"Normal" - speaking
'Italics' - thinking
(Bold) - author speaking/ author notes
<Normal> - calling/ audio
(Normal) - texting
(Third POV)
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"What the fuck Sora!? I thought you killed him!?" Ms. Manager exclaims, a look of unease and anger mixed into her features.
"I did..." he says quietly, kneeling down, beside Izuku.
"I'll continue activating my quirk for another ten seconds."
He looks up at his boss.
"Did you ever ask what his quirk was?"
"Of course I-..."
Her face scrunches as she reviews the very few talks she had with Izuku since he started his job.
"No... no I don't think I did,"
"Well, do you know his last name?"
She nods her head no.
"Where he lives?"
"No."
"What about his school?"
"... Nope."
"Why don't you have any information on him? We work in a hero café that is used to trade information and Intel. A café that's supposed to be completely secure, yet you never thought to do a background check on him?"
"Don't think you can talk to me like that! I took you in, turned a blind eye to your past, and gave you a job, I can take it away anytime I want." she exclaims, brows furrowed.
Tanso flinches, lowering his head.
"I'm sorry ma'am" Tanso reply's, releasing his quirk.
"Check his pulse," she says calmly. Tanso nods and takes Izuku's arm, placing two fingers on his wrist.
Five seconds go past, Tanso opens his mouth to deliver the verdict, but his index and middle finger feel an unexpected pulse, a slow and unsteady one, but, a pulse nonetheless.
"He's... uh, he's alive?"
"Then fucking KILL HIM!" she screams, walking over, before stomping her foot into Izuku's head. Once, twice, once more. Her face is full of pent up aggression and what you might call fear.
She knows Tanso can kill quickly, and has the power to take down multiple heroes in a one room in just a couple of seconds. She knows because she saw it happen.
-Flashback-
(Ms. Manager POV)
It was only a few months since she opened Your Hero Academia Café, and things were going fairly well.
It was the fifteenth of January, and a large group of six, up and coming pro heroes came in to celebrate a successful infiltration of a fairly large villain group.
It was the middle of the day when he came in wearing a surgical mask, grey sweatshirt, and black sweatpants.
The first thing I noticed about the guy was his fearful gaze and tense posture. I had a feeling he wasn't a hero, but It was the first time someone other than a pro hero came into the café, so I didn't know how to approach the situation.
I was standing in the doorway between the supply room and the café's counter when he turned toward the table that sat the multiple heroes, who were too caught up in their conversation to notice him walking towards them.
I guess I assumed the heroes would handle him for me.
He stopped, standing right in between two of the multiple occupants at the table.
At this point they all knew he was there, and stopped talking. One was about to pipe up when they all stiffened...
The ones that I could see, their eyes were wide and bloodshot, like they were silently screaming.
Just seconds later, they all either slump forward, or to the side, knocking over their chair and the glasses on the the table in the process, shattering them.
He stood there for a few more seconds, before turning towards the bar, where I stood, frozen.
He looked guilty. Head down, eyes on the floor, hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt.
"Where's the money."
"What?"
He said it in a normal volume, but I guess I just didn't expect it.
"The MONEY," he says sternly, stepping forward.
"Ok... ok, money, yes, i'll get the money."
I was disoriented, my mind was frantically trying to figure out how get out of this situation alive, making it hard for me to interact and speak.
I knew last shift's earnings were stored in a safe in my office, and that our cash register on the bar counter only had a couple thousand yen in it; an empty tip jar sitting to the right of it.
A simple, but high success rate plan surfaced.
I quickly opened the register, forcing a scared expression. I grab the two thousand yen bills.
From the corner of my eye, I see him take a hand out of his pocket.
In that moment, my heart drops.
He's wearing gloves.
'Shit'
My 'high success rate' plan was immediately foiled. The use of my quirk would have no affect if I couldn't come in contact with his skin.
I impulsively do the only thing that could give me time to come up with another plan, and trip on my own feet.
I fall, letting go of the money in the process.
The intruder places a hand on the bar, and leans over, making sure I wasn't going to grab something other than the money. Doing so, his sleeve is pulled backwards, revealing his arm.
I notice this and immediately throw my left hand up, going to grab his wrist, while also acting like I'm just looking for something to steady myself with.
I make contact, absorbing the small amount of information my quirk could pick up. He looked surprised, reeling back to the opposite side of the counter.
I stand up, the money in one hand.
Silently handing the yen to him, I go over what I learned.
A single sentence was given to me:
Collect enough money to feed oblivious daughter, Auso Otsuki.
'An oblivious daughter? What does she not know?'
"I'm sorry," I hear him mumble.
"WAIT! waitwaitwait!" I blurt out, holding my arms out in front of me.
"Why don't you work for me!"
He looks up at me, rightfully confused.
"I'm sure you would rather earn a honest living, supporting... any kids you might have; instead of barbarically killing to survive"
He seems speechless, the gears turning in his head.
I continued my proposal.
