Himiko Toga felt liberated when drinking blood. She loved it, made her throat slick and sticky, her face hot as her own blood boiled at the mix with the foreign, turning it into her own. She was feeling cute, so she was using a straw to suck every last drop from a man that she had stabbed on the neck.
He wasn't cute at all, and Himiko didn't love him in the slightest, but he annoyed her. The colder temperatures of winter and the heroes constantly looking after her were enough of a hustle to avoid, but she even had to watch her back on the underground.
It was no fun at all, how else would she find Killer-san (now knowing they went by Karasu-san) and drink their blood? Karasu-san was super hard to find, and lots of villains wanted to contact them to remove the heroes they didn't like, so Himiko was already having a bad time with that, she didn't need some no name gang going after her!
She pulled herself away from the cold corpse. The once vibrant and full of life skin of the man was now pale and wrinkled, the snake tattoo on his neck looking like the dead skin of a snake after shedding its skin.
It was the mark of that snake what was making Himiko's life harder at the moment. The bloodsucker took for granted that she was going to be a fugitive and a criminal for the rest of her life for what she did (how could she resist? She had to become her favorite people!), but this low life gang of Musutafu was adamant on making it everyone else's problem finding her.
Yeah, she might have killed one of their members a few weeks ago, drank his blood and all, and made herself their enemy, but they were making her life in the underground more difficult! She hated feeling like that.
The world was unfair, and she was forced to become a criminal, a killer, in order to satiate her thirst for blood, her desire to carve up the people she loves. And now someone in the underground was constantly asking for her in every shelter or criminal hideout she managed to get in.
Every other major gang was starting to get sick of them, but Himiko especially so. She had already heard a few villains and gang members mention how annoyed they were, blaming her and deeming her not welcome because of the Ikari Hebi.
Himiko poked at the corpse with her foot to see if there was still some life inside of the man. God, even their gang name was lame. The "angry snakes"? Was there even anything related to snakes on them? She had seen the entire group at this point while disguised into different people, and the only thing they had was a snake tattoo.
Anyway, they had become a problem and a pain in the ass for her for way too long, and unlike with heroes and the cold, she could do something about it! She grinned, gray goo covering her body and eating away the clothes she had managed to get (she'd have to get more later, oh well).
She grew almost another head tall, and transformed into the perfect copy of the man she had sucked dry, picking up his lifeless body and dumping him on a nearby garbage container.
"Well, now that the trash is taken out~ let's remove this problem from the root~"
The disguise of the man grinned, while going out to meet his "friends".
It was trivially easy for him to infiltrate into the gang. He was part of the gang after all. Even acting in character was easy, even though he didn't love the man he was wearing the skin off. Himiko had seen enough of the Ikari Hebi being a nuisance in the underground to be able to blend in perfectly when impersonating one of them.
He expected at least to have to fight one member on their way to their hideout (if a mere normal apartment could be called a hideout). He had dumped the lifeless body in the trash, but he didn't expect for it to not be found in time for him to get into the hideout with all of the gang members.
But they really didn't see through his disguise, and not even snooped around to see if one of their members was deported dead? He felt a little insulted villains this pathetically incompetent made his life more difficult.
"Are we all finally here?" A man with a snake tattoo biting its own tail and going around his neck like a collar raised his voice once Himiko's group entered inside the apartment.
"Think so boss"
Himiko let out a predatory grin on the face he was wearing, eyeing every single gang member, eyeing them to see if any carried weapons. He knew most of their quirks, pretty trashy if anything they showed in the underground each time they made fools of themselves was anything to go by, but you never be too safe. Getting the unknown quirks first would be smart.
"Everything alright Tonari? You are making a weird face"
The man to Himiko's left said, and Himiko merely laughed, putting on a sweet and high pitched voice that sounded way too creepy coming from a grown ass man.
"You guys make it too easy~"
"Easy? What do you mean Tonari?"
The "boss" looked pretty lost, giving questioning glances to the men Himiko had come in with. He prepared the little surprise he'd hidden under the disguise's sleeve.
"Tricking you of course~ hehe~"
He purposefully made a gesture more appropriate from his own body, giggling innocently like a little girl, covering her face under curled up fists. Tension was beginning to gather in the room, with the criminals finally picking up something was wrong.
Himiko caught from the corner of her eye a birdie of some kind flying off outside, and used that as her trigger, wiping her arm to the side, sliding the knife from the sleeve and burying it in the neck of the man he'd come to the "hideout" with, who was dumb enough to not get away from her in time.
Screams filled the room, and Himiko quickly lunged into the men with the most problematic quirks, stabbing them in the side of the neck. Himiko let the disguise begin to melt off of her, feeling her noble and agile body underneath the gray sludge of her transformation.
She used the bigger size of her disguise to shield herself of some blows, parts of her disguise just tearing off from her. The man that had punched her screamed, panicking after seeing himself tear off chunks of the body of his friend.
Himiko used that opportunity to grab the wrist of a man that had pulled out a knife, and used his own force to shove it into the gut of another man. Himiko jumped, getting on top of the man she used to stab the other, and wrapped her legs around his neck, squeezing his head.
She pulled her weight to the side, making him tilt and fall into another man. The vampire sunk her teeth into his neck, tasting metal as she tore off a snake tattoo, while not releasing the man trapped in between her thighs.
The boss tried to get to her, hands transforming into the heads of snakes (oh, so they do have some snake motifs!) and lunged towards Himiko. She pulled up on her ride, making the choking man raise his body enough for the snake heads to sink their fangs into his chest.
Himiko let herself slide around the man's neck, loosening the grip in exchange for mobility. She grabbed her knife from the goon she had put it on (thank you!) and sliced the hands (heads?) from the boss' wrists.
He screamed, his blood spraying all over Himiko, who licked it from her lips. She was upside down, clinging still from the man she was asphyxiating with her thighs. She did a crunch, feeling her belly burn from the force, and got face to face with the man, losing air and trying to pull Himiko away.
She stabbed her knife on his eye, making him stample and begin to fall. Himiko jumped from him just in time, going over the boss, who was still screaming and clutching his stumps against his chest.
The vampire grinned, the last man standing quickly falling to his knees and beginning to cry and scream in terror. Himiko panted, breathing heavily, blood and gray goo dripping from her body. A predatory gleam seemed to glow from her yellow pupils, and her knife shone against the light in the apartment, even though it was covered in blood.
"Ple-please spare me!" The last remaining said, while Himiko grabbed the boss by his hair just as he started to fall down from blood loss.
"I, I won't bother you at all! Please! I-I never wanted to g-go after you in the first place! I-I never liked the gang!"
Himiko grabbed the bloody stumps of what used to be the boss, and brought them to her mouth, sucking the blood flowing from it as if it were nectar.
She moaned, rolling her eyes and her face heating up with a blush. So much blood, so much red, so much warmth sticking against her skin. After a while, not even the absolute bless of being bathed in blood was enough to silence the pathetic wimpers of the sole remaining member of the Ikari Hebi gang.
Himiko lowered her eyes to meet the shaking man's own, her pupils slit and hyper focused on the prey in front of her. She let the arm of the boss fall down along with his body and stepped forward, much to the terror of the wailing man.
Blood stuck under her foot, leaving a pleasant sensation on the vampire, now with the entirety of her gray sludge off of her skin, basking on the blood of her enemies. Once she was close enough, she jumped at the man, getting on top of him in an instant, and buried her teeth on his neck.
She moaned in ecstasy as they fell on the man's back, drinking his blood and removing a source of discontent in her life. A gang that made the mistake of making her life more difficult while simultaneously being easy to remove.
