MHA: Blackout

Daichi Ishida
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While he was worried that his transition into a new class would be uncomfortable, it surprised Daichi just by how welcoming his few interactions were so far, His first mission with the class went quite well, for the most part, they were able to save everyone, all except for one boy who he was still sore about, it wasn't his first time there was a casualty on a mission but every one of them always affected him.

But life goes on as a future hero and Daichi decided to put it behind him and enjoy their school trip to the aquarium, he wasn't exactly sure what to do first but the potential to hang out with new friends and have fun had him excited. Daichi was so into his own thoughts that when Ota finally finished speaking he realized that he didn't hear one heard that came out of his mouth, well it couldn't have been that important, right?

Now what to do first?

Humming to herself, Isa had slipped into her white and red robes, planning to visit the infirmary or maybe some of her allies, Kuroi would be a neat target to scare later on as he put her up to it. Unexpectedly, Isa made use of the elevator riding it to the ground floor rather than take the four flights of stairs, she didn't want to accidentally step on her robes as she went into the Kitchen to make a sandwich before sitting in the Dining Room, when she heard a strand banging and shifting of boxes. "What in the fuck?!" She says, putting her food down as she went to see who or what it was, as she opens the door. "Oi!"

Sure Daichi could've taken a few trips to carry his six bags but why waste all the precious time exploring this new school by taking two extra trips? Besides if he can't carry a couple of bags to an elevator how could he be expected to fight baddies?

Having narrowly moved his body through the singular door, this caused a little ruckus from the bags banging on the glass causing someone to come and investigate, though it did take him a few seconds to let out a single word due to him being stunned by the girls beauty. "Oh me!? Oh sorry didn't mean to disturb anyone here, especially someone of such…"Yet again his speech drifted by his obvious staring, almost causing him to knock over a vase with his luggage. "Oh whoops! Hey uh do you know how to find the dorms?" He spurted out hoping to clear the air.

"Eh?" Isa looks a the man for a bit, they said she wasn't bright, but she knew why she was here. "Yes this right here is one of them, this is Dorm 07. Name's Isa Suguro. Though I think the normal greeter is away for a bit. Where yah need to be?" She asked

Daichi was about to formally reach out his hand to introduce himself but pulled back when he realized it wasn't that type of greeting. "Daichi Ishida." To answer her question, Daichi fished into his pocket seemingly looking for what would answer her question. "Well uhh you see I had a paper with the dorm stuff but I think I may have...uh dropped it." Well great job Daichi, you are already fucking up before the first day of school, he thought to himself. "Well do you know where I can get info on the dorms? Don't mean to intrude if your heading somewhere." He let out an awkward giggle having to embarrass himself in front of her.

"Huh.." Thinking about that, the easiest thing to do would be to find Mari, being the Class Rep and all, she would have to know about all of this.. The problem was, Isa was not exactly sure where she would be, scratching the side of her head briefly the horned girl considered his request before shrugging it off. "Nah, I got nowhere pressing to be unless I'm here all day, what we should do is track down Mari, she would know all this, or maybe they would in the main offices, yah don't remember where you need to be at all? Like class number or anything?"

A wave of relief hit Daichi when she accepted his plea for help, without it he would have no idea of what to do."Well thanks, I would not know where to start." Taking a second to process what she had said next, thankfully he had memorized one part of the paper on the way to the dorms. "Ah yeah Class 11! Would that help at all?" Not that he would admit it but he was actually kind of proud for memorizing such a miniscule of information since he had a habit of forgetting things right after they happened. "So uh what class are you in?" Maybe by chance she was in the same class or close to it, it's always smart to make friends before class, especially the beautiful ones.

"Oh.." Thinking back to today's lesson she grunted at not having paid attention, she couldn't really berate him for doing the same.. Well she could, but she had a feeling she would catch hell for it later. "Huh, Ota-Sensei said someth'n about 11 and 10 being split up among the other classes include'n us. We are Class 07.. Hell you might be here, a few people have dropped in, they don't put names on the doors..or if they do I haven't seen em, course we could just run yer keycard under the doors in the expansion, see if shit all happens? It's that or track'n down Ota-Sensei, Amano, or Mari."

"Ah some detective work eh? I like the sound of that! But don't ye think going and swiping every door would take like all day?" It would definitely work but maybe checking in with one of those names she mentioned would be a much easier way. "Well that Ota-Sensai should be at the school yeah? Maybe that would be the best lead we got." Daichi was prone to daydreaming and living in his own world that he barely knew anyone outside of his old class, he was just awful at keeping track of anything.

"Well no, there are only three new doors, so that's easy! But huh, yeah I guess we could track him down, might be in his and the teachers workroom office thing, I go by there at times either as I'm in trouble for breaking something and to buy snacks from their vending machines, it's cheaper than the student ones."

Nodding at that she motions for him to follow. "Maybe just leave your stuff in the lobby here, like by the lockers, I don't think anyone will mess around with it."

Even Daichi couldn't understand how dumb he seemed at the moment, maybe that's apart of his blissful obliviousness. "Oh perfect! This'll be easy as pie!" Besides he also hasn't introduced himself to the sensei properly yet so this way he can kill two birds with one stone. "Ah don't worry about those, if they wanna steal some hand me downs and an old laptop then they can have it." He also took mental note of the vending machine suggestion, that would come in handy. "I'll follow your lead."

Leading off with him, there weren't many people in the halls, this should be quick and easy, the teacher's workroom wasn't too far inside of the place. It wasn't long till they were knocking on the door and walking inside, with Ota looking at the pair blankly. "Ah.. Isa, did you break something else? I see you found Daichi Kun, is there something I can help you both with?"

"Nah I didn't break anything this time. And he can speak for himself..though why do you know him?"

As his new acquaintance led him to the sensei Daichi took the time to look around and gaze at the new dormitory, just comparing it to his old farm life is like night and day, its like comparing the Taj Mahal to the Shake shack. "Dang this place is huge ain't it? You just know there's a movie theatre room somewhere here." Man the things he would do for a theatre room.

Finally making it to the classroom, he was shocked to see yet another hot person, this time being the sensei she was talking about. Is everyone really hot at this school? He was quickly pulled back to reality when the sensei mentioned him by name, surprising Daichi since he had no knowledge of meeting him. "Honor to meet you Sensei! But may I ask, how do you know my name?"

Looking at the pair, Ota takes a long deep breath and smiles. "Because. If you two paid attention you would know you are in my class. And there is no movie theater, though we can always set up a projector in the auditorium."

With that Isa makes a funny face and taps her fist into her head before making a I dunno sign. "Hey, I'm not the one you made class lead."

"Oh...Well I must have missed that part, or I was dozing off…" Daichi muttered the last part to himself, if there was ever a fire he would probably be the last to know about it. "A place this huge and it doesn't have a theatre? That's disappointing…" Though his interest was peaked by the mention of a projector. "So teach do you by chance have the info on the new dorms? Cuz I kiiiinda lost mine." He let out his awkward giggle, a common way to charm himself out of getting in trouble.

"You are on the ground floor in the annex, one of the three rooms as soon as you pass the stairwell and elevators. Which room exactly I couldn't tell you without looking." Ota says in way of answering the question.

Well that's just great, his room was less than 20 feet away from right where they were standing. "Ah praise the sensei! I would say that I won't make the same mistake again but I wouldn't wanna lie to my sensei in our first introduction." Daichi had a motto slammed in by his father, always be truthful, no ifs or buts. "Thank you Sensei."

Shaking his head at the pair he gives them a wave, forcing Isa to lead them back. "Told yah to just scan the doors, there were only three of em!" With a shrug at that she pauses by the snack machine to get an iced coffee, reaching into her pockets, she had a 500 yen coin. "Want somethin?"

Well clearly he should have trusted his new classmate than his wrongful assumptions, guess that's something he needed to work on. "Well shoot, sorry about that, I tend to get headstrong about that type of shit." His attention changed in an instant when he saw the famous vending machine he was told about earlier, as he shoved his hands in his pockets his expression changed to frustration that he realized he left his wallet with his things back at the entrance. "Ah praise Isa! How about next time I buy us drinks on me."

As she led them both back towards the doors, Daichi rushed through his bags before finding his keycard. "There we go! Now where are those three doors?"

"Huh, sure, that's fine." She says pressing an iced mocha for herself and a coffee with cream for him. Downing her own, she rather enjoyed the chocolate flavoring in it as they headed back. At his next question she motions with her hand over her shoulder as if to say 'follow me' "Heh, this one is easy." Leading him into the lobby, she takes off her shoes and walks around barefooted, leading him into the small hall past the stairs and elevator. Just beyond it were three rooms, plus a side area with likely more rooms behind a keycard locked door beyond it. "If it's anything like the other rooms, yours should be one of these right here, Boys on the left, girls on the right."

At his old home, his parents never cared about house etiquette so normally he would around with shoes on, so he was caught off guard when his new classmate decided to take off her shoes. Oh...oh yeah! Quickly he fumbled with his shoes almost falling down in the process before tossing them close to where she dropped hers. "Well that was quite the journey, shall we try door number 1?" Without any more delay, Daichi swiped his card causing a lock mechanism to sound. "So that must be mine right?

By chance as the right most room was the closest to the hall, Daichi would be disappointed, it would take a further try before the only room left, the most left and furthest away was his as the reader chirped confirming his keycard.

"Well, took a bit but there we go." Isa says with a thumbs up. "Oh yeah, we should really go get all your stuff."

"Aha! What a piece of cake!...Well thanks to you of course." It came to mind how lucky he was that someone was willing to help him and didn't just ignore him, much like he was at U.A "Oh I don't wanna take up more of your time that I already have, It'll take a couple of trips but it'll be easy, don't ya gotta be somewhere though?"

"Eh, not really, I was just going to go play some games, if yah need a hand I can carry a lot, but if you are fine, eh. You'll also likely run into the Class Rep sooner or later, Calico cat looking features, can't miss her, even in a snowstorm."

Wait, we even got a cat girl at this school? His feelings were now much more mixed. "Yeah this won't be more than carrying a couple buckets of milk back from the barn to the house." Okay maybe that wasn't as relatable as he hoped. "Well it was nice to meet you Isa, maybe we can actually hang out for real next time? Besides, ice coffee is on me?"

"Kehahaha! Sure." She says, slapping him on the back, something he was likely to feel, though well meaning. "But yeah, you'll meet a lot of interest'n people here, well, good luck! I'm gonna head over to the Infirmary now!" And with that she was off.

Haya sighed as she decided to try something new and laid in the grass just outside the dorms. She had been used to being inside, but she was starting to feel like she needed more. That was when she noticed a guy laying around. He was a little strange from what she could understand, he cleaned everywhere and he always seemed to find time to be lazy or just be. Haya was starting to think that he was a new student that just had nothing to do.

But she wanted to understand this, so she decided to try one of the things she had felt him do. It was since, but it also felt strange, knowing people would be coming and notice that she was just laying there. She wondered what her friends might think of the whole thing. She was sure Aika would think she was strange, but Aika always thought that. Agi would join her, he was an odd guy too. For now, she would just lay there and wait for something to make her move.

It was a new day which meant a brand new opportunity to go outside and check out his new environment, maybe there was some hiking trail nearby? Okay maybe he was expecting too much of the dorms but how couldn't you with the size of them?

But as he walked outside his eye was taken from the beauty of the view they had, with the sun out and the sweater-wearing weather. It was his favorite time of year. So after finding a nice patch of grass Daichi laid back and decided to look at the clouds, you couldn't waste a perfect day like this.

It must have been a good half hour before he finally took his eyes off the sky and glanced over to his right to see a woman lying there, he wasn't sure whether she was there when he laid down or after but it gave him the idea to introduce himself.

"Hey there! Names Daichi Ishida." He lent his hand out to the girl, hoping he wasn't intruding in any private time.

Haya had heard the guy walk over and lay down and he went silent. She wasn't sure if she had been noticed or not, but since he didn't say anything and she didn't recognize him, she figured she wasn't. She left it alone and closed her eyes, to listen to everything around her. It was a while before she opened them again, the sound of her music softly rang through her eyes as she calmly listened and felt everything around her.

But when he noticed her, she looked towards him and then took his hand to shake, before pulling back "Haya Kimura" she introduced herself. "Are you also one of the new students?" she asked. She knew there were a few of them, but wondered if they all liked to lay in the grass and why.

He was glad that she was warm and friendly, honestly judging by her exterior, though he tried not to judge it off that, came off as a little intimidating. "Well kinda, was integrated from class 11." Seeing as she wanted to continue the conversation, Daichi took a seat next to his new classmate.

"So you liking it here? Must be a lot different than your last school right?" Daichi began to reminisce about his first few days at Suppression. "I remember for me it was a little tricky getting used to."

Haya nodded as she sat up too. She listened to him and wondered why class 11 and 10 were mixed into their class. But decided it was a little soon. She learned there was still a lot about socializing she had to work on. "I like it here a lot. It's not so different that I feel overwhelmed but it is different enough that my life before and my current life are very different. What about you? Is it still tricky being here?" She asked curious of how he had been dealing with the new school.

He spewed the question like it was a softball but when it was thrown back at Daichi his mind went blank, not that he hadn't thought about it but more so on where to even start. "It's really different, maybe I should be more used to it by now but it still feels...weird? I'm not sure that's the word for it but it's all I got." He stared up at the sky and gazed at the clouds, trying to find shapes within them. "I guess I'm just trying to find my footing still, it's a little intimidating especially in a school with people who are so sure of themselves, it makes me kinda jealous…"

Realizing he was oversharing a tad too much, he attempted to sway the conversation. "So where did you go before this? School wise i mean."

Haya smirked, "Isami Academy, it's not that big of a school or popular, so if you know it, I would be impressed. What school did you come from?" she chuckled, as she sat up straight, "And you don't have to be sure of yourself. Being here is more about being confident. They wouldn't have selected you if they didn't think you were up for what is to come and you want to be a hero so you have to be sure of some parts of yourself."

Well, she was right he had no idea what or where that school was, though he had to admire her getting into Suppression while being at a less than popular school. "First time I've heard it so I'm impressed. As for me, basically, the same school half of suppression went to, U.A." He hadn't mentioned that it was quite a drop from most students, class C, though he was too embarrassed to share that detail.

This wasn't the first time he was told to have more confidence in himself, his father tried to push him into believing in himself but it never stopped him from overthinking and belittling himself. "It's a little easier than it sounds...we come from a generation of great heroes like Novamaster and I'm supposed to not compare myself to them? It's just kinda hard, y'know?"

Haya smirked, "I guess I have the better side though. I have no one to compare myself to. Well, no one I know about. I hear a lot about pro heroes but when you think about it. They were students like us at one point. Some even probably didn't reach fame right out of school." She took a deep breath, "But UA is a good school. From what I hear it's very popular and makes good heroes. Why did you leave?" She asked curious if something had happened or if he just needed the change.

That was something to think about, could they have been doubting themselves like he was back when they were young? Feeling the crushing expectations of society and worrying about their capability? It kinda did make him feel better after she said that or at least relaxed him a little. "That's a fair point, guess I never looked at it that way." He gave her a sincere smile, it was refreshing to hear a whole new point of view without judgment.

He took a pause to give her a thought-out answer, why exactly did he leave? By all accounts, it was a big risk to switch schools when he was in his third year already and the school was pretty new to the public as is, he also didn't forget that he was still lying to his parents that he switched schools in the first place. "Is it, uh, weird that I don't actually got a good answer for that? Like I can say that it was because I needed a new change or just not feeling like I belong but that doesn't feel like my actual reason…" Oddly enough this was the first time he was processing this for himself.

"Well why did you switch schools?"
Daichi threw out the question, though the answer could be obvious, maybe she has a different reason?

Haya shrugged, "I was talked into it. My friends thought I should be around others more to my level and my family that it would be a better chance for me to make friends." she answered. It was simple enough, she thought. It had nothing to do with the school as much as it did, the students.

"Heh well, I can help with one of those things." He chuckled a little to himself, he was glad to have a relaxed conversation without feeling pressured to be someone else. "Well you met one friend today, if that makes your family happy?"

Haya smiled, it was alway since making new friends and interesting the different kinds of friends she made, "I think they will be happy to know that I made a new friend." she assured him and giggled, "I am always happy to make new friends, myself. It has been really fun, I didn't really know it could be, until recently."

It was nice to hear that the school has been good for her and gave him hope for his new class. "That's great to hear, if there's one thing I can say that I'm great at is being social and making friends, though sometimes it can backfire to annoyance." You could also say he is an over-sharer. "Have you met Sensei Ota? Quite intimidating but also kinda nice, hopefully he isn't as intense as he looks."

Haya chuckled, "He isn't that intense. He doesn't pull any punches, but he doesn't try to kill you either." she explained, Ota-Sensai was probably a very good teacher compared to a lot of the homeroom teachers that were out there, but she had no idea what his old homeroom teacher was like. "Everyone is kind of nice, you should be able to get along really well with them all."

While he has only briefly met his sensei, the man did seem kind, though his scary aura did psych him out a little. "Well I hope I'm not going to be his first...victim I mean not uh...nevermind." From the newly made classmates he had met recently, she was right by them being nice, hell maybe they could even be good friends someday. "That's good, didn't get along that well with my old class, so that'll be refreshing."

Haya tilted her head towards him, "You didn't. Well, I guess if you did you wouldn't have transferred would you. Well, I am glad to help if you need it." The way his voice sounded she was learning that is was a simply honest person that did a lot of doubt thinking. She hoped they could learn more about each other and change that. Like her class changed her.

His lips let out a quiet chuckle which came out almost inaudible, it was sweet of her to lend out help, maybe he'll take her on that some other time. "So with all this talking about myself, what's going in that brain of yours? Or maybe you seem like the closed off type…" His eyes squinted as if he was figuring out a word puzzle in his head, he's met two types of 'quiet' people in his mind; the quiet ones that are shy and only speak when spoke, or two they are quiet because they have nothing they like to say, usually the intellectual and forethinking type.

Haya smirked, "I tend to over share. My friend, Aika, mentioned this to me." She thought of what she wanted to say. "But my uncle would say that someone like you needs a friend that can push you further. Make you remember That you are here because of you and nothing else. That you should be confident in your abilities and a friend should let you know they trust you." She nodded, "I trust all of my teammates and I would never want to them to believe I won't be there to help them."

It was an awfully kind gesture she was giving, it takes a genuine soul to offer help even to others you've just met, especially if you are there when the time actually comes.

"Well you can say the same for me, if you need someone to depend on then I'm your guy." If she was an oversharer, she was quite the generous one to let him ramble for so long.

Haya smirked, "I trust that you will be. I believe a lot of our team will. It's kind of the way we all think. You are a good match." She giggled, "I should also ask, in that case." She started as she sat up straight and reached out her hand, "May I touch your face? That way if we are on the same team, I will know if you need help."

He was taken back for a second by how odd and out of the blue, the question was, until it finally clicked in. "Oh my god...I didn't know that you were- I am such an idiot." He wanted to just punch himself for not noticing sooner, how did they have this long great conversation without him noticing!? "Well of course." Daichi leaned his face in closer to her to touch, any type of close contact always made him blush so he was thankful that she couldn't see that, as bad as that sounds.

Haya smirked, "It is fine." she said as she moved towards Daichi and started to touch his face. She let her fingers go through his face, every inch as softly as her fingertips could be. When she was done she pulled back, she smiled, "Thank you. It is very helpful for me to have a visual image of you. Both to know how your expressions work and for combat when we go in the field together." she explained.

Man was he thankful she couldn't see as badly as that sounds, his face was bright red as her touched around his face. "Oh I see of course, that makes sense…" He noted how mature and thought out she was. "So what is your quirk anyway?"

Haya smirked, "Sound." She said, "I can hear everything with my pores, not just my ears. I feel everything around me is a more accurate way of thinking about it. If sound bounces off of it, I can feel it and in a way I can see it. But it comes off as just a blur, I should mention. And oddly enough even after feeling your face, there seems to be some kind of push back. I can still see you, but your presents just seem to be playing tug of war with my sense of hearing." she giggled, "It's actually very strange, what is your quirk?"

Oddly enough Daichi felt like he understood what she meant by being able to visualize her surroundings. "So kinda like your reading a book and can visualize what is written? Or in this case hear?" If that was true, that was actually really awesome.

His face went even more red by her mention of him pulling back, that was scary. "Oh uh yeah sorry, not against you or anything, just not used to anyone touching my face." He let out another awkward chuckle. "Oh but not that I hated or didn't like it or...Y'know imma just shut up heh." As someone as sociable as he was, Daichi was really tripping over his words.

"Well in a basic sense, I kinda get stronger and faster the more I get hit, so I'm used to messing up this pretty face...Maybe that's why you had a hard time reading it?"

Haya smirked, "Not reading it, I mean your sound. Your sound bounces off of you like a force, more like it's pushing back." she nodded "But that might be true. Most people with quirks sound like their quirks physically. So, it makes sense that you have explained it that way." She thought about his words and then about when she met Agi, "Well, Agi, one of our classmates, actually made an interesting point. Since I touched your face, you can touch mine. If that will make things better for you?" she suggested.

Thankfully that relieved him enough to calm down a little, reminding him to not overthink everything. "That's gotta be a unique quirk, pretty badass if I must say." He didn't know how to describe it but it felt so freeing to just talk with someone like this, with no judgement whatsoever. "I mean uh maybe if you don't mind at least…" By the beginning of their talk maybe he would have been more weirded out but by now it just felt natural.

Gently he laid his fingertips on her face, making him realize how soft her complexion was, though he pulled back before he could weird her out. "You've got uh..um a nice face?"

Haya smirked, "Thank you, Kaizen says I am pretty and Hideki agreed." she stated. It was interesting to hear it in a different way, but she was sure that Daichi said the same thing. "You are cute yourself." she added. She didn't know why, but she thought that he might be a little standoffish about that fact. "Oh, Kaizen is the big one and Hideki is the pretty one." she explained, "If you haven't met them yet. But I guess you will soon." she told him, knowing that there was going to be a mission soon, so the whole class would be together and he would be able to see them all.

Well it seems half the class are flirts, well that just means more competition, not that he had game in the first place, sure he was a social butterfly but flirting was a whole different story. "Oh wha- um well th-thanks." Was this the first time anyone has called him cute? Sure he got handsome or if he got lucky, hot, but it actually felt heartwarming to hear that. "I've only met a few of them so far, so that'll be exciting." He mentally noted their names, maybe he could introduce himself to them soon?

"You get along with everyone here? You seem like the least difficult person ever but big schools like this usually have some "big" personalities, if you catch my drift." He wasn't great with conflict, so it would help daichi to know which ones to avoid.

Haya nodded, but then shook her head, "Sorry, I have no idea what you mean. I get along with mostly everyone. I avoid Vigidris, I heard she is rude to everyone and insults them and I was raised to respect everyone, so I avoid her. I don't think I should respect someone that is rude to others. Vitalis has some ideas that don't really make sense, but he is nice for the most part. Just avoid quirk talk with her. She isn't open minded about others' ideas. Isa is a little simple, but she is very nice. Mari is also very nice. Kaizen is nice and kind, Hideki has some self-doubt but he is nice. Kuroi seems mean and apparently has a scary quirk but he is very nice, he is teaching me to cook. Agi is energetic and a little wild, Yori is an Idol, Goto has a mouth on him, but they are all pretty nice. I have not met Amon yet, but from what I feel he is always eating and Kuroi says that he is a great cook, so he can be picky. Amano is strange but sweet, she is also Yori's twin. She gives away these slim things to help her get to know you better. Hmmmm, Katsumi is a legacy so she can be complicated. Ichika likes sweets and she is confusing for me sometimes, but very nice. Iniji is hides, but he is sweet, and Mitsou is a ninja, in everything, so he is really hard to find, but he is very nice.'' She explained that she could recall everyone, she wasn't sure if he knew the new students but she had not met them yet.

Well that helped make a clear picture, other than Haya he previously only met Isa and Yori, who both were really sweet, so he was glad the class was for the most part. "Rude, nice, nice, nice, nice and kind, self doubted but nice (which he could relate to,) nice (also a cook?), energetic and wild, idol, mouthy but nice, strange but sweet, a complicated legacy, sweet but confusing, and a ninja, did I miss anything?" Honestly, he was quite proud of his long-term memory.

"So you got everyone figured out so what do you pin me as? Let me guess, attractive but humble and kind?" Maybe cross out the humble part.

Haya chuckled, "You are more like Agi, energetic and nice." she chuckled. He was something like Agi, but there was something else. Agi had more confidence in his strangeness. But she wasn't going to mention that to him. She felt that would hit him a little more, in her time here, she learned there were things you don't say and things you do your best to avoid explaining. So, she learned to change the topic and instead of lying, be vague. She wished she learned it a little sooner, Goto seems to be in for some trouble because she was much too honest.

Yeah that's probably the way he would describe himself too, maybe a little too energetic at times. "Ah so your not disproving the handsome part eh?" He giggled a little at his callback, he wasn't one to shy away from any type of embarrassing emotions. "So what about yourself? You got yourself pinned down yet?"

Haya shrugged, "I am blind. There is not much to me. I think a lot of the other students think I am nice but I talk a lot about my uncle. I'm very sheltered from Kuroi's words. But there really isn't much to me." she pointed out. She had been told she overshared because she talked a lot, but she wasn't really sure how to talk to a lot of people. So she was not sure how to stop herself other then to cut back on talking about what her uncle said to her many times.

Daichi sat there in confusion, what does she mean by that? "Wait because your blind you think that makes you less of a person? That would make you an even more of a person, you've made despite it, you should be proud of that." This whole time he thought everyone here had everything but maybe everyone struggled with something different. "Maybe you don't realize it now but you're pretty awesome...you should be proud of that."

Haya smirked at him, "Thanks, but being blind kind of does put me at a disadvantage. Over coming it is actually thanks to my uncle and everything that he can do for me. And my quirk helps me a lot more. Without it, being blind, I have areday forgotten how to life by just being blind. I would be completely lost without my quirk, even with the bad." she explained. It wasn't that she was less of a person, but she was less special, because she already had a disadvantage and was trying to keep up with everyone else, which was was fine with. She worked harder then most because she was blind and she was able to learn more about herself than most because of it. She became useful.

It made sense that she felt that way, with the little confidence he had, it made him wonder how lost he would be if he lost his sight, definitely not as strong as haya. "Just because you had help that doesn't take away how much work you put into yourself, you couldn't do all that if it wasn't for your determination." He just wished Haya felt the same way Daichi feels for herself. "You've got a fighting spirit, not many have that."

Haya smirked, "I know that much, it helped me a lot, to be me and to be a hero, being blind I mean. So, I am not disappointed in being blind, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to see. Being born without sight is not easy and when no one knows how to help you, it can make things hard. But I had a family that cared for me, would be hard if I hadn't." she informed him. If she had been born to anyone else, she wasn't sure she would have the spirit that he was talking about.

It took time to understand what she meant but after trying to understand how he would have felt in her situation, it all made sense. "It must have been really difficult and scary having to learn everything without sight." As much as he complained about his struggles, it was humbling to see someone who also had their struggles. "Well as long as you can be patient since I can be quite slow at times, I would like to learn to help however I can."

As the sun came down merely hours after his rescue mission at the ski lodge, Daichi stuck near the fire in the living room for the past two hours, he wasn't a hateful person so when he says he hates snow, he means it.

Soon enough his boredom became too difficult to control so Daichi decided to look through the brown cupboard across the room, right then his face lit up like he discovered a pot of gold, well that wasn't too far off with Daichi's expectations, a old fashioned game cube sat in the dusty drawer, clearly having not been touched for years.

Without any delay he pulled the console out of the drawer and ran to the closest television, which happened to be across the room, just as quickly as he ran to the tv, he began plugging in all the additional cords. "Come on baby boot up…"

Seconds began to feel like minutes as sweat ran down Daichi's forehead, most likely from the heat but it wouldn't be surprising if it came from anticipation.

BINGO!

"Holy shit it actually works!"

Hideki was up in his room, he had just gotten back from a shower as he thought about his squad's patrol mission earlier that day. His team had stopped a bank robbery and had captured four villains that had caused some of his other classmates problems. Hideki was happy about that, but there were still some things he could fix. At this point though, they would be having class tomorrow and would be going over all of the reports with Ota sensei. For now there was nothing else he could really do.

Hideki, after getting dressed decided to leave his room and head downstairs. He wasn't sure if he was going to get food or just see if anyone was around to hang out. As he made his way downstairs he heard a voice coming from the living room. He decided to go see who it was. Hideki saw that it was one of the new kids that joined their class. He believed this guy's name was Daichi, but he wasn't sure of that.

As Hideki made his way into the living room, he saw what had made the guy so excited and a smile quickly formed on Hideki's face as well. "Wow, is that a legit gamecube? I haven't seen one of those in a long time. Crazy that it still seems to work."

Daichi had been so focused by the old age system that he hadn't seen his new classmate walk in, he smiled back and was glad he had the same enthusiasm. "Yeah! Man I haven't even seen one in the flesh before! Only through some retrospect videos." Of course Daichi was a fan of all types of games and consoles, hell if his family was richer he would have gotten one a long time ago.

"Oh!" Without warning, Daichi quickly jumped up from his seat and ran back to the drawer he had found the gamecube in, pulling out a second controller. "Looks like controller two is up for grabs, if you're not busy, that is?"

Hideki had seen this kid before, he had went to UA right? He was in the other hero class though. Hideki watched as he got up from his seat and going over to grab another controller. Looked like he was offering Hideki to play with him. He didn't have anything else to do so he shrugged his shoulders before saying "Yeah sure I'll play. I haven't played on a gamecube since I was a little kid, my parents had always kept one in the house."

Hideki smiled as he took the controller from Daichi's hand and took a seat. "What games do we have?"

He didn't wanna say anything and maybe embarrass the other boy but he remembered Hideki from class 1-A, not him specifically but he was always jealous of all the students who made it in to 1-A, still he was glad that he made it to Suppression in the first place.

"So how about we both relive our childhoods then?" He gave Hideki a childish grin and walked over to the drawer once more, after moving some other old cords around he found the collection of video games, maybe about two dozen, though none caught his eye like his all time favorite.

"Ever play smash bros. Melee? Aka the greatest game that came out of mankind?" At quick succession Daichi ran up and shoved the disk in before jumping back onto the couch.

He definitely knew this kid, he for sure saw him at UA before. Hideki was pretty sure he was in class 1-C. Hideki's own class 1-A and the 1-C class didn't have much time together. They did do some joint training but not much. Most of the time class 1-A students training with each other and they did some training with class 1-B but not much time with the lower hero course class 1-C

Hideki didn't know much about Daichi, but so far he seemed nice and now they were in the same class together, it didn't matter where they were before this. Hideki perked up when he heard that they had smash bros.

"Have I? Oh you don't know what you're in for. I love smash bros and I used to play it all the time with my dad and friends when I was a kid."

Daichi did love a challenge, though he hadn't played melee before, he watched a lot, maybe an unhealthy amount of melee gameplays from his room. "Well that sounds like a challenge...and I do love a challenge."

From Daichi's perspective, while he saw him from the sidelines, there was no much know about him besides his supernaturally good looks.

Daichi scrolled through the roster until he came across the one he was looking for, good ole jigglypuff. "Ready to get floored, pretty boy?"

"Jigglypuff huh? Interesting choice." Hideki snickered a little bit as he himself scrolled through the characters until he came up to his pick which was samus.

"Well this pretty boy can game so let's see who's really going to get floored." Hideki turned his head and smiled at Daichi. It was nice to just be able to relax a bit and play some video games. After the bank robbery today and the fight he had with Carbon Shock it was really nice to just forget about all of that for a little bit and to just be a regular teenage boy playing video games.

"Oh so you're jigglypuff hater, huh? Well you're about to get schooled mop head." Daichi snickered back at him as he joked, then he saw who Hideki chose. "Samus eh? You don't stand a chance."

Daichi did like how competitive he was, sometimes whenever daichi got caught up into fun and joked around, some would take it the other way, he also couldn't ignored that bright smile of his.

The fight began and Daichi focused on the game, he had a way of being able to tune out all responsibilities and relax, whether you see that as a perk or a flaw, it was who he was. It was nice to actually play a game with a friend, it was actually the first time he did so, living on a farm made making friends a little difficult, not to mention how unpopular he was at U.A.

"Not a hater, but I mean come on there are better characters than Jigglypuff, like Samus for example." Hideki smirked as the game loaded up. Hideki turned and faced Daichi and raised his brow when Daichi called him a mophead. "Was that supposed to be an insult or something?" Hideki laughed a bit at the weird insult/nickname. "I guess it's a good thing that you're trying to be a hero and not a villain because your smack talk could use some work."

Finally the game started and Hideki could just relax and play. He had a lot on his mind and a lot of things going on, but right now he could just be a normal teenager and game for a while.

"Everybody underestimates the powers of the Puff, soon you will feel the wrath of the Puff!" He couldn't really diss Samus though coming from his love of the metroid series. Daichi didn't have a hateful bone in his body, so every type of "insult" he made all came from fun. "My smacktalk may be terrible but my smash bros skills make up for that. It was nice to just smacktalk and play around with someone without worrying about anything.

Daichi sat up with his backarched while focusing as the match began, his tongue stuck out as it always has whenever he focused.

The game continued as the two fought in a close match that pitted the two rivals, this all lead to the two having only one life each and a small stream of sweat running down Daichi's forehead. "Ready to give up yet?"
Hideki looked over at Daichi and smiled and laughed as he said that Hideki was going to feel the power of puff. "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it." Hideki turned his attention to the game as they fought with Jigglypuff and Samus. "Well I guess I'll be the one to really let you know if your bros skills make up for your lack of smacktalk.

Hideki smirked as he noticed Daichi arch his back and lean forward while also sticking his tongue out and focusing on the game. "Oh getting serious I see. I guess I'll have to get serious too."

It was a close match, both of them down to their last life. "Me give up? Never, as a hero I never give up no matter what I'm doing." The two of them continued to fight and it looked like Hideki had won, but Daichi was able to pull off a combo move at the last second and knocked Samus out of the map which meant he won the game. Hideki leaned back on the couch as he put his controller down for a moment. "Wow I'm kind of in shock here, but it looks like you're the winner. I bow down to your superior smash bros skill." Hideki laughed as he looked over at Daichi.

Sure Daichi had competed before in different games but never had he had such a close game before, hell if he hadn't pulled off that last ditch combo, he would have been feeling like a doofus having talked so much game. "Well I can't say that wasn't the most difficult match of smash bros I've ever played, you've got some game pretty boy, seems like I got a lot to learn from you." Though they haven't played long, he liked how competitive but laid back Hideki was, this class was a lot better than his last, he had to say.

"So if you don't mind me asking...Why did you leave U.A? Must have been risky going from such an established school to something a little risky?"

Hideki laughed a little and also blushed a tiny bit as Daichi called him pretty boy again. Hideki was kind of used to that nickname now but still it was definitely not a nickname he ever thought he would have and every once in a while he would get a little embarrassed by it and blush. Though to be honest he had no problem with the name. "Well you won, so I guess I've got some things to learn from you as well." Hideki shrugged his shoulders as he continued to leay back on the couch looking up at the television and then up at the ceiling for a moment.

Hideki then looked back over at Daichi as he asked Hideki why he had left U.A, well that just confirmed for Hideki that Daichi did in fact go to U.A as well. "I don't really know to be honest. I got the invitation from Suppression and did some research on it. It's only been around for a few years but it has a good reputation already. It's already produced some good heroes and some good ANVIL agents. I loved my time at U.A I grew a lot as a person. I grew up during my time there. I would have happily stayed at U.A, but I don't know I guess I just wanted to try something different, to try a challenge. I had also considered maybe going into ANVIL, but I'll more than likely still be going into a hero agency after graduation. It'll look good on my resume to have gone to both U.A and Suppression." Hideki smiled and subtly shrugged his shoulders again.

"So what made you leave U.A for Suppression? That's where I know you from right?"
Well that did make sense, he got all that he wanted from U.A and Suppression would be a great next step to help his resume, it kind of made feel lesser seeing as he didn't too much research for his part. "Guess I should have brought that up earlier, huh? Well I am glad you came here, you've always had a way of standing out even in a class full of the future of the hero association." Hopefully, Hideki didn't think anything weird of him for that.

When he gave the same question back to him, he wasn't really sure how to answer that, hell he basically did it on a whim. "Well I kinda begged my dad to let me try out for U.A, it was basically all that I wanted from when I was a child...but I never really fit in there, it took me a while to grasp my quirk, hell the kids back there would find me really weird and basically outcasted me... So I basically felt that it was my only chance of getting out of there." So far though his risky decision seemed to be a good idea, everyone so far was truly kind.

"Well sorry for the sap or whatever, I hate being seen as a martyr like they used to see me, so mind keeping that between us?"

Hideki sat there as he listened to Daichi, he felt a little bad because he didn't really know much about him. He didn't really know him at all, Class 1-A and class 1-C didn't do too much together so Hideki didn't really spend much time with him. Hideki then was a little taken back by Daichi saying that he stood out even in a room full of future heroes. Hideki slightly blushed as he wasn't expecting the comment. It may have been a little weird but mostly Hideki was flattered. "Oh well thank you." Hideki smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Then Daichi started talking about why he came to Suppression and Hideki started to feel bad again. It was a shame that Daichi had so much trouble at UA. Hideki enjoyed his time at the school and it really helped him grow up quite a lot. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with so much at UA, I was the same as you, when I was a kid all I wanted to do was go to UA. I really enjoyed my time there, it made me grow up a lot. Again though sorry you had to deal with all of that, but you did make your dream come true even if it didn't work out exactly how you wanted it too. Only so many people get accepted into UA's hero program. You may have been in class 1-C but you were still one of the very few people to get accepted. Also that stuff doesn't really matter now. You're at Suppression now, the two of us are in the same exact spot." Hideki offered another smile as he tried to offer some encouragement, though he wasn't sure if that was doing anything or not.

"Yeah of course your secret is safe with me, you don't have to worry about that."

Daichi felt like he took an exhale that he was holding onto for a while, it relieved him that Hideki was so understanding and him mentioning that they were at the same spot now, it gave him hope. "Thanks, that actually means a lot, hell if I didn't go through what I did at U.A who knows if I would even be here...I like it here." Daichi blushed a little and smiled back at Hideki, though their game was brief it felt like two friends just catching up.

Hideki smiled "Yeah I think I like it here too, I do miss some things about U.A, but I do like it here and think its been a good choice." Hideki leaned back on the couch, it seemed like he and Daichi were already becoming friends. The guy was easy to talk to and he seemed like a nice guy. "Yeah doesn't matter where we were before, we're all here now so we're all in the same spot." Hideki shrugged his shoulders a little "Honestly and I don't mean for this to be rude or anything like that, but you getting invited here from class 1-C is more impressive than me or any of the others from class 1-A getting invited here. People from my class are expected to be top heros. Class 1-C they added not long ago so people haven't really started to expect much from people in that class."

Daichi smiled back at Hideki, it was rare and far between that someone would compliment him on where he was now, his old teachers used negative criticism to try and push him but it never really worked. "Thanks man, that actually means a lot...You're pretty cool mop head." His smile turned to a giant grin as he elbowed the boy to razzle him. "We will have to do this again, maybe this time you can actually beat me." Hideki seemed like a competitive person, so maybe their little gaming rivalry could become a regular routine.

Hideki laughed a little as Daichi made some comments. "Sure next time I'll be sure to beat you, but you have to be sure to work on your smack talk a little bit." It seemed like the two of them got along pretty well and could be the start of a good friendship.
 
  • Nice Execution!
Reactions: Azurian Dream
All collabs take place before the Aquarium Event.

Collab With: @RedArmyShogun
A day after Isa's enrollment into the hospital as the morning dew began to settle, and the sounds of nature started to come to life, shadows would appear across Isa's tinted room windows. The smell of sweets and fruits strong in the air along with a savory smell of a home cook meal saw Agi without knocking entering in with a home cooker in his hand waving at the girl as he gave her a big ole smile.

"Oye we thought you would be losing your mind right about now so we thought we would bring you some goodies," Agi chimed walking in without giving the poor girl much warning though he was quickly followed by Ichika who was bringing in some containers of sweets and fruits.

"Agi knock next time you have no idea if she is decent or wanting guests," Ichika sighed following after him.

"Huh?" Wondering who it was and what she smelled, Isa looks at the pair who had come to visit as she waves a handheld game console. "Hiya! And this has helped with that a lot, If I weren't decent I would have just punched him! And you're already in here so no need to knock now." She says in response to Ichika's protests, seemingly not caring.

"See she's cool besides why would she be indecent this is a hospital," Agi chuckled as he ran up to her placing the cooker next to her before pulling up a chair while plugging it into the wall. Ichika sighed, shaking her head as she walked in on Isa's other side.

"I thought you would like a home-cooked meal over the hospital grool," the dragon girl explained as she placed some fruits-based sweets for Isa to devour as she also sat down.

"Oh ya whatcha playin," Agi asked tilting towards her to watch her play as the cooker started to warm up some well-spiced beef stew.

"Eh, the hospital food is okay.." Isa says a bit as she sits up a bit to look at the collection of food that had been brought, or at least what she could see, seemed to be mostly sweets, and there was something else, beef stew it smelled like. "Though I won't turn down some free food, but yeah I'm doing a bit better. Should be good to go for the trip at least."

Holding up her borrowed handheld she smiles a bit "Uh, one of the older Zelda games and the other is a sort of fighter with all sorts of characters." She says in response, it seemed she was playing the former.

"Neeaaaattt I love gaming I got a collection of all the Zelda games. I also got quite a few retro games I could totally bring some over for you to play. Or hell we can play the minish cap together," Agi offered excitedly to a fellow gamer. Though Agi was surprised to hear she gamed at all as she seemed pretty old-school-minded.

"We should brawl some time… in-game, or in training to," Agi chuckled

"Aight aight here is some soup, and some fruit," Ichika offered to make her a plate on her table as she sat back down.

"So Isa I wanted to ask, seeing as this is a good chance to catch up a little where you come from," Agi asked as Ichika listened unopening some snacks for them all.

"Oh this isn't mine, this belongs to Kuroi." Isa says of the handheld. "He was kind enough to lend it to me while I was here. But uh I do have an older rerelease console that has a lot of games programmed into it. I play it a bit, yeah, though as for training, I don't mind mostly.. So guess I'm good to go for either."

Looking at the collection of food, she smiles a bit accepting it. "Thanks Ichika!"

Thinking of Agi's question she shrugs a bit. "Western Japan near my grandparents' village is close enough. Out in the rural areas, nothing much to say."

"Lady of few words I can respect that," Agi chuckled as he watched Ichika roll her eyes at him, softly chuckling to herself. Once everyone was served there was a moment of silence as Ichika nodded to Isa's thanks.

"No worries, I cook quite often. I am just glad there are people who enjoy it," Ichika softly responded.

"Ah Kuroi was here? Heh that good to know were not the only ones checking in on ya," Agi nodded happily to hear Isa was getting quite a few visitors. Though he raised an eye at her short answer. He was expecting a little more detail from the daughter of Anvil's demon, but it was clear he wasn't going to dig in on it.

"I was shocked to learn you were Kanna's daughter. I met her once or twice in my life since my mom's Iron Volt, but that was a bigger surprise I didn't see coming," Agi admitted as he sat down nudging Isa.

"My own mother was an Anvil operative, but she didn't want to dwell much on it," Ichika notioned.

With all that was said, Isa sighs a little bit and takes on a more serious persona, though still straight talking in its nature, assuming they all would not be happy with that or at least to not leave it like that.

"It's a village hamlet, a few others, abandoned during the great war and never too popular with the government and big time hero types to give a shit. Lots of older people, a few younger stay, farming, temples, a lot of the old ways still alive and well. You can play hard and you gotta work hard. If ma's deployments took her away for a long time we would tag along, but that was rare. I got three other siblings, we all run close in age 21 to 16. I don't want any special favors, treatments or fear because of who she is, but I can't hide that away or just hate it to be something I ain't. I'm part of that family." Playing with the stew a bit with her spoon, she twirls the spoon around briefly and stops.

"And yeah, I know who a few of you are, or rather who your parents were. Ma was finally able to let go of something today, a hate and loathing that she held for thirty years. To your Pa mostly." She says looking at Ichika. "Did that pretty damn recently, so who knows she may hold up her word to go to their shop. She got the way she was because she did the things she did as she thought it was for the good of all, she still does, then most of them just left or got in her way, of course she took that personally and just wanted us to have as little to do with all of you as possible.

Funny as shit how we all end up here, though I don't think it was all by coincidence. But what's all that matters? We are our parents' children, but we are our own people as well, more than one of us aren't proud of that. I just know I can't take my quirk for granted and running away from her I only ignored that Ma, she worked hard. I can't say for your parents, but we gotta stand for ourselves at some point.. We can't deny that, and we can't expect it to give us anything, or else we could be dead."

"Oh I didn't mean to pry like that I more so just wanted to know what you were like so I thought your hometown would spread some light… didn't mean to make it sound like I wanted to know how living with your mom was," Agi apologized legitly not meaning it to come off like that. He backed up a bit, regretting the question as Ichika sighed with a smile.

"I heard, and saw the nasty welts on both their faces. Unlike Agi I was aware from the start about your family lineage, and I have no issue with the issues of the parents staying with the parents, besides I think we are already friends considering that badminton game," she smiled kindly.

"Ya you're really cool on your own two feet," Agi added with a grin and a thumbs up. "Heh Oh ya, I already told my parents I would surpass them one day, and I plan to do just that," he added with a particular spark in his eyes on that topic.

"Though I agree this group's background connections are very strange a coincidence," Ichika nodded handing Isa a parfait. "It's healthy, but really tasty. It's one of the main hot items at my mom's bakery. You should let me take you sometime," she nodded with a smile for her to try it.

"Heh. As the cat told me one day, it might not be such a coincidence." Trying the beef stew, she was happy to finally have some meat. "Either way, thanks to you both for bringing this, as to how it was where I grew up, rural, living a good part of my life in or around a shinto temple, lots of roughhousing and some fights with my siblings and grandma. It was mostly fun, though like in terms of money we never really struggled but ma believes in living as simply as possible, plus a lot of money went towards repairing the home or food expenses, considering we all like meat. And sure Ichika, I would be happy to go!" Isa says in response.

...................
Collab with: @Jessica
It had been a little after the last wave of missions that Agi had heard some interesting news from Yori about a certain ill-equipped blue lightning ronin who had run into a nasty rust quirk easily dampening her capability from the lack of a solid blade to resist rusting. From the villain file Agi had looked up of FeO could age quickly weak metals meaning the blade Katsumi had lost in battle had been inferior which ti Agi… was a problem. A such at the moment he was at Katsumis door room banging on her door.

"Oye Katsumi we need to chat."

Katsumi had been within her room, lying on her back on her bed with her head hanging off the side. She was watching the TV upside down, viewing the conclusion of the current season of her favorite TV show. However, the banging on her door startled her a bit. Katsumi grabbed the remote and paused the show, rolling off her bed and onto her feet. She would then rush to door and opened it.

Agi was on the other side.

"Agi? What is it?" She asked him. If he was banging on her door, then surely it was something important, right?

"Where did you get the blade you used for your last mission," he immediately asked with a sharp glare at her. Clearly, he had a complaint to make at her lackluster of tool making, and was demanding here and now to know what she thought she was doing.

Katsumi wasn't expecting Agi to come to her door so… hostile. It surprised her, leaving her momentarily speechless.

"I…" She cleared her throat and tried again. "It was a normal, nothing special blade I had to rush. If I made it, I would not feel guilty about it breaking." Katsumi answered his question, stepping to the side. "If you are going to yell at me, do it in my room. We don't need eavesdroppers."

"Katsumi, your gear has to be in top shape, you know that. A hero like you can't just go in preemptively with a shoddy blade. You resort to that when it's not an option, and had you FeO wouldn't have maligned your equipment so fast," Agi sighed nodding as he walked into her rather… surprisingly normal room.

"I don't mean to yell, I am just concerned cause it sounded like you went knowingly ill-equipped which I know you're better than doing," he calmed down realizing he was coming off a bit strong, but out of concern.

"Sit down. Right there would be fine." She told him as she gestured towards the bed or chair, hearing him start to scold her. Katsumi didn't blame him, since she admittedly went into combat with a shoddy blade. But in her opinion, if she couldn't win with a shoddy weapon, then she wasn't a good enough hero.

Wait, no… Ren would give her another monologue if he heard those thoughts.

"I understand fighting a villain with a shoddy weapon is not the best move. However, I wasn't going to take your wonderful gift to battle if it would just end up destroyed. Just like my mother's blade…" Katsumi said the last part a bit sadly. The memory was still clear and a reminder of her mistakes and incompetency from that day.

"Okay," Agi raised an eyebrow as he sat down as requested on her bed listening intently to what she had to say. He winced strangely at her mention of the blade she lost to her fight with Transfora that was a sore topic for him as well still.

"I get it… but a skilled hand is only at peak use with a well-made blade," Agi spoke this time softly to her.

"I get the mentality, but using shoddy equipment means you're more likely to get hurt as if you want to get punished for that day alone. Which you don't deserve by any means Katsumi you are a very skilled swordswoman I know I have seen up close, and you're no fool if the blade is ill equipped it will break in skillful hands that need it to push. An ill blade breaks at max use of a skilled hand, and you know that. You don't have to use my blade, but at least use a well-tempered one alright," he asked, almost pleadingly.

"Or you're going to cost yourself a grievous wound you could have avoided. Think how we will feel if you get harmed in that manner as your teammates."

After all that Agi said, Katsumi let out a soft sigh. "I'm aware. I'm aware how dangerous it is… But I believed that if I were strong then I wouldn't need the sword in the first place. I won because of my quirk, not because of my swordsmanship in the end."

At the mention of her teammates, Katsumi gave him a look. "Sorry, but I'm not close with many people in this class. I suspect that plenty would share their support before returning to their day as if nothing had happened." She answered him. "There are few exceptions, but the entire class?"

Katsumi couldn't imagine everyone in her class caring or worrying about her if she was injured. A lot of the visits she received were out of respect, not because they actually cared.

"Regardless, I understand the point you are trying to make. While I do have your sword, I wish to undergo more training before I see myself fit to wield it. Is that alright with you?"

"Alright, I can understand that. Not like I can argue as my fighting style is all around my quirk. So you got me there," Agi admitted when she divulged her use of her quirk is what really won her the fight, and to be fair it did match that she needed to know she could do it without the sword.

"But now you have proven that you can. So why hold back your best," he then countered out of the blue though seeming to have just accepted her answer.

"Well I care, and so do a few others. Yes and no," he strangely and rather confusingly answered her question about the sword.

"I am okay with you never using the sword I made, but I refuse for you to use a subpar blade. Fine, you won't lift another well-made blade for a while, but no more bargain bin ones either. Use something in the middle at least you've earned that right after your victory over FeO. You want to regrow and reinvent yourself fine, but also match your regrowth with what you use at least. You proved you don't need an amazing blade, now use a better blade than the last climb up with each victory," he spoke passionately, getting up with a flare in his eyes.

"I only want to ensure that I can take a weapon into battle without it breaking. I can bring a better weapon, yes, but I will no longer take precious swords with me until I can prove to myself they will not be broken." She told him. "I want to be worthy of the sword you made, which means I need to be able to take care of it. I assure you it's not because I am ungrateful or anything, Agi."

Katsumi thought Agi's gift to her precious, which is why she wasn't so eager to take it on missions. She already lost her mother's blade and the shoddy one from the last mission, would she ruin Agi's gift as well?

"You can come with me to pick out my next sword then. How does that sound?"

"Heh, yet again you don't have to use it, it was a gift after all. However it seems you're hellbent on it," he chuckled at her strange goal to apparently use his blade eventually it was nowhere in comparison to her mother's work.

"Agreed so when do we leave," he asked clearly expecting her to do it now of all times.

"Your sword was made with the purpose of being used. It would be a major dishonor not to." She told him, though her eyes widened a little when she read his expectations.

"Eager, aren't you?" Katsumi responded, teasing him a little. "I suppose we can go right now if you like. Allow me to get dressed first."

"Aight I'll wait outside," Agi notion with a head nod as he left her room. Waiting out in the hallway waiting on her.

Katsumi would take a moment to change out of her comfort wear into a knee-length flowy dark blue dress with a white jacket and a matching pair of blue shoes. She would grab her white purse and headed to her door when she was finished.

"Alright, let us go."

After a bit of a trek over to Suppression's approved melee weapon shop, the two were quick to get in as many numerous other students from other schools were running around also looking for a weapon fit for them or to turn in a creation request.

"Heh the chaos is as alive as ever," Agi chuckled as he lightly poked Katsumi with his shoulder.

"Yes. How many do you suppose are basing their hero persona on a samurai, a comic book hero, or perhaps a Western knight?" She asked him with a smile. Katsumi was almost willing to bet that at least half of them were there to do so. "Come, before we lose all of the good choices."

"Probably so much they have to make up fantasy names to make the quota to match up," Agi chuckled as they rushed in. The ground was like a tidal wave so much so that Agi had to keep a constant eye on Katsumis's current position to make sure he didn't lose her between waves.

"Not going to lie, I didn't know these places got hit this hard," Agi jovial laughed as they finally arrived at the more mid-tier-styled swords racks.

Katsumi could see it too. The waves of people that came and went. Looking to her side, Agi would surely disappear if they didn't find a way to stay connected.

So, she went ahead and grabbed his hand, holding it tight. "Come along, before you get lost." Katsumi told him, leading him towards their first stop, which was the mid-tier styled swords. There, she would let go of his hand.

"Neither did I. It gives me hope that the swords are excellent in quality." She responded, inspecting the weapons. Though the swords were excellent, Katsumi did not use mid-tier weapons. Longer blades such as katanas are what she was most accustomed to.

"Will you buy something for yourself or shall we look elsewhere?"

"Oh boy," Agi suddenly pulled his hand tight as she bulldozed through the crowd before they finally got to their destination. One his hands were free, Agi chuckled at the surprising grip the little lady had.

"Nay I am sorta my own weapon vault," Agi smiled as he reminded her how his quirk worked by handcuffing them together with it as they decided to dig deeper into the hellscape of frantic heroes' looking for any longer blades still available. Luckily they did find a rack with a few Katana's left. There was a dark blue handled one, a light purple one, and a dark orange one.

"Ah looks like there are only three left," Agi chimed his nanobytes, grabbing them immediately before they could get pulled by another. Once they were in front of Katsumi, Agi motioned her to check them as he let his handcuffs disappear on her.

"Lucky you." She responded. Katsumi technically was a weapon herself; a stun gun. But it would certainly be nice to be able to create and have weapons at the ready when she wanted to. Katsumi gave him a look as they were handcuffed, moving with him through the crowd to their next destination.

Seems he didn't like to hold hands.

Regardless, she saw the three different colored katanas, earning a small 'oooh' as she inspected their quality; all of which were excellent. Of the three that were available, it was quite obvious which would be the one Katsumi picked. She looked at the dark blue one, thinking how nicely it would go with her outfit.

"Excuse me, sir." She said to the vendor. "I'd like the dark blue katana. I will pay upfront." Katsumi told the older man, who grabbed said katana and started to package it up for her.

She would pay the man in full and in turn she would receive the katana in a protective case. Katsumi already had the perfect scabbard for it, she would just need to get a handle of the sword's weight.

"Are you certain you don't want anything?" She asked Agi.

Before the man took her money he actually offered his own, catching her off guard as the old man chuckled and took his money returning Katsumi her's. With that he thanked the old man bowing politely.

"Nay I think a gift for a good friend paid in full is all I needed," Hec chuckled as his nanos returned her money to her purse as grabbed her shoulders and directed her towards the door fast before she could try to redo the exchange. With that he rushed them both out the door than before she could go back in he picked her up in a bridal carry, and ran off with her towards the school.

"Huh?"

She looked at Agi as he paid for her, "Wait, you've already made me a gift-" Katsumi was pushed along and away from the vendor, her noises of protest drowned out by the sounds of the crowd.

Before she could do anything else, Agi had picked her up bridal style and she clung to him as they rushed through the people.

"At least allow me to pay you back." She told him.

"Hmmm nope," Agi laughed as they continued straight towards the school.

................................................
Collab With: @Cresion Breezes
"Yawn—"

Under the lukewarm-ish summer Amon pulled his hair up into a high ponytail, it was that time of the year where cicadas buzzed on the trees that lined the streets. He patted the messenger bag he was carrying and checked the time. "Sure is taking awhile…" The student mumbled to himself, looking a little lost in thought. What was in the bag was important to today's event, though it looked like a normal outing between friends, there was a reason why Amon specifically invited Agi to this. Being on the same team as him, Agi would naturally understand the situation better. Kuroi looked slightly shaken up, Yori had his own mission to deal with, and Goto was...Goto.

Looking up at the storefront in front of him, "Yakiniku" was written along with the Kanjis that consisted of the store name, Amon leaned against a tree, his tail whipped around a bit startling the cicada away. He stretched out his arms and yawned once more. Hope he shows up soon.

"AMON BUDDY WHAT'S UP," Agi cheered, catching the distracted tailed sleepy friend off guard into a headlock hug. Agi had gotten Amon's call earlier today while he was handling an issue with Katsumi, but his schedule was open for the rest of the day.

"So this is another food war challenge cause we should call the others for fun," Agi insisted with his bright wide smile.

"Ah, well well…" Amon laughed a bit back at Agi, though it was more of one of those superficial laughs squeezed out for certain occasions. When the other mentioned inviting some other friends Amon knew that this might catch him off guard, but he went through with it anyways.

"You see, I made this reservation during rush hour for two...so it's only you and me bro." He replied with a smile and a chuckle. He needed to meet with Agi individually, or just one person, he wouldn't feel comfortable with letting more people in on this meeting. There was another reason why he chose such a busy location during rush hours, even going as far as privately reserving a table: so that they won't be tailed. Sheesh, paranoia sure does catch on quick.

"Alright alright, let's get in there, air conditioning would be nice." Amon walked up near the store entrance and gave back a wave.

With a curious demeanor on what this was actually about, Agi followed his shorty buddy into the store once they were sat down to their table, and their first order of meat was delivered. Agi got the grill on the table prepared, placing some meat tender slices on the grill to get started.

"Alright mysterious man what are we going over," Agi asked with a focused gaze on his friend.

Amon looked around the restaurant, it was busy and the sound of people chattering, waiting staff tinkering with dishes and the sizzling of cooking were all over. He threw some slices on the grill and unbuckled the messenger bag he was carrying, taking out a stack of paper binded in a folder.

The first page had the date of their last mission written on it and something like 'mission report'. Inside the pages were lines that were highlighted and small notes made beside some portions, for someone that loathes book studying and is bad at the entire ordeal, it was fairly impressive and seemingly a change of character.

"Long story short Agi-kun, I have this pretty messed up guess after our last mission…" Amon tossed the folder to Agi, gesturing at him to flip and skim through the thing. "I think there's a spy amongst us."

"You might be right," Agi mulled surprisingly, showing a serious look to Amons statement. The boy who woul;d usually be considered silly for such a thought were being taken completely seriously by Agi at this moment as he overviewed his notes. Agis' carefree smile was gone, and in its place a studious look.

"It was strange how quirk counter centric people were around you, and Amano. Even the Anvil agents were hit by quirks that negated them really. Hell the only one who didn't seemed to be accounted for was me, and Rosalie because we were swapped in last minute," Agi expressed as he went over some documents pausing to flip the meat on the cooking plate.

"That, and Kaizen's group was pulled into a mission that wasn't even real, but the person who hacked their comms was clearly aware they would be around… strangely pulling them into a scenario that seemed to have three crimes at once going on," Agi further detailed.

"I suppose I wasn't the only one who noticed it then, but I'm pretty sure I'm the most concerned about this." Amon played around with his chopsticks while the meat sizzled, a troubled look on his face. "I wish I was just being paranoid, but it's just that a lot of things point to the enemy knowing a lot about us, when we have little information about them." He thought about how the villain he fought knew of his mother, that wasn't information one could come across so easily.

"This might sound harsh but...I think there's a traitor within ANVIL or HA...or even the school. We're out in the open but our enemies are in the shadows…" Amon left out the bit about suspecting those in the class, he didn't know if Agi would take well to such a guess, despite outside demenours the other wasn't as cynical as him in a lot of aspects. He himself wished that was only paranoia as well.

"I didn't think much of it at first due to such things potentially happening in this line of work, but now that you mention it in full… you might not be wrong," Agi mumbled to himself not wanting such a thing to be wrong, but knowing the possibility was there. Yet before they could deep dive into it there was another question Agi had wanted to ask Amon.

"So I heard something weird… did you kiss your attacker," Agi asked with a raised eyebrow as he started to direct all of Amons notes into specific piles before heading back into the main topic.

"The thing that gets me is it's unlikely Anvil, or HA. Neither had info on the other missions which means if there is a spy among us… it's literally among us," Agi spoke tapping on the picture of their entire class.

"Because only the Principal and homeroom teacher have access to each class's assignments. Which the class themselves are privy to a day before. Given that the uprise of complicated info would point a nasty finger to our superiors the thing is like I said for our mission me and Rosalie were last minute swapped in. If it was our superiors that means they would have still had enough time to throw people at me and Rosalie… however an update would be last minute to use the students… given no time to replan," Agi pointed out sighing as he closed his eyes for a minutes rubbing his forehead.

"Which means if there is one it's right in our class," Agi hated the fact he said that.

"Perhaps." Amon was honestly surprised that Agi went to suspect his allies in the class so directly, but the evidence laid out in front of them does imply some terrible things. "I didn't want to cause any paranoia, it'll be worse if we get divided over a suspicion like this, which is also why I called you and only you here." He tapped his finger on the table and sighed, "there's quite a few of those in the class with spotty or rather mysterious pasts, it's hard to say whether any of them have a motivation for selling out our info, but that can't be confirmed without prying too much."

Amon thought about the villain he fought, their quirk was practically made for going against his. "And yeah, I had to fight someone who's basically cheating, I don't even know how their quirk worked in particular, it was like they just got whatever is needed to counter me. So I had no choice but to use some...you know, different tactics." That was another concerning thing, whoever they were up against had a huge reservoir of strong quirk users willing to work for them for whatever reason, they were up against something big, something huge even. "That's what actually worries me the most, if they've got the power to just pull whoever can counter us out of nowhere, whatever we're being sold out to surely doesn't lack power or influence over the criminal world."

"So you seduced them? Huh add that to the list of impressive skills you have Amon," Agi chuckled accepting the answer rather easily as their first round of meat was ready. Making his plate, and adding more pieces.

"Which makes no sense because since the fall of the last number one villain, and the destruction of the Villain league following suit. All other groups able to pull that off are too busy fighting each other for the crown of control," Agi sighed ruffling his hair as he started to eat, pausing as he looked at Amon tapping his fingers.

"Unless certain parties are ignoring the rest and building underneath the infighting, even then they would have to work completely under the radar of their own. Which honestly sounds more horrifying," Agi admitted.

"Mhmmhm." Amon picked up some food while hearing Agi speak, he wasn't a big villain history nerd, but he vaguely knew of these things from the hero courses. The things the other said made sense. "It's also possible that we're entering a new era, with a new rising star villain. Stuff like that don't just stay put, no rest for the righteous isn't it, haha." With a dry chuckle Amon tried to make the best of the situation, history repeated itself often and perhaps they were on the cusp of that once more.

"But then there's still the question of who is uniting them and building such a force, if there truly is an unknown power that is doing so. I won't rule out those that Ota-sensei showed in class...but I feel like there's a deeper side to this, you can call it an instinct I guess." Amon poked at a piece of lettuce with his chopsticks as he mumbled, he wasn't the most investigative type, but much of the leads points to something going on behind their backs. "...And not to mention, I wonder if other facets of ANVIL or Suppression have had these experiences. If it's hyper centered on our class, that just further proves the possibility of there being someone working with the enemy within us."

"Well lets keep a eye out for now, and this is only our imagination. With just one evil doer at work rather than a multi system. Cause out of all the things villains have never been able to do is legitly unite even with the villain league," Agi sighed taking another bite.

"Yeah…" Amon stared up at the ceiling and stretched out his arms against the back of the seat. "We can only hope for the best."

........................................
Collab with:@The Dapper Mog
About a week after the last mission Agi had been prepping quite a lot into his training as of late. Longer stamina training, higher endurance running, breathing meditation, and working more on his Code Void mode. Aika had given him a very curious idea after their mock battle. Rather than go nuts trying to control the excess energy in kinetic small bursts to overwhelm an opponent's weak spots. Rather than hit like a raging bull aggressively, overwhelm like a relentless pray mantis taking down its prey in targeted strikes before devouring it in a final attack.

It was a rigorous idea and required further practice to even control such an idea. Thus he was upping his training regiment to better improve himself for such practice. The problem is to really test it he needed an opponent who could take that punishment with concern to see if he could chip away at them in such a manner. Unfortunately, Aika's week was full of activities thus she was not available at this time… so who else?

The last week had been rough. It was an eye-opening experience for a lot of people, Shako included. Her arm was still sore, and using it for more than super menial movements was painful. However, at least her injuries weren't nearly as bad as her allies' were. In truth, she felt awful about how injured Isa had become, and how useless she had actually been in the battle. If not for Haya, she likely wouldn't have phased the enemy at all. Even then...she looked down at her wounded arm, her clenched fist tightened as she determined now that she just had to get stronger. Faster. Better.

With this in mind, Shako had been putting up posters around the facility. They were crude drawings of her in her armor, shouting and punching, calling for anyone to come and help her train at the park for several hours... She needed to learn to adapt and grow stronger. Even with all of her strength, enough to injure her arm while armored because she was on land, it wasn't enough. Shako was currently at the park, throwing punches at a dummy. As of the moment, she was mostly focused on getting her right arm back into full condition.

As Agi was on his run he started to notice some odd fliers around the school grounds. Running past one particular building he grabbed one out of curiosity reading the apparent challenge call out a student was… oh ya this was the add on student Shako that joined team Isa last second. Apparently she was wanting to blow off some steam in combat. Actually if he remember right she was a massive heavy hitter type who could also take heavy hits. It was actually pretty well of a training partner replacement. Thus Agi started to head towards the facility which didnt take long as he got into the park simulator combat training zone.

"Oye is there a Shako here," he called out as he entered with flier in hand.

Shako threw a few more punches at the dummy before a voice caught her ear. She turned her gaze towards the fellow carrying one of her fliers, standing upright at her full augmented height before making her way over to him. She raised up her dominant left hand and gave him a short wave.

"Hey! Glad someone finally answered one of those. I know the drawing is crap, but, come on, a challenge? Anyway, you up for a few rounds?" Shako asked him with an invisible smile, rotating her shoulders in a sort of pseudo warmup.

What Agi was quickly introduced to was a massively well-sized mantis shrimp armored female which he was mostly positive was female given the form, and voice yet could not a hundred percent guarantee that. What was important thorough was that they were big, armored, and looked like they could take a hell of a beating, and dish one out. Perfect for the type of training he had in mind.

"Definitely though I want to warn you I am trying out a new variant to skills, and trump cards I have been culminating for quite a while. So I could accidentally chip your skin in the process… if that's not a problem we can begin right now," he smiled ready for a good fight as she warmed up in front of him.

Shako raised a brow at the boy's words, standing upright as she bounced lightly on her feet. "Oh, well, you're a confident one. Don't worry, this carapace of mine can take plenty of damage."

The young woman moved into position about six feet from him, bouncing again in a fashion similar to that of a western boxer.

"We'll start off simple, yeah? Freestyle. Head's up!" Shako's voice was light and charged, betraying a hint of hyperactivity. With her declaration, she lunged forward and threw a left jab at his chest, aiming directly for the sternum. She wanted to start off easy, so, this wasn't a pistol punch. That being said, she was no slouch when it came to a fight.

Agi's skin turned black fast as with an open right palm strike to redirect her attack away yet this motion was clearly a fakeout once he pushed forward locking her hand against her chest forcing her back up straight. He couldn't push her actually back which was clear with normal force, but that's not what he was after as he flipped over her with her hand acting as a swinging pull once he was behind her he delivered an elbow strike to her back before making some distance.

"As you wish," he chuckled keeping it simple as she requested.

Shako watched the boy not only redirect her punch but press her arm back to her body, then flip over her. She grunted softly when he struck her with his elbow, the force shunting her forward a bit. It was simple enough to catch herself as she glanced back at him.

"You're one of those types, huh? Okay, then." Shako muttered, standing back to full height again before making a swift and low horizontal swing with her large tail, immediately rotating her body around in the opposite direction to throw a fierce left-back fist at the side of his head. It was evident she would have to put more power into her strikes. Plus, he was a tricky one.

"Never know what you'll run into," Agi bantered with a chuckle as he ground pounding his right fist enlarging it with his nanobytes to block her tail. Yet Shakos strength pushed him back still holding his ground in form though as she then twisted in delivering a heavy left-back. Blocking it with his massive nano gauntlet hand he was pushed back in a display of sparks as he used the nano hand to pull him into a halt.

"Quite flexible yourself though," he smiled as his Nanos returned his body as he punched his fists together.

"So then let's take it up a notch," he rushed her as his nano's formed a whiplashing forward catching onto her torso as his nanobots pulled him towards her as the whip dispersed as he landed a screw kick pushing off her landing rather close as he formed dual nano arm blades swinging at her to get a feel for her defensive skin.

Shako was getting a feel for how good this guy was. Sure, so far, his offense wasn't much. However, he was able to effectively stop everything she threw his way. The tempo changed, though, when he suddenly charged at her. The whip was an interesting choice, one that she was fully ready to capitalize on. At least, until he came towards her. Her left arm drew back for a big punch, only for her to gunt with an "oof" as he kicked off of her, landing nearby. Arm blades? Okay, also unexpected.

As the blades came at her, Shako looked hard at the weapons, noting their obvious danger, running a quick calculation in her mind to determine the real threat. The blades made a couple of strikes against her armored torso, leaving gashes but not penetrating the tough shell. Her upper arms came to her defence, both dropping down to strike at his shoulders in an attempt to knock his weapons downward and out of harm's way. Simultaneously, she would lunge forward, pulling her head back as her antennae swung upward. In a swift motion, she got right up to him, and threw her head forward in a fierce helmet amplified headbut, aimed directly at his face.

Agi watched as his blades barely scratched the surface of her skin… her shell was as she promised, hard as hell almost like Aika's which meant... He smiled even as his next blade attack was deflected, and his shoulders were struck hard. He didnt even try to dodge the next attack as his blades dispersed back to his body, and he tanked the hit as sparks flew off all his body.

"Alright now for the real testing grounds," Agi smiled as he swung both his arms back with open palms. As Shako would pull back she would only get a second to see Agi's skin was no longer black, but more like a nebula's void. He swung forward with both palms with two strange spinning discs in front of them as he slammed in return both of Shakos' shoulders which was than followed by a quick kinetic pulse pushing her upright as Agi quickly delivered a flurry of open palm strikes against her left side, and arm releasing small, but equally feelable kinetic bursts wrecking vibrating havoc on her body.

Shako wasn't alerted when the blades slashed at her, at least, not enough to matter. However, he made no attempt at defending himself from her upper arms or her headbutt. He just took them on the proverbial chin. Was he armored and she hadn't noticed? Surely the full brunt of that headbutt would at least draw blood? No matter. Unfortunately for Shako, her plot to continue her assault was interrupted by some strange change in Agi's body, only for a surprise counterattack to further ruin her plans. A short gasp escaped her lips as the attack came. She was too close to hope for avoidance, and with their positioning, blocking wasn't really an option either. She jerked her upper body back as much as she could to lessen the damage. However, the first target struck was her shoulders, not her midsection like she expected. A low grunt sounded as her arms were struck and damaged, followed by another series of attacks.

This guy was relentless! Several strikes in before an opening presented itself. Shako lunged her upper body forward again, her armored face moving directly in front of his own. In such a close proximity, full on punches weren't possible. Of course, that wasn't the immediate plan. Her upper arms now hung limply beside her, while her lower arms rose up to his chest, her fingers extended outward. If he was going to get serious, she could play that game too.

"Getting serious? Oh, let's." In an instant, both arms shot forward, Shako letting out a pained cry from the strain on her right arm. Both fists slammed into his chest on either pectoral, her signature pistol punches made for an amazing one-inch punch.

"Geh," Agi was pushed, and unable to block such a quick attack as he was literally dual bruce lee'ed on the chest. However he quickly halted his movement with the discs going to his back releasing another pulse to halt him from going back to far before pushing him with a bigger one to swing right around her neck impressively lifting her up, and throwing her like a spin top mid-air.

"Now that's a nasty style you got there," Agi chuckled excitedly for such a suited opponent for this training as he touched ground in a spinning motion kicking the shrimp top spinner in the left arm again this time with a spinning disc at the end of his foot evolving into a kinetic pulse kick to send her farther spinning.

Shako noted the effect of her attack. A shame they were on land. Then again, even that tough exterior may not be able to handle a pistol punch underwater. Her fists clenched as he recovered, watching him come back towards her. Using his quirk, he was able to propel himself, which only made it more difficult to defend against his attacks.He went by her, then, the next thing she knew, she was being tossed into the air. Her only option in this position was to use her tail. Unfortunately, as soon as the thought entered her head, Agi was right there, striking her again.

The armored woman spun through the air, spiralling towards the hard earth at a rapid pace. It was fortunate that even though the strikes were pretty strong, they weren't enough to really stun her. On the other hand, two of her limbs were basically useless right now. One option to stick this landing; as she neared the ground, she willed herself to stop spinning, flipping her body over in a somersault while twisting her body and slamming her tail into the ground. A thick cloud of dust shot up from the ground as she landed, sliding to a stop a couple feet beyond her initial landing point. A short cough escaped her throat as she looked down at her body, pieces of her carapace were beginning to fall from her body.

This guy was strong. Too much so for someone at her level. It was admirable. But, it was also infuriating. A low growl sounded beneath her helmet as she lunged forward, low to the ground at full speed. The dust parted as she dashed toward her foe, tail swaying in a pattern while she drew both arms to her sides preparing to strike. As she reached him, Shako threw both arms at his chest in a rapid flurry of strikes. A fierce combination of jabs, straights, and hooks, putting her western boxing expertise on display. Finally, to finish off the flurry, she would drop down low again, planting a fierce right hook to his body, finishing up with an uppercut with her left, amplified by her quirk to accelerate the bow. It didn't work as effectively with uppercuts or hooks, but every ounce of force counts.

Agi was quickly overwhelmed by the speeding up shrimp girl as she closed in fast, unleashing a hell torrent of fists. Rather than dodge again like a maniac, Agi went defense this time with enough time to react as he set up his hand to avoid the attacks getting through to his face, and torso. He needed to know if Code Void could handle something so intense ergo he kept on guard his body screaming in alert for him to dodge, or counter yet even if he wanted to he doubted he could have she was a lot more reflexive than he had expected. Yet he kept feeling his whole body vibrate like a cellphone on blast. When her hell torrent ended he could feel that many parts of his own armor were ready to give out yet that had held… which meant he was getting closer. Yet as the uppercut came Agi knew he had to dodge tactically. With that said he barely moved back dodging the uppercut, but instead grabbed onto it with nanowire wrapping all around it once in air with her full height Agi gripped hard onto her hand twisting violently to force it behind her back as he touched ground kicking her at the back of her opposite kneecap forcing her down as multiple wiring started to latch all over her into a sort of hog tie.

Shako's attacks were hitting home, and doing some damage it seemed. Finally! This armor was proving to be as durable, if not even moreso, than her own. As this battle was prone to doing, however, the tide turned again as he leaned back and completely avoided the uppercut that was supposed to knock him to the ground. It only got worse though. He had managed to bind her arm, moving behind her as those freaky wires began to tie her up. Then the kick dropped her to a knee. Woah woah woah, was he tying her up?! Oh, hell no!

Shako struggled against the still forming binds, trying to rise back up to her feet, but just couldn't manage it. "What do you think you're doing? This is a fight, not a fucking rodeo!"

"More like a finisher," Agi taunted as he pulled with all his, and his Nanos might legitly lifting her into the air along with himself as he could feel Code Void about to give out slamming her into the ground back first as like a shot hook the wire pulled him down like a wrecking ball body slamming her pinning her to the now very cracked ground.

"Finisher? What are you some kind- wait, waaaaaaa-!" Shako shouted at the boy in frustration as her struggling continued in vain. She was lifted in the air mid protest, and promptly slammed into the ground. The impact was intense, even more so than she would have expected. A low groan escaped her lips as the dust began to clear, pieces of her carapace falling away from the strong impact. A few feet away from her was a pair of now disembodied upper limbs that had rolled away after the impact.

Now plain to see, was an exposed midriff, where the carapace had been was now red toned skin. Bits of the upper torso carapace were also falling away, revealing sporadic bits of skin that many would consider risking modesty. However, the now pinned girl was exhausted, clearly frustrated, and didn't care in the slightest about her modesty. Especially after suffering a defeat.

"Ugh...damn it. Okay, you win. You wrecked my shell, you know." Shako muttered, looking to the boy as best she could given her current position.

"You sure," Agi chuckled equally in pain as he stood slowly back up from the finale of his attack. Apparently Shakos quirk was guyver based as in it was somewhat living armor with a host inside. Once Agi found his balance he quickly realized among all the carapace armor scattered that he was… sorta on top of her.

"My bad lemme get off," he chuckled, noting she was a girl so it could have been a worse landing on top of her. It seemed thanks to his interactions with the girls in class his usually easy to blush nature was subsiding after all this was just a fight, and it was humorously simply how he had landed on her. As she slowly got up he then started to notice the lack of clothing. Unfortunately thanks to the carapic chunks he couldn't just stand up immediately without falling so he started to move a little faster to get off her to avoid accidentally touching her bare skin.

Shako sighed softly as he moved to get up, releasing her. The young woman waited until he was completely upright, sitting up before rising to her feet. She looked at him as she rolled her arm to try and ease the pain from the move he had used on her. After she lowered her arms, the upper torso of her carapace cracked, falling from her body. Another heavier sigh.

"Of course, it couldn't wait until I got back to the dorms. Oh well. At least the breeze is nice." Shako remarked, reaching up to grab the now unsecured helmet, removing it and dropping it to the ground before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Now fully revealed, a little more than most would be comfortable with, Shako's features were on display. Her bright blue hair is a contrast to her bright red skin. The lower body portion of her carapace remained intact, including the tail, which rolled up and down like a wave behind her.

"I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING," Agi immediately responded, his eyes covering the moment the plate started to fall. Given the rest of her body it was pretty clear to say she was naked underneath her quirk armor. With a few inaudible commands a few of Agi's nanos came over with his backpack pulling out some extra clothes that were then handed over to her.

"I always bring spares," he said, his hand still covering his eyes as a small cube appeared around Shako to make sure no one could see her. Turning away he waited for her to knock on the cube to let her out.

Shako raised a brow when he shouted out at her about seeing anything. Oh, right. She was supposed to be bothered by this situation. Her eyes narrowed slightly as he formed the cube around her. It was a nice gesture, though, and he had some clothes he was willing to let her borrow. She threw the shirt on, content with the fit, though it was definitely made for a male physique. That was fine. A few quick taps would tell him she was dressed, and she ran her fingers through her hair to adjust it comfortably, tucked behind her ears with her bangs falling naturally into place.

Once the cube was removed, Shako rested her hands on her hips. She spoke again, her voice now unaffected, was much lighter tone and pitch, but still had some degree of roughness to it. "I don't get boys. You're willing to punch me in the face, but, a little exposed skin and you turn into blushing or drooling messes."

"Hah, pretty sure that was an asset showstopper I was about to experience," Agi chuckled in response pointing out a bare top was way more than a little exposed skin. He wasn't blushing anymore as he shot back.

"Though to be fair, why would I be a drooling mess for someone only in the physical manner," Agi asked, revealing he was definitely more the personality type,and while the bare body could make him blush… drooling was unlikely for someone he didn't know. Once she knocked he turned around smirking at the hand on hip stance. His mom would do that to his dad when he was being judged a little for his silliness.

"Regardless, that was a hell of a fight. Almost had me there didn't expect it to turn at such a fast pace like that. That's also a hell of a cannon arm you have there," he complimented, holding his hand out to shake hers for such a good fight.

Shako's lips curled into a smirk at his first comment, watching his body language as he continued and asked a question of her remark. "Because hearts lie. Bodies don't."

The red skinned young woman's eyes glanced over the boy, tilting her head to the side for a moment. He was handsome, she supposed. Definitely. Now that she wasn't fighting him she had a chance to look. She pondered on making a remark about the showstopper thing, but decided against it for now.

When the boy offered his hand, Shako accepted the handshake with a firm grip, her smile broadening a bit. "It was a good fight. Thank you. My physiology is unique. You should see my punches when I'm in water."

"Speaking of my physique...are you sure you didn't see anything? Since you won, I could, you know, give you a little peak as a reward…" Shako said with a devious smirk, her fingertips curling under the bottom of the shirt, giving it a few gentle tugs downward.

"Hey, pretty sure the body can lie to you if trained well," Agi chuckled in response. As they shared a firm handshake. She was of an interesting make, she had bright blue hair with contradicting legit red skin. It was actually pretty cool color coding.

"Ya you were like fighting on a mountain honestly I didn't expect to be able to push you back for a moment there," he chuckled.

"Oh ya your quirks like Shrimp Mantis right hence the one inch punch i experienced oof. It was a doozy. You'll have to show me sometime," Agi nodded at the offer. She than brought the conversation full circle as he shook his head.

"No I didn't see anything don't wor… wut," Agi was caught off guard by the end of her sentence as she rather literally motioned to her off by offering to apparently show off. Before she could tug enough, Nanos halted her downward movement as she chuckled nervously.

"No no you're good no reason to go to such extremes it was great fight, and that was award enough," he promised clearly not ready for such a personality type to hit him out of the blue.

Shako shrugged a bit at the reaction to her offer, flashing the boy a flirtatious grin. "Suit yourself. I was just teasing you, don't worry."

More than the fun she was poking at him, Shako was impressed. He was quite good, and surprisingly complimentary. Her hands returned to her hips as she pondered on his words. She wasn't sure her fighting abilities had ever been so commented on outside of her mother and instructors. It was refreshing in a way.

"Yep, you're right. Mantis shrimp are amazing creatures. I know some people think they're gross, but they are actually quite fascinating. I was lucky to take after them. And don't worry, I'd be happy to show you my punches more later on. You would like the full power ones, I think. Even with that tough armor you've got." Shako spoke with an almost rhythmic tone, looking back to him with a confident smile.

"We really must do this again sometime. I think you'd make a great rival." Shako added, flashing him a grin.

"Heh alright I'll take you up on that Shako. Oh and my name's Agi," he smiled, accepting her offer for future fights.

....................................................
Collab With @Jessica
The last time Yori saw Ichika was when he arrived at Suppression. But speaking to her was a different matter. Since he got there he'd been busy with other tasks and activities that he hadn't been able to make time to sit down and just hang out with one of his closest friends. It was damn shameful of him, and to try and make up for it he was going to text her asking if she wanted to go and do something together.

To his surprise, she texted first asking for some dancing help.

For what purpose did she need to know how to dance? Hell if he knew, but it was a great opportunity for them to see each other again. So he texted back that he would be happy to help and the two arranged their plans.

Now, Yori arrived at their meetup spot, waiting for Ichika. He had worn his usual workout outfit of a black muscle shirt and dark purple sweats with white tennis shoes. His hair would be tied up into a ponytail. After the first mission, his "bald spot" had grown significantly, to the point that he could get away with ponytails again.

Luckily he wouldn't have to wait long as Ichika was only five minutes behind him walking in her work out clothes with a soft smile to the pretty bird. Her orange locks were tied up in a ponytail, and her workout clothes were a pair of purple jogging pants with a dark blue tank top over a black thin shirt. She had also brought a gallon of water, a sun cap with horn cut outs, and a bag of something very sweet smelling of strawberries and Vanilla.

"Sorry I am late. I lost track in the middle of prepping some goodies for use to share after the workout," she chimed, smiling at her friend. It had indeed been quite a long time since the two had done anything, especially even catching up since learning they were in Suppression together. Ichika was about to make up for quite a bit of that.

The scent of vanilla and strawberries caught his attention first, turning his head to follow the aroma until he caught sight of just the person he was hoping to see.

Upon seeing her, a big smile graced Yori's lips. He'd missed Ichika, along with the rest of their friend group. It was so good to see them again!

"No problem. Go ahead and put that stuff to the side; we'll workout twice as hard to make the reward even sweeter." He told her, waiting for her to put the goodies in a safe spot.

Once she did, Yori would take a moment to 8pull Ichika into a hug. "It's great to see you again." He said, keeping the hug brief before letting her go.

He would have hugged his other friends, but he'd been in the hospital around the time the rest of them came back. Agi had gotten his hug and Kuroi wasn't exactly the huggy type. Ichika's hug had been waiting for her since they saw each other at Suppression.

Before he could escape the surprised Ichika before pulling him into a bear hug against the good as she laughed a little before letting the poor window boy go. Once she placed her stuff back she returned to Yori.

"Alright Captain Yorio," she teased using the nickname she used to call him when they were itty bitty.

Yori would have a bit of a blush on his cheeks after the hug finished, not expecting that part but was still happy nonetheless. "So, what kind of dancing did you need help with? The general stuff or something you can use when out with friends?" He asked her, wanting to know where they could get started.

"Whatever your favorite kind is Captain, I am wanting to try out new training methods,and Agi told me this dancing practice was good for reflexes," Ichika nodded.

Yori put a hand on his hip, the other stroking his chin. "Hmmm." He looked Ichika up and down. "How about samba? You seem like an "up close and personal" kind of girl. I had to learn it so I could dance with some guys on stage, and now I can pass everything I know to you"

He was pretty excited.

"Sound good?" Yori asked to make sure.

"Sounds great, didn't know you wanted a hands-on experience," Ichika teased lightly with a wink followed by a hand on her hip before laughing as she did a few stretches. Once she was good, and limber she walked up to him with a smile. It had been awhile since she had taken any form of dance instruction, but she was a quick learner.

"Alright mister where do my claws latch onto," she joked, her tail swinging lazily as she held out her claws to be directed.

"Also why has it taken us this long to catch up. Agi's, and Amano got to hog you the whole time, and I feel pretty left out from my favorite bird," she teased ruffling his hair to get back at him.

Yori laughed a little at the tease, "You know me, I'm a gentleman." He responded then added. "Your right hand in my left, other hand on my shoulder."

Once she did so, he would put his other hand on her shoulder blade. Yori didn't want to make things awkward by putting his hand on her hip. And besides, he was instructing her how to dance. That was it.

