Jikken Sagi sat in an expensive chair in his office, drinking black coffee and eyeing some documents over complaints of crows in Musutafu, driving his guest over the walls.
"I just don't understand the issue, Bullseye. I've commissioned the Order for lots of jobs over the last few years. Just what issue could you have with that?"
The other man, Bullseye, felt the veins in his head pop. He was wearing a black suit along with black leather gloves and a face mask to match. A tattoo of a target adorned the right side of his bald head, and he had to control himself from jumping at the president of the SASC.
"Commissioned the Order?! Listen, most of the jobs have been forwarded to Diana, a newbie, care to explain why the rest aren't getting near as many?!"
The president put down his coffee and set down the documents, looking at Bullseye as if he was talking to a child complaining that their little sibling was getting all the attention. Jikken was wearing an impolite white suit, so white that some could get it mixed up with a lab coat from a distance.
The only thing Jikken wore that clashed with the perfect air of cleanness was a red tie that divided his white figure like a lamp slit open. His hair, white from years of service in the SASC was combed tightly and didn't show the presence of his hairline starting to recede.
"Well, what do you want me to say to that? They are quite efficient. Quick captures, lack of complaints with little information" He glanced at the younger man, making him bite his facemask and glare at him "they operate around Konukoru, where we are located… Honestly, they are great to terminate loose ends that we don't manage to retrieve in time. The only thing that could be better would be the mutilation of her targets. Maybe you can enlighten me with that, I'm afraid that I still don't quite understand some of the methods of you hunters"
"She's a savage." He tightened his fists, shaking and grinding his teeth to the point the noise annoyed Jikken. "She doesn't interact with the Order. Just has an intermediary that delivers the jobs to her."
"Hmm, yes, I'm aware, I've contacted him before. The man knows how to make good business" Jikken rubbed his fingers together, alluding to making good money with him.
"He's scum. And so is she. Taking a trophy from a successful hunt isn't strange, most in the Order do that, but she… She tears the faces of her prey apart. I've seen her preys being delivered. They're-"
"Yeah, yeah, disfigured, who cares? I thought the Order of Orion had more guts than to be disturbed by dead animals"
"You don't understand, fool!" He slammed the desk with his fist, breathing heavily. "She hunts with a rifle and a bow, and is extremely efficient, I've seen the kill shots. She is crazy accurate. The disfigurement comes after, when she's killed them."
Bullseye sneered, fueling his hatred in his words. Jikken rolled his eyes.
"But that's not your problem, is it?" He huffed and crossed his arms. "Come on, the Order of Orion has always been full of sadists and sociopaths without empathy. That's how we operate. That's how you are"
The president of the Super Animal Safety Commission locked his hands together, leaning into the desk and looking at the hunter of the Order.
"Tsk"
"Don't tsk me, what is your issue."
"You know my damn issue! She takes too many jobs! There's been other hunters posted in Konukoru before! That no good Jupiter before her, and it wasn't a problem until she came! There's been way too many problems in Konukoru compared to 4 years ago! It's almost as if you are purposefully leading all the prey to her territory"
He leaned his eyes accusingly to the president, who sighed.
"Well, what can I say? The HPSC has been absorbing most of the government funding since All Might's Golden Age, and even we need to make some cuts in our operations"
Silence filled the room. Jikken was calm, he had nothing to fear after all, Bullseye's weapon had been taken away before he entered, and even if his quirk could still be used to harm him, the president was confident in personal security.
"So you're saying…that that psycho is cheap? Is that it!?"
"Certainly! If there's a problem, it's easier to call her immediately before it gets out of her territory."
"Don't fuck around with me!" He stood up, grabbing one of his gloved hands. "You're clearly taking advantage of your deal with the Order!"
"The deal said to not underpay or overpay any hunter. I'm just paying what they're asking"
"You expect me to believe that they are asking for so little after being commissioned for so much!?"
"You said it yourself. She's crazy, she enjoys hunting more than she enjoys the money. I'm not going to complain about that. If you have a problem with that, just ask her to stop."
"You shithead, you know the Order doesn't have a say in the operations of others and their territories"
"Certainly. So you shouldn't have a problem with her not asking for much, right?"
Jikken could see the sneer of Bullseye even through the facemask he was wearing.
"This isn't over, old man. I'll summon a meeting with the Order of Orion. You will be giving the rest better and more jobs."
"I see. Good luck making them attend, then. Thought you said she didn't interact much with other hunters."
He turned around and stormed out of his office.
"Go have a stroke"
"Hoho! Bold of you to assume I'm not prepared for that"
The hunter tsked and left the room, leaving the president smirking.
"Ah, that was good fun. He really is stupid. Should learn of the rest of the Order and not do it full time. Still in that pitiful villain mindset I'm afraid."
He eyed the documents of the sightings of crows in Gaulusu, in Musutafu.
"How did this even get to my office? This are just petty complaints of fearful folks. There's not even a mention of a quirked crow!" He pressed the intercom button for his secretary. "Sana-san, come here, I need to get rid of some garbage"
3 - Puberty
Things had changed in Gaulusu in the six months Izumi had been there. The rise in the population of crows had become painfully obvious to everyone, as people were uneasy and always looking over their shoulders whenever a caw was heard.
Of course, for Izumi this wasn't a bad thing, she got to see and check with the crows every day, seeing Shiro and Wuji almost on a daily basis.