With her stomach full and blood reserves high for a long while, albeit from people Himiko didn't love, the shapeshifter left the mess of the apartment after taking all the blood she could from the still warm corpses.
She transformed into one of the goons and slipped his knife under the new sleeves that appeared from the gray goo. The police will eventually find them, it's not like their hideout was hard to reach, it took less than a day for him to infiltrate and make all the snakes go extinct.
Once he got out of the building, he noticed a few birdies flying nearby, and stopping close to where he was. He recognized them as crows, and assumed that the birdie he'd seen before when he feasted was also one.
He went on his way to the nearest alleyway, deciding to get back into the underground, far away from a potential dangerous spot that was bound to attract police, and promptly forget about the gang.
Another crow flying nearby caught his attention. He furrowed the brows of the disguise, looking at his sides, seeing more and more crows in the trees, on the sides of buildings, and even on top of marked cars.
They were all pointing their beaks away from him, looking directly at him by the sides of their heads. Himiko immediately put himself in guard, not making any subtle movement to indicate so.
The vampire had purposefully avoided transforming into the boss to avoid any possible confrontation with any other enemies of the gang, but it seems the snake on his neck was enough. He clicked his tongue, even in death, this stupid gang managed to put someone with some kind of crow control quirk after him.
People around him started walking away from him, recognizing him from a problematic gang. Himiko made his best to scan for an alleyway he could sneak into to get away from the main streets. It was getting late, but there were still a few people on the streets because of the winter holidays. If a hero in patrol pulls up, the disguise of the now dead gang could give him problems.
He managed to find an alleyway that didn't have crows on it, and Himiko turned to enter it. He was a few steps in and realized this alley only had one possible turn to the side, putting him temporarily out of view. Perfect place to switch disguises and lose anyone that may be tailing him.
The moment he turned, Himiko felt a chill up his spine. There were more crows at the end of the alley, and he heard the distinct flap of wings go upwards behind him. The shapeshifter immediately pulled to the side, hiding behind a dumpster. It wouldn't do much against the crows still looking down on him, but every instinct told him that someone else was here.
Something else.
Crows… A villain that controls crows… a crow villa- KARASU!?
He widened the eyes of the disguise, everything clicking in place. Could this be it? Suddenly the name of Karasu-san made so much sense. It seemed strange to Himiko why their villain name didn't have anything to do with how they operated, nor with their quirk.
A grin stretched on her face as the disguise around her head began to melt, keeping the rest of it just in case. It seems she had been focusing on the wrong thing when looking for them, not related to shooting, but to crows! It seemed so obvious now. There'd been much more crow sightings in Musutafu lately, Himiko wondered if the other places Karasu-san had hunted down heroes also saw a rise in crow sightings.
Still, if Karasu-san was going after her disguised as a Ikari Hebi… she felt a chill run through her body, remembering the reports she'd seen of the Black Bullets going straight through concrete after hitting their target.
Himiko had heard rumors of Karasu getting a yakuza, so they really were expanding from hero targets to more. Even though she was a target right now, and her instincts were keeping her on edge for her own survival, Himiko couldn't help herself and blush in excitement, her face heating up as her smile stretched her mouth to the corners of her face, pushing her cheeks closer to her eyes in a face splitting grin.
She wanted to become Karasu-san even more now, love, admiration and fear over such a hunter filling her. Despite the underlying fear of being on Karasu-san's target, she wondered how their blood tasted like, her instincts a beautiful contradiction.
Still, Himiko's current situation wasn't good, Karasu-san definitely knows that their target noticed being spotted, so if she didn't want to become another victim spilling blood on an abandoned alleyway (she couldn't really do much against the range of gun in capable hands), she needed to make Karasu understand she really wasn't a Ikari Hebi.
And maybe, maybe then she'll get to meet the killer and become them. Himiko shuddered again thinking about it, while the rest of her disguise started to become gray goo, still clinging to her skin, ready to be used to soften a blow if necessary. She didn't think it'd help against the Black Bullets that seemed to go through anything, but it was a layer of defense that wouldn't do her harm.
Himiko looked up at the crows over her. She had survived living on her own in the underground for weeks now, so she had picked up some good habits. One of those was to observe where others were looking. Most people look at their friends and allies whenever they are doing something together. The crows were the same.
They kept watch on Himiko, but also looked at each other. And ahead, farther down the alley, on the other end of the dumpster Himiko was taking cover behind.
She felt her heart rumble against her ears, excitement and adrenaline boiling her blood, trails of sweat mixing against the gray goo. Karasu-san was here.
"Hehehe~"
The vampire smiled her wide smile, showing the crows keeping watch her deranged grin full of teeth. She felt a chill run through her body, but it didn't come from the cold air against the layer of goo on her skin. It came from the feeling of a fellow predator closing in. Her excitement overwhelmed her fear.
Himiko could faintly hear footsteps approaching closer.
Did Karasu-san get that close over their victims? She wanted to jump at them and drink their hot red blood so badly, but she needed to contain herself. Himiko knew that if she came out of hiding right now, she would be shot, without Karasu-san even knowing she wasn't one of the Ikari Hebi.
Himiko had no intention of dying at all, no matter how much she loved Karasu-san, she still wanted to live a happy life. But she would also not let herself come in contact with Karasu-san and have her think she was someone as pathetic as a Ikari Hebi gang member.
"Heyyy~ Karasu-san, right~? Hehe~ you know, I'm not really a part of that stupid gang of snakes~"
Himiko heard the steps stop. Great, she had gotten their attention, but they had stopped still at a reasonable distance, not getting in range of her.
As expected from someone as cool and capable as Karasu-san~ I love you so much~
"Were you going after them~? The mean and sad angry snakes~? If you were, I'm so sorry~" Himiko giggled, not at all sorry.
She loved making a bloodbath out of them. She was not going to lie to herself pretending she didn't love being herself. Her mouth though, that could lie right now. Himiko wasn't that naive as to anger a fellow hunter. She would have hated it if someone stole her sweets after all.
"I killed them all~ Sowy~ But you understand do you~? They were making my life harder, it wasn't fun at all~ So I killed them"
There was an unspoken threat under that, warning Karasu-san to not make her life difficult. She kinda was right now, putting Himiko's back against the wall, but she was enjoying the thrill of being around a fellow hunter more than stressing about it.
"My target wasn't the Ikari Hebi"
The fellow hunter said, in an unnatural voice that made Himiko's eyelids contract into thin lines.
"It was you, Toga Himiko-"
Himiko felt goosebumps across her entire body, beating the cold off of her as her face reddened into a manic blush and grin, excitement mixing with fear and blending together in a paradoxical concoction.
It seemed that in the end, she was prey in this scenario.
10 - Joint assignment
Izumi signaled the crows to keep a watch on Toga-senpai, while pulling the helmet off and exposing her face into the cold air. She was high enough in a building where it was safe for her to not be watched by anyone but the murder.
She pulled her invisible phone and dialed Giran's number that she had memorized since she was nine. Waiting for him to respond, Izumi grabbed her binoculars and kept watching over at the apartment.
It wasn't she that didn't trust the crows, she was just… interested in keeping watch. The phone finally picked up and returned Giran's voice from the other side.
"Who's this" It was phrased like a question, but was a statement.
"Karasu"
"Ah, Princess~ What can I do for you? I thought you were working, done already?"
"On it. That's what I wanted to ask you about"
"Oh?" Izumi picked genuine surprise coming from him, the only reason she didn't roll her eyes was that she was still looking at the bloodied apartment. "That's strange. You never ask about it while on a hunt"
"Yeah, well, there's something that I wanted to confirm"
"Hmmmm" Giran waited a few seconds, probably thinking whether to somehow charge her from giving up information. "Sure thing~ if it isn't something that would cost some… compensation~ if you get me~"
Izumi didn't dignify him with even an exasperated sigh, her breathing staying calm and collected.
