Birds of a feather Flock Together

by Arachnocorvid

Midoriya Izumi didn't make regular friends growing up. Quirkless and moving to a completely different middle school made it difficult to pick...human friends. Izumi became friends with Japan's crows, giving her an insight her human teachers couldn't, and became Karasu, the Black Bullet Killer, a gun for hire and hunter of heroes, and shaking up Japan from the Underground up

15. Not Human

Up in the highest floor of Detnerat's tower in Deika city, Yotsubashi Rikiya welcomed what to anyone were his close business partners and allies. The executive director of Shoowaysha Pubishing, a board member and indispensable engineer of Feel Good, Inc. and the leader of the Hearts and Mind Party, to the public they were merely close partners of Detnerat, due to the financial support that Detnerat had given them the past years.

But to anyone on the know, they knew that those four meta-humans were much closer than they let on.

"It's good to see you in good health, Re-Destro-sama" Chikazoku Tomoyasu said, accepting the glass of wine that was offered to all of them.

"Thank you, you seem good as well, Skeptic" Rikiya, no, he was Re-Destro at the moment, Re-Destro said.

"You seem in quite a good mood, Re-Destro-sama" Kizuki Chitose said, sipping her wine. "Could that be from the recent news of Detnerat's fiscal year having been nothing short of excellent?"

"Yes, Curious, it fills me with joy that so many people wish to accommodate their meta-abilities to their common life! It truly is a great sign for the future!"

"Then I must apologize for bringing sad news to such a moment" Hanabata Koku said, bowing his head.

"Nonsense, Trumpet. I'm aware of your devotion to our cause. It's our opposition who is to blame" Re-Destro said, trying to uplift the politician.

"I appreciate your understanding, Re-Destro-sama, but it's still my duty to try to spread our message through the government"

"The Hearts and Mind Party doesn't have enough power for that at the moment, Trumpet." Curious said. "Even as an opposition, the New Liberal Democratic Party has you beat"

"Still, it's a problem that the current Quirk Regulation Law is even being considered." Skeptic scowled. "Those disgusting pigs just want to limit meta-abilities to be regulated by the HPSC now! Ridiculous!"

"Calm yourself, Skeptic" Re-Destro said, without losing his calmness, keeping a straight but forced smile on his face. Skeptic cleared his throat and bowed his head slightly.

"Yes, sorry, Re-Destro-sama"

"You're right though. We can't let that law come to pass, or else we will be moving further from liberation than ever before" Re-Destro said, sighing. "As such, we have to act fast, or we will never end up seeing a liberated Japan in our lifetime"

"Do you have any ideas in mind, Re-Destro-sama?"

"Yes, Trumpet. It's time we begin to use the information and connections that Skeptic got with the underground to arrange for someone non affiliated with any of us to… take our problem away"

"A political assassination?" Trumpet widened his eyes, but didn't protest. All of them were too dedicated to their cause to even flinch at that sort of proposal. "That would certainly put things in our favor, but we have to be smart about it. Last thing we want is to make a martyr for the movement of meta-ability discrimination."

"I agree" Curious joined in. "They'd love to spin around that story to justify harsher restrictions on meta-abilities. Perhaps intimidation would work better. I know this would be the kind of story that the government would want to heavily censor. Intimidation would be much less flashy, silent, unnoticed news that wouldn't break out into a big story"

"Hmmm, yes, intimidation it is then!" Re-Destro hummed happily, feeling his body relax at the thought. "You managed to obtain a contact with the underground broker Giran, right Skeptic?"

"Yes, you want to have him set someone up to intimidate the head of the party?"

"Precisely. Make sure to suggest Giran call upon Karasu for that." The knowledge of Giran being the handler of the newest unknown villain Karasu had spread through the underground, and as such, their contacts in the underground had gotten word of it.

"If anyone can say that truly acts liberated, that'd be meta-humans like Karasu." Re-Destro asserted, drinking from his glass.

"Agreed. There's some story behind Karasu that we are still not aware of~" Curious mused, spinning the wine in her glass. "There's been an awful lot of regulation on Karasu's number of victims~ The government seems adamant to obscure or not report on most of them"

"Much like with the Hero Killer, they are fooling the public into thinking that nothing is wrong." Skeptic said.

"Fools, with the restriction of meta-abilities in place, there'll always be a part of ourselves that we aren't allowed to express" Trumpet shook his head, finally tasting his wine.

"Still, in the last year there's been quite more cases than normal about individuals finally letting themselves go and liberating themselves, which they are trying their hardest to suppress and control the flow of information to hide the fact that they are just embracing their meta-abilities." Curious smile sharpened, her ability to detect a nice story guiding her through the limited information that had been disclosed.

"Toga Himiko losing control and attacking a classmate to be able to use her meta-ability, then shortly after, Karasu, a new villain that goes after heroes specifically to test their skills and that won't accept anything else. Both these stories had been heavily censored, and their cases have been heavily covered up because they have evaded capture for longer than the regular villain"

"Yes, and those are the two cases that made it big when they started, and that's why we know about them. Who knows how many other cases of meta-humans that want to liberate themselves or tried to liberate themselves were shot down before they could hit the news?" Re-Destro rubbed his face, suppressing a shiver at the thought.

"Having someone like Karasu, who has liberated themselves already, be part of the M.L.A. should be one of our objectives" Re-Destro said.

"Yes, we could certainly use that story to further Destro's will for a non oppressed meta-ability future" Curious grinned, her dark sclera making her face seem darker as she said that.

"Hmmm, using villains like Karasu and Toga Himiko to further the message of liberation? That could work, yes" Trumpet rubbed his chin in thought. "We'd need to spin it as part of 'the dangers' of not being allowed to be liberated and use our meta-abilities freely"

"Of course, having unhinged individuals like those be openly accepted by our cause would only cause negative attention upon Destro's dream. We must use them in order to expose the broken system. Perhaps then they'd know what twisting a story against them feels like"

"You've always been quite interested in Toga Himiko's story, Curious" Re-Destro hummed.

"What can I say? I can tell there's something else going on with her. She was definitely repressed, and everyone in her school turned against her the moment she snapped. But!" Her eyes gleamed, her smile spreading wider, an expression hungry to unveil a story. "But, Karasu's first documented kill was done shortly after, on the hero that was in charge of searching Toga"

"You think there's some connection? Toga shouldn't have had the resources of connections to hire an unknown Karasu at that point" Skeptic mussed.

"I don't know if they are connected, but there's definitely a story behind them, and the government has been hammering down on not bringing attention to both of their victims, so of course I'm curious about it!"

"I understand your drive to get the story, Curious, but remember, our main objective is meta-liberation" Re-Destro reminded her, as she tended to get engrossed in her stories when they felt that interesting to her.

"Yes, Re-Destro-sama" Curious conceded, reigning herself in.

"Toga Himiko may have liberated herself without knowing Destro's will, but even with the low exposure the government is giving to her case, should we try bringing her case up to light in the name of liberation, it may be shot down in the case of defending a villain." Re-Destro continued, walking over to the window of the room, looking down over all of Deika. "We can't allow everything we worked to achieve to be ignored because of that, so we will use Toga as a tool to show what not being liberated can turn someone into"

"A pity, should we have discovered her before the incident, we could have groomed and nurtured her into our cause." Trumpet sighed.

"A shame indeed" Curious pouted. "How do you intend to use her then, Re-Destro-sama?"

He smiled, turning around to face his three lieutenants.

"We will kill two birds with one stone. Skeptic, have one of your contacts reach Giran to arrange a meeting with Karasu, we'll discuss with them a plan for our little intimidation against the supporters of the new Quirk Regulation Law, and make the most out of the meeting and propose a closer partnership with Karasu"

"Oh, you really think they'll consider it? Even though they act freely, Karasu is still a villain" Skeptic argued.

"Karasu may be a villain, but it's one that values the targets of their jobs more than the reward. That speaks of someone that has truly liberated themselves from the outside world's opinions and restrictions. There's nothing wrong in opening that conversation, and, if Curious is right and there's some sort of connection between Karasu and Toga Himiko, they may prove helpful in finding a way to make use of Toga for the sake of meta-liberation!"

"Hmmm, it is a well thought out plan, as expected from Destro's descendant!" Trumpet said, grinning and making an L with his hand and putting the thumb on his forehead.

"Agreed~ I've been wanting to interview Karasu for a while~" Curious made the same gesture as Skeptic.

"We'll get rid of that dreadful law and we'll be one step closer to liberation" Trumpet followed, putting his hand similarly on his forehead.

Re-Destro was the final one to do the Meta Liberation Army's sign, pointing his index finger high while his thumb rubbed into his forehead.

"For Liberation!"

"""For Liberation!"""

---

15 - Not Human

"Caw! Caw!"

"Aw! Hey!"

Izumi jolted up, waving off the crows on top of her, cawing and pecking her awake. She rubbed her eyes and slowly came back to herself, looking around. She was in the Hunter Cabin.

The hunter forced her groggy mind to cooperate and tell her why she woke up here, when she heard snoring somewhere on her right. She turned her head, and found Himiko laying on the floor, her sleeping bag tossed across the room and snoring belly up without a single worry in the entire world.

Izumi then remembered. She had stayed in the cabin all night, to have a sleepover with Himiko as part of her birthday celebration. She grabbed her phone to check the time, and frowned when she saw it was already midday.

Well, she had stayed up most of the night with Himiko, so it checked out, but if the crows had woken her up, it must mean that something came up, and her waking up so late could be bad.

Izumi looked at the crows, focusing her eyes on Hattori, and spoke using only her body language, to not wake up Himiko.