In school things weren't so good. Izumi had gotten into the arts and crafts club, to have something to do the days she didn't have a hunt to do, or just to have an excuse to give to Inko if she asked where she was.
She didn't have time to get on good terms with the other members of the club, five other boys and girls, some upperclassmen, because Samehada, Anshin and Kyosei had spread the word about Izumi being quirkless and creepy, being in good terms with the crows.
Izumi kept the gadgets and tools she made in the club to herself, resigning herself to just ignore them and be ignored. Both her and the other club members silently agreed to that arrangement, not wanting to bring the wrong kind of attention to themselves, each for different reasons. Either way she didn't want to hear their opinions over making a birdhouse. With her reputation, deciding to not speak to her was better.
Samehada was pulling a Katsuki and quickly trying to get the rest of the class and school for that matter to antagonize Izumi. It wasn't as if now everyone bullied her, the fact crows got close to her unnerved them and gave reason to the things Samehada and her friends said.
Izumi had conflicted feelings about the situation. She was fine being excluded for any social interaction, preferring everytime the company of the crows. But at the same time, she felt sad whenever some classmates stopped what they were doing just to turn and walk away from her if she got closer.
In the beginning she had tried reaching out to other classmates that didn't seem bothered by her quirklessness that much, or at least that didn't show it, but those had been the people Samehada had "added" to her friend group first. She quickly shut down that idea the moment the shark girl had been chosen as class president.
With now having someone in the student council actively against her and putting people on her side against Izumi, she just went back to what she did the last year in her old school to avoid Katsuki and his friends.
Keep her head down, don't talk with anyone to bring attention to herself, and avoid getting on Samehada's path. It was hard sometimes, as much like Katsuki, she went out of her way to confront Izumi.
"Don't you want to join our study group?" "You poor girl ,spending so much time with the flying menaces, aren't they rubbing off to you?" "You should cut your hair, I bet those flying menaces will make nests soon if you keep those villain looking bangs!" and other things like that left Samehada's mouth each time she cornered Izumi.
It was exhausting, at least Katsuki was consistent with his insults and way to make Izumi feel small and feel a knot in her chest, Samehada and all her old and new friends for that matter had learnt a way to get on her mind way too well.
They outright insulted her, made passive aggressive remarks, borderline ableist comments and then suggested spending time doing normal school things. Even if it was to fool Lanbosu, not that he showed any signs of caring, it was still very unnerving for Izumi.
Samehada could go from joking about the crows being so friendly they should gauge her eyes out to just casually asking her for a tip in a math exercise.
Izumi just sighed and patiently waited for class to end to leave school or go to the club, so she could avoid seeing anyone. The only person she still was interested in was the second year, Toga-san.
She wanted to reach out, for no other reason but feeling a strange sense of kinship with her, but there was nothing that hinted to it. Izumi felt like Toga-san somehow was also suppressing her true feelings, but didn't think if coming to her saying "Hi, saw you and thought you aren't actually enjoying yourself when you smile, you wanna hang out?" was a good idea.
Right now though, what was really getting on her nerves was Samehada kicking at her seat. She did it constantly, it was a great way to sour her mood during class without having to say anything.
For some reason, today it was just driving her mad. She managed to look calm on the outside, or as calm as she looked grabbing a pencil so tight her knuckles were white. She couldn't calm down using her slow breathing, Samehada disturbing her with each kick.
She felt her heartbeat thump against her ears fast, reminding her how she couldn't even slow it down. It was so easy for her, but that bitch had made it so it was impossible.
Izumi grinded her teeth, looking at the time impatiently. She seethed in her seat, hearing Lanbosu drone mindlessly about a lecture. She was getting so annoyed she felt a headache forming.
After another grueling 20 minutes, the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. Izumi got up immediately, making her chair screech against the floor, making Samehada bang her shin on the chair.
"Ah! Hey! Midori-chan! Be more careful, geez"
Izumi tightened her jaw, a snarl forming in her face, and looked down at Samehada. She didn't intend to glare so hard at her, but apparently the face she was making made Samehara flinch and shut her face.
"Hey you two, be nice. Midoriya-san, apologize"
Izumi breathed in loudly, managing to use that opportunity to somewhat calm herself to quiet the drumming of her heart in her head.
"Sorry" Izumi let so much venom flow out of her voice it even surprised her.
Seeing the rest of the class widen their eyes at the type of response, with Samehada slowly changing her expression from flinching to smugly smirking, she realized her anger had made her slip up.
"Uwah~ so scary! You really have become a menace yourself, huh. Too much time with those flying pests, if you ask me"
Izumi clicked her tongue, blushing from giving Samehada even more material to mess with her. Seeing the rest of the class giggle and whisper to each other, grins in their faces while they looked at her made Izumi's embarrassment overwhelm her anger, packing up faster and leaving the room.
Right after leaving, she was met face to face with Anshin and Kyosei, stopping her in her tracks. Izumi calmed her breath, ignoring the mischievous grins that they were giving her.
"Oh, there you are~ you left poor me to go with Amai and Nise? So mean~ but I guess it checks out, right girls?" Samehada said, coming from the classroom and laying her arm around Izumi's shoulders.
Breath in.
"You are sooo right, Usoha. That sounds like the kind of thing Midori-chan would do" Anshin shrugged off, shaking her head.