"Yeah. Do you know who the target is?"
"Hmmm? Thought part of the fun of the hunt was figuring that kind of stuff yourself"
"Just answer the question"
"Well, I have some ideas you know~ not that many illusion type quirks that can make someone infiltrate seamlessly like that, even if the Ikari Hebi are a bunch of idiots. The client described the impersonation as flawless. Why, you having trouble distinguishing the target?"
"Don't insult me Giran"
"Hey, you've never asked this kind of question during a job no less. I'm just wondering what can make you act this way…"
The crows cawed, signaling her that Toga-senpai was preparing to leave.
Putting back disguise.
Leaving "nest"
Izumi nodded, while preparing to get down herself, putting the rifle in its bag. Now to reassure Giran.
"That should answer your doubts about this not being me"
"Yeah, no way someone got the crows to behave if this wasn't you. It only makes this matter more interesting~"
"Focus, Giran" Izumi began getting down the building, signaling the crows to get her informed on Toga-senpai.
"Hey, don't blame me for getting curious. I wonder what kind of person this illusionist is…"
"Shapeshifter"
"Hmm?"
"Shapeshifter" Izumi corrected him. "It's not an illusionist, it's a shapeshifter"
"Seems like you have it already figured out then"
"And it seems like you don't know who the target is after all" Izumi nodded to herself, glad to make sure that was the case.
"Hey, I know of a few shapeshifters! Don't underestimate me-"
"I'm not. I just wanted to make sure whether you knew. That's all"
"... ok? Then what's this about?"
Izumi finally got down to street level, whistling instructions to the crows to lure… the target down on a certain alleyway. She put on her helmet immediately after as they flew away.
"I need to meet again. Right now"
"Hey, I'm kinda busy, whatever this is you should have said it back at the bar"
"Right now"
She heard Giran mutter a curse on the other side, as Izumi crossed the street, going with a quick pace as Wuji cawed and flew to her when she entered another alley.
"Target" on way.
Izumi nodded at him, not stopping on her way.
"Seems like you are still on the move. You sure you even can afford a meeting?"
He wasn't complaining about being called in anymore. Good.
"Yes, Meet you in Hydia Street. I'll wait for you there"
"Hydia? Huh, good place, no one should be able to look at us there, pretty reclusive and out of view. You aren't setting me up, are you?"
"Do you really think I'd need to lure you out for that?"
"When you put it like that it makes an old man worry, you know~?"
"If you can joke about it, you can make it there. See you then"
"Sigh, sure" They both hung up just in time when Izumi was getting to the alley.
"She's here" Wuji said, mimicking Izumi's voice as he roosted near her.
"Good. We'll talk about using my voice when I'm in costume later though"
Wuji scoffed, cawing and flapping his wings, not liking to be scolded.
Izumi setted her breathing again, relaxing and putting herself completely focused on the task at hand: confront Toga-senpai.
Karasu waited for the crows signaling her that Toga-senpai had gotten into the very same out of view turn she wanted to meet her at. When the crows finally signaled her, she couldn't help but praise Toga-senpai to notice them in the end and take cover.
Karasu got out of the turn, rifle in hand, walking towards the dumpster, the only place that could be taken as a cover for her.
The fact she took cover implies that she recognized she was getting lured, and immediately took actions to defend against someone with higher range. Impressive, as expected from Toga-senpai.
"Hehehe~"
Karasu tightened her grip on her rifle after hearing a giggle. Toga-senpai had managed to beat all of the Ikari Hebi at once in close quarters. Yes, they weren't anything impressive, but still, as a fellow hunter, she commanded her respect for that and managed to live on her own in the streets, hunting on other villains and regular people that she'd heard reports about.
She was not going to underestimate her abilities in close quarters, especially as she closed the distance. Her speciality was her long range thanks to her sniper rifle, so Karasu never really got that close to her target. A few animals had managed to push her enough so that they closed the range, but she learned for that, and while hunting heroes, she didn't even let them have the possibility to cut the range.
For Toga-senpai, she wanted to do something different than usual.
"Heyyy~ Karasu-san, right~? Hehe~ you know, I'm not really a part of that stupid gang of snakes~"
Izumi stopped after hearing Toga-senpai's voice, unfiltered by any kind of disguise. She had recognized her? The shock only lasted a few seconds, as Karasu kept herself under control thanks to her steady breathing.
She looked around, seeing the crows observing the two hunters from above.
Did Toga-senpai link the presence of crows with me? Well, when you think about my name… The presence of karasu does make it obvious to associate it with me. Still… Toga-senpai is so impressive for figuring it out.
"Were you going after them~? The mean and sad angry snakes~? If you were, I'm so sorry~"
Karasu kept walking, slowly getting closer to the dumpster Toga-senpai was taking cover from, stopping at a reasonable distance, enough that if Toga-senpai decided to suddenly come running at her, she'd be able to react.
Still, it seems that Toga-senpai was under a wrong assumption.
"My target wasn't the Ikari Hebi" She corrected the bloodsucker, making sure to watch out for any signs the crows could make her if Toga-senpai decided to act while she was talking. "It was you, Toga Himiko-senpai"
Karasu heard a whimper and a muffled giggle coming from the other side of the dumpster. She honestly didn't understand what that reaction meant, looking at the crows for any sort of explanation didn't help her at all, with them seemingly not understanding or not picking up on it.
The hunter stood her ground, patiently waiting for Toga-senpai to… calm herself? And hopefully not try something rash like fighting her or running away. Thankfully, after a while, the vampire seemed to realize what exactly Karasu had said.
"What… what did you call me?"
"Toga Himiko-senpai"
There was another pause, Toga-senpai probably confused about it, even breaking her previous playful attitude and seeming excitement. Karasu gripped her rifle tighter, not knowing how she'd react to all of this.
"Why"
"Why?"
"Yes, this is the first time I meet you. Why do you call me… senpai? You are a way bigger name than me"
Toga-senpai wanted answers, and also wanted to know why someone like Karasu was doing this, calling her that. She supposed from her perspective it did sound very strange, especially after admitting Toga-senpai was her target.
"Status doesn't matter to me. I could care less that the media is or the underground care more about the new villain offing heroes than the schoolgirl they rather forget and let sink in obscurity"
"… Still, doesn't explain why I would be your senpai"
There was suspicion laced with her words. Karasu thought she was excited when initially speaking out, but ever since saying that Toga-senpai was her target, she had become more closed off, questioning why Karasu called her senpai and distrusting of her motives to stall her termination.
"It's because you became yourself earlier than me"
"E-eh? What?"
"You accepted your true self earlier than me. You denied society's expectations of you, and decided to beyourself, no matter what others think about it. Seeing someone else take the leap and accept their nature as a hunter… it inspired me to do the same" Izumi explained, trying to be as honest as she could.
According to the crows, Toga-senpai was taking her time to process the information, from the signs she made for them to keep her informed.
Stunned. Confused. They said.
"Your… your first kill…"
"Taser"
"Yeah, why… why did you kill him?"
"I acted on impulse. He said some things that I didn't like, and I trusted my instincts to know better, extinguishing something that went explicitly against the way I… wanted to live my life"
Izumi felt a bit weird admitting the selfish reason she took her first human life. She didn't do it for Toga-senpai, and she thought that if she told her that, Toga-senpai would think she was trying to suck up to her, taking the life of the hero leading the search for her.
"After that, I had finally slipped out of the mask I was living in… and started living how I wanted. Taking on jobs on more hunts, expanding my range…"
Karasu straightened up, forcing the lump on her throat down, forcing her breathing to keep steady.