"I... uh, just started this café, and I need someone to guard the door; y'know, maybe come up with a password system..."
"Ill pay you by the hour, average wage."
He doesn't seem convinced.
"... And- and, I'll forget this ever happened, I swear my life on it."
He seemed to consider the offer for a second.
"How do you expect to cover this up?"
I don't have an answer.
"I'm sure I'll figure something out. This café is owned by the Hero Public Safety Commission, it's fairly common for a scandal such as this to surface; it won't be hard to frame it on someone else."
I felt my confidence rising, and chose the risky route, by planting the possibility of capture in his mind.
"It's either this or Tartarus."
"...I don't know if you noticed, but we have a few cameras hidden outside the café, camouflaged of course."
"The footage is automatically sent to the Safety Commission after a full twenty-four hour period every day, and stored in a hard-drive."
"I'd suggest you take this offer... you don't really have any other option."
Of course I bluffed about the cameras. The Commission doesn't want to worry about the most definitely incriminating footage any camera that is linked to the Hero Commission could contain.
-Present Time-
(Third POV)
What once was Izuku's head, is now a red pulp, oozing on the cold floor; a couple green hairs are seen sticking out of the mess here and there.
Ms. Manager is breathing fast and hard. Beads of sweat trickle down her face.
Her eyes are wide. Her mind currently attempting to process her actions leading up to now.
Tanso is nonplussed. He steps backward, bumping into the off white wall.
"Why..."
"Why did you-"
The manager with the bloody shoe responds with a shaky voice.
"I- I don't... I don't know."
"Why did you kill him like this!?" Tanso cries out.
"You do understand there are multiple capable heroes in the other room right?"
"They wouldn't do anything," she says.
"... Because you tipped them off... hush money. But I don't think they'd let you get away with this," Tanso finishes.
"Stop," she reply's, stepping back, a bloody footprint left behind.
"...Stay in your place Sora."
What she said seemed to strike something in Sora, as he looks straight into his boss's eyes. His own eyes narrowed, wrathful and showing resent.
"I have been for YEARS, and I have complied to your every demand, and never complained," He says angrily.
"I SAID STA-"
"NO! I think you should hear this because no matter what, I don't see how your getting out of this!" Tanso interrupts, motioning to the gory heap below.
"How I'm getting out? You do realize you take part in all of this yourself," she replies, fuming.
During their fight, Izuku's quirk was taking effect, but slower than usual.
The meat of his head started forming first; red and blue nerves intertwined. A new Brain and new blood spontaneously form in place of what was lost. Izuku's skull comes next, growing around his brain.
Spinal fluid starts filling up inside, his skull acting like a bowl.
His old brain matter, skull, skin, and hair stay stuck to the floor, staining the stone.
New flesh begins spreading over his skull; like how water spreads when spilled onto concrete.
It takes thirty more seconds to reconstruct Izuku's cartilage, and facial features, miraculously leaving no visible scars.
"-what would your daughter say about how your treating your superior?"
"This matter has nothing to do with my daughter nor the café anymore, and... I think you know that," Tanso says quietly.
Izuku's eyes shoot open, pupils contracted, irises burning with a green glow.
It once was unlike him to be angry, even though there was reason to be at every turn, but now that everything holding him back was purged; specifically the fear, the what if, the blame... Now he could let out the rage once in a while.
Currently, his bubbling anger was creeping it's way to the surface, although, his reason is able to keep him still for the moment.
'Read the room before attacking,'
'Strike quick and efficiently...'
"-nd I've had enough of your bullshit!" The Your Hero Academia Café's Manager exclaims, stomping over to her desk. She yanks open the middle drawer.
She reaches in, and pulls out a pistol.
Tanso visibly recoils at the sight of the gun in her hand.
"That's fucking right. I know your stupid quirk can't stop bullets," she gloats, aiming the gun at his chest.
Tanso attempts to intimidate by stepping forward, but jumps back after he hears the click of his boss's gun cocking.
"No... no no, please don't. You know I have a daughter. She's barely three years old," he pleads frantically, hands raised in surrender.
"Don't make this any harder than it has to be," she responds.
"At least let me say goodbye! I- I don't want her to think I abandoned her, anything but that..."
She hesitates for a moment, but persists on.
"Then I'll kill her too, so you don't have to worry about her knowing how you selfishly abandoned her."
Tanso drops to his knees, his eyes are are beginning to tear up.
"NO! No no no."
"I'd rather her think I selfishly abandoned her than her not think at all," he says, head lowered.
"Fine then.."
Tanso Sora raises his hea- BANG.
Izuku flinches. Tanso falls forward, his head bleeding out on Izuku's leg.
Ms. Manager quickly pulls a trashcan out from underneath her desk and loudly hurls her entire day's worth of food, water, and stomach acid into it.
Izuku shoves the deceased doorman's head off his leg, shakily stands up before walking toward his violently vomiting manager.
"You..."
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Kill count - 1
Word count - 2030
~☆~