Tomura scratched his neck. That damn dead looking NPC had dared to look at him as if he was the NPC. How dare she! He wanted to see her become a pile of dust on the floor.
He grinned and left his irritated neck breath, starting to go follow her, feeling his hands tingle with desire to make her disappear.
"Shigaraki Tomura"
His smile faded as a man in a bartender uniform and a black mist coming from where his hands and face should be got close to Tomura.
"Not now Kurogiri, I have to calm the itch inside me"
"The bathroom is in the opposite way"
Tomura turned to look at him, glaring his red eyes into Kurogiri's yellow lines that were his eyes. He scratched his neck again, using both hands this time.
"I didn't mean that, you idiot. A stupid NPC pissed me off, I want to make her disappear"
He turned to look at the middle schooler, only she was nowhere to be found. Tomura looked around, scratching his neck and starting to draw a bit of blood, wetting his fingers.
"Where did she go? She disappeared! This is all your fault, Kurogiri!"
"My apologies, but didn't you want her to disappear? Isn't this situation what you wanted?"
Tomura thought about it. He thought really hard. He thought until his hands were red from opening the flesh of his neck.
"You are lucky your quirk is useful to me, Kurogiri" The man shifted uncomfortably and handed Tomura a handkerchief. He took it wordlessly and put it on his neck.
"Did you do your assignment, Shigaraki Tomura?"
"Of course I did. I wouldn't ever fail a direct mission from Sensei. Made the NPC that dared to annoy him disappear." His smile widened into a sadistic grin as he wiped his neck from blood. "His screams were a great death sound effect"
"I see. Sensei will be pleased. Let's go back then"
They went to the bathroom of the station, and didn't come out.
2 - Same routine
Izumi raised her arm, and Hatori flew over to her.
Wolf coming here.
"Good girl"
She pet the crow gently with two fingers as it flew over in the direction she came from.
Izumi readied her rifle, clicking the magazine into place. She sniffed the air, picking up a faint scent of dried leaves and moss.
The air was dry, her scent was going to get picked up by the wolf. She had hunted them in the past, multiple assignments having been hunting them down to stop them when they were getting close to Konukoru.
Izumi whistled, her teeth pressed into her lower lip and tongue rubbing against them. She crouched, and started feeling the ground.
She felt the dirt for a while, until her fingers dug into mud. She stopped whistling, the message clear to any crow that was listening.
Izumi got onto her knees, and pushed her hand into the mud. She started covering her face and clothes with mud.
One of the first things to do when hunting something with an excellent sense of smell was hiding your scent from it.
Izumi wasn't apprehensive of staining her hunting clothes. They were worn out and dirty from their usage, and with air so dry, she needed to keep her scent hidden until the last moment.
She saw Hatori and Shiro fly over her and cawed a few times. They had brought the wolf over to her.
Izumi got in between some bushes, laying into the ground covered by them, her rifle's tip pointing outside the bushes.
Hatori and Shiro flew back next to her, looking in the same direction as Izumi.
The hunter slowed her heartbeat, breathing down slowly, getting into the zone as a lone blue wolf ran into view.
The wind blew from the wolf to Izumi. Hatori and Shiro were completely silent, observing the target in front of her panting and looking around.
Izumi was almost motionless, laying in the ground, hidden by the brushwood. Without making any noise, she tilted her rifle, moving it to point directly at the target's head.
The wolf's fur shone a bright blue as the wind changed direction. The wolf straightened it's ear, sniffing the air, picking up a new scent and-
Bang!
The blue wolf dropped to the ground, leaving a pool of blood on the dirt below its head before it could even realize Izumi's scent. Hatori and Shiro cawed, flying over to the corpse.
"Corpse!" Food! "Gauge eyes out!" Tongue's mine!
Izumi got up, dusting her chest off dirt, not reacting to the chants of gore of the crows as they tore their beaks into the face of the wolf. She went next to the corpse of the wolf, looking over at its distinctly mutated blue fur. It wasn't the first time that her target was quirked, though it was rare for her to get them.
The note said that it had a speed quirk, flashing blue and running around the entire prefecture, eating cattle and escaping rangers and farmers. That's when the Order was involved.
She had gotten the job this time, probably because of all the area the crows could scout for her.
