to pull off the fur from it.

Izumi made sure not to accidentally cut too deep and split the hide. Even though the shard was stronger than the hide and she had originally used it to skin the deer, she didn't want to ruin the hide just yet.

It was a valuable material after all, she had to properly process it. Izumi had heard from Giran that the SASC wasn't particularly thrilled when she had only brought back the deer's flesh, having claimed the hide for herself. They probably wanted to use it for themselves, whatever it was.

Izumi was aware of how the SASC really treated animals. They employed the Order of Orion to hunt down every interesting quirked animal that was sighted while maintaining the wholesome image of an organization looking out for Japan's quirked animal population.

Izumi had helped the murder keep out of their reach ever since she was welcomed into it. The murder was already wary of them, so telling the quirked crows to not display their quirks in public was not necessary, the murder having taught them as much already.

Oji-san was especially wary of them. Izumi wondered what could have happened in the past for Oji-san to drill out to all the chicks to keep away from them if they could help it. Still, with Izumi in good graces with the SASC and being employed to hunt down other quirked animals that could threaten the murder, they were now taking advantage of their resources to keep themselves stronger.

The headquarters of the SASC in Konukoru was the only spot where the crows tended to avoid, even if they weren't afraid of getting close (specially the younglings), they never even landed on the main building. Izumi knew better than to question the wisdom of the collective of the murder, that's why she also kept the SASC at arms length, dealing with all the business with them though Giran.

Also, that meant that she didn't feel that bad to take some prizes from them when they didn't specify what they wanted in return when assigning a hunt. Izumi had learned from Giran that when taking advantage of loopholes on a deal, it was the clients fault, so she didn't feel bad they didn't get the bulletproof nemean deer hide. They shouldn't take her for granted.

Izumi worked on peeling off the fur of the hide tirelessly, with only the sound of caws as her background noise. Still, she recognized the tone of Hatori when it flew from a window inside the building.

Izumi merely nodded, patting him, stepping back from the table to look at the hairless hide. She closed her left eye, putting her fingers over the right and measuring the patch of superhard skin.

The door of the building opened, and Izumi could smell the tobacco from Giran's cigarette.

"You better not have been throwing butts into the forest."

"Worried the birdies will eat them~?"

"They know better than that. And so do you."

"Of course, who do you take me for? A fire in these woods is bad for business."

"Hmm"

Izumi didn't bother to look at him, just letting him bask in his own importance, while she wrote down some measurements on her phone. She sighed, giving in to break the silence first.

"So, you are here for business"

The hunter leaned to the side of the table, scrolling on her phone for some references on how to work with hide.

"Exactly~ but first, I need to confirm we are on the same page" Izumi looked up from her phone, giving Giran a questioning look. "Last time you told me you want to rebrand and expand your target list, but what exactly does that entail?"

"You know what it does."

"Need to make sure, you know, good for business."

Izumi rolled her eyes, putting her phone down.

"Ok, I'll be pretty clear then. I'm extending my prey list to people as well. It's too late to walk out of that path either way."

"Oh~? Why so~?" Giran smirked, not bothering to hide the fact he wasn't surprised.

"Because I have already killed a hero. You know about this, don't act stupid or I'll start treating you like one." Some crows cawed at that, the elders never losing eye contact switch Giran.

"Haha~ busted~ you are sure you won't feel bad about hurting people~? Last time you seemed like you had a hard time thinking on it"

"I was still figuring it out. And also, not all people. Not gonna accept jobs to kill civilians."

"Oh? I didn't expect the cold hearted hunter to care for them."

"Care? Come on. It's just not an interesting prey. I want to actually have to put effort, not to become a mindless killer."

"So just a mindful killer I see~"

She sighed again, rolling her eyes.

"As if I care. I just don't want to waste bullets on something that won't last more than one hour"

"So it's that easy huh~?"

"More boring than easy. Also, don't think I don't know what you are doing"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Izumi-chan~" Giran raised his handles apologetically. "I'm just trying to get you know what jobs you are willing to take now~"

"And also probing about difficulty to be able negotiate payment"

He smirked, shrugging his shoulders, but Izumi could see a trail of sweat sliding through his face. She got him.

