The patrol car stopped right in front of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Station, leaving detective Tsukauchi Naomasa and officer Tamakawa sansa at its doors. The detective didn't waste time and got inside the building, followed by his companion.
He nodded to the officers inside, recognizing each other from different cases they had worked together over the years, but didn't stop walking towards the detective's office. Naomasa knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Naomasa and Sansa got into the office, making the older man inside cheer up, his face quirking in a cheerful grin.
"Ah, Tsukauchi-kun! You came, it's good to see you"
"Good to see you too, Tanuma-san"
They shook their hands firmly, and then detective Tanuma went to shake Sansa's hand.
"Tamakawa-kun, right?"
"Yes sir"
"Good to see you too, lad"
"How has your back been treating you, Tanuma-san?" Naomasa asked, sitting in one of the chairs from Tanuma's office.
"All things considered, pretty good these past few years. But I still have to take it easy. Can't go running around to Osaka to bust an underground fighting ring like we used to, ha!"
Naomasa smiled at that.
"Good to see you keeping it easy then. It's difficult to imagine the reason you'd call me for a case then. Did something big happen?"
The face of Tokyo's detective got serious, and he went over to his desk, sitting on it, and pulled a few pictures from the drawer.
"This man was a member of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai yakuza group that was starting to make connections in the underground these past few months"
Naomasa looked over at the pictures. A middle-aged man laid on the ground in a pool of his own blood. The other pictures showed him the nature of his attack, a clean shot to the head.
"Was he targeted by another villain group? There's lots of villains that wouldn't want the yakuza to rise again."
"We are still investigating it. Have joined up our efforts with the Foresight hero agency. Don't look at me like that, I told you I'm getting old. I need help from sharper, younger minds these days."
"Then, if you are already collaborating with the heroes, why did you call me?"
Tanuma sighed, and opened another drawer from his desk, pulling an object inside in a vacuumed plastic bag. Naomasa's eyes widened while Sansa's whiskers twitched as they saw the object.
"That's…"
"Yes, a Black Bullet. We picked it from the hole it had left on the floor below the yakuza. I had it analyzed, and it matches with previous reports of deaths by the damned things"
"How can this be? This is the first time Karasu has targeted a non-hero" Naomasa rubbed his chin, concern on his face. "Do you think someone else has gotten to the Black Bullets?"
"I don't know. You are handling Karasu's case, you tell me, that's why I called you"
"It does… seem to follow the previously documented records of Karasu's victims, with a single shot straight to a vital area… I'm afraid I can't confidently state that it was someone else. It does seem like a kill from Karasu"
"It was recently discovered that he's likely to be some sort of gun for hire, right?"
"Yes, even the name they go by was just recently discovered, but they had always gone after heroes… This is concerning"
"Indeed. That's also one of the other reasons I got in contact with heroes. If a gun for hire doesn't care about who it shoots… Worst case scenario, he gets hired to take out civilians, and suddenly everyone starts panicking"
Naomasa laid back in his seat, sighing.
"This case just gets worse and worse the longer it gets. And there's still so little information on Karasu! Now I get how the people in charge of the Hero Killer's case feel"
"Yeah, I know them. Good men, and so are you. I just wanted to inform you about this. I have already informed Tsuragamae-san and the higher ups. They might revise Karasu's villain rating if they decide to target civilians"
"It should have been raised a while ago. They've taken too many heroes' lives"
"I agree, Tsukauchi-kun. But you know how the hero commission is sometimes. Those guys may actually wait until that wretched killer gets one "important" hero or a poor civilian until they rise his villain ranking"
It was a sad reality. This may actually make the commission want to actually divert Karasu's attention to target villains and not heroes. A villain that goes after villains was something the HPSC really liked to see. That's one of the reasons they ignore not noteworthy vigilantism cases, thinking it's better to see vigilantes and villains kill each other instead of having to arrest them.
Naomasa had strong opinions about that, but there was nothing he could do about it from the police. Only trust on Tsuragamae-san to talk some sense into the hero commission higher ups. He was a good man that deeply cared for everyone, even heroes, vigilantes and small-time villains alike, wanting to see true justice go into them instead of the recklessness of leaving things be.
"You are right, Tanuma-san. This just means I'll have to do better in order to catch up to Karasu and stop him" He got up, nodding to Sansa.
"You be safe, Tsukauchi-kun. Your drive is commendable, but don't let yourself get in danger. Especially not in that bastard's sight. A man that doesn't hesitate to kill heroes…"
"Won't hesitate against a cop either if he finds out I'm investigating him, yes, I know, and don't worry. We are being very careful with the investigation. Everyone involved is classified and only the police and a select number of heroes know about it"
"Good, then good luck with it"
"Good luck with your case as well, Tanuma-san"
Naomasa and Sansa left the office with a determined look on their faces.
