The train stopped, and he got out, his steps leading him toward Mei's school. Again, he put up the hood of his hoodie and kept an eye out for anyone who could bring him trouble. He hoped to catch her before she entered her school, but a villain had the bright idea to rob someone in broad daylight, and the heroes had stopped the train coming and going from the scene of the fight for the civilians' safety. Takuma was frustrated to have to wait an entire day to see her again, but he understood why some measures had to be taken. Still, he wasn't happy and wouldn't be able to see her before the day was done.

'Maybe I could break in and say hi?' he wondered, as the thought of spending an entire day without seeing her irritated him more than he wanted to admit. 'I can break into a school, it's not worth it. I totally could, but it might bring too much attention if I get caught. Not likely, but still a risk.'

He knew he couldn't justify breaking into her school just because he wanted to see her, but the part of him that couldn't care less about anyone else absolutely could. His steps led him to the now-closed main gate.

'If I mess this up, she's going to be in so much trouble,' he told himself. 'I'm not doing this for her.'

With a sigh, he walked away, patrolling the surroundings of the school and making sure nothing weird was going on. He couldn't feel her mind at any point during his search, frustrating him even more. It cost him next to nothing to be extra sure, and he could start walking toward Nova's den with a slightly lighter heart after making sure she was safe.

His search for any sign of gang activity during his walk came back negative, as the surrounding city turned out to be unsurprisingly empty of its darker inhabitants. There were no drug dealers hanging out on street corners, no thugs waiting to rob someone. It was a stark contrast to what he had felt the last time he came here, and he knew why the landscape had changed so much. Half-hand's little attempt at villainy had thrown the underworld's law into the dumpster, and the streets and back alleys had been scoured clean by the heroes since. Turns out, stealing or buying critical data from the H.S.P.C's own database wasn't good for business. Who could have known?

The common thugs had all been thrown into jail; now there were only two types of criminals on the streets. The smart ones who chose to go to ground until things cleared out, or the hardened criminals who had safehouses or enough minions to do their bidding to stay safe while the heroes prowled.

This was the perfect opportunity for the low-life to come out of the woodwork to make a name for themselves.

So it wasn't much of a surprise that when he reached the point where Nova's mind was in his range, he found her in the middle of a fight with a bunch of gangbangers. What was surprising, however, was that it was taking place inside the den. The rules of the underworld had been broken, and there would be corpses by midnight. Now he just had to make sure his friend wasn't one of them.

As soon as he was sure he was out of prying eyes, Takuma went into a dead sprint, rushing into the warehouse that hid the den. He descended the stairs four at a time, walking past the still-cooling corpse of the guard with its head caved in that he hadn't been able to sense with his mind, and burst through the halfway open door straight into the fight.

Twelve fighters—no, thugs—fighter was too generous a term for the ramshackle of baby-faced morons wielding pipes, knives, and tire irons. They were too busy getting their asses handed to them by his volcanic-haired friend to notice his noisy entrance. The air was thick with the smell of burned flesh as Nova, who had two of their number caught in her extended burning hair, threw them at the wall headfirst. The meaty smack and sudden headache accompanied by the abrupt loss of the two minds told him the two were either dead or unconscious. She was the only one to notice his entrance as her assailants had their backs turned to him. He shared a vicious smile with her before he dove into the fight.

A quick step toward the closest assailant morphed into a kick. He used his enemy's lack of awareness to prepare a knockout blow. Twist, look and chamber, release. Four steps to a spinning kick that ended with the flat of his foot crashing against the back of the head of one goon, who then crashed to the floor, knocking a table to the side on his way down. One mind less to deal with. But now his presence was known. So he did the only thing he could.

He pushed forward, grabbing a glass and throwing it at his next opponent's face before a high kick caught him on the nose as he lowered his hand that had protected his face from the projectile. The nose broke as Takuma swiped the man's leg from under him, right before he stomped once on his throat. The windy noise coming from the man, a mix of gurgle and gasp, told him the trachea was indeed broken, if his quirk hadn't already done so.

Nova's strands of hair slapped three of their number against the wall, burning their faces and clothes as she inflicted first and second-degree burns in an instant. Her scream wasn't one of fear, but one of challenge, filled with glee and bloodlust. He echoed it and dived back into the fray.

His next target, a woman in her mid-twenties with a vicious scar in the middle of her face and a knife in each hand, was a credible threat. So Takuma closed in on her, grabbed the back of a heavy wooden chair, and cracked it over the side of her head. Or tried to as she raised her arm to cushion the blow at the last moment. The pain bloomed in his side, but he was too focused to notice much more as she tried to push through the pain of her arm that had cushioned the blow. She would have been a threat for a while longer if she hadn't slipped on spilled alcohol at that instant. Her back hit the ground right as Takuma was ready for a second strike. He saw the fear in her eyes for a short second before he cracked her over the head with the chair, and her eyes rolled up in her head.

