The Funeral for Sayaka wasn't a long one. It didn't need to be. Not many people attended outside of Yoshihara, Akira, Otoshi, Sayaka's parents and siblings, and that was just about it. The funeral had been pre-planned by the family, having been aware of the chance she would die. The only thing they had to do was pick a day, and with that day being today, one could imagine what Yoshihara had been doing.
The entire morning she had been, for lack of a better word, depressed. Sayaka was one of the only people that she had believed she was genuinely friends with. Even if she was a few years older than her, they still talked semi-frequently, and personally, Yoshihara viewed her as an older sister.
When she was alone, she was pretty sure that she had cried so hard that she gave herself a migraine. Though, she was fairly certain that a lot of it was the pent-up sadness that she had repressed over the course of her entire life and that Sayaka's death had been the last thing to push it over the edge.
She was just glad that no one saw her have the meltdown that she did. Not even Izuku—never, Izuku. He could never see her like that. That would just embarrass her.
When the day of the funeral came around, she told herself that she wouldn't cry. But actually being there… that made it so much more difficult.
The funeral was an outdoor one, gathered around a headstone on a specific lot that had already been picked for Sayaka. Everyone surrounded it, heads bowed. It was to be a silent funeral. No words were exchanged, but they all brought red spider lilies to honour the dead.
There were several times when Otoshi nearly broke out into tears. He looked like a wreck, and Yoshihara couldn't blame him. For herself, she couldn't force herself to cry. It would've looked completely unnatural, but that didn't stop it from reflexively happening. She did feel a few tears fall down her cheeks, but that was about it.
She didn't want to cause a scene. So she tried not to cry as much as possible. Even if it was hard for her to do that.
It was ironic. She finally regained the emotion to cry, and it was because someone close to her died. If that wasn't cruel irony, then she didn't know what was.
They didn't hang around after the person who buried Sayaka said a few words in her honour. After that, and after everyone left their flowers behind, that was pretty much all there was. It… didn't feel right. Not to Yoshihara, at least. But that was all that could be done.
As Yoshihara walked back to Kayama-san's car seeing as she was the one who brought her here, he stopped halfway down the field of graves when she felt someone grab her shoulder. Checking to see who it was, she noted that it was Akira.
"Akira…"
"Sup, kiddo. You doin' okay?" Akira asked, concern in his voice as Yoshihara looked away. When she first heard the news that Sayaka had died… it wasn't a pretty scene. That was a day ago. It was also the first time in a long time that she had openly sobbed. Sayaka was an important person to her, and for her to have died….
"Better than yesterday," Yoshihara replied, rubbing at the corner of her left eye. She was getting a little misty-eyed just thinking about it. Akira nodded, frowning.
"Nemuri's holdin' a party next week. That's gotta be at least a little bit exciting for ya. If nothing else, myself and your friend and his mother are gonna be there. Pretty sure Dr. Tomioka is gonna be there, too" Akira said as Yoshihara hummed in acknowledgement.
After everything that had happened recently, that was the last thing that had been on her mind. So much had happened recently, and she had no idea how she was supposed to deal with it all. Her terrible excuse of a mother showing up and nearly killing her, getting arrested for defending herself and not expecting Sheer Heart Attack to do half of what it did, finding out her effective older sister was dead, and just days before that, the USJ incident.
If it wasn't for the fact that her emotions were muted and or basically non-existent, she probably would've had several emotional breakdowns over the course of a couple of days.
Oh, and then there was The Sports Festival, which was coming up in a week and a few days—closer to two weeks than anything, but that was beside the point. The point was that it was coming up, and while she wasn't stressed about the actual festival itself, she was stressed about going back to school.
Considering the fact that she had, without a doubt, committed three very unforgivable crimes, there was a good chance that she would become a social pariah at U.A.—which was another thing that she was confused about.
Aizawa-Sensei told her that the only punishment she had to endure while at U.A. was extra counselling from Hounddog regarding her actions, and that she wouldn't be allowed to participate in the License Exam when it eventually came around until next year.
She wasn't expelled like she thought she'd be. Which… seemed suspicious. There was no way Headmaster Nedzu was okay with what she had done. Self-defence or not, it was a PR nightmare. Or, perhaps, Headmaster Nedzu had everything already under control? She had never met him in person outside of the USJ, so she couldn't say for sure, but given her brief experience with being around him, he carried a special air to him.
The kind of air that made him seem as if he was in control of everything. As if he knew something like this was going to happen eventually, and he had a protocol for it. Or, something like it had happened in the past.
"Kiddo, you okay? You spaced out," Akira's voice broke her out of her thoughts as Yoshihara blinked, finally registering that he was still around.
"Oh… sorry, I was just thinking about recent events and what's to come…" Yoshihara said, not making eye contact with Akira. For his part, Akira frowned, concern wafting off him. Yoshihara tried to not pay it any mind.
"Alright then… go home and get some rest. Nemuri is waiting for ya," and with that, Akira walked off, hands in his pockets. He had shaved his beard, which was a weird look for him, but she supposed she had been used to seeing him with some facial hair rather than none.
Making her way to Kayama-san's car, Kayama-san was already in the car, and when Yoshihara entered the vehicle and closed the door, she put on her seatbelt and fixed her collar—it had gotten a little messy, and it was bothering her.
She had worn all black—black suit, black pants, black shirt, and a white tie because a black tie would be stupid. She even wore black gloves and shoes. She was going to wear a black hat, but she decided against it. She didn't look good in hats, anyway.
"How was it?" Kayama-san asked as they began to pull away from the graveyard. They were in a rural part of Asakusa, which was where Sayaka had grown up, so it would take them a couple of hours to get home.
"Silent. Aside from people saying their peace, it was fairly uneventful. I've never seen Otoshi like that, though… He looked like an emotional wreck," Yoshihara replied, looking out the window as they passed by the scenery.
"Apparently, Akira and him aren't on good terms anymore. Something about a fight happening and escalating after Akira told him what happened…. It wasn't pretty," Kayama-san said as Yoshihara frowned. Otoshi had shot her a glare when she showed up, almost like she wasn't welcome. At least, from his perspective.
"Yeah… he didn't seem like himself."
"He's probably just grieving and lashing out. It'll pass eventually," Kayama-san said as Yoshihara wordlessly hummed in acknowledgement. Yoshihara wanted to believe that, but a part of her didn't know if that was true or not. Otoshi was always the kind of person to be blunt and straightforward with people he liked and disliked.
Death changes people, so the saying goes. It doesn't have to mean that your death is what changes you, but the death of someone you cared about. That was a truth of the universe, not just a subjective truth.
"You're nervous about school, aren't you, Yoshi-chan?" Kayama-san said, earning a side glance from Yoshihara. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure your classmates will understand. They seem like decent people, right? And if they don't, well, then you still have Midoriya-kun, his mother, and that Kujo boy with his girlfriend. Frankly, those are all the friends someone really needs, if you ask me."
"But what if I don't just want a small group of friends…?" Yoshihara thought, looking back out the window. She kept that to herself and wordlessly acknowledged Kayama-san again. She wanted to be friends with 1 – A, and there was no way her mother, dead or not, would've gotten in the way of that.
But after seeing some of what those articles online had said about her…. Class 1 – A weren't that close. Sure, there were friend groups within the class, but not everyone knew everyone yet. Sure, they all experienced one thing together as a class that would strengthen any bond. But bonds can be severed rather easily.
Life was not a shonen manga. That's what a lot of people seemed to forget in the real world, especially during the era of superheroes and Quirks. People were still as fickle as ever, and it was that fickleness that could make or break a relationship between people, platonic or romantic.
Yoshihara might not have had to deal with her own emotions for years, outside of anger and now sadness—maybe anxiety and fear if you wanted to count her panic attacks as a part of her emotional spectrum—but that didn't mean she couldn't read people for their emotions. It was how she learned to cope by others' example.
A large chunk of 1 – A didn't like her for what happened at the battle trials. While they appreciated her for getting the heroes at the USJ, that didn't change all of their minds. Yaoyorozu was chief among them. After their partnership during the battle trials, she had been side-eyeing her for most of their classes.
It wasn't the "I want to say something to you but am too busy too" kind of side-eye, either. It was the "get this person away from me" kind of side-eye.
And now, there was this.
"Well, hopefully, things don't get too extreme. Maybe it'll blow over… but knowing my luck recently, probably not."
