Dakima and Karera stared down at one another two feet apart, their eyes carrying a sharp, deadly glare. For one, this was about saving her friends from a crazed lunatic. For the others, it was about reclaiming what they had lost. A battle of selflessness versus selfishness. Whoever won the fight would claim the spoils, and whoever lost would more than likely die.
Yet, one of them was hesitant to even begin the fight, and it wasn't Karera. She could see the conflict in Dakima's eyes. See the hesitation lurking behind how his fingers wriggled. It even reflected in how his Stand hovered close to him, acting more as a shadow than it did an offensive tool.
For a brief second, Karera almost pitied the man. He looked to be a victim in this scenario, and if what he said was true, then he might as well have been. But at the moment, she couldn't treat him like a victim. He had her friends captive, and with the mall beginning to clear out, it wouldn't be long until the authorities would get here.
She had to make this quick.
The two combatants Stands floated behind them, ready and waiting to be used. Love Love Deluxe had more of a personality to it, cracking its knuckles and neck, before pointing at Dakima and dragging its thumb across where its vitals would be on its neck. As if to tell him that he was going to die.
Steam Powered Giraffe merely stood there, narrowing its eyes, awaiting further command. Just like a machine. Dakima wasn't buying into the bluff. He wasn't so easily scared. Especially considering that this brat before him was a hero student at U.A., Stand User or not, she didn't have a murderous bone in her body.
As the two opponents stood across from one another, anyone who witnessed what was about to go down would've said that it was like something out of a Western movie. Both waited for the right opening to engage. Neither took a step forward nor did either of them take a step back. They stayed absolutely still.
By now, any bystanders who were interested in watching the fight go down had already begun to do so, drawing out their phones to record the soon-to-be-brawl. Anyone else who had a brain had already left. The negative energy within the hall alone was enough to scare people, and those who didn't leave were either fearless or just plain stupid.
With careful eyes, the combatants glared as a heavy silence filled the hall the two stood in. No one, not even the bystanders who eagerly awaited the brawl to commence, said a word. It stayed like that for another few seconds, until finally, Karera broke the silence.
"I'll give you one more chance, Stroheim. Let my friends go, and we can both walk away from this," Karera said, shifting her stance ever-so-slightly to put herself on the back foot in case she needed to dodge something. "I don't want to have to fight you. Besides, your body language is telling me the same thing, so why don't you just leave, give me back my friends, and we can end this right here, and right now," Karera said, narrowing her eyes as Dakima did not move.
Another handful of seconds worth of silence passed once more, and it almost looked like Dakima was willing to take up that offer until something in his eyes changed. A wave of determination flowed within them, and it was at that point that Karera understood that no amount of bargaining would get her out of this fight.
"Well, so much for diplomacy…" Karera thought as Dakima cracked a grin, shaking his head. The aura around his body flared, and Steam Powered Giraffe shifted ever-so-slightly, indicating that it was preparing for something.
"Sorry kid. Nothing personal," Dakima said, letting out a tired sigh. A crazed expression took up his visage, and then, he shouted, "BUT I WANT MY HUMANITY BACK!" as soon as he screamed that, Steam Powered Giraffe sent out a yellow cable at mach speeds toward her, and in response, somehow, Dakima's hair made a shield in front of Karera, blocking the attack.
"H-Huh?!" Dakima sputtered, raising an eyebrow as he looked up at his hair, which had a golden hue around it. It didn't take him long to put two-and-two together "Ah, so that's your Stand's ability, Hair Manipulation. I'm lucky my ability doesn't work on me, otherwise, that would've been extremely anti-climatic," Dakima said, a chuckle behind his tone as the wire went around the hair to wrap up Karera.
However, when Dakima felt that it didn't touch something, the German raised an eyebrow. That was when he felt a fist smash against his face, and Dakima, along with his Stand, was sent flying into the closest wall, in his place, Karera stood there, her chest rising up and down due to heavy breathing.
She hadn't been forced to move that fast in a long, long time. The last time she had gotten into a serious fight was a year ago, in Morioh, when she had unwittingly got in between a drug deal gone bad, and one of the people there happened to be a Stand User.
To say she was out of practice was an understatement. But that didn't mean she couldn't use her prior experience and apply it to this. That, and now that she was a heroine in training, she was relearning all the proper techniques with how one would fight.
That didn't mean she wasn't stressed out of her mind, though.
"That was close…. If I hadn't jumped when I did… I would've died…." Karera thought, looking at the wall where Dakima was launched into. The wall cracked under his immense weight, and that had been the cue for every other passerby to run. Karera ran as well, but instead of heading toward an exit, she ducked into the store behind him before Dakima could refocus.
"Damn, you hit hard, girl," Dakima snarled, getting out of the hole in the wall. "But my cybernetic body can take more hits than just that!" Dakima spat, his hair retracting back to where it belonged as Steam Powered Giraffe's red wires began to shoot out of its body and connect to his arm, transforming it into a canon.
"Not only can I lock people into my phone, using Steam Powered Giraffe, but I can also augment any electronic in 100 meters of myself! INCLUDING MY OWN BODY!" Dakima shouted, a red visor coming out of his metallic forehead. The visor gave him the ability to see through walls, but he couldn't find anyone that matched Karera's appearance.
"Hmph, she ran. Talk about all that editing for nothing… hmm, but she won't stay hidden. Not for long, that is," Dakima growled, the red wires detaching from his arm, turning it back to normal and attaching to every security camera in the 100-meter radius around him.