"Well, can you blame me? Different targets require different payments, not all heroes are going to be in your turf where you can easily observe and plan how to hunt them down."

Izumi turned around grabbing a marker and starting to draw lines over the hide.

"So the job you got is outside my territory"

Giran huffed, blowing more smoke from the cigarette.

"Haha-ha… busted~ Yeah, got someone willing to pay some good money if a certain hero in Aomori disappears"

"Aomori? All the way up in Tohoku? Hmmm, never been there" She continued drawing lines on the hide slowly, taking her time so she didn't mess up.

"Figured. Anyway, think you can do it~?"

"You don't have to bait my pride to do it. Have you already accepted a payment already or what?"

"Oh, don't be like that Izumi-chan~" He smirked when Izumi turned to look at him with a deadpan look on her face. "I just want to know what it'll take you to expand your territory~"

"You say that as if the Order will get mad if I move from Tia." She smiled, showing Giran all her teeth, all the crows shifting around them, making Giran feel like he was in the den of a dangerous animal (he was). "But it's not Diana the one taking jobs that the Order definitely has no business interfering with. Karasu will be the one."

Giran blinked a few times, then doubled and started laughing.

"Hahaha! Now that's some workaround over that rule! Were you worried the Order was going to give you shit for that?"

"The Order bends to the whims of the SASC. They separated themselves from doing hunts on people to be able to escape All Might's villain organization purge, by becoming legal under the SASC. I don't like the SASC," She spread her arms around, pointing at the crows "but still am interested in working with them if I can get good materials like this."

"Oh, yeah, what is that supposed to be?" Giran leaned closer, looking at the table.

"It's the hide of the nemean deer"

"Wasn't it furry?" Izumi merely pointed at the floor, where all the fur that she had pulled off the hide layed. "Ah, kinda gross. What are you going to do with it?"

"Your question was how I was going to handle payments on non animal targets, right?"

Giran smirked, backing away.

"You've gotten so smart Izumi-chan~. Sometimes I wonder if in the future you'll know what I'm going to say even before entering the door."

Izumi raised an eyebrow, then put a hand on her chin, looking up in thought.

"Oi, I was joking"

"Whatever. As for payment, honestly, I want the same type as with animals. I'm not that interested in money, I just want more tools and bullets for my work."

"That's it? My, my, you really see heroes as just prey~"

"People" Izumi corrected. "And let me finish. We had a non spoken agreement that the payment for the hunts of quirked animal usually got me more goods than usual"

"Yeah, what, you want people to go there too?"

"No. From now on, I want you to give me anything I want after a payment."

Giran stared at Izumi without uttering a word for a few seconds. Smoke came out of his nostrils and mouth as his cigarette fell to the floor.

"Eh? Wait, wait, wait, anything!? Izumi, I can't get you anything! I'm not fucking Santa Claus!" He stepped closer to her, but stopped when he felt something fly next to him, scratching his cheek.

He looked back, to find a strange black shard embedded on the wall. The crows were also looking all at Giran, and he somehow realized that he wasn't dealing with Izumi and her creepy crows anymore. He was dealing with an actual villain. And he knew better than to raise his voice and complain openly about payments when dealing with dangerous villains.

"I know you can't get literally anything I want. But I want you to know this." She got closer to him, some crows flying over and standing on her shoulders and head, until she was just in front of him, surrounded by crows. "I'll do any job on any hero and villain, provided it's an interesting hunt. Just keep in mind that I'll want a deserving reward."

Giran sighed. "Alright, alright, I get it. The higher the profile of the target, the better payment. Standard business model then. You could have just said that."

"Glad you understand. And you could have just said that you had a job for me instead of beating around the bush to try to get a better deal. You get the same or even more strict."

"Yeah, yeah, you adapted to making business like a villain sooner than expected."

She looked at him. A crow had flown to her hand and she was using her other hand to pet him. Just a few moments ago she had the presence of a hardened villain, now, she looked like her regular old creepy teenager self.