[XXXX]
[9 days before the Sports Festival]
Returning to classes on Monday was something that Yoshihara slightly dreaded, and she had plenty of reason as to why that was. Even when she was passing people in the street, despite keeping her head low, she could see the scathing looks she had been getting. It was annoying, people judging her for something that she wasn't given the choice but to do. The other two deaths? The Girl and Death Arms? Those could've been avoided, that she knew.
But, that was in the past now. Two days ago, mind you, but still. The Sports Festival for first-year students started on Tuesday next week. While by then she had hoped that it would all blow over, the reality of the situation was something much different.
She had apologized to both the families of Goro Akuma, whom the public knew as Death Arms, and the girl whose name she learned was Ichiko Tatsuka. Both of them had accepted her apology, and after being told the circumstances of their deaths, they understood that it was an accident.
That didn't stop her from being chewed out by the father of Ichiko, though. He was furious, and for proper reason. Because of her, his daughter was dead. She even went as far as to let him slap her, even if Kayama-san and his wife had a problem with it.
But she deserved it. She knew it, he knew it, and even if it wasn't a public apology, it didn't need to be. She didn't need to apologize to the public. She didn't owe them anything. She owed the people who she affected, and that was about it. Anyone else could take a pool from the street corner and shove it where the sun didn't shine.
She didn't owe the people who were slandering her anything.
She had seen what they were saying, even with the public security footage all over the internet to try and combat it. It was a smear campaign. All of the articles repeated the same basic bullshit for days—a psychopathic murderer kills a woman in the middle of the street, along with Death Arms and a teenager, after the victim had "bravely defended herself."
Later, the culprit was found to be a hero course student Kira Yoshihara. Police have commented that due to a controversial law that has yet to be removed she would go free without any charges. Some of the articles even had the gall to say that they 'reached out for a comment,' when no such attempt was made.
Of course, nobody outside of her circles knew the actual truth, and nobody seemingly wanted to know the truth of the situation. All they wanted was someone to hate, and if that was what they wanted, then she would let them have their cake and eat it too. If they wanted a target to hate, then so be it.
And if that extended to the people in her class, then so be it. The only people who needed to know the truth were Izuku, Midoriya-san, Kujo, and Karera-chan. The rest of them could go shove it for all she cared.
There was nothing more in the world that Yoshihara Kira hated than the news media. They always blew things out of proportion—even the whole Stand Bullet attack nonsense. Yes, two hundred people were attacked, but claiming there were no survivors? She met one two days ago, so that was bullshit. Hell, she had seen one news article say something about how the Government was doing it for "population control" or some crazy conspiracy theorist wack-job nonsense.
There was such a thing as knowing one's limits. It was clear that the media did not of what that was. And now, she was in their scopes, with the crosshairs lined up with her face in the center. They had a "juicy story" to spread and a mindset to make her out to be the worst thing since the last major villain attack.
"Fucking vultures…." Yoshihara thought, glaring at the gates of U.A. High. Several people from a variety of different classes who were at the front gates stopped whatever they were doing and looked at her. Almost like they knew that she would show up at any moment if she hadn't already.
What she was met with were scowls, and narrowed eyes—any nasty look you could think of, it was there, and in no short supply either. As she passed by the silent crowd of glares and murmurs, it didn't take long for someone to speak up after recognizing her.
"MURDERER!"
As soon as that one voice called out in the crowd, everyone who hadn't been paying attention to Yoshihara was now, looking in the direction of whom the voice was directed, while Yoshihara made eye contact with the person who shouted out their call to action.
The person in question was a student with dark brown hair, the colour nearing black rather than brown, with short twin pigtails, and an average appearance for a high school girl—flat-faced, brown-eyed, and with a modest figure.
There really wasn't much else to say about the girl, other than she was glaring at Yoshihara with hate in her eyes. "A PERSON LIKE YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE! YOU SHOULD BE IN TARTARUS FOR SEPARATING A FAMILY, YOU BASTARD!" The girl said, screaming at her as several people joined in on the chanting of "murderer" over and over again.
Yoshihara ignored them, at least, she tried to, until the teen who started the chanting, full of herself, said something she really shouldn't have. "YEAH, DO YOU HEAR THAT, YOU MONSTER! EVERYONE AGREES THAT YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE! YOU KILLED AN INNOCENT WOMAN, SHE DID NOTHING WRONG AND YOU KILLED HER!"
Yoshihara stopped dead in her tracks, the chanting getting louder and louder as that one sentence looped over and over in her head. She knew that nobody knew who Yoshikawa Kira was—a name that hadn't once shown up in the newspapers at all, only referring to her as the 'innocent passerby' on the street.
But if they knew even a tenth of what Yoshikawa had put her through. If they knew even a smidge of the pain that that dredge of a woman forced her to suffer through. If they even so much as caught wind of the heinous acts and atrocities that that horrible sack of shit forced her daughter to do… they would've understood why Yoshihara murdered that woman.
But of course, that world did not exist. Rather, she was stuck in a world where no one bothered to ask questions and chose to believe the news media over their reasoning.
Yoshihara wasn't one for public outbursts, not unless someone threatened her or attacked her, verbally or otherwise. But, she could make the exception, at least this one time. Her eyes narrowed, and that was when it hit them all.
Killing Intent.
Not from someone in the crowd, but from Yoshihara herself. Immediately, everyone in the crowd had been silenced by the sheer pressure she gave off. It was like something collectively grabbed them by their throats and squeezed. Yoshihara slowly turned her head toward the person who started the chanting and walked over to her.
The twin pigtailed-haired girl's eyes widened with fright, but just before Yoshihara could finish closing the distance between the brunette, someone came between them. The person in question was a boy with a massive chin, and a rather muscular build, and stood at about 6 feet, 3 inches. "If you want to hurt her, you damned murderer, you'll have to go through me!" The boy said, his voice intimidating, causing a few people to snicker.
"There's no way she can stand up to him, hero course or not!"
"Yeah, Tsutsutaka and his Quirk, Damage, could destroy her!"
"KICK HER ASS, AGOYAMOTO!"
There was a brief amount of silence between Yoshihara and Tsutsutaka, the smaller girl behind him smirking. As all of the chants and cheers of his name skyrocketed, his ego inflated, and he began to taunt Yoshihara. "Lost all yer bravado now, have you! Just what I thought, bastards like you only pick on the weak! I—"
"Move," was all Yoshihara replied with, as Killer Queen appeared behind her and grabbed Tsutsutaka by the face before slamming him down sideways into the ground, the concrete cracking as he hit it, whilst blood flowed freely from his face. The teen went limp from unconsciousness, and the pigtailed teen wilted almost immediately. Gasps erupted throughout the place as a few of the watchers ran over to see if the boy was alright.
The girl, the one who riled everyone up, the same girl who now looked like she was about to shit herself, stared up at Yoshihara, suddenly feeling shorter than she really was.
Fear danced over her face as she shook, a majority of the students standing stock still, the only ones moving in to help to be the ones who got the big guy out of there before any more harm could be done.
After witnessing the tallest boy there outside of the hero course get slammed into the ground with ease by someone smaller than them, albeit with something they thought to be a psychic Quirk, caused the rest of them to stand stock still, not bothering to help the poor, innocent girl that was about to be attacked by Yoshihara.
At least, that was what everyone else thought.
"Innocent, you say?" Yoshihara said, her dead, cold eyes void of any sort of sympathy or remorse as she stared into the brunette's soul. Nevertheless, the teen tried to look tough, despite her shaking body and her terrified visage.
"Y-Yeah! Y-You—"
"Does nearly killing me in the privacy of my home sound like an innocent person to you?" Yoshihara spat, interrupting the teen, her gaze now turning into a glare. The brunette took a step back, but Yoshihara simply took a step forward, not letting the teen back away. "You want to know the full story behind it, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten this murderer's attention, right?" Yoshihara growled, only for a hand to land on her shoulder before the situation could escalate any further.
As Yoshihara looked over her shoulder, she was met with Josefumi. "It's not worth it, Kira-san, let's get to class," Kujo stated, his expression unreadable. Yoshihara nodded, Killer Queen returning to her person.
After she had explained everything to Kujo, he turned around and told Uraraka and Ida, seeing as those two had been getting close to him after the events of the USJ and even had each other's numbers for quick communication. Karera also told Mina and Kirishima what happened as well as a few members of 1 – B that whom she had become friends with.