Through every camera, he rewound the footage, trying to find where his enemy had run off to. Each camera provided nothing of substance, except for the one closest to where they were, and it was then that a large, devious grin took up his visage. "This girl is either stupid, or she doesn't realize just how badly she messed up!" Dakima thought, turning around and staring down the entrance to the store that his target ran into.
The Source.
"A store full of electronics! Perfect for myself and my Stand! The brat won't even know what hit her!" Dakima thought as he stepped into the store.
Meanwhile, Karera sat in the corner of The Source. Not exactly the smartest move on her part, seeing as the guy she was fighting could manipulate technology, or at least, that was what she heard him say. However, she had an idea. She had to get extremely close to him, which meant risking pretty much everything on one attack, but if she could pull it off….
"Vlad-Sensei was the one who helped me figure this one out, that, and it's a really good attack anyways, so…." Karera thought, clenching her right hand into a fist. However, as soon as Karera did that, a red dot appeared on her chest, and when she looked up, she saw that a security camera was pointed at her, and it had an ethereal red wire attached to it.
"AH-HA! I FOUND YOU!" Dakima's voice came from the security camera, which then seamlessly turned its camera lens into a gun barrel. Karera created another shield, this time out of her hair, as a volley of bullets rained down on her. A majority of the bullets bounced off, but some of the bullets bypassed her hair shield and got her in the shoulders and areas around her waist.
She clenched her teeth, ignoring the pain as best as she could. Standing up, she tripled her shield's size and density, turning it into an almost steel wire-like substance. There was a reason why she had her hair bunched up in a bandana, and it was so she could use it to protect herself with her Stand.
Love Love Deluxe's ability allowed Karera to grow and modify anyone's hair in any way, shape, and form, while still keeping the innate qualities of hair down to the genetic code that made it what it was. Love Love Deluxe can change the density, volume, and amount of hair a person has, so long as it stems from an area that can grow it—i.e. everywhere on the human body. However, she could only target one part of the body at a time, and one person at a time.
But even if she could only use one spot on one person at a time, that didn't mean that she couldn't use that one spot and or clump of hair to do multiple things at once. It was just extremely hard to do so.
Even if the ability could be frustrating at times, and caused her to choke up in a fight once or twice before, the Stand itself was still pretty good at what it did, and it was what allowed Karera to be as good at fighting as she was—hell, she survived being a Stand User all of her life so that pretty much spoke for itself. It was also why she never really needed to hide the fact that her ability was a Stand because it acted so much like a Quirk in the first place.
Parts of her hair shot out at the camera gun, wrapped around it, and crushed it into little bits of mechanical shrapnel. Karera smirked, high on adrenaline. "Take that, bozo! Destroyed your little weapon, and now you can't do a thing!" Karera said, bringing her hair back to normal.
"Oh, really now?" A sudden voice behind her caused Karera to quickly turn around and jump out of the way of a yellow cable. It zipped straight for her, however, before it could make contact, more of Dakima's hair quickly created a barrier completely around her, annoying him.
"Shit, you're quick, aren't you?" Dakima said, scowling. "I knew I shoulda shaved my head…. I always hated my hair being this long, but now it comes to bite me in the ass…. Fuck me, am I right?" Dakima said, talking to himself as a sarcastic smirk replaced whatever expression he had before.
"Damnit, I'm out of range!" Karera thought, panic racing through her body as the blood from the bullet wounds dripped down her arms and waist. She was beginning to feel a bit woozy from the blood loss, so, she decided to change that.
Pieces of Dakima's hair came out in thick strands, mimicked the sharpness of a scalpel and removed the bullets, only causing herself more pain at first, but it was the first step to recovery and healing herself. The sound of punches rocketing off of the hair barrier made her jump, as Steam Powered Giraffe was blitzing the hair barrier, albeit with weak punches.
"GET OUT OF THERE, YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL FIGHTER WOULD!" Dakima shouted as the punches bounced off of the shield. Karera took in a calm, deep breath as she stitched her wounds together, making sure she was steady. After she finished stitching the wounds, she kept their density the same as stitches, but more durable to allow for faster movements.
The hair retracted back to Dakima, causing the man's eyes to widen. Love Love Deluxe used his shock to her advantage and punched Steam Punk Giraffe in the gut. The force of the blow was hard enough to cause a miniature shockwave in the place where it landed and caused Dakima to spit up a trace amount of blood and saliva.
[RABU!]
The punch hit hard, knocking both Steam Powered Giraffe and Dakima back, but as he was flung back, a wave of yellow cables came towards Karera. Luckily for her, Love Love Deluxe fended them off with a wave of punches faster than any normal person could keep track of.
[RABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABU!]
As Love Love Deluxe continued to punch away at the cables, more of them kept coming to replace them. It didn't matter how fast Love Love Deluxe punched, nor did it matter how many punches it threw, it was just like a hydra—destroy one, and two more take its place.
The blurred fists continued to thrust forward despite the situation because if she let up for even a second, she was done for. At least, not until she found some way to combat the annoying ability. Her hair barriers seemed to work just fine, but playing defensive was only delaying the inevitable. She needed to find a way to knock the man out.
The problem was that they were matched in terms of speed. Both Love Love Deluxe and Steam Powered Giraffe were of a similar speed. Strenght-wise, Love Love Deluxe was faster, but that hardly mattered when they were both at the same level of speed; it could dodge just as fast as Love Love Deluxe could throw a punch.
