-Chapter 00 - Brother To Brother-

"We do not like peace… We despise it. There is nothing that humanity can learn from absolute tranquility and serenity because it only rewards complacency, and complacency leads to another frighteningly stagnant period in human development.

There are no new life-lessons to be told, no new daring and defining philosophies to challenge one's way of thinking. It only encourages a herd mentality amongst the masses and perpetuates the idea of a perfect life, which does not and SHOULD not exist. A lot of people don't like to hear this, but mankind was born to suffer. Every hour of the day, and every minute after seconds.

That's the way all things SHOULD be because suffering builds character, and that's something that a lot of you lack in today's society. In the times of old, heroism and villainy brought about more suffering and pain than it ever could... and ever since the abolishment of both, truly, humanity has become pathetic. It has become weak. And as unfortunate as it is, it is already too late for most of you.

Everyone... that has reached adulthood, you have already adapted to the ways of today and the radical change that is imminent shall utterly break and dismantle you. That's why we have no more room for you. In the next twenty-four hours, we will be initiating the BLOOM project... and the past shall be eviscerated without a trace... and the blooming of a new future... shall commence. The youth of today will see the beginning of development... and what it means to live in a world without peace and grow stronger from it.

Bid your farewells and make way for the resurgence of what was once lost a long time ago. Children of tomorrow.

It's your turn."

(Monday, April 11th - Nagoya, Japan - 3:34 P.M.)

"My name is Nagashima Hidetada… and… In hindsight, he was right. Our complacency was our own demise…'

It was wild.

It was intemperate.

It came from out of nowhere, yet the visceral reaction of dread and unfettered anxiety coursing through his veins set Hidetada on high alert to it all before it could even strike. It took almost every muscle within his body to not go off the deep-end, to not allow his primal urges to kick in and make the situation a lot worse.

After all, it would've only further aggravated the situation and placed himself and his cohort in danger.

The tremors were unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Hidetada was utterly broken, both from a physical and mental standpoint. Hyperventilation settled in for him, though he wasn't sure if it was a result of sheer panic or due to the difficulty of breathing amongst the voluminous smog that expanded over the city's limits. No matter where his eyes laid, chaos was abundant and devastation greeted him with the rebarbative reality of his worst fears.

This was supposed to be nothing more than a disturbed fantasy. It was all supposed to be an olden tale that highlighted the primitive nature of their ancestry from so long ago, something that they'd improved upon and worked to destroy. Most importantly, this was never supposed to happen to him, nor his city or his family. Everything was normal. Hidetada LOVED normal because it promised safety and security, and that made him happier than anything else in the world.

So why did all of this have to happen…?

BOOOOOM

Blistering hot air encompassed his surroundings as a series of deafening explosions suddenly decimated several buildings that stood in front of him, which led to the structures caving in on each other and collapsing like dominoes. The last thing Hidetada heard before the blast and resonance of the constructions falling upon impact were the cacophonous screams of people seemingly of all ages and genders crying and begging for help that would never come. All they got in response to their pleas was a harrowing fate that they never asked for.

The collisions created a substantial burst of wind to push outward, forcing the boy to brace himself before running in the opposite direction. His hazel-colored eyes told a tale of immeasurable fear, confusion, and misery while he ran as fast as his legs could possibly carry him. Still, he held a small bundle of warmth that rested shakingly within his arms, fully ignorant to the outside world. She looked to be no older than six years old, and her body was as small and weightless as ever. Hidetada didn't even want to entertain the thought of dropping her.

He took the time to carefully brush aside the bangs from her bluish-white locks and tenderly kissed her forehead in the middle of evading several panicking pedestrians from all walks of life. They must've felt the same way he did, honestly. One minute, everything was fine and they were allowed to go about their mundane lives as usual. Now, they're all in a fear-induced frenzy, trampling over one another just to preserve their own lives.

It was understandable. Human life in general was selfish, that was one thing that would never change with the times, unfortunately. Even now, Hidetada found that he had to be selfish for his and her sake.

Were those that he passed along the way still alive? How long would it have been before they were unsaveable? Could he have reached out to them in order to save a life? The truth was rather moot, but he possibly could have. Although, it would've been at his own expense, and he was not one for the mindset of dying for anyone that he didn't know. Hidetada wasn't a hero, and he was not suicidal. He looked down at the child in his arms, and it reminded him of why he needed to be selfish, why he needed to live on.

But in the case that he met the same fate as those scrolled throughout the streets, bloodied and dead to the world, he made sure to give one last kiss to his only remaining source of happiness. If he left this world, he would leave it loving and protecting the one person that mattered to him the most.

'We thought this guy was just another crazy cultist, hoping to invoke fear about the good ol' days… we were so wrong…'

"Everyone, DUCK, here comes another one of those things—!"

ROOOOAR

That was the only warning that Hidetada needed. As a large presence descended in front of him, he quickly took numerous steps backwards before shielding the little girl in his arms and getting blown away by sheer wind pressure. He was back on his feet in a matter of seconds but when his eyes looked towards the direction of pain-riddled screaming, he was shaken to the core of his soul.

It was a monster. There was no other way to describe it. An amalgamated monstrosity composed of a kafkaesque mix of rotting flesh, bone, and what looked like the deformed, decaying corpses of animals and humans conjoined and embedded within its outer layer. The abomination was huge and carried by gigantic insect-like legs that rivaled buildings as they effortlessly pierced through the asphalt of the road and side-walks. There seemed to be a million eyes covering a vast majority of its body, and the head of it exposed a grisly row of serrated and discolored teeth as it swung wildly with a primal rage.

The stench of it was… unbearable, forcing a heavy amount of bile to release within Hidetada's mouth before he turned and spilled it on the concrete. He gagged intensely before making a break for an untenanted alleyway, not wanting to have to deal with whatever had obscured his previous position. Guttural screams could be heard from behind him amongst the dissonance of explosions and roars, but he couldn't bear to look back. He refused to look back. This was not his scene, and it wasn't his responsibility to deter fate.

He only yearned to be back home, his sister in the comfort of his arms and his parents embracing the both of them, telling them that everything would be okay.

However, this was now only a fleeting dream that Hidetada desperately wished for, nothing more.

CRAAAASH

In that moment, it was as if the world was cruelly denying him of his wishes. A large, bloodied tendril made with mangled flesh and bone collided with structures and utterly cleaved through the buildings that narrowed his path, forcing him to stop right in his tracks. From there, destruction further ensued whilst the buildings caught in the crossfire collapsed in a rapid succession. The smell of death and dust filled his nostrils, leaving him with no other choice but to turn towards the opposite direction.

The display that greeted him upon doing so would scar him for the rest of his life. Or at least, what little he actually had left.

'That day… I'd never been that afraid, ever. I could feel that SOMETHING was coming… I had no idea what it could be though… even if I did, what the hell could I have done about it?'

