Taishiro Toyomitsu looked down at the rumpled piece of paper in his palm, double-checking the address with a look of disbelief upon his face. The writing definitely matched the sign on the front of the building, but the décor definitely did not match his expectations. Where he had expected to find either an office building with a floor rented out or a small, dedicated space like that of his own hero agency, he instead found a run-down apartment building standing tall above the street. With a sigh, he shook his head and pocketed the paper before entering the lobby.
The interior of the building was just as shabby as the unwashed brick walls of the exterior- or perhaps even more so. Peeling wallpaper in a floral pattern reached up to the off-white ceiling, where a gaudy chandelier of fake crystals hung with fake candle lights. One of the bulbs was missing from the hanging decoration, which gently swayed ever so slightly in the noisy breeze from the malfunctioning air conditioner mounted high upon one of the walls. The wall of mailboxes next to the staircase upward had seen better days as well, with all of the doors to the mail lockers stained to the point where Taishiro couldn't tell if they had originally been made of copper or brass.
Taishiro paused to stare at the dilapidated room for only a moment before shaking his head and moving toward the staircase at the far end. The man had to turn sideways to fit through the doorway, only to find that the switchback steps leading to the upper floors were so narrow that his sides were slightly compressed by the railing. With an annoyed grunt and another glance at the address he had scrawled down, he began to climb.
"…tenth floor with no other information, because of course it's the tenth floor," Taishiro grumbled to himself as the steps creaked in protest beneath his weight. "And no elevator, in a building like this. How is it that two heroes climbing up in the rankings chose this for their office? Unless they've bought out the entire tenth floor and turned it into their headquarters…"
After the reaching the fifth floor, Taishiro started to get annoyed. By the seventh, he was a bit winded. As he reached the tenth and shoved his way through the door, expecting to see an office setup waiting for him, he could only react by staring in disbelief.
There was no office. Just a regular hallway leading to quite ordinary apartments on either side. The only thing unusual was a flickering light coming from the wall at the far side of the hall, which immediately caught Taishiro's attention.
"…gotta be kidding me," the pro hero mumbled as he began to stomp down the hall. "What kind of joint is this?"
As Taishiro reached the end of the hallway and located the source of the light, he once again found himself at a total loss for words. In front of Apartment 1021 was a neon sign reading Mirko & Hawks Hero Agency with a red feather and rabbit's foot worked into the logo. The sign blinked on and off every few seconds, vomiting neon out into the otherwise totally mundane surroundings. Beneath the incredibly expensive looking fixture was a sheet of paper taped to the wall with a hastily scrawled note in black permanent marker reading "Knock once for friends, twice for hero business, three times for delivery."
Taishiro's mouth hung open for a moment as he read the sign again, trying to make sure that he wasn't in some wild fever dream. He hadn't even noticed the small bunny with Mirko's winking face on it sketched below the message in pencil. Unable to decide whether the illustration was somewhat cute or infinitely disturbing, Taishiro raised his fist and knocked twice upon the door.
"…is someone at the fucking door for hero business?" an aggressive feminine voice called from inside the apartment.
"What? I thought that was three," a male replied, barely audible through the wall. "I ordered pizza like ten minutes ago. If someone had hero business, they'd call."
"Sweet. What toppings?"
"Sausage and onion."
"Ugh, onions. You're so fuckin' gross, man, with your damned onions."
"Onions are incredible, you just have no taste."
"Yeah, no shit, I'm dating you. Are you getting the door or not?"
"Nah. They never show up that fast, it's at least a half hour wait. Probably the landlord or something. Just ignore it."
Taishiro brought his hand to his face and sank his forehead into his palm as he closed his eyes. With his other hand, he knocked twice again slowly and purposefully, making sure that each blow was loud and distinct.
"…Keigo, I think that might actually be legit."
"Fine, I'll put on pants…"
"Pff, like the people that would work with us would even care."
Taishiro opened his mouth to insist that pants were required, only to be cut off by the sound of something rather heavy falling over behind the door. A mad scramble accompanied by frantic yelling ensued and lasted for several seconds, at which point Taishiro took a step back and began to question several of the life and career decisions that had led him to the door. Before he could take another step and turn around, however, the door pulled open to reveal a disheveled- and thankfully fully clothed- Keigo Takami standing on the other side. The sandy blond raised a brow upon seeing the much taller, much wider man, and he tilted his head in obvious confusion.
"…Fat Gum…?"
"Who is it!?" a voice called from deeper inside of the apartment.
"It's Fat Gum!" Keigo called over his shoulder before turning to face Taishiro once again with a suspicious look. "Can I help you?"
"…potentially," Taishrio said hesitantly. "Your hero agency is your apartment?"
Keigo stared blankly for a moment, his crimson wings twitching subtly behind him.
"…yeah. Is that a problem?"
"Not a problem," Taishiro reassured. "Just… curious, is all. May I come in, or is this a bad time? I want to talk to you and Mirko about potentially working together on something."
Hawks visibly stiffened and his wings raised and pulled in toward the center of his back.
"…I don't know if that's a good idea. We've got a small team, and smaller teams get less people hurt. You've got a reputation to protect and connections with people we don't get along with. The last time one of the big names worked with Rumi, she ended up getting burned. I'm not letting that happen again."
Taishiro let out a weary sigh and put his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.
"I understand that you're protective of her, especially given… her reputation, but I'm here offering an olive branch for her sake, and for Tamaki Amajiki's."