"Alright, how much do you know?" He asked her. Was she an absolute beginner? Hearing her next words, he smiled sheepishly. "I know I know. I got caught up with Agi and Amano, then Rosalie and Yamoshi came along and we did those missions. I didn't forget you, I promise. Things just became pretty hectic." Yori assured her. "But I'm glad we got some time to catch up now."

"Wait isn't your non leading hand supposed to be on my hip silly," Ichika chuckled, unfortunately catching onto Yori improper handling of her as the lady of the dance. With that said she took her opposite arm and placed his arm on her scaled hip.

"Proper form at least silly bird," Ichika teased at his question as she took to proper stance.

"Only what I have seen in your concerts for the most part. Hmmm there really should be a punishment for you leaving us so abruptly back then," she said with a toothy grin as she mellowed back out to take the training seriously.

"No worries I get it had time for who was near you at the moment, and I understand you went out for your career, and I am happy you did. From what me and Amano watched you were having the time of your life," Ichika added, making sure he knew she didn't have any actual ill will towards him. As the music was turned on by her tail she got closer to him so they could start.

"That's the "above the waist" form, but I understand, you just want me to touch you." He responded jokingly, placing his hand on her hip instead.

Hearing her next words though, he couldn't help but have a big smile. "You watched my concerts? Did everyone else see too?" Yori asked her, becoming a bit excited by the sounds of it. He always hoped that his friends and family would watch him be on stage, and if possible, he would love to give them tickets for his first official concert back in Japan.

Yori cleared his throat. "Let's take it slow so I can see what you can do." He would start with the samba bounce. Ball in, ball flat, ball in, ball flat. It was what provided the constant movement that samba was known for.

"Hmmm all the girls I saw you dancing with you had your hand on their waists do I not match up to the female stars," she teased with a small flirt to counter his obvious flirt. Then they started to dance slowly for Ichika to learn the steps in proper fashion. She raised an eye giggling at his next question.

"Any time one was coming Amano always invited me, Yamoshi, Agi, and Rosalie over to watch on the big screen so she could cheer for you with the random glow sticks she bought the day before each performance," she answered remembering how adorable Amano was during those days.

"Yeah, but those girls aren't my friends, are they?" He asked her, chuckling a little. "You know that's not true. I told you before you could become a star if you wanted to."

Sure he said that when they were younger, but Yori was still certain a good chunk of his friends had some kind of star quality to them.

Yori, hearing that, couldn't help but laugh. He remembered his mother had taken a picture when the teens weren't looking and sent it to him. It made his heart swell with adoration for his friends and sister. It was obvious how he felt judging by his smile.

"Thank you all for your support, truly. I wish I could have talked to you guys more often than just phone calls, or at least flown you guys to my concerts. It would have made touring a lot less lonely if I had you guys with me." He told her, taking their dancing up a notch to see if this was Ichika's skill level.

"Oh so I am not more worthy than a random girl celebrity to have you touch me with your holy hands," Ichika giggled since she appreciated the wholesome comment of concern to her comfortability level.

"Hmm I guess I could be a master baker on TV," Ichika smirked at his comment to her being famous.

"Fame is a busy life Yori we were all understanding," Ichika chuckled as the steps continued, and the beat started to pick up. At this point Ichika was starting to catch on, and was keeping up with the faster beat allowing Yori to direct her faster. As the song picked up even further she started to get a bit assertive in movement, closing now completely in close proximity to bird boy.

"Come on Yori woo me a little master of the stage," she teased jovially.

Yori could see that Ichika was picking up on the dance routine quickly, which made him a bit suspicious. He would move with her faster, moving his hips like she did. Yori would take her around the room, leading her into a twirl and then a dip, which he caught and then pulled her back up into his hold.

"Something tells me dance lessons were just an excuse to hang out today." He teased, holding her close to him.

"Heh that's better,": she nodded with a chuckle as her deception was caught onto the fact she clearly knew how to samba. Shouldn't have been shocking as Jettitare her father knew how to dance as such being taught by Allo, and Takagi when he was still a student himself.

"Hmmm who knows maybe years of jealousy of watching a pretty bird dance with a bunch of stuck up girls trying to take his fame, or him makes a dragon want to snatch the song bird all for her lonesome," she teased this time hitting hardball to the fact that this was no longer a lesson, but a date in the works.

With that she pushed up on him as the dance got faster and more fierce as the two got into the sweet works of intense samba with her taking a tad bit of control halting as she latched her legs around him as she spun her upper body in a fast circle before aggressively slamming her foot down.

"Maybe a girls upset at her chance to strike was overpowered by a last second moment of a bird taking flight into the world. So now maybe she's being a little more ferocious," she teased with a toothy grin.

His gaze stayed on her as she spoke, knowing fully well what she was saying and what it meant as they danced. He kept up with her easily, having danced this routine plenty of times before on stage and off.

It was only this time that it actually meant something.

"You've gotten a lot more direct, haven't you?" He asked her. "I should have asked you to spend some time with me sooner, then maybe I could have helped ease that jealousy."

Yori didn't let go of her, rather, he kept her as she was against him. "Let me make it up to you. It's only fair I do, don't you think?" He asked her, their dance pausing since Yori was more focused on Ichika than their lesson.

"Well I am the daughter of the most direct father alive now aren't I," Ichika smiled at Yori's question as the dance was much more passionate now that bird brain was connecting the dots through his oblivious vision.

"Hmmm maybe it would have if the bird who had the crush on the dragon so long ago knew the dragon had a crush on the bird as well. Then there would have been no jealousy to exist. Or vice versa," Ichika chuckled

"Alright song bird I'll let you take a crack at me, but first some snacks," she chimed with a toothy grin as she let go of him and clapped her hands together before opening her containers and placing a mate down like a picnic cloth bringing out some Vanilla/strawberry cupcakes, some small pitchers of kiwi lemonade, and a lollipop that she immediately started to nibble on. Once everything was set she patted the area next to her for him to sit down, and dig in.

Yori was quiet as he listened to Ichika, her words becoming crystal clear about what could have been. The only issue was Yori didn't feel the same way he did when he was a preteen. It was just a crush, and something he grew out of during so many years of traveling.

Before they could continue their conversation, it was interrupted with Ichika's declaration that it was time to eat. He supposed now was as good of time as any to try and clear things up between them.

It wasn't that he didn't think Ichika was attractive, it was that there were some things he needed to think over. Things unrelated to Ichika.

He sat down next to her on the mat, picking up one of the cupcakes. His favorite flavor? It made him want to drool, and soon, he took a bite from the deliciousness.

"So good~" He murmured after the bite before swallowing. Then he looked at Ichika. "I should probably be direct too."

Yori sighed. "I did have a crush on you, yeah, but that was like 5 years ago. We're different people now; what if it isn't like what we thought it would be back then." He looked at her. "Don't get me wrong, you're beautiful and dating you would be great. But do you want to be kept a secret? Not allowed to show me any kind of affection in public? I don't know about you, but it would kill me on the inside. And you deserve so much more than that."

He didn't want to do that to Ichika.

"Plus, I have to do some thinking. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you. Until I can get it out of the way and am sure about myself, I wouldn't feel right leading you on."

This really sucked. He liked Ichika, of course, but what if chasing the "what could have been" turned out to not be worth it? As he said, they're different now. He wasn't that pretty, awkward and oblivious teenager anymore. He was a different person, whose personality could clash with Ichika's expectations.

"I am not a fool I promise Yori, and of course it is I wouldn't make it otherwise silly," she teased as he got serious though silly as he ate the food she had prepared for him. She smiled to see her friend gorge in like a wild animal. She listened intently to what he had to say, and he had some valid points.

"I can understand that you definitely are different while I have remained the boring same. Though I will still like a fair chance if you will weather the unknown with me. If not, I am a strong gal," Ichika explained pouring him a glass of kiwi juice giving a soft wink.

"And if you do want me I can keep a secret until you want it secret no more. Though if a girl gets too handsy I will make sure to mark my territory," she teased with a small snap of her teeth laughing as she poured her own drink.

"I have been patient since you left for your career. If you ask me to be a bit more I shall. Just make sure to give me an answer someday," she winked, completely understanding.

Yori sat there and listened, surprised that Ichika was so… understanding. He was asking a lot out of her; more than he had a right to. But she understood. She understood everything. Every single thing he told her, she met him halfway.

She truly did deserve better.

He was silent after she finished talking, taking in her words as he finished the rest of his cupcake. Then, being careful with her and her drink, he gave her a hug from the side.

"Thanks. I mean it." The hug was brief as he pulled away. "To make up for all the jealousy and lost time, let's hang out tomorrow. We'll do whatever you want." He told her. "How does that sound?"

"Oop heh. No worries Yori," she smiled softly at him with her mellow eyes. He then made a rather big offer that caused her to hum slightly.

"Anything I want hmmm how about you help me prep some fresh pastries tomorrow in the kitchen at the dorm for the big aquarium trip sounds good, and than after that you can take me out," she smiled softly.

"Sounds good to me. I'm no baker but I'll do my best." Yori said. Baking pastries, while a lot of work for someone like him, did sound like fun. He would be the best helper he could be. The last part did make him grin. "Sure. After all this time apart, I got a lot to share with you."
 
Getting settled into her own room, Mari changes into a swimsuit that consisted of two pieces with a frilly skirt design on the top and bottom, looking a bit classy with a black texture. Checking herself out briefly, the cat girl had to decide what to do next, likely she would lounge around a bit in the lobby or in front of the lodge to see if other students needed anything, her duties were never truly over with it seemed, doing this she mostly takes a post off the to the side on the ground level to take care of any problems that arise.

The bus had arrived at the aquarium and Hideki got off and immediately went towards one of the Ai terminals he decided that he would take one of the rooms in the hero lodge above ground. Hideki ended up getting room 15. He would go into his room and drop his baggage off. He didn't bring too much for the weekend trip but enough so that he would be comfortable. Hideki decided to change into a pair of swim trunks and a tshirt and left his room.

He wasn't exactly sure what his plan was, he was just going to walk around and see what this place had to offer, until he saw Mari in the lobby. Hideki smiled as he made his way over to her. "Even on vacation you can't relax huh?"

"Heh, one day I'll relax, but not just yet." She says with a bit of a smirk and stares over at him. "But at least the first person to run into me, rarely gives me problems.. Or have you been up to any misadventures with the boys?" She says with the same smirk to her face.

Hideki laughed a bit. "Nah, you've got enough stuff on your plate and having to worry about me shouldn't be one of them. Though we just got here so who knows what I'll get into. I'll have to see what Agi is up too a little later. I'm sure with him I might get into a little trouble, who knows." Hideki offered a small smirk as he thought about what this weekend was going to be. Hideki had been given some pretty big information from Officer Sugaru a few days ago. Since then he had done some research on the information that she gave him. It was frustrating to still be so far away from that villain, but stressing about it wasn't going to change anything. This weekend he was just going to try and relax.

"Well as they say, duty never sleeps.. As to Agi, if he didn't cause a stir of some sort it would be like expecting Kaisen and Isa not to trash school property." Looking at him, he seemed to have something on his mind, but she wouldn't pry into it unless need be or offered, in place she just looks at him blankly and speaks. "So Hideki-san, I assume you had some reason to come over to see me, something wrong or?"

"Yeah I guess that's a good point, I'm trying to make this a relaxing weekend so maybe I should stay away from Isa and Kaizen huh." Hideki laughed a little as he rubbed the back of his neck. She then asked him if he had a reason for coming over to her. "Well I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out for a bit or something. I was thinking of going to lay out in the sun for a bit and just relax. I brought my airpods in case I went alone so I can just pop those in. I know you like to hang out in the sun so I figured I wanted to see if you wanted to join me."

"Oh it's mostly by accident with the first and training with the other." She says in response to Isa and Kaizen. "Sure, I would like that, depending on when you wish to go out there, I could just leave and come back here every hour or so to check up on things. Or we can wait for an hour to pass and then go." Mari offers to his own.

"Yeah I've done plenty of training with Kaizen to know how that usually goes down." Hideki snickered a little bit. "Well I'll leave that up to you. I'm going to head out now probably. I'll be out there for a bit so if you want to meet me out there later you can, or you can come with me now."

"Hmm.. Fine, let's go now, we can spend an hour or two together and they change up things a bit for something else later on, think of it as a date or a simple outing either one.." Turning to face him, she offers him her arm.

Hideki blushed for a moment as he listened to what Mari said and then watched her offer her arm to him. "Alright sure lets go." Hideki took a hold of Mari's arm and led the two of them outside, the two of them walked around a little until they made it down to the beach. It appeared that the spot was pretty empty as not many people were taking advantage of it yet. They were able to find two lounge beach chairs they could use as well as some towels they could lay out on the sand.

"Well this spot looks as good as any." Hideki took a seat in one of the chairs before taking his shirt off and then leaning back in the chair. "The sun feels great today, definitely going to try and enjoy this. Doesn't look like we are going to be getting many days like this coming up."

Taking a chair of her own, Mari smiles a bit, letting the rays of the sun hit her as she stretched out. "Black may have not been the best choice.. And yes, at least something like this I can enjoy easily enough, no real waves on this beach so I may even get in the water while we are here.. Speaking of I wonder where they took Cecil.. So Hideki anything new for you?"

Hideki closed his eyes as he sat back in the chair and let the sun's warm rays hit his body. He was going to be happy to get a bit of a tan which is why he took off his shirt and was just happy to be laying in the warm sun for a bit. Hideki looked over at Mari as she mentioned that black may have been a bad choice. "Its pretty warm today and the sun is shining pretty bright, so yeah black may be a bit tough today." Hideki laughed a little as he looked over at her. "Well, yeah I guess a few new things came up recently. A few days ago after I had talked with you after class, I made my way up to the hospital ward to go visit Isa for a minute. To see how she was doing. I ended up running into her mother, and well I ended up fighting her to get some information on the person who killed my parents."

Hideki sat there as he turned to look up back towards the sky. He felt a little bad because he didn't mean to bring down the mood or anything. "Sorry, I didn't mean to like bring down the mood or anything like that."

Listening to Hideki, Mari says very little as she listens to all this, processing her own thoughts on the matter as it came clear out of the blue, not that it ruined her mood, if anything she found it rather curious. "I take it this has to do with the disruption I heard about, though given you aren't in the hospital I assume it went rather well. I know how important that topic is for you, I can't say I would be any different in regards to my own parents if that happened to me. Did the information help you?" She asks.

"Well I had some help that without him I probably would have ended up in the hospital. I did just enough to earn some of her respect. The information she gave me did help. I learned a little bit about who she is and who she works for. As well as what her quirk is. I have no idea if i'll ever run into her. ANVIL nor the hero association nor the police have any idea on where she is and all three are investigating. Should I ever come face to face with her though, this information might help keep my team and myself alive so that's what's important." Hideki continued looking up at the sky as he thought about all the information that Kanna had given him. He had said that he wanted to try and not think about this during their trip, but it was hard for him not too.

"Though the most interesting information she gave me was that someone from our school could possibly have even more information on this woman than Officer Sugaru does herself. She wouldn't tell me who it was for obvious reasons. Though she made it sound like it was a student and a student from our class."

"Huh, that so?" Mari says, not betraying any sign of knowing one way or the other, a truly neutral expression. She knew his answer but her own agreements kept her silent. "Maybe in time you'll learn who it is, if it truly is anyone, they could be at the school rather than in the class after all. Though instructor Ota or the person in question may come forward when the time is right. Till then you must just prove you are ready to know I would say. Such information is not so casually given.."

Unless one asked the principle at any rate.

Hideki looked over at Mari as he told her about this person. She did a good job of keeping a poker face the whole time. This actually made Hideki smirk a bit. Knowing Mari how he did, he wouldn't be surprised if she knew exactly who he was talking about. Hell Hideki himself had a few guesses of who it could be. As much as it killed him not knowing, he wasn't going to push it further at least for now.

"If being a pro hero or working for ANVIL doesn't work out, you should consider being a pro poker player." Hideki laughed a little as he turned his eyes towards the water at the end of the beach. "Knowing you how I do, I think that you know who I'm talking about, or at the very least have a good idea of who I'm talking about. I'm not going to push you to tell me though. For one you wouldn't do that and two it's not my place to know yet. It's frustrating but it can't be helped. Also Officer Sugaru said it would be up to Ota sensei to give out that information, so I'm pretty sure it's someone from our class. I have my guesses and suspicions on who it could be, but like I said I'm not going to push it." Hideki continued to looking out at the water. The sun starting to make him sweat a little bit as beads of sweat started to run down his neck onto his chest and then off of his body. He could also feel the sun starting to tan his skin a little.

"I said I wasn't going to try and think about all of that this weekend and yet here I am." Hideki chuckled a little. "How was your date the other day? I'm going to try and change the subject here." Hideki looked over at her and offered a smile.

Keeping up her poker face as he put it, she remains calm for a bit as she watched him a bit before tightening her jaw a little bit. "I'm afraid I'm not very interested in poker. As for Ota Sensei, I trust him to do so. He's not done much for the class in our hours of need, but I don't think that is on purpose so much as one man can be in but so many places at once.

But I trust him to do this, afterall he led you to speak to the Officer as you put it, did he not?

As to the Date, it went very well, however when I made an offer of making it into something more he retreated into wanting to be friends first before he made the jump into that. I can't say I disagree with his choice, though it is what it is." Exhaling a bit at that she shrugged. "He'll decide for himself in due time, but I shall not just wait while doing nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if he seeks me out here, but still, it did sting a little to be so quickly denied. But enough of that, we should enjoy ourselves at this facility, I might even go see the fish when done here."

"Yeah I didn't think you'd be all that interested in poker, though you'd be good at it. As for Ota sensei, yeah he led me in the direction of seeking out Officer Sugaru so when the right time comes he will tell me or tell the whole class. Either way there's nothing I can do about it. Just have to keep getting stronger and wait"

Hideki's left eyebrow raised as he listened to Mari talk about her date. He started to guess on who it could be. "Well I guess that makes sense, in the long run that will probably be for the best. Don't want to start dating someone and then realize that it's not going to work out. Best to get to know each other better first. Though if he does decide to date you he will be a lucky guy for sure." Hideki offered her a smile.

"Haha." Laughing at that, Mari tilts her head a bit and sprawls out stretching her arms. "I'm not so sure about that, I am a serious woman after all, though maybe you are correct in a manner, none of us students should be focused on such things and I should try being more impartial.. Who knows what sort of drama this might generate within the class.. I'll just have to deal with it when and if it happens I suppose."

"Nothing wrong with a serious person. Also I know you're not serious all the time, just well, most of the time." Hideki shrugged and chuckled a little. "But yeah you're right I suppose. Maybe we should be focused more on our hero world. Though we're all human after all. It's only natural to be with people like that."

Hideki shrugged as he stretched out his arms, the sun doing it's job and starting to tan his skin. "What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?"

"Hmm.." Pausing to think on that Mari lowers her arms back down from her stretching and speaks a bit shamelessly for herself. "Oh, likely enjoy the restaurant they have here. It has a lot of food items in general but most of it is seafood related, which suits me. Otherwise laze around, deal with any problems that come and look at the exhibits. I don't intend on training, though I might seek Goto out tomorrow morning. His studies have been suffering, see if this place can educate him at all. Otherwise I'll just do whatever comes along. Though we only have two days here so it's unlikely any of us can do everything that is here, unless we spend our leisure time doing such."

"And what of you, Hideki?"

"I'll probably spend a lot of time at the beach honestly. I have no problem just simply relaxing in the sun for a couple of days. Though I'm sure Amano is going to seek me out. I told her that I always thought it would be cool to go into one of those cages and go underwater with sharks. Well I'm pretty sure we can do that here so I think she's going to seek me out so that her and I can do that."

"Ah, they do have that here I think, it's beyond the site's sanctuary though and it's not just sharks to see, I'm sure you two will have a fun time." Pausing to think at that she shakes her head as if to shiver. "I'm not sure I want to go under the water that far, call it being part cat."

"Though Amano is an alright person to spend time with..well her oddities aside, I never had trouble with her at least."

"Yeah it should be a good time. I don't know. She was asking me about some things that I haven't done but have always wanted too. Then she said that we should try to do something from that list like once a week or once a month or something. So looks like were swimming with sharks." Hideki smirked as he then turned on his stomach allowing his back to get some sun.

"Yeah Amano can be a little weird at times, but her and I have always gotten along just as well as you and I have."

"A list of things to do once a week or month, that includes swimming with sharks… Should I be concerned?" Mari says arching an eyebrow with a stumped look on her face. "I shudder to think of what else is on that list."

Hideki audibly laughed as he continued to allow his back to get some sun. "Oh you know it's the typical list that has things like skydiving and bungee jumping and those sorts of things. Don't worry you know I can be the responsible one and make sure that Amano doesn't take it too far. Don't worry class rep you won't need to be concerned. Though I'm touched that you would be concerned about me. Though I know you're going to say you're concerned about everyone." Hideki smirked as he looked over at her.

"Hmm, you may be more important to the team than I am Hideki. Or could become such." With that she rises up to her feet and stretches. "Though I think I'll head off to get something to eat and check in with the Aquarium, don't get too burnt out here. Or are you one of those that tans?" Mari asks with a tilt of her head.

Hideki raised his right eyebrow as he looked over at Mari. "Why do you say that? You're pretty important to our class and making sure that things run how they're supposed too. As I've heard people say I'm just the class prettyboy." Hideki offered a little smirk before answering her question. "And yeah I usually just tan, lucky like that I guess."

Laughing at that Mari gives him a brief patting on his shoulders before taking a few steps away. "Because you are more willing to befriend and amuse the others on the team. I would have never given a thought to humouring Amano's request. As with the old UA you were the posterboy as you said but you also have a kinder heart than I do. Enjoy your rest, I'm sure we'll see one another again."

Hideki laughed as Mari gave her reasoning for why he might be more important for the class then she is. "Don't sell yourself short, You're kinder than you think you are or than you let on. I'll take the compliment though." Hideki gave her a wave as she walked off after having spent an hour together sitting on the beach. For now Hideki was going to stay right here. He took out his airpods container and took out his left airpod and put it in his ear as music started to play. Hideki closed his eyes as the warm sun kept striking his back and his right hand was touching the top of the warm sand below him.

Hideki had nowhere to be and no one he had to see. He had a lot of thoughts going through his head, but for now he would relax and see where the day would take him. Maybe someone else would come down to the beach. Or maybe Hideki would just drift off into a nap and see what the day would be like after he got some sun.

After making his room undersea level Agi was surprised to find everyone running around like animals to go interact with said sea animals. It seemed everyone had plans right off the bat so much so Agi couldn't find nary a soul as he walked about. Though as he walked about he did notice how beautiful the coral life was outside the aquatic glass. Though now that he thought about it he should go check on the upside view before delving into the sea life itself. With that he took to the impressively massive elevator watching the rising hues of blue get lighter, and lighter as he got to the ground floor.

"Oye Mari how are you enjoying the resort," Agi called out, noticing Mari at the non-alcoholic bar lounge. Walking over in his light brown shorts, and silver shirt he gave her a wave and smile.

Having gotten away from the rest, Mari was enjoying herself in solitude having a mixed fruit drink, more of a smoothie really, as she heard Agi approaching, or calling out to her, she turns her head to look at his manner of dress, she was still wearing her two piece frilly and black swimsuit. Grinning a bit at his manner of dress she calls out to him;

"Ah, Agi, I'm surprised to see you, care for a drink? But hmm.. That silver shirt, trying to stand out I see?" Having a little fun at his expense she motions for him to come closer if he wished. "I take it you have some sort of plans for the day?"

"Sure can I get Kiwi, and Apple mix," Agi asked as he gave a grin to her offer, and sat down next to her. He took a moment to observe her own design or tropical wear, and well she was definitely catching a mature beauty aesthetic.

"Oh why is that I do get out once in a while," he chuckled.

"Nay just wearing clothes that are super comfortable… and breathable in the hotter tropics. Being part metal has its backfires after all. Besides I must stand out a little to grab your attention," he noticed as he then added.

"What about yourself there's a reason for being a pearl among the sands," he lightly flirted as he got his drink thanking the bartender.

"Honestly for once it seems like I am the only one without plans today. I noticed that as everyone was gone the moment I turned around," he expressed with a chuckle as the idea popped into his head though first.

"What about yourself got anything going on currently?"

"Ah yes, that is correct, you are a bit metal based aren't you?" Mari says, remembering the details of Agi's mother, she wondered how that bothered him at least, if it did at all, in terms of weight or if he sunk to the bottom of a pool or had problems with magnetism. There were a lot of possibilities really, but here and now there was no time to ask about them.

"Hmm, a pearl among the sands is it?" Turning back to her own drink she didn't seem bothered by the words nor overly enthusiastic about them as she continued on; "I had wished I wore white or something else, the black really takes the heat outside. And as to why I was here, I was taking a break from everyone else, though you are welcome to stay, but to answer you, no, I had nothing planned."

"Not as much as my mom so thankfully I don't sink to the bottom of the ocean. Though combat wise is rough for me," he chuckled reading her expression point blank as he could also tell his compliment made no itself mute as it was clear she was aware of that.

"Guess those compliments are a dime in a dozen fair enough," he laughed softly, taking a drink as he re-strategize his future wordings to her. He chuckled at her regret of black clothing which made sense given darker colors absorb more heat. Though her last comment clearly spoke that she didn't mind his company.

"Well what if I offered a sorta round two to the last time we had some fun. If you're looking to get away from the rest, but dont mind me tagging along. There's a mini submarine ride below the ocean waves its track based so no worrying about me taking you off to the deep end," he joked.

"Worse case you claw into me best case we get some unique views of the sea. Regardless, no interruptions while we just talk away. Though maybe that is not really a worse case," he chimed with a soft smile.

Thinking on this, she was a bit wary of going beneath the waves, but this sounded more like a ride than going out on their own with a sub. Thinking about this and the explanation of his mother, Mari nods along.

"Very well. I'll do this with you, though I must admit I didn't expect you to come after me so soon after the last thing we did." She says in a bit of tongue and cheek. "As to clawing you, I don't have that aspect, though my father does… I must admit going below the water worries me a bit, but I'm ready when you are."

"Well I didn't say I didn't want to go on dates with you, and I didnt turn you down. I just wanted to slow down from making a massive leap on our first date," Agi reminded her as he chuckled at her business acumen towards dating. However she was clearly game as she was in her own words ready when he was.

"Then shall we go milady," Agi asked, directing Mari to the elevator getting both their drinks in to-go cups as he walked her over to the massive device hitting the bottom floor button as it sealed, and started to go down.

"Actually while I have you to myself I wanted to ask something, did the last few rounds of our missions seem strange to you," Agi asked nonchalantly as the long elevator ride began.

"Hmph, fair enough." She says to his response on the dates still not fully convinced, but not holding it against him at least. Getting her own drink and taking it in hand with the to go cup she sips on it as they ride down beneath the facility where agi asks a difficult question.

"And here I thought you just wanted to spend time with me." With a bit of a smirk she shuts her eyes for a brief bit before deciding to speak; "For reasons I cannot go into, many of the missions seem connected in a manner."

"Really cant even ask a question without the scrutiny of the vengeful eye," Agi smirked back at her response. Nudging her softly with his elbow he watched her do what any political type would, and danced around the question with an answer that wasn't really an answer. However the way she said it was also a roundabout way of saying yes in her own unique language…. Thank high heaven his parents, and grandparents taught him how to understand politicians.

"I see well to relieve you. I'll stop there for now. Though don't expect it to always be easy," he jovially laughed as he watched her body language she seemed a bit squeamish to be underwater he was pretty sure that was the cat personality in her coming out placing his drink in his other hand. He, albeit hesitantly as he wasn't sure how this would go, started to rub her back to help her nerves.

"You don't have to do this if it's that nerving," he said, genuinely willing to stop the elevator if she liked to go back up. Then he got a little bolder, and very gently scratched a bit behind her ears.

"Some questions are better left unanswered, Agi. We saw things on my mission that are best left forgotten. I'm not allowed to talk about them, lest I wish to break the rules for you, no matter how much I may wish to speak of them. Someone was going against the current natural order in that place and a great many people died for that."

As they move on, Agi would lay a hand on her back and gave her a good rub exhaling a bit she was about to say something as he went up for her ears, much like Ayame this elicited an involuntary response as she turned her head back and leaned against him much as a cat would, or Ayame, it seemed she was sensitive there as much as the later mentioned was before snapping out of it as she huffed sitting up straight, controlling her breathing she opened her eyes to stare at him. "..I.. I'm fine.. Also I told you I'm sensitive there.. The back is one thing but the ears I ask you to leave alone unless we are together." She was rather calm about it all, likely because it was Agi that was doing it but she turned to gain a little distance between them as she faced him in turn. "I'll go on your little sub ride, if I can't do this much then I can't handle larger problems."


"I see well if you want to get it off your back you can always just talk with me on the feeling rather than the act," he offered as she gave a unsettling feel to her own mission in words that clearly cut some dark things that had been in play.

"Oh wow… your not joking," Agi blushed immediately upon her involuntary reaction as she got close and personal in her cat spasm he halted asap as she pulled back calming her own nerves as the two were silent for a minute.

"Oh and here I thought "you" wanted to spend time with me," he teased with her own words with a soft smile as she regained her full nerves as the elevator halted, and the doors opened. As the two traveled to the sub ride it was revealed to be a two person ride with a quick emergency exit plan in case something went wrong with oxygen masks at the ready if the sub had any malfunctions. Along with a buoy option to topside the small submersible if needed. Once they were cleared Agi turned to her.

"Last chance to turn me down," he chuckled as he opened the door for her to get into the two seater device.

"Hmph if you hadn't been petting me like some animal then maybe I would have told you about it." At this point she wasn't really mad at him but she wasn't about to let him forget it either. Mari then listened to the rest of what he had to say as the doors opened, she shot him a silent glare at wanting to spend more time with him as she takes the lead at his offer to turn him down.

Taking him by the arm with her own she brushes him with her tail a little as she pulls him forward. "Let's go, besides we have more to talk about I'm sure, though if we sink I'm blaming you."

"Alright, alright I am sorry. I admit it was a bit bold on my part," Agi chuckled at her cute pout, and then a sharp grin as he locked with her silent glare. Like he said before he wasn't going to give her victories without resistance in the battle of witty words. However before anything else could be said she took him by the arm, and for a moment he could feel her tail brushing against him that sent a unique shiver down the spot it touched. It was definitely a unique feeling.

"First don't want me touching you, and now you're all hands on deck," he chuckled as he got in as she requested taking a seat immediately right next to her close, and personal as the bay door was shut and latched sealing in compressed sound of air as the mini sub dived in the moment their seat belts were on rocking a little at first before locking into place with the tracks.

"Definitely a little bumpy. I doubt such a ride can really sink though seeing how it's already rather glued to the ground," he pointed out as the sub took over quickly revealing a serene beauty rarely seen by people all the way at the bottom of the ocean coral life. It's dark yet mystifying ambiance setting quite the sight for the two.

"Well then so what shall we talk about first," he asked, giving Mari the floor as given in her last statement she definitely wanted to speak about something.

Mostly letting him have his words, she had nothing to say in response to more than a few of them, but the hands on deck one she smiles a little. "Oh come now, I don't see you fighting my hold, and a gentleman should take a lady by the arm." As the ride head off on its tracks, she became a little more curious about the rental subs, though she wasn't sure if either of them really knew how to pilot it. The shaking as the 'car' was lowered onto the tracks didn't bother Mari too much, but she gripped his arm a little tighter at first before loosening her grip and pulling her arm away at his question, or inquiry rather.

"There isn't much I can say about that, medical research was being conducted of a vile nature that if successful will be a grave threat to not just Japan, but the whole world. The groups we've been running into have some connection with it, well most of the groups. Some have nothing to do with it at all. That and we may have a threat that is closer than most realize. However, I have yet to have all the information I need to make a point of that."

"And why should I resist a charmingly professionally intelligent woman like yourself," Agi chimed in response, smiling at her comment about what a gentleman should do even though in reality he was sure a part of her just wanted to legit hold his hand in particular.

"Fair enough," Agi nodded, not teasing her this time as he was sure he had done just enough for the moment. Though he was thankful he did as she squeezed on him for a moment when he was sure she would be fine. She then gave some ominous words on the matter which surprised him as she had just finished explaining not too long ago she couldn't. Apparently she trusted him quite more than he had expected.

"... Thank you for trusting me. To be honest me and Amon have some sneaking suspicions of our own concerns how it seems like we are being watched… way closer to home than one would want," Agi expressed, also avoiding saying what clearly neither of them wanted to admit was potentially true.

"I want to say we might be seeing the re-emergence of the Villain League, but I thank that would be hopeful to what might really be going on," Agi added as the ocean floors lit up at the sighting of a passing school of luminescent jellyfish.

"Ah while we are sight seeing, do you mind if I get some measurements of your forearm," Agi asked out of the blue, pulling out a measuring tape and a small notepad.

"And while I do that I have another type of question. Say you get pretty high up in your dream job, and say your significant other got extremely sick. What would you do in that situation between your job, and your other half," Agi asked out of the even further blue.

Listening to his words, Mari tilts her head a little. "Would you have stopped asking if I refused to tell you? I can't go over the details of what was there, but I do trust you, unless proven wrong I'll continue to trust you." She said to his words, at the questioning of her hand, or arm rather she snickers a little.

"Oh now who wants to touch who?" Offering her arm over, she watches some fish and a turtle swim past as some coral formations could be seen ahead in the distance. His next question put her back into the same position as before.

"I would do both of my duties. Even if it left me with little time to myself. If it became bad enough I would then take time out of my work to take care of them. But I would still attempt to do both, remote working is possible after all. Ultimately family would be more important unless they are being used as leverage against me by another. I would not be happy with that state of affairs, but I will not be held hostage over it."

Pausing a bit at that she seemed to have a bit more to add. "Family is very important to me, but I would never sacrifice the lives of other families for my own. So if you for example ended up sick, I would take the time to feed and clean you and to make sure you are alright as I do my work, till it burns me out, and then I would focus on you. But if you were ever taken hostage to be used as a pawn to release someone rather dangerous, it would be with a very heavy heart that I would refuse.. Once the issue is resolved I may step down from my position or I would use it to capture and ruin the lives of the ones that started all of this. They would not know rest for as long as I lived. I am rather petty in that regard."

"At this point might be both of us it seems," he winked with a mischievous smile as he took her hand, and started to write down some numbers while measuring her wrist dimensions all to her elbow.

He listened to her answer with full awareness. It was quite a unique answer: it had the mutual care to be both a good spouse, and a solid leader. Yet it revealed if push came to shove Mari would choose family unless under one particular scenario to which technically her answer was still family after some bladerunner heavy metal extreme action. Her element of ruthlessness was more emotional than he could have ever guessed.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman as they say," Agi smiled as he finished up releasing her hand before responding to her answer.

"That's quite a fair answer," he chuckled as the sub went deeper as a few shinny fish started to move about with their reflection creating an array of moving lights.

"So take away all my family ties, and what's left to attract you to me," Agi asked rather seriously, looking her straight in the eyes from across the seat.

"My, with a question like that, I should have you answer it in kind.." Not betraying any sign of emotion she closes her eyes for a bit as if lost in thought. "That is a good question, on a superficial level you're tall and fit, the form is pleasing to the eyes, though you don't have much of a heroic chin… A shame really. You have that same wild look as Isa but without the bad manners. In terms of physical features she might suit you better than I do, but I don't think her personality would ever be presentable around your parents.. Whereas I know how to deal with such things and more."

Continuing on she opens her eyes and speaks her mind some more. "In terms of mindsets we are far apart in some aspects but your own tenacity over the last two months has its merits and I find myself drawn towards it. I think you'll become something even without my hand there. While I could never be like you, it is nice to see a counterweight to my own persona. Besides that I don't believe you would be the sort to neglect or abuse me, while at the same time being at a level I can accept without needing to manipulate things along. I also worry for your family given the eccentricity you all are prone towards. So in a manner we both are not alike in many regards and close enough in others that I find it worth pursuing. Otherwise I'll just have more arranged meetings till I find someone useful. Though I think you will find that I'm not so easily prone to giving up when my mind is decided.. Much like a cat you caught my attention.

Other than that, I don't find your touch repulsive, something you yourself noted. So then another question for me or should I ask some of my own?"

"Huh never heard a girl digging a chin setup before," Agi responded, rather caught off guard by that feeling of his own chin in response to that unexpected response. As he continued to listen he watched her body language as she kept herself rather void of emotion to avoid giving away her legit feelings?

"Heh you keep mentioning that as if you're trying to matchmake me with Isa," Agi called out with a chuckle nodding how Isa was a wild child.

"Heh thought my parents would actually be okay with her as my mom was sorta like Isa, a little bit of a battle nut at the beginning as my dad has told me. He though would have to adjust to her word play," he laughed.

"I bet you could reel them in with one strike that's for sure," he spoke honestly as his parents would probably adore a girl like Mari to help anchor him back to reality before going full Allo on them. That was when she hit the bigger weights of contrast mindsets.

"Oh? Sounds infectious… and I appreciate that," Agi smiled at the legit complement she gave about him being able to make something of himself without anyone backing him. He quietly listened to the rest of what she had to say.

"Heh, you're not wrong my whole family, while big achievers they have caused quite a few ripples in japan, and even clashed into history in massive waves," he admitted he was very aware he was a major handful. Hell the only reason he had friends was because they were equally strong personalities themselves. He did madly blush at the end of her comment though as she made it very clear her eyes were set on him regardless of how she felt about the ending of the last date.

"Well… ahem. Well to answer my own question to you I never have looked at you with your lineage. I just know you as Mari Nakao, an amazing ruthless tactical mind with a brilliant talent in leadership. I look at you, I don't see anything behind the Nakao name I just see… well you, and that's way more than enough," he expressed.

"You're my intellectual equal, and you are willing to try new things, and open to criticism. You don't like losing but you make a cute face when you do," he smiled with a chuckle.

"You do like to hide your emotions a lot, but forewarning if you do want me you better be ready for me to dig for the genuine you. Because the poker face will only be acceptable out in public. Given the routes we both clearly want and how Anvil and HA views it you better be sure you're ready for that if this progresses," he teased.

"Haha, I hardly brought her up to replace me, but because physically you both share some features, you could pass as siblings.. It's rather uncanny. Though, the real me you say?"

With that she lets out a breath and allows her posture to relax a bit as her smile fades away. "You'll find that I'm not too different from how I am now. I wear a mask in part, but at the core it is who I am and how I am. I mean I get nervous, have fears and doubts, but I don't show those unless I must. The fact is I showed you my hesitation to even get into this thing. I also truly enjoyed speaking with your grandfather. I calculate things by risk and cost and the purpose behind them.. I'm no little wall flower. Though speaking like this has been the first in a long while. Do you have more questions for me?"

"Heh, it might be because our moms are very similar," Agi jokes.

"And I appreciate seeing the cute side of Mari Nakao," he smiled genuinely at her honesty of emotion getting into the sub.

"Hmm. I think I have been satisfied with your answers. I am sure you have a few though."

"Oh, satisfied are we?" She says half mockingly. Smiling a bit at that it seemed to be a genuine one.

"Hmm, I have a few I guess, but what is it that you would want out of me should we continue this? What would you like about me and lastly, can I have my arm back or are you so taken with my touch?" Laughing lightly at that she continues. "That last one is mostly a joke.. But why are you asking me all of these things, considering what happened between us a few nights ago?"

"For now," he chuckled.

"To just be yourself honestly. Though you might have to get used to affection a little more than you are used to. Hm I like your honesty, and your ability to fully know what you want to avoid wasting peoples time. You like to go for unique outings, and I honestly would love to hear you sing more privately to me," he softly answered.

"Oh fair enough you weren't complaining so I thought you were enjoying mine," he flirted, letting go of her hand for her to take it back.

"Cause just like you I may have my sights on you as well. Like I said I just want to know you first before I try to get to know you more intimately. Besides you might have better options, you are after all a perfect kitten wrapped with a golden bow," he teased yet again using something she said once against her.

"Huh." Listening to his words she decides to accept what he had said at face value. "Yes, I would like to do more outings with you, I partially expect them, so that we both stay engaged. My earlier offer to you was not one for marriage, though I would not mind that either. But rather for us to date one another, the more serious it becomes the better my treatment towards this will be.. As you said I'm a perfect little kitten...I don't wish to be led to an empty food bowl and I would like for us to be exclusive on that front."

Smiling at that she takes her hand back and positions it around his right shoulder from behind as she massages what limited bit she could here. "I can't promise you unlady-like things but in my own search for perfection I know of many ways to make the most of our time together. Provided we wish to accept this situation. As to your affections towards me, I am curious what you had in mind."

"I'll take that as you really like hanging out with me jingle bell," he chuckled though her next line once again caught him off guard as she was very willing to rather make arrangements with him he wasn't exactly ready to hear her say.

"Ahem, maybe not so fast. Alright let's test these waters then, and see where it goes worse case you dump me over a bad date," Agi was suddenly stiff as Mari's hand touched his back. For all his talk it was clear Agi had next to no experience with girls touching him. He almost reflexively pulled, but calmed himself down to enjoy it.

"That's okay I am in untraversed waters honestly cause unlike you who has had a few ideas on this sorta thing I am completely in untested waters," Agi chuckled a little nervously allowing himself to now enjoy the massage. He did blush again at her mention of more… intimate activities. Didn't help that the pretty gal next to him was in a bikini.

"Mari you're literally the first girl I'll have literally gone steady with… and the only girl I have actually had a legit date with. All I want to do is spend time with you. That's my only intention, nothing more nothing less. If more appears from you I'll take it, and give back equally. If nothing happens I will accept it as well. However if you try to use me without expressing it so directly I will have trouble trusting you," he answered straight and true.

"Hmm.." Pausing to listen to his words, Mari lowers her hand and gazes out at the coral and fishes around them as she keeps a soft smile on her face. "All investments require effort. And mutual ones require investments and attention. Nor am I offering you the full extent now, I am stating what my goal may be. I have no intentions on letting this go nowhere. What moments we are allowed to do so I would like to go out or even stay around the campus, but I would like for us to spend time together to see if we are a match after all. I believe we are. So for now I'll give you what I can before I can give my all.. As to your own confession, I've had more than a few arranged dates but this is the first one to go past the first one, so it is new territory for me as well.. Though I am curious, would you like for me to make lunch for you every so often? I'll expect good treatment in return.. Though do not mistake my words and offer Agi;" With that she turns to stare at him, a serious and truful expression.

"I do not expect you to just throw money at me, nor do I care about that, I have my own finances and do not want to grab onto something so superficial, so never think that just spending time with me at a park or just getting me a cheap book or just some time with one another is not good enough. I would rather get to know Agi than his parent's or his own money. For now I see myself as yours and you as mine, just bare with my perfection or attempts towards it. Making lunch is one thing but I don't feel the need to rent a car on my account.."

"Um sure I would love to try your cooking," Agi nodded to her offer after her rather long winded speech about the expected standard which in fairness is what Agi understood already it seemed more so she wanted to make it clear in full though so he listened.

"Well I never really buy gifts. I more so make them so I hope that's okay with you. I think gifts crafted by one's own hands are more heartful with that said before you head off on your next mission make sure to visit me at the tech lab I should have something nice ready for you," Agi smiled back in his element.

"As long as I get to learn about Mari we will be good," he smiled in response. With that the sub ride entered its final stretch reversing into a cavern set adorned with natural geodes creating one finally beautiful display of structural perfection.

"Random question: what's your favorite color?"

"Why isn't it obvious?" She says with a smile. "The colors I am! Though if it's for that tool bronze would work best or a mix of them, I'll let it be a surprise. Or even just surprise me with the colors." As the ride finally ended, and the two got out as Agi helped Mari out at the apex of her standing up, Agi gave a gentle kiss on her cheek with a rather high moral grin.

"From me to you for now," he chuckled before walking off, allowing her to register the unexpected kiss.

Lifting a hand up to her cheek, she gives a smile as her tail flicks around, shaking her head with a sigh she heads off on her own way, they would see one another more often soon enough, for now there was an extra bounce in her step, though one may not know why.

Grabbing his Arm, she seemed rather insistent. "Oh yeah wanna hang out or something? You've never been to a place like this, right?" She asks of him wanting to be the first to monopolize some of his time it seemed, though she had other plans in general as well.

As Kuroi prepared to get off the bus, he hoisted a small pack over his shoulder, the same he brought when he moved into the dorms. Travelling light had its advantages in time-saving.

He contemplated the lodging he would go with before Isa approached him and handed back his handheld. "Oh, thanks. Hope it kept you from dying of boredom," He said before she began tugging his arm and insisted he go with the subnautica dwelling. "Oh-ah. Sure… No, I think my sister took us to like a zoo aquarium one time but that was just like… look at fish. It hardly had computers, let alone a robot."

"Eh don't worry about it! You got me with yah, call it a date if you want. We can swim, eat, anything really, even go look at the fish, too much for me to decide so might need to use plan B, or just see what you wanna do first eh?" Letting him take in everything listed she grins a bit. "Anything really, on your mind at all for here? Or you know of something I might like ehh?"

"Eh-Okay… uh." That was a lot. Did most aquariums have all that? Then there was the date. Kuroi wasn't sure if she was just joking or not, but it did make him think back to the "mock date" with Yori. Was getting a date that simple? Yori must've been overthinking it. The whole thing did come out of Goto royally screwing up his date.

Still, something she would like--They hadn't really sat down and gotten to know each other, so aside from games he didn't know much about her interests. Still, it was an aquarium, and bigger to any he'd been to. "Uh… you wanna walk around a bit and see then? We can swim or eat later."

"Sure, might as well, just start out the tour, we gotta walk a ways to get to the underwater lodgings anyways." Isa adds on walking alongside him to the aquarium interest, where she relayed where they would be staying with the AI, Neptunia.

When asked about where they should start the AI printed out a route that would cover a good bit of the place with a few left out as well as a general layout of the area. The route would take them across some of the more basic attractions and tanks as well as the so called abyssal section which contained some number of fish from the deep dark depths.

"How did they get a robot to run this place…" Kuroi mused aloud. Thankfully it knew what it was doing because it directed them down a route since Kuroi had no idea where to go. Starting down the route, he could already see the difference between this place and the small aquarium he saw as a kid. "There's more than I thought… ah, you don't seem particularly worried about sleeping underwater."

"Huh, we could just ask her how/ Maybe she would answer?" Isa asks. Smiling a toothy grin at what he said next Isa says a bit too proudly. "Nope! It's lasted all these years so it should last a day more. And if it doesn't I won't be alive long enough to know it. So why worry about what you can't stop? If you aren't so sure about it why did you come with me?"

"Nah, just thinking…" Kuroi said, peering around, his eyes drifting from various signs and attractions.

He looked at her with a raised brow when she regarded his concern for the infrastructure. "...Wow, you're more morbid than I thought." Her response was kind of funny, though, and he smirked a bit in amusement. Why did he come with her though… Well, she had asked firstly. He was also just curious. "I've never had the chance to go to a place like this. I've been on more "trips" in this program than in my life. I wanted to see it."

"Well, I haven't seen it either and it might be a long time till we can come here again. Might not ever get this sort of access either." Stopping to look at one of the tanks, a shark swam by, pausing briefly as if to stare at them before going back around for another turn as Isa stopped to watch it a little bit. "It was difficult with your family huh? Still family though aren't they?"

"Yeah… that's why wanna see it." Who knew when he would be able to come to a place like this again? Maybe down the line he could take his family with any money he saves up.

As they walk by the tank, Kuroi sees the large aquatic creature move in his peripheral. As he glances over and sees the full mass of the animal staring at him, he jumps a bit. "Wo-okay…"

He sighed a bit in relief as the creature moved on, glancing at Isa as she mentioned his family. "Mom can't move around and dad can't do much either. Once she scrounged enough for us to go to a place like this with my big sister, though it still wasn't like this," He said with a nod. "Still family, yeah… How much do you know, by the way?"

Pausing a bit at that, she starts back to walking. "More than I want, less than I should. I just know your parents are on the list so to speak and there is a bit of a history there. I know it was bad enough that Ayame and Mom both visited the home often for the first few years, anything more than that, do I need to know?" Isa ask in response. "You likely aren't the only one in the class with secrets."

Following her movements, Kuroi walked alongside her. He nodded softly. "Yeah, to say the least," He replied. "Maybe. You hear bad enough but don't really know what that means. Do you need or want to know? I mean, it involved your mom and Ayame..." He was sure some people felt they needed to know that, and kind of understood wanting to know what you were getting into. "I know I'm not the only one, I'm just pretty sure I have first or second place."

"Well yeah it involves those two, one is my mom the other is family by every measure of the word, even though she has her own kids to take care of, though they are around the same age as my family. But it involved them, it is their work, their jobs, their past. I don't call my mom every day to ask what she's eating and I don't ask her about the Yakuza Insurgency." Pausing a bit Isa turns her head to look Kuroi in the eye and grunts. "Way I see it, unless it affects us working together, or it's really important to a situation we are in, then I don't need to know."

"And first and second? I dunno about that, Scar boy basically screams troubled backstory, and the Alucards, you don't end that fucked in the head and as a person by living in a nice stable family. I would put you in third or fourth.. Though Kuroi if you wanna talk about that shit to get something off your chest, then I can listen to yah, I would like for us to not be strangers in the same fuck'n class, plus I'll forget half of it if you carry on too long! Haha!" She says with a laugh and hands on her hips as they walked.

"Sure, but if something was done to them…" Kuroi paused a moment. He was going through the same thing he had with the guys. No matter how many people did it, someone not caring still didn't feel normal. "If it doesn't put you off, then I won't go into it."

As for the latter, he rubbed the babed the back of his neck. "Yeah… I talked to Iniji a bit. Sounds like me before I met the guy, though I was more of an ass I think," He commented. The boy certainly had something going on. As for the Alucards. "I dunno. I'm still not sure how to feel about them. My mom doesn't trust any of them and my dad likes them… neither of those are good things, by the way."

Watching her laugh as she walked, he couldn't help but smile. "You're pretty carefree," He commented, though the small smile went away as the glass next to them thudded, causing Kuroi to jump again. It seemed that one of the sharks had decided to bounce into the glass, whether by not understanding how the glass worked or just to mess with him. "Fucking hell… shark."

"Well, would knowing change anything with who you are? If not, then I don't care, like I said I'll hear you out. Not like my family is the most normal either you know." Listening to what he had to say next, she gives a thumbs up and smiles a toothy grin. "Well yeah. I don't know if I'll have a lot of time or a little. The Kami say sacrifice isn't a bad thing and we aren't as stuck up as the western faiths either. It's good to be happy, just don't take it too far. And huh.. I never once spoke to Iniji now that I think about it, maybe I should some time."

Watching as he jumped at the shark, she busts out laughing at him, patting him on the shoulder as she peered into the glass, her own sharptooth grin matching the one behind. "He's just saying hi, or she, fuck it I know, sides I have as many teeth as him, but you don't jump when I'm 'round."

Kuroi looked at her as if she was the weird one. "You say that as if it's normal but I'm pretty sure you're the strange one here… Well, not anymore than the guys I guess," He mused before sighing at her amusement from the jumpscare. "Bullshit, my quirk is blood. I'm basically a popsicle to it," Kuroi refuted. "Yeah, well I've seen more movies about sharks eating people than I have of girls." She was also a lot better looking than a shark.

Still, he sent a glare into the tank at the aquating beast. "Wait… You don't actually do you?" He asked, looking between the two.

"I do like red meat, but never tried human meat, not sure I want to, I heard it tastes like shit." Isa says in response before leaning on him for a sniff. "You with your blood might be an exception.." Before too long passes she sticks her tongue out at him in clear taunting.

"And Eh, maybe it ain't normal, but are we? You sure as shit aren't anymore than I am."

Kuroi eyed her as she teased him. She joked, but one of the vampires had unironically asked him for his blood, and seemed to enjoy it. He rolled his eyes a bit.

"You flirting with me now?" Kuroi questioned. "And you're saying that with vampires in our class."

Shrugging a bit to the latter part, he was told that he looked boring, at least until he used his quirk. Still, for as terrifying as Kanna was, she was on the "right" side and her daughter was so happy go lucky. He'd like to think her family was normal-ish. More than his.

"I've learned to take what weirdos I can get, though I still think you're all pretty crazy for not caring," Kuroi told her. "No shit I'm not normal. I was talking about you."

"Fine then Kuroi, I'll care and want to know sooo much. Tell me about it. I know a bit about the time your parents were active, so I assume it was bad shit. If I told you about my grandma you would likely understand a few things and why Mom was finally ready to see you differently.. She told me about that later." Isa says, still keeping an arm over his shoulders with a serious look to her face.

"I promise yah nothing can be as bad as that, equal maybe, but hell she turned a new leaf. And eh I don't much like eating blood, doesn't do anything for me."

"Ha~ For some reason I sense some sarcasm," Kuroi mused with a suspicious stare. Though, what she said after did intrigue him. "The hell did your grandma do that was so bad?" He really doubted it beat out his parents, or his grandfather for that matter. "That, I'm still kinda stunned about that… All she said was to thank Jet."

Thinking on that, he certainly wasn't going to go pay that hero a visit.

"...Wait, how much of it do you eat?" He questioned her skeptically. "You're playing a bit hard into the Oni myth, aren't you? ...They eat people, right?"

"Nah, that's just a bonus, they mostly like meat and alcohol!" Isa says to the first bit, letting him go she smiles while putting her hands behind her back and kicking the air to be cute as she carried on. "Uh uh.. No story for you unless I get one, though I guess in both our cases it can wait. Still wanna go to the elevator lift or something else?"

"Hah." Kuroi let out a half-hearted laugh at that. He had little experience with alcohol, save for the recent outing to the club, and considering how much of a clusterfuck that turned out to be, it was safe to say his taste of it had been soured despite learning you could mix it with coffee. "So you like steak and sake, and save people for special occasions then?"

Continuing to follow along with her, Kuroi supposed he walked into that one and nodded. "We can talk about it later." No need to depress the mood early on into the outing. "Sure, is that for the lodging or the uglier fish?"

"Uhh, it passed the uglies but heads to the lodge lift yeah. Well if I remember the route the AI gave us at any rate. So let's go deeper! Then when we get to our rooms we can go eat!" Giving it some thought, Isa shrugs at that and lowers her arm that was around Kuroi's shoulders. "If yah get scared yah can grab me, or who knows maybe I will you!" Laughing at that she grins and motions them forward.

"Works for me," Kuroi agreed before looking at her with a narrowed gaze. "Oh, look at you… You know if get scared shitless now that I'm obligated to laugh, right?" He remarked before smirking. "Same goes to you, though. My hand is free."

She was a bit of a smartass too, like Haya. However, that also made Kuroi more comfortable around her. She was easy to talk to, all things considered.

"This isn't all expense paid, is it?" Kuroi asked.

"Hmm.. Yeah I think so, we could ask one of the AI ports if we need to, why, something you wanted to do?" Isa asks as they walk along, all things considered she didn't mind spending some time with him at least as he offers his hand should she be scared.

"Heh, maybe I'll take you up on that offer, I'll try not to break your hand if I grab it out of fear."

Kuroi seemed to light up a bit at that. All expenses paid meant he didn't have to budget, and food at these places was always good but overpriced. "Yes. Order the most expensive thing on the menu," He said as if it were some future ambition. Though the topic of her strength did bring him out of it a bit. "Actually, how strong are you without getting all… oni."

"Eh, oi, don't do that shit, I mean don't want to wear out your welcome." Isa says with a disapproving gaze at the ordering of the most expensive items on the menu remark.

Shaking her head and sighing, the oni heard his last question and wasn't sure how to answer it as she pondered the answer as they walked along. "Well, like Ma we are much stronger that most normal people the transformation is about like hers getting all worked up, it just removes the natural limiters to what we can do a bit, but I've arm wrestled many of the boys and I either always win or I hold them to a draw without needing to use the Red Oni form… Well minus Kaizen, but that boy isn't natural."

"I never get to go to places like this unless it's someone paying. I'm gonna order something I want to eat, but I'm not going to worry about budgeting," Kuroi said with conviction.

"Eh. I can take it. I'm durable… not going to beat you in an arm wrestling contest, but I won't break if you need me," He told her. "Right, bug guy… Yeah, he isn't. Though are you the strongest out of the class?"

"Eh depends what you mean by strongest, but in terms of pure bute force, yeah, though a couple come close, still close asin't good enough." She says with a grin to her face as she raises her thumb to her chin and slides it across in a proud looking manner.

"Eh I don't mind if you enjoy yourself, just don't be a glutton and run the place under, though I wouldn't be surprised if they had a more limited menu when it comes to dealing with all of us, though I dunno if I care much for the seafood stuff, guess we'll see. And durable huh? That's good, so any topics yah wanna get into?"

"I'm not gonna eat everything on the menu…" Kuroi replied with a shrug. "Limited menu or not, these places are built for tourists so it's gotta be good." This was his chance to not worry about money.

"Yeah, I can take a hit at least, though I'd rather not get hit at all," Kuroi added before raising a brow at her. "Topics like…? I dunno, what do you do aside from games.""

"Huh, fair enough, lets go there after this then." Isa says in response before listening his question she nods, she wasn't exactly good at this either. ""Uh, Chocolate, a good fight, strength training, sports, video games like you said, rock and metal music and helping out people at times.. And the family shrine. What about you?"

Smiling with content at that, it drops a bit as it becomes his turn. Most of what she said was unsurprising, save for the shrine maybe. "Oh, you do the shrine stuff too? Not just your mom?" He asked before considering himself. "Uh… games, comics, coffee… uh… I sew but that's more of a skill than a hobby."

"Uh yeah, I even got some robes, you had to see me a time or two in them, the whole family has a hand in it at one point or another. And sewing? That's handy to have, I don't know how to do that, would be useful at times. Coffee is alright too, I like iced mocha, best of both coffee and chocolate! And comics eh, like Manga and stuff, any interest'n ones?" Isa aks and says in response as the two venture deeper into the Aquarium.

"I think the deep sea stuff is soon."

"Maybe… So what do you do? I've never really gone to shrines or anything." He'd never really been into religion itself to be honest. Didn't have the opportunity to become truly invested, nor did he really have much interest to. "Yeah… I used to tear my clothes up when training my quirk and my mom had to sew them back… I kind of needed to learn if I wanted to keep my clothing," He explained further. "I could teach you a bit, or if you need something mended I don't mind doing it. Would save you some cash replacing it."

As they ventured further, the decor changed with the types of fish on display, Kuroi gazed around curiously. "Yeah, there's quite a few. It's like video games except you read it. It's relaxing and still fun. More fun than normal books anyway."

"Huh what do I do? Ah at the shrine, you just mostly clean the grounds and make offerings to the Kami, which you get to eat later...or well we do at least, and how have you lived in Japan so long and know nothing about the shinto faith? You aren't even Japanese till you know a little bit! So guess I'll tell you or show you some of em, provided we hang around one another that much. I mean yah seem okay to me at least." As they walked on he mentioned his comics as Isa nods along. "Not much for reading but I should try to, maybe Manga would be fun, might borrow some from you. And yeah on that sewing offer might as well do both."

With that they rounded a corridor that went down and had a black tank at the center, it seemed a bit thick judging by the glass as Isa stopped to look into it with Kuroi a tiny light shines in the darkness as it moved closer a bizarre looking angler fish was revealed with a razored maw of teeth on display. "!" Isa exclaims a bit, rearing back a fist.

"Parents on a list, remember?" Kuroi reminded. "Mom can't really leave the house at all, dad can't either much. I know it's a thing but I've never really gone out of my way to go to a shrine and see what's done there by the caretakers."

He nodded a bit. He wouldn't mind her educating him a little bit, he just never had a reason or interest to on his own. "Teach me and I'll teach you, I guess. I don't much like normal books either."

Pausing at the dark tank, Kuroi watches it with her. As the ugly fish appeared, Kuroi recoiled a bit, but noticed Isa visibly jump. He grinned, preparing a laugh as she had to him, it suddenly dropped when he realized she was going to punt the fish into oblivion.

Moving quickly, he wrapped arms around the girl's waist and hoisted her up as he stepped back so that her limbs wouldn't reach and she'd lack grounding in the swing.

"Whoa--I don't really want something uglier than that spewing from broken glass."

"Let me down!" Isa says as her punch misses, kicking her legs a bit like a child that had been picked up, she didn't put much force in it at least, she didn't want to hurt him at least, but the fish had gotten the better of her. Tch'ing a bit as she's sat down finally, Isa sticks her tongue out at Kuroi in turn before giving a middle finger to the tank, ready to move on. "And uhh.. That sounds a lot like my grandmother, she can leave the house but not the local village area, maybe we can get the same for yours? Or she allowed outside just not away from the place? Though wonder why your dad got it easier, huh.. But yeah, lets just keep going, I just want to put my shit up and get back to eat.. We can look around more later."

Watching her kick her feet out futily was a bit amusing, though he knew she was likely holding back for his sake. Setting her down, he smirked a bit at her reaction. Though the frown returned as she proposed options for his mother.

"That's what I'm aiming for, at least," Kuroi said a bit solemnly. "My dad did as much bad stuff, but he wasn't as well known."

Shaking his head a bit at that, it was dropping the mood. No need for that. "Yeah, I wanna see the rooms anyway."

Patting him on the back she smiles. "I'm sure it'll work out! You're a good guy Kuroi! I'll even speak up for yah on that day! Well, yah know if we all are still alive and doing whatever.." With that said she motions for him to follow as they follow the AI's directions past a few more exhibits where a large glass elevator with a steel bottom looks out over the ocean, the view was dim and close yet held much in beauty to see, various aquatic forms swam about and coral could be seen off in the distance with even the glass corridors of the underwater lodge could be seen. Starting off on the way down it did not take the elevator like to reach where it needed to do so.

As they arrived the place was rather clean and two rooms out of the several were sat aside for their use, a simple, if not comfortable bed, table and other places to set their things could be seen with a small shower ducked into the side with a toilet across from it on the other. The accommodations would likely be good for the two, though Isa wondered if any others were brave enough to try coming down here.

"Thanks… but if I haven't earned my keep by that point I don't think having you speak up will change much," Kuroi said. He also didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, like he was trying to use her word for leverage.

Following her along, they reach the rooms and Kuroi unceremoniously tosses his pack onto the bed, though he does take a moment to admire the surroundings like a child in awe. "Whoa… Maybe the drowning risk isn't that bad."

Grinning a bit after he left, she speaks aloud; "And that's why I'm willin to help."

Throwing her own stuff into the room she picked, she took a look at a reservation map, it seemed half of the class were coming down here, someone would have to roommate though. "Damn, braver than I thought…" Still it was only half, if they all came they would be in some trouble or many of them would need to roomie it up. Thinking about what they sat out to do, Isa heads back for the elevator, taking the time to stare up at the glass walls and the ocean wonderland all around them. "Heh. Guess I'll just wait for him then."

Coming back from his room, Kuroi passes Isa and taps her on the shoulder. "Alright, food time?" He proposed. The restaurant wouldn't be that far, though it would be above ground. It was decorated in theme with the rest of the park with some aquariums within it and the two would be sat near one tank with fish much less ugly than the one that had offended Isa.

Kuroi seemed to be enjoying perusing the menu and searching for the "fancy" items. Most of it seemed to be fish though it appeared to have some meat and other items as well.

"Didn't you say you didn't much like fish?"

"Eh it's okay, I just rather have beef, I mean we had fish often enough at home, so I can have that here too. Just not sure what I want, and don't try to run them bankrupt." She says, eyeing him up as he looked at the menu. "Well what do you want? I doubt we can do that much damage to them… I hope." Isa found herself a little curious, though in this case the "we" seemed to be aimed at the class rather than just the two of them.

"Yes mom," Kuroi replied as he searched through the menu. There were a few expensive items, including Bluefin, but Kuroi wasn't going to be that much of a dick. He also expected them to flat-out refuse. "I'm gonna get the eel… I'm pretty sure they're gonna be fine, Isa. Order something you really want."

Looking at the menu, Isa wasn't sure what to get, but not wanting to outdo Kuroi after all her talk and sticking up a middle finger at him, she shrugs a bit. "I..well there is all this seafood stuff but I think I want this hibachi steak and shrimp bowl, err plate. Whatever.. And ah! We both should get something as a dessert, we can split it down the middle, maybe chocolate cake, or one of those lava cake things huh? Or yah know I could just get me one and you can get whatever."

Kuroi let out a bemused scoff at her response. He nodded a bit at her choices, glancing to the desserts when she brought them up. "Yeah let's split one… what's a lava cake?"

"Huh, you don't know? Heh. I'll just order it, we can cut it in half and move it to our plates, might be a little bit of a mess though.. But it'll be fine!" Isa says with a smile as she looked around the restaurant, as she smiles. "Oh! A karaoke machine! Heh I'll give you a show later on with that. I don't get to sing much!" Soon after their order arrives, Barbeque Eel with rice for Kuroi and a mixed bowl of rice with beef and shrimp for Isa. "I know mine is cheaper, but I think I got the better deal, you fine with what you got?"

Kuroi hummed at that, wondering what was in store for the dessert. At the mention of the karaoke machine, he looked over before glancing back at her. "You sing?" That was unexpected, though he supposed that most people who did karaoke weren't necessarily good. It was supposed to be fun, not that Kuroi would bludgeon anyone with his voice.

With the food arriving, it didn't take long for Kuroi to dig in. "Hm? You think so? Wanna try it?" He asked, rather content with his meal. Maybe it was a bit simpler, but it was damn good."

"Huh? And yeah! I wanted to sing when Aika was doing her thing, but that girl just stays shut up in her room, minus for one person at least.. My voice is different from what they want out of idols… But let's see!" Moving to offer some of her steak and shrimp for his eel, she would leave the laying of it upon her plate as Isa had done to his.

Heading to the karaoke machine, Isa looks through the songs finding one that suited her as she smiles;


With a mix of english and Japanese, Isa sings out with the mic in hand as she circles it with a bit of pep in her step, arms held wide at parts and close together in other, living the song as she sung aloud.

"Come on Everybody!
Na-nanana na- na!
Hell-Oh!
Na- nanana na- na!

Well, Come!

Hello! WELCOME TO HELL! Have you made an Appointment?
If this is your first time here, please take a number and be seated.
Now Serving number of the beast 666. Please line up after judgement.
Do you have a Karma loyalty card with us?
Would you like to use your saved karma at this time?

Everybody dies. Every moment is a cause.
Hellohell! Evildoers equals Go to Hell!
Everybody lies Everything is your fault

Hellohell Existence equals Hell- WELL, COME!
Na nanana na- na!
Hell-Oh!
Na nanana na- na!
Your fault!

Just like the ones seen in your dreams,
Just like the ones seen in art galleries.
I'll prepare for you all a hell with my manyways.
One grander than any heaven in every way.
Deep down we all know we're going to hell when we're dead.
But we let ourselves believe we'll be the ones clinging the spider's thread.

Everybody dies. Every moment is a cause.
Hellohell! Evildoers equals Go to Hell!
Everybody lies Everything is your fault
Hellohell Existence equals Hell WELL, COME!
Na nanana na- na!
Hell-oh!
Na nanana na- na!
What the hell!

The flames of hell burn the world to the ground.
The smile of the Goddess leaves no hope to be found.
Everybody goes to Hell! x7
The world is hell, OK everybody!!

Everybody dies. Every moment is a cause.
Hellohell! Evildoers equals Go to Hell!
Everybody lies Everything is your fault
Hellohell Existence equals Hell WELL, COME!
Na nanana na- na!
Hell-oh!
Na nanana na- na!
Your Fault!

Let us dance. Let us set our sacrifice ablaze.
Can't believe they still haven't noticed.
I wonder who the next crucified will be?
Welcome to hell.
WELL, COME, HELL!"

Once she finishes she notices some clapping from the staff with another peeking their heads in, it seemed that Neptunia had broadcasted this across parts of the research station and aquarium for all to hear. Rubbing the back of her head and sticking her tongue out she didn't seem phased by this at all as she sat the mic down and went over to Kuroi with a smile. "So?"

"That's… pink?" Kuroi questioned. He wasn't sure if the girl was always shut in her room, but he wouldn't be surprised considering how little he interacted with or even saw her. He took some of the offered food as the girl went to use the karaoke machine. He knew idols were a big industry, and that there was even some overlap with heroes, but never was really interested in it. Producing good music was one thing and being an entertainer, but idols were always so… personal. It was weird, but Kuroi supposed that's what people wanted.

Munching on the food, the music began and Isa started to sing. To his surprise, she was pretty good. Thinking on what she said about idols, he supposed most did sound overly cutesy and young. That wasn't really his cup of tea though. Still, it was an interesting sight seeing the oni that could rampage bouncing as she sang; he couldn't help but smile a bit.

When she finished, he joined the applause from spectators until she approached him. "Uh, are you sure you can't be an idol? Because I'm not." It certainly made her seem modest with that preface; he was expecting worse. "I think you even won the AI over since it shared you outside."

As she got back, Isa rubbed the back of her head and laughed, addressing what he had asked before. "She hangs out a lot with Haya, dunno about anyone else. I talk to her at times but not too often."

"As to singing, Eh, who knows, maybe I could, but I dunno about being an idol, the fans are crazy and you aren't allowed to have a life, cause you have to be married to the fans, so some loser can fantasize about bein with yah. Though there are some idols with family's, they tend to not get many fans though. And I dunno if I wanna deal with that.. But huh, maybe I'll sing some more for you and all the rest."

Grinning at mention of being broadcasted she takes her seat. "Eh, I don't mind! Sides I was gonna sing for the class some time or another!"

"That's… pretty cringey…" Kuroi commented at that. He wasn't all that interested in idols, but it being based off fantasy was beyond strange to him. "Yeah, well… you could be a normal singer, or sing for everyone like you said. I'm sure they'd like it, and you certainly don't have stage fright."

She likely also wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone off, but that was part of her charm. Kuroi certainly preferred that to vagueness and beating around the bush. It made everything less complicated.

"Just don't ask me to if you want to keep your hearing," He warned with a small chuckle.

"Heh, I'll consider it then." She says as she starts out at her own food. It wasn't long after as Isa stuffed her face that the lava cake was brought around. Picking up a knife and staring at it she says; "Watch this!" Cutting into the chocolate cake the interior seemed hollow as hot chocolate spills out of the whole coating the cake and plate.

"That's why it's called a lava cake!"

Kuroi watched with interest as the cake was brought out. As the chocolate poured out, his face lit up. "Wooooaah~" Whoever created such a thing deserved a medal. "I need Amon to teach me how to make these. That's awesome!"

"Haha! I know right?!" as the pair share the cake and enjoy their meals, Isa crosses her arms once all was said and done, before lowering them to stand on her feet. "I really enjoyed this, Kuroi. Next time you ask me out to something though, even if it's just to hang out. Though for now I'm gonna go diving to burn some of this off! If you want to do something else here you know where to find me sooner or later."

"Yeah… it was fun," Kuroi agreed with a smile. He enjoyed her company a lot more than he expected to. "I'll come find you then. Don't kill any fish."

Waving at that, Isa heads off to do her own thing, humming to herself.

The following morning Mari set out on one mission and one mission alone, to find Goto and try to make sure he learned something about this place, his studies were slipping and he seemed distracted in general. While she did not know why this was the case for him, she had a duty to try and interfere with it.

Plus it could be interesting to settle just once and for all who was the fastest in the class. Though the studies came first. Provided she could even find him. Heading from the lodge towards the aquarium she would check whatever was on the way to the restaurant that serviced the staff, guests and themselves.

Goto was going to try and enjoy this trip. He spent the last bit leading up studying as often as he could. Even if the only thing he learned was that "contingenky" was pronounced "contingency." Goto was out watching some of the fish in the main tank. It replicated a reef. And it was pretty cool. The lights were dimmed and a blue hue was cast around him.

"Man, who would think that so many animals could look so different, even if they are all so similar." Being philosophical wasn't a common occurrence for him. But he couldn't help thinking that way, having spent so much time wrestling with his own thoughts. And with what Iron Volt had told him. Still, he only expressed these thoughts out loud thinking he was alone.

Finding him by chance during this moment, Mari came up behind him silently and speaks up, arms crossed behind her back at ease as she did so; "Indeed. One could say it is true of this class as well. What has you so deep in waxing?"

Goto was still looking at the tank when he heard a voice call out behind him. He stumbled forward, turning himself around. "Jesus, don't sneak up on a guy like that!" He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed that he was heard, as well as that he was caught off guard like that. "What's got you sneaking around so early in the morning?" He retaliated. Everyone gets stuck in their head sometimes. Even if that space is pretty empty

"I was looking for you point of fact.. I was curious if you were having any problems or how you've found this place so far. It has much to learn after all." Mari adds in.

Goto looked back at Mari from the tank. "Actually I haven't really gotten much done with that. I mean I've read the plates and signs, but I'm not really picking up what they're tryna say. It's not exactly a secret that I'm braindead." Though his words would imply a sense of self-loathing, his tone said otherwise.

"I'm not sure if you knew this Prez, but I try my damndest. Wouldn't blame you if you didn't believe me. I mean hell, you hear what Amano did last mission? I didn't understand anything other than science saved her ass.", so I can tell it's important to us."

"Hmm.. some people learn in different ways, maybe you are more of a hands on sort or visually." Mari adds in, a bit surprised he was being conscious of the fact.. Just what happened to him that day? She knew about the situation with his mother but it seemed something more had happened, or that he was just using his earlier behavior to run from something.. Still she shouldn't just recklessly press in on this. Pondering what to do she has a bit of an idea. "How would you like to try working with the animals or having a little tour?" She had to try helping her fellow classmates out of such a slump at least.

Goto wasn't too sure what she had planned. "I mean… Sure I guess. So long as it ain't seals. Cecil has it out for me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow told the rest of them too." He wasn't really joking. "Still, I'm surprised someone like you is so willing to not nag me about my grades and shit. Most class presidents I had just forced me to sit still, or gave up entirely."

"Would nagging do any good?" Mari asks in question, tilting her head a bit as she did so. "While your grades are why I am here, I would like to try and actually help you if able." With that she motions for him to follow as they reach the first exhibit hall. "Before we head off to the feeding areas or to talk with some of the workers, what seems to be the problem when you read these signs or try and study the information given on them?"

Goto read the signs. All the characters were visible. "I don't know… It's like those Egyptian characters. Like I can sorta make it out, and maybe even sound it out, but they don't mean much. I don't know. And like, I guess I may even be able to recite the definition of something. But then those words have their own definitions I gotta look up, and soon I'm just looking up words that don't have useful definitions. So I guess the issue is I don't know what they mean? Like what exactly is a current? I know it's moving water. But nothing else."

"Hmm.." Pausing to think about what he had said, she takes a look at the machines and exhibits around her, they even had a riptide display. "A current really is just the flow of the water and a large number of things. The moon's pull, the direction of wind, shape of the land, like a river as example almost always has a current that flows downstream into a lake or the ocean." Pressing the button for the rip tide demonstration a bit of water is sucked back in a sudden and violent motion, pulling the sand and earth back with it, before settling back down as a wave forms from it pushing most of the sand back into the land barrier.

"If that doesn't help you understand, maybe we can talk to the AI and let you take part on something more hands on with the human staff?"

All those things had an effect on water? But like, the moon was so far away. Wind made sense, and so did water flowing from a mountain. That was just like rolling a ball down a hill. Hell, even waves made a difference. He watched the small display pushing and pulling, dragging things in a swilling mass underneath their "riptide"

"Wait, really? Huh… Do you think that could help me come up with some sort of new move or technique?" He mused. Mari mentioned the AI. "She's like a super computer right? She's gotta be pretty smart in that case. Don't see why she shouldn't be here."


"Hmm.." Listening to Goto, Mari made her was to a podium that had a blue lens above it. "Sure I can help you come up with a move, education may be better left to the AI and staff.

"I would be more than happy to help Mister Goto learn more about the sea and what we do here. Right now I'm on a bit of downtime." Said the AI as her blue pale form generated in front of the lens standing a little shorter than he. "We have visual based learning aids and instructional videos. Also with you staying in the underwater sections you could maybe learn from some of our smaller labs."

"Are you always watching?" Asks the cat girl.

"Yes, though if I concerned myself with every mundane action I would have long ago gone insane." Says Neptunia.

"Oh shit!" Goto shouted as the AI appeared before them. Mari asked if she was always watching to which the answer was ominously yes. "Great. I'll keep that in mind from now on." Still Mari had agreed to help him come up with something as well as to walk with him around to look at the exhibits.

"Alright then, so what sorta thing you got on currents. I remember someone mentioning that I'm riding air currents. Water and air currents can't be that different right?"

Laughing a little at that, the AI lets the two speak before answering his question as Mari watched on.

"Oh but of course, temperature differentials and currents under the sea forms layers in which rivers and seas flow beneath the waves moving on their own accord within the same bodies of water."

With that Mari gives a nod. "In essence it's not so different from you riding the wind, though it is on a much larger scale. The majority of our world is Ocean afterall. If it didn't move it would not be good for us all."

"Indeed it plays a direct role in some cases to you being able to ride the wind. Without the Mediterranean Sea, Southern Europe would be a much colder and barren place, if currents interest you we have some maps on the flow of oceans and how that affects the temperatures and even causes most storms in the world."

"So… Even if the water is moving one way in one place, it can be moving differently somewhere else?" It was a little difficult to understand, but it made a little sense. He sometimes noticed that the wind blew differently when he was higher up instead of on the ground. He always attributed this solely to the buildings nearby. Which did have some impact, but he never guessed there were so many factors to it all. "Yeah, let's look at currents. I think I may be able to come up with something if we keep this up." Goto was excited to try learning something new. Hopefully he could use this to improve his fighting in the future.

The AI continues, showing a section of the Sea it gives a rough overview of how currents work and even the "conveyor belt of the sea" as it reaches a section of note to Goto.

"When ocean waves get to a beach, they turn white at the top and crash onto the sand – this is called "breaking". Swimming or surfing in breaking waves can be good fun, but we need to remember that these waves cause currents to form.

When waves break on the shore, the sea water in them gets pushed up against the beach. This water must get back out to sea somehow, otherwise we'd expect the water level at the beach to rise and rise forever.

Of course, the water can't get back out to sea near the surface, because that's where the breaking waves are busy moving water toward the shore. So, two different currents form, to help take the water back out.

One of these currents is called the "undertow". It forms beneath the breaking waves, and pulls the water back toward the sea, across the sandy seabed, out past where the waves are breaking.

Though the undertow helps to get some of the water back to sea, it's not usually very strong. So, some of the work has to be done by another type of current, called a "rip" current.

Rips are much stronger, narrow currents that run straight out to sea. Rip currents don't happen all the way along the beach. They only form at certain "weak spots" along the beach where waves are not breaking, and the water is a bit deeper. This makes it easier for the water to flow back out to sea.

Here's how it works: after water is brought in toward the shore by breaking waves, it can't turn around and go straight out again, so it runs sideways along the beach in what we call a "feeder current". As soon as it finds a weak spot, where the waves aren't breaking, the water flows back out to sea in a rip current."

A screen showed up to showcase this fact and then cut away to tornadoes and twisters to show how in principle the same thing happened all the time on the surface and the build up of wind currents with changes around urban areas, canyons and in general wind effects. Wind while as Goto understood it could be ridden it also had rules and differentials that much like waves formed of their own accord.

"Ah yes, that reminds me about Rogue Waves." Mari adds in.

Goto kept up as best he could. The words of the "undertow" stood out to him. "Oh yeah, I've noticed that. Like when a wave pulls you in after it crashes. So wind does that too?" Well, couldn't he use that to get out quicker? Maybe so. There was a lot of information being dumped on him all at once. But this AI was really something. "Yeah, alright! I'll see if I can use that later then." There was so much he needed to pay attention to. He also wondered how he could improve

Mari then mentioned the name Rogue Waves. "Hm? Is that like an old pro or something?" Perhaps he had a technique he could take inspiration from?

"Oh, no." Mari says as she explains. "By moving currents and high winds can make a massive sudden wave without seemingly a cause and even holes or dips can form for the same thing, they are a threat to even large ships.. It's in practice when the effects of many smaller waves join up and amplify into one much larger wave, like the riptide on a larger scale."

"Oh… Okay… So like, looping backwards to create a greater current? I sorta did something like that, but never with the goal in mind of creating a stronger whirlwind. Yeah… Alright! Hey Mari! Promise me you'll be ready to help me practice some of this, alright?"

Goto was excited. More so than he'd been in a while. "I've been feeling sorta stagnant. With my hero stuff and everything. Last mission the only thing I could think to do was 'go faster.' Well that isn't going to cut it all the time. I need to be smarter if I want to actually do shit."


"Sure, what bit I can, just run around with the AI to figure out anything before a human attempt… Otherwise yes I could help." Mari adds in with a quick response.

"Alright. I think I will keep with Nep for a bit. Oh and uh. When we get back we still need to finally do that race. I won't go down without a fight."

Some time later in the day, Isa had made her way back to the lodge to hang out, she wanted to see what the others were up to before she went out to dive for a bit, as a result she showed up in her two piece swimsuit a red, white and black mix of colors and design.

"Ah going for a dip as well Isa," Ichika called out running up to her in a dark purple one piece with a golden dragon design on the left side with her hair up in a twisted bun. With a lollipop stick on the rim of her lips she smiled mellowly to the girl as she caught up.

"So just you at the moment for the dip," the dragon asked.

"Yeah it's just me it looks like, I came up here to see what everyone was up to, plan on going into the dive areas later myself, dunno if anyone else was though." Isa says in response, giving a smile in turn. "Pretty easy to tell what you are up to at least, but man, you always seem to have sweets with yah, suits the name though."

"More so because my quirk requires me to consume sugar on a constant basis. I see how unfortunate that no one seems to enjoy physical outdoor activities well then shall we go swimming together, or find some other fun activities as a pair," Ichika offered, taking the lollipop out of her mouth.

"Eh sure, why the hell not, let's go for a swim, though other activities, huh, you'll have to come up with that, like I said I plan to just try diving, though no fighting just yet." Isa adds in a hurried reply, the last bit at least.

"We could play volleyball one on one. Have a swimming race maybe," Ichika offered as she smiled at Isa simplicity.

"Aight let's go for a dive for now, and just have some fun under the waves," Ichika nodded at Isa's plan.

Hideki had spent a lot of time down at the beach getting a tan and enjoying some relaxation. He and Mari had gone down pretty soon after their class arrived. Mari left after about an hour or so but Hkideki stayed. He had plans to meet with Amano later to go swimming with the sharks, but for now Hideki wanted to take a dip in the ocean. Hideki took out the one air pod he had in his ear and put the airpods and his iphone into his bag and put them under his chair. Hideki got up out of the chair and stretched a bit. His body had definitely gotten some sun today and he was already looking tan.

Hideki started to head over to the water in his black and red swim trunks, he decided to keep his shirt off as he made his way down the beach. Just as he was about to get into the water he spotted Isa and Ichika standing together talking. Hideki decided he would make his way over to them and see what they were up to. "Hey Isa, Ichika what's up? What are you guys up to?" Hideki offered them a smile.

"Oh! Hi Hideki!" Isa says waving at the other with her normal toothy smile on her face. "Nothing really, we were just about to get in the water, though I might do some diving later, could be fun! Or not, but hey, won't know till I try!" She says casually. "Sides a bit of swimming might do my body good!"

"Care to join us for some swimming, and maybe be a volleyball referee," Ichika asked with a hand on her hip.

"Also I see fire boy can cook like any other," she chuckled at his bronze tan finding the hue a little funny on a fire quirk user.

Hideki smiled as he listened to the two of them. He also stretched his arms up in the air. "Hmm yeah swimming sounds like a good idea. I could use another dip in the water. As you guys can see I've been in the sun most of the day." Hideki laughed a little. "Yeah well my body can still get tan, but I never burn like most other people. Guess only some people burn when they get close to fire but I'm not one of them." Hideki slightly chuckled at his joke.

"Volleyball eh?" Isa asks, she wouldn't turn it down, but only two people playing wasn't much of a game was it? Still.. It was sports based and something she could do, provided it all didn't go crazy.

With his agreement and showing off his tan, Isa gives a shrug then heads off to the water before jumping in, turning to wave back at the pair as if to call them in. "Yosh!"

Hideki followed Isa into the water. The fire boy got into the water and quickly dived down underneath a wave. The water was at a nice temperature, not too warm and not too cold, it was perfect for a day like today as it was refreshing to let the water hit his skin. Hideki came back up to the surface and stood up as the water was at about his waist. Water ran off his skin and Hideki pushed his hair back a bit as water dripped out from his hair.

He then decided to lay down and float on top of the water, he looked over at Isa and Ichika "So what have you guys been up to today?"

Unbeknownst to the group, someone had started a dive much earlier than the others. Funnily enough he chose an old industrial-looking diving gear that allowed him to walk on the seafloor. Due to the shape of the suit, he had to partially transform into his human form to make sure he fit.

From the shores of the beach, emerged a humanoid clad in old diving gear. The helmet covered his entire face, making it difficult to see it. It was dragging what appeared to be a sunken boat that had met its end not too far from the coast. This was his version of "treasure hunting". Upon seeing some familiar faces on the beach he waved at them, yelling his usual greeting which came out incredibly muffled. "Hail friends."

"Hmm weird Agi cant really tan guess its cause his body is technically always using his dead cells to create his nanos maybe," Ichika mulled over that before shrugging and performing a perfect nose dive into the water, and with the help of her tail caught up to Isa rather fast as she came back up for air. Her scales glistened with the sun reflecting off them and the water on them.

"Not much just relaxing this time around hanging out with my fellow gal pal," Ichika grinned softly splashing Isa for fun. She then raised an eyebrow at the newcomer, not sure who he was at first.

"Is that… Kaizen," she asked as the voice, and mannerism seemed familiar but the shape did not.

Upon faintly hearing his name, he gave a thumbs up and an awkward nod, due to the shape of the diving gear. He took out a camera and began taking pictures of his haul.

Listening to the trio and then taking note of who she thought was Kaizen, he for whatever reason had some ancient diving armor and had brought a small sunken ship up and out of the water, which to her was as cool as it was strange. She would have not thought of doing any of these things, but all the same she takes her time to look at the sunken remains. "Huh, never know you might find a body in one of these things! Though huh, using your smaller form Kaizen?" He seemed a bit odd from normal, but with the diving suit it would be hard to tell.

Hideki kind of shrugged "Yeah, Agi's quirk and my quirk are pretty different though, I can control fire so my body has gotten used to being around intense heat. Usually though it's in quick bursts. I'm sure if I keep training and have my flames around me constantly I probably won't tan anymore either." Hideki continued floating on top of the water, with as much stuff he had going on recently, he was more than happy to just have a relaxing weekend.

Hideki stopped floating as he let his feet sink to the bottom of the water so that he was now standing, he looked over at the newcomer. It was a smaller form than what Kaizen usually looked like, but the voice was similar and well if there was anyone from their class who would be lifting a sunk boat out of the ocean it would be him.