Breath out.
"Don't be so harsh, she's just a weirdo that sympathizes with the villainous flying menaces. She can't be helped" Kyosei grinned, crossing her arms.
Izumi heard her heartbeat loud and clear, now going slowly and keeping her from reacting to them with anything other than a straight poker face. Her head still hurt a bit from her bout of anger than before, but with her heart beating so slowly, the headache was muddled.
"Excuse me"
Izumi muttered, tilting her shoulder, making Samehada almost fall down from losing her support. Without giving them time to think, she crossed in between Anshin and Kyosei, tilting her body sideways, and walking off.
They sloppily recovered, following her and calling out. They knew the moment she got outside they wouldn't be able to mess with her anymore, too scared to do it where Wuji, or any other crow for that matter could see.
"Hey Midoriya! That was rude!"
"Come on girl, don't leave just like that!"
Izumi ignored them and managed to get outside, not stopping slowing her pace. She wasn't in the mood for going to the club today, and simply whistled once.
Samehada and the others stopped by the door, color draining from their faces after hearing the whistle. Other students turned and looked at Izumi, fast walking out of the school grounds with an emotionless face.
They all stood frozen looking at her, waiting for her call to be answered. They didn't wait long, as a crow flew from a tree and got into Izumi's shoulder.
A few students moved out of her way as Izumi left school for the day.
"See? That's just so wrong…"
Samehada muttered, other students from their grade nodding along with her and looking into the entrance of the school grounds, where Izumi had walked out from.
Izumi sat on a bench in the same park she'd had lunch the first day of school in Railosu. She sighed, letting her head rest against the back of the bench. A few people glared at her, not happy about her company.
Urusai had come to help her out at school, pretty rare for him to be close enough, not having moved his nest to Gaulusu, and keeping to central Musutafu. Still, Izumi sat up properly in the bench, petting Urusai.
You ok?
"Yes, yes, thank you for coming"
She passed her hand through his feathers, always clean and immaculate. The other people in the park glared at her and walked further away from her. A few more crows flew next to Izumi and Urusai.
Wuji also flew near and landed on Izumi's head. She smiled and let them be, enjoying each other's company now that other people had finally left them alone.
Rough day? Wuji lightly pecked Izumi's forehead.
"Oi, quit it. Yeah, yeah, the usual, Samehada and her friends being a pain in the ass"
We should teach them a lesson.
Poke their eyes out!
Scratch their faces!
No one messes with tall sister!
"Hey now, people are already uneasy because there's so many of you around now, please don't make a scene"
Even though she said that, Izumi was happy the crows felt angry for her whenever they messed with her. She loved them, really, but sometimes she really had to stop them from doing something.
Crows were resentful, and remembered faces, and told each other what humans messed up with them, so every crow could watch out or torment the people that dared mess with them.
It was just unfortunate how in this situation, anything close to retaliation from them would get Izumi in a lot of trouble. She didn't doubt for a second that with how much people hated crows in Gaulusu, they'd make any kind of indication that someone is "leading the flying menaces" and try to involve heroes, or worse, the SASC.
"Well, let's not talk about my stupid classmates. I'm not feeling too well today, so I think I'll stay here for now. What have you done today?"
They cawed, telling her about their day. Wuji remained silent, turning his head to look at Izumi with his only eye. She sensed that he was worried, so she quickly dismissed it.
"It's nothing really, Wuji, just a mild headache because I was dumb and got mad"
He didn't seem very convinced, but didn't question Izumi, and he too told the group what he's done today.
Izumi held her breath, rising her bow and pulling on the string with an arrow. She released the arrow, the string sprung to forward, propelling the arrow and making it whistle in the air, going straight into a bear's head.
Izumi quickly got down, laying flat against the ground, hidden by bushes and thickets. The bear let a strained roar, dying off as the bear fell to its side and stopped moving.
The silence told Izumi she had been successful, and she got off from the ground, dusting off the dirt from herself. Crows cawed as they lunged at the dead bear.
Izumi walked towards the dead beast, grabbing the arrow, and pulling it out of the head, being careful not to snap the arrowhead. Bears were rare, and didn't often go that close into the city, but this one had gotten right into Konukoru, and Giran had handed her a job from the SASC to take care of it.
She was glad she had gotten it today instead of yesterday, as she was feeling better now and it had been a while since she had used her bow instead of her rifle, but for tough hide like the one from adult bears, she preferred using the better penetration of her bow. She looked at the bow, a compound bow with three sets of strings wrapped around two wheels in its limbs to shoot arrows with more power than the strength used to pull them.
"What do you mean a bow is better for big animals? Aren't firearms better always?" Giran quirked an eyebrow at her, blowing out smoke. Izumi waved it away with her hand and glared at him.
"Bears are tough. Even shots to the head, if I'm not extremely precise they can resist them thanks to their thick skulls, and then after realizing the threat, it becomes much harder to not get caught up by an angry bear's nose looking for a bloodbath"
Giran puffed, rolling his eyes.
"So what? You get them in the head easily. Just shoot them a few times there and presto."
Izumi crossed her arms and glared at Giran from the other side of the table they were sharing, in a terrace in Konukoru. She sipped on the hot chocolatte she'd ordered before responding to him.
"Yes, but I don't like to spend more ammo than I need."
"Oh, but Izumi-chan~ that's good for business!"