"Amajiki?" Hawks asked as he narrowed his eyes. "What did he tell you?"
"Not much," Taishiro said with a shrug. "In fact, nothing useful at all, other than that Togata's working for you on something, and Amajiki's worried. I'm here to work things out as best we can for all of us. Amajiki's a good kid, and if I have to roll in the mud a bit to ease his mind, then so be it. The mud being whatever it is you're doing- not working with you, I mean."
"…right," Keigo considered. He blew out a sigh and shook his head before running a hand through his unkempt hair. Noises of movement from somewhere within the apartment continued, and Keigo looked over his shoulder once again before turning back to Taishiro. "We're good. Tell Amajiki it's under control. I'm not letting Rumi go thr-"
"Hey!" Rumi called as she appeared behind Keigo, wearing a green pullover branded with the U.A. logo and a mismatched pair of black short shorts. "What's up, Fat?"
"Not much," Taishiro answered. He smirked as he watched Keigo close his eyes, looking annoyed. "I just came by to talk about whatever it is you two are working on with Togata. I want to help."
Keigo finally opened his eyes and gave Rumi a cautionary look as she clenched her jaw and returned it.
"Rumi…"
"…why?" the woman asked as she looked back at Taishiro. "You don't trust us to handle it, since we're a fringe operation? Wait until the hero rankings update at the end of the year. Then we'll see who's fringe, and who's on top. Our numbers are good, and we're doing things our way- the way that actually gets things done, without all of the red tape. If you can handle that? Then maybe, but I want a good reason."
"He's worried about Amajiki, who is worried about Togata," Keigo explained as he leaned into the door frame. "Amajiki supposedly hasn't spilled anything about what we're up to."
"I don't think he would," Rumi agreed. "If anyone was going to talk, it'd be Hado… and given Ryukyu isn't with you, I'll believe it. Come in."
"Rumi!" Keigo protested exasperatedly.
"Don't start," Rumi replied with a glare. "I know, but you apparently keep forgetting I've got some bigass ears. I don't need you to make decisions for me. I'm not a baby, Keigo, and Fat's too good to lie to us, unlike some pros. He's one of few I don't have a direct problem with. Get in here."
Taishiro hesitated as Rumi waved him toward the apartment and turned her back to walk inside. Keigo gave him a glare of warning before shaking his head and moving to follow, at which point Taishiro finally entered. For once within the building, he was totally unsurprised by what awaited him.
The apartment could only be described as a disaster- perhaps the sort of home a hoarder would occupy. Stacks and stacks of books, binders, movies, and video games lined the walls, sometimes in shelving units and other times free-standing next to them. The central living space had three pizza boxes stacked at odd angles upon the coffee table, accented by a rickety ceiling fan rotating and looking ready to swing off its support pole above them. A sofa with a stain that Taishiro decided he'd rather not think about awaited him as Rumi and Keigo occupied the loveseat across from it.
"C'mon. Sit," Rumi ordered as she folded her arms and crossed her legs to begin bouncing a foot impatiently.
Taishiro ambled over, eyeing the filthy kitchen in the adjoining room before he settled onto the cushions as far from the stain as he could manage. The entire sofa creaked as he sat, and for a moment, he fully expected to end up on the floor.
"Listen, Miss Usagiyama…"
"Rumi," the woman corrected. "If we're even considering working together, then we're getting friendly."
"…Rumi," Taishiro offered. "I understand that you might be hesitant to let anyone else in on something big, but I can offer you a lot. I've got an office the two of you can use, and a ton of resources. Resources that don't involve other pros. I'm guessing you've got a desk set up with a fairly expensive computer in your bedroom, and you're working from there right now?"
Rumi brushed a strand of silver hair back behind one of her ears, looking a little annoyed.
"…don't judge."
"I'm not," Taishiro replied as calmly as possible. "I'm not looking to take over. I'm looking to understand, and more importantly, help. I know a lot of people don't appreciate your presence on the hero scene, but I think you've got serious potential. That, and I care about Amajiki- if any of my other hires were as upset as he's been lately, I'd do something like this for them, too. I'll offer you some space at my agency, access to all of the equipment I've got, and my personal help with whatever it is you're doing, if you'll let me in. Don't you think it'd be more effective to tackle your problem together? If it's as big as Amajiki makes it sound, we might even be able to springboard you back into the spotlight."
"I'm not interested in the spotlight," Rumi snapped. "Not one I have to share with the other pros. I have nothing to say to them."
"And not only that," Keigo added, "but what we're doing isn't exactly… something that would get approval from most hero agencies. It's risky. Parts of it might be illegal. People could end up getting killed… and the less people involved, the better."
"If people could end up getting killed, especially people still at university, then don't you want every advantage you can get?" Taishiro asked. "You may be a lot of things, Rumi, but I know you're not careless, no matter what the other pros spout off about. If anything, you care a little too much, and I think that's why you rush in and take on things you need help handling. Someone's gotta do it- might as well be you, right? Well, what if I'm willing to play a backup roll and just help ensure that things go smoothly?"
Rumi took a deep breath and nodded slowly, only to jump as Keigo put his hand atop hers.
"…hey. Really think about this, bef-"
"What do you know about the Shie Hassaikai?" Rumi asked as she turned her attention back to Taishiro.
Author's Note:
Next time- a split between the aftermath of this conversation, and the remainder of the beach…
-RD