"Then, why haven't you killed me yet?" Toga-senpai went for the most pressing question of all. She must be wondering why she hadn't gone for it by now, after going on and on about why she wanted to keep living her own life, filled with hunts and more diverse targets.
"I'm pretty sure with those special bullets of yours not even this dumpster could stop you from shooting at me if you wanted. So why? It can't be only because I'm technically your senpai. You tracked me down to hunt and even lead me into this alley"
Izumi could almost see Toga-senpai making air quotes when saying "technically". Even though they never really interacted enough at school for her to pick up that kind of mannerisms, for some reason she felt some kind of connection with Toga-senpai.
Karasu shook her head, focusing herself on the task at hand, and ignoring those stray thoughts.
"I would have never accepted this job had I known you were the target"
"What? Why did you then-?"
"I was tasked with terminating the impostor of the Ikari Hebi gang. I thought that it could be fun to challenge myself, but after I saw it was you, I completely changed my mind, and just tried to get closer to get into… a conversation"
Izumi then lowered her rifle, to show her she didn't mean to hunt her. Something shiny poked from the side of the dumpster, making the crows edge themselves towards them. They didn't fly off right at it, being wary of getting closer to Toga-senpai.
The hunter then understood she was using the side of a knife to look at her through its reflection. Izumi showed her empty hands, moving the palms clearly in front of her, and then to her sides, showing Toga-senpai she didn't mean to harm her.
She'd wait as much time as Toga-senpai needed to show her she wasn't going to kill her. The hunter knows that trusting someone like this is a gamble, and wouldn't blame Toga-senpai for not doing it. She certainly wouldn't if she were in Toga-senpai's position.
Himiko finally managed to poke her head out of the dumpster, and look directly at Karasu-san. They were wearing a helmet to conceal their face, and a thin looking dark coat that didn't seem to impede her mobility.
The long looking gun was still strapped against their back, their hands hanging by their sides. Himiko didn't trust Karasu-san to be completely helpless, a hunter such as them would have something up their sleeve… but against the pounding of her heart, decided to trust them.
Himiko didn't know what to think about seemingly being the senpai of Karasu-san. She had admired the hunter for the way they spilled blood, and still wanted to become them… but it felt… nice to be told that she had somehow inspired them to become their true selves.
Still, if they were seemingly going to be that honest… Himiko would too.
"You know, Karasu-san, you may change your opinion on that"
"And why may that be?"
Here it goes…
"Because what I really want… is to cut you up, feel your blood flow out of you and drink it up! So I can become like you! The great hunter! Becoming the killer that has been spilling blood everywhere! The true predator! I want to become a bloodlusted hunter… like you"
The crows around the two of them didn't seem to like that, as they began cawing and getting off the spots they were looking down at them from, flying agitated around the two hunters. Himiko tensed, gripping the knife on his hand.
Even though Karasu-san's revelations had put her out of her comfort zone, her mind not as focused on the need to drink her blood, and instead feeling the underlying fear of being so vulnerable while close to Karasu, Himiko didn't let herself let her guard down.
She was still wearing the gray goo of her transformation, and although she doubted it'd protect her from Karasu were they to shoot her, Himiko could avoid whatever some angry crows could do to her.
Karasu-san raised a single hand, making the crows stop, roosting up to the sides of the alley, with a few of them getting to the floor itself and looking at Himiko from Karasu's side.
What Karasu-san had said was too good to be true. Himiko couldn't accept it fully. Yet, seeing the crows by their side… made Himiko want to be allowed to stay there.
But that wasn't possible. Karasu-san wouldn't allow Himiko to become them, to be as cool and as great as them.
"Sorry about that" Karasu-san apologized for the crows. "I… understand your wants and needs, but I'm afraid I can't afford myself to bleed out for you to become like me"
"My targets don't usually consent" Himiko said, eyes thin into predatory slits. She managed to ignore her fear and concentrate only on her bloodlust and her want, no, her need to become Karasu-san. She gripped her knife harder.
"No, you misunderstand. I mean that I can't afford it because it wouldn't be necessary"
"Eh?"
Himiko was at a loss, and she couldn't stop herself from lowering her guard, inadvertently opening her heart.
"You are already a great hunter. You don't need to… become me to get to it. You are what inspired me to welcome my true self. To be the hunter I was always meant to be… It was your actions what led to me becoming my true self. You being yourself is already accomplishing the same that becoming me would do"
Himiko felt herself choke on her own words. She didn't know what to say, what to think. The more time she spent in the alley with Karasu-san, the more her bloodlust decreased… and her love increased.
How was that possible? For her to love without seeking blood? This had to be some sort of mistake.
"That's… too convenient for you, isn't it, Karasu-san? I'm nothing like you" She came out fully out of the dumpster, ignoring the pit in her stomach, exposing herself fully to Karasu-san.
It had passed too much time since she'd undone the transformation, and the gray goo was starting to melt away and leave her exposed. Vulnerable.
In front of Karasu-san.
In front of the person that made her heart hope for the first time in her life.
Hope that there was someone that understood her.
There was a long pause after that. Himiko's disguise was no longer sustainable, and it melted away, revealing her true, exposed form against the cold air. Himiko's eyes were fixated on the faceless helmet. She could almost feel the tension in the air, pulling at her heart and taking her love hostage.
Karasu-san was the first to move in the end, bringing her hand close to the helmet. Himiko reacted fast, her hand flinching, gripping the knife harder. Karasu-san stopped, the crows edging closer, wings spread out, ready to move out if Himiko did something.
She swallowed audibly,feeling her heart drum loudly into her chest. Karasu-san then finally brought her hand against the helmet, slipping her thumb inside as if trying to reach something inside.
Himiko heard a click, and Karasu-san brought her hand down.
"I disagree" Himiko's eyelids thinned again.
I know that voice.
"You are much more than you think, Toga-senpai. I really am serious when I say that you inspired me to become my true self, no matter what the outside world thought. You liberated yourself, and at the same time, liberated me."
Karasu- no, Midoriya-san, brought her hand against the helmet again, clicking the button that turned the voice changer thing again.
Himiko was stunned. She had revealed herself to her. She didn't understand, well, she now understood why she'd call her senpai, Himiko technically was Midoriya's senpai, but still.
"Why? Why have you… exposed yourself like that? Didn't you hear that I want to cut you up and drink your blood? Isn't this a huge risk?"
Himiko ignored the very real possibility that she may not make it out alive from the alley if things went bad for Midoriya. The crows certainly were still very much on edge, hissing with sounds that shouldn't come out of a bird when she reminded Midoriya of her goal.
"That may be so, but I don't want to lie to myself anymore. I'm a hunter. A true hunter. And I feel like you are as well, so I won't lie to you either. We aren't defined by anyone's rules but ourselves'. I don't want to kill you, the client be damned. I make my own rules. I'm the ultimate predator of this hero society. I prey on heroes and anyone foolish enough to think they are above becoming my target because of their perceived "power". I will define what having "power" really means. And I see you the same, Toga-senpai."
"We are apex predators. We define who we hunt, how we hunt, and we don't let anyone else define how we should live our life. No one else is going to tell us how we are supposed to live, to feel. That's why I won't impose myself on you and tell you to ignore your feelings to try to cut me up. We are both apex predators, and if we can't coexist, we will inevitably clash, and the stronger one will survive and live exactly how they want."
"I li- I understand what you've been through, and I'd rather we coexist than hunt each other. So I rather we both live. But as I said, I respect you as a fellow hunter. If you decide that your way still requires you to… become me, I'll respect that, and we'll clash like the predators we are."