"What did you expect? I am a villain now." The crow flew from her hand and she pouted after she was left without her hand with nothing to pet. Giran made no effort to contain his snort.

"Yeah, sure, totally a villain. A bratty villain if anything."

"I'm not bratty." She glared at him, even growling slightly at him with a snarl on her face and a slight blush on her cheeks, making Giran burst out laughing again. "I'm not!"

Izumi huffed as Giran doubled over from the laughter, slowing her heartbeat to fade out her blush. Still, she let him have this moment, deciding to just glare and growl at him. She didn't want to chew him out too bad, he was giving her a job after all.

Izumi breathed into her hands, to spread her body heat around. She was in Feru City, having gotten there through the Shinkanshen. It was the first time she had gone to the Aomori prefecture, and she was experiencing winter a few weeks earlier.

It made Izumi wonder how the people of Hokkaido, which was even further to the north than Aomori dealt with this kind of weather. Still, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, having done multiple hunts in winter in a far less welcoming matter in Tia forest.

Izumi let herself be guided through the city by the crows. A few of them had nests here in Feru, and they were showing her around the city.

A few people looked her way after hearing her whistle to the crows, but unlike in Gaulusu back in Musutafu, no one treated the crows flying over them as disgusting creatures.

The hunter still refrained from bringing attention to herself. She was neither wearing her hunting clothes nor her school uniform, merely going out in casual clothes and a thick coat over her.

Chilly up north.

She remembered one of the crows guiding her telling her at the Nest when Izumi said she was going to go to Feru.

Still, her hands were freezing, and Izumi cursed not having brought at least her hunting gloves. Even though they were fingerless, they would have done much more to keep her hands warm than nothing.

Izumi sat on the bench of a park, looking around the strange plants that grew there. Feru City is a popular tourist destination nowadays because of its strange plants. Long ago, at the Dawn of Quirks, a certain woman had used her quirk to grow plants never seen before around the city, and the strange looking plants in the park were the only thing left after she died.

Izumi had read the plate at the entrance of the park, but it didn't say anything more than the information she had found about it online. She understood why despite the cold climate the crows liked to nest here. The strange plants and their weird looking multicolored vines made for pretty colorful nests, and crows loved flashy things.

After a while, Izumi finally saw what she had gone to Feru City for. Amp, the Radio Wave hero and one of his sidekicks passed through the park as part of their patrol. Izumi took out her phone, and started to just browse on the internet.

She observed the duo of heroes as they made their way near her, whistling for the nearby crows to focus up and follow them. Their target had finally shown up. Izumi made sure to keep using her phone as they passed.

Amp had an electric signal quirk, and Izumi wasn't going to let herself be caught lacking like her clients had been. They had managed to pull off a heist in Feru City's bank, being the only heist their little gang of criminals had successfully pulled off, but they were shortly found by Amp, who had managed to track them by listening in to the conversations in their communication devices.

It made Izumi curious as to how his quirk interacted with radio and electric waves in order to listen in on them. There had to be a secure way to prevent quirks like that from listening in, she was sure the government and phone companies wouldn't be happy if someone could eavesdrop on every conversation going on.

Either way, Amp had found the gang's base and managed to arrest half of them, with just a few of the others managing to escape with a portion of the stolen money. And the rest weren't exactly happy with that.

With Amp and the police on their tail, and unable to reliably communicate with each other over long distances, they exactly couldn't enjoy their stolen goods, so one of them had decided to hire some help.

That's when Giran had found them, and through that, Izumi got a job. Terminate Amp and free them from his investigation.

She wasn't intending to fall the same way they did, so she made sure to look into all the information available on Amp. His patrol routes, exploits, apprehended villains, video showcases of his quirk.

Izumi even went as far back as to watch commercials he starred in and investigate his time as an intern, back when he was a mere hero student at Shiketsu.

The hunter had learned a lot about all that. She had an idea of the range of his quirk, being probably somewhat around the radius of an entire city. He specialized in search operations, but had also good combat capabilities and a way to read his opponents moves in hand to hand.