It was good to know that, outside of the people she told, others around her were able to spread awareness of what actually happened. But, if it wasn't obvious enough after what just happened, it didn't extend past the point of people who she knew.
But then again, Yoshihara didn't really care what the student body thought about her—she never did back in Aldera, so why should it matter here?
The only thing that mattered to Yoshihara was that The Staff at U.A. knew the truth of the matter. Which, of course, they knew. Apparently, they had a whole meeting regarding her continued stay at U.A. as a student, and Nedzu ultimately decided that she was worth keeping around.
Again, while she wasn't allowed to take the license exam until next year, that wouldn't impede her very much. She could still do internships, it just meant that she needed express permission to do anything patrol-related with whoever she interned with.
Walking past the crowd of murmurs and entering the building, Kujo and Yoshihara made their way to class as quickly as they could, avoiding anyone they possibly could. Once they made it to the door, Kujo slowly opened the door, slipping in with Yoshihara. As soon as she made her appearance everyone turned to look at her. Those who knew looked away immediately, and the rest who didn't simply stared.
Silence was all she was met with. Kujo ushered her to her seat, and as she sat down beside Yaoyorozu, the ravenette looked at her with a glare. "Is it true?" Yaoyorozu asked, making Yoshihara frown, twirling her newly acquired pencil in her hand.
"You read the newspaper, obviously, what do you think?" Yoshihara said, playing coy, making Yaoyorozu glower at her with an annoyed expression.
"Don't play coy with me. Did you murder that woman? Did you kill Death Arms? Did you kill that teenager who was helping that woman?" Yaoyorozu said, though this time, she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her. Nobody else in the class said a word, they simply waited for a response. Yoshihara simply narrowed her eyes, stared at Yaoyorozu, and then spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
She wanted to get this out of the way sooner rather than later. If they were all interested to hear her side of the story, then great. She wasn't expecting much, but if she were able to curb whatever nonsense they had heard now before it could fully cement in their minds, then that was even better.
"Yes, I killed that woman, but she tried to kill me first. She attacked me, and I simply defended myself. If anyone has a problem with that, then that's on you and not me. As for Death Arms and Ichiko Tatsuka—the aforementioned girl—neither of them were supposed to die. My Quirk evolved, and I was unconscious from blood loss when it happened. My Quirk went out of control, and there was nothing I could have done about it. I've already apologized to the people who I affected, and as for that woman, I couldn't give less of a shit about the fact that I killed her. If she somehow survived—which she didn't—I would not hesitate to finish what I started."
Silence. That was what she was met with. Yaoyorozu looked as if she was going to smack her for what she had said—at least, that was what her facial expression told her. What was the big deal? She admitted everything, and she said the truth. Did she seriously believe that she was lying?
The rest of the class, aside from those who already sympathized with her, also seemed conflicted. Conflicted on what?
Did they seriously not think that her defending herself was a valid excuse? Giving someone a concussion was fine but actually putting down a real threat was drawing a line? There was no way these people were that up in their feelings to ignore the obvious, were they?
Just before Yaoyozoru could say anything, Aizawa-Sensei walked into the classroom, looking over everyone with a keen eye, before smirking to himself. He was still bandaged to hell and back, but she could make out him smirking by how the bandages creased around where his mouth should've been.
"Good, I'm glad I didn't have to say anything this time. You lot are learning fast, that's good," Aizawa said, scanning the classroom again before letting out a sigh. "Now, because of what occurred over the weekend, I feel like I should address the elephant in the room." The moment Aizawa-Sensei finished his sentence, whispers and murmurs broke out again.
"Are they serious?" Yoshihara thought, her left eye twitching. What was there to say? Did they seriously not believe her?
"Alright, quiet down," Aizawa-Sensei said, activating his Quirk momentarily to get everyone to pay attention to the front. Once they were all quiet, Aizawa-Sensei deactivated Erase before clearing his throat. "There we go. Now, as I was saying—"
"Sensei!" Yaoyorozu spoke up, standing as she raised her hand to get his attention, causing Aizawa to pinch the bridge of his nose. He looked annoyed more than anything, but kept that to himself, as was evident when he spoke.
"Yes, Yaoyorozu, what is it?" Aizawa groaned, staring at her. For a moment, Yaoyorozu didn't say anything. But, after a moment to collect herself, she finally spoke.
"Why is Kira still here, and not in prison for what she has done?" Yaoyorozu stated, echoing the thoughts of everyone else in the room, which had earned a few nods and murmurs of agreement. "She murdered not just one person, but three people, in broad daylight, in front of the police. Not just anyone, not a villain—which I would sort of understand if that had been the case—but a few innocent bystanders! She is not hero material, let alone safe for the public to be around, not only that but—"
"Enough," Aizawa-Sensei interrupted, a stern tone in his voice, glancing at Yoshihara, who had been scowling. Yaoyorozu stopped speaking, opting for a slightly confused and shocked expression before shaking her head.
"Yes, Sensei," Yaoyorozu said, sitting down, side-glancing at Yoshihara with a slight glare. Aizawa took a sweeping glance around everyone in the class before then sighing.
"Now, as I was going to say before I was interrupted. I know that many people here are curious as to why Kira Yoshihara is still a part of Class 1 – A. Normally, I would be inclined to agree that she does not deserve to be here, especially after killing those people," Aizawa began as he leaned against his desk, earning everyone's attention. "However," Aizawa continued, cracking his neck side to side to get rid of a cramp that had been bothering him. "As we all know, the media tends to lie about certain things and leave out details to cause an uproar, and to generate more sales of their magazines. It would seem that all of you have yet to learn that lesson. Is there anything you'd like to say, Kira?"
"I already said my peace before you came in, Sensei. I already told them what happened," Yoshihara said as Aizawa shot Yaoyorozu a disappointed glance. Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, only narrowed her eyes and stared at the floor.
"If that's the case, then I shouldn't have to explain it further. That means this topic is dropped. I don't want to hear anything else about it, at all, for the rest of the day. That includes when I'm not the one teaching. Am I understood?" Aizawa-Sensei said as a wave of "Yes, Sensei" filled the classroom.
Classes began shortly after the fact, not that Yoshihara had minded all that much. The first two classes were boring, nothing much of note happened. There were a few times were Yaoyorozu would glare at her but do nothing more than that. Not that she cared all that much, glares never scared her, especially from those without Stands. They meant absolutely nothing to her.
Now, at lunchtime, that was a completely different story. When the bell rang out for lunch to begin, and just as the teacher for the class, Ectoplasm, left the room, everyone turned to look at her. "Great, it's going to be one of those days, isn't it," Yoshihara thought, frowning. She observed everyone looking at her, noticing that those who knew about what happened that night were looking at her hoping that she would leave it be, while the others simply glared at her.
But, Yoshihara was not that kind of person.
"Do they seriously not believe me? Are they that brain dead to not take the truth at face value? What are they expecting me to do? Apologize? Hand myself in?" Yoshihara thought, sighing. "Are you all deaf? I already told the lot of you what happened. I don't need to explain myself further. Any other information that would explain my reason for killing that woman I am not comfortable sharing."
Which was true. They didn't need to know what that pathetic excuse of a woman had done to her for her to warrant her wrath. They didn't need to know that kind of information. That was too much. Not even those who knew the pretext as to why she killed her mother—the self-defence—knew the true reason why she killed her.
Unfortunately, for some people, that wasn't a satisfactory enough answer for them.
"You're not comfortable with it, huh?" Kaminari spoke up, glaring at her as he approached her desk, getting within poking distance of her. "I bet that woman wasn't comfortable when you punched through her chest and crushed her heart, now was she?" He spat, earning a scowl from Yoshihara.
"If you do not back out of my face right now, Denki Kaminari, I will make you," Yoshihara curtly replied, narrowing her eyes as she met his glare with a glare of her own. "Believe me, it's really not that important. All that you should know is that she tried to kill me. I've already explained what happened. Don't say or do something you're going to regret."
"Regret? What's there to regret? You're a monster. That woman didn't deserve that, and—"
There was no warning.
There was no hint.
There was nothing.