Kuro flew over to her, her metal feathers clanking and scratching against each other as she beat her heavy wings. She and a few other crows had forced the wolf to get to Tia forest.
Izumi pet Kuro's head, noticing a few feathers bent inwards into her wing. Kuro's quirk, Light Armor, made her feathers a pure black metal harder than steel and light enough to still let her fly, but it seems that a full speed tackle of the wolf had managed to bend some in.
She let Kuro join the feast, as she went over to tear the ears out of the wolf.
"Don't mangle the corpse too much, I still need to deliver it somewhat recognizable"
Yes mooooom. Shiro cawed her way, as he swallowed an eyeball.
Izumi rolled her eyes, and whistled at Shiro. She hopped over to her and spread his wing, rubbing it wing his beak until a loose white feather came off.
"Thank you"
He cawed and went back to fight with Hatori over the tongue of the wolf. Izumi turned to Kuro and kept her steady as she overlapped Shiro's feather against Kuro's beant ones.
"Good girl"
Izumi rubbed the white feather quickly over the bent metallic black feathers. Kuro was used to getting her armor matched up, so she stood still as Izumi worked.
The white feather heated up, and as Izumi rubbed it over the bent metal, heating up, let go of it. The feather was left smoking over the dirt, and Izumi pushed against the borders of the bent feathers, until they bent the other way to their original position.
Kuro spread her wings, making her feathers tingle against its other as her armor was fixed.
"Thanks"
"You're welcome"
Izumi stepped over the white feather smoking in the dirt, to put it out from combusting. Shiro's quirk, Heavenly Fire, made his feathers combust in white flames if his body heat increased, and gave him immunity to fire.
It also made his feathers heat up exponentially with friction. Izumi had learned how to use that to her advantage by heating up Kuro's feathers to push them into their original shape when they weren't bent too badly.
The fingerless gloves she wore from her hunting gear protected her from the intense heat, but she still had to put off the feather from combusting. Just rubbing it against Kuro's wing for a few seconds had been enough to bend her metal, and to make her sweat even though it was chilly in Tia.
"That'll be enough, come on, let's go"
She grabbed the corpse of the wolf, putting it over her shoulder. She was unbothered by the gore on its head, the bullet wound she had made, the missing ears, eye and tongue. Hatori flew over and then grabbed what was left of the bullet.
It was unusable now, but Izumi didn't like to leave anything behind, not even the leftovers of a bullet.
She grabbed her burner phone and sent a message.
Green2: I got it. Meet you at the usual place
Shiro and Kuro flew towards the Nest, leaving Hatori alone with her. He flew into Izumi's shoulder and waited for her to open her palm in front of him before dropping the leftover of the bullet into her hand.
"Thanks, you coming as well?"
"Yes!" Don't like him.
"Well, he has the contacts" Izumi sighed, resigned, and went to meet her handler.
Izumi arrived at an abandoned building covered in moss and vines in the middle of the forest. Hatori flew from her shoulder, going through the broken window.
Izumi didn't slow down even after Hatori flew back to the window from the inside, looking at her.
Safe.
Izumi smiled at her and blew her a kiss. She opened the door of the building with her foot and got inside.
"Well, well, well~ happy to see you still in what piece Izumi-chan" Giran smirked at her, making sure to show her his ugly smile.
He was reclining on a chair, sitting on the only table inside.
"You didn't think this little thing could really get me, right?" She arched an eyebrow at him, and laid the wolf on the table.
Ugly.
"Now of course not, you never disappoint. But you know, that wolf escaped a few other members of the Order" He blew some smoke, looking over at the corpse and feeling the blue fur. Hatori cawed at him, flapping her wings to move the smoke right back into his face. "Yeah, yeah, you moody bird, 'don't blow smoke into other people's faces'" He mocked, furrowing his brow and waving the smoke away with his hand.
"You shouldn't do that, it stinks the place and it's bad for your lungs" She slapped his finger off the wolf's hole in its skull. "Have some respect"
He laughed at her. Hatori growled like a dog. Giran didn't even react to her, which pissed Hatori off. Izumi patted her head to comfort her.
"Come on, look at how you deliver the corpses. The head's all messed up! The others at the Order think you are crazy for mutilating all your prey! If only they knew you chop them down to feed your pets"
Izumi gave him a tired stare and rolled her eyes, sighing.