Still, Izumi wanted to see first hand his patrol route, get familiar with Feru City, so she wouldn't get surprised.

Izumi suspected Amp could read his opponents minds to some degree. There was a pretty famous video she had found, where he fought off against multiple villains, and managed to evade all of their moves.

Izumi had seen people in online forums and social media react to that as nothing but the work of a hero ranking in the top 200, but considering in all the footage she was able to find, he always fought in close quarters, despite his quirk allowing him to catch radio waves through the whole city.

She had the theory that in close quarters, he was able to read the electrical signals of his opponents brain, and used that information to dodge their every move. For a long range hero specialized in information gathering, getting close and personal for fights seemed suspicious to Izumi, who also did better against her prey the further away she was from them.

Izumi got up after Amp and his sidekick were out of view, but didn't follow them in the same direction. She had to make sure he couldn't read her mind and know she was following him. The crows helped with that.

They flew around Amp, tailing him and the sidekick as they went through his patrol route. Izumi got into a building's emergency exit stairs, climbing up onto the roof.

She pulled a pair of binoculars she had made a year ago by refining some lenses in the arts and crafts club, and followed Amp's path with them.

The spot she was in, right at the center of the city, allowed her to see everything around it, and with the crows following Amp and flying above the buildings, some of them sometimes flying over to Izumi to update her every time Amp stopped for some reason, Izumi was able to figure out the patrol route that Amp went on.

She had brought a map of the city with her, and had scribbled on it the patrol that he had done. The hunter brought two fingers to her mouth and filled her lungs with as much cold air as she could.

Izumi's whistle echoed through the air, traveling through the city and sending a message to every crow that could hear. After a few minutes, all the crows had returned to her, and Izumi gave them a few treats as a reward for helping her.

"Good boy. Good boy. Good girl"

She petted the crows individually, praising them as she went along. It was important to show them she appreciated their help, even if they still didn't start the hunt.

"Did he look at you at all while you followed him?"

No.

Kept walking.

Stopped to talk to younglings.

Didn't see us.

Izumi nodded at them, hearing their caws and petting them. It was a great sign. He either couldn't sense their thoughts because of the distance they were keeping from him, or because they were animals.

She waited for Amp to come across the same street the building she was in was, and looked straight down at him, calming her heart and pulling every thought but one from her mind.

Amp slipping on a banana peel thrown by a villain back in his internet days.

She kept thinking about that as he got closer, until, after some time, just when he passed straight down the same building she was in, he suddenly stopped walking and looked up.

Izumi quickly stopped thinking about that, and saw Amp look around with an annoyed expression on his face. His sidekick said something to him, to which Amp shook his head, and kept walking on their patrol route.

Izumi let herself smile after he got further away, happy when she saw him not react to her current thoughts at all.

She had figured out the range of his mind reading ability, and it was far less than her rifle's.

Izumi slid into the shadows of Musutafu. She had her helmet on to obscure her face, along with a new set of dark hunting clothes, courtesy of Giran.

"A little gift for taking out Taser. Gave me a bunch of money through other deals."

He had said. Izumi wasn't sure how much truth there was in that statement. It could might as well be a ploy by Giran to make her trust him more or just a move to make her get softer with him.

She still accepted them though, they were nice and comfy, and refusing a gift wasn't something she liked to do. Izumi had a drawer filled with different things that the crows had brought her over the years as gifts.

The hunter expertly avoided all the hero patrols, having memorized all of the known heroes from reports that the crows had told her. Izumi figured that if she could track down Amp's patrol route, she should at least be able to memorize every hero patrol in Musutafu.

It'd come handy if she ever needed to move around undetected, so she was testing her abilities to go undetected through Musutafu's criminal underground.

There was something that she wanted to make sure of. She didn't want to ask Giran about it, because she didn't want him knowing she was interested in finding that out. The crows had asked her about what she was trying to find, that she would even go out one night even when she was just in the middle of a job to investigate Amp, but Izumi was a bit embarrassed and had refused to give them an answer. They still chose to go with her, not going to leave a member of the murder on their own.

