The Price of Pain
Chapter 7: Old Promises
Shouta looked at the girl in front of him, hiding a grimace. He had saved many children in his life, he'd worked with many more, but it hurt to see them turn to crime. He remembered Kuroishi Akiho, a too-small, malnourished, ragged child who was too independent, too quiet and mature for her age. A child whose father had forced her to grow up too quickly. A child who he had given to a nice foster family he had vetted himself.
He had come just in time to witness that very child decapitate a man in cold blood in the ring. He turned to Knuckleduster and pursed his lips. The Vigilante had been quiet for a while, but it looked like he was making a come-back shutting down an operation this big. Shouta had worked with Vigilante's before, and on some level, he respected them, but when they overstepped, he knew he had to take them in for their own good. Knuckleduster had always drawn that line between too-much, and not enough to take in. The man had been a hero before after all.
Right now Shouta couldn't justify prioritising capturing the Vigilante instead of capturing Akiho and ensuring the kid didn't dig herself deeper into this world of Villainy before it was too late.
"Kuroishi, drop the weapons and hand yourself in. I don't know why you were fighting. If you were forced—"
"—I was not forced Eraserhead. I joined to make money," she said simply, like she didn't care if it incriminated her.
"Okay, we can still work with that. I can shorten your sentence, put you in a rehabilitation program. You can come out of this on the right-side kid," he tried again.
Aki tilted her head at him, eyeing him down critically. Shouta felt like she was almost looking through him. She was worse for wear, the right side of her face bruised by brass knuckles no doubt, and several open wounds were bleeding through her clothes. She pursed her lips and frowned, the first bit of emotion she showed this entire time. Somehow even a frown was reassuring in the face of nothing.
"I am not suited to a civilian life. I did try… when you left me at the foster house. But I killed my brother there," she said, eyes faraway.
Shouta froze. What could he say to that? A child that young already becoming a murderer. Maybe there was some truth to her words. He'd seen enough sociopathic children to know age didn't stop them from committing criminal acts. Still he couldn't let her continue as she was. She needed to answer for her crimes, but she also needed help. Both could be true at once, he reminded himself.
"I never got to thank you for helping me," she said, her eyes wavering with the most human emotion he'd seen since.
It startled him just enough to stop him from reacting when she bolted without notice. Knuckleduster tackled her to the ground, but she scrambled away from his grip, kicking him hard in the stomach and activating her quirk. Shouta noticed the way her eyes flashed red, even for a second. So there was a tell, as subtle as it was. Knuckleduster froze on the ground, but he took a moment to stab his own thigh before standing up. Aki sent him a startled look, but Shouta knew whatever she had done to Knuckleduster, he had managed to shrug off. He jumped in after her, throwing out his capture weapon as she hit it away with her katana.
"Don't run Kuroishi. I'm just trying to help dammit!" he called out to her.
"Don't bother, kid's stubborn and a damn good fighter," Knuckleduster said from behind him.
"You're next Vigilante," Shouta cursed.
He was irritated that the man laughed as if it meant very little. He rushed after the kid instead, impressed with her speed and agility despite the injuries. She moved like a seasoned pro, and she was younger than even his first years. He hated whatever she had to go through to become like this.
Knowing words wouldn't get him anywhere, he rushed after her, jumping through the crowds of other people he could also be capturing. Somehow, they seemed inconsequential. This was a child he had saved before and failed right after. That made her doubly his responsibility. It seemed Edgeshot had the other criminals covered, working his way through them like a knife through butter.
Shouta reached the exit as he saw Aki jump out into the night. He got close enough to catch her arm with his scarf, enough to make her face him. Just as she activated her ocular quirk, so did he, and they were in a stalemate now.
"You cannot save me Eraserhead," she said, with a certainty that took his breath.
"You can't know that until I try," he urged her.
She grit her teeth, somehow finding his statement annoying. "It's not a failure on your part. I was raised in violence and death. It is the only language I can speak anymore, as detestable as it is."
"And you can't know there isn't another way until you try," he pressed, stepping closer.
She held her katana to his scarf as he stopped in his tracks. He looked at the too young girl littered in wounds, and black eyes too hardened too young look at him with more softness than he assumed he would have seen for anyone else.
"Maybe you're right, but I'm content where I am. Next time we meet Eraserhead, I will not hold back."
And before he could react, she cut his scarf off her arms, and made a mad dash to the docks. He rushed after her unwilling to let her go, but she jumped over a crate, and like an agile acrobat, ran up a powerline and disappeared into the darkness. Shouta cursed as he looked around to find the docks empty of her.