The hundreds of civilians in droves that raced away from the ruin were seemingly doomed from the start, as another large tendril swooped to intercept them before splitting off into nearly a thousand coils. One by one, these coils were able to reach their prey and unmitigatedly impale each and every single unfortunate soul within the distance.

Hidetada's body froze, horror etched upon his boyish features as his long, caramel-colored hair tousled in the eerily calming breeze. The splattering of blood painted the asphalt a deep shade of crimson as the everlasting downpour of organs, severed limbs, and debris continued in an infinite pattern.

It was all too much for him. While he desperately wanted to make a break for the nearest direction that he could scope out, the sheer amount of terror gripping his body was unmanageably powerful and held full control. Besides that, where would he even go? There was nothing but bloodshed and desolation around every corner. In a matter of a few seconds, the city was a greatly plagued ruin and everything that he once knew was a thing of ancient history.

Hidetada was so deep in shock that he failed to notice a blackened row of the creature's apertured eyes honing in on him, its mountainous appendages brutally jutting deep within the severed ground once it came closer to his perimeter.

It was only when he felt the small, nimble hands of his cohort tenderly grip against his shirt that he was brought back to reality and welcomed by the serpentine neck of the horrendous being looming over him, making him feel as insignificant as an ant in that very moment. Just like that, Hidetada was aware of his surroundings and as soon as he looked at the petite figure within his arms, the remembrance of what he was fighting to survive for came back in full force.

It only took one single glance at the harrowing row's of serrated teeth within the abomination's never-ending maw for him to make his first move.

A single crow could be seen flying above it all. It was free, unburdened by the carnage ensuing before him. It was exactly what he wished for him and his cohort to be, and that was safe and secure.

ROOOOOOOOAR

The boy felt his body sailing backwards from the tenacious power behind the bellowing roar erupting from his worst nightmare, threatening to smack his back against the wall and break every bone within his body.

That feeling never came, however. Instead, from the upper-half of his back came a tingling sensation, reminiscent of a large insect crawling along one's bare skin before two sets of midnight-black wings sprouted from his back and expanded to a massive length. They shone amidst the midday sun as several droplets of blood fell upon their tenebrous surface and amalgamated with the coloring of the feathers to create a deep shade of maroon. Hidetada's shoes were suddenly ripped apart whilst his feet were modified and shifted into black talons with an obsidian hue.

He remained within the air for a few seconds before stomping his feet to the ground, creating sparks from the friction of his newly-acquired talons once they dug into the concrete. Hidetada's breathing was rampant and unhinged, further intensifying as he kept his hazel eyes trained on the deformed entity before finally swinging his wings downward in a powerful flap.

Within seconds, he was in the sky, not even taking the time to survey the cityscape before blitzing past the creature at a lightning's pace.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy. It never was, of course. As soon as he made it within meters of the creature, the reaction of the monster was almost instantaneous. A wave of tendrils sprouting from rotting orifices upon the behemoth's body followed after him, easily cutting through several establishments and severing streetways all in the name of catching up to him.

Hidetada could hardly react while barely dodging and ducking the creature's attacks, all while attempting to grow accustomed to the wind's high currents as they blew against his cherubic face. He never actually used his power for much of anything, let alone flight, but he didn't have much of a choice anymore. Hidetada wasn't sure how he was managing to dodge each and every tendril that soared his way, it was almost instinctual on his behalf. He held his passenger close, all while performing a series of barrel-rolls until coming to a stop in mid-air.

Before the remaining tendrils could come into contact with him, Hidetada effortlessly placed as much strength as he could into his wings until he was flying upwards, sending himself high enough to reach the increasingly dreary clouds above. The bony tentacles only missed him by a few inches as they passed the tips of his talons and slammed into the highest edifice within the area, bisecting it with ease.

The mutilation of the building left even more tragedy in its wake. From his elevation, he couldn't make out much from all of the smoke that engulfed his vision. However, the sight of one side of the building crashing upon the ground would be sown and woven within his mind for years to come. One strike alone, and thousands were gone in that instance, further highlighted by the deafening screams and the thunderous crash that silenced them.

He forced himself to not pay any mind to any of it, to simply evacuate the scene as fast as he could. For a moment, Hidetada could see the outskirts of the city coming into his vision, appearing as almost a promiseland of some sorts or even a mirage. At this point though, regardless of if it were a figment of his imagination or a fabric of reality, he was willing to go the extra mile to find out.

Unfortunately for him though, he'd never seen his downfall approaching from the side of him, relishing in his ignorance and fully prepared to bring his dreams crumbling downward in a callous and cold fashion.

'I had never felt pain on that level in my entire life… I still fear the sight of fire, let alone the feeling of it. Hell, I came to hate heat in general that day, whether I knew it or not…'

BOOOOOM

Hidetada's instincts screamed for him to evade something, but he'd only managed to quickly shield his passenger by turning his back to the danger. Sadly, he was unfortunately unprepared for the scorching heat that torched his wings to ashes before crawling onto his skin and burning into his back, flaying the outer layer of his flesh to bloodied pieces as the force of an explosion effectively broke numerous bones within his smaller body.

A rush of blood splashed from his mouth and his arms went numb, frightening him beyond belief as he watched the small girl within his hands descend from his weakened grip.

His body was sent soaring and at that moment, time seemed to have come to an almost abrupt standstill. The blistering calefaction settled into his eyes and forced him to close them tightly yet through pain-enforced slits, Hidetada watched helplessly as his passenger fluttered within the sky, moving out of his range before he could even muster the strength to reach out for her.

The girl's eyes slowly opened, revealing bluish sapphires that could never lose their shine. Within her irises, there was a brief inkling of confusion but the moment the girl saw her caretaker being blown in the opposite direction, there was immense worry. That same worry evolved into outright fear once she was made aware of her own fall from safety. Her gracile and petite body fell wildly, small arms stretched outward towards her savior in an incorrigible attempt to reach his comforting embrace once again.

A single tear slipping from her eye was the last thing that Hidetada saw of the girl before she sunk through the smoking clouds deriving from the destruction below.

Time resumed at a normal pace right afterwards and violently, he was sent careening even farther as the blast of another explosion carried him further through the air and towards the final skyscraper that remained intact. The feeling of glass deepening into his charred back caused him to finally unleash a guttural scream as his body arched upwards in a painful fashion upon hitting the floor. His yells slowly settled into childish whimpers of agonizing distress, signaling that tears were incoming. Hidetada had never felt so hopeless. The one thing he had left to give his life some sort of purpose was gone in the span of seconds.

"My, oh my~! You were a rather persistent one, weren't you~?" Footsteps approached him at a slow and deliberate pace, prompting him to turn his eyes to a shadowed figure. "I'm actually rather impressed, you're one of the few that hasn't been rounded up yet!"