Still, she had come prepared. Under the dark jacket that Giran had given her, Izumi had put on what she had been working on for a few days now: the Nemean Vest. She had managed to turn the hide of that stupid durable deer into a bulletproof vest.

Cutting it hadn't been much of a problem, with Kuro along, with much harder and sharper claws than the deer's hide, she cut it up over the spots she had marked on the hide, and then using the shard made of the same material as Kuro's claws and feathers, she sew it up into a proper vest.

Izumi had made the Nemean Vest tight, so she didn't need to bind her chest when she put it on, the vest biding her chest on its own. The mobility was also pretty good, sacrificing going over her arms, but Izumi could still bend and crouch without any issues when she put it on.

With that layer of protection under her, even if she got in some trouble, thanks to the crows Izumi could get away faster, and even surprise attacks would be harder to get to her, with the vest and helmet protecting her vital points.

The helmet did make her visibility get worse, but the streets were illuminated enough for her to still see properly. The crows would also help Izumi should anything escape her sight.

It was almost too easy for Izumi to slip in and end up in a so-called "bad neighborhood". Wuji dropped down onto her shoulder, as Izumi felt the stares of the criminals follow her, trying to gauge the new person walking into gang territory.

Izumi was a predator after all, she recognized when other predators looked at her trying to figure out if they could take her. So far no one had tried to do anything to her, probably because of Wuji.

It seems the criminal underground still remembered that villain group that used to be friends with crows enough to not try to approach her. Wuji's scar over where his right eye would be also made them think twice.

Izumi recognized a few low ranking villains and criminals. A man with large claws for fingers and two snail-like protrusions that separated his eyes from his head glared at her. Izumi recognized him as Sickle Claw, and just kept walking past him. A woman with long gray locks stopped him from getting closer to Izumi. She was Needle Hair, a villain who had tried and failed to steal multiple cashiers through Musutafu.

"What are you doing?" Sickle Claw pulled Needle Hair's hand off him.

"You shouldn't get closer to him. He has a crow with him"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

She merely pointed up, and Sickle Claws eyes dropped to the sides of his head when he saw multiple crows looking down on them, observing them and ready to spread the word should one of their comrades be done any harm.

Izumi let herself smile, thankful to the helmet for containing her emotions more easily. She still held her heart steady, unwilling to show any other predators here in Musutafu that she was in any way scared of them.

"He seems in good terms with the flying menaces. Better to not anger them." Needle Hair seemed to have more brains than her reputation suggested.

"Tsk. How did a nobody get on the good side of the Black Swarm?"

"Probably by not being a nobody…"

Izumi walked past a corner, leaving the flustered villains behind her, walking into a more crowded street. There were more criminals and what Izumi recognized as E and F ranked villains, talking amongst each other and drinking together or threatening each other.

It was a completely new side of Musutafu that she was experiencing for the first time, but something made Izumi turn her head. A tall man with a long white beard was drinking with other men at the door of a bar.

"What'cha looking at?"

Izumi made a point to stop walking and look at the man through the expressionless face that the helmet gave her.

She recognized him as Backfire, the member of the Order with the territory on Musutafu and its surrounding forests and mountains. It was the second time she had seen him, though the first time was by a photo Giran had shown him along with the rest of the members of the Order back when she had joined.

That man was one of the older members of the Order? He was just a drunk old man that didn't even sense Izumi as a fellow predator. But honestly, what should Izumi expect from the kind of people that folded over when All Might threatened to dissolve their villain organization?

It seems that Backfire didn't like being stared at like that by Izumi, and got closer to her, towering over her and casting a shadow into her.

"Have something to say, punk?"

Izumi could smell the booze through her helmet, the scent alone making her not want to touch alcohol. She didn't quite understand what the appeal of it really was. To get hammered and lose all your capabilities? It was stupid for a hunter to subject themselves to that, which told her Izumi all she needed to know about Backfire.