That was when she got an idea. The cables couldn't move past her Stand's fists because of how fast she was punching. That meant she had the perfect chance to close the distance between herself and her would-be killer. If she did that, then this fight was already won! And so, that was exactly what she did.
As Steam Powered Giraffe continued to send its cables her way, Love Love Deluxe continued to meet its attack with an almost perfect defence. Karera took advantage of that defence and began to inch closer to Dakima, intending to get within 2 meters of him. And it was with this act that Dakima began to sweat. "H-How the hell can you keep Steam Powered Giraffe's ability at bay!? My Stand is the fastest Stand known to man!" Dakima cried out as Karera scoffed.
"Then I guess we're equally matched in speed," Karera spat back as she counted the distance between the two. "10 meters…." Karera thought, closing the distance slowly but surely, all the while Dakima kept becoming more and more desperate, sending out more wires, all of which Love Love Deluxe could keep at bay. "8 Meters… I need to be at least 2 meters away from him to make this attack count, otherwise, it'll be a lost cause," Karera thought as she continued her advance.
Steam Powered Giraffe shot out blue cables from its body, retracting the yellow cables so it could use the blue ones, and connected them to every electronical appliance in the store. The clerk ducked underneath the counter as all of the electronics launched themselves at Karera, who ducked under a display table, stopping her advance.
They swarmed her like hawks, but Love Love Deluxe was able to punch away at them, destroying the iPads, laptops, and pretty much anything that came close to her. She noticed something, though, and that was the fact that he wasn't using the red wires to rebuild the tech. With that came a question: why not just use all three cables at once? Unless, of course, he couldn't.
And if that was the case… Karera smirked.
"So, he can only use one wire colour at a time. But depending on what colour he's using, it changes what he can do. Yellow means to put something into an electronical object, red means to modify and see and or act through it, and blue means to remotely control it. If he could do all three, this Stand would be absolutely terrifying. But as it is now, he's pretty mediocre," Karera thought, leaving the table as all of the electronical appliances rushed toward her.
Using her hair, Love Love Deluxe turned her hair into sharp spears that pierced all of the devices, destroying them, and rendering them useless. Dakima returned to the tried and true strategy of overwhelming the opponent, launching more yellow cables at Karera, only for Love Love Deluxe to continue what it was it had been doing when he first started that kind of attack, while at the same time returning Karera's hair to normal.
Karera's bandana had been turned into Swiss cheese and fell to the floor, allowing her long, black, flowing hair to reach down to her lower back, showing just how much hair she had to work with, which made Dakima falter. Given that her ability was Hair Manipulation, to know that she had that much to work with… it almost made him want to give up.
"But my Humanity is at stake! I can't give up! I refuse to give up! I refuse to let this child beat me! I am Dakima Stroheim, strong and proud! I am not some school-house bully who can't back up his threats! I. Am. The. Pinnacle!" Dakima thought to himself, anger and fury bubbling in his eyes.
He refused to lose to this brat. Yet, no matter how much he threw at her, she simply continued to advance, like an unending force pushing back against a very movable object.
"6 Meters…." Karera thought, taking another step forward. Beads of sweat started to trail down Dakima's face, his determination slowly being chipped away. Dakima took a step back out of fright, adding on more cables, though it didn't matter, seeing as Karera just kept coming, and Love Love Deluxe just kept punching and destroying. "4 Meters."As she got closer, Dakima kept hurling more wires and cables at Karera, only to be met with even more pushback. "3 Meters."Dakima became more frantic. "2.5 Meters." And then he snapped.
"STAY BACK!" The wires stopped, as Dakima dragged out his phone and raised it into the air. Karera stopped, her Stand moving back towards her as Dakima's breathing became erratic. "If you don't stop, I'll smash this phone and kill them both right here, right now!" Dakima spat, Steam Powered Giraffe hovering behind him as Karera's eyes narrowed.
"You really think I'll believe that!" Karera argued as Dakima's expression became flat, his eyes filling with killing intent, which caused Karera to flinch, and to take a step back. If it wasn't obvious, he was being more than serious.
"Oh, but you should." The deadly seriousness in Dakima's voice caused Karera to feel a chill go down her spine. "Your friends are trapped within this phone as proton cells, which are used to power the battery in the phone. Now, regardless of how much I use it, no matter how much I adjust the brightness, turn off the power saver, or even remove the battery, the phone will never die because it is their souls are powering it. But, if the phone were to break into tiny little pieces, along with the battery, then suddenly the protons have nowhere to go and fizzle out. The protons, in this case, are your friends' bodies and souls. And if the protons fizzle out, those people or that singular person dies. It's quite simple actually," Dakima stated as Karera felt a singular bead of sweat drip down her forehead.
"N-Now you're being a coward!" Karera spat, inching forward as Dakima scoffed, shrugging. It was like he didn't care at all. Which, given his demeanour, was a fair assessment. It was often said that when an animal was pushed into a corner, it would do anything to win, regardless of circumstance.
"We Stroheims do whatever it takes to win. Hell, my great-great-grandfather was in World War 2! Sure, he was on the wrong side, and sure he died still believing in their cause, but that man helped defeat a Pillar Man—not just any Pillar Man, but the ruler of all Pillar Men, the one that became the Ultimate Lifeform! He did everything in his power to win, and so will I! I don't care if it's cowardice, I don't care if it's scummy, I won't lose to a 16-year-old brat!" Dakima spat, his teeth bare, a visible vein on his forehead, and the phone in his hand began to crack.