"Giran-san"
"I know, I know, the crows are a tactical advantage! If they knew they'd try taming their own and that'd make me lose money because I wouldn't be able to give you as many targets, so on and so forth"
Izumi kept looking at him with a poker face. Hatori did the same. Giran sighed.
"Aaaand they are not your pets"
"Thank you. And if the order really has a problem with how I deliver corpses then they should have caught it themselves"
"That is true" Giran snickered. "Who would have thought the best hunter of the Order of Orion would be just a kid!"
He took black plastic bags and started to get the wolf inside one, and then that bag inside another and so on.
"What is it going to be this time?"
"A silencer. The old one got damaged in the last hunt, which you still haven't paid me"
"Hmm? Is that true?" Giran feigned ignorance.
"Pay! Pay! Pay!" Hatori cawed angrily.
"'kay, 'kay! Was just joking" He took out another cigar and put it in his mouth, before searching in his pocket, and handling down 20 bullets.
Izumi took them and pocketed them.
"You need to teach some manners to your crow" He said, lighting his cigar.
"Not-"
"Yeah, yeah, not your crow"
"And you should stop trying to rip me off. Seriously Giran, it's enough already the share from my hunts that you get"
"Yep, but since you don't want to get your pretty face known by the people who order these hunts, or just by your hunter pals… Well, you'll just have to deal with me"
He winked at her and grabbed the bag, blowing the cigar as he did so.
"I'll get you your silencer for your next assignment, Izumi-chan"
He walked to the door.
"Giran-san" He stopped and looked back at her. "You had to set this up today, didn't you? It's the first day of school"
"Is it now? Sorry, didn't know~" He smirked and walked away.
"Some informer you are"
Die in hole! Hatori cawed, annoyed, making Izumi contain a chuckle.
"Don't be like that, he takes advantage of the assignments, but he always delivers every payment"
He should be nice.
"Hmmm, maybe, but he's a criminal, I don't want to be very friendly with him" Izumi walked over to a corner, pulling away some vines and uncovering a hole in the wall that went underground.
"No hole!" Hatori cawed, pulling Izumi's sweater with her beak. Izumi sighed.
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad, and it's faster! I have to get back to the station before eight"
"No hole! No hole!" Izumi sighed, turning around and looking at Hatori.
"Alright, alright, how about you go on your own through the air, and I go into the scary hole"
Hatori poked the wooden floor, unsure. Izumi rolled her eyes.
"You get to tell the others I'm coming" That seemed to cheer her up, as she hopped side to side and flew into the window.
"Deliver! Message!" She cawed, Izumi smiled.
"Yes, yes, you deliver the message, we'll see each other at the nest"
She cawed one last time. Izumi whistled in response. Hatori flew away, heading north.
Izumi sighed, strapping the rifle into her back and getting inside the hole in the wall and crouching to get the flashlight she hid there under moss. She tapped its side a few times until the flashlight flickered and switched on.
She walked through the hole, going underground. The hole led to an underground series of tunnels that spread all over the forest of Tia and certain points of its neighboring city, Konukoru.
Izumi's father had told her once that decades ago, a villain group had used a quirk to dig a labyrinth below Konukoru. The police had sealed and covered most of the tunnels that the villain group used back in the day, but it seems the villain with the digging quirk had made some tunnels on his own, without telling the group.
This was one of those tunnels. Izumi had searched for any openings in the forest that could lead to any underground tunnel, and had connected them to places of interest.
The tunnels were supported by reinforced dirt on the walls and ceiling. Izumi knew that the villain's quirk was some sort of earth manipulation like the pro hero Pixie Bob's Earth Flow, and that let them manipulate the consistency of dirt as they pleased.
As a result of that, even though the tunnel was several times older than her, it had stood the test of time, not allowing even roots from the trees above to pierce through the hardened walls.
Izumi wordlessly walked through the tunnel, making turns and changing directions whenever she found another path, knowing the layout of the tunnels.
After 30 minutes, she got to the exit. A crack on the side of the tunnel that the original creator hadn't put there.