"I've apprehended the major ring leaders," Edgeshot said into his earpiece.
"Good. I'll round up the rest," Shouta sighed.
He reluctantly walked back to his work. The image of a little abandoned child did not leave his mind. He had failed her on some level, and the longer she was out there, the more he would be failing her.
He would take Kuroishi Akiho in if it was the last thing he'd do.
Aki stumbled into her apartment through the window, unwilling to be caught in her current state. She let out a small groan of pain as she stripped herself naked and checked on her wounds. Knuckleduster and Eraserhead had done a number on her, but more so the Vigilante than the Hero. She began the slow process of stitching herself up before she saw flesh-sack crawl its creepy way into her room. She knew it was the creepiest thing she'd ever seen, straight out of a horror movie with its short fleshy baby limbs, smooth face with only the outline of a mouth behind a membrane of skin… but it was oddly comforting to come back home to something entirely reliant on her, something that couldn't speak. If she were a somewhat healthier individual she would have gotten a cat instead.
She held it up in her arms, as its tiny hand nubs without the fingers searched for her wounds instinctively. It seemed to be checking for them.
"Are you worried?" she asked.
It nodded its head. Aki hummed for a moment, slightly caught off guard by the nod. Usually it just moved its limbs to motion its understanding. If it knew how to nod then it probably understood other basic things, which meant it was an intelligent creature. After all she hadn't taught it anything. A nod was an intrinsically human action. She had theorised this was probably a very slow regenerating person who had been hurt enough that they were reduced to this state. How, she was unsure.
She could kill it if it ever became a threat anyway. The worry was actually kind of nice. She didn't have anyone who worried about her here before.
"Don't be worried. I don't intend to die any time soon… not until I find myself a proper place in this world," she whispered.
The creature seemed to resonate with whatever she had said, crawling into her lap and looking up at her face. Then the thin membrane around its mouth seemed to split open and revealed a gummy mouth and a well-formed tongue.
"Lost," it rasped.
"You spoke. You're getting more advanced," Aki noted.
"Empty," it said, pointing at her.
Well wasn't that fucking creepy. Aki ignored the chill the little thing sent down her spine. Empty was… one way to describe her current state. She patted its head and sighed.
"Yes, I suppose I am."
"Me too."
Aki figured if she got possessed in her sleep and turned into an eldritch monster it would be on her head. Anyone else would have drop kicked this creature into a furnace from the sheer creep factor. Aki was frightened too. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural. But the unnatural little flesh-sack wasn't very strong, and she wasn't one to leave wounded little animals or eldritch abominations to die. That had been one of the few soft things left about her she supposed.
Soft things die.
She ignored that thought stupidly. There was a thumping sound in her living room. Aki picked up flesh-sack and threw a towel over him.
"Don't move, someone's here," she said, picking up her knife.
She turned out of her room and waited at the door. Just as it opened, she grabbed the intruder from behind and put a knife to his throat.
"Move and I'll kill you," she said.
"It's me," a familiar voice said.
"Dabi? What the fuck are you doing sneaking into my house. You want to die?" she asked drawing the knife back.
He raised a brow. "I'll give it to you, you're one paranoid kid. Now please put on some clothes."
"Don't come into my house and tell me what to do. If I want to be naked here, I can be," she said irritated.
"Now you're just being childish," he said dryly, making sure not to look at her.
Aki didn't care about his stupid sense of modesty. Many men and women had seen her naked in the field, she had fucked people for intel, and seen other Kunoichi do the same. Shinobi in war eventually lost their sense of shame and she was no exception. That didn't mean she would remain naked just to piss someone off. She put on her underwear and decided this was as much as he would get. She wasn't soiling her clothes in blood before she bandaged herself up, just because he was intruding.
"I'm dressed, now why did you come here?" she asked.
He held out a bag full of medical supplies and grimaced. "I wanted to see if you were alive, or if you were crawling around in here half dead."
"Hng… I'm alive."
Dabi gave her an annoyed look. "So you fucking want me to help or what?"
"I don't need your shitty help," she shot back.
And her agitation got another gush of blood to come out of the wound on her abdomen. Dabi gave her a look, and she reluctantly sat back down, feeling dizzy. She'd lost a lot of blood, and her hands were too shaky to stitch herself fully up without making a mistake and nicking an artery. She really did need help, as detestable as that was. Thankfully Dabi didn't rub it in as he got to work on her wounds, cleaning and stitching them up. She let herself drift off for a moment as she breathed in the scent of his smoke. It reminded her of war, in an unpleasant way, of burning bodies, and screaming infants.
