"Hmm, I see, Aizawa-kun, the Commission's behavior is indeed quite fishy!"

"Please Principal Nedzu, I'd appreciate it if you took it more seriously."

Nedzu sipped on his teacup and leaned back on his chair.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, Aizawa-kun. I was just surprised you called me at all! Not everyday I get dragged like this to an ongoing investigation! Say, do you think the Commission will get mad at you for disclosing all the information about Karasu to me?"

Aizawa scoffed on the other line of the phone.

"They can shove their opinion up their ass for all I care. Something else is going on here, that's why I called you. Principal, you know that there's something going on between the Hero and Super Animal Commissions, right?"

Nedzu hummed and groomed his white fur.

"I do know quite a lot about the Super Animal Safety Commission, though the Hero Public Safety Commission has wisely kept me at arms reach."

"Principal, this is serious. People had died."

"Oh, I'm aware, it has leaked to the press already. Oh! My condolences. Anyway, it's most interesting really, it seems all major news networks got tipped-off at the same time. You said that Okuta Kagero is suspected to be Karasu's handler, right?"

"Yeah, and the team that went after the villain that hired Karasu said that they caught a glimpse of him fleeing the scene. From the time of the report, it happened right after we started the operation."

"I see… Karasu may have told him about them being set up, and then he leaked the failure of the operation as a revenge."

"You really think that happened?"

"It seems the most likely outcome! Giran is known for retaliating with sensitive information leaks whenever he is set up. The fact that instead of any sensitive information about Karasu leaking and instead the (and please forgive my manners) honestly embarrassing details of the operation having been leaked leads me to think that Karasu and Giran have a much closer partnership than originally thought."

Aizawa sighed on the other end of the phone. Nedzu enjoyed when humans got annoyed when he displayed intelligence. He knew arrogance was a detrimental trait to have, but it brought the small mammal great satisfaction to remind humans that he was smarter than them.

"Thank you for your insight, Principal, I'll inform detective Tsukauchi of your hypothesis, but that isn't the reason I called you."

"Ahh, yes, you wanted to know if there's something going on between the SASC and the HPSC, right?"

"Yes." Aizawa replied, annoyed.

"Well, there is in fact a struggle between the two agencies whenever quirked animals are involved! Sadly I can't disclose any sensitive information about the SASC because of an NDA I signed when I became a Pro Hero and an official Japanese citizen."

"You're under an NDA?"

"Yes, Aizawa-kun, not even I can squirm my way out of certain things." Nedzu felt his scar burn, but quickly threw old memories aside. "But! What I can tell you, is that the Hero Commission has shown interest in the past to animal controlling quirks. It may seem that they don't want to rely on the SASC often, but my personal theory is that they share the same interest in acquiring resources coming from quirked animals."

"Acquiring…resources?"

"In a way that I could explain that wouldn't breach my contract, the SASC is very interested in groups of animals with multiple quirk users between them. Research into the appearance of quirks in animals and into the genetics of quirks are a valuable resource, but some would say that owning them is more valuable."

"So 'some' would say that access to several animals with quirks is in their interest. Someone like Karasu."

"Precisely, Aizawa-kun! Full points! Now, crows are very social creatures, and have been observed to teach tricks and lessons that they learned during their lifetime to their young! They can even remember faces from deep bonds of loyalty with humans that they consider their allies."

"What exactly are you getting at?"

Nedzu sighed loudly, feigning annoyance with a wide grin on his face.

"I wanted you to reach that conclusion on your own, Aizawa-kun, but since you dragged me into the investigation, I'll tell you what I think. In the best case scenario, the HPSC is just trying to handle Karasu on their own to save face. The assassinations that had been silently swept under the rug will come to light now, and combined with the massive mishandling of last night's operation, do you really think it'd look good if another government agency was tasked to clean up the mess that the HPSC couldn't?"

"So it's just for optics!? They don't want to work with the Animal Commission because it'd look back on them!?"

"Try putting yourself in their shoes, Aizawa-kun. You may not care about your public image, but the HPSC has a very specific look they want to maintain in order to keep the image of heroes nice and polished. This specific incident is quite the problem because they cannot control the narrative since the media got tipped-off thanks to an angry villain."

"For fucks sake, Principal Nedzu! I already assumed responsibility for misjudging the threat of Karasu. We cannot ignore help from other agencies!"

"Calm yourself Aizawa-kun. I know you must feel guilty for the casualties since you were the one that discovered Karasu's next target, but you are on the right track. Assuming your mistakes and being open to help. I'll formally request to join the investigation and help make both Commissions more reasonable so there aren't more Hero and police casualties."

Aizawa took a few long breaths as Nedzu started sending a request through the Hero Network to be added to the investigation.

"Thank you, Principal. We definitely need more straight heads around." Aizawa paused, and Nedzu turned to look at the phone, curious as to what else he had to say. "There's only one more thing. You said that the conflict being optics was the best case scenario… Then what do you think it's the worst case?"

Nedzu finished typing the request and sent the email as he sipped on his tea.

"Well… that'd be the HPSC wanting to have their own animal control quirked agent, one without many ethical concerns."

The other end of the line was silent for a while. Nedzu used that time to finish his tea.

"…You can't be serious, right?"

"I said it was the worst case scenario, Aizawa-kun. I would also like to think that the HPSC wouldn't even consider the idea. But High Specs makes me evaluate every possible scenario given the information I possess, and in my humble opinion, I don't think acquiring Karasu is something the HPSC haven't at least discussed."

"This isn't the Dark Ages, Principal. Turning a villain into a… government sanctioned 'agent'? I don't want to believe that."

"I'd also like to not have to consider it as a possibility. And Aizawa-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"The only difference between the Dark Ages and the present day, is that the darkness used to be clear. Nowadays it's muddled and hidden anywhere. You work as an Underground Hero, right?"

Aizawa sighed, and Nedzu could picture him rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

"Yeah, but I'd like to think that the darkness isn't so deeply rooted."

"Now, now, where's that logical thinking you are always ingraining in the students that survive your purge?"

"I do not purge my students. I just give them a harsh reality check. And I'd have to see substantial proof to begin to question the HPSC's motive's to such a degree."

"Fair enough. Try to get some sleep, Aizawa-kun. One way or another, Karasu will be brought to justice."

"I'll try, Principal. Thanks for your help."

Aizawa hung up, and Nedzu jumped off of his desk, walking off to the window.

So someone has taken control of crows again… That Karasu may be more dangerous than anyone imagined if they managed to escape from Aizawa-kun.

Nedzu let the sunlight hug his pristine white fur as he looked at the horizon in deep thought, just as he was cursed to always do.

17 - Crow's Pride

Izumi led Himiko through the underground tunnels under Tia forest with Wuji on her forearm, as he was unable to go flying like the rest of the crows. She was carrying a flashlight in her free hand and had given Himiko another spare one.

"Sooooo, did you make this tunnel, Izumi-chan?"

"Me? Oh, no, I'm just repurposing it. There used to be a villain gang in Konukoru decades ago, they had someone with a dirt manipulation quirk similar to that of Pixie Bob."

"That's one of the cat heroes, right?" Himiko said cheerfully.

"Yeah, one of the Pussycats. So, one of the members of the gang made an underground labyrinth under Konukoru, and they smuggled lots of stuff back in the day. But then, All Might happened and the gang was arrested and all the tunnels closed off."

"All tunnels were closed? Then what about this one?"