"Kaizen is that you?"

"It sure as shit is Kaizen I'ld say, the fuck did you bring a sunken boat up though?" Isa asks blankly.

"Hmm I've only ever seen him in his huge bug form, I've heard he has a human form as well, but for as long as I've known him I've never seen it." Hideki chuckled a little bit as he watched Kaizen drag this boat from the bottom of the sea. "You can't relax for even one day can you? You have to go and pull some boat from the bottom of the sea?"

The bugster once again gave them all a thumbs up to acknowledge the fact that it was him. "Just some treasure hunting, you never know what you'll find down there." He snapped another photo of the ship "Plus, it makes a good set piece for a photo shoot." He climbed onto the boat and took more photos of it. He attempted to climb higher only for a piece of the boat to break off, causing to fall onto sandy ground with a loud thud. "Ouch… almost forgot what that felt like." He muttered upon feeling pain again.

"Huh well guess we could turn this into a two v two volleyball match," Ichika expressed as she watched Kaizen climb the boat to only fall right off forcing her to stifle a well earned laugh.

"Water rot it a thing," she called out all in good fun as Kaizen was being an adventurer.

Hideki laughed as he saw Kaizen fall from the boat onto the sand. "Ehh you'll be alright, I've seen you take worse damage then that, hell i basically lit you on fire during one of our spars back at UA." Hideki smiled for a moment remembering some of their days at UA. Those days were over now though and Hideki was enjoying his time at Suppression.

Hideki turned to look at Ichika when she said they could play 2 v 2 volleyball. "Yeah I would be up for that."

"Eh, are we sure we want to bother an old Iron diver there for a game? I don't see him movin too fast in that." Isa says in response. "Though how about Water Polo? We all are dressed to take a dip and the water will slow the rest of us down as much as Ironman over there."

"I am game for any competition," Ichika agreed, yelling out to the bugster.

"How about you treasure fall wanna play water polo," she asked.

"Sure…" Kaizen groaned as he stood back up, giving them a thumbs up of approval. He quickly recovered from his fall and walked to the water "arena". "Whenever you are ready." He muttered, wiping away the sand on the glass.

"Alright Boys versus girls then," Ichika smiled with an almost competitively evil grin as she swam next to Isa impressively fast using her tail for extra speed. Once she was next to her partner they designated spots for goals for the girls; they were to protect a small collection of rocks tipping out of the water. For the boys a particular rock formation shaped like an O. With that Ichika set up Isa for a combo attack throwing the ball up in front of the girl.

"Eh? This is a game you know?" Isa says at Ichika's pumped up nature. She didn't mind a good challenge but at this point it was unlikely this would stay a friendly game. Also more so with how quickly Ichika could swim. Joining her in the water, the Oni would play the game, giving a look that seemed to say sorry about your damn luck. she spikes the ball aiming for the clunky ironbug.
"Sure water polo works for me." It would be Hideki and Kaizen against Isa and Ichika. There were goals made up for both sides and the four of them were able to get a ball from the resort and they started playing. The girls started with the ball first and isa fired a shot straight towards Kaizen who was guarding their net. "Kaizen dive and save the ball!"

Kaizen took note of the trajectory and made his move. The bug only had a few seconds to respond but instead of rushing to block it, he merely took a few steps to the side, allowing the ball to hit him straight on his helmet. "Finesse over brute strength." He said to himself. The ball made a funny "thump" sound as it hit the headgear. "Ouch." He said again, as the ball ricocheted up high. He caught the ball with one hand and passed it to his teammate. "Come on pretty boy, show them some firepower.

"Thats using your head Kaizen, about time you did that a little more." Hideki smirked as he caught the ball on the pass from Kaizen and started to make his way towards the girls goal. Hideki swam up to Ichika and was able to put a spin move on her to get around her. She had the superior speed with her tail, but Hideki was able to fake her out and bought himself some space. Hideki then used a little fire power and threw the ball towards the girls goal.

From her position up front Isa jumps up in the water and allows her quirk to come out in full play, with more white than red in her hair she rushes from her position in the front and barely intercepts the ball in time, falling over into the water as she slapped it back towards Hideki and Ichika. Picking her footing back under her she laughs a bit, pointing out to Ichika; "GO!"

With her partner's perfect reset in thanks to Hideki's little fake out Ichika dived in deep already knowing where it was going to be heading. With a sped up swim she seemed to aim left but dove out to his right side blocking him from having a chance at the ball. With a spin right up close, and personally not allowing Hideki space to counter, she tail whipped the ball into a blitzkrieg spinning curve towards the boy's goal.

The bugster was hoping that Hideki would be fast enough to intercept her shot, but the dragon proved too slippery. Despite the weight of the suit, Kaizen didn't really need to move that much since the goal was relatively small as well. Nonetheless, the bugster jumps into action, compensating the weight of the suit with sheer strength. He leaped upwards catching the ball in mid air before falling into the water, causing a big splash wave. Bubbles could be seen coming from the water as he slowly rose back up to the surface of the water. "My….turn.." he said, tossing the ball upwards, going for his own spike. He struck the ball with herculean might, shooting the ball toward their goal at impressive speeds. It was only fair he returned the favor to Isa.

As the ball goes past her for the goal, Isa grunts a little as she starts to shift red, waving Ichika over to her. "Oi! Gotta pay me back for that, hope you like flying!"

"
"Oh we're using our quirks huh? Alright, fair enough." Hideki smirked as Isa powered up to stop his shot at the last second. She threw the ball forward and Ichika was able to get to it before Hideki was. Hideki was at a disadvantage when it came to their quirks. His fire quirk wouldn't do much in the water, but he would make due with it. Ichika threw the ball towards the boys goal only for Kaizen to stop it. Kaizen then used his strength to power a shot past Isa and give the boys a 1-0 lead. "Man I don't have to do much of anything, I'll just give the ball to you." Hideki laughed a bit as he waited for Isa and Ichika to make their next move.

"They're getting cocky, it seems off by one score. Indeed let's take flight," Ichika smiled ruthlessly as she swam over to Isa with ball in hand as she latched her foot into Isa's hand before the oni launched her out of the water as Ichika spun wildly throwing the ball higher than her before under spiking it directly, and brutal into the boys goal before landing with a dive into the water before splashing back up next to Isa.

"Guess we better match their gusto," Ichika smiled with her sharp teeth.

Kaizen's eyes followed the ball, got ready to intercept once more. Unfortunately for him, the angle of the shot was just right for the sun to temporarily blind him. By the time he recovered the ball already flew past him. "Tch." He muttered in annoyance. He retrieved the ball and threw it to Hideki. He took his gloves off, revealing hands that seemed much more human than before. The bugster had a plan, he wasn't about to let the girls have their way with him. "Your shot, Poster Boy. Make it count." He was waiting for the right moment to strike.

Hideki watched as Ichika flew in the air and spiked the ball into the goal tying the game 1 to 1. Kaizen then gave the ball to Hideki. "Alright I got this. " Hideki swam with the ball a little as he moved towards the girls goal. He pulled his arm back and used some flames to power up his shot as he threw the ball towards the girls goal.

...And so did the game continue till both teams were tied two to two and as the position of the sun changed in the Sky a truce was called and the game was done.

"Wow! Uh.. I don't know about you guys but I'm going to get back to doing my diving!" Isa says with a smile as she gets out of the water, her skin returning to normal as long hair dries slowly in the wind, dripping sea water. "That was fun! See you under the water Kaizen!"

"Hmm, that was certainly a fun experience." Kaizen said, putting back the gloves. He was happy with the results of the match despite the tie. Additionally, he did get in some good shots, despite being weight down. "I'll be joining you soon. There are more treasure to be found. See you guys later." The bugster said, descending once more into the depths, hoping to acquire more interesting objects.

"Ara, ara it was a good workout. I think I am going to rest for a bit. I got another thing to do tonight. See you all later, always a pleasure to kick but with you Isa," Ichika smiled with her more mellow face as she left for the hotel.

"Yeah good game guys! I think I'm going to head back to my room for a bit. I'll see you guys later." With that Hideki got out of the water and walked back to where he stuff was on the beach. Drying himself off before heading back towards his room.


Wandering around the hero dorm, Isa much preferred the underwater lodging, it was pretty cool, while this place was okay, it still wasn't all that new.

Though she also knew more than a few elected to stay here rather than down there. And for this reason alone did she make the long trick back up here, wearing more normal clothing rather than her bathing suit, she walks about the lodge, curious who she might come across or run into, whistling as she walks.

Munching on an energy bar she got from a vending machine, Aika was heading back towards her room in the hero dorms. She hadn't seen the aquarium yet, and she wasn't exactly really wanting to go see it. Something about staying underwater just made her uneasy. As she turned into a corridor, she saw Isa walking about, in casual clothing.

"Lost, or just looking at nothing?" Aika called out to Isa, walking towards her. She didn't think there was much to see inside the dorms themselves. There was a beach outside, and the exercise area, but indoors there wasn't much.

"Nah, was just looking to see what everyone is up to and taking a break from the diving and swimming I've been doin, what about yourself?" Isa asks in kind, grinning at the other as she was given to doing. Though in this case it did seem she was happy to see a friendly face. "Small world running into you, but eh, we seem to be the only group here at the moment."

Shrugging, Aika stretched her arms upwards "Not much. Spent a bit of time on the beach, relaxing and exercising under the sun, but otherwise, pretty much the same as back at school." She said, before lowering her arms and taking another bite from her energy bar "And felt pretty empty, compared to how much the place seemed to be able to have." She added, though her tone suggested that she was perfectly fine with it.

"Well that's no fun!" Isa says to Aika, shaking her head a bit as she said so. "Er well it's not bad either, but you though of trying to dive or playing your music here?" Pausing to think on the later a bit she walks over to the AI console and directly asks the machine.

"Oi, Neputinia, why aren't there any guests around?"

The ghostly figure shows up soon after and registers the question, replying simply. "There are other heroes here, though they have nicer rooms within the lodge, other classes or schools were here during the week. We are currently operating at reduced Capacity to handle maintenance work and repairs. Fifty to one hundred people barely get in the way of our work and is something of a tradition we engage in once a year since some fifty years ago."

Aika listened to the answer from the AI. That was something she didn't like about the resort. Getting the reminder that an AI was monitoring the whole place made the pink-haired girl sigh "That's why I didn't play any music. Not a fan of playing it when I'm consistently being listened to. Just feels off." She said.

"As for diving, or swimming, I learned basic swimming, but I'm not a fan of being in the water. Just feels like my skin is angry with me whenever I go swimming. And it isn't an allergy, likely something with my quirk." Aika said, shrugging a bit as she did "And hey, I don't think anyone should complain about the resort being more empty. Just means more of the resort for the class, right?" Aika mentioned before taking her final bite of the energy bar, and tossing away the wrapper to the nearest trash can.

Haya was excited, she loved the water and she really wanted to learn more from the dolphins. Her echolocation was good, but the dolphins had mastered it and even built on that. Sounds in the ocean and sea were different and they moved differently. It was like a whole new way for her to use her quirk and she felt like this was perfect for getting to really learn about what she could really do.

It wasn't long until she could hear voices, Aika's she was more then familiar with and Isa's was interesting to know they were talking. Isa wasn't a bad person, and she probably could be good friends with Aika. It was just strange for her. She wore her swimsuit, she was going to have an adventure with the dolphins. But first, She wanted to know how Aika and Isa were getting along.

As Haya moved closer, she greeted them both, "Hi, Aika, Isa. What are you two up to?" She asked curiously. She was curious what they plan to do for the rest of the day. It was a nice place to relax and get some time to breathe.

"Huh?" Turning her head to see who it was, it seemed Haya had came for a visit, which surprised Isa a little, she was wondering if the girl would see much point in this trip or not, seems she did. "Uh, I was just up here to see who was doing what or was around.. Though I dunno what Aika was up too, we were talking about music a little, but don't think she wants to play here.. Otherwise what were you up to?"

"Hey Haya. Lookin' good." Aika first said, looking Haya over, before glancing back at Isa "I wasn't sure to be honest. It's why I went to get myself an energy bar. Though maybe a snack could get the noggin running and give me some idea as to what to do today. So far? Only helped with seeing you two." She said with a slight shrug "What about you Blindfold? Planned on going dipping in the water?" Aika asked, glancing back at Haya again. A slight blush creeped onto her cheeks as she did, but otherwise Aika seemed perfectly fine.

Haya smirked, "I was just going to train with the dolphins, to improve my sound." Haya smiled, she liked hearing that she looked good, it meant that being blind was her only back step, in her mind. "Thanks Aika. she could feel the change in Aika's face, it was similar to a few she had gotten. "Music sounds like fun." Haya stated before turning to Aika "I can play something if you want to help you with your ideas. I did bring my guitar. I was going to try and use it underwater, but after talking to my uncle, he advised against it.

Listening to all the pair has to say and seeing Aika blush a little, Isa just shrugs a bit and works her arms back and forth, rotating her shoulders. "Heh, Dolphins huh? And I'm up to doing a little music or vocals, maybe we three could take a turn or something.. Though Aika doesn't wanna, considering the AI monitors us in lots of places, she seems nice though, kinda get the feeling she's not a machine… But yeah, I think your uncle is right, I don't think taking a guitar into the ocean would end well, yeah?"

From that point on talking revolved around their plans with nothing of substance as Isa heads off on her own way to eat. Haya went to swim, and Aika seemed content with just resting outside.

~~~

Humming to herself, Isa was in the aquarium making way for the moonpool dock, she had a few items with her to go diving in the somewhat shallow waters, including an air tank, flippers and a scuba mask. Though her end goal was plastered for all to see, she was taking her time heading towards it, with the large collection of gear resting on her back or over her shoulders, pausing for a bit to look at the sea turtle exhibit she was seemingly just enjoying her time.

Determined to take advantage of one of their last trips of the year, Daichi went through the catalogue to find out where to find the moonpool. Thankfully it didn't take long to find the dock and to get suited up in full a scuba suit. A recognizable face came up when he approached the pool, Isa, who he met moving into his dorm.

"Well isn't it my favorite moving service, hey you think I could hire you when I move into my first apartment?" He lifted up his mask to avoid his speech coming up in gibberish.

Turning to look at the voice that she knew belonged to Daichi, Isa waves a bit and smiles. "Yo, Daichi, whatcha up to?"

"Well I wanted to go explore the great deep! Or well that's what the pamphlet set at least." We walked over to Isa and gazed over the water, he needed to take in the view as limited his opportunities were. "Or you can just judge what I'm doing by the outfit at least."

"Huh, nah I was going to do the same, wanna join me? Gotta get your own shit though!" She says with a smile holding up her own air tank. "I'm actually a good swimmer, but this is something new, haha the AI said the facility isn't responsible if I drown! And I got a brief lesson so only thing to do now is try!" She says without a hint of fear in her voice or expression.

Well it seemed his trip wasn't gonna be solo, which actually made Daichi even more excited. "Not a sharer eh? That's not very suppression of you." He dramatically wagged his finger at her while trying to give his most pretentious look he could muster. "Well I had no lesson at all, mind teaching me the basics? Oh actually lemme go grab the rest."

In only a short two minutes, Daichi strayed over to get his equipment for the swim. When asked if he needed to watch the instructional video, Daichi simply answered that he already had, besides how hard could it really be? "Alrighty I'm back, now lets hit the deck!"

"Well I hope you know how to swim at least, but breath in and out through your mouth with the device, nose is no good, don't go too deep and, ah yeah, spit in your mask before you use it and swish it around with some sea water, then dump it and put it on. Those were the key facts I got anyways." Isa says when he comes back with his own collection of stuff.

Daichi was a pretty good swimmer, well he thought of him as so at least, he didn't swim all too often but when he did he had no problem doing so. "Spit in it? You'd think an aquarium wouldn't recommend such unsanitary options. " Daichi tried to act all highly and pretentious but he was joking around. "Alright! Shall we head into the deep blue?"

"Just do it, or you won't see shit, trust me on that." Isa says while slipping her own gear on before casually hopping off the side into the water below, unless these were some high end ones with communications, they would have to sign at one another the whole trip down.

Taking her word of advice, Daichi spit into the glass and rubbed it into the visor, as gross as it was it seemed that she was right. It would be difficult to speak with these on and nearly impossible underwater, well it was a good thing Daichi had a flair for the dramatics. Stepping in himself next to Isa, Daichi took the plunge under the water, eager to see what they would be in store.

As they got into their gear and settled into the water, Isa took some getting used to the tank weight on her back as she sunk down into the relative shallows of the initial dive site. Waiting for her vision to clear from bubbles and the swirling water she turns back to watch for Daichi, once he was down she motioned towards a coral formation that had a few fish around it with some sea turtles, off in the distance one could make out some seals or dolphins and the massive frame of the Grey Nurse Shark, gentle giants of the sea that were well behaved with divers for the most part and in spite of the name shark lacked the rows of razor sharp teeth normally associated with the title.

Waving at Daichi she motions towards the other animals to see if he wanted to follow.

As Daichi followed close behind Isa diving into the shallow waters, just like Isa, his vision took time to adjust to the deep but when it did, his eyes went wide as he reacted to the vast depth of the sea, sea turtles swimming past him, small fish bursting apart by his movement, and tropical fish diving under his body, his face spoke a thousand words. He was brought back to earth by Isa's motion to follow him, with a smile on his face he swam over to her at the coral and was once again blown away by amazement, he smiled over to Isa and gentured his hands over his head, making an explosion action.

He gave Isa a thumbs up understanding what she was motioning too, this might be the most excited he had ever been.

As the two dive deeper Isa would wander off from Daichi who seemed more content with looking at the coral she had just led him off towards. The dive would last but so long as the two returned to different moonpools to surface and rest.
 
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  • According to Plan
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Collab: @TreasureSniper

Baking was never the bugster strong suit, especially when it came to desserts. With another round of injured classmates, the bugster thought he would do something special this time, something more on the sweet side. Unfortunately, his last few attempts have resulted in burned and edible cookies and cake. The bugster stuck in the kitchen, cleaning after his failed experiments.

"WHATS HAPPENING ARE WE UNDERATTACk," Ichika yelled amazon warrior like as she came diving out of the stair area smelling the disastrous fumes of the bugsters cooking. Her claws were out in full force as rock candy crystals aggressively forced ready to shred into anything hostile… yet than in her lazy day baggy clothes she noticed Kaizen with a batch of extremely burnt goodies so rock solid you could commit a murder with them.

"...Ah… my apologies," Ichikas said, her hostile moving tail slowing down to a halt as she stood back up from her crouching position as she headed into the kitchen.

"I take it you don't bake much… at all," she asked bluntly.

"Hmm.. the only attack being made here is on my baking skills." He retorted, disappointed at his failed attempts. "I like your nails." He uttered before cleaning before tossing out the failed attempts into the trash. "No, I don't. I read some stuff on the internet and thought I might give it my own spin. But as you can see, the results were.. disappointing to say the least. I wanted to bake some for our injured friends." He explained to the pleasant smelling dragon.

"The internet… really there are multiple students in this dorm, myself included who can cook… and I am a pro at baking in particular you could have asked for lessons or something," Ichika pointed out as baking was something one couldn't just jump into it was more apprentice type deal.

"Thank you," Ichika raised an eye at the strange compliment as she walked into the kitchen grabbing a bowl as she placed her hands above it as the rock candy fell apart into it . It would be good material for later sweets.

"Alright what kind are you exactly trying to make," she asked as she washed her claws.

"A chocolate fudge cake. The measurements are fine but perhaps the timing and temperature needs….adjustment. " The bugster looked at the rock candy that crumbled into a bowl and quickly grabbed a chunk, giving it whiff to find a rather pleasant aroma. Without hesitation the bugster put the chunk in his mouth to enjoy the full flavour.

"Ah you're starting out with a tricky one," she asked before without warning again he took to a stranger habit by smelling the rock candy pieces and sniffed it before gorging on it.

"Ah that's right bug physiology. Sugar obsession would be correct in being necessary in your diet," Ichika asked.

"I prefer the term sweet tooth." He replied. Even outside his bug form, Kaizen always liked eating sweets. "I apologize for my faux pas." In hindsight I should have asked. "This cake stuff seems to be your forte. Mind helping a bug out?" He asked, knowing full well he was in over his head with this.

"Why is it understandable that bugs need sugar in mass in their eating habits," she chuckled, offering the bowl to him as she went over his cooking crime scene.

"Ahh the culprit is not as much in your ingredient making but in you temperature, and timing management," Ichika chimed liking at the heat level of the stove. Turning it down by 50 degrees she turned to him with a raised thumb.

"Baking is best to practice as a slow art, and if you try to speed it up you need to keep a constant gaze on it or you will burn it in a matter of minutes. Also it looks like you added to the sizings of your ingredients. Were you trying to make it bigger than the recommended amount," she asked going full detective on the murder cake scene.

The bugster shyly grabbed to bowl before munching on the candy at a reasonable pace. "Told you these nails were good." he muttered before eating more of her sweet candy nails. "And yea… I made some modifications here and there, perhaps to my own detriment. But you know, you live and you learn." He admitted that he had made a few adjustments to the recipe. "To be fair, they weren't even using the same measurement system as we are. And I was missing a few ingredients so I had to improvise." The bug admitted shyly once more. While he wasn't fond of admitting his shortcomings, he was a big enough man to know when he was out of his league.

"If you dont have the ingredients then you need to make them. We have almost all natural ingredients to recoup, not on hand ones.," Ichika explained, ignoring the nail compliment as it was yet again… weird.

"If you have no experience in modification or what the slightest change can do you need to look it up we have quite a few books on the upper shelves that have that knowledge," she expressed opening on particular shelf where she, Amon, and a few other cooking skilled classmates had made a collection for each other to use.

"Hm I wonder how I miss that." he grumbled to himself, while checking all the newly prepped ingredients. He was missing a few. "It seems that I am missing a few ingredients, namely, a few more eggs and some butter. Additionally I don't have enough chocolate left to make the ganache. Any advice? I don't mind making other types of cake if we don't have enough chocolate." He thought about what other types of cake they could make. He wasn't overly picky, chocolate was just something he always wanted to make.

"We can use Coconut butter for replacement, for the eggs grab the applesauce, for the chocolate we can use cocoa powder mix to stir up a replacement," Ichika gave her instructions," with that Ichika tied up her orange hair, and put on her apron getting into cooking mama mode.

He was intrigued by her choice of replacements. Coconut butter was not too different but applesauce? "Applesauce? Wouldn't that give the cake a fruity flavor? Not that I mind."

"It depends how you add it in if you do it slowly it won't be noticeable. If you add it all at once it will add a fruity taste. Now get to stirring four arms means two bowls chop chop," Ichika's Bakery lead instincts kicked in as she quickly set up bowls, and place them into Kaizens hands as she got straight into her own bowl making the glaze.

"Now are we going for a square cake or a round cake," Ichikas asked as her tail opened up the cabinets for the sheet cutter.

"Right away!" He said attentively, immediately carrying out the action. Using his multiple arms, Kaizen added the applesauce as slowly as possible into the mix. He didn't really know how much he needed, since she didn't give him a precise moment to stop. "Preferably a round one.. So how much of this should I add?" He asked, while pouring ever so slowly.

"Halt," she ordered Kaizen on the amount of applesauce as she grabbed both his bowls, and started to shift to mixing the final batch as she placed in the bowls to make the cakes round shape. Once the constructions were placed into the oven she handed the frost mixture placing a heavy whisk into two of his hands.

"Keep a steady stir, you'll want a light frosting to avoid sugar overload you don't want your frosting to overtake the cakes full flavor," she explained.

"So I hear you're from a family clan… what's that's like," she asked.

"Well do miss!" Once again the bugster adhered to her instructions. He focused on the task at hand, however the next question caught him somewhat by surprise. "What did you hear that from I wonder... " he asked, wondering who else knew about his past. "But yes, I am from a clan. The insect clan, Gatakiriba. Its certainly an experience, it wasn't all good, wasn't all bad either. It would probably seem archaic to a lot of people considering their traditions of combat trials. But I'd like to think the experience made me a stronger person." He replied, still wondering who she heard this information from.

"It's on your file for the school. Not many people know this but all the info you give to the school is put in your folder. Well you put it on your folder, you were from a clan," Ichika answered nonchalantly. She chuckled at his caught off guard mannerism.

"No worries my dad came from a family of hunters though my grandma on my dads side broke the cycle by being a military sniper rather than just being a hunter though those skills made her much more dangerous she's very well decorated," Ichika spoke giving some of her own backstory to even the playing field.

"My mom was the original Bittersweet before going Anvil, and my dad was the Pro Hero Dark Matter they were both heroes during the Aiko/Chuya/Empress villain waves, and big parts of squashing all three plots," Ichika spoke giving her own warrior lineage to the bug.

"Ah I see, I should be more wary about what I put out." He suddenly remembered the fact that he did indeed put that in his file. Although he did omit the fact about combat rituals. "Hmm hunters you say? I did a little bit of hunting myself back then." He recalled hunting giant abominations which were pretty similar to the nomus of old. "What did you hunt for? Animals? Monsters? Or perhaps criminals?" He was curious what type of hunters her family was. "And now, you will take that legacy and make it your own." He didn't know much about her history, but she certainly sounded like she had some heroic expectations to live up to. "But all the same, I can always respect someone who has fighting ingrained in their history. Seems like the candy dragon can be as ferocious as the real dragon."

"Animal predators that messed with the farmlands of our village that dad came from. He doesn't live there anymore but he goes back once in a while to help clear out invasive species that don't want to live off the fat of the forest," Ichika explained.

"Not exactly I don't plan to do Hero life or Anvil life as a full time career I am going to commit tens year to it and than i plan to completely return to my passion as a baker that can surpass both my mother, and Older sister," she expressed with a soft smile as the timer pinged causing her to pull out the now fluffy round cakes pieces.

"One shouldn't plan to always play the role of combat or one day they will lose themselves to its nasty seduction as my father says," Ichika nodded.

"Combat is to be a tool to fight to survive not be abused for a high," Ichika nodded proudly.

Kaizen inspected the cake pieces and noticed how fluffy and nice they were compared to his burned black ones. "You are certainly good at it. And if you're good at something, never do it for free." He recalled that quote from a movie. Maybe he should start charging for fights. Now that's an idea. "Ah, culling the destructive ones… an interesting concept." Perhaps too interesting for Kaizen.

"Yeah, fighting ain't always necessary, but It pays to be prepared when diplomacy fails." When words fail, his fist won't.

"A sentiment I can agree with. To some extent." He replied. He couldn't help but feel like that statement was directed at him.

"My father was rather violent in his youth apparently especially in his first year of school. I appreciate the compliment. Hmmm I do give some for free. I love the look on children's faces when they get a bite of a snack that expands their range of understanding of tastes so I do free quite a bit. Hey you guys all have my treats for free I should start charging you I guess," she teased with a chuckle as added the middle softer frosting placing the two pieces together.

"Aight this is your piece so you must finish it," she chimed, handing the frosting bowl to the young bug.

"Ermm… right…" The bugster tried his best to lay out an even layer of frosting on top of the cake. He was slow, but apart from one or two even spots, the cake seemed fine. "Can't forget the piece of resistance." He grabbed a few of the hard candy nails and crushed it with a vice-like grip before sprinkling the top with small flakes of it.

"Um you might want to give people a sugar warning now," Ichika laughed as Kaizen added a heavy dose of her rock candy crushed into a sprinkle for the cake regardless.

"Aight now go deliver your creation while it is still nice, and fresh and I will handle cleaning up," she nodded.

"Thank you Master Dragon. I will return the favor someday." Kaizen gave her a deep bow, he appreciated the fact that she was willing to put up with his antics while also teaching him the ways of cake making. The bugster wrapped the cake in a nice box, drawing a funny looking beetle along with a dragon. He wrote "Regards from Kaizen and Ichika." on the side, taking note of the shared effort. "Good enough for you?' he asked, looking for her approval.

"Heh its appreciated in kind," she gave a soft chuckle and a thumbs up.

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Collab: @The Dapper Mog

The trip had been rather fun so far. However, Kikyo was beginning to feel a little worn out. It wasn't all the walking around, it was just all the sensory overload. There were a lot of people here, and all of the new and unusual sights and sounds had been starting to get to her. She wasn't ready for bed though. What could she do to kill some extra time and still be at least a little productive? An idea popped into her head as she pulled out her little personal notebook, looking over the list of names that she had written in. Some were crossed out, some were not. She stopped on one that had already been crossed out, but had a question mark beside it. She had already met him, and they even had a decent conversation. However, part of her really wanted to try and get to know him better. This seemed like a decent time to do that, and with all the new input she had been dealing with today, perhaps more new wasn't the answer.

Kikyo made her way to the undersea hotel area, making a face at the layout of the rooms. It wasn't bad, or anything, but she definitely felt like it was a bit unorthodox. She also had to go out of her way in order to get the right room so she wouldn't have to go door to door hoping she found the right room. After a brief search, she found the correct room. The young woman cleared her throat, took a deep breath, adjusted her uniform, fixed her hair before rapping upon the door lightly. She wasn't sure why she suddenly felt so nervous. It probably had to do with this place being more public than the dorms. Yeah. That must have been it.

"Yo whats up," Agi asked, opening his door wide, noticing Kikyo almost immediately.

"Ah how's it going this place is pretty cool I mean look at the window view," Agi chimed excitedly opening his room door wide for her to see the cool dark outside sea life.

When he opened up the door, Kikyo offered him a smile. "Hey, Agi. It's going okay. And, yeah! This place is beautiful. I'm definitely gonna do some drawings and paintings of some of these animals when we get back to the dorm. It's been a bit since my muse has been sparked like this."

"Oh wow you can draw? Heh what can't you do madam of multiple talents," Agi chuckled before clapping his hands as he actually remembered something he had been wanting to ask her for a bit.

"Oh ya Ichika told me about your clones… I was very curious about them. I heard they had their own personalities and were legit living glass. You have such a scientifically curious quirk I was wondering if I can study them a little," Agi asked as such a myriad of glass sounded extremely intriguing and learnable for future projects.

Kikyo couldn't help but blush in response to, at first, his complement, and then his inquiry into studying her reflections. She nodded briefly. "Yeah, I picked up drawing and painting when I was little. It was a nice relaxing way to spend my time alone when I was away from my family."

The young woman pondered his question about studying her quirk. "I d-don't see why not. May I come in? I am sure I could create a reflection from something in there."

"Heh I can do schematics and such but that's not really art," Agi chuckled as he offered her into his room as she mentioned to find some sort of mirrored reflection Agi immediately directed her to the big mirror near the undersea window.

"Ah yes let me grab my bag," he chimed, grabbing his backpack filled with studying equipment revealing he meant to literally study them. Well it was what he had said after all.

"So how are you enjoying the hotel? Do anything fun. Oh how about the bar they got some really good drinks. I haven't tried the food though," Agi spoke rather speedily, chatting with her.

Kikyo entered the room, following after the boy as he led her to the mirror. She looked at her own reflection with a sense of melancholy. Sure, she supposed she was still pretty, but, the reminders that were literally burned into her skin were always there. She
sighed softly, glancing back at Agi, flashing him a smile. It was nice how chatty and excitable he was being.

"I am enjoying it. It's been so nice getting to see something like this. I was never able to take trips like this as a kid. I haven't tried the food or drinks myself. Maybe I have to before we leave." Kikyo spoke softly, looking at her reflection in the mirror, which refused to follow her direction when she was speaking.

Kikyo glared a bit at her reflection, which then proceeded to step through the reflective surface, looking at Agi with a grin. "Here ya go, Doc. Study away."

"Well how about after this we go jump onto some grub then," Agi offered to hang out as he watched closely to see how the reflection came out of the reflection. Agi had heard she could do two at a time, but it seemed she preferred keeping it to one. With a smile he gave a thumbs up to the reflection Kikyo.

"A pleasure to meet you, mind if I do some simple checks first," Agi aske holding out a tongue stick.

"Please stick your tongue out," he asked nicely, wanting to check out her internal structure.

Kikyo giggled softly at the thumbs-up Agi gave her reflection, nodding a brief response to his offer about getting food. That definitely sounded like a good idea. Her tummy was rumbling.

Meanwhile, the reflection raised a brow at the boy, shrugging when he made his request. "Uhm, sure, okay. How's this?"

The clone opened her mouth and stuck her out her tongue. Revealing the standard interior of a human mouth and throat. The only thing that could be considered abnormal was the apparent length of her tongue. No glassy material was visible.

"Wow I mean looking at her skin I can tell she's glass based, but her actual anatomy seems to mimic your actual makeup… and wow she has quite the tongue," Agi commented placing the stick on it and looking inside her mouth looking around chasm of her mouth. Removing the stick he looked into her ears to see if anything was different there with a otoscope.

"So been meeting with the rest of the class," he asked Kikyo.

Kikyo observed Agi's examination, crossing her arms as she watched with a growing curiosity. "Yeah, from what I have been able to tell, they're supposed to be nearly identical, but reversed. But, I mean…"

The young woman's voice paused a bit, like she was unsure of what to say or just embarrassed. "...like, my tongue is pretty big. No record setter or anything. But, that does seem longer than usual? Or maybe it's just the perspective."

Kikyo chuckled nervously, happy to continue onto another subject. She nodded in response to his question. "It's been great meeting everyone. I'm trying really hard to make friends."

The reflection allowed him free reign, moving as he needed her to in order to perform his tests. This test would also provide no real difference from the original anatomically.

""How so reversed, miss Kikyo," he asked her reflection clone, curious to know what she had to say on the matter. With that he took the reflections arm feeling the damn near flesh like glass. It was damn impressive how real she felt, but even more insane knowing that if she cracked that area it would become hard as glass as well.

"You got such a mysteriously interesting quirk Kikyo," Agi chuckled, wiggling the clone's hand to see it wiggle.

"Well you got a friend right here," he chuckled, giving her a friendly wink as he waited to see what the clone had to say.

The reflection looked at the boy with something of an incredulous smirk, watching him toy with her arm and hand as though she were a doll or something. "Mirrored, like, if she has a cut on her left cheek, it will appear on my right. Things like that."

Kikyo smiled when he spoke about her quirk. It was definitely mysterious. She herself was still learning about it. The reflection, on the other hand, broadened her smirk. "I'm always interested in making new friends, Agi."

"Heh that's okay you got a cute face regardless. Well it will be a pleasure to be your friend too," Agi chuckled in response to the mirror Kikyo as he shook her hand before finally letting it go curious about another thing as he handed her a bottle of water.

"So can you consume things," he asked.

"Oh, why thank you. You're not so bad yourself." Kikyo's reflection responded with a quick wink. She looked oddly at the water that he had handed her, then shrugged and took a big gulp of the water.

There didn't seem to be any sort of effect. "Looks like it, Doc. Doesn't feel funny or anything."

"Huh it seems like she's completely human I doubt there much she couldn't do really," Agi mulled,

"Right? I'm a total package in a pretty glass container." Kikyo's reflection added with a little bounce and a wink.

"Subterfuge and scouting are pretty easy for us. We still have to be careful though. All the sensory input that goes back to the original can be overwhelming." The reflection said softly, nodding with a very matter of fact expression.

"Ahh so that's the catch of this quick phantom pain," Agi gave a oof face looking at Kikyo.

"Aight shall we go get some food than ladies and see how that goes for this test," Agi asked.

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Collab: @Cresion Breezes @timv999 @Reanimator Spuds @The Dapper Mog @Demon Shinobi

"Oye Iniji there you are perfect," Ichika called out running over to the under sea walking boy catching up to him and immediately latching her arms around his. She gave him a mellow smile as she quickly redirected his current path giving her reason why just as promptly fast.

"So me and two others want to go swimming with the friendly sharks, but it has to be groups of four, and I was hoping you would join us for a once in a lifetime's experience so we have the chance. Also to hang out with us I offer snacks in return," She smiled, handing Iniji a free bag of cookies like the one she had given to him when they first met. She also just wanted Iniji to hang out with people as she noticed he was quick to dodge any type of hanging out.

"...Ah, Monsera-san?" Iniji was alone in a corner of the aquarium like always, it was a quiet place where he could study. It was unexpected that one of his classmates would suddenly come around and ask him to join them for something. Ichika, he recalled, did show some concern for him at the start of the school year, but they haven't interacted that much past that. He assumed she was just a kind person and it was a nice gesture, perhaps this was as well.

"I-...I'm studying, Monsera-san. I have some catching up to do…You see..." He said quietly, though the academic content for high school students wasn't a problem for him, his lack of hero school experience still required some extra work.

Yamoshi quickly swooped in, throwing his arm around Iniji, appearing almost as if from nowhere. "Come ooooon~ A handsome guy like you shouldn't just go around ignoring the requests of a maiden in need," Yamoshi said, a big smile on his face as he acted perhaps a bit to familiar with a person he'd spoken less than 3 words too in his time since joining the class.

"Now I know the dragon goddess herself can be a little intimidating, but hey, why miss out on a chance to swim with sharks?" he gave Ichika a little wink at the dragon goddess part. "'Sides teamwork and bonding is an important part of the hero training experience. And you wouldn't wanna miss out on possibly improving work dynamics with a few people who you may ending up partnering up with in the field right?"

Shako was walking through the aquarium, having only just arrived a short time before. She was absolutely looking forward to getting some time just admiring some beautiful creatures of the sea. The young woman was clad in her standard attire, at least, standard for when she wasn't armored up. Her light blue hair and bright red skin were visible, and her eyes were scanning the entire room with each step. However, she suddenly stopped when her gaze fell upon a familiar sight. The boy she had just recently been on a mission with was here with a couple of other people.

Shako approached the group, smiling at them as she rested a hand on her hip. "Oh, hey. Yamoshi, right? Fancy running into you here in the big world. Nice to see ya again."

The young woman said with a friendly tone to her voice. Though it would sound more clear and lighter in tone and pitch, she hoped the boy would at least recognize her voice. A lot of her peers hadn't yet seen her after a molting. Some hadn't seen her at all yet.

Unbeknownst to Amano, who had already made plans with Hideki to do exactly what this group coalescing wanted to. She was on her way to pick him up when she spotted everyone standing there. "Oh! Hello everyone. What are you all doing here?"

"Ah, Yamoshi been awhile," Ichika acknowledged though she gave a sharp look to the wink knowing very well the type of flirt the boy was. He was good hearted, but way to lose to be taken seriously for the most part. Her grip on Iniji was inescapable as they continued heading towards the shark diving reservoir.

"Not this time Iniji your in for some fun today with some cool people," Ichika nodded clearly signaling Inijis inability to escape the moment she roped her hands around him. At that point a red, and blue came running up. If Ichika remembered correctly this girl was Shako who Agi had told her about.

"Ah yes Shako, correct I have heard about you… wanna join us in swimming with some sharks," Ichika offered. At the same time Amano had popped in rather unexpectedly which caused Ichika to smile at the sight of her friend.

"We're heading into the shark tank to swim with sharks. Want to join Miss science," she teased.

Yamoshi pouted at the look he received from Ichika. It was a bit disheartening, but totally understandable from the more serious dragon girl. "Sorry sorry, Icksnay on the irtflay," he said as he released Iniji. Luckily, his mood was soon lifted by a familiar, albeit undistorted voice.

"Hm? Oh hey!" He smiled. "Shako, ya?" he gave a little whistle. "Wow, you're even prettier without the armor than I expected~" he spoke honestly, before yet another familiar vision appeared before them. "Amano~ How goes it, gorgeous?" Things were shaping up better now. The more the merrier was what Yamoshi figure if they were gonna swim with sharks. The thought of potential danger never even crossed his mind.

Amano giggled at Yamoshi's words of endearment. "Please Yamoshi, while I always love a good compliment, I think you'll need to start being a bit more poetic with your words if you keep up like that. Otherwise they will just sound hollow." She joked. She loved being praised like that. And she was glad he learned his lesson from that night out… Whatever that may have been.

But Amano sighed. "Well I was actually just about to head on a similar trip with Hideki. So I'll be grabbing him and letting him know this will now be a group event. Please don't head off without us!" She ran off, heading toward where Hideki and her were going to meet up, ready to drag him back.

He really didn't want to be here. Iniji didn't want to be here. It wasn't that he disliked the people around, no, in fact he respected them. But the uncomfortable sensations he felt as more of them gathered weren't a lie. His breathing became a little more irregular than usual when Yamoshi just threw himself at him. A small cut even appeared on the book he was holding — a sign of his quirk activating Iniji's trained response to danger. It quickly faded though, as these were different times for him now. The boy just sighed a little and allowed himself to be dragged around by the dragon girl, eyes shimmering while reflecting the aquarium's waters, but quite empty otherwise.

Hideki had spent most of the day down by the beach grabbing a tan. He and Amano had a plan to go swimming with sharks and Hideki wasn't going to miss the opportunity to do that. Plus it was always good to hang with Amano. Hideki waited at their meeting spot where his black and red swim trunks as well as now having a tshirt back on. You could see in his face and his arms and legs that he had gotten some sun today and had tanned pretty well. Hideki smiled as he saw Amano make her way over to him.

"Nice of you to finally show up, you know it's not polite to keep people waiting when you make the meeting spot and meeting time." Hideki smirked at the pink haired girl as she made her way to him.

"Ohhh would you look at that Amano got a date," Ichika chimed aloud, teasing mostly Hideki as the group neared them pretty fast.

"... Injin you gonna be alright," Ichika's eyes squinted as she heard, and saw the sudden mark on the book. Her field of vision is rather impressive to reaction elements. She pulled him a bit away from the group.

"I know you have issues with crowds, but to do anything with what your building is going to have to eventually get used to these sort of things," she pointed out trying to help calm his nerves by massaging his shoulder how her dad would when mom was stressed.

"Small deep breaths you got this besides you know some of us already use that to strengthen your resolve," she smiled sweetly.

Amano waved off Ichika's comment. "W-Well let's not throw out words like that right now. Me and Hideki just both like thrilling experiences. And he mentioned this one specifically actually. So, we just wanted to do it while we had the chance. But I don't mind heading this up as a group. Let's get going then huh?"

"Please don't touch me." When Ichika put her hands on his shoulders Iniji visibly flinched, he put his hand on the girl's and tried to brush it away. A small pause in the air can be felt before he looked away and stopped. "...S-Sorry, Monsera-san...it's just that…I..." The boy continued to avert his gaze while his words trailed off. People touching him, people sneaking up behind him, those things weren't normal to Iniji, it was carved into him that it was dangerous. 'I'm not really normal.' Those were the words that never came out before the speaker trailed off.

The group was moving toward the shark tank, something Shako would admit that she was excited about. Even with her affinity for water, it wasn't something she had ever done before. In fact, this was her first time at the aquarium. All of the people she was here with were part of the same program, but she didn't really know any of them. A few files here and there, sure, but that really didn't tell her much about them. Yamoshi she had met once and he seemed okay. Flirty, but okay.

The boy's remark about her looking better than he had thought brought a slight smirk to her face. Of course, he probably expected something entirely different. That wasn't exactly uncommon. Most of the other people she was now walking with seemed to be excited too. However, a couple seemed to be feeling something else. One boy in particular seemed awfully down, considering he was surrounded by people she figured were his friends and about to get to go swimming with sharks. How amazing was that?

"You don't think you're laying it on a bit thick, do ya, Yamoshi? Also, just for the sake of politeness and formal introductions, I'm Shako Kujaku. It's nice to meet you all and risk life and limb for the thrill of sharks with you all." The red skinned girl said with a slightly chiding tone before changing to one that was more upbeat and sincere.

The party neared their destination, and Shako at the very least worse her excitement on her face.

With Amano and Shako's little digs, Yamoshi found himself considering his actions a bit more. It was conflicting. Was he laying it on thick or did he just need to shake it up, be more "poetic"?

"Sorry 'bout that, I probably am," he said a little more calmly, chuckling as Shako introduced herself. "More formal and the like, I'm Yamoshi Saito. It really is nice to meet you. Or I guess... to have met you?" He contemplated the wording for a moment before shaking his head as they approached the shark tank.

"I'll admit, it is hard not to throw out a few compliments here and there, ya know?" He gave a little shrug, rubbing the back of his head. "When everyone around ya is all amazing and unique in their own way, a guy can't help but take notice." Then again, that would just sound like a line wouldn't it? Now wasn't this a conundrum.

"Ah well," he decided to laugh it off a bit. "Anybody as hyped as I am to swim with sharks?" he asked, now grinning ear to ear. "This is gonna be a blast!" he cheered. At least that was the hope and expectation. It didn't seem that way for some though, Iniji to be specific. Looking on toward him and Ichika for a moment, Yamoshi couldn't help feeling bad. If Iniji was uncomfortable, then Yamoshi would certainly have contributed to that. But would calling that out or checking up on him make things worse? Ichika seemed to be handling it. Maybe it was best left to her.

Ichika raised a devious albeit mellow smile directed right at her gal pal as Amano very obviously had apparently some potential to ahem… more than the curious friend she was working on it seemed. Ichika laughed softly knowing Amano all too well for her to be able to wave it off so easily.

"Hmmm is that so," Ichika smiled. "Ichika Monsera a pleasure to meet you Shako, and don't mind Yamoshi he will recover he always does aint that right point man," she teased her childhood friend as he clearly in a unique way blundered his own settings for a sec. That was when Iniji surprisingly shoved her arm away causing her to let it casually return to her side.

"...," Ichika studied his body language for a moment, noting his more reflexive panic, and his clear body language halting the urge to attack. It was almost like watching the language of a trained killer to react to everything being a threat. It was rather ominous for the equally reflexive dragon.

"It's fine though, can I tell you a secret," she asked kindly in her motherly tone as she leaned down a bit with a wink.

"I think you got this," she smiled softly, handing him a soft baked cookie like the one she had given him during their first day of school. He seemed to like it last time so maybe it would help a little this time.

"You don't have to go out with us, but would you be willing to watch at least… sorta ease into it? Also don't worry I won't pry later bakers honorary word," she sung with a pledged sign of her hand.

"Yes, yes, well this is great, but why don't we actually head down instead of chumming the waters with our words. Also don't actually chum the waters. We're not supposed to do that." She yoinked Hideki suddenly by the arm and pulled him toward the entrance. "We were doing this anyway, so if you're coming you better just do it!" Her sinister chuckle carried through the hall as they moved deeper inside.

Hideki looked behind Amano as more people came into his view, Ichika, Iniji and one of the new people that joined their class. Hideki was pretty sure his name was Yamoshi, plus a girl that he didn't recognize. Before Hideki could question Amano about it, Ichika started to joke about him and Amano being on a date. Hideki lightly smiled and laughed a little. "Wow Ichika aren't I lucky to get to hang out with you twice in one day." Hideki smirked at little as he looked over the group. He thought it was just going to be him and Amano, but he was fine with this group even though he hadn't really spent anytime with Iniji over these two months of school and he hadn't gotten a chance to talk with Yamoshi yet, he also had no idea who that other girl was.

The girl he didn't know then introduced herself and Hideki responded in kind. "Nice to meet you Shake, I am Hideki Mitsuki, its nice to meet you as well." Amano then grabbed Hideki by the arm and pulled him along with the rest of the group. "You know I was going to come with you guys regardless, you don't have to drag me along I really want to do this." Hideki laughed a little.

Iniji was still averting the other's' gaze as they chatting, that was perfect for him. Although he had calmed down already. This was normal, it was fine, he told himself. He took the cookie from Ichika, but he looked at her with concerned eyes. This girl seems to be seeing through him in some sense, it wasn't as paralyzingly sever as Mari, but uncomfortable nonetheless. "...Thank you, Monsera-san." He said quietly, taking a few steps to move away from her.

"Please make your acquaintance, Kujaku-san. Iniji Irokei." Taking a bow to the newcomer, Iniji hastily turned away, trailing behind the group. It wasn't as if he disliked the particular activity, he wouldn't mind watching or even participating as long as he could be more sidelined.

It seemed at the behest of one of the girls, the group was beginning to move in the direction of their objective. Shako was enjoying the greetings, she supposed. It wasn't often that she had reason to greet so many people at one time. Most of the students of this class seemed to be pretty happy go-lucky. However, a few of them definitely seemed to be a bit more heavy in their personalities than others. One of the boys here, who introduced himself as Iniji, was definitely giving off some loney vibes. Shako couldn't blame him for that, he had something of an intense look in his eyes.

Nonetheless, the group continued forward, Shako glancing from one class member to another, listening to them speak in turns. "This should be fun, right? Mind your extremities."

The red skinned girl added, a joking smile crossing her lips as she spoke to no one in particular.

With that the group made it to the release hatch meant for the shark exhibit. They were primarily youthful whale sharks around 18 feet long. Apparently if you got one's attention and pet them on the snot they would let you ride on their backs. After everyone was taken through a quick course on safety and gear handling the students were in the pressure chamber geared up with walkie talkies attached to their masks so they could communicate with each other, and Iniji who was at the seating area.

"Alright everyone enjoy," the control expert smiled, hitting the button to release water into the chamber as the students would find themselves weightless really quick, and the door released to the outside where there was a small school of young whale sharks lazing about.

Amano had planned out something if they weren't outfitted with walkie-talkies. She was so excited to try out her short ranged telepathy with Mnemu. It was, unfortunately, very clunky, given how they would need to have Mnemu connect them all simultaneously. So they'd be practically hugging the whole time. Still… It would have been nice to try.

At the sight of the large fish swimming by them, Amano couldn't help but want to get closer to them. "Whale sharks are supposed to be quite gentle. So we should be fine if we want to get closer." To which she did, approaching the massive creature with respect and awe.

For the first time in a long time, Hideki felt like he was a kid again. He was really excited to do something and it had nothing to do with his hero work. He could have been a kid on Christmas morning with the excitement he was feeling right now. The people from the aquarium went over a few safety guidelines and some other information before releasing the group into the shark tank.

Hideki was now in the tank in his gear that was given to him and watched as these giant whale sharks swam past and around him. Hideki felt pretty small at the moment. He then spoke into the walkie talkie "wow this is amazing. Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to do something like this." As one whale shark swam by, Hideki was able to take his hand and pet it as it swam by.

Yamoshi was grinning wide the whole while, waiting to be released into the shark tank. He was filled with awe at the beasts of the sea. And yet, there was something cute about them. "Hehe~ This is awesome!" he cheered. As he floated through the water part of him wished he could take a picture. It would have been amazing to capture this moment. The memory would have to be enough though.

"Ooooh~ Look at this big guy!" he said, as he approached one, a big smile on his face. He smiled, petting it's snout as he swam alongside it. "Adorable~" And he really meant that. Hm... Maybe he'd been hanging with Rosalie a little too much recently.

"They are quite kind creatures," Ichika mellow sang softly, swimming beside one slowly enjoying the natural flow of nature being next to one had to offer. With a few twists she got in front of it petting its snoot as it allowed her to ride on its back as it made a pass by the glass.

"So does this make me look badass Iniji," she chuckled, calling out to him to check up on how he was doing as she continued to ride the gentle giant even catching Amanos hand to have her join in on the ride.

Iniji leaned against the glass of the exhibition and looked onto the others, he didn't exactly mind this, it was quiet and peaceful. He could forget about his troubles for a moment just looking at the rolling water and sea creatures that lazed in it. Ichika zipped past him with one of the whale sharks, he gave her a small smile and wave. "Of course, Monsera-san." He replied softly into his communicator, the static-y sounds echoing in his ear. Somehow he felt like he was a parent watching some children play at the aquarium, even though he was the youngest out of all of them.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, it's quite a lovely scene." He added, the blue water reflecting in his eyes. Iniji sat back and kept on watching, it really was mesmerizing.

...................................................................

@RedArmyShogun

Touring the halls of the Aquarium, Mari stops to look at some of the fish in one of the kids exhibits, horseshoe crabs to be more spot on. As she reaches her hands into the tank to rub the hard exterior of one of them.

"You know it's rather odd how close they are to looking like actual horseshoes. Nature is really funny like that," Agi mumbled aloud next watching Mari pet one of them as he seemed to appear right out of nowhere like he always did.

"Oh? Ah Agi. I would grab you, but my hand is a little damp." She says as she takes her right hand out of the water, letting it dry. "Ah, on the note there is something I had in mind for us to do, one or maybe both if you like. Either going down a tunnel made for couples or eating at the restaurant."

"No worries I'll be in your life longer than the shoe crab so Ill be fair and let it have its moment," Agi chuckled to Mari's silliness with a light hearted smile. Seemed she was interestingly ready to place her hands on him ever since the sub ride. It was nice though it was a new feeling of being wanted, and it was mellow for a starting couple or so he had read.

"Why not both," Agi offered as he also placed his hand in to feel the solid texture of the aquatic beings shell. It was pretty chill for being touched, probably quite used to it.

"Which one you wanna do first," he asked as he pulled his hand out using his towel to dry it off before offering it to Mari to do the same.

"Hmm, lets go look at the fish first I say." Drying her own hand off she leads him towards the tunnel in question as she holds out her hand. "Is this too much so soon?" She says with a sorta mocking grin on her face.

"Heh by no means. It's just me adjusting to actually having a solidly grounded girlfriend," Agi chuckled in response as he bagged his towel as they headed for the dining area. He had to admit while he had all good intentions on the matter this was still all new to him. He wasn't a hundred percent sure what small things were okay. He definitely knew the no's of a starting relationship from Yori, and from the nightmare he had heard about Gotos date. Yet out of that he next source was tv and he was pretty sure that was not a good one to pull from.

"Not going to lie, some chicken cutlet curry sounds amazing, but I have heard this place has quite the array of sushi roll selections," Agi embellished as they walked into the area where quite a few chefs were out in display showing impressive dicing skills right at peoples tables.

"How about a booth," Agi notioned heading towards the more private booth setups as he got in sitting on the well cushioned seat.

"Have more confidence in yourself, Agi. I do not mind if we act as a couple when other responsibilities are not calling for me.. Within reason."
She says as they make their way to the dinner instead, she could have sworn she seen some pro heroes, though from what she was told the place was running at reduced capacity or they had lucked up for a special event, though there were other heroes at the lodge. Pausing for a bit she could have sworn she seen OHA as they were led to a booth. Sitting across from him, this was not what she expected and could not be the norm for a public run institution… Though they did get funding elsewhere. Looking at the Menu it seemed this was a special event aimed for the big shots littering the place rather than the class, though there was nothing preventing them from enjoying it.

"Do you know what you want?"

"It's not really on confidence as in more lack of experience," Agi chuckled in response to Mari wordings he did appreciate the uplift in spirit though as he sat down he took her hands into his own gentle.

"Like I can hold your silky smooth hands without a problem," he said while playing around with her fingers with his own for a second as he looked her in the eyes with a smile.

"And I can keep contact with your dazzling hypnotic ambered eyes all day. So flirting, mild physical contact, and eye contact are not an issue," Agi expressed humorously observing her unique slitted pupils with ease as they were nice to concentrate on directly. Though hilariously it also made it hard to read her thoughts.

"And for that reason trust me I will only do what you do in return minus the fact I initiated the first kiss," he pointed out before she could counter him on that front.

"Well when in rome so Ill probably try their rainbow sushi lineup as its apparently made with fish only farmed in this area," Agi notioned as he turned his attention to her.

"What about you, what does the pearl of the ocean want?"

Listening to his words Mari smiles at him, though it seemed to be a genuine one as she cupped his hand.

"Ah? I would say your words are smooth and move me a great deal, but come now, pearl? What other ideas did you have?" She offers with a chuckle. "Though I may settle for that depending on what else there is.. And hmm.. I think I'll..well.. I would like the same thing but I think the Tuna set is what I want.." She was actually a bit embarrassed, even though it was a mix of blue and yellow fin tuna, it was a rare moment in which she slipped up, seemingly showing her true emotions to him as they agreed.

"Well not going to lie I was thinking up a million of them. Kitten, my sweet calico, my Sekhmet… not Bastet as that might have been to ahem intimate a option, puring love… yet again to intimate… and they get worse from there," Agi mumbled blushing as he admitted to the more probably cringe worthy ones as she cupped his hands with his own playfully. He did raise an eyebrow at her as she seemed strangely embarrassed by her option then it sorta clicked out of all the unique options she was going for the most… well cat catered one.

"How about you have some of my sushi to balance it out? I hear the roll is massively selected giving one of each type they make here," Agi offered her a way out of the embarrassment, finding it surprisingly cute of her to have such a notion.

"Hmm.. In private some of those names might be acceptable, my hero name is Kalico Kid after all. Though yes we can share our food." She says at his offer before smiline a bit more wickedly.

"Oh, how about I make up a name for you? Agi is a nickname of its own, or sparky, or maybe I could just call you, darling." Letting him place the order she smiles a bit. "Or are there nicknames you had before?"

"Oh well then… we can figure out which later," Agi mumbled now avoiding eye contact for a moment on the embarrassment of some of the ones he admitted to. He did come back around when she offered up some for him.

"Heh, sparky seems more fitting for you if we're honest. I wouldn't mind darling," he admitted it was cutesy and personal in a proper balance. As there food was delivered Agi immediately took the most fish based ones and placed them on Maris plate in a manner circling her original dish still leaving him with quite a lot.

"They weren't joking about the massive rainbow bit," Agi said, rather impressed by the amount of samplers he had of their sushi selection. At this rate he would definitely need to take some of these to go.

"So what exactly does your family do? I know so little about yours, and well my family's an open book on the market of what they do," he shrugged knowing most wouldn never ask that as it was obvious.

"Hmm I'll remember both of those for when the situation allows.. Darling." She says with a smile as she looks at what he had to offer her and what was still left, she didn't want anymore but she was surprised there really was something with so much to offer on the menu. She didn't want to sit in on the budget talks for that one. Listening to his next questions she decides to tell him what he had to ask, it was only fair.

"My parents both have cat-like features, tails and ears mostly, my father has retractable claws, my mother is more or less a normal looking lady..well cat features aside. Here." Reaching away from him to search for her person she pulls out a small billfold that had a photo with herself and two figures in the side of it.

Showing him the photo she speaks of, a woman with a modest bust and white fur and hair with yellow eyes was her mother in a businesswoman suit. "Yuki Nakao. She has worked the last several years as a political aid, currently she works with the LDP on the seat of Dietsman Nobamura Siega.. As I said at the painting room I actually knew most of those men. She's been doing this for 20 years. I think she would like to meet you, and if things go well that shall happen rather soon as well as me meeting yours.."

Then there was a man that looked a bit more rough or rather rugged or even handsome, he however had a bit of a mane or at least thick hair running down the side of his face and two cat ears and green eyes. His fur was tiger striped, but more like a common house cat than a tiger, being shades of brown. "And this is my father, Nakao Norihide. He's a salesman that specializes in selling finely crafted wood furniture to the wealthy or at least well to do. He also does a bit of Carpentry. He's been doing this for a little bit around 27 years as part of a company."

"...," actually talking about nicknames, and actually hearing them used was definitely a different experience from the moment she said it. Agi felt his chest pause for a second as his brain registered the feeling to it… it was nice, and strange at the same time it was definitely a foreign experience.

"Ah, so you're an only child right. Well your mom sounds like a really hard worker, and wow a direct line to the diet office is rather intense to be in the forefront like that," Agi notioned, rather impressed as she went over her dad a bit.

"Well I'll be glad if we get that far for me to meet them heh I think i got quite the battle ahead to earn such," Agi smiled as he wondered how her dad would feel about him. Moms were usually pretty chill, but dads were the one you had to work to impress, or get a good opinion of, and Agi was a bit eccentric… no doubt he could accidentally say the wrong thing.

"Oh neat carpentry I have a little hand in it, but not much everything at my home sorta had to be designed to manage super strength…, and my mom's weight… as you know… she weighs a ton literally… people forget that a lot and try to hand her a wood chair just for her to destroy it the moment she sits on it," Agi mumbled a bit not sure where he was going with that train of thought as he nervously laughed.

"How's the fish," he immediately jumped to rescue the conversation as he took a few bits to avoid talking for a minute or two.

"Yes, I am the only child, though I myself want more than one. How many more would depend on the interests of my other half." Mari adds to the question of an only child. "Being the only one can be lonely at times." Listening to the rest of what he had to say and laughing lightly as she takes a few bites of her food, stopping to chew before speaking.

"The fish is very good, do you want to try some of my Tuna? And as to your mom, I'm aware of her a bit, her quirk was metal related, it would be possible to get a good wooden chair for her if it were custom ordered and build. A nice curved hardwood design with some brace support, rather than thin legs.. Hmm, once we are established, I do think I'll commission something like that to give her as a gift."

"Heh, I am the youngest of three. My oldest sibling Iona is current acting Ceo of Tamoyo Rescue Corp, and the middle my older brother is playing pro hero Silver Fox he currently ranked 59," Agi proudly claimed showing a few pictures of his own family to her.

"Hmm fair question, honestly I think two would suffice, maybe three," Agi answered with how many kids he would want when he got to that point in his life. Given how interactive his siblings were in his life he could imagine them not being in his life to be rather lonely.

"Sure I am always game to try new things," Agi nodded to her offer of a bite of her plate.

"I am sure she would like to meet you as well. Just get ready for… doting behavior...cause she really wants grandkids," Agi chuckled in warning.

"So then what kind of tunnel ride are we going on after this," He asked, dining in on his plate.

"Oh it's not a ride, you just walk through it, but apparently it's full of communal tropical fish, sea turtles and stingrays and the like with low light level and lots of different plants and coral formations, it's made to be popular with couples.

And as to the two to three, three is more of a rounded number in a manner. And it's fine." She says about his family with a smile. "Though I rather wait for school to be out, a ring on my hand and maybe a little time. If I can accept you then I can accept them.. Though such talks may be best kept to the tunnel."

"Oh nice well shall we head off then cause this is definitely way too much food to eat all in one sitting," Agi pointed out as it was clear they were both starting to slow down on the consumption of their meals. With that said Agi paid for it all before Mari could debate splitting it. Once they had their meals bagged.

"Oh ya I dont think I want to be a parent until at least 24 that way I can say I properly got to do the things out that I wanted before starting to settle into such a commitment of fatherhood," Agi expressed.

"Oh wow look it's Ork Orkenson," Agi pointed to the rather aged hero rater out the window before finishing paying for the meal. Thankfully there was an awesome service to have their food delivered to their room meaning they could go straight to the tunnel.

"Shall we head off," Agi asked. The idea of placing a ring on anyone's hand was definitely far out, and definitely not at his current age. It was clear Mari was extremely confident that this relationship which mind you was only a day old would work out extremely well. It was nice, but also notably very bold of her too.

Laughing lighty at him, she adds something else to maybe help his nerves. "We'll let it rest for now. Though I think you'll come to think like I do in the coming weeks and months. Afterall we aren't engaged yet, so we'll wait and see. Though I also agree with allowing time before we go that step. I do have a few things to do with college as well, even as basic as it may be."

Looking at the hero, it was an orcish looking man that seemed to be angrily staring at the world in front of him. "But yes, let's bring the rest with us, or have it sent to our rooms and go on that tour. I also saw OHA I could swear, I know there are heroes staying at the lodge, though I think they pay for themselves while the school pays for us."

With that out of the way she motions for him to follow before locking arms with him in a ladylike fashion, the start of the tour was before them a few scant minutes later.

It started pretty well as the walk began. The tunnel was a lot darker than one would expect with the only light source the very dim lighting from the small glass filaments that showed the more calme, and serene bits of aquatic nature. Agi watched as a particularly big turtle passed by.

"Heh wonder how old they are, what do you think," Agi asked, not noticing the tunnel was getting smaller, and owning up to why it was a popular couple event as the lighting got dimmer, and the walls got lower with the lightning becoming more ambient.

"Hmm, It is rather large isn't it? I think the AI could tell us at one of the information panels. Though maybe it's best to leave it as a mystery. Not everything needs an answer." She says of the turtle, though that may have counted for other things as well.

"It is rather nice, with the sunlight from the water lighting the hall and the glow and shimmers of the plants and fish.. Makes it easy on the eyes, doesn't it." Reaching up she still couldn't reach the class up top, but could on the sides, it was cool to the touch.

"Fair enough," Agi chuckled as Mari gave an air of mystery herself on the matter at hand. He watched with a smile as she tried to touch the top of the walling. When she couldn't accomplish that she instead reached for the sides. It was pretty cute to be honest.

"Well to be fair its not the only thing easy on the eyes in my view," Agi dorkishly flirted as they kept on looking ahead to whatever might be ahead.

Turning to him she smiles a bit and strikes a nya pose, like a money greeting cat with her cheerful face smiling at him as she lets out a "Nya!" "Though I am curious just what you find about me to your liking, hopefully just not the tail and ears.. And indeed the fish and fauna aren't the only thing easy on the eyes.."

With that the two continue on their ways having some light hearted conversation with Mari being rather casual with Agi the whole time till they went their own ways, with her giving him a kiss on the cheek this time.
 
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Ren had decided to give the whole, wondering without cleaning thing a go. It wasn't something that had been suggested, per say. But it seemed to be something that was implied with. So, he moved around the building and paused for the first time, seeing someone. They were coming from one of the guys' rooms, with long hair and it could have confused him. He watched for a moment, longer than he thought he did, before he was snapped out of wondering who it was and what they were doing. He was curious, but at the same time, he wasn't sure how to address it.

Yori was tucking in his hair to hide it within the wig's cap, his disguise of choice today being a long platinum blonde wig and gray contacts. He was on his way to his favorite manicure place since he first showed up to Suppression. This one was quick to book him and gave no signs of judgement.

He paused when he saw Ren, giving the other a smile. "Hey! What's up?"

"Hey." he said still not sure who this was, but he bowed, "Ren Abiko." he introduced himself, "I haven't met you before, are you family." he asked pointing to Yori's room. It said Yori on it but this person didn't look like Yori, so all he could think of was that it was a guest. But they did look like Yori, so maybe it was Amano, the twin of Yori, he had heard about.

Yori followed Ren's finger to see him pointing at his own room. Seemed like his disguise was good enough that Ren didn't know who he was. Hell yeah.

"No no, I'm actually Yori." He moved the wig a bit to reveal the purple hair stuffed inside. "I wear this so I'm not randomly approached or harassed in public. I'm gonna head out for a bit…" His gaze went to Ren's nails, and seeing them unkempt, he looked back up at his classmate. "You wanna join me?"

Ren was surprised by this and impressed, "Should I wear one too?" He asked, more for fun than anything else. He didn't think anyone would harass them but then again he wasn't really sure what strange things went on just yet. "But yeah, where are we going? Should I change, seriously? You look like you're a spy." He teased, chuckling a bit as he moved closer. If he was good, he could follow after Yori, to wherever they were off to.

Yori shook his head, "You don't have to, but I won't stop you either." He said, then laughed. "Nah, there's no espionage going on. It's actually a lot more innocent than you think." Yori rose his hand and showed Ren the broken, scuffed, or damaged nails he received from the previous mission. "I'm getting these fixed, and if you want to experience it, you can come along with me."

Ren looked at Yori's nails….so he was getting his nails cut? Okay. "Sure I will come along. Could be fun." He said as he nodded. He was up for anything, it wasn't like he had any training today and relaxing was harder for him then it should be.

Yori's eyes seemed to light up. "Great! If we hurry I'm sure they'll squeeze you in alongside me." He said with a big smile. "Hell, if you like it, you can become my new nail buddy."

It would definitely stop the silent judging.

"Come on then~"

He would take Ren to a small nail salon. A quaint little place snuggled between two larger stores. The inside was what one would expect of a nail salon save for historical decorations that hung around. The owner herself was a history junky and liked to hang pieces from around the world.

"You wanna try a manicure or are you here for emotional support?" He asked Ren with a smile.

Ren wasn't too sure what he was there for, but he was more then happy to try something new. "I'll try it. Never had a manicure but always willing to try something someone else's way, usually." He pointed out. He wasn't really sure if it would hurt but he knew that he could use the experience in one way or another.

The smile became bigger, "Yes! Awesome!"

Yori, to say the least, was happy to have a manicure partner. Hopefully Ren would enjoy it enough to make it a recurring thing.

The woman at the desk was an older lady who was kind and very gentle by appearance. She had graying brown hair and brown eyes. She greeted both boys with a smile.

"Mr. Tsuda? It's good to see you again~" The woman clapped her hands together. "And I see you've brought a friend this time! Oh, he's so handsome!"

Yori returned her smile. "Hi Ms. Nakanishi. You think you can squeeze him in with my appointment?"

She smiled. "Of course." Hikari's eyes looked at Ren. "What's your name, dear?"

"Ren Abiko." Ren stated. He hoped that it wouldn't be a problem now that he understood the appointment. But at the same time he wasn't it was too much of an issue if the lady didn't say it was. But he would do his best to not be a problem.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Hikari Nakanishi, I own this salon." She introduced herself. "Now, Mr. Tsuda you wanted the paraffin manicure?"

Yori nodded a few times then looked at Ren. "It's wax that removes the dead skin from your hands. It's a little costly but I can chip in for you if you want."

"The basic manicure is also available if you'd like something quick." Hikari added.

Ren thought about what Yori was telling him and what the lady explained before he nodded, "I am always up for something new." he was willing to do whatever Yori thought was best. After all, he had no idea what was in store for him.

"Then we'll get you the paraffin too. It's a lot better than moisturizer." Yori said and Hikari added in the appointment. He would then add, "It'll also let us get out of here at the same time."

Hikari nodded once. "Allow me to ready up the paraffin machines. In the meantime," She grabbed a little bottle of hand sanitizer, which Yori already had his hand held out for. Hikari squirt a bit of the sanitizer into his hand then a little bit as well for Ren. "Make sure to apply that up to the elbows. Now please, follow me."

She would lead them over to a small area with a few chairs and 2 machines. They looked like slow cookers with a yellowish wax inside of it. Hikari always kept the machines on low to keep the wax from burning her clients.

"Take a seat right here and I'll be with you in just a moment."

While Hikari grabbed mittens, bags, and other necessary items for the treatment Yori looked over at Ren.

"Hope you don't have any plans for the next hour. Maybe two." He said. "Gotta keep the wax on for a while to make sure it really softens up the skin."

Ren did as Yori did, sanitizing his hands before he started to follow them both. He moved the sanitation up and down his arm and thought it was a little silly. But this was something that he didn't know anything about, so do not knock it till you try it, as they say. When he got to the area that they would be using he nodded to the lady before taking his seat. He sighed, as he looked around, this place was nice. He wondered if this was something heroes normally did, or was that just something of a special occasion for Yori. But he said nothing as he waited for further instructions. Holding off any questions he had, until he was sure that everything was going to be told to him. That was when he would state the obvious questions that were not answered.

Once the two finished sanitizing their hands, Hikari would finish with the materials and equipment. Next, she would have the two boys dip one hand into the wax, which was pleasantly warm to the touch. She would have them take it out, let the wax solidify a bit, then dip again. This process would repeat until each hand had about three layers of wax on it, then Hikari would wrap bags around the hands then cover them with the mittens.
"The bags are to keep the heat in, and the mittens are to make sure nothing happens to the bags. Wouldn't want to ruin all the hard work." Yori explained to the other.
Hikari nodded her head a few times, "We'll leave the wax on for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I'll leave the TV on for you boys."
Yori gave her an "ok" of confirmation, then looked back at Ren. He grinned amusedly. "You seem bored. Is this not your style?" He asked.
Ren smirked, "I can honestly say I am just taking it all in. I have never done this before. Seems like something I can learn better when understanding it. But at the same time, I have been known to overthink things. I don't really have that much to say against it." He liked the warming of his hands and felt kind of silly with mittens, but understood what they were for. "What about you? Do you honestly have to hide yourself when you aren't in hero gear? I mean, people would recognize you as a hero too, wouldn't they? If I recall you, don't hide your face."
Ren was curious, Yori was a nice person. He went on a mission with the guy, he could be himself. But now, he was hiding in plain sight, using disguises. It seemed like an unfair thing to have to do.
Yori was glad that Ren wasn't thinking negatively of the experience so far. It wasn't the traditionally "manly" thing to do, sure, but he'd been taught that it frankly didn't matter what another person thought of it. As long as he wasn't hurting anyone, what was wrong with getting a manicure? Or doing anything else that was "girly?"

Well, society-wise there were a lot of reasons why not to, but again, those were just opinions.

The next thing Ren said made the purple haired man hum softly in response as he thought of his answer. He waited for Hikari to be a distance away before answering.

"Because when I'm out with friends, or just enjoying the public, I don't want people coming up to me asking for pictures, autographs, or trying to smell the chair I was sitting in. It gets annoying really fast." He then added. "When I was younger, I exposed my quirk to a mess of people during a performance; no point concealing my identity. Yori Yubiki the idol has really long purple hair, and I have really long purple hair. Doesn't take much to put two and two together, you know?"

There was no point in hiding himself in hero gear when his quirk required his most distinguishing feature to be out and exposed at all times. "So, t-l-d-r I wear disguises in public because I want to be left alone. I don't wear masks with my hero gear because a lot of people already know who I am."

He then looked at Ren. "Did I answer your question well?"

Ren half nodded, it didn't explain how they left him alone when he was in hero gear but he wasn't going to point it out. Instead he decided to go back to Yori and get manicures. "I see. And manicures? Why do you do them alone? I mean, I am just guessing but if you made an appointment for just you, I just wonder why not invite a friend. It feels nice and seems like a really good way to hang out?" He asked curious.

"Well, because I don't think the other guys care about their hands as much as I do." Yori answered. "I got Hideki and Agi to try out manicures, but I don't think it'll become a regular thing for them. I can go with one of the girls but there are things I can't talk about with them." He answered.

Ren nodded, "I see, well, if you want I don't mind it so far. It would be a good way to hang out, like I said and I think it is something that could be fun if you're not alone." he offered. So far, it was nice, warm and learning about Yori had been interesting. "Not sure if you would be willing to talk so freely with me, but you can always invite me." he shrugged. It was an offer, if he couldn't bring his friends, Ren was always up for hanging out with someone like Yori.

Yori was, to say the least, was happy to hear that he now officially had a friend to come and get manicures with. Their hands looking great wasn't just the reason he came to get them; it was the relaxation and the peace of mind that followed. It was much more fun to have a friend alongside him, and it made for a great bonding experience.

"I'd be happy to. You've been kind and open-minded so far; I think the two of us can become good friends." He responded then asked. "Wanna tell me about yourself while we wait for the wax?"

Ren smirked, "I am pretty boring compared to you. I was born to national heroes that travel. I was raised between them and some friends of my parents around the world. They taught me how to cook, clean, train and even the difference between right and wrong. And inspired me to make my own path, which I decided would be following my parents, who followed their parents. They are pretty basic heroes, nothing fancy or popular. They like working in the shadows and believe that being a hero is about helping otters not about being famous. So, as a hero all I want to do is help people and stay out of the limelight. Just like my parents. See? Boring. But I would be happy to join you whenever you ask. I love learning about people around me." Ren commented.
 
Today had been a rather specially planned event Agi had set up a training session for Kuroi a bit more outside the globe of normal training. Kuroi had even strangely agreed to it, and getting Yori onboard… was probably a lot easier than expected one might say. However, as Agi arrived at the nearby cafe he looked around before reserving a whole table for the day now he just needed to wait for Kuroi, and Yori.

"Hey," Kuroi approached Agi from behind with a tap on the shoulder. He was dressed in his usual casual wardrobe; some shorts, sneakers, a shirt, and loose plaid jacket. He was told this was supposed to be training, but it looked like a normal hang-out, not that Agi didn't have plenty of weird ideas. That expectation present in his mind, he sat down. "How is this training?"

The soft clicks of low pump shoes would be heard as a tall figure walked into the cafe. They were in a long black peacoat that covered most of their body. On their head was a wig of long blonde hair that reached their thighs, swaying behind them as they walked.

They would arrive at Agi's reserved table, taking a seat across from Kuroi.

"Hey." came Yori's voice as he looked at Kuroi. It looked like Yori was passing for a blonde woman, but could still claim to just be a pretty man. In other words, he was confusing. "How's it going?"

As Yori sat down, Kuroi stared at him. Alarms were going off in head, though he didn't visibly react much. He glanced between the two boys, now particularly wary of Agi's "training".

"...Explain."

"Well, Goto had a catastrophic date due to not listening to Yori or having any prepping experience. You being the second most anti-social of the group can still be saved ergo. We are here to take you through a test date," Agi proudly announced pointing at Yori as if showcasing the well-dressed man.

"And since it would damn well be weird to ask a girl to do it Yori has instead offered to be your blushing date," Agi chuckled sitting next to Kuroi the walks of reality being thrown right out the door.

Yori flipped his blonde hair with a smile. "I am your beautifully vain date, Yuri. I'll help you make sure you do way better than Goto." He told Kuroi with a smile, leaning a little closer. "It'll be quick and easy." He assured.

"Literally how." How could Goto have fucked up that badly? Haya was like the most lax and unassuming person he knew. Kuroi narrowed his eyes a bit in displeasure. "That bitch made me a liar…"

Moving onto the rest of the explanation, Kuroi looked at them with skepticism. He wasn't sure whether to be offended or not at him apparently needing such intervention.

"Do better than Goto at what? I don't have a date," Kuroi questioned with a scowl. "Right. That would be weird." He was sure the sarcasm was prevalent enough in his tone. "Am I supposed to be dating Viggie?"

Yori rested his head in his hand, his elbow on the table as support. "Not yet, but you will one day. And when you do, you'll have the tools to ensure it goes smoothly." He explained. "I.E. this mock date. If it makes you feel any better, this mock date is for Agi too."

"What I don't need a mock date I am very sociable," Agi responded to Yori clearly pretending to be hurt as he placed an arm over his hair. Though he chuckled as he patted Kuroi's shoulder.

"Besides amuse us and we will treat you to a king's worth of food. You know we're good for it," Agi offered.

"You're sociable like how a puppy is sociable. That doesn't mean you know how to date," Kuroi commented suspiciously, though his objections dissipated when the prospect of a bribe came up. "Deal. What am I doing?"

"Aight so simply put if you were meeting Yuri for a date. How would you proceed," Agi asked.

"Uh…" Kuroi looked between the two awkwardly. He could communicate just fine, but not in an artificial setting like this. It put pressure on him to overthink it, and he was more the type to speak his mind rather than speak verbosely. "Hi?"

Yori, or rather Yuri, pouted. He spoke in a higher pitch than usual, feigning sadness. "I worked so hard to look good for you and not one compliment…" With a smile, Yori spoke in his normal voice. "Hey" is fine, but following it with "you look great today (or tonight)" can earn you some brownie points." Yori informed the other then asked. "How good are you at small talk?"

Kuroi looked sheepishly at Yori, glancing over to Agi as if not knowing how to respond before looking back at his "date". He'd given out compliments before, but once again feeling like he had to come up with something seemed to have created a block. "I mean… I can if there's something to talk about…"

"Hmmm I'll be right back guys I forgot I have to deliver something Yuri take care of this handsome man," Agi chuckled running down to the school as he ran to his room picking up a specialized suitcase with some size and weight to it. As he headed down he was surprised by the Irony as Haya was now in on her way to him. As he ran over to her a certain thought came to mind… Kuroi couldn't play via mock apparently so why not….


"Oye Haya I have your request… but if you don't mind me asking, are you doing anything right now? Me and Yori are helping Kuroi out, and well you would be the perfect candidate to help us with his training," Agi offered with a smile.

Haya had been coming to meet Agi as planned. She had been waiting for him to complete a gift idea she had. But he seemed to have something else on his mind when he was on the way to bring the case to her. Help Kuroi train? She hadn't noticed he trained. She waved to Agi, "Hey." She said in response before she thought of his question. "Okay. Yeah. I'd love to help out." She assured him.

"Excellent though do you want me to drop this off to your room first or do you want to give it to him now," Agi asked.

Haya nodded, "I'll give it to him now. That way, he can use it in his training too." She stated. She didn't know what kind of training it would be, but she figured that he would need some practice if he used the gear she asked for. "So, where are you guys training?"

"At the Cafe, it's more so social training for Kuroi as he doesn't have much experience on such. Like a mock date we put Yori in a dress to let him be comfortable in a silly scenario, but he says he can't take it at full ability if it doesn't feel genuine. So you can pair with Kuroi to make it a genuine experience," Agi explained carrying the case for her as they headed out back to the cafe.

Haya nodded, "I see. It might be a good idea for me too. My date with Goto provided that I am not very good at it. So, I think it would be good and helpful to me too." She said following the feeling of Agi's movements.

Yori waved off Agi, then returned his attention to Kuroi. "As long as you don't start off by talking about the weather or universal date enders, then you're fine. Try to relax and pretend I'm someone who you actually want to date. How do you think you'd start the conversation?" He tried this time.

Watching Agi retreat, Kuroi looked back at Yori and rose a brow. "The hell is a universal date ender?" He questioned. Furthermore, why would he talk about the weather unless a building was going to blow over? "I dunno… Say hi and go from there. I don't really plan what I'm going to say, I just talk. In this case I'd probably ask about why Agi looks so suspicious."

"It's when you tell the girl how garbage she looks or how much you enjoyed having sex with her sister." Yori gave the two as examples. It was common sense not to say any of these things during a date, and anyone who said these things to their date would surely make them disappear.

"You don't have to plan a conversation beforehand, but I recommend having topics in mind at the ready so there aren't any awkward silences. Asking about her day is a start, and you can build the conversation from there. If you run out of stuff to say, just think of one of the topics you thought about beforehand and bring it up."

At the last part, Yori couldn't help but chuckle. "Honestly? I have no clue. I figured he's got a twist of his own to add to this date. I doubt it's anything bad."

'Anything bad for Agi, that is.' He said the last part internally, not wanting to scare Kuroi away.

"Ladies and gentleman. I bring a twist to our training. Kuroi your new training partner will be the lovely, and leading lady Haya," Agi chimed introducing Haya to the table as his nanobytes moved Yuri a seat to the left adding another table to turn this into a double date. Agi himself also sat down after pulling out Hayas chair for her. He was now sitting across from Yuri.

"Aight any questions Haya," Agi asked.

Haya smirked slightly as Agi made his announcement which was something of a silly one. Buts he took her seat and shook her head, "Nope. But what do I do first?" she asked, then turned to Yori, she knew the face, so she knew who it was. She knew there was something else too, the sound bounced off Yori a little differently, like he had something over his normal appearance. But she smiled, "Are you going to help us practice?" she asked. She felt a lot better about the mock date, if he was. Agi had mentioned it, but to be there and feel Yori there made things a lot easier for her to relax and know she was going to get some help. She didn't want the same mistake with Goto to happen again on her next date.

"...Is that how Goto fucked it up…?" That was kind of a no brainer. Don't insult them and don't talk about fucking their sister? Did that even need to be prefaced? If so, his opinion on Goto would truly drop. "I guess that makes sense… and it's Agi. It won't be bad for you if anything."

As if on queue, the devil was back and brought a friend. His eyes noticeably widened slightly when Haya appeared.

"...Yup. That checks out," Kuroi commented, unsurprised by the result of Agi's usual antics. "How did he rope you into this?" He asked Haya.

Haya smirked at Kuroi, "I asked Agi to make something for me, so I can give you a gift for all your help and he told me about your training. I thought it would help me too, when I started dating since my Goto date went back and I messed up during it." she told Kuroi, with a smile, "I thought it would be helpful for us both, plus it is very easy to talk to you, so I thought it could be fun." she added.

'Ah, there's the twist.' He thought as he saw Haya walking in. Yori smiled at her and greeted her with a hello. Now that she was here, maybe Kuroi can relax. He supposed Yuri just didn't cut it, even though Yori worked so hard on his disguise.

"Yeah, I wanna help you guys know how to not mess up spectacularly when you get around to dating someone you like." He told the two. "This includes Agi so you know I'm not picking on you two. Haya, Agi, take your seats so we can continue. Kuroi's demonstrated that he knows how to make a decent first impression and can start a conversation."

Yori looked towards Haya. "What about you, Haya? How would you greet your date?"

Haya thought about the questions and shrugged, "Well, when I met up with Goto I tried a joke, but I didn't think it was very funny. So, I would just say Hi and make a comment. she stated, not sure how she should greet her date, but it was how she greeted her friends. Wasn't that kind of the same.


"That's actually a good way to start a date with humor," Agi raised an eyebrow to Haya's comment on Goto… the hell was wrong with that boy as of late.

"Eh don't worry Haya Goto's a certified butt sometimes… We got him a legit certificate to prove it even laminated it. Yori even picked out a pretty snazzy frame for it," Agi jokes as he smiles at Kuroi and Yori as they actually did it.

"You made a mistake…?" Kuroi questioned in a deadpan, not believing that at all. "Gift?"

Again, Agi being involved wasn't a shock to him, though the gift was. Though he supposed that could wait until after the "training". He folded his arms and leaned back a bit, looking over at Agi. "And what's your answer then?"

Haya smirked at Agi, but then nodded to Kuroi, "Yes. I asked too many questions he was not willing to answer and made them sound mean. He is not like hanging out with you. You answer my questions or avoid them in a way I try not to keep pushing. He isn't that good with words." She commented before she smiled, "Not to mention I stabbed him with a toothpick for stealing my food which you have never done." She commented.

Yori couldn't help but chuckle at the last part. "I think reading- well, sensing the mood could have helped you." He commented then added. "Hey, I specifically told him not to steal food and he did it anyway. He deserved that." Yori countered.

It was literally the only piece of advice he was able to give and Goto didn't follow it, much to Yori's annoyance.

"Either way, it's not your fault Haya. A lack of communication and chemistry before the date leads to shitty outcomes."

"Ya stealing food is more in your already together zone not dating zone," Agi nodded stifling a laugh at the fact Goto got stabbed by a toothpick of all things. Haya must have been rather upset in that regard, but hell it was funny to hear.

"A good opener can also be a conversation about how they have been, it can give you the knowledge to the mood their in currently," Agi answered Kuroi.

"In my defense… he made me a liar," Kuroi stated sheepishly. It was funny though. "Either way… I won't eat your food so don't stab me…" It was partially a joke, partially not. He would get Goto back later, possibly when Yori did or at another time entirely.

Kuroi looked back at Agi again, who answered as if he studied for the nonexistent test. "Oh, an expert now, huh?" He seemed all too prepared for this, though Kuroi still couldn't picture the guy on a serious date.

"He's right though. Best not skip boundaries." Yori knew it took a specific type of person to not get at least a little upset about their food being stolen. Even if you were just joking, it could sour the date's mood a bit.

"Hmm, what about etiquette? How good are your dating table manners?" Yori looked at Agi. "You demonstrate too."

"I refer to the fact I don't get the question," Agi nodded at Yuri.

"I mean when you sit down with someone, do you know what you're supposed to do to not look like a slob?" Yori reiterated.

"That's normal table manner rules you goof," Agi chuckled at Yuri's answer.

"Yeah, and Goto seemed to lack them by the sounds of it. So now I have to be sure with you three. Not that I don't think you're all well-mannered, but better safe than sorry." He responded.

"Yuri my dear you wound me I have taken you out fine dining before you know my table manners are well sharpened," Agi jokingly teased as if Yuri was his actual date wounding him with harsh words from a lineage of history dating.

Yori couldn't help but laugh, batting his eyelashes at Agi and smiled when he was finished. "Of course I know, my darling. But again, I have to be sure."

"I'm… with Agi on this. Isn't it basics? Don't chew with your mouth open? Stuff like that." Possibly surprising, but Kuroi had a good grasp on etiquette thanks to his mother. Despite being in a permanent deadpan, she had very little patience for the siblings' chaos at a dinner table. "Just don't be a slob.:

Haya frowned, "I wouldn't know if I have manners or not. But I know some things." She commented as she thought of all the training her uncle gave her, table manners were not something he focused on.

"As long as you know not to lick your fingers, not to steal food, and not to order messy foods for your meal, I'm satisfied." Yori told them. "Alright. Since you know your basics, we can officially begin."

He still wondered why they chose a cafe to do this instead of somewhere more… private. But as long as no one recognized him he didn't mind.

"Take your seats. I'll be monitoring all of you."

"Aight Haya you'll be with Kuroi, and I'll be with Yuri if we see something wrong he will correct it and give an example of how it's done," Agi added as the official mock date of Kuroi, and Haya began.

"Monitoring us…" Kuroi repeated blankly. Staring suspiciously at Agi, who seemed to be trying to wiggle out of his exam. "He said all of us. Don't try to pass off the spotlight."

It was a little weird to act as normal while being examined. He looked over at Haya, but she seemed to be fine with most everything. Kuroi didn't recall seeing her so much as irked.

Haya thought of how to start and then smiled, "Okay, so I guess I will start." she paused. "Hello, Kuroi. Since this is our second date, I will happily pay for you to eat whatever you want. Since I promised to take you somewhere better on our second date." she tried not to laugh. It was a joke before and she thought it would be a fun start to their mock date.

Kuroi deadpanned at her little joke. He couldn't say it was unexpected how she took it in stride. He still didn't like the idea of being monitored, but at least talking with Haya was easy.

"Oh, that's the route you're going… I can see you hiding a little smirk there. Jokes on you; I will hold you to the free food," Kuroi warned with a smirk of his own.

Meanwhile, "Yuri" pouted at Agi. "If you don't say anything I'll think you just don't want to talk to me." He wiped away fake tears.

So far Kuroi and Haya seemed to be doing well. Nothing he needed to butt his nose into at least.

Haya smirked, "Well, I was starting with a joke." she teased. But nodded, she was sure that this was the way she would start a date with Kuroi. "But I did promise, I was just reminding you. So, Kuroi, anything other than cooking you want to talk about, while we wait?" she asked before she pointed out, "Oh, ummm, also, I can't see the menu, so can you tell me what is on it?" she asked. It was a question she would have asked before, but she didn't come here with him to ask on the way.

"I see well you asked for it my love for I have missed you like the sun misses the moon every single day," Agi teased, taking Yuri's hands tightly into his own. It was clear he was joking but the passion behind it was impressively well acted. The look in his eyes staring into Yuris soul.

"Well, I'll take you up on it," Kuroi replied before shrugging slightly. "Well, you could tell me what you conscripted Agi to make… Oh." Once again, blind. The woman was blind. Right.

Kuroi picked up the menu and perused it, listing off various items from pastries to sandwiches and noodles, given it was a cafe. He wasn't sure if she particularly disliked anything. "What do you like? Or hate, for that matter."

Haya giggled, "I don't think you will use what Agi made, but I hope you will at least try it out. Since it is a gift for all your help with cooking and the Goto thing. Even if that was a failure." She smirked, as she thought of what she didn't like.there was very little she had not liked through her years but nothing she would say she hated.

So she shrugged, "I am not that picky when it comes to food so probably something that avoids sugar or beef mostly or pork." She pointed out. It wasn't her being picky; these were things she just was not as freely able to eat as most and she respected her parents rules.

"I'm still going to jump him for making me a liar," Kuroi stated, humming at her answer. He still didn't understand the adherence to such arbitrary rules. It didn't sound like it was due to any religion or anything either. "Right… I don't have to worry about your family hunting me down for that, right?" He questioned, still skeptical of such odd regulations. "Well, there's soup, salads… looks like some noodles too."

Haya smirked, "I am avoiding them knowing, so you should be fine." she pointed out. She honestly was just avoiding Kuroi meeting her family at all. Not because she was ashamed, but because she wasn't sure if her uncle could handle another guy in her life and she seemed to talk about Kuroi just as much as she learned from him. Probably best to keep them apart. She thought of what was on the menu. "I think I will go for the salad part then, without meat. I don't think soup would be a good idea." she commented.

"If they ever do find out, it was Goto," Kuroi remarked, looking inquisitive for a moment. "Why not--oh, right you don't really feel liquid." He forgot about that too. "Alright, salad and I'll get some noodles… Did you want one of the blended drinks or stuff too?"

Haya smirked, when he told her to blame Goto. She didn't expect that telling them about one date would be so bad. She would just have to make sure that her family didn't find out and that would benefit them all. For now, she nodded, "Yes please." She wasn't sure which she wanted, so she said, "Passion fruit milk tea. If they have it."

"That's more like it." Yori responded with a smile, a hand on his cheek as he "blushed." "Only a prince is suitable for my love." He looked back to Haya and Kuroi. "You're both doing great. Keep it up and you'll be experts in no time."

As that was said Agi was paying attention as Haya, and Kuroi interacted so naturally that the nano boy realized this training session wasn't needed, but to take the training wheels of so to speak he needed to just trust that his friend got it.

"Then let us depart my love to the golden sun into the milky way," Agi spoke rather theatrically out of nowhere standing up and placing the suitcase he had brought next to Haya's side before full went to Yuri picking her/him up in a bridal carry without warning. "Now let us bound like star crossed lovers so that these two may also star cross their own journey," Agi chuckled giving a wink to kuroi. As he then proceeded to run off with a startled Yuri right out the door.

Haya wasn't sure if they were acting strange or if that was normal when Yori and Agi were together. But as soon as Agi placed the case down, Haya smirked. This would give her the chance to see if Kuroi would like it. She had hoped he would, but at the same time, his quirk was something that he freely moved with. The Hammer weapon would limit that freedom to some level but she hoped it wouldn't be as bad as him hating it.

Kuroi turned his head to watch as Agi departed like a weirdo. It seemed spontaneous on his part rather than a plan by Yori. Returning his gaze to Haya, he nodded back to the now departed. "So… does that Shakespeare nonsense actually work on girls? It just sounds like gibberish to me."

Looking back to the menu a moment, he set it down and ordered a passion fruit milk tea and salad for Haya and a frappuccino and noodles for himself when the waiter came by. Kuroi appeared particularly content when the chocolate and overly sugary drink arrived with Haya's tea.

"So aside from all that, anything happen lately?"

Haya thought about what had happened and smirked a little. Kuroi had ordered when someone came, so they were just waiting. "Well, I found out I can't work with Isa and probably any of our class that are really big on fighting. Goto doesn't like Apologize, he said I was a little crazy, not sure why though. Amano had a secret from Yori that is interesting and Hideki likes a few girls romantically, including me. By the way, according to Yori, when you said you liked me, you meant romantically and that is what you meant by confession. But other then that, I am excited for the water."

Kuroi paused a bit as she summarized the past series of events. It was clear that moment of silence was used to process all the new information, and then some as he sipped on his drink. "Wow. Okay… You're popular," Kuroi commented. That was a lot to go down.

"Well, yes. Now that Goto made me a liar I might as well not give him the benefit of the doubt; he's a weirdo. Everyone crazy enough to hang around Agi is, pretty much," Kuroi said, appearing to ponder a bit at that. "Though, I do think you are kind of crazy too."

There was quite a bit of other information in there too, but the most notable was Yori. He recalled the conversation that took place in the hospital and quickly put two and two together. It was quite an accusation; Kuroi was late to getting friends, let alone someone of romantic interest. Sure, he was attracted to the girls, but that was mostly on a physical level rather than an emotional one. He didn't know what the emotional aspect was supposed to feel like.

"Well, yeah. That's what confession means… but…" Kuroi paused again. "...I'm pretty much as in the dark as you are with that stuff, so I don't really know what that means, or what that feels like… I'm comfortable around you, I can talk to you, I think you're good-looking, I wanted to kick the airbender's ass when he was gunning for you… Is that what liking someone is like?" He wasn't really sure.

Haya thought about what Kuroi was asking and saying and shrugged, "Well. I am not sure, but if it is...I like talking to you and I think you are cute. I like being around you, although I am not sure how I would feel if someone was attacking you, since it hasn't happened the other way. But I think I would not like it either, so I guess, it is something to think about. But if it is, then I think we are on the same boat."

She thought about what she believed Romantic feelings should be like, from what she knew, they were feelings and like an attachment. But at the same time, she wasn't sure that it wasn't just the fact that they were friends. So, she couldn't be sure how to answer that, without some help. But it was something they should probably figure out. "And how am I crazy?" she half giggled, "I wouldn't jump up talking nonsense, like Agi and carry you out." Of course, she wasn't really sure she could carry him, if that was the case. But she had never been called crazy before, she honestly wanted to know how she could be crazy when she hadn't done anything extreme.

"What, the mudslinger didn't give you anxiety?" Kuroi inquired with a slight tilt of his head. It seemed they were both blind when it came to that. When he posed that question, he wasn't so much asking her for an answer given that they were both so inexperienced. It was something to think about though.

"Weelll… You're willing to become a villain; crazy. You went on a date with Goto; crazy. You're excited for the water; kind of weird, maybe crazy," Kuroi said with a smirk. "And that's probably good because Shakespeare is a deal-breaker for me I think."

Letting out bemused huff, he leaned back in his seat a bit. "But you said Hideki confessed to you?"

Haya looked towards Kuroi and thought about his question, "The Mud guys seemed silly, I was concerned when they tossed me away. I didn't like having to leave you alone with two of them to deal with. But that was about as much as I was concerned with them. They seemed more afraid of you and your quirk, when you finally got to use it." she had been amused by that part. She wasn't sure why, but the mud guys were not something she really thought of as villains.

But then she pouted a little, "The date was a bet, you should always keep your promises. And I just don't want you to be alone, being a villain doesn't really change the way I see myself. My uncle always said there is darkness in us and we have to protect others from it. Hero or Villain I can do that on either side. That doesn't make me crazy, it makes me flexible. And the water is the only time I have peace and quiet, I always hear and feel sounds, but in the water, I don't. See, I'm not that crazy, I do have reasons." she said in a matter of fact way. Of course she wasn't really sure how crazy as a definition worked, passed being out of the ordinary. And it was her ordinary.

Then Haya got confused, "Yes. I was joking about it, and he happened to tell me that he was romantically interested in me and a few other girls, why? Do you think I should ask him how it should feel?"

"Yeah. They were obvious low tiers, not like the wind guy. Still annoying as hell though," Kuroi complained before the topic moved onto that of villainy. "That's why it's crazy, because you're serious. I think you are at least. You'd leave your friends, family, everything behind just so I wouldn't be alone? It's not as simple as doing the right thing, your friends would have to fight you, ANVIL may be after you, you can't freely move around because someone might realize who you are…"

Listing all of that off, he wasn't sure why anyone would seriously consider becoming a villain just because someone close to them did. Particularly him. They weren't dating, or family. She had plenty of other friends, him being gone wasn't worth it.

"The water is fair enough I guess… sounds kind of trippy, but interesting," Kuroi said before shrugging at the Hideki topic. "I mean, maybe? More of I thought when that sort of thing happens you either start dating or get friend-zoned."

Haya tilted her head, "Yes. I will always have my family, I doubt my uncle will just stop talking to me. And yeah, leaving my friends would be bad, but you are my friend too and they wouldn't be alone, you would. You would be leaving your family and friends too. I just don't think that I should let you be on your own. Being a villain might be hard, but I think if I do it with someone, that I can manage to be just fine. I figured you don't want to be alone. Not to mention, I think we would make a good team." she protested. The fact that he wasn't to be a villain was just as crazy, ,but she thought it was logical to help him, like he helped her.

Haya shrugged after a moment, "Honestly, I don't know if I think of Hideki in that way. He is nice, but he is also not on solid ground just yet. Hard to know how to feel about someone who hasn't figured themselves out just yet. So, I will ask him how it feels, but I don't know if I would date him, just because he likes me romantically." she commented.

"I mean, the both of us would be alone if we got put in jail too," Kuroi pointed out. He still didn't follow her logic, but it sounded almost heroic in a naive sort of way. "If I did become a villain, it wouldn't be just to become a villain… something probably happened, and I'd be happier knowing that I didn't drag anyone else down with me. Either way, it's pretty crazy and I'm sure most would agree."

Sipping from his drink with a knowing look, Kuroi listened to what she said about Hideki. He seemed to be a popular one, and he could see why. "I guess we both need a tutorial still," He mused.

Haya sighed, "Well, if we got caught, we would have a lot of memories together. But I think that coming along with you, might convince you to stay as a hero in that case. And besides, if we do like each other, wouldn't it be better that we stick together anyway." she teased. It was half a joke, if she liked him and he liked her, then they would have to decide how to move forward after they figured that out. But she wasn't sure how to ask Hideki about something like that. "I will ask Hideki when I get a chance that way we will know how it should feel. Even if we don't like each other romantically, it is good information to have."

"Huh. Well played," Kuroi commented at her gambit. "Well, luckily for you I'm not planning on being a villain, I'm just not going to be a hero either."

He gave a small nod at that sipped on the straw in his drink. Hideki might have a good answer, but Kuroi didn't feel that good about relying on his description; Hideki was nice, but the level of trust wasn't there. "Maybe I'll ask the guys. Yori should be able to explain it probably… Agi doesn't inspire confidence…"

Haya smirked at him, as she started to drink her tea, "That sounds like we have a plan." She chuckled a little before she sighed, "Okay. We agree." She wasn't sure if it was something Hideki could give her a straight answer on. But she trusted Hideki to tell her how it should feel at least on some level.

"Oh." She said. They were still waiting, so she recalled the case beside her. "I was going to tell you about the gift. I know you don't use gear but I remembered that you candy to dull, blunt weapons. So I thought I would give you one." She told him as she moved towards the case. She moved the case so that its opening was up and when she opened it to revealed a hammer from the land of hell it was murderous crimson red with black steel mixed in a demonic swirl of effect.

The device was clearly a hammer of mechanical design with the head having numerous carved in holes just perfectly size for kurios blood to seep in and spike out from anywhere without warning to the defending party. The head also had spike-like ends clearly with a devilish drill effect in mind. The handle seemed rather small and collapsed with a button noticeable at the apex of where the handle and head met. Clearly it was meant to extend out the serpent like handle into a true warhammer length. Another notable feature was that it was extremely heavy, more a mid length weapons weight thanks to the hollow bits.

Haya looked towards Kuroi, "The handle has a few holes so that when you hold it, you can pour your blood through it to give it force and I thought you could use it if you wanted a more blunt attack. It can take the place of how dense your blood needs to make this kind of weapon." She explained.

Nodding to that, Kuroi's eyes then expectedly watched as Haya brought up the case and revealed a hammer that almost looked like a prop. It had holes throughout the weapon, which he could predict what their use was. Blunt force could be pretty deadly too, but it was probably less than if he stabbed someone cleanly.

He took the handle and pulled it out, which probably wasn't that good of an idea in the cafe, and examined it. He clicked a button on the handle and suddenly the hammer lengthened to that of a maul, forcing him to grasp the handle with his other hand. "Wah-! Okay…" Breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't slammed it into the table, he spun it a bit in his hands. It was a little heavy, but the fact that it could condense meant that he could swap between using it and stowing it.

"Damn, you thought of everything… Now I can worry a bit less about killing someone on accident," He mused, condensing it back into its smaller form, then smiling. "Thank you, Haya… When did you start conspiring with Agi to make this?"

Haya smiled, from the sounds of it, Kuroi liked the gift and she was glad to know that at least. "When I visited him in the hospital last mission. I wanted to give you something for being so nice and helping me learn to cook and yoru help with my date with Goto. Then I remembered Agi and my uncle arguing about how to make a weapon. To avoid explaining why I would want the hammer to my uncle, I asked Agi and told him I wanted something you could use as a malee that was blunt and hollow inside so that you can push your blood through. Something with holes, so you can make sharp short blades if you wanted, while still having a blunt heavy weapon. I just wanted to thank you, because you have been my friend and helped me a lot." she explained.

"Well, I didn't actually end up helping much with Goto…" Kuroi pointed out with a smirk. He put the hammer back into its case so as to not alarm anyone else around them. "But thank you again. I'll put it to good use."

He still didn't know much about her uncle, but it sounded in character for Agi to do something like that, causing Kuroi to chuckle a bit. "Checks out alright... " He mused, shutting the case
closed. "You've been a good friend too… I don't have too easy of a time making more, so you really don't have to thank me or anything."

Haya smirked, "I guess as a friend thanking you is a silly thing to do. But given that you are the only person I haven't learned from and who has managed to help me be more dependant on myself, then to my family. I still think that thanking you is important. I still think that you could make any friend you want. But that might also be the fact that I think you are easy to get along with." she had hoped he would like the gift and was glad that he did. She had not gotten the chance to really do much for him since they started to be friends, but he had done a lot for her. She was starting to think that she might be able to live alone, when she was done with school, alone meant that she would have a chance at something of a normal life.

"So, if you aren't going to be a hero and you go into ANVIL, what would you be doing in ANVIL?" she asked, it was somethings he was still a little not clear of and she wasn't sure i f her gift would be handy for him later when he was part of ANVIL.

"I really didn't do much. I think you just needed to step out of that environment a bit; sounds a bit too suffocating to make you realize what you're capable of," Kuroi replied before gaining a contemplative look. "Not entirely sure. Maybe I'll be put in a task force to go after specific people, maybe I'll just be in charge of guarding some important area. I think it's more likely the former for me though." ANVIL were a bit different from the police and heroes both. He was more likely to take a life there as well. "I'm a bit too combat focused to be keeping watch on some governmental building or research site, but who knows."

Haya nodded, that would make sense as to why he would want to go to ANVIL, "Well, I think you will be fine, whatever you do." He was more combat then anything else, as far as she knew. But that wouldn't be all he was. After what she knew about him, Kuroi could be a lot of things, but he was used to combat, he was used to feeling like a weapon, because of his quirk. "But I think you can do different things too, if you wanted to. After all, if combat was your main focus, you would probably be training all the time and wouldn't have time to hang out. Or figure out if you wer romantically interested in something." she teased.

"Yeah, it won't be so bad," He agreed, though raised a brow at her other encouragement. "I don't think I have many other talents I can make a living off of… and—yeah." He cut himself off a bit. There was the other aspect of wanting to give his mom a bit more rope, and he only saw that as an option if he climbed rank at ANVIL. A part of him forgot that it was still a secret and Kuroi sipped his drink in an awkward silence afterwards.

Haya looked towards him suspiciously, he cut himself off and she thought it was a little strange, but again, maybe she shouldn't push him. After all, he was her friend and she didn't want to force him to tell her anything he didn't want to. But she could tell already that there was something he avoided talking about. From the time they met, she thought she would just wait it out, he would have to tell her at some point. "You have a few talents that you could, if you used them. Of course, I am not sure which ones you should use, since you have yet to show them all to me." she smirked as she thought of something, "Or you could always just teach people like you teach me." she chuckled slightly.

Kuroi let out a bemused scoff at that. "I don't think I'd have the patience for teaching," He replied. No, the future was looking to be business as usual for him. Better to play to your strengths, and he still needed to help his mom.

Thankfully, the food arrived before the topic could delve into that pause. The pair talked a bit more as they enjoyed their meals. Afterwards, free from any Agi shenanigans, the two shared company a bit longer on their way back to the dorms.

When Haya and Kuroi got the the dorms, Haya smirked towards Kuroi, "Well, it was a forced second date, but I think it went just fine." she commented, from their earlier conversation. "I will see you later, Kuroi. I think I have had more excitement today then this entire weekend. I'm glad you like the gift, try not to hurt Agi with it." she teased, as she moved to start up the stairs to the girls side. It wasn't a busy day, but she felt like a lot got done and that meant that she was just about ready to rest for the evening. Hanging out with Kuroi was always interesting.

"I can't complain," Kuroi replied. He seemed to consider something for a few moments before smiling a bit and shaking his head. "I'm not promising that, but I'm glad I made your day… See you, Haya."
 
So far as Mari stood with Instructor Ota reviewing what information they had found, or rather been lead into, Mari was set to build the teams with him and the Principle, not all information could be given to her fellow classmates, at best only a couple could be told what was happening as she poured over the information files. Part of her envy'd her classmates that may want this job, they had no idea what they were asking

"Everything alright MIss Nakao," Principal Amagi asked as the reviewed information was laid out to her. It was unsettling what was going on, but after all the information found by the class, Anvil, the Police, and HA it was crystal clear what was happening. Multiple striking points would be needed to nip such a psychotic element immediately, but the thin next work had multiple holes stretching all the parties thin. Ergo as much as Anvil, nor HA wanted to go this route the help of Suppression more capably classes were being given a life audience into the fray.

"Never will a chance to test yourselves like this pop again. If you want to make an impact to show your country what you will do to protect it this is it. This will get bloody very quick. Yet such should be expected from such an old element lurking in the dark. A loose root needing a little extra dose of poison to kill off," Amagi expressed to the kitty.

Looking over to her she did not seem as gung ho about it as she did. "I rather we not have anything to do with it at all if I'm honest. Isa very well could have died, as could most of the people on the Bus team.. But this is the life we chose.. However, that is not on my mind right now."

Recalling the recording from before she continues. "It said a She was helping them, and I believe that person is in our class as I believe that this information is being given to us by design. Someone wants what is happening to be stopped. And while it is something we should stop for the sake of our world, that bit bothers me. It is clearly not me, but could it be one of the newer girls or one of the older? There is one I would care to paint because of her eccentricities but she has fought alongside us till now.. For that reason alone I would like to have one team made up of some of our best to be a mobile reserve and to keep some of the teams as patrol groups, no other team will be given the information that they are with one another and I want to make a failsafe should they not check in with my communicator. I cannot control the field of battle but I can attempt to direct it." Mari says in rapid order as Ota adds in…

"However at least one in the reserve team must know the truth. The question is who."

"In truth this life has a low chance of happy endings Calico. Hero death rates are one of the highest of any job next to Anvil. Yet no one every thinks about that when they jump in," She responded in understanding she adjusted herself in her seat giving Ota a look before adding.

"Isa has comeback ready to hit harder, Katsumi has tempered herself to take out a pro villain with a low grade sword that had quirk designed to fuck her over, Kaizen has been adjusting himself with gear, Yori has jumped leaps in capability, and Agi himself has adjusted to new styles of combat Ota tells me the boy even was immediately able to have a handle of his situation from the go on his last mission," Amagi pointed out to the growth of her classmates that she seemed keen on concern.

"The voice is Mobius's he is well known for switching sides on the dime, and it's quite clear someone wants this mess handled while these degraded folds of the past number one are unaware that they're being hunted," Amagi mulled clearly not happy about that element either.

"Though who will be left to Anvil, and HA for now we handle the immediate threat. Your request is granted. Be careful who you assume though it's very much up in the air to bite at random," Amagi concluded.

"I already have in mind to have Agi, Hideki, Amano and Yamoshi on the response team. If it is one of the girls then it is a three to one odds fight. The question is which one of them do I trust with the true purpose of their patrols? And even if heroes die that does not mean I will just cast them as if to be ashes into the sea. Personal bias could affect my decision, but for the time being and because of this I am suggesting Hideki, he can relay the purpose to the others when and if it should become needed… The other teams will be as follows, from what I've decided with the instructor, plus their purposes;

Isa, Kuroi, Goto and Vigridis. They are to stay for an assault on any new or uncovered labs we may find.

Hotaru, Yori, Katsumi and Daichi. They are on patrol in the surrounding area.

Kaizen, Vitalis, Mitsuo and Aika. They'll be handling any needed evacuation efforts in the surroundings.

Haya, Rosali, Iniji, and Ren shall be sent to raid one of the other sites.

Myself, Kikyo, Amon and Ichika shall be raiding one of the other sites as well.

Team Agi, Hideki, Amano and Yamoshi shall be left in reserve roughly center to all of our patrols.. I may want to sneak trackers onto some of our team comm units but that may be going too far.."


"Personal bias," the Principal asked with a raised eyebrow in confusion looking at Ota looking for an answer to that unexpected hint of the situation.

"I understand no one wants to be the reason a soul loses their life. I am just pointing out miis Nakoa that sooner or later you will experience so, so steal your nerves for when it comes," she explained.

"These teams are solid for the matter at hand. In this scenario you should. Trickery is already about, your classmates will understand when the matter is done, and you can apologize then," Amagi nodded knowing full well this would be a rocky boat for a bit once this was all handled.

"When it is all said and done they can remove me from leadership if they wish it. I've already accepted that as a possibility. And I know I cannot keep them all safe from harm, all I can do is make the most of it. As to the Bias I'm aware of and I will still throw them to the wolves, I will have to deal with whatever comes of it, however in this case my choice on who to tell is still a sound one."

For his part Ota seemed to disagree with the notion of spying on the communicators but says nothing, having no better alternative to note.

"Well, let's go then. We'll make the normal transportation arrangements, ANVIL and the HA will be informed of what we are doing." Adds in Ota as he sets about enacting the plan of the two women.

"No no no, someone answer me. What do you mean by personal bias, young lady? What am I not aware of Ota," she asked, looking at Mari's homeroom teacher with a glare before looking at the team in question. Amano, Hideki, Agi, and Yamoshi…

Ota smiles at that, motioning for Mari to leave. "Your school never had a no dating rule my lady. Why if I were not a married man I might even take you on a date to ease those old bones of yours. So long as it doesn't become a problem I don't mind the students forging such bonds.. When and if it becomes a problem, then should we act, no?"

"Wait, wait, your most high standard of student is actually having a dating life? Also kiss my ass Ota not all of us had the opportunity to date we were buried in dealing with major crime waves..guhhh even my own students have a better chance of dating than I do," Amagi slammed her head into her desk in defeat.

"Little kitty even got a high value one given this line up. Don't taunt me, you ice cold married asshole… no there's no problems with students dating…. YOU LUCKY GAHHHH FELINE," Amagi forced herself to not curse as she got back up to flop back onto her desk again in defeat.

"Well she does mimic the money greeting cat, they are known for luck and fortune.. Though if I may make a suggestion, why don't you try an arranged dating service, there are many heroes like you in Japan...but ah, the springtime of youth, let's hope the chill of winter doesn't set in for you." Smiling at that, it was nice to rile the woman up. More so as they didn't know for sure if the next meeting would be such a carefree one.

"CRAM IT UP YOUR ASS,"
Amagi roared as her mug barely missed his face as he retreated through the entrance with sharp precision.