She may or may not also be aware of the lessons the old ravens taught the young chicks about how stupid and easy to take advantage of humans were under the effects of it. She had been told to not get closer to it, and honestly, Izumi had no intention to subject herself to that foul smelling, dumbing beverage.

Wuji purred his throat, making a growl directed at Backfire, the shine of the eyes of multiple other crows making their presence known as they looked down on the pair of hunters.

Izumi lost her interest completely, and let out a short whistle, making Wuji stop growling and the other crows looking down through the buildings around them stop glaring at Backfire. She turned around and walked away, disappointed another member of the Order had fallen so low.

"That's what I thought, creep!"

Izumi could feel the sighs of relief around her the moment they saw that there wasn't going to be a fight. Some even looked at the sky, and Izumi heard them mumble thanks to not being involved in a pointless fight.

"That old man is always causing trouble when he gets drunk."

"Yeah, that short guy was also smart to not try anything."

"He had a crow. Do you think…you know"

"What? Him being in good graces with the Murder? Don't talk nonsense. That's just one crow"

Izumi raised an eyebrow as he walked past them. Behind her she heard Backfire yell at some other villains about the stupidity of Bullseye, and being called a grumpy old man in return.

This whole street was filled with low aspiring villains with petty crimes and no instinct at all. Some had looked at the crows that observed them from high up, but abandoned any ideas that they were looking at them when they looked away, not realizing they did it the same time Izumi left Backfire and wasn't in potential danger any more.

Izumi let out two short whistles, coming muffled through her helmet but still noticeable. All the crows resting on the building cawed and flew out, scaring not a few of the people gathered there.

Izumi just ignored them and kept on her way, hoping to find something more interesting than washed up villains in the underground of Musutafu.

No one here looked like a predator, there's no way Izumi would find her here. A crow cawed in front of Izumi, making her sigh and moving away and leaning into a wall right as a hero on patrol passed by.

She looked back at the hero, disappointed at how easy it had been to hide her presence to them. They hadn't even looked at her, she had encountered prey with much better instincts so many times.

No wonder Toga-senpai has been able to keep herself hidden for so long without any problem… Heroes just can't catch up if you have good enough stealth skills.

The hunter left the street as she heard some startled shouts when some of the villains back there realized they had made enough noise for the hero with a patrol nearby to notice them.

She left them behind, and continued to explore the underground of Musutafu. Avoiding hero patrols was as easy as changing her position so prey wouldn't pick up her scent, and with the crows' support signaling her whenever there was a hero nearby, Izumi could practically walk around anywhere in Musutafu without ever having to see a hero.

She didn't encounter much after the encounter with Backfire, just more petty criminals and more villain frequented locations talking about meaningless stuff. She did catch on two men with beaked masks talking about the death of Taser, speculating on it.

Their theories were way off, not even once acknowledging the fact that he was killed by a bullet wound, and just talking about some absurd conspiracy over one of his sidekicks killing him.

She left that street as well, disappointed that the yakuza, much like the Order of Orion, had become husks of their former selves. One of the early things that the elders of the murder had taught Izumi in one of their talks for the chicks was how to identify some dangerous human groups, and the Shie Hassaikai was one of them.

It was disappointing to see that the knowledge carried from the crows from the former generation had become outdated in such a pathetic way.

She continued her search for the rest of the night, unbothered by the restlessness of it. Izumi already had awful looking eye bags, getting up all night wasn't going to make that much of a difference, if anything, it'd make her sleep schedule more consistent.

Izumi had looked up almost half of Musutafu's underground by now, and the sun was about to come up from the east, so she started to make her way back.

Two crows flew down in front of Izumi, going past Izumi and then flying back up. Getting the message, Izumi leaned into the wall, her dark clothes mixing with the shadows and cloaking her. She heard shouts up ahead, from what seemed like an angry mob. She calmed her breath and turned the corner, still hidden in the darkness of the shadows, crouched.

In front of her, there was what looked like a gang arguing amongst themselves. Izumi observed them in silence, as they argued. She had no intention of getting in the way of a gang with anger issues, so she started to step back, deciding to take another way to avoid a meaningless fight and some stupid question like "what are you doing in our territory?".