Izumi squeezed herself from the crack, getting into a softer, tighter, younger tunnel. She grabbed her rifle tightly so it wouldn't get stuck because of the lack of space and crawled upwards slowly, until the light of her flashlight hit a wooden ceiling.
She turned off the flashlight, letting the faint light from the outside leak through the edges of the wooden plank. Izumi pushed against it, as it bent upwards, revealing it as a trap door and exposing Izumi to the forest again.
The young girl immediately heard multiple caws and voices, making her smile. She dragged herself out of the hole, putting the flashlight down and closing the trap door.
"Izumi!" "Izumi!" Keeper! "Izumi!" Missed you! "Food?"
A murder of crows flew around Izumi, cawing and pulling her clothes as they demanded her attention. Izumi giggled and let them wide her into an opening.
She was in the murder's Nest, a place in Tia forest where crows gathered to socialize and exchange information and lessons. She patted the crows when they got closer to her, rubbing their heads lightly with a finger.
"Missed you too, guys"
Hatori smugly cawed at other crows, hopping from one group to another, cawing and telling everyone 'I told you so' and being responded 'It's not like I didn't believe you, idiot'.
Shiro and Kuro were also there, along with a group of ravens Kuro's size watching over everyone.
Izumi knew all 31 crows and 7 ravens personally, and had hunted with them at least once. And these weren't even all the crows from the murder. Wuji and Urusai were in Musutafu, along others, Gorogoro and a few old ravens were all the way Hosu and Vespin.
She truly felt at home with them, in the Nest, or whenever they hung out together. She sat on a rock and put her rifle down, hearing out the younger crows as they described the new things they've learned today.
Izumi was old compared to the crows and ravens, but the older ones knew enough to understand Izumi was still a child in human years. So she also shared all the new things that she learned with the murder.
With the confusing state of her life and having moved out, switched to a new school, new neighborhood… this felt nice. To be surrounded by black (and Shiro's white) feathers, the tallest trees of the forest, and the little sanctuary Izumi had helped create by building big bird houses all over the Nest.
She had been very young when she'd started to build them, Giran being confused over her asking for wood, nails and glue instead of arrows and bullets back then, but the Nest had truly become a fortress for the murder.
The Nest had become from a meeting place for the murder to a place they could call home. Other animals didn't get near the Nest, intimidated by the big ravens always guarding it. Even the occasional animal that traveled somehow to Tia like the blue wolf Izumi had hunted learned quickly not to mess with them.
If not Izumi, the crows themselves made them know Tia wasn't their territory for nothing. With a few of the crows having quirks, not even lone quirked animals stood a chance to compete for the territory.
People weren't usually a problem, with the Nest being so far into the forest no one other than Izumi had reached it. The SASC was none the wiser and as far as the Order of Orion was concerned, Tia forest was Izumi's territory. They wouldn't mess around with another's territory.
Green Chick. One of the oldest ravens walked towards Izumi, followed by the younger crows, including Hatori.
Izumi nodded her head in respect.
"Good to see you Oji-san"
Oji-san hummed like an old man. When Izumi first met him, she wondered whether he'd learned how to do it from observing old guys hum in Konukoru, or if he had learned on his own, perhaps taught from ravens from the previous generation.
The younger crows cawed, getting into a circle with Izumi and Oji-san being each on side of it, and showed each other the different tricks they'd learned, told the new things they'd seen and the new people they didn't like and needed to make their life impossible.
Green Chick. Any new? Oji-san moved his head to lock one of his eyes into Izumi.
"Hunted a blue wolf by a task of Giran"
A few of the crows puffed at the mention of his name.
Didn't Green Chick "fly" to new "nest?" Izumi sighed, rubbing the back of her head.
"Yes, I finally moved out, saw Wuji this morning, by the way"
Oji-san hummed as the rest of the crows looked at her, wanting to know more. Izumi would rather not talk about her bad first day, but the point of these meetings with Oji-san and the younglings was to talk and learn.
"Well, the new school I go to, you know, to learn with humans, well, let's just say I made a bad first impression"
Some crows cawed indignantly, even the ones outside the circle when they heard that. Oji-san groomed his wings.
Want "murder" to intervene?
The low voice he used to say murder would have scared anyone that wasn't used to him, but Izumi didn't even flinch, used to his deep voices.