What is it?

"Giran" coming here.

Izumi sighed, rubbing her eyes again and getting up, stretching her body and feeling her bones pop and crack. She looked down at Himiko, still sleeping lazily on the floor. She was still wearing just her panties and a bra, with nothing else to cover herself.

Izumi grabbed the now named Blood Cape and covered Himiko with it. The previous day's heat had gone away, and the warmth wasn't as unbearable, but Izumi still felt compelled to cover Himiko. It felt right.

Also, she would probably like being wrapped in blood, as she had filled the cape with the blood from the blood packs the crows had stolen for her.

Izumi looks around, seeing the mess they had made out of the cabin in their night long sleepover.

Izumi had to admit, sleepovers were fun, she felt like she finally understood why the other girls at Railosu had them from time to time. She always thought they were a waste of time, but having a friend to spend that time with… it didn't feel like a waste at all.

She had felt like a normal girl, snickering with Himiko when she asked when her birthday was and seeing her incredulous reaction when Izumi said that it was about a month ago.

"What do you mean 'last month'!? You said you were planning on your gifts for longer than that, and you didn't think to tell me about yours!?"

"No..?"

"Well, forget about that! No friend of mine is going to stop me from spoiling them on their birthday, you hear me!?"

"Y-yeah"

Izumi hadn't expected Himiko to react that way. She honestly didn't know why Himiko cared about her birthday that much. Maybe she wanted to give something in return for what Izumi had done? The hunter wasn't sure, after all, she hadn't had any normal birthday. She just knew that gifts were supposed to be normal, and that's why she made something for Himiko. But her receiving a gift? Izumi knew better than to expect that.

Still, the rest of the night was pretty fun, and the two girls spent most of the time exchanging different hunting stories, and the different ways they stalked and watched the life drain out of their prey when they were done.

They even somehow got around to speaking about normal "sleepover girl-talk" as Himiko had explained to her. That consisted of gossipping about their crushes and people they liked.

"You got a crush!?"

"Not really. Don't interact with 'normal' people much, they aren't interesting anyway"

"That's true, but wasn't there a boy or a girl you thought was cute?"

"Hmmmm, I guess? I can tell when someone is good looking, but I don't think I got a crush. Did senpai have one?"

"Oh yes~ Saito-kun~ he was always kinda cute~ but seeing him fight and bleed~ hmmm~ my heart just rushed and I feel like I couldn't hold it anymore~!"

"Oh, you had a crush on him?"

"Yuh huh~! I just felt like I wanted to be like them so bad I couldn't resist anymore~! I wanna drink the blood of everyone I love~!"

"You do, huh? Did you have a crush on any of your other prey? Or do you have another crush right now?"

"Hmmm, well, I did have a crush on Karasu-chan before I knew if it was Izumi-chan~ You know~ another hunter going around and being completely true to themselves! But right now… hmmmm… well, there's that other villain, Stainy~ you know about him?"

"Eh? You mean Stain? Yeah, I know about him, sorry, I lost track of my mind for a moment"

"It's alright~ he is so cool~ he kills with something sharp~! I heard he leaves pools of blood behind~ I wanna become Stainy so bad hehe~"

It had surprised Izumi to learn that Himiko used to have a crush on her villain persona before meeting her. Well, was it even really a persona? The real Izumi was Karasu, and she just put a thinner mask around school and the apartment, keeping her true thoughts for herself, the crows and Himiko (and Giran, maybe, depending on the day).

Izumi shook her head, getting her thoughts in order. The sleepover was fun, she may or may not take Himiko's offer to repeat it some time, but right now, Giran was on his way according to the crows, and that meant he'd be there for business.

The hunter unlocked the hidden door, getting to the entrance of the tunnel. She had also upgraded the entrance of the tunnel connecting to the underground tunnels of the forest, adding several stands to the walls to hang different tools like flashlights, shovels, and anything else that could be useful for either being in the tunnel, or working on another gadget.

The night before, she had gotten Himiko's presents from a hidden compartment she had added to the wall, similar to the safe that used to hold her rifle a few years ago, at the entrance of the forest.

But she didn't go there to get anything else inside (mainly a stock of Black Arrows and Black Bullets), but to get some of the snacks that she kept there so the crows couldn't reach there. She loved them, but she stored food in the cabin in case Himiko stayed there, or in this case, her as well, and if the snacks were out in the open, they wouldn't last more than a day.

Izumi just got a bag of chips and got out of the tunnel and back to the cabin. Wuji flew right into her head, and started picking at her hair and pulling it.

"What are you doing?" Izumi whispered, moving the bag away from the multiple tries of several crows from snatching it away from her.

"Tidy. Hair. Worse. Bad. Nest"

Even though Izumi couldn't read his body language to make out the full sentence, that was clear enough for her. Wuji must have tried using more words to help her understand.

Izumi didn't care about the state of her hair. Once her father wasn't around anymore, there wasn't a reason to put any effort on her looks. Well, it was true that whenever she had a meeting with Giran, she at least tried to look presentable, so as to not seem unprofessional, but if Giran was coming to her place, he could deal with Izumi being comfortable.

He had seen her work wearing a sweaty tank top just the day before, it's not like he hadn't seen her 'unpresentable'. That reminded her, she was still wearing the same clothes, as she hadn't gotten pajamas to the cabin, not thinking about the possibility of having a sleepover before it happened.

She sniffed them and cringed at the smell. It wasn't nearly as hot as the previous day, so Izumi took off the tank top, and the bra she barely used, and went to grab the Nemean vest. She put it on, feeling it binding her breasts and giving her a much leaner figure, without those meatbags on the way.

The previous day she hadn't wore a binder because of the heat, and she had to admit, her breasts hadn't disturbed as much as she thought they would while finishing Himiko's Black Knife, but she had become fond of wearing the binders and the Nemean Vest instead of bras.

Hattori cawed from a window, telling Izumi that Giran was finally here. Not long after, Giran opened the door and welcomed himself inside. He looked up at Wuji, still fixing Izumi's hair.

"Huh, I thought that they only did that very early in the morning." His eyes then dropped to Himiko, laying on the floor. "Oh? Or did you perhaps just wake up~?"

"So what? Did any job require immediate attention?"

Giran smirked his mischievous and smug grin, annoying Izumi.

"No, no, nothing like that, but there are quite a few updates. I was just surprised to see you just woken up, that's all~"

"Is that a problem~?"

Izumi turned to her side, and saw Himiko awake, laying on her side, still on the floor. For someone that must also have just woken up, she immediately chose to get in a smug position to appear the most confident possible while laying down.

It gave Himiko the presence of a powerful predator, someone that could allow herself to be that relaxed, as she could get up and strike at any moment no matter her position. Giran raised his hands apologetically, but his smirk didn't leave his face, showing his familiarity with the two hunters to know that he wasn't really in danger.

"Not at all~ Just nice to see Izumi-chan act like a regular teenager for once."

"Do you want me to throw something at you?"

"Haha! No, thank you, I'd like to keep both eyes."

"Heh~ you'll have to forgive Izumi-chan, she ended up waking up late because we stayed up aaaall night~"

"Don't you say~" Giran raised an eyebrow in a smug grin. "Were you keeping her awake all night, or was Izumi the one keeping you awake~?"

"Who knows~"

"You two done?" Izumi grumbled, grabbing a sheet of paper from the table and starting to bend and fold it. "You know your glasses won't stop me, right?"

"Yeah, yeah~" Giran said, rolling his eyes with his stupid grin still plastered on his face.

"And senpai, I don't think either of us were keeping the other awake"

"I was just joking~ if I wanted to keep you awake I'd actually tried~ I really like the eyebag look~ it looks very you~"

"If you two little psychos are done flirting with each other"

"We aren't flirting!" Izumi blurted out, while Himiko merely laughed her ass off.

"Heh, sure. Also, looking at you Toga-chan, I see that you are wearing that strange cape Izumi-chan has been messing around with for a few weeks. Did you paint it red?"

"It's not exactly paint, hehe~" Himiko got up, wrapping the cape around herself and doing a twirl. "Isn't it pretty~?"

"Guess it is." He turned to look at Izumi, giving her a conspiratory smile and putting a hand over his mouth, but not bothering to lower his voice so Himiko doesn't hear him. "You two slept alone wearing that little~?" Giran noticed, seeing that Himiko was just wearing a pair of panties and the vest of the Blood Cape. "Do I need to be worried~?"

Izumi finished folding the sheet of paper, making a paper airplane, and threw it at Giran's face. The plane twisted in the air, the air pressure making it turn and curve and change direction, seemingly going to miss Giran. But before Izumi started throwing darts, she had thrown a thousand paper airplanes. She didn't miss.

The plane turned again, the air pressure just pushing and turning against its paper wings perfectly for it to make a sharp turn, and go behind Giran's glasses, getting into his right eye directly. He whined and rubbed his eye, while the crows and Himiko openly laughed at him, the latter with a wide grin and blush spreading through her face, as the paper airplane dropped to the ground now that it had hit it's mark.

"Agh, alright, alright, I get it"

"Well, then you got some jobs for me?"

Izumi grabbed a handful of chips from the bag, and offered the rest to Himiko, who gladly took the bag, keeping it effortlessly away from any crow that managed to sneak it away from her.

"Straight to the point, eh? Wish more of my contacts were as throughout as you, even if they wake up late"

"You want me to throw a dart at you?"