Hidetada could barely comprehend the condescending tone within the man's voice as it grated against his psyche and forced him into a moment of sheer anger. It was a drifting feeling, however, as a kick to the charred and eroded area of his back fully brought him back to his own painful reality. The adrenaline that sent his body into maximum overdrive previously had been utterly drained in that instance.

He tried to breath out but found himself unable to do so. The feeling of his lungs continuously pulsating and shrinking overtook Hidetada, sending him into a persistent coughing fit. No matter what he did, he couldn't successfully regain his composure or catch a second wind for breathing. Could it have been from the incognitable amount of smoke festering within his lungs since the start of all of the chaos? Or was it simply a carnal response concocted from shock?

Either way, the dimming of his vision and weakening of his damaged state warned him that he'd likely never find the answer to his question.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to kill ya~! With a Quirk like that, a pretty child like you can be made into a powerful yet obedient little dog for our cause!" The condescending tone of his voice was enough to make Hidetada bristle, yet that was all he could ever pathetically manage.

The closer the man came to his body whilst in his moment of vulnerability, the harder it was to breathe. It was like his presence was radiant with such madness and abhorrence that it overwhelmed the very atmosphere around him.

"I have to say though, it's a damn shame that we couldn't have gotten our hands on that cute little brat you were flying with. Concrete probably already caught her before any of our pets did."

Immediately, a spark was lit from within Hidetada, even if it was as small and insignificant as a mere ant. Rubble fell from above as an inkling of stone landed near his face. Strong and sturdy, much like Hidetada needed to be. If not for himself, then at least for his little sister. He refused to believe the words of the man. She was okay. He'd be sure of that.

"Take… it… BACK!"

An inkling of movement from the boy encouraged the man's eyes to narrow into venomous slits as a crazed expression settled upon his hallowed and malnourished face. Without warning, he flipped backwards and propelled himself to the outside of the building as the small boy released a squeal of insurmountable rage.

BOOOOOOOM

The rattling of the skyscraper seemed deafening once Hidetada lifted himself from the ground and swung his arm backwards as it quickly formed into a mountainous amalgamation of pure concrete and glass. As the transformation slowly enveloped his arm and upper torso, the extension shot forward and tore through the entire upper-area as if it was made of only paper. Hidetada felt the ground beneath him quiver, both from the increased weight of his body and the abrupt smashing of his arm breaking scattered cubicles, electronics, and office-oriented furniture into pieces.

Yet amongst the wreckage, the man responsible for his grief and anguish was nowhere to be found. At least, until he heard the fading sounds of cackles incoming from above and a searing pain settling in his chest.

Hidetata then swung his gigantic arm towards the ceiling this time, growling as an assorted amount of glassy spikes protruded throughout his rocky form before pile-driving straight through the roof. Even more debris and dirt from the aftermath of his swing collapsed upon him, though his vision was already filled with the red of rage blinding him spitefully.

However, the squeal and agony of a man was not to be heard. Almost as if life was feeding even more into the cruel joke, the cackling rose in intensity and volume.

Breathing was becoming far too much of an arduous task at this point. Hidetada felt as if he was slowly starting to suffocate. A feeling that wasn't just to describe the increasing pressure hammering his lungs, but also his mind since it also felt cornered and constricted.

The maddening cackles made it seem as if his target was on almost every side of him, mocking and taunting him as his body was slowly encased in more concrete, granite, and glass. Hidetada saw in the reflection of the glass scattered upon the floor that he appeared to be more of a creature than a genuine human.

Was this how it felt to lose your sense of humanity? Who would have known that he'd ever be aware of such an abominable feeling?

He screamed, eyes widening to an unprecedented degree as the flesh of his charred stomach seemed to come undone before exposing his skeleton and inner organs for a split-second. Before blood could cascade from the chasm in his torso, the torn skin from his stomach weaved together to create tendrils of serrated glass and granite. The material sewn into his body and quickly closed the wound, masking it with jagged plating as another set of tendrils ripped through his back and stabbed through the ground to carry him above the floor.

He felt like a spider in the midst of escaping a predator, cornered and hopeless, but he'd be damned if he went out in a pitiful fashion. The pain in his abdomen was nothing compared to the feeling of failure fueling him with spite. The walls were slowly starting to cave his psyche inward, causing him to lose so much of his own human emotions and feelings that he might as well have been dead.

He made a move to jump and break through the decimated ceiling, hell-bent on vengeance to make up for his own failure to protect… to nurture… to love.

It was only here that the cackles finally stopped. He couldn't have cared less at first, but something happened that essentially forced him to halt his own previously impending rampage.

He coughed, and there was blood. A lot of it. His mouth was a geyser spewing ichor in large amounts as the suffocating feeling from earlier evolved into something far more menacing. That feeling was emptiness. He was breathless. Every attempt to pant resulted in him gargling more blood than ever before.

Hidetada looked at his hands and fell to his knees in a pool of crimson that was soon to become an ocean at this rate. It wasn't until now that his body quivered, losing all of the adrenaline in his vessel and having it be replaced by pain so overwhelming that he found it impossible for himself to breathe.

That was no longer a luxury in the first place.

CRAAAAAACK

The granite and glass that once formed a composition with his body fragmented and crumbled, exposing open areas of his flesh as it painfully mingled together to enclose and warp his body to a state of semi-normalcy.

As the last wound was closed, Hidetada's head became far too heavy for his shoulders to hold as his face hit the ground and sunk within the cherry-red liquid. It oddly provided a hint of comfort to the boy, strangely enough. Not from the pain, there was no way he could escape this agony. No, the comfort was born from knowing that his time on earth was over and he'd be reunited with his family again.

If this was a dream, which he was sure that it wasn't, maybe this would be where he would wake up in his bed.

Maybe he would sigh in relief at knowing that this was never his reality and be greeted to the smell of food from the kitchen.

Maybe he'd have the chance to hear his father whistling in the morning as he walked past him to give him a pat on the back.

Hopefully, he could be greeted by a kiss on the cheek from his mother and a plate of homemade delicacies being gently shoved into his hands. The aroma of tamagoyaki would be a nice contrast to the unpleasant odor of iron and polluted smog.

And finally, he would see his little sister in front of the television, laughing as she watched one of her favorite shows while getting ready for school.

All of them would still be in harmony and not caught up in nonsensical bluster that only existed in more primitive times. Chaos that seemed to only have a place in foolish mangas and action movies that rotted away the human mind with every passing second.

There was a noticeably small tremor that was somehow overheard amidst the thunderous screams and explosions that considerably faded out of his own existence. Hidetada had no energy left, and he could only look up to see the man who ruined his life stepping over him and smiling blissfully. Almost as if this was all some sort of sick, twisted game to him. Maybe it was, to be frank, though it was obvious that he was now finished with playing with his food.