"Thank you for informing us about it, Tsuragamae-san. We'll update the information on Karasu's case accordingly"
"Will you consider the revision on increasing his villain rank?"
"It'll be discussed, I can assure you that much"
"Good. Then that'll be all on my part. Ma'am"
The HPSC president could picture Tsuragamae bowing his head on the other side of the phone as he hung up. She sighed and set the phone down, facing the rest of the representatives that had come to her office.
"So, are we revising Karasu's file again? Increase the villain ranking like Tsuragamae-san suggested?" Mera said, shuffling through the documents related to Karasu's latest murders.
"It's just a villain casualty, not actually for concern to evaluate his ranking" The vice-resident said, looking at Mera with a disapproving look.
There were only five members of the highest ranking of the Hero Commission present, if you include Mera. Between them, most importantly were the president herself and the vice-president.
"More importantly, it seems Takami-kun's report ended up being correct. Karasu really seems to be a gun for hire. As long as you make contact and pay him, he'll go after anyone" The vice-president continued.
"We still don't know that for certain." The president stood up from her seat, walking towards the window and looking down from it. "This could as well be Karasu killing someone for personal reasons. We need to investigate the surroundings of this specific case to be sure"
"The victim was a yakuza, right?" Mera perked up, looking at the documents. "Maybe another yakuza group could be involved?"
"True… what hero agency has been tasked with the investigation?"
"Foresight, sir"
"Foresight… I'll have Sir Nighteye disclose his findings with us. That man is always throughout" The president turned around and went back to her seat. "Still, we need to investigate the matters of what kind of jobs Karasu takes on."
"I agree. How is Takami-kun working on making first contact?"
"Unsuccessful so far. He discovered B-rank villain and broker Okuta Kagerō is his handler, but that man is still as careful with not being found out as always. He wised up and went deeper underground after the Boogeyman lost" She sighed, lamenting the moment they lost track with one of the most notorious underground brokers.
"That man again? He sure knows how to latch onto dangerous people…" The vice-president scoffed.
"Yes, though we have a lead with one of the heroes under our employ"
The vice-president perked up at that, looking at the president.
"Wait, I'm lost, we have a contact with Okuta? Giran?" Mera asked. This was the first time he heard of it.
"Something like it. I guess your current rank makes you privy to that information, Mera-kun. We have several underground heroes extra officially under their own employ, having gone undercover in several levels of depth to the underground. one of those, has contact with Giran."
He blinked a few times, taking the information in. This must be part of the Mogura Project.
"I see…and I guess they've been trying to get closer to Giran instead of… exposing him?"
"Correct, and now it's finally time for the Hero Commission to act on it" The president said, and then turned to look at one of the other men in the room. "Have him contact Giran to hire Karasu to terminate case Red. We've been putting that off for far too long, and it's becoming an issue. Let's take it as a test to see if Karasu is capable of tracking someone unreachable for even us"
The man nodded and excused himself. Mera sighed, wondering where the line was drawn when employing a villain to take out another villain.
As long as there's one less villain.
He shrugged his shoulders, and continued listening to the meeting.
9 - The Line
Izumi met up with Giran at the usual café bar with the open terrace of Konukoru that they've been to a bunch of times already. Wuji, Hatori and a few other crows had come with her, and were either looking down to them in nearby buildings or just keeping themselves near the terrace.
"Hey, Princess~"
"Stop that"
Giran gave her an unapologetic shrug and grinned wider as she sat down on his table. Shortly after, a waiter gave them black coffee and hot chocolate. Izumi thanked them and sipped on her coffee.
"So, you have it?"
"Who do you take me for?" He smirked again, taking the cup of coffee and bringing it to darken his already dirty teeth. He slipped a black phone on the table, which Izumi took.
"It has everything you asked for. Untraceable by any sort of technology, and erases any trace left behind by it on the net. Can't get attacked by radio quirks, though they'd be able to locate it if it's in use. Impossible for them to eavesdrop, so privacy is still guaranteed."
"Good. Will it erase all my previous tracks online?"
"It's supposed to, once you log in to your stuff. Honestly had to use quite a bit of my resources to get it done and delivered from China"
"Stop complaining, you wouldn't have accepted this as my payment if it really left you with losses" She said as she turned it on and started looking through its inner set up.
"Can't get anything past you these days, huh?" He smirked, sipping into his coffee and leaning an arm behind the back of his chair.
"'These days', sure" She allowed herself to smirk, and set down her new phone, satisfied with it. "Honestly, this was worth it for such a boring job"
"Thought you'd like the change of pace. Don't heroes get boring all the time~?"
Izumi ordered the waiter to bring in some peanuts to the table, which perked up the crows nearby, slowly getting closer to Izumi and Giran's table.