"No, not necessary, Wuji already scared off some of my classmates"
That seemed to cheer everyone up, filling the Nest with revindicated caws and cheers.
"Wuji…" good boy him. Us are not welcome in south "Musutafu. Murder" was there generations ago. Since "All Might", hard for us there.
That piqued Izumi's interest, along with the younger crows.
"Yeah, I heard something like that. People there in Gaulusu looked bad at me just for interacting with Wuji. They said that crows used to work with a villain group."
Hmmmm. There was a "human" that turned into "murder" back then. So the elders said.
"Before even you Oji-san? Must have been when All Might cleaned Musutafu up"
Hmmm, yes, I hadn't hatched yet, but those south "Musutafu humans" still remember. It is taught to avoid going there. Many enemies made very frequently. Green Chick should "fly" to another "nest".
Izumi sighed and pressed her hand against her forehead.
"It's not that easy Oji-san. I can't just leave mom. I can't live on my own"
Hmmmm. Too soon to leave her nest, Green Chick thinks?
"Well, humm, wait, actually, yeah, just that. It's still too early." She grinned at them. "Besides, no one else should decide where we put our nest, right?"
She was responded by affirmative caws, and a few rubs against her, showing affection.
Hmmm. Hmmmm. Good answer. It is true it's been long time since last generation. "Murder" has grown. "Murder flies" where it pleases.
The crows riled up, even the old ravens extending their wings and showing their approval. Shiro and a few other crows flew in the air above them, Kuro cawed from inside a birdhouse, Hatori cawed from Izumi's shoulder.
Izumi smiled, glad to be able to count on them for anything. She rolled her sweater's sleeves to check for time. 7 pm, it was getting late.
"It's late, I better get going"
Hmmmm, safe travel, Green Chick.
Izumi got up, grabbing her rifle and going back to the trap door. She strapped the rifle on her back and grabbed the flashlight, preparing to go back into the hole that led to the tunnel.
Shiro flew into her shoulder and Izumi noticed a few other crows flying in the direction of the station.
"You coming with me?"
Why not. We nest where we want. And we'll be closer to your nest.
Izumi giggled and pet his head.
"Alright then, I can't stop you. You going down into the tunnels with me Shiro?"
Yes. It's calm there.
He just wants a free ride on you! Hatori cawed, grooming his wings to unsuccessfully divert Shiro's attention.
"That's fine by me, I don't mind, after you"
Shiro cawed smugly and flew into the hole once Izumi opened the trap door. Hatori made a low purring sound and scratched her claws into the ground.
Izumi giggled, Hatori was pouting.
"If only you liked the hole, maybe you could also get a ride~"
Hatori looked at Izumi, interested, then flew to the edge of the hole, looking down, thinking it over.
She cawed, shaking her body and flying away into a birdhouse. Izumi burst out in laughter.
She wiped a tear from her eyes and sighed.
"Well, see you guys!"
Bye! "Bye!" Come back soon! "By-bye!" Hmmmm.
With that, Izumi crawled into the hole, rifle on her back and flashlight on hand, and closed the trapdoor after her.
Izumi closed the locker of the train station. Having switched the bag with the mountain/hunting gear for her backpack and stored her rifle in the hidden safe in the forest, she was ready to head back home, just in time for the Shinkanshen back to Musutafu.
She let the key to the locker fall down to the floor as she went to the stop, stepping on it so it didn't make any noise. Unlike before, the creepy guy was nowhere to be seen and no one even realized what happened when Hatori went down and picked the key, flying off back to the forest.
Izumi counted a few crows inside the station, some on the floor, others clinging to the edge of the open ceiling. She could sense Shiro somewhere behind her, out of view. Unlike the other crows, he was very noticeable, so if they were going to sneak into the Shinkanshen like the rest, he had to hide first to not bring attention to themselves.
She smiled to herself as the Shinkanshen arrived with a squeal. She got inside as she had multiple times. Sneaking crows into the train was easier than it seems. Some of the members of the Nest had been passing down that knowledge to every crow they could for apparently years even before Izumi met them.
They flew right after passengers entered the train, making sure they landed right behind their feet and quickly hid under a seat where they wouldn't be seen.
Some got in between some of the wagons, among them Shiro. It wasn't the safest place and they could get caught if the engineer passed through.