"I'm telling you! I found him cold dead! There was barely any blood around his body but he still had signs of dying from blood loss!"

Izumi stopped, pushing the visor of her helmet up and narrowing her eyes at the man that had said that.

"I don't care how he was killed! We have to send a message! No one kills one of us in our own territory! There's no way anyone will take the name of the Ikari Hebi otherwise!"

Izumi internally rolled her eyes, her training stalking prey keeping her steady and focused, completely undetected. She had never heard of this gang, which just meant that they weren't that big of a deal. Especially if one of them was killed…

"I get it! I also want to avenge Otosu! But he had his throat fucking ripped off! What kind of psycho does that!?"

"I don't care if he died from blood loss or from having been bitten off! No one leaves one of the Ikari Hebis for dead in a pool of their own blood in one of our streets!"

Izumi stayed hidden in the shadows for a while, until she had to walk away because the rising sun started to reduce the volume and darkness of the shadows. Still, she left with a smile on her face.

That gang was clearly incompetent, talking about wanting revenge while knowing nothing about the attacker and just saying they were going to kill them. But she could see right through them. They were scared of whoever had killed that Otosu guy, especially from the way they'd done it.

And it was the way he was killed in particular what had cheered Izumi up. She may have not found anyone with the same level of skill to hide their presence and bloodlust as herself, but that was a good thing, if she couldn't find her, then those incompetent heroes wouldn't either.

It seems Toga-senpai is also feeding well as well.

Izumi thought, happy that Toga was doing well by the looks of it. She heard a wingbeat from behind her and extended her arm in front of her to let the crow land in front of her.

"Urusai? How come you've come all the way here to Musutafu?"

The crow merely groomed his own wings, catching his breath. Before opening his beak as Giran's voice came out of it.

"Hey, Karasu. Was lucky enough to find 'long distance echo' over here to send you this message. Apparently phones are a no-no, Amp is getting closer to the clients and they want him gone a-s-a-p. So get it done by the end of the day, 'kay? Ok, bird, you can go no-"

Urusai closed his beak, shutting off Giran's voice with it. Izumi sighed, annoyed, but still remembered how much Urusai had to had flown out to deliver the message, so she gave him a treat for his efforts.

"Good job buddy."

The hunter pet him, while whistling for the other crows to relax as she came to a more open street.

"Giran" was angry at having "the job" rushed.

"I can imagine that, I'm also mad. He better double or triple the fee from the clients. Stupid idiots. What could have they possibly done this night to get Amp get closer? I know for a fact he didn't have a clue just 12 hours ago…"

Annoyed, Izumi went back to the apartment, sneaking inside without waking up Inko. She would have wanted to stalk her prey for a few more days to be able to prepare for every possible situation, but she had enough information on his current patrol routes to be able to hunt him down without any issues.

Karasu left the station of Feru City, a long bag strapped around her back and a black face mask obscuring her face. It was the afternoon, meaning Amp and his sidekicks would still patrol for a few more hours at least.

Still, Karasu had come early, so she could wait for a few minutes before going for the hunt. The advantages of hunting an organized society were that she could afford to trust prey to follow a schedule.

She went into a pet shop that she had seen other times she had come to observe Amp's patrol for today's hunt. Karasu looked around, going into the section for birds, and looking out for high quality bird food.

Karasu ended up getting some feed specialized for omnivorous birds, which some of the crows had told her was especially yummy. There was no way for Karasu to actually check on the taste, but she knew it was good for them, and that was reason enough.

"Ahh, that feed is excellent for growing chicks, good choice young man." An old lady told Karasu as she saw what she had in her hands. "What breed is your birdie, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's not mine .I'm just friends with… a group of crows"

"Ah! Oh, sorry missy, I thought you were a boy, with that get up and all…"

"It's fine."

"And crows you say? And you are willing to feed them that even though they aren't yours? They must like you very much" Karasu let a smile peak even through her facemask.

"Yeah.. they do."