Himiko was frozen. Midoriya's words hit at her heartstrings like no one else had ever done grip on the knife loosened, and for the first time in her life, Himiko felt a completely new emotion. Hope.
Her eyes got blurry and Himiko blinked away tears. There she was, naked, barely holding into a knife, surrounded by a bunch of birds that hated her guts, and the rising star of the criminal underground. She should feel afraid, scared, vulnerable, exposed.
Instead she felt understood, treated like an equal, respected, hopeful and the most important of all. Himiko felt full of love.
It was a completely different love than what she was used to. No want, no need for blood (at least not the intense drive that would blind her until she got her fill), just a simple desire to have someone by her side. And Midoriya was very convincing in wanting to be by that side.
A part of Himiko, still broken by what her parents had drilled over and over to her head told her there was no way this was real, that she really was being accepted. Yet her heart told her to trust in the possibility of companionship, of something that she hadn't truly had.
A real friend.
Himiko sighed, letting herself drown in this new feeling, in this new love, completely different from her bloodlust, from her previous killer-crush, completely different from anything she'd felt before. A love full of hope.
"Hmmm~ those were some really nice things you just said~ Karasu-chan~" Himiko felt a blush heat up her face, and curled her hands into fists, covering the lower part of her face, knife sticking to the side of her head, and letting herself act her age. Like a silly schoolgirl, except this time, it was genuine.
"I… suppose that they were." Midoriya looked a bit sheepish after that, and the tension that was brewing in the alley dropped just like that, all the crows relaxing instantly.
"Tehee~ I can't believe the mysterious and cool new killer was one of my under classmates~! I feel so silly I didn't put two and two together! You were always friends with crows~! And they are so protective of you~! So cute~!"
"Ah, uhm, I guess they are, yeah. And you haven't seen them in more comfortable scenarios… Uhm" She coughed into the helmet, the voice changer making a strange feedback noise at that. "I take that you have decided to give a chance to coexistence?"
"Yep! I wanna try that out! Seems like much more fun than being on my own~" Himiko grinned, stepping closer, wary to not make sudden movements to put the crows on alert, and putting a hand over her mouth as if telling a secret. "Plus, I guess that the reason you wanted to talk isn't simply for a "cease fire""
Himiko made air quotes and wiggled her eyebrows at the pun. A crow scoffed and had pointed stares from the rest of the crows.
Birdies with a silly sense of humor~ Your friends are so much cuter than I gave them credit for Midoriya-chan~!
"Yeah. I guess that you aren't particularly happy that someone put a price to your head and sent me on your way"
"Hmmm~ yeah, I wanna know exactly who was it~ introduce them to my knifes~ you know~"
Himiko giggled, moving her body from side to side to get some warmth while flaunting her knife. She was still in high spirits from what Midoriya had said earlier, but after being reminded of it, the vampire showed her bloodlust for another person that had tried to make her life difficult.
"Good. I called Giran, my handler. He knows the client personally and will be able to tell us about them." She looked Himiko up and down, with the helmet tilting upward and downward was any indication. "You may want to transform or put a disguise for that"
The blonde tilted her head in thought at that, rubbing the back of one thighs with her foot.
"I've heard that name before. That's some broker, right?"
"Yeah"
"Does he know about you?"
Now it was Midoriya's time to tilt her head, an obvious sign for a question.
So cute!
"Yes? He's my handler"
"No, silly~" Himiko ignored the way one crow growled when she got closer to Midoriya and laid an elbow on her shoulder. "I mean if he knows about you. The real you. Under the helmet and all"
"He does" Midoriya nodded slowly.
"Do you trust him?"
She paused, taking her time to think about the answer.
"I trust he won't betray me. I'm way too lucrative for him. He may care about money first, but takes loyalty seriously. If you compensate him, he won't blabber any secret you don't want to, and our partnership is a very valuable business for him"
Himiko thought about it, still laying on Midoriya's shoulder, tapping the flat side of her knife against her waist.
"If you trust him, I'll trust him too~!" She said in the end, backing a bit off, leaning her face forward to Midoriya, hands clasping each other and the knife on her back, her modesty hanging freely.
Midoriya nodded slowly, bringing her hand forward so a crow could land on it, proceeding to pet it right afterwards. The rest of them seemed to lean closer to them, as if wanting to be in the position of the one in her arm.
Cuteee~
"All right. I summoned him here already. He should be arriving soon"
Izumi was thankful that Toga-senpai had decided to trust her in the end. She would have respected her if she decided to attack her and try to take her blood to transform into her, Izumi wasn't kidding with that. But she didn't really have any ill will against the vampire, their situations were very similar after all.
The fact that she even seemed to trust her with Giran getting to know her directly because of her vouch… Let's say Izumi was glad she had a lot of experience keeping a level head and a normal heartbeat thanks to her breathing exercises.
The murder seemed to be calmer now, with Toga-senpai dropping all the bloodlust directed at Izumi. The hunter could get where they were coming from, and it was in the nature of crows (and thus, her own as well) to be very protective and spiteful to any and all that wronged them.
But Toga-senpai had merely warned them, and in the end didn't end up doing anything, so everything was fine.
Izumi looked at Toga-senpai, and noticed how she kept wiggling her body, and not staying still for long. She had decided to trust Izumi and not put on a disguise for Giran, but she just realized that she must be pretty cold, exposed to the elements like that.
She was about to say something when a crow cawed flying downward and stopping in between Izumi and Toga-senpai.
"Caw! Giran" is here!
"Great, thank you"
"Woah, so smart"
"Aren't they?"
Izumi couldn't help but smirk, proud of the murder, and felt thankful that the helmet hid her face. It was a bit embarrassing to feel proud of them like that, as if she were their mother. She was a big sister at best! But showing that to Toga-senpai… it was a bit embarrassing for some reason.
Toga-senpai giggled, and backed off, going to the side of the dumpster again, semi hiding in its shadows, while the crows made space around Izumi. Izumi had talked with Toga-senpai about how they should handle the situation, and she and the crows got in place.
It didn't take much longer for Giran to show up from the corner of the street, and greet Karasu.
"Yo, Karasu. You called" It wasn't a question, just an acknowledgement that she had dragged him here.
"Yes. Thank you for coming in such a short time"
"Kinda didn't have a choice did I? Now what's this all about? It's unlike you to meet me while in the middle of the job"
He lit a cigarette as he spoke, inhaling the smoke and blowing it out from his nose. Karasu was glad she was wearing the helmet, but felt a little guilty about Toga-senpai. She didn't have anything to cover her face with if she disliked the smoke.
"It seems that there was some… miscommunication involving the target"
"Huh? Oi, don't get me that, you already accepted. I thought you were a professional"
"I am, don't insult me. It's just that there's been a conflict of interest. See, I found a new client that very much requires a… reevaluation on the current job"
Karasu tilted her head to the side, waving her hand to point where Toga-senpai was hiding. With the shadows of the alley casted over her, the outline of her body was barely distinguishable, her catlike eyes and glint of her knife, still on her hand, being the only things clearly visible.
"Hi~"
"Holy shi-!" Giran flinched back, before quickly recovering himself and clearing his throat. "Huh, hi there. Didn't notice you there"
"You must be Giran~ Karasu-chan's handler, right~? I heard lots of you in the underground~"
She stepped closer, showing herself with a wide grin on her face. Karasu was thankful she at least crossed an arm along her chest to cover herself, while keeping a distinctly different layer of skin color around her waist and in between her legs, keeping it smooth and spotless.
Giran blinked a few times in recognition.
"You said that the target was a shapeshifter, right?"