What is he gonna do? Kick us out if he finds us? Izumi remembered one of the larger ravens say when she asked them what would happen if they were found out.
She wasn't concerned in the slightest for them. They traveled through the Shinkanshen multiple times even without her, and even with her, it was always funny when they got out.
The SASC had tried to prevent them getting in sometime 5 years ago, but since the crows rarely caused any real trouble and they couldn't prove it was a quirked animal attack, they were shot down.
The Shinkanshen screeched as it stopped in Gaulusu's station. Izumi got off the train, and a few passengers screamed, as crows flew from their hiding spots.
It caused somewhat of a commotion, as passengers suddenly had crows flying from right behind their seats, and others directly flying over the heads of the passengers trying to get in from their hiding spot in between the wagons.
A few people screamed at them and called them flying menaces. The only thing they got in return was caws and feints of attack, making them scatter. Izumi fought to not show the smile that creeped its way into her mouth after seeing these crow haters panic like that.
Izumi contained a laugh, and pointed with her nose to the exit, whistling lowly. Shiro flew from behind her, getting out of the Shinkanshen just as its door began to close. The rest of the crows followed him, and they got out of the station.
Izumi smiled, straightened her school uniform, and started walking towards home.
"I'm home"
Izumi tiredly said, as she left her shoes in the entrance. There were less boxes in the hallway from when she left this morning.
She strapped her back off her, putting it in one arm and going to her room.
"How…was your day Izumi?"
There was a worried tone in Inko's voice.
"It was… alright"
"Did you make any friends?"
Izumi stopped in the hallway.
"No"
"I see…well, let's hope you can made peace with them and be friends"
"Made peace?" Izumi turned around, furrowing her brow. Inko held her stare, getting firm.
"Izumi, I've heard of what happened"
"And what exactly did you hear?" Izumi clenched her teeth and balled hands into fists.
"I went outside to see the neighborhood, meet our neighbors, they are lovely by the way. A sweet newlywed couple, and old woman with a very interesting flaming hair quirk, there's also this family with two kids that-"
"Mom! What did you hear!?" Izumi shouted at her, panting and glaring at her.
"Well, as I was saying before I was interrupted" Izumi scoffed at the remark, becoming increasingly annoyed and anxious "I went outside and heard a story I didn't like very much. Izumi, did you send a crow to attack a classmate?"
Inko's stare was firm, and looked down on Izumi, disappointed. It made Izumi's blood boil. She grinded her teeth.
"I didn't send a crow to attack her"
"But it did happen, right?"
Izumi looked away, feeling a knot on her chest, not taking her mother's judgemental stare too well.
"Izumi, how do you expect to make friends when you have your crows do that?"
"I didn't tell Wuji to attack her! He did it on his own!"
"Don't raise your voice against me, young girl!" Izumi flinched, feeling the knot in her chest get tighter and make it harder to breathe. "Why didn't you immediately come back home after school? Where have you been?"
"..."
"Izumi…" Inko warned her.
"Around" Izumi breathed out, not meeting her gaze.
"And that around wouldn't be too far, right? Say, taking the bullet train to go to that creepy forest, right?"
Izumi kept quiet, and after a while she turned around to go to her room and flee from the conversation.
"Don't ignore me, missy! You did go there! Why!? We are trying to not bring attention to ourselves and you go and cause a scene with a crow of yours!"
"I didn't create a scene! Those three girls did!"
"Blaming the victims of the attack now Izumi?" Inko now looked angry at her.
"VICTIMS?! Do you hear yourself?!" She stormed into her room, Inko following close behind her.
"What else do you call poor girls that get attacked by one of those…flying menaces!"
"So you are going native now and calling them that horrible nickname?"
"Don't change the subject, Izumi!"
Izumi furrowed her brow, throwing her backpack into her bed.
"I didn't send Wuji to attack them! He did it on his own to protect me!"
"Protect you from what? Izumi, they are just normal girls!"
Izumi started shaking from anger and disbelief, tears starting to leak from her eyes.