In the time it took to blink, one moment, Kaminari was a few inches away from Yoshihara, and the next, he was sent flying to the front of the classroom after something punching him in the face. To those who knew and or saw what happened, their eyes were wide. They hadn't expected that from Yoshihara, and while everyone else was confused, she used that chance to say something.
"I will not tolerate any of you telling me what that woman deserved or not. I will not tolerate any of you slandering me, either. The law decided that I was innocent, and while those charges were still applied to my record, there is context surrounding them. I've told you the context. If you cannot think for yourselves, or allow the news to control your opinion, or don't believe me for some preconceived notion, then I don't care for your opinions. You know the truth, and you're actively ignoring it," Yoshihara began as she stood up from her desk, and began to leave the classroom.
Kaminari slowly began to pull himself out of the wall at the front of the room, grunting in pain as Yoshihara shot him a death glare, making him flinch into himself. She turned her attention to the rest of the class, scowling. "I can't believe any of you. To turn on someone who should be your ally… And you're all trying to be heroes? Pathetic. You will regret this, if not because of right now, then I'll make you regret it, and I can be quite petty when I want to be."
Without another word, Yoshihara left the classroom to go eat lunch. Not long after she left, Kujo followed after her, along with Izuku, and strangely enough Ida and Uraraka. Yoshihara only noticed when she glanced over her shoulder. Frankly, she hadn't expected anyone other than Izuku and Kujo to follow her.
Then again, Ida and Uraraka were aware of Stands. That didn't mean she liked it.
"Are you mental, Kira?!" Kujo whispered next to her, as Yoshihara rolled her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes, you just made things worse!"
"Made things worse?" Yoshihara said, scoffing. "There was nothing worse to be made. They already made their choice. If they wish to be petty and ignore everything I've said, then so be it. It goes to show how fickle they are, and how unwilling they are to understand and grasp even basic things."
"That's not the point!" Kujo bit out, stopping her in her tracks by grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "The least you could've done is—"
"Is what, Kujo? I already explained it to them. I told them what happened. You were sitting right there, and you saw how they reacted. They were expecting something more. I told them there wasn't, and look what happened? They've already made up their minds. There is nothing I can do or say that will change their minds. Now get your hands off me," Yoshihara said, gently pushing Kujo away.
Kujo stared at her, frowning. He went to say something when Izuku spoke up.
"Y-You know… I hate to say it, but she's right… Um… But I think Kacchan might believe you," Izuku said as Yoshihara raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you say that?" Yoshihara asked as Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, clearly still nervous about her outburst earlier.
"When you finished explaining, he smirked. T-That usually means he agrees with someone on something. O-Or something like that…" Izuku said as Yoshihara blinked. If that was true, then that was something she really didn't expect. Especially considering how much she disliked Bakugo, for him to potentially side with her…
"Well, at least you have someone else siding with you!" Uraraka said, trying to keep the mood a little less dreary. "Even if it is Bakugo…"
"He's a little rough around the edges, but I can see the potential in him. After all, he does want to be a hero! Not just anyone can want to be a hero and mean it!" Ida pointed out as Yoshihara hummed.
She had to give Bakugo credit where credit was due. He had been leaving Izuku alone, and while he hadn't apologized for his actions during the battle trial, it was clear he was taking Aizawa-Sensei's words to heart. However, that didn't mean he was in her good books. Not until he apologized to Izuku and not until he tried to make up for what he did.
Although… she knew Izuku was hiding something. Not just his connection to All Might but something else as well. Something regarding Bakugo, and it was obvious every time he spoke about him. What that something was, though, she didn't know.
"Interesting…" Yoshihara muttered, before looking back to the cafeteria. "We should get something to eat. Before the line gets too big." With that, the group of five made their way to the cafeteria, and upon getting something to eat, they all sat down at a table near the front of the cafeteria.
Yoshihara got eggrolls with a side of rice with soy sauce, Izuku—as per usual—got Katsudon, Kujo got sushi rolls, and Uraraka had Miso Dumpling Soup mostly because Lunch Rush wouldn't let her have Mochi for lunch, so she settled with what she was given. Finally, Tenya got beef stew, which he said was his favourite.
Yoshihara pitied Lunch Rush because of how much cooking he had to do. Although, apparently, his Quirk helped with that. It was called Ingredient. He could literally create food ingredients by eating any kind of food, and he had been part of the help to end world hunger. He worked at U.A. part-time when he wasn't busy in soup kitchens or in Africa helping to feed the needy.
As they all sat down to eat, Kujo waved someone down, and that individual ended up being Karera. She didn't have anything on her—not even a tray of food. What she had was a cup of coffee, though. It was an extra large, and a part of Yoshihara wanted to snake it from her. She didn't though. That would've been rude.
She sat next to Kujo, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as she flashed a peace sign. "Sup guys!" Karera quipped, a warm smile on her face. She let go of Kujo and put down the peace sign, before looking over at Uraraka and Ida and raising an eyebrow. "Uh… you guys're 1 – A students, right? Uraraka and Ida, right?"
"That would be correct!" Ida said as Uraraka snickered.
"Yup, that's us! Nice to meet you. Your Fumi-kun's girlfriend, right?" Uraraka asked as Karera nodded, looking at Kujo with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Yes, that's right. But I gotta ask, Fumi-kun, did you tell your class to call you that?" Karera said, and when she did, Yoshihara got the feeling that she wasn't asking the question to be nice. Kujo nervously chuckled, leaning back as tendrils of Karera's hair began to stick up like vipers ready to strike.
"Hehehe… Uh, now, now, there's no need to be possessive over a nickname, Karera, I—"
"It's not just a nickname, Fumi-kun."
"Did I do something wrong?" Uraraka asked as Yoshihara had to hold back a laugh. It was more than likely a pet name, and either Kujo liked it better as a nickname, or he did it to try and get a rise out of Karera like what was happening now, Yoshihara didn't know, but whatever the case was, she found it hilarious.
"Uh… Guys, I hate t-to burst your bubble, but someone's coming," Izuku said, catching Karera and Kujo's attention, and as soon as Karera spotted whoever was coming their way, she physically deflated and let out a loud, annoyed groan.
"Well, well, well! Look who the cat dragged in!"
"Not him…." Karera bemoaned, rolling her eyes. Everyone had been confused at what she meant by that when a boy with short blond hair walked up to the table, his blue eyes radiating with contempt as they stared at Yoshihara. He wore the male uniform that U.A. although he made a customization to it that put a clock pin on his collar.
"If it isn't 1 – A's resident serial killer! And you're mingling with one of our class's top students?! How pathetic! Do you seriously think that by doing that you'll get into anybody's good books, hmmm?" the boy spat, almost giving Yoshihara a migraine.
"Oh. My. Fucking. God. You have got to be kidding me…" Yoshihara thought, narrowing her eyes up at the blond. She could tell right away that this guy was going to be a major pain in her ass. Not because he was strong—in fact, he looked weaker than a third-rate villain—but because he had the world's most aggravating voice known to man.
"Monoma, I mean this with all the respect I can give you, but can you please go away? My friends and I are trying to have lunch together, and—"
"Friends?!" Monoma interrupted, glaring at Karera with what looked like betrayal. "You mean to tell me you're friends with a bunch of 1 – A losers and a murderer!" Monoma said, scoffing. "Come now, that's the biggest joke of the century, I—" Before he was allowed to continue his sentence, Kujo had stood up during his little rant, approached him, and grabbed him by his collar, lifting him off the ground to meet Kujo in the eyes.
Now, at first, Yoshihara never paid attention to Kujo's height. Mainly because it never mattered. But right now, now that she was noticing it, Kujo was tall. Monoma looked to be of average height—around 5'7 to 5'8: whereas Kujo was easily six feet tall, if not a little bit taller. How Yoshihara never noticed she didn't know. Though, given that she was surrounded by tall people—aside from Izuku—she never really gave it any thought.
"H-Hey! W-What do you think y-you're—"
"Listen here, dweeb," Kujo interrupted, annoyance in his tone of voice as a couple of people looked over in his direction. "She's dating one of those losers, that being me. She asked you to leave, and you didn't. Now I'm telling you to fuck off before I do something, and just me, pal, you won't like it," Kujo spat, dropping Monoma to the ground, who then scrambled away, hurling insults at Kujo, who simply let out a huff of indignation.
"The nerve of some people," Ida quipped as Kujo shrugged.