"Geez~ grumpy today, aren't we? But you're right, let's get down to business"

Izumi got one of the plastic chairs and dragged it towards Giran, while she sat on the other one. Wuji had finally stopped fixing her hair, and dropped down to rest at Izumi's shoulder. Himiko sat on top of the table, waving her legs without any worry in the world.

The bloodsucker grabbed one of the bloodpacks that she hadn't sucked into the Blood Cape, and started drinking the blood inside as if it were a mere slurpee.

Giran coughed into his hand, getting back on track to inform Izumi about the jobs he had gotten for her.

"Ok, first of all, apparently last night a crow got a job from a local gang in Musutafu, target is Death Arms"

"A crow told you this? Why didn't it come to me first?"

"Caw!" Izumi turned her head to look at Lave.

You seemed busy, last night.

"I managed to get something from you being busy last night or something" He turned to look at Himiko with a grin. "I can see that he was right"

Izumi sighed, Himiko giggled into the blood pack. "It's a she. And Lave, is alright, next time you can tell me, I'm wasn't busy" Himiko nudged her with her foot. "That busy."

Himiko stuck her tongue out and winked at Lave. The crow got the message.

"Soooo," Izumi dragged her voice, getting attention back to herself. "Death Arms you say? Hmmm, not the most interesting hunt. I already know most of his patrol routes, but he has a decent number of sidekicks and connections with other hero agencies. Could be interesting"

"Alright~ I'll contact the client for the prize then~ Still remember their face? Hmm, Lave, was it?"

"Yes!" The crow cawed, flapping her wings and hopping next to Giran.

"Right, right, we'll get to it later. Now, there's more jobs! Got a popular morning for Karasu today"

"I can see why~" Himiko said, crushing the blood pack on her hand above her head, letting the last few drops of blood fall directly into her tongue. "Izumi-chan does just such a clean job~"

Izumi's cheeks puff a little at the praise, but quickly controls her heartbeat with soothing breaths to stop herself from blushing before Giran realizes and teases her for it.

She has to admit, it feels nice for someone other than Giran, her handler, and the crows, her partners in crime, to praise her for her skills. Especially Himiko, since she also knows what goes into the art of hunting someone down.

"What are the other jobs then?"

"Well, one is from the SASC, and I think you'll like it"

Izumi raises an eyebrow and leans forward, putting her elbows on her knees and resting her face on her hands. It wasn't common for Giran to acknowledge a job that Izumi would enjoy, so it had to have something interesting.

"I'm listening"

Giran took out a cigarette, leaning it forward for Izumi to light up using her sparking glove. She merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh right, we are inside." He exhaled a defeated sigh before pocketing the cigarette. "No smoking inside the cabin"

"No smoking inside the cabin" Izumi repeated, and after her, a few of the crows echoed her (one of which was Urusai of course, who had sat on top of Himiko's head).

"Yeah, yeah, we'll, whatever. About the job. The SASC has told me that they have found a quirked wolf getting closer to the forest, and want you to take it down"

"Nothing unusual there. Quite a few quirked wolves end up being 'found' around here. But…?"

Giran smirked.

"Buuuuut~ this wolf has a very tricky quirk for you to handle. Metal Repelling"

Izumi nodded, her attention having been caught by that, already thinking of ways to work around it. Giran was right, she already liked this job.

"Interesting. How strong is it?"

"They said that it stops bullets, freezing them in the air a meter from its body"

"Hmmm, it's a magnetic quirk, right?"

"Yep, that's what they said."

"They said that the quirk's name is Metal Repelling, right? No manipulation or magnetic control or disruption?"

"Nope~ just repelling~ makes you think how they know it does just if the SASC supposedly just heard about the wolf"

"Oh? Is the animal protection agency thingy actually sketchy?" Himiko asked, tilting her head and making Urusai caw, complaining about his seat moving around.

"Well, they employ me and other hunters of the Order of Orion, so you tell me" Izumi responded, a slight smile on her face.

"Hmmm~ so that's what those guys do~" She got up, and went to the furnace and grabbed the skull adorning it above its main door. "But they aren't very interesting~"

"Yeah, not really. They aren't really good enough to be be called hunters"

"Come on, don't be like that. They aren't that bad. Got some good jobs out of them years ago." Giran tried to defend them.

Izumi nearly raised an eyebrow and pointed to the skull belonging to one of the former hunters.

"Ok, alright, from the new hunters you are really the only one worth getting jobs from. But the old ones aren't really that bad."

"I've seen Backfire drunk more times than I've seen him sober"

Giran sighed. "Alright, I got it. They aren't as good as you two, you gatekeepers"

"Hey, someone has to keep the standards high~" Himiko said with a grin on her face.

"Going back to the job, a wolf with a Metal Repelling quirk that appeared mysteriously near the headquarters of the SASC and escaped- no, was found in my territory. Got it"

"Wonderful, I'll notify them you accepted it. Though I'm curious how you are going to handle it"

"Black Bullets aren't going to work, if the description they gave you is accurate, they are going to be stopped like regular bullets. Kuro has problems around magnets, his feathers are the same"

"What about the arrows?" Giran asked her, making Izumi narrow her eyes.

"Are you trying to figure out if I have a special method in mind?"

"Heh, busted~ Can you blame me though? You made what looks like a professional support item for Toga-chan, I'm curious if you are going to make another one to deal with the wolf"

"She not only made me a cape~ Look at this! Isn't it pretty!?"

Himiko practically shoved the Black Knife on Giran's face, who had to step back, clearly not enjoying having something sharp getting close to his face.

"A-ah, yeah I see. So you also finally finished that."

"Yes. I wasn't going to make some half assed knife for a gift"

"It's so perfect! I can't wait to cut somebody and spill their blood with it!" Himiko shouted and hugged Izumi, who kept her composure thanks to her breathing. Yeah, didn't react whatsoever. Not at all.

"I see~ Well then, Karasu, how are you planning on taking that puppy down~?"

"This is a job for Diana, remember that. Don't want that to be exposed because of a slip up like that"

"Who do you take me for? Please, I don't slip up while working"

"Hmm, yeah, I guess you are right." She thought about it, thinking of ways she could work around a prey where all metal is useless.

Stopping bullets before they reach it sounds like a very strong form of magnetism, "probably not even the Black Bullets are able to go past it. The fact the mentioned bullets probably means that they tested it or have some sort of proof, or just notified me since they know I work with a rifle. In case they tested it or have proof about the quirk's use, it could mean the wolf has some sort of perception of metal or can feel it around itself. Reacting to fired bullets is incredibly hard, most travel below the speed of sound, but reacting directly to the sound would still require incredible reaction time and speed to stop the bullet, so if that's the case the wolf must have some sort of magnetic field that allows it to feel metal around it. As a precaution I should carry no metal with me. That leaves the only option for a weapon a regular bow, not B-Tip, and also would need wooden arrows with flint tips. I can totally make those but they may not be strong enough to pierce a wolf specially if I can't use a good bow. Gorogoro's feathers already let me charge the static electricity into a spark when laced against my gloves, and his quirk is even better when in a thunderstorm or when speeding up and flying super fast, laced into an arrow it could create and electromagnetic field around itself that may be able to penetrate even the wolf's magnetic push. There's a lot of Gorogoro's feathers that I've been keeping around in case I ever needed them and this seems like a very interesting excuse to finally be able to bring them out for something other than silly sparking gloves—"

"Woah, you can really talk fast when you get going." Himiko said, having followed Izumi's entire thought process thanks to her muttering.

"You betcha~ She always gets like this when there's a really challenging quirk on her prey to hunt~ and also when she has to make another support item to help her hunt"

Izumi pouted, moving from the table where she had walked to when she was rambling and brainstorming apparently out loud. She grabbed the paper airplane and pointed it at Giran and Himiko, who raised their hands in surrender (though Himiko quickly lowered them and giggled, Giran didn't try his luck).

"Alright, yeah, I like when I'm challenged, can you blame me? That's why I got into hunting heroes. It takes more effort to be able to cleanly kill them and then get away. Though some aren't as difficult as I'd hoped."

"Tooootally get it~ sometimes I let my prey sense that something is wrong before cutting them up, just to see them fight and try to stop me from making blood spill right from their soft and fragile skin~"

"Well, I don't get it. Taking a more difficult job on purpose? They are only better because the pay is better" Giran shrugged.

"You always take the easy route and let the people you send away on your jobs take the hard part. Wasn't exactly expecting you to understand" Izumi rolled her eyes.

"Hey now, taking on jobs and knowing your people is important~ You have used my contacts before~ remember when you needed someone to get rid of the body of that grim skull you kept as a souvenir? Keeping a network is hard, you should know"

"Hmmm, I guess I do" Izumi conceded.

"Huh, you are awfully agreeable today~" He turned to Himiko. "She truly must have had fun~"

"I have the paper plane literally in my hand"

Himiko burst out laughing and even Giran couldn't help the playful grin on his face, while Izumi definitely didn't have to use her breath control to stop herself from grinning as well, no she did not.

"Anything else?" Izumi grumbled, hiding the blush creeping on her face by slowing her heartbeat.

"Yeah, actually. But it's just… Well, I'll tip the bandaid straight up."

Izumi raised an eyebrow, looking to her side to Wuji, who cawed in an equivalent of shrug in crow body language.

"There's a client that reached out to me for Karasu to hit on, but not kill, the members of the National Diet in support of the new Quirk Regulation Law"

Silence filled the cabin. Giran sighed, already having foreseen this reaction, while Himiko tilted her head, moving the skull in her hands to mimic the movement of her head.

"Quirk Regulation Law? What's that about?"