"Sorry, sport…~" He mumbled, bending his knees to get a closer look at the boy's face. Hidetada could barely make out his uniform and saw the sleek and metallic armor glisten brightly with intricate insignias covering his upper chest-plate. "The feeling you're experiencing right now is what it feels like to live without lungs. They imploded before you could even get a hit on me. I'll give you one thing though, anyone else would've died from that immediately. You're something special and this proves it."

Hidetada had never felt more like a fool in his entire life. He didn't even have to be in this man's line of sight to be reduced to nothing but a crawling bag of wasted flesh.

The red hair shadowing the man's soulless eyes made it impossible for him to get a good enough look at his more prominent features. He couldn't even stare his own tormentor down in his time of sheer vulnerability.

"I know what you're probably thinking, and it's not your fault…~! Unfortunately, the wonders of oxygen manipulation make brute strength almost insignificant." The man reached a gloved hand to grab Hidetada's hair, forcing him to look directly into his eyes. "Plus, between you and me, it's clear that you've never really used this gift of a Quirk enough for it to be a substantial danger. Honestly, what the hell ever happened to people embracing what they're capable of! That's another issue that we all have with this new world!"

Hidetada could no longer hear the man—or anything else for that matter. Everything was simply white noise. His vision was blurred, so he could only vaguely see the silhouette of the man's lips before darkness slowly overcame his vision. His heart rate slowed to a harrowing tempo as his eyelids became far too heavy for him to hold.

"Oi… don't go dying on me just yet, kid…"

The last thing he felt was his body being lifted off the ground, his arms limply falling to the side. He failed. He tried, he really did… and yet it was all for absolutely nothing.

"Come on… it's time you got introduced to the family. And by the time you wake up, we'll have created a new world! Welcome to BLOOM, recruit…~!"

"Before I knew it, my story was over. You are hearing the ramblings of a dead and forsaken child. You have seen my end... so now it is time that I introduced you to another's beginning."

Six years later

Humidity was one of life's most annoying vexations, especially for someone who always seemed to fancy colder climates by a landslide. It was always much easier to avoid the freezing temperatures of lowend Sapporo than deal with incoming heat-strokes while trekking the paths of Ekawasaki, Shikoku.

There was a time where this small part of Japan wasn't as populated and rather closed off from the rest of the country. In some ways, it still wasn't expansive. The railroads were still there, but who's even using a train anymore? Those things were ancient history. Still, this part of Kochi Prefecture had a lot to offer in terms of greenery. Other than the horrid heat, it was pleasant in these areas. The Shimanto-gawa river was oddly still nice to look at, the kids around were decent at staying out of the way and didn't blow anyone's cover when they came through, and there was a really great ice cream pop-in shop. Yup, it didn't seem to change much.

Then again, it definitely wasn't filled to the brim with fiery creatures formed from brimstone and flames trying to kill someone because they simply wanted a shake from the nearest society settlement either.

And who would allow a few of BLOOM's little pissants to stop them from getting a blueberry and pineapple milkshake? Certainly not THIS gal.

An obnoxious yawn could be heard over the engine of a revving motorcycle, which belonged to the person responsible as they causally leaned against the seat of the vehicle. The person in question was a girl with midnight-purple hair that flew through the wind as her motorcycle guided her along the decimated roads in front of her. She paid no attention to the reverberated wailing of the fiery behemoth chasing closely behind her as she checked her nails with an inquisitive look. A hangnail was there. How annoyingly painful.

"Meiwakuuu~! Oi, shut up back there, I got a hangnail and it's hot as hell! The least you can let me do is jam to my playlist for a bit without makin' me have to deal with that fucking screaming, you fat bitch!" Her strangely colored eyes were an odd mix between purple and prismatic as they shot a daggered glare at her pursuer. Her motorcycle easily evaded pothole after pothole while in auto-pilot. "It's people like you that make it hard for the damn roads to get patched up! Have some goddamn courtesy for once!"

The beast was unamused.

ROOOOOOOOAAAR

"What was that, smartass!? Say it again, I didn't catch that the first time!"

ROOOOOOOOAAAR

"Huh-huh~ ehehehe, that's what I thought you said. Now lemme offer this as a rebuttal~!"

She breathed inwardly and stood on the moving seat of her vehicle, allowing for the motorcycle to swerve off-course before performing a backflip right off of it and landing on her feet with the slightest of ease. She paused for a brief second, waiting patiently for the creature to come to her face so that they could exchange words on a more intimate level.

'Honestly, why are all of BLOOM's little pets such fucking karens, I don't get it,' Her grimace only persisted as she turned to give the charging monstrosity an unimpressed look born from complete indifference. She adjusted her yellow bomber jacket and dusted her tight jean shorts and canvas shoes before giving the enormous entity a quick glance-over.

It was massive—which wasn't surprising since BLOOM was well-known for needing to overcompensate. If she had to guess, the creature was at least around eighty-feet tall. Then again, she hadn't been in a math class or even done math since she was twelve years old and even during that time, she failed it twice. Numbers were dumb anyways, the point was that the thing was big, she didn't need to know every single metric system in the world to figure that out.

It resembled a being she had seen a handful of times in books on mythology. A phoenix, she believed? How very original. The wings blazed hotter than a thousand suns as its beak seemed to spill out greenish flames that edged closer to her as they burned through the entirety of the forestry surrounding her. She sighed disappointingly. This was going to be fast, and that was a shame. All this overkill only made her feel embarrassed for the poor weakling.

"Let's make this quick! I'm a busy giiirl..." She moaned in a bored and almost annoyed fashion, which the beast seemingly understood as it burst forward at an extraordinary speed with a pillar of green fire rocketing from behind. "There you go! Jeez, I thought I'd get pregnant, marry, and divorce by the time you got—!"

She couldn't finish her sentence since at the very moment that she uttered her final word, she was forced to evade the powerful burst of flame spilling out from the phoenix's beak, moving so fast that the enraged creature could only scorch her fleeting afterimage.

The scorching heat was enough to melt through both the forestry and burn the road that the girl once stood on. The asphalt was liquefied in that instance, burning a hole so deep that a chasm formed as the phoenix moved to fly backwards after noticing that the girl had evaded the attack. Beady black eyes darker than any abyss imaginable scanned the area, searching cautiously for its prey amongst the spreading flames that turned the area into an expansive pocket of hellfire.

It was utterly oblivious to the shining gleam of a purple light high within the sky as it burst to push away every single cloud that remained closeby. From there, the purple light twinkled and shot downwards, mimicking the descension of a meteor as it closed the distance between itself and the phoenix.

A gust of wind alerted the behemoth but by the time he could turn around, he was greeted with the dreadful sight of a cutesy smile concealed within the glow of the purple comet before pain was imminent.