"This is just my theory, but I think that the villain responsible for the tunnels had done more on his own to use as his personal escape routes. He wasn't able to use them though, as he was the first one of the gang to get arrested, with the rest being quickly caught by the police with the help of All Might and Sir Nighteye."

Himiko rubbed the wall of the tunnel as they walked.

"Hmmm, makes sense. The dirt is so hard though, how would he go from the tunnels of the gang to his personal ones?"

"I think that he was able to reinforce and soften dirt, so all he had to do was make a wall soft, walk through to another tunnel and then reinforce it again so the tunnels didn't cave in."

"Sure, sure, sure~" Izumi scoffed with a smile on her face and rolled her eyes.

If it didn't involve blood or cute things, it was hard to hold Himiko's attention for long. She liked that aspect about her, being able to have her mind always open but also hyperfocus on the things that drove her into being herself.

Izumi stopped, pointing to a small hole on the side of the wall with her flashlight.

"Here."

Himiko tilted her head, looking at a shovel laid against the wall and a much, much thinner hole that branched off, almost like a crack in the wall rather than another tunnel.

"There? Why's that tunnel smaller?"

"Because I had to dig it myself." Izumi pointed at the shovel. "The villain didn't know about the Nest, I just connected his tunnel with it. Had to make it bigger every now and again when I outgrew its size. Come on, I know it's not as wide as this one, but it's not too long."

Wuji imitated an annoyed growl and cawed. Himiko nodded off to him.

"Totally get you. Way too small."

"Shut up you two." Izumi pouted.

"Make me!"

"Caw!"

Izumi sighed and squeezed herself into the hole, making sure Wuji wasn't hurt. Himiko followed her, and in a few minutes, they reached the end. They went upwards until they reached the Nest's trap door.

Izumi put the flashlight on her mouth and pushed against the trap door, opening it and letting Wuji hop off first.

Both Izumi and Himiko got out of the tunnel surrounded by lots and lots of crows, already present at the Nest.

"Caw! Caw!" "Caw!" "Onee-san!" "Caw!"

"Woah, that's a lot of crows." Himiko said beside Izumi before ducking to avoid a flying Urusai that went straight for her head.

Himiko hissed at him but let him land on her head when he tried again. Urusai mockingly repeated Himiko's hiss up from her head.

Izumi snorted, which earned her a pouting glare from Himiko.

"You're right, Himiko-senpai. I didn't expect so many crows to be here. The whole Council is here as well…"

Her voice became softer as she realized that fact. Oji-san and the rest of the oldest crows and ravens nodded and cawed in the two girls' direction.

Green Chick. Friend of Crows, said multiple of them.

Izumi nodded at them and Himiko waved at them with a grin on her face. Izumi closed the trap door and then walked towards the center of the Nest.

Himiko looked around. She expected it to be a massive tree that the crows used as a giant nest, or maybe a giant nest made of sticks and branches and things like that. Instead, "the Nest" was more like an opening in the forest surrounded by tall trees.

There were lots and lots of birdhouses in the trees, with crows poking their heads from them to look at Himiko.

"You made those?"

"The birdhouses? Yeah"

"Cool~"

A few of the crows looked at Himiko with apprehension, not used to a human other than Izumi being in the Nest.

Wuji cawed at Izumi, making her stop and shrug her shoulders, bending down and extending her arm to let him hop back. She then stood up and turned to Himiko.

"Uhm, Himiko-senpai, Wuji wants to ride on you. Do you mind?"

"Oh? Not at all! Come here~!"

Himiko brought her arm closer, the same way that Izumi was, and Wuji hopped from Izumi's arm into Himiko's.

"Tell me if you get tired."

"Oh, please, Urusai gets on top of my head all the time. I'm used to the weight~"

Izumi rolled her eyes, and they went to the center of the clearing, where the ground cleared up for a huge rock where the oldest and biggest of the crows were. Izumi sat on the edge, and young crows and chicks hopped closer to her.

"Cuuuute~ You really are like their older sister" Himiko cooed after seeing that, sitting next to Izumi.

"O-nee-chan~"

Wuji said, which Urusai repeated over and over again, making more and more crows repeat it. Izumi sighed and dragged a hand through her face.

"Please don't make every crow call me that now"

"Why not~? I think it's cute~"

Izumi pouted and gave up, letting the crows spread the word that they should call her "onee-chan". Also, after seeing Izumi, Wuji and Urusai be with Himiko without much issue, more crows started getting closer to Himiko, even younglings and chicks.

Izumi smiled, as Himiko used her free hand to pet the crows that had gotten close enough for Himiko to catch them and pet them while calling them cute.

"Izumi."

The teen turned to look at the center of the large rock. The council of the oldest crows and ravens had all finally got together, and Yami called out to her.

"Oh, that's the crow that talks surprisingly well."

Izumi elbowed Himiko, who giggled, making Urusai drop down from her head.

"Yes, Friend of Crows, Himiko. We, remember, you, as well." Yami responded. Unlike the other crows, he moved his beak with each word, instead of imitating words as sounds with his beak open.

"How come you talk so well?"

"Oi! Senpai! He's an elder!"

"It is, fine. My quirk, is, Speech. I can, talk, the same, way humans, can."

"With a few pauses, but pretty cool~ Annoying here can only repeat what he hears over and over." Himiko pointed at Urusai.

"Annoying! You! Annoying! You!"

Himiko stuck her tongue and pushed Urusai away, who quickly flew back to the spot he was in previously.

Izumi sighed, watching them bicker like children.

"Please forgive them."

"It. fine." Oji-san said.

"Karasu!" Yami's voice boomed through the Nest, silencing every other crow, including Urusai, who just stood unmoving, pecking one of Himiko's fingers.

"Crows have, been hurt!" Yami shouted, followed by caws of indignation from every crow present.

Izumi noticed that Yami was using both speech and the body language typical to crows to communicate with the murder.

He's doing so Himiko can also follow along…

Izumi couldn't help but smile after realizing it, happy to see Himiko being accepted around the crows.

"Wuji! Izumi! Both, hurt! Attackers unpunished!" Yami continued.

"Actually, it's not that bad, I'm feeling ok–"

"Nope, she got brushes all over her body." Izumi glared at Himiko. "What? I'm not going to let you brush that off just like that."

"Punishment!" "Attack!" "Retribution!" "Revenge!"

Izumi tilted her head over the cacophony of caws and repeated words of the murder. Himiko just gave her an unapologetic grin and shrugged her shoulders.

The hunter got up, raising her hands and slowly lowering them, urging the crows to quiet down.

"I'm glad that you seek retribution for me and Wuji, but you have already risked yourselves enough. If you do more, you'd bring too much attention to yourselves."

Oji-san stepped forward.

Green Chick…

"No, Oji-san. You've helped me a lot, and have expanded from hunts here in the forest to hunts on heroes and then to a huge information network. Shiro and Kuro exposed their quirks," Izumi pointed at the two crows, who instead of feeling pressured for exposing their secret, they showed pride in having helped Izumi, "and I tricked the heroes to make them think I had quirk that allowed me to talk to you."

"That's silly. You talk to them without the need of a quirk" Himiko pointed out.

"Yes, it was to throw them off from investigating quirkless people." Izumi brushed off the comment. "The thing is, we may have already put the SASC on alert and be after us. I'll find a way for us to take revenge on the hero that hurt Wuji, but the one that attacked me is another matter."

Both the murder and Himiko were about to protest, but Izumi raised her hands to stop them.