She paid for the feed, not caring much about being over priced, and stuffed it inside her bag before any of the crows could see it. Looking at the time, she made her move and started going to her spot. Already knowing the best ways to quickly reach the best rooftops to observe the city properly, Karasu didn't have a hard time reaching them.

She was standing on the building at the end of the street where Amp's agency was, a long distance away from where her target would pass, but nothing impossible for Karasu, and just out of range of his perception ability. Two crows landed next to her, giving Karasu her helmet, which she put on. Karasu was now with her entire hunting gear, now including the Nemean Vest underneath it, instead of the bind to keep her chest steady.

Karasu opened the bag and took out the rifle from it, expertly putting it back together as she had done countless times before. The hunter popped a Black Bullet inside the rifle and leaned over the edge of the building, laying down so as to not be seen.

The sun was starting to set, meaning that Amp's patrol was about to end and he would come back into his agency. Karasu waited patiently, heart steady, rifle in her hands, pointing directly at the agency looking through the scope of her rifle.

He is coming.

Thump….thump…..thump…thump…

The crows informed Karasu, and shortly after, her prey walked right into view. She breathed out, emptying her lungs and pointing directly at the hero's head, but something tackled him, making him grab the attacker and spin in the spot, grappling them.

Thump…thump…

Karasu waited patiently, keeping her calm, and when a woman approached the two grappling each other, she had to do a double take, as she kissed Amp. Karasu quickly realized that these must be Amp's family.

Thump…thump…

The attacker was just a kid, probably a few years younger than Karasu, while the woman was clearly Amp's wife. Amp had gotten the kid in his arms, and was right in front of his face from Karasu's perspective.

Thump…thump…

She didn't have a clear shot, so she refrained from shooting at him. She saw the woman talking, saying something to Amp most likely, before he put the kid down. Karasu hovered her finger around the trigger of her rifle, but the woman put herself right in front of Amp.

Thump…thump…

Izumi waited patiently, but every time Amp moved a bit, so did the woman, and she didn't have a clear shot at him. Still, Karasu didn't let this little setback disturb her concentration, keeping a low breathing and steadying her heartbeat.

Thump…..

Karasu's instincts were stretched to their limit, her sight and perception being forced to the peak of their performance, as she kept herself in a perfect zen state. Eventually, Amp backed away to get inside his agency, probably to get changed into casual clothes, and that was all Karasu needed.

Bang!

She pulled the trigger, the silencer of the rifle muffling the bang, as the Black Bullet ripped through the air and landed on Amp's head, going right past his wife without even grazing her.

Thump…..thump….thump….thump…thump…

His head was pulled to the side, spinning in an unnatural angle with the force of the shot, before he fell to the ground, making a pool of his own blood.

Karasu could see through the scope the woman and kid screaming as sidekicks came out of the agency and pulled them inside. Izumi pulled the rifle away, her job done. The crows around her cawed and cheered.

Food!

Prize!

Food! Food!

Izumi whistled at them, signaling to stay here, while she opened the bag, revealing the feed she had gotten earlier in the pet shop.

"Can't have you bringing attention to ourselves, but you still deserve a treat, so have this instead of tearing the skin out of his face, okay?"

She had nothing else to say, and smiled as the crows dove into the box containing the feed, tearing it apart and getting their treat. Izumi disassembled her rifle and put it into her bag, picking up the broken parts of the cartridge of the Black Bullet from the floor (well, rooftop) to hide any sort of evidence.

She waited for the crows to finish tearing apart the box and eating the treats before going down the emergency stairs at the side of the building to get down.

Police sirens roared as they went towards Amp's agency, while people around Izumi looked at the distance, trying to figure out what happened, some even getting closer to the agency, thinking it must be the spectacle of another fight with a villain.

Izumi was just happy for a job well done. Amp's family getting in the way had been mildly annoying, but they weren't her prey, just Amp. And she had successfully hunted him down.

She took off her helmet when no one was looking directly at her and let two crows pick it from her. Her heart was beating from the satisfaction and pride of taking on her first hero hunt and her second hero kill.

Izumi, Karasu, really loved her job.