"They at least aren't so trivially easy, most of the time. I'm done taking jobs from the yakuza"
"Hey, they pay well"
"I don't care. It wasn't fun. There was no thrill. The investigation and hunt was so trivial I only needed one day to realize the perfect way to hunt him"
"Most of your animal hunts don't last more than a day"
"Yeah, but I expect more of humans. Don't accept boring jobs like this again. EVEN if the pay is good"
"Oh, come on~ don't be like that~"
Izumi deadpanned at him, not even bothering to glare, as the waiter put a bowl of peanuts on their table.
"Thank you" She nodded to the waiter, grabbing a few peanuts.
"You are always so polite with everyone but little ol' me~ You are going to make me jealous~" Giran said, with a smug grin on his face that told her he wasn't really being genuine.
Izumi merely crushed the peanuts on her hand, giving Giran a deadpan stare as she let the crumbs fall from her hand to the floor. The crows got closer, and started pecking on the peanuts on the floor.
"I only get jobs from you. Pretty hard for you to get jealous. Get over yourself"
"So harsh~ But I guess you've been getting more renowned, even the general public knows the name of Karasu now"
"It was bound to happen after so many casualties and clients. I heard some have gotten caught already. That must have been how the police and heroes learned of the name. I wasn't expecting it to leak to the media though"
"You'd be surprised. This kind of stuff is juicy for known villains. If you hadn't decided your own, you'd forever had been known in the underground with the name the media gave you"
Izumi crushed more peanuts to leave for the crows, making a face to Giran.
"That sounds horrible. Named by those sensationalists? Ew" She shivered at the thought.
"Well, Karasu isn't that original either"
"Says you" Izumi sipped on her cup, purposefully making Giran wait for her to continue. "You know about my friends. No one else does"
"Even still, it's the name of an animal. Speaking off, you ok with that? Eventually someone is going to link your little flying squadron to you"
"I'm aware. I'm being extra careful so the Super Animal Commission doesn't find out"
"Wanna keep receiving jobs from them~?"
Izumi sighed, rolling her eyes and seeing from the corner of her eyes a crow flying to the other side of the street.
"It's not that reason. They don't know that Karasu and Diana are the same. And I want to keep it that way"
The crow from before flew back with the rest, a shiny coin in his beak, making the rest jealous.
"Sure thing~ but you know~ word is gonna spread that you can and will take on other villains~ The underground is going to become more lively. Do try to not take out any other of my clients~"
He blew smoke in between his teeth, laughing silently at that.
"If you don't want that, just don't give me those jobs. And that information may take a while to spread anyway"
"Oh?" Giran showed a little surprise on his face. "And what makes you think that?"
"Easy. The latest kill hasn't been publicly revealed to come from Karasu. And they should know. No one else has Kuro's bullets. Also, you better give me interesting hunts if you going to accept a non-hero target"
"Hey, that little and easy job is going to change the underground. Give it one or two years and I'm sure you'll hear the name of the Shie Hassaikai again~"
Izumi scoffed, leaving more crumbled peanuts for the crows to make them stop fighting over the shiny coin.
"I hope by then they have more interesting enemies. Or perhaps they themselves become interest prey"
For a moment, Izumi had a twisted smirk on her face, showing all of her teeth and her bloodlust, before getting masked masterfully by a poker face.
"Don't know why you go with a "faceless" look, you can totally pull off intimidation tactics with expressions like that" He said, sipping from his coffee.
"The helmet is safer. The head is an awfully easy target to get. Leave the designings to my support items to myself"
He raised his hands apologetically, but his smirk was nothing like it.
"Whatever you say~"
They asked for the bill and Izumi paid for the chocolate and the peanuts, putting in a little bit more money.
"That's not me inviting you. I'm tipping the waiter, you pay for your stuff"
"Sheeesh, I get it"
"And Giran"
"Hmm?"
"Try getting a more interesting hunt next time"
"Sure whatever. You got a nice phone out of it, don't you complain as much too~"
Izumi quieted her heart to hide her blush and restrain her pout.
"I get to complain. I'm going on the hunts after all…"
She walked off, the crows slowly following her, flying away from the buildings around the café. Giran sighed to himself, paying for his coffee and getting up. He sucked in smoke from his cigarette and touched the shoulder of the waiter as he left the café, using his quirk.
They were being careful to not be heard of their illegal business, but Giran couldn't help but take additional measures. Izumi stalked her human prey for days, he wiped the recent memory of potential eavesdroppers.
"Hmmm, good to see she's still a kid below all that crazy hunter bloodlust. Still can get some childish responses, heh"
He left the café, with the waiter blinking confused and looking at the paid bill on a table he didn't remember being occupied before.
Izumi got into the shinkansen without issue as always, Wuji coming back to Musutafu with her, having managed to hide in the seat below her. There were a few more crows hidden below other seats and in between the wagons, out of view.