BOOOOOOOM

The fire that once engulfed the area was instantaneously blown away and replaced by a shimmering explosion of volatile energy as a nigrescent shade covered most of the environment, effectively blocking out even the glow of the midday sun in the wake of its detonation. The phoenix squealed in agony as he found himself forced through the ground, causing a titanic lacuna to form from both the force of the unknown assailaint's attack and its own unfathomable weight breaking into the ground.

"Told ya you were a bit of a fat ass, didn't I~?" As the creature pitifully wailed from the feeling of both broken appendages and an unexplainable force seemingly ripping through its body, its enormous head turned to see the smirking face of what was once his prey standing nonchalantly upon his back. "I'm doing this for your own good! A snack like me will only raise that sugar intake, birdbrain! The least you can let me do is burn away a lot of those calories the old-fashioned way!"

The creature released a squeal that almost sounded like an offended gasp as it then desperately tried to move its wings to unleash a powerful flap in hopes of knocking the girl off. It was an impossible endeavor, however. In addition to the purple blaze surrounding his lower body that canceled out the phoenix's own flames, the dazzling girl had amarantine strings coming from her fingertips that held its wings in place. She mockingly stuck her tongue outward, following it up with the chance to blow a raspberry.

"Being grounded sucks, huh? I can imagine, it kinda sucks down here," Her eyes, previously red and yellow, were now surrounded with a violaceous glow. "You know what else sucks though? The fact that I had to calm your cravings down in the first place when I have my own! My Gi-Pa navigator told me that I was en route to Oppai-san's Paracicles! Not to YOU! Imagine my pain!"

She took a few moments to look around her and winced. The entire area was still slightly burning to ashes and the parts that weren't charred gradually eroded with the spread of her energy. This was likely going to dock her pay, and she'd have to handle an earful from her contractor. That was just lovely.

"Alrighty, I think it's time we—wAAAAAAHHHH!"

That small drop in concentration was all the phoenix needed in order to recover. Without warning, the creature thrashed and bellowed as its wings continued to fight against the girl's hold. Desperately, she attempted to concentrate in order to fortify the strings holding the creature in place.

This, once again, failed as she momentarily lost balance and slipped right off of the phoenix's back, allowing for his verdant flames to ignite from its mane and explode to their former glory.

'Well, ain't that a fucking kick in the—!' She couldn't even finish her thought in time before noticing that the flames erupting from the phoenix's beak were now roaring towards her as she landed on her feet. Quickly, her eyes shined brilliantly as she held her hand up to conjure a massive dome of purple energy in order to block out the condensed flames threatening to incinerate without a trace. 'This thing has fucking Chimera-like attacks now!? What in the fuck are they doing in those BLOOM facilites nowadays!?"

As the flames lashed out against her dome, she felt the heat immediately and squinted her eyes, both from the hellish heat coming from the creature's fire and the immense pressure of it trying to break through her energetic barricade. She knew that overextending her Quirk for such a small annoyance would be deathly for herself and the entire village close by. She needed to end this now.

With one hand extended to keep the barrier reinforced, she raised the other towards the sky, causing an astronomic array of lightning-shaped tendrils to manifest from her fingers and break through the roof of the dome. Only concentrated on applying more firepower in order to burn away his prey, the phoenix paid no heed to the impending danger; a mistake that would be his downfall.

WHOOSH

At an incredulous speed, the tendrils zipped from the top of the barrier to slither through the vicinity and reached the unsuspecting abomination. Without a bit of difficulty, the tendrils stabbed through the hardened abdomen of the phoenix, immediately forcing it to end the hellacious attack and cry out in unprecedented pain. She stuck her tongue out, forcing her tendrils deeper to pierce through any potentially vital organs as she put the barrier out of existence.

"Phew~! Damn, that was hot," Her face was in a deep grimace, and there were parts of her body and clothes that were noticeably singed. Her own long hair seemed to be a few inches shorter than before from burning away underneath the heat as well. "As if it wasn't already super steamy out here, you decided to come along. It's okay though, you won't be causing too much of a ruckus anymore. C'mere~! Have you heard of Icarus, by any chance!?"

With a shaky smile, she crouched low as her legs were suddenly engulfed in a familiar glow. She winked and jumped upwards with an extremely potent blast rocketing her to the sky. The ends of the tendrils formed hooks as they clung to the insides of the bleeding phoenix while pulling him right above ground as the girl reached an impressive altitude.

'This should be high enough, heh…' She felt as free as ever before, showing that she was growing more and more used to this lifestyle. The sky was perfectly dark, with the shine of the sun completely overpowered by her Quirk's violet glow.

In a way, it made her feel much cooler than before, both from a metaphorical and literal standpoint. Still, seeing the clouds pass her by was always the common occurrence she needed to keep her mind off the edge.

These times were… depressing.

But as she watched the monstrosity rise to her altitude, hopeless and flailing with trails of blood spewing out of him, she remembered why she kept fighting despite it all. She fought for a world where beings like these were non-existent. She fought for a world where BLOOM could not create another miserable whelp to partake in killing them off. She fought for a world where the fear and control they held over children was non-existent.

A happier world. That's exactly what she desired. A perfect world was unlikely by this point, but a world with a little less despondency wasn't such a farfetched dream. The eradication of BLOOM though? That was more unbelievable. But for her? It wasn't impossible. Nothing was impossible for her.

She nonchalantly waved to the phoenix, seeing the slightest twinge of fear in its beady eyes. Winking, she raised her hands and covered her arms in her Quirk's essence, slowly forming a ginormous ball of temperamental vitality. Her eyes were like miniature suns as she pointed a single finger to the doomed creature, cancelling out her tendrils as she blew a final kiss to her victim.

"Bang…~"

BOOOOOOOM

At this point, the sight was quite familiar and popularized yet no matter how many times he saw it, it was a phenomenon that never got old. The sky had fallen into a cimmerian state, and it was all caused by the euphoric detonation that concealed the sun with both its glow and tremendous size. In the starry-blue eyes of a child that once was fearful and alert from the BLOOM abomination's wailings was now excitement and admiration. The afterglow of a ferocious battle was a radiant shade of purple, and that color was one that always invoked a feeling of hope within him. He wasn't the only one either.

"She's so cool, isn't she, Saika-chan?" Whilst brushing his bluish bangs to the side, he looked down to see the cherubic face of his friend as they graciously appreciated the scene from afar. "I knew that the moment Oppai-sensei told us that she was coming through, that stupid monster didn't stand a chance!"

"Mhmmm~!" The girl in question was much smaller with strawberry-blonde hair styled into a set of twin-tails as she clutched her Totoro plushie close to her heart. "Blew that meanie right away with no trouble at all! Heh, she even went easy on it at first! I'm glad that she put that fire out as well… that was really starting to spread fast, it was so scary."