"So, this is how this is going to go! You're gonna stand still, and I'm going to zap you into this phone. Got it!" Dakima hollered as Karera stood still, looking down at the floor. She didn't answer, which prompted him to take a step forward, his Stands aura flaring around him. "Good, now, this won't hurt a bit!"
But little had the man known, that during his blind rant, Karera had reached the required 2 meters. As the yellow cables started protruding out of Steam Powered Giraffe, in the blink of an eye, a hair barrier encircled Dakima and Steam Powered Giraffe, all except the arm that had the phone in it. The hair became so sharp that it severed the arm from the elbow down, oil leaking from the wound as a screeching sound could be heard from within the hair cocoon. The hand released the phone, and Karera caught it as soon as it came close to the floor.
Inside the barrier, Dakima roared with rage, however, also in pain after realizing his arm had been severed. Mechanical or not, he could still feel pain if it was damaged in any way due to it being connected to his nervous system. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Dakima roared as the hair retracted back, but before Dakima could do anything to retaliate, he was met with a pissed-off Karera. His angered demeanour immediately fell, and then, he cursed himself. "Oh, Scheiße."
Love Love Deluxe grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and raised him higher than Karera's eye level. He began to struggle, kicking his legs up in the air as Steam Power Giraffe still floated behind him. "Y-You think y-you won! I-I- I can still attack you! I can still trap you in the phone!" Dakima threatened, though his tone of voice was more frightened than intimidating.
"I know when to call a bluff when I see one. And that, my friend, was a bluff. Now, I'll spare you a beatdown if you let my friends out, how about that?" Karera stated as Dakima squealed.
"I-I—!" Dakima began, only to be met with a fist to the face, blood and oil flying from his face as Karera sneered.
"On second thought… yeah, no, how about I just beat you up, that way I know my friends will be evicted from the phone!" Karera stated, smirking as Love Love Deluxe began to send a volley of punches to Dakima and Steam Powered Giraffe, each punch hitting harder than the last, and with each punch, it became faster and faster till it became nothing but a blur.
[RABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABURABU!]
Blood and oil hit the floor, coating the area below Dakima as, with the final punch, he crashed into the ceiling, before falling face-first into the puddle, unconscious as Steam Powered Giraffe faded away. Once it had finished its job, Love Love Deluxe disappeared back into Karera as the teen let out a sigh. "Now… stay down," Karera stated, grunting as she rolled her neck from side to side.
The battle was over, and she came out the victor.
As soon as Steam Power Giraffe vanished, the phone began to shake and spark as both Mina and Kira were let out of the phone, both in the same state they were in when they entered it. They still had their bags in their hands—Karera lost hers during the fight, but it didn't matter to her—and they were both extremely confused and bewildered, though Kira was able to sober up rather quickly. Mina, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
"H-Huh?! W-What just happened!" Mina said, looking around frantically. She saw the broken electronics, the cowering store clerk, and the unconscious body in the pool of blood and oil. "H-Huh!?" She looked over to Karera, who was breathing heavily. "Kunami-chan…?! W-What's happening, er, what happened, I mean!"
"We were attacked… that's what happened," Kira replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked at the cyborg with disgust, summoning Killer Queen. "Is he dead?" Kira asked as Karera shook her head.
"No. He's not," Karera said as Killer Queen floated over to the downed man, rearing its fist back to deliver a deadly blow, only for Love Love Deluxe to grab its wrist and prevent it from punching a hole through his head. Kira narrowed a glare to Karera, who shook her head. "That doesn't give you the go-ahead to do it yourself. We need answers from him. From the sounds of things, he was forced to do this. At least, that's what it sounded like, so he's just as much of a victim in this as you two were. Now, help me get him out of here and outside."
"W-What are you two talking about!? K-Killing someone?! I—"
"Mina, calm down," Karera interrupted, glancing over at Kira, and then back to Mina. "Once we're done dealing with this guy, I'll explain everything. But when we do, you have to keep this a secret. You can't tell Kirishima, you can't tell your parents, hell, you can't tell a crow or a rock. It's important we keep this as secretive as possible," Karera stated as Mina slowly nodded. "Good, now, please, do as I asked you. We need to get this guy out of here. Okay?" Karera stated, looking at both Mina and Kira.
With reluctance, both Mina and Kira did as they were told, handing their bags over to Karera so she could carry them, picked up the man, and after a slow walk to the outside of the Mall, they propped up Dakima against the wall of an alleyway behind the mall.
Using her hair, Karera stitched whatever wounds she had inflicted on him—at least the ones that could be repaired by stitches, then finished by changing their density to be as tough as steel before backing up. Karera lightly tapped the guy's face, causing him to wake up, and for him to jolt back. "G-Gah! I—"
"Calm down, I'm not gonna kill you, we just want answers," Karera said, interrupting Dakima mid-scream, looking over her shoulder as Yoshihara crossed her arms, and Mina was stand-offish, giving the man a questioning gaze, though with her eyes filled with fear. She nodded to herself, then continued. "Now, please, can you tell us who it was who sent you after us?"
The man seemed to space out, looking at the floor in silence. Then, after a couple of seconds passed, with a deep breath and a bit of a stammer, he spoke. "I-I… I don't know his name. Hell, I didn't even see his face. Ah-! But he was wearing an orange pinstripe suit! Outside of that, I know practically nothing. He just… approached me on the street, pulled me into an alleyway, and we talked. H-He didn't give out his name or the name of the group he worked with, he didn't give out what his abilities were, all he gave me was a target, two pictures of two kids from Class 1 – A a-and you, and said that if I killed them, and anyone adjacently around them, that he'll fix my body and change it back to how it was before The Accident."