~~~~

Checking out the Gauntlet that Agi had made for her, Mari was rather impressed with it and it even went well with her outfit, the knife was still a feature she didn't care to use but knew would be useful. Not telling the teams the details of what they were doing, and entrusting them to the leaders alone and separately, she hands out their communicators, one for each team leader, most of these orders were to wait for further instructions or to help police raid some locations, patrolling in general or helping civilians in need. True to her conversation from before, Mari told them no more than they needed to know and went out of her way to make it seem the missions were away from one another. Humming to herself the teams were led to vans or picked up by police squad cars, the plan was in motion...

~~~~An hour later~~~~

After being dispatched by Mari, the Principle and Ota Sensi, Kaizen found himself as a team leader with Vitalis, Aika and Mitsuo to patrol a factory district, while other teams were on dispatches for everything from raids to additional patrols and other missions aside. Primarily the hidden purpose of this mission was to follow a few leads, the details of each mission and the true purpose behind them hidden from all save two. Neither of those were on this team were privy to this information.

Over the course of their brief patrol a large swarm of robots, weaker than before with a few as strong and one red machine which was stronger began to take on the group. Though of no danger themselves the civilians around the area were in danger and all of the other teams were committed to actions elsewhere, to which Kaizen at the prompting of Vitalis took the offensive while Mitsou and Aika were left to handle the clean up and evacuations.

Unknown to Kaisen was the fact Vitalis would lead him into a trap as they chased the Red Machine and unknown to Vitalis was the fact all team leaders were given secret instruction to call in with a pulse every hour across their communicators to Mari's new communications gauntlet, a hidden purpose was behind this. So this game of cat and mouse would now begin with neither sure of just which they were. Unknown to Kaizen and to the knowledge of Vitalis, the Robots were already withdrawing, their remaining numbers needed elsewhere. A widespread attack with no purpose is not what they were here for.

"Ai Sharp, Chamaleo, get the civilians to safety. Shadow Mist, come with me." The bugster springs into action, keeping up with the lead machine by propelling himself with a few explosions. This whole thing was strange to Kaizen, the robots supposedly attacked the civillains, yet none of them were injured. There doesn't appear to be any stolen goods, or anything else. It was as if it was made to lure them out. Good, these robots seemed to be made by the same person, the bald headed bastard. If he's lucky, maybe they'll lead him to their creators. "HQ, this is team one. Shadow Mist and I are in hot pursuit of the robots, we'll probably need back up if we end up with more of them." He contacted suppression, letting them know about his current plans.

"Hurry, after it!" Vitalis called to Kaizen, as they chased the Red Machine, while covertly checking her messages. The designated site was just up ahead. She put her phone away and raced behind Kaizen, ready to act.

As the pair gave chase to the red machine, it took them deeper and deeper into the district, towards an abandoned section, a word of "acknowledge" came across Kaizen's comm but nothing else but a strange static, thick and heavy. And just like that in the middle of a loading square, the robot stops and turns around, hovering in place as it lands on it's feet, it's mono eye blinking red as it stares at him in defiance. A beep emerged and the hiss of servo gas as if to say "I'm done running."

"End of the line, robot." Kaizen spoke out loud as he landed in front of the red terror. It was strange, the place he took him too was old and abandoned, a prime place to set up a trap.He didn't know what type of armaments the robot had so he was very cautious in his approach. Grabbing a nearby manhole cover and using it as a makeshift shield, the bugster slowly walked towards the red robot. "Stay close, Shadow mist." he told his teammate, advising her to stay close to him. He was thankful to have her by his side since she can knock out just about anyone as long as they stood in her mist long enough.

Vitalis skid to a stop right behind her companion. She looked up at the big robot. Then over at Kaizen. "Yess, Apexx," she acknowledged, sticking close. Or as close as she would normally dare in such a dangerous situation.

With sudden surprise the ground starts to open under Kaizen as a girl with razor sharp teeth much like Isa's and with silver hair shows up, a group of giant centipedes circle around her with an assortment of other large insects scurrying about below and around them. She however does nothing but stares at him as the dust rolls around, as Kaizen is faced with this, the Red Robot jumps in on top of him.

Then a gathering of goons stood over the edge looking down, strangely not attacking Vitalis as a man in a medical coat with a gas mask on, removes a pair of gloves and starts to sprinkle strange purple spores from his hands into the hole. Drowsiness starts to build heavily upon Kaizen, the robot remains unaffected. "I don't think this will be enough, he is an impressive specimen."

Vitalis quickly turns into a burst of mist to avoid falling into the hole. She lands up on the outer rim. The girl frowns. She really would've preferred to use the syringe, but with Kaizen's exoskeleton that wasn't possible. With a simple glare at the man, she begins to release her mist into the hole. It would weaken him alongside the gas.

The bugster had only a few moments to react to the disturbance in the ground. As soon as the ground begin to give way, he would instinctively attempt to jump upwards, only to be intercepted by the red robot from earlier. As he was pinned down in the hole, he could see numerous goons standing over him, including Vitalis herself. He had a lot of questions in his mind, but he was much too focused on getting the pile of red scrap off him.

He began pushing against the robot with all his might, causing a few of it's servos to smoke as he overpowered the machine. A few seconds, he would completely break the robots arms before kicking it away. He immediately noticed a strange sensation within him. He seemed tired and drowsy, despite having just started the fight. He looked up in shock to see that both the strange mask man and Vitalis were releasing their respective powers onto him. He could see his vision already begin to blur. He knew he only had a minute or a few more seconds at most, so he had to make them count. The bugster, using whatever strength he had left, shot out a strand of web to pull himself out of the hole.

Vitalis's gaze connected with Kaizen's as he looked up at her. Causing the girl to solemnly look away. Yet she continued to release her mist into the hole.

"The mist just affects quirks. Jump in and take him down, we don't want to harm him, just sedate him. Your needles should be able to pierce his exoskeleton for now. Just a mild sedative to work with what we have.. Insectica, use the venom you and your pets have." Dr Foxglove seemed to be saying all of this for the sake of Vitalis more than for any other reason as he gloves his right hand and lays it upon her shoulder. "Do not look away, history is being made.. Once we have him contained, would you like to have words with him before we begin?"

As he says that a few of the men brave the settling mist, each with a syringe in hand as three giant Centipedes circle around Kaizen to inject their venom into him through biting.

"Actually my misst affectss more than that," she stated, but realized it probably didn't matter. She glanced over at him when his hand was placed on her shoulder. She was jumpy. Doing all this felt wrong, but.. She knew it was right. "Wordss for him?" She frowned. "N-no…" She didn't know what to say to Kaizen, and certainly didn't want to be put in that position.

As the men and insects descended into the hole, Kaizen would respond in kind, pummeling as many of them as possible. Despite being stabbed by needles and pincers alike, Kaizen kept fighting and fighting. He didn't feel any physical pain, the only thing he felt right now was the sting of betrayal. After a few more seconds of combat and plenty of broken bones from the enemy, Kaizen let out a final animalistic roar of defiance. He threw the manhole cover from earlier towards the mask man as a last ditch effort to take him down before finally falling into a deep slumber. His eyes locked onto his would-be friend before he collapses.

Taking a couple steps back and to the rear the Doctor smiled beneath his mask before speaking up so that what few men that did not jump into the hole could nor hear. "That was said by me so they would jump in to attack him.. The truth is not always such a good thing… You also misunderstood what I meant by words for him.. Once we are in the lab would you like to explain what you are doing and why? We shall inject him once you are done but he will be restrained until then. Take your time to think about it..

As to you.." He says to the woman with the bugs. "Await the trespassers at our alternate sites.. I only give us but so long till they hit us." With that he decides to add in. "Your friends are nearing some of our other sites.. The main lab should still be secure, but I would like you to accompany us. Should an attack happen some of mine will assist you in buying time for evacuation of the site and it's research.. However I don't think that will happen and our red friend here will handle a great deal of the security tasks."

Vitalis had a sad frown when Kaizen finally passed out. She looked towards the man beside her. She wasn't totally happy with what he said, but realized he was right. Sometimes the truth was not the best course of action -- she understood that more than anyone, having to hide her utter contempt for quirks for so long.

The small Alucard nodded. "I will defend what iss necesssary to defend." If the others were nearing the sites, that didn't bode well for her stint in Suppression. Maybe that was coming to an end.

With all of this said they move Kaizen to the hidden lab, the main one among many other test and dummy sites. Time was on their side.. All shall go to plan, and once he had the materials he needed… Smiling beneath his mask, he takes a deep breath after Kaizen was tied down, bound to a medical bed with Dr Mobius watching with his Red machine.

"...Would you care to have words with him or do we press ahead?"

Vitalis rested her hand on her friend. All she had to say was this, "I'm ssorry Kaizzen, but thiss hass to happen."

Kaizen finally regained his consciousness, although things were still fuzzy, he could see that he was strapped onto an operating bed. He was still too weak to break his restraints, but he was at least strong enough to talk. "I do not know who you are..or what you did to force her to work with you, but when I break out of here…. I will break all of you…" he said, staring down at the man who was supposedly in charge. To think criminals like these were able to somehow coerce Vitalis to do their bidding. The thought of it was sickening.

She was impressed he was able to speak like that. She furrowed her face and frowned, looking away. Vitalis had no doubt he meant what he said, but since she knew more than he did, she highly doubted he would be able to do as he threatened.

He turned to Vitalis and spoke. "I don't know what circumstances lead to this, but I am sure you had a good reason for doing this. Rest assured, I'll get us out of this." He comforted his friend, still fully convinced that she was coerced into doing this. For now, he needed to wait until his strength returned, but he had a feeling that might take awhile.

The Gas mask wearing man snorts at that, while Doctor Mobius had a look that could be best described as smearing indignation as he left the room finding himself needing to be elsewhere, but neither says anything for now.

"A pity..Ignorance is such a common thing.. Why it's almost you had someone that hates quirks as a friend..as loath as she is to acknowledge her situation.." Doctor Foxglove says in a quiet barely audible tone.

"Test number 43.. Subject...Hmm… A Bugman." Motioning for Vitalis to head towards the door, he starts the injection, almost immediately and intense heat would circulate around Kaizen, prodding and piercing as the needle injected the serum into him, the effects were nearly immediate as exoskeleton painfully gave way to flesh. "Oh so there was a human behind it..he purposely looked like that! He wasn't a Mutation at all!" Foxglove says in a rare outbreak of rage and emotion as he slammed the empty syringe into the floor, looking at Vitalis he motions with his hands. "He wasn't a mutation at all! How could you not…." Shaking his head, calm descends once more as he turns his head. "This will still have some value.. Also.." Pausing for a bit he holds his right hand to his ear, clenching his jaw. "Your friends among others are starting to hit the compromised labs.. This place must be protected till the study has concluded and the research is finished…" Placing a had forward he directs Vitalis towards the door, she didn't seem to have anything to say and if she did in parting, well he frankly didn't care. This test would gain little of value as far as he was concerned..

He looked around once more, trying to find a way out but it was to no avail. "If you gonna torture me for information, you're not gonna have any luck. I don't feel pain, so break whatever you want." He boasted. He could feel the multiple needles piercing into him and injecting whatever substance. Seconds later, his exoskeleton would violently peel itself off, orange liquid began pouring out of the cracks. The remaining flesh within mutated rapidly, changing its shape back to something more human. For the first time in years, Kaizen could be heard screaming in pain not from the needles, but the violent transformation, before reverting back to his human form and passing out. "I'll get you for….this…" he muttered before passing out.

Vitalis heard that Kaizen was still on her side; he was still willing to believe in her. That made her inwardly happy, but broke her heart. She glimpsed what the serum did to him, and was slightly stunned as his flesh appeared. She had suspected, since she had seen Kaizen take on multiple forms. Still, he was a mutation to an extent. She looked towards Foxglove, fully expecting him to make some use of this, regardless of his whining. Still, with what he said about the other compromised labs, she paused.

Then her face hardened and she nodded. It seemed she wouldn't be returning to Suppression after this. Time to come out of the shadows. Vitalis turned and left the room, to defend what she had to, what she believed in.
 
@RedArmyShogun @Thaleko @TreasureSniper

As Kaizen laid helplessly in his human form, partially sedated, the bald form and bushy mustache of Doctor Mobius entered the room as he holds a PDA in his hands, with a wide grin and large teeth shining through. Now with Doctor Foxglove gone he comes up to Kaizen directly and laughs. "What an idiot. She thought you were a mutant and suffering, but your opinion of her is equally a stupid one. Much like the Ignorant masses you require Education. Though I must admit, I'm surprised there's such an average looking boy under that monstrosity."

"...You…." The bugster recognized his face as the creator of the robots, at least thats what he assumed. "What do you want baldy? Come to brag about your victory over me?" He said in annoyance. He was human again. But he wasn't sure how permanent these effects were. "And what does that education entail hmm?" he asked, trying to find a way to escape.

"Why, I'm here to give you the water of life! Ahahahaha! Ah..It's been about an hour hmm... You see your quirk has an inhibitor around it, be it short lived or self destructive. And more importantly I'm going to show you the truth! And do you know why?" He says as he holds up a syringe of his own.

"And the truth about what exactly? You just want a guinea pig right? Why waste the time talking to me about it?" He questioned, trying to get one of his hands loose.

"Hahaha! That will not help you! But it's simple! I've been leaking the information to your friends all along and I have a little video I want you to see, you who have stopped my machines twice now.. You see, why I do this? It's on principle. These idiots are trying to make a new world, or returning to the old one, using the same things over again and again. And if you are going to be evil EMBRACE IT LET IT FLOW THROUGH YOU!" He says slamming his massive hands into the medical table, bashing in part of it.

"But her, her, oh the tragic saint, but she'll run to her friends and talk them out.. Which is what I need you for. You are going to help me erase this building and that little witch from the surface of this planet."

"What the hell are you on about? Villain having principle? Such nonsense." he was confused by what he was saying. Tragic saint and what not. "And why would I help scum like you? And even if I did, my human self would be of no use to you." He replied with disdain. He was still confused by the whole ordeal. But one thing was for sure, the desire to take this man alive was getting lower and lower by the second.

"AHahahaha!" "Oh how the ignorant seem to have all the answers, but first a little game. You'll stay there and watch this here.. Then I'll have more to say and more to do."

The PDA starts playing the videos of was them Vitalis snuck out to plot a few things, in one part of the mission she shows rather well how important she seen all of this and her own venom towards the world of quirks.

"I have a progress report." Says a simple message with a purple fox icon, to Vitalis's smartphone. "Do you wish it in person?"

Vitalis looked at her phone after it buzzed. She sighed. These type of messages were so strange. She knew most of what they discussed couldn't be said over the phone. 'Yes. Be there soon.' She texted back.

"Very well." He had not expected her to just sneak out of her school, though this also worked, pinging a location it wasn't too far from the school, a public park about an hours walk away, though it was rather empty, or typically it was such. He had little else to do but wait.. Wait and make sure his insurance was rolling.

Sneaking out of school was a 'breeze' for Vitalis. With a few glances around, she mist-formed and darted up into the gentle breeze blowing, and was well on her way to the pinged location. She alighted down somewhere and pulled a hoodie over her head, walking the rest of the way.

The hooded girl glanced about the park.

On a bench sat a man with a gas mask, throwing bits of bread crumbs on the ground as a larger heavyset man laughed and walked away, making sure no one would come into the park, even if for just a little while. "I would ask you if you were followed but if that were so our problems would be upon us already… Miasma, or would you rather My Lady?" The figure was known to her, Doctor Foxglove.

"You try following the wind," she murmured, walking over. She furrowed her brow, then shrugged. "Do as you will." She understood she couldn't go by her usual names here. "Lady, My Lady, Misss, or whatever iss fine. Now why did you call me here?"

"Your class, and I know it was yours, proved most problematic, I am having to look for alternatives to the supply.. In the future if your team starts to stumble upon too much we may need to communicate more for a way to..resolve this. Either way I called you out to inform you we will be starting tests towards the genetic inhibitor. I suspect we'll be able to do more tests in the days to come. The initial results are promising."

He described how her class got in the way and that made her frown. Even if it was her class, she wouldn't tolerate them getting in the way of their ultimate goal. "Let me know, and I'll help. I don't want them getting in the way either." She clicked her tongue. "Inhibitor? That word is too light," she mumbled. "But good. I'm glad to hear it."

"Well that is what it does, it inhibits a quirk. If it works as the tests seem to hint, then it accomplishes..our goals yes? Though I may need some additional help, I'll try handling it on my end for now. I'll upload you videos of the most promising of tests, just be mindful when you watch them. Your school seems to monitor for transmissions out so much as files in.. Well minus the net."

"Inhibitss?!" Vitalis hissed, stepping forward and grabbing the man's collar with surprising force. Her red eyes gleamed fiercely into his. "Desstroying, quirks desstroying." She spat into his face. "That'z what you promised! Can you not do that?!" Mist rose from her hands that were grabbing his collar, and the material began sizzling and hissing.

"To erase something one must learn to command how it turns on and off. If quirks were so simple they would have been removed long ago. The King of Villains understood the importance of Research and Development. But if you wish to have Pompeii over Rome, do as you like." He says flatly in his response. "Progress is a measured thing, not a coat of paint."

"I know it may take awhile, I'm prepared for that. If other ressearch iss necesssary to get there, then fine, jusst make that more obviouss when you're sspeaking," Vitalis stated, releasing him. "Okay. Iss that all?"

"Unless you had more use for me, our business for now is concluded. I just thought it best to not tell you to check your video files blindly.. We'll use the security protocol I shared with you before.. Least it becomes compromised it should all be fine."

"Fine fine, okay." Vitalis turned to go, tugging to make sure the hood covers more of her face.

"Do not worry so. History is being made, those that cannot keep up will be swept aside, I suspect you'll be surprised within a day or two." And with that he heads off as the larger man seeks to join him.

It was, wasn't it? "I hope to seee a good surprisse," she said with a wave of goodbye.

~~~

A few days past events old and current, a text comes from the man once more, simple in it's contents. "Status update, important information. Meet up or over this?"

Vitalis frowned. Texting. "Kay."

With this out of the way the same meeting spot was arranged as far, with Foxglove and Mobius waiting beside one another in the park.

Vitalis arrived a short while later, in a puff of her mist.

"I see you have came, I have some news in regards to the progress we have made, though not all news is good. Would you rather the bad news or good news first?"

Vitalis perked up. She liked hearing news about their joint operation. Progress on it always interested her. She deflated when he said it wasn't good news. "Just tell me what I need to know," she murmured.

"Well we've made progress as you can see here." Pulling out a remote viewer a man was shown which had some sort of elemental arms, with an injection they went away and the man seemed rather pissed about this fact a couple hours later as the video fast forwarded, though he then showed signs of physical rejection of the injection before the video cut out. "This was a failure."

Pausing at that he continues. "But we are this close. On the verge of success, the problem now is genetic variation and having a need of some materials and a longer lasting formula."

"And what about that bad news?" Adds in the bald man with the mustache.

"...Some of our labs have been compromised, information not dealt with as it should be, in short order I believe we should abandon the project for now, they may have a bread crumb trail leading to both you an I."

Vitalis watched the video. She appeared engrossed when his quirk apparently disappeared. Then she frowned. "Failure? Physsical rejection? What iss a failure?" she questioned.

She furrowed her eyebrow. "Genetic variashun? You don't have enough variashun in genetics? There'ss plenty of people out there." She hated saying it, but it was necessary. "Materialss? What materialss? What do you mean "longer lassting"? It'z suppossed to lasst forever!"

Her brow twitched with anger. "Abandon it?! What do you mean?! How can you jusst abandon it?! If your lab iss compromissed then that'z your fault. Hide, grab up all of thosse 'crumbss' and hide. Do you undersstand? Or do you need my help with ssomething?" She was not pleased to hear the crumbs could lead back to her. She thought she had been very sneaky with it all. "Why would any of the crumbs lead back to me?"

"Because-" As Foxglove starts to try explaining the barrage of questions, Mobius laughs, the light reflecting off of his bald head and goggles.

"Ah.. But does it matter if you are found out? Do you plan to just live your whole life with a double ego till you have to dirty your hands? You worry too much as does he.. There were two we found within your class that would suffice to make our work operational. I suggested them and tried to kidnap one. Or do you think the giant cyborg was by chance? The alternative and arguably superior subject would be the bug boy. He has the resolve and physical prowess to survive to carry out the treatment.. Will you sit on the sidelines or will you grab the future by your own two hands?!" With a final smile, he turns his head to Foxglove, who studies him closely.

"He is not wrong, if we could get our hands on a pro level specimen that is so vastly far removed from a baseline human, we could likely work out the imperfections in the serum. The problem is catching him, we tried once and failed."

Her red eyes flicked to the other man. "I hold no thoughtss that I will remain in the shhadows. But the longer I do, the higher the chhance I succeeed iss."

Kaizen? She thought about it. She did want to free him from his torment as a walking bug. "Will the tessting on him causse him any danger? Kaizzen iss my friend. I want to help him."

"We'll have to administer lower doses to be safe. What we are attempting amounts to genetic therapy. So it will be some time till he is cured as you would want to think of it. But that time would be measured in weeks at most."

With that, Mobius exchanges glances with Foxglove and speaks up. "I would give him a 90% survival and success rate once we can iron out the formula. There is no such thing as 100% odds when it comes to revolutionary medicines."

Vitalis frowned. She really did not like Mobius one bit. His cavalier attitude towards life bothered her. "Weekss?" she repeated. She thought about it. "Even if I can convincce or get Kaizzen away. I'm not shure he can be hidden for weekss.."

"Well if we want to be more risky the time goes down. Science can only move so fast without risk. The formula could be guess worked but at a higher potential cost to your friend. Many great men died making flight a reality. I suppose we could test on the more..base of people till we can get him, make him the trial run?" Doctor Mobius asks.

Doctor Foxglove for his part nods. "Yes we could do that.. Salvation does not come without losses, we can just insure he is not one of them to the best of our ability."

Vitalis narrowed her eyes at the mention of "losses". But she was aware of this fact. She just didn't want to make Kaizen a "loss". "Well, whatever, iss that all? Did you tell me both your 'good newss' and 'bad newss'? What iss it you need from me?"

"We will need you to aid us in bringing him to us and as we said you are likely to be found out. Is it not time you take hold of what you created and led it?" Foxglove asks.

"Don't tell me what I shhould or shhouldn't do. You're here to create what I assked. Don't pressume you know me." Vitalis hissed. "I'll bring Kaizzen. Anything elsse?"

"Be on the lookout, your friends may piece this all together, At this date, bring him to this location, we'll have others to help restrain him, then you can watch and guard over the procedure." Foxglove says.

Vitalis nodded. "Okay."

Mobius smiles before heading off on his own. Very happy he lets out another laugh as Foxglove gives a bow to Vitalis with and speaks. "Be aware that your friends will likely come to stop us. You must decide how you wish to react to this."

She turned to look him square in his face. "I deciided to do thiss a long time ago. I know what it will mean. No one can or will sstop me. I'll even facce my friendss, if I have to."

"Very well, just give us some time and we'll make arrangements to help you with this, I will personally assist you in this task.. We have a special base for this that only I and a few others have known about to this point, so even if the other sites are compromised this one should not be."

"Good. Give me itz locashun sso I can bring Kaizzen."

With that he shows the location on the cellphone and sets up a meeting date and time. "We'll keep this flexible, when your misguided colleagues start their movements, more so if on our sites we'll set up an ambush to separate him." Foxglove adds in as the other doctor keeps silent.

Vitalis nodded. She would have to figure out how to convince Kaizen to come with her and lead him away from everyone else and into the ambush. It would be beyond a problem if the rest of the class noticed the disappearance.


"I hate when villains act like that. We go all in or we end up all dead. Ahahaha!"~

Kaizen's widened in surprise and shock at witnessing the video. While he still didn't want to believe she was willingly working with these people, it would explain the security breach they had from their previous mission. "What did you do to her? Is it mind control? Did you threaten her family?" He asked, still in denial of his friend's involvement. In his eyes, there was still a chance that it was completely her fault. But that probability is growing smaller every second.

"You really are a stupid boy. You don't understand how fucked in the head she is. She funded this little party with her allowance for some time, she is aware that our work has killed people and she willingly led you here to "cure" you of the sickness of quirks. Like so many people, history stares you in the face and you ignore it! And ha! Her Family! You should really learn more of them, from kidnappings to eugenics even I envy them!"

Slamming a fist into the table, he stares and then rolls his neck, still smiling as he does so. "Given you can't figure it out, I'll tell you." Holding up the syringe he looks at the boy without a pause of doubt in his words.

"I'm going to make you follow my plan. You will regain your form and you will Destroy this place as that is my will. I shall unlock the secrets of life, I'm plotting my schemes wherever I go, they are perfect in every way! I will conquer the world with my tools, all of my machines are made for destruction….. And you see that is the problem. This little Witch wants to remove all quirks but that is what she doesn't understand!"

Sweeping his arms wide, he lays an Arm around the side shoulders of Kaizen as he holds the syringe outwards as his gaze shifts over. "The Age of Quirks is over! It is not enough that I prove the Machine is stronger, it is not enough that I could take down human forces with what I have.."

"I must crush you all when you are at your strongest. None shall question my victory, there will be no whataboutisms. My Victory will be total and complete… So I'm going to make you strong.. So strong you won't be able to handle it till you calm down a bit.. Destroy the Witch, destroy the lab, destroy it all… Not that you have any say! For I have the Master Plan! Ahahahaha!"

"Ah, I got carried away. Do you have anything to say?"


Kaizen heard his explanation of Vitalis and suddenly a lot of things made more sense to him. From his past interactions with her, and her relationship with her mother. Given how little he knew about the girl's actual past, his explanation wouldn't be that far fetched, especially based on what he heard from her cousin about their family.

Upon seeing the syringe, he had a hunch of what was to come. But strangely enough he was not afraid. He raised his head, glaring at the man with a look of determination. "Go ahead, do your worse. But when all is said and done. I will find you. Not matter how many of your toys or mooks you send my way, I will break them, just as I will break you." It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. Despite his anger towards him, he did respect his vision for defeating his enemies at their strongest. Whatever happened next, he knows he has to survive it, and if possible this bald bastard doesn't.

"Oh how I like threats! But your blue friend may not like you getting in his way! As if either of you had a chance… But you see boy, I won't be here, but ah, oh well. This may take a few minutes but that's all the time I need! And worry not, I'll see you again! So I can put you in your place.." With that he injects the shot into Kaizen and laughs, leaving the needle as he walks away, slamming his hand into an access panel everything would be left as it was, as chills broke out within Kaizen, Doctor Mobius was quick to leave, though the area was still occupied as a curious Doctor Foxglove looks on as the syringe falls, not noticed by his vision as he keys a comm unit beyond the looking glass.

"Mobius, get out to the outer line! What are you still doing here?!" Huffing a bit he comes to enter the room and notices the syringe as he looks at Kaizen, his masked face hiding any signs of emotion as he calls the red robot in to follow him as a few minutes passed to check on his test subject.

Kaizen's body begins to violently shake as his begins to rapidly metamorphosize into his beetle form rather painfully as he screams once more. With his strength returned, he tears through his restraints with ease. The bugsters reemerges in his insect in its full splendor. His eyes glowed with a red rage and vengeance. The only thing in his mind was tearing his enemies asunder. With a kick from his strong legs, he propelled himself towards the masked doctor, aiming to land a solid hit towards his face.

Taking the hit on the Mask, Foxglove watches as a section shatters and he hurriedly backpedals out of the room. "Dammit! So close!" Leaving the Red Machine to engage with Kaizen as he scrambled out of the room, calling for guards as he hurriedly calls into his hand and ear. "Deal with the intruders! There is a disruption in the base, taking the research and leaving! Will send reinforcements!"

With that Kaizen was left to face the machine as about a dozen varying gang or mercenary types start to ready a defense in the hall, a few arming themselves with firearms as they continued to tip over tables and set up zones of cover and blockade to stop the berserking bug.

The bugster charges at the red robot, delivering armor denting blows towards the machine. With each strike getting stronger and stronger as his rage continues to rise. No mere machine will stop his rampage. He would attempt to grapple the machine and use it as a battering ram to break through the door, stopping his advance.

Doing as it was designed, the machine seems to withstand the barrage even as it is shoved through the door and into the hall as a red light glows from it's head it pulls the bugster forward so the mooks could open fire with an assortment of small arms in the first line and the remainder formed up behind them, be it with quirks, bats or even chairs to stop the rampaging test subject.

"Fire! Fire now!" Calls out one of the figures as the robot turns.

After tanking the first few shots, Kaizen broke free from the hold and ran towards the mooks with animalistic fervor. Ignoring any damage he had sustained, he continued his onslaught, striking his enemies with more than enough force to break bones and weapons alike. Grabbing one of the Mook brave enough to get into melee range, the bugster violently used him like a club, thrashing him onto his comrades a few times before tossing him aside like an empty soda can. The bugster turned his attention back to the robot and grabbed a large table toss it towards the robot. Disappearing from its view for a moment, the bugster reappeared attacking from above. Pouncing on top of its head, Kaizen dug his fingers deep into the gaps the armor panels attempted to dismantle the robot piece by piece. He's attacks were feral and unorthodox, going as far as to use his mandibles to bite into the robots head.

The robot lets out a sharp tone as it's mono eye blazes and fixes in on Kaizen, the mandibles doing very little damage to the rounded, rolled steel. With its eye blinking red, some scattered mooks were recovering with fire in their eyes and even uncertainty in a few others as one brave one charges him with a large knife aiming for his shoulder blades. The Robot for it's part has some of it's armor ripped off as it's flight thruster ignite, while ruining the knife attack the robot was now bashing Kaizen into the ceiling above them with considerable force.

The bugsters wrestled with the robot once more. Despite being consumed by fury, his instincts were as sharp as ever, quickly noticing the foolish mook closing the distance. With a flick of his arm, the bugster easily snaps the mooks arm like a twig, grabbing the knife by the blade, he begins rapidly stabbing the robot. Despite being slammed onto the ceiling, Kaizen did not relent, continuing to drive the blade into its body unit it stopped moving, forcing them both crash onto the floor. Upon landing, the floor was set ablaze. The bugster emerges from the flames, ready to continue the fight. He lets out a terrifying roar before entering the fray once more, seeking to break everyone and everything in sight.

As the robot crashes to the floor it's light unit flashes once more as explosive bolts fire in it's head blasting the skull cap from the rest of the skull. Deploying some wings the eye glares on him once more as electrical motors whirl in the flames before flying up and away from the berserker bugster. Flames from its fuel unit leaked across the floor, igniting the local area as some of the basic goons attempt to get away the wounded or to fight the flames, others thinking twice about fighting the bug and others.

Seeing no more viable opponents, he began randomly charging through the walls, like a predator, stirring the nests of its prey, hoping to lure it out. With no sense of direction whatsoever, he continued ramming through the walls of the facility that had no hopes of holding him. His mind filled with rage for no discernable reason, his body did not want to stop moving, bringing destruction and obliteration throughout his path. He could think of nothing else destroying everything in his path, no other thoughts exist, no memory, no reason, only pure undistilled rage.

As Kaizen broke through the numerous walls he would mostly find a few science types, prisoners, test subjects or even just empty rooms. But eventually when among some prisoners three robots stood and turned around to look at Kaizen, aiming Harpoons of all things at him. These three robots seemed to have harpoon guns and shields, likely repurposed agri bots. With armor that altered between green and seagreen blue, they had a singular red eye between them. "Comply or be shot…" A robotic voice called out, oblivious to the destruction around it. As Kaizen came closer the first threw at once then lowered it's shield to reel him in if possible.

The words of the machine had meaning to Kaizen, but then again nothing did at this time. The bugster immediately reacted to the robot by throwing a table at the robot, trying to crush one of them. He charged forward, with his arm aiming to grab and crush one of their heads, like a balloon.

"Fire." With that as the center robot missed it's shot seemingly by interference with a thrown table as it's head unit was grabbed, the two flanking units fire their harpoons at point blank range, fairly sure they would not miss, or rather not caring at all with the machines they were. "Halt."

The bugster had no time to dodge and instead used one of the drones he had grabbed to shield him from one of the harpoons. Although one of them did hit it's mark, penetrating deep into his arm shell, he quickly used it against the robot by pulling it in with his superior strength to deliver the haymaker punch.

The next robot goes down rather quickly and followed by the other. Sparking broken heeps, one of them seems to have some "life" left to it as it reaches up, grabbing Kaizen by the foot. "M...m...st…. Com...pliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…." In the middle of it's shorting out a few rounded orange bots show up, each looking a bit like the mad scientist from before and they move to attack, making sure to get Kaizen's attention as they lead the bull through the China shop, provided he was keen to comply. For the time being the other test subjects all in one or the other set of helplessness would be spared.

Also on the note, some of Vitalis's mist was flowing through the air vents all around him.

Kaizen felt an instinctive hostility towards the eggs shaped robots, likely due to their resemblance to their creator. The bugster crushed the remaining robot underfoot before giving chase to the orange robots, dragging the dead robot from earlier. Seeing the familiar looking mist coming from the vents, the bugster briefly remembered being exposed to it and quickly threw the remains of the harpoon bot into the vent in anger before turning his attention back to orange annoyances. He remembered something, a friend and betrayal. Strangely enough, remembering this made him even angrier than before. The bugster, brandished his retractable arm blades, slashing apart anything that got in between the robots and him.

As the Bugster carries out his rage fueled path of vengeance the robots taunt him, leading him deeper into the facility, every so often he would destroy one or two of them, or the occasional object or person would get in his way, then would get cut down, in the later case somehow non fatally. As he went through the station, one bot would stop glowing bright red as it laughed in the central work office, as if waiting for something as it exploded with a mechanical laugh, condescending and paced.

Kaizen emerged from the explosion, more annoyed by it than hurt, continuing his pursuit without skipping a beat, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. The office cubicles were easily flattened by the rampaging giant bug. Eventually, he wandered into a bathroom where he would finally get a better look at himself. His form was different from before, it was larger, covered with jagged spikes and had multiple sets of glowing red eyes. He could see the blood still dripping from his blades, prompting a moment of clarity. He was more than this, something greater. But he can't seem to remember what. He reached out to his reflection, trying to touch it only to be stopped by an invisible barrier that is the glass. In anger, he attacked his reflection, shattering the mirror to pieces.

And so did Bugster continue his rampage as the orange robots exploded here and there, all the while the mustached villain laughed to himself as his goggles reflected the fire from the screen. "Ah.. Some annoying ants are this way, time to put on a show and to call in the boys! Ahahaha!"
 
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@RedArmyShogun @Azurian Dream @Cresion Breezes @The Dapper Mog

As the day progressed Kaizen would miss his call in by the hourly check in. This would set the gears in motion as Mari would halt her team and kneel down to see where he was. It was well and truly far from his area and she had gotten no word back, minus with a side connection that seemed to indicate the team had split up. Cursing under her breath, Mari bites her left thumb briefly but was quick to act, issuing orders to Team Agi.

"Ag… Ion Storm tell Hotshot that I said Red Saffron, again Red Saffron.. Listen very closely to what he has to say. I can't get through to Apex Bugster.. For reasons I'll answer too later, I had trackers in all leader comms, he is well away from where he should be, he or his team likely needs help, be cautious. I'm directing Oni Meetsu and her team there as well. Find what is there and if it is the enemy base, shut it down at once. Good hunting, out."

Looking at her team she quickly explains the situation. "There is likely a traitor in our ranks and they've made a move. Isa's team is the next closest and I'll be sending them there as well from the other side. For us, we'll be hitting a lab.. Till now I've not been able to share what I seen, but research was being done there on people to shut off quirks.. People died in these studies.. I don't want any information left intact.. Everything gets erased.. Our job is to clear out the security. The police will handle the collecting of Prisoners. Are there any questions?"

Mari says at once making it clear that time was of the essence.

"So now all the cards are on the table," Bittersweet mumbled she had hated how long she and Kikyo had to have been silent on the matter of the evidence found on the last mission, and now from the info given it was clear that it had been one of their own.

"Not for now I will concentrate on our mission," Bittersweet mulled as her candy claws came into existence.

"Hmph." Amon seemed a bit more serious than usual, his guess got confirmed in the worst way, it wasn't a pleasant experience. The fact that the traitor was specifically within their class was the worst scenario possible, everything about this was terrible. He looked around, the team they had wasn't the most suited for destroying information in the purest way possible, perhaps Mari could make a good dent in electronics, but data was something that could be recovered in many circumstances.

"Aye aye," He responded a bit lazily, though it was just a side effect of being lost in thought. "I do hope whatever 'information' we're after does get properly destroyed."

Kikyo had admittedly tried to push aside some details from her last mission. However, the implication of secrecy wasn't something she was ever overly fond of. That being said, she figured that it came with the territory with the program. Of course, keeping secrets was something she was terrible at, usually. On the other hand, so far she hadn't interacted with the others much. With the thought now in her head that one of her new classmates was a traitor, it shook her inside, now fearful that one of the people she was growing to like could betray their friends.

"I-I understand. Mums the word and all that. Clear security. Got it." Kikyo responded to Mari.

With the information they had retrieved, she found herself wondering just what was really going on here. Was it really true that they had a mole in the class? And not one of the cute furry ones with no eyes, but the horrible kind that got their allies killed by presenting false information or by betraying secrets. A slight shiver went up her spine, and for a moment, she thought she could hear a faint chuckle in the back of her head.

Glancing at the trio, Mari exhales a bit and shakes her head. "Don't worry about what has happened. I kept Ion Storm's team in reserve purely for this eventuality. We now know the traitor is likely one of two people. I fully trust that team to handle this task and even had I not, Oni Meetsu's team is being sent as well. If eight of our best fighters cannot handle this situation then your contributions would add little else to it. We must simply trust in them, one betrayal does not change that fact." With a slight pause, she taps her gauntlet a bit then speaks.

"You do not fully understand me Amon. The data will be destroyed. If not by us then the Police and ANVIL. This was decided by the higher ups. I will deal with what I can. But collectively the decision was made that this never sees the light of Day, as far as the press will know, unless someone talks, this was a drug raid with hero support." With that said she plays with her wrist gauntlet once more, bringing up a map of the area.

"We are rather close to the location, at the request of the Police, we will be taking the lead on the raid. They'll also handle evacuations if there is a need.

Was there anything else? I need you all to get your heads into this, get any distractions out of the way now. As soon as I start this charge then that will be the end of it."
With that Mari looks at the others and narrows her gaze.

"Yeah yeah, capisce, Naoko-sama." Amon sighed and rested his head on his arms, he was perhaps worrying about nothing. Mari sounded quite confident in the ordeal as well as the factions involved, well, it was Mari, it was to be expected. Though he couldn't help but feel like he was being talked down to for just a second, it was clear that Mari was stressed about something. They were all stressed about something, it was best to stay put and focus on being alert.

"Perhaps I was being paranoid, but I fully understand that sort of worry won't do us any good." Amon tapped the ground with the tip of his tail rhythmically, though his words are light he can't say that he's not on edge.

With there rest having nothing to say or getting their thoughts in order, Mari could understand why they all are a little on edge or disquieted, but they had a mission to do. Worrying about the rest could come after. Making use of Kikyo as a scout with her glass copies, they had a general view of the area. In total there were seven to ten men at what seemed to be just a series of shipping containers arrayed outside of a decrypted factory, rather small in size. Most of them were just run of the mill goons, the more sciency types had long since left. While it wasn't likely that they would find what Mari sought, the containers may still be of value to search.

One thing stood out, the girl from the mall attack, Stabby Azami was here. Though not a huge threat in the last run in, there was no one on this team with diamond skin. Communicating with her team Mari relays the information on the girl in case it should be needed. She was rather violent, dangerous and could form and fire quills from her exposed skin. "We'll sweep in from the sides, behind the containers if possible and keep them tied down to the Factory and its surroundings.

Bittersweet, you and Meikyo shall take up along the left flank, if possible use your clones once it's not a problem to keep an eye on the Factory exit, we'll have the police wait there should they run away from us.

Jabberwock you and I shall hit up the Right, I'll be going as fast as I can into the henchmen, if you can make use of the opening make use of your tail to keep Azami busy, otherwise you all may act as you see fit. Go!"


With that and true to her word Mari was already charging the line with her electrical pulses and kicks already taking down a couple of the henchmen who were now slowly reacting. Amon would have a clear path to his objective or anything else he wished to do.

On the other side of things as Kikyo and Ichika started their charge a sudden rippling of the ground happened as pavement broke away dropping the two down a slope where a series of tunnels stretched as far as one's eye could see into the darkness, a figure with silver hair and blue eyes walked forward in a black dress and odd ornamentation. A smile shows razor sharp teeth as a number of exceptionally large insects swarm around in the earth and out of the tunnels, of note were two centipedes, bursting from the earth near the two girls as they let out hisses from their large bodies and begun to quickly attempt to tie up the two girls in order to restrain them, as their bodies ran across the pair and tightened they weren't superhuman strength per see but it would be best if they got free before poisoned mandibles bit into them.

The moment the ground caved in Bittersweet was quick to grab Meikyo while her other hand dug into the tunnel's walls until she was able to dig in deep, halting their descent. With sharp eyes she saw the bugs, but due to their positioning were quickly overwhelmed by them. Yet before they could sink their teeth in, with wide eyes Bittersweet roared, unleashing a massive block of rock candy of her body slicing, and cutting into the insects bodies as it forced them away. With sharp claws she grabbed onto the one holding on Meiyko, stabbing her claw into its side before flinging it off of her partner.

"Grrrr Mari, there is some sort of insect whisperer here! Be on the lookout for a massive bug," Bittersweet warned as she made sure Meiyko was fine.

"I'll handle the bugs you get the bitch," Bittersweet growled, ready to attack any bug that got near her partner.

Meikyo was fortunate that her partner's reflexes were so impressive. She was lost in her observations of the area, not even noticing the ground had begun to cave until her feet were in the air. When her partner had grabbed her, she let out a soft squeak, her body pulled against her partner's. Bittersweet's claws were able to hold them and prevent a potential fall. That was nice. However, the bugs were a whole other problem. When they attacked, Bittersweet was also able to fight them off, and instructed Meikyo herself to assault this insectoid puppetmaster. With a quick nod, the young woman dropped down, landing steadily on her feet.

"I've got her!" Meikyo called to her ally, moving forward in a run towards her new foe. Whoever this woman was, she clearly had a quirk that enabled her to utilize companions against her enemies, something that she herself understood fairly well. In that regard, maybe she was a weaker fighter up close. Time to see if her training would be useful here. Meikyo moved in close, and with a quick leap threw a hard right straight at the woman's face in a sort of superman punch, utilizing the added momentum of her leap.

Unfortunately, there were no reflective surfaces down here. Which meant that she couldn't create new reflections, and with the reflections she had still scouting up top, time was at the least of the essence.

On the other side, following the literal and figurative spark that Mari has created, Amon can see a clear path she had cleared out towards their main villain. A quirk that creates sharp projectiles...huh? He thought, although there was a lack of pure defensive quirks on this team, his techniques should suffice.

"Azami-chan...is it?" Amon smiled a little and waved once the villain came into sight, as a distraction of course while he inserted his tail tip into the ground. Unseen, hidden below, numerous red constructs began forming, some burrowing around in front of him, while another branched off and headed directly towards the female villain. A few red constructs bursted out of the ground, with its sharp edges pointing directly at the girl. "I've engaged, Kalico-san, will keep her distracted." He whispered quickly into the comms, making sure his opponent couldn't hear.

As Kikyo, or rather Meikyo ran into the fray, her partner entered with the belief she could hold off the insects and that Meikyo could hold her off, it was then as the silver haired girl stood out in the open a bit more, did their communicators pop up data on the woman, she was apparently in the ready wanted list, though more lowly than some on it, she was still considered an extreme threat with the ranking of A. To capitalize on this she grinned ear to ear as she met Kikyo's charge head on. "Heh! You look a little cute, but you should have stayed away, kid.. And get some skin lotion too." With that she opens with an array of blows that seemed to blur a little at first. While Mari and Goto were even faster, this woman was no slouch as she goes in for an uppercut to the stomach of the hero.

Nearby on the other hand, clicking, chirping, snapping and the strange ringing sound that came from some insects, filled the cave rather quickly. While her two centipedes writhed on the ground a bit, three more with four ants showed up and more sounds aside were coming closer. Snapping their mandibles, protection of the "Queen" was a must, even the two seriously blasted ones seemed to have regain their functions as the mini swarm was directed to overwhelm the sugar loving hero, the ants ranged in size from a fist to a small dog as they angrily lash out.

Back on the Surface, Azami seems to take note at being called Chan, a rather offensive one at that. "The fuck are you callin chan?! I'm older than you are, cocky little shit!" She says as she blasts out a number of quills to blast the disrespectful newcomer, when suddenly his true attack made some effort now to attack herself, she began to deploy more and more quills, not firing them as she wanted to see if the spaced armor would have an effect against the coming red monolith.

Mari for her part watches the alert and pauses briefly to look, before stepping off to deal with more goons, over their earpieces, a few instructions were to come; "Meikyo! Bettersweet! Be very careful she's dangerous! If you need to, don't think twice of retreating and getting back here, we'll try finishing ours off and come down below to help you."

"Jabberwock, try and make an opening on her, I'll try to get in and shock her a bit if you can break some of those quills."

(Kalico Kid & Jabberwocky Fight)

"Copy that, Kalico." Amon quickly said into the comms before focusing back into the fight, this Azami girl seems like the irritable type judging by her words. That was fine by him, these sorts of targets were the easiest to distract, it leaves them wide open.

Looking at the quills the girl generated, Amon wasn't too worried, as another user of construct generation tactics, this villain clearly had more limitations than him. "Age has nothing to do with skill or quirk. Isn't that right, A-za-mi-chan?" He smiled and taunted, making sure to sound extra annoying to catch the other's attention. Whilst that was happening, the red blocky construct stopped its advance before it touched the quills, instead from the tip of the block, various narrower blades shot out. Some crashed into the base of the quills, others pointed at the girl in a threatening fashion.

"Cocky little shit!" She yells out at him with clear hate in her eyes. As his block splits up and shoots narrower blades at her, she smiles thinly and fanatically.

"You fuck'n heroes don't have what it takes!"

With that and his blades standing back motionlessly and some openings made in between them, she gives up on her notions of defense, being provoked by him as much like a blowfish she stands her spikes up and out, blasting them in all directions without a regard for the safety of her allies, for the chance to hurt the two heroes, that was acceptable losses. Mari for her part found her opening turn into a death trap as a few quills imbed into her body as she took cover behind some shipping crates that were partially shattered in the barrage. Cursing a bit as she grabbed at the quills that were embedded in her left shoulder, portions of her arm and even her leg, she just yanks the shards out, throwing them to the ground. This hurt, but she had to keep fighting. It wasn't fatal or even all that deep, though some of the goons took far more of the barrage than she did, Enough so to even wake up some of the ones she knocked out, though they showed no willingness to fight so much as physical reactions to pain. Looking to see how Amon was holding up, Mari looks at her communicator wrist device, it was undamaged.

"Jabberwock, how are you? We need to take her out fast.. But I don't think she'll make it so easy.."

"Tsk." The red construct dissipated as Amon took a step back, he retreated his tail from beneath the ground and instead whipped it around him in a 270 degrees curve, a red shield like block on its tip. It was a decent defense for the vitals without the need to retreat and give the villain a chance to recuperate to regain her quills. A few of the sharp projectiles struck and grazed him on the side. "It's no hindrance to combat." He replied to Mari, wounds on the arms and legs weren't a huge deal breaker for Amon's fighting style after all. "We baited out a big attack, she should be less defensive now."

With that said Amon took a few steps forward and began to charge in a zigzag like fashion, a wide ranged attack like that would take time to generate, Mari was right, they would need to act fast and act now. The red construct on Amon's tail tip began to transform into something larger, half like a cage half like the mawls of an animal, he lashed at the girl and aimed to immobilize her by pressing her onto the ground. "Kalico!" Afterall, what's a better distraction than fast paced melees?

"I suppose a commander must lead by example." She says with a bit of a sly smile at being thrown into the fray, not that she minded.

While the woman had her eyes fixed on the coming attack from Amon himself, she was already forming more spikes as she glared at him. "You think you can fuck'n do your plan before I-"

As she said those words, Mari was already in close and down low, sparkling with electricity as she delivered a shock with a side kick aimed for the others ribs and from the right before her words could be finished, leaving Amon to drop his cage in relative peace as Azami surprisingly fights through the shock to stare up at him forming more of her spikes or in the process of it. As she recalled from their first meeting this one had zero problems with attacking on the way down, or purposely trying to harm others on her way down. While she was not as powerful as them, her drive and motivation to spill blood was worthy of being a higher tier villain.. And while Amon seemed to lack the will to cause serious harm…

" Jabberwock, keep her in place, your material is conductive yes?" Mari says with a dangerous look to her face, slit pupils shrank back as her amber eyes meet the other's on the ground, discharging a large amount of bioelectricity into the construct and the woman pinned beneath it. While likely not enough to kill her, it was very excessive, but the only thing that could stop it is if Jabberwock disobeyed the order.

"...Understood, Kalico-san." Amon pressed down on the girl, the red constructs' glow brightened as he strengthened them. Various spikes even protruded out of the inner layer, forming an iron maiden like trap, where any movement would result in a head first crash into sharp pointed spikes. From the crackling sounds it was clear that Mari was ready to strike fast and hard - just like how they've impromptuly planned. In some sense Amon was glad that Mari was his partner for this operation, her electricity can immobilize or even cause lethal damage without shedding a drop of blood. How elegant… Amon thought, perhaps with a bit of envy.

"You'll find my constructs to be some of the best carriers of any sort of energy." He added as the spikes began to close in, inching towards the villain's flesh. It wasn't that he was squirmish, but there was just something about letting blood that upsetted Amon, though that doesn't mean he wasn't willing to do so if need be.

With Amon proving willing to help her, a sort of smile that wasn't a bit too happy, but that had a hint of anger to it and matching with her eyes is on full display. Laying a hand upon the construct she unleashes her electricity with full force until the other, first screaming with rage, then with pain, stops moving and her quills fall off flat before they could be fired again. Taking a few steps back and then exhaling, Mari had expended a good deal of energy as she reaches into a belt pouch for some snacks, looking at the goons that were bleeding or had been stuck by quills she looks at Amon and simply asks; "Jabberwock, are you able to continue fighting? If we both are spent we should tend to these...fine citizens. Though I don't know how the battle below ground is going."

The red constructs dissipated into the air, leaving naught but a few sparks that fluttered away. Amon sighed a breath of relief, he was fully prepared to be forced to pin the woman onto the ground through her flesh if Mari was just a moment slower. He was very glad that he didn't need to do that, it wouldn't have been pretty. The large scale attack and immobilization tactic was slightly tiring, his teammate was likely in the same scenario.

"...I can still keep up if that's needed, is there any news from the others?" He asked a bit dully, a few of the puncturing wounds the quills caused had split open again, a deep blood red slowly spreaded out on the inside of the boy's shirt.

"They are still alive.. Though I am not sure if our help would be help or a hindrance.. Let's wrap our wounds as best as we can then head down there. I know for sure they both are alive." Looking at the hole ahead of them, plus her gauntlet tracker, they were still moving and still talking… That was enough for the time being. Reaching into her back she takes note of the spreading blood from Amon's wounds, if he said he was alright then she would leave it at that, but still offered him some of her medical supplies, as she started tending to herself. "Don't take your time with it however, we still need to help them, but two shambling dead are of little aid to anyone.

However… I do have an idea, can you use your tail to probe the ground? Maybe if it seems to be a three on one we can drive the villain off.. It would be better to capture them, but that is not always an option."


Amon closed his eyes and struck his tail tip into the ground. "I'll see what I can do." He replied quietly, attempting to focus on constructing. First burrowing through the dirt a drill-like thick probing part, then once a space was hit the probe split into countless thin red threads that began to spread out around the underground tunnels. Like mystical trails glowing red threads scattered throughout the dark tunnels.

A drop of cold sweat slid down Amon's face as he could tell this level of widespread construction would be difficult to maintain. "...There is...a huge space below, it's quite complex, I doubt my remaining strength could survey the entire area." He opened his eyes and asked Mari. "I'll be able to launch one large scale bluff provided I have the coordinates, it would be best if Meikyo-chan and Bittersweet-san know of this and coordinate."

(Meiyko & Bittersweet Fight)

In quick succession Bittersweet blasted out two gum shots trapping the smaller ants out of commission instantly as they were slowly suffocated out of existence the next one lunged at her, and was caught by the neck before being crushed in a gooey explosion in her left claw. As the closest centipede homed in it was quickly bitch smacked with the corpse of its fallen ant ally. With the distraction made Bittersweet broke through the entrapment running towards her ally as hre device rang up info on the villain at hand.

Apparently she was class A rank which was not shocking given the quirk shown, but the moment the que for poison came in it was clear Meiyko was at a disadvantage on her lonesome. Heading straight for her biggest chunk of her body rock candy from earlier Bittersweet halted in front of it as she placed herself in front aiming for the to jump as soon as the bigger one would close in to ram it towards Meiyko giving her the reflexive surfaces she need for her clones to join in.

Meikyo was, to put it lightly, not the least bit prepared for this fight. Her inexperience was showing, as well as the growing impatience that she had been dealing with of late. Once her blow was about to land, her foe's nature was revealed, as well as the apparent gap in their abilities. The blow never had the chance to strike home, the older woman was faster and stronger. "Oomph"!

All the air in her body left at the impact of the uppercut, throwing her back and thankfully away from her foe. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the impact was less than pleasant. Mekyo struck the wall and slid down to the ground clutching her gut where the blow landed. Oh yeah, that was going to bruise. The young woman spared a glance at her ally, who seemed to be faring much better against her insectoid foes, and even managed to make her way over to help. She was out of her league here, even in relation to her comrades.

Meikyo clenched her jaw at the realization, noting the slight reflection showing on the apparent slab of rock candy that her ally had produced. Well, even if she were outclassed, she had some tricks of her own. From the candy, the arms of a reflection of Meikyo reached out, pulling herself out of the surface. The clone dropped down to the ground, looking to Bittersweet with a nod before moving towards their mutual foe. This time, she would watch out for any strikes and get in close. Her fighting style was more defensive anyway. Find an opening, then exploit it.

Meanwhile, the remaining reflection climbed out of the surface as well, and aimed to help deal with the bug problem.

"He he hehehe." The woman laughs, slowly at first then faster towards the end as the duo strikes out at her she arcs and eyebrow at the copy of the girl that formed out of the rock candy. "How interesting.. But I won't be beaten here.. Not by one as broken as you or as arrogant as her." She says of the two as the destruction of her insect allies seemed to be of little concern as more of them seemed to arrive from down the tunnels mere moments later, the only bonus for her two allies was the fact she was more passive, even if she did like fighting. She was hired simply to buy time. The longer they were here the longer they could not be there.

For now these children interested her, but she wasn't about to go down for the idiots up top.. But till such a time, she could have a bit of fun. Rather than wait for the scarred girl to make a move, Insectica rushes forward, lowering her center of mass and presenting herself head on, she holds her arms up and to the side as she moves in close, launching punches that came in from the sides, it was a CQC tactic well suited to the nature of fighting inside of close quarters like the underground tunnels as she attempted to beat the primary girl into a wall, time to time turning to counter the clone.

Before Bittersweet could do much more a swarm of insects came bursting out of the wall behind her, three ants and two centipedes with some form of flying insect at the center, a fly of some sort. As the centipedes went to grab and weigh down her legs, the ants went for the upper body, throwing themselves right at her and the flying insect disgorged some form of biomass from its bottom right at her, the smell of the approaching object could be best described as rancid and was likely some form of Toxin that was commonly given off by such insects, though the amount was the size of a human fist rather than microscopic.

Once she confirmed her ally had gotten the clone, Bittersweet returned to her gore fest of waves of insects. The first being the new wave of ants with the old latching, and biting onto her scales. Thankfully protecting from them gnawing her flesh away, but the intense pressure of their bites bruising her body fast before they were all pierced through by her fresh layer of spiky rock candy crystals. The centipedes while also pierced only truly killed the two already near death as the two new ones were able to survive. The first one tried to bite her face which thankfully she was able to catch its mandibles holding it back as the second squeezed her body more with its legs piercing into her body in a series of painful spots trying to force her balance off. Yet the smell of acid cause her to twist towards the fly causing the acid spit to hit the back of the main attacking centipede causing it to hiss in extreme pain as its head was melted away dropping off dead as the second one went in for the nap of her neck barely being countered as Bittersweet sliced its head off. Pierced in multiple bloody spots Bittersweet roared as she blew off her crystal dust at the fly covering its full body as she triggered it spop rock effect causing the fly to zig zag wildly out of control from the overwhelming effects of her dust. Once it was disoriented enough she grabbed her bigger rock candy chuck and struck the bug with a perfect baseball throw to its face.

"I am coming Meiyko," she growled, rushing in pain towards her ally climbing quickly up to their location before rushing in to tackle Insectica to ram her into the wall.

Meikyo observed the woman with a disgruntled interest. The woman was arrogant, which was to be expected from a villain. But, what had she called her? "Broken? Don't talk like you know me!"

The young woman stood up from the wall, moving forward to help her reflection. The reflection herself was being pressed by a barrage of blows. Most of the strikes were just too quick to avoid, but with her training, Meikyo was able to deflect or avoid the more powerful blows, any that would cause significant damage. That being said, the strikes were taking effect, small cracks beginning to appear in her flesh, slowly spreading and expanding with each individual strike. A few small shards of glass fell to the floor, the clone coughing a bit as she took a step back to recover. They just needed an opening.

Then, Bittersweet showed up in true heroic fashion, throwing her body weight into the enemy to tackle her and knock her off balance. This was it! Even if she managed to avoid being knocked prone or into the wall, her balance would be off. Meikyo moved swiftly, sliding down along the ground to try and kick out her leg while the clone jumped up at her foe, attempting to throw her legs around her head and spin around so her thighs were locked around the back of the woman's head, her lower legs hooking together as she squeezed her legs tightly together, throwing elbows down onto the top of the woman's head.

As the two double team her, the woman was a bit mused that the one who was half scars took such and offense at her remarks, had she struck a nerve? Laughing at that, her laugh was quickly cut short as the girl jumped on her like a spider monkey, or the clone in this case. As this was happening her loyal insects arrived, rather than trying to just restrain the girls, they throw themselves at them and into the spaces between her and them, with fanatical resolve and bared fangs and deployed pincers, when suddenly for the two females and the one spare clone came massive pillbugs, rolling through the formation and impacting into them like bowling balls, aiming for the center of mass. Though they weren't gunfire that could pierce them at least.

Meanwhile the Villain a bit angry with the spider monkey on her head takes a rather simple solution, spinning herself, or rather the other girl into the tunnels sides, impacting her hard against the walls, causing some dirt and chunks of rock to fall as she retreats towards the darkness, her insect defenders snapping at the clone, waiting for any chance to rip her to shreds for the Queen.

"Meiyko do not pursue she just… guh a distraction," Bittersweet hissed upon realization of what was going down. This woman was nasty, but it was clear she was holding back as they were overwhelmed by pill bugs.

"Calico, Jabberwocky we need any assistance you can throw are way we have a A lister Insectora playing decoy so be careful there might be something she trying to help get away," Bittersweet reported before catching one of the pill bugs and sluggering one of the centipede's in the mouth that was trying to attack Meiyko's clone.

Putting aside getting fixed up, Mari shrugs and looks at her device, limping over to the hole, she looks down. "I'm getting thicker suit material next time.. Uhh.. Follow where I stand, send a construct or a few down the hole as well." Walking over to stand on one place, Mari motions for him. "I should be above them right now."

As she waits for him to do his thing, Insectica takes notice of the shifting dirt and after she gets the glass clone off of her starts to retreat as the ground shakes above her. "Hehehe.. Don't die."

With that all but the most committed to battle insects flee down the tunnels as quickly as they can, hissing or chattering as they did so, while up top Mari is thrown clear off her feet and left disoriented as she regains her bearings just in time to see why she was flying, the whole warehouse was a miniature mushroom cloud, bleeding fire and broken glass. Down below her the tunnels start to collapse as does the opening hole behind. Two two trapped ones would have to make some effort to keep safe while Mari's ears ring, orders unable to be processed for the time being.