"He is someone from my public life. If anything happens to him my identity may be compromised and I'd get less chances to be free to be with you…"

Izumi looked down. She didn't like depriving the crows from being themselves and tormenting people that went after one of their own, but they'd be in danger if they act now, or she'd be forced to separate from them if her identity is found.

The elders cawed and looked at each other. They turned from Izumi, so she couldn't read them properly, but she still caught that they were deciding whether to do something. After a moment, they turned again, with Oji-san and Yami stepping forward.

Izumi. "Izumi."

She quickly realized that Yami was acting as a translator for Himiko. It reminded her of the times she started to hang out with the crows, and they tried doing the same for her to learn to understand them.

Izumi. Your attacker must be punished. You are Karasu, and we can't have an enemy go unpunished. There's more punishments other than hunts. Crows are experts at being constant nuances to our enemies. Crows didn't always have much power against humans. Fear and trivial annoyances have been our ways since before I hatched.

"I–" Izumi felt her voice stagger, and calmed herself, keeping her breathing and heartbeat in line. "I know Oji-san, but if you all become a more noticeable annoyance for regular people and heroes, the SASC is definitely going to make a move after you. I of course won't listen to them, but what if other hunters of the Order do? They are sorry excuses of real hunters, but I don't want you to have to constantly be alert and on your guard because of me…"

Green Chick… You worry much about crows, you truly are crow-family. But it is also part of crows to care about crow-self. Crow-family has already accepted the risk. Crow-family accepted it when Izumi started hunting humans. Crow-family didn't mind becoming information seeds for Giran.

"But it was my fault that you had to expose yourselves–"

No, Izumi. Crow-family has always been looking, S-A-S-C was enemy from the beginning.

"What?" Izumi blinked surprised, looking around to check if she understood correctly. "What do you mean SASC was always our enemy?"

Even Himiko looked around the crows with surprise and confusion in her face, as she pet Urusai and a few other young crows that were brave enough to get close to her.

Yes. You are right, Izumi. Moving out will alert the S-A-S-C and our biggest enemy, but that point has come.

"Your biggest enemy? You mean that which you don't fight back from?"

Izumi had been enough with the crows and in the lessons of the elders to the younglings to know that there was an enemy of crows they warned the younglings to not get close to. She always thought that it was their way to talk about the SASC and to not be noticed by them, but now she wasn't so sure.

But Izumi felt a tightness on her chest after realizing that now it was too late, and that the elders had realized that everything that she had made them do may have exposed them to that unknown enemy.

Do not blame yourself, Green Chick. Oji-san said, as if reading Izumi's thoughts, making the girl jolt up embarrassed. Crow-family knew the risks. Crow-family gladly helped Izumi and crow-family would do it again.

"But–"

"No buts!" Oji-san said out loud, shutting Izumi up.

Crow-elders have decided that it is finally time we explain everything to Izumi. Friend of Crows is also welcomed to know.

"Oh, uhm, thanks" Himiko said sheepishly.

Izumi didn't exactly know what to think of this. They were going to explain everything? Crows were pretty open about their lessons and things they learnt, and shared it with the rest of the murder in order to keep learning. What exactly was there left to explain?

You look confused, Green Chick. It is fine, do not feel bad for us not telling sooner. Our great enemy was too powerful to crow-family to want to burden you or the younglings with this knowledge.

Long ago, there was a human that talked with crows. He made a name for himself, and became known between the humans as the Whisperer.

Izumi knew all that. The Whisperer was a villain with a pretty influential gang in Gaulusu back when it was a villain breeding ground, before All Might cleaned it up. He was the reason people in Gaulusu still hated crows, and looked down on them more than the rest of Japan did.

"I know about him." Himiko said. "People said that he controlled crows and used them to attack people."

"Friend of Crows, is right." Yami continued on his own, not translating Oji-san. "The Whisperer, had a quirk that, allowed him, to control animals with a touch."

He made countless crows and other creatures his slaves, touching them once, and forever making them unable to disobey any of his orders. Many of us are still affected by his quirk.

"What!?" Izumi exploded. Her heartbeat was nice and calm, but her mind was furious. To think that not only did he besmirch the crows' name, but he also enslaved them?

She looked around, and found lots of crows shifting uncomfortably, looking away, their feathers frisky and standing up. They were angry, sad, repulsed, agitated… Izumi knew they wanted revenge on the Whisperer, but had been holding out for a long time, probably because of the risk he posed.

And now, she had just asked them to hold off of other enemies of the crows, thus making them even more frustrated. Izumi held her arms uneasy, feeling the pain in her shoulder sting.

"Oy, what's with that face?" Himiko perked up, looking at Izumi.

"It's just, I didn't know you were holding out your true feelings and suppressing them for a long time… If I had known, I wouldn't have asked of you to ignore–"

It's fine, Izumi. We chose to help out. There's no regret in any of us. Oji-san reassured her.

Himiko looked at Izumi, deep in thought. Izumi felt bad about forcing the crows to suppress part of themselves, something that they had been suppressing without her noticing. She rubbed her tongue against her teeth.

She hadn't had any cravings for Izumi's blood since her birthday, but now… Would Izumi feel bad if she knew Himiko had also suppressed herself because of her?

"Then…" Izumi looked down. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The crows shifted, cawing amongst themselves.

"You taught me like any other youngling that there's enemies where staying out of their way is wiser than directly confronting them, so why, why didn't you just tell me?"

The younger crows looked at the council, sharing Izumi's opinion, and silently questioning why this hadn't been told to her earlier. Izumi felt the lump in her chest get lighter after seeing more crows react that way.

It is our great disgrace. The Whisperer didn't only use crow-family as his tools. The Whisperer forced pairs together in order to form stronger hatchlings, to spread the quirks in crow-family. Yami's intelligence and Gorogoro and Shiro's crow progenitors were hatched like that.

Both Izumi and Himiko widened their eyes, horrified. Forcing pairs together to form stronger hatchlings… They had been selectively bred in order to create stronger crows. They had been experimented upon.

Even Himiko, who only had known the crows personally for a short period of time, was disgusted at the thought of Urusai coming from two other crows that had been forced to combine in order to create him.

Izumi's eyes quickly shifted through all the quirked crows that she called her family and friends, and was no longer able to keep her breathing and heart in check, losing her concentration and composure, and felt tears go down her face.

A few crows panicked and cawed, especially the younglings and chicks, who weren't used to seeing Izumi so vulnerable at all. The elders looked away, and some of the other crows also looked away to not meet her teary eyes.

"I… Did you think I would think less of you if I knew? That because you went through something so terrible I, I… I would look down upon you? You know that I don't care what you did in the past or whether you had a quirk or not! I don't care about the why! Aren't we still family?"

Himiko felt very out of place, as if she was invited over to a friend's house and had to witness them having a full on fight with their parents…which could might as well be what was happening.

Izumi meanwhile rubbed the tears of her face, slowing her breath to stop herself from showing how weak she truly was.

"Izumi, is karasu" Oji-san said out loud, making emphasis on the word for crow. Izumi is crow-family. Crow-family knows. Crow-elders decided to not tell, not because we doubted Izumi, but because Izumi, you are stronger than us.

"...eh?"

That left Izumi speechless. Her? stronger than them? When she had broken down in front of all of them and even Himiko (gosh, what would she even think of her after this)?

Fat tears went down her eyelids and into her cheeks, as Izumi stared dumbly at the crows.