"Frankly, it doesn't matter. His words mean nothing, but that doesn't mean he wasn't more annoying than nails on a chalkboard," Kujo replied, a frown on his face as he watched Monoma run off into the hallway.
Karera smiled, giving Kujo "that look" that most deeply infatuated people gave their lovers. It was… odd, especially on her face "Thank you, Fumi-kun," she said, earning a kiss on the forehead from him, taking his seat next to her once more. Ochako giggled as Ida recoiled slightly, shaking his head.
"I've never understood romance, and I never will," Ida said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, it has no reason to be in a school for heroics. Romance should be focused on after the fact!" Ida stated, earning an eye roll from Kujo.
"We were together before U.A., Ida-kun. It wasn't like we hadn't been together for more than a month. Oh, Kira-san. I got the invite from Kayama-san yesterday. We'd love to go, but it's mine and Karera's 2nd anniversary on that day, so we'll have to pass," Josefumi explained, a small smile on his face as Yoshihara nodded.
"I understand. Thank you for telling me in advance. Honestly, I don't even know why she's doing this anyway. She really doesn't have to," Yoshihara replied as Ochako looked on in confusion.
"An invite from… Kayama-sensei?" Ochako questioned, tilting her head, a confused expression on her face as the brunette looked at Yoshihara. "What do they mean, Kira-san?" Uraraka asked as Yoshihara sighed. That was right, her class didn't know, did they? Yoshihara never saw a reason to tell anyone, but she supposed since Uraraka brought up the topic…
"Oh, yeah. I suppose I should've said this on day one, but I didn't want to sound arrogant. Nemuri Kayama is my… adopted Mother," Yoshihara said, causing Ida and Ochako's jaws to drop wide, but only Ida was brave enough to say anything.
"Y-You're adopted!" Ida exclaimed, though tried to keep his voice down as much as possible. "And by a Pro Hero, no less! Not to say I have no experience with that, my whole family is a group of pro heroes, retired or otherwise, but still. May I ask how you came to be adopted by her?" Ida asked as Yoshihara shook her head.
"No. I'm… not comfortable saying," Yoshihara replied, picking up one of the eggrolls with her chopsticks, dipping the tip of it in soy sauce and taking a bite out of it. Once she swallowed, she continued. "That, and even if I were to tell you, Ida, it wouldn't be in a public area like this," Yoshihara finished as Ida nodded, adjusting his glasses.
"My apologies if I brought up a touchy subject, Kira-san. I will refrain from it again," Ida said, bowing his head as Yoshihara felt a bead of sweat fall down the side of her head.
"So formal… even more so than I am at times," Yoshihara thought, smirking to herself as she swallowed the chewed-up food in her mouth. "That's fine, Ida-kun. At least you apologized," Yoshihara said as Ida raised his head, and then continued his meal.
The rest of lunch, as well as the proceeding classes all but interesting. She still received glares from others in the halls, as well as in her class, but it hardly bothered her. However, it wasn't until the end of the day that things got… interesting. The bell for after school sounded, and when Ochako opened the door to their classroom, that was when it happened.
Chatter. There was a lot of talking, a lot of nonsense, and a whole lot of students standing in the way, all coming from different classes. As soon as Yoshihara saw them all, she was almost tempted to turn around, open up one of the fourth-storey windows, and try her luck with jumping out of one of those rather than wade her way through all of that.
That was, until, she felt a tug on her chest coming from within the crowd, and when Kujo looked at her with a serious expression, she knew exactly what that meant, and she knew from experience it wasn't good. There was only one thing it could be, and that was fairly obvious to anyone with a functional brain.
There were Stand Users in that crowd.
She could feel more than just one within the crowd, as could Kujo. It was at that point when Yoshihara bared the brunt of the number of people in the clump of people, and glared them all down, trying to find the black sheep in the herd. She could count four of them—three, actually, because she saw some people from Class 1 – B, which meant that Karera was one of them. All of the Stand Users were most likely in the back of the crowd, and most likely a part of a group. If not, then it was a coincidence.
"Whoaa…" Ochako muttered, stiff as a board in shock. "W-What's going on?!" She stammered as Ojiro rubbed the back of his neck.
"What do you think they're here for?" Ojiro asked as Bakugo scoffed
"Two things. Scooping out the competition, or, they're here for blondie," Bakugo spat, glancing over his shoulder at Yoshihara. Oddly enough, there was no contempt in his eyes. Come to think of it, he hadn't even glared at her the entire day. "Ya know, the bastard who killed someone? That might have somethin' to do with it. Whatever," Bakugo rumbled, approaching the crowd. "That, and we're the ones who survived that villain attack. Makes sense they'd want to take a look before the Sports Festival."
As Bakugo made his way to the door, he glowered at them all, snarling in the process. "No point, though. Move aside, cannon fodder!" Bakugo shouted, causing Ida to reprimand him, despite knowing that it would do nothing to stop him from calling people names. As soon as he was finished reprimanding him, that was when the feeling in Yoshihara's chest got tighter, as a voice made itself known at the back of the crowd.
"It's true. We came to get a look, but you sure are modest. Are all the kids in the hero course like this one?" The voice spoke up, a few prickles of purple hair sticking out in the back as the person made their way to the front of the crowd, shoving past others in the process. As soon as he did, though, Yoshihara's eyes widened ever-so-slightly at the boy's appearance.
He… kind of looked like Aizawa, if he had poofier hair, and if its colour was a deep shade of purple. Otherwise, he looked as if she was staring her teacher in the face for the fourth time today. However, that wasn't the only thing that made her pay attention to the boy. She could feel that connection that all Stand Users could feel, and for a split second, his eyes wandered to her, then went back to Bakugo.
"Gotta say, I'm a little disillusioned if this is what you're offering. Those of us who didn't make the hero course are stuck in General Studies and the other tracks. There're quite a few of us. Did you know that? Depending on the results of the Sports Festival, they might consider transferring us to the Hero Course. I understand the reverse is also possible for you. Scoping out the competition? For a General Studies kid like me, this'll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals. Consider this a declaration of war."
As the purple-haired boy finished, his eyes wandered to Yoshihara once more, and then, a frown took up his visage. "Though, I'm surprised someone hasn't already been dropped out of the school and expelled. Especially after what the media said, am I right?" The boy stated, a cocky smirk on his face as Yoshihara glowered at him. Without thinking twice, the blond summoned Killer Queen by her side, and as soon as that happened, the boy's eyes widened. The Stand made a cutting motion with its thumb across its neck, before disappearing. At that moment, the boy faltered, visible fear on his face before he shook his head.
"Hmph, whatever. For now, I'm going to wait till the Sports Festival, and then, I'll steal one of your spots on top. May the best man win," the boy stated, to which at that point, Yoshihara finished scanning the crowd. Three more Stand Users were still left in the crowd, and she was pretty sure that at least one of them was Karera, so she didn't count, and this other boy knocked the first one off the list of unidentified Stand Users. So, in that case, who were the other two?
It was at this point when one of the students from 1 – B made themselves known, to which Yoshihara tuned them out. She approached the crowd, making a few of the students step back, while others held their ground. Yoshihara glared at those who didn't move, which then made them move, clearing a path for her.
Being known as a murderer had its props, she assumed. If people would part like the Red Sea at her appearance, well, why bother to repair her status when people simply moved for you? That was far better than others hounding someone because they were in the hero course.
"Perhaps this would be better for me. People staying out of my way… and I'm going to be an underground hero, it would be better if I don't attract attention to myself. Maybe killing that bitch was the best decision in my life, amongst other things," Yoshihara thought, a small smirk on her face as she calmly walked down the hallway, hands in her pockets as she walked.
After all, why would she need to worry about people following her for their self-gain? Even if they did follow her and attack her, well, Killer Queen could just atomize them without a second thought. After all, no one would miss a General Studies student, right? Maybe their parents would, but—
"No, stop thinking like that. Don't fall into that mindset. You're supposed to prove them wrong, not do the opposite and become a serial killer, dumbass." As Yoshihara finished that thought, she frowned, rounding the corner without any hesitation. Little had she known that she had been followed by someone in the crowd, and they had been doing a pretty good job at it, too, seeing as she hadn't noticed them, either.
It all came to a head as soon as she exited the building, and just as she was about to leave the campus to head to Aizawa's, which was where she was currently living with Kayama-san until Love Love Deluxe was finished going through its repairs, she felt someone grab onto her shoulder. She turned around almost instantly, and what she was met with confused her.