Meikyo's clone was struck hard against the wall of the tunnel, a loud crack sounding from her body along with a sharp gasp and groan of pain. When she dropped to the ground, the woman moving away, the reflection looked down at her body, noting the lack of color and definition to her midsection, giving way to heavily cracked and damaged glass. That blow was too much. The clone looked back at the real Meikyo, still holding her gut from the blow she was struck with. The reflection's pained expression melted into a glare, her upper lip curling into a scowl as she slowly lost the remainder of her form, now just a humanoid glass statue before the cracks spread throughout the entire form. A couple seconds later, it shattered.

Meikyo was already trembling when the shock of the destroyed reflection hit her body, sending shockwaves of pain throughout her midsection. She gripped tightly onto the damaged Earth she was leaning against, a faint trickle of blood running down from her left eye. The trail it created was like a teardrop colored crimson. The young woman raised a shaky hand to brush away the blood, looking at her hand again. This was getting worse. Damn it, why was she so useless? Both missions she'd been on so far, she was less than useful. That voice in her head was gaining volume, berating her with questions. Why are you here? What purpose do you serve with this group? With these people? What's wrong with you? Why are you so weak?

The red on her cheek was partially washed away by a short stream of tears streaming down her face as she got up. Meikyo was still favoring her wounded stomach and side as she raised her communicator, moving as quickly as she could back to meet up with Bittersweet. "Y-yeah, understood. I'm coming."

Unfortunately, the tunnel was collapsing more quickly than she had expected. It may have been the injury or just the rapidity of the collapse, but with the tunnel coming down, there was no chance of escape for Meikyo. The young woman cried out as the tunnel finished its collapse.

Though not all hope was lost, some of it had withstood, though it was dark now and the bugs could be heard still staying about or leaving, it was hard to tell, but they had a place to stand in for now at least.Stil pained, Meikyo made her way into the remaining area, still somehow protected from the collapse.

Once Bittersweet could see Meiyko heading over she sighed in relief and dropped the lifeless corpse of the last Centipede that had stayed to defend its Queen. In response thanks to all her poisonous wounds Bittersweet slouched slowly onto the ground groaning in pain.

"Ohhhh I officially hate that bitch…. You alright," She asked her partner.

"Kalico!" Amon's hairs stood on end right before the explosion, some sort of instinctive reaction to danger as he wrapped himself up in a red constructed prism. Although that didn't help him with the recoil or the ringing in his ears. His vision was blurred for a moment and nothing registered in his comms, a few drops of blood trickled down into already clouded eyes.

Looking around Amon tried to search for Mari, she lacked the abilities to instantly protect herself and could very well be caught up worse than him, the two who were underground would be in danger too as the ground shook, parts of it beginning to collapse. "...This was a set up, the people stationed were a distraction." He whispered to himself while the ringing subsided.

"Kiky-Meikyo-san, Bittersweet!" He shouted into the comms, trying to see who in the team was still functional. Remembering where Mari stood previously, Amon sprinted to the location. They should be right under here...if everything didn't get displaced. With a deep breath, a bundle of red wire-like constructs crawled beneath the earth and sprawled out, slowly weaving into a net like structure. "Meikyo-san...Bittersweet...I can keep this area from collapsing for a while, but-" Amon stuttered as a mix of blood and sweat dripped into his eye again, he knew he couldn't keep this up for long. "Please hurry, we need to retreat."

For her part, Mari finds her vision dimming, her ears ringing, rolling over and off of her back, she starts to vomit before she is able to focus her eyes, she had been thrown three or four meters. over and behind a delivery truck, slumping up against it, she remembers the gauntlet as she slaps at it. With a pause the machine flickered to life, pulsing as it did so… Not bothering with hero names here and now or even titles, she wasn't even sure if she could hear them in response, but she still had to try.

"...Ichika… Kikyo..Status? Amon.. Found them? I'll.. be alright, everything hurts. A good sign. Focus on getting them out.. After that we head out..there is work to be done.. The markers aren't too far..from there." She adds in, pausing for breaths every now and then, though she seemed like she would live at least.. With that thought in mind, she didn't dare disturb them in this search, but a great many of the goons they took out were a lot closer to that blast than they had been. "A cat has.. Nine lives.. Guess I'm down one."

Meikyo sighed as she pressed her back gently to the wall, dropping down to a seated position. She spared a glance over at her partner, Bittersweet. Giving her a slight nod before wiping at the trail on her cheek with her forearm. "Yeah...I'm okay. How about you? You sure tore those bugs up. Did they get any hits in?

Meikyo asked her comrade, moving with a start as her comm went off, hearing first Amon's voice and then Mari. It sounded like they're whole party was alive and mostly well. Mari sounded a little worse for wear, and of course Bittersweet and Meikyo herself were currently trapped in a dangerous tunnel that could collapse the rest of the way at any time. They needed to get out. It sounded like Amon was above them, which meant that they had a hope of getting out with his help. Maybe they could coordinate something?

"Hey, Bittersweet? Did you hear? Amon is keeping the tunnel up, but, we need to find a way out. If I had a reflective surface I may be able to get out. But...I don't know if I can bring anyone with me or not." Meikyo spoke quickly, now beginning to fear about their limited time.

The young woman activated her comm, speaking to respond to her comrades; "Hey! We're uhm, we're alive down here! I'm a bit injured but I think we'll be just fine if we can get out of here. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well I am bleeding from multiple puncture wounds, and am probably filled with a bit of poison so you tell me," she sarcastically laughed as the color of her skin was getting a bit pale from her body fighting off the nasty bites from the centipedes. She had murdered quite a few of them in gory fashion though so maybe it was a fair trade.

"Okay up we go," Ichika forced herself up as Meiyko confirmed the rest of their team's voices. Once she was up on both her legs she wobbled badly taking a minute to regain some sense of balance.

"Alright lead the way Kikyo," she answered.

As the pair make their way through the dark and in the holes that Amon had made, or rather the "feelers" it was not too long before they were out, a bit hurt, dirty, but alive and in one piece. Not much more could be asked for. And while they had not done much to the villain, it was clear with the destruction above that fighting them was never her task or in her interest. All in all, Amon was the least damaged of the four as Mari limped over before forcing herself to stand with a forced rigidness. "Amon, is your first aid gear intact? Some of my items were broken in the throw. There should be a generic antivenom injection in it. And I dare say both of them could use a little bit."

With a bit of a pause, she looks at the trio and shifts her jaw a little, causing it to pop, as if grinding her teeth. "We also need to check on the henchmen, see how many survived.. Though I may do this while you two get taken care of." She says to Kikyo and Ichika.

"Do what you have to Mari I won't stop you heh," Ichika joked with a spittle of blood across her lips reminding her she couldn't go with the kitty at the moment.

"How about you Amon you look like you got out like a bandit," she chuckled softly.

Amon essentially collapsed the moment his two teammates got out, he was in a half kneeling position where he was, his breathing slightly heavy and blood flowed unobstructed from the wounds that were torn open again. Although Mari was right, he was the least damaged out of all of them, despite there being blood that soaked his clothing and hair, it was more or less all flesh wounds, not exactly a threat to his constitution.

"...I was preventing you two from getting buried alive." He scowled and side eyed Ichika while pulling out the first aid supply Mari asked about from his utility belt pouch, tossing it at the girl. "Here." Amon clearly wasn't happy, even though they had technically 'won', there were still too many questions unanswered. The explosion, the decoy villain, the traitor in the class.

"Mari-san," He slowly got up and handed a roll of medical gauze to the girl, at least she could still stand, before asking: "What do you suppose the purpose of that explosion is?"

"Simple really." Mari says with a bit of a sour look to her face and expression. "We've been had. It was too easy because it was so by design, the one down below was here to delay or just to toy with us, I can't say for sure. But I can say whoever was behind this planned to blow up the site for sure.. Or so it makes the most sense to me. It isn't covering up so much as.." Pausing to check her other messages or passed on alerts, it seemed Kaizen was out fighting.. His own teammates, most of the other groups ran into something a bit like this, or were dealing with other problems all together. And another troubling development aside. "This is very troubling, all of it.. We need to get moving towards the main area, I know we all are hurt, but we aren't the only ones. Are we all able to limp along?"

"Gurrr… Ya why not," Bittersweet growled as she injected herself with antivenom as she crystalized her wounded areas to clog any further wounding. Apparently they had been played in their mission which was strange as it seemed the players had done what they themselves would have. Yet upon hearing the rest of the team were in trouble she forced herself up.

Meikyo grimaced at her ally's words. How had they been played so easily? Weren't they part of some elite hero program or something? These missions had already proven to be substantially different than she had expected. Perhaps she just didn't understand what hero work entailed, or perhaps they were really meant to be more like operatives than heroes. Either way, this situation had devolved into a mess. On the bright side, even with his wounds, Amon mostly looked like he was in okay condition. Herself, Bittersweet and Mari looked a bit worse for wear. The young woman gripped her side. Jeez, had she broken a freaking rib?

"I can move and I can help. Ready to...to move out whenever." Meikyo replied through a wince and gritted teeth, managing a confident smile.

Duty was never over so quickly as the damaged team forces themselves towards the centeral location, calling for the police to give them what aid they could.
 
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@Azurian Dream @Nim

In the chaos of the evacuation Mitsuo and Aika would find themselves separated from Kaizen, and Vitalis. Even more concerning was the massive red robot they had chased after that was clearly of the villain Dr. Mobius design. Yet the people came first, but when the two would finally have a chance to catch up near the path that the other two went towards was one man in all black waiting blocking the route with a nasty series of wounds plastered all over his body stitched from head to toe it seemed as his feet bore no shoes showing multiple stitched all around them.

"Can I help you," he simply asked bored. Yet clearly not about to get out of their way.

As he looked over the man that stood in their way, Mitsuo looked him up and down. Something about the man already felt off to him. Not only the stitches, or the barefoot, but the manner he stood in their way, with everything that was going on. Despite his bored tone, Mitsuo felt like they needed to be wary of him. But before he could say anything, he saw Aika take a step in front of him, her diamond skin active.

"You can help by getting out of the way." Aika told him, holding a defensive position in front of Mitsuo "And if you won't get yourself out of the way, I will take you out of our way." She told him. Her tone clearly suggested she didn't exactly rely on Mitsuo to serve as a proper back up.

"Hmph, by all means make me. Whatever happens is on you rock head," the man responded as Aika went into her diamond form. He was unphased by her threat even more so it seemed amused by it as he took out a single pair of scissors. They looked rather sharp and given how soon it was in his hands Mitsou would be able to notice the expert knife handling the man had on the odd choice of weapon.

While Aika narrowed her eyes at the man, Mitsuo put his hand on her shoulder "Wait. I somehow doubt this will be as easy as rock paper scissors. We don't know the guy's quirk, and the way he holds his weapon seems very well trained. We need to approach this with caution." He told Aika, keeping his eyes on the man. If that had such confidence against Aika's show of her quirk, then it meant his quirk was likely an ace up his sleeve, one that could either negate or counter her quirk in some way.

"Yeah, figured as much scaly. Now take a step back." Aika said, not waiting for Mitsuo to actually move as she jumped to the side of the alley, before kicking a trash can right at the man. There were a number of ways they could try testing this guy out, to try and get a sense of his quirk, and Aika hoped they wouldn't need to resort to hand to hand combat with someone who appeared to have such calm confidence in his capabilities.

"...," the man gave them a blank stare as he simply sidestepped the hurdling can, looking at them both like they were morons from the bargain bin of trash. The scalie kid was clearly a push over in the social sense, and the girl… was freaking stupid.

"Such a master strategy boulder brains. Any other amazing attacks you wish to pointlessly throw my way, maybe a paper airplane, or your odds of ever winning a mental based competition likely has more odds of being effective," he added salt into the mud he was already rubbing verbally into her face.

Watching the man take a side step to get out of the trashcan's way, and hear his trash talk, she glanced towards Mitsuo. The man still made no actual attempts to attack them, aside for poor verbal attacks. She took a step forward, placing herself next to a larger dumpster "No, I wasn't thinking of playing rock, paper scissors with you." Aika remarked, before giving a much stronger push to the dumpster, sending it wheeling with speed towards the man.

Noticing the man's lack of actions towards them and only talking, and the glance from Aika, Mitsuo watched his teammate move next to the dumpster. He wasn't sure what Aika was attempting to do, but he figured he could try and use any potential opening she might be able to provide to him and vanish. And indeed, when she pushed the dumpster in the man's direction, Mitsuo would use the dumpster's movement to camouflage himself and silently jump away from his spot, landing against the alley wall to Aika's right and the man's left.

"How rather expected," the man mulled rather bored as this time the dumpster came right him in full force yet just like how Mitsuo had used the dumpster as a distraction the moment the dumpster took the view of him from aika sight she would find him gone for a moment before appearing on Aikas left side closing the distance fast as he twirled the scissors in his hand and opened the blades right for her tossing hands closing them upon close proximity.

"Now let the stringing of the instruments begin," he smiled as instead of breaking upon her skin the scissors appeared to slice completely through leaving a thin red line where the blades had connected with her skin. In equal turn the man spun the open scissor leaving another hue of red of a slash along her opposite shoulder before making quick distance between himself and her. Yet upon what appeared to be the severing of a limb did not end up as Aika's hand was still attached. Yet the glowing line was very ominous, a hint of whatever the man's quirk could be.

"Last warning kid I recommend you, and your now invisible friend leave."

As she got hit with the blade and it made its way over her arm, it was an odd sensation. She saw it get in direct hit with her actual skin, not her diamond skin, and leave a reddish glowing line. Turning back to the man, Aika raised an eyebrow "He's gone? Pft. Always was a coward from what I've seen. For all I know, he could've just run back to try and get help from others. Which would mean more reinforcements would show up here at one point or another." She remarked, glancing at the line that was on her arm, before looking back at him. As he kept the scissors open, Aika had a hunch about something.

Remaining on the alley wall, Mitsuo observed the man's movements very carefully. The way he moved, and then the mark he left on Aika, and then how he kept the scissors open. Normally, when one was done with that type of instrument, they would close it shut. Carefully, he took out a single kunai and then threw it, aiming at between the scissor's blades, to get it stuck there, before pushing himself off the wall, aiming to hit the man with his fist against the man's face. He was just hoping his hunch was right, and that closing the scissors was indeed the trigger to whatever the man's quirk was.

"Oh he's not gone I highly doubt THAT," the man smiled wildly as he shifted his body to not dodge Mitsuo's attack, but instead shift his body to actually take the hit as the blade dug into his shoulder which was than followed up by Mitsuos attack getting a direct hit on the villains face forcing him into a spin with a scalpel in hand slicing a new red glowing line on Mitsuo's cheek. With a smile the man let both weapons go as they both disintegrated out of existence Mitsuo would suddenly feel the force of his own punch sudden upon his whole cheek as would Aika suddenly feel the pain of the dug in Kunai in the man's shoulder upon her wrist as it was shot out of his body.

Upon halting in his spin he pulled out two combat knives as he smiled upon his enemies, "Sure you want to continue?"

As the events unfolded, Aika felt the pain in her wrist. Looking at Mitsuo, who was rubbing his own cheek, Aika put two and two together, turning her gaze to that man "So that's it? You basically throw the pain you experience to others? Absolutely pathetic. Weakass." Aika started talking, taking a step towards him "I don't care how much pain you're gonna throw from you to me. You just proved to me that you are the most worthless man I have ever met. You can bet your sorry ass that I'll take you down." She said, before glancing at Mitsuo for a brief moment. After the moment passed, however, she charged towards the man, arms spread wide as she aimed to simply grab him.

On his side, Mitsuo just silently listened as he kept his hand on his cheek. It was hurting, but luckily for him, his own strength was still not the best. Unlike Aika's sudden resolve, he was unsure of how much he could take. Even if he did agree with her, that it showed a rather weak character to utilize such a quirk, it was one that would be very hard to counter. Watching Aika charge forward in the manner she did, Mitsuo hesitated for a moment before charging forward after her as well, not making the same type of movement as her, instead seemingly only aiming to close the distance between the two.

"Huh whatever you say miss. Whatever you say while hiding being that diamond wall," the villain smirked in response to her childish rant. As the two charge the villain threw a bowie knife right for Mitsuo's torso before using leg work to dodge Aika hug tackle before delivering another slash upon her left side hip before rushing at Mitsuo with two new Bowie knives threatening to slash the boy in numerous spots unless he defended himself.

"That diamond wall can be worth nothin against a lotta people. You prove it. But at least I don't try and throw the pain away!" Aika shouted at him, as he dodged her grasp and gave her another red line on her hip. Coming to a halt and looking at him, Aika already felt like she got a good grasp on his quirk. He had to rely on weapons, on something that could fade away as it threw the pain back at the marked people. And it ignored any natural defenses that anyone might have. So Kaizen might've also had some issues against him, though she doubted the bug wouldn't have just overcome the man with sheer speed. Vitalis could've likely also taken him down too, simply by using her mist form. Instead of rushing at the man again, she grabbed the kunai that Mitsuo had used to hit the man from before, and held it tightly in her right hand.

As Mitsuo was still making his way, a knife was thrown his way, and he stopped it with his hands, while also stopping in his tracks. Looking past the knife, he saw the enemy now dash towards him, holding two knives in his grasp. Changing his stance slightly, once the man was close, Mitsuo would block one knife with the knife he now held, the other knife he stopped by putting his arm against the villain's arm, and then quickly sent his tail to grab the enemy's leg and pull, aiming to cause the man to fall backwards right against the ground.

"Heh no little nightingale I dont give away the choir I share the experience. The reminder of being alive in a symphony of nerve reaction," he cackled, revealing whatever pain he received stayed with him, but the physical mark disappeared clearly. If they were to believe him it meant all damage was still registering, and staying with him. Perpetuating that he had an extremely high pain tolerance yet not completely a pleasure it seemed.

Mitsuo's knife work was displayed well in the brilliance of sparks the knife's danced with on quick succession of blocks, and parries it was clear the boy had quite some talent with much growth from his training. The boy was fast witted as he disengaged one of the man's bowie knives with a impressive block before tail whipping the man. Yet upon descent the man twisted mid fall, delivering a long red line along Mitsuo's tail.

With a reflexive twist the man spun away from Mitsuo staying low to the ground however as the knife he cut was let go disintegrated the man willing stabbed himself with his own knife in the shoulder as Aika would suddenly feel a extreme knife like stab in her side where he had marked her before. The dilation of his eyes would confirm to Mitsuo as he pulled the knife out, and the wound disappeared he wa sin fact feeling the healing factor completely with the pain added on.

"Not bad little lizard you got skill. Quite some skill in fact," the man mumbled thinking for a moment as he kept his bowie knife pointed at the green hero.

"Why are you wasting it on this hero/Anvil lot? I imagine there's a billion things you could claim with your talents never had a nag to just go take the world. Or hell claim whatever you wanna learn," he noted, slowly circling the boy to make sure Mitsuo was in Aika's way.

Listening to his words, Aika narrowed her eyes slightly. So he was still experiencing the pain? Then he had a heck of a high pain tolerance, she thought to herself as the grasp around the kunai tightened some more. Mitsuo seemed to be doing alright for a moment, before she felt more pain from the line on her hip. So that man was also willing to cause pain to himself to get the job done. She couldn't hear his last bits that were aimed at Mitsuo, and elected to figure a way to signal the others that there was another enemy in their location. She started looking around, wondering what she could use to do the job.

Having managed to hold his ground, Mitsuo kept a close eye on the villain, taking careful note of the fact that his tail now had a line. But if there was any spot he was most used to pain at, it was his tail, so he hoped that whatever would come, it would not be as bad as getting pain anywhere else in his body. Watching him stab himself and share the pain with Aika, Mitsuo could see very well that his words had some merit in them. His eyes did react to the stab and regeneration that followed.

As Mitsuo listened to the man talk more directly to him, he shook his head a bit "Why? I could ask you the same, just about villains. And I've got my reasons. Not really thinking you're the person to share it with, seeing how you're standing between me and a good friend of mine." He muttered in return to the villain, keeping the knife steady in his hand. But his eyes would appear to acknowledge what the man said more than his words. His reasons to become a hero had begun to irk him, with how slow things were taking with the official process.

"Oh well you don't have to wait on any damn person to give you permission to go out for what you seek," the man responded before spinning the bowie knife widly clashing with Mitsuo again grabbing the boy attack hand twisting it around to Mitsuos back as the man spun around going for a shoulder slash before twisting away regaining distance as the two once again enter the encircling of combat.

"No one to hold you back for what's rightfully your to take, or know," he responded again this time coming in with a straight thrust going for Mitsuo chest before pulling back to reverse grip the knife dropping down threatening to slash at Mitsuo's left leg.

"Hero, and Anvil are just another term for loyal dogs. Fetch, sit, obey nothing better than a military man. Do everything they ask, and when you ask for your own freedom to act on your own personal mission you're told to shut up, and get back in line," the man chuckled, seemingly having a military record of some sort.

"So why bother wasting your time potentially never getting what you want. Your friend there is just a fireball of raw teenage emotions, but you I see that look in your eye. You're not happy with the restrictions placed on you. Always being ignored, unnoticed, like the loyal dog you are currently. You got talent, and skill kid I can see it. Why waste for the ideal that the rest of the world uses to suppress individualism," the man asked with a smirk.

As Mitsuo clashed with the man, he heard every word the guy spoke to him. He was indeed a bit frustrated. He hadn't put too much thought to it, as he was taught to put his faith in the authorities and heroes, but it had irked him. Both of his older sisters had been missing for some time now, and still no progress.

The thoughts that started to roam in his head caused him to get hit in his left leg with the slash, at which Mitsuo hissed as he took a small jump backwards, away from the man, keeping his eyes on him. With everything he was saying, that man was still out for his blood right now, as far as he was aware. He heard some footsteps from behind him, before he spread his arm to the side "Don't. He's mine." He muttered to Aika, before rushing towards the guy again, aiming to clash directly with the man's knife and try and lock it in place. While also sending his tail forward again, this time aiming to wrap it around the man's lower body and begin to squeeze. As he did, however, he begin whispering "I don't suppose you ever heard of a pair of Uchida women. Sai and Gali. Both telekinetics." Mitsuo asked him, his gaze appearing more determined now.

As she tried to figure out what to do, Aika heard the hiss from Mitsuo, and turned to look at him. Coming closer to Mitsuo, she watched him spread his arm, give his determined statement, before charging at the guy again. She didn't recall seeing the lizard boy like that before, he was usually appearing calm, like nothing got to him. Looking at his back, Aika pondered on something, looking down at the kunai she held. Deciding to try something out, she started to run around Mitsuo, keeping her distance from both of them, until she could properly see them, and held her kunai at the ready, near the red line she had at her hip. She was preparing to do something that would probably be pretty dumb, but if it worked, it could help turn things in their favour.

The scarred man noticed Mitsuo's look of questioning immediately, smiling as he knew he had hit a point of truth with the scaled boy. That moment of self doubt sinking into a greater truth while the villain couldn't tell what it was until the boy impressively rushed him into a knife lock.

"Carefully now you already know how my quirk works," the man laughed, a bit impressed by the boy's sudden switch of swiftness to tangle with a dangerous opponent after playing defense for so long. Yet as the boy's tail vipered in around the mains lower waist with quite the grip the words that escaped the boy's lips were what really made him react.

"...Hehehehehe. Brown hair, uniquely blue eyes, could be mistaken for twins if it wasn't for the two year gap between them, and the nastly little ringlet wounds on their wrists that run red when they use their power," the man whispered in response.

Hearing the response, Mitsuo's expression turned angry "Where are they." He asked, noticing Aika at the side, standing ready for something. Wrapping his tail further around the guy, Mitsuo began squeezing on the man's body, before pushing himself against the knife lock, moving it closer to the man and forcing him to turn sideways, so that Mitsuo's back was now aimed at Aika "Tell me, and I won't crush your insides with my tail." He whispered to that man. He did not know what Aika had in mind, nor did he want her to intervene. Not when he managed to find the first actual lead on them in a long time.

Keeping a close eye on both, Aika noticed they were talking quietly to each other. As her suspicions were rising, Mitsuo suddenly forced the guy to turn sideways, and now his back was towards her "Fuckin' hell." Aika muttered to herself before she started to run around them once again, to get a clear line of sight on the villain once more. She had to see his movements to be able to try out her theory, but Mitsuo seemed to have other ideas in mind.

"I have a better idea now why don't I take you to them," he smiled as he let go of the knife causing Mitsuo to stab into him as the knife dissolved the rush of multiple injuries, and internal stress would flood Mitsuo's tail and leg. It would quickly follow over to Aika who had a single moment to test her theory.

Managing to spot the sudden injury, Aika quickly hit the kunai against the line on her hip. If he only shares the pain and not completely throws it away, then she hoped it actually went both ways. As the kunai was still against the line, Aika waited to see if anything would happen.

The pain that rushed to Mitsuo's leg and tail caused him to hiss in pain, and fall onto his knee. His tail however, remained around the man, with the grasp actually hardening a bit more "Because I can trust a guy like you to lead me to my sisters? You might've seen them but I've got no reason to believe you won't just kill me if I go with you anywhere." Mitsuo muttered quietly, having noticed that Aika moved again, before using his tail to fling the man as hard as he could in the direction of the wall.

As the man's attack hit there was a sudden rush of unnatural pain delivered in turn to his own body right at his hip the man seethed in pain turning to Aika to notice she had stabbed herself right as the lines had glowed. She had figured out his quirks and weaknesses impressively. He grinned wildly at her, but before he could retaliate he was hoisted, and thrown by a temper tantrum Mitsuo. Slamming into the wall behind the man slumped hard into the ground slowly getting back up yet stopped before tilting towards them both.

"Well then let's raise the stacks," he smiled reaching into his jacket before rushing past Mitsuo flinging out a flash grenade to blind the boy as he went straight for Aika pulling out a ballistic knife as he slashed her across the chest delving a massive energy line. With a demonic smile the man in black pulls up his shirt revealing an intense amount of stitches circling across his whole torso like a sadistically stitched in demon without reason. Grabbing a punch of them Aika would watch in horror as the man daisy chained pulled them out of his flesh so brutally that lines of blood came out from the damaged flesh.

"Enjoy this symphony," the man barely spoke with eyes so dilated it was impressive he was conscious as he caught her hand holding the kunai before dropping the ballistic knife as all that damage funneled right into her chest.

The flash grenade caught Mitsuo completely by surprise, and he dropped onto his second knee, lowering himself and covering his ears, trying to get rid of the ringing in them and to break out of the flash that he was just exposed to.

Aika, on her side, did manage to block some of the flash grenade's effect with her free arm, before seeing the villain arrive right at her, and feeling the slash against her chest. As he revealed the stitches across his chest and started to grab them, Aika's eyes widened. This man was absolutely mad. But the pain started to flow right at her chest, as he grabbed her arm and dropped the knife. All the pain that was directed there hit hard, and it started to feel like she was having difficulty breathing. As though he had actually just punched her really hard against her chest. As she started breathing with an unsteady pace, Aika found herself having difficulty breathing, and her legs started to shake from the now unsteady income of oxygen. Her diamond skin also reverted back to her normal skin. However, despite all this, she kept her eyes on the villain, trying to mouth something at him.

"Sorry little diamond at least you'll live," he smiled watching her feel what he felt every waking moment of everyday. As the stitches were pulled back into his body, and his wounds closed he watched her fighting to breathe not enjoying it per say, but seemed wanting to see her pain to remind himself… he was still alive fighting with this level of pain everyday. He seemed numb to her lipped words chuckling as he turned away.

"I think I have made my point," he mumbled before shifting back, knocking her out with a solid punch.

As she still struggled to breath, Aika watched him turn away for a moment, before the punch came at her, knocking her backwards. As she fell against the ground, her vision started to fade, and she could feel some blood drip over her face, before everything went black.

As Mitsuo was still staying low, his hearing slowly started coming back, and he removed his hands from his ears. He could faintly hear something falling against the ground, but he still had trouble seeing anything beyond some blurry lights. Blinking a bunch more, Mitsuo tried to get a better grasp of what was happening.

"If you want to see for yourself in five days you'll head to Goncho street in Kyoto where there will be a building with the top half burnt off clear as day the area will be dead of activity don't mind the stares. Though if you want to see them you'll have to let me go," the man chuckled weakly, his own damage coming to haunt him as he clearly had been rattled a little more going overboard with how he had koed Aika.

"So what say you Chameleo will Jack of Pain escape your grasp today," he chuckled looking dead set on Mitsuo

As he began registering more things with his hearing, Mitsuo was able to hear what the man was saying. Five days, Goncho street, Kyoto, let him go, see them. While it was the wrong thing to do on many accounts, he glanced sideways in Jack of Pain's direction. He was able to just barely see Aika down on the ground. Any chance of bringing the man down was probably rather gone. And Mitsuo wasn't even sure if he wanted to bring him down.

"Go. Quick." Came the still rather quiet response, as he slowly stood up and started to walk towards both Jack of Pain and Aika, although his eyes seemed set on Aika, as if he was ignoring any presence of the man there.

"See you soon," Jack of Pain responded with a devilish grin to the boy's step into the grey line as he himself disappeared into the black where Kaizen, and Vitalis had disappeared, a neutral line of decision made by a morally troubling equation.

By the time Mitsuo finished regaining his senses, Jack of Pain was gone, and the lizard was just looking down at his unconscious teammate. Picking her up, Mitsuo made his way back in the direction they came from, walking for a bit, until he deemed a spot to be safe. Putting Aika back down gently, he gave her another glance before taking out a small notebook and pen. After writing something quickly, he turned his attention to the side. He could hear people looking for others, calling out for Kaizen and the team. Putting the note in Aika's hands, he would vanish from sight with his disguise. Mitsuo would not return to Suppression that day.

'I resign from Suppression. Thanks for everything. Mitsuo Uchida.'
 
@RedArmyShogun @timv999 @TreasureSniper @Demon Shinobi @Reanimator Spuds @Thaleko

As team Ion Storm heads about its tasks Agi would at once be cut off from any speech about three outs after their initial deployment, whatever task they were doing would now no longer matter as the Authoritarian voice of Mari comes across the lines.

"Ag… Ion Storm tell Hotshot that I said Red Saffron, again Red Saffron.. Listen very closely to what he has to say. I can't get through to Apex Bugster.. For reasons I'll answer too later, I had trackers in all leader comms, he is well away from where he should be, he or his team likely needs help, be cautious. I'm directing Oni Meetsu and her team there as well. Find what is there and if it is the enemy base, shut it down at once. Good hunting, out."

On his own communicator, a map would show a rundown lot in the nearby Factory District, it was a shipping warehouse complex to handle finished products back in its day. Very little information was on hand, though on the way there, Agi's team would come across a cave in a section of the parking lot, the damage being done from below, a curiosity but not one to take their attention awfully long.

Before long they would cross into the property boundary of the facility, though it was clear someone was there, everything seemed quiet mostly, apart from some muffled sounds coming from the main warehouse.

This was the first assignment Amano wasn't taking the lead. It was giving her a bit of anxiety. So far having that sense of control helped her calm down. But Agi was competent. He'd keep them safe. Of course, that didn't stop her from preparing her usual contingency plans for if any member of the team was incapacitated. Except now… She had an extra set. For if anyone betrayed them.

Nothing so far had made sense. She was having a hard time putting her faith in her school and some other members of Suppression. Someone had to be leaking information. She had been meaning to conduct some investigations of her own. She just needed more time.

Upon arrival, she wanted to know who was inside. "Ion Storm. Shall I send Mnemu in for scouting?"

"Ya send Mnemu through the busted piping into the main warehouse, and through the infrastructure, cracks to see if there is anything below this complex," Ion Storm instructed as he led them to a blind point from the main warehouse's eyes. It was a cornered route though so no doubt the moment they moved they would return to enemy eyes. Ion Storm had Diva Vu, Hotshot, and Yamoshi. Overall a heavy team dynamic is well suited for a second enforcing excursion.

This time Ion was in his full element and was not hesitant on any order so far making quick precise calls as he received Mari's full message going over the map details.

"Before we proceed on Mnemu's findings, Kaizen's team has gone dark... Hotshot, Red Saffron," Ion Storm instructed as directed by Kalico waiting to see what this was all about in the middle of a roundup mission.

Ever since Mari took him aside Hideki couldn't stop thinking about what she had told them. Mari, Ota sensei, and the higher-ups at the school had it on pretty good information that one of the students in their class was leaking information to the group of villains that the class had been dealing with lately. There was almost no way that their class could keep running into these villains unless they were somehow getting information about what their class was doing.

Before the teams and missions were discussed in class, Mari took Hideki aside and told him the real reason for these missions. They knew that the traitor was a female in their class. They wanted to snuff them out here and now. Hideki's team was going to be the team that dealt with this person. That was also why they teamed up with Hideki, Agi, and Amano together. While Agi was the leader of the team, Hideki and Amano had been leaders previously. It was a strong team even if Hideki didn't know much about Yamoshi. Hideki had also been the only one given this information which weighed on him a little bit. He also had thought hard about what girl from their class it could be. He couldn't imagine any of them doing it, but he had a few guesses.

Hideki put all of that aside when Agi turned to him and said the phrase Red Saffron. Hideki shook his head in acknowledgment and then turned to look at the whole squad. "The real reason for this mission is that Mari, Ota sensei and the higher ups at our school believe that one of the girls from our class is a traitor. They have been leaking information to the group of villains we have been fighting recently. Our squad's job is to find and capture this person. The phrase Red Saffron now allows me to tell you all about this. It looks like since we are heading for Kaizen's team that either Vitalis or Aika is our traitor." With that Hideki looked somberly at the rest of the group to see their reactions.

Amano's face grew dark hearing those words, her own suspicions confirmed. It also explained why she had never been contacted for investigating this matter, in spite of her quirk making her very effective at that. But in the end, it made sense why she was kept in the dark by Mari and Ota: She would be the most dangerous traitor in the class. Every detail in their group, every weakness, personality trait, and bond captured perfectly in her slimes. All she'd have to do was give the enemy some of her oozes, and her whole class would be left helpless.

She knew what this meant. "I've only known Aika for a short while, but… I have a strong feeling that she wouldn't be the one leaking information. However, Hideki I'm sure you may remember since you went to UA with us." She knelt down and opened up one of her ooze canisters, then pulled out a piece from her head, dropping it into the opened canister. "Vitalis has always had a dark look in her eyes. I just wish it didn't need to come to this."

The ooze sprang to life, falling out of the canister. "Forgive me for this, but I had my own suspicions of a traitor amidst us. So, I prepared a few contingency Mnemu's. I really wished I didn't have to use any of them…" She pulled out another bit of pink ooze and shoved it into the now empty canister. This was not going to be pleasant. Hopefully, this made things easier.

"I'll hopefully have some information on the status of the building soon." Now all that was left was to wait for her scouting slimes to return.

~~~

"Deal with the intruders! There is a disruption in the base, taking the research and leaving! Will send reinforcements!" Came the voice of Dr. Foxglove over Vitalis's own earpiece, while it was clear mooks would soon join her, for now, she had the advantage given from the site's surveillance network. The main base had been found out several hours more quickly than expected and they seemed to be dealing with some form of conflict on the inside, though this warning would allow Vitalis some discretion in how she met and dealt with her misguided allies as she once and likely still thought of them.

Tch. They found this place so fast! That had not been expected. Looking at the monitors of the security system Vitalis's eyes fell upon the group that had gathered outside. Her heart sank. Hideki, Agi, Yamoshi, and Amano?! Right, that was the team put together. Still, she wished it had been any other team! With how fast they were found, this team, and how quick they were to respond it almost seemed as if.. As if they were set up? Has someone been following her movements secretly? Had to be.

Vitalis closed her eyes, hands resting on the console. The girl took in a breath, then went rigid. Her eyes opened, saucers of red. These were people she heavily cared about. But she was doing this for them. Or that's what she believed in her heart. Her hands shook until she scraped claw marks down the console, clenching her fists. She'd have to engage. That much was certain.

She knew she could never return to Suppression after this.

Alright. Vitalis held out her hands, and mist began to form. Her mist could look like any smoke or any gas, or anything really. But no, they'd know what it was. She sent her mist through the nearby vents and through the building's ventilation system. She'd flood the place. That team was stacked to say the least. She'd need a literal ocean of mist if she stood any chance. A miasma of mist, if you will, is what they'd be wading through to stop what was happening here.

~~~

As Vitalis tried to hold up in part of the building, chaos broke out elsewhere as a number of goons spilled out, unknowingly to Vitalis they were wanting to escape Kaizen and decided this was the safer option of the two as the assorted dozen or so henchmen face off against this team of class 07.

Actually, Vitalis did know. As she noticed nearly immediately as goons ran out of the base, only to meet the group of would-be heroes out front. She frowned. This changed her plans somewhat, but she couldn't leave those fools to fight alone. With a heavy heart, she prepared to finally meet her friends face to face and dashed away from the security cameras to go outside.

As all of this is going on, Amano's search turned up a few things of note, one the Facility had a number of exits, security cameras were inside and monitor to the out, what seemed to be Kaizen was devastating the people inside, a fire was breaking out, and an assortment of people was going about trying to deal with all these problems at once, while Vitalis's weakening mists flowed in a good portion of the facility, affecting the slime it's self, what, if any of this information would reach back to Amano was dependant on her. Though for the time being an assortment of villains was upon them and Vitalis was approaching their backline. They seemed rather unconcerned about this fact.

"For now we concentrate on what's important. The moment anyone sees Aika, or Vitalis we report it to all channels. We rescue Kaizen, we keep this place as locked down as possible, and we kick the crap out of all those assholes coming at us right now," Agi hissed as he could hear the multiple waves of baddies coming their way.

"Three prong wave attack, IHY. Diva Vu the moment your slime reports prepare to guide us through the facility, Hotshot you play guard, Yamoshi you play crowd control. Level of force authorized is to match the enemies," Ion Storm quickly finished his commands as a series of levitating nano marbles started to form in front of him in excessive force. With a turn around the corner, his hand waved a command that sent out the marbles that quickly exploded into a smaller ball bearing equivalent to a noon lethal ballistic fire suppressing, and sending the first wave of goons back hard.

Hideki crouched there behind the wall as he listened to what Amano had to say. She seemed to have the most to say on the matter of why they were there. She also seemed to have her own suspicions that someone was a traitor. Mari had said that the reason that she hadn't told the rest of his team about the mission was that she needed to make sure Amano wasn't the traitor. She would be very dangerous if she was the traitor since she had all of this information in the class. Hideki didn't think Amano was the traitor but he was happy to find out for sure that she wasn't. "Yeah Amano I know what you mean, her eyes always did hide something a little dark. I figured it was just because of the family she came from, but unfortunately, there might be more to it than that."

Hideki turned and looked at Agi as he gave out his orders. "Right I'll protect her until mnemu gets back, leave it to me." Hideki turned to look at Amano and flashed a smile at her. Hideki then followed Agi's lead and fires out a huge flame attack at the enemies.

She decided it would be disadvantageous to allow her "allies" -the goons- to be defeated so easily by her friends, so that meant she needed to reveal herself sooner rather than later. It would happen eventually anyway, might as well bite the bullet.

Vitalis exited the building just as some of the goons took a firm blast and toppled over. The disturbance didn't seem to bother the vampy at all. "Hey guyz," she began, walking out casually, looking the same as she did every day. "What are you doing here?" she asked, eyeing the goons around her, as they groaned and got back to their feet. She was talking to Agi's group in a normal tone but was standing beside the goons he had just attacked.

Yamoshi didn't believe it. He didn't believe it one bit in hell. How the hell could someone just... Especially one of the people who'd been in the class since the beginning? Well... It made more sense that it'd be someone who'd been there. But...

"Vit? No way..." he mumbled under his breath. "What do ya mean a dark look?" he questioned. He didn't know Aika very well. He'd seen her in passing at best. But... Vitalis? She couldn't be. Right? "She wouldn't..."

Before Yamoshi could really say anything else on the matter, a swarm of goons came rushing out. He was placed on crowd control. In other words, follow Agi's lead and unleash hell. He grits his teeth blasting an array of high-power neon bolts toward the goons in rapid-fire motion. "Oi Cuz... We really just working under the assumption whoever's here is a traitor?!" he asked, still somewhat in denial. He didn't want to believe it. There had to be a good reason right? No matter who it was!

Then she came out. Vitalis. Yamoshi's eyes widened. "What are we--" he shook his head. "Oi! Vitalis... The hell are you doing here?!" he barked, his voice trembling for a moment. There had to be a reason right? "You here to help us out? Cause if ya are, you're standing on the wrong side, ya know!"

"...," Agi was silent as Vitalis came out of the wave of goons a memory was triggered of their first day of Suppression two lines, in particular, came to him. 'To do what iss necessary to do.' That answer had a lot more weight right now from that day as Vitalis stood with the enemy opposite of them. The person Agi Mizushimo felt the weight of betrayal for the very first time as he looked at the smaller girl standing there. He could hear her words so calm in the manner that against the denial sprang from Yamoshis it felt for a second like the world was spinning.

"A Hero's role is an angel, descending from on high, to enact a miracle that none other can achieve. And since only a Hero can achieve this miracle, it is the role of the Hero to do so. That was the answer you gave to Ota," Agi responded, first looking at Vitalis as the memories he, in particular, had spent with her rushed through his mind in a blink of time.

"So what miracle do these people offer you that warrants kidnapping a friend and turning over the safety of your "family" mission details," Agi asked, giving her any chance to clear her name up one push before things turned to how the natural order demanded… violent. He wanted to hear her answer, and part of him was stalling for Mnemu, but anything that could potentially make sense of this madness would have to come from Vitalis… yet part of him knew her answer was not going to be what he wanted to hear. For it would shred away any chance they had to reach out to her to stop he could tell by the look on her face.

Upon exiting the building, she had made a mental note that their attacks hadn't harmed her "allies" too badly. The explosion and flames seemed to cause some superficial damage -that was good. If a goon or two passed out from that, well oh well, there was enough. But when Yamoshi began to immediately deny her presence, she felt bile rise in her throat. She winced and looked away.

When Vitalis heard Agi repeat her answer, her eyes sharpened again and her gaze once more returned to them. "Yess, it wass." She sighed. "I admit, I'm not overly fond of my -uh- current affiliashun, but… sometimes that'z.. jusst how it goess."

Vitalis's face softened as she looked at people who meant a lot to her. "Pleasse, can you jusst go? Kaizzen's fine. Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. You know me, I wouldn't hurt a ssoul. None of thiss really concernss any of you."

Hideki turned his attention forward as out of the fog of their attacks came the small figure of a person standing in front of them. Hideki's fist clenched as he knew who it was and who their traitor was. Vitalis came out of the fog and started to question why they were here. Was she really doing this? Hideki had always known that something was a little off about Vitalis ever since he first met her back at UA, but for her to do this. He couldn't believe it. Hideki bit his bottom lip as anger started to well up in him, before he could say anything to the small vampire girl his attention turned to what Agi was saying. Agi started to speak the words that Vitalis had given as her answer to Ota sensei on the very first day of class. Those words, now becoming much clearer than they had been back then.

Hideki, who had been crouching down with the group, was now standing tall looking directly at Vitalis. "You know that we can't just leave. To think that you would betray our class." Hideki then looked down at Amano for a moment before looking back to Vitalis. "To betray not only our class at Suppression, but those of us who were in class together at UA is unbelievable. We are here to take you in, we can do this easily or we can fight, but you need to know that we are not leaving here without doing our job and that's bringing you in." Hideki's right hand now had a blue glow as flames were starting to gather in his right hand, his anger towards her starting to become visible.

Her cute little Vitalis. Someone whom she was kind to and who she wished could see the world in a better light was now standing here as not just an adversary, but a threat. A threat to everyone and everything she held dear. A fallen angel. Something Amano had feared could happen one day. When Vitalis had arrived, Amano saw someone she had spent the last few years of her school days with.

She still held all those memories. But she had purged most of her feelings from those. This is the only way I can do this… This was why she had joined Suppression in the first place after all. To be the one capable of keeping her teammates on the right path? Lots of good she had proven to be at it. All of this… All of this could have been avoided right? Had she spent more time with her, couldn't fate have been changed?

"None of the matters now." Amano stood up "I could lecture you just as they had, but that won't do any good. So now my hand has been forced. I won't let anyone lay a finger on those who are dear to me." Even if that means doing it herself. She spoke calmly. Far more at peace than one would expect from someone who had just learned a close friend was a traitor. What Amano had placed in her canister before… Was the only reason she was able to stand firm at what she was looking at now.

Yeah. Yeah! Agi was right. There had to be a good explanation for this. Vitalis had to have a reason. "Let's just talk about this guys. Come on. We're friends... There's gotta be..." He stopped. Dead in his tracks as he registered Vitalis's answer. That's just how it goes.

"Just... Oi! Vit! That's enough of this sick little joke of yours!" he shouted, his voice rising in frustration. "Just... What the hell do you mean this doesn't concern us. We've got a classmate captured. We've got a friend... You... You're not even..." He couldn't even form a cohesive thought. Part of him felt like throwing up. He could see where all of this was going. He wished he could stop it, to resolve all of this peacefully.

"Oi Cuz... help me out here. We've gotta talk some sense into Vit. Hideki you... Amano...?" He was at a loss. He didn't know how to approach this. Would they have to fight? Really fight? Like this wasn't a friend? "Come on... There's gotta be some other way to handle this..." he said, pleading now for some course of action other than violence. "Vit! Help me out here! Gimme something! Anything to shift this away from..." She knew the rest. They all knew where it was going. He just... he didn't want that.

She took a step forward. "Betray?" Vitalis seemed wounded by Hideki's word. "Iss that what you think I've done?" She paused and sighed. "Heroess do whatever iss necesssary to ssave people -- even if it meanss betraying one's alliez to do sso. You all know thiss." Her eyes flickered over to Amano, and was once more wounded by the coldness there. "I wass oncce ssomeone dear to you. As are you to me. -All of you are!" Vitalis exclaimed, her gaze sweeping the group.

"We are friendss, Yam. But thiss izn't a joke. I know that'z jusst how you are, but.." She looked at the poor boy fondly. Poor Yam, he was always too innocent. "Thiss iss.." She shook her head, "Pleasse jusst go."

……………………………………………………..


Agi listened as everyone gave their responses Amano's determination, Hidekis rage, Yamoshi's sadness were all thrown at Vitalis's ideal. As this had been going on info had been coming into Agi lead comm channel from Team Mari, and Team Haya. The evidence at hand-painted a quick picture of what this was all about.

"Your side is trying to remove quirks," Agi muttered more as a direct thought than a question. It made sense now what was happening here Kaizen had been kidnapped for his extremely biological-driven quirk. Vitalis being the one to hand him over on a silver platter.

"While you are out here pleading with us Kaizen being experimented on isn't he," the words sickened Agis's lips the moment they came out.

"...This is Team lead Ion Storm confirming on all channels that Vitalis Alucard has gone rogue," Agi felt his gut wrench into a nasty knot as those words escaped his lips. As he pointed at Vitalis, and those around her.

"This is your only warning, Shadow Mist turn yourself in peacefully, and have your men stand down… or we will be forced to resort to combat to rescue Kaizen. Where is he and what have you done to him?" He locked eyes with Vitalis it was without argument no matter what was going on, the reason, or the words given she was going to stand her ground. As such she was no longer Class 07's Vitalis; she was now the villain Shadow Mist. Agi could no longer be the mentality here Ion Storm had to come in full force. He gave Her one shot to end this peacefully if not the hounds of hell would be unleashed.

So they had such info that they actually knew what was going on? She frowned. "My 'siide'?" She could scarcely understand what he meant by that. "I'm doing thiss for you! Quirkx are evil! They're the root of all problems in our world!" Her response was a bit desperate, but then the small girl regained her composure.. somewhat. "Like I ssaid, Kaizzen.. he'll be.. he'll be fine. He'll siimply de-mutate.. And hiss human geness will get the freedom they long for. He'll be fine.. I.. I think." She did have worries, because she wasn't necessarily sure if everyone involved could accomplish what they said they were, but she had to have faith on that front. Trust, too. If not, then what she was doing was pointless.

At his warning and what he called in, Vitalis's heroic veneer was broken. Her face twisted with anguish at what he said. Anguish and anger. "I'ya izzheer nyuan! Fine! You're wrong. 'Shhadow Misst' wass the name of the ssmall, unasssuming, shhy Hero that iss no more! N'myea k'eh an'iyea! I've already ressolved mysself to all thiss! Long ago I promissed mysself down thiss path. If you only seee me as a villain, then I will play the part!"

Out of various vents around the base her mist blew out, coming to where she called it; descending upon them like a foggy cloud. Along with the sudden burst from her mist fell an object of slender appearance. She caught it and did a little twirl with the effort, before stabbing it into the ground beside her. It was basically as long as she was, and covered in a white sheet. Her previous weapon, Oil of Vitriol was the prototype to this weapon. The Blight Curtain. The fan opened up, the metal scratching the ground with sparks, and sliced straight through the sheet. "I'll be the villain! Miassma." The Alucard's eyes glowed bright red, she was clearly serious now, as her mist came down. Even the goons around her were not safe from it. Still, she lifted the lightweight metal fan and blew her mist hard at Agi's group.

"Hotshot target Miasma, and her mist Diva Vu play support use anything in the environment to negate her quirk, Yamoshi Crowd control," Ion Storm shouted out in quick succession as with a pull off his hand all the goons that had been hit by his early ballistic ball bearing attacks would find themselves flung at Miasma.

Quirks were bad? Vitalis really believed that? Yet she wasn't volunteering herself to have her own quirk taken away from her. She really thought she was a hero for everyone by trying to take away their quirks. Hideki looked away for a moment, as he thought on his past. After his parents died Hideki hated his quirk, he wanted nothing to do with it, but now it's what reminds him of his parents, it's a part of how he keeps their memory alive. "You say quirks are evil and yet you're not volunteering yourself to have your own quirk taken away. You've had one of our classmates captured and are trying to take their quirk away." Hideki glared at her before things started to change.

Vitalis then started to release her poison mist onto the field. Hideki had been accidentally poisoned by her mist before and knew how potent it could be. Agi then gave our orders which included telling Hideki to attack Vitalis. "Right I got it, watch for her mist." Hidkei then turned towards Vitalis. "You've given us no choice, I don't want to do that because of our history but you're leaving me no options here."

Hideki's right hand continued to glow with his blue flames as suddenly Hideki started to lift in the air. Flames were now coming out from his feet as he lifted into the air. Hideki wanted to stay above Vitalis's mist. Now In the air Hideki fires off a steady stream of blue flames from his right hand towards Vitalis.

"Yamoshi…" Amano said in light of his pleas to not fight back. Amano knew that wouldn't work of course. How long had Vitalis been doing this? Was she responsible for the day that her previous team watched people die in that explosion? But more importantly, was she the reason Yori almost died on that bus? Vitalis was a friend. She may still very well be in her memories. But none of that mattered now.

Vitalis's Miasma drained Mnemu's life force as well. But he's still a sticky, heavy slime, even if unable to move. Which meant Mnemu could still be used to hinder Vitalis's movement. Amano grabbed her launcher and pulled the rope of slime from her ear, taking aim and providing Ion Storm with back up. "Hotshot, Vitalis's miasma is affected by air currents. You're currently the only one capable of providing any effect that creates wind current. Are you able to heat up the air without the use of flames? Yamoshi, Neon is lighter than air, so unfortunately we may not be able to float Vitalis's mist on top of a layer of it. I'll keep thinking. For now, I suggest assisting Ion Storm in the front line. Agi and I will handle support and any low-priority targets."

Maneuvering the fan between her and Agi, the small girl was able to easily hide behind the large fan weapon. She braced as his explosive attack was smoothly defended against. Then she lifted the fan above her, to defend against Hideki's flames. Her weapon was lightweight and what you'd call "fireproof". Well, it was able to withstand heat. But she could still feel a bit of heat building up from his stream of blue flames.

"Oh, believe me, I don't want thiss quirk anymore than any of you want me to have thiss quirk! But I can't! Not yet! Quirklesss, and I wouldn't sstand a chancce againsst any of you! I need thiss quirk until I can be shure my path izn't threatened anymore! I'd love to get rid of my quirk. After all, all my quirk iss good for iss deathh and pain! Who wantss ssomething like that?!"

She could hear their plans, and before Amano had a chance to engage, Vitalis zipped off into the air as her mistform. She floated up there, frowning at Hideki. "You're wrong; you do have a choice -everyone doess! Quirkx are evil, Hideki; I know ssome of you love your quirkx, and I get that, but even you Hideki -all you do iss create fire! One day you ussed to only dream of being "Number 1!" What sstopped you from dreaming that?? Or perhapss, you still do. What if in the future you seee a chancce to be number 1? Or you ssnap? Your quirk can be ussed to desstroy countlesss livess and entire locashuns, burning them up in flamess. Who could stop you?!" She hardened her face. "Well that'z why I'm doing what I'm doing now. I'll be the villain now, sso you won't have to be in the future!"

Vitalis reached into her pack and grabbed one of her glass bottles. She smashed it against her giant fan. Her bottles contained her mist that had persisted for so long, that it had practically become acid. The acid leaked all over the fan. She swung the blade back then twice in succession at Agi. Large acidic blades were fired at him. She figured her mist was pretty good against his nanos, just like Hideki's fire was good against her mist.

"Hey, you!" She shouted down to her "allies". "You can fight now! Sswarm Diva Vu and Yamosshi! Keep them at bay!" She ordered the goons, then looked back at Hideki. Recalling some of their time in UA together she said, "Your fire iss good againsst my misst. But what if there'z no oxygen to make any fire??" In a burst of speed she began flying around him, using her fan to create a vortex. Similar to what she did against the wind man. If Hideki needed oxygen to make his fire, she'd simply remove it! She didn't like the idea of suffocating him, not one bit, but well, they were fighting. So she had to do what she had to.

Hideki heard Amano yelling to him asking him if he could heat up the air without using his flames. Heat causes air to rise so Amano wanted to be able to raise Vitalis's mist up into the air without Hideki having to use his flames. It was possible, Hideki could heat his body up and could push that heat out of him, the thing was though he couldn't fire that heat like he could his flames. The heat would only come out of him within a certain radius. For this plan to work Hideki would have to be in the mist and take some of the poison while releasing his heat. "Yeah It's possible, but I would have to be right in the middle of her mist. I can let out heat from my body but I can't fire it like I can my flames. The heat only comes out within a small radius away from my body." Hideki was able to talk to Amano and watch as his flames were redirected away by Vitalis's fan.

Vitalis then went into a monologue about how quirks were evil including his own fire quirk. She also turned into her mist form and was now close to Hideki staring him face to face. "I'm not here to use my fire for that, I'm going to use my fire to save people just like my father did. It's not the quirks that are bad, it's the people who chose to use them for bad. I used to dream about being number one and doing whatever I had to do to be that. That was because I felt like I had to do that or I wouldn't survive like my parents didn't" Hideki bit his bottom lip as more emotions were spilling out. "During my time at UA though I changed, Amano, Mari, the rest of our class and you too Vitalis were a part of the reasons why I grew up and changed my view. Would I like to be the number one hero someday, sure I would, but I would rather save people than be number one and that's what I'm going to do with my quirk."

Hideki had an opening to attack her, but his answer to Vitalis's monologue caused him to miss his chance. After he answered her Hideki was about to fire off some flames at Vitalis while she was in the mist mode, but the small vampire girl saw her chance first and took it. She used her fan to quickly create a vortex around Hideki cutting off the air supply within the vortex. Hideki tried to fire off his flames but there was no oxygen for them to shoot out of him. The fire that was coming out from his feet soon stopped and caused Hideki to fall crashing to the ground from the sky. He landed hard on his back on the ground as he tried to catch his breath. Vitalis had tried to suffocate him.

Ion Storm hissed as Miasma brought out that weapon that was clearly designed after Amaris pro hero days umbrella built by Allo Tamoyo himself. He hadn't seen it in action before, but he had seen the blueprints of it in the shop when it was being worked on. That thing gave her an advantage in a multi-fight. Her words on the matter of her quirk gave an opening of planning as Ion Storm watched her coat her weapon in what looked to be a nasty concoction of her mist agent. With a quick hand, Ion Storm called back all his nanobots before opening the container door next to him blocking the attacks, yet watching as the door began to slowly melt in place, and just like their own orders Miasma orders were heard plain as day.

Being close to Amano, and Yamoshi, a few of his words built a sentence in front of them out of view of Vitalis. In the heat of the moment, he was reminded of Team Haya first mission, and the battle report pointing out a major weakness she had at one point near the end being overwhelmed by a liquid-based attack. Her mist is useless if she's overwhelmed by a liquid source, Ion Storm's message was clear they needed to find a water source, and overwhelm her with it to negate her quirk manipulation to its lowest point. Places like these were overwhelmed with water sources; they just had to find one.

With his message delivered he rushed out breaking off the other container door as Hideki's first assault backfired with him falling right luckily though before Vitalis could follow up Hotshot was pulled away from her by Ion's Nanos as he rushed past him throwing the container door a little ahead before forming a nanoblade, and with an uppercut slash cleaved the door into three pieces one heading straight for Miasma, another landing behind her, and the third being caught and used as a small shield as his cloak wrapped around his body. With Miasma distracted for a moment Agi created two chess bishop shaped nano constructs that rockets past her, and her vortex pummeling at the first new wave of goons sending them flying back, and further away from Yamoshi, and Diva Vu giving the two time to enact their part of the strategy as Agi dispersed the constructs into a torrent sandstorm to disorient and distract them. With a quick twist of his feet, he brought his attention back to Miasma.

"Hotshot doesn't concentrate on her! Concentrate underneath her!" he yelled out directing Hideki to set the stage on fire it would force the goons to find a different longer route at Diva Vu, and Yamoshi, and would start to cause massive heat rise causing a restriction on Miasma's mist just as she had done to him earlier.

Heating the command of Vitalis, the grunts shrug it off, having been rather bored with storytime, they were here only because they were getting paid considerably at that. Deja Vu and Yamoshi, not sure who that was, decided to go after the two that were not fighting her and looked the weakest. Pointing a handgun at Deja Vu, one opens fire as two more attempt to move within melee range, while the remaining few encircle Yamoshi in classic movie villain terms and are ready to combat him from inclosing with melee and quirks, laughing a bit as they did so in clear taunting.

Everything was happening so fast. Just like that, they were fighting. Yamoshi watched in horror as the conversation broke down. "Vitalis... Come on..." he whispered, his voice trembling. He felt frozen. He was stuck. He didn't know what to do. Even as Agi gave him his orders, he was left to try and process everything that was happening. He didn't move. How could the other be so quick to act? Why couldn't he do that?

He barely even registered Agi's message before the boy rushed off to help Hideki, who was in danger himself. "Wha... F-fuck..." He shook his head. He had to get his head in the damn game. Vitalis hated quirks. She hated her quirk. "Vitalis! Are you really okay with hurting your friends?!" He'd gotten an inkling of that during their time in the aquarium, but to think it was this bad. "Dammit Vit! You can't want this! Just turn yourself in. It doesn't have to be this way!" Fuck… Amano was in danger and so, from the looks of it, was he.

Yamoshi grit his teeth shooting a stream of Neon which would create a shield before Amano to stop the shots that had been fired from her. He panted a bit. He didn't like this. He didn't like any of this. What the hell was even going on? Why? Why did it have to be like this?

"I'm gonna be honest... " he said as he was surrounded. "This is both really cliche of you fucks and I'm already kinda pissed. So," he paused as one of the goons rushed him. He pulled one of the chains from his costume. Wrapping it around his hand, he charged it with neon, strengthening and illuminating it. He growled dodging an initial strike, slamming his fist into the man's jaw. "Fuck it. Next." He dodged another strike. Cliche villain moves. He grabbed the man's wrist and pulled him closer, driving his knee into the goon's gut. If nothing else, Yamoshi was managing to blow off some steam.

"Diva! What's the plan?! You're the smart one here!" He barked at her as he swung the chain, using it like a neon whip now to better enhance the striking power of his neon construct. There were a lot of them. She had to release almost all of her ooze to keep herself safe. Vitalis's abilities made things very difficult to claim victory. Too many of their resources were being used on keeping her mist at bay, and many others were being used to keep her from getting too hurt, as she relied heavily on the swordplay that she and Katsumi worked on.

Agi's message was heard loud and clear, even if no words were outright spoken. Parking garages often had emergency hoses in case of fires. After all, trucks were too big to fit in the center sections. Which of course made this next part more difficult. "I'm only weighing you all down here. Clear me a path. Trust me to take care of this." She wanted to get to that garage and hoped that the water line was still operational. That was her best chance at knocking down her mist.

I'm the meantime, Mnemu would be able to help slow her down. "Ion Storm, take Mnemu airborne if you can. Make it rain slime. That will split her focus hopefully."

Her vortex had worked -better than she had intended, even. It made the flames keeping him airborne go out, and Hideki fell to the ground. She took the opportunity to respond to him. "Jusst becausse you ssay that, doezn't mean it'z going to happen or sstay that way! I'm glad you chhanged your view, I am, but you're jusst ONE persson! There are countlesss others who DON'T chhange, or worsse, chhange for the worsse! You ssaid 'ssave' people, ssave them from who, Hideki? From who?! The evil fire guy who'ss already exploded a building?! Without quirkx, you wouldn't need to ssave anyone!"

Vitalis held up her fan in shield form to block the tossed slashed metal. It bounced off her weapon with a metallic clang, but sent a small shockwave through her. Her strength training was paying off, but not really enough to brace against heavy attacks like that. She'd note that and from this point forward.

Her attention was drawn to the goon firing off rounds from a pistol. That made her wince and grit her teeth. Yes they were fighting, but.. She didn't want her friends shot to death! Stupid goon. She thought about doing something about him herself, but knew her friends could handle a few bullets. -Or she hoped they could. "No! I don't want to hurt you!" She answered Yamoshi. "That'z why I told you to leave! Turn mysself in?!" She looked stunned. "If I do that, then all my effort will have gone to wasste! And I shhould've jusst remained hidden as your shhy little vampire girl friend! A ssmall hero who doess nothing for the world that no other ssmall-time hero can't do! Hazn't it sstruck you as odd?! Why there'z a "hero sociiety" at all?! Why generashun after generashun of heroess continue to persisst?! Becausse the villainss do. There will alwayss be another villain Yam, Agi, Amano, Hideki. Alwayss another. You can defeat 100, no 1000 villainss, and another will pop up. THAT'Z why I'm doing thiss! Why I can't sstop! I fully intend to end thiss cycle of heroess and villainss! Without quirkx thiss broken world will finally mend."

She lifted her weapon above her, the metal gleaming in the sunlight. Mist heavier than before flooded out of her, turning like dark fog around her as she forcibly strengthened her mist, making it more concentrated and intensifying its effects. Then she swung the Blight Curtain as hard as she could down, blasting the mist right before Amano, cutting off her path. "As if I'd let you!" In mist form Vitalis burst down towards Amano, someone she considered a very close friend. Her fan-folded back together into sword form, and she swung it right at the girl now tangible to make the attack threatening.

Hideki laid on the ground for a moment coughing as he caught his breath. He didn't know that Vitalis could literally take the oxygen away from a small area. He gritted his teeth for a moment before fleeing himself get pulled away. Hideki opened his eyes as he saw Agi's nano's pulling him to safety to make sure that Vitalis didn't have a chance for a follow-up attack. Hideki then watched Agi move ahead of him and keep up their attack.

Hideki needed to step up and needed to do it now. He was in a bit of pain but he forced himself up off the ground and just as he did that he heard Agi's orders. Hideki looked around the area for anything that he could set on fire to make a lot of heat. He noticed a bunch of wooden pallets. Ones that would be used for a warehouse. It looked like whoever used this building had left a bunch of old wooden pallets they didn't use anymore outside. Hideki fired off a stream of flames at the pallets igniting them on fire. This would create a lot of heat in the area which should help to raise Vitalis's mist up into the air where it wouldn't be as dangerous for Hideki's team. It also wilds hopefully create a bigger fire which would make it difficult for the enemy grunts to move around. Hideki decided to take a couple of the grunts out as well as he attacked a couple with intense fire before turning his attention back to Vitalis.

Hideki was able to listen to her speak more on why she was doing this and why quirks needed to be destroyed. "It sounds like to me that you want to play god. You sound like you think you know better than everyone else and that your way is the righteous one. It doesn't matter if there are quirks or not there will always be heroes and villains, that's how the world works. So instead of getting rid of quirks, use yours for good like we all plan too."

Hideki then watched as Amano started to race towards the garage, she was going to look for a water source to get rid of the mist for good, though Vitalis wasn't going to give her that chance as she started to swing her sword at her. "Diva Vu jump back!" Hideki yelled as he took his right hand and fired off a stream of blue flames at Vitalis, these flames with more heat and intensity than before.

With everything now in full motion Ion Storm was distracted for a bit as a few of the minions were insane enough to charge through the fire, and rising flames. More to note they were heading for Diva Vu, and Yamoshi persistently avoiding the more aggressive of the two in the team to avoid Miasma's own mistful wraith it seemed.

"I don't think so," Ion Storm hissed as he launched out a few nanowires catching some of them before whipping them at others right out of the ring of fire rushing forwards as he could feel the temperature of his skin slowly rise from the levels of heat. With his nano blade, he swung off like a spinning saw slicing, and dicing all the weapons of the gunner types. Catching the closes of them with a series of quick pummels he brutalized the poor sucker before using him as a battering ram with his container shield tying each one in his path onto the shield with Nanowire until he had a nice sized human ball that he then spun chaotically off to the side sending them right out of the battle zone, and painfully down a good 10-foot drop. Catching his returning Nano blade he watched as the rest of the goons went for the longer route not chancing to end up as the next victim in the zealously growing ring of passionate flames. With that moment to pause he watched and heard Miasma argue her case further as she attacked Diva Vu. Thankfully with much gusto Hotshot got in her way with a jet stream of blue flames. Rushing towards the fight Ion Storm immediately sighted the larger scouting agent Mnemu returning from the pipes with his container shield Ion took in a big huff as he scooped a majority of it on the said shield.

"Sorry big guy hold on, and be ready to fight for your life," Ion hissed as he burst off the ground with his nano burst jump vaulting over the playing field landing in between Miasma, and Diva Vu as Hotshot's attack ended. With Mnemu pointed right at Miasma the nanobots quickly rushed into the slime before blending it right at the villainess in a rapid-fire shower of Mnemu slime overwhelming the girl in the gooey liquid as two nanowires latched onto the container shields sides hook shooting onto any behind Miasma.

"Talk all you want, but you're insane if you think you have the right to force people to give up a piece of who they are just cause you foolishly think that quirks are the only tools monsters use. History is full of people who thought such manipulation of people's free will made for a better, and in the end, all of them turned out to be worse than they started," Ion Storm yelled as he let go of the shield turning it into a slingshot bashing Miasma away from Divu Va, and right back to Hotshots vicinity.

"Hotshot, Yamoshi suppressive fire, Diva Vu GO then follow Yamoshi," Agi yelled out in quick session as a swarm of his nanobytes latched onto Diva Vu forming a sort of combat vest. He didn't need to instruct her that they would follow her commands. They had done this sort of strategy training before. Miasma was as dangerous as Ion could have guessed; the only way to keep her off Diva Vu was going to require them to keep all her attention. With that said Ion's Storm was going to eventually have to fight her blade to blade, and risk her acid.

"Everyone just shut up!" Amano shouted as Hideki came to save her along with everyone else. Amano was not going to listen anymore. Words meant nothing now. The only thing that mattered was being able to save everyone she cared for. And right now, they were all working to save her. Ion Storm and Hotshot had cut an opening for her. They were all working so hard for both Amano and Vitalis. Yet so far she's just been a nuisance.

She nodded, knowing they needed this opening if they were going to succeed. With that, she took off running at full speed. She wouldn't have been able to fight Vitalis off as effectively thanks to her own quirk being far more utility-based. So she needed to make use of her team's efforts to make sure everyone gets home safe. She didn't say any more words. She just sprinted off for the structure.

Yamoshi grit his teeth listening to Amaris. He opened his mouth to speak but was quickly shut down by a loud "shut up" from Amano. Talks had broken down. There really was no way to peacefully end this. He sucked in a breath, knocking away another goon as neon gas spilled from his body. He winces. Releasing so much at once stung a bit, but this was really nothing. He just needed to put down more than a few goons at a time.

"Don't worry! I've got your Suppressive fire right here!" He acknowledged the order. Quickly, the gas transformed into its more solid neon light state and shot at the goons in all directions with enough force to knock them on their asses or put them down for the duration of the battle. Some of the weaker ones might even feel the lasers pierce through them. Luckily, Yamoshi was purposely avoiding aiming for any kill shots.

He panted for a moment. "Cuz, I gotta be honest," he said as he rushed to join Agi and Hideki, "I really don't think I'm the most suited to help Diva Vu out. I saw that Mist Acid wasn't a good match for your nanos. My Neon would serve better against M- Vitalis..." he sucked his teeth. Miasma was what she called herself, but he didn't wanna accept that. "You'd be better off helping her than me." Was now the time to contest orders? No... But when had Yamoshi ever been the one to just fall in line?

"I think Hotshot and I can handle Vit."
maybe they could even talk her down. No... That wasn't going to happen. Shit... Why?

Hideki shouted over her way, causing mild annoyance. She shouted back while mid-attack to Amano. "Play god? No! I jusst have what it takess to actually make a difference! Unlike you and the resst of everyone. All you guyz care about iss maintaining the statuss quo! You're wrong! There will alwayss be "good people and criminalss"! Not "heroess and villainss"! Villainss are a byproduct of hero socciety! Which iss a byproduct of living with quirkx!"

She saw his words punctuated with a blazing attack of blue flames. She quickly unfurled her fan and swung it over to block the fire, stopping her attack on Amano. The flames bursting out away from the fan, shielding her from them.

Defending against Hideki's attack made her unprepared for Agi's swift attack. She winced as he struck her with gross slime-and-nano blobs. The gooiness mucking her up, and keeping her from mistforming well.

"I'm not manipulating willss, I'm freeing them! What comess nexxt can't possiibly be worsse than the oppresshin of quirkx! AH!" Vitalis cried out when she was bashed away by Agi's weird, hard slingshot attack. She felt it rattle in her bones, but oddly enough, the slimy agent binding her actually damped some of the damage.

Hitting the ground, she skidded a bit before climbing back to her feet with a groan. She hated being weighed down by this gunk! Vitalis's eyes glowed red, and her fangs began to protrude. While they began audibly forming some strategy, and Yam argued indecisively about what he needed to do, she began releasing more mist around her, putting even more concentration into it. Focusing this mist on her, she felt the Mnemu agent begin to weaken, siphoning any bio signs from it, rendering it inert. The nanos, too, she knew she could melt and/or fry. Vitalis grit her teeth as she focused. Finally, she was able to mystify enough to step away from any of that gunk, dropping it all onto the ground.

Once more free of the gunk she turned to face them. She held up her hand and the mechanism in her glove alerted her weapon, calling it back over to her after it had been knocked out of her hand from Agi's attack. The fan rose in the air and spun like a saw back towards her, where she caught it.

With the sudden change in tactics, the goons dropped to the ground, they were not hardened trained hero students, not all that strong nor even villains of note, they were not much different than the people they robbed or mugged and in terms of these a dime a dozen. Though some of them did try to hang on, their movements became much more slow, as they attempted to get out of the mist itself, coughing or collapsing where they were.

It was then in the middle of her battle a panicked voice came across her communicator. "I hope you like playing with your friends!" comes the voice of Doctor Foxglove. "They are destroying my sites, even the main lab is on fire, they aren't here for the bug alone but the-- No! You get away from me! How are you even here?!" With that, the line went dead and telltale puffs of smoke formed from the factory, it seemed a fire had formed inside, and while not audible to them, the sound of battle could be heard. Something was going on inside of there.

Vitalis heard the disturbing voice of Doctor Foxglove and his relayed message. She was shocked by what she heard from the communicator. Glancing back, seeing smoke rising, she began to panic a bit. What was going on?!

The Alucard's face hardened. She needed to get in there and help! She couldn't let all the research and effort be destroyed or go to waste! Turns out, she'd have to deal with this sooner rather than later. That meant stepping it up a notch, instead of drawing it out.

Vitalis's eyes glowed red, her fangs extended out, and she began focusing. Suddenly a burst of intense mist blew out from her body, raging around her like murky storm clouds. "Up until now, I've been holding back. Yess, all thiss time with you, all my time at UA, and Suppresshin. My quirkx far too dangerouss to let it free, but I seee now I have to let it out. I'm ssorry Hideki, Yamoshhi, Agi, Amano."

With her mist raging around her, Vitalis blew over to the pallets as they were her first target. With her speed and her weapon, she quickly put out their fire, creating another vortex around them, leaving them smoldering piles of ash. Then "Miasma" turned back towards the others. The vampire drew in a deep breath, then released. Blowing out her mist all over them. Like a sea of blackness. This mist was much harsher than any they had seen her use before. It immediately tingled on the skin, indicating it was slightly different. This was the real reason for her name 'Miasma'. "Thiss iss the misst that afflicted my mothher; ssomething I never wanted to usse," she explained to them. "I'll never forget itz hateful torment, and now neithher will you!" The mist was known as "Mother's Lament". She lifted up the Blight Curtain, posed ready to attack.

Hideki couldn't talk to her anymore. No matter what he said Vitalis was not going to change. She had her beliefs and she was going to keep them no matter what. It also appeared that Amano couldn't either as she yelled at everyone to shut up. Hideki sucked his teeth a little and tisked as Vitalis was able to just in the knick of time deflect his fire attack, though because of that she wasn't able to handle Agi's attack. Hideki watched as Vitlais hit the ground hard and skidded a bit, he turned to look at Agi and Yamoshi who had joined the two. "Agi, go with Amano, Yamoshi and I can hold her off for now. My flames are the best attack to deal with her mist. Sorry for using names, but for this fight it doesn't really matter right." Hideki flashed a smile, just like some big time hero would. "We got this, I promise now go." Hideki knew what it was like to be hit by Vitalis's mist, for their very first patrol mission for Suppression the two of them were paired up together and she had accidentally hit him with her mist. The poison was not fun but he survived, maybe he had built up a little immunity to it as he so far hadn't felt as bad as the last time. Or maybe it was the adrenaline keeping him going, but now he was starting to feel some effects of her poison.

Hideki's skin was starting to burn more and he felt like he was slowing down a bit. Hideki turned his attention back to Vitalis who was up again and decided to take out Hideki's fires that he had started by creating another vortex and then she did something that would be dangerous for all of them.

Vitalis started off by apologizing before she used a new type of poison on all of them, at least new to Hideki. It seemed to be the poison that had affected her mother as soon as it hit him Hideki could feel the effects of it. His skin was burning like acid had been poured on it. It was definitely hurting his skin, it also felt like it was doing more damage than her usual mist but for now he was able to keep going. "Everyone be careful, this is different from her usual mist!" Hideki was in some pain and discomfort but that wouldn't stop him from fighting. He fired off two new fire stream attacks. One from his right arm and one from his left and they were both coming directly towards Vitalis, one coming towards her right side and the other going towards her left side. He then started to heat himself up and started to blast a little bit of fire around him and his teammates as Hideki tried to get rid of this new mist with his heat and flames.

Ion Storm watched as Diva Vu took the advantage given after yelling at all around her to shut up. He could feel her force down her emotion on the matter as did Yamoshi as everything played out more, and more how no one wanted it to. Yamoshi even pushed past his desire to not fight Vitalis to a logical viewpoint of quirk efficiency. Ion had tried to avoid sending his cousin at the newly minted Miasma as it was clear he had a stronger emotional tug to her, but now he seemed willing to look past it.

"Alright Hideki, and Yamoshi your mission is to take Vitalis down by whatever means necessary Hidekis in charge, and Yamoshi… you got this," Agi broke his hero facade for a moment to directly push he believed in his cousin to do this. With that Ion Storm ran after Diva Vu aiming to assist, and defend her while they played the divide, and conquer tactic. As he did though he noticed something extremely off. The goons around Miasma… were starting to drop unnaturally in a lethargic state… SHIT. Upon screaming her intent a massive dark cloud of nightmares washed off of Miasma at the whole field snuffing out Hotshots flames, and the lives of her own men as it came hurtling at his team. Before it could get to Diva Vu, Ion Storm removed and sent more of his Nanobytes to cover her body and mouth as the black cloud overtook them. His cloak would protect Diva Vu for a bit as it had agents designed to fight corrosive agents.

The immediate sting of the mist quickly took root in Ion's flesh hissing as he felt his body fighting off the foreign agents all over his skin even his nanobytes were reacting as they bunched together in reaction activating his Code Void mode on their own turning his skin from its black style to its nebula style. As sparks came off his body it was damn clear for his nanobytes to react in such a way with their own decision foretold this was getting from bad to worse fast.

……………………………………………...

This was it. Vitalis believed that she was right beyond all reason. No argument they could make, no emotional string they could tug would get her to back down. She was fully beyond the point of talking down and though Yamoshi hated it, he had to admit it. It was why he'd told Agi to let him fight her. He could manage better against her quickly given that her acid-like mist couldn't attack his quirk head-on as it did to Agi's Nanos.

Still, it hurt a bit when Agi gave him and Hideki their new orders. Part of him didn't want to hurt Vitalis still, in spite of everything. He couldn't help sympathizing a bit. But she wasn't just trying to change the world. She was hurting people. She was committing crimes and trying to force her will on the public. He couldn't let her do that. "Vit, I don't--" he stopped, coughing a bit.

Shit... The mist must have been getting to him. He'd done his best to avoid it before, but now, fighting her head on meant... No... it wasn't just that.

Vitalis had released a new, heavier, darker mist. This was fitting to be described as a deadly miasma. It was stronger, more potent. Yamoshi could feel it. He grit his teeth. He could feel it tingle and sting all over his body. "You have to know that this could kill us. Are you really willing to do that?" he asked, his tone softer. No... He didn't want an answer. After all, he'd already learned the hard way that this battle had long passed the point of conversation and diplomacy.

Under the cover of Hideki's attack, Yamoshi charged forward. She would have to do something about the flames. In Yamoshi's hands an oversized mallet formed. He swung at the girl with impressive speed and force, prepared fully now for the battle that was to come. He just hoped that he could last long enough to see it through to the end.

"Thiss amount won't kill you two," Vitalis refuted. "Don't be a baby. If my mom can handle it for monthhs, you can handle it for now! YAAhhh!"

The girl screamed as Hideki's flames blazed against her sides. It seemed she put more Life Energy into that mist than she had thought… It was affecting her ability to mistform properly. Tch. She should've practiced this mist type more…

Yamoshi was charging her next. Unable to rely on mistform, she swung her fan over and lifted it to block the strike. It wasn't as heavy as Agi's but she still felt the impact rattle her, shoving her back.

Skidding back, she shook her head, and let her legs settle down. Some of her dress was burned off, and the sides of her were burned. Her mist was doing its work on them now, but these burns were excruciating! She grit her teeth. "Talk about wanting to kill! Hideki could've burned me alive jusst then! Doezn't that bother you at all?" She was addressing the question to both of the boys.

She lifted up her hand, and more mist blew towards Yamoshi, psychically sent at him in a wave of pressure. Then she ran towards Hideki, swiping her fan through the mist, building it upon it. Similar to when she used her mist vials, the fan glowed with a blackish green edge. Rushing through the mist like it was nothing, the vampire burst out of the dark clouds beside Hideki, swinging. She swiped at the fire boy repeatedly. If he didn't properly respond to her attacks, then this time he would definitely receive actual cuts; and being wounded with the acid of her mist would not be good whatsoever. Also with her being this close, and how fast her attacks were coming, it was probably putting pressure on him to accurately use his flames. "Try usiing your heat power while you deal with me! Can you focuss on both?"

Hideki nodded his head as Agi gave his orders, he was also able to see that his flames had finally landed a hit as he was able to burn at her sides a bit. She seemed to be slowing down as well just like the rest of them were. Hideki figured that she must not have been used to using this power yet.

Hideki turned to Yamoshi as he was still trying to reason with Vitalis "Yamoshi that's enough! We all tried to talk her down, this is the path she's chosen. Now it's up to us to take her down." He then looked at Vitalis who was now screaming at him because he was able to land a hit on her. She really had the nerve to complain about a little fire when he was being attacked by this mist that took down her mother for a long time. Who knows what kind of effects this shit would have on him later. For now though he pushed all of that aside and just thought of the task at hand. He even smirked at her as she continued to complain about his fire.

Vitalis then sent out another wave of mist and while that mist would be effective, it was used more as a decoy. Vitalis came rushing through the mist and started using her fan to swipe at Hideki. Hideki started to back up as he dodged her swipes. This was something he actually wanted. His parents had always told him that he couldn't always rely on his quirk, so they trained him how to fight without it. Hideki continued to dodge until he found an opening. He dodged one of her attacks and instead of backing up he stepped up towards her. As her swipe had gone past him Hideki now had an open attack at Vitalis; she wasn't guarding herself as she was focusing solely on attack. Hideki clenched his right fist and sent a punch straight towards her face.

The hit to her face rattled her teeth and brain, but thanks to her mist weakening his muscles, it wasn't as hard as it probably should've been from the muscled-out boy. This was Vit's biggest strength. As time went on, her foes inevitably got weaker and she would be perceived stronger due to their muscles and body weakening.

Recovering from the punch she bent low and elbowed Hideki right in the side. Thanks to her mist, her strike would feel much worse than usual. She snapped her fan shut and brought the flat edge up against his face, giving him a pretty solid smack with the metal.

Hideki had landed his punch but he could feel that it wasn't as strong as it should have been. The longer he was in this mist the weaker he was going to get. They needed to end this fight soon. Vitalis was then able to bend low enough and dodged Hideki's second punch and she was able to elbow him in the side. Usually, this probably wouldn't have hurt as bad as it did, but again the mist was showing its effects.

Vitalis had shut her fan and brought up the flat edge of it against his face. She smacked him on the face with the metal part of the fan. Everything seemed to hurt more than it usually would. While the fan did hurt it didn't cause Hideki to fall to the ground or anything. He stumbled back a couple of steps as there was now a noticeable mark on his face, but he was far from done. "Yamoshi back me up, you see an opening, take it. Even if you might hit me in the process." Hideki didn't wait for Vitalis to make another move. Hideki rushed forward through the mist and haze. Fire lit up both of his hands as he jumped up into the air and came forward with his right fist now covered in his signature blue flames. His blue eyes showed determination as they gleaned in the mix of the mist haze and smoke. Hideki wasn't going to lose this fight. They had to stop her, they just had to.

Yamoshi shook his head. Of course, it bothered him. He didn't want Vitalis to get hurt. He didn't want any of them to get hurt. But she was being awfully hypocritical using a mist that had put her mom out of commission for years. Even just this much could have adverse effects on them. Who knew how things were gonna turn out? Still, he didn't have time to think about that much more as Vitalis sent a wave of mist at him.

Caught off guard, Yamoshi threw his hands up to try and block the wave. He was knocked back, just barely keeping on his feet.

That shouldn't have been as effective as it was. Yamoshi could feel it. He was weakening. That sucked. It sucked more to be told, once again, that he had to give up on trying to reason with Vitalis. He'd have offered this much care and effort to any friend. Wouldn't he? He shook his head. He had to stop it. Hideki was fighting Vitalis. He was supposed to be backing him up. But here he was... frozen. He was caught like a deer in the headlights, still struggling with the situation at hand.

Luckily, from where he was, Yamoshi was in a much better place to help Hideki than if the roles were reversed. Yamoshi had better control and accuracy on his side with his neon than Hideki did with his flames. He grits his teeth, releasing more neon gas. Once he felt he had enough, he began to form arrows. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to risk truly hurting Vitalis. But if he didn't, if they didn't stop her, if the fight didn't end quickly, what would happen?

Yamoshi did as instructed, waiting for what appeared to be an opening and then fire off one, then two, then three arrows. Vitalis was focusing on Hideki, so this gave him more of a chance to concentrate, aim, and fire. This was crucial given it was becoming harder to focus and aim because of the mist. Yamoshi was granted another opportunity though when Hideki leaped into the air. He first another 3 arrows in Vitalis's direction. They weren't especially fast. She's been able to block any of the six attacks he'd launched. Yamoshi, after all, was aiming to subdue, not kill. None of his attacks would prove fatal. He wanted to avoid hurting her too bad if they could. Dammit... why was he so soft?

She liked Hideki, she really did. But that attack did basically nothing, she should've just cut him, that'd drop him. He thought he was fast, but the small girl unfurled her fan swiftly, bringing it up and ducking down, using it to block his flaming strike easily. His muscles couldn't deliver the sort of blow that would normally knock her down on her ass.

But blocking Hideki like this left her side wide open. Normally she would have some defense against Yamoshi's attacks, but not this time. Fixated on Hideki, she thought Yam simply wouldn't do anything -he had been wishy-washy this entire time, so she had been relatively light on him.

Two neon arrows struck her, one sinking into her side, the other into her thigh, and the final one grazed just past her as Vitalis screamed out in pain, toppling over. Two more hit her back, while the third just missed.

The girl clambered away and back to her feet. Her red blood leaving a trail. Vitalis shivered in pain and reached for the arrow in her side. She gripped it, and with some difficulty, gritting her teeth, yanked it out. She grabbed the other in her thigh, frowned over at Hideki and Yamoshi, and ripped that one out. She attempted to reach back to the arrows sticking out of her back but clearly struggled with the motion, giving up.

Vitalis then spit up some blood, from the punch Hideki had landed on her earlier. She realized this was going extremely poorly. Why did she always hold back? Oh yeah, because her abilities were cursed. Hateful, evil things. Her powers were nothing but a curse on humanity, so she never wanted to use them, but if she didn't… She would lose everything.

Vitalis drew in a breath and then released a vicious, high-pitched screech like the vampire she was. The mist around the battlefield that all the goons were laying in began to come to life. Hideki and Yamoshi would be able to feel it, and maybe the others too, but who was to say. The mist glowed a sickly green, and quickly flowed back into her. Vitalis's eyes dilated, glowing bright red as she felt the Life Energy return to her. Siphoned from the goons around them in the mist.

She held out her hand and the nearest goon was lifted up and carried over to her by mist. The little girl caught the big goon man and latched her teeth onto his neck. Vitalis took a deep, heavy bite -or more accurately, an acute, intense drink. Then dropped him, wiping her mouth of blood, filled to the brim with Life Energy once more. Her wounds immediately began to seal up, even around the arrows in her back. She cracked her neck, focusing her gaze on the two.