When crow-elders tell chicks about our enemy, we teach of dangers, as our enemy is strong, and could control crow-family that he touched in the past. Chicks could also become controlled just by a touch, but Green Chick is different. Our enemy never controlled humans.

"So he couldn't control… me?"

The elders and other crows, Izumi guessed, victims of the Whisperer cawed in agreement.

You are strong, Green Chick. You are Karasu. Crow-family has no other option but to ignore our pride and not take revenge, but you would have taken revenge.

Izumi remembered how easily she got triggered when Inko badmouthed the crows, or when that Eraser Head hero had hurt Wuji. She couldn't forgive them for it, and knew that she would have done anything to see the Whisperer pay for his crimes. No petty revenge would suffice for what he had done.

She saw recognition on the elders, as they saw that Izumi realized what she would have done, as she didn't have the crow's weakness against his quirk.

Crow-family didn't want you to risk yourself on your own, so crow-elders decided to not tell. It was not a popular decision.

Many crows, including Wuji, Kuro, Shiro, Urusai, Gorogoro and many many others cawed, showing their disapproval with that decision.

But now, things are different. Crows have been exposed, but Izumi has shown how strong crow-family has become.

"What… what do you mean? You were strong before I was around…"

Karasu has made crow-family stronger. Izumi taught crow-family better about human behavior, and when and who to target. Izumi has given crow-family food, hunting, bravery to extend and travel more of the land. Crow-family now has become important for Giran, crow-family has become powerful, but not only crow-family, also Izumi.

Izumi blinked tears out of her eyes, no longer crying, just staring dumbly at the crows, who seemed smug. No, it wasn't smugness, it seemed more like…pride. Himiko leaned back, smiling, realizing what they were doing.

Izumi has become hunter of strong beasts, hunter of humans, hunter of heroes. Izumi speaks for crow-family, and has invisible information network. Izumi has own support materials independent from other humans. Izumi is strong. Strong enough that all crow-family thinks that we don't have to fear our enemy anymore.

Izumi widened her eyes.

"You really mean that?"

"Of course they do, Izumi-chan!" Himiko got up, and wrapped an arm around Izumi, bringing her closer while making sure to not do it so hard as to hurt her still sore body. "Don't you see? They are telling you because they trust that because of you, now they can finally skin the Whisperer!"

The crows seemed to like the mention of skinning their enemy, as they started to caw and echo Himiko's words. Izumi couldn't help but chuckle at that, and found herself slowly starting to laugh, until she along with the rest of the crows and Himiko were laughing in the Nest.

Izumi let a few more tears run down her face, now brought by her happiness instead of her sorrow.

"Alright, alright, I get it." Izumi wiped tears from her cheeks, and smiled at the crows and Himiko, placing even a hand over Himiko's without realizing it. "So you finally think that we can take the Whisperer on? You think that karasu can finally take revenge?"

Izumi purposefully used the word for crow in a more general sense, in the same way the Oji-san, Wuji, or any of the elders would when referring to all the crows of the murder.

A sense of pride engulfed the crows, from young to old, as all started cawing. Himiko didn't need Yami to translate for her in order to understand the unanimous 'yes'.

Yes, crow-family can defeat our biggest enemy. Oji-san said. Green Chick, you don't realize how much you've grown, and how much crow-family has grown because of you. Crow-family can tell our enemy is angry about how far you have come with crow-family. The "Underground", (Oji-san said the word out loud), takes you to greater esteem than they ever did him.

In a messy room filled with different electronic devices, amateur filming equipment, an elaborate PC set up and lots of cups of tea, a short red haired woman sporting pigtails frantically typed into the computer's keyboard with the skills of an experienced programmer.

A tall man with silver hair and a matching trimmed beard, prepared some tea while looking over the woman's shoulder at the screen. Both of them had deep black lines over their eyes, their signature eye liner to hide the eyebags of staying up late to edit their latest videos.

"Oh? Look at that, La Brava. Another news recap of the villain Karasu!" The man said, pointing at the thumbnail of a video in the recommended section of their YoTube page.

"He's gaining so much attention! Gah! Gentle! I'm sorry I couldn't make our latest video a hit! The algorithm is burying it with videos talking about that stupid Karasu!"

La Brava hugged Gentle, almost making him spill the tea from his cup.

"Now, now, cheer up, La Brava! The video still made more than our average in views! And what's more, that BirdKeeper fellow found our new account again and left another encouraging message! As long as we have viewers, there's nothing to worry about!"

"Kyaa~! Gentle~! You always are so positive~! I wuuv youuu~!"

La Brava hugged and kissed Gentle in his cheek repeatedly, making him struggle to keep the tea from spilling.

"Still, such infamy! Karasu truly is getting attention after humiliating a few heroes… Maybe we should focus our content into something like that!"

Gentle carried on with his usual cheerfulness, not minding La Brava clinging and pulling him, and welcoming it.

In Deika City's Detnerat tower's highest floor, the leaders of the Meta Liberation Army (except Curious) watched the latest news about the previous night's incident involving Karasu.

"That's Karasu's biggest hit yet." Rikiya said with a neutral expression.

"My most sincere apologies, Re-Destro-sama!" Skeptic bowed profusely. "I couldn't make contact with Karasu, and couldn't have Giran made them agree to take our target! It's my fault that we couldn't use this to further our take on Liberation!"

"Raise your head, Skeptic. It is a pity that you couldn't reach Karasu, yes, but that doesn't mean we can't keep trying. Curious is organizing an opinionated piece on the events that will put heavy scrutiny on the heroes' failure. You can keep working on reaching Karasu. Don't accept a no for an answer next time. Giran is someone that can be bought. You can even use other methods to 'convince' him to cooperate."

Skeptic smiled, loving to have an excuse to use his hacking skills for good use.

"Yes, Re-Destro-sama, thank you for your comprehension."

"Do not mistake this for tolerance for failure."

"Of course not, sir!"

Rikiya glared at the TV, going over the public information of what was known about the failed hero operation.

"You will progress our Liberation, Karasu. One way or another."

In an underground compound, a man wearing a surgical mask along with surgical gloves looked over a blood sample through a microscope. Another man wearing a large plague mask with big goggles on it and the rest of his face covered by a hood came into the room.

The first man got off the microscope and looked at the second.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Chisaki-san, but there's been a major incident in the Underworld."

"It better be important."

The man with the plague mask handed Chisaki a phone with a video on a news outlet. After watching it for a while, Chisaki finally grunted.

"So the hidden upstart that refused to join us has become a rising star?" He clicked his tongue annoyed. "No matter, after I've perfected this, Karasu will regret not being part of the Hassaikai."

Chisaki grabbed the sample of blood, rising it to look at it straight below a light source.

A lone figure cleaned a bloodied and chipped sword in some cheap hotel room. He glared at it as he heard the recent news from the radio, his noseless face giving him a more unhinged look than what was normal.

"Gutless money hungry scum. You won't cleanse the world just looking for yourself!"

Somewhere in Kamino Ward, Giran and Shigaraki watched the news broadcast in the TV of a bar.

"You were right, Giran." Shigaraki said under the hand covering his face, a creepy smile underneath. "Karasu has leveled up big time."

"Told you~ Thanks for the lift, Kurogiri, by the way."

"It is not an issue. Shigaraki Tomura asked me to bring you here."

"Oh, did you miss me that much~?"

"Don't piss me off Giran, I'll kill you. I just hate talking to you on the phone."

"Heh, fair enough."