"It's a new law proposing higher restrictions on public quirk use and that would give the government and hero agencies more control over quirk regulations, especially empowering the Hero Commission over those quirk regulations" Izumi explained, almost monotone.

Wuji flew off her shoulder, sensing her mood souring from the tone. She kept her breathing even and her heart calm, but everyone in the cabin knew just that she had gotten angry, knowing her far too well to miss that.

"I imagine that you already told the client what my response would be"

"I did. Hunting down politicians? No way Karasu would find that enjoyable"

"And their response?"

"To ask anyway. Even paid me to do so. It seems they also intended to schedule a meeting with you"

Izumi closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. When she opened her eyes, she had gotten over it, controlled her anger and dismissed the stupid ideas of a client that didn't know any better.

"Rejected. Tell them you were right, and to not expect a visit unless they want me coming after them. I imagine you are already looking into them, if you called them just 'a client', it means you aren't very familiar with them"

"Yeah, as sharp as always. Can I borrow some crows for that? They took some effort to remain anonymous and I'm also kinda curious as to who it could be"

"Sure, and make sure they know I don't accept boring jobs like that"

"Will do"

Izumi sighed, and went to pick up a few wooden arrows she still had but mostly used as molds to make Black Arrows.

"So they are trying to regulate quirks more?" Himiko laid on her back on the table. "That sucks. I'm just going to keep using mine however I want~"

"As if a law could stop you"

"Haha! True~" Himiko grinned, showing Izumi all her teeth. "There's something I don't understand though"

"What is it?"

"The guy wanting to have you go after some politician, but not kill him. Where's the fun in that?"

Izumi sighed, bring the arrow close to her face to inspect the tip.

"I don't know. Probably some political maneuver. But going after a prey that I can't hunt, and especially someone as boring as a group of politicians… I wonder what impression they must had of me to ask that"

Izumi pointedly glared at Giran, throwing the accusation at him without any chance of being misinterpreted.

"Hey, I warned them that you'd object, and they seemed to recognize that, but still insisted nonetheless. I honestly don't understand you two hunting freaks not going after after easy jobs"

"Pfff, half the fun is the stalking, learning about your prey, creeping up close, and feeling the thrill of danger as you get close until you have your way~"

Himiko's face reddened with a blush as she explained the thrill of the hunt, turning and laying on her belly on the table, looking straight up at Giran.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I haven't accepted non lethal jobs from the SASC, and I don't intend to start accepting them as Karasu either. I like finishing my jobs"

Giran gave a knowing look at Himiko.

"Most of them~"

Izumi threw the paper airplane to curve around Giran's glasses and hit his other eye. Himiko giggled and got off the table to leave more room for Izumi.

"Aw! Jeez, you are going to leave me blind"

Izumi grabbed one of Gorogoro's stashed feathers and put it next to the end of the arrow, comparing it with the feathers already in the wooden arrow.

"Are you going to work now on the workaround for the anti-metal wolf?" Giran asked, hiding the concern in his voice so well, Izumi failed to catch it.

"Yeah, that was my plan for the moment. Why?"

"Well, since you slept here, you may have to return to Musutafu soon. You know, your mother could do something rush like bringing unwanted attention to yourself if you stay 'disappeared' from home for too long"

Izumi grumbled and pet Hattori, who had gotten into the table to get some cuddles. She ended up sighing.

"Guess you are right. Luckily Death Arms is a Musutafu hero, so I can go and start preparing his hunt and check up in the apartment at the same time."

Izumi kept petting Hattori, who made a sound similar to a cat purring, making more crows fly to the table looking for some scraps of attention.

"Last thing I want is her making a scene because I went missing for too long"

Himiko paid a lot of attention to Izumi. She had seen her mercilessly go after a hero and kill him without a second thought, brought a human skull and set it up as decoration in her villain lair, as a trophy to show her dominance over a lesser hunter.

Ruthless, kind, efficient, sharp Izumi. Skilled in anything that involved shooting or throwing objects, and added to that, building gadgets that could rival pro hero support items.

That very same Izumi… got grumpy when her mother was mentioned.

Himiko had always suspected that Izumi didn't have the best of relationships with her mother, as she had never mentioned her. Hell, she was practically an expert in parents that hold their kids back.

A soft smile curled her lips. A sad, understanding smile, but one of companionship and camaraderie.

She felt the need to go and pat Izumi in the head, and Himiko lived life as she wanted, so she did.

"E-eh? What was that about?"

For as much as Izumi could keep her cool and stay calm and collected in tense situations, she still lost all her composure when Himiko decided to do that.

"I just felt like patting you~ can't I~ Izumi-chan~?"

Izumi averted her eyes, unable to hold her gaze with Himiko's grin. The fact that it didn't have Himiko's usual edge caught her off guard.

She quickly recovered, keeping her unruly heart under control with a deep breath and pouting a bit.

"I guess I'm ok with that…"

Giran shook his head, smiling to himself and getting a cigarette out. Lave flew out to his shoulder, ready to guide him to the client that she encountered last night to negotiate the prize for the job.

"I'll be going then. Have to locate the client and set up the payment, have fun you lovebirds~"

Izumi's face went red and grabbed the wooden arrow, ready to throw it, bow be damned.

"Who are you calling lovebirds!?"

Himiko grabbed Izumi's arm, stopping her from throwing the arrow, and pulled her closer. Izumi didn't mind Himiko's seeming indifference towards covering herself, as she understood that because of her quirk, Himiko liked being lightly clothed.

But she felt her cheeks heat up as both their vests rubbed against each other while Himiko pulled her into a hug.

It felt… intimate. Izumi had been feeling a bit like this yesterday, when she gave Himiko her gifts and during the sleepover, but she still had no idea how to handle these new feelings. They made it harder to control her breathing.

"What's the problem with that~" Himiko said, lowering her voice and digging her eyes straight at Izumi.

The hunter held her breath, hearing her heart drumming against her head. Himiko's face was super close. Again.

Then, when they had stayed like that for so long that Izumi was about to say something, Himiko snorted, and started giggling.

Izumi realized she was just messing with her and pulled herself away from the hug, lightly hitting Himiko with her fists and puffing her red cheeks in a pout.

---

Izumi got back to Musutafu around noon, carrying her rifle with her, and her usual hero hunting equipment. The days were still long even in August, so there was still a bit of sunlight left, but it was nowhere near as hot as the previous day.

It had been quite a while since she hunted in Musutafu, the last time being when she had turned the hunt of Himiko, into a hunt with her against her employer, and before that, when she had hunted Bambooman. Now that she thought about it, her only other hunt in Musutafu was also Himiko related, her first hero hunt, Taser. So that was 2 out of 3 hunts she did in Musutafu Himiko related.

Well, this hunt had nothing to do with her for a change. Giran had sent her a message through her special phone about meeting the client and setting a price, so that was handled. Izumi told him to tell Lave that she'd reward her for the good job.

Izumi walked through the familiar streets of Musutafu's underground, her face completely hidden in her helmet. Her presence still wasn't anything much to talk about, since very few villains actually knew what Karasu looked like, with those being Giran, Shigaraki, Kurogiri and a few others that set up their jobs with both her and Giran present for different reasons.

Because of that, Izumi could still move around both in and out of the fishy parts of Musutafu without anyone turning their head after recognizing her as Karasu. Of course Backfire didn't even notice as always.

And that fool calls himself a hunter. Pathetic. Izumi thought.

The hunter skipped all the preparation stages of the hunt, which usually consisted on getting to know the terrain and city, since she knew Musutafu's concrete jungle almost as well as Tia forest at this point.

She effortlessly climbed through the emergency stairs of a building a few blocks off Death Arms' agency, and took out the rifle from her bag. Wuji and a few other crows were nearby, either with her on the rooftop, or around the street and the path Izumi knew was already part of Death Arms' patrol route.

He was a hero with good relations with almost every other hero in Musutafu, but was also pretty unremarkable, and every time Izumi saw him work, he always acted in an extremely safe manner, never taking unnecessary risks.

Izumi understood very well the importance of not taking any risks to do a very good job, hell, that's why she put so much effort into watching the patrols of every of her hero targets, and made sure to become familiar with their city and other heroes patrolling around.

But she also loved challenging herself. Going after heroes, constantly changing her target to anywhere in Japan the Shinkanshen could take her was part of that. Adapting to different cities, different agencies, police precincts, etc. That's why she didn't refuse hunting the deer that was invulnerable to regular bullets and arrows, and why she had now accepted going after a wolf that could repel all her current means of hunting it down.

But Death Arms… whenever there was a mildly challenging villain with a quirk that matched well against his physical brute force… He just gave up and let other heroes take care of it. That was wariness to the point of contempt.

Still, Death Arms was just one of the many heroes she disliked over how they worked. This job wasn't personal, she was hired by a gang that was being persecuted by his agency, so she would do her job and take him out.

Not tonight though. Even though she already knew Musutafu and most heroes' patrols there, she would still spend a few days checking on him. She liked challenges, but she wouldn't walk let familiarity distract her from doing her job well.

Izumi saw Kuro on top of the building holding Death Arm's agency with the scope of her rifle. It wasn't common for her or Shiro to come along very often for her hunts, because they brought a lot of attention to themselves, but every now and again, they tagged along.

Just as the sun was starting to set and the darkness of the night started to spread over the sky, Izumi caught Death Arms in her scope. He was taking his usual patrol route with his three sidekicks behind him.

That's odd. He usually patrols on his own. Today's specially calm as well.

Izumi furrowed her brows, whistling at the crows to be alert. Wuji stayed with her, while the rest spread around.