Not content to deal with her opponents using only her quirk, Nova dived into them, knifing one in the chest twice before cutting another one's face, taking out one eye and some of his cheek in the process. She again sent the men she held in her hair flying, this time to the ceiling. They hit with a violent smack before falling to the ground, bent and broken, with screams of agony and terror filling the air.

The four remaining panicked, splitting themselves between him and Nova. His first target was one of the older members of the group, in his mid-thirties. He rushed him, much like Midoriya had done in the morning, but this time his assailant wasn't a friend. Wielding his quirk in search of violence for the first time in a long time, Takuma found fertile soil where his quirk easily took hold.

Wave upon wave of rage, fear, wonder and so many other crashed upon his mind as the man, tall and large as he was, was but a defenseless child against his onslaught. The man took his first three steps filled with rage and bloodlust. The next four, five, and six were more confused. The last one was filled with pain, right before the veins in his nose and eyes burst from the sudden stress. Then he collapsed, never reaching him.

He wasn't dead, but he would soon hope he was anyway.

Takuma breathed, his blood thumping against his temples as a price for his exertion. He would never have managed that before meeting Mei, but now he was in better shape than ever. He was surprised it hadn't exhausted him more. He was ready for another go; maybe he could try to work out some long-forgotten muscles while he was at it.

Nova was constricting her two opponents in her hair, and their screams of terror and pain rang in the den as Takuma turned toward the last remaining member of the gang.

"Please. Please don't hurt me," the man—no, boy—pleaded, as he couldn't have been older than fifteen. "I'm sorry, I won't say anything, I swear. Please let me go," he added, his words thick with horror and fear as he listened to his friends screaming as they were slowly cooked alive.

Takuma walked up to him and punched him once in the face, sending his head rocking against the wall. Then he grabbed the kid in a chokehold and slowly started squeezing until the kid passed out, still begging for his life.

"Nova, turn it down, please," he chided his friend as she shook her head and again threw her prey to the ceiling.

"As squeamish as ever," his friend chuckled viciously as she smiled with all her teeth.

The burned body of the maybe-dead thug landed harshly on the ground. The burning pain coursing through him, an echo of what the men were going through, left him. He breathed easier.

"I don't enjoy being burned alive, thank you," he reminded her, which made her wince a little in sympathy.

"Right, forgot about that part," she said as she walked back behind the counter. "So what brings you into my little establishment, Tak? Still with your lady love?"

"Still am, if you would believe that," he told her, sitting on a chair next to the counter as she sent a glass of water his way from one of the still-intact glasses. "Funnily enough, she is my lady love."

Nova blinked owlishly at him. "Holy shit, did you actually get hitched?!" she asked, right as strands of her hair spiked the remaining attackers who were still conscious and moaning in pain.

'Blessed silence,' he thought, as their pained minds were now out of his reach.

"Yep, I got myself a girlfriend. You're not half as surprised as me."

"Holy fucking shit, Tak! She better have a good pair of tits on her, or I'm caving her fucking face in," Nova said, her way of expressing happiness for him. "I want to see. Give me a picture."

"I don't have a phone," he reminded her.

"Ah yes, you and technology. Like an old married couple that can't help but wanna kill each other," she bemoaned with a bright smile. "So what's her deal? Tell me."

"Well, she's a gearhead with more brain cells than sense. She's a walking explosion hazard, and her inventions nearly took me out more than a dozen times by now. Mei's a mischievous little thing, and she can play me like a fiddle if you would believe it."

"Rohohoh, you got it bad," Nova teased him as Takuma felt the smile he was trying to fight back creep up anyway. "Tell me something I don't know. I nearly broke into her school just so I could see her."

"Awww."

"Don't 'Awww' me, you bitch," he shot back as she kept teasing him by wiggling her eyebrows with a shit-eating grin.

"Awww," she hummed again just to infuriate him.

Shaking his head, he still couldn't wipe the grin off his face. "That's not even the best part. I'm trying for the U.A. Hero Course."

"The fuck?!" Nova let out with absolute shock. "Alright, what the fuck did that girl do to you, and where can I find her?" His long-time friend asked as her hair grew even hotter, expanding to reach the ceiling.

"Well, she's joining the Support Course, and since I'm a lost puppy that can't keep living without her being close to me, I'm going to U.A.," he told his friend, whose face switched from vicious murderer to a softer and kinder expression as her hair lost some of its volcanic glow before she slapped the last two conscious assailants down into peaceful oblivion.

"For fuck's sake, Tak, you're supposed to be the smart one," she sighed as she poured herself a drink. "We're not meant for this. We're street rats. You can't go there and expect things to go well for you."

"Yeah, I know," he nodded. There wasn't much he could say to deny her statement. "We aren't meant for this, but I've got One good reason to go there, and that's all I need."