It was the girl she had met a few weeks back in the hallway. The same girl who had told her to "watch it." She'd remember a face like that any day of the week. The same girl who she had been convinced was a Stand User. Now that she was here, and now that she was actively on the lookout for potential Stand Users, she noticed the sensation that drew them together.
She was a Stand User.
"It's you. The girl from the hallway two weeks ago. What do you want?" Yoshihara questioned as the verdant teen scowled. She removed her hand from her shoulder, and as soon as she did, she spoke.
"I knew you looked familiar, Kira Yoshihara. I saw your face in the newspaper and the headline attached to it. So it got me to think—where have I seen that face before? Lo-and-behold, I was right. Funny how that is, don't you think?" The girl said, a sly, almost condescending smirk on her face.
"And that last name, Kira. My family is very familiar with it. My Great-Great-Grandfather fought yours, and if the headlines are to be believed, then the fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree, killing random women and the such," the teen spat, narrowing her eyes. Yoshihara wasn't sure whether or not the teen was going to do something, because otherwise, this conversation would've been a complete waste of time.
"What are you trying to prove? If it's a battle you're looking for," Yoshihara began as she summoned Killer Queen beside her, causing the girl to falter for a moment. "Then I promise you, I won't lose."
"S-So… you are a Stand User…" The girl said as all of the bravado that she once had gone within seconds. She cleared her throat, the lost confidence returning immediately. "No. I'm not looking for a fight. Not here, anyway. Besides, there's one place where I'd much prefer to fight, especially given how you wouldn't be able to kill me if we did fight," the girl spat, causing Yoshihara to narrow her eyes.
"Fine. Not that it'll matter. I wouldn't kill you anyway. I have no reason to because the only people who would ever deserve that are scum. The only thing you are is annoying," Yoshihara replied, turning to look away. Before she did, though. "Who are you, anyway? You walk up to someone and already know their name, yet I know nothing about you. That's rude, you know?"
"Who am I?" The teen asked, her smirk widening into a manic smile. "Why, you can call me Heimei Kishibe. The great-great-granddaughter, and the former great-great-grandson, of the superb Rohan Kishibe! I'm going to enjoy destroying you, Kira, and then, I'm going to take your place in the hero course. After all, a murderer doesn't deserve that spot, only true heroes do, and see myself becoming a great hero, not you!" Heimei spat, her smirk widening.
Yoshihara scoffed, turning her back on the Kishibe. "I see. Very well. If that's the case, then you had better back it up. No one likes a boaster who can't back up what they talk about," Yoshihara replied, turning and walking away. She could hear Kishibe spouting off insults in the background, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get home.
Although, out of all the kinds of people she had run into, a transgender woman was not someone she had expected. She didn't have a problem with it, but she would've never guessed. If she hadn't known, then she wouldn't have assumed. Which she guessed was the point.
But that didn't stop her from being a bitch.
"Stuck up asshole, I hope she chokes on something," Yoshihara thought, walking down the street to catch the train to the station by Aizawa's house. Today was a long day, and she was not having another run-in with someone else right now. She had better things to attend to, anyway.
[XXXX]
Josefumi sat beside Karera in the convertible that they both owned, hanging his arm over the door, watching the others walk home or to the train station. As he watched everyone head for home, he had one thought on his mind. Although, he was pretty sure that everyone had the same thought dancing around in their head, but he digressed.
The Sports Festival.
The Sports Festival was something he was kind of excited about, but then again, who wasn't? You had to have something wrong with you if you weren't excited about The Sports Festival. Every year, even when he was living in Japan with Grunkle Josuke, he would tune in to watch it with his father and or his Grunkle Josuke and cheer on those who they thought to have the lowest chance of winning—after all, Josefumi was a big fan of The Underdog in any situation he could see himself rooting for one.
But now, things were different. This year, he wasn't going to watch it with his father or Great GrandUncle. Both of them were going to be watching him, which made him all the more excited, and nervous, for this year's Sports Festival. He could finally show his family the fruits of his labour after training his Stand for combat.
This year, it was a chance to show the world what he could truly do, a chance to show everyone what the Great-Great Grandson of Jotaro Kujo could do; even if back then he wasn't recognized as a hero for the feats he was able to pull off, he was nowadays, and many people hailed him for his Time Stop power.
The more Josefumi thought about it, he could see Jotaro rolling in his grave. The man never liked to be idolized, and for this to happen to him after his death, he could just hear the man complaining about it, at least, according to what his Great-Grandma Jolyne had said anyway.
Of course, his ability wasn't nearly as flashy as his other ancestors, but he was still powerful in his own right. Bubbles could be scary, especially when they remove things from whatever they popped on. However, when those Stand Users appeared in the crowd, he got a little worried. He knew that the purple-haired boy was a Stand User and that Karera was in the crowd, but that other third and fourth mysterious force, neither of which hadn't come from Yoshihara was what worried him.
He couldn't waste time finding them, he had other things to worry about. He had someone waiting for him at his apartment, someone who promised to help him make better use of his Spin. At first, he was nervous—especially considering who they were—but he steeled his nerves and prepared for the harshest two weeks he'd have to endure.
"So…." Karera began, waiting for a red light to turn green as she relaxed in her seat. "How's Aizawa for a teacher?"
Josefumi hummed, bringing his arm back into the vehicle, and shoving his hand into his pocket. "He's a bit of a prick, but he means well. I did some information digging on him after the first day. He had a bit of a spat with the police when he was 9 years old over a misconception, but other than that, his record is clean," Josefumi said, crossing his arms as the light turned green.
Karera sighed, pressing down on the gas pedal as she drove forward. "That's not what I meant, Fumi-kun, and you know it. I mean how is he as a teacher," Karera said, a tinge of annoyance in her tone. In the same second, she stomped on the brakes as someone cut her off. She slammed her right hand on the horn, flipped them off, then shouted at them. "FUCK YOU ASSHOLE! GET IN A CAR WRECK!" Karera spat out in English, throwing up a middle finger as a vein became visible on her forehead. Josefumi felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead.
"You tell'em, babe…."
"Anyways," Karera's tone of voice immediately shifted to something more cheerful, speeding up to catch up to traffic and not piss anyone off behind her. "So, let's try this again. How is he as a teacher? He has to be better than Vlad King, right? Don't get me wrong, the guy is good at being a teacher, but he's a bit obnoxious if you ask me," Karera said, glancing over to Josefumi, who shrugged his shoulders.
"There's nothing really to talk about. He's strict, likes pop quizzes and pushes people to their limits all the time. He knows about Stand Users but also knows how we hid our Stands to be Quirks. Outside of that, he's just your normal homeroom teacher," Josefumi said, causing Karera to frown, turning on her left turn signal, then taking said left turn.
"Talk about anti-climatic. I would've thought that he would be a bit better than that, you know?" Karera said, disappointment in her tone of voice, driving down a straightaway. The rest of the ride was largely silent, outside of Karera shouting at others for their horrible driving in English so they couldn't understand what she was saying.
She always had road rage, but it never got to the point where she jumped out of the car to beat the other person up. He had seen his father do that on numerous occasions when he was younger, but even then, it was always just a simple slap unless the other person continued the fight; which normally never happened. Still, it was always a treat to watch his girlfriend shout at people for cutting her off, or hell, for just being slow and or bad at driving.
It was rare that Karera ever lashed out at anyone, and when she did, it was usually for a good reason. He had seen on several occasions that she would straight-up curb-stomp someone if they decided that teasing her choice of clothing was a good idea. He had to wipe people's memories of her face before just to make sure she didn't go to jail for what she did—because otherwise, she would've been in a jail cell for attempted murder twice by the time the year was over.
Interestingly enough, Karera would never raise a hand to him, even if he did something that she really, really didn't like, or if he shouted at her because he was having a bad day—something he would always lament an hour or so after it happened—she would never hit him, or attempt to argue with him.
He didn't know if that was okay, though. It almost sounded… toxic. But Karera never complained. It was… odd. Even if he told her to slap him because he had something extra stupid, she just wouldn't. Flat out. Almost as if she was scared to.
But why would she be scared? Was it his height? Was it because he looked intimidating? He had heard other people say that he looked scary back when he was on Aldera's baseball team. One of these days, he was gonna sit down and talk to her about it. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him for whatever reason she had.