Maybe it wasn't something to be concerned about, but it hurt to prepare. It was a very calm day in Musutafu, the streets were pretty silent, and there were few heroes on patrol. So it stuck like a sore thumb to see Death Arms be with more sidekicks than normal.

"Caw!"

A few of the crows flying around and observing the hero came back to her, including Shiro. Izumi furrowed her brow again. Shiro taking the effort to come back, even after being so easy to be noticed because of his white feathers definitely wasn't a good sign.

Strange behavior. Hero not going back to nest.

They aren't going back to the agency?

Izumi checked through the scope, and confirmed it. They went past the building of the agency and kept walking.

Did their patrol change? Was that the reason they were all all together? With all his sidekicks? Or were they going to hang out after work? No, it couldn't be that, they were all still wearing their hero outfits.

Whatever it was, she had to know what it was. This is why she never rushed any job. Changes like these even in a well known hero's patrol could always happen. They were about to get out of her sight's reach, if they kept going to the end of the street to cross that corner.

Thankfully there was another building with a rooftop she could access that had good visibility as well.

Izumi packed the rifle quickly into the bag and went to the emergency stairs and went down the fire escape. She followed the crows instructions, checking that Death Arms didn't do any further strange deviations in his path.

The hunter got to another fire escape emergency exit, quickly walking up through the stairs. She managed to fight off the fatigue of quickly walking several floors thanks to her control in her breathing, by allowing her heart to pump faster, and then calming it down once she reached the rooftop.

Wuji landed on her shoulder, and cawed, pointing forward with his wing. Izumi nodded, setting the rifle again and using the scope to look where Wuji pointed her.

The sun had finally set, and the streetlights brightened Musutafu's every nook and cranny. Izumi furrowed her brow, struggling to properly make out Death Arms' group with the sudden lights around the street. Still, thanks to the helmet, she could somewhat ignore the blinding lights and managed to locate Death Arms.

Her previous assessment of where he was going was right, and the crows had also led her correctly. Even though the change of the patrol and his companions were oddities, Izumi managed to recover pretty quickly.

She still wondered what that was all about, and asked herself whether she'll have to worry about Death Arms changing his patrol routes like that from now on. It wouldn't be much of an issue with how well she knew Musutafu, but it'd still be very annoying.

The hunter then realized something strange. The streetlights had bothered a bit before, but since she was wearing the helmet she managed to avoid losing Death Arms and his sidekicks. But they were walking closer to the edge of the crosswalk, in such a way that the trees on the street always obscured the group in some way.

With how much space there was in this street, Izumi found the insistence of the group to walk that way very strange, especially since they had to walk around every tree.

Then they stopped right behind a car, to talk among each other. It just so happened that their upper torsos and faces were all perfectly hidden under the leaves of a tree, leaving their bodies completely hidden from Izumi at the moment.

Izumi furrowed her brow more, and vented her frustration by loading a Black Bullet into the rifle with a satisfying click, even if she wasn't going to use it today.

Why did they stop right now? Every other day, something like this wouldn't have disturbed Izumi. In a hunt, momentarily losing sight of your prey was common, and she was always capable of finding it back, especially when she hunted heroes.

But something had been creeping on the back of her head for a while now. The strange changes in Death Arms' patrol, both his company and his route, the calmness of the streets and how now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen the other heroes she knew patrolled this way. The way Death Arms and his sidekicks walked around the trees, always keeping some part of themselves hidden.

She didn't fear losing them, with the crows watching them, that was impossible unless they suddenly became invisible or warped away. It's just, they moved somewhere outside of their regular patrol route, right when the streetlights turned on and then they walked right under the trees, as if specifically to inconvenience her, stopping behind a car in a way that from her position, she couldn't accurately shoot them if they moved around behind their cover.

Izumi widened her eyes under the helmet.

They didn't just so happen to walk in a way they got covered! They led me here and then kept themselves hidden! This is a set up!

Just as she realized the trap, Wuji, who was still on Izumi's shoulder cawed loudly, in an unmistakable warning.

Behind!

Izumi turned as fast as she could, cursing the weight of her rifle for the first time since she was a little girl. She is only mid turn, but the hunter begins to see what seems to be a black figure, and readies her breathing and stalls her heart.

Some strange tape-like things wrapped around the tip of the rifle, pulling it from her and making her miss her shot by a lot.

The bang rang on her ears and she felt Wuji fly away from her shoulder. Izumi tried to point the rifle back at her ambusher, and she recognized him.

It was a man wearing all black, dark clothes, along with strange yellow goggles that did a poor job to hide the red eyes underneath, and that strange tape-like scarf wrapped around his neck, levitating in the air along with his hair.

She recognized him from the crows description of the hero that had followed her after she took down Bambooman. From the intel the crows had gotten from him every time they saw him, he was a night patrolling underground hero that used that strange scarf (his quirk maybe?) to immobilize villains before they can even use their quirks.

Izumi fought against the grip of the scarf on her rifle, in order to point it at the hero again, but he reacted fast, throwing his scarf at the rifle. The hunter widened her eyes as she helplessly watched the scarf wrap around her rifle, and then feel it being torn away from her hand with strength far greater than that of Izumi's.

She could already feel her heart start to beat faster, and held her breath to calm herself. Izumi flicked her hands down to get some darts from her sleeves, but the hero reacted faster than her, whipping his scarf at her again, wrapping it around her and binding her tightly.

Her arms were pressed into her sides by the hero's scarf. Thinking fast, Izumi used all the air in her lungs to let out a long winded, high pitched whistle. The hero must have sensed she was up to something, as he pulled on the scarf, yanking Izumi from her spot and making her fall down right in front of him, where he pressed his boot into Izumi's helmet.

The helmet took most of the hit, as that is his original function, before concealing her identity and voice, but Izumi's head still felt like it was spinning.

Wuji cawed, furious, and dove into the hero, who ducked right under him, and tried to swat him with a backhand, barely missing. Izumi felt her blood boil after seeing that, and grunted, trying to fight against the scarf binding her.

She would not allow him to hurt a single crow!

Seeing that she was struggling, the hero kept his gaze on Izumi, hair standing up, and those red eyes glowing behind his strange goggles.

"Give up. You can't break free"

"AAAHHH!" Izumi growled, squirming into the bounds, but deep down, controlling her breathing.

That guttural scream was genuine, but Izumi wouldn't let her anger blind her. Still, she wasn't going to let her outburst be for nothing. She'd calm herself and think of a way out, while acting completely deranged and like a wild animal on the outside. That should give her an opening after the hero lowers his guard.

Wuji tried again to dive at the hero, but this time he was ready, moving out of the way without stopping looking at Izumi, and managed to hit Wuji, who squawked and fell to the floor of the rooftop.

"No!"

"Stay still" The hero tightened his bind and pressed the helmet harder into the floor.

He still hadn't broken eye contact with her, even when Wuji had flown to him for a second time. In fact, he reacted extremely well, almost as if he was used to reacting to threats without looking directly at them.

Thump…thump…

Glowing eyes… Strange goggles with holes in them… An eye based quirk? Does he control the scarf with his eyes? Or is something else? The goggles don't seem to be normal… If they have holes his quirk probably requires a straight line of vision, that's why he keeps his eyes on me at all times… They might be built that way to throw people off to where he is seeing without interfering with his quirk…

Whatever his quirk was, Izumi needed to get out of there fast. She couldn't believe he managed to sneak into her and the crows like that. They really lowered their guard because it was Musutafu… It wouldn't happen again, Izumi swore.

"Eraser Head here. I got the target" The hero, Eraser Head, said to a comm-link in his ear.

Izumi hadn't stopped struggling, in one part to keep the act of a cornered prey, but also to see if she could actually get off the strange scarf. The way it didn't even bulge, and the smell from it were highly unusual.

Either the scarf is connected to his visual quirk, or it's made of a strange material. Now that Izumi thought about it, using a scarf to battle was extremely unusual, quirk or not.

Eraser Head… I heard that name before… Giran mentioned he is a problematic underground hero that is capable of erasing quirks! That's why he is looking at me! It's a visual activation quirk and a meta quirk! Just how blessed was this guy!?

Quirks that affect other quirks are very rare, and for one whose activation method was just eyesight… Izumi couldn't believe the genetic lottery that Eraser Head won. But if this hero was Eraser Head and kept looking at her… It meant that he must keep looking at her in order to suppress her nonexistent quirk. Which meant, he was pressing his eyesight to keep down.

Izumi grinned under her helmet, feeling a rush of adrenaline hit her, and letting her heartbeat flow to heat up her binded limbs. She looked straight at Wuji, who was flapping his wings and trying to get up.

Her blood still boiled in hate for what Eraser Head had done, but she needed to calm down, make the hero lower his guard until the cavalry arrived.

She whistled again, the voice changer in the helmet making it come a bit warbled, but Wuji got the message still.

Stay still. Trust me.

Wuji looked at her with his only eye, and stopped trying to get up, cawing and letting himself rest into his good side.

Now, Izumi had to keep up the act.

"What? Why isn't my quirk working!?"

"It's no use. Karasu, right? You can't use your quirk"

To her surprise, Eraser Head actually tightened the scarf around her, and kept his eyes straight on her.

"You bastard! What did you do to me!?"

Yes, keep looking at me. You may not be underestimating me, and as a hunter, I appreciate that even in my state from your perspective. But you are still a hero. You think that your quirk will let you keep me pinned like this, and that without my own I'm helpless.

Izumi's smirk grew wider, and her cheeks pinched from how much her smile had spread.