"Not scary enough for someone like her, of course!" The boy bounced up and down on his bare feet before turning to his friend to hold her hands and look her right in the eye. The girl gasped and blushed mildly at the sudden motion. "Hey, listen! When we grow older, Saika-chan!? We'll have to be as brave as she is! I got my Quirk last week and you'll get yours in the next few months! We can even have Oppai-sensei train us so that we can help her fight BLOOM as well! Hmph! So let's do our best, Saika!"

'...S-S-Shiki…' Saika's face was in momentary disbelief, almost as if she was stunned by his burning determination. However, it didn't take long for her to quickly recover as she nodded and squeezed his hands gently in response. "Hmph! You betcha, Shiki-kun! And then we'll be able to have our parents back!"

An inkling of sadness flashed upon Shiki's expression before he smiled somberly. "Yeah… we definitely will! As long as she's around," Shiki looked up to the sky, seeing the purple light finally fade away as the sun reclaimed its rightful place to reveal a bright orange sky. "I feel like anything is possible! If she can bring the fight to those monsters, then what's stopping us!? Other than, well… age, of course, heh! We'll have both your parents back and mine!"

Saika's smile was incredibly infectious as she hugged her friend closely and nuzzled the nape of his neck. "Yes! And she'll lead the way for us in the meantime!" Shiki felt a warm tear fall upon his shoulder as he held his best friend closer to him. "I just know we'll do it, Shiki! Me! You! And all of our friends! With her backing us, we could never lose! We CAN'T lose… I don't wanna be sad and scared anymore, Shiki…"

Shiki felt tears of his own welling up. Believe it or not, this was the most hopeful and happy he'd seen Saika in quite a while. It was a very rare sight. She was always so distant, so stuck in her own head that even he struggled to bring her back to earth.

He understood her feelings perfectly, however. A lot of them felt the same way. But this would be different. He couldn't sit by and watch more of his friends get taken and rounded up like cattle. He couldn't take another day without seeing his mother and father. Shiki would have faith in their survival… They were the strongest people he had ever known. They managed to survive the BLOOMING day after all!

As he heard the revving of a motorcycle in the distance as it gave off two friendly honks during its departure, his smile intensified. He had her to thank for all of this. She was the one who lit both his determination and everyone else's.

"Arigatou… our hero… Nyght."

"Look, I don't know what the big deal even is, it's not like property damage is a crime anymore. Who cares?"

She stared boredly into the glass of her third milkshake, twirling strands of her hair while humming away to match the melody of the tunes coming from the dated speakers hovering above the crowd of both teenagers and children of all sizes.

The inner interior was actually quite impressive to be pre-BLOOMING. It would seem as if Oppai (god, she loved to tease him about that absurd name) was doing his part well in maintaining an acceptable environment for the kids to feel safe in. It was certainly colorful, just like she remembered. The walls were alighted with festive decorations and mixed color schemes like blue, pink, yellow, and even shades of pink here and there.

The lights continuously switched from color to color, matching the mood of every new song that came onto the playlist. Most songs were from bands that took control of most radio towers or even a few pirate broadcasts, though there were a few songs before Nyght's time as well.

Chatter could be heard on every corner of the inside, though most people were staring at her with awe-stricken gazes. She gave a wave and blew kisses to a few. Regardless of it being the least important reason for why she did what she did on a daily basis, vanity gave her one hell of a feeling. Along with the crowd, the Paracicle Bar just… brought the good vibes right out of her. It was a safe haven best fit for supplying serotonin.

There was even a karaoke machine! Those were rare as hell nowadays!

It was a lot of fun. The entire bar was quite fun. It was such a shame that the owner himself was such a buzzkill though.

"The problem, Samejima—!"

"Oi! It's Nyght, for crying out loud, the kids are present! What, are you trying to break the immersion for them!?"

"We are kids trying to recover in the middle of an apocalypse, in case you haven't noticed! We don't have time for immersion." The boy in question was obviously the older of the two. He had a head of fully white hair, which she used to figure might be because of his Quirk. However, with how stressed he seemed to be on a daily basis, she wasn't so sure anymore. His usually hollow eyes were filled with annoyance as he begrudgingly prepared another glass of Nyght's favorite drink. "That entire ordeal is going to get a lot of attention in this specific area. Sure, the fucking—whatever that thing was is gone, but the damage it left?! You couldn't have lured it somewhere else?!"

"First off, I take offense to the fact that you don't believe in immersion! I bet you're the kind of bastard that would tell kids that there is no Santa Claus!" Nyght smirked as she swapped her charred bomber jacket for an all-green jean jacket. Her black crop-top depicting a night sky (what a surprise) was her best choice in order to replace the tank-top that had burned away during her fight. She was admittedly… indecent for a while, but the shop-owner was quick to toss a new shirt in her face upon her entering the bar. "Secondly, it was a phoenix. They're historically territorial! At least, in books! Not exactly the most unpopular creature in the world, Oppai-chan~! It's not hard to figure out!"

"This is coming from someone who still has to count on her fingers to do basic math." Oppai deadpanned, sliding the milkshake to Nyght in a way that showed his annoyance. "And who the fuck is Santa Claus? You mean the guy our parents lied about?!"

"Oh, Oppai-chan, my boring and oh-so-clueless friend," Nyght smirked to herself as she raised her straw to her lips and moaned delightfully from the tangy taste of the blueberry and pineapple milkshake blessing her tongue. Sweet and tangy. The perfect mix because it was just like her and packed a kick with the cuteness. "Here you are, able to understand shit like Python Thesis and you don't even believe in Saint Nick. How sad is your life~?"

"It's Pythagorean theorem, you dumbass," Oppai bluntly stated. Sighing to himself, he took the time to sit down and pour a drink of his own. "I will never understand what people see in you."

"What can I say, Oppai~?" Nyght responded cutely. She reached over to pull Oppai's rosy cheeks playfully. It was a gesture that greatly irked him, but he didn't resist. "I'm pretty! I'm charming! I'm charismatic! I'm the one that's not sitting under air conditioning all day behind a bar serving drinks! I'm actually the one putting in the REAL work! Speaking of which, can I have my pay please?"

Sighing to himself, Oppai raised his wrist and tampered with the device secured to it, which appeared to obviously be some form of smart-watch. Cell-phones had been put out of existence a long time ago and were seen as relics now, so Gi-Pa watches were the most popular source of communication.

Oppai, despite being a stick in the mud, knew how to get his hands on the best gear imaginable. She couldn't tell if his Gi-Pa was a THRAXX-G80 or a Vizimoto GT. The color was gray, such a boring color. It suited him perfectly. "There, the money should be deposited into your account in the next eight seconds."