Holding up her hand she called the Blight Curtain back over to her. And suddenly in a burst of mist, launched herself at them. Her caustic mist was releasing from her body as she appeared right before the two. With the blackish mist coming out of her she swiftly kicked Hideki right in his side, did a hand-flip forward and nailed him right in the chin with her heel. She zipped over to Yamoshi in a burst of mistform and appeared, punching his side. "Ssorry Yam," she managed to hiss in there, before smacking him a few times with the flat of her fan. All the while mist continued to pump out of her body. So just standing in her vicinity was afflicting one with the mist. This was called Carrion Queen.

Hideki grit his teeth as his flaming punch was blocked by Vitali's fan. His attacks would have usually done a lot more damage than this. In a normal situation, his attacks would have probably taken out Vitalis by now or at the least caused a lot more damage. Currently, though his attacks didn't have the same kind of force that they usually do. Hideki could feel his muscles weakening and his body slowing down. Though it seemed like Yamoshi was finally in the fight. While Vitalis blocked Hideki's attack, Yamoshis attack hit. Four neon arrows struck Vitalis, two in her back and one in her thigh, and one in her side.

Vitalis let out a scream and then scrambled back away from Hideki and Yamoshi. Then she did something that Hideki had never seen her do. She let out another scream, this one though wasn't because of pain, but some sort of high pitch scream that also seemed to control her mist. Hideki watched as her mist turned into a green color and then flowed back inside of her, what was she planning? Something felt different, Hideki then looked at Vitalis and saw her eyes glowing neon red. Before all of her mist was taken back into her body though she used it to carry one of her former allies one of these goons that had been taken out by Vitalis mist to her and she then bit his neck and started to suck out the blood.

Hideki's eyes narrowed and showed some disgust as well as disbelief. He had never seen her do that before, Vitalis was never one to do that in front of people. Sucking that man's blood though seemed to heal all of her wounds and before Hideki could make any sort of countermeasure she came right for Hideki and kicked him in his side before flipping and kicked him in his chin with her heel. Hideki fell to a knee as the attacks stunned him more than do any damage. Though the mist she was letting out was taking its toll on him. Hideki turned as he saw Vitalis strike Yamoshi with her fan.

Hideki reached down to his side and grabbed one of his flashbangs from his utility belt. Hideki would pull the pin by hold it for a moment as he cooked the flash-bang grenade. "Vitalis I'm coming! Yamoshi cover your eyes!" Hideki threw the flashbang at Vitalis and since he had cooked it, the flashbang would almost immediately go off. Hideki would turn away and as soon as he heard it go off he would rush in and attack. As long as the flashbang did its job Vitalis would be blinded and stunned by it. Suddenly some transmission would play in Hideki's and Yamoshi's earpieces from Amano.

"Kaizen has been spotted. Take extreme caution. I can't say if he's turned traitor. It looks more like he's… Gone berserk. I don't think even all of us working together can take him down."

"We need to call backup. The safest choice may be…"

"Maybe neutralization… It's too dangerous for me to approach for now. I'm sorry..."

"Oh no… I think he's spotted me!"

Amano's messages stopped for a moment before a message from Agi screamed in.

"BELAY THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT,"

"APEX BUGSTER GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE CLOUDS YOU DUMBASS,"

"You keep to what you were ordered deal with Miasma first,"

At that point, the transmissions ceased as a massive fight could be heard not too far away followed by a monstrous roar.

Yamoshi's eyes widened as he saw his arrows hit the girl. In truth, he hadn't really expected them to do any real damage. She slinked away though. Maybe it was... no... that would have been too easy. Shit. What came next though shocked him. The scream, the way she pulled her once "ally" up, and finally how she drained him of his blood and life energy.

"Oh Vit..." he mumbled under his breath before realizing what was happening. She was healing! Fuck... He and Hideki were getting worse and she was getting better. Vitalis was faster than he'd expected. She was a speedy little fucker, but he could keep up if he just paid attention. She came close and slammed her fist into his side. He put up his arm, blocking it first. But her apology threw him off. He sucked in a breath, inadvertently taking in more of the mist. Goddammit. Then, three blows to the face. Why hadn't he been ready for that?

"Gah... Dammit Vit!" He shouted, thrown through a loop for a moment. The blows sent him reeling for a moment, but he kept on his feet.

Yamoshi was getting angrier by the second. "You don't get to do all of this and then say sorry like... like... fuck!" He grit his teeth, covering his eyes as Hideki threw his flashbang. The light shine, noise shaking him for a moment before he shook his head. He had to take advantage of this.

"Graaah!" He shouted, charging toward Vitalis once again. A neon sword formed in his hand. He swung it down diagonally from the left down toward the right. And yet, another call for aid. Amano? Shit... Fuck... What was happening right now?! No... Agi told them to keep on Vitalis. He had to take her down. Even if she blocked his initial strike, he followed up with a stab toward her abdomen. He was still being careful not to strike anything vital. He didn't want to kill her, but he was going to take her down. But he was getting slower. He could feel it. Everything hurt. What was he going to do if... No... Vitalis wasn't going to win. Not until she bit the bullet and tried to seriously kill him.

Vitalis unfurled her fan and whipped it between her and the flashbang, blocking its effects. But she paused at what she heard next. She hadn't heard their comms, but she had heard the loud roar, and what sounded like intense fighting coming from the warehouse nearby. Just what was that? Hideki's hit knocked her off balance, and she felt Yamoshi's blade cut across her abdomen. Only to be stabbed by him a second later.

She stumbled back, clutching her stabbed side, her running over her hands and dripping off her wounds. She lifted her hand and flexed, squeezing her fist. The mist glowed again and more Life Energy drained from some unfortunate goon, flooding back into her, once again forcing her body to heal rapidly.

She was wondering what was going on over there. But she couldn't stop fighting! Not when so much was on the line!

"Hey, hey, what'z going on?" she radioed into Dr. Foxglove, awaiting his response.

In the meantime, she had to deal with these two. Vitalis really didn't want to deal them any significant, lasting damage, but she honestly couldn't afford to play with them forever. She would have to end it.

Vitalis rose in the air in her mistform and held out her hand. "Ssmother!" She hissed. Heavy fog-like mist blasted out of her hand. The blackish-green clouds pummeled Yamoshi, hitting him with enough weight to pin him down under the poisonous cloud. She left the heavy cloud of mist on top of him and burst once again towards Hideki.

She struck at him a few times and would dodge any of his strikes using mist form. Finally, she unfurled her fan. The edge was glowing with the acidic bright green of her mist, and she got a good cut across Hideki's chest just like Yamoshi had done to her a moment ago. His blood splattering on her face. "Give up, that wound with my misst iss bad newss, I don't think I need to tell you that." The cut with her mist would be worse than normal due to its acidic nature, and it would fester similar to an infection for a while. "Pleasse, Hideki…" Vitalis pleaded.

Suddenly a large stream of water came flowing over the battleground. Amano had found a hose, and turned the pressure as high as she could. She was still so much smaller than it though, it took some intense fortitude to keep it down. She had arrived just in time to see Hideki get struck by a particularly devastating attack.

Over their earpiece, they'd hear another message. "Yamoshi, now!" The powerful torrent couldn't keep the pressure up all the way. But the water was noticeable and plenty able to wash away the mist. "Disorient her, grab Hideki and retreat. It's been too long. Exposure to her mist, especially while inhaling while in a fight, soon makes continuing the fight, let alone escape , impossible. Please don't force me to leave another person I care about behind." She had already resigned herself to Vitalis, but she was just about willing to do so for Kaizen as well. Any more thoughts like that and she feared she'd cease to be person she was

She just needed to make sure Yamoshi and Hideki are clear of the danger then it was back to Agi and Kaizen. "Come on… Please none of you die."

Yamoshi had landed a good hit, but Vitalis then just used her same move and was able to repair her damage. Hideki needed to come up with a plan they needed to take her down, before he could call out to Yamoshi a huge roar and the sound of fighting could be heard. Hideki turned his head towards where the direction of the fighting could be heard. He then also heard Amano over the coms say that Kaizen may have turned or that he was in some sort of berserker rage and that he might need to be taken care of. That wasn't good, but for now, Hideki needed to focus on the task at hand and that was taking down Vitalis.

Vitalis would then pin Yamoshi down and then would come for Hideki. Hideki was slower and weaker than usual because of the mist, but right now both fighters were going back and forth with each other throwing out attacks but neither were landing any as both were able to dodge. Finally though Vitalis was able to land a significant blow on Hideki, her fan slicing across Hideki's chest. Some of his blood landing on Vitali's face. Hideki winced in pain as the deep cut along with her acid and poison mist was causing Hideki a lot of pain. He fell down to a knee for a moment before forcing himself back up.

Hideki chuckled a little as blood started to come out of his cut. He would cough for a moment with a little bit of blood coming up from his cough."Heroes don't run and don't stop until the job is done. I'm not done yet!"

Then all of a sudden like the gods had heard him and thought him worthy of being a hero and receiving their help water started to rain down onto the battlefield which was able to take out a lot of Vitalis's mist. Hideki saw this and even though he heard Amano on the coms he was going to ignore that for now. He had Vitalis right in front of him and this was his chance. He had been storing up the heat and had heated himself up to the max temperature. He put out his right fist as his eyes locked with Vitalis's eyes. This wasn't going to be one of his normal fire attacks though.

Hideki's right hand was almost touching Vitalis before all of a sudden lighting up. His right hand was in a fist and this was one of Hideki's special attacks. Hideki focused all of his heat into his right hand at the center of his middle knuckle a white Hotpoint formed and then all of a sudden a huge blast of flames came out from his fist. "Flashfire fist of destruction!" Hideki yelled out the name of his special move as his flames struck Vitalis in her chest, sending the girl flying back and slamming hard into the ground. The attack would also cause significant burns and damage to her chest. Hideki wasn't done though, he needed to end this fight. His attacks were weaker than usual because of Vitalis's poison mist. So even though he just used one of his special attacks he wasn't sure if that would be enough right now. Hideki then created a fireball and sent the attack towards Vitalis, hoping that the combination of these attacks would finish off this fight for good. Hideki then fell back down to one knee as he coughed and tried to catch his breath.

A small smirk appeared on the girl's face at what Hideki had said. "No they don't, huh?.." She couldn't help but agree. Then, surprised, she glanced up as water rained down on them. The mist she had used to smother Yamoshi with was washed nearly completely away. The mist around was washed away. And she was doused, making performing her "mistform" difficult. Even Hideki was doused a bit, but to be honest, she was a bit relieved by that. It cleaned his fresh wound and even washed away her acidic mist from it.

It seemed the boy saw his opening. A moment later he hit her with a strong special attack. Since she was doused, she couldn't avoid it using her mistform. "Yaaaahh!!" She shrieked as the flames engulfed her center.

Vitalis was thrown back by the fiery impact, hitting the ground. Dazed, she was struck by another fireball, which made her scream out in pain again. But Hideki's fire attacks did heat her up to the point the water evaporated, giving her access to her mist form again. Only, she was running out of Life Energy again. She glanced around the battlefield. She didn't see any Life Energy from the goons that she could use. They weren't dead, but they just didn't have any to spare. Their recovery would be long, and she felt immense guilt over that. She had never wanted to use this power.

Dr. Foxglove didn't respond for some reason. So she phoned Mobius. "Hey! Mobiuss! What'z going on?! Do you have anymore people you can ssend for reinforccement?"

"Ahh, haha, Ahahaha!" Comes the reply from Doctor Mobius as he grins, if she were to use her communicator with a visible setting, as he processes her request he seemed highly amused. "You've not figured it out have you? Ah.. I'm afraid there will be no reinforcements coming for you. Everything is tied up with fighting your friends.. Well, not much of friends are they? Or you for that matter to them. Also I'm sure you called Dear Old Foxglove but he won't be answering."

Vitalis had always known this man to be a bit of a strange one, but the sinister laugh coming through confused her. "What? Why not? Figured out what?" And no reinforcements? She didn't imagine so, but the way he said it sounded like that was purposeful.

"Well, the Jig is up, but I suppose I'll give you a lesson in villainy and adulthood. There never was any intention of carrying out your plan. A world without quirks? Hahaha, we are too far past that point! Good Ole Foxglove never intended on doing your plan and would have betrayed you soon. His plan was to take the research and to use it to selectively target people in his way, and to offer the plans as Blackmail to the Government...with you taking the fall. Which is rather Ironic, considering if it were not for your financial contributions we would have not gotten so far till we were up on our feet."

With that, there was a brief pause as he adds in. "You have some respectable adversaries at least, letting me go on like this. But to put it on the nose, a rather powerful woman that claims to see the future and a man that was the number one assassin in Japan learned of your plan, oh they learned of it quickly and were doing all they could to shut it down… Though one piece was always missing. Foxglove never trusted me fully, especially with the location of this base. But you brought that answer to me! Ahahaha! So, I joined hands with my new allies and turned on this little nest of Vipers before it could me. Your part in this play is over. That research is well and truly lost, the Japanese Government and nefarious forces joined hands to crush it... Did you really think one could just change the world without the world fighting back?"

All of what the devious man on the other was telling her was filling her with utter dread and spite. But to hear that her plan was never theirs and that it was just a foolish idea left her feeling crushed. Foxglove's idea was oddly probably how her own grandfather would use this research, which is ironic because he would never have funded Vitalis's quirk-destroying idea if he knew what it was about. But to hear Foxglove intended to use the research to selectively choose things devastated her. She knew such evil intentions were possible with her idea, and it was one thing she had always wanted to stop, to never let happen! To know Foxglove was going to go that route made her heart drop. What was she even fighting for then?

Mobius's words brought out uncharacteristic anger in the vampire. Baring her fangs her eyes glowed red. Vitalis wanted to find him and end him! But she didn't know where he was currently, and there was more to deal with here.. This had turned into a right mess. "If I ever seee you again, I'll end you!" she hissed into the communicator at Mobius, her vampiric-like instincts enraged. The fury from Vitalis was palpable, even if she was feeling deeply broken inside.

"Ahahaha! Oh don't worry, I doubt we both will end up in the same place! But considering your actions send Foxglove my regards! Maybe you'll be seeing him soon!" With that the man kills the call on his end, smiling as he always did, today was truly a good day.

Just when Yamoshi thought he was getting a leg up on the girl he found himself pinned under the impressive force of her mist. He coughed and gagged, feeling the sudden blast knock him flat on his back. Forced to inhale more, he cried out in pain. "F-fuck... Vit..." he groaned trying to force himself up. His insides felt like they were on fire.

Was this it? Was it really all Yamoshi had in him? He rolled over onto his stomach trying to force himself up to his feet. It hurt like hell. His lungs were burning. His body was aching and sore. It was getting harder to control his movements and his quirk.

All Yamoshi was left thinking was why? Well... he knew why. But...

Why?

Suddenly, a torrent of water came raining down on Vitalis, her mist, and the battlefield. Dazed and confused, Yamoshi could only watch as Hideki dealt what appeared to be a finishing blow to Vitalis. He'd made it to his feet only to have to squeeze his eyes shut. Why was he so useless? Still, seeing Vitalis hurt, even on her feet, listening to Mobius's words... he felt for the girl. They were fighting to stop her, but she seemed truly crushed. Then... she appeared angry. This fight couldn't go on.

Amano's message flashed in his mind. She didn't wanna lose anyone else. He felt for her too. He didn't wanna lose anyone at all. But he wasn't going to retreat. He had already decided that. Besides, he was pretty sure he wasn't getting Hideki to retreat either.

So, Yamoshi took a deep breath and prepared an attack of his own. It wasn't anywhere near as flashy as Hideki's special move, which was funny considering he was bright pinkish red neon. Yamoshi's vision blurred a bit, but he could still aim. And without another word, he sent a neon blast her way, this one wouldn't pierce or burn. Hopefully, it'd knock her out while she was otherwise preoccupied.

Vitalis was preoccupied. Both with her intense hate wafting off her in waves, and the immense sorrow she was feeling from being used, and feeling played. Knowing her entire plan and idea was a joke. But she was still able to feel the incoming attack. In this state, her senses were heightened. She whipped around to the attack, readying to avoid it, however, her mistform wouldn't activate since she had no Life Energy left.

Vitalis was struck by Yamoshi's neon blast and was knocked clean off her feet again. Her weapon flying out of her hand; the Blight Curtain hitting the ground with a metallic thud and laying there uselessly. She once again hit the ground with a roll. The painful blast ignited the burns all over her and she cried out in pain. She struggled to push herself back up onto her feet, but then collapsed. She wasn't unconscious, but she simply laid there, wishing none of this had ever happened. Her eyes closed, totally spent. It was probably fitting that Yamoshi had landed the last hit.


…………………………………………………


Amano was already feeling the effects of Vitalis's quirk. Even though she had kept her distance as best she could. She had thought herself more prepared for what she was capable of. To think she had grown this powerful already… Her vision was getting blurry as she cut a path toward the structure. She couldn't keep up in a fight as well as everyone else. She needed time to plan. To force an advantage. Why hadn't anyone talked with her? Why? She was the best for figuring out who was the traitor?

Now she had outlived her usefulness in this combat. She stumbled into the structure and gave a harsh cough. She hadn't even noticed that Agi had come to back her up. "Where's that… Stupid emergency hose!"

As Amano fought with her own plan and the need to buy time for it, it became clear something very wrong was happening in the warehouse, as some figures limped out with limbs at odd angles or the fact fire was reaching around the inside as some sort of small machine came exiting like a bat out of hell with a glowing red eye. And as if to crown it all a man came out rolling along the ground as flames engulfed his clothing. However this was the least of the team's worries or maybe it would come as a great hope.. A hulking and angry figure in exoskeleton exited the site, breaking the entry door off of its hinges and throwing it across the yard as it, or rather, he, continued the hunt, following the mist to its source to settle things for once and for all as the factory behind him burned.

The giant insect, finally having caught up with the last of the mechanical menace, grabbed it with a vice-like grip before slamming it into the ground repeatedly till all that remained was scrap metal. The beast briefly turned its attention to a brave henchman who had armed himself with a high caliber pistol and took a few potshots at it, to no avail, with the bullets simply ricocheting harmlessly from its hard shell. In response to this, the bug lunged forward, crushing the gun and the man's hand in one fluid motion, before tossing him deep into a pile of wooden crates. It was only then the beast had noticed some familiar faces were near him.

He titled his head in a brief moment of curiosity and confusion before returning back to rage and anger. His form was different from before, much more feral and aggressive in nature. His eyes glowed with a red vengeance, and his shell was full of jagged edges. Its body was covered with countless scars from the skirmishes from before, bullets holes and harpoons could be seen sticking out from his arms and back. He was wounded, but that wouldn't stop him. His arm blades could be seen covered in red blood, still wet and warm, ready for more. The beast let out a roar of dominance, showing full well that he was indeed hostile to these familiar faces. The boy was gone, the monster remained.

The sounds of a struggle ahead and the screams of people followed by the shouts and crashing of someone nearby alerted Amano that there was something sinister afoot. She slowed her progress, still dizzy and weak from the short time she was with Vitalis. That was when she spotted the lumbering hulk. With spines and a hard carapace covered in wounds and blood, both red and a blueish color.

Amano looked in horror at the scene that unfolded before her. Quickly she tried to hide herself behind a supporting pillar. It couldn't be now could it? But all signs pointed to exactly who this was. No other insectoid that she knew was capable of hulking up this much. Even if he looked… Different than usual. Kaizen was Vitalis's group's leader…

She raised a hand to her ear. Very slowly. At this point, Amano wasn't too sure her team would be able to take this threat down without intense back-up. She knew what Kaizen was capable of normally… This seemed far beyond the usual. She touched her microphone. "Kaizen has been spotted. Take extreme caution. I can't say if he's turned traitor. It looks more like he's… Gone berserk. I don't think even all of us working together can take him down." She took a deep breath. This was something she always had feared she'd need to do. Her father had talked with her about this before.

"We need to call backup. The safest choice may be…" She paused. These words were hard to say. Especially when dealing with a comrade. "Maybe neutralization… It's too dangerous for me to approach for now. I'm sorry..."

That was until she heard a roar from him. "Oh no… I think he's spotted me!" She had no real way to fight him. No strength to match his, no diamond skin to defend, no electricity or fire to burn and shock. All she had was a small bit of ooze and a keen understanding of the human brain. She had no idea how Kaizen's anatomy worked! If she did, she may be able to find a way to calm him with Mnemu. But would she be able to pull that off?

"BELAY THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT," Ion Storm yelled aloud both at Kaizen to distract him from Diva Vu's positioning, and to Amano herself. Agi came running in hot with sparks flying off his body in Code Void mode as he formed a nanohammer, and sent a nanopillar to slam into a metal container cutting off Diva Vu from Kaizen's visuals.

"APEX BUGSTER GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE CLOUDS YOU DUMBASS," Ion screamed as the warped sight of Kaizen infuriated him… this was the result of Vitalis's ideal? The fact Yamoshi had to force himself to harm someone he cared for, the fact that the whole class would have to answer for this later, the broken emotions of someone they cared for burned into the back of their mind, the extremity that the class would be suspicious of other for quite a while, and now also for the fact some fuck had tortured Kaizen into a raged berserker with no known side effects that cause Amano herself to be so conflicted to warranty a neutralization suggestion.

"Nano Queen," Ion yelled as he jumped over the same container forming a massively sized Queen chess piece and slammed it down onto Kaizen to grab the Bugsters full roided attention. Agi didn't have to consider what was going on as the cards laid themselves out. The scientist from earlier calling on Vitalis a clear indicator that something had gone very wrong so much so their own location was blowing up in flames. Landing away behind Kaizen the chess piece would burst the moment Kaizen attempted to harm it bursting into a cloud to direct him towards Ion Storm.

"You keep to what you were ordered now Miasma first," Agi whispered in his comm to Diva Vu as he ran the opposite direction from her. He would be damned if anyone was going to pay for Vitalis's mistakes with their lives.

The bugster, being too distracted by the sight of familiar faces, was promptly squashed into the ground by a large chess piece. Before being pummeled into the ground he did catch a glimpse of the perpetrator, a figure with jet black skin and hair, with one red streak. Agi, for better or for worse, had succeeded in grabbing the bug's attention. His words meant nothing to him. Ignoring the nanocloud, the bugster quickly recovered from the attacks and immediately made a beeline towards the attacker. With the strength of his insect muscles amped up, the bugster bolted towards the hero, appearing right in front of him. A moment later, all Agi would see is the palm of the bugsters hand, as the monster grabbed him by the head and began violently dragging him across the length of the shipping containers. Upon reaching the end, the monster would toss the hero through multiple wooden crates, like how a toddler would throw a toy he had grown bored of.

That headspace was cleared real quick as Agi came flying from behind her in only a short moment. Had he already been following? Or did he really react that quickly to her message. But hearing Agi's words made her take a deep breath. She was scared. She was worse than scared. No word felt strong enough to describe just how terrified she felt from the moment they confirmed a traitor. She wanted to save those she cared most about. Perhaps she was being selfish. But time and time again, they were brought closer to their breaking point, and things only seemed to continue to escalate. All while they were deep in the middle of it. Her suspicions of someone leaking information were true, but… She still questioned many of the staff and the school itself. Her own ideas of what she could accomplish as the mastermind of an operation like this didn't help either.

But there Agi was. She had turned her simple issue into a complex one. Something she remembered she never liked to do for this line of work. Agi no doubt planned to save Kaizen, or die trying. And Amano wasn't going to let Agi die. Which meant they only had one option: Save Kaizen. Everyone else still needed help with Vitalis, and Agi gave the order to keep with her original objective. She nodded, saying no words, trying to keep toward the shadows and stay behind cover as she made her way up a few floors. The higher up she was the better. It meant she could cause the water to rain down and cover a larger area.

She needed to hurry, because she knew if she tarried too long, Agi could be seriously injured. Or worse.

As Agi was trained wrecked into the bugs container surfboard he yelled in defiance his nanos at full force to reject the bugs goal to turn him into a chalk paste against the metal surface. Once the bug ran out of container walling Ion Storm found himself thrown like a ragdoll through a multitude of crates. As the dust settled, and it seemed like Ion was down for the count four well-sized nano pawn chess pieces slammed into the roided bug lifting him straight intro ramming speed against the container behind him indenting him heavily in as the container crunch around him as the pawn circled back into a flurry of punches keeping the bug pinned before pulling back circling a returning Ion Storm from the debris.

"Come on Kaizen… you can do better than that lazy ass," Ion chuckled a small crack on his forehead oozing out a line of blood as it sealed back up. His body was in immense pain from all that sudden damage thanks to Vitalis' mist getting to him before this fight started. Her poisonous effect was making this fight one-sided slowly as the tension of the lethargic claw around his throat from the vampire's earlier blast was catching up. However, as the pawns spun around him like swords it was clear he wasn't backing down as he started to walk towards the currently trapped bug.

Seeing that his opponent was supposedly defeated, the bugster briefly turned his attention away from him and back to the girl. This proved to be his undoing as he was violently repositioned by a few giant chess pieces into a container. From the outside, it looked like the container was being turned into an iron maiden around the bug. Some of the harpoons that were on his body earlier were either broken off or pushed even deeper into the beast, causing his bleeding to intensify. For the moment, Kaizen seemed trapped inside the makeshift prison; however, that did not last long.

Seconds later, a few blades emerged from the metal prison, wildly slashing it apart, allowing the bugster to continue the fight. His exoskeleton was showing clear signs of damage with cracks and blood dripping out. Despite being a beast, the bugster did briefly wonder who this man that he was fighting was, getting up blow after blow and talking to him. His red eyes stared into the human that dared stand in his way. Whatever chemical that was in his body was still having a strong effect on his mind, but even so, even the monster could recognize a worthy opponent. Mirroring his opponent, the bugster walked towards the hero as if goading to make the first move.

Once the two were a mere four feet from each other Kaizen bellowed monstrously swinging one had to cleave Agi in two with a sheer force of pressure of his blade arm ferociously ripping through the varying air before crashing against two blocking nano pawns as Ion Storm swung his hammer. Uppercutting Kaizen's face upward,Ion was met with an equally bone-chilling bug fist to his face causing a stream of cracks to appear on his facial armor. Kaizen swung with his other blade hand having it countered with the two other pawn pieces slamming on each side of his hands cracking Kaizen's forearm shell canceling his attack. Recovering his footing Agi called back all four of his pawns as nano pawns, and bug blades started to dance in a grotesquely blurred visage of parry, and countering each other.

With Nano Hammer in both hands, Ion stepped forward slamming his weapon into the back of bug's right kneecap releasing his built-up kinetic energy forcing Kaizen down to his knee before all four Pawn's backed up, and tried to headshot only to get flung away by all four of Kaizens hands. In roar, his bigger right arm scooped up Agi by the torso before slamming the young hero into the ground forming a brutal crater as Ion hacked up quite a bit of blood from sudden intense damage as his code void form fought to stay together with cracks appear all over his torso. Swinging his hammer with his free hand Kaizen easily caught it with his other hand as Ion smiled.

"Gotcha," Kaizen was suddenly pummeled directly in the face by a return pawn followed by two more hitting him in the side forcing him to let go of Ion as the boy swung his feet, and kicked Kaizen with a cartwheel kick as the fourth pawn came flying in at high velocity bashing into the bugs left shoulder sending Kaizen spinning left.

"Had enough yet… I… can do this... all day," Ion Storm lied yet with such confidence one wouldn't know he was heavily poisoned or bleeding through his cracked armor.

Kaizen outer carapace was just about to hit its limit. From an outsider's point of view, it looked like his body was about to collapse. But that couldn't be further from the truth. His outer carapace armor began to shatter after receiving an onslaught of attacks. In spite of this, his insectoid eyes kept tracking the movement of the pawn and eventually, Kaizen managed to catch the last pawn in hand and slammed it into Ion Storm's face in retaliation.

Eventually, a much more slender figure tore through the carapace and immediately went on the offensive with uppercuts to send the boy skywards. The insect jumps up and continues pummeling the boy with punches. Sending him higher and higher into the air with each strike

He would then finish off this attack by pinning his opponent against the roof of a building with his hand around the neck with an ever-tightening grip. He began pushing him deeper into the wall while taking a better look at its prey. He recognized the face...and yet all he could remember was a name. ".....A...gi…" he muttered with a raspy voice, unknowingly, loosening his grip.

Suddenly, a wave of pink wrapped around the head of the insectoid as it rushed to fill some of the wounds. Insectoid muscles work a lot more like a hydraulics system rather than the ones of humans. Clearly, Kaizen's muscular structure was more similar to that. So, flooding some of those parts with Mnemu could cause his muscles to seize up. Having accomplished her goal up top, she used Kaizen's focus on Agi to sneak up behind him. "He should be locked up. Not sure if this will hold him for long. Take this chance to knock him out, and we can get him medical attention!"

"Come… on… Kaizen," Agi hissed through the suffocation holding off letting his body go into a panic as losing control of his nano's was too extreme a scenario to play out. Thankfully before things could get worse or more delirious Mnemu joined into the fray syphoning into all the cracks Ion Storm had made during the fight gaining control of certain elements of Kaizen's muscles, and more importantly his primary hand. Once Diva Vu shouted out her plan Ion Storm swarm of nanobyte blasted off his body like a hell storm shotgun blast removing all his defensive as Kaizen was sent flying off to plummet to the harsh ground as Agi fought to get back up as he could hear Kaizen get back up bellowing in his monstrous rage. It was clear Kaizen was fighting back, but for him to win… he needed to be unconscious.

"Alright… finale time," Agi hissed through the pain as Amano would get to see his now fully displayed bloodied body. No matter how strong Code Void was, normally it was clear it had done little to defend the boy during the fight thanks to Vitalis dark mist. His hair was hiding a wound that blood was seeping from. His body was filled with nasty bruises, and slashes from the bug's blades that had gotten past his pawns. It was clear Agi was working on steam and was now going to push brutally past what he could do to save one friend from another's mistakes.

Without a thought Agi rushed to the edge of the top of the building as the swarm reformed into his nano pawn soaring right for Kaizen to which the bug caught with all four of his arms roaring as he ripped it into four pieces. As Agi jumped off the building straight for the bug he smiled as the piece burst, transforming into chains cuffs that forced Kaizen's hands against his body as they were wrapped tightly.

"ION FORCE," Agi screamed as his nanobytes swarmed without taking physical form around his swinging leg as a tornado torrent of force slammed into Kaizen picking him up and funneling him wildly through a sidewise tornado spun the bugster into the metal container walls. Yet the attack wouldn't hold as Kaizen broke his bonds in a duality of pure strength, and sheer will to not be defeated as his wings furled open releasing a profound gust of wind as the bug bolted straight for Agi with Blade arms at the ready to slice the in works hero in pieces. Agi stood his ground as he clenched his left hand with his right as his massive swarm converged completely onto this one hand into a shield void of any reflection as he attempted to do something he had yet to do ever Code Void a construct.

The bug was upon him, perfectly delivering a grotesquely wind churning X slash with all four blades. Right at the Apex of contact though the shield formed with a swirl on spinning Sparks as it to and the attack hit the defense sending Agi ragdolling away straight into the containers behind him smashing so hard in that he went through the first one complete with a minor layer of nano armor barely protecting him as he bleed from the shoulders, and his sides from where the blades had cut in grimly enough to bleed him. Yet as he fumbled and rolled to the ground Kaizen also came hurtling through the container spinning wildly out of control as well as all four of his blades were utterly broken off with one lodged into his own bug armored shoulder.

Yet as the two came to a halt in their struggling spiraling worlds Agi could feel the essence of his conscious struggle to stay functional as he groaned lightly slumping onto his stomach as he forced himself up in a pushup position with his knees caving in, but keeping him steady as he lifted up looking at the equally more energetic Kaizen getting back in shoving his four arms into the ground cracking it as he was getting back up lost between rage, and disorientation, but clearly looking for its prey.

"Damn stubborn ass," Agi laughed a little out of it as he observed the area around him for a moment not able to see Amano anywhere he hoped she was with Hideki, and Yamoshi alive cause honestly he wasn't sure if knocking out Kiazen was possible with everything he already threw not seeming to do much at all, or for better lack of it Agi not being able to go a hundred percent in this either. Vitalis' powers were indeed terrifying when dealt with long-term. He looked over his bloodied body as he winced, closing one of his eyes as blood got to it.

"... Over here," Agi insanely called out to the bug as Ion Storm got up on his feet forming his nanobytes into a sorta backpack hoisted firmly to his back.

The bug pulled the blade out of his shoulder and threw it towards the side in annoyance. He refocused his attention towards his opponent, who despite suffering many injuries still stands before him. The bug himself began feeling weaker and heavier than before, possibly due to the effects of the mist. But he had more than enough strength to finish the fight. Thus went for a charge once more, grabbing hold of one of the Agi's arms before allowing his other three arms to beat the boy senseless. Each time his punches would push him away, his other arm would pull him back in for another round of punishment. And yet, with each strike, the bugster gained back some of his senses. Why was he fighting this man? Who was he? An adversary? A friend? His punches continued on, until eventually he stopped, his blood-covered fist frozen in the air, shaking with fear and hesitation at what he was about to do to this boy.

"Huff...huff… there you are you idiot…," Agi bled out in a weak huff of air as four nanowires shot out past Kaizen latching onto a wooden crate high above leading to a major distraction as with some heavy will Agi deliver an open palm strike with nano gauntlets knocking out the wind from Kaizen's sail with a kinetic blast as the nanonbytes capability to fight was finally reaching its limit. Immediately latching back onto Agi's body his nanos were unable to do much else as Agi grabbed onto the nanowires pulling hard as the wooden crate came crashing down right onto Kaizen. Stumbling back with little fumes left, Agi watched as Kaizen tried to get back up, or push the debris off.

"Mnemu do your thing," Agi coughed with blood as he fell backward unable to do much else as he had done his part weakening the bugster to the point where a certain slime could claim the win.

Amano stepped out from her hiding spot nearby, as Mnemu took over again. She leaned down and put a hand on Kaizen's form. "You got your wish, now let's regroup." She said, not looking at Agi. She had a lot of feelings right now. And while she was relieved this ended in some level of success, there was almost no guarantee that would be the case next time. There were too many variables to keep track of, and they were fortunate almost none of them came into play. She would have some stern words with everyone later.

………………………………………………

~~ Conclusion ~~

As the battles came to a close several things would happen in rapid order, Mari's team arrived, battered and a little beaten on the outrunner of an ANVIL armored SUV, the agents inside wasting little time in storming the location, taking note of Vitalis and how she was pinned, Mari gave their commander a few words as they wasted little time in shoving aside the allies, or rather former allies of the girl aside. Placing her in binders and what seemed to be a sealed zip up body capsule, an EMS unit was not too far after to arrive as well as the fire department and the normal uniformed police.

Around them, the warehouse was burning from end to end as three powerful explosions erupt from within the complex, leveling it flat, or at least portions of it. The firefighters kept well and away from what was happening, instead using their hoses to save the other buildings and sites near the area. The EMS were quick to turn their attention towards the students before the harrowing displays of Kaizen's Rampage seemingly now filled the air with cries of pain, going unnoticed in the sagave melees. Numerous goons and even a couple of people that seemed to be prisoners at the facility were among others who had tried to escape, in most cases limbs were bent at odd angles, other roughing up, or burn marks in general. The EMS crews gave pause and called for additional units as the police tried to get ahead of a Media that was sure to come.

As the police came to learn of the situation there, they even took Kaizen into holding, though briefly to be sure his rampage was at an end, while keeping him on site as they got the smaller girl away from there.

Next up was team Isa who were in varying states of damage, with everything from gashes to metal nails stuck out of parts of them, save Kuroi who was completely undamaged, the other teams were also on the way but would take a bit longer to arrive. For the time being it seemed Mobius was gone, the fight from Vitalis, the Rampage of Kaizen and the goons that once worked here were utterly demoralized. As the Facility rolled in flame and smoke, "Peace" had come to the students of class 07. As well as a grave faced Ota, chiefly to keep Kaizen out of cuffs and to see how his students were holding up.
 
Listening to her headset, Isa grunts a bit, handing it over to Kuroi with a glare. "Here yah go blood boy...err..Lifeblood?... Fuck it, Kuroi, you keep the headset for now, yer gonna be my radio man!"

With that she claps her hands together and directs her words to some policemen that were with them and who would be keeping back. "Alright! Shut the hell up and listen up! We got words from her Purring Highness, there is a factory district near here, part of it has seen better days, some bad fucks are there and we are the closest team, we go in, I start hitting people, see where it takes us! As to where Near here is, about five miles, time to put that jogging time to use… Er, we'll also stop to see whats there before I start hitting things, any questions, remarks, wanna already start that running?"

Kuroi deadpanned at the oni as he apathetically took the headset, staring at it before affixing it to his head with a sigh. "Should've just called myself Blood Boy at this point…" Since everyone seemed to jump to that epithet regardless. Adjusting it as Isa briefed everyone, his face remained blank at her so-called plan. "Can you even call that a plan?" She did ask for questions and remarks.

"Why? What's the problem Captain Emo?" Goto was strapping his gear together. His outfit had received a few updates. His jet fans on his feet were sleeker and more narrow, with one on each side of his foot. These new fans were able to turn out a much higher speed to make up for the smaller size. But it made movement easier. He had a similar fan placed atop his wrist too. This was also going to help in close range for him. But his Rotary Drives were still there. They were currently his best source of sideways maneuverability. Ultimately his outfit was functionally the same. But it was sleeker and easier to move in.

"As far as I'm concerned We're playing to our strengths. Hey Isa, how fast you wanna get there?" Goto asked. She was small so carrying her shouldn't be too bad. Not to mention he wanted to show off his weight training. "I can get us there in a fraction of the time. Don't ask me what fraction though. I'm bad with numbers. You two will gotta play catch up." He addressed Kuroi and Vigridis. Ice Queen was a lot more bearable on a mission at least.

It had taken just over a day in the Soul Realm for her wounds to completely heal. While they had been severe in the moment, they weren't as bad as she had thought, as they left no scarring like she had thought they would. In a way, she was almost disappointed. What was the point of fighting powerful opponents if they couldn't even land lasting damage?

Well, there was some lasting damage. It was to her suit: the "Egret's Alabaster Plume Vestment". Especially made for Vigridis, to work with her quirk. While, on the surface, her outfit didn't seem all that impressive, the engineering behind this particular costume was more than the blacksmiths and costumed designers in Suppression could handle. So, she was going into this mission with some half-job on her outfit, as it was not totally repaired from her last fight with that cowardly gun-toting villain. For that reason, she was not pleased. Not one bit. But it would take some time to receive an adequate replacement from Romania.

Due to this, there was an air of unapproachability about Vigridis today. She was silently fuming. Still, she heard Isa and snickered, leaning over to Kuroi. "It's a better name," she agreed at his own mumbled statement. "Hmp. Looks like we're fighting together today," she continued, nudging him. "That means we'll finally become friends." She said this with a smile, then added, "If you survive."

She glanced over at Goto. "You survived lasst time," she said, not knowing what happened to Goto and his villain on their last mission together. "Hopefully you'll survive thiss one, too," she encouragingly stated in a slightly mocking tone, still not convinced Goto offered much.

While Isa did wish to charge into the battle and was interested in seeing just how fast Goto could go, Isa clicks her tongue a bit. "Tch.." Ruffling her hair a bit she stares at Vigridis and shrugs. "As long as I'm backed up I don't care what he does. But that ain't in the style of any of us minus Kuroi to play support so we'll just have to wing it. Not like a fuck'n plan would survive more than five minutes with us.. And yeah, I want to get in there as quick as I can to mess shit up.. But this scar I got is telling me to take it slow.. Talk shit about it and get hit.." She adds in offhandedly, trusting in her feelings and the hard won experience that she gained, there would be no staggering meet up against who knows what. That big armored asshole was still out there somewhere and might as well be here. Well, unless it was beating down Agi's team at the moment.

"Let's go, together.. Once we see what the hell we are dealing with we'll play it by hand.. Though if that armored son of a bitch is here I want a rematch."

Moving on as a group with a more "managed" pace of running they were there about half an hour later, likely warmed up as Isa looks at the central complex that seemed to be having some sort of fun going on there as a figure that would be well known to Goto makes his entrance.

"Ah, so you damnable kids came here too? Hahaha! Ha! Ah… Fine, guess I'll have to crush you too!" With that his quirk comes to life as bits of metal and machinery collect around his body, a white almost uniformed capsule armor of some sort, a large tube was on one arm and what looked to be a machine gun or rather a nail gun or two on the other arm in the wrist. Encapsulating him, it did not seem as ramshackled as his previous appearance.

"Ahahaha! Ah and if it isn't the brat… Let me give you what you want!"

With that he motions towards a massive tractor trailer as a glowing pair of lights shine beneath a tarp, slowly leaning up, it was the giant black armored Samurai from before, with his armor repaired in haste and his mauled left hand equipped with an industrial saw blade used in mining operations, a lesser quality sword was in his right hand. By the time it was up, Isa was already charging right for it, the rest could pick targets as they saw fit. She just wanted to make sure that Samurai did not leave again and its abomination was settled once and for all. "One of you or whatever back me up! I don't wanna get impaled again!"

"That's an even worse name," Kuroi said with a roll of eyes. "I dunno, maybe we get there a half-hour later and find your bodies?" He proposed, folding his arms with a skeptical expression. It wasn't that complex a train of thought to consider why running in and splitting up would be bad.

As Vigridis leaned over, his scowl intensified a bit, though she also seemed happy at becoming "friends". "Oh is it? I think Vi or Viggie has a nicer ring to it," He remarked before the group was on their way.

Unsurprisingly, they had friends waiting for them. Kuroi recognized neither of them, though the black samurai from Isa's story was obvious. "Then don't run at the freak with the buzzsaw!" Kuroi called after her before clicking his tongue and following suit. It was time to test that thing's armor.

Taking advantage of his likely superior agility, Kuroi charged forward and slid under the behemoth, a crescent from his forearm slicing the samurai's knee joint. As he reached the rear of the monster, Kuroi removed the extendable maul Agi and Haya had made for him. Pouring his blood through the center of it and out the head to create a spike, he slammed it into the back of the warrior's "knee".

Goto couldn't help but wipe his nose with a smirk upon seeing the fat old man. It was time for a rematch, and he had a few new tricks up his sleeve this time. There was someone else that came out, but someone already had Isa's back. "Thanks Kuroi, glad to know you can take care of the smallfry." Goto called out, seeing Kuroi take charge against the samurai.

He had his sights set on Mobius, who was wrapped up in his armored junk again. "I guess you're with me this time Veggie. Try not to hit the ground too hard." With that he sprinted off to the side, and jetted forward. His new gear was more streamlined, allowing him to move faster with ease. He then came in from the side , spinning into a powerful high speed roundhouse kick. "S'up Junk Diver?"

Isa had been injured so badly that not only was she scarred, but it was affecting her even now? Vigridis could scarcely believe it. -And was a bit envious, as her own recent fight hadn't left a scar like she had thought it would.

"My name iss Vigridis," she growled to the two who made snide comments. Though she was beginning to really consider her actual hero name. As the trio made their attacks on the armored enemies, the Alucard prepared her own.

"Feast of Legends!"

Intense Soul Energy began to waft off of her like smoke rising into the air. The female could be seen shuddering a bit. The Soul Energy then began coalescing, and then shapes began to form. A sword came into being, turning silver -then solidifying, until its silver gleamed almost glass-like. The sword fell, sinking into the earth: Excalibur. Another sword formed, this one taking on a reddish hue, striking into the ground: Durandal. Two more followed, Gram, fell first. A blackish-blue hued blade, sinking beside Durandal. Then behind them a massive sword the size of a small structure sank into the ground: Caladbolg.

Next fell an ornate mace glowing gold: Kaumodaki. Then a fancy staff of gold entwined with two twisting serpents, topped with wings: Caduceus. A double-headed axe in a swirling color of gold-red light: Hephestus's Labrys. A blueish axe with a unique soulish chill: Forseti's axe. Fell together, crossing their handles. Finally a massive constructed axe crashed into the ground right beside Caladbolg, sinking into the earth, causing a minor fissure: Bunyan.

Finally, a simplistic spear in her usual construct light energy with a Roman design fell just behind her: the Holy Spear, Longinus. And two spears struck the ground on either side of her: Gáe Bulg, Gáe Dearg. Gáe Bulg darkened to such a degree that it appeared obsidian. Gáe Dearg's Soul Energy burned with such intensity that it appeared very red.

Vigridis gasped for air as her armory finished just behind her. She was quite glad she was getting better at creating her stronger constructs. Infusing more Soul Energy into them was not easy at all. It was so tough, it wasn't recommended at the beginning of battles; so, it was good she amassed a lot of Soul Energy from her time in the Land of Ashen White before this. Not to mention this wasn't a normal type of fight. Finally her breath steadied. Vigridis gripped the two spears at her sides. Lifting her gaze up, she was prepared to engage with the others.

As the two males in the class began the attack, both are met with decidedly mixed results. On the one end while tactically sound, the blood maul seemed to do rather little to the massive behemoth, bending a little bit as steam jets out and the whirling of gears could be heard in the knee. The giant remained standing and swung it's left arm with the massive industrial cutting saw, not at him, but rather Vigridis, not giving her the time to make use of the arsenal of weapons that she just spawned in. Had it not been done so seemingly quickly, he likely would have attacked from the very start judging by the sudden offensive. With eyes blazing an electronic red, he then withdraws from his sudden slash into a downwards strike from his sword hand that Isa meets in kind.

"Let's go!" She shouts as she runs into the fray, waiting to the very last minute she punches at the sword, sidestepping as it seems to knock the giant off center slightly, his balance shifting. Isa was not attacking it directly as before, shifting into her blue form white hair takes up more of her pallet as it extends. Was it a moment of cowardice or caution? That would be hard to determine for hear and now as she quickly hops on one leg to gain some distance as the giant Kurogane redirects it's swing.

Meanwhile at Goto and Doctor Mobius, the later shifts his armored form to take the impact to his left side as he slides back a bit, his voice cuts across an electronic voice box. "Hahahaha! Ah, the blue one… Let's see if a little red will turn you purple or black!" Extending his right arm his flamethrower comes up and soaks the area that Goto had been in with fire, though curiously he had also used the covering fire to a literal effect to retreat behind some shipping containers rather quickly, as his left arm aims from the side, opening up with it's nail guns with general disregard for accuracy so much as a blanket of fire. "Let's see how you like this!"

Vigridis had only managed to create her armory because she thought she had been given enough time by her allies rushing forward to draw aggro. But it seemed that was not necessarily the case. The large samurai swung at her with impressive speed. She brought up both her spears in a crossing pattern to block the heavy strike. Which rang out like metal on metal. She was sent a bit back, to which the girl back flipped and landed nicely. She hefted up Gáe Bulg and chucked it at the samurai as he was dealing with Isa.

The spear shined with an impressively blackened sheen flying hard at the samurai, like a nighttime meteorite. She held up her hand and Longinus flew into her hand. She wanted a crack at the samurai mano a mano, but took the time to leap close to Goto to provide him some aid. Lifting up her spears she psychically spun them with enough speed to blow away the fire that threatened him, and to block some of the nails fired out by the weird robot. Once the immediate threat was lowered, Vigridis grabbed Longinus and took a strong step forward like an olympic javelin thrower, and launched her spear with impressive power like a cannon right at the robot's shoulder. Longinus literally radiated with impressive Soul Energy coming off of it in waves.

Unsurprisingly, Kuroi's attack didn't cripple the thing, though he did hope he at least did some damage. Unfortunately, he couldn't be sure based on its reaction. It ignored the both of them and seemed to target Vigridis, though Isa was quick to intercept and knock it off balance. Following suit, Kuroi leveled the maul as the spike lengthened and embedded into the ground, right behind it as it stumbled back.

Perhaps not Vigridis',s intention, but the extra breeze which blew the fires from his path actually helped Goto in repositioning elsewhere for a more unpredictable blow, as his trajectory sent him on a more curved path than before as she struck against the metal carapace of the doctor. With the gap closed, Goto knew it was time to unleash a new move.

He pulled his hand back as the jets on his wrists spun to max speed. The wind current was strong and concentrated. All he needed was his hand to follow it. "Maximum Accelerator!" There was a loud clang! as his hand collided with the armor, pulling. But Goto was longer on his hold, having rode the back draft out of there, sliding beside Vigridis. "Hit me up with some more javelin throws like that and I can get there even quicker."

As before, Kurogane takes the bolt head on, his armored plating would give all but the most dedicated anti-tank weapons a problem in piercing, at a fine point the lance of energy penetrated, but it was to little effect. The being inside of it that served to act as a conduit for electricity and the various clockwork parts and pistons, industrial presses and tools. This Frankenstein creation did not feel pain, it did not see reason, it did not even feel rage and the metal bits and bobs had continued to function. There was not even a cry of pain.

However even with all of the mechanical wanders and biomechanical additions the great giant was not immune to the natural processes of physics as the teamwork between the three lead to the black armored samurai, landing backwards as the blood mace coupled with the efforts of the others sent the giant falling backwards as it crashes into some containers with a loud deafening BOOM. Rising back to it's feet, Kurogane rips it's left arm mounted Saw bite into the ground as he flings a wide range of rocky projectiles at the trio, slashing it's arm far and wide as he starts to rise back to his feet, the groaning of metal lets out as his right hand drives the blade partially into the ground, getting back on one knee as his red eyes flash out. Letting go of the sword briefly from this position he reaches back for a cargo container and throws it like an angry person throwing a log, given the efforts of the energy user the machine focuses on her with this effort.

For her part Isa moves partially to shield Kuroi as she crosses her arms, taking most of the high speed rock fragments aimed at herself and him, the spray heading for Vigridis and Goto was of another matter. "Oi! Yah Machine Fuck, Over here!" With that she reaches down for a chunk of the fragments left in the wake of the fall and throws a piece of steel right into the giant's face like she was throwing a dodgeball, which seemed to turn the machines attention to her as she runs around it in circles before calling out once more as she made a leap for the giant's knelt form.

Not having thought this far ahead Isa starts kicking at the shinguards in an attempt to fracture or to break the armored plating, before giving up as the giant attempted to reach with it's saw arm, cutting into its own armor briefly as it moved the arm back away. Flashing it's eyes in response, the left leg starts to go under, rising to its feet to fight once more as it goes to lift the giant blade.

Meanwhile back at Goto and Vigridis the armored form of Doctor Mobius tanks the hits behind armored plating, though the shoulder was pierced with much greater effect than out of the one aimed at Kurogane. The Cover provided by the box did but so much, and then there was Goto as he road the wind, using what he had learned from the Aquarium to good effect. A hollow THUD as if from a bell could be heard as a little of the plate bends at the midsection.

"Why you little! Ahahaha! You'll both pay for that! But first.. Let's see how you like this!" With that one of the blue machines from before, lands before the pair with aid of Jump jets, with a large energy cannon at the center and drills for hands, the machine whirles into action, blasting at Vigridis and Goto both as the beam attack rakes the ground along the front, the damaged machine of Doctor Mobius rises to his feet as a laugh echoes from the electronic voice box.

"Allow me to even the odds! In favor of me! Ahahaha! Burn away you fools!" He says adding his flamethrower to the mix as he stays close to the new arrival, off in the distance it seemed more, if not round, bulky machines with the same creepy smile of their creator were on the move, though these seemed to be of lower quality and terrestrial bound. Maybe they were not a threat? Or as much of a threat, though there were a lot of them.


"I can do more than that," Vigridis said cockily to the blue-haired male. "If I could read your mind, I could literally help you fly wherever you want.

Gáe Bulg had seemingly only caused some superficial damage to the metal samurai, but that was to be expected. Her attack on the man in the robot proved to be much better. Psychically, Vigridis "shattered" Gáe Bulg into smaller various barb-like spears. Holding up her hand, she directed the sharp barbs to stab into the samurai all over, namely targeting any open parts in the armor that exposed the weird fleshy-mechanical bits.

She called Longinus back over to her, catching it in her hand. But it didn't remain there for long, as both enemies launched their counterattacks. Demonstrating what she just said, she tossed the spear into the air - just behind Goto, and spun it like a fan, blowing him up much higher to avoid all of the attacks by the weird robo-clad madman. Longinus continued to float just after Goto, it would spin and provide him with a stream of air should he need it. (If Vigridis could concentrate on it, that is.)

At the same time, she threw Gáe Dearg to intercept the rock projectiles launched her way. The spear did an excellent job of deflecting them, but it wouldn't be enough. Vigridis quickly fabricated a silver-gold shield and held it up, the large cargo container crashing into it. "GHR!" Vigridis grunted with the impact, wincing at the psychic strain on her mind. Her body shuddered, but she managed to shove the cargo container just out of the way so it just barely missed her.

She quickly whipped the battered, cracked shield around to block the energy beam attack. Only for her shield to prove ineffective, breaking apart at the blast. Surprised, Vigridis took the beam attack head on and was thrown back, hitting the ground, sliding along the rough earth. The spear continued to float behind Goto, indicating she wasn't out yet.

"Thanks," Kuroi breathed out as Isa intercepted some of the debris, then proceeded to piss off the robot some more. She charged it and began attacking it's leg joint like he had before. Kuroi followed suit, using the maul to vault up onto its opposite knee to travel up the seated monstrosity. He charged up its torso and jumped, slamming the spiked maul into the head of the samurai before he collapsed and stored it on the backdraw. He extended a flattened hand into the "eyes" of the walking talk, blood swirling from his forearm and circulating rapidly to drill into Kurogane's optics.

"Yeah, rather not have to deal with another crazy ass hat in this class who's invaded my mind." He called back to Vigridis. It looked like the doc was planning to launch another wave of attacks. "Ah crap…" He uttered as the giant robot took to the battlefield. The hell was this bullshit?! And there were many many more. If those were even a little strong the sheer number of them could be a problem. But for right then he needed to escape the combo laser and flames.

Vigridis seemed to have him covered though, granting him an escape route spinning her spears behind him. He was fortunate to escape relatively unscathed. The armor hide was thick. Shit hurt to punch, as you'd expect. He needed a way to be able to pierce the metal better. Fortunately, Vigridis had given him the perfect tool to use.

He reached behind him, gripping onto the spear and holding it in two hands, and he accelerated towards the head of the robot. It made sense that its sensors were there, so he hoped he could shut down its ability to track them down.

As the pair work against Kurogane and Vigridis hidden attack struck, the machine goes down once more and with the effort from the two, Isa is able to wretch the saw arm free as it crashes to the ground and the arm hung limply. On Kuroi's side of the equation his blood attack across the the armored face had mixed results as the Automaton stops all movement, the bullet proof material was not designed with massive attacks in mind to this scale, but still provided protection to the eyes. However now with chips and impacts all along it, it was as if someone had cracked the glass with a hammer, the vision was next to useless but still functional in a blurry matter as it swipes out with it's right arm, sword going wide as it just passed over the head of Isa, who stands to her feet as the machine does the same.

Though strangely it remains still, tightening its grip as it listened. There was no breath from the machine but little mechanical sounds here and there broke up the stillness, testing it out, Isa speaks and is at once meet with the blade coming down swiftly as she calls out to Kuroi. "Hey! Let's see if we can topple this son of a bitch! I'm going for the knee again, if your blood shit can grab em, lets try and grab that right arm of his and pull em over!" She then rushes off, jumping atop some cargo containers as the giant swings once more and she backs out, tch'ing a bit a she did so. "We need ta find a way to keep that bastard from swing'n.. I might could try catch'n it next time but Idk. Mine and his power are a bit close. You got ideas Kuroi? Keep it simple!" She was bleeding in a few places from the rock shotgun and some near shaves from the saw, but was otherwise good to go.

On the other side of things Dr Mobius laughed at Vigridis shouting an audible "YES! YES! AHAHAHAHA!" Though the mechanical voice box of his armor as it stiffly turned to look at Goto's attack, as he drove the spear in with considerable force and speed from the already hot energy based weapon. "Kehaahah! Oh you fool."

As the spear dives into the head, one of the eyes goes out, but the other remains as it shifts it's head towards him, a beam powering in its mouth. "Not a bad idea! But just as your bug friend learned, this one is a bit more powerful than that! Compartmentalization My Blue Fool! Ahahaha! You'll need to do better than that!" While readying the beam to be fired, the robot also reaches out in a swipe of it's drill hands.

A moment later the female stirred. She pushed up off her stomach and shook her head. Her white hair was frizzled and sticking out at odd angles. There were singed marks on her body, but for the most part Vigridis was fine. Even if it wasn't completely fixed, her armor held on, providing enough defense so she wasn't obliterated by the beam.

That's when she noticed Goto using her spear. It was by luck she had gifted him Longinus. It burned less strongly than the other two spears. But it still burned with a heat that gave it enough energy to pierce metal. She wondered if his hands were okay, but she needed to keep its heat up for his attack to have effect. After Goto's attack landed, she made sure to psychically lower its heat so he could wield it properly.

Then the Alucard climbed to her feet. Gáe Dearg flung itself over to her, and she caught it, staring at the spear. Despite being reinforced, the reddish construct was bent at various angles. Fixing it would require more Soul Energy, so she dropped it. And Gáe Bulg was currently split into many fragments embedded into the samurai. So she stepped forward and decided on a different approach. Vigridis called the Bunyan axe to her. Catching it, she could feel the heaviness of the giant weapon. She took another couple powerful steps forward, her feet breaking up the earth. The woman then swung the massive construct back, and then swung it forward. Bunyan's massive size measured the battlefield, and collided with Dr. Mobius's robot since he was distracted from laughing and mocking Goto. The hit was strong enough to send out a shockwave and electrical sparks from colliding with the robot.

Kuroi was almost kicked when the thing started swinging again. He seemed to have done some damage to its visage, though it was still kicking. Isa proposed the idea of him trying to grab the arm like he had done the "hostage" on the first day, though he was skeptical of that. If she couldn't stop it, what hope did he have?

He swiped some blood into its eyes to further hinder any sight it possessed before kicking off its chassis and returning to the leg. Grabbing the maul again, Kuroi pushed his blood through it as he rendezvoused with Isa. "I don't have the strength for that, and this thing is hollow to account for my quirk. Gimme some of that muscle, and I'll make up the mass," He invited. With his quirk and her strength, perhaps they could pierce the chassis.

Looking at Kuroi Isa nods giving a thumbs up. "Sure, lets see what it can do! Sure this will take him down though?"

Goto didn't realize that the spear had burned through his gloves and started searing his hands a little. It didn't matter in the end. He needed something to be able to strike these bots. As the one eye was taken from the robot, Goto couldn't help but sneer. And that moment of a victory was quickly overtaken by the still functioning eye and the energy being charged from its mouth. With no other choice but to retreat, but not before backflipping into a high-speed kick against the edge of the spear, aiming to turn it away from him and preferably at the doctor.

But the drills also were coming for him, and their quick rotation was actually messing with his airstream. As he quickly retreated, he felt his connection to his airstream decouple. With nothing left to keep him on any set path, Goto slammed into another container, denting it. He grunted as he pushed himself up onto his feet again. Then he looked down at his hands for the first time. They were pretty badly burned. But he still couldn't really feel the pain. He spit out blood, wiping it away from his mouth in a single motion.

He then remembered something from when he and Mari were talking about currents. And that drill, well that was going to be what brought him down. It sucked in air. It created a spiral current, which means there is a middle section where the air is getting sucked in faster. Which means he can go even faster there. All he needs is a super hot spear, and someone to eliminate the drills before he collides and he should be able to break through the bot and maybe even the doc.

"Vig. Hit me with the hottest spear I can hold. Then jump it up another level. After that, just make sure I don't get a hole through me."

Vigridis didn't want to waste any Soul Energy crafting another powerful spear, and her usual three were currently indisposed. So instead she sent him Durandal. A fairly large blade with a sharpened tip a lot like a spear. It was a reddish hue, and as per his request, she superheated it with even more Soul Energy. "Take this: Durandal. And this," she said, sending him one of her axes. This axe had a large blade that oddly had a blue tint. The Soul Energy within actually cooled the weapon instead of heating it like usual. "Forseti. This axe will offset the heat for you, and you can use it's large bladehead as a shield if you need!" Despite the sizes of the weapons, they also were fairly light, as they were not made out of metal.

With the work of Isa and Kuroi, Isa abandons her initial plan and takes up his blood mace. "Fuck it!" She yells out before letting out a battle cry as she runs up to his leg, taking a large mechanical fist to her left side as she grits her teeth and the swordsman readies a strike, burying the blood maul into his leg with a CRUNCH as she aimed at the weakened plate, hoping the blood would penetrate deep enough to do whatever the blood boy had in mind to topple the son of a bitch before he got his sword down.

"Do whatever! If I get hit you'll be bringing a console and a goddamn TV up this time!"

Meanwhile back at the robots, as Vigridis regained her bearings, and Goto lead an counter strike against the blue machine, it's beam damages the white armored egg pod suit in conjunction with Vigridis's own attack, but Mobius simply yells a "Ahhhh! Damn you!" as his suit sparked with electricity showing clear signs of damage. Before pointing his nail gun at the two and unleashing another barrage, remaining stationary as it did so. Off in the distance the more mass produced orange machines were nearly close enough to engage as a laugh echoes across the distance and off the containers.

"The maul was the plan!" Kuroi retorted, being slightly yanked as he held onto the maul. It collided with the plate audibly, but that still didn't seem to immediately incapacitate it. Growling a bit, he thought that he might be able to pierce the plating if he concentrated. Releasing the hammer, the blood retracted through the holes and back into his arm. "Go nuts."

Focusing on the blood in one arm, Kuroi concentrated on one blade's movements, having the edges oscillate and move like a saw. Forcing his forearm against the plate,it seemed to make some progress and the blood began to discolor slightly. However, before he could cut completely through, Kuroi noticed the arm readying a swing.

"Then how bout you don't get hit!?" Kuroi remarked, grabbing Isa and pulling her down with him to evade the cleave.

It seemed his efforts to redirect the beam were successful. Shit he'd happily take that. That was when Vigridis gave him some weapons. That sword also hurt. How the hell did her whole business work anyway? He had to get an extracurricular science lesson to even kinda understand what he was doing. How the hell did she figure this shit out? Well, can't complain. He didn't need to know why it worked, just that it did.

But before he could initiate his offense, the damned doctor had a plan of his own. True to character, he was still using trash, not having an actual weapon other than a nail gun. Of course, Goto still had to not get hit by that. Being skewered is never any fun. He held the spear in both hands, initiating his boots fans to get moving, sweeping at an angle in order to get out of the way of the doctors weapon. Not to mention there was also the issue of that hoard of orange robots as well.

If he could bait that laser again and force the bot to attack his own, then there wasn't any issue was there? Damn it! There was too much to focus on! Just… Make this issue less complicated! Stop the nails, that simplifies things right? He turned his focus on the arm of the doctor, speeding in with the blazing blade.

Vigridis called Caduceus quickly over to her, catching the staff out of the air. She swung the fancy gold staff with serpents and wings around effortlessly, as if it was light as a feather. Little 'tings' of metal ran out as she defended against the barrage of nails. When all was said and done, the danger had largely passed thanks to Goto, but there were a few nails sticking out of her arm and side and chest. It simply wasn't possible to block them all like that. Or perhaps, she needed simply more training to do so. Nor was her armor in tip-top shape to defend against them well. It definitely needed to be replaced.

Regardless, she dropped the staff and gripped Bunyan in both hands next. Stepping forward, with a heavy grunt she swung the house-sized axe up. Then she smashed it right down into the horde of orange bots with enough force to shatter the ground, creating a small crater. With a grunt, she dragged the axe along more of the orange bots, hefted it back over her shoulder and brought it back in a baseball-like swing through the bots that spun her in place. She wasn't sure how many she just got, but it was a solid amount for that series of attacks.

"Alright! Wait!" As Kuroi does his part of all this and then knocks Isa off her feet as the blade crashes to where they would be, the massive cyborg's leg was not fully broken, but the shift in weight pulled it down into falling on it's side. Getting back to her own feet, the black samurai swings his weapon from a prone position, slamming into her with full force and cutting into her side and arms, though not as badly as before as she grabs unto the sword, getting taken with it and the force of the impact into a pile of shipping containers, though she had disarmed the bot, as she falls forward with the oversized blade comically in her hands. In a bit of a daze she tries to get up to her feet as the Machine looks right at Kuroi, aiming to grab him in it's massive hand.

Back at the other two and the approaching hoard the white egg shell shaped robot stops it's firing and reloads the nailgun with a snap and a hiss as the sword struck home, getting caught down the barrel of the weapon, and twisting out of the side. "Damn you!" Comes the automated voice as the machine aims it's flamethrower right at Goto firing a heavy stream off, the damage to the machine was starting to mount up however.

Meanwhile the blaster robot had regained it's bearings and walked through the new flames swinging it's drill arms wildly as it did so. "Destroy!" Comes it's voice modulator as it moved it's head about, trying to find a solid target.

As Vigridis jumped into the approaching horde, they seemed surprisingly durable, though it was clear this was a mass production model, lacking in defense that the larger units had, the industrial grabber arms they had and primate style of movement suggested they had considerable strength, though it was not enough for the assault being aimed at them. As a third to a half of the formation was savaged a new Blue machine lands from the sky, in it's hands was a staff that sparked with electricity and a Plasma field, spinning the weapon in its hands, it meets Vigridis head on blow for blow as it spins the blade around behind it after the first exchange, it's joints were exposed but made of thick and durable metal, a single red mono eye stared at her as it extends a free hand forward and pulls the fingers back as if to challenge her to a dual, for the time being the Orange robots circle around the pair, photoreceptors "blinking" as if to make a ring or to watch the show, a curious case of programing, slave controling or was it something more?

"Isa-!" Kuroi called out when she took the blow. The damn girl was a freaking magnet for swords apparently. She seemed out of it from the hit, but the samurai was taking damage. Unfortunately, it began to see Kuroi as a threat and reached out to grasp him. Vaulting over and onto the arm, Kuroi traveled along the length until he reached Kurogane's head again and performed the same procedure as before. He focused on the output of a single limb, and stabbed it into its visage with the aim to fully blind it, or keep it distracted at least.

Goto managed to eliminate the suppressing fire from the nail gun, but was quickly met with retaliation from the same bot with a flamethrower. He only had a short moment to react. It was almost instinctual. Vigridis had given him just what he needed to survive. That frigid axe from before. He held it up in defense. It mitigated a fair portion of the damage, but he was still singed and burned. But as he was defending, the drillbot came rushing through the flames. He switched hands, and gripped the burning blade as well, swinging it down, hoping to deflect the bot's attack with it.

It looked like he wasn't about to get any help right now. Guess he had to handle this himself. He didn't like doing this because he looked too girly. He positioned his feet so they were pointing in opposite directions, like a ballerina. Each foot took hold of a different breeze, and the two wind currents in opposing directions forced him to spin at a high speed, rising up into the air, and using the heavy rotation to hurl the axe at the drill bot, taking the blazing sword in both hands. And riding the current from his hurled axe to strike in rapid succession with the sword.

"Use the-! Heh…" Vigridis was about to call over to Goto. She smirked. But it seemed he had enough sense to use her cold axe to defend against the flames. It wasn't perfect, but it was the first time he was using them so… Props.

Her eyes flicked back over to the new robot that landed before her; her new opponent. Typically speaking, Vigridis had little to no respect for robots. They were neither a worthy opponent, nor did she praise the cowardly act of using them. But even so, she was not one to ignore what she could learn from any fight. Even fighting a robot would grant her valuable experience to make her stronger.

It had properly managed to deflect her blows with Bunyan. Which caused the woman to stagger. She wasn't used to this lopsided, heavy weapon. It was easy to throw her off balance. It was simply not viable as a weapon in a 1 on 1 duel. So she fixed her stance, yanked it back, then brought it up. And with a swift, powerful twist of her body spun the massive axe all the way around her in a complete circle. Slicing and smashing it through the ring of orange robots. Vigridis did not like being made into a show for someone's amusement.

After that was done, she used the momentum to toss the large axe construct right at the blue robot. Then called over Caduceus, the staff that was nearby. And her bright silver blade, Excalibur. Despite their fair distance apart, both flew into her hands at roughly the same time, where she caught each deftly.

As Bunyan was flying into the blue robot, the woman caught her two more manageable weapons and launched herself forward. Using this time to strike -the time that the robot had to deal with the massive axe construct- she swiftly dove right at its side, bringing up her blade and piercing forward expertly. Not a single wasted movement since she began. The sword may have had a glass-like appearance, but it was extremely sharp, durable, and white hot. It would pierce metal like butter.

As Isa gets her bearings, she takes notice of Kuroi on top of the metallic monstrosity as he attempts the efforts from before and the giant robot attempts to swipe at him. Isa drags the large sword behind her in her red form, as it scrapes and sparks trailing behind her. "Kuroi! Keep him just like you are and get ready to jump then help pull this thing the rest of the way!"

While not a great weight the blade was unwieldy and ill balanced for one her size, but heft it into the air she did with a great shout, bleeding from some of her wounds. "JUMP!" And no sooner she says that she allows gravity to carry the blade down across the throat and neck guard of the Samurai. "Take his fuck'n head off!" He was already dead and it stood to reason this might stop it, or at least badly hinder it.

Back at Goto the cannon machine starts to charge it's cannon as it gazes up at him a beam of energy rapidly building up after its drill attack was deflected. Both of the weapons strike home at a point of contact with the beam causing a rapid deflection and chain reaction with the body central cannon, sending miniature beams all over the place as the central reactor overloads causing the robot to cook off. So far the odds had been narrowed back to one on one as the eggshell exosuit takes a few hits in turn, aiming it's nail gun skyward.

"What an interesting weakness you found!" Comes the shout.

Meanwhile as Vigridis seemingly conjures more and more weapons, the machine had no face or systems to show any sort of reaction, rather it stayed where it was as the axe came around to attack the observers, it ducked low, its single mono eye blazing a bright red, with a massive and rapid series of blinks things almost seem to slow down into slow motion as the sword comes down, it's electro staff starts to shift in positioning but something else happens.

The leg thruster units on the machine fire to life as it keeps low and shoots off to the side, it's mono eye following her every movement as a bit of steam emerges from its "mouth". As it flew off to the side and towards the back of Vigridis, the staff weapon swung from its position in the rear heads up and forward, aiming to hit her in the back in a swipe.

One thing quickly became clear, this machine was more than a few steps above the machines at the school and seemingly worthy of the warning Kaizen had given after his last run in with them.

The robot used its superior movement to avoid her attacks. -That was horrendously irritating! Vigridis swiftly responded in kind, flipping around and blocking the strike with her own staff. And any other follow-up strikes, deflecting them with her own staff and sword. However, the nails in her body slowed her down; her movements were stiffer than usual, her limbs aching when she moved to block. Vigridis grimaced when she was struck a few more times, feeling the sharp pricks of electrical stings.

"Huh? What're you-" Kuroi looked back, wondering what she was plotting. However, he saw her wielding the large blade shortly before calling to him and pushed off Kurogane's face, just dodging the giant sword cleaving its way into the samurai's neck. Landing back on the shoulder, his blood seeped out in the form of tendrils that wrapped around the helm, keeping it steady and in place for the blade to carry through.

"Too bad you couldn't figure it out yourself!" He called back to the doctor, still flying through the air. The nail gun started spraying again. Goto raised his hand to defend himself, barely managing to stop one of the nails from hitting him in the face, as it stuck through his hand. He grit his teeth. His hands already hurt from the burns, and without the frigid axe, he couldn't keep hold of his sword much longer. "You know, just looking at the face on these things really pisses me off. Only thing that pisses me off more is your own fugly-ass face!"

Looks like he needed something else. That was when he noticed the drillbot's arms. He shot down, the sword's heat was beginning to climb again, but that was all he needed. It cut through the connectors, dropping the drill for him to pick up. "I can't wait to tear that stupid mustache out." He shouted out, as he jumped back into the fray. The drill would help keep him safe from the nails, at least mostly. Furthermore, as he gathered speed, he used the air currents to spin himself faster than the bot ever could.

Vigridis attempted to strike back against the robot. She swung her staff all over, this way and that, like an expert. Her strikes would normally be enough to land some powerful blows that would knock out any normal foe. But she only clashed with the robot's own staff. Each strike she swung was parried perfectly. Their clash was a sight to behold, like something out of a movie. But Vigridis grew increasingly irritated that each of her strikes was blocked.

Finally, she dropped her staff and did something totally left-field. She grabbed the robot's staff when it swung it down to her. Catching it firmly in her hand, a hot electrical current ripped through the woman's body. The Alucard screamed out as the painful electricity shocked her repeatedly. But she managed to hold the robot firmly enough to bring up her blade. She lunged forward, plunging Excalibur right into the center of the robot. She yanked it out and stabbed the robot in its center again. Then she stabbed it in its head-unit.

As Kuroi aids Isa in her attack, the girl showed a surprising amount of brutality as she cuts into the head, Kuroi adding leverage to the other side, hydraulic fluid and a strange blue looking material plus various other fluid, though lacking blood, spray from the wound as Isa lets go of the blade, a mix of her own blood and the mysterious material coated parts of her as she walks over, placing both hands on the helmeted head, lifting it up she throws, smashing it into the ground. "Bitch!"

With that she almost swore she heard the head mumbling the words "At last, rest." Though that would be impossible.. Wouldn't it? Either way she wasn't about to bring it up with the others as she lands on her backside for a rest, letting her wounds heal as she gazed at the giant sword.

"Hey, Kuroi, think we should burn him? Oh yeah! Let me have the headset back, need to report this shit."


Turning to look at the other two, they seemed to be finishing up on their own ends. Kuroi was free to help either, Isa just wanted a break, to process all that happened.

At Goto's side of things a mocking laughter could be heard as the Doctor speaks. "Why all products need a focus group! And any man that has nothing to learn from others is truly a fool! Ahahaha! And speaking of fools.."

As the drill struck home, the machine didn't bother to even move as the eggshell shaped central core is pierced, the lack of blood or anything else than damaged and sparking electricity gave truth to a great lie.

"How's it feel to know you've been fighting an Empty suit? Though it's been amusing! I'm afraid I can't let you just have this construct!" With that the machine seems to glow and whirl from it's primary ventilation ports, clearly in some sort of self destruct process as the mocking laughter echoes. "Well, till next time, Blue Fool."

At Vigridis, things were a pitched battle, a blow for blow, the Robot clearly equal if not superior as it chirped away in Binary, seemingly as if to be alive. However when it's own weapon was grabbed it's processors stop as it's mono eye blinks and gazes, as if searching for what to do next, it extends a fist to know the other back as the sword from before enters it's primary core and even part of its head unit. Though not yet fully beaten, the machine retreats a few steps as it leaks some jet fuel and other artificial liquids, pulling it's staff back, it aims it in a throw, to attempt to lance the now a bit more distant Alucard.

When the two split, Vigridis stood there briefly. Shaking from the zaps she had chosen to receive to make that last ditch effort of an attack. Still, the thing had managed to avoid 'death'! It backed up from her, though severely damaged.

She knew she had to make this final attack count. It had to end it. She had just enough remaining Soul Energy for this attack -which had been on purpose, since she had used so much Soul Energy to craft her arsenal at the beginning of the battle.

After regaining her composure the Alucard steadied herself. This move required the last bit of her Soul Energy reserves, and it required finesse control. She stepped back and held out her hand. "Ouroboros!" She called. A line of Soul Energy extended from her outstretched hand and flew back, aimed for all her weapons. The string continued to whip around and extend out. It 'threaded' itself through the various weapons she made during the 'Feast of Legends'. The Soul Energy connected to each one. From Excalibur, to the staff Caduceus, to the bent lance, Gáe Dearg. To the weapons yet used, the sword Gram, the axe Hephestus's Labrys, the mace Kaumodaki. Forseti and Durandal were called from Goto, flying over to be laced in the constructed string. Even the large blade Caladbolg and the large axe Bunyan were entangled in the string. The barbed spears ripped out of the broken samurai and flew over, sprinkled all over the string.

After all of her constructed weapons were laced in the string, Vigridis jerked Ouroboros back, and with a firm whipping motion, she brought it down on the remainder of the robot. She viciously lashed it with her weapon-threaded switch. Then she shouted, "Consume!" And began spiralling the weapon-whip around the robot, like the weapons were the blades of a blender. The weapons sliced and diced the robot to scrap metal. She glanced over at the remaining robot that was threatening Goto and laughing. She aimed Ouroboros over at it, and continued with the same spiralling motion, which ground that robot up, too, thwarting any imminent explosion planned. Since the robot samurai was already taken care of, her attack wasn't needed anymore.

Good thing, too, Vigridis was exhausted. She fell back on her butt, hands hitting the ground to support her. The constructed weapon-whip dissipated into sparkles, raining down, and the 'Feast of Legends' was over. Vigridis gasped, resting on the ground. She didn't have an ounce of energy left. And her wounds were beginning to take their toll. Unable to hold the damage back any longer with no Soul Energy to do so, the blood began flowing promptly from the various nails sticking out of her body, and there were various electrical burns on her body. But she felt… satisfied. Elated even.

Kuroi huffed a bit as the adrenaline caught up with him. The thing was dead, or whatever death was to something like that. Isa didn't seem to be as badly hurt this time, which was good, though he questioned her thought process in wanting to burn it. "You want to burn the tank," He repeated, expecting her to understand the ridiculousness of such a proposal. Better to let ANVIL or the authorities deal with it.

He turned back and Goto and Vigridis seemed to complete their fight. Kuroi had been mostly focused on the samurai, but to say the other pair's fight was flashy was an understatement. They also seemed to be more beat up than either him or Isa. Passing the headset over to Isa, he also advised her to ask to help. "Tell them to bring some medics too." He surmised Vigridis wouldn't be too happy because of her shine-world, but if she didn't have the power to make one, she couldn't heal, and she couldn't regenerate her soul-power, or whatever, if she bled out.

"Well, yeah I want to burn him, no matter what it is now, he was a person before, he should be sent off properly, enemy or not." Isa adds in as she takes the head setback, she wasn't as injured as the other two, but she had a couple large gashes in her arms and some minor damages to her body elsewhere, but a medic would be good for all of them. Cursing a bit at that she hits hear head against the Samurai's armor.

"FUCK! We were supposed to help out with Kaizen and whoever in his team turned! We can't do anything like this! Uh, unless you wanna go it alone Kuroi?" With that she gets in touch with Mari and explains the situation, from the sounds of it all the teams were hurt and Mari herself had gotten blown up a little bit.

Tying off her own wounds with some basic first aid supplies she requests support. "All teams are being sent here, but they are in bad shape for the most, tch like we were delayed on purpose for something…" Gazing off at the building, it was on fire or so it seemed from the exterior glass, she was at a loss for what to do here. Was this place burning down even a bad thing?

Looking at Vigridis and Goto, they were also in bad shape, what did they think of all this? Explaining the situation to them, she for once wasn't in a hurry to run in.

Landing with the drill was less than smooth, as he tumbled on the floor, sliding across the ground. He tried to stand up, but with his adrenaline wearing off, he realized just how badly he had been hurt. "Oh… That can't be good…" He leaned up against a wall, waiting for the medics to arrive, taking deep breaths to keep his mind off the pain.

"...That was supposed to be a person?" Kuroi wondered aloud, though he was more questioning if fire would actually work.

Jumping a bit at her exclamation, Kuroi looked back at her, wondering if one of the wounds was more serious than he thought. He tilted his head a bit in thought. He was in good enough shape to, if they still needed help at this point.

"Do they still need help? I can go but…" As if on cue, Goto collapsed as his second wind went. Kuroi was skeptical if he should just leave them all be, even if the rest were on the way. Apparently everyone was doing about as well, and there wasn't much he could do. It wasn't like he was trained for first response.

"Yeah, lets not do that, fuck it, we'll just be a little late." Isa adds on as she places a call for EMS to meet them, they just had to go around the building. But right now even that might be asking too much. "This is going to be a loooong day."
 
Team Haya would be in the thick of helping one of the Hero Association raid strikes with the police fangs crashing into quite the unexpected compound below the solar panel farm above. While there was quite the battle going on above Haya's team along with a few others had infiltrated in armed with the mission to capture the lead of the facility, and recover any intel on hand for evidence.

Upon their entry through a well made hole in the way by the Pro hero Drill Curve the party was instructed to move forward allotting them into a rather impressively long hallway filled with a massive window showcasing quite a few test capsules with people hooked up inside floating inside them.

"Kek seems the shows out of the bag leave it to freaking Foxglove to fuck everything up," a woman with blonde hair with strangely pink frosted tips. On her hip was a strange baton device other than that she was in a scientist getup more noticeable was a laptop that looked rather important. Coming out with her was a literal sheep man only wearing pants while the rest of his body was covered in wool.

"I do believe they plan to catch us, my fair lady," the sheep muttered, stepping in between her, and them. However he was halted by a man in a suit.

"Nay I got this, this is what I was paid for after all mutton chops just run with your little bo peep," the red head lazily waved them off as the sheep man nodded as the two ran ahead down the extremely long hallway.

"Huh, your pretty fresh blood. Though I doubt a pros too far behind ya so let's finish this quickly shall we," the man sneered pointing a finger at them a small hole apparent in the finger as a small red beam shot off right for them before expanding out into branching out beams at an intense speed.

Haya sighed, recalling the briefing Mari gave them. She knew there was something that Mari wasn't saying, because she could feel it in the tone of her voice. But Mari had to have her secrets, right? As the head of their class, she wouldn't hold back anything that was life threatening for them not to know. So, Haya had her eyes blindfolded as she always did on missions and wore her headset and guitar, arrived with her group on site, to help out, as she listened and felt everything around them, she sighed. There was a lot going on, and the opening that she felt was probably the best option for them to get in and help without being in the way or spotted. "Let's head in and stay together." she told the others, she didn't know what was going to happen, and making a plan now would take too much time. So they would have to go in and plan as the events came at them.

As Haya led the way through the hole in the wall that led to the hallway, she could feel others in the hall. They had to be from this lab, they seemed to guess what they were there for. So Haya made no attempt at stopping before she felt the motion. The energy was not dense enough for her sound to stop it or deficit it, it couldn't bounce off it. In the led she was not going to be able to stop this attack, while the others were getting away.

Ren followed after Haya, after she gave the command. He was interested in the way she led. The way Hideki talked about her, she was smart and knew what she was doing. But the plan was just to follow, there were no other instructions and it caused Ren to question if Haya had a plan or was she winging it like Isa had explained. He felt that it was something strange, since Isa said Haya preferred to plan. But once again, he didn't say anything. He was not the leader of this mission, he didn't know what was going through Haya's mind and he couldn't say that he knew any of them well enough to question their leadership.

As they reached the hall, through the wall, Ren followed as Haya seemed to pause, but he saw why. There was a group, two were running away while another blasted energy at them. In a split second, Ren moved to the front. He was fast because of his training, and his shield would hold off the energy a lot better than anything else could. Before Haya could give the command, he opened his mind to the shield and took the hit. It hit his shield and vanished, Ren moved aside when it was done, "Fresh blood, not novices." he stated to the guy that blocked their way.

"...Tsk." Iniji looked around his environment as he walked, his eyesight was better than most, he could differentiate some details others tend to miss. Mari's words still lingered around him. Help if need be was a vague term, as if they were expecting something unexpected to happen.

"I see, human experimentation, the nature of it is unknown. From the body shape and level of damage, in addition to the lack of report of this number of missing persons, likely downtrodden individuals without much social connections." Iniji decided to relay the information to the pro heroes above when he saw, especially when a few people walked out from the other side of the hallways and initiated an attack. The information has to get out first, that was a part of their mission.

An energy quirk that emits light… Iniji ducked a little as the burst of energy came firing towards them as was blocked by Ren, he blinked a few times and placed his gaze on the attacker's hand, the intense shadows drawn out by the light from his attack contoured his flesh. Iniji kept on watching, and slashed down on the hand in an attempt to ease the attack. "...Drill Curve-san...There is resistance below, not all forces was diverted above…" Which was to be expected, a light ache came from his eyes as Iniji thought, trying to report a little on the situation at hand.

"Whatever they were doing, they certainly didn't care about the lives of the people they'd abducted," Rosalie said calmly. In her mind, there was no way they'd gotten this many people through any means other than abduction. It was inhumane. Horrible. She couldn't fathom the kind of people who'd do something like this, who had such low regard for human life. And yet, here they were.

Unfortunately, the time for talking, reacting, any other version of that stuff was cut short. She found herself under the protection of Ren and Iniji. She was shocked at how quickly they'd leaped into action, ready to defend against the energy based attack. Under the cover of their defense and the villain's attack though, she decided to attempt her own counter. She charged a few marble sized balls and launched them toward the suited redhead. They skip and roll toward him, their own illumination covered by the shine of his red beams. Hopefully it would deal a little damage before he could really get going.

"Haya, cover your ears," she warned the girl. Explosions in an enclosed space couldn't be good for her. It made Rosalie wonder why she was on a team with her in this particular instance.

A series of cuts suddenly appeared all over the villain's hand causing him to real back in the papercut like chain of pain. As Ren blocked his attack the redhead hissed in realization at the defense ability. Before he could recover though a series of ball bearings rolled in causing a series of explosions that sent the villain sliding back. In scowled pain the man opened up with all his fingers firing more concentrated fire that not only branched, but also started to ricochet off all the wallings of the hallway.

Feeling her team's reaction gave Haya a better understanding of what they could do and what damage they could do. As the villain was pushed back, she started forward, "Rosalie, sent those things my way. Iniji aim for his fingers, that blast means he can take the hit. Ren, shield as much of those attacks as you can and force them back if you can." She told them. She had a plan now. This villain could take a hit, but if she rolled the sound just right and low enough she could get the balls a lot closer and the blast might hurt the villain, but if not it would give Ren and Iniji an opening for their attacks to land solidly.

Ren nodded at the order, as he moved further up with Haya. He tried to make his shield slit which wasn't easy and he struggled with it, so instead, he used his spear. Moving it in the way. He balanced shielding his spear and moving it enough to shield most of the attack while still leaving space for a wider attack to get through to the villain.

Iniji shield away for a moment when the explosion went off, the brightness and changes in scenery disturbed his focus and caused a rather dull ache in his eyes again. When everything settled down he listened up to his leader's commands. Fingers...yeah...that won't be a big deal. The level of force used should be proportional to the level of force they are being met with, this was no time to hesitate.

"I can attack as long as I can see the enemy, there is no need to support me." He said calmly to the rest of his team before looking onto the villain. The shadows weren't perfect enough to simply attack the fingers, but if the range was changed to the hand in general it would still be doable. With that thought Iniji slashed down on the man's firing hand, closing one eye and putting more strength into it.

"Yosh!" Rosalie gave a little cheer as the initial counter attack from the group made a little headway. At least, enough to push the villain back and tick him off. She was lucky though, and now she saw the benefit of fitting her with Haya. The girl wasn't just smart, she quickly planned on how to incorporate their powers together. "Heh~ Right!" she called out, charging a few more balls of roughly the same size.