"The Vigilante didn't go easy on you," Dabi said, with something almost akin to disbelief.
"He isn't a Hero," she reminded him.
Eraserhead was explicitly not trying to hurt her, just capture her. Knuckleduster didn't hold back, punching her so hard in the face she nearly lost a tooth. Her molar was a little wobbly. She grimaced at the thought of going to a dentist.
"Why are you helping me?" she asked.
"You throw out the trash."
"What?"
"You throw out everyone's trash. You keep this place smelling nice. It would be shitty if you died and I got another stinking geezer as a neighbour," he explained.
Aki snorted. She was sure it was more than that, but she didn't comment on it. She did throw out everyone's trash, only because she refused to live in filth. She thought finding flesh-sack had been her reward… or punishment for that one good deed. Seemed like Dabi wanted to add to it. Then again, she had a suspicion he was lying, or at least he had some level of comradery with her. Maybe misplaced guilt for running and leaving her there. Either that or he was just soft.
Soft things die.
"Put on some proper clothes. Pizza is on me," he said.
Aki blinked in surprise. He was feeding her? She hummed in response, too tired to verbally reply to something like this. Still she found herself sitting on his couch, curled up in a blanket eating pizza as they watched some stupid movie about giant mechs.
When she went to sleep that night, she didn't have nightmares.
Aki was a little pressed for money... well maybe that was a bit of an understatement. She was incredibly pressed for money and barely scraped out enough for rent. She considered selling her weapons and almost blanched at the thought. She couldn't bare parting with them.
If all had gone to plan, she would have been set for a few more months just from her last match ups. If Knuckleduster hadn't ruined her chances entirely of it by calling in the heroes that is. She mourned the loss of her income, and more so the limited mobility she had while she was recovering. She couldn't exactly afford lessons from Alley Cat either, so those were on hold too. She hadn't even gotten to the stage where they did a job together.
Overall everything was shitty... except for Dabi. It started off with her repaying his pizza movie night, with some home cooked noodles. That should have been the end of it. She didn't like being in debt. The very next day he brought her cinnamon rolls and strawberries, and then the day after that she bought him painkillers. It was definitely because the walls were thin and hearing him groaning and moaning in pain all night was annoying, and nothing else. Unfortunately their little game of give and take continued for a while until she had to reluctantly admit she had somehow allowed Dabi into her space and life against all odds.
That's how he ended up drinking himself into a stupor in her lounge room.
"Fuck, I only had one day in that job. It was meant to be a lucky break," he groaned.
"You're telling me," Aki sighed.
Having nothing else to do, she stole one of his beer cans and began drinking too. Dabi almost looked like he was about to call her out on being under-age but remembered he was a villain and she had murdered several people. He decided against it of course. Aki smirked appreciatively as she drank her part. If he was going to loiter around and bitch about work in her home, then she could steal his alcohol.
"I'm going to get kicked out," he sighed.
"Late on rent?" Aki asked, but she already knew the answer.
Both of them sighed at the same time. Being an adult in this world was fucking hard. All Shinobi had to do was point and kill. This financial stress was worse than war PTSD she decided.
"I'm going to piss," Dabi said suddenly, moving to her bathroom.
Aki continued drinking until she remembered something. Flesh-sack!
"Wait—"
She had warned him too late. Aki burst into the bathroom, and activated her quirk, flooding Dabi with enough oxytoxcin to calm him down before he burnt the entire building. Then she snatched flesh-sack before he could burn it to a crisp.
"What the fuck!" Dabi said, holding his head as he staggered back.
"Shit—" Aki swore as she, wrapped the little horror in a blanket and took him out of the bathroom.
"What the fuck Kuroishi. You used your quirk on me," he said.
"You were going to burn flesh-sack," she hissed.
"What the fuck is that thing?!" Dabi shouted hysterically.
Aki paused for a moment and opened her mouth and then closed it. Dabi looked flabbergasted.
"You mean you don't even know what that fucking abomination is?" Dabi asked.
"Not abomination," flesh-sack said.
"Of course it fucking talks!"
"Look, I found it in the dumpster. I think whatever it is, it's taking the form it should be. Regenerating."
"And you took it home?!" Dabi asked.