"Good business for you. I'd prefer half the payments I ask for not be bullets"
"Oh, what would I ever do then~ you'll ruin me!"
A crow landed on the street close to them. Giran rolled his eyes.
"Bah, I'm just messing around. You are very generous on your commission, Izumi-chan. I can't complain."
"You better, you underpay me big time. The SASC should be paying more than the equivalent of what you give me"
"Come on Izumi-chan~ what about my cut~ you know it's not easy to have all the connections I have. And it'd be a shame if the SASC found out about your special crows~"
"It would be." Izumi deadpanned, her voice neutral and cold. "But that'd be bad business for you"
"And there we go! See how this is a great symbiotic relationship~?"
Izumi sighed, finishing up the cup of hot chocolate before it got cold.
"So, can you get it?"
"Carbon fibres, alluminium, some pulleys and bamboo to boot? Of course, that's easy. The ultra-whatever polysomethign-"
"Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyenthylenes."
"Yeah, that, they are going to take a while. Haven't heard of anyone producing them. Wouldn't kevlar work fine for a bowstring? If it's only a few strands I can get it this week."
"Kevlar is alright, but doesn't last as long as the UHMWPE made from Spectra and Dyneema. My current bow used that, it snaps around the thousandth shot"
Giran whistled.
"Aren't you going a bit overkill? Thought you were only going to use it for bears or things like that"
"If I'm asking you, I want quality"
"Oh, you are going to make my cold heart start beating again!"
"You're right, that could be a problem" Izumi smirked, making Giran snort.
"Alright kid, deal. I'll get materials for you to make your super-bow. Don't go and mess up when I hand them over then!"
Izumi smiled, storing the arrow in her quiver after inspecting it didn't break, and licking the remains of blood and flesh on the point, spitting it out afterward.
She was proud of the bow, baptized as B-tip. She had made it herself, from materials she'd asked Giran as payment from different jobs, and it did the work just as good as professional compound bows.
Combining it with heavy arrows, she was able to even pierce big rocks with it, the strength allowing her to surpass her rifle.
For that reason, she was eager to use it whenever she went after a tough prey or a bear. Most bears from Tia forest had either been hunted down or driven off the forest after Izumi decided to hunt a feast for the murder a few years ago.
Izumi heard Kuro's wings flap, the metallic clank of them revealing her position. She crouched, petting her and whistling.
Kuro nodded, and cawed at the rest of the crows, who made space for her. She flew into the corpse of the bear, swinging the edge of her wings on its limbs, making a clean cut, pouring blood into the dirt.
She used her claws to cut the limb more, Izumi joining her and grabbing the limb so Kuro could cut it easier. After a few scratches of her feet, the limb came off.
Izumi let short and quick whistles, and the murder got to work, a few crows grabbing the limb and flying off with it in the direction of the abandoned building.
Izumi and Kuro cut the rest of the limbs, as the crows grabbed them and flew away with them.
The main body of the bear was a mess, the flesh of the face torn apart and half eaten, the torso also showing signs of the crows work.
Izumi grabbed the body from the head, using a knife to tear it off, making the neck snap and splutter her sweater with blood.
She groaned, huffing and panting from the effort. She felt the strain in her abs, a minor pain clawing at her from crouching in a bad position.
Kuro cawed at her, moving her head up and down looking at Izumi, probably looking for an injury.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just a minor annoyance, I must have moved too quickly or something."
Taking her word at face value, Kuro nodded and cawed once. Izumi sat on a log as she heard the cacophony of caws coming from the murder. They descended in between the trees, in a swarm of black, landing close to Izumi and what was left of the carcass of the bear.
Izumi put her foot on the head, claiming it for herself and signaling the murder to not touch it. Knowing that piece of meat belonged to Izumi, the crows hopped and flew into the bloodied husk of the bear.
Izumi watched them use their beaks to pull and tear flesh that once belonged to a powerful animal, with strength capable of downing a grown man with a single swipe of its claws. The sound of flesh being torn as they dug their claws and it and covered their beaks in guts and blood didn't bother Izumi.
This was part of nature. Crows were scavengers, often gathering around predators and assisting them in their hunts in exchange for a piece of the meat. Izumi was the predator, but she had no interest in large chunks of her prey.
As such, it was common for when she was hunting for fun, or for jobs asking large animals for her to just hand in the head of the dead animal. She decided to hand in the limbs as well as a show of courtesy. Giran sometimes says that handing in decapitated beasts is a bit unnerving, so Izumi had recently started shaving up the limbs as well.
Izumi watched the murder, or at least the part of it that was in the forest and hungry, fed on the meat for an hour, until there were only bloodied bones left, with a few crows fighting over the last pieces of meat.
She got up, grabbed the head, and went for the abandoned building. Giran must've already gotten there.
Kuro, Hatori and a few other crows followed her, while Oji-san and the elder crows watched over the youngest ones still around the carcass.
Izumi didn't have to walk for long, as the abandoned building was near the spot where she had finished off the bear. The crows she sent to bring the limbs here were sticking from inside the windows, looking at Izumi and the rest of the crows getting closer.
Still, the pain in her abdomen from before seemed to have gotten worse after walking just for what couldn't have been more than 10 minutes. Izumi furrowed her brow and touched her abs, her other hand tightening around the fur of the bear's head.