"Mhmmm~!" Nyght blissfully hummed, overjoyed by the sound of her own Menelias Gi-Pa blaring an infectious bubblegum pop track from LITTLE LIES. She loved the band as much as she loved the vibrations on her wrist, signalling cash had blessed her. "Appreciate the business, Oppai-cha—AAH?! Oi! This is only three million digi-yen! The deal was five million, are you trying to shit me, Oppai-chan!?"

"Will you shut the hell up and quit calling me that!?" Oppai barked, glaring daggers at Nyght with a bright blush on his face. Nyght was not intimidated in the slightest. In fact, she was only holding in her laugh because she wanted to feign anger. He knew this and it only annoyed him even further. "Just call me Pai or something! And the deal was also for you to get rid of that thing without taking half of the area out with you!"

Nyght comically growled in annoyance, slightly slamming her glass on the table and causing a bit of her milkshake to splash on the table. Needless to say, Oppai was fuming over it. "Well, listen, that's a little hard to do when it doesn't even follow you out far enough in the first place."

"That's not my problem, it's still in the deal." Oppai muttered, "So three million is all I reckon you're good for as of now. Now look at this shit, clean up your fucking mess."

"Hmph," Nyght pouted like a child and sipped loudly on her straw to enjoy her milkshake once more, ignoring the stains on the table as if they weren't even there. "Not my bar, so that's not my problem."

Oppai looked at her sternly for a few seconds before shaking his head. Nyght continued to slurp her milkshake at a bothersome volume, and Oppai would've reached over and choked her if he didn't know that she could easily turn him into plasma if she wanted to. "What do you even need that much money for anyways?"

"Uhhhhh, what don't I need that money for?" Nyght retorted, finally ceasing the display of her incessantly terrible eating etiquette and smirking mischievously. "You know, I am well aware that you have some alcohol over there behind that bar table. How about hitting me with a few shots of the good stuff~?! I need a buzz after today!"

"You're underaged, and so am I," Oppai muttered, conceding and finally cleaning up the mess that Nyght made. "So I can't do that, and you know it."

"Tuh!" Nyght scoffed, "In case you haven't realized this, O—I mean… Pai, most of the adults are like, dead? And you're still adhering to stuff like that? What gives!?"

Oppai's frown was now replaced with a more somber expression, and Nyght could feel that the atmosphere had taken a much more despondent turn. He sighed, taking the time to pour himself another glass of water before sitting in front of Nyght once more. "It's just a very strict bar code that my dad made me adhere to. Even if him and mom aren't here, I want to honor them as much as I possibly can by keeping up with tradition."

Nyght instantly felt a twinge of pain within her heart. Though she poked fun at him quite a bit, she really admired Oppai for this very reason. He was always sticking to his principles. Maybe that's what made her always come back.

His eyes, as chilling as a dwindling flame, looked into Nyght's own for a few seconds as he offered the first smile she'd seen from him since she arrived. "Besides, I know that you have to drive sometime soon when you finish downing those milkshakes. I don't want New Japan's great celebrity hero to die from something as pitiful as crashing her motorcycle up a tree because she was wasted."

"I'll die as I lived though~!" Nyght smiled gratefully, taking a finger and poking the end of his nose in a playful manner. She finally finished her last milkshake, releasing a cutesy burp as she fiddled with her bracelets. She was thinking, Oppai figured. She always did that when something bothered her. "I'm glad that I still have a piece of your heart. I still remember when we first met and you had the biggest crush on me, heh~!"

"Oh please," Oppai scoffed and rolled his eyes in response. "That was before I actually got to know you. Now a part of my dead soul comes alive when you walk out of my bar."

Nyght feigned an offended gasp. How dare he insinuate that he didn't get an instantaneous boner whenever she came around?! "I am appalled! I thought what we had was special, Oppai-chan!"

Oppai's eye twitched at the nickname, but he never even bothered responding to it anymore. A moment of comfortable silence came over the two of them as the music was blaring along with the children and teens scattering to have fun. She was still fiddling with her bracelets, and her mischievous smile was once again replaced with that same thoughtful expression. Samejima? Nyght? Thinking? Something was definitely off.

"Alright," Oppai started, finishing his water before looking directly at Nyght, his glare much more focused than stern. "What's up? Talk to me. You're far too quiet, it's unfit for someone like you."

Nyght looked away from Oppai for a few seconds before turning back around and smiling. Although, this time, her smile was more… melancholic? He wasn't used to this side of her. He couldn't say that he liked it all that much either. "Am I really that obvious? Can't a girl just want a little peace and quiet."

"Peace, quiet, and you go together about as poorly as peanut butter, tomatoes, and milk." Oppai joked softly. He gave her his undivided attention, an encouraging smile on his face. "So what's up? Something wrong that the mighty Nyght can't handle?"

"I…" Nyght started, seemingly trying to find the right words to say. "I was thinking that I might get out of here soon… and I… I might not come back for a long time."

The words immediately wiped the smile right off of his face. He should have seen this coming, Nyght was always on the move, but it never really took all that long for her to return. However, for her to leave any longer than a few months? That wasn't like her. If he were to be honest, he wasn't a huge fan of when she wandered off, but he knew that she had a mission to accomplish.

Still, he could tell that if she were behaving like this, things were a little more serious than a few months.

Nyght could tell that Oppai was troubled, provoking her to continue. "I actually… feel like I've been at a standstill here in my life these past few years. I mean, sure, I've done my fair share when it comes to sticking it to those murderous bastards, but… I feel like it's nowhere near enough. I feel like I've just got an even bigger bounty on my head with nothing to show for it. I just feel like if I am going to do as much as people think I'm doing, I'll have to set out on my own for a long time."

Oppai said nothing. Nyght took that as a sign to continue.

"I can't do all of this myself, and me and you both know that I'm not the superwoman that people make me out to be… but I can try. Still, I can't do that if I'm not making more of an effort. I need a team, a group of people to act as my support squad. There's strength in numbers, you know?"

Oppai nodded silently. He cleared his throat and looked at Nyght with a stone-faced expression. "But… you'll come back though… right?"

She was silent. He already knew the answer, and he wasn't too proud to admit that an overwhelming pain in his chest overtook him in his moment of realization.

"You know how dangerous my goal is, Pai…" Nyght finally spoke, finally dropping her playful demeanor and showing that she was dead serious. "There was never a guarantee of me coming back before, and it's not there now. I am willing to give my life to see everyone smiling and free at last. This is what I've been working for since that day, Pai, and you know it. I'm in too deep now, and I refused to let them trample all over us anymore. I REFUSE to sit around and live in fear of not knowing if I'll survive to see the next day without becoming one of those things."

There it was. That same fire that he had grown so accustomed to expecting from her. He could see it in her eyes. The frustration, the anger, the determination, it was all there. Behind the veil of a fun-loving and cocky teen was the otherworldly rage and asperity of a frightening goddess, and he had never felt more inspired than he was right now while seeing it.