Aki had to admit even she knew this was incredibly stupid and dangerous. But she could handle herself, and she could definitely handle an admittedly Creepy nubby flesh thing...
"It was helpless and clearly alive. What did you want me to do? Leave it in the trash?" she asked.
"Yes! You take cats home! Not whatever this is! If you see creepy horror movie shit you walk the fuck away, and you find a new house somewhere far away!" Dabi said in exasperation.
Aki felt a little protective of flesh-sack. She held him tighter.
"Flesh-sack hasn't hurt me yet," she said.
"Flesh-sack," the creature repeated with clear distaste in its voice.
"What the fuck are you exactly?" Dabi asked the thing.
Aki sighed as flesh-sack started getting heated in her arms. It tended to do that when it was asked about what it was.
"It's a little sensitive about that question. Don't ask," Aki sighed.
"Not it... he," the thing corrected.
"He's sensitive," she amended.
Dabi ran a hand through his hair in exasperation and disbelief.
"What the fuck. It has a gender now. You know what, the moment it tries to possess you I'm burning it," he said.
"You're not touching flesh-sack. Only I'm allowed to kill him," Aki grunted.
"This is non-negotiable," Dabi replied.
"Not flesh-sack," the thing said in protest.
"You are flesh-sack until you stop being so sensitive about me asking for a name," Aki said dismissively.
"C-clock?" he said.
"Clock... Your name is Clock?" Aki asked.
It shook its head in disagreement. Aki raised a brow.
"Then flesh-sack it is," she said.
If a faceless blob could frown, it did a great impression of it. Dabi started swearing about needing another drink.
"Fuck I'm broke and I'm living next to an idiot and an eldritch abomination."
Then it clicked in Aki's head. "Wait, why don't we just live together in the meantime? Cut our rent in half at least."
Dabi frowned, and then took another swing of his beer. "Fucking fine… but I'm burning the house down if that thing does anything creepy."
"I'll murder you first," Aki threatened.
"Fucking try me, bitch… fine. Roomies then," he said.
"Roomies," Aki agreed.
Alley Cat approached her in Taisho's Bar and Grill the next time they met. Hagasawa had given her, her standard order of orange juice as usual. This time no one gave her odd looks for entering the building. Everyone knew the steel hearted girl, a beast in the arena, and her name had spread enough to give her a small reputation.
"Glad it got shut down before you got yourself killed," Hagasawa told her.
Aki scoffed. "If I got myself killed in that stupid ring, it would mean I'm not good enough for this kind of work."
Moriko seemed to find that the perfect time to slink behind her and take a seat next to her like they had done before.
"Akahane," Hagasawa greeted.
"A glass of chardonnay, if you will honey," she ordered.
Aki didn't bother acknowledging her as she drank her juice. As far as she was concerned, Alley Cat wasn't a sensei she needed to respect, just a person who was willing to give out lessons when she was paid. Which required money. Money which Aki didn't have right now.
"Cold shoulder, I'm hurt. Is this because I left you to fight the Vigilante alone? I did ask you to run, little cub," she pointed out.
Aki huffed. "I didn't take you retreating personally. It is simply that I have no money to pay you for lessons, so we're not in any kind of professional relationship right now. Therefore there is no need to talk to you."
Moriko chuckled. "Meow, this girl is cold."
Hagasawa gave the woman a sympathetic look and Aki huffed. She wasn't cold. She was purely pragmatic. Why did she need to get chummy with everyone she worked with? What did they not understand about her desire to be a lone contractor?
"Aki-chan's a little socially stunted, but she does care," Hagasawa said.
"I really don't," Aki said, exasperated.
"She would lay her life down for me if it came down for it. Who else makes her orange juice fresh from the source for her?" Hagasawa asked.
Aki sighed into her hands. This man was impossible. He seemed to think they were friends, and honestly, she wouldn't put up with it if his bar wasn't the best place to network… and if he didn't keep giving her free meals for some reason. And the orange juice was to die for.
…She would most certainly protect this man with her life.
"Well let's get back into a working relationship then, shall we?" Moriko said.
Aki looked at the woman critically. "What do you have in mind? I need some work right now."
"How do you feel about some classical old school Villainy?" Morkio grinned.
In all honesty Aki wasn't even sure what that meant, but money was money.
Turns out old-school villainy meant theft and classic burglary. Aki could confidently say she was a green horn at these kinds of tasks. While she had been an infiltrator for a short time, it mostly involved talking and information gathering. What Alley Cat mastered in was top-end heists, the kind of breaking and entering that was incredibly complicated. For the most part this is what Aki considered to be good work-experience. The fact that she was bought on as a partner rather than a student helped, considering she had very little money to pay.