She noticed the crows looking at her, and she quickly stopped making that face and smiled and waved at them, nodding and thanking them for making sure the building was safe. They could tell she was trying to divert their attention, but accepted the thanks with pride.
Izumi sighed and opened the door and strolled inside, meeting Giran with an annoyed expression.
He wasn't sitting on the table and was holding a bag that she knew contained the limbs of the bear the crows had brought them. Izumi smiled at him, ignoring her stomach trying to fight against her guts and controlling her breath to not show her discomfort, deciding to enjoy his reaction when she gave him the target in pieces.
"Here, found your head lost in the woods" Izumi waved the head in the air, blood dripping into the floor and the torn and nipped tongue of the bear flapping uselessly in its dead maw.
"Ha, ha. Very funny" He groaned and lit up a cigarette. Some crows complained and cawed, but Izumi kept them quiet with a whistle, feeling her head throb from the noise, a headache forming and being quieted by her breathing.
Giran opened the bag and Izumi let the head fall inside.
"Ugh, this is disgusting"
"How is it different from when I bring you a complete piece"
"First of all, you never do that, your friends over here always take a piece."
Hatori made a sound of a growling dog, with a few other crows joining her. Izumi closed her eyes, willing herself to relax, but the growling and smoke made her breathing harder.
"Second of all, this reeks. Don't know how you handle this."
"And I don't know how you handle the smoke" She waved it away from her face in emphasis.
"Hmph, fair I guess. Anyway, I'm a bit busy today, so what will it be this time?"
"There were some termites eating some of the birdhouses. I need a good repellent" Giran quirked an eyebrow.
"That's it? I guess an illegal one-"
"No, I don't mind. Any that works and isn't harmful to birds is fine"
"Sooo you don't want me to get you anything else? Arrows, bullets, any other illegal stuff a teenager might want?" He said coyly, bouncing his eyebrows. Izumi rolled her eyes.
"No, Giran. I'm not interested on getting addicted to any drug you offer me"
"Pfff, kids these days! Before All Might everyone wanted to get high on Trigger and now I can't convince even a rebellious teenager"
"Oi, what do you mean rebellious?" Izumi pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to suppress her headache. "Also, still quirkless. You know what that stuff does to us"
"Details, details" So he says, but Trigger was lethal for quirkless, burning through their cells in search of a quirk factor to activate that isn't there, and creating massive cellular degeneration. "And you are pretty rebellious today. You seem sort of off… Did your crow boyfriend ditch you or something?"
The crows cawed, outraged, flying closer to Izumi and rubbing their bodies against her, showing Giran how wrong he was, which made Izumi pout and blush a little, getting herself in control quickly thanks to her breathing.
"You are also funny today, huh?"
"Oh, and sassy! Now you are a proper teenager! Congrats! Haha!"
He ruffled her hair, making Izumi snap his hand away from her and pout again.
"Anyway, I'll get you a good repellent, Miss Teenager"
"You better!" She glared at him with the same face that made Samehada flinch as he left for the door.
"Uuuh~ scary~"
Izumi sat on the table as soon as Giran left the building, huffing a bit, her confidence dropping as she held her face, fingers curling around her hair, waving away the smoke in the air.
Annoying Giran had quickly turned on her and worsened her headache, and along with the abdominal pain starting to pang against her stomach, she suddenly felt weak.
"Maybe I ate something bad? It shouldn't be that but…"
She mumbled to herself, breathing herself to a calm state and smiling at the crows looking at her.
You ok? Hatori hopped closer, but every crow looked at her a bit concerned. You don't seem as sharp as always.
"Huh? And why would that be?" Izumi replied, faking annoyance, but not being able to hold her glare and giggling in the end. "Nah, but for real, don't worry guys, I'm fine really, it's nothing"
The crow looked at each other for a while, unsure about what to do. They trusted her, but when she was feeling down, they knew Izumi could be especially stubborn.
In the end, they decided to keep an eye on her as she returned home. Izumi knew they were concerned, so she did her best to ignore the headache and fought against the crumps in her abdomen.
When she got home, she went straight to bed, falling asleep immediately. Inko looked concerned at her from the hallway. She picked up a black feather that was stuck in Izumi's clothes.
She sighed and covered Izumi in a blanket before getting to the living room and looking at the feather with a sad expression.
"Why is she still fixated with those…things…"
She threw the feather to the bin, and went to bed, thinking about talking to Izumi again tomorrow.
Izumi woke up with another headache. She slumped out of bed, going straight for the bathroom and taking a pill to ease the pain.
The reflection in the mirror told her that she looked even more tired than normal. She felt her belly, searching for any pain in her abdomen. There was a faint discomfort, but nothing compared to yesterday.
Izumi yawned and brushed her hair a little, going to the kitchen and finding her mom making breakfast already.
"Good morning Izumi. Did you sleep well yesterday?"
"Hmmm" Izumi moaned, sitting on the table, her eyes fighting to open. She felt tired even though she went to bed earlier yesterday and had overslept a little today.
Inko put her hand on Izumi's forehead, but didn't feel a fever. She still looked concerned at her.
"Are you feeling alright?"
Izumi pushed her hand away from her forehead.
"Yeeeah, I'm alright, alright."
Inko frowned and went back to preparing the bento. Izumi bit her toast and looked at the time, seeing she was running out of time.