"Yes"
"Huh, well I didn't take you for one to fluster themselves after seeing a bare butt~"
"Watch it" Karasu warned, glaring into the broker while Toga-senpai giggled in the background. Giran just shrugged his shoulders, taking his eyes out of Toga-senpai.
Karasu loosened the hand that had gone to her back to grab her rifle.
"Soooo what's this all about, Karasu? You know, letting a target talk you out of an assignment isn't exactly good for an assassin's resume"
"That may be so, but Toga-senpai's no target. She's a client, and I'm more interested on who her target is"
"Hehe~ Karasu-chan told me you handle all her assignments, and there's just this meanie hero that wanted to kill me for no reason at all!" Toga dramatically gasped, clinging to her chest, as if she were hurt just by the thought of it. "So you must understand why a girl like me would want that hero's blood spilled~ right~?"
"We've already agreed on the payment. Toga-senpai will accompany me and assist on the hunt. That will be all"
"It's going to be sooo much fun~" Toga-senpai giggled, covering half her face with her fist, chest with her elbows as a red blush tinted her cheeks and shoulders.
Giran blinked a few times, looking at Karasu and Toga-senpai, head tilting from one to the other. His cigarette fell from his mouth and into the floor, and he brought a hand to his face, clutching it tightly.
"Are you for real, Karasu? He gave me good intel"
The hunter merely shrugged her shoulders.
"You are allowed to not accept the deal. I'll respect it. According to our deal you must oversee and agree to any assignments. Just…" At that moment, it seemed as if the alleyway had gotten more stares pointing at them, the crows gaze seemingly more penetrating now. Giran made note of the sensation quickly. "... you might find it hard to manage out there without my help. With a target that knows only one person to direct their vengeance on"
Himiko giggled, licking the knife so close to the sharp point it showed her expertise with the weapon how she didn't cut her own tongue.
The broker sighed, grabbing another cigarette and lighting it.
"You're treading dangerous waters, you know? If anyone found out I sold out a client it'd be bad for business. You also going against your word to change an already agreed upon work is also pretty bad"
"How many times has a client forced me to rush a job because they can't deal with the time I spend setting up the hunting grounds? Besides, it's not like anyone else knows about this job besides us… right?"
Giran clicked his tongue, getting a little nervous. Despite setting up the job in a bar, Giran wouldn't be fool enough to select it in a place he'd deem unsafe, so Karasu never suspected anyone else knowing about it.
"It's not that simple. There's honor involved. I can't exactly sell out my clients. Would you be happy if I sold you out? Didn't think so"
"You? Honor? Please, Giran. But if your integrity is at stake and you deem it be that important… We could expand our business so your integrity doesn't seemto be affected. Of course you could always refuse and try explaining that to Toga-senpai"
The other girl grinned, showing him sharp teeth that had been used to drain multiple bodies out of blood. Giran thought it over for a while, and though he concealed his nervousness very well much like Karasu, the hunter was still able to pick it up.
"With such wonderful business I do with you, how could I refuse" He sighed in the end, slightly defeated. Karasu felt a little bad about it. Oh, who was she kidding, she kinda enjoyed it after the bar stunt he'd pulled. "Alright, I'll accept this job, though I expect to later on be… in good terms with miss "death by blood loss" over there"
"Hehe~ that's fine by me~ I don't have anything against you if you are fine with Karasu-chan~"
Giran hummed at that, raising an eyebrow at Karasu for her to elaborate on that. He surely was wondering what the "senpai" bit was all about, taking how closed off at keeping her identity a secret she was.
With his extensive information network, he should have already gotten information on Toga-senpai and Izumi that told him they used to go to the same high school by now. It shouldn't come as that much of a surprise to him that she'd do this for her.
I'd do this kind of thing for any crow after all…
"Hmm, alright, since you ladies" He looked at Karasu to see if she had a problem with acknowledging that much of her secret identity. She nodded at him to go on "...seem to already have handled the payment, I guess you only need me for my "approval"" He made sure to make air quotes at that. Karasu rolled her eyes "and information on the new… target, right?"
"Correct"
"Yep yep~"
He sighed, puffing the cigarette and blowing out some smoke.
"Ok, just don't be picky about the payment of your next jobs"
"When have I ever been picky?"
Giran smirked at the answer, and proceeded to inform them on their target.
Bonerush sighed as he continued on the same repetitive and boring patrol he'd been going for years. He was in a bad mood after having to ask Giran for a "favor". If it were for him, he'd taken care of Toga Himiko himself, the lead he'd gotten on the corpse of that gang seemingly being sighted after uncovering the dead body was the closest they've ever gotten to catching the little psychopath.
But of course, the higher ups at the HPSC were interested in another psycho, and demanded him use his contact with Giran to "scope" how "receptive" that new killer, Karasu, was to doing jobs for the HPSC. The underground hero owed the commission a lot (and to a few underground brokers and loan sharks, but that wasn't relevant now), so he could do nothing but bite his tongue and obey, setting up an order to kill Toga Himiko.
He couldn't care less about villains killing each other. What boiled his blood and made anyone passing through the street so late at night on his patrol recoil after seeing his face, was having to pay up for that bloodlusted killer.
Having to contact Giran was also very annoying. As far as he knew, neither Giran nor the HPSC had bothered to confirm it, he was the only hero that had a "friendly" contact with the underground broker.
He'd gotten it after Giran discovered some of Bonerush's other underground contacts, and the entire corruption scheme he had been involved in back in the day, before the HPSC had to pull him out so he wouldn't get involved when All Might busted the entire operation out.
He still regretted it to this day, the only reason he managed to come unscathed from that was thanks to Giran's influence and the HPSC's meddling, thus making him become indebted to both of them. The hero could at least trust that everything the Safety Commission had him to was for the greater good, shady as it was.
Doing Giran favors on the other hand was the worst. He constantly threatened to spill the truth, something that the HPSC wouldn't hide to not be involved with a "corrupt hero", while the favors in and all themselves required him to go on their backs to acquire the assets or information that Giran wanted.
So giving Giran more ammo to use against him while at the same benefit him while doing what was supposed to be the "lesser evil" by obeying the HPSC pissed him off to no end.
Giran had guaranteed that Karasu accepted the job in the end, so at least the menace that was Toga Himiko would end soon. The price to pay for it though, would sting for far more time that taking care of her by himself would ever have done.
Giran asked for a detailed map of all underground hero agencies in Musutafu. Just arguing to only be Musutafu in the negotiations had taken out a lot of the hero. He didn't know what Giran would use that information for but it was nothing good, that much was clear.
He trusted that whatever it is, he'd be excluded from it, still being a good source for him. Bonerush wished the patrol would last longer, so he wouldn't have to go back and actually investigate and gather all that intel.
Huh, that's odd.
Bonerush looked to the side, watching a pair of crows groom themselves from a street lamp.
That's the third group of crows I see tonight. They usually don't show themselves that much.
One of the crows seemed to look directly at him for a moment, before dropping from the lamp and flying away, cawing as he turned the street and he couldn't see it anymore.
The other crow meanwhile, just whistled some kind of odd melody. The hero's skin shivered. No matter how much he heard it, every time a crow made a sound so distinctly human he couldn't help but cringe at how unnatural it sounded.
The crow, seemingly oblivious to it all and how creepy it sounded by making a sound so distinctly human flew away like its companion had done before.
"Creepy freak birds"
He spat to the ground, and continued on his patrol. The more time he could spend on the streets instead of doing Giran the favor, the better.
Not long after that, there was some kind of commotion up ahead.
"Ahh! Help! Someone! Hero! Help!"
Bonerush saw some kind of shadows coming from an alley by his side one block ahead. Right the direction where the scream had come from. He quickened his pace, running into it.