The shinkansen screeched and speeded up along the frictionless railway. Izumi took the opportunity to begin migrating her information and data to her new untraceable phone. The moment she logged on MakeshiftGo, she could see in real time how the login information disappeared on her old phone.
That technopath in China must be really something to make something like this. Izumi almost wanted to break open the phone to see how it was modified. Almost.
She checked over a few posts in MakeshiftGo, seeing that her private messages were all still there. She wondered if zoomCEO would notice any change at all on her account, but dismissed the idea. Her account was just untraceable, but she could interact using her account in any way she wanted. That was the perk of the phone.
Izumi took out her headphones, plugging them into the new phone, and went over to YoTube, to put on some background music. She didn't use the app much, just to listen to music or to watch some tutorials on different techniques to build gadgets.
Izumi may or may not watch archery videos from time to time, comparing her own skills to the archers in those videos. But this time, there was a video that caught her attention. It didn't have many views, in fact, it only had about 10, probably recommended to her since the algorithm could no longer trace her history.
But the title of the video was what made her stop and actually look at it. "TAKING DOWN MUSUTAFU'S ANTI-BIRD SPIKES". She blinked a few times, surprised to hear more people talk about it. It was basically a Gaulusu-only problem, having increased the amount of anti-bird spikes they put on the edges and top of buildings, trying to get the "flying menaces" away.
It showed how much Gaulusu had grown as a neighborhood to see people refer to it as part of Musutafu instead of one of the less desirable edge of town neighborhoods. But still, for someone to call them out on it, was rare. She couldn't help but touch the thumbnail on her screen.
"Welcome again loyal viewers to another video of Gentle Criminal! This time, me and La Brava had traveled all the way to Musutafu! Heart of heroes and Imperial Golden Tips! Our dastardly mission this time? Sabotage all of these unfair anti-bird spikes that are everywhere to be seen!"
Izumi couldn't help but get glued into the video immediately. Who were these Gentle Criminal and La Brava? They called themselves gentlemanly villains, tearing off the anti-bird spikes from the building they were on while wearing some strange costumes and dark eye-liner over their eyes.
The way they explained how these many modifications to the facade of the public building went against the Law of Public Estate and even better, how they were totally unfair and unethical to not leave birds places to stay when there wasn't a dove problem in Musutafu was what sold Izumi.
Maybe Gentle Criminal and La Brava didn't care about crows, but they cared enough about birds to call out every single building that had put spikes on their facades without the appropriate permit. Gentle Criminal had an interesting quirk, seemingly bouncing from building to building, and Izumi swore he must have jumped from the air itself at some point, but the editing of the video made the image cut abruptly, so she couldn't check.
"And that is the last one folks! Hear Musutafu! You've been corrected by the villains Gentle Criminal and La Brava! Now loyal viewers, we must bid you farewell, but we'll meet again next week, with another of Gentle and La Brava's dastardly villainous plots! Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe! See you!"
Izumi found herself grinning by the end of the video, her heartbeat pumping fast against her chest. Even though she was wearing a facemask to help conceal herself, she felt a rush of embarrassment for being sucked into the video like that.
She breathed deeply, calming herself and slowing her heartbeat. Gentle Criminal and La Brava… they called themselves villains but acted more like vigilantes… They seemed nice, and even saw Gaulusu's extreme anti-bird measures as unfair, so that earned them her respect.
If there were some people she'd rather not hunt down… Those two would be that. A line that she wouldn't cross for as long as she liked them. There weren't that many more people that she'd refuse to hunt down. The murder of course, maybe Giran, but taking that hunt was impossible. She wasn't in the mood to hunt down Toga-senpai either.
Izumi then thought it over, then shrugged her shoulders, touching the like and subscribe buttons. It's not like she was going to get tracked by this either, her new phone was completely untraceable. She even left a comment.
GreenBird: Great video. About time someone did something about all those stupid anti-bird spikes. Glad to see there's more people that care.
And that was it. She made sure to use a different nickname than MakeshiftGo, to make it even harder to get tracked down. With all the ways that some villains had been tracked down from their accounts in the past, Izumi wasn't willing to make it any easier to anyone investigating the case of Karasu.
The shinkanshen creaked as it stopped in Musuafu's stop. Izumi got up, the crows getting out of the train silently and unnoticed. She made sure to remember those names, Gentle, La Brava.
The last day of school before the winter holidays came as monotonous and cold as any other. Izumi would yawn, but her control of her breathing was unparalleled in the school, and she was able to break the wave of contagious yawns in her class just like that.
"Well everyone, remember to keep studying so you don't forget everything next semester. And watch out against the cold!"