Once they were charged and ready, Rosalie tossed them Haya's way. If she was planning to do what Rosalie thought she might do, this was sure to do a little damage. "It's all you Haya." Between them and Iniji, with Ren's defense of course, this had to work. At least… she hoped. "Watch your eyes, guys!" She added for Ren and Iniji's benefit.

Before the brats could enact their next wave of attacks the man reached both hands behind his back latching them onto some personal made hand gauntlets that covered his hand completely. The runts had caught him off guard with their set of unique quirks, but this time he was ready. However a more impressive cut appeared on his gauntlet from the weird looking kid who was concentrated on his hands.

"You first runt," he growled, closing his fingers together as instead of a laser the energy escaping his fingertips swirled into a smaller ball that he fired directly at Iniji if it hit it would return the favor, and send Iniji flying backwards. Next was the spear user for which his other hand pointed out in different directory before firing off a laser show that after some calculations was a light show of fast beams that were even hitting and redirecting off each other.

All five beams converged on Ren from all sides causing an explosion which would place some smoke screen around the group as the man grinned in victory until for a moment he saw the ball bearings coming at at a high velocity… "those are going to blow up aren't they." The man was sent flying backwards in a high velocity explosion screaming in anguish before colliding with a massive sized wool ball?

"Ooooh thanks you," the villain for higher groaned before flopping down peacefully on the ground as the wool ball shrunk down into the sheep man from earlier.

"Noooo wooooorries my friend, one does not leave one behind after all. Besides the asset is safely running ahead," the sheep man spoke somewhat in a elvis like accent before taking a karate pose as the laser merc got back up immediately sending out a X like blast by placing his fingers together in a X shape. Hidden in the underbelly of the new attack Rosalie and Haya would suddenly feel two sheep like palms slam into their guts sending them reeling back in a dual open palm strike as the X attack threatened to hit Iniji and Ren. The sheep man had snuck in behind the blast attack showing some impressive speed not in the realm of a speedster but of a material artist's physique.

When Iniji saw the red beam come at him he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of scrap that he had picked up when they were broken into the compound. Seeing the beams reflect and ricochet off the walls let him know that this was perhaps his only way of defense. Unlike his teammates he is awfully frail against any enemy attack. Putting the piece of material in front of himself between his body and the beam, Iniji still got knocked backwards due to the recoil. He was self-aware about his strength, he could've very well died if he took that hit head on.

Although the strike was still hard, Iniji could feel the crackling of what might be joints or bones after hitting the side of a wall. It did hurt, but he didn't react much to it, instead the boy stood up again and looked onto the battlefield once more. When Rosalie and Haya visibility staggered as another large sized enemy entered it wasn't hard to make the connection between the newcomer and the attacks. Despite the smoke the rapidly moving villain cut through the haze, letting Iniji to get a clear view. "...They...they're mentioning an 'asset', an asset is ahead. P-Please be careful." A cough came out of Iniji as he reported what he heard and saw into his comms, the information leaves first, that was his mission. With that out of the way he closed one eye and took aim at the sheep quirk using man, attempting to carve off some flesh from their limbs to slow the movement. It was the best he can do right now, there weren't particularly many vantage points for him to use.

Haya felt the movement of the guy in front of them, she felt Iniji in pain and Ren being blasted, as well as the villain being caught by something that was not exactly whole in her 'vision'. This was bad, as she prepared herself, she could feel the motion, and they might have been fast, but if she was going to separate the newcomer from his partner and send out her next orders she was going to need to take the hit. The flow of movement meant this being as after Rosalie and herself. That was perfect for her.

As she moved back, braced herself, as she used her legs to slow herself down. Being closer to Roslie and further from the boys was part of the plan. Because of her own combat ability she had the ab muscles to not only take the hit but the leg power to minimize the damage. "Ren cover Iniji, Iniji go further in and don't stop." she ordered, hoping Iniji would understand that he was going after the third person that had not returned to help the other. Ren would have to deal with the bad guy on his own. Haya took in a breath, it stung a little but only for a short time. Before she got in a starting pose for Tai Chi, "I will handle this, Rosalie." she told her before her voice went low, just enough for Rosalie to hear, "Place a trap around us. And then take over for Ren, send him after Iniji and let the bombs take whatever this is by blast." she told her, before she took a breath and twisted her hand out to push out sound towards the incomplete form she felt attacked them. Forcing sound to be her weapon in her motion.

Ren flinched in pain as he was hit by the light before he nodded, listening to his orders. He had to get Iniji out of this fight and deal with this guy. He smirked, as he took hold of his spear, spinning it in his hand, he stood ready. "Ready when you are Iniji." he told the guy he was ordered to shield. Before he forced his own attack, he pushed his spear forward, the force of pressure shot straight for the one that they had been attacking. Again and again he shot out his attack. They might have heard the plan, but there was no way he was going to let this guy stop them.

The sheep man's attack sent Rosalie sliding back a couple inches, making her grunt with a small "oof" as she put up her guard. "O-oi... Karate Capricorn... Watch it! That could have hurt a normal person!" she groaned, rubbing her stomach. It was lucky that, due to her quirk, her body was unnaturally tough, able to withstand powerful explosions and much more external damage. She grinned, prepared to charge into the fight against the sheep man.

She was sure his wool would give him some special defensive capabilities, at least that was what she'd surmised. This would mean her explosion would be perfect against him wouldn't they? But Haya was quick to jump in. She gave her orders and Rosalie swallowed hard. It was true, Haya would likely be at a disadvantage against the suited redhead, but...

"Argh... R-right." Rosalie nodded in response.

Traps. Traps. Did she have any? She was always more of a head on fighter than her mother. She didn't have any trap abilities. Not like her father did. She could charge things, make them explode, delay the booms for a short period of time, but it wasn't something so grand that she could lay traps that wouldn't be overtly easy to avoid or worse, put her teammate in jeopardy.

"Ah... Um... S-sorry... Traps aren't really a thing for me..." she apologized as she ran to try and aid Ren. Still, she could do something to try and help Haya, couldn't she? She took a deep breath grabbing three specific balls from her waist. A quick charge and throw and her plan was set in motion. The first would blow, mimicking a flash bang. With Iniji set to run after the third person who'd run along with Ren, she was sure this wouldn't affect them. The second ball would burst, releasing a highly flammable gas like substance against the sheep man's wool. Wool was already pretty flammable, so adding this would, hopefully, make her third bomb, an incendiary mimic that much more effective. Any other plan of action might have put Haya in as much danger as the enemy.

"Ren! Go help Iniji. That last suspect had a laptop on her. I'm sure something useful is on there. Even if she gets away, you guys have gotta get that!" At least, that was Rosalie's thought after what they'd witnessed on arrival. Otherwise, why else would they have been running or cared about just one person getting away? Without another word she threw three more bombs the laser user's way, using Ren's attacks as cover for them. Hidden among these bombs though was one that would mimic a smoke bomb to give him some cover, along with Iniji, to get past the man.

Before Iniji's attack could launch the sheep man saw the concentration, and immediately let out a big breath as his wool came to life growing wildly out of control allowing him to dodge the slice and dicers ability as a good chunk of his wool was sheared off. As the rest retreated back to his body he laughed at Rosalie's words as he took out a come, and fixed his top layer of wool.

"I see you heard of me little lady," the sheep laughed as he turned his attention to Haya as the man let out a laugh at the white haired girl who sent off her friend to help the others he raised a eyebrow behind his wool hairstyle.

"You sure hun don't blame me if you bite off more than you can chew," the sheep man rolled his words as respectfully responded to her stance with his own. With a light step the sheep was upon her with her attack launched he tanked her hit as his wool negated half the damage output she was going for. Upon realizing her quirk type he chuckled through with an series of karate chops aiming for her arms primarily to wear out her defense. Yet before he could lead up with more attacks his wool was set upon by a strange liquid before the same lead up Rosalie literally set him on fire.

"Ooohhh ya quite a toasty mama," the sheep chuckled as he suddenly took an iron man stance with his fists at his side literally willing his own wool to fall off as the lumps of flaming wool started to fill the room with smoke. The man bare dark flesh was already starting to regrow a new coat yet it was clear it was slower, and wouldn't be usable immediately. The man however had a few burn marks from the attack showing a good damage dish out from Rosalie.

Over on Ren's side of things the laser red head was now in close quarters pushing back Ren with a series of gauntlet protected arm guards with a constant barrage of miniature beams ricocheting off the walls around Ren making blocking completely a nightmare in such close quarters.

"What's wrong brainiac got no esp ability to help a constant state of attack," Ephemeral Ricochet called out catching the higher end of the polearm as he created another energy ball in his free hand threatening to slap Ren with it in close proximity. Yet the chubby girls attack set off a series of explosive additions on Ren's attack making an explosive combo on Ephemeral.

"ASSHOLE," the merc growled as he fired the ball attack instead at Rosalie before grasping the spear and throwing Ren with it into the wall.

Haya took a breath as the sheep got closer and although she couldn't feel what was going on as much as she would like, she did feel the wool as it came in close. When she felt it, she moved her hand along with its motion. The villain was close to her and that was something she could feel. So she moved back using his wool and her other senses to figure out what was going on. But the blast from the flames was still close, as the wool burned, she felt the sting of the flames against her hand and pulled back. But she used that time to step back a little more, she could feel him now. The full body of him, and she had a far feeling of what he was, he had a damper to sound, but Rosalie burnt it off. For the moment, Haya had a chance to actually attack this guy and get a hit in. With that she started she lowered her body and used her right leg in a roundhouse kick, as she did, she moved her left leg to follow in place, slowing its movement so when the right connected with the sheep the left could send a blast of sound when it did start to move faster. If the right connected, her left would follow with the sound.

Ren was blasted with the energy and clinched from the pain of it as he fell to one knee for a moment, as the blast from Rosalie's bombs hit the energy user. "If you think you can take him, but first I am going to give him a taste of something that will give me a chance to." he smirked to Rosalie, "Just wait here." he said. As he got to his feet again, he let his spear go and he placed his hands in front of him. Taking a breath when the smoke cleared he placed both palms facing the guy, and close to his chest. His spear levitated up as he pushed a blast of telekinetic pressure towards the guy, at the same time, his spear moved towards the guy. When the pressure was released, Ren moved in behind him, as it hit, he grabbed his spear at close range and moved it close to the guy releasing a telekinetic strike, sending the kinetic energy blast towards the guy while making sure Rosalie was not in distance to be struck by it.

Rosalie's eyes widened a bit at the attack aimed at her. She had to think fast. She reached behind her, pulling out a larger ball to charge and threw it at the energy ball. She pulled her arms up to shield her from the resulting blast, which sent her back a few feet. She just barely managed to not fall down on her ass. "Argh… Hated that…" she groaned as she steadied herself.

Still, she gave Ren a nod. He was strong and ready to continue his assault; she could back him up as needed. She grinned. "I've got your back," she cheered, preparing a follow up attack herself. "Just let me know what you need~" she was ready to go for more. Still, she didn't want to risk getting in Ren's way.

Karate Capricorn responded fast, blocking the first kick with his left forearm yet Haya follow up made its mark as the sheepman was dealt a vibration of sound through his body forcing him backwards as he grabbed the point of impact.

"Oh trying to love meat tenderize me ma ma," the sheep joked with a laugh in pain as he restricted his muscles then let go to have them relax before breathing in to regroup his strength.

"You ain't no friend of mine but now I got your number, little lady," he smiled as his hair finished growing back. With a forward fist his hair grew in expansion hitting Haya in an overwhelming blanket yet not doing much damage until she bounced off it being sent flying to the wall behind her.

"FUCK YOU CLARVOYANT PRICK," the red head cursed out Ren as he tried to block the first attack only to have guard completely broken by Rens kinetic pressure damaging his torso, and forearms as he was pushed back barely keeping his footing. Ephemeral looked up with panic as Ren came back with a follow up combo.

"No no no," Ephemeral hissed as he shot a singular smaller laser that ricochet past Ren as the spear boy came at him, the laser twisted back around sniping a direct hit on Rens attacking shoulder causing his second attack to partial miss though Ephemeral still got the Aoe damages as the burst sent him on his ass skidding right into the wall.

"What is with you aholes, and AoE damage fuckery bullshit TRY THIS," he yelled in his sitting position as he blasted at Ren a tri blast directly at him with seven other beams ricocheting at Rosalie mathematically aiming to collide all together at her diaphragm.
Ren just managed to roll to the side and jump to his feet when the attack hit his leg, but the one to his shoulder was a bit more painful to him. Still, the only thing he could do was start his way to where Iniji had gone. As a last gift though, his spear in hand, he pushed the back part a little back and sent a telekinetic pressure aimed at the energy user. But he rushed off in the direction of Iniji, he had to go help his teammate, those were the orders and that was what he was going to do.

Haya hit the wall hard, as she was barely able to catch herself, it was becoming clear that this guy was something that she was not going to be able to use her sound too much with. And more so, that she was going to have to listen a lot more, now that he was dampened by her again. Whatever was blocking her, she had a better estimate of the form but still had very little chance of adapting just yet.

She took her headset off, so that she could hear everything better and she went back to her stance, only this time, she used her palm to push sound towards the parts she could still feel and took a step forward, doing it again. She was trying to get a better idea of him and how he moved, so that she could at least defend herself a little better.

Rosalie looked on with awe at Ren's attack. She had planned to include a bomb or two, but worried it would hinder him more than help. So, she remained back to aid him when she saw an opening. Find an opening she did, though it wasn't without cost. She shook her head, charging forward until she noticed the ricocheting blasts.

"Uh oh…" the girl griped as she threw a few charged bombs into the path of the lasers. She put her arms up to shield herself again, but still found herself taking damage from the attack.

Rosalie groaned. She hated pain. Especially because it took so much to hurt her. Worse though was the damage done to her costume. While nothing showed, she still didn't like that it'd have to be patched up. She growled. "You asshole! Do you know how annoying it is to get this suit patched up?!" She shouted, rushing toward the sitting man through the plume of smoke caused by her bombs colliding with his lasers to deliver a swift kick to the head. Using another bomb might have caused more harm than good, but more than that, she was running kind of low on her personal materials.

As Rosalie went in for her swift kick the laser boy in his final moment of defiance took aim blasting the hero girl in both her shoulders. Yet her momentum, and weight instead of knocking her on her back instead flipped her mid air into a loud and definitely mind boggling attack. Rosalie's pelvis nailed the villain's head right back into the wall koing him instantly as he went limp with the hero girl rolling off him backwards with the inertia of movement playing out as it would.

In the realm of Karate Capricorn the sheepman was caught off guard by the smaller sound burst hitting him where his wool wasn't able to protect him passively. His jaw, hands and feet she was hitting all the small areas impressively in precisioned strike yet before he myriad of sound jabs could continue.

"OOOOHHH YAAAA," he screamed as he puffed out his wool to converge over his weak spots before rushing and tackling Haya in a moment of mad rush.

"GET ON THE PAIN TRAIN MAMA," the sheep man roared catching Rosalie off guard as well as he rammed into her using Haya as his shield to slam into the thicc hero as he continued with his pain train as he slammed them both into the end of the halls wall. Once the immersion of damage set in the Sheep man overwhelmed them into a wool ball that he used to entangle them before shearing his whole body again.

"Alright you put up a good fight ladies, but accept your defeat," the sheep man bellowed.

Haya was taken by surprise as the small parts moved, but she had nearly figured out what she could, when a blast of power hit her side and she was moving. He had lifted her off her feet, and travelled with her, she could feel Rosalie beside her when it was all said and done. She took a moment to feel how tight it was around them. She was not going to be able to get free without doing something drastic. "I'm sorry, this is going to hurt." she told Rosalie, as she pushed her hands out as much as she could, passed Rosalie's frame, she tightened her hands around the wool. It was Wool? She now knew what he was, that helped a little better, as she took a breath.

Haya closed her eyes, focusing on all the sound she had collected. The added sound she had gotten from taking her headset off, increased how much she had. She had only done this in training, trying to release all her sound and learn to stop it from being absorbed again. She still was not able to do it, but right now, that training was all she was going to need to get Rosalie out. If she used it for them both, they would be tangled in the small space she could open up. But if she got Rosalie out, she could regain enough sound to free herself too. "When you are free, blast as much as you can, I need the noise." she told Rosalie, concerned that Rosalie might be a little unbalanced the first few seconds and have ringing in her eyes.

But this was the only way to keep fighting. She held on tight to the wool and left all the sound she collected burst out of every pore. It blasted the wool out just enough for Rosalie to slip out and hopefully hit the wool guy enough to give Rosalie some time to recover from the blast of sound that just shattered through her body from Haya's wave of sound. She wished she was able to place her headset over Rosalie's ears like she had Hideki's, for protection, but this was the only way to avoid them being defeated in a trap.

Though an unexpected turn of events, Rosalie had little to no time to react to knocking the villain out with her rear. She might have cursed, beaten him some more, wiped the happy grin off his face. But she could barely even focus on the blush dusting her face when she was knocked off her feet, calculated collateral in Haya's fight with Karate Capricorn.

"Argh... W-what is it with you guys-?!" she growled at the man. He wanted them to give up? He realized they'd already beaten one of them right? And now it was... Wait... What was Haya?

Rosalie felt a bit of tightness, followed by the squeeze of Haya's arms around her. She heard an apology. Then, she felt pain. She grit her teeth before letting out a pained yelp. Sound was just one of those things that was extra effective against the plus-sized hero. "Aaaaagh... Graaah!" She deserved a spa day after this. She deserved a massage and all the ice cream and sweet treats in the world. But not until she snaked her way out.

"Grr... E-easier... said... then done!" She said as she began to throw charged bombs all around the man made of wool. This was painful. She didn't like that at all. Even as she ran out of balls to throw, she began to use accumulated debris as weapons, charging and throwing them to try and increase the noise and damage to the wool man.

The sheep man took a painful hit as Haya blew an unexpected hole in his wool trap sending him back with no dampening for the attack as Rosalie came in he growled, but before he could get close he was dodging instead as she used everything she could to keep him away.

"Don't be so cold mama," he dipped in from one of her throws and delivered three karate chops to her left arm before punching her in the shoulder trying to force her from building up any more explosions.

Just when she thought she was making some headway, helping Haya, Rosalie felt the sting of the villain's chops on her left arm and then a punch to the shoulder. She groaned, pulling her hands into fists. "You mother..." She growled, ears still ringing from the sound based attack.

Her gloves began to glow the way her charged bombs glowed as she threw a powerful punch, using her right hand, at the sheep man. It wouldn't explode, but it would hurt like hell. It'd probably hurt even more than he might have expected. Rosalie would follow this up with a left straight to the chest.

"Haya! Whatever you're doing... do it more. Do it harder! Whatever!" She shouted as she followed with a charged kick aimed at the man's head, showing impressive flexibility despite her size.

The Sheepman used an open palm block to Rosalie's first strike by slapping her shoulder to extend the attack away from him, her second attack making its target knocking the wind out of the wooless sheeps sails as he was forced to step back. Little mama had a dangerous haymaker though smiled as he felt his wool bound back into existence as it started to cover his body again. Her kick though would be caught by his wooled hands dampening a lot of her force even though he could still feel the energy from it bruising his forearms. With a strong shift of force he spun Rosalie into the air.

Haya closed her eyes to get as much sound collected as she could. Her hands let the wool go as soon as Rosalie was out, it made her slide a little low, before she was surrounded by it all over again. She listened to it all, as she collected the sound, until Rosalie shouted at her. What was she doing? Haya guessed that the blast of sound had gotten to the woolman and that was a good thing. But she hadn't gotten enough sound to free herself at the moment.

Until she listened deeper, his movements and hers added with the already bombing sound, gave Haya enough sound to collect together before she blasted it outwords again. The wool opened slightly again and she was released, as her feet hit the ground, when she fell out of it. Now, she could do something, as she ducked down and crawled out of the mess of it.

Karate Capricorn, as expected, was a damn good fighter. In relation to Rosalie's more basic hand-to-hand skills, he could stop almost anything she threw at him. Worse than that, he was damn strong and it hurt everytime one of his attacks landed. So, where did this leave the plus-sized hero?

Well, Rosalie spun, landing herself disheveled and on the ground. "Goddammit," she growled. Haya's plan was working out, at least that's what Rosalie thought. But that didn't mean she would leave things to the girl. Rosalie smirked, placing her hands against the debris that's further accumulated around his feet from the bombs. It'd begin to glow fairly quickly, spreading out as far as she could get it before he noticed.

Then, she'd let it go so that the debris could explode around his feet. It'd also explode right in her face. It was a good thing her body was practically tailor-made to withstand something like this. But then, she'd still need a doctor when all was said and done.

Haya waited for the sound of a blast, when she heard it she charged in, knowing from Iniji's last remark about the explosion, it would temporarily give her some cover. She moved to the back part of the small bits she could feel and guessed at the location of his head from the way this fight had been. She managed to get his head, not sure if it was his ears like she wanted. She placed her hand on either side of him and let the sound flow from her pores into his head. The blast of sound would take his balance first, but if there was enough, it would knock him out just long enough for them to call it in and arrest him. As the sound blasted through, Haya fell just as he did, first to her knees, before she herself knocked out. The blast from before hurt her, his attacks hadn't helped and she wouldn't be surprised if she had some internal bleeding. She let herself go dark and left calling everything into Rosalie, there was no way that the woolguy would be able to get back up, she emptied enough sound into him at close range, they were both going to be down for a while.


As the woman ran huffing fast upon each moronic set design turn of this facility's layout the failure to build proper escape routes for unexpected attacks built in her mind a rage for these idiots not using funding to make better contingency effects.

"Freaking Foxglove that lazy ass," she hissed, turning left using her hand on a keypad to open a hefty slowly opening door.

Iniji stumbled into the room, leaning against the door frame. There was pain in the side of his body and chest, but that wasn't the important thing right now, he needed to get whatever that woman was transporting. Another cough came out of the boy as he ran down the facility, seeming more out of breath than usual.

The woman he was chasing stopped somewhere, Iniji hid behind a corner and peeked out. She was operating a keypad, the systemed looked slow, he had a chance to strike. Drawing his pistol from its holster Iniji's eyes fixated on the woman for a moment, he decided to still remain hidden. The two other villains seem to have an idea of his abilities, it would be best if he showed himself as little as possible. In an instant Iniji slashed down on both of the woman's ankles and calves, before quickly stepping back behind the corner.

"Graaahhhh," the scientists screamed in pain as she could feel her flesh pierced by a sudden slashing sensation around her legs, more primary areas of function dropping her to the ground instantly. In a panic from his attack she pulled herself through the slowly opening door, reactivating it to close as she climbed up to the other side's console, locking Iniji out as she hobbled against the wall pulling out her strange blade handle-like device. With a tenacity like no other she kept the laptop straddled to her body as she pulled herself over to a master computer activating the area's defense mechanism as two turrets came to life with a Mobius designed egg bot coming to life with what appeared to be a stun gun as one of its arms with a heavy layer of metal protecting its body.

The sound of whirling machinery caught Iniji's attention as he saw the machines making their way towards him. His eyes widened a little, seeing the woman crawl away. He wondered if he should've killed her, or perhaps more severely injured her. Regardless, this wasn't the time for that. Dismissing the thought Iniji pulled out his pistol and slid in an acidic ampoule. The sensors of those machines seemed defective, or at least subpar technology: Iniji had a knack with those sorts of things.

With a quick dash and roll, Iniji pointed the ampoule and fired at the stun gun junction of the drone, a burst of coloured liquid splattered on the metal, which had begun to slowly erode. Of course, his actions did alert the machine - as subpar as its sensory modules were. With a quick roll Iniji dodged one of the stun rounds, although it still grazed him in the side. The numbing sensation began to ripple throughout the side of his body, but Iniji's eyes were still open. He closed one eye and aimed at the mechanical joint he shot at, and aimed to slash through it without any restrain. The slow numbingness of his body was troublesome, even if he could take out the robot's artillery. With a sort of resolved look Iniji looked down on his own arm and cut down on it. Winching at the pain, it at least dispelled the numbness for a while, allowing the boy to regain control of his body.

Iniji pulled himself up by force, bits of blood trailed behind him. With another few ampoules he attempted to cut through the turrets: at least they weren't solid metal. He needs to hurry, there's no telling what his target would do.

The robots gun hand was sliced through cleaned as the agent weakened it enough for Iniji to one shot it off yet as it drop the robots other hand scooped in as it seemed to deliver a signal causing what use to be the gun hands forearm to break apart into a gun handle now well held in the robots remaining hand.

As Iniji came back up to take out a turret the robot locked on talking to stun shots aiming to force Iniji into a shock induced convulsion for capture as one of the turret burst into flames form the damage as the other Turret was now online looking for Iniji as the robot started to close in on the boys hiding spot.

Ren could feel the blood on his leg as he ran, he was not as fast as he should have, but he was fast enough to finding Iniji as the robots had targeted him. He tossed his spear forward, and it shot straight at Iniji, his shield didn't activate around it, until the spear stopped just in front of Iniji, giving him enough of an opening to sent pressure towards the robot that was looking for Inij , "Hey, robo-brain, how about you pick on someone your own size." he said, as he cursed under his breath, flinching slightly, his head was starting to hurt. He used too much of his telekinesis at once, but he had a job to do. Iniji was supposed to get the tech, he had to protect him.

"Don't worry about this, Iniji. Get her, I got your back." Ren assured him, as he prepared for the pain of over using his quirk. But he had no choice, without his spear in his hand, he was defenseless and couldn't protect Iniji even if he could have it in his hands. His spear combat was best when it was just him alone. He took a deep breath.

Iniji pushed against the wall and forced himself to move upon seeing Ren's arrival, he couldn't be a burden now.

"Understood-sst." His voice was slightly shaking, and cut off by another dry cough, Iniji noticed the metallic taste in his mouth. There was bits of blood seeping out the corner of his mouth, but that didn't matter now.

Pulling out several acidic ampoules of varying colour, the boy hurled them at the steel doors the woman went into. Bursts of colour appeared on the door with the slight hiss of corroding metal. Iniji's gaze locked onto the door and activated his quirk without hesitation. The boy flinched a bit as a pain spread out through his eyes, the door didn't change, at least not on the surface. He stared down the door again for a few seconds before running towards it, kicking and dashing through the piece of metal that shattered along the coloured blotches.

"Freeze!" Holding up his pistol and pointing it at the woman Iniji looked at her, a certain coldness lingered in his eyes. Although he was more focused on scanning around for the laptop, he had to make sure this woman was subdued first.

"...What happened to your leg...It'll be your neck next. Please cooperate." The words came out in an eerily calm fashion, the slight whiff of blood lingered around Iniji as he spoke.

"Ya… whatever… it doesn't matter anymore," the woman responded having already bandaged up her own feet yet the look of defeat even upon Iniji's icy glare clearly painted a picture something had gone completely wrong for her. It would only take a moment for the sound of laughter to be heard from Iniji;s left where the main computer of the room was. On the monitor was a chibi Mobius pointing and laughing with the words FOOL behind the sketch looping. The laptop she had been carrying was connected to it. It was an easy guess she had tried to transfer the info on the laptop, and once she had attempted the data had been wiped out of existence frying the laptop.

"Years of work down the drain," the woman mumbled in defeat as she deactivated the defense system causing the robot fighting Ren to drop to the floor as it shut down. She looked at Iniji rubbing her eyes not really moving from her spot.

"Imagine all the people this could have done good. Yes it was meant to be used for nefarious reasons, but it had the potential to blossom from that into a tool to help people…, and now it's all gone," she mumbled just sitting there now looking at the ground.

Iniji stayed in place as the woman looked up at him with a defeated demeanour, her quirk was unknown and she had yet to shown a willingness to attack him personally, perhaps she wouldn't, but it was always good to be on guard.

"I see." In the end, this was all a diversion, a sort of trap that kept them occupied while the real conflict still brewed behind the scenes. This woman was one of their sacrificial pawns that could be thrown away at any moment, the true important information was all held down by the top rung, everything else could simply be discarded after use. A familiar way of operation.

"Regardless, your accomplice in the illegitimate research at this facility means-" A sharp pain came at Iniji's side as he broke off mid-sentence into a cough, a splatter of blood mixed with a few shreds of flesh came out of the boy. He took a deep breath and took a few steps backward to lean against the wall, the adrenaline from battle slowly fading, leaving him exposed to the sensations of his previous injuries. "...I-I would not suggest attempting to escape, even if you were to kill me here, my allies would be present regardless…" The metallic taste in his mouth worsened as Iniji spoke, still having his eyes on the woman in front of him, though his vision slowly got more and more blurred as time ticked on.

"Hmpf another kick to my face I see," the woman mumbled standing up walking towards him as she seemed like she was about to attack him. Yet before anything could happen she instead reached for a medical supply bin behind him and pulled down a medical box opening the seal as she watched him force himself down into a sitting position.

"Might as well add salt to my own wound," she mumbled as she forced his shirt up to feel his torso area halting on one spot in particular as she pulled out a swab and started cleaning a particular area on his right side.

"You're experiencing pneumothorax on your right side hold still," she mumbled taking a syringe out pulling off the suction part as she stabbed him with it as it released the excess air next to his lung.

Ren took a few deep breaths, his head was still killing him, his leg was in pain, his shoulder ached. So, when the robots went down, he felt some relief, but not enough to take a break. He moved to follow after Iniji, the narrow space he made was too small for Ren, so Ren used his pressure to push out the metal. It hurt like hell and when he managed it. Ren was a little out of breath as he stumbled in, only seeing the lady against Iniji with a syringe. He raised his hand but couldn't really pressure again, so soon, it was still painfully stabbing at his brain. But he could use his deflection, so he did, deflecting her body from Iniji, it would push her just enough back to give him time to move through the pain towards him. If he could get closer, he could keep Iniji save a lot better, especially with his limitation of quirk and sudden blurry vision from his head aching from continuous use of his quirk.

"...I know what's happening to me." After Ren's arrival Iniji looked at him and the woman he pulled away. "She surrendered already, take her into custody, I'll catch up later, Abiko-san." He was clearly a lot paler than before, on account of all the blood loss. Iniji knows that at least some of his ribs must be broken, perhaps even shattered and grinding into his lungs. The continuous coughing and pains have told him enough, it wasn't that serious, maybe just a punctured lung or so, he could make it.

Leaning against the wall, Iniji got up and began trying to walk out of the room. He looked over at the lab coat wearing woman once more, his expression and eyes hardly changing at all. "It's good to show mercy to your enemies, especially when you're losing. I'll make sure to report your assistance to me, ma'am, please take care." A light trail of blood drops followed him as Iniji moved, stepping forward slowly but firmly.
 
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The group led by Hotaru was arranged for patrol in the nearby surroundings, however since they lacked a specific goal or objective, an ANVIL request was accommodated. Instead of circling the neighborhoods aimlessly, they were ushered to an ANVIL compound and to the office of a one bearing resemblance to the team's leader for the operation. The nameplate identifying the office read Sunemizuki, Shiori.

The office itself was quite tidy with all the things a traditional office would hold, fit with a desk, chair, computer, as well as some bookshelves with files and binders stocked in them. The woman within was a tall girl, around the same height as Hotaru. She was older, but still in fairly good shape for her age and as well for an officer. Black strands with hints of gray ran from her head to her shoulders and her eyes gleamed red. Most notable was the shark-like grin that revealed itself as the woman grinned at the students in her doorway.

"Ah, you're here. Please, come in! How are you Hotaru~!" Her cheery demeanor didn't fit her appearance at all.

"I'm good auntie," Hotaru replied as she stepped in and, as if remembering, introduced the rest of the team. "Ah, this is Katsumi, Daichi… and you probably remember Yori."

"Of course! You've gotten so handsome. I'm surprised you stopped your idol work," She commented with a nod. "And very nice to meet you both, Katsumi, Daichi. I'm Shiori. As Hotaru said, I'm her aunt and I'm also an officer here at ANVIL. I really appreciate you coming to help me."

Seeing the older woman again, a big smile crossed his face. He remembered when he was once scared of Agi's great auntie, but having seen just how kind and heroic she was, he had nothing but great respect for her.

"Great to see you too! And thank you! You're still as great as I remember, I see. Oh, and the idol work hasn't stopped; just switched to part-time." He corrected. It was good to talk to Shiori again. Under different circumstances he might have pulled her aside for a bit of catching up.

But now wasn't the time.

Katsumi herself was a bit shaken by the woman's appearance; namely the shark teeth. But she seemed rather kind and was already fond of a few of her classmates.

She bowed her head to Shiori out of respect. "A pleasure to meet you." Katsumi responded. "I hope our work meets your expectations."

Katsumi recalled her father mentioning ANVIL a few times… whether he was in favor of it or against it, she could not recall at the moment.

Standing just slightly behind Katsumi and Hotaru, Daichi stood confused by the woman's face until he finally recognized her. "Its a pleasure as well to meet you Shiori! Y'know you look just like someone my father pictured with in his office?" Maybe it was a total coincidence but Daichi had no filter to hide that information.

"Haha, and always so polite." Laughing a bit at that the woman gave a nod to Katsumi and Daichi both, her smile slimming to not bare as much of her teeth. "Well. I am told it's hard to mistake me. Who is your father?"

"Well I actually don't know his first name, usually just call him dad?" Daichi awkwardly laughed though he felt like an idiot for not knowing it. "But I can get back to you when i ask him?"

Shiori didn't seem to hold it against him and gave Daichi an understanding nod. "Sure. Anytime."

Ushering them in with a hand, Shiori told them to shut the door before pulling a binder from one of the shelves. She set it down on the desk and flipped through it.

"I should probably get started briefing you. So, we've been having some issues with local gangs an the like. Usually it's not that big of an issue that requires us getting involved. However, in this case these criminals have been becoming more of a problem..." As she slowed her turning of the pages, Shiori rotated the binder to face the group. There were some pictures but most of the documents were reports and investigative notes. Key points would be weapons, ordinance and sometimes even enhancement drugs found on or used by these delinquents. "Namely, in recent months they're using equipment that they shouldn't have any access to and some of them are rather advanced; things ANVIL agents would have access to or have quarantined. Weapons, gear, sometimes ordinance… some of these gangsters have even had their quirks enhanced through black market drugs."

Katsumi gave a small hum in thought as the evidence was presented to them. Yori made no comment as Shiori brought up the fact about the quirks being enhanced by black market drugs.

"But how did they gain access to this equipment in the first place?" Katsumi brought up the question. It didn't make any sense to her that a location like ANVIL would be careless enough to have villains steal these weapons. Her other thought was that an ANVIL agent might have given this information to the villains for payment or out of loyalty to them. In other words, a traitor.

"Yeah and why wouldn't they have noticed such an amount of equipment being stolen? You'd think ANVIL would have better security?" Daich didn't mean to sound demeaning, in actuality it was just an honest question, he just didn't think before he spoke.

"That's the problem, and why it was my idea to enlist assistance from outside ANVIL. We've determined it was an inside job. Someone is smuggling it out," Shiori answered with a light sigh. "It's not enough to outfit an army. They've also been taking slowly over time, and likely has written some of it off. Narcotics listed as disposed, equipment sent to maintenance, that sort of thing."

Dropping her chin into an open palm, she seems a bit deflated, or perhaps anxious. It was hard to say as the woman's smile never truly left, only diminished or grew. "Of course, while we're confident it's one of ours, we don't know who and we've been trying to investigate quietly so as to not tip them off. It's not all bad though; we've managed to confirm this much, as well as locations for meets with help of the police."

Flipping to another section of the binder, there were some property details for two locations, with photos of both the satellite kind and human-acquired. One was a warehouse used for picking and shipping out alcohol and the other was a construction site for a new office building.

"These are the most likely sites. We don't know when a deal will be struck, of course, but there is somewhat of a pattern. It can't be during the day, as both sites are surveyed and busy. Other than that, though, any meet will have to be soon," Shiori further explained before her smile widened a bit again. "And that's why I asked for you! I can't be at two places at once and we're limited in who can know about this, as I said. So, while I stake out one location, your team can stake the other out."

"So we're keeping an eye out for the traitor and jumping them if they show?" Hotaru questioned, earning a laugh from her aunt.

"That, or you can always call me--Ah, what am I talking about. You're all adults and practically graduates," Shiori murmured to herself before letting out a soft sigh. "I trust your judgements. If you don't feel it's right, just observing enough to ID the traitor and contacting me to rush over is enough. However, if you see they're trading some bad stuff or see an opportunity to make a bust, like I said, I trust you… Just be careful. The gangsters aren't likely to be too much for you without enhancements, but we don't know who the traitor is. They'll likely be some trouble to detain, so you should let me know even if you're going to engage."

Pausing a moment for any questions, she shut the binder and stood up. "Get some rest now. Stakeout will begin at 9 p.m."

~~~~~

Several hours later, the group of students would be situated near the warehouse while Shiori was presumably observing the construction site. Several hours would pass and as the night progressed without incident, sleep and boredom might tempt them. However, true to Shiori's suspicions, movement could be spotted entering the premises from their lookout point in a near structure. Soon after, some interference created issues with the surveillance equipment given to them by ANVIL.

"Can't be a coincidence… Come on, let's move in closer!" Hotaru urged her companions.

Entering through the route the figures took, they could narrow down where the intruder went from which cameras were blinded. Pallets upon pallets of cases and kegs lined the large premises with some forklifts and other machinery left unmanned. They would find the figure with company.

One female figure was mostly concealed, adorned in all black with a hood and seemingly some armor along her arms. There were two others standing opposite to her, neither as inconspicuous. The first was dressed in white and blue, with a fur trim coat and some kind of mask. The second seemed to be wearing a kind of red vest, though that was the least aberrant thing about him given his red hair, lit eyes, and the many tattoos crawling across his skin.

"Wear a clown costume next time why don't you," The female spoke bitterly.

"Shaddap. You're the one that gave us such short notice. You only brought one case even," The masked man retorted.

"I get goods out as fast as I can without fucking myself."

They began to bicker about the supposed difficulty in attaining whatever it is that was being sold. Meanwhile, Hotaru glanced back at the three.

"We should ambush them. Like auntie said, the agent's probably a bigger threat, so let's pick targets. Two on the agent, one for each of the gangbangers. Sound good?" She whispered.

Watching as hours of their lives literally ticked away, Yori and Katsumi were on the brink of being bored to tears. Katsumi's costume wasn't exactly something she could comfortably sleep in, and watching the construction zone for any movement made the mission feel longer than it actually was. Perhaps they should have been watching the zone in shifts? Regardless, a sudden disturbance had them perking up in attention. At the word, the two were already at their feet and ready to finally do something.

The three villains were within sight. Yori knew he would need to go after whoever didn't have any armor whereas Katsumi was wondering if she would have to fight with just her sword to keep her lightning from making a huge ruckus.

"I can go after the tattoo guy. Doesn't look like he's immune to surprise acupuncture." Yori quietly responded.

"My eye is on the agent." Katsumi whispered.

"Alright, take the coat guy then," Hotaru told Daichi before looking back at the trio.

Finally the exciting part of the job, Daichi thought, rubbing his palms together then nodding back at Hotaru. "My pleasure."

"Alright… kick their ass!" Hotaru said, grabbing a keg off a nearby pallet and throwing it with force at the agent before charging out of cover. Her legs cracked the ground with the force put into her steps.

The ANVIL agent seemed to react first, turning a hooded head in the direction of the group to reveal gleaming blue eyes as well as a glow from part of her hair. Leaning back to allow the keg to fly past, a trail of light lagged behind her movements. With an outstretched hand, her limb began to glow a neon blue before a laser shot forth from it at Hotaru, containing enough force to push her back despite resistance.

"The fuck, were they waiting for us?!" The coat-wearer questioned. "We should bai-"

"If you two run, I guarantee you you'll die before they can detain me… We either take them out and clean up the mess, or it's over for all of us," The woman growled out.

The tattooed man merely shrugged with a chuckle. "Don't be such a wuss, Keita."

"How 'bout ya' don't use mah FUCKIN' NAME" The masked gangster growled, digging in his pockets to produce some small, colored capsules.

Katsumi and Yori rushed forward at the word, the former following suit near Hotaru and the latter to face the man with the weird tattoos.

If Yori had to make a wild guess quirk-wise, the guy might have something that worked with ink or that required his body to be exposed. Either way, his main plan was the surprise acupuncture, but if that didn't work he'd make up...something. Anything.

That's what his dad would do, right?

Yori sent a wave of needles at the tattooed man, more so to test his capabilities than to actually detain him.

Katsumi stayed a bit away from her teammate after the shot was blast, quickly recovering from her dodge. As Hotaru was recovering from the clashing blow, Katsumi kept her eyes on the agebt, drawing her dark blue sword from its sheath.

"If you were smarter, you would have played it off as though it were not your name." Katsumi commented to Keita, using her lightning to rush at the agent. In a last second flicker, she moved to close the distance. Using her blade as the conductor, Katsumi tried to deliver a controlled shock.

Following his teams lead Daichi jumped down with a thud, he quickly processed where his opponent was and marched over, giggling a little at one of the enemies slip up. "Well keita if it helps the name's spitfire, though you can figure out where or not thats my real name."

Daichi dashed over to Keita with fists held and threw a flying fist aimed at the mans face, whether he would dodge or not, Daichi would combine it with a high kick, aimed towards his ribcage.

"W-Fuck you. Maybe I did!" Keita growled back at Katsumi before turning to Daichi.

He threw one of the canisters at the floor in front of him, it appeared to hold liquid of some kind and have some scribblings written onto the casings themselves. The vial shattered on the ground and the coloring from within expanded and grew into that of a human-sized wall from the point between him and Daichi. "What, you just gonna try an punch me kid?"

The tattooed man carried himself with far more arrogance, stepping forward without hesitation. He grasped at one of the lines on his chest and drew the tattoo from his body out to wield as a pipe or sword, swiping to bat away the needles that shot his way. "Didn't think a pretty-boy would play with such dangerous toys." His tone was condescending as he grasped at another line with his other hand, throwing it out at Yori. The black stripe materialized and seemed to arch as it approached Yori, as if planning to enclose around him.

Meanwhile, the agent was the most stoic, as well as hardened. As Katsumi approached, the woman's hand glowed again, but this time she slashed it into the pallets next to her, causing the set of shelving to collapse between them and the kegs to spill. Hotaru, having recovered, focused her quirk into her legs and leaped over the debris, then shifted her arm into a whip to pull her down with force in front of the agent. Despite this, the bruiser was having difficulty landing a clean blow on the woman whose quirk was obviously more based around speed.

Well this was going to be more trouble than he thought, of course he would get stuck with the defense quirk user, couldn't a guy just get hit!? Daichi was quick to his reflexes and climbed up the wall, jumping towards Keita, if he wanted to get some hits and some hits on himself, he had to be quicker than him.

Yori quickly formed his hair into wings, using them to back up from the tattooed man to try and put distance, then leap to the side to try and escape from the black stripe's grip. He manipulated his needles to start coming after the man from behind as he shot more from the front.

"Aww, you think I'm pretty." He retorted.

Katsumi paused a second to see that the debris landed in front of her and Hotar. Charging the muscles in her legs, she used the added strength to jump and run over the mess. Following Hotaru, Katsumi could see the opportunity for a pincer move. She would keep to the agent's back, catching Hotaru's eyes as if to try and share this idea with her.

She wouldn't shoot lightning or try for the stun again on the chance that she would catch Hotaru in accidental friendly fire.

'What's your move?' She thought to herself.

"Tenacious fuckin'..." The jacketed man had another two capsules at the ready, tossing one directly at Daichi as he vaulted over the wall and another at his own feet. As the canister spun at him. Like the other, this one was filled with a colored liquid with writing scribbled onto the container. Once it drew close enough, the word "force" could be read. The capsule that landed at his feet shattered, covering the ground below his feet in a liquid that rose upwards in the form of a pillar.

Meanwhile, Tats smirked in response to Yori's remark. He grasped at his chest with the other hand and pulled out another strip to work as a bat, now dual wielding. He either didn't know or didn't care about the needles from his flank as he charged forward with a berserker grin, batting the projectiles in front of him while the others struck his back. He appeared to wince, but wasn't as impaired as someone should have been from taking all the needles. As gre closer, it became more prevalent that the weapons did in fact hit. However, only on his naked skin. The black tattoos were clean while the needs appeared to bleed his naked flesh. "Come on… Don't be shy!"

Hotaru growled, letting loose punch after punch that the agent appeared to weave around or duck under with the same neon trail. The woman would occasionally shoot back a few quick blows of her own, but the two were obviously at an impasse. Hotaru wasn't fast enough to knock down the agent while the agent didn't hit hard enough to pierce Titan's stamina and defense to a significant degree.

However, Hotaru saw Kastumi flank and nodded as a go ahead. She grew a bit, her body turning black and molding into her Titan form. The girl was confident in her defense and so, while armoring herself, her arms outstretched in a bear hug, expanding into that of a barrier that arched to where Katsumi was. This wasn't an attack or defense but more to keep the agent from being able to escape or evade easily.

The agent took notice of this and turned to see Katsumi in position. Her eyes gleamed with a bright blue that trailed with her movements and her glowing hand swiped back with a chop, figuring Katsumi was the most easily breached point in this little blockade.

Yet again Daichi was faced with another obstacle, this one ramming him straight into his face as he fell back directly to the floor. As he laid down from the impact, he noticed a large pillar erect from the floor and Keita along with it. So the capsules can create structures, oddly enough before he had fallen a visible word could be read, though he couldn't remember what.

So he wanted to play this game eh? "Ah you like to play hard to get huh?" His eyes peered to the wall and back to the pillar, which gave him an idea, jump from pillar to wall to reach Keita. So just like that Daichi moved fast kicking his feet between the structures before diving back at the villain.

Yori summoned one of his wings and shielded himself from the batted projectiles, each one bouncing off. He was ready to see the man on the ground paralyzed, but surprisingly, he wasn't. He was a bit confused seeing the man still standing. That wasn't right. Surely they should have hit all of his muscles right now? However, upon closer inspection, he could see that the needles that had tried to penetrate his tattoos, instead, bounced off.

"Not gonna lie, that's really cool. Inconvenient, but cool." Yori commented as she started to rethink his strategy.

The only method he could think of now was to go for the guy's neck, or to start digging into his spine and hope to block some nerves through there. Was that really fucking dangerous? Yes. But as long as the spine wasn't severed, Tattoo guy should be okay.

Well, okay enough.

Yori made more needles, shooting one handful at the tatted man's face while the other handful was stowed away. He needed a trick up his sleeve after all.

He kept one of his wings up as a hardened shield, trying to keep his distance considering the man's quirk could trap him if he wasn't careful. And by the looks of it, the only real advantage Yori had was controllable ranged attacks.

What the hell was his plan if this bastard got too close? He knew how to fist fight, but fuck, he wasn't good enough to avoid capture via black ink quirk.

Katsumi knew she couldn't fail. Not again. She would be keeping this damn bitch in this barrier if it was the last thing she did.

While her eyes did not glow like the agent's, her gaze was sharp. Threatening. Katsumi's advantage against this woman was speed; Speed and strength, if she put enough of her quirk into herself.

The agent moved to deliver a chop, which managed to nick Katsumi and force her to quickly recover her balance. With a growl, Katsumi dashed forward using her lightning to enhance her speed. Appearing in front of the agent, Katsumi aimed to hit the woman. Not with her sword, but rather the fists that clenched the sword's grip.

As the "force" capsule hit Daichi, the contents spilled and rushed out with strength, knocking him away. Unfortunately for Keita, it didn't do much to keep him down. He clicked his tongue and dug around in his jacket for more capsules. "The fuck wouldn't I? You fuckin' heroes can mind yer own business!" He kicked his foot out towards Daichi, trying to stomp at him and keep him away from his position on the pillar.

Meanwhile, Tats was continuing to charge like a berserker, swiping at the needles that shot towards him. Though some made it through, the black ink did a good job of protecting him. "Going for the throat now? Are you a hero or a pit bull?" He said with a laugh, chucking the black strip in his right hand at Yori like a javelin.

Ms. Agent realized quite quickly that Katsumi was her match in speed even if Hotaru wasn't. She didn't expect to get shived by heroes, but she still expected the sword to be a focus of the attack. Instead, it was hand to hand, and she was struck by the fists. The woman grimaced and retaliated with a neon kick, not having much room to evade.

Continuing his approach towards Keita, Daichi took a stomp to the head, temporarily losing his footing but thankfully he was able to make it back to the wall before falling face first. "Face me like a villain, dumbass!" There was nothing more Daichi hated than cowardly villains.

Seeing Keita getting another capsule ready, Daichi reached into his shirt pulling out a tranquilizer at his direction. Although he wasn't able to puncture the villain, it was enough of a distraction for Daichi to jump and tackle him off the pillar, causing the two to fall straight to the floor.

Yori tried to dodge as he moved closer; or rather, tried to get behind the tatted guy. The javelin managed to pierce his shoulder, making him groan in pain. He pulled it out quickly to prevent further manipulation, if the villain could do that.

He was within reach now, and Yori kept his shield up and strong, using it to try and bash into the tattoo'd man. If he was successful, Yori would do it again to try and get him to turn around.

Though the kick landed and it hurt, Katsumi refused to budge. She kept closing the distance, enhancing her strength a bit with her lightning to make the hits with the sword's grip harder. Katsumi swung again with a fist, then would move to try and uppercut the woman.

"What, am I not playing fair? This is a street fight your br-what the fuck!" Scrambling a bit as the dart thudded against his jacket, Keita growled before a pocket of air escaped him as Daichi tackled him. Some canisters were knocked out of his coat, and he began elbowing Daichi in the back. "Graah! FUCK. OFF."

Mr. Tattoos grinned at the sight of the landed blow. Bracing for another impact, he pushed against the shield to no avail. He was battered and stumbled back from the bash. Though while turned around he appeared to be grabbing at the tattoos again for a follow-up of some kind.

With the uppercut landing, an unnatural clack reverberated from the agent as she stumbled backwards. Hotaru's outstretched arms shrunk and wrapped the woman in a tight bear hug, keeping her pinned and immobile as Titan reinforced her body to withstand any struggle. One more good hit without her being able to move should do it.

Daichi felt a sharp strike into his lower back and while he was able to withstand the strike, with enough blows Keita could get out of his grapple. "No rules eh? Well how about this!?" Tries pulled his knee up and aimed it right at the mans crotch, with that strike as a distraction, Daichi moved his legs up at the mans neck and into a triangle leg hold, hopefully he could keep this hold long enough to subdue the villain.

Seeing his opportunity, Yori shield bashed the villain again to stop whatever follow-up he was going to make then shot his hand forward at the guy's back. The needles he'd put in his sleeve shot out, each one hitting a specific mark to not permanently paralyze the man.

Then, at the same time, each strategically placed needle sunk into the Tatted man's bare skin, being careful not to stab any into the tattoos.

The man would feel his body suddenly become unresponsive to his movements. Even if he struggled, his limbs would not respond.

Yori panted a few times. "Relax. It's only temporary. Be glad I learned that from an expert."

Meanwhile, Katsumi saw the opening to finish this. She sheathed her blade and approached the agent. Then, she would reach forward and grip the woman's throat before delivering a controlled shock. This would only do as much damage as a taser would, but with a bit of an extra kick. Katsumi's intention was to just remove any and all fight this woman had left in her.

"What're yo-" Keita opened his mouth but lost his voice upon contact of the strike. It was more of a finishing move than a distraction, but it seemed to work as the man's body stiffened, gripping at Daichi's legs in an attempt to weaken the hold as they wrapped around his neck. "Y-You… pussy…" He limply growled out in his struggle.

"Wha-" Tats' smile faded when he felt a sharp prickling in his skin that ran across his spine and limbs. His body felt loose and gave way under the weight of itself, collapsing onto the ground in an unceremonious thud. He attempted to wriggle his body, but it was practically a ragdoll at this point. "What are you, an acupuncturist?" He remarked with a small growl, though hummed after. "...Actually, it is kind of relaxing. I had a kink in my neck since yesterday," He mused sincerely. He didn't seem to be trying to distract or trick, merely that he was that fickle and weird.

The neon agent attempted to struggle in Hotaru's arms, shooting a laser into the girl's feet. However, Titan either didn't feel it or pushed through the pain as it didn't get her anywhere. With grit teeth, the woman's head bucked violently to shoo Katsumi. A pained shout erupted from her as the shock was administered, and she went limp. Hotaru breathed a sigh of relief and released the woman finally, allowing her to collapse onto the ground with a thud.

"Well, that went surprisingly well… Ah, I should probably call this into Auntie. You two good?" Hotaru inquired.

"Yes, actually." Yori answered him, crouching down next to the guy. Seems like his ink was useless if he couldn't touch it, and even then, Yori was prepared to defend himself if Tatted guy decided to come in for the surprise attack.

Though the next thing he said made Yori raise an eyebrow at him, before a "pffft" sounded. "Needles aren't that bad if the person knows what they're doing.." He said. Seeing the amount of tattoos the other had, unless he was born with them, Yori was certain he knew needles weren't scary. "The acupuncture should last you about a week or two until you start getting kinks again. Enjoy it."

He perked up a little hearing the message from Hotaru. Yori pressed the button on his headset. "Yeah. Tattoo guy isn't gonna move for a while, and I've got a hole in my shoulder." He reported.

Katsumi gave the agent a bit of a kick with her foot to see if she was conscious. Then she looked at Hotaru. "I was careful with my quirk. This one will just be very stiff until the electricity passes.'

After noticing the mans body go limp from his leghold, Daichi jumped up and dusted off his pants. "Maybe next time we set some ground rules eh?"

Daichi turned back after hearing Hotaru behind him. "I guess I'm betting that we had the easy part, lets hope everyone else had the same luck."

Hotaru shook the foot that was shot. It wasn't really hurt, though the boot had a hole in it now. She clicked her tongue a bit at Yori's state; so close to a flawless win. "Damn… keep pressure on it. I'll call auntie and let her know."

~~~

After a short delay, Shiori arrived with other ANVIL agents in tow who detained the criminals. By that point, Keita and Tats had regained their vigor and were boisterous as they were hauled away. The ex agent was particularly downcast though with an expression of dread. ANVIL had cordoned the area off, with several agents performing an inspection of the area, checking footage, and a medic attending to Yori.

Shiori sighed a bit as she went through the items brought to barter. There was the case the agent brought, containing vials of some off-putting chemical. Shiori would point them out as amplifiers. The other package was cash to exchange for the chemicals.

"Keita Tanaka… Noburu Keizawa… Naomi Yoshinobu… Dear, what a waste…" The woman murmured before turning to the group with a toothy grin. "Well, praise given where it's deserved. You caught our rat and also stopped these narcotics from getting out. Those two are part of the Kurosame; one of the street gangs. Probably hoping to use these to increase their territory."

Her smile faltered a bit as she glanced back at the criminals being taken away. However, Shiori seemingly realized this and perked up, or faked it anyway. "Either way! Good work all of you! I'll let Suppression know that you were invaluable, as well as note you all in my report. I don't know if any of you plan on considering ANVIL once you graduate, but this certainly won't be forgotten if you head our way. Otherwise, if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate! At the very least, I owe you."

While the mission ended on a good note, it unfortunately wouldn't last. The group would be contacted by Mari shortly thereafter and briefed a bit on the situation. The rest of the class at large was not as fortunate in their mission, with most headed to the hospital as the team of four departed from the warehouse.
 
  • Nice Execution!
Reactions: Azurian Dream
After quite a bit of rest, and recovery from all of his prior wounds from the dark night of their latest missions, Agi found himself finally being allowed to get up and stretch his own body. He felt rather sluggish but was well informed it was temporary though it didn't help his current fight to even just walk over to the TV in the room lowering the volume mainly as he was sick of doing next to nothing physically. Though he also had his curtains closed as he was sure if one of the nurses saw him moving about they would shoo him back onto the bed.

As Agi comes too or at least starts his subtle movements, Mari's ears twitch as she moves her head into view of the curtain, looking in to see him moving about as she smiles a bit, crossing over herself. "Ah, you are doing better, though shouldn't you be asking someone else to do that?" Looking at his current state she chuckles a little bit. "Had you been worse than you are now, then I may have to hold that against Kaizen after all.. Though in a manner it's more of my fault you are here.. But that is something we all signed up for. It is nice to see you moving about, rules aside."

Agi jolted a little the moment he heard Mari's voice as for a moment he thought he had been caught by the staff, but the registration of Maris voiced calmed him back down quickly as he took a relieved breath.

"Heh oh boy you gave me a panic attack for a moment there. Nah lemme do my own things before I lose my mind," Agi chuckled as he walked overlooking her over.

"You alright?"

"And don't even think that, you did what you had to. Besides I am sure you'll make it up to me somehow," he flirted lightly with a wink as he sat down next to her.

"Hmm, I might do that." She says of his offer of making it up to him somehow. "Maybe you have something of interest or colors I could comply with."

Thinking back to if she was alright she shifts her jaw a little. "I.." Pausing for a bit she reconsiders and sighs. "I rather there are no secrets between us than what we must have. Physically I was stabbed by some quills and I got thrown by an explosive a few meters and that did some damage. Minor to your own. I also had to take a bed in here for a little while, a lot of us did. But I must admit in terms of decisions I am torn."

Pondering it for a little bit, she takes a seat on the foot of his bed and continues. "I could not tell you all what I was doing or why, because frankly I could not trust you all. Or rather I underestimated how far our traitor would go. If I had told all of the males or even some of the girls they may have then confronted the class to "help" and thus ruin everything we had learned and done to that point… I know what I did was correct but I also know not everyone will agree with that.. Even now because of the straits of the class I find I need to keep a secret, but should I?" With a pause and an exhale she pats the bed for Agi to sit down, once he had done whatever with the TV.

"For right now, however, I would like to ignore those responsibilities and see how my boyfriend is holding up. I did say I would always find time for us once we started this. Even now. How was it fighting Kaizen?"

"Huh? Well I like the color purple," Agi tilted his head with the silly way she had conscribed her sentence, but for now, that was put on the backburner as the girl paused beginning a new sentence with Agi full attention on her now as she wanted to keep nothing from him as she explained what happens to herself. Strangely as she explained his hand rested on the handlebar at the end of his bed. He listened silently as she gave the tale of what caused her to end up here as well. A strange mellow angry got to him for a moment as his grip tightened. When she finished he stood back up before noting he had apparently indented his fingers into the railing with her distracted by her words he moved his foot pillow to hide it as he stood up to distract from the rail.

"I assume the villain you fought was caught correct," he asked as he walked over to her as she gave her concerns about the elements of the traitor and her concerns with how her classmates would look at her after all of this boiled down. With a chuckle, he sat down next to her where she had patted, and with way, more comfort in confidence rested a hand around her waist.

"You did what you thought was right, and unfortunately there will always be consequences to that ironically some will be mad, some will be confused, and others will look past it. Regardless all of them will eventually let it go once the emotions pass," Agi answered the best he could to give her some positive insight. He gave her a cheerful smile that slowly turned into one of appreciation with her next topic.

"Well your boyfriend like the idiot he can be decided to take on a roided out bug after being hit with waves of "Miasma's" neurotoxins weakening himself, and his own quirk. He refused to see another friend fall victim to someone else's terrible choices," Agi gave the short and sweet of it before sighing knowing he would have to go into detail before Mari would start prodding on it.

"Throughout that whole mission, I had control until Vitalis gave the truth of her answer to everything she wanted to do. The worst part is I know she wasn't a monster, just extremely misguided. Yet the moment she fought I could tell killing, and maiming were options to her if pushed far enough," Agi admitted using his free head to rub his temple as he recalled all that happened that dark night,

"I tried having everyone concentrate on her, and her goon squad. Then she riled Yamoshi, and Hideki up good, and I realized I was at a quirk disadvantage with her so I had to make the nasty call to pit them against her while I guarded Amano… that's when everything went lopsided. Amano saw him first and was terrified going so fast to suggest neutralizing him with anvil backup. I heard that and all of my bottled-up emotions came out at once...the fight that followed was the most extreme moment of my life up to this point. Thus I went all in well knowing I was probably going to get myself killed," he spoke for once without all his cheerful disposition showing Mari a very rare side of himself.

"I am in for some scolding myself so don't feel bad we both had some rough decision that will get us looks for a while," he chimed mellow as he took a deep breath.

Listening to all he had to say, there were parts of his words where her face seemed to darken around the eyes, clearly having dark thoughts on a couple of those. Though she hadn't shared, much like she chose to ignore his attempts to hide what he had done to the bed, her ears could pick up when he tried to sneak up on her, some strained and dented metal did not escape her attention and part of her was happy that he cared so much to do that.

"Purple is it? I'll have something of a surprise for you come the summer festival, we'll have to go on a date of course, some down time from my duties and to keep you from going around with other girls before me." She says with a bit of a sly smirk leaning her head against his side. "I'll let you pet them you know, call it my present for you being in the hospital." Referencing her ears, she brushes him with her tail as she sits there.

"Vitalis." She says simply at his title of Miasma. "Do not just try and dress up who she was and what she did. She was flawed and sick and I never understood to what extent.. That was my fault, I thought somewhere, deep down she may have actually had some ability to reason and the only thing she has been sorry for was that she got caught and stopped… Agi, there is much in the debriefing of that situation that makes my blood boil.. If I had been there she would not have had treatment so kindly given to her..

As to our own battle, one of the villains was caught plus several minors. The porcupine girl from before, she was as mad as the last time.. There was a girl that had the aspects and ability to control insects, she escaped and was considered highly dangerous. Then a bomb went off in the lab and leveled it, a few of the minor criminals we caught died in the blast.. It was not artfully done.. Then there was the inquiry hearing, though it sided in favor of me.. I don't think people understand just how heavy being the leader is."

With that, she pauses for a bit and exhales. "The rest will know of this in a few days and as I said I did not want secrets between us unless they must.. And if you try and leave this room so help me, Darling, I will shock you till you land back in that bed, because I know you'll want to leave here.. Mitsou was not kidnapped, or if he was a forgery was left behind, but he left a note, he potentially defected to the Villain side of things."

"I'll be looking forward to my purple present then," Agi smiled back to Mari's sly remark clearly getting more use to her sudden direct flirt jabs. He watched her lean into his side as his hand adjusted to hold her closer. Though up on her offer to pet her he blushed a little yet his holding hand lifted up to begin lightly scratching around the base of her ears.

"Now your just showering me with gifts today," he teased.

"I am not, but to run into that so abruptly is like whiplash my thoughts are going to be jumbled for quite a bit on that topic. We all didn't notice it though… we could have gotten her help before that all happened… though I think this was long before she came to Suppression," he expressed watching Maris temporally flair out for a moment, note to self do not get in trouble, Agi continued to listen as she vented.

"Well thankfully you weren't I barely could hold myself together, and Amano who has known me for very much all my life wasn't even able to get me back on track. That wasn't a simple hero versus villain battlefield. It was the slaughter of what this world eventually leads to a broken path paved with immoral choices," Agi admitted not in Vitalis defense to what she did, but by all means, she wouldn't be the last to come to such a conclusion, and ruin other "familys" united in the path to do good.

"Its a tough gig leading others especially when the reality of what it entails keeps adding in weight every single mission you partake," Agi sighed mulling on a particular part she had expressed he thought for a moment whether or not to bring something up he had noticed himself.

"During my mission for the Anvil transport, there was something very strange about it. It didn't feel like all the villains were on the same page. Amon fought someone named Phanes who did little to actually try destroying the evidence while the bikers were all gun hoe to the task," Agi spoke further adding, "And the slimes that attacked Amano seemed for more so taking the vehicle without wrecking it, but how Amano described it was as if they were ill-prepared… almost as if on purpose."

"When I go over it in my head it almost feels like the bikers were there for the Foxglove yet. The slime Sisters and Phanes were there to make sure it failed almost. Cause when they retreated those slimes only rescued Phanes," Agi spoke.

"In addition with what you just said it almost feels like there were many other hands at play making sure we did find out about all this. Mobius himself even bluntly spoke about two sides that he was on the side of who agreed with him to snuff Dr. Foxgloves group out an Assassin, and a Cultist," Agi sighed on that last bit as it sounded crazy unknowing "what else had potentially come to the table as he had been knocked out for a bit.

"Wait wut," Agi paused as the last of what she said processed for a moment as he halted in holding her, and scratching her ears looking at her seriously for a moment.

"I didn't know Mitsuo much but I hellish doubt he just flipped sides… what proof do we have he's gone rouge other than just being missing or worse kidnapped," Agi fought to keep himself from jumping off the bed, but he had just been threatened by a girl with super speed he wouldn't win that race by any means.

Nodding at the rest of what he had to say, she allowed the petting and for herself to be held tightly as she listened closely. "Yes we may follow those loose ends to see where they go.. Though they did us a favor in this case.. Still.."

"As to him, he left behind a letter detailing what he did and why. Other than that we have nothing else."

"When it rains it pours," Agi mumbled thinking over this as another of there's was missing… damn it.

"Well than distractions. So actually tell me about your quirk. We know quite a bit about each other, but we have never really trained with each other, or fought," Agi brought up as he knew she was a electrical speedster but that was it.

"Hmm it is what you see, my internal cells move quickly enough that I can use bioelectricity. I have to eat a lot because of it, or at least when I use it. Calories rather than amount of food. I move fast but that is pretty much common with me and my cousins, the whole family pretty much has some cat features. Other than that I have better balance and flexibility than most, so with some tools I can scale some types of walls, run along some types of fences and the like." Pausing for a bit she considers what else to mention before adding in. "I have good natural healing, but I wouldn't call it regenerative, I'm not like Isa or Kaizen. If I lost an arm or got stabbed through the chest, that would likely be the end of it. But because of how fast my cells can move and convert naturally, wounds don't keep me in bed as long as others. What about you?"

"Huh well, I myself have biometal skin which my nanobytes are born in every day the more I produce the stronger they slowly get. Basically, I am a hive queen to them and give them commands from a secondary vocal box I have that produces an inaudible sound to human ears," Agi started to explain not wanting to go to deep into explanation to avoid boring her with the science of it all.

"Basically they themselves have electromagnetic capabilities that my skin has in connection with them allowing them to come together to form shapes separate or connect to my body. They also like ants when together are way more dangerous able to lift quite a bit without me. Attached to me though increases my strength capability and defenses by a lot," he gave the shortest version of it he could think of.

"Though there is a flaw if they get hit by electricity while not attached to me they get… sorta drunk, and its hard to get them to listen," he added.

"So only the biggest of buffets for my beauty," he joked on her needing constant nourishment which made sense given the speed-up quirk.

"Oh actually how did the gauntlet fair with its first test run," he asked remembering she had taken it on its first mission.

"Hmm, in other words, I could shock you a bit in more ways than one. Interesting." She says with a bit of an impish smile as he details his quirk a little bit, though it seemed to be far more complex than he let on. "Though if your machines would not listen, we have to pay close attention to who we throw you at."

With his next question, she tilts her head a bit to think. "It held up well enough, all things considered, though I didn't test out the blade, more importantly, it seems to have some shielding to my own quirk.." Pausing a bit her jaw twitches. "As I said I had to fight that needlewoman again, she tried to fire her quills into others once more when captured, I shocked her into compliance. Or till she was out enough that compliance was a given."

"Heh no worries if I run into an electric user I immediately stick to close range," he chuckled though blushing as for a moment it was hard to say if she had just made a strong flirtation or meant it in the normal sense.

"Ahem… no worries the blade is more for last resort until your comfortable with it. Nice," Agi chuckled giving Mari a thumbs up for her aggressive takedown. He was genuinely proud of her dominant takedown proving her seal as a badass.

"Well how about we watch some TV for now."

……………………………………………………………

After quite a bit of massive shifting function from all Suppression, Anvil, and Hero Society members who had knowledge or had been a part of the sting operations to shut down Dr. Forxgloves playing god act they had successfully silenced and erased all traces of the quirk killing serum. Yet while Vitalis Alucard's imprisonment had been decided expeditiously all the villains, mercs, and scientists at the end still alive had yet to be moved around. Yet at the moment one particular mastermind in an unmarked van was making some heavy distance out in the countryside with another van behind of the same make. The cargo? One former Dr. Foxglove was stripped of everything except for his new prison attire. The ride had been long and silent. With no one in the van's cell, all the man had was his thoughts and while the scientist had much to think about in his silence a sudden voice sprung upon him. Popping a grave situation into a much more dire role.

"What is it that you keep when you need it not, but throw out when you need it most," the question came from the most bizarre guest a white-furred humanoid with a foxish like face dressed in an almost ringleader like set red coat, black pants, and to top it off a literal top hat resting at his side. Looking at Dr. Foxglove with a rather amused smile the oddity awaited an answer.

Staring at the other, Foxglove cared little about what the circus man was asking or wanting, but a question deserved an answer, in his new garb he had little doubts as to what this one was planning. "That is a question which could have many answers, many of them aren't physical answers at all but those that do not fall into the realm of science. Could it be a laugh? Mobius the traitorous scum he was, laughed all the time? Could it be a heart? What did that do to save anyone? A mind? I use mine all the time. You served under the number one Villain, same as I. I know you and you know I. Science holds more sway with me than riddles. Make use of me or kill me. Answer your own riddles for a change, Jester." For a man that was beaten and had grim prospects, Foxglove was above all things tired.

The fox man listened to Foxgloves answer silently, and surprisingly rather respectfully not once interrupting the man when the answer unhinged into a demand of action nor when it turned to seething distaste. Once Foxglove gave his official word the "Jester" chuckled rather amused as he even clapped for the scientist slowly with each clap echoing in the van.

"A good act dear doctor. Arousing, honest, and most importantly the truth of the wit of your brain, and the sharpness of your fang. You're at what most never get a taste of blissful freedom from the shackles of the gauche life we live. No chains left holding you down as you face what you already know is your finale," the Jester gave praise to the man who ever so deserved it in this fleeting moment.

"There is one particular answer I favor among the rest as it encompasses both the literal and figurative mean. Sadly no one has ever given it in this long-drawn career of mine, and I won't bore you with it," the Jester expressed having some legit respect for the man as he leaned forward with a spine-tingling sharp canine smile.

"You know very well this plan of yours threatened me, and the little bird's ideals. For you the moment you went ahead you knew your clock was ticking speeding by. A man of science has little time for the understanding of my family or her faith. So yes I will kill you as the rest kill all those who helped you. No need for there to be part two to this after all," the Jester smiled.

"Hey what the hell are you mumbling about back there," the guard complained hitting the visor door of the van clearly not seeing the extra passenger in the back as he mumbled, and turned away complaining to his guard buddy.

"Well then doctor any last rites, or final sins you wish to admit," the fox asked as he offered up a knife or his own clawed hands. Giving the doctor an option of clean, and quick… or brutal and slow.

"The only regret I have is that I did not succeed. You were the first, or at least among those that I would have purged. If you expected me to yell, scream or beg, all I have to say is well played. I flew too close to the sun... But my journey does not end here and I will see you yet again, you vulpin of a beast... At least we both wear a mask, but mine comes off." He says staring at the other unapologetically.

"Though at least you speak, the Shadow would have done this when I was unawares, provided he's not the guard speaking or the man riding with him."

"Driver. Know that I was a man who lived and now that must come to an end."
If the man heard it or not he couldn't be sure, nor could he care. His journey would now turn a new page or it would cease to exist altogether. In a manner, it was liberating as he cast a bit of his sleeping spore upon himself to close his eyes one last time.

"What the hell are you talking about Shinji stop the van," the guard yelled hearing the strange words of Foxglove. The Jester however smiled with beastly eyes fixated on the good doctor.

"You cheat Foxglove, but very well played to the end," the Jester responded with a ravenous maw open as the van would suddenly twist wildly before flipping out of control missing the van behind as it trailed to the mountainside tumbling down an intense length of downhill before coming to an end in a fiery explosion at the bottom.