"Bonerush here." He spoke to an intercom in his suit. "Going to check out a possible altercation in Perlemia Street involving a screaming civilian"
He turned the corner and went into the alley with practiced speed. In a moment, he assessed the situation.
There was a teenager on the floor, covering his face with his arms while another short individual on top of him wearing all dark and a helmet had their arms raised, fists curled.
Without thinking it twice, Bonerush called his quirk, bone growing out of his left hand into the shape of a knuckle duster, and swinging it at the attacker's side.
The hero heard a grunt as the attacker was pushed to the side, hitting against a wall, coughing. He widened his eyes, surprised at not feeling the familiar sensation of ribs crack under the weight of his punch.
He summoned another bone knuckle duster on his right hand, and got into a fighting stance. Whatever quirk the attacker had, it must be some sort of physical enhancement, judging by the hardness of their body and that they were brawling with the victim.
Oh, that's right, the victim.
"Hey, you alright? Don't worry, I'm a hero"
Bonerush put himself between the victim and the attacker, as they slowly got up. He used that moment to check back on the victim to see if they were hurt. For a moment, it seems like he had seen the teenager before, somewhere else, but couldn't exactly point out where it was.
The hero didn't even involve himself much with kids, being underground and all. In fact, the closest he'd been to kids lately was studying the reports of Toga Himiko and the kid she'd atta-
He widened his eyes and moved away as quickly as he could. Still, the boy had moved much faster than him, swinging his arm in an arch. The knife hidden under his sleeve flashed as it drew blood.
Bonerush saw red, and felt a deep line of hot pain across his chest, neck and face. He couldn't see from his right eye. In fact, he didn't feel his right eye, only saw red. Then the pain caught up with his body numbing his mind.
It was only his years of experience on the field and lurking in the underground what gave him the clarity to back off again and dodge the next swing of the knife.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain, Bonerush used his quirk to give himself an armor of bones around his chest, face and arms. Additional ribs grew from the circular holes at the sides of his suit, and wrapped around his chest, while a second skull grew over his skin. Thich clubs of bone protected his arms and sidearms, which he raised in a boxing position, to use them as additional armor.
"Hahaha~ Why'd you dodge~? Doesn't it hurt~? Wouldn't it be better to let all your hot blood spill out~? You'd be so much cuter that way~!"
Midway through that deranged speech, the boy that Bonerush recognized as the victim of Toga Himiko melted to reveal the face of that very same Toga Himiko underneath.
He fell to one knee, his good eye becoming blurry as his hands and feet felt so much colder than just a moment ago. He was losing too much blood, and fast.
Toga flipped the knife in her hand and grabbed her face, body covered in a layer of gray slime from the transformation. She had an ecstatic grin, face red with a manic blush that combined with her glowing yellow pupils made Bponerush feel like a cornered mouse in front of a cat.
"You're such a meanie, hero-san" Toga stepped closer, her foot making a wet splash against the blood on the floor. Oh, he was bleeding out way faster than he thought. "A birdie told me you sent Karasu-chan after me~ That just won't do, you know~?"
His eyes widened. How did she know about that!? Had she been spying on him? Did the information leak underground? That was impossible! Giran would rather die than lose credibility over a possible leak!
His heart was running a marathon thinking of answers, which wasn't good with the gaping wound on his chest. The only answers that he could think of were: Giran had sold him out, or Karasu had failed and succumbed to Toga.
Both felt so bizarre and so unlike the perceived threat level of Toga and Giran that he dismissed them immediately. Still, that doesn't matter right now. He's bleeding out and has the target he should have taken care of himself.
He'll finish the job.
The bones around his arm stretched quickly into a blade extending from his fist, and Bonerush swung his arm around. Toga jumped backward, with a hands free back flip. Pushing through pain and tasting metal in his mouth, Bonerush is about to swing his arm again-
Bang!
The hero saw his blade arm shatter before he felt the pain. He screamed and fell to the ground clutching his busted hand. His head hit the ground as he fell, the additional skull working as a helmet protecting his head but giving him a mild headache all the same.
Bonerush clenched his right hand, and turned on the floor, the adrenaline giving him enough energy for that motion even through his severe blood loss. He gasped, screaming in pain, and looked at his hand.
The bone that should have protected him was shattered, cracks of it running into the defenses of his arm. His right hand was a tangled bloodied mess, and he couldn't move his fingers. There was a perfectly circular hole on the center of his hand. The pain coming from it was unbelievable.
Something had gone right through his armor, penetrating it effortlessly and leaving a fleshy, unresponsive, incredibly painful mess.
Writhing in pain as he was, laying in the ground, Bonerush turned his head upwards. The nape of his skull helmet scratched against the floor, but he didn't have time to worry about that. He had to know what had disregarded his bone armor so effortlessly.
He couldn't believe what he saw after he managed to twist his head to look at his attacker. The mysterious attacker with their head obscured by a helmet was reloading a rifle without breaking eye contact with the downed hero.
When did they get that rifle? It was nowhere on their person when Bonerush got into the alley and hit them away from the disguised Toga. And what kind of power did it pack? His armor was supposed to be bulletproof, but that rifle tore through him like clay! Was the rifle part of their quirk? The only rifle quirk he knew off was…
Understanding dawned on the hero. A killer with a rifle, the HPSC's interest in making contact… This was Karasu. Which meant Toga hadn't taken care of him, but had bought him off! As he cursed to himself, Toga jumped on top of him with a manic grin on her face and body stained on his blood. Distracted by the revelation of why the HPSC so desperately wanted to contact Karasu, he didn't react in time to Toga plunging her knife downward into his neck. He choked on his own blood, more blood spluttering inside his skull helmet.
This was it for him. He wouldn't survive from this. But he wouldn't die without a fight. He was lucky the strength to call on his quirk didn't depend on stamina, but the health of his bones, and unlike his flesh, they were still strong.
Toga tried pulling away, but was surprised by being met with some resistance. At the last moment, Bonerush had closed in bone around the knife, keeping it plunged inside to keep the bleeding to the minimum and Toga's weapon trapped.
Bonerush gurgled incoherently, taking all the strength he had left, and transformed the bone armor in his left hand into a blade like he had done to his right arm before. Toga hesitated for a moment.
Bang!
…but before the blade could take advantage of it, another shot from Karasu hit his healthy hand. His arm was thrown forward from the force of the shot, hitting uselessly Toga-s side, splashing her with more of his blood, after which it fell by his side, along crumbled and shattered bones.
"GhhhghffaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Bonerush screamed, going on an all out desperate attack, using his ultimate super move that would take his life. He'd die on his own terms, not by the hands of two psychopaths!
He arched his body, bones from his ribs and spine tearing off and pushing his torso upward, with even his head pushing against the ground to do more force. His ribs tore through his chest, bloody spikes in the shape of sideways sharp teeth, about to bite into the still trapped Toga.
He couldn't see her, his head pushing against the ground as it was, but knew he'd get her, feeling her still pull to get the knife from his neck.
Bonerush could only see Karasu flicking his hand at him. Then something flew super fast at his face, obscuring his right eye, and going deep inside him.
Bonerush stopped thinking.
Toga-senpai tore her knife out his neck with a bit of effort. Now that Bonerush was dead, the grip of his bones around it lessened enough for her to be able to take her knife off. After getting back her trusted knife, Toga-senpai poked at the spikes that had come from Bonerush's body, then licked the blood that had stuck to her finger as she did so.
"Hmmm~ could be better, too salty for my taste~" She said, hopping off the dead body, using his own bones to help her stand up. "That was sooo much fun~! You were so cool getting his sword-arms like that Karasu-chan~"
She hopped close to Izumi, making her flinch a bit, not wanting her to stain her clothes with blood. Taking it off of clothes was always a pain.