As they pulled up to the apartment building, Karera spoke up for the first time in an hour. "So, Fumi-kun, who exactly did you say was coming over to help you train?" Karera asked as Josefumi smiled.
"Trust me, you'll know once you see him. He's hard to miss," Josefumi stated, Karera finishing parallel parking in front of the building as the two got out. As soon as they did, Josefumi saw someone sitting underneath a tree, eating an apple with his head down low. "Speak of the devil and he shall cometh," he said, catching the person's attention.
The person in question was wearing a circular brim hat, a pair of goggles sitting atop the brim of the hat mostly for decoration rather than for any real use. He was wearing a black bodysuit with brown pants overtop his legs, fastened to the lower half of them by cowboy boots. Keeping his pants up was a belt with two slabs of green metal with hand motifs, both of which pointed to his crotch. The top half of the body suit had green diagonal lines running through them, and even with his grey aging hair, he still had a youthful look to him.
To the person's right was a younger blond-haired boy who stood with his arms crossed, his greenish-blue eyes gleaming in the sunset. He wore more normal clothing, that being a black unzipped hoodie with a shirt that said "Spin it to win it" in English. He also wore black shorts but still had the cowboy boots that the other guy wore.
The man slowly stood up, revealing the patches of yellow hair on his chin, and as soon as his sharp green eyes met Josefumi's blue ones, the man smiled, revealing his teeth to say "Go! Go! Zeppelli!" At his full height, the man stood at 6'1, and on the sides of his shirt, Josefumi saw two satchels that held green Steel Balls in them.
"Nyo-ho. Finally, I get to see my best friend's grandson again. It's been… what? A decade now?" the man said, approaching Josefumi his smile changing to a smirk. "And Johnny told me you can use The Spin, which makes this visit more than just a friendly one," the man said, motioning the young boy to follow him. "And speaking of Grandsons, I know you two are particularly close if my memory serves me correctly after all these years," the man said, causing the teen beside him to smile.
"You got that right, gramps," the blond boy stated, and as soon as that happened, Josefumi and the other boy embraced each other.
"You Son of a bitch!" Josefumi greeted as the blond laughed.
"You're damn right! Been far too long, JoJo!" The blond said, the two teens patting each other's backs. Karera raised an eyebrow, clearing her throat, and catching the two's attention.
"I hate to break things up, but, uh, who is that guy?" Karera said, pointing at the old man, and then pointing to the younger boy, "And who're you?" The con artist questioned, crossing her arms as Josefumi chuckled.
"You never told her about me?! Sheesh dude, and here I thought you wouldn't have forgotten," The blond said, shaking his head as Josefumi sighed.
"C'mon, can you blame me, especially with all that's been going on in the world, as well as finally getting accepted into U.A., it's just been a long month for me. I'm also surprised that Mar isn't here, either. But I guess she had better things to do," Josefumi said, earning a pat on the shoulder from the older man. The old man smirked, looking over to Karera with a warming smile before outstretching his hand for a handshake.
"Sorry about that, young lady. I guess my old age has caused me to forget my manners. My name's Julius Caeser Zeppelli, but I hate that name, so call me Gyro. And this…." Gyro began, snagging the boy over to his side and wrapping him in an arm lock, "….is my apprentice, as well as my Grandson, Giorgio Antonio Zepelli, the heir to Zeppelli fortune, Josefumi's best friend from Elementary school when he lived in America, and… well that last part ain't for me to say. But you can call him Antonio," Gyro said, causing Giorgio to groan loudly.
"NO! DON'T! I HATE THAT NAME!" Giorgio cried out, trying to wrestle his way out of the headlock he was in. He was able to get himself out of it, to which he smacked the old man's back, making him recoil forward, laughing all the while. "That's what you get, Jerkass! Don't call me Antonio! Please, if you really want to call me a nickname, call me GioGio. That suits me better anyway, and it's what JoJo called me back in elementary school" Giorgio said, rubbing the back of his neck as Gyro frowned.
"Hmph, I guess you and your father do share one thing in common, and that's your abrasive attitude," Gyro said, causing Giorgio to roll his eyes, blowing a bubble from what Josefumi assumed to be bubblegum. "Anyways, introductions aside, I brought him here to help teach you the basics before I go into the lessons. We only have two weeks before the Sports Festival, so hopefully, you'll come out of this with the ability to win the games," Gyro stated, grabbing one of the Steel Balls in his hand and smiling.
"W-What a minute, a-aren't you the Pro Hero Spin King?!" Karera asked as Gyro's smile widened whilst Giorgio sighed, following it up with a facepalm. He grumbled, and it was then that Josefumi laughed.
"Nyo-ho! Are you a fan of mine, Signoria?" Gyro asked as Karera's eyes glistened in the light of the sun. Josefumi turned to look at Giorgio, who shook his head. He glanced over to Karera, who was going absolutely insane with how she was fangirling over Gyro. She had been a fan of foreign heroes for a while now, and her favourite was Spin King, that being Gyro Zeppelli, the Number One Hero back in Italy.
She had her reasons, not that Josefumi really cared about them. Although she did catch her looking at pictures of him when he was younger on her phone; back when he did stuff for magazines for men's swimwear. It was clear that Gyro was her celebrity crush, but that was neither here nor there. It wasn't as if Josefumi cared too much about it.
"Whelp, let's not waste time!" Gyro said, stopping his conversation with Karera, clapping his hands as Karera looked practically ecstatic where she stood. "Let's start what I like to call: The Devils Training Regiment," Gyro stated, his expression becoming dead serious as Josefumi felt a lump of dread build up in his throat.
Something told him that this was going to be an interesting, and very painful, two weeks.
[XXXX]
A right hook connected with a punching bag, followed by a left hook and a roundhouse kick. The punching bag swung left to right after the large impact as Kyoka took a step back, her breathing picking up slightly but nothing too major. She was dressed in casual training attire—a female black compression short-sleeve shirt and loose-fitted grey sweatpants. A thin layer of sweat built up on her forehead, and she looked a little tired.
For the last few weeks, she had been doing strength and dexterity training, along with Quirk training to make her jacks a little bit sharper than normal. Most of it was just in general so that she had a little bit of a better standing in her class and, seeing as it was coming up, The Sports Festival.
She had been making some decent progress. Before, her jacks could just barely pierce through a wall to listen in, but now, she could pierce through a wall with ease, and if she pushed it, she could punch through it entirely and thread her jack through or hit someone on the other side.
Physically, whenever she punched the punching bag with all of her strength, it shook the room. Same with her kicks. Speaking of the room she was in, due to outstanding circumstances, she was still living with her mom. Though, she wouldn't say "living with" and more say "existing in the same general area as her" because they hadn't crossed paths since a few days ago.
That was a good thing. Her laughable excuse of a mother could stay hiding for all she cared. The fact that, even after Blackwell had shown up she still bought the pills as if she wasn't even worried about CPS and the police finding it was genuinely upsetting. As if she would ever touch those again.
Every time they showed up, she threw them in the trash or outright flushed them down the toilet. Though, this time, she was going to keep them there. She was going to let CPS find them. She was going to let that lousy piece of shit get what was coming to her.
Kyoka sighed, letting a wave of calm wash over her as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. "No need to get worked up over someone so useless," Kyoka thought, stretching her arms left and right before finally cracking her neck and relaxing her muscles.
She thought back to earlier in class and thought back to how effortlessly Kira blew away Kaminari. How she did it didn't matter, but it was the ease with which she did that had caused her to realize just how strong Kira really was. She envied that strength. She wanted it for herself.
Speaking of Kira, after what happened in class that day, after her explanation, and after thinking about it a little bit more after school, she realized just how stupid the whole scenario was. Yaomomo was bitching about it to her the entire day, and frankly, Kyoka didn't care. If it was self-defence then it was self-defence. The police said it was, and the leaked security footage showed that it was—she had watched it after school, and sure enough, it was.
Today was a fluke. That was what she would've called it. By tomorrow, the rest of Class 1 – A would more than likely have the same opinion, too. That it was self-defence and an accident in the case of Death Arms and that Ichiko chick.
If not, then they were all brain-dead.
The basement, which was where she was, was an indoor gym that her father used to use when Kyoka was young. It hadn't been used for the last few years, but the equipment still worked. When she started actually going to U.A., she started using it, mostly because she didn't want to fall behind in classes.