Kira frowned, her glare increasing as she spoke up. "What do you mean? What was The Accident?" The blonde teenager asked as the man eeped, covering up his face before realizing just how unnecessary it was, putting his arms down before answering.
"T-The attack in Musutafu. Those Yakuza freaks who had those bullets. One of them hit me, and my Quirk… it… it evolved into Steam Powered Giraffe." Dakima started, summoning his Stand behind him, though Mina only looked at him with a look of confusion and a raised eyebrow.
"At first, I thought it was a blessing, but I quickly realized just how much of a curse it was. Other people who survived the attack came after each other out of some sort of paranoia, and I… I had to defend myself. But the more I used my Stand, and the more I used its ability to alter and fix things, the more my own body would be sacrificed to do so," Dakima started, looking down at the floor with slumped shoulders. His eyes glazed over as he began to re-live what it was that happened to him.
"It started with just my fingers. It freaked me out, but I reckoned that I could just use my ability without a care in the world. I started to create a business to repair broken electronics. Before acquiring Steam Powered Giraffe, my Quirk allowed me to analyze tech, but that was about it. But now that I could repair the stuff without even having prior knowledge! I could've made a fortune! But each time I repaired a phone, a laptop, or a computer screen, a piece of my skin would swap out with steel. I didn't think too much of it until I had lost my entire right arm and half of my waist." Dakima took in a deep, shuttered breath before continuing.
"I shut down my business after realizing what I was doing to my body. I tried to fix myself—to get my flesh back—but I learned the hard way that I could never get it back. I fell into a deep depression, and my whole family refused to recognize me. My mother barely even considered me a human. My father refused to look at me and saw me as a monster. My son saw me as a freak and was terrified to look at me. My wife left me and took my son, and they moved back to Germany, leaving me with nothing. All because I was more machine than man. But then…!" Dakima paused, looking up at the group of three with big, excited eyes.
"But then he showed up! He promised me that if I killed you brats, I'd get my life back! Looking back at it now, I realize just how fucked up that prospect was. But I was desperate! And can you blame me?! My life was turned upside down because of a power I didn't want! I saw a way out, and I took it!" Dakima proclaimed, frowning before shaking his head. "I… I'm sorry. I… I was desperate. I—"
"I understand," Karera interrupted, earning a shocked expression from Dakima, Kira, and Mina. The two looked at her like she was mentally ill, but Karera didn't care one bit. "That does sound like a curse. I feel bad for you, Mr. Strohiem. You were used by a horrible man, but that doesn't make you a villain. It just makes you a fool."
Dakima lowered his head, shame on his face as Mina sputtered. "But…! He almost killed us!" Mina exclaimed as Karera narrowed her eyes at the pink-skinned girl.
"And you mean to tell me that you wouldn't do the same if you were in his situation?" Karera asked as Mina furrowed her eyebrows and was about to speak before Karera continued. "If someone told you they could turn you back to normal, wouldn't you jump at the chance to get your body back? He was desperate, and that man played him like a fiddle," Karera stated, looking over to Dakima. "That doesn't mean I forgive you, but I understand where it is you're coming from," Karera said, earning a nod from the man.
"Fair enough, I did try to kill your friends, and I am truly sorry. But… But… that was all I know. That's all I know about that man, and what he wanted from me. After I accepted his offer, he just… disappeared, walked through a portal and then he was gone. Although, he did mention a name. Not a Stand Name, mind you, but someone's actual name. I think it was… Kurogiri or whatever."
Karera frowned, looking out of the hallway. The police had been called, and around six squad cars and the Pro Hero Death Arms showed up. She had a choice, hand him over to the police, have him get sent to Tartarus, and make it so she had another enemy to deal with, or….
"I'll call a few contacts once I leave this alleyway and get home. When someone wearing a hat that says Speedwagon on the hat appears before you, go with them, they'll take you to someplace that can help you, or at least try. It's better than a prison cell, at the very least," Karera stated as Dakima nodded.
"Thank you… ma'am," Dakima said as Karera looked back at Mina and Kira, then nodded. The group of three left the alleyway. They made it to the convertible and Karera passed the two teens their bags as they got into the car. Starting up the car engine, Karera waited for everyone to buckle themselves in, and once that was done, she pulled out of the parking lot and hit the highway.
A few minutes into the drive, once they were far enough away from the mall, Ashido spoke up. "Alright, now, spill the beans. What just happened?!" Ashido demanded as Yoshihara was the one to speak up, catching Ashido off guard.
"I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention. I'm doing this because Sakunami-san is driving, and she needs to pay attention to the road. I will tell you everything it is Kujo and Sakunami-san have told me in my time as a part of this group of misfits. And just so you know, if you tell anyone else about this information, be it your friends, family, or on an online forum, you won't have to deal with me and Sakunami-san, but an entire organization. Do I make myself clear?" Yoshihara stated as Ashido paled.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" Ashido said with nervousness in her tone as Yoshihara sighed, nodding in response.
