Spinning a pencil between my fingers, I read my way through one of the books we used for our biology class.
While having a whole other set of memories, especially one with future knowledge of dangerous events, was generally beneficial, when it came to subjects like biology or anything else where differences existed between the worlds, overlap became a bit of a problem for me.
Directly contradicting information was a bit of bitch to deal with to the point where if I wasn’t careful and didn’t question where that specific bit of knowledge came from, I’d end up getting things wrong.
It was less of a problem and more of an annoyance really but something to pay attention to.
A faint tap to my leg.
Both of us in the far back of a dead silent library, Toga sat beside me, all her focus on the book laid out in front of her.
I looked back to my own book.
Another thing I’d been reading up on was how heroes and hero agencies worked as a whole and I was steadily coming to one conclusion.
That rabbit hero, Mirko, had the right idea.
All the steps, regulations, and paperwork made sense; heroes were pretty much another form of law enforcement, so there needed to be systems in place for everything.
Which made going solo sound all the more appealing.
Yeah, it meant having to be more zealous about work early on with so few resources, but it cut out a lot of that extra stuff.
More heroing with less friction getting in the way.
I guess in her case, just based off her personality, more fighting.
No one could question whether or not she enjoyed what she did.
More taps to my leg drew my attention back to Toga.
She was good at making it seem like she was totally focusing, nothing on her face giving away the fact that she was messing with me.
As she started another idle kick, I moved my leg, letting her kick at the feet of my chair.
That didn’t stop her though, her leg moving to follow.
“You’re going to end up losing our bet if you don’t focus.” I said while flipping a page.
“Not if you can’t focus either.” She said, flat out tossing aside any pretenses and forcing one of her legs over mine.
Self sabotaging just to get at me.
A true paragon of morals.
“Any ideas what I should ask for once I win?”
“You mean you didn’t already have something in mind?”
“I did.” Toga said, laying her head on her book and smiling over at me.
“Since you don’t know what is was, that means ~I can ask for whatever I want~”
The way she said that, full of playfulness, could’ve been mistaken for something else but I knew what was at the forefront of her mind.
“I’m not letting you drink from my neck.” I said.
“I’d rather not find out whether or not my quirk is good enough to handle a damaged artery or vein.” I’d save taking that risk if I ever got a crazy good healing ability or item without a cooldown as long as the Sun Card.
That, or a fight would force me to find out.
“That’s not what I was going to ask for.” Toga exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
I side eyed her.
“I was thinking about it, but I guess I can’t ask for that.” She admitted before moving closer, poking my side.
“I’ll let you get out of that one, but you can’t say no when I win.”
“We’ll see.”
“No maybes.
You’ll have to say yes.” She pulled back, turning over the phone she’d laid beside her book.
“Come on, lets go grab something to eat.”
We had been studying for a good while and would have to split up soon.
Closing our books and returning them, we grabbed our stuff, passing through countless bookcases that were full to the brim.
The cashier, along with the few others that’d been in the quiet place, were nowhere to be found.
I immediately marked it as strange, but I’d been doing that for plenty of stuff.
Just the result of some of the knowledge that came with sneaking around; knowing when an opportunity to get around unnoticed was too good to be true was just par for the course.
I shrugged it off, following after her, the grasp Toga had on my hand ensuring we weren’t separated as we joined countless others on the streets.
Toga leading the way.
Plenty others on the sidewalk.
Weekend traffic as busy as ever.
All of it was normal.
KKRSSSSSHHH!
And then it wasn’t.
The windowpane beside us burst, glass shards flying.
Back pedaling, I pulled Toga along with me, the shards cutting others and shattering against the ground.
A hefty thump followed.
A man landed on the sidewalk directly in front of us, loose bills falling from the duffel bag beneath his arm.
Ski mask concealing his face, he rose to his full height easily towering over us and all those frozen around him, the pair of dark eyes he sported landed directly beside me.
On Toga.