Lanbosu delivered that line as if it were a joke, but no one seemed to get which part was supposed to be funny. He coughed into his hand, trying to recover some sort of self respect, before dismissing everyone for the day.
There had been a different feeling in class ever since Samehada became quieter, something that Izumi was grateful for. She got up from her seat quietly, wanting to get out of school quickly to meet with the murder.
Izumi had already discovered her passion for hunting, so school was merely a place to quietly nap and pretend that she was still interested on humanhero society.
Strangely, Samehada got in her way right in front of the door. That brought them some curious stares, and Izumi could feel the eagerness of some of her classmates to return to the old status quo where it was normal for her to be at the lowest level of the school's status hierarchy.
Izumi merely raised an eyebrow at Samehada. She gave a quick glance at her. She was panting, eyes twitching and unable to focus on a single point to look at for long. Her hands were gripped into tight fists. Izumi's instincts told her that she was in front of a scared prey, fighting hard against their flight instinct.
Of course, as a predator, this only made Izumi sharpen her own senses, quieting her heartbeat and looking deep into Samehada's eyes, forcing all her attention on the shar girl. It was brief, but Samehada flinched, looking away momentarily, before psyching herself up, looking back at Izumi's eyes.
"I know there's something going on with you, Midoriya"
Izumi merely gave her a questioning look, just moving her eyebrows. That seemed to annoy Samehada, getting that Izumi wasn't even bothering herself with speaking back to her.
"You've been acting strange since Toga got caught, almost as if no one else matters, as if what she did didn't matter to you"
It didn't matter and it did at the same time. Your point?
Izumi expressed her thoughts just by giving Samehada with a tired deadpan stare. Her eyes twitched and Smaehada couldn't help showing her sharp teeth on a glare.
Acknowledging the threat, Izumi stepped forward, getting on Samehada's space, just barely from touching her, stopping right on her face.
Izumi didn't move, just looked straight at Samehada, daring her to push her away, and see what happens when you mess around with a predator.
Samehada clicked her tongue, breaking eye contact and stepping away from the door, turning around to not meet Izumi's toxic green eyes.
"Next year is going to be different." She didn't meet Izumi's eyes. "I know you have something to do with the disappearance of the anti-flying menace measures. I'm going to be a hero, I'm not going to let you get away with that."
And having taken that out of her chest, Samehada walked away.
That really wasn't me though, that was Gentle Criminal and La Brava. Do you have that big of a bias against me?
Izumi sighed, shaking her head and going on her way as well. She didn't let Samehada nor anyone else walk over her at school. It was all about attitude. They thought themselves better than her because she was quirkless, but she was also a hunter.
She had accepted it, and Izumi made sure of showing tidbits of that to unnerve anyone that thought they could mess around with a predator. Of course nothing ever happened, she always controlled herself, and no one ever wanted to admit the quirkless girl intimidated them, so she was able to be completely unbothered at school.
Only the teachers were getting on her nerves now, especially Lanbosu, telling Izumi she could apply herself more, being smart enough to try to apply to UA's support course. Always try, never enough to get in. They really didn't care about her, they were just mad she could still pass their subjects barely paying attention.
Well, school didn't deserve her attention, so Izumi barely gave it any. She'd make most of the holidays for herself and the murder, and not for this stupid school that didn't really care about her.
Izumi pet Wuji as she got to the apartment. The days had been getting colder, so she was wearing thicker coats and gloves, but the crows didn't complain when she pet them. They appreciated the extra warmth.
Today had been an eventful day, with Izumi spending most of the day with the murder at the Nest, and hunting a wild pack of wolves that started to get too close to the city and her own territory, so she and the murder disposed of them.
Wuji cawed, flying away into the dark sky. It wasn't that late, but the days were already getting very short, with the light of the sun having less time to reach Japan.
"Izumi! Where have you been all day?!" Inko asked, worried when Izumi got inside.
"Out"
"With this cold? Izumi you can't stay all day outside! You are going to catch a cold"
"I know how to take care of myself. I keep myself warm. I wear thick clothes"
Izumi pointed at herself, giving Inko a deadpan emotionless expression. She flinched at her dismissal.
"Still… please don't go out for so long. The days are getting colder, they say it's only going to get colder by the end of the year. Being out all day is dangerous…"
She walked past Inko, going straight to her room.
"As I said, even if you don't believe it, I know how to take care of myself."
"Wait! I, uhm, Izumi…"
Izumi waited for her to collect her thoughts, killing time by getting out of her gloves, coat and scarf.
"D-do you want to play some board games? Like old times. W-we can even play the darts if you want"
God, she's so desperate if she's even willing to propose the darts.
"No, I'm not in the mood. I want to rest for a bit. And I don't need a second player to play darts"
"Oh, I, I see. Then how about-"
Izumi closed the door of her room, cutting her off. She threw the gloves into her desk, and put the coat inside the closet. The dartboard greeted her from the inside of the door of the closet. Izumi quietly stared at it for a while, before grabbing it and setting it up on the outside of the door, closing the closet.