Grumbling, she got up and prepared to leave, grabbing the bento from her mother and storing it in her bag.
"Listen Izumi, we need to talk"
"Later mom, sorry, but I'm running a bit late"
"Wait, just a mo-"
"Sorry! Gotta go!"
She left the apartment before Inko could say anything. She sighed and began to clean up the kitchen, sighing to herself.
"This girl… is this how teenagers are? What am I going to do..:"
Izumi speed walked her way to school, feeling the faint annoyance of the headache on the back of her mind subdued by the pill against it, but not fully suppressing it.
Wuji flew down and landed on her shoulder. Izumi turned her head to look at him.
"What are you doing here?"
Wanted to check on you.
"You too? I'm fine really."
Sure. As you said.
Izumi pouted at him and poked him in his side, making him caw and fly off her.
"Don't you sass me"
"Caw!"
She continued on her way to Railosu, walking past other students until she got to the entrance.
Wuji landed on the side of the entrance door, having followed her. He looked at her with his single eye.
Izumi panted, huffing a bit from the speed she walked in, her legs feeling the strain of speedwalking nonstop for a few minutes.
Relax.
Izumi rolled her eyes, and slowed her breathing. Her heartbeat stopped thundering into her brain and became a subdued beat slowly beeping her into calmness.
Better? Wuji tilted his head to emote the question.
"Yes, thank you" She whispered to him.
She still felt tired, but wasn't worked up anymore. The headache was again a mild annoyance, but the abdominal pain seemed to have taken over the strain of her legs after over exerting herself.
Enemy right behind.
Izumi nodded. That must be Samehada's group getting closer from behind her. Wuji flew away, scaring a few students that were near the entrance.
Samehada and her group either weren't intimidated now that he was gone (he really wasn't), or just didn't care.
"Heyyy~ Midori-chan~ fraternizing with a flying menace again~?"
Izumi ignored her and went inside. She heard Samehada click her tongue over being ignored and Anshin shout something at her.
Izumi still ignored them and speed walked inside the main building. She wasn't in the mood to deal with their bullshit right now, her head was starting to kill her again and wanted to breathe herself down in peace.
She arrived at the classroom before any of them.
Izumi was already expecting retribution from Samehada for ignoring her earlier ,so she had already gotten into the zone, keeping herself calm and serious, not responding to her taunts, and once class started, swallowing through the kicks to the back of her chair.
Still, she felt herself become slowly more annoyed, hearing her own heartbeat drum inside her head. Izumi kept her calm through it all, but Samehada was adamantly trying to get on her nerves today, and it was slowly paying off.
Izumi sighed loudly when the second class of the day finished, the teacher leaving the classroom shortly after the bell rang.
Samehada took advantage of the situation to get up and sit on Izumi's desk. She felt her eye twitch but controlled herself, keeping her breathing steady.
"Hey, Midori-chan, why are you ignoring me? I didn't do anything to you, did I?"
Izumi's eyes locked into Samehada's. The corners of her lips started to dip down, as Izumi fought to contain her frown.
"It's just very rude on your part, Midori-chan. I'm always looking out for you and you still treat me like this. This is not how you treat friends, you know? Ah, right, sorry~"
She covered her mouth, purposefully failing to cover her smile at the jab made at Izumi's expense while other students snickered at the comment.
Izumi could hear her heart drum away in rage, her eyes glaring daggers at Samehada, who grinned, realizing she had finally broken through her resistance.
Izumi grinded her teeth, and was about to respond when Lanbosu entered the classroom and everyone returned to their seats.
She swallowed the retort, glaring straight ahead. She felt strangely out of her depth. The headache had returned at full force, the abdominal pain had gotten worse and she felt like a deer had slammed its antler through her belly.
Izumi kept her fists clenched, her knuckles turning white. She was failing to get her breathing under control, with Samehada resuming to kick her chair.
"This is what you get for annoying me~"
She heard Samehada whisper, and Izumi snapped her head back, glaring a deathly stare at Samehada.
That seemed to make her flinch, the color in her face draining. The light of the classroom was just on Izumi's back now, so her face was darkened by shadows that combined with her deep eyebags, and the vibrant green of her eyes glaring at her, Samehada felt as if Greek hero herself, Medusa was freezing her in place.
"Midoriya-san, please look forward"
Izumi wordlessly turned back to looking at the front, with Lanbosu sighing and continuing his lecture.
Samehada slowly recovered, getting angry over a villainous freak like Izumi glaring down a future hero like herself. She made sure to kick Izumi's chair harder this time.
Right after feeling Samehada's foot hit her back, Izumi took out her hand from inside her pencil case, and flipped it backwards in a quick and precise motion.
Her scissors flew out of her hand, spinning in the air until one of the edges buried on the edge of Samehada's desk.
The noise startled everyone, but was quickly dismissed by Lanbosu. Still, Samehada was frozen for real this time, realizing how close she had been from getting stabbed.
Even in her anger, and desire to deck Samehada in the face and test first hand how quick her teeth regrow, Izumi had made sure the scissors sank right in the last edge possible for the desk to stop them to gut Samehada like a fish.
She had managed to get the message across, as Samehada stopped kicking her chair. A dark satisfaction improved Izumi's mood, and she grinned at the thought of having scared off Samehada.
She knew this wouldn't last forever, probably by the end of the class she'd recover already, but she'd actually fought back! Oh, she'd fought back.