"So that's what it is! They are normal girls and Izumi is just a weirdo whose only friends are crows! And since Izumi's friends defend her, now it's all her fault, isn't it?! It's always my fault they care about me and attack bullies, right?!" She was crying like a river now, feeling her mouth tremble and the dam in her chest finally broken, much to Inko's surprise "It's always what others think! What others say! Why doesn't it matter to you what I say! What I feel!"
That seemed to make Inko stop, seeing Izumi full on crying at her.
"Izumi…"
"At least Wuji is always by my side!" She shouted at her, and immediately regretted it, tears coming down her face and her body shaking as she sobbed.
Inko was horrified by Izumi's outburst. Izumi hated herself for letting her guard down so much and showing her mother her ugly side. The previous exchange with Samehada and the other girls had taken a toll on Izumi.
Going for a hunt and spending time with her friends had relaxed her heart and mind, but all her emotions spilled over at once, and she couldn't do anything to stop them. She sat on her bed, sobbing and rubbing her eyes to stop herself from ugly crying.
"Oh Izumi…" Inko sat beside her, patting her daughter's back gently and rubbing her back. "I'm sorry I'm not always with you and get angry…it's just, I get so worried, and you know what happens with rumors…"
"I, I know, mom, s-sorry, I didn't mean that" Did she? "I, I know you always do y-your best for me…" She tried to convince herself.
"But you are right, I didn't hear your version first, I'm sorry baby"
Izumi, hugged her, sobbing into her mother's shoulder until she calmed down a bit.
"Tell me what happened baby, slowly"
Izumi swallowed the lump in her throat and told her everything, how Samehada and her friends had been teasing her on her way to school, and then how after learning she was quirkless, they switched into treating her like a powerless doll, wanting her protect her against her will and force themselves into her life.
"Oh baby…"
"D-don't call me that mom…" Inko smiled and pulled a strand of hair behind Izumi's ear.
"Izumi, I'm sorry you had to hear that… Don't listen to that girl, you know you aren't useless"
"Of course mom…"
"But that crow…" Inko sighed, shaking her head. Whatever she was going to say, she thought it over again. "I'm happy that it helped you, but you shouldn't rely on them"
Izumi got quiet, pulling herself away from Inko, looking down at her own knees.
"You know they bring bad attention to yourself Izumi, from what you told me it was because of him that they started teasing you"
"It wasn't his fault" Izumi said in a low tone.
"I know, but you know how people are"
"It shouldn't be like this"
"I know b-Izumi, but it is"
"They are my only friends, mom"
Inko shifted uncomfortably. Izumi knew she also didn't like the crows. She wanted Izumi to be normal. To not have strange hobbies and like odd stuff. She wanted Izumi to not interact with the crows to have a chance to have a normal life.
The murder also didn't like Inko. Izumi sensed it every time she told them something Inko forbade her from doing or her decisions about moving out. They also knew Inko didn't like them, and at this point the feeling was mutual.
But unlike her mother, the murder didn't outright say anything bad about her or encourage Izumi to leave her. They often questioned Izumi about leaving the nest to be free like them, but when she denied them they didn't keep pressing her.
"I know…but couldn't you at least… not bring attention to yourself?"
Izumi felt the lump in her throat get bigger.
"Yes mom. That's why I took the Shinkanshen"
Izumi knew that upset her mom, in fact, she was counting on it. It was a contradiction in what her mother wanted, to not go out to meet them in the forest, and to interact with them away from people.
"We'll…talk about this later, Izumi"
She sighed, and patted Izumi's back again before getting up and heading out, stopping by the door.
"I'll go make dinner"
"Alright mom"
"Love you Izumi"
"...love you too"
Inko let her door open as she left her. Izumi got up and closed it quietly, then threw herself into her bed, groaning into her pillow as a single tear ran down her face.
Tap, tap, tap.
Izumi raised her head from the pillow, still looking like a wreck, and turned to look at her window.
There, with his head turned to look at her with his only eye was Wuji. Izumi got up and opened the window.
Wuji hopped inside without making a sound, knowing not to let Inko know he was near.
"It didn't take you long to find my new apartment" She whispered, bending down to pat him.
Easy. Fly around and look for you.
"I see" She kept petting him gently, and he showed her his black pearl to look at her.
"You alright?" Wuji mimicked Izumi's voice, throwing back at her the worry that she had felt for him before.
Izumi sat on the floor beside her bed and rubbed her face with one hand.