Izumi grabbed three darts and went to the other side of her room. She grabbed one dart in between two fingers, and breathed down. She let her senses sharpen until she could only see the target, and flicked wrist.
The dart stuck to the center of the board with a thud. Izumi sighed, satisfied, grabbing the next dart, and pointing upwards, sticking it into the inner red 20 circle. After that, she looked at the last dart on her left hand.
Wanting to try something different, she focused and twisted the dart on her left hand fingers, before putting it between her index and heart fingers. She turned slightly to give her left arm more room, concentrating again.
She breathed out until she could hear her own heartbeat inside her head.
Thump…thump…
Izumi flicked her left wrist, sticking the dart in the inner black 12. She sighed looking at her left hand, flexing her fingers and wrist.
"Hmm. Wouldn't hurt to improve on the left"
And with that, Izumi spent the rest of the afternoon practicing throwing darts with her left hand, while Inko heard the muffled thuds of the darts against the board from outside Izumi's room, her presence unwelcome inside.
Izumi got into her hunting clothes, along with the thick coat and the helmet on, crows ever vigilant as she went deeper into the familiar underground streets of Musutafu. She was wearing her fingerless gloves, much to her annoyance because of the cold.
Giran had called her, or rather, brought her a message through Urusai, to meet in the villain bar she had first seen when exploring Musutafu's villain underground for the first time. It was very unusual to meet outside of Konukoru, especially in Musutafu.
The broker had many enemies, and the abundance of heroes and their patrols in Musutafu were something of a problem for him to easily go undercover, so it was very strange for him to meet her here.
Izumi, or rather Karasu avoided the low villains giving her a curious look, the crows cawing and making their presence known whenever someone made a suspicious glance toward her. Wuji and Gorogoro landed on each of Izumi's shoulders protectively, warning anyone from getting closer.
Idiot humans.
Don't get closer.
Karasu could see more crows looking down on her like guardian angels, thankful to the helmet to obscure her glancing up. She reached the villain bar without any issue, thanks to the crows menacingly staying on her and warning off low villains.
Much like with Samehada, Karasu was able to give off a menacing aura thanks to the murder that even low ranking villains and petty criminals were able to pick off as a sign that it was best to leave her be. It wouldn't work on truly capable people and hunters, but it was a nice skill that she had developed.
Backfire was once again drinking at the bar, and gave her a glance after seeing her with the crows. Karasu turned her head as she walked to keep looking at him. It was the only sign she had shown pointing to look at anyone all night.
It did the desired effect, unnerving everyone looking at her, and making Backfire look away with a scoff. Karasu then stopped looking at her fellow hunter, like the same time failing to gain her respect, and went inside the bar.
"Hey! Keep those flying menaces out!"
Karasu stopped, just inside the bar, by the door, and looked straight at the barkeeper glaring at her. She felt Gorogoro start opening his wings, most likely about to hiss at him, so Karasu raised an arm to stop him.
She whistled in short bursts, her head not moving and pointing at the barkeeper, while her eyes discretely moved to the side and into Giran, smirking.
Did he really have to set the meeting in a bar where crows weren't allowed? That asshole.
Gorogoro buffed, imitating the sound of a cat, and flew back, followed shortly by Wuji, who gave a pointed look with his only eye to the entire bar. After they were gone, the people looking at her went back to their drinks, and Izumi sat on Giran's table.
"Glad you could make it, Ka-"
"Let's not bring more unwanted attention to ourselves, alright?"
Her voice came somewhat distorted, and lower pitches from her regular voice.
"Oh? New gadget~?"
"I don't want to bring unwanted attention, as I said. So I've been working on this the past few days. So I'd appreciate you don't disclose much"
He shrugged his shoulders, unbothered. He most likely wanted to make it more public that he was Karasu's handler, considering he almost exposed the mysterious figure surrounded by crows with Karasu.
Honestly, it wasn't that hard to figure out given the name and her company, but then again, apparently the yakuza group she accepted a job from last time wore crow themed face masks. So Izumi decided it was wise to not jump to conclusions based only in groups.
"Just saying~ it'd be good publicity~"
"Not the one I want. Don't link it with my looks. Isn't it better for you to have the monopoly of that information?"
"Hehe. Now you're speaking my language. Can't argue with that"
"Oi! You, with the blank helmet! Order something or leave! This isn't a meet 'n greet!"
Karasu kept her breathing steady, not letting herself get annoyed but that irritable man. Instead of getting up and ordering something, she looked straight at Giran. Not breaking eye contact. Even through the helmet, Giran quickly noticed and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You wanted me here. I could just leave"
He rolled his eyes, and breathed in long with his cigar in his mouth. He blew all the smoke into Karasu, unfaced thanks to the helmet. He then groaned and looked at the barkeeper.