Aki found herself in Moriko's office, or lair. She had no idea what these villains called their whole set-up. It was an office building, and Moriko was in her civilian get-up, which made Aki prefer to refer to it as an office. Turns out Moriko was in stocks as a lobbyist while also working in the interest of a company called Detnerat Inc. Somehow that was more villainous in nature than anything else about her.
She took a seat on one of the chairs opposite the woman's desk and felt almost like she was being interviewed. Maybe she was. It had been a while since she'd been on the other side of a desk like this. Usually Shinobi only had formalities like this during a psyche eval.
"You've mentioned having experience with hacking?" Moriko asked.
"The basics," Aki admitted.
Moriko hummed. "That's good enough. The kind of job we're doing right now is the opposite of flashy. We just need to breach their systems."
"Whose systems exactly, and what's the job?" she asked.
Moriko turned her computer screen around to show Aki a pretty tactical looking get up, with dark green military wear that reminded her of Konoha Shinobi. For once in this life, she was actually impressed by a hero outfit design. Which was a rare thing to feel considering she thought most of their costumes were ridiculous and wholly impractical. About the only stand out piece of this costume was a dark obsidian mask that glinted beautifully in the photograph. The article wrote out "Showcasing the Infamous Destro's Costume".
"That's a good hero costume, though I've never heard of them before," Aki said.
"That's because you're boring and don't keep up with history. You see this isn't really a hero costume, this is a vigilante costume. Destro is an integral historical figure who fought for quirk rights when quirked individuals were the minority. This was a period in history when quirks were largely unregulated, and where a smaller population of people possessed them. It meant there was a large culture of quirk discrimination, but during this period, a lot of quirked individuals donned masks, hid their identities, and fought off villains who were much too strong for standard quirkless authority to deal with. Destro was one of the first Vigilante's to advocate for the freedom of an individual to use their quirk in public. They called it the Meta Liberation Army, and it's why if you slip up and use your quirk outside, you won't immediately get arrested."
Aki hummed in thought as she finished her explanation. "So I'm assuming this article of clothing is of historical value and will bid a high price in an underground auction."
"Bingo. This piece here can sell for at least 12 million US dollars," Moriko said.
Aki paused for a moment and converted it into Yen. That was at least 1 billion in yen. She had never been rich before, and she never considered she ever would be. This amount of money could kick start something more than an average independent mercenary career. She could have a place of operations, maybe even dip her feet into hiring others to start a criminal empire of her own.
"I can see you jumping the gun there, little cub. Don't let the price tag fool you. This is a high-risk job, and the reward won't be the entire 12 million. There is going to be 3 other members in the team, and we're splitting that money in half to begin with. Auctioneers won't buy from us at selling price, so while they can sell it for 12 million, we're looking at 5 million to split 5 ways. Leaving us with a million each."
That was still a lot of money. 1 million USD was still 141 million Yen. Aki considered the job for a moment. It wasn't a flashy one. Most likely they'd be trying to steal it without anyone tying it back to them in the first place. But the idea of working with a team she had no affiliation with made her antsy. When she had been an Iwa Shinobi it was clear that there was a code of conduct, a kind of inherent trust to going on missions with someone you've never even met before. They wouldn't double cross you, or at least that was the assumption. These weren't Shinobi conditioned into fighting to the death for their country, these were criminals who always looked out for themselves. It meant she couldn't count on them to have her back when it really came down to it. Even Alley Cat and Dabi hadn't stayed behind to fight with her when the Underground fight ring was disbanded.
"The other's, who are they?" Aki asked.
"Glad you asked cub. Here's the file on them," she said, sliding it across the table.
Aki read their descriptors. It was an interesting team set-up for sure.
Mr. Compress.
Atsuhiro Sako
Quirk: Compress
His Quirk allows him to "compress" anything in a spherical area around his arm into a small, marble-like object without damaging it. He can only compress his target if he is touching it.
The weight of the target is reduced alongside them, making them very easy to carry. If used on a person, it effectively entraps them, terminating the fight instantly. Likewise he can compress objects beforehand to make use of them during the job.
That was an incredibly useful quirk. It made him a walking arsenal. Aki knew the most dangerous Shinobi were the prepared ones. The ones who bothered to invest in scrolls, or learning Fuuinjutsu were dangerously prepared. However Compresses quirk was a little more dangerous than a scroll. It was more compact, and easily triggered. Her brain went through multiple interesting uses of the quirk, but she decided to dwell on it later, instead moving to read the others.