"I have to say, this has also surpassed my expectations. You've made a nice ally for yourself, Giran." A deep voice coming from the TV itself said, completely unrelated from the news broadcast.

Shigaraki closed his mouth, not wanting to interrupt the voice. Kurogiri stopped what he was doing and turned robotically to look at the TV. Admittedly, Giran didn't show an outward reaction, but he was more wary of his words.

"Thank you, Demon Lord. Got any job you wanna do? I can give Karasu a call."

"You're such an opportunist Giran." There was playfulness in his voice, almost amused by it. "I do not need anyone to be killed right now. The perks of laying low are that I no longer have pests that need to be taken care of. Besides, if I remember correctly, Tomura still has that discount you and… Karasu promised him. I'll let Tomura call you whenever he needs her."

Shigaraki perked up, tilting his head and looking at the TV.

Her?

"Alright, got it. Just wanted to try my shot, you know me."

"I do, that's why I keep working with you."

Deep underground Gunga Hospital, in the undercover lab where the old demon lord resided, said demon smiled, making the tubes connected to his face twist to adapt to the shape of his face.

"Who would have thought that a stray tangent could develop in such a way? This is so amusing!" He had disconnected from the bar and was letting his mind run freely and privately, one of the few things he could still do while still hooked up to the machines keeping him alive.

"And Tomura already has associated himself with her, wonderful!" His laugh, deep and dry echoed through the room and made the tubes hooked to him tremble. "What are you going to do next, 'Karasu'? How can I make you useful for Tomura's sake? I haven't had this much fun with something that showed up from nowhere since the Shimura household!"

He kept laughing, his voice being held down in the underground lab, and not leaking to the hospital above him.

"I'll take your word." Izumi conceded to the council. "Even Giran has been acting more professionally lately. Or as professionally as he can at least." She then looked at Oji-san seriously. "Do you know where the Whisperer is? He disappeared after All Might destroyed his operation and his villain group disbanded, but I guess that you never lost him.

Yes. We've observed him from afar. Never too close as to risk being found out. He used to sell information to the S-A-S-C, and when crow-family managed to escape and our enemy fled, he moved directly to the S-A-S-C.

Izumi's eyes widened.

"No way."

"Wait, he joined the SASC? I know they send Izumi-chan jobs to take out animals or whatever, but they let a big shot villain like that in no problem?"

The Experimentors aren't above accepting villains, Friend of Crows. The Order Green Chick is a part of used to be a villain group.

"There's no way, he's been in Konukoru all this time!?" Izumi exploded. "So near the Nest!? How could you handle that!?"

Patience. He said that, but every single crow and even the members of the council looked annoyed by it.

"And I've been doing jobs for them all this time." Izumi clenched his jaw, her face sharpening into a determined glare. "Well, not anymore"

Elsewhere in Tokyo, at the same time the meeting between Izumi and the council of crows had started, a member of the Japanese National Diet was summoned to solve a dispute between two government agencies. Because both Jikken Sagi and Hitoshirezu Yamita were also members of the Diet, any conflict of interest between the Super Animal Safety Commission and the Hero Public Safety Commission had to be resolved by other members of the Diet, to have a majority vote on them.

In the past, the whole Diet would meet in order to discuss matters, but most of the time they would just give the respective Commission the jurisdiction to proceed, with both of them constantly bringing any sort of justification to step on each other's feet (with the HPSC gaining the favor most of the times).

"Look, Hitoshirezu-san, I know that taking care of a criminal targeting Pro Heroes goes directly into your jurisdiction, but it was the same team that reported that the villain's quirk was letting him control crows. Quirked ones among them. I'm sorry but that falls directly into Jikken-san's jurisdiction."

The mediator, a plain looking old man with a tired expression said sluggishly, clearly not wanting to be there.

"Kanepin-san, the reports about Karasu's quirk being in fact an animal control quirk still have to be investigated. There's not many animal control quirks in the country, and in fact, the strongest one of them already is under the SASC's management."

The president of the HPSC, Hitoshirezu said, glaring down at Jikken.

"While I understand why you might feel that way, Hitoshirezu-san, I can assure you that we have no interest in pardoning Karasu. Masuta-san is more than enough for us, and besides, I fear that Karasu is a little too volatile to try to absorb and legalize with the Criminal Assimilation Act."

Jikken said, grinding his teeth and trying to remain calm on the outside. He was wearing a special suit made from Masuta's prized spider's silk just in case. You never are too safe when dealing matters with the HPSC.

"It didn't stop you from absorbing the Order of Orion. Many of them had multiple Hero casualties among their crimes."

"That was handled by my predecessor, and besides, most of the members of Orion that used to be villains have either retired or kicked the bucket."

Jikken shrugged his shoulders, trying to sound nonchalant. Hitoshirezu glared at him harder.

"We are still trying to identify possible candidates for Karasu in the National Quirk Registry, but the person that fits the best into the description is still Masuta Dōbutsu. He was obsessed with crows and used to operate in Musutafu, where the last incident happened. And take a look at Karasu's name. The animals reported that were being used were also crows. It just screams 'the Whisperer' all over again. How can you guarantee that it isn't Masuta again?"

Hitoshirezu gave Jikken her cold and calculating glare. He wanted nothing more but to smack the confident look out of her face, but kept his composure again. Kanepin was looking at him with an eyebrow raised, wanting to hear what he had to say about that accusation. Because it was an accusation of the SASC either failing to control him, or using him to take on multiple Heroes.

"I can assure you, Hitoshirezu-san, that Masuta-san has a perfectly logical alibi. He was working at our headquarters in Konukoru just as your operation to take on Karasu was happening. You are welcome to take a look at our security cameras (after getting the necessary paperwork from a judge to do so of course) and interview our employees that were working with him at the lab at the time."

The HPSC president held her glare for an uncomfortable long amount of time, making Jikken doubt for a moment that she knew something even he didn't know, and that Masuta had left for some reason that night without him knowing.

Then, her expression softened, somewhat, and the intensity of her glare disappeared.

"I'll take your word for it at the moment. But I'd like to request access to those tapes. You know, a formality, as a precaution."

"Of course, of course."

That old crone just wants access to the tapes of our underground lab with all our animal resources! Fucking bitch!

"You do that, after this meeting is over." Kanepin interjected. "Right now we still have the matter over the jurisdiction of Karasu's case to discuss, and I don't know about you two, but I have other work to do after this."

"Yes, of course, Kanepin-san. We don't want to waste time either." She gave Jikken a look, with one eyebrow raised, as if she were asking him whether he had anything to say or disagree with her.

That woman just knows how to get under my skin! Calm down Sagi! You have the upper hand here!

He coughed into his hand. "Agreed. As I was saying before the loyalty of my subordinates was put into question–" Hitoshirezu didn't even acknowledge the dig at her. "Even though the identity of Karasu is being looked over, what we know with certainty is that from the report made by Musutafu's General Police Department and the Pro Hero in charge of the operation, Eraser Head, is that Karasu has without a shadow of a doubt, some sort of animal control quirk. That clearly falls under my jurisdiction."

Feeling a bit more confident, Jikken straightened his tie and kept on going.

"Investigating his identity using the National Quirk Registry is a task that we could even do ourselves, but I wouldn't like all the efforts you put into it, so I'll let you keep at it."

"Jikken-san, you know well that your agency has no jurisdiction to look over the National Quirk Registry." Kanepin pointed out, tiredly.