Your quirk may be overpowered, a visual activation and meta quirk… But I'm not your prey, I am the hunter. I know that for every strong ability there's an equal trade back. Yours, Eraser Head, is your overconfidence in your ability, and tunnel vision because of it.

"""Caw!"""

Hearing the rest of the crows finally get here, Izumi pulled her body as far back as she could, while Eraser Head fought against the murder, still keeping a tight grip on the scarf, unwilling to let her go.

Still, there were six crows on him, and that forced him to divide his attention enough for his eye contact to finally break. Izumi could have done this from the moment the murder came down on him, but keeping the hero on his toes was his priority.

She let out three short whistles, in different pitches. Eraser Head visibly panicked, looking back at Izumi and glaring his red eyes at her.

Excellent. He really thinks my 'quirk' is linked to my voice.

Izumi pulled herself back, making the scarf tense around her and the spot that Eraser Head was till holding, giving Kuro ample space.

"Caw!" She cawed, as Izumi heard her metallic flaps getting closer.

In a black flash, Kuro flew right straight through the scarf, cutting through it with her wings and making Eraser Head and Izumi get pulled by their own strength backwards.

Eraser Head almost tripped, startled, but managed to recover just in time to avoid the claws of a crow going to his goggles. Izumi started getting out of the scarf, finally freeing her limbs. She pressed her tongue against her front teeth and whistled again.

Every crow momentarily stopped.

"The scarf! Get it!"

""""Caw!""""

Every crow flew straight at Eraser Head, stopping him from throwing what was left of his strange scarf at Izumi. He was too busy having to dodge beaks and claws, but now he felt constant pulls of his scarf every now and then. If he wasn't careful, the murder would choke him.

Still, Izumi was surprised to see that the hero was still capable of stepping on the piece of his scarf still wrapped on her rifle, and pulling it further away from Izumi.

They locked eyes again, his glowing red against her green (well, at least Izumi assumed they locked eyes, since they both had support items around them to obscure where their line of sight was). He was worried about her using the rifle or the crows again, but the crows kept their attack. Still, he was constantly breaking his focus in order to look at Izumi, so however his quirk worked, he didn't seem faced by the crows not stopping their attack.

But you are too focused on the crows and keeping the rifle away from me, hero.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Izumi whistled, and flicked her right hand, getting three darts in between her fingers.

Eraser Head will only have a moment to react, as the crows get out of the way from Izumi's path, finally out of the scarf. Still, Eraser Head managed to see the attack just in time, moving out of the way just as Izumi arched her arm and shot the darts.

The hero barely dodges the darts, realizing that they were aimed at his head, arm and leg. Before he could come into terms of how narrowly he had avoided becoming another victim of Karasu, he saw the darts catch fire just as he dodge them, and explode in his back, when they hit the floor of the rooftop.

"Eraser Head! What was that!?"

His comm buzzed in his ear, but he didn't have time to respond, as he saw Karasu flick her left arm at him, throwing him another dart. He realized at that moment that he had fallen for Karasu's trap.

The villain had used the exploding darts as a distraction, both where they were pointed and the explosion after that. All in order get him on the ground, where he was helpless to dodge another dart.

Still, Eraser Head had been cornered multiple times in his life, so he managed to twist his foot just in time to twist his body and avoid the dart.

But he wasn't fast enough.

Izumi hadn't aimed at him, he was aiming for his goggles. Just as he managed to turn faster than any other of Izumi's prey had done, the dart managed to strike the goggles from the side.

The darts had Shiro's feathers on their tail, and Izumi was wearing the sparkling gloves laced with Gorogoro's feathers. Her heartbeat was calm, her mind sharp. Throwing a dart and snapping her hand to create a spark at the same time was easy.

Not even the speed at which she threw the darts could take out the spark that spread through the white feathers.

The Flaming Dart exploded into white fire right in front of Eraser Head's eyes, his goggles not helping him at all to stop the light.

"Ahh!"

Eraser Head rolled to the side. His eyes burned, he felt his goggles had been ripped off his face by the dart, and smelled the distinct scent of hair burning. He continued rolling, to stop the fire in his hair and hoping to dodge any more of Karasu's darts.

He fights the pain and the intense brightness in his sight to open his eyes. He barely managed to catch Karasu with the wounded crow in their arms before they jumped into the fire escape and went down the stairs.

He wasn't out of luck still, as the crows came back at him, pecking, scratching and harassing him without getting close to his smoking hair.

Eraser Head protected his face and eyes, and activated his comm.

"I lost them! They have a quirk that controls crows! One of the crows seems to have a slashing quirk! And Karasu also has multiple support items other than their firearm!"

Because of how he had to defend himself from the murder, he missed a few of them grabbing into the rifle and getting it out of there.

Izumi almost jumped it's floor of stairs, wanting to get the hell away from that hero as soon as possible. But with an injured Wuji on her arms, she decided to be more careful, and just went down the stairs by going down two at a time.

She had opted to flee from Eraser Head rather than wait to finish him off because of the little intel she had on him. The hunter was used to stalking her prey, and if she decided to stay, the hero could have been surprised with something she didn't know about and more crows could have gotten hurt. She wasn't going to take that chance.

How did they even manage to ambush her? Eraser Head was talking with someone else, probably the police or other heroes. Death Arms and his sidekicks acting strange and going out of their patrol route must have been done on purpose to lure her to this specific building.

That meant that they had somehow discovered this job… The thought of Giran selling her out came to her mind, but she quickly shot down that idea. He wouldn't do that to an asset that had given so much, and he knew better than to get on the entire murder's bad side. Never mess up with a crow if you don't want a murder to take it all out on you.

He also couldn't have done it. It was Lave who got the job and then informed him, and he just went to see the client to check the price of the jo–

That was it! They must have gotten the information from the client! Either they were working for the heroes, or they got found out, and Giran just went to see them!

Izumi was about to get off the wretched fire escape, but whistled to call down a crow. It was Hayai, perfect.

"Go warn Giran! They set us up!"

Hayai cawed and flew off, in what Izumi assumed was the direction Giran and Lave had gone to see the client. She hoped Hayai got to them in time just as she finally got to the end of the stairs.

The moment Izumi managed to get down to ground level, she saw some of the heroes that hadn't been on patrol run at her along with several policemen.

She wastes no time, and whistles again, turning and running off in the opposite direction.

"Wait, villain! Ahh!"

Some hero shouted, before getting attacked by a crow. The police turned their guns into the murder, but they were too slow, as some of the crows had dived right into their hands, either snatching their guns from their hands, or pecking at them until they dropped them.

Izumki turned the corner, still in full sprint, making sure to keep her breathing steady, to not overexert herself. She looked down at Wuji. One of his wings seemed broken, so she'll have to take care of him as she escapes from the ambush.

"Caw!"

Izumi heard Kuro's metallic wingbeats as he passed right through her, warning her of the police presence coming from the left. She flicked her right hand, getting another dart.

Right when she got to the next cross, Izumi turned to the left. There were three police officers as Kuro had said.

Izumi flicked her arm and snapped her hand at the same time. The dart caught fire in the air and went straight to one of the officer's eyes.

The hunter turned around to go to the right, hearing the screaming officer behind her. She counted on the other two to tend to him, not wanting to use too many darts like with Eraser Head, but she didn't have such luck.

She heard gunshots and felt the shift in the air as they barely missed her. From their number and timing she heard them, just one of the officers had shot at her.

"Fiiiiiiiiiii!"

Kuro cawed, turning around in the air and going after the officer that shot at Izumi, but before she could get to him, he managed to hit Izumi.

She fell to the ground, feeling intense pain on her back. Izumi managed to fall on her side, to not hurt Wuji. Her back screamed at her, but the Nemean Vest had done it's job, and protected her from a much worse injury.

Izumi gritted her teeth, and whistled again. More crows came to her aid, and she could hear all three of the police officers in the back scream, the sound of gunshots disappearing as Kuro and other crows tore them apart.

"Onee-san!"

Izumi turned to look at one of the crows, and saw a few of them carrying her rifle. Izumi grabbed it with her free hand and kept on running.

With the help of the crows she'll eventually be able to lose the heroes and police, and change into a civilian look and thankfully manage to get to the apartment to tend to Wuji. She had been overconfident since she knew Musutafu like the back of her hand, but she also lived here. She didn't have to get to the shinkansen station to escape, anywhere would be fine, and then she'd be able to walk as a civilian to the apartment.

"Caw!"

Izumi almost didn't have time to react, as a new figure came out of the shadows and hit her on the head with what Izumi assumed was a wooden bat, judging from the sound it made when rattling her head. she staggers a bit, her head ringing again, and jumps back from the new hero.

No, not a hero. The man wore dark robes and a hood around his face that obscure his face. He recognized him as a vigilante that the crows had seen more than once, and that Giran had also spoken off when she mentioned it. Before Izumi could think how he saw anything with that hood on, the man swung his wooden bat at her, and Izumi barely managed to get out of the way.

"Wuji!"

Knowing what she wanted, the crow hopped off Izumi's arm, using his beak to get some leverage and get on Izumi's shoulder without moving his broken wing.

Izumi raised her rifle, but before she could point at the vigilante, he swung his bat downward and pushed the rifle out of the way. The bang surprised Izumi, as she didn't intend to fire the loaded Black Bullet and create a hole in the ground.

She wouldn't be able to load another Black Bullet before the vigilante swung his bat again.

The murder cawed, including Wuji from her side, and flew straight at the vigilante, but he swung the bat around, keeping them off of him. Now that Izumi got a clear look at it, she realized that it wasn't a bat, but a wooden kendo sword.