The crows started flying down, landing close to the two girls, and even on top of the curved rib-spike-last resort bone move of Bonerush.
"Are you going to drink more of his blood?"
Toga-senpai licked the blood from her arm and hand like a cat.
"Have enough here~ And plus, I'm pretty full of blood at the moment~ courtesy of our friends the snakes~"
"Hmmm. Ok"
Izumi whistled, the voice changer not disturbing it too much, and the crows started peaking at the body. Toga-senpai watched them go, and how in a moment there were ten crows just showing off how scary they could be as scavengers.
"Damn~ I didn't know your targets got this kind of treatment~ I guess it makes sense for the media to censor it~ Brutal birdies~"
"I don't have them eat the remains of my targets. That could lead the heroes and the police to them before than me, and I wouldn't like that"
"Hmm? Then why-?"
"Because Karasu wasn't involved in this"
"Ohhhh~ I see, I see~ Sneaky~"
"This dead is going to be investigated more than usual, it'd be best to not leave the regular evidence"
Izumi whistled again, in two short bursts, Wuji flew back to her, giving her back the bloodied dart that she had buried all the way into his brain. The extra skull around his head that left the same holes for his eyes just asked for Izumi to try to get the "bullseye".
After that, two other crows flew by, and put on Izumi's free hand the casings and bullets of the two Black Bullets shot.
"Ohhh. Is that what tore through his bone? Cool~"
Izumi didn't puff her chest in pride because it would disturb her breathing, but she made sure to remember the compliment to tell Kuro later.
"The hands could become a problem, with the bullet holes and all. Could you… you know"
Toga-senpai grinned, her face flushing red, different from the different splashes of red against her skin.
"Sure! Of course!"
She hopped carelessly besides the crows, who got off her way once she got to the corpse, grabbing the fleshy mess that used to be his hands, and starting to rub the edge of her knife against the wrists, spraying herself of more blood.
Izumi watched her work in silence. The way that Toga-senpai looked, working on tearing off the hands, unbothered from the gore of it all, giggling and licking the blood that sprayed into her… Somehow it reminded Izumi of the times she had to work to clean up caught prey, skinning them and getting dirty, making sure to do it properly to not anger Father.
She sighed, allowing a moment of rest before they left, leaving this very incriminating looking scene behind them. She couldn't help but notice Toga-senpai shiver, burying her fingers and the bloody stump that she had made to get some warmth into them.
There was a constant visible breath around her mouth and nose. Izumi felt a little bad, wearing her comfy hunting coat while Toga-senpai only had sticky blood and leftovers of her transformation slime to cover her from the cold.
A few crows started picking at the second hand as Toga-senpai cut it from the wrist, helping tear the meat off the wrist. The vampire pulled the hand away with brute force in the end, the meat making a wet ripping sound as it was pulled apart.
"Done~!" She waved at Izumi using the severed hand, picking the other from the ground, where some crows were picking at it. "Do they want hands?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind, give it to them. They'll make sure they can't be traced"
"Uuuuuh~" Toga-senpai hummed, throwing his hands into the air.
The crows immediately flew to them, grabbing them and flying away, while others tried picking it from the ones carrying them.
"Those birdies are so much fun~ no wonder you were always with them after school~"
"Uhm, y-yeah. Say, if you are done with taking his blood, we should be going now."
Toga-senpai crossed her arms behind her back, and started walking leisurely towards Izumi. Wuji and a few other crows that were still picking at the body of the hero had stayed behind, and with Wuji now roosting on top of Izumi's helmet.
"Yep~ I'm done with it. Not much use you can have of a hero that is going to be known to be dead~"
Izumi looked Toga-senpai up and down. She was hiding it pretty well, but Izumi could see her shiver slightly. The blood and slime sticking and covering her skin had to be helping a little in keeping her warm, but it was obviously not enough.
"Toga-senpai… where have you been staying after you ran off home?"
She blew a raspberry in response, rolling her eyes.
"If you could call that home. I've just been staying at homeless shelters disguised as someone else. Or hiding in villain hideouts as the villains~"
"I see… and, if you don't mind me asking about your quirk… Can't you transform while wearing clothes?" They started walking away, getting deeper into the alley and out of view of the corpse.
"Well, I can, but my quirk eats up anything around my skin when I transform. That's why I love splashing blood on me~ Feels so good when it gets eaten~"
Under the helmet, Izumi blinked a few times.
"And it eats the clothes too?"
"Yeah, it's annoying…" She blushed a bit, seemingly embarrassed about not being able to keep clothes. "I have my uniform hidden in a certain place, but I just don't see much use in wearing it right now. I have to be constantly on the move to find a place to stay."
Izumi thought about it for a while, stopping in place. Toga-senpai tilted her head, trying to see through the helmet what Izumi was thinking. In the end, she whistled, rising her arm and letting Wuji land on it.
Izumi whistled softly, imitating the sound of the wind and then clicking her tongue.
It's alright.
"You sure?"
"Nest." Yours. You decide who is in it.
Wuji pressed his head into Izumi. She sighed, whistling a few more times and handing her rifle to five crows, who flew away with it, carrying it in between them.
"You can talk with them?" Toga-senpai asked. It wasn't an accusation of hiding an animal communication quirk, just a regular question. Still, Izumi was a bit nervous about Toga-senpai thinking she lied.
"Yeah, I learned to read their expressions and body language"
"I didn't see any expressions…" The vampire said, with a smirk on her face. Izumi didn't know what to make of it. "Still, it's pretty cool how they can give you and hide your gun for you~ Boner guy over made such a funny face after seeing you suddenly with your gun~"
Izumi contained her need to correct Toga-senpai on calling her sniper rifle a mere "gun". She really had to. Thank the murder for her still breathing calmly.
"Yeah, it was crucial for the plan for them to bring it to me after he saw me without it. Element of surprise is very important"
"Sure is~ both or speciality is ambush~"
"Hmmmm" Izumi agreed. Wuji cawed, still on Izumi's hand.
Get on with it.
"What did he say? Oh, or is it a she?"
"He's a he. Wuji"
"Caw!"
"Hi hi~ Wuji-chan~"
She waved at him. After that, he looked directly at Izumi.
Come on.
She sighed, and turned to face Toga-senpai.
"Ehm, Toga-senpai… if you don't have a place to stay… There's a place I know off where you… don't have to worry about anyone bothering you. I-it's not my place, but I stay in it a lot with the crows, making my support items and all… It's alright if you want to do your own thing"
Toga-senpai grabbed Izumi's hands, bringing them close to her, and leaning her face super close to the helmet to the point Izumi almost stepped back.
"You're inviting me over!?"
"We-well, I'm not staying at that place to sleep, but there's a big furnace in there… You can keep yourself warm there… I-if you want! It's a travel on shinkanshen away either way"
"Sure thing! Sounds fun! We can have a pajama party! But I don't have pajamas!"
"It's not a party, and i said I won't stay to sleep"
"It's a pajama pàrty in spirit! And sleeping in a warm place sounds great! I haven't done that in sooo long~ I'll be able to sleep in my own skin~ yey~! Let's go~!"
"Ok, ok. Put on some disguise to get on the shinkanshen, pretty sure they won't let a bloody teenager get in"
"They are so not cute! I'm sure a little blood would do great inside the train!"
In the end, Toga-senpai ended up disguising into one of the gang members she had killed earlier, and they went on their way.
Izumi was able to hide the smile she grew behind the helmet, happy that Toga-senpai accepted going in to sleep somewhere safe.