“You’ll do.” He muttered, voice deep with an annoyed edge to the words.
He raised his left arm. This story is hosted at g.com.
No hand was at the end of it, his wrist leading to some kind of organic opening where the skin looked as though was folded back into some kind of darkness.
What was- No it didn’t matter.
I forced Toga behind me, that odd opening settling on me.
My shirt tightened then I began to slide forward no matter how hard I tried to root myself in place, that thing in the place of his hand somehow pulling things towards it.
I pried off Toga’s tight hand on my hand, biting into my cheek as my heartbeat slammed against my test.
“You’ll do just fine too.” As soon as I was drawn in, he tried to grab me with his other actual hand, but I slapped away that hand, his eyes widening.
Yells filled the air, others beginning to turn tail and run.
I wanted to do the same with Toga but-
“You some kind of hero in training, kid?” The man questioned, that dark hole where his hand should’ve been suddenly blowing out air rather than sucking anything in.
“Just hang in there as long as you can for me.”
Shrapnel.
My legs had already started to bend as my eyes bounced between the barrage of jagged metal and rocks shooting out of the man’s limb.
Throwing myself out of the way was the only way to go.
But Toga was right behind me.
Left forearm positioned in front of my eyes and the right just a bit lower, neck and heart shielded, I gritted my teeth as pain flared up across my arms.
The air blowing past suddenly strengthened, a gust punching straight into my gut, wind and spit forced out of me as I was sent flying back.
“Katsu!” My back hit Toga, the both of us tumbling across the hard sidewalk.
“Katsu, you’re-” She was over me immediately, eyes jumping all across my body as I tried to push myself off my back.
I needed to take off with her.
No, no, fully turning my back on whatever that was could end in something far worse.
“Run.” I forced out, trying to push her aside as I made it up to a slight rise, looking down at myself.
Toga’s hands, just as unsure as her eyes were already covered in a dark red, pieces of metal and rock, some big and others small, all sticking out of my torso.
Shit.
I forced myself to ignore and look past all that.
Fortunately, the man lost interest in us, that arm already turned towards the ground as he took off in the opposite direction.
Good.
As long as we were being left alone, I wouldn’t have to try to summon HK or use-
A riff.
It wasn’t loud nor did it last long.
Little more than a few notes of what sounded like a piano or maybe a guitar, filled the air.
Bang!
The fleeing man’s left shoulder, the one with that odd limb that shot out shrapnel, was turned into a bloody mess.
Bang!
The same happened to his knee just as I realized the deafening sounds coming from beside us were gunshots, nearby screams soon rising to match.
Four more shots followed, the fleeing man reduced to a bloodied groaning mess across the sidewalk.
[Feat Accomplished!
Subdue a street tier villain for the first time!
+1 Advantage Silver Ability Gacha Ticket]
I pulled eyes away from the window.
A stranger, garbed in noir styled trench coat and a suit beneath it, spun the spent revolver he’d been firing, hiding it beneath his coat in one swift motion.
Dark eyes dropped down to me, he gave a slight tip of the head then vanished.
No light, no sound.
One moment he was there and then gone the next.
Ha.
I fell back against the hard cement with a groan, the pain spread across my entire body worsening to the point that I couldn’t even be bothered to make out what Toga was saying or stop her from forcing her hand into my mouth.
I’d almost forgotten I had that trait.
What a time for it to trigger.
XOXO
The Mysterious Stranger.
Even in a world full of superpowers, a skilled man with a gun was still a hell of a person to have in my corner.
Six shots, none missed, and from what I was hearing, the criminal, taken into custody.
I didn’t get all the details, but it was pretty obvious the man’s initial plan had been to take a hostage in case there were any heroes in the area and use them as leverage to escape.
That’d changed to leaving me to bleed out as a distraction to any heroes called in.
Cruelly practical.
Not that doing any kind of loud robbery like that in a society like this was anything other than stupid desperation.