"All right. Then allow me to begin. The first thing that you have to know is that me and Karera over here, technically speaking, are Quirkless," Yoshihara began, causing Ashido to recoil. Yoshihara didn't let her speak and simply continued as if nothing important had been said. "Now, the reason I mention this is that you must understand that the powers that Sakunami-san and I have are far deadlier than anything a Quirk can muster, based solely on the fact that, as you've more than likely noticed, you cannot see.
"However, because Quirks have become so commonplace, you'd be hardpressed to find a difference between a Quirk and a Stand, outside of their physical appearance that Quirk Users and Quirkless people cannot see. Stands, which is the name of this power, come in a variety of forms, and they come in a variety of types—much like Quirks," Yoshihara said, giving Ashido the chance to absorb the information before continuing.
"There is the most common type of Stand a person can have: A Humanoid Stand, one that has the appearance of a human, and or stands upright, like a primate or a human. Sakunami-san and I, for example, have Humanoid Stands.
"There are non-humanoid Stands, which, as the label describes, are not humanoid, but they still have a fairly basic shape that a human, so long as they are a Stand User, can see, such as a bug, a crocodile, a fish, a weird tongue creature, or a pimple with a face on your forehead.
"Then, there is the Automatic Type Stand. These things have no maximum amount in their Range. They can go anywhere, do anything, and are visible to the regular person, though usually only as a shadow or in a reflection. They can understand simple commands and will do them to completion. For example, if you tell it to kill someone, it will do so. It will go to the ends of the earth and do everything it can to end the life of that person you deem to be a nuisance. Nothing will stop it, and if it has to travel the world to get its objective done, then so be it. However, to make up for this incredibly overpowered reach, the abilities a Stand like this usually has are near useless and or so pathetic that it might as well be only useful for across-the-world ventures. On rare occasions, a Stand like this can have a busted ability but rarely is this ever the case," Yoshihara stated, crossing her arms.
"Is that all?" Ashido asked, a small sweat bead falling from her forehead and down her cheek, rubbing the back of her neck as Yoshihara shook her head.
"No, those are just the ones I know. Although, this piece of information isn't important to you, but rather, important in your decision to continue to be close to Sakunami-san and me. Stand Users attract other Stand Users, like a magnet to a piece of metal. It is by destiny that Stand Users will drift towards each other over time, whether they know this or not. Usually, when two Stand Users meet, a fight to the death breaks out. Though, on the rare occasion that they instantly become allies with one another, a fight will still occur, just to test out if their partnership will be beneficial to each other, or if it would be easier to just kill them so that they won't have to deal with another threat in the future. That means that regardless of whether you're a Stand User or not, you will constantly be in danger if you are around us. So—"
"Don't even finish that sentence," Ashido interrupted, frowning. "I don't care how much danger I'm in if I'm around you. Though I am a bit upset that Kunami-chan didn't tell me when we first met back at the Entrance Exam, but that doesn't change the fact that I still want to be your guys' friend. Besides, I'm a heroine-in-training, danger is going to be a part of my life regardless of what I want. Why not start a little early?" Ashido asked, a small smile on her face as Yoshihara felt her heart warm.
And, for the first time ever since she met Izuku, or anyone outside of her group for that matter, a small, but genuine smile stretched across her lips. "Very well then, Ashido-san. Of course, I don't need to have to tell you again that you must not tell anyone about what you heard, correct?" Yoshihara said as Ashido nodded.
"Of course! Although, perhaps you should tell the rest of Class 1 – A about this in the future. Maybe not right away, but sometime soon, you know?" Ashido stated as Yoshihara looked over to Sakunami-san, who shrugged.
"I'll bring it up with Fumi-kun. But until then, do try to keep this as secretive as possible," Sakunami-san said as they pulled up to a house. The house in question was two storeys tall with a slanted roof, five windows on the front-facing side of the house, three on the top floor and two on the lower floor, a small garden just by the stairs, and a moderate-sized front lawn with a white fence and gate blocking off entry.
"Well, this is my stop," Ashido said, getting out of the car as the sun began to set. She looked down at her watch, which said that the time was 5:30 pm. "And just before dinner, too. Thanks, Kunami-chan, Kira-chan, I'll see you all at school on Monday!" Ashido said, the two waving her off as Yoshihara moved herself to the front seat, buckling herself in as they drove off, the next stop being the Love Hotel, ironically enough also named Love Love Deluxe.
The drive was silent, and by the time they got there, it was already 6:30 PM. The sun was almost down, leaving a faint orange stripe in the sky, and the stars were starting to peek out from their cover in the daylight sky. "Thank you, Sakunami-san," Yoshihara said, taking her bags and exiting the car. "While the Mall trip didn't go as intended, I still had fun. Even if I did nearly die, I'd like to do it again one of these days," Kira said, smirking. "You know, minus the 'nearly dying' part, of course," Yoshihara said, attempting a joke as Sakunami-san snorted and suppressed a giggle.
"Of course, Kira-chan, anytime," Karera said as Yoshihara turned around, her hair moving out of the way so that anyone could get a clear look a the nape of her neck due to the wind pushing it out of the way, and what Karera saw shocked her.
Yoshihara had the same Star-Shaped Birthmark as Josefumi, in the same place as he did, and with the same placement. "I'll see you at school, Sa—" Kira stopped herself, then continued. "I'll see you at school, Karera-chan," and with that, she entered the building. Karera nodded a small smile on her face.
"Finally, jeez. Well, at least she trusts me now," Karera thought, turning to face the road, turning on the car engine, and adopting a stern expression. "But now, Josefumi is going to want to know this. There is a possibility that—no—there is a 100% chance that he and Kira are related." And with that sentiment, she drove to the apartment she and Josefumi shared with a ton of questions and a need for answers that he may or may not have for her.