That, and she was ashamed of herself. Compared to the rest of her class, she wasn't nearly as physically fit. Like, yeah, sure, she could run for a decent amount of time, but after ten minutes she'd get winded and she'd need to catch a breather—and that was a medium pace! If she wanted to be a hero, she needed to run long distances at maximum speed to help people in need.
So, how was she supposed to do that when she couldn't even run a decent length without losing breath? Simple. By fixing that issue. That was exactly what she did, and would continue to do. Honestly, it was laughable. Why she hadn't done this sooner was beyond her, but that was in the past.
She was already seeing better results, and while she didn't see a need to get visibly muscular, she did want to at least have increased dexterity and have some strength behind her punches. Even if she wanted to be a stealth hero, she couldn't just rely on their stealth. She needed to hit hard and be quick. That way, she could win more encounters than lose.
When someone thought of a Stealth Hero, they thought of people like QuickStep. QuickStep was fast and sneaky, but notably, not physically strong. So, because of that, QuickStep relied on tranq darts to win most of his battles, along with his light-step Quirk, which both made him silent and gave him the ability to instantly dash a few feet in front of him. Overuse gave him foot cramps, but that was to be expected.
But, if Kyoka was going to be a stealth hero, she wanted to be able to sneak up on villains and knock them out with a quick kick to the head. No need to carry around too much support equipment like QuickStep or have to rely on dart guns or ammunition when your fists and feet and Quirk were your weapons, right?
Sitting down on the bench near the entrance of the basement, Kyoka grabbed her phone—which she had left there—and opened her emails. She was checking to see if her order for her new shoes had come in since her old ones were starting to get too small. As she was scrolling through her emails, she noticed one from someone that she hadn't expected.
It was from The Speedwagon Foundation, specifically, the email was from "JKidJoestar". First of all, who used Yahoo anymore, and second of all, she recognized the last name "Joestar" anywhere. She also recognized "JKid" because the hero name Joekid was synonymous with her Uncle.
Opening the email, she had expected something small, but no. It was a massive letter, and as she read it, she was left confused.
Dear Kyoka Jirou, my niece.
I'm giving you my contact information so that we can keep in touch. The number is 305-813-6671. It's The Speedwagon Foundation Family Hotline, and I've added you to the list of accepted people who can call it without having a bunch of agents break down your door and whatnot. It's triple encrypted so no one can listen in on any of our phone calls—paranoia, am I right?
Anyway, the reason why I'm giving you this number is because, for starters, you're my niece. The only reason I haven't is because I was under the belief that your mother would try and sue me. Not that it would've mattered, but I digress. Secondly, after learning about what she's done from your father, Kyotoko, I've decided that I'm going to start taking matters into my own hands.
When The Sports Festival comes around, I'm going to speak to you in person. I know you don't know what I look like, but that's fine. Just look for the large, muscular, blond-haired man with very slight facial hair with horseshoe motifs. That'd be me.
When you get this email, I want you to call it immediately. There are a few things I need to speak to you about, and it might help you in the future.
Lots of love:
Jonathon "Johnny" Kujo.
Kyoka stared at her phone, blinking several times, trying to understand why this was happening. Well, she knew why. It said so in the email. But why? Taking a screenshot of the email, she kept the picture up, opened her phone app, and dialled the number. It took a few times to ring, but eventually, the line answered.
"You have reached The Speedwagon Foundation's secret familial line for Joestar's use only. Please state your name, or we will send agents after this IP address to check for the threat level."
With slight hesitation, Kyoka answered. "U-Uh, Kyoka Jirou. Can I please speak to Jonathon Kujo? He's my Uncle." It took a few seconds for the line to answer, but sure enough, it did.
"Ah, of course, my apologies, Ms. Jirou. Give me just one moment, and your Uncle will be on the phone with you shortly. He's in a meeting right now, so you'll be put on hold. Is that alright with you?"
"Y-yeah, it is."
"Alright! Enjoy some tunes!"
And with that, the line was put on hold, and pre-Quirk era rock and funk music began to play. It was better than the elevator music that most lines had. Kyoka sat there in silence, a little nervous but also a little excited, weirdly enough. Finally, after what felt like forever, the line picked up again.
"Ello, Kyoka, you there?"
"Um… Uncle Johnny?"
"Yup, it's me. What's up, kid? I take it you saw my email?"
"Yeah, I did. Um," she paused, a nervous chuckle following afterward before she continued. "What did you mean "taking matters into your own hands?" I, uh… was kind of confused."
"Okay, what I want you to do is check your bank account. Then, once you're there, I want you to tell me how much money you have in there."
Confused, Kyoka did exactly as he asked. Opening her bank app, she logged in, and when she did, she stared at her mostly vacant bank account. "Uh… I've got like, 480 yen in there. Why?"
"Alright. Gimme just one second…" Johnny said, and after a couple of seconds and the sound of a keyboard being used, he spoke up again. "Alright, refresh the app. Then tell me how much money you've got in there."
Kyoka did exactly as asked, and when she looked at her bank account, her jaw almost dropped to the floor. "4-4-48 Million!? Why the hell do I need that!?"
"To buy yourself a fully functional apartment and get the fuck out of there, that's why. I don't care how much you love your mother or what have you, but you're getting out of there either today or by the end of tomorrow. Once you've bought the apartment, leave my number as a contact, and I'll sort all of this stuff out for you. I'll even pay your bills and gym memberships if you have any. But you're not living there anymore. You understand?"
"B-But what if she tries to stop me?"
"She won't. Because restraining order or not, I refuse to let her hurt you anymore. I'll gladly go to jail or have my license revoked to work internationally if it means your mother understands not to fuck with the Joestars. You don't have a birthmark, but as far as I'm concerned, you're basically one."
Kyoka was speechless. Her first time talking to her uncle and he was pulling out every stop imaginable to get her in a better condition than she was currently in. "This was the man my mom—no, Mika was telling me was a greedy, selfish person? What the hell?" She sighed, blinking. Her eyes were starting to get watery. No one had ever done this for her before. "Uh… T-Thank you, Uncle. I—"
"Call me Uncle Jojo."
"R-Right, Uncle Jojo… uh. Thank you. Um… is there anything else?"
"Yeah, one more thing. It's about your Dad. I—"
"Kyoka! Who are you talking to down there!?" Mika shouted from atop the stairs. Before she could come down, Johnny spoke up.
"Gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow after school your time. Goodnight." Like that, he hung up as Mika came down, looking around the corner before fully stepping into the room with a frown and a serious look on her face just as Kyoka was putting her phone in her pocket.
"Well?"
"None of your business," Kyoka spat, standing up. "I don't have to say shit to you, you ingrate." As she said that, Mika got red in the face.
"Excuse you!? Is that any way to talk to—"
"A piece of shit who's been drugging me for the last five years, yeah, it is. Now stop talking and move aside," Kyoka said, trying to get past Mika, only for her to shove her back, blocking her path up the stairs.
"You haven't been taking your pills again, have you?" Mika said, frowning.
"No shit, Sherlock. You keep giving them to me and I keep flushing them down the toilet. What part of "illegal" did you not get the first time when Blackwell showed up—BLACKWELL?! Ya know, a borderline top-tener!" Kyoka replied, shouting as Mika's frown turned into a scowl.
"I don't give a rat's ass what that man thinks, or what he believes to be illegal or not. I get my stuff from the pharmacy, so it can't be—"
"No, you get it from the Shie Hissaikai. Beelz told me."
"Beelzebub!? You've been talking to him again! I told you to—"
"I know you told me to stop talking to him but guess what? I. Don't. Care. He's been more of a parent to me recently than you ever have. Now either get out of my way, or I'm laying you out like a turkey on Thanksgiving," Kyoka spat, glaring daggers at Mika, who stood there, eyes wide. She stayed there for a few seconds, but after Kyoka cracked her knuckles, Mika promptly moved out of the way.
Storming up the stairs, all Kyoka could do was hold back tears. She hated confrontation, especially with someone like Mika. She was supposed to have been taking care of her, not this. Not poisoning her. Not trying to control her.
"Whatever, I have bags to pack and places to look for…" Kyoka thought, wiping at the corner of her eyes with her index finger knuckle. Tonight was going to be a long night.
-To Be Continued in - Party Like it's 1999 - Part 1-