Jikken of course new this, but he just wanted to show he was willing to cooperate with the HPSC to handle part of the case on their own, while the HPSC had called in for this very meeting the moment the report of Musutafu's General Police Department had reached the SASC, asking for help to handle the case.

"Yes, I was just showing that I'm not against collaborating with others."

"Sure, that's why you still keep the members of Orion instead of relying on our trained and reliant agents."

Hitoshirezu said with a sigh. Jikken clenched his jaw.

"Yes, the Order of Orion has proven themselves reliant and they work as reliably as any of your agents."

"Is that so?" Kanepin cut them before they could continue arguing. "Do you believe that the members of Orion can handle Karasu?"

"Of course, Kanepin-san! They are experts in hunting down dangerous quirked animals, and there's still some old members in between them that still know how to track people."

"Because they were killers." Hitoshiresu glared at him with cold eyes. "Kanepin-san, I believe that entrusting this operation to former villains is a mistake. Karasu has killed 15 heroes in the past 9 months. That rate is beginning to catch up even to Stain. The Hero Commission should be the one to take down such a dangerous threat, and to question them as to how they managed to go this far. We can't let someone that has done so much against Heroes go unpunished."

"The details about the failed operation have leaked already, Hitoshirezu-san." Jikken retorted with a smug. She glared at him.

"We are investigating how that happened. The main suspect is that Karasu's own broker leaked it to the media as retaliation."

"Wait, not only did the operation to catch Karasu backfire and result in several Heroes and police officers dead, but you also let the villain's associates dictate the narrative?" Kanepin said, completely taken by surprise and looking at the HPSC president with a disappointed look. It seemed that the news of the media leak hadn't reached him yet.

"Kanepin, the HPSC didn't organize the operation, Eraser Head and the Musutafu Gene–"

"Don't come at me with shallow excuses, Hitoshiresu-san" He made sure to highlight his use of the honorific. "I understand that after taking care of this case for so long, if it's handled by the SASC now after a failure of such magnitude has unfortunately been made public it'll be a bad look for Heroes, but you'll have to deal with it."

The old man turned to look at Jikken, who was containing an urge to shout and laugh at the old woman.

"Jikken-san, the SASC will onwards work with the HPSC to catch Karasu and put this mess behind us."

Jikken's cordial smile vanished.

"Kanepin-san, sir, I think that my agency is completely adequate for–"

"I do not care what you think, Jikken-san. Karasu may be using an animal control quirk and quirked animals, but his victims have been all heroes, and I guess police officers now. The HPSC is completely justified in also participating in the investigation."

He then turned to Hitoshiresu, with a softer look, almost in sympathy.

Jikken clicked his tongue as quietly as he could. The HPSC had way too much influence even over people that should be impartial like Kanepin.

"Hitoshirezu-san, you'll work to maintain the image of Pro Heroes like always."

"Yes, this is certainly a problem and a mistake, I won't sugarcoat it. But fixing public appearances is part of what we do." She then turned to look at Jikken, a clear look of disgust on her face. "You'll have our full support and collaboration. We'll share with you what we find in the National Quirk Registry and offer support in the search of Karasu. We'll leave the handling of the crows to you."

"Thank you for your collaboration." Go and fall on a dyke. "I think that my team and the members of Orion are perfectly capable though. You don't need to invest more resources into it, just focus on fixing your image."

"Maintaining my image." Hitoshirezu corrected him.

"Yeah, yeah, you don't like each other, you make it clear every time. Just collaborate and don't summon another meeting." Kanepin said, standing up and preparing to leave.

The two presidents of their commissions did the same.

"Expect us to go and check on that security footage still, Jikken-san." Hitoshirezu said.

"Yes, I'll take it in mind." He said, rolling his eyes.

"And also, and I know this is asking a lot from your 'loyal' subordinates, but try stopping them from engaging Karasu on their own and ask us for reinforcements."

"The last time you organized an operation against Karasu it didn't go so well. I think we'll do just fine."

Hitoshirezu got up, not meeting his eyes and walked over to the exit, only stopping after holding the door open after already getting out.

"If we had arranged for it, this meeting would have happened. Be wary of the people that tried to handle it without our involvement."

And after that, she left, leaving Jikken alone in the meeting room.

"Pretentious bitch."

He made to leave as well, grabbing his phone and sending a message to his associate, Masuta.

"We have the case secured. You'll have your precious crows back."

It didn't take long for the former villain known as the Whisperer to return his message.

"Excellent! They were such a good batch! My research will come back to its former glory at last after Karasu is dealt with!"

Jikken decided to not mention how the HPSC wanted Karasu alive. Masuta will probably not take kindly to someone that "stole" his property being able to live. Well, Jikken wasn't intending to actually do as he was told and try to keep Karasu alive for questioning.

Who knows what the HPSC really wants from him… We don't need another powerful animal controller around. With Masuta working for me there's enough.

The president fixed his tie and straightened his white suit, and finally left the room.

Back at the Nest in Tia forest, the sun was starting to set, painting the sky orange.

"And I've been doing jobs for them all this time." Izumi said with determined glare, referring to her jobs with the SASC. "Well, not anymore. Giran may not like that."

"I feel like he would rather keep you than keep doing business with them." Himiko said.

She had made herself comfortable, laying on her stomach and holding her face with her hand on her chin and elbows on the ground. She was also kicking her feet in the air without any care, with Urusai and other chicks deciding to stand on her head and back.

"Besides, he forgave you when you decided to not hunt me down, didn't he~?" Himiko let out a wide grin that made the crow chicks next to her face fly away, not expecting to see a predator show so many teeth. "Maybe he'll overlook it this time as well~"

"Hmmm, something tells me that he'll have a few more words about this. We are talking about taking down the whole Super Animal Commission because they dared associate with our enemy. He has business with them, he won't give up so much just because of a vendetta coming from just one man."

One call later

"Yeah, kill them."

"Eh?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll lose money since I won't be getting jobs from them from you, but that just means I'll have to exploit you elsewhere~"

Izumi pinched the bridge of her nose and rolled her eyes.

"All right, I guess. I thought you'd at least have something to say about me suggesting mass murder."

"Oh, honey. I always knew this was coming, I just made sure to not make myself lay too close to the SASC whenever you and the crows decide to finally do it."

There was some noise coming from the other end of the line, a raspy voice asking about crows.

"Wait, are you in company? And was that voice from Shiga–" Izumi coughed to stop herself. "Giran, I'm not using my voice changer!"

"Relaaaax, not like I said your name out loud."

"I'm hanging up now."

"Bye, bye, we'll talk later~ I want in exchange of the SASC jobs for you to make support items like the ones you made for your friend~"

Izumi hung up pouring as much of her annoyance into tapping the screen of her phone as she could. She then sighed and looked back at Himiko and a group of crows waiting in anticipation.

"He said he's okay with it…"

"Hell yeah!" Himiko and the crows cheered, and started laughing and cawing loudly.

Oji-san came over and sat beside Izumi.

"I think I understand a bit more the patience you and the other elders have to have with all the younglings."

Only the younglings? Oji-san looked at Izumi with some old mirth and playfulness in his eye. Izumi rolled her eyes, but still smiled and rubbed Oji-san's back.

The hunter looked at her other hand. She clawed her fingers, imagining her hand with sharp nails similar to the ones on the crow's talons. She sighed and put her hand away.

"Well, I guess we'll be taking down the SASC in the end." Izumi said, a cacophony of cheering caws echoing in the Nest.

"Nice~" Himiko grinned. "What are you going to do about the anti-bullet wolf then?"