Dusty Ash
Konako Haizono
Quirk: Dust
Dust allows Dusty Ash to produce ash-like dust from her body. If she overuses her Quirk, her skin will become dry and rough. She often uses it as a distraction, throwing dust at the eyes, nose, and mouth of her foes. It can also be used as a large area of effect smoke screen to obscure the group.
A useful ability, but Aki had smoke bombs that could do the same trick. She wondered if the dust was any more useful than a standard smokescreen or if the woman had any other learnt abilities outside of her quirk that would make her useful. She moved onto the next one.
The Rappa
Kendo Rappa
Quirk: Strong Arm
His quirk allows him to rotate his shoulders at extreme speeds, allowing him to attack his targets with a near-endless barrage of bullet punches. His Quirk can only stay active for a few seconds at a time. Useful in case a hero is on the scene or if something needs breaking.
A basic fighter type. She had heard of Rappa from the fight ring. He was a popular veteran, which was hard to find because most people died before they became a known name in this gig. He was a reigning champion on multiple occasions. Aki knew they needed more brawn, but she should have sufficed. She supposed Alley Cat had a different role for her in mind here. She wasn't going to be their primary fighter as it seemed. That left her with the only other skill she had outside of infiltration.
"I am not an adept hacker," Aki reminded the woman.
Moriko simply crossed her legs crassly on the table. She lit a cigarette and let out a long drag, and then smiled her feline smile.
"The job is only happening next month. We're debriefing here at 9am for the job that night."
"So you want me to brush up on my skills. What level of hacking am I to accomplish here?" Aki asked, feeling unsure.
It was one thing to murder someone with a sword, or to hide in plain sight. Those were tasks she was used to. Technology was not as easy. That was entirely of this world, a world she had very little experience in so far. She'd spent a great number of resources studying technology, and trying to brush up on schoolwork, but she was only above average. If she had more time and a safer environment maybe she could have been good enough to enter the support courses in high school, but she didn't have that space or time. What meagre money she made drug running was spent on a legal course about cyber security. While it taught the basics of hacking, it more so focused on how to stop it.
Hacking was also not easy, and it was time consuming. You had to breach their defences, and it was more easily done through phishing and other malware emails. But companies had frequent training set in place to deflect phishing attacks, and in general people were wary of odd-looking emails. It was sent through to their IT departments and disposed of safely. That meant Aki would have to start early, make it look realistic.
"Stop your worrying. I can feel it from here. I'm not throwing you into this position with just your basic cyber security training. You're getting a teacher," she said.
Aki wasn't so sure about that. "Why?"
"Why?" Moriko asked in question.
"Yes, why are you spending the resources on me instead of hiring a hacker who already has that skillset?" Aki asked.
Moriko flipped her legs around and leaned over on her desk. "Think about it this way little cub. You're an investment. How many hackers exist out there that also have combat experience and field experience?"
Aki frowned. "I'm not actually sure…"
Moriko snorted. "Well let's just say there's not a lot. The people that do exist have mental quirks, the kind that are expensive and remote. The kind that can also swipe our money from right underneath our nose after the job is done and remain anonymous enough to trick some other poor soul into hiring them."
That was actually a reasonable fear. Aki knew she was an open book to read in regard to her work ethic. If nothing, people could count on the fact that she would never break a contract. It wasn't in her nature. She had been trained to always complete a mission, and theft from her own team members was out of the question.
"I suppose that is fair. I will only accept as long as I am not beholden to repaying you for the tutor," Aki said.
Moriko sighed in response, looking a little irritated at her. "Don't make me repeat myself cub. You are an investment, nothing else. I'm not a fool with a heart of gold trying to keep you alive. You've made it very clear you don't want that kind of help. But you've also proven to be reliable. So take it or leave it."
Aki nodded in understanding. "I'll take the job. How am I to get in touch with my tutor?"
"They go by La Brava. Just insert this into your system and they'll talk to you," Moriko said, throwing Aki a driver.
Aki supposed she couldn't turn down this opportunity. It was a risky job. She wasn't unaware of how active All Might was. If they were caught trying to steal something as high-profile as this suit, then they wouldn't have a chance. That man was a monster with no equal. Aki wasn't stupid enough to think she could take him.
But still, this was a chance to grow, and she would never turn that down.