"Not really… had an argument with mom. Wasn't pretty"
Wuji hopped next to her, rubbing his face into her and mimicking a purr. Izumi smiled, feeling somewhat better and petting Wuji.
How was job?
"Nothing special, Shiro and Kuro guided the prey into a trap and it fell easy"
Quirk problematic?
"It bent Kuro's feathers, but I fixed them already"
They kept quiet for a while, enjoying each other's company. Izumi was thankful to Wuji for always going to help her whenever she was in trouble.
Wuji had been the first crow she'd met, and had helped him out when he was injured and lost his eye. That had brought them together and had introduced Izumi to the murder. Even if Izumi had helped him first, she was truly thankful for him introducing her to her true friends.
Saw "Shiro" flying earlier. Said they were going to "nest" around.
"Oh, yeah, him and a few others came in the Shinkanshen with me on the way back"
What Oji-san said?
"That murder flies where murder damn pleases~" She said, giggling.
Did Oji-san really say that?
"Well, he may not have sweared"
Izumi put a hand to cover her mouth, as if she were telling him a secret. Talking with Wuji was definitely a good idea. He always knew what to do to make her feel better.
He flew over to her desk, and grabbed a few darts with his beak. Izumi wordlessly smiled, getting up, not feeling like sulking anymore, and accepted the darts from him.
She started throwing them into the target, every dart going into the center and fighting for space with the other darts, until eventually Izumi threw a dart into another, making it bounce off the target.
You are too good.
"Oh, shut up, this is easy" She smirked, getting the darts back and starting to throw them with her eyes closed.
After throwing the ten darts, she found that only six had gotten into the center, the others stuck in the second and third rings.
"Hmmm, 60%, kinda good for the first time blind in this room"
She kept throwing darts at the target for a while, enjoying the silence with Wuji and having her mind of her mother, the crow hating people of Gaulusu, and those annoying three girls. Though there was also that senpai who had sneaked up at her at the entrance.
"You know Wuji, after you left in the morning, there was a girl that sneaked up to me. Oh, no, don't get like that, she didn't annoy me, it was just surprising. She saw our interaction like the rest, but wasn't creeped out about it. In fact she congratulated me for keeping it together."
Wuji was looking at Izumi, waiting for her to keep going. It was strange for her to actually speak out about other people in that light, even the crows knew that she used that tone only when talking to the elders and some humans she admires like Lady Nagant.
"She just felt…similar in some way, you know?" Wuji didn't respond. Izumi kept throwing darts. "Like she also is containing herself from showing what she really likes to do and be"
Izumi turned her back towards the target, and threw a dart backwards over her head. She turned again to find it in the second ring of the target, making her pout.
"I guess what I'm thinking is, she's kinda cool if she's keeping a straight face even after restraining herself…she did look like putting on a smile was hurting, but she had friends, like I have you guys."
Izumi smiled, looking at Wuji, who puffed his chest a bit, making her giggle.
What is her name?
"Name? I think someone called her Toga-chan. I hope she is doing well"
Worried about her?
"Am I?" Izumi thought for a while. "I guess? Kinda strange though"
"Izumi! Dinner's ready!" Inko's voice came muffled through the other side of the door.
"Coming!" Izumi opened the window so Wuji could get out in case her mother came into the room.
You should talk to her.
"Eh? What am I gonna say? 'Hey, I thought you looked sad the other day'. That's weird"
Socializing with other humans could be good.
"Eehhhh~? Now where did you get that idea?" They looked at each other for a few seconds, until the dam burst and both started laughing, Wuji moving his head up and down repeatedly.
"Izumi!" Inko's shouted again.
"Coming, coming!" She shouted back. "Well, you should go, Wuji"
He hopped into the window, and groomed his feathers.
"Thanks for being her for me Wuji"
No problem.
"Tell the others I said good luck about finding a good place for a nest!"
Wuji cawed, and with that, he flew out. Izumi smiled, and then got into a more neutral expression, sighing and going back into the same routine.
Serious and unreadable so her mother didn't know Wuji was here. Putting on a mask so her mother would be happy.
She got out of her room and went into the kitchen, with a lingering thought still on her mind.
I wonder if Toga-san really is hurting like me.