"Get my partner here some hot chocolate?"
"Hot chocolate? What kind of pussy have you brought to my bar, Giran?"
With a quick movement, Karasu took her hand out of the coat, throwing a dart that brushed against the barkeeper's eyebrow hairs, and sticking with a thud in between two different bottles of beverages behind the counter.
"Do you want to find out?"
The barkeeper kept his cool, but Karasu could tell he was putting a brave front. One of the perks of sharpening her senses was that she could tell all the signs of scared prey. And she didn't miss how his eyebrows and hands twitched for a moment before he scoffed and got to work.
The hunter turned to face Giran directly, who was now smirking and enjoying the attention that little stunt got. Karasu rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"So, what got you to go to Musutafu. And even calling in a meeting. Isn't it risky for you here?"
"It's risky for me everywhere, sweetheart~ I just know how to move around, and with proper friends, it's not that difficult to avoid hero patrols"
Does that mean he has a contact on the inside? Giran is a pretty well known informant, inside and outside of the underground. Maybe I underestimated the lengths of his network because of my familiarity with him…
The barkeeper came in with a cup of hot dark chocolate. Karasu turned to look at him, meeting a frown, before he quickly backed away. She pulled the lower part of her helmet up, and brought the cup closer to her lower face.
Her nose scrunched when she smelled the familiar aroma of dark chocolate. Disappointed, she sighed and put the cup down, but she guessed neither she nor Giran specified something sweeter, or for him to add milk into the hot cup, so she let it pass.
"I assume this meeting is for a job"
"You're correct~"
"And why didn't you tell me through Urusai? He delivered the message for the meeting. Why wouldn't he be able to deliver the full job?"
"I'm not questioning if he can deliver the message or not, relax. Honestly, your friends are the next best thing for delivering messages after the little payment I gave you~"
Karasu sighed, annoyed.
"So? What's the occasion? Surely this wasn't a publicitystunt?"
"Well, you told me to discuss with you first when getting jobs with non-hero targets~"
Karasu straightened her posture. Leaning into the table. A few curious glances were pointed at them, but quickly stopped once Karasu faced her helmet to them.
"Interested now, are you~?"
"That depends. It better be worth my attention"
"It's kinda interesting~" He leaned closer, and slipped a piece of paper. Karasu grabbed the paper, leaning the cup of her hot dark chocolate over her visor so it would fog up any possible reflections.
Karasu was a professional, she wouldn't let information leak that easily. She unfolded the paper.
"The client is a hero" was the first line written, along with instructions about the desired target to hunt.
"Are you for real?"
"Interesting, right?"
"That depends. How much do you trust this guy? I won't be walking into a trap"
"Trust? Oh, please. He's a real scumbag, playing both sides, would sell his own mother if it would bring him any benefits at all"
"You say that but you are smiling" Karasu pointed out.
"That's because I have him grabbed by the balls~ I know sensitive information he doesn't want spread around~ something not even his employers know~ So he lets me be, and every now and again we are able do some business~"
"And this is some of that business? You want me to take care of one… of his tasks? I'm not your errand boy, Giran" The broker raised an eyebrow at the way Karasu referred to herself, the confident grin not leaving his face.
"Boy? Hmm, if you say so~ but still, you've seen it, it's not a regular task"
It really wasn't. The hero was tasked with terminating a dangerous villain, capable of apparently blending in perfectly into a crowd. Karasu wasn't that surprised about heroes being ordered to terminate villains, after all, she had already confronted Taser.
But this… there was a lot of information on the target, with a suspect of being currently impersonating, but lacking evidence to do anything about it. According to the information Giran wrote in the note, the hero had his hands tied, and was unable to do anything legally.
Apparently the villain was using their quirk to pose as a member of a gang, with the person they were impersonating having been found dead in an alleyway, the gang none the wiser.
"According to this, I don't see why they client couldn't take care of this themselves"
"Yeah, but guess what, he's been compromised, the dumb fuck. The target-"
"I know, I read it"
The target had found out who the hero was, and that they were after them, apparently. So Karasu assumed they'd be able to escape if the hero confronted the gang, and that was why they couldn't do it themselves.
"Yeah, but also, they are involved with the gang~"
Karasu frowned under the helmet. Was it really that normal for heroes to think so outside of the hero ideals? Giran did have dirt on him after all.
"Whatever, this case… It's interesting enough. The reason they don't do it makes me sick, but going after a shapeshifter sounds challenging enough"
"Great then. I'll tell them you took the job. Oh, they want it done pronto. They may go into hiding and hide elsewhere if you take too long"
Karasu gave Giran a deadpan stare, the equivalent of annoyance that she could show while in the zen state keeping herself calm.