A car to the rear follows as it passes by an old man seems to become faceless briefly as he watches the fires, before in the blink of an eye an old man with fire in his glasses reflections drives on past, not stopping as others were to look at the scene.
 
~~~Three weeks later Suppression School grounds~~~


As the days rolled forward, some wounds would not heal, some losses could not be recovered, spirits were low in some parts, stable in others, the summer festival period was on hand, this school only having a senior class would not hold a normal sports festival and the head of summer was in full swing. The nights air was thick and to Mari's constrained disappointment given how fractured the class was physically, combined efforts with other classes were needed, something which she was surprised that Isa of all people jumped into. Offering to sing no less.

Given the rebellious and happy-go-lucky of the other, she fully expected the Oni to cut loose with some sort of rock or metal with questionable lyrics, Aika while a lot like Isa in spirit did not have that shameless spirit as the other. Once basic speeches were out of the way Mari stands in line with other class reps and the school president as they open the commencement of the first Suppression Summer Festival. Having looked over the lyrics a bit beforehand, it was much as she supported, as Isa shows up wearing what looked like a mix of traditional Yukata with a leather choker, spikey accessories, black boots and some ear piercings on a set of drums as the other members of the improve band were much the same, one could tell they had practiced a lot before this point, if only as a cram session by how tired some of them seemed to be, though that did not affect their performance as the first song starts.

"Hey! You! All of you! Enough of those sad faces! This year won't come again!"

(Volume Warning)

"Is it right that you somehow can't become used to your tear-stained hesitating face?
If you lower your face in silence I can't understand anything!

Just Leaving yourself to the endless flowing of time.
You can't possibly do that.
Don't you know that yourself, baby?

I've seen it all from the top, how everyone just gave up their hopes.
But now dash forward, eyes directed ahead!

Make it through the walls in front of your eyes!
Kick them in with all your anger!

Don't search for the right opportunity,
take it in your own hands!

Your face that's still tear-stained from this defeat looks fine to me!

For sure your future will continue to be shining.

I'm not thinking that I would know anything about you
And that I'd be lead astray by words...
...Relating to everyone is bullshit!

Faces for whom everything seems pointless will hold back their opinions.
This way you'll age soon!
Why not living a comfortable way, baby?

The sun sets slowly as always, still you won't be able to see your surroundings soon.
Puff yourself up even more and dash forward!

OH YEAH!!!

If you beat up the night sky and destroyed it, all that normal stuff would just fly into your hands.
But if you treasure it forever and protect what is important to you..

Look what's right in front of your eyes everyone!
C'mon, Let's go to the road!

I've seen it all from the top, how everyone just gave up their hopes.
But now dash forward, eyes directed ahead!

Make it through the walls in front of your eyes!
Kick them in with all your anger!

Don't search for the right opportunity,
take it in your own hands!

Dry that disgraceful tear-stained face of yours and look here!
For sure your future will continue to be shining.

Live directed forwards! ALIVE!!!"



With a pause and getting some adjustments, Isa starts off hard on the drums opening up the next song with a grin, this song of note Mari had issue with in a manner, minus one line at the end.


Revenge beat!
This is one fresh beat! Nananana na na!
We'll punish foolish people and grab our freedom.

I remember the cruel treatment they did to me,
Their voices, their voices were simply disgusting
And I kept my hatred, my hatred in my heart for a long time
Finally I desired for a world without them.

Human decision leads to the negative chain.
Let us get going, someone's death throes have came to be heard, out of nowhere.
Now listen to my shout!
Break rules now!

Keep shouting, untill my voice goes hoarse!
The liberation, the liberation, ra-ra-ra-rage on playing pristine beats!
Make a show of our force I will not allow you to just sit
Just sit idly by!
Look at my Everything!

The show!

They say something, say something,
over and over again, yeah.
Don't need, I don't need,
What I was before, yeah.

Don't you hate, don't you hate
being bound by rules?
I think you, I think you
Feel that way too.

Hey, get ready, ride to vi-cto-ry!
Now it's time to start!
In this night, I've no control over my soul beating
Breakdown, walls.

Break rules now!
Keep shouting until my voice goes hoarse!
We don't need to pretend
sy-sy-sy-sympathy!
Wailing pristine beats

Hey listen, ignorant human, Why
Don't you understand this
moving sight? I will show you, See?
Ah, Now this is the show!

Only noble souls are retained in memory..
Break rules now!
Keep shouting, until my voice goes hoarse
The Liberation, ra-ra-ra-rage on!

Playing Pristine Beats!


Make a show of our force
I will not allow you to just sit
Just sit idly by!
Look at my Everything!

THE SHOW! In life we'll punish foolish people and grab our freedom!"


Only noble souls are retained in memory… There were a few of those souls... But they all were still here, even if the Oni was a bit rebellious she could allow that rebellion for tonight. They all needed it a bit. Once she did a few final checks, Mari would head off to change into the spirit of it as much as she would allow anyways.
 
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~~Festival Time~~
~Singing for a Crowd~
~Ai-Sharp~


Sitting at the back of a stage, Aika was going over a pair of song lyrics. Unlike Isa, she didn't have a band with her or anything of the sort, only recordings of the background music. Despite Haya offering that they perform something together, which Aika liked, she declined. She still needed to do some things herself, and this was one of them. After a few minutes, she could hear people talking in front of the stage. It was almost time already. Getting off the stool she sat on, Aika looked over herself, before putting the lyric sheets on the stool and walking onto the stage.

All those who were present would see Aika step onto the stage, with her outfit being mostly the same as her everyday outfit. One difference was that her hair was down, with no hat. The second difference was instead of her jacket, she was wearing a dark blue happi, with the writing on the back saying "Ai-Sharp", in both Japanese katakana and English. Moving to stand next to the microphone, she looked over the crowd. It was a bit nerve-wrecking for her, to suddenly be standing in front of a crowd like that. Turning her gaze to the side, she gave a nod to the guy who was prepared to play the tracks Aika gave him on the speakers. She turned her gaze back towards the crowd, placed her hands over the mic and closed her eyes.


"I am a question to the world,
Not an answer to be heard
Or a moment that's held in your arms.
And what do you think you'd ever say?
I won't listen anyway…
You don't know me,
And I'll never be what you want me to be.

And what do you think you'd understand?
I'm a boy, no, I'm a man..
You can't take me and throw me away.
And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own.
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same.
They don't know me,
'Cause I'm not here.

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted, I could be
Now you know me, and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same.
They can't see me,
But I'm still here.

They can't tell me who to be,
'Cause I'm not what they see.
Yeah, the world is still sleepin',
While I keep on dreamin' for me.
And their words are just whispers
And lies that I'll never believe.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can they say I never change?
They're the ones that stay the same.
I'm the one now,
'Cause I'm still here.

I'm the one,
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
No, I'm still here.
I'm still here."


When the song was over, Aika glanced at the guy at the guy on the side, signaling something to him. A pair of lights of turn on, both aimed at Aika, and she would activated her diamond skin over her head, causing the light to shatter, as though she was a disco ball, before the next song began.


"You could never know what it's like
Your blood like winter freezes just like ice
And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you
You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use

And did you think this fool could never win?
Well look at me, I'm coming back again
I got a taste of love in a simple way
And if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away

And don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did?
I'm looking like a true survivor, I'm feeling like a little kid
And I'm still standing after all this time
I'm picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind

I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah

Once I never could hope to win
You starting down the road leaving me again
The threats you made were meant to cut me down
And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now

And don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did?
I'm looking like a true survivor, I'm feeling like a little kid
And I'm still standing after all this time
I'm picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind

I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah


During the guitar solo, Aika took out the microphone from the stand and danced a bit on stage, clearly being more comfortable than she was when this show began.

And don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did?
I'm looking like a true survivor, I'm feeling like a little kid
And I'm still standing after all this time
I'm picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind

I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah"


Once the song was over, Aika lowered lowered her hands and looked around with a brief smirk, before offering a small bow "Make the most of this festival everyone! Peace out!" She called out to everyone, before putting the mic back in its stand and quickly getting off stage. While it went a lot smoother than she anticipated, Aika felt a mixture of nerves, which were mostly prominent at her shaking hands, and a rush of energy, like she could've just kept going with this for at least 2 more hours. But as that was what she had prepared, she decided it was enough. Not to mention, she also wanted to check out the festival with Haya, and maybe Agi too. Perhaps also make sure the bug was taking in the sights.
 
Waiting for the medical staff to be done with him or give the all clear, she was told ahead of time alongside Ota who also joined her before others would be told Kaizen was clear to receive other visitors. It seemed the mutator would go back to normal at some point but for awhile he would be vulnerable as he saw it.

"Kaizen is it alright if we come in?" She says from the doorway.

Kaizen was once again eating a large portion of whatever the hospital could offer. For some reason, when he returned to his human form he was extremely hungry. Despite his ravenous appetite he seemed to have lost his sense of taste, either that or the hospital food was really bad. "Come on in…" he replied as he cleaned his mouth and set aside the empty food tray. There was still a lot to process at the moment and he felt that Mari was just the person to explain everything to him. That being said, he had a feeling some bad news was on its way.

"Hello Kaizen.. The doctors said you would be back to normal with some time.. Well I suppose more being able to stay in your full exoskeleton form. I've came to talk to you about that, or rather what led to it. While I'm not sorry for the act in and of itself, the scope of it was something else.

Based on our last few missions we concluded their was a traitor in the class, we purposely mixed all of the girls around as we believed it to be a female, so the Principle and I decided to use the teams as bait, it would have been three to one odds as well as one hand picked team ready to assist the rest. This is why you ran into Agi's team to begin with, they were there to aid you.

While I've never trusted Vitalis I did not expect her madness to have gone so far. Nor did I expect you would split your team. My and the Principles intentions were to never let this go so far."


Kaizen stayed silent, listening intently to her explanation. She wasn't disappointed by the fact that she used her friends as bait, as given the circumstances he would have done the same if not use himself as bait. He was more so saddened by the fact that he wasn't among the people she trusted. "Being designated as "bait" is nothing new for someone like me…" he said, noting that in the past, he was often sent on missions by the clan elders where he would take most of the punishment. However due to his durability and strength he didn't think too much about it, often viewing himself expendable if needed.

"But as expendable as I am I'd at least appreciate a heads-up." He sighed while scratching the back of his head. "Then again, I'm sure you had your reasons for telling the selected team..." Kaizen had his hunches on why she trusted those team members more than him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to not be part of the group. "I wonder what else you guys are not telling me." If they could hide such information from them right now, who is to say they hadn't been doing so from the get go. "Hey if nothing else, I hope you got your desired results." He gave a weak smile and thumbs up.

"Actually I didn't even tell the team, we told only one person on it. We did not know how far the leak had went and if I am honest if I had told you and the class one of us were the traitor, would you all have not confronted them on it? Or ignored it for your own ideals? Though my guess on who it was was proved correct, but from our time in UA I knew some of you would have tried to stop me from doing what was needed.. Only four people knew about this, though some of the others likely suspected it."

Thinking of his next words she gives a sad smile at that. "And hardly. We all were used, I will not say it was from the very start, but it was taken advantage of. Had it been to plan you would have with your team been able to hold off Vitalis long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. There would have been no deaths and the operation would have been cleared. I certainly did not factor myself into being thrown a handful of meters by an explosion."

"I'd do whatever I needed to further the mission." He replied, giving her a deadpan look. While he prefered not to put others in harm's way, he recognized that it was part of being a hero. He appreciated that she was also willing to put herself on the frontlines, some not many others would be willing to do. In her next few sentences, he knew exactly what she was trying to say. She essentially told him her plan would have gone flawlessly if he hadn't split up the team, which he was inclined to agree. So all the injured were indeed his fault. "I see.." he thought about how much suffering he had caused from the careless order. " I am sorry I couldn't be a better leader.." was all Kaizen said before he turned around and lay on his bed. He didn't know what else to say. He's just gonna have to accept the fact that there's blood on his hands now.

"I didn't say that Kaizen. You did what you felt was best. I can't fault you for trusting her. Though I never did.. In truth I couldn't stand her and she could not me. But you and the rest in the class had a better relationship with her. And to be serious if those two were there, with what you said in the report, would it have made any difference? You've been beaten up by others enough Kaizen, you don't need to get in line for yourself." Mari adds in to his words. "Nor was your Rampage anything that that could have prevented."

"I dont know about that Mari...I honestly don't know." the bugster was rattled by the whole experience. But all the same, he knew that sooner or later he'll have to move on. "Don't worry about me...I'll recover from this… I always do." He assured his friend that he will make a speedy recovery, despite him not believing his own words.

Just shaking her head at that, Mari turns to leave. "Yes, that's what the doctors said, you'll even get back your form with time, not that much either it seems. But whether you'll be recovered or not is up to you."

With that, Mari takes her leave after a polite bow. "I can't say I agreed with the plan, I was in fact very against it and would have just arrested and interrogated you all. Though I cannot say that would have been better on the class." Ota adds in.

"It doesn't matter now. We both did what we thought was best, but in the end, I guess she was the one who was right…" he answered. "Well, at least you guys manage to stop those nasty experiments, even if I sent most of the people there to the E.R." Kaizen tried to see the silver lining in the situation. At least no one else would have to suffer in that lab ever again. Or at least that's what he thought. Even so, Kaizen appreciated the fact Mari was at least willing to explain her course of action to him. "Thank you for your visit, Ota. Guess I'll see you in a few days."

"..." Pausing for a bit, Ota turns to look at him. "In truth I think she was looking for you to be furious. Though your words are more right than you realize. Given the nature of the hero world and the path she chose, being a leader isn't always about medals and rewards, about being able to boss people around and having fancy uniforms. It is also to take the blame for when things fail, to be what the public yells at, hates and scorns. Our nation has a history in which failed leaders typically pay the price of failure with their own lives by their own hands. That was in part what the interrogations were for. The Hero Association was looking for a scapegoat and.. Others were all too willing to allow it to happen. It is okay to be angry at your lot Kaizen, but when it comes to what was done or what must be, she carries the weight of you all. Maybe she is a cold person one could say, but a person who could not carry those weights would break upon the realization of them. An officer's path can be for self serving ambition, but the Katana's blade always waits perched above the neck.. For now Kaizen we would rather not put that on you."

"As I said before I do not blame her actions. Under the same circumstances I would likely done the same for myself. And for that, I have the utmost respect for her." He answered Ota. "And if I were to end up as the scapegoat then so be it. I'm a known crackpot, suppression's reputation will survive my action and resignation if needed." Kaizen added, revealing his willingness to take the fall if needed.

"No. We don't do that here as long as I am in power of any sort. Just focus on improving yourself. More danger awaits." With that Ota shoots down the offer and departs on his heels.

Taking a break from her singing, Isa wasn't blind to how down in the dumps many in her class were being, or even infirmed a bit still, like Kaizen seemed to be. And speaking of her class, Hideki seemed much more down than a few of them did. And so did he appear.

It had been a few weeks now since their last mission. Hideki had been in a big battle against their now former teammate and classmate Vitalis. The girl had been a stronger opponent than he ever realized she was going to be and she caused some damage to Hideki. Hideki ended up going into the hospital for about a day and a half. The doctors needed to stitch up the cut he had across his chest, plus they needed to make sure they got the poison out of him. Luckily it seemed as if the poison wasn't going to do any long term damage like they were worried about at first. It did make Hideki tired and weak for about a week after the fight, but now he is pretty much all healed up.

When that happened though Hideki realized that he needed to be stronger, much stronger. If he wanted to be a hero that could protect everyone and possibly take down a certain villain, he needed to train more. So that put him in not a great mood and then when he got back from the hospital he had gone out on a date with Amano and things didn't turn out how he had expected so that also put him in not the best mood. In the weeks that followed Hideki just kind of shut himself off from the others in the class and only focused on training once he got the clearance from his doctors. Today though he wasn't allowed to train, Ota sensei had said he had to enjoy the festival so that's what he was trying to do.

Hideki was just casually walking around the festival at this moment not really paying much attention to anything, stuck in thought.

"Hey! Fire puncher! Think fast!" She says, throwing him a bottle of cold oolong tea. While she could understand why a few of them were down in the dumps, Isa's own thoughts on the matter were a bit different than the rest and even somewhat optimistic. Sure she had turned against them but there was no changing that and with how it sounded from some of them she never was on their side to start with. Normally she would let him sulk a bit, but this wasn't a normal situation.

Hideki heard a voice and at first he wasn't sure if it was directed at him, but as soon as he heard the person say fire puncher he knew that it was. Hideki turned around just in time to catch the bottle of cold tea that Isa had thrown to him. Hideki offered a slight chuckle as he opened the bottle and took a sip of the tea "Whats up Isa?"

"Nothin' really, but you looked like you were attending a funeral. Didn't yah hear my song? If you keep just beating yourself down ain't no reason for the enemy to beat you down some more. Gotta take things like this by your own hand. But I guess I could spare some of my time to hear yah out." She says with a grin.

Hideki laughed a little. "I was just lost in my own thoughts and wasn't really paying attention to much to be honest." Hideki shrugged his shoulders before taking another sip of the tea. "You don't have to check up on me, I'll be alright. It's a festival right? I wouldn't want to take up any of your time."

"Yeah, well I'm on break now. But yeah, you should likely remember what you just said there and enjoy the festival yeah?" Pausing to think a bit she decides to speak for better or worse.

"Look. You can't keep beating yourself up about Vitalis. Or Kaizen. He got beat up enough on his own.. I can't say I understand your ties with Vitalis but with her thoughts can you ever say you could have stopped this?"

Hideki thought about what she had to say about the festival, she was right at least a little bit. He should be trying to enjoy himself, but he just had a lot of things going on in his head.

He then looked a bit puzzled at Isa's comment about Vitalis and then he laughed a little. "Oh no it's got nothing to do with Vitalis really. I mean sure I've known her for a few years now since we were at UA together, but I always knew there was something off with her. Did I think she would do something like this? Well not really, but no that's not what I'm down about. I feel like since I've been here I've been going backwards. It took almost all I had to take down Vitalis in our fight. Back at UA I would have been able to do it no problem. Now though I just feel like I'm not myself anymore. If I want to be a hero that can actually protect people and maybe take down a certain villain should I ever come across them I need to be a lot stronger than I have been."

He then paused for a moment deciding if he should say this next part or not. "Also I need to figure out some things about myself as a person. About how I deal with my emotions and stuff. They are holding me back, not just with fighting but with everything and I need to figure out what to do about that." Hideki lifted his arms up in the air to stretch for a moment before taking another sip of the tea. Telling Isa all of that, well it was kind of embarrassing and made Hideki's cheeks blush slightly.

"Huh." She says, listening to it all, partly having her mind wander off elsewhere, but stopping herself short of actually doing such. "I dunno, maybe she had some of those drugs in her system like Kaizen or something. Though honestly, for all of her "I Don't want to hurt you!" she did kill a few people. She was fighting harder than you guys were kinda. It's a bit like my own teams battles, we got hurt but most of us were trying to destroy what we were up against. It might seem like you were weaker, but she was fully trying to kill you all I think. Were you trying the same? Or were you trying to hold back?"

"An, I dunno about going backwards, you've just been like us and getting thrown at stronger things that well, I'm sure a lot of people would be saying we shouldn't be fighting. I sure as hell never fought a giant samurai guy before now. And you've won every time till now nah? See you ain't moved backwards at all, you just are marking what makes it a move forward differently."

Isa says in response. "As to that, I can see why Ota and my Ma didn't want to tell yah shit. There isn't nothing wrong with having some emotions but you are missing the point of this shit. I don't think I'll stay, once it's all done, but this is about teamwork. If you can't trust yourself to take on whoever that person is, then why not trust your team with it? It's not good to take life slow, but it's not good to treat it like a race either. And helping you with all that shit is beyond me. Just don't end up eating the railings in your race for first place."

"At first I wasn't giving it my all, I was trying to talk her down a bit though I was doing that a bit angrily." Hideki chuckled at that for a moment, "I guess that gave her a chance to hit me with her poison and weaken me. Then towards the end I really was trying my hardest to defeat her. I don't know, I hold myself to a high standard. I guess though you're right, she had more to fight for than the rest of us and she was trying very hard to protect it." Hideki shrugged his shoulders, he then took the last sip of tea and casually threw the empty bottle into an open recycling can like he was a basketball player.

Hideki then listened to the rest that Isa had to say and well she made sense. "Yeah I guess we have been fighting stronger people you are right about that. When it comes to teamwork, I know you're right about that, that's part of the reason why I chose to come here. It's not that I don't trust you guys, it's just that I don't want to put any burdens on you guys. If I can take out an enemy and have it so that other people aren't put in danger then I want to do that. I guess that's probably a little selfish of me too I don't know."

Hideki smirked and laughed a little as Isa ended her talk with a bit of a joke. "Well I don't know about getting to first, I think Vigridis would slam my face into the railings to make sure that she got there first instead of me." Hideki laughed a little. "You do tell it how it is though and that's why I like talking with you Isa."

"It's not a burden to help those that need it Hideki! Just if they ask for it all the time!" She says in response to his first bit, as he went on to detail about Vitalis, she really didn't know what to say there. "I dunno about having something more to fight for. I can't agree with or see a positive in anything she done, yah know. But I could say that a cornered rat is more dangerous than one left in the open."

She knew some of them might be disappointed that Vitalis seemingly outshined them all and maybe she did a little, but too far of them forgot people had died because of her. She wasn't sure how his self esteem could be boosted, as she had said that was well past her. Moving on to the next bit she grins a bit before speaking.

"Yeah, aren't I just the best? Though yeah on Vigs, she tends to be pretty intense when it comes to fighting, it's like sparring with Kaizen, I like a good fight. But you know there is fighting for fun and sport, then there is fighting like your life is on the line or wanting to push yourself to some extreme. That isn't so much fun."

Hideki listened to what Isa had to say, she was right it wasn't a burden to help people when they ask. He needed to remember that for himself. "Yeah I guess you're right. I'm just used to doing things on my own I guess. I've been doing things on my own for a long time I guess sometimes I forget about having people to help."

"No you're right about that, nothing she did was a good thing. All I'm saying is that in her mind she had more to fight for. So she was going to act like it. In the end she got people killed and had a worldview that didn't make any sense. I told her she was trying to play god as she decided that people just should have quirks anymore."
Hideki sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "None of us get to decide who gets a quirk and who doesn't and we don't get to decide what quirk we get if we get one. She thought she knew better than the rest of us and well it was her downfall."

Hideki laughed as Isa talked about sparring against Kaizen or Vigridis. "Yeah trust me I know all about sparring against Kaizen. We did it quite a bit at UA, though I'm surprised he hasn't asked me to spar since we've been here at Suppression. It's probably because he found you and Vigridis so I don't have to spar with him anymore." Hideki snickered as he looked up at the blue sky, it was a beautiful day he should be enjoying it like everyone else. "Alright guess I should be enjoying this like everyone else yeah? What's there to do?"

Listening to what all he had to say she grins a bit at mention of Kaizen and the like but remains mostly passive for the rest. "Well I can't say you are wrong on what you told her, just sounds to me like when she had that breakdown over her mom that she was just doing this because of her own feel'ns of guilt. But what do I know? As to Kaizen and Vigridis, you can have them back! I'd be just fine with that!"

Thinking on his next question she ponders if for a bit. "Listen to the shows of other classed, get food, play some simple festival games, I mean hell if I know, I've been busy, but I see people all over the place, so must be somethin."

"Nah I'm good you can keep them. I'll accept the challenge if they ask for it though. That goes for you too. Also when I'm a little more healed up I will definitely need to do some sparring again. I have to get stronger."

Hideki then looks around as he sees people enjoying the festival. "If you got time you want to play some games?"

"Eh I'm fine if you want to spar, not like I got a lack of those requests. Just like, treat it like a sparr and not a damn death match, then I'm game. And ha! Needing time to heal! What'a shame!" She taunts him a little bit before his next words.

Slapping him on the back at that and with a grin she says;

"Sure! Let's go!"

Hideki chuckled a little "Don't worry, I'm not a suicidal maniac like those two are. I know the difference between a spar and an actual fight." Hideki then shrugged his shoulders and smirked a little at Isa's comment about needing to heal up. "Not all of us have your crazy strength or healing ability. So I just gotta deal with what I have." They were just joking with each other back and forth and Hideki was starting to be in a better mood.

"Alright lets go, what game you want to play?"

"Uh, dunno really, hmm, how about some darts? I think I seen a dart board booth around here, one of those magnetic ones though." Isa suggested before leading them off.

"Works for me." Hideki smiled as he followed Isa over to the darts. The two of them played a couple of games of darts before Isa had to get back to her singing and Hideki had to go meet up with Haya like he promised her he would. Isa was definitely able to help Hideki break the bad mood he had been in recently and got him looking forward again instead of looking behind.

"Well see yah Hideki! I need to get to my next show, Smile a bit and enjoy yourself!" She says with a wave heading off.

After Isa rolled into her next song, Mari took her leave from the central square and began her patrol of the various stalls, booths and games with a polite smile to her face. There weren't too many visitors on account of Suppression not having a normal sports festival just yet, but there were still a few new faces, taking a small break to record the sites, Mari hums to herself just waiting there in her school uniform.

With the festival in full swing, it was almost easy to forget about the recent events that had been transpiring in Kikyo's life. The last couple of missions, also her first couple, had been rather rough. But now she had a chance to try and blow off some steam. Dressed in her own school uniform, she strolled down the street, looking for anything interesting that caught her eye. Unexpectedly, she spotted a familiar face, standing off to herself.

"Oh! Heya, Mari! Whatcha doin'?" Kikyo excitedly called to her classmate, moving over to stand beside her. She would have to admit that the pleasant sound of the other young woman humming was not something she would have expected to hear.

"Hmm?" Mari turned to see who it was, the who being Kikyo. She seemed rather upbeat, was she enjoying the festival?

"Ah Kikyo. Can I help you in some manner? Are you enjoying yourself?" While back to business as usual, Mari did seem to actually mean it, maybe something good was planned for later in the day?

"Help me? Oh, no, I just wanted to see how you were doing. You look...I don't know, chipper? I mean, yeah, I'm having a good time, thank you. What about you?" Kikyo responded with a content smile, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Ah, I see. And hmm you could say that. I'm going to have a bit of a date later on today. Or tonight rather, not much daylight is left. Though it has been nice looking around the place, considering all that has happened with our class and others aside, something like this is in very good spirits for us all." Pausing for a bit, her tail swishes back and forth as she smiles. "What about yourself Kikyo, see anything that interests you?"

Kikyo's face brightened at the mention of a date. It was always fun to hear about friends hooking up and developing blossoming relationships. There was always something so sweet about seeing friends in happy relationships. On the other hand, there were going to be bad ones. Pushing aside the negative what-ifs of it, she smiled at her friend.

"That's great! I hope it goes well and you have fun! And uhm, yeah, things have been pretty stressful all over. It's nice to be able to just relax and have some fun." Kikyo responded lightly, sparing a quick glance around the immediate area.

"I mean, there are lots of interesting stalls and stuff. Nothing has particularly stood out yet. It's just nice to meet up with classmates and chat, you know?"

"Oh I can't say I mind running into a member of the class at least. Though how about we take a little walk as we talk? There are still a few booths I need to take a look at, maybe you can enjoy yourself as well? Or ah, I could part ways here if you rather do your own thing?"

"A walk 'n talk sounds great, Mari." Kikyo responded with a smile, taking the first stride along the path.

"So, if you don't mind me prying a bit, who's the lucky boy you're going on a date with? Someone from class?"

"Hmm.." Mari ponders telling her the answer to that question, or if it would cause problems, but it was something everyone would know sooner or later. "Well, I'm dating Agi, I know a few would be surprised by that in the class. We complement one another in a few areas. I don't plan to allow it to get in the way of my responsibilities as class lead however.." There was something a bit more foreboding in her last words, but she quickly shook that air off and motioned for the other to follow, becoming Kikyo towards her as the other started walking, smiling at that she seemed to have taken the lead. Not that Mari minded, it was just unexpected from how the girl normally seemed to behave. She must have been in a rather good mood.

"What about you Kikyo? Any plans or anyone caught your eye?"

"Oh, Agi? That's adorable! Agi seems like a nice guy, pretty chill, so, I bet you two are a nice little counterbalance to each other with all your stoicism and super smart analysis stuff." Kikyo responded with a bit of a chuckle, sparing a glance back at Mari as they had begun walking.

"Oh, and don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone. It's not my place right?" Kikyo added quickly, realizing that it was probably something fairly new and going all gossip mode would be rude.

"Wh-what? M-me? No! No way!" Kikyo's response came out with more volume and vigor than she had meant, along with a bright pink tinge to her cheeks.

"Th-that is to say, that, like, I don't have any plans really, and uhm, no one has really stood out as a potential boyf- or girl- it's...nope. No, not anyone, really." Kikyo's face only grew hotter at the thought, rambling and muttering through her response before finally just clearing her throat and giving up altogether on formulating a legitimate sentence.

To be fair, she didn't figure anyone would have interest anyway. For the last few years it was just easier not to think about it and get her hopes up. Made more sense to just ignore it and be happy for other people.

"Haha, I don't care if you tell them, I plan to make it clear if it comes up. I can't control everything." She says to the first bit, before continuing on. Taking note of Kikyo's reaction, Mari doesn't taunt the girl with it at least.

"Hmm I see, but it does seem to be an interesting fact I stumbled across. Though some of the other girls might be of better help should someone interest you than I would. But hmm.. Let's visit the mask vendor, maybe they'll have something worth seeing, or would you rather try your hand at some ring toss?"

Kikyo sighed a bit with relief at her response. It was refreshing to not have to worry about accidentally giving away something that was meant to be kept quiet.

"Oh? Okay, cool. Uhm, I still won't go around saying anything, though. That wouldn't be cool of me. Hehe…" Kikyo paused momentarily, then continued on as Mari continued speaking, nodding along as she spoke.

"Hehe, yeah, yeah, I may talk to some of the others about it, but, to be honest I don't think its anything worth talking about, you know?" Kikyo responded, averting her gaze for a moment as her mind again began to retreat into itself.

Fortunately, however, Mari had another suggestion. "A mask shop? That sounds like fun, let's go!" The young woman sped ahead, making her way to the mask vendor that thankfully wasn't far from where they were.

Kikyo giggled as she grabbed one of the masks on display, a red and white painted one that looked like it must have been designed for a character in a stage play. The young woman placed the mask over her own face, peering through the eye holes, looking back to Mari with another short laugh.

"Hmm.. I can't quite place who or what that is.. But it is very.. Familiar.. Still you seem happy with it at least." Looking over the masks, Mari gets, perhaps unsurprisingly, a neko mask and rests it at the top of her head, before paying for the both, it wasn't that much. Nearby was a drink stall that sold traditional drinks and some weak alcohol.

"How about a drink? I cannot have much but maybe we could talk before I need to go back about my way."

Kikyo managed a quick shrug as the two walked on, stifling her immediate need to gasp at the kindness of Mari buying the silly mask for her. A drink did sound nice, maybe she would even be a little adventurous and try something with a bit of potency. The two made their way over to a nice beverage stall, Kikyo still adorned in her fancy mask.

"You didn't have to buy this for me, Mari. Thank you, though. It's...really nice of you. The neko really suits you, huh?" Kikyo spoke evenly with a soft tone, looking over at her classmate with a hidden smile. Sometimes Mari seemed like such an enigma to her. It wasn't like she was unkind or anything, but the sheer level of composure that she represented was almost alien to KIkyo. The almost complete lack of emotional output. It was impressive.


Ordering herself a drink, she smiles a bit. "Oh think nothing of it, if it's a big issue feel free to pay me back for it some other time." Getting her own drink and standing up with it she shakes it around a bit before turning it up for a sip. "I haven't really gotten to talk to all of you transferries, how are you holding up, are the new rooms treating you well, how about the rest of the class?"

Kikyo reached into her pocket and produced a little money, using it to purchase a drink for herself. Once it was provided, she pulled the mask up over her head so she could freely drink, taking a small sip before making a face.

"Woah...okay, that was not was I was expecting. Not bad, though. Oof." Kikyo muttered to herself, giving her head a quick shake before looking at Mari.

"Oh, yeah, that's fair. Uhm, things are going pretty smoothly with the transfer. It's taking some time to get to know and meet everyone, as you'd expect, but it's okay." Kikyo replied with a friendly smile, taking another less surprising sip of her drink. Her eyes darkened slightly as she looked at her classmate, pondering on her.

"Uhm, Mari. May I ask you a kinda personal question?...it's nothing, you know, super awkward or weird or anything. It's just that...you're so cool. Y-you know, like, calm. Collected. Together. You don't show much, whether your happy, sad, concerned, afraid, nothing really seems to get to you. Do you have a secret to that? Like, do you think I could learn to be more like that? Keep stuff suppressed and out of my conscious mind, if that makes sense?" Kikyo asked with an unusually solemn tone to her voice.

Pausing to think on that a bit, Mari slid a few yen for her own drink, Mari was not sure how best to put this answer. Even her cat ears shifted about as she thought on the matter before finally speaking as she took a taste of her own, seemingly acquainted with it more than Kikyo was;

"It comes from my upbringing. My family is upper middle, maybe even low upper class, we do a lot of work with politicians and other high class society types. With those sorts you either are of use or you are rabble to throw away and even if they are insufferable you still must suffer them lest you want to be nothing. It's like when the Media interviews us, if you can't play your role and marketing, you won't get far, even as the public yells at you in anger for what you could not stop."

"So I internalize things and focus my efforts on the here and now or towards a plan. I can assure you I feel a lot of stress and am afraid of some things. But if a leader cannot bear that weight and cannot stand up to it, what hope is there of the ones under them doing the same? I used to be much worse with it, but time in the UA showed me how impossible it is to control the wild ones in this work. Someone once told me that a leader should not show doubt, especially when they do doubt something. It is because of all the things I must contain that I look forward to the date later today. I strive for perfection where I can."


Kikyo nodded along as she listened to Mari. She supposed that made a good bit of sense. "To be honest, that sounds...sad. Thank you for telling me, though. It helps me to understand you a little better. I will say though that I think, even as a leader, you should try and let others share some of your burdens. If you're bogged down by everyone's problems it's gonna be hard to be a good leader, right? I'm glad you have that date tonight, Mari. It uhm, it sounds like you could use it. I hope you have some fun. If my bit of experience with you on mission has showed me anything, it's that you deserve it."

Kikyo offered Mari a warm smile, letting her eyes focus on the other girl's for a moment before averting her gaze, realizing she could have made an awkward moment if she weren't careful.

"Haha. I'm sure one of the males in the class may take an interest in you, you are a very sweet girl. Though I learned long ago to not carry everything. I still carry a bit too much maybe. And honestly, I don't think anyone else in the class can carry the one major burden that I do. Least not yet.. But enough talk on that, maybe some other time?" Mari said with a smile as she looked at a smartphone, pulled from her pocket.

"I might be cold, but I'm not callous in the least, but ah, time is ticking for me, and really, you owe me nothing for the Mask, enjoy the festival, I know I plan to."

Kikyo nervously scratched at her cheek, letting out a nervous chuckle. "I mean, maybe. I don't think about it usually. I'm also kind of a nervous wreck so, flirtation is confusing."

"But, uhm, yeah. I thank you for the kindness and your words, Mari. It's given me a bit to think on too. I hope you have a great night and enjoy the festival too."
Kikyo replied, finishing her drink and pulling the mask down over her face before offering her classmate a polite bow, turning on her heel to make her way elsewhere. Maybe there were more classmates she could use the festival as an excuse to meet?

It was finally Kaizen's turn to run the stall alone. He was thankful that the other two were able to run it so efficiently in his absence, now it was his turn to pull his weight. He was in his human form, wearing a custom made jinbei which had his clan's insignia embroidered on its back. He wore a strange looking mask that resembled a kabuki mask with a rhinoceros beetle motif. They had sold a good amount of food already, but he still had plenty more to offer. He had large offering many foods which were traditional served in the festival setting, namely the fried variety such as Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, ikiyaki and Yakitori.

Even without his extra arms, Kaizen was able to efficiently cook a large number of orders simultaneously. It certainly helped that he had prepared many ingredients beforehand and none of them were particularly difficult to cook and prepare.

Wandering the grounds of the festival during her breaks, Isa had hung around a few members of her class at various points throughout the evening and the night and had another of her breaks as she came across the stall ran by Kaizen.

"Kaizen?" She still wasn't used to his human form, but then she stared at his mask and snorted a little. "Yeah with that on that has to be you, Kaizen. You been busy huh? Enjoy the cooking?"

"Is it really that obvious?" he laughed, preparing another batch of takoyaki. "Yup, customers have been coming non-stop. Would be a lot faster if I had a few extra sets of arms though!" he jokingly jeered about not having access to his full bug form. "What will you have my friend? It's on the house! As long as you take my entire stock…" He knew Isa's appetite matched only her strength.

"Eh I wouldn't want that much. Plus I've been eating things on and off throughout the day and not like I spend my money on random bullshit or girly things to not spot you a few yen. So what do you recommend, big guy? And I would be disappointed if you didn't have a mask like that." Isa says with a smirk as she reaches into her yukata robes to grab a wallet.

"Nonsense!" he replied, quickly grabbing her a fresh serving of takoyaki. "There you go, let me know if you want more. Also careful, it's pretty hot." he noted, after seeing a few customers burn their tongues repeatedly, he felt that he should have put up warning signs for that. "How was your concert?" he asked while handing her the octopus balls. "It's a shame I wasn't there to see it, though if I am being honest I didn't have such a diverse talent set. A fighter and singer.``He honestly didn't take her for the singing type.

"Diverse?" Laughing at that as she sits, or rather leans against the cart side, and takes the takoyaki in hand and holds the skewer up before taking a bite, blowing on it as she did so. "Kuroi was the one that suggested I do it more after the Aquarium, you might of been in your suit when the AI broadcasted that. She seems more like a person to me than a computer though.. Hell, was computer tech even that advanced fifty years ago?" Pausing to consider that a bit she give shrug, it was beyond her. "I mostly played the drums and would sing things at the temple, so this isn't too far from that. If you want to talk about talents, the richy girls in the class likely got more than I do, more proper things too."

"I probably was, considering I spent most of my time deepsea diving at the aquarium." He laughed, noting how silly he must have looked to the rest of his classmates, walking around in an outdated suit. "Ah I see, so Kuroi was the "wind beneath your wings" so to speak.To have friends encourage you to do something you love." Kaizen couldn't help but admire that. "If they could do that for an aquarium caretaker, perhaps they also could give us an A.I assistant when we go on missions." he suggested before changing the subject. "I didn't know a priestess did those types of things, I always thought monks would do that for you." he assumed she was some sort of a priestess based on the getup he saw her from before. "The value of "talent" is not as simple as math. Besides, even if that is true, I doubt that they fight just as good as you." He responded to her statement about talent and how they were better than her for some reason.

"Heh, are you trying to wingman for him or something?" She says with a grin at his mention of wind beneath your wings. "And yeah, it is odd a bit, but maybe there is more to that AI than we know. A mystery to solve when I care I guess." Halfway done with her snack she pauses a bit to think on what he had said next.

"I dunno, about the fighting that is. Though yeah I like to think I'm better than most of em. But as to the music and stuff, we are from out in the more rural areas. We would take a role in a lot of the festival stuff and the like, not enough priests to do everything. Plus there are some mutations in the area and some jackasses that try banditry. So we do a bit of the pest control too...err no offense bugster."

"Heh non-taken." Seems like even simple temple life can have interesting experiences with "pest-control". "Hey you got free time..should come to my show tonight. Its stageshow performance, with a modern twist." Kaizen handed Isa a flyer with him and Vigridis on the cover crossing blades with each other. "We've been working really hard on fight choreography, I assure you, its will be a show for the ages!" he gave her a thumbs up, assuring her it would be an interesting experience.

"Huh, you doing a show eh? I thought I heard something about that, depends if I'm backstage then getting ready to go up again or if I'm just finished and killing time. I'll see it either way but might be a bit different watching it from the back. And Vigrids? You both finally decided to kill one or the other or is she the, ah yeah "the wind beneath your wings"?" She says with a hint of snarky-ness to her voice as she returns the favor from before.

"Not quite. She's just one of the few that could match the intense choreography requirement….and also everyone else seemed busy." He gave a fairly reasonable explanation, the last thing he wanted to was to hurt a friend again. "Here." He added a serving of fried squid. "Besides, I don't want her to accidentally slice actors to ribbons, so I have to be her "opponent." Kaizen added, noting that she had a tendency to go overboard. "I would have asked you too, but you seemed like you had your hands full at the moment."

"Oh thanks! Still gonna pay you for these though! Er, unless it's really alright, but I don't wanna freeload. And huh, that sounds pretty believable, that story I mean. Still you gonna be alright armoring up? I don't trust Vigs holding back. And yeah kinda glad you didn't ask me! Not that I woulda said no, but the school band stuff keeps me busy during the downtimes. Heh you'll have to come watch one of them, I got like, six songs I do and we just loop em, two at a time, then I get down time, then it's some more songs. I don't even know if I'll be able to see the fireworks like you guys, but I kinda like the idea of getting to set them off if they let me! So not a big loss!" Isa says in rapid order.

"I should be fine. And don't worry, we've had more than enough customers today to cover a few freebies here and there." Kaizen was trying his best to keep with how fast she was talking. "No she wouldn't and that's exactly why I asked her to do it. To give the show a much more "realistic" spectacle, no?" He didn't know she was so active in festival activities. "You sound like you tried to involve yourself in just about all the activities. To have such boundless energy, truly an admirable trait. " he complimented her dedication to the festival.

"Kehahah! Well I'll trust you at it, and yeah I love festivals and been helping with them since I was little! But ah! I better get going, Thanks Kaizen! I promise to look at your show!" She says as she quickly runs off through the crowds.

"Whew.. boy is this a lot of work." Taking another breather, Isa sits on one of the visitor benches, thinking about what to do next, this would likely be one of her last free periods of the night, though it was odd, so far she had met or hanged out with most of the males of the class and not one female. "Huh.."

Ren managed a moment to watch Isa perform just as she was taking another break. He smirked, her voice was something else. But that might also just be because she looked simple and her voice was a bit more. It was an interesting bit to know about her. So, he moved to the back of the stage to find Isa after getting some drinks and a snack. Finding her sitting alone and moving to hand her some water, "For your voice." He offered. "You planning on singing all night or are you actually going to spend some time at the festival?" He asked her.

"Huh? Oh! Hi Ren! And ehh.." Accepting the water she opens it and sips a bit. "I'm going to be doing a few songs all night with the improv band. We just show up in between a few acts so they can ready the stage for what's next. Kaizen might be putting on a show too I think. And yeah, yeah! I'm seeing it!" She says with something of a pout.

"I won't bore yah too much with it but I've hung out with.." Counting them up in her head. "Five of the guys so far, all the girls are just too jealous to come around! Keheheh! So I've done a little bit of this a little bit of that."

Ren smirked at her, "Are they? Well, I did call it so you shouldn't be surprised." He chuckled. He wasn't sure if jealous was the word he would use, but Isa was popular. "But you can bore me if you want. Other than hanging out back here, what have you seen of the festival? I need a little break from everything and I am interested." He stated. Five guys? He wasn't surprised. And he wasn't threatened by this fact. In all honestly he was starting to like Isa a bit more, but going after her was not his target. He figured it might be at some point but being her friend is more important. So he was genuinely interested in what she did at the festival other then being in the back of the stage?

"Huh, well I did a couple arts and crafts, snacked twice, cheered up one of ours, no I won't tell yah who, that's a s-e-c-r-e-t secret! But uh, oh yeah went to find something made with nori. So I guess I've been around to eat stuff mostly. But sing'n really takes it out of you if you keep doing it for a while. So I guess that's fine.. Haven't really played most of the games yet though. Could try an catch a goldfish again or some of that stuff."

Ren nodded, "Catch a goldfish, huh? Well, if you have some time we can do that. But I was actually going to ask you to watch the fireworks with me. Figured you would be tired and thought laying in the grass and watching the fireworks would be a good break. My parents took me to a festival when there was in town and we laid in the grass and matched the fireworks with the stars. It's actually really pretty. Of course it is also an interesting way to nap." He chuckled recalling how he would fall asleep during each time with his parents when he was small. He never really made it through the whole show until he turned about 15.

"Heh, I dunno about laying out and watching the fireworks just yet, I'm sorta on the clock till the very end. So gotta wait and see about that offer! Mostly cause I dunno where I'll be for it. Though if I am where I want to be, won't be much of an option."

Though the rest of it was fine. "Eh I don't think it'll take all the time to do the fishing, could do a few other games maybe, I got a few minutes. But enough talking, let's start doing. Maybe try some Shateki shooting or Wanage."

Ren smirked, "Okay. Come on. We can talk about the fireworks when the time comes. Maybe I should just invite all the guys to kidnap you." He teased as he motioned her to come with him. "I am pretty sure you can't take all of us." He chuckled. Truth was, he just wanted to see the fireworks with her. Everyone else included would just be an interesting scale. For now, he wasn't sure how the games would go but he had an idea about some of them. Just wasn't really expecting Isa to be….into the basics. "So, what do you want to do first?"

"Huh, let's do the shoot'n I've been to the rings already, though I don't mind which ever." Leading the way off for the shateki booth, a cork gun sort of game awaited them fired with compressed air, the goal was to knock over enough targets in the time given with the ammo given. Grabbing one of the rifles and paying her own fee, Isa motions for Ren to join in, laying out a few yen to cover him as well. "Just find something you want and score enough points for it… Hmm let's see." Looking at the prizes there were a few different things, though none of them were too overly important.

Ren thought about what Isa explained, he followed her and nodded, when they finally got to the booth. "Okay, well, it shouldn't be that hard." he said. He knew the rules and he knew what to do, but he wasn't sure how he wanted to do it. Festival games were an annual thing for him. His parents would get a few chances to be with him and this was one of those things they did as a family. His father was pretty good at this game, but his mother could win just about anything. Of course, she taught Ren to play, just like his father taught him to do the fish. There weren't many games Ren wasn't good at when it came to festivals, since he had so much practice. So, he figured he would just play it by ear, match her points as best he could. She was probably very good at it, but showing off was a terrible trait and losing to her would probably make her question his abilities, since he did shoot a spear. "Ready when you are."

"Alright then!" Ren's assumptions were somewhere in the middle, Isa had spent a lot of time around these sort of things fairly often in her family history and activities. "Don't take it easy you know. I'm just doing this for fun, spear boy." Taking aim she mostly settled for going with the easier prizes, of not was some Japanese made chocolates and candy. Firing at them she dispatches the single bottles easily enough, satisfied with a lower score.

Ren smirked at her, "Fine, I guess." he said, as he took a breath and aimed, he had really no idea what he was going to do, but once he started to fire, he managed to get a few points higher than hers. He wasn't sure why he didn't just shoot them all down, but he found a slow pace was best for this game at the moment. He sighed as he lowered the rifle and frowned, "Well, guess that was easy, do you want to pick something. Honestly, games are good training, I usually just pick a random person when I used to go out with my family and let them have the prize. When I was young people thought it was weird when I told them I left the festival empty handed. But you should pick something." he encouraged her. In all honesty, he figured that was why he had done it. He didn't like getting a prize, he liked the experience.

"Heh. Well I won't say you used your powers on that.And huh your parents huh?" Thinking on it Isa smiles a bit and shakes her head. "Nah, you won this fair and square Ren, you pick something for yourself for once. Or hell, I could come up with something. Besides I got my chocolates, let's just say I ain't that greedy."
Ren smirked, he sighed, and randomly picked something, "I will just give it to someone else then." he told her. "Honestly games are more for training, as is everything for me. I don't like prizes, because it's a sign of winning and there is no reason to celebrate winning when there is always a loser. Or at least that is my idea." he said. This belief came from experience, but he wasn't sure Isa wanted to understand him that way. So, he just left it with that, "How about we free a couple of goldfish next?" he offered as the prize was handed to him.

"Jeez dude, thinking that seriously is just going to burn you out." Isa says looking at him a bit as she shakes her head, looking at the collection of items he could git a mid tier prize. The booth runner seemed to be up to task and picks something suited to him. Looked like some sort of shirt or shorts, she wasn't really paying attention. Still he had something at least, listening to his offer for the fish she reaches into her yukata and pulls out her phone, checking the time. "Uh sure. I could do that, though I've already lost at that today. Never been good at that. Not the patient sort." Opening one of her chocolate snacks she smiles while enjoying it as she motions them back down the way they came.

"After this I need to head out for a performance, but it's okay to kill a few more minutes!"

Ren smirked, "Okay, then I guess I will pay and get you a fish." he told her as he took his prize. He could give it away when he took her back to the stage. For now, he started to walk with her to the goldfish game. He was not the best at the game, but he could get at least one fish more if he stayed calm. His personal best was four, but his father had managed seven in one game. Made a lot to live up to but at the same time, Ren had time to do it and he was up for the challenge, he figured.

Reaching the booth for that, Isa slaps out some yen for herself then sticks out a tongue in taunting. "You pay for you this time, mister winner." She says with a snarky laugh. "Sides I already know how this will go for me. What will you do with the fish though?"

Ren smirked as he paid for himself and sighed, "Give it to you. I have no use for it. I will just free it somewhere, if you don't take it and then something might eat it. Best if you take the little guy." he told her as they got the rings for the game. He sighed as he closed his eyes and slowed everything down in his head, "Now, win or lose, think of it as training and you will improve." he told her, as he settled down a bit.

Staring at him with that, Isa gives a huff. "That's fine, I think I know where to put it, that is another one of ours won a fish, so what's giving him a couple more? I just know I don't want it It will die if I have to take care of it, I'm not good with small animals like that. Like I said, I already lost here once today. And uh.. I don't really take training that seriously. Well till that big armored fucker ran me through. Like fuck, I do what I need to do, but just training all the time? Eh I'll pass on that."

Speaking honestly she just did not see things like he did to the point she even ran counter to some of it. Doing her own scoops it was much like before where she rushed in head first and broke the scoopers. "Ah well. You're up!"

Ren sighed as he smirked at her, opening his eyes, he waited patiently for a moment before he played his hand, he only need one fish, but his first try got him that, so he handed her the rest, "Maybe if you get some practice in, you can get one yourself someday. Patience is not something you are born with, it is something you learn, and learning it is a test all on its own." he explained as he waited for her to finish so that they could get the goldfish and take her back to the stage.

"Yeah yeah, sure thing Mom." She says in response with a roll of her eyes as she takes the fish in tow. "But yeah don't worry about the fish I got somewhere to take it, Kuroi has got two more, so what's a third? You boys and catching fishes, heh." Handing her extra scoops over to a child, Isa kneels down and smiles at her. "Well you have fun with the rest of the night Ren. Though I don't think I'll be able to do your fireworks request, I wanna be the one, or among the ones setting them off Keheheh! Still was fun."

"It is a classic pastime." He commented when she was off. "I could take you back." He offered. He didn't mind taking her back to her performance. But he was surpassed and smirked, "Well, I might just come watch you then." He stated as a joke more than anything else. Watching her on stage would be okay but he was sure it would be strange watching her set of fireworks for the school. He would just watch them and see which ones she might have set off.

"Haha, sure, you can bring me back, not like you would listen if I said no, or that I'm trying to avoid you anyways, though can't come backstage school rules and all that." With that Isa heads back letting Ren accompany her most of the way.

During yet another break, Isa would find herself free to explore a bit, though this one might be one of her last, or was it one of her first? It didn't really matter, she was getting a break and that gave her time to see more of the festival!

"Ah now what to do.." She had went on some games, walked around and went to a few booths. Maybe something to eat this time? Pondering it a bit, she stayed where she was out in the open between the crowds..

"Oh, do you not have a booth set up for your autographs?" Kuroi spoke from behind. He had been partaking in the festivities solitarily it seemed, holding a stick of takoyaki from one of the booths. It was easy to make the oni out from her wardrobe, and she was one person he knew out of the sea of others he was unfamiliar with. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Eh, autographs? I ain't that damn famous. Anyone can just ask me as they see me if they really want it, though it's your fault I'm doing all this sing'n." She says with a impish smile for a little bit.

At his next question as Isa smirks a bit. "I guess I am, been around to see things off and on. Though I was wanting to get something to eat, you bring that just for me, or you want to show me where you got it?"

"Could've fooled me," Kuroi remarked with a small smirk. "So does that mean I get a cut when you get a contract?"

It was nice to see that she was singing more, though. She seemed to enjoy it and she certainly wasn't bad at it.

He glanced at the ball of octopus he had, as if pondering before shrugging and holding it out. "Well, not really. But if it looks cooler, then yeah. I did," He said, offering the treat to her. "It was next to a bunch of other food stands. There's way too many booths here… I can show you."

"Hehe! No!" She says in response to the money. "Only way yah get to freeload like that is if you were my man Keheheh!" She says to his request of a cut. "Though I rather be the one staying home if I did that." Taking the offered food, she bites into it without hesitation and chews and swallows. "Ahh that hits the spot! We'll lets go to some of them, I'll let you have a little bit of a cut as you wanna call it by buying you something to eat this time."

"Huh, that so?" Kuroi mused. Thinking back to his conversation with Yori, the snatching of his takoyaki brought him back fairly quickly. "Oi, it wouldn't be freeloading. I can cook and clean," Kuroi replied as he followed. "Hah, does this count as a second date then?" He asked, referencing her remark at the aquarium.

"Heh! Then I can be the one to freeload a bit then!... Eh maybe not. As to a date hmm.. Nah, that was easy mode that time, you can call it what you want though, but if it is one is nother thing." She says with a grin leading them off.

"Easy mode?" Kuroi repeated with a raised brow. "What's hard mode? More fishicide?" He joked with a smirk, not letting that incident go. Despite that, it did hold some curiosity as Kuroi was still confused on the difference between hanging out and a date, save for the couple stuff. "Do you go to these things often?"

"What Festivals or dates?" Isa asked of his own question, pausing to consider it for a bit. "In either case the former a lot, the later as in real dates not so much. If you mean hanging around or whatever, I do that a bit, have done it a few today already really. Like my song said, live in a comfortable way baby."

"I meant the festival. I've only been to them a couple times, not that I have much experience with the latter," Kuroi clarified as they walked by the line of booths. "Baby, huh? Well, someone's popular… Either way, since you go to these things a lot, what's the best to see or eat?"

"Heh the best?" Purposely this time and in English in part; "Well come on baby." Before switching back to Japanese;

"There is no best at a Festival. It's doing the everything and seeing everything and I won't have that kind of time. You got the food, the games, even the art stuff. You got any younger siblings? Might can buy'em a mask to mail home. Then there are the games and prizes, though those are mostly simple trinkets and what have you. So what would you like to do, try some shoot'n, some scoop'n, eat'n or wanna see a show?" Isa says in response to his words as she gives a lopsided grin.

"Uh…" That was a lot. He wasn't sure there was enough time to experience all of that. "...Uh, yeah… Three," He answered in response to the siblings, though only one was likely to appreciate it.

Pondering on the options, there was quite a bit to choose from. He hummed in thought. "I vaguely remember the shows, but not much of what was done. Otherwise we can try the… scooping? Or shooting, I guess."

"Heh fine. Let's see if we can win you a goldfish." She says with a smile. "And that many siblings you must be the oldest or one of them then. Big families are nice in their own way though." Leading them off it didn't take too long till they found a scooper game, it was fairly cheap to play, so Isa didn't mind paying for the two of them as they were handed a paper scooper, one for each of them. "If we break it gotta pay for more, but you can have my turn if yah want it or I could compete against yah."

"Right… you scoop fish…" Kuroi mused. He recalled attempting to once but failing and being unable to attempt many more times. He affirmed her assumption with a nod. "Second oldest… Yeah. They're a pain, in a good way… kind of."

Following Isa to the scooper game, Kuroi took the paper scoop and eyed the artificial pond. He shook his head lightly at her offer. "Nah, if you can get one, get one… Though I don't recall ever winning at this." Perhaps that was as he was too impatient as a child.

Going with that train of thought, he spotted a goldfish. Kuroi hovered the scoop above the water, seemingly focusing intently on this childish game. He knew the damn things broke easily, so he would have to predict the movement of the fish and scoop it into the pot quickly.

"Well I've never won at it either, that's why I offered you mine. I just go into things full force." Isa says as she gives a shrug, kneeling down to catch a fish herself, moving her net ahead she looks for one of the slower moving fish.

Sweeping the scope downwards and quickly, she got it up and out of the water partially but the paper broke. "Meh."

"Mm…" Kuroi hummed in response, waiting a few more moments. Then, in a swift motion, he dipped the scoop into the water and hoisted one of the goldfish from the water and into the pot. It took him a few moments to realize he had actually succeeded, and his eyes widened a bit in excitement at having taken revenge against his childhood adversary. "Oh…! I got it! I win right?"

"Yeah!" Isa says in response and claps him on the back as the keeper puts the fish in a bag of water, the oni continues her grin. "Now you gotta keep it alive, Kehahah! Enjoy! Or hell, be heartless and throw it out."

"I think I can take care of a goldfish," Kuroi replied.

"I hope so! I don't want it! Still, pretty rare to win on the first try, wanna go again or nah?" Isa asks as Kuroi receives his prize.

"Hm… He should have a friend," Kuroi decided with a nod, taking the fish and setting it aside. He would go on to win another one with the same focus and swiftness as the first before smiling contently. In a way, this was his first pet, or what accounted for a pet. "I got another!" Laughing a bit in delight at his success, Kuroi took the second prize and smiled. "I gotta put together a home for them… but I'll figure that out when I get back to the dorms."

"Huh, you're really good." She says, watching him go again, pondering where to get him the stuff for the fish she remembered an earlier trip. "There is a pet store in town if you had some interest, otherwise we could just borrow one of the filters from Cecil's pool till you can go there, keep them in a bucket or something till then." She offers patting him on the back she ponders over the fish for a little bit. "Well let's see about the shooting game or the ring toss for now, though if yah keep winning stuff you'll need to leave it all with someone or just walk around with it all."

Reaching the next stall, Isa takes a look at the time and heads for the closest one, the ring throwing game, smaller prizes were easier to get than the bigger ones, how it always was.

"Huh see anything you want?" The Oni asks as she eyes them over herself.

Kuroi chuckled a bit. "I'm not sure scooping fish is a skill… I'm just watching for a pattern and reacting. It's like fighting, kind of…" Of course, he wasn't trying to punt a fish or something. "Oh, is there? Yeah… I'm sure I have enough saved to get some stuff."

Following her to the other booth, he did have some money, just not enough to spend needlessly. "I don't think I'll be as good with a gun, fake or otherwise. Or throwing things for that matter," He said with a smirk. "But, I'll give it a shot."

Kuroi glanced at the stand and eyed the prizes, humming in thought. "Hm.. maybe," He thought aloud. Tossing a couple of the rings, they predictably bounced around and in between the bottles. "...I forgot the rings were a pain too…"

"Kehaha.. Let's see here.." Looking at the prizes there were some cheap jewelry items, some food stuff, gift cards, some toy model kits and a few plushies. Taking aim at a voucher for two iced coffees she throws her rings at that winning one of them and her other rings at some gift cards for the local shopping complex, though she missed those. "Ah well, this will be nice enough."

"Oh, laughing at me now, huh?" Throwing his lot, Kuroi aimed at one of the masks, and some hair pins and clips. Naturally, most of his tinked off the sides of the bottles, earning a grumble from him. Though, one did succeed, and he successfully one a decorative hair clip. It was nice-looking, but not for him. He held it out to the oni as he looked at her. "You want it? It'd look better on you than me."

Looking at the hair clip she accepts it before trading in her vouchers as she gets a mocha and hands Kuroi a black iced coffee. "I'll wear it for my next performance, keheheh! It's not much but have one, hope you like it. Ah I know what would be a good payment!" She says with a mischievous smile as she gives Kuroi a kiss on the cheek. "There we go! Well I should get going now."

"Hm?" Kuroi took the voucher before smiling a bit. He wouldn't give up a free coffee. "Thanks, I-"

The kiss cut him off and he paused. He blushed subtly and could feel those butterflies Yori spoke about. "Uhm… yeah. Go have fun. I'll talk to you later…" He said in a bit of a dazed state.

"Kehahah!" Isa says in one of her typical laughs as she runs off waving bye to him in turn. It was amusing watching him like that, but still she had places to be.
 
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Yamoshi had found himself reeling after everything with Vitalis. He'd really started to like her. Unfortunately, things didn't seem meant to be. Even when he visited her in ANVIL Prison, he wasn't sure what to feel or think walking away from her. Everything seems to be something of a mess right now.

"Argh! Why couldn't things have… Why couldn't she…?"

He shook his head. No point trying to worry about that. Time had passed since then, and yet here he was… Still hung up on a girl who he probably wouldn't get the chance to see again. Even if he did, there was no guarantee anything would be different. He just wanted things to be chill, to have fun. And yet, here he was. Strolling through the festival aimlessly, not even able to really enjoy it.

Yori wondered if Kaizen recruiting him had been a mistake.

He'd only just managed to get away from the women that surrounded their stall, which would leave him a bit of time to enjoy the festival before it was time to get back to work.

Yori had been wondering what he was going to do, but those thoughts stopped when he caught sight of Yamoshi.

He could practically see the rain cloud over his head. If Yori had to guess, it was because of their former classmate's betrayal. The thought of Vitalis left an incredibly sour taste in his mouth and made Yori angry. How could she…

Regardless, Yori wanted to be there for his friend. He wouldn't let Vitalis sour Yamoshi's mood any further if he could help it.

So, dressed in his white, silver, and purple yukata, Yori approached his friend and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?"

Yamoshi's ears perked up a bit hearing Yori's voice. For a second a big smile formed on his lips. "Who me?" he laughed, though it was clearly something more forced, like someone putting on an act.

"Never--"

He stopped, just staring at Yori for a moment. Even that was a little too much for him at the moment.

It was clear he wasn't alright, and even just trying to play off like he was seemed stupid. "Honestly, I can't stop thinking about everything. It's… weird… Just a month ago things were fine. And now it feels like everything's all out of whack," he said calmly, rubbing the back of his head.

He sighed. "I'm not expecting you to get it," he paused. That came out a little harsher than he meant. "Ya know, cause I know the whole liking someone... thing? It isn't really... Not cause… Obviously I know you have... But it isn't really… I'm not…" He was tripping over his words. Yamoshi normally knew exactly what he wanted to say, for better or worse. "Gah, when did talking to people become such a hassle?

Hearing Yamoshi, it was clear to Yori that his friend was not alright at all. In fact, he was probably taking this betrayal much harder than the rest of them. He frowned, listening to his friend stumble over his words and try to give something that was coherent.

"I got to know her. I took her to dinner with Amano." He added the Amano part so Yamoshi didn't mix things up. "She was really nice and I thought she and I could have been friends. Never did I think she would turn around and betray us."

Yori kept his hand on Yamoshi's shoulder. "I'm capable of liking people, and I'm capable of being upset when they turn around and stab me in the back, Yamoshi. It happens in show business. But she made her decisions, and she made it very clear that whatever goal she had was more important than her friends."

His look softened at his friend. "I get you're upset and you're confused, but hopefully over time you can move on."

"Yeah, I know. It just sucks." Yamoshi said simply, staying quiet for a moment as he thought about what Yori said. The thing with Vitalis was certainly bothering him. He'd thought that she could be something to him. More than a friend. So it wasn't quite the same level of betrayal as Yori. And hell... maybe his own thoughts weren't as bad as those Kaizen was experiencing. But... in truth, Yamoshi wasn't thinking about anyone else.

Still, the more it weighed on his mind. The more Yori's words rang in his ears, the more he just.. thought.

"Move on... yeah..."

Yamoshi sucked in a breath. "Kinda like how you moved on, huh?" he paused. "Come to think of it... Do you actually get liking people, Yori? Like actually get it. Cause it doesn't really feel that way, if I'm being honest."

Yori raised an eyebrow at his friend. DId Yamoshi think he was incapable of love or something? He wasn't an android programmed to just sing and dance.

The thought of robot him doing the robot in front of a robot audience did make him laugh a bit.

"Yamoshi, I may be asexual on stage but I can still have crushes." He told his friend. "I know it's been a while but I wasn't replaced by a robot."

Images of that night flashed in his mind for a moment. It wasn't like Yamoshi was an innocent boy who'd been spurned. But he still felt... bad. Maybe this just compounded his feelings on the whole Vitalis situation.

Still, the pink haired boy sighed, shrugging Yori's hand off his shoulder.

"Look... I'm not gonna pretend I'm the best guy in the world. I mean... I betrayed your trust too when I hooked up with Amano," he paused. "I was drunk. It's not an excuse, but it is apart of it."

Swallowing hard, Yamoshi tried to think of how to continue. "But then you... I mean we... we..." He didn't think he needed to say it. "And then nothing. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect anything. And I was quick to get back to my usual behavior..." Thinking about it, that was probably what Vitalis meant when she said people wouldn't take him seriously. He can't even take himself seriously. "Just... forget it. Forget I said anything. I'm acting like a entitled brat not getting what I want from the people I end up having a crush on."

He took his hand back, raising an eyebrow at Yamoshi again. "You slept with Amano?"

Yori tried to think back, which meant the only time the two could have done anything was the bathroom. Even from what he could remember, it couldn't have been something extreme, right?

He shrugged, "Amano's a big girl, she can make her own choices."

Besides, why should he punish his friend for a decision his sister consented to?

Hearing the rest of Yamoshi's words, a wave of guilt washed over Yori. Yes, after that one night stand he'd been a bit distant. But for good reason!

"Actually," He started, "I was hoping to catch you so I could talk to you. Privately." Yori put a hand on his friend's shoulder and started leading him away from the crowd. "I have some explaining to do."

Yori would take Yamoshi away from the group and from the crowd towards a secluded little area where the two could talk freely. When they got there, he'd take his hand back.

"I want to apologize." He began. "I've been pretty distant after what happened, but that's because I was thinking about it. Thanks to you, I found out I wasn't straight, well not fully. That time was me thinking about and accepting those tendencies. I know I should have said something sooner, but I wanted to be sure.

I assure you I don't think any less of you, and I don't regret it or anything. I was hoping to have this conversation with you before, you know, Vitalis. But that didn't happen."

Yamoshi slinked back a bit at Yori's reaction. "N-no... We just..." Maybe best not to explain. Besides, Yori was right. Amano was a big girl. Besides, there were bigger things to think about.

Opening his mouth at first, Yamoshi stopped himself from interrupting. He wanted to say he wasn't owed an explanation. He wanted to tell Yori it was no big deal. Yamoshi was the have fun, enjoy the moment, type of guy after all. But that didn't mean he didn't have feelings. Maybe it really was just that hard to take him seriously. Or maybe people expected him to just brush it off.

Still, soon he found himself alone with Yori. "If you wanted to get me alone, you coulda just asked," he said, giving a nervous laugh. Then... he relented with a small, "Sorry..." and motioned for the boy to keep going.

Hearing Yori's words, he couldn't help his cheeks reddening a bit. He knew it was something big for Yori. But...

"Look, you don't have anything to apologize for Yor," he said softly. This time he placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, brushing a few purple strands away in the process. "Sleeping with someone and deciding together not to move forward... that's one thing. Sleeping with someone and basically getting ghosted..." Okay... he could understand why Yori wanted to apologize. "But listen... Next time something big happens. Just... don't wait. Don't try to make it some huge, 'wait for the right moment' kind of thing. Please. I'd rather talk and help you through things or figure stuff out together. I've got a little more experience in this field than you."

He paused. He gave a little chuckle. "Plus... I could really use a friend... and it isn't like I've got people blowing up my phone on the regular."

Yori didn't mind the little comments; he was used to it thanks to different people he used to talk to being flirty like him.

Once Yamoshi got his words in, Yori looked at his friend with an apologetic smile. "I assure you I wasn't trying to be grand about it. I only figured myself out a few days ago, and well, I didn't want to call you and then be...weird about it if I wasn't sure about the bisexual feelings I had. I wanted to figure it out first then talk to you." Yori explained. Was it a good reason? Not really. But he wasn't familiar with this sort of thing either. Which is why he handled it so poorly.

Still, he smiled. "I'd like to make it up to you, if possible. We can talk things through and be on the same page then."

Yamoshi stared at Yori for a few minutes, silently contemplating before finally he relented. He exhaled softly, giving Yori's shoulder a small squeeze before letting go. "I get it," he said softly. It wasn't easy. Yori was experiencing a lot of things. Worse, he was trying to do it all alone. Yamoshi wished he could have helped, but he understood what Yori was saying.

"Welp… Ya kinda went and made it a different kinda weird," he said, rubbing the back of his head. He laughed a little. "But I'm glad you're talking to me at all. I was kinda worried I'd lost another friend." For a moment he thought about Vitalis.

He shook his head. "Alright. Enough being sad," Yamoshi said, slapping his own cheeks as one would to refocus or wake themselves up. "You wanna start making it up to me, let's enjoy some of this festival together. Before you have to get back to whatever you were doing."

Yori chuckled a bit. "Again, I'm sorry. I was.. New to that sort of thing, but now I know better." He assured his friend, hoping that after today he and Yamoshi could be on good terms. Yori didn't want to lose a friend if he could help it.

But the good news was that Yamoshi was cheering up, making Yori happier. "Sure! I've got some time before Kaizen finishes counting stock. Let's enjoy ourselves." He responded. "Oh, and by the way. Don't recruit me to be the cashier for your business. Especially if it's only two cooks."

"Eh, I'd just wait for you to no longer be famous," Yamoshi said with a small shrug and a laugh. He shook his head and threw his arm around Yori. "Now come on. I'll buy ya a snack before you have to get back to work. And we can even play a game." he said softly leading the purple haired idol back to the festival at large.
 
Exiting her room, Aika didn't have to walk far to get to her destination. It was, quite literally, the next room over. Knocking on the door, Aika sighed. She wasn't happy with doing this, but she needed to know for herself. There was the option to go see Vitalis in prison, but she felt like she'd only want to punch her former teammate, not talk. And even if she didn't like her, she did know Vigridis longer than most other people here. After a moment, Aika knocked on the door again, a bit more loudly than before.

Vigridis had recently finished her afternoon training and was on the way back to her room from the showers. She was barely covered, just in a towel that barely clung to her form -like usual and rubbing a towel through her moist white hair, when she spotted the girl at her room's door. She walked up, "Aika, what do you want? You're knocking on my door," she pointed out, "that's unushual."

Turning around and seeing Vigridis arrive from behind her, Aika opened her mouth slightly to begin speaking, only to realize how Vigridis was looking. She could feel her face getting a bit redder, before getting a grip over herself "Yeah, I suppose it is. Wanted to talk to you about your backstabbing cousin. You didn't know about her intentions, did you? You're too proud of your quirk to let someone try and go and try and take that away from you." She asked, moving her gaze to the ceiling and stepping aside so Vigridis could step into her room.

The way the girl's eyes glimpsed her and the pink rising in her cheeks was lost on Vigridis. "You want to talk to me about my cousin?" she repeated flatly, just to make sure that was clear. "Sstrange," she commented at this unexpected meeting. Why would Aika care about her cousin? "If you know that much, then what are you asking?" she asked, her eyes glimpsing Aika's form then connecting with her eyes. She couldn't help but notice the girl was still in the way of her door, until she thoughtfully stepped aside. Where Vigridis then took the space to begin unlocking her door.

Hearing Vigridis's response, Aika briefly glanced at her classmates, before her eyes jumped right back up to the ceiling "So you really didn't know, huh." She muttered as the door was being unlocked "I was more wanting to confirm my own suspicions rather than just assume you knew what she was doing. Family or not, it'd be the wrong thing to do. But at the same time," Aika's tone would shift into a bit more questioning one "You didn't hear anything prior? From your family?" She asked, as her eyes lowered from gazing at the ceiling to look at the back of Vigridis's head.

"She may have been my cousin, but if it comess as any surprise, we did not talk often. In fact, I supposse you could say I opted to largely ignore her exisstence." She glanced back at Aika. "You may call us 'family', but the way you think of 'family' izn't exactly how our family iss. We are cousins, that iss true, but as a family we do not engage often. In fact, ever sincce Vitalis and I left our home, she and I have not had any sort of interaction beyond the cursory ones we had here. I had not even seeen her for a year. We may be family, but the Alucards operate quite a bit differently. Even if we were like a normal family, it iss unlikely that one would've brought such an idea to me. Vitalis was notorioussly quiet. Or more accurately, seecretive. It wass probably her one good trait."

Vigridis paused. She turned completely around and leaned back against her door to talk to Aika. "I take that back, her second best trait. Anyway, our grandfather really prized Vitalis's ability to remain siilent and unassuming - like that of a shhadow. She really followed in her mother's footsteps in that regard. Once Julius recognized her talent for stalking, he put her on a brand new training regimen; Vitalis wass often taught and trained in subterfuge and keeping to the shhadows. So, as you can seee, she was trained to keep a seecret."

The white-haired girl's -erm- current 'attire' was already threatening to reveal what lay underneath. Vigridis shrugged, and the towel strained, slipping a bit down. The vampire didn't even seem to notice. "Regardlesss, if she had told me, while I would've been impresssed, for once -surprisingly." Her eyes flicked off to the side, irritated about admitting being impressed by Vitalis. "I would not have gone along with her idea. In fact, I would've fought my damned hardest to stop her. Probably would've attacked her then and there." Vigridis said so matter-of-factly. "As you've surmissed, my quirk iss a precious thing. There iss no way I would ever allow my quirk to be taken from me. It would be a cold day in hell before such a thing would passs. No, not even then! I will never give up my quirk. Not now, not ever! Does that suffice? Iss that a good enough answer for you?" She asked, folding her arms and frowning at Aika.

As Aika listened to the rather long explanation of how things worked at the Alucard household, it definitely sounded like there was a type of hierarchy there. It would've made Aika wonder if that family didn't want to just have a country of their own, until Vigridis's towel started to slip down some more. At this point Aika could feel her face become hotter, and something that started going down from her nose. Wiping it with the back of her hand, she could see a bit of redness on there, lowering her hands and putting them behind her back as though it was nothing.

"It was a lot more than what I expected." Aika replied, doing her best to ignore the malfunctioning towel situation Vigridis had going on "And it is what I expected to hear." She said, moving to lock her eyes on Vigridis's eyes "And I gotta say, that doesn't sound like the ideal place to be raised at. Your grandfather values shadows and silence that much, and your quirk being so bright you could basically become a beacon of light in the middle of a starless night." She said, briefly thinking back to her own parents. If that was the case, then she could relate a bit. Family members that wanted to focus on one thing and nothing else.

"Oh, he doesn't just value shhadows and silence," Vigridis stated. Then she huffed with amusement. "Speaking of lights and beacons…" She shook her head, "No, never mind. Was that all? Did you want to ask anything else?"

Picking on how Vigridis seemed to stop herself from saying something, Aika raised an eyebrow "Come on, spill it. What were you gonna say?" She asked. She didn't know what Vigridis was thinking when she mentioned it "And I may have just wanted to clear that, but come on. If you got something you wanted to ask me, now's your chance." She added, keeping her eyes fixed on Vigridis's face to keep herself from looking downwards.

"First off, iss there anything else you wanted to ask? It's better to clear the air completely before moving onto a new topic." Vigridis pointed out. She was wondering this since Aika basically never talked to her, and this was the first thing she wanted to speak about when they finally did talk? "What iss my cousin to you, anyway?"

"What's your cousin to me? Well, I didn't know how much, or anything of that sort. But she is basically the reason my team split up and quite possibly also the reason another member went rogue. So I want to beat her up." Aika stated bluntly, before she continued "And aside from that? Well, I can't say there was anything else I wanted to talk with you right now. Even if we haven't talked, I do know you for quite long, and I basically just wanted to see that you're still the same. Because with your cousin turning out the way she did, and another classmate defecting, well, I wanted to hear from you. And as far as I can see, you're still you. Opinions and all." Aika stated, and it would be rather clear for even Vigridis that this has been bothering Aika quite a bit.

That's what was bothering Aika? Well, while Vigridis had her opinions, she didn't think they were worth voicing. Instead she snorted, "I actually heard she wass quite formidable when she turncoated. ..My cousin, formidable? Who would've thought? Anyway, I doubt you'll get your chancce, since she's behind bars, but who knows."

Vigridis finally decided to open her door. Revealing a fairly barebones room, though there were a few new fixings since the year had started. There was a table with a small aquarium on it, a dresser with a fishbowl on that, and an armoire with some clothes. Plus cute collectible figurines decorating the place. "Now to what I wass going to mention. I wass about to go practice for some light shhow I wass thinking about putting on for the festival. Your comment made me think of that, that's all."

As Vigridis finally entered the room, Aika just went and leaned on the door frame, electing to look around instead of at Vigridis. Seemed like Vigridis didn't keep too much in her room. As she listened to what she mentioned, Aika's eyebrows rose a bit "Really? That'd be quite the sight. I'm personally planning on just singing a couple of songs. Nothin' big. Just me and backing tracks. Maybe a couple of lights that I'll turn into a disco ball with my head. But nothin' beyond that." Aika said, shrugging a bit.

"Singing?" Vigridis repeated. Then she recalled she had heard Aika sing before. "Ah, yes. I'm shure that will delight the masses." She slid the towel off, and reached for some clothes, undies first, of course. Good thing her back was facing the girl in the doorway! "Hm, a dissco ball with your head? Perhaps my light could be useful? Kheh, perhaps that'z a foolish thought."

"Ha! Your light breaking over my skin would probably cause everyone to be blinded. So it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas. Aika said, briefly glancing in Vigridis's direction as she finally started putting on some clothes. Feeling a bit calmer, Aika leaned her head against the doorframe "Though I do want to keep things a bit more on the down low. You probably want to go and dazzle everyone as much as you can, right?" Aika asked.

"Hmm?" Vigridis grumbled, casting an unamused glance back at her fellow student. "You lack faith in my skillz it seeems." She finished pulling up her bottoms and snapping her bra in place before turning around, closing her eyes as she spoke smugly. "Light intensity, temperature, and destructivenesss are all things I train regularly." She opened her eyes once again. "Perhaps my light is not the isshue, but your diamond?" She tapped a nail to her lip, "Me? Dazzle everyone?... I had not consiidered it. Thiss whole thing wass merely a whim, because someone suggested my quirk could be used in thiss way. I wanted to prove that notion correct. But dazzling them.. hm?"

Finally turning to properly look at Vigridis, who was now sufficiently dressed up in her opinion, Aika nodded "Well, it's definitely true it can just be used this way. But with your quirk? You could probably cause a lot of people to be solely focused on your show. Be the most dazzling and brilliant shining performer in the festival." Aika said, shrugging a bit "I know with all your skills and mastery of your quirk you could do a lot in terms of combat. But I suppose I also see things a bit differently. How it can be used in a more creative way. But yeah, just think about it."

Vigridis frowned. She had meant to stir up Aika with her words. Yet received praise instead. "Hmp… I…" She paused, completely with wind taken from her sails. This was not the reaction she had been expecting. Not from Aika anyway. What was she feeling? Was this what they called.. 'embarrassment'? At the foolish idea of trying to rile up Aika? Silly. Very silly. She rubbed her nose, it wasn't so much a flush, but perhaps the building of an embarrassed blush of pink on the girl's otherwise fair white skin, that rarely -if ever- showed blemish.

She composed herself once more, there was no need to feel embarrassed! She stood up straight and nodded. "I thank you for your words. I did not go in with the intention of dazzling or being the mosst brilliant, I had jusst intended to put on a small shhow because someone suggessted I do so. However, now I think that I absolutely shhould be the most brilliant performer! Would 'the best' be anything but the best?" She grinned. "Aika, I have always wanted to see how your diamond would fare against my constructs, and my constructs against your diamond. Perhaps you are willing to aid me?"

Seeing the momentary embarrassment on Vigridis was definitely a sight to remember. After the vamp recomposed herself and stated her new intentions, Aika nodded. It was always better to do something with passion than just because they could do it. Hearing the request for aid did surprise Aika a bit "Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't a bit curious myself. So sure." She told Vigridis,

"Hmp. Good. Want to tesst your diamond and my light right now?" Vigridis asked.

"Uh, depends. If you mean sparring, then not today. If you mean just see how it reacts in the room, then I guess there won't be any harm?" Aika said, turning her hand into diamond as she spoke and raising it a bit.

"I did not mean a fight, no. Though that sounds appealing. We shall put that off for another day." She honed in on Aika's raised hand made out of diamond. Then held up her own hand. Truth be told, just making light beams was harder than making constructs. But she had been practicing for this show. Concentrating, she pulled Soul Energy to her hand, before releasing it in a burst of small light right at Aika's hand. The burst of light hit her hand of diamond and…

As the light hit Aika's hand, Aika saw it break into many smaller lights that covered the walls, floor and ceiling. They were uneven in size, and lasted for a brief moment due to the light being nothing more than a burst. After seeing all the small lights vanish, Aika moved her gaze back to Vigridis "Can't say I'm too surprised. Most normal lights will break like that against my diamond." She said, turning her hand back to normal and lowering it.

Vigridis glanced around the room at the dispersed specks of light. It had a visual flair to it that most undoubtedly would find appealing. "Shall we try something else? Concentrated light?"

"We could, sure. Though what's the difference between concentrated light and regular light?" Aika decided to ask as she turned her hand into diamond again, raising it once more. If Vigridis wanted to test a bunch of different lights, then Aika figured she'd just maintain the diamond on her hand for the time being.

"We shall seee," Vigridis pointed out. She then fired a concentrated beam of light at Aika's diamond hand and held it.

Once more, the light hit Aika's hand. However, as it was more focused and continuous, the light didn't only break into smaller lights. Some of them appeared to turn into small rainbows that appeared from the air. It was hard to determine if they actually started at Aika's hand or after due to the light meeting Aika's hand.

Vigridis grinned. She walked around while maintaining the beam of light. This caused the other dispersed lights and rainbows to move and twinkle. "Good! Now, shall we try something other than your hand? And can you purposely change the light's colors?"

"As long as the skin is exposed, then we can try. Doesn't go through my clothes. And I can't control the colour. If I could, you'd probably see me with a different skin color every time I use it." Aika said, taking her jacket off her free arm, and turning her arm, all the way up to her shoulder, into diamond "Here. A more elongated shape could probably cause the lights to be shaped differently." She said.

"Hm. Yes. However, I wass thinking about usiing your body, or your head. Your arm iss not so different from merely your hand, but sincce you already raised it.." Vigridis fired another concentrated beam of light at Aika's arm, and watched the lights that came off. "If you cannot control the color, then I supposse I shall have to.." Her brows furrowed as she focused. The beam of 'regular' light turned into a more reddish color as it hit Aika's arm.

"Then just ask." Aika said, taking off her hat while keeping her arm raised. As the reddish light hit Aika's arm, the different lights around the room would turn reddish too, and the rainbows would appear to shift into more of a red-spectrum arch.

"Alright, I will. Remove your shirt and change into diamond," Vigridis said, more than asked. As if the question was implicit in the order. All the while she observed the unique color changes and taking note.

Hearing the way Vigridis said that, Aika sighed and shook her head "I took my hat off. You got my head exposed. And asking as if I'm your underling is not what I meant." She said, shifting the skin around her head into a diamond.

Vigridis frowned. "I jusst believed your body would cause a real dazzling dissplay. Iss that not what you said I -we- should aim for?" Still, she aimed the light at Aika's diamond-head, wondering if it affected her eyes or anything.

"Probably, but that doesn't mean I'm just willing to start stripping down in front of people to entertain them. That makes me no better than, well." Aika said, stopping herself short of actually saying it. And as the light from Vigridis hit her head, Aika closed her eyes. It was more intense than spotlights, so she didn't want to be blinded by that light. The lights from her head would be spread around the room and appear to be more even, but still not exactly the same.

As Vigridis observed the patterns of these lights she considered what Aika said. "It iss simply a performancce.." She pointed out, not understanding why Aika seemed reluctant to 'strip down'. "If you are that concerned, you do not need to exposse your entire body. And yes, your head castss a wondrous light!"

"Guessing you haven't heard of the sketchy type of occupations then, huh. Ignorance can be bliss." Aika muttered quietly to herself "And good to know. Now I'll know which body part to use as a disco ball if I ever needed to." Aika said "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to go get myself some dinner before others start swarming the kitchen." She said, turning the diamond skin back to normal and waiting for the light to fade away.

Vigridis didn't ignore her offhand remark. "What sketchy occupashuns? And why are you mentioning them now?" She inquired as she lowered her hand, the light dissipating into particles. The Alucard frowned slightly at the mention of dinner. Since she never ate dinner -or anything- she only considered it a waste of time. "I wass planning on practiciing a bit more for the performancce. Hm…" She thought about how she had been advised to try eating something. "What iss there to… eat?.." she murmured, finding the question to sound awkward, since she had never asked it ever.

After the light went away, Aika opened her eyes and put her hat and jacket back on "What is there to eat? Well, there are always instant ramens. That's what I normally eat. I think there are a bunch of others that prepare their own meals, or people just go out." She said, before walking to the door.

"Iss instant ramenss... good?" Vigridis asked stiffly.

Before she could step outside, Aika heard Vigridis's question, She turned to look at her "Somehow, I'm not surprised you never had one before. I like them, but then again I'm also a pretty poor cook, so helps that they require nothing more than hot water. Plus there are a bunch of flavours." Aika told her, before raising an eyebrow "Want to try one out?" She asked. It wouldn't take much for her to make one for Vigridis.

Cooking… That was perhaps the one thing in deportment she hadn't mastered. Or wasn't very good at at all. It felt embarrassing to admit that. It was such a common skill… but utterly pointless for Vigridis. "Flavors? Like.. what?" She didn't even really understand the concept of flavors.

"Well, like pork, chicken, beef and fish." Aika said, starting to wonder why Vigridis was so curious about instant ramens and their flavours. It only made her wonder what Vigridis was eating at all. When she thought about it, she never saw Vigridis eat anything. Not even back at Shiketsu. Raising an eyebrow, Aika decided to just ask what was on her mind "You don't live on food, do you?"

Vigridis heard the flavors but still didn't understand the difference. She shook her head at the question. "No, I do not. You are just now learning thiss?" She sighed, "If you must know, it iss not what you think. I live on Soul Energy. I have never sucked the blood from someone."

"I didn't think you were a full blown vampire." Aika rolled her eyes. She didn't understand what this 'Soul Energy' was, but she did find it a bit weird that Vigridis apparently never ate at all. "Well, basically, most things you can eat have some kind of taste. I don't know how no one in your family ever taught you that, I would've figured that even families that didn't need to sustain themselves on food would still have dinners, for prestigious guests or whatever." Aika shrugged a bit "Anyway, I can prepare instant ramen for you. There are a lot of better foods than that, so could be good for you to start with the low. That way most other foods will already be an improvement."

Vigridis thought about what Aika said. "We did," she recalled. There were many fancy dinner parties that her family hosted. And when they weren't having dinner parties there wass a fancy, extravagant dinner laid out for the entire family. "I supposse I had food when I wass young, but that stopped around 5 or 6 when I disscovered my quirk. Typically grandfather would get angry at disobedience, but when he disscovered what I could do, he no longer reprimanded me for misssing family dinners. After that I ceassed eating like normal humans. My grandfather even praised the fact I did not need to eat like normal people. He claimed it wass 'proof' that I wass a superior creature to humanity."

She frowned slightly. "There are better foods than instant ramen? Then why…?" She heard the reasoning, but wasn't sure she understood. "Why not start with the best food and only eat the best food? Why ever eat anything elsse? You mean you purpossefully choosse to eat worse foods? Why on earth..?"

"Right. Somehow, I'm still not surprised." Aika sighed and rubbed her temples for a second "And as for why not just eat the best? Only eating the best would probably cause most people to become broke very quickly. And people have different definitions of what is the best." Shaking her head a bit, Aika glanced at Vigridis "Look, I can go prepare you an instant ramen to eat right now, won't take more than a few minutes, or you could probably talk to anyone else to go out to a restaurant. Either way, I'm hungry, so I'm going." She said, before walking out of the room. It was honestly beginning to become a pain, to try and explain things that should be obvious to everyone.

"Hmp. So it iss a wealth isshue? How unfortunate." She cocked her head. "You mean.. dietary needs? How can there be different definitions of what iss the best?" That truly stunned and stumped her.

Vigridis's mouth hung open for a brief moment as Aika expressed her frustration and simply left. Left her hanging there. She frowned and growled softly, before following the pink-haired girl. "Fine then. Show me thiss 'instant ramen'!"

Hearing Vigridis follow her, Aika rolled her eyes "dietary needs or limitations. Some people can have bodies that cannot process different foods, or that they have allergies to different foods, which can be dangerous to them. And some people can just prefer homemade meals over restaurants, and the reasons can go on and on." She said, pressing the button for the elevator "So, you don't eat. Do you drink any hot drinks? Because otherwise, I should warn you, it will probably be hot for you to put in your mouth as you first taste it." Aika stated.

"I know people have limitations and allergies!" Vigridis shouted. "Why would people ignore the best flavor, though? I do not get that. The best iss the best. Preferencess? That sounds like nonsense. What iss the difference between 'homemade' and restaurant made?" She shook her head, stepping into the elevator with Aika. "I do not drink anything either. Soul Energy iss all my body needs to sustain itself. It heals me. I do not even sleep, either."

"Okay, so" Aika watched as the elevator arrived and got on it with Vigridis "Everyone has taste buds on their tongues. But each person's taste buds are different. Just like appearances, just like DNA. That makes it so different people have different definitions for what is the 'best flavour'. And the difference between homemade and restaurant made is that people at restaurants make the food as their living occupation. They are taught and trained to do it. Homemade is when people learn at home, and cook it with their own skills. Also means where each meal was made." She tried explaining on the way down to the ground floor "So, some people think the best flavours come from restaurants, some think from homemade. Some will love fish but hate jello, some will love meat but hate vegetables. There's honestly a lot of different opinions." Aika said, shrugging a bit.

As they arrived at the bottom floor, Aika exited the elevator "Come on." She told Vigridis, before walking to the kitchen.

Vigridis wasn't aware of this. "Everyone has different taste buds?" For whatever reason, she just figured everyone's tongue was made the same. "...Wait, there can be skill in cooking?" she asked, utterly confused. She thought how you made a dish was entirely based on its recipe. "How so? Cookbooks have recipes, if you do not make it to the recipe, have you not failed in the dishh?"

As Aika continued on Vigridis's face fell, then paled. She thought she understood food! Now it sounded completely alien to her. "Why do people 'hate' food?" she asked as they arrived and the elevator opened and she stepped out.

"Well, people can follow the recipe as much as they want, but unless they're a robot or super strict, they'd normally do things slightly different, even if they don't intend to." Aika explained, as they entered the kitchen. Opening a cupboard, she grabbed a pair of instant ramens, both pork flavoured, and put them on the counter, before filling the kettle and turning it on "As for hate food? Well, I could list the reasons, but we'd be here for the next week or even longer. People can come up with every reason to not like food, that can go from just not liking something because of where it came from, to not liking a food's texture, to just being plain stubborn." Aika explained further.

As the kettle whistled, Aika went and poured the water into each instant ramen, before closing the wrapper and handing one of the two to Vigridis, along with a spoon "Figured it'd be easier for you to use a spoon, seeing how you're not native and that. And don't open until you see me open, otherwise it won't be properly prepared." Aika instructed Vigridis, before grabbing some chopsticks for herself.

"Izn't that bad?..." Vigridis questioned. Doing things differently in anything else always resulted in a bad outcome. She just stared at Aika, mouth agape. Vigridis hardly understood the feeling of 'hate', but hearing the reasons to hate food were numerous left her speechless. Food, as she understood it, was nourishment for a human. How could one hate their own nourishment?

Vigridis took the spoon and frowned. "I feel like that was an insult." She commented, watching as Aika began preparing the instant ramen. Which to her, didn't look like much whatsoever.

"Well, you said you haven't eaten in years, and you haven't been in Japan that long. Figured you don't know how to use chopsticks. Takes a bit of practice." Aika said, rolling her eyes as she did. After waiting a few minutes, she undid the wrapping of her instant ramen "You can undo it now. And then start eating. Just careful as it might still be hot for you." Aika said, before starting to slurp her own instant ramen.

"I do.. in practice. I wass taught." She had never needed to use chopsticks though, for obvious reasons. She watched as Aika opened up her instant ramen to begin eating. She simply stared, then looked down at hers, holding the warm bowl in her hand. She followed suit to unwrap it, staring at the soup, warm steam coming off of it. "Thiss is food?" She asked, surprised by its rather… low quality. Entirely unimpressed.

She finally gave in, and without a single reason to, she scooped up some of the noodles and broth and brought it up to her mouth. What a bizarre feeling and motion. She finally opened her mouth and extended her fangs, but realized that was unnecessary, before embarrassingly just shoving the spoon into her mouth. Pink on her cheeks from embarrassingly extending her fangs before Aika like some sort of monster. She wasn't sure what to do from this point on, so she just stood there with the spoon sticking out of her mouth. A small frown appeared on her face. Finally, she pulled the spoon out and began chewing. The frown grew, and her brow furrowed.

Aika briefly glanced at Vigridis, before moving her gaze back to her own ramen "Gee, who would've thought. Something stumps you in both theory and execution." She remarked in between bites, before moving back to just focusing on eating her own ramen.

"And thiss… iss flavor?.. Thiss iss the best food in existencce?" Vigridis asked, not even bothering to finish chewing and swallowing, so her words were kinda muffled. Regardless, she continued to munch on the instant ramen in her hands.

"Flavour? Yes. What you taste right now is the flavour of the ramen. Best food in existence? Nope. As much as I eat it, I wouldn't call it that. For that you need to experiment and see what is the best food to your liking. Because the best is very subjective." Aika said, shrugging a bit "Like I said, different taste buds, different tastes between people. And better to finish chewing and swallowing before you talk. That just makes you seem like an animal." Aika added, before slurping more of her ramen, and then drinking from the cup, finishing its contents.

"Thiss izn't the best?! Then why did you have me eat thiss!" She frowned. "You should have given me the best food!" Vigridis all but whined, still not really getting what Aika was trying to get across. "Hmpfh! An animal?!" She gasped. Of course! She remembered her lessons in manners! She had forgotten common food manners though, having not used them in such a long time. With red cheeks she brushed up the noodles hanging from her mouth and chewed in silent discomfort. She swallowed and then wiped her mouth and hands. "Eating iss messsy…"

Sighing, Aika shook her head a bit "Look, if you still don't get it, then I'm probably not the right person to explain it to you. I'm gonna head back to my room." Aika said, going and throwing the ramen cup into the trash, befor glancing back at Vigridis "And if you decide you do want my help, I'm willing to help with your festival show. But I will be keeping my top on." She told her, before walking back in the direction of the elevator.

"Unfortunate, I am shure your body would put on a magnificent display." Vigridis said without a hint of awareness of those words. She grinned and closed her eyes. "Yes, I would appreciate your assisstance. I am going out now to practicce, you are welcome to join me." Vigridis finished up her food, and tossed the trash away. She wondered if this experience reflected on how eating always was. If so, she didn't see what all the fuss was about. But if what Aika said was true, then this was just the beginning of food consumption.

"Pass for tonight. I'm tired." Aika remarked, ordering the elevator and getting on it once it arrived. When the elevator doors closed, she sighed. If Vigridis was this oblivious to how some things were, Aika didn't see how the vamp was gonna make a good hero. Big part of being a hero was understanding the people. Helping them. And all Aika got from this so far was nothing short of the beginning of a migraine.

Wandering around the festival, Aika didn't have too long before she was going to see Haya by the ferris wheel. She was still wearing the happi she wore on her brief show, the one which had her hero name on it. But, luckily, it seemed no one was trying to chase her down and talk to her about her performance or anything of the sort. If anything, she reckoned that Isa was likely getting the larger crowd with her more extended performance. But as she walked, she did feel herself being a bit peckish. She didn't want to eat too much before going to see Haya, as she imagined Haya would want to share something, but she did want to keep her stomach from rumbling.

Going to a row of food stalls, Aika started looking over them, before noticing a familiar face standing behind one of the stalls. Walking to it, she gave a small knock on the side of the stall, before moving to stand in front and look over the available food "Heya buggy. Doing better huh?" She said, looking him over.

"Yoo!" Kaizen waved in his human form. He was wearing a custom made jinbei which had his clan's insignia embroidered on its back. He wore a strange looking mask that resembled a kabuki mask with a rhinoceros beetle motif. He was somewhat surprised she was able to recognize him despite the mask. "I am doing just fine!" He gave a cheery response before handing a customer their takoyaki. "What would you like to have Aika? Its on the house! As long as you don't take my entire stock!" He said half-jokingly. He knew she had just finished her performance and was probably extremely hungry.

"On the house huh? Don't suppose you have any dango then?" Aika asked, looking over what was available, before looking back at him "Gotta say, you really got into the festival spirit." She said, looking over his attire. The mask was an interesting choice, to say the least, but the fact that it was designed after a beetle made her feel like it was more of a giveaway. As she noticed a few more people coming by the stall to order some food, Aika moved aside, and elected to step into the stall and just wait at the back as he took care of the paying clients "Don't worry, I won't take anything." She said, patting him on the shoulder as she went past him.

"Oh you know me, always trying to be an overachiever." he replied while laughing. Shortly after taking care of the clients and asking his other crew mates to cover him. He got to work with her request. He specifically chose pink dangos to match her color. He brought her two varieties of dango, one shoyu and the other anko. Since she didnt specify which she wanted, he figured he might as well just bring both sweet and savoury variants. "Here you are. Honestly, I didn't take you for a dango person." he said as he placed the two set's of dango at the back table. "So how was the show? I am kinda disappointed that I wasn't there for it but these people don't feed themselves." Kaizen slid his mask upwards to briefly wipe his sweaty face.

As Kaizen brought forth the dango, Aika picked one up and took a bite as he mentioned the show. She shrugged slightly before swallowing and then finally talking "Can't say for sure. I was mostly trying to focus on singing properly and that. Didn't really pay attention to how people responded." She said "And I'm not exactly a picky person with food. I'd be willing to eat anything. Well, I'm not a fan of fish, but if there was nothing else then you know." Aika said before taking another bite from the dango "You know your way around a food stall huh?" She asked, being a bit surprised by how good the dango were.

"I dont know about that Aika, I am pretty sure I could see the crowd cheering for you from all the way here." Kaizen smiled, reassuring her that she did in fact put on a lovely show even if he didn't get to see it himself. "Hey fish isn't that bad once you get used to it. Of course you can't afford to be picky when it's your only option hehe.." he spoke from experience since he mostly had to grow his own food during his time at his family estate. "Yea… I used to do activities like this during this event called the farmer's festival." It was hard work, but it was an honest living. "Say, you come watch my show later tonight." Kaizen handed her a flyer with him and Vigridis on the cover crossing blades with each other.

Taking the flier, Aika's eyebrows rose a bit as she saw it was him and Vigridis crossing blades. After eating another dango, she looked up at him "So you and Vigridis putting on a show, huh. Well, I'll try. Gonna spend some time with Haya, and after that, who knows." Aika said, pocketing the flier "Farmer's festival, huh." She muttered, remembering he mentioned going back to farmwork before. Thinking about the previous talk also made her recall something else.

Moving her gaze to the dango, Aika's expression turned into a bit more of a guilty one "I need to apologize to you. Back when you made that promise, I already knew the contents of Mitsuo's note, seeing how it was left with me. And seeing how it's looking, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to not follow through with that. I just didn't want to share it with anyone other than Ota because, well," Aika shook her head a bit "After Vitalis, it seemed a bit insensitive to just immediately throw accusations like that." She said, looking up at Kaizen "So I am sorry about that."

"What are you on about?" he was confused by her sudden apology "If anything I think now I even have a greater reason to bring him back. If he needs to be saved, we'll save him. If he defected than I'll kick his behind and bring him to jail." Kaizen said without hesitation. "You have no reason to apologize to me, just as I have no reason to rescind my promise." He assured her, Mistuo's circumstances changed nothing about his promise. "Who knows, maybe he actually had a good reason to defect. So here's hoping we won't have to resort to violence this time." he bumped her shoulder as a gesture of understanding as well as revealing his somewhat carefree attitude.

"No reason is ever good to cause anyone to defect. Not in my opinion at least." Aika sighed, before nodding a bit "I am hoping as well that we won't need to beat his ass into jail. But I guess we'll need to wait and see." She said, before looking him over "So, you're completely okay huh? Found yourself an emotional support, or do I need to beat some more sense into you? Because I doubt you can be fine with one of your closer buds defecting like that." She said, before eating another dango, this one being one of the more savory ones.

"I wouldn't say I'm completely okay, I'm just trying to make the most out of things and keeping myself busy. " Kaizen said while sliding his mask back on. "And yea. I've been talking to quite a lot of people lately. So I suppose that can be counted as emotional support." He sighed upon hearing the possibility of his friends betrayal. "Regardless of whether or not I'd be ok with it, there's no use for me to worry about that right now." He didn't think wallowing over something that he would eventually need to deal with was good use of his time, even if such thoughts would creep into his thoughts from time to time. "Besides, its bad for morale to see people like me being downtrodden. So for now at least, I'll do something to keep people's spirits high." He knew the importance of keeping a strong appearance for his teammates.

Hearing his response, Aika couldn't help but nod a bit. She understood what he meant. And it was good that he was talking to people and not just looking to grow physically. After eating the last dango, Aika patted him on his shoulder again "Well, seems like you do have your head a bit more in place than how it was before. That's good." She smiled before looking at her phone, checking the time "I'm guessing that's all the break time you could afford for now? It does look like more people are coming too." Aika stated, looking to the front of the stall and seeing the amount of people that began to grow more.

"Sounds about right…" Kaizen got back up and crack his knuckles. "Also… thank you. I appreciate you checking up on me." Kaizen was happy to have someone like Aika. He considered it an especially kind gesture since he knew she wasn't usually the social type. "More mouths to feed I guess. You go have fun with Haya, tell her I said hi." Kaizen smiled under his mask as he resumed his duties. At least he knew Aika genuinely cared about him.