[XXXX]
!Stand Information Corner!
Stand User: Dakima Stroheim
Stand Name: Steam Powered Giraffe
Localized Name: Steampunk Animal
Stand Appearance: Steam Powered Giraffe is a humanoid Stand that is a replica of a human's skeletal system that's made out of what appears to be black metal frames. Its insides are made of wires, with yellow wires that appear to be facial features and veins, red wires that mimic organs, and blue wires that mimic muscles. Steam Powered Giraffe is the same height as its user.
Stand Ability: Using the wires inside its body, it can manipulate technology, but it can only use one colour of wire at a time. Each coloured wire represents something that it can do, with red wires being able to freely transform any technology it gets its wires into, blue wires being able to control and freely pilot any electronical device, and yellow wires allowing him to transfer someone's body and soul into a device of his choosing.
Stand Stats:
Destructive Power: Grade D (As strong as a regular human)
Effective Range: Grade A (100 meters)
General Speed: Grade A (Can attack at Hypersonic, massively hypersonic, to potentially at the speed of light, depending on how hard the user is pushing the stand)
Persistent use of ability: Grade B (Extremely proficient in the use of its ability, and can keep it going for long periods exceeding an hour).
Precision: Grade C (Misses semi-infrequently)
Overall Potential: Grade B
[Status: Retired]
.
!Stand Information Corner!
Stand User: Karera Sakunami
Stand Name: Love Love Deluxe
Localized Name: Love Squared
Stand Appearance: Love Love Deluxe is a humanoid Stand. While its body is mostly featureless and has a feminine appearance, it also has mechanical joints at the waist, hips, shoulders, elbows and hands. A set of metallic cables also connects its chest to the neck. Love Love Deluxe is covered in patches of fur that cover its legs, arms and body in a way reminiscing of a dress with arm gloves and tights. It also has a large afro atop its head with a braid going down the middle of it, resembling a zipper. Its body is yellow, the fur on its body is orange, and the metallic joints are gray.
Stand Ability: Using Love Love Deluxe, Karera can manipulate both her hair and other individuals' hair within a distance of 80 meters of her. She can completely re-arrange the genetic makeup of anyone's hair, transforming it into whatever fibre-based material she needs at any given time, even turning regular human hair into steel fibre to create a shield to protect herself.
Stand Stats:
Destructive Power: Grade B (Physically stronger than a regular human, and able to easily cave in walls of a building with ease, even denting metal)
Effective Range: Grade B (Can use its ability up to 80 meters away from an individual)
General Speed: Grade A (Can attack at Hypersonic, massively hypersonic, to potentially at the speed of light, depending on how hard the user is pushing the stand)
Persistent use of ability: Grade A (The user can keep the ability going for as long as the user desires, without consequence)
Precision: Grade B (Rarely misses)
Overall Potential: Grade B
[Status: Active]
[XXXX]
Yoshikage had to admit that when he first came to the land of living, and when he first met his descendant, even if she didn't realize he was there, seeing her dying was not a good start to his whole Guardian Angel shtick. Although he was able to convince her to stand back up and fight, that didn't change the fact that mere moments into his stint as a Guardian Angel, his ward had already almost died.
And now, here he was, floating in front of the window of where his ward currently lived. It was some kind of love hotel, which was a questionable choice for a child to be living in. While she seemed detached from the whole of it, that didn't make it any less uncomfortable.
That being said, there was one thing that he was positively confused about. Ever since he even figured out about the fact that his bloodline somehow continued past him. His father, bless his useless soul, was devoted to his wife and vice versa. Neither of them cheated on each other, so it couldn't have been from them.
There was also the fact that Yoshikage had no siblings.
So then, how? How did he wind up with descendants?
And then, it clicked. It didn't take a genius for him to realize what had happened, and he was a fool for not picking up on it earlier. He distinctly remembered that one day, when he was 19 years old, just a few weeks after he had murdered Reimei Sugimoto, he had gone to a bar to drink away the guilt he had felt.
Yes, he had felt guilty for killing Reimei. At the time, he hadn't accepted himself for what he had been—a brute. He hid her body in a suitcase not out of pride of successfully killing her, but out of shame. It was also why he stuffed the body-filled suitcase behind a newspaper station in that alleyway.
Of course, as time went on, he became more confident and sadistic, like most serial killers. Looking back on it now, he was a twisted freak. His mental impairments stopped him from realizing it sooner. He believed that what he had been doing was right. The reality of the situation was that he was in the wrong.
In the end, he got what he deserved, whether he liked it or not.
Honestly, as strange as it was, he thanked Higashikata, Jotaro, and the rest of those other Stand Users for doing him in. Even if he ultimately died because of a freak accident where an ambulance crushed his head like a grape, it was more than he had deserved.
Besides, even if he was arrested, he more than likely would've escaped prison or rewound time with Bites The Dust….
Back to the topic at hand, when he was 19 years old, he had decided to drink away the shame he had felt, and he wound up meeting an older woman. He forgot her name, but he remembered that she had whisked him away to her place, and they wound up having relations. He was far too drunk to remember anything about the encounter, but considering that happened, and considering that his family line was still around….
Well, it wasn't hard to guess what came from that. Though he never met that woman again, he was glad that he didn't. There would've been a solid chance that she would've ended up dead after the fact. He never realized that in his youth, he had inadvertently created a new branch of his family.