"I'll hunt it down. It's still in our forest and I don't take kindly to other predators in it." Himiko fake gasped. Izumi rolled her eyes. "Except you of course. I also still wanna make the support item to take it down. I look forward to that challenge. But that'll be the last job from the SASC that I'll accept.

She looked over at the crows, feeling the camaraderie between them, and also with Himiko, who was unbothered by crows getting on top of her, though she still tried to push Urusai away, if anything else to annoy him.

"Cool~ can't wait to spill their blood together after training hand to hand, hehe~" Himiko's distinctive bloodthirsty smile covered by a blush twisted her face.

"Hmm? You also wanna go after them?"

"Of course! Aren't I the 'Friend of Crows'? If you don't want me to go after the Heroes and idiot-sensei, you bet your feathers I'm going to help you out kill those meanies!"

Izumi blinked, but then smiled, accepting the fact that she won't be able to deny Himiko's help. In fact, with Himiko around… Izumi thought of several ways that an attack against the SASC could go better.

With two apex predators around, and with the help of the murder… Yeah, an idea was starting to form in her mind.

"I like that face~ Are you thinking on how to hunt them down~" Himiko said with her own hungry smile.

"Yeah, something like that. The SASC will probably organize a meeting with all the members of the Order of Orion to ask to hunt down Karasu, the crows, or both. That's a meeting that I won't be able to miss, not that I'll plan to."

Izumi then looked at Himiko, her smile dropping a little, as she had to ask quite the favor of her.

"Himiko-senpai… for that idea…"

"I'm on board with anything you come up with Izumi-chan~ If the crows trust your plans, so do I~ You are smart while planning ahead, I just go by what by gut or knife wants, hehe~"

"Oh, uhm, yeah, thanks." Izumi blushed a bit, and could already tell a few crows snickering and giggling in the way only crows could. "But, I mean, after that meeting, the Order will likely come out with a plan of action a few days later."

"Yeah? That means we still have a few days to train and for you to fix your rifle."

"Yeah, I also plan on making a few other support items I have in mind…" Izumi said while balling her hand into a fist. "But also, for one plan I thought about… I need your help, a-and please tell me if you are uncomfortable with it!"

"Hmmm? Don't be shy, Izumi-chan~ I know you wouldn't ask anything unreasonable~ With the way you treat the crows you probably pick the hardest part for yourself, so don't worry!"

"Well it's just…" Izumi breathed down, calming herself. "My plan kinda needs you to disguise as myself…"

Himiko's smile dropped and her eyelids sharpened into thin slits. It took all of her willpower to not jump and lunge into Izumi right then and there. The crows seemed to notice Himiko locked in towards Izumi, and it spoke to how nervous Izumi was that she didn't realize Himiko's predatory instinct was acting up.

"I know it's a lot to ask, you'll put yourself at risk and will have to act in a way that no one would be able to tell you apart from me, and it's completely fine if you don't want to! I-I can think of some other plan to–"

"Are you really ok with me drinking your blood?"

Himiko interrupted her, lowering her head to use her bangs to cover her eyes.

"Hmm? My blood? Yeah, that's how your quirk works, right?"

The way Himiko got quiet worried Izumi. She was used to Himiko being energetic, bubbly, bloodthirsty and quite a bit unhinged while thinking or talking about blood. To see her like this after talking about Izumi's blood… Did she have a problem with it? Did her quirk not work on the quirkless? She never mentioned that, spo could it be that Himiko didn't want to drink quirkless blood?

"You… are actually offering your blood to me?"

Izumi panicked a bit after hearing Himiko's voice come out so weak.

"Ye-yeah but it's alright if you don't want to! Don't worry, I'll think of another plan! Yo-you won't have to drink my blo–"

Maybe it was because Izumi was panicking, or because being in the Nest had lowered her guard, but Izumi didn't see Himiko coming, as she closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and pinned Izumi on her back against the soft grass and feather covered ground.

The crows cawed and some flew off the path Himiko had taken, the ones that were resting on top of her having had to fly off unexpectedly. A few young crows cawed at her, and flew off towards Himiko with angry caws, but Urusai and a few other crows stopped them. Even Wuji, in his flyless state, cawed back to make them back off.

She's Friend of Crows! Trust in onee-chan! Izumi could make away from the caws being shouted, but her eyes were locked with Himiko's, who was on top of her.

Instead of an angry glare for pissing her off or a sharpened stare of a hunter that chilled her to the bone, Himiko was barely containing the tears building up below her eyes. Izumi didn't know what to do, or even what exactly had she done to make Himiko so upset.

She didn't even register the pain in her bruised back from being slammed into the ground, too worried and concerned over Himiko crying.

"Senpai? Are you ok? Did you get upset over me offering my–"

Himiko put a finger on Izumi's lips, and smiled. She was blushing heavily and narrowed her eyes to stop the tears from coming out, which fell directly into Izumi's face and cheeks.

Izumi had seen Himiko's wide bloodsick smile a lot since they started hanging out. Even in their first encounter as villains, or when she had attacked Saito in the incident in Railosu, Himiko had her wide, bloodthirsty and face splitting smile on. Even earlier that day, during the meeting Izumi had seen Himiko make her sickly blushing smile.

Himiko expressed her love for blood often, and wanting to see people she likes bleed to become them. She always has just a gleeful expression on her face when she thinks or talks about it. Izumi liked seeing Himiko being able to express herself, and didn't feel weirded out by it. She had seen multiple corpses at that point, so Izumi wasn't easily disturbed by a mere toothy smile from a fellow hunger.

In all of those smiles, Izumi could always sense Himiko's bloodlust, her desire to see blood, to feel blood, to drink blood and to become someone else, thus being true to her true self ironically enough.

But this smile, filled with tears and with her eyes locked directly on Izumi, instead of rolled up and daydreaming of bathing in blood, was clearly different. Izumi could see, even while still not being the best at reading other people, other humans, as a fellow hunter, and spending so much time with Himiko, she could understand her in a similar way she could understand the crows.

It wasn't a smile filled with bloodlust, it was Himiko's purest smile ever, one that brought forth tears of joy and that heated up her cheeks into a warm blush while her eyes fought back against the blurriness of her tears. It was a smile filled with Himiko's purest sense of love.

Seeing the understanding in Izumi's eyes, Himiko bent her body down and pulled Izumi into a hug. Izumi sluggish returned the hug, still feeling a bit inexperienced on how to show physical affection to something other than a crow.

She felt a sense of deja vu, as not long before Himiko had done something similar when Izumi had given her the birthday presents.

"Thank you, Izumi-chan." She pulled herself back, the smile still on her face, the tears having run down her cheeks and into her chin. "No one has ever offered me blood… Of course you would have been ok with it. Now I feel silly for not asking you earlier, heh"

Himiko giggled, and helped Izumi sit down as the crows started approaching them again, seeing that whatever happened earlier was just how Himiko was, and there was nothing to fear.

"Were you craving it? I should have noticed it sooner! I'm sorry senpai!"

"Oh, no, don't be. I wasn't expecting anyone to actually be ok with me taking their own blood…"

Wuji imitated a sigh and puffed his feathers, his version of rolling his eyes.

Onee-san knows Friend of Crows very well but didn't think of herself as part of the people Friend of Crows 'likes'.

Other crows hummed and cawing, agreeing with him.

"Oi! What are you guys murmuring over there! Izumi-chan, what did they say?"

"I don't know, I wasn't looking."