"I can't say that's what I expected to hear," she groused as she slammed back the shot she poured herself.

The second-hand taste of whisky brought back his craving with a vengeance, and he turned his head back to look at the carnage as a way to distract himself.

"Who were those guys, by the way?"

"The new local gang," she told him while pouring herself another shot. "A bunch of small-time thugs who thought they could make it big after Halfy got himself some shiny new bracelets. They don't even know the rules."

"Damn, you can hardly find fresher meat out there," he commented, shocked that a bunch of nobodies would know so little as to attack a den of one of the most prominent crime syndicates there is. "Well, I assume the girls are on their way."

"That they are," Nova confirmed grimly. "They'll probably take some nuts off before putting the ones they can to work."

Takuma groaned in disgust. The Madame had strict rules her daughter enforced. For the attack on one of her dens, he expected the older men would lose their manhood. Hopefully, they would feel generous toward the younger ones.

"That's just how it is," he sighed.

The Madame's organization was a haven for women, sex workers and all were accepted in their ranks. Men too, mostly at the lowest branch of the tree. Few rose higher than guard or den holder. This syndicate was outwardly misandrist and downright barbaric toward men whenever they could be. No one with a dick between their legs dared to go against them for a reason.

"Heh, I'll give a good word for the kid you knocked out. Not much of a criminal, this one," Nova told him as she snorted at the still body of the boy.

"Yeah, begging in the middle of the fight. He's going to peak as a drug dealer, not much else."

"If he's lucky, he's going to get his shit straight before the streets take him," Nova added.

"The streets take us all in time," Takuma said, the old words closest to a maxim for the veteran of the underworld. "But not today."

"Not today," she repeated.

They clinked their glasses together and shotgunned the contents as was tradition. Then Takuma remembered why he came here today.

"Pegging, really?" he asked with the most exhausted tone he could muster.

In response, Nova spat out the whisky through her nose as she fought back a laugh. "You dick! You did that on purpose!" she raged as she wiped the wasted alcohol spilling from her nose and face with a rag.

Takuma didn't deny it. "You shouldn't teach that to children."

"Oh please, she thinks it means hugging," she chuckled with a mischievous grin. "And trust me, Missy already had words to say to me."

"You're sleeping on the couch, aren't you?"

"She hasn't fucked me in a month. I am literally dying. Fuck, can't you grow a pair of tits and help me pop one out real quick?"

"Trust me, the day it happens, you'll be the first to know," he told her, not even humoring her last request.

Nova was much like him, painfully in love, and no amount of tits would have her cheat on her wife.

"I guess you met the little mouse recently. How is she doing?"

"Good, I've heard only good news from Asuna. Mousey bonded with Mei over aerodynamics, and she's probably going to end up making explosives before the end of the year if my gremlin of a girlfriend has her way," he said with a fond smile as he poured himself another glass of water.

Nova laughed loudly. "Oh, please make it happen. She would make the cutest little terrorist."

"She would," he agreed. "But I think she's going to have her hands full with school for a little bit, so let's put a pin in that and see where it goes."

"We should go see her. I could bring Missy, and you could bring your goblin. We could make it a playdate!" Nova offered, her enthusiasm bubbling over.

"We aren't treating grown women like dogs needing companionship," he denied with annoyance, though his friend only offered a sharp grin in response. "Even if the idea is worth looking into," he added, much to his annoyance.

"See? Mommy's got the best idea," she stated, hitting her chest with pride.

"Sure thing...Mommy."

Her face twisted into a horrified mess as if she had just tasted something sour. "Never call me that again," she demanded, looking like she was going to throw up. "You bitch," she added for good measure.

"Oh please~~," Takuma singsonged to his friend's surprise. "You know you like it," he added with a shit-eating grin.

"You really are fucking terrible when you're in a good mood, you know that?" she groaned as she slammed back another shot to drown out his stupidity. "Anyway, you looking for work?"

"If you're asking to see if I'm short on cash, then no. If you're asking because you need something, I'm listening," he answered truthfully.

Takuma wasn't looking for work, but he sensed from her mind that this time it was a more personal case.

Nova sighed, her mood darkening by the second. "This one isn't coming from the Madame or anyone on the Board."

Something that was supposed to go under everyone's nose, even the big players. "You're asking for a lot. What is it?"

A groan rose behind him, and Nova struck like a snake, sending the mind slowly waking up back into oblivion. "Someone has been leaving bodies near where Missy works. No one is doing anything—not the cops, the Heroes, or even the gang. Everyone is ignoring the problem even though the bodies keep dropping, sometimes multiple in a single night."

So this was a personal request, Takuma didn't like the sound of it about as much as Nova. "Which gang controls the place?"

"The Black Dragons, Sundered Will, The Carmine, and...the C.R.C.," Nova told him, her words trailing off toward the last group.