Now, as for how they somehow his family was somehow related to the Sugimoto family, that was beyond him. That, and, assuming his information was correct, this descendant of his was also a part of the same family as Higashikata Josuke. Wasn't that ironic? He wasn't even mad. He found it hilarious, actually.
"Ugh! This sucks!" Reimei complained, floating above him with her arms crossed as she looked down at him. "The guy I'm supposed to watch over is in a coma! A coma, Yoshikage! A COMA!"
"Well, isn't that just a shame," Yoshikage said, keeping an eye on his descendant through the window. "Why don't you go find something else to do, then? You don't have to be around me. I know it makes you uncomfortable."
"Yeah, but I'd rather annoy you."
"Figures…" Yoshikage muttered, watching as his descendent sat down on the couch of the place she lived, and turned on the TV. She was watching One Piece. He never understood how people could watch those shows. They were too bright. Too cheerful.
Floating away from the window, Yoshikage made his way down to the ground, crossing his arms as Reimei teleported next to him in a flash of light. They were both wearing what it was they had on when they had died. Yoshikage was still disguised as Kosaku Kawajiri, and Reimei was still dressed in the overall dress she had on when Yoshikage killed her.
Walking down the road, phasing through people without a care in the world, Yoshikage observed the world around him, and simply put, he was baffled at how… samey it all felt since he had died. Oh, sure, medical science had come a long way due to whatever Quirks were, and while new laws had to be passed to alleviate certain things thanks to Quirks, in some ways progress had almost halted, and in some places, even gone backwards.
Like, for example, outlawing abortion. When he was alive, it was legal. So how in the world did it get changed? Was it because of Quirks? It had to have been. Otherwise, what was the point? He had only found this out when he had accidentally eavesdropped on some stranger's conversation when phasing through the walls of the love hotel.
He didn't know about anything else regarding the law, but if there was one thing that he disliked at a personal level, it was the idea of children being put through what was essentially superhero police academies. It was fine to want to be a hero, but actively pushing it on children? It sounded kind of… totalitarian, if you asked him.
Maybe it was his old way of thinking, living in a time where heroes weren't a thing, nor were superpowers, but he wasn't going to question it. He just didn't like it.
"So… Yoshikage. Just, a random question. Why did you kill me?" Reimei asked out of the blue, hands behind the back of her head, causing Yoshikage to stop in his tracks, blinking rapidly before looking over his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"You heard me. Why'd ya kill me? I've always thought it was random, but you've had to have a reason, right? Like, a grudge, or something like that? I mean, looking back at our time at school, I know I was kind of mean to you. So I figured it might've been because of that," Reimei said as Yoshikage went to say something, but stopped.
Was he really going to tell her it was all happenstance? He didn't even know he was breaking into her house at the time. He just… wanted to know what killing someone felt like, picked a random house, and broke in. At the time, his hand fetish didn't apply to his murders, he just wanted to know what it was like to kill.
After Reimei, it took him a couple of years to muster up the courage to do it again, and after that, there was no going back. He just kept killing, and killing, and killing. Then, when he was 29 years old, he awakened Killer Queen due to his mastery over killing, and it only got worse from there.
"Well, spit it out. Why did you—"
"It was random. I had no intention of killing you until I stabbed you in the back. When I saw your face, I…" He paused, not knowing what to say, shame taking up his expression. "I hated myself for a long time. If it wasn't for my parents affirming that what I did was wrong, I probably would've turned myself in."
Reimei stared at him, shocked. Yoshikage turned away, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "I know anything I say to you now means nothing, but for whatever it's worth, I'm sorry. You, and by extension, anyone else I killed, did not deserve what I did to them. I was a madman. A monster. I have no excuse for what I've done. Now, if we could please move on from this subject, I'd be appreciative of it."
With that, Yoshikage kept walking, but Reimei couldn't move. She was still reeling from what she had just heard. Her killer had just admitted to her that he had killed her on a whim. That there was no reason for it. He just did.
That was almost worse than it being pre-meditated. He killed her at random, all because he wanted to. But what was most shocking about it was that he would've turned himself in had it not been for his parents. She didn't know if that was the truth, but if it was….
She shook her head. No, that made no sense. What kind of parent wouldn't admonish and punish their child for doing something so… so vile? Unless, of course, they were the kind of parents that simply didn't care.
Then, he apologized.
Yoshikage Kira. Serial killer. Monster. Apologized.
She never thought she'd see the day. Maybe that was why she suddenly felt so light. As if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. He was genuinely repentant for what he did, and it was obvious with how he spoke.
But… she couldn't forgive him. Not yet, anyway. There was no way she could forgive him just yet. That would be too easy. If she forgave him, then it would mean that she'd spent all of that time justifiably hating him for no reason at all, whatsoever.
So, because of that, she refused to forgive him. Not in any sense of the meaning.
She sighed, shaking her head. Reimei looked around and noticed that Yoshikage was long gone. He was probably off exploring the city. She didn't need to be around him 24/7, so, she decided to do some exploring on her own. At least, until the person she was supposed to watch over woke up from his coma.
A part of her considered watching over Yoshikage's descendant but decided against it. That was his job. Sure, she was her descendant too, but she had more important things to be doing. She had no reason to be anywhere near her.
And so, with a snap of her fingers, Reimei teleported elsewhere in the city.
-To Be Continued in - Sports Festival Prep - Part 1-