The vigilante leaped straight into Izumi's space again, not giving her a moment to rest. Izumi managed to block a few swings using her rifle as a shield, but the difference in physical strength was too great.

Izumi wasn't weak for her age, years of using the bow and later the furnace having given her sturdy arms. Even still, she was still just a teenager, and every time the vigilante swung his sword at her, her arms burned and she felt her entire body shake.

She couldn't stop him from giving her rifle a sideways swing and ripping it from her hands. What's worse, she heard something snap as he did so.

Izumi tried to whistle, but the vigilante hit her on the sides multiple times with the kendo sword, and then poked at her chest with fast thrusting fencing moves, finishing it off with a diagonal downward swing right at her head again.

Izumi's body twisted, and she heard the visor of the helmet crack as she fell face first into the ground.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

Get up! Control your heart! If you are down, so is Wuji!

Izumi tasted the metallic flavor of blood on her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue as she fell.

Thankfully, the crows lunged at the vigilante, pulling at his robes and going for his head. They managed to peck his hand first, making him drop the sword, and taking it away from him.

"Stupid flying menaces!" He tried batting them away, but that just made them angrier at him.

Izumi pulled her body up, breathing slowly, hearing her heartbeat go slower and throb softer against her temples. She makes sure her body language shows that she's still reeling from the hit on her head, which even if she doesn't want to admit it, is true, and looks around.

Wuji seemed to be ok, just hopping awkwardly next to Izumi, his wing clearly hurting. That made Izumi remember her rage. She was Karasu, a member of the crow. She would punish everyone that messed with the crows, and wouldn't let some mediocre vigilante stand on her way!

The Nemean Vest had taken most of the hits to her torso, and the helmet, though with its visor cracked, had also protected her head. Still on the floor, Izumi steeled her heart, flicked another dart and flung it at the vigilante.

He barely blocked it with the kendo sword, and then dropped it as the spark in the white feathers lighted them up, and the sword burst into white flames.

Izumi scooped Wuji with her right arm, and he climbed back into her shoulder. She grabbed her rifle and pointed it at the vigilante. He backed off, and hid behind the alleyway that he'd ambushed her from.

Izumi was thankful for that, as she didn't know if the rifle would be able to work after the hit it had received. And she also hadn't had the time to load another Black Bullet, so she'll have to intimidate him.

"I don't know who you are, but you messed up. You think it's a good idea to mess up with a crow? My name isn't just because"

Izumi tilted her head, pointing to the crows flying in circles above her to get into the alleyway. They went down with glee, cawing and forcing the vigilante to flee or get his skin torn off by their beaks.

From the caws she knew that they had gotten further down the alleyway, and she peaked into it with her rifle, to scare the vigilante into running off.

She widened her eyes just as she turned to look into the alley. The crows had torn the cloth around the vigilante to shreds, including his hood. She recognized the horizontal yellow line crossing through the man's face, his dark eyes and those horrible dreadlocks.

If she hadn't been keeping her heartbeat steady and her mind sharp, she might have screamed the name of her teacher, Lanbosu. Was he a vigilante? Was that why he disliked the crows so much?

"What do you want from Toga Himiko!?"

Hearing Himiko's name sharpened her mind. Why did he bring her up? That didn't matter right now, she would be able to think as much as she wanted once she was safe. If she made it out, Wuji did, and no more crows would get hurt.

Izumi shook her head to focus herself, and pointed the rifle at him, cocking the rifle again to scare him off. It worked, he jumped off into one of the walls of the alley, and used it as a boost to go right into an opening in the right, fleeing into another alley.

Izumi raised the rifle and turned around.

"Fiiiiiiiii! Follow him, make him think we are hunting him"

A few crows cawed, flying off into the alley to the right, while the rest followed Izumi as she ran off in the opposite direction.

"Caw! Onee-san!"

Izumi looked up, seeing Shiro, Kuro and the crows that she had left behind with the officers reaching up to her.

"Police! Target!" Up ahead.

"Got it!"

She whistled again, and threw the rifle forward. Kuro grabbed it in the air, and along with another raven started gaining height. She wouldn't trust the rifle until she made sure Lanbosu didn't break anything. She wasn't about to waste Black Bullets by breaking the rifle in her hands.

Izumi moved Wuji to her right shoulder, and flicked her left arm. She had three darts still in that sleeve, and another two in her right sleeve.

"Shiro! How many targets are up ahead!?"

"Ten! More! Hero! Seven!"

More than ten police officers and around seven heroes. Not enough for her five darts but it'll have to do. She was surrounded by the murder, so Karasu was still at full force despite not being able to use her rifle right now.

"Any vehicles?"

"Police! Two!"

Izumi nodded, getting the idea that they must have used them to barricade the street to cut her off.

"Caw!" "Caw!" "Right there!"

A bunch of caws came from all the crows flying around Izumi, warning her that after the next turn she'd find her opposition again.

She whistled, and the crows went in, flying over and turning the corner all together. She could hear surprised gasps and shouts on the other side, probably not expecting so many crows to appear so suddenly, even though they must have heard some of their cawing and shouts.

Izumi gave Wuji two darts for him to hold, and put the other darts in her hands, two in her right hand, and another in her left.

She whistled a signal she didn't get to use quite often. Shiro flew upwards and above the buildings, going higher and higher. Kuro flew back from a rooftop where she had Izumi's rifle in temporarily, and let herself fall from it.

Izumi reached the corner, and turned around immediately, facing the police officers and heroes. The police were too busy trying to fend off the crows that had gone straight to grab their weapons to notice Izumi coming into view.

Izumi recognized Death Arms, Kamui Woods and a few of both their sidekicks. The two police cars were behind all of them, and Izumi got her target in view. It was quite a few meters away, but not outside the range of the darts before they disintegrated from the fire.

She whistled loudly, and flicked her left arm, snapping her hand and igniting the dart. The heroes reacted too slowly, even though they saw her, they were too surprised by the crows beforehand to be able to move before she threw the dart.

Speaking of, the dart flared mid air into white flames, passing through the screaming heroes warning their group. The crows had started flying away already, and the dart went straight into its target: one of the police car's tanks.

The white fire melted the chassis and went straight in, the heat immediately creating an explosion that roared in their ears, and pushed all the officers and heroes away.

Izumi crouched down to dodge any flying debris flying her way, shielding Wuji with her body. What was left of the car had been thrown upwards, and now fell straight into the other police car, engulfed in flames.

"Fiiiiiiiii!"

The murder cawed in return, telling Izumi they were alright, and Izumi started running directly into the destroyed blockade.

"Stop right–"

Izumi silenced the police officer who had pointed his gun at her by throwing one of the darts in her right hand to his throat. He screamed as his head burst into fire.

It was chaos, there was fire everywhere, and both the police and the heroes were too stunned to react, and the one who did was quickly shut up.

Izumi's heart was calm and collected. She knew her target was here. The job was to kill Death Arms, and they had used it to lure her in. Now, even if she escaped, they'd be on high alert towards him, so the job would be impossible to complete after they inevitably ask more heroes in for the next ambush.

Still, her pride as a hunter told her that she couldn't leave her prey running around after being forced to show her fangs and claws to the heroes.

She saw Death Arms get out of the fire carrying one of his sidekicks and an officer in his arms. Izumi didn't hesitate, and threw the last dart on her right hand directly at his head.

"Lacquered Chain Shield!"

Kamui Woods shot his arm in the way, expanding in branches that formed a shield right in front of Death Arms.

"Thanks!"

"Don't mention it! Fuck! This fire is burning the shield to a crisp!"

Izumi whistled again, and Kuro flew beside her straight at Kamui Woods' arm. The feathers on Kuro's wings cut through the wooden arm, almost as thick as a tree right off from him.

"AAAAGHH!"

"Woods!"

Izumi put her hand below Wuji, right on her shoulder. He let the last two darts fall into her hand. The hunter flicked her arm downwards, snapping her fingers at the same time.

The two darts went each to different directions. One went to the right, hitting the gun out of the hands of a sidekick that must have gotten it from a downed officer, and melting it right in her hands.

The other dart flashed Death Arms just when Kamui Woods' burning shield fell down, separated from his body. The hero closed his eyes from the white brightness, and then stopped thinking, as intense heat stabbed his mind right in between his eyes.

Death Arms' head popped as his brain was cooked by the intense heat of the white flames. His lifeless body fell forward, on top of the two people that he had gotten out of the fire, with smoke coming from his neck and what was left of his lower jaw.

The sidekicks and officers who saw it were stunned, while Kamui Woods screamed louder than the fire that had gotten to him and was burning part of his costume.

"AAAAAAAAGHH! You'll pay for that! Karasu!" The wood hero pointed his good arm at her, ignoring the fire on him.

Izumi merely pointed up and whistled. Kuro came down again, this time using her claws to slash at Kamui Woods' wrist before he could fire off another branch attack.

The hunter similarly ignored him, not being the target, and ran straight into the fire, passing through the still stunned sidekicks and officers. That seemed to wake them up, and started to immediately begin running after her as well.

"Fiiiiiiiiiuuuuu!"

The murder cawed, bringing Izumi's message higher and higher, until it reached Shiro, far above the Musutafu's tallest buildings. He cawed in excitement, and pressed his wings into his body.

He immediately started falling, and leaned his beak downward. With barely any friction against his body, Shiro got faster and faster into the ground. His body started to heat up, the speed making his feathers glow whiter.

Shiro reached the ground faster than any other crow (except possibly Gorogoro) dared to do. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he spread his wings wide. The sudden movement and friction on his already heated up feathers made them combust, and his entire body was engulfed in white flames.