"Nova," he said, pronouncing her name slowly to make her look at him. "How did the C.R.C establish themselves near a school without anyone doing anything?!" he nearly shouted his last words.

"They're named 'The Founders' and supposedly not linked with the C.R.C. It's just a pretense. They are attacking mutants, busting shops held by anyone with a visible mutation, and are in the middle of a turf war with The Carmine. Somehow, the bloodsuckers are in the mutant category from their perspective."

"Fuck," he let out.

"Yeah, so far the school hasn't been touched, but the situation is getting worse. And for some fucking reason, nobody is doing anything about a serial killer because everyone is too busy with their own shit."

"And you can't do anything because you have the Madame's favor, and where you go, her authority follows," he breathed out, the clusterfuck he was obviously going to step into starting to take shape in his mind.

"Are you taking the job?" Nova asked with an almost desperate tone.

"You're the one asking, of course I'm taking the job," he replied with an exhausted tone. "I'm going to need everything you have on the situation, Missy's schedule, and where and how the bodies were found."

"Again, if you ever grow tits, I'm ruining it for every other woman out there," Nova thanked him in her usual way. "I'll send you everything—wait, no, you don't have a phone. Give me a sec, I already wrote down some of it, I just need to update my file so you can understand it."

"Do that and be a dear and grab me a beer," he joked with a wink.

"Sure thing, Daddy!" she replied in an overly childish tone that struck him deeply.

"I hate you!" he shouted behind her as she retreated behind a door, cackling like a witch.

A murderer. Over the years, Takuma had dealt with his fair share of terrible people. He was lucky in the knowledge most criminals never expected their own mind to be their downfall. Nova was right to call for him; if he managed to feel the murderer's mind near one of the murders or while they were on the prowl, he would be able to single them out and deal with them as he saw fit. Sometimes it was delivering them to the local gang, sometimes to the cops or the Heroes. Wrangling a Hero in the general direction of a problem wasn't an exact science, but it was worth keeping in mind, and he had enough practice to make it likelier than anyone else on this side of the law.

'I hope Mei won't be too mad,' he thought, having just realized he'd accepted a job that could technically be defined as a crime.

There were different rules for people with Quirks that did not have an off-button, but since the vast majority of such abilities were weak, as a rule of thumb, they weren't meant for someone able to feel, read the emotions of everyone around him. This wasn't even mentioning the unused part of his Quirk he could wield to alter, create, and destroy someone's memory. It wasn't a surprise the law couldn't keep up with whatever random power popped up in the wild.

There was a fine line between passive and active Quirk use. The active part was a crime, not that it ever stopped him in the first place. Thinking on Quirks, the idiots they had just taken down hadn't even used theirs. Weird.

Turning in his chair to look at them and the boneless heap some of them had fallen into, he couldn't notice any mutations of any sort, which meant they either had emitter Quirks or none at all. Or they were Quirkless. Which was likely given the fact that they had attacked a den without even knowing what it was. Or someone far above them did and had sent them as a prodding force for a bigger attack. If, of course, someone wanted to take a stab at The Madame. Either way, he knew Nova would be okay; a den attack wasn't something that would be ignored, and she would probably receive better guards until it was time to move. Corpses were bad for business, and with the amount of blood seeping into the floor, there was probably more than one. The smell of cooked flesh still hung in the air, and Takuma dearly hoped it wouldn't stick to his clothes.

"I got everything here," stated Nova as she walked back into the main room with a single sheet of paper. "Some of it is hard to read, but knowing you, that's not going to be a problem."

It wouldn't. Paper was next to useless for someone with an empathy Quirk. People were easier to read than words on a blank canvas. As long as he knew who to watch for, he was golden.

"You know me."

Minds entered his range, moving fast. Women, none that he had felt before. Seven.

"Looks like your reinforcement is here," he warned her as he stood up, finishing his glass. "I'll be going. Just don't teach Mousey bad words, and I won't have to come see your ugly mug again."

"I've learned my lesson," Nova moaned as she let her head fall on the counter. "I need pussy."

"Sad," he chuckled, ruffling her hair before quickly retreating before she could skewer him with her white-hot appendage.

She hadn't raised the heat so much that it singed his hand, but like him, Nova would rather die than look weak.

"Now, if you are done, I have a place to clean and some infamy to earn. Unless you want The Ma-"

"Nope, I'm fucking off. Have a good day," he quickly said as the gaggle of women closed in on the warehouse and his opening to leave unimpeded was quickly closing.

"I wrote my number if you find yourself a phone. Call me, you slut!"

"Choke on a cunt and die!" he called back as he slipped behind the door, turning just in time to see his best friend flip him the bird. "Tell Missy I said hi!"

"Will do!"

And he was gone.

'Now I just have to hope Mei's school doesn't end too late.'