Izumi zoned out of the lecture, wondering exactly why she had done that. It had been a premeditated move, as she had turned around to see the distance she'd need to throw the scissors to hit the spot of the desk she wanted.
But it was really unlike her to do that. She usually just played it save, always ignoring the stuff others did to her, and endured it unless the crows intervened.
Izumi didn't really know why this time had been different. She had been feeling weird for a few days now, even she had to admit as much, when the crows had been worried about her so much.
At that moment, she felt a cramp in her abdomen. Her eyes widened and her face changed instantly into a concerned one.
She felt the cramp climb inside her, getting deeper into her belly. She clawed at her desk, feeling cold sweat gather on her face and back. She felt cold, her headache was making her dizzy and he felt as if she had been punched in her crotch a hundred times.
Izumi felt fear creep around her and surround her. This was something that had never happened to her. Was she sick? Had she been pushing herself too far for too many days and it was catching up to her?
She even started to pant lightly, not being able to control her breath whatsoever, and unlike when she was being harassed by Samehada and her friends this felt completely different. Instead of her emotions clouding her mind from concentrating, Izumi felt like it was currently physically impossible for her to be able to breathe properly and get in the zone.
She felt another cramp stab at her abdomen, and she panicked internally after feeling her bladder fail. She paled and clenched her muscles to hold it in, and raised her hand in a panic.
"Lanbosu-sensei! I'm not feeling well, can I go to the bathroom!?"
"Oh, God, don't scream like that Midoriya-san" A few students snickered after seeing Lanbosu almost jump after Izumi's sudden outburst. "You'll have to wait until end of class, Midoriya-san"
"I really, really, really need to go" Izumi panted, glaring at her teacher with slight fear in her eyes. That seemed to make him rethink the situation.
"Hmmm, you really aren't feeling well?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright then, go to the nurse's office after that then"
Izumi didn't think twice and bolted out of the classroom towards the bathroom, ignoring the pangs of pain in her crotch and the liquid she felt going down her thighs.
She slammed the door behind her and got into a stall, huffing and puffing. Izumi slowly pulled her skirt and sat in the toilet, immediately stopping holding it in.
The pain got better, and Izumi left a sigh of relief. She was still panting, covered in a cold sweat. Not thinking much about it, she looked down and froze.
Her thighs were bloody and so was the water of the toilet. She blinked a few times, her eyes wide. She brought a hand down to make sure and found it bloody.
Izumi swallowed down, grabbing toilet paper and cleaning herself up some. She sneaked her head out of the stall to see if she had leaked blood on her way there, and let out a sigh of relief when she didn't see anything or anyone.
Izumi grabbed her phone, and after thinking for a while, she dialed a number.
"Izumi? Aren't you supposed to be in class right now? Is everything alright? Where are you?"
"I'm at school mom, it's just, uhmm…"
"Izumi?"
Izumi sighed, gathering the resolve to speak even through her embarrassment.
"I, I think I just got my period"
Inko had rushed to the school to get Izumi home. Lanbosu thankfully hadn't made a fuss about it and had let Izumi go discreetly, grabbing her bag and stuff for her. That meant that she lost her scissors, but Izumi didn't care about that.
At home, Inko had put a towel over the coach in the living room, for Izumi to sit. She then put a wet heating pad on Izumi's lower abdomen. The moment she did, Izumi felt the cramps start getting weaker, and laid there.
After a lengthy and embarrassing talk about how to properly wear tampons and to be mindful of the time of the month, Inko let Izumi rest.
Izumi was glad she finally understood the reason for her cramps, headaches and mood swings, but was also scared of the prospect of having to endure this every month.
"You get used to it" Inko said, reading her face.
"I can't imagine ever getting used to this"
Inko chuckled and sat beside Izumi, putting a bag of popcorn in between them.
"What's this for?"
"Well, when I'm feeling down because of my period, I ease into eating popcorn. Helps thinking on something else"
"That's why you constantly eat them!?"
Inko smiled, containing a laugh.
"Yeah, you didn't notice?"
"I just thought you were hungry…"
"Well, sometimes I am, can't I just eat popcorn whenever I want?" Inko puffed her chest, teasing Izumi with a coy grin.
"I don't see flaws in that logic" Izumi smiled, grabbing a few popcorn and throwing them into the air with a flick of her finger, landing perfectly on her tongue.
Inko smiled and grabbed a handful of her own, eating them one by one, more traditionally, not trusting her accuracy as much as Izumi did hers.
"How are you feeling now?" Inko put her hand on Izumi's thigh.
"Better, the headache is also slowly fading away" Izumi looked at her, munching a few popcorn.
"I'm glad… Izumi, you should have told me earlier that you were feeling off"
Izumi looked away, not meeting her gaze. The only thing they could hear were Izumi's muffled bites, which slowly got softer until Izumi stopped, the treat being nothing but paste inside her mouth. She felt her mother's hand press against her thigh.
"Izumi, I'm serious" Izumi swallowed down.
"I know mom, it's just… I didn't think it was anything worth fussing over it"
"Still sweetie, no matter how much you grow up, you are still my little girl" Izumi pouted, looking down.
I'm not yours, mom...
"Just tell me when you feel off, ok?"
"Hmm" Izumi nodded slightly.
"Ok?"