"Oh, sometimes I forget you actually have to look at them to understand them. Sometimes it feels that you can just seamlessly speak with them!"

"Uhmm, thanks." Izumi said with a shy smile.

She gulped down, kicking herself in the butt mentally for not noticing Himiko, her friend, probably having been restraining herself to not ask her for blood. What kind of friend was she to not notice that? She would have noticed something like that immediately with the crows.

Izumi then looked away to hide her blush and extended her arm towards Himiko. It would be bad for her to regulate her heartbeat right now if she's offering blood.

Himiko's pupils expanded after seeing Izumi offer her arm. She opened her mouth, fangs glistening with the light of the sunset. Then, she thought it over and closed her mouth. Himiko gently moved Izumi's arm back towards her friend, and rubbed the tears from her face.

"Not your right arm, silly. That's your dominant hand."

"I've been practicing with my left. I'm almost as good at throwing darts with it as with my right."

"Ok, tough girl. But you do much more stuff other than just throwing darts, right?"

Izumi pouted, turning her head further away, but unable to hide her blush and pout completely, and gave Himiko her left arm.

Himiko then grabbed Izumi's hand, and gently felt around her wrist, searching for her veins.

"Do you have bandages or band-aids here?"

"Yeah, there's some in one of the birdhouses." Izumi said, still not meeting Himiko's eyes.

"Hey, here, look at me, please, Izumi-chan."

Himiko gently pulled Izumi's chin to look at her. She could feel her heartbeat in Izumi's wrist pulse and throb fast, nervous. So unlike Izumi, who was always calm and collected, but still nervous while doing something new. Even at a moment like this, Himiko was delighted to learn more about Izumi right before becoming her.

"You still wanna do this?" Himiko asked, but she knew from the look in Izumi's eyes what her answer would be.

"This was part of my plan, remember? I'm ready"

Himiko smiled, showing Izumi all of her teeth and bringing them closer towards her wrist. Any other person would flinch and recoil, pull back their arm, but Izumi didn't. She truly accepted Himiko, with all her weirdness and unhinged desires and wants.

Himiko bit near Izumi's inner wrist, making sure for the first time to not do unnecessary damage. The vibrant red liquid poured inside Himiko's mouth, feeling her tongue with the oh so sweet metallic flavor of blood.

Izumi signaled the most apprehensive looking crows that everything was alright. Her wrist stung from feeling Himiko bury her fangs in, but strangely enough it didn't hurt very much. How could it hurt, really, when she was helping Himiko out in quenching her cravings after being held out for so long?

So even without regulating her breath and heartbeat, Izumi was calm, and that pleasant mood spread around the crows, calming them down as well.

What started as a small but effective bite that led to Himiko sucking Izumi's blood, had slowly devolved into a kiss pouring all that meant being Toga Himiko into Izumi.

Blood so sweet and pure she thought she was in heaven, being given instead of taken, it didn't only fill Himiko's reserves of a brand new and favorite transformation, it also helped Himiko spread her 'love' into someone that truly accepted every single aspect of Toga Himiko.

O type blood~ My favorite~

Himiko almost purred, rolling her eyes back and letting her quirk consume her. She didn't care about her clothes, she could steal more later. She wanted, no, needed to become Izumi.

Then, after the blink of an eye, there were two Izumis in the Nest, one of them with her lips on the other's wrist. Himiko opened her green eyes and watched herself reflected on Izumi's eyes.

"Wow, it's like looking at a mirror."

"It's better than a mirror."

Hearing her own voice sounded weird, but Izumi just let Himiko process the moment. But instead of that, she got up and went to the birdcage Izumi had pointed out earlier, grabbing the band-aids.

"Oh, you don't need to do it, senpai, I can do it myself."

"Nope. I'm Izumi right now, and I don't like seeing my family hurt, so I'll take care of it."

"I– but–"

"No buts."

Instead of the playfulness she was used to, Izumi had to now to see for herself how it felt to be pampered and taken care of by Izumi. Himiko gave her then a smirk as she patched up her arm, and Izumi couldn't help to return it, both of them ending up giggling with echoing voices.

The following days, Izumi, Himiko and the murder prepared for the inevitable call from the SASC to meet up with the Order of Orion.

Izumi and Himiko practiced hand to hand battle, which ended up most of the time with Izumi biting the dust and either with a knife on her throat or wrestled into a mess.

Giran had gotten a lot of materials for Izumi, which she used to dismantle her rifle and rebuild it even better than before. She also restocked on Black Arrows, Black Bullets and lots of Flaming Darts.

She also worked on new support items, melting more of Kuro's feathers and making new molds using her casting sand, while also picking up as many feathers from Gorogoro as they fell from him.

Two days after the failed capture operation of Karasu, there was a storm in Tia forest. The people of Konukoru heard a lightning surprisingly close that sent an ear splitting thunder into the city.

When rescue heroes and firefighters were sent to the forest to see to it as a fire wasn't started, they were relieved to see the scorch mark of the lightning hadn't reached any trees, and that a fire wasn't started.

Later that very same day, Giran delivered the charred remains of the wolf with the metal repelling quirk that the SASC had tasked Diana with terminating. He was told to send Diana a message: to expect a meeting soon, one that she must go to.

The murder had started to appear more in Konukoru. They were ever vigilant, seeing every corner of the city with no one the wiser. Hero patrols, police investigations, and the movements of every single person coming in and out of the headquarters building of the SASC.

Crows could remember faces, and they memorized every single face that came in and out, and where they went to after leaving the building.

Meanwhile, underground the city, in the sewers, a teen clad in black wearing a helmet with a cracked visor was searching for a specific spot Giran had told her about.

She went through the "do not cross" police tape and reached a sealed up hole in one of the walls of the tunnel.

It was sealed by concrete, apparently some of Cementoss' early work. Izumi took off her helmet and put her ear towards the cement wall, knocking on it a few times.

Satisfied, she put on the helmet again. She had installed small lights into the helmet to help her see in the dark for a reason and looked over at her new Hunting Gloves, ready to give them a try.

In the tunnels underneath Tia forest, Izumi explored a new tunnel, with her shovel over her shoulder, and her helmet on, for protection and to use its lights to see properly.

A week after the incident with Karasu, Izumi was checking her new arrows, making sure that the tips weren't crooked and that the feathers at the end were safely secured. She always did a bit of maintenance before Himiko got to the cabin for the hand to hand combat practices.

Wuji was resting on the table, still recovering from his broken wing, while Izumi meanwhile was feeling much better from all the bruises she had gotten.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket from an incoming call from Giran.

"Hey, Diana. You have a meeting with the SASC. Attendance is mandatory for all of the Order of Orion." Came Giran's amused and playful voice from the other side.

Finally. "Got it, I'll be going."

She hung up and looked over at the crows in the cabin.

"Tell Himiko-senpai I had to go."

"You can just tell me~" Said Himiko from the door. "Finally called for a meeting?"

"Yeah."

A wide smirk spread across her face, and Izumi couldn't help but smile as well. The time for their revenge had finally come.

Arc 3 - Stirring the Crow Nest - End

Yes, this was a short arc, but it was just a trasnsition for the next one. Originally both this chapter and the previous one were going to be part of the ending of the previous arc... but I kept going and going and even this "epilogue" section of sorts became so long it could stand on its own. Anyway, see you around next arc, in the SASC VS The Murder!

Also, saw the new messages, thank you all for the praise! It really means a lot that you are all enjoying it so much!