The air around Shiro heated up immediately, and pushed him forward, changing his momentum in 90 degrees, and propelling him forward without even touching the ground.

He flew over Izumi, leaving a trail of fire behind him, the pavement catching fire from the intense heat. Shiro flew right through the wall of fire that the exploding car had created without slowing down.

The orange fire was pulled towards Shiro as if he was pulling it using strings, and leaving Izumi a perfect hole in the wall of fire to pass through.

"Don't let him through!"

"Stop them!"

The officers and sidekicks shouted, running after Izumi, but Shiro had already flown up, carried over by the strength and speed of his fire, and then looped around in the air, flying back down straight into the heroes paths.

"FIREEEE!"

Shiro shouted his favorite human word, mending the hole in the wall of fire just as Izumi passed through, and again getting closer to the ground, just to spread his wings and propel himself forward.

A wave of fire came running after him, and the heroes had to move out of the way, grabbing downed officers and other heroes before the fire got to them.

Shiro flew up again, getting above the buildings again. He flapped his wings, feeling the heat leave his body and the flames dying down as he stopped moving forward. He saw Izumi dodge different groups of heroes, going through different streets and alleys to evade them.

Shiro saw Kuro go over to retrieve the rifle from the rooftop he had left it in, and then fly off with it. The white crow kept flying high, to avoid being spotted, while being ready for any other signal Izumi may send him. He still kept vigilant for her, like every other crow of the murder.

Izumi kept running with Wuji in her arms. She had no more darts with her, but had gotten far enough from all the heroes and police chasing her that she wasn't afraid of being caught and missing them in a crucial moment.

With the help of the murder, she managed to evade the heroes and the police, and even managed to terminate her target. She doubted they'd be able to pay, and hoped that Hayai had gotten to Giran before he got ambushed.

She trusted Giran to sense something being off and to escape on his own. He was able to hide in plain sight before her without the help of the murder like she had. He should be fine. Still, she'd call him if she didn't hear of him in the morning.

Izumi had given the helmet to the crows and the outer jacket of her hunting clothes. She still held Wuji in her arms, so was still careful to not be seen by anyone, and finally managed to get to the apartment.

She put Wuji down, and signaled the rest of the crows near to scatter, to not bring attention to the apartment.

We'll be fine. You did enough. "Rest"

Some crows seemed unsure, but Wuji hummed, nodding his head. The murder left, leaving Izumi and Wuji alone in front of the door to the apartment.

Izumi sighed. Running for so long had made it harder to get her heartbeat to slow down again, but she managed to calm down, and got inside.

She hid Wuji with her body, looking around for Inko in the apartment. Thankfully, she seemed to be sleeping over the table in the living room. She had her phone in her hand and there were streaks of tears in her face.

Despite keeping herself calm and collected thanks to her breathing techniques, Izumi couldn't help but feel her heart spike after seeing Inko like that. Her eyebrows twitched and her lips twisted into a scowl.

She has the gall to be worried?! How little do you think of me? I just made fools of Musutafu's heroes and you dare being… being… Ugh!

Feeling her feelings betray her, Izumi swallowed her annoyance and got into her room without making any sound. She put Wuji down on her desk gently, and opened a drawer with a first aid kit.

She sighed, and caught herself shivering. Izumi grabbed her hand, and forced herself to stop.

Relax. This time it's for Wuji. You can't afford to make any mistakes here. You control your body Izumi, it will listen to you.

She sighed, calming herself down. She went over to Wuji, and inspected his wing. He complained a bit, but trusted Izumi and let her look over to see if there was anything else broken.

His right side seemed a bit bruised, but Wuji didn't complain when Izumi felt it. So only his right wing has broken. Helping bandage Wuji up brought old memories to Izumi, and she let herself be drawn into them, and bandaged up Wuji's wing, keeping it steady and safe against his body.

He wouldn't be able to fly for a while, and she'd have to get him back to the Nest or the Hunter Cabin in Tia, which in his state sneaking him into the shinkansen when heroes and police are going to be especially jumpy around crows is going to be hard. But Izumi refused to leave him in the apartment. She didn't trust Inko near him.

After she was done bandaging Wuji up, Izumi sighed, finally letting herself relax, without having to worry about keeping her breathing steady. Even though Wuji was hurt, he hopped closer to Izumi and rubbed his head with Izumi's hand, imitating a purr as he did so.

Izumi smiled, and returned the affection, rubbing Wuji's head with her fingers, right below his ears like he liked.

Wuji got his way and Izumi cheered up a bit. The heroes and the police had gotten close. Way too close.

They had managed to set her up with the intel of one of her clients. Maybe both her and Giran had become too arrogant with leaving to the crows being able to get jobs, but to even be able to go unnoticed by the crows was a feat in and of itself.

And now, because she was overconfident, Wuji had gotten hurt, and the police had gotten a lot of information on her, and what's worse, on her relationship with the crows.

If this goes public, the sentiment against crows may grow again. She was sure that in Gaulusu people will hate crows even more from now on. Not even that, but she lead the hero Eraser Head to believe that she had a quirk that let her talk with crows, which will make things harder for them.

And then, she had to allow Kuro and Shiro to show off their quirks so she could kill her target Death Arms and then escape. As Giran's new informant thanks to the crow network, she was more than aware of the power of information, and from now on, hunts of heroes are going to become more difficult.

Not because they may be wary of her, but because they'll be wary of crows. If anything, she hated that the most.

Izumi let herself fall into her bed and looked up to the ceiling. Beside her, Wuji managed to get to her pillow, and decided to sit and rest there.

The heroes have an idea about Karasu's 'quirk' now, which wasn't that much different from what her relationship with the murder was anyway, but they knew of at least two quirked crows, which was concerning.

The SASC may get involved.

The mere thought made Izumi sick, but with any luck, since they were spotted in Musutafu, they'd give that job to Backfire, and with Shiro and Kuro away it should be enough. It's not like Backfire would be able to hunt them, but either way.

Izumi patted her torso, and felt hurt to the touch. In fact, since she wasn't calming down her heartbeat anymore, the pain in her chest had gotten worse. She got off the Nemean Vest, letting her chest breath free of its constriction.

She had bruises were Lanbosu had hit her with the kendo sword, and Izumi felt sharp pain on her back, were a bullet had hit her against the Nemean Vest.

Lanbosu…it was still weird to think that her stupid homeroom teacher was a vigilante, and that he had almost kicked her butt to ask about Himiko.

What did he even want with her? Izumi remembered that he had a very problematic quirk that involved seeing the past of objects. Did he find himself upon something and find out that Karasu was involved with Himiko?

If that were the case, and if he didn't move from Musutafu, he had to find out the very same day Izumi and Himiko met each other again, as villains.

He clearly didn't know that Karasu was Izumi, because otherwise she'd been outed a long ago, but having her ass kicked by her teacher, and before that Eraser Head, a hero that much like herself, operated in darkness according to the intel she knew, got under Izumi's skin.

She was a hunter, someone that was above heroes and certainly vigilantes as well. They were her prey. Yet, tonight she had been hunted down by them. The moment she got some distance with them, Izumi had managed to do better, threatening them with the rifle or using her Flaming Darts…

But in hand to hand, Eraser Head completely dominated her with that strange scarf support item, and if it wasn't for Kuro cutting her free, she would have been captured then and there. Lanbosu had also dominated her in hand to hand combat, making a fool of herself until again the murder saved her once more.

Izumi knew her limits. She had created powerful support items in the Black Bullets, the Black Arrows and the Flaming Darts. The Nemean Vest, Hunting Gloves and the voice changer in her helmet were also very useful, and especially the vest and helmet improved her defense.

She was a bit dizzy now that she wasn't calming her breathing from all the hits she got to the head, but the helmet had gotten the brunt of it.

It was obvious, even though she had the vest and the helmet, if a hero or any human for that matter got that close again, she wouldn't be able to defend herself without the help of the crows.

And that got them hurt.

Izumi wouldn't let that happen again. She wouldn't be helpless and get her family hurt again.

Yet… underneath her anger and disappointment with herself over putting her family in danger… Izumi couldn't ignore that she had loved the challenge that being forced to directly fight off the heroes had put her in.

She was mad about being ambushed, and was already thinking of ways to not be helpless if she was forced to be in a hand to hand close quarters situation again.

But rising against all odds, working in tandem with the murder in order to get ahead of the heroes and police, and even though they prepared an ambush, she was still able to not only escape, but terminate the target they had used as bait.

Izumi couldn't deny that she loved the thrill. Planning meticulously her hunts was part of her nature, and just how she hunted… But getting in the zone, becoming one with the murder, truly one of the Karasu…

It reinforced the idea that she had chosen correctly.

Humanity had evolved, and left her behind, so she adapted in response, and became a crow, and a hunter of the very people that humanity had put at the top of the food chain.

Izumi wasn't human.

She was a crow.

She was a hunter.

She was an engineer.

She loved crows, hunting, and tinkering to make support items be it for herself, the crows, or Himiko.

Even though Izumi had received a reality check that heroes weren't as helpless and incompetent as she originally thought, that had only reignited her determination on being their hunter, and her desire to live life as she desires, without feeling 'regular' people's opinion of it.

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Arc 2 - Solo Hunt - End

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Well, Arachnocovid here speaking for the first time in ffnet! Just wanted to thank all the people reading the story over here! It's crazy to think it's almost been 1 year since I started the story... crazy how fast time flies... Anyway, thank you for leaving comments and your thoughts! I may not respond to them like in ao3, but I see them all! Glad you like them! I still have much more arcs to write!