"Yes, yes, mom" Izumi conceded, rolling her eyes.
They let silence feel the room, Izumi still felt some light cramps in her abdomen, but it was nothing she couldn't handle, so she kept throwing popcorn into her tongue.
She thought of every woman having to deal with this and wondered whether anyone else in her class had gotten it or not. Izumi certainly didn't remember anyone doing anything like she had done today in class. Maybe it was different for everyone?
Izumi thought about how different women would have to deal with this. She had to certainly think of something if she wanted to go for a hunt near her period. Talking this with Giran…sounded all kind of awful. Maybe Oji-san and the murder would know how to deal with it, but they didn't experience it, so she wasn't really sure.
"I wonder how Lady Nagant handled it…"
"I'm sorry?" Inko arched an eyebrow at Izumi. "Lady Nagant? Izumi, do you keep thinking about that…woman"
"W-Well, I mean, she was a hero once. I-I was just thinking how they would handle this if they patrol all the time.
"They'll just take the day off, I guess"
"Hmm, yes, but wouldn't that make villains know when they…you know"
Inko furrowed her brow.
"They'd have to be perverts to ever think about anything like this. But Izumi, I told you to stop thinking about that woman." Izumi bit her inner cheek. "She isn't someone to look up to"
"I know, I don't admire her for her job, just her skill"
"Izumi!"
"What!? Her accuracy was all trained by herself! It's impressive! She's even better than locking quirks!"
"She's a villain! She killed a hero!"
Izumi clenched her teeth, metaphorically biting her tongue. There was no convincing her in this subject. Inko couldn't understand Izumi didn't really care about heroes. Yes, Lady Nagant killing one was bad, and it had broken Izumi's heart when she was younger, her idol turning out a villain, but the more she had used her bows and rifle, the more she admired all the effort and skill Nagant had put on to become one of the top 20 heroes before the incident.
"I knew the crows were a bad influence"
Izumi turned her head in half a second, her eyes wide and looking at her mother in disbelief.
"What?"
"You heard me, Izumi. Ever since you started hanging around with those things, you've been ignoring people more, and empathizing with villains."
Izumi took a deep breath, putting her heartbeat under control. She put the cup of tea down and glared into her mom.
"Ok, first of all, I've only ever empathized with Lady Nagant, if anyone else, and she was once a hero! I would never think anything good of him"
"That's not what I said"
"Then what was it supposed to mean!?" Izumi gripped her skirt in frustration. "I just talk to birds! Birds! They aren't villains!"
"Don't raise your voice to me, young lady!" Inko screamed back at her "They have relations with villains, everyone knows that! And you being so close with them is going to give us a bad look again!"
"Oh, so there it is! You only care about how we look! I forgot how bad it was for you to be seen as a family of villains!"
"Izumi!"
"No, shut up! The crows have been there for me more times than any other person has! You say they are associated with villains, but that was years ago! The people of this stupid neighborhood are getting into your head!"
"Izumi, how many times have they attacked someone when you were close?" Izumi bit her tongue. "See? You may be on their good side now, but they are just birds, as you said. They only care about the food you give them, and yes, I know you feed them. People see and talk, Izumi"
Izumi grinded her teeth, tightening her fists so hard her knuckles popped in her closed fists.
"They won't leave me. They are my friends"
"Izumi" Inko softly put her hand on Izumi's "they aren't your friends. You need to make real ones, before you get in trouble because of them. Well, more trouble"
Izumi's eyebrow twitched.
"More trouble? More trouble!?" Izumi got up, making the heating pad fall down and knocking off the bag of popcorn. "They are my real friends! They've been with me ever since I met them! They always have my back, unlike the people you want me to be friends with! All the trouble I get in is because of those stupid bitches at school!"
"Izumi! Watch your tongue!" Inko shouted, getting up herself to not be looked down.
"No! They've gotten all the school against me just because I didn't want to be their fucking lapdog!"
"You attacked them on your first day!"
"Me!? If you are counting Wuji defending me as me making it, it was still self defense!" Izumi felt tears go down her eyes as a lump formed on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
"I-Izumi! I'm just looking for you to get normal friends!"
"Normal friends!? Wuji and Kuro and Shiro and Hatori and Urusai and Gorogoro and Oji-san and everyone are perfectly normal!" Izumi sobbed, failing to glare at her mom with tears in her eyes. "At least they do something when I'm being bullied! Instead of looking away and fleeing into another-"
Slap!
Izumi stopped talking, her head tilted to the side, her cheek red. She stood there for a moment, processing what had happened.
Inko huffed and puffed, tears in her eyes as well, holding her hand and trembling over what she'd done.
"I-Izumi, I'm sorry, I-"
Izumi looked at her mom with a defeated stare, stepping back after she tried getting close to look at her cheek. A single tear fell down Izumi's face, before she blinked and got down, grabbing the heating pad.
"Thanks for coming to get me from school today" Izumi muttered, with a broken voice, not looking at Inko in the eye.
"Izumi, I-"
"Goodnight"
Without saying anything else, Izumi dragged her feet into her room, quietly closing it behind her.
Inko fell to her knees, tears coming down her eyes like a cascade. She was trembling and holding her hand.
She will never forget this day. The day that Izumi looked at her like she had looked at him. Fear, disappointment and worst of all, hate in her eyes.
It was the day she lost her daughter.