"You waited until I accepted to say that"
"Guilty as charged~ You may not have accepted it otherwise"
Karasu got up, putting the note inside a pocket of her coat. She hadn't touched the hot chocolate.
"Tell him I'll take as long as I need to. I won't let them get away once I track them. You handle them accepting it"
"It's a deal then~"
Karasu nodded, turning away and going to the exit.
"And one more thing, Giran. Next time, pick a more private meeting place"
A few patrons of the bar twitched and looked away, having been found out on looking at the pair.
"Sure thing" The broker smirked, grabbing Karasu's cup and drinking from it, making a face. "Ugh, so bitter"
Karasu got out of the bar, and slid the lower part of her face out of the helmet. She let short whistles, calling out for the crows, with Wuji and Gorogoro landing on her shoulders again.
She put the helmet on again, already moving to the turf of the gang where her target is supposed to be. The voice modulator she had installed on the helmet clicked as is was put in place again.
"We have another hunt"
"Caw!" I tell others.
"Thanks, Wuji"
He flew away, cawing while the other crows in the surroundings cawed back, following him. The sky was bathed in the orange hue of dusk. It was getting dark already, but since this hunt was in Musutafu, Karasu could afford staying longer tracking her prey.
Two hours later, with the sky already dark, Karasu had reached the other side of Mustafu, and was stalking the base of the Ikare Hebi gang. Well, calling it a base was being generous. They were merely occupying an abandoned apartment and using it as the meeting place of their gang activities.
Karasu didn't make it a routine to go into the underground and mingle with villains. Still, as part of the murder, the crows shared all the knowledge of the city they got a hold off, which wasn't little. Still, the Ikari Hebi were a new villain group that had made itself known in the underground by being obnoxious and treating themselves as more of a big deal than they really were.
It was trivially easy to get into the roof of a building a few blocks away, and just stalk them through there. Karasu was keeping a watch on the apartment using her binoculars, while some of the crows stayed closer to the building, should anything happen.
If it weren't for the shapeshifter hiding in between their ranks, Karasu would have tossed the note back to Giran's face. Tracking the gang had been so easy, the crows almost accidentally had heard them mention it once, so there was barely any tracking to be done.
From her point, Karasu could see into a window of the apartment, and recognize two of the gang members talking about something. Neither were the target she was looking for, with a description of the impersonated member being that he was in his twenties, with a snake tattoo on the side of his neck.
Karasu heard the flaps of the wings of one crow getting closer, but she didn't stop looking at her target. Something seemed to be going on, with the two men that she was able to make out starting to shout angrily to someone out of view.
"Caw! Caw! Trouble!"
She momentarily looked away from her binoculars, to look at the crow that had come to her. She was one of the crows that had been looking at the target more closely.
Something going on. Human acting strange. Other humans angry.
"Did he have a snake on his neck?" Karasu dragged a finger on her neck, mimicking the shape of a snake that would go through it if there was a tattoo on her neck.
"Caw! Yes! Snake!"
Karasu looked back on the binoculars, petting the crow with her free hand. There was definitely something going on right now inside. The two men looked way angrier than before, and one of them purged forward, out of Karasu's view.
The man that Karasu could see put up at battle stance, his face paling and rising his arms defensively to his head's level.
"Seems that our target has revealed themselves"
Karasu couldn't see exactly what was going on inside the apartment, the spot she had chosen being safe, but not the best to observe most of the inside. That's why there were a few crows there, closer, taking advantage that no one thought them capable of spying and stalking them.
What was clear to her, were signs of an ongoing struggle. Shadows moved erratically, in the clear sign of a fight, and if the face of the man she could see were any sign, it had to be some scary fight.
The Ikari Hebi were kind of a joke gang, Karasu knew that much with her few visits to the underground, but to not only infiltrate them, but seemingly going into a fight with all of the members inside… Karasu just hoped that her target wouldn't get themselves killed at least.
Then something changed, she could make out more of the crows flying her way, and started hearing them caw and the flaps of their wings getting closer. But on the other side of her binoculars, the shadows had stopped, with the man in her view getting on his knees, and starting to cry out, yelling something.
He was begging for his life, Karasu realized, and became more interested in her target. It did seem like a worthy prey for her to hunt. The crows were trying to get Karasu's attention, cawing and poking at her to look at them.
"Give me a moment"
Karasu could clearly make out a terrified scream of the man as someone else jumped at him, and buried a knife on the side of his neck. The man fell on his back, with the other person twisting the knife, and then taking it out, before… lowering her head and bringing her mouth to the open wound.
Izumi's eyes widened, as she recognized the target. There, naked, on top of a dying man, Himiko Toga drank the blood gushing out of his neck with a gleeful expression on her face.