There was one glaring issue in mind now that it was over.
“Thank you for your cooperation.” Some detectives, standing up from the seats they pulled up beside the hospital bed I was stuffed into despite my lack of injuries. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
After some parting words with Aunt Nozomi, she was back on, acting like I was on the brink of death.
I’d be pretty desperate in her position too but still, the doctors had thoroughly looked me over.
I wasn’t sure how much control I could exert over Mysterious Stranger trait, if any at all, but if the same man in a trench coat and a six shooter only ever appeared around me?
Questions would be asked.
I could play dumb and even be honest to some extent since I genuinely had no idea how his appearance let alone the nature of his existence worked.
With no real evidence other than an impossible to deny or prove coincidence it might leave me in a bit of an odd position with certain people.
Something to keep in mind.
“I’m fine Aunt Nozomi.” I said, going as far as to raise my arms and stretch around.
“See, nothing’s wrong.”
“Only because of that Toga girl.” She said, pulling her hands back from my face.
“I need to go thank her again as soon as I get the chance.”
“Can I-”
“No.” She said, unusually firm.
“You may not have any injuries, but you heard everything else the doctor’s said.
Stay here and rest.”
Toga’s blood, O type blood, boosted my healing capability to the point of healing deep lacerations and punctures to more important stuff like organs and veins.
But the energy for that didn’t just come from nowhere, a grogginess I’d never taken notice of hanging over me ever since I got here.
Either all those superficial wounds and Toga’s drinks from my blood had never been enough to trigger it or I’d just been passing it off as a side effect of my intensified training, but I’d never picked up on it beforehand.
Like my newly acquired ability ticket, all things I’d be focusing on, but I was more concerned about Toga.
Beyond forcing me to drink far more of her blood than I usually did, there’d been a lot of blood around us.
For most I’d be worried about some kind of trauma, which was probably why Aunt Nozomi was being so careful about me now that I thought about it, but with Toga’s interest I was far more worried about something else.
Any kind of awakening or twisted perspective would end up a problem.
XOXO
“You sure you’ll be fine?”
“Yep, miss Akaguro, my parents are on their way right now.” Himiko gave Katsu’s aunt the biggest smile she could manage without her teeth being shown.
“Katsu was the one who was hurt not me.”
“Alright but if you need anything just have a nurse get me.
We’re just a few rooms down.” Miss Akaguro stood from the chair beside her hospital bed and gave her another smile.
“Thank you so much for what you did for Katsu.
As soon as I’m sure he’s okay, I’ll bring him over.”
She nodded, watching her leaving the room.
As soon as the door closed Himiko’s smile dropped.
Katsu’s blood, the few drops that’d slipped into her mouth still on her tongue.
The taste went beyond anything else like always, the warmth of it lingering.
She’d always been fascinated by blood.
The few times she tasted it as kid, before she’d been told never to do it again, had been amazing.
Those times had nothing on Katsu’s blood who allowed her to freely drink as much of it as she wanted.
But for the first time, she hated it.
Not because someone else told her she should or that it kept her from truly fitting in.
For once, she truly hated the fact that she enjoyed the taste.
That she wanted more.
Himiko clenched her bed sheets, the edges of her gritted teeth slipping and cutting into her own gums.
She hated seeing Katsu on the ground being hurt by someone else and the blood forced out of him.
No one should ever be able to do that to him.
His blood was-
The door opened up, Himiko lowering her head and releasing the hold she had on the sheets as her parents silently stepped into the room.
Her mother stopped on the right and her father on the left.
“Himiko.” Her father said.
“We were told you made another child drink your blood.”
XOXO
(A/N: Randomly caught up near a super powered robbery?
The price of living in the MHA verse.
Anyways it got bro his first ability ticket, brought a bit more attention to his quirk’s healing ability, and of course, a bit of questionable development for Toga.
Oh and her parents show their faces.
All very interesting stuff.
Depends on my free time today.)