"Tearing down facility after facility isn't enough," Nyght continued, her voice trembling with obvious wrath and bitterness. "Ripping their creatures to shreds isn't enough. Nuking any self-hating settlement or society that supports their stupid and fucking heartless cause isn't enough. Murdering EVERY executive and destroying all of their convoys isn't fucking enough!"

Nyght quickly tried to calm herself. Any louder and she would have alerted the entire bar, and they didn't need to see her when she was pissed off. She sighed and placed her hand on Oppai's left shoulder. He could feel her body quaking with unfathomable passion and anger as she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Pai… I'll do whatever it takes to put BLOOM out of their misery. I don't care if I get slaughtered in the process. If I go, then I'm taking all of them down with me. And you know that I mean that. That's why… I needed this last gig to get things moving. I need cash for supplies and necessities. A lot of it. I didn't want to bother you with this because I know that you have your own operation in the works, but—!"

"Actually," Oppai took the time to interrupt Nyght's tangent before it could go too far. He reached down and tapped away at the screen of his Gi-Pa before looking back to Nyght with a proud smirk. "Here. I think that should be enough."

A familiar jingle alerted Nyght as she looked down and gasped. Eight million digi-yen. Without warning, she quickly moved to send the money back, guilt overpowering her. "Pai, you know that I can't accept this much money, I didn't even do my job correctly—!"

"You're right. You didn't," Oppai reached to grab her wrist, stopping her in that moment with his eyebrows raised playfully. "So I want you to do it correctly this time by accepting that as a token of my gratitude. And to make sure that you don't try anything funny like sending it back?" Nyght watched with mild frustration as he quickly separated the link between the two of them via his Gi-Pa, essentially cutting her off. "I'd only slow you down and make you think twice about leaving."

Nyght was utterly dumbfounded, but she couldn't even be bothered to hide her precious grin as she reached over the counter to give him a hug. "Don't be so arrogant, you asshole~!"

Oppai returned it without hesitation. "Only giving you a taste of your own medicine, Jima-chan…"

"Oi!" Nyght pulled away and gave Oppai's shoulder a solid punch. "I stopped calling you Oppai-chan and that's the thanks I get?! It's NYGHT!"

"Yeah, yeah…" He looked to see that the sun had finally descended, and most of the teenagers stayed while the children scurried to their hideout homes. It was going to be closing time for him sooner or later. "So are… you going to head out now…?"

Nyght chuckled softly, gathering her belongings and fixing her jacket in preparation for the chilly winds of the night. He didn't have to sound so sad about it. "Yeah, I really should. It gets hella dangerous at this hour of the night, and I don't need any setbacks right now. Hell, I never need setbacks, but you know what I mean."

"I sure do, you busy-body," Oppai nodded to Nyght while attending to a cute female customer, who immediately smiled and held Nyght's hand for a bit before she turned to write her order. Nyght always was very popular with both girls and guys. Granted, she was popular in general, but still. "I'll… miss you, Samejima. It won't be the same here without you."

Nyght began walking towards the door, waving goodbye to all of the teens as she made her way to the exit. She turned and winked at Oppai, giving him a quick thumbs up. "I know~!"

And with that, she was outside and out of his view. Oppai did his best to remember the final image of her standing in that doorway.

He also did his best to pretend that he didn't see the tear that she winked out of her eye as she left.

She would miss him as well, but she was too prideful to admit it. She always was too prideful for a lot of things, and the thought of it being the end of her in the long run wasn't lost on her.

The night sky was still so beautiful. The twinkling of the stars and wondrous glow of the moon reminded her of simpler times. She had to get one last look at it before hitting the road. It was going to be quite a journey, but she never minded much. She was nomadic by nature after all. Traveling and the thrill of an adventure was in her blood. Even when she had a feeling that she wouldn't make it back from this journey, nothing could stop that feeling of excitement.

Nyght walked to her motorcycle, wolf-whistling at her beauty of a ride as if it was her own lover. It was a Dokuhebi 9000–and there were only around five in existence that she was aware of. The sleek and futuristic closely resembled a similar bike she'd seen in an ancient pre-Quirk movie. Akira was the name. It was mostly black with purple neon outlining almost every part of the gorgeous vehicle. It possessed state of the art technology and had built in auto-pilot that was so sufficient, she could legitimately sleep on her bike without worrying about the thought of crashing. A loud radio for her jams was the biggest blessing.

They had been through a lot together. In a way, it felt like her only equal and in the dance of death, it was the only thing that tangoed with her in perfect synchronization.

And if this would be her last dance… Nyght was perfectly fine with that.

"Welp, old girl… let's make history, yeah?!"

Phew! Okaaaay, so there's the prologue finished and I just wanna tell you guys that I am back with a new idea! For the moment, I've decided to put No Glory for the Restless on the backburner for something NEW! You wanna be along for the journey! This project came as a result of watching The Warriors and Maze Runner reruns and playing Fallout and CyberPunk 2077! Most of all?! This was born because, quite frankly, I am sick and tired of the same old "children want to be heroes so they go to a hero school" stories. Those are played out and redundant. No, I want to break away from this cycle of reusing canon's formula! I want to write something NEW and fresh!

And so?! Inflorescence was born! This is hopefully going to be one of the most unique SYOC experiences you'll ever endure! Again, check over to my bio for additional information BUT BEFORE YOU DO THAT?! HEAD ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER! BECAUSE WE WILL BE INTERVIEWING OUR MAIN PROTAGONIST! And her name is NYGHT!

Here's a bit about her before you go to the interview!

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE Y'ALL'S BABIES! OH! And to make your creative process more interesting and also give you the chance of thinking of connections between the MC and your character, lemme tell you a bit about her!

"Meet Jima-chan! Although, she's rarely called as such and most people refer to her as simply Nyght! She's the main protagonist and has garnered quite an extensive rap sheet and popularity within New Japan! Coming from Sapporo, now known as Creamsicle Hills, she is a mercenary and a symbol of hope for all of the country! She's been a massive thorn in BLOOM's side from the moment that all of this came into existence! As gay as the day is long, Nyght is someone that refuses to bow and break to the control of BLOOM, so she'd rather do everything in her power to fight against the organization's influence! She knows that BLOOM wants all of them to be hopeless and devoid of life or strength, which is why she works to be the opposite! She's a strong girl and while very silly, funny, and a clown-like child in nature, she is BEYOND competent and has a bounty on her head that's a fortune! You'll be following her throughout her journey as she takes on challenge after challenge in this new world, she will win some? She will likely lose many? But one thing is for certain! She will continue to fight, and that's why she is known everywhere. Some adore her, some hate her with a passion but whether they like her or not, she's here to stay! Unless I decide to kill her off, of course~"

And if you guys are wondering what Nyght looks like, the cover for the story is her!

The deadline for this story will be April 15th! I am ECSTATIC to see what you guys can cook up!