He didn't want to admit it, but Chisaki was glad that his quirk had returned the next day. Since Kurono knew what he had done, and threw quite a fit about it, he knew that if he remained quirkless there'd be a power struggle within the Hassaikai. With his quirk back in commission, he could remain its head and driving force.
And, as the days passed by, the two of you maintained a professional relationship in front of the Hassaikai. The Eight Bullets were none the wiser to your nightly visits to his room, though neither of you discussed what you "were." Despite the undiscussed feelings, it felt nice to have some kind of stress reliever at the end of the day. You figured that, at some point, he would sit down with you and have "the talk," but with the solution so close it was clear he was too busy to even begin to think of a steady relationship.
Though, because they at least had a semi-working prototype, they could begin looking for power and funds whether that be legally or illegally. That was where the League of Villains came into play.
Chisaki had been contacted by one of their members that called themselves "Twice." Impressed with the power demonstrated during an attack on the Team Reservoir Dogs, a meeting was set up to discuss a potential merger. He had thought about turning it down, but Chisaki saw the potential value of being associated with the league considering their recent movements.
"You will need to stay hidden as you follow me," Chisaki stood at the head of a large conference table, each Hassaikai member seated and listening carefully the day before the meeting. "I am scheduled to see Twice downtown at eight PM. You all will need to keep your distance and be ready should something happen at their meeting point. Y/N will not be able to cover you as this one wears a mask." He then turned to his assistant with a serious look behind his eyes, "you will have the prototype, use it in an emergency. I'm counting on your intellect to scope out vantage points of the building in a quick manner when we arrive."
"Yes, sir," Kurono answered without hesitating. You kept your expression flat, but his kiss ass attitude was almost enough to make you want to gag.
"Then we're all clear?" Chisaki looked at each one of the Bullets who were all showing some kind of affirmative whether it be nodding their head or humming. "Wonderful."
From that meeting you were told to be one of the shields. Should the LOV go on the offense, you were the back up should Kurono miss his shot. Katsukame would be the one to break down any walls and you would dive in front to stop the offender right in their tracks.
Though you heavily disliked him, you knew Kurono was a good shot, so you felt like you had little to worry about for your first time heading to the surface in almost three years.
You took a deep breath as you completed the last stair, a smile forming on your face. That's what you missed out on...fresh air. Chisaki would argue otherwise, tightening his already snug plague mask.
"Make sure you put that on," he advised. "We don't know what their quirks are."
"If that's the case, maybe you should create one that's a bit more secure," you chuckled, bringing the ibis mask around your face and pulling your hood up. "You think you'd learn after dealing with me." Chisaki rolled his eyes and continued on ahead as a few of the Bullets giggled at your jab.
The group of you carefully kept your distance as Chisaki met with Twice.
He was quite the character, Twice...almost like two people in one. It looked like he struggled with his quirk, likely another person you could connect with in that regard.
You followed them through the city until you hit the outskirts where an abandoned warehouse sat and collected dust. You were all hidden amongst the trees as the pair approached the building.
"Give me a break..." Chisaki coughed, "this place is so dusty...I feel like I'll get sick."
"Don't worry!" Twice said happily. "The guys inside are already sick!" As he completed his sentence, large garage doors opened up and the pair disappeared inside.
From there, you followed Kurono who would give a signal to the others below should anything go awry.
He was able to find a vantage point from high above, perching in one of the ventilation windows. From where you were crouched, you could see a few characters but couldn't make out faces very well from behind your goggles.
"You brought a crazy, big fish, huh, Twice?" A dark figure mumbled, the voice eerily familiar. You shook it off and continued listening.
"Big fish? That's ironic," Chisaki answered with a small hint of disappointment, standing well away from the four figures - Twice still standing next to his guest, "League of Villains."
"What? Is that guy someone famous?" Another character seated next to the dark figure asked, slightly leaning and holding something large. You swore under your breath at how irritating it was to visually make out anything. You wondered how much practice Kurono had to go through to be such a good shot.
"Master showed me a picture of him before. He's what you'd call 'yakuza.'" The dark figure answered, barely moving and keeping his eyes on Chisaki. "The young head of the Shie Hassaikai."
"The young head of the Shie Hassaikai? So he's the number two of organized crime?" The same figure that had asked questioned in a cheerful, almost excited tone. "Oh my, I've never seen anything like him! He smells dangerous!"
"Organized crime?" A third person spoke, a blonde girl whose tone sounded very young. "How's he different from us?"
"All right, let me tell you!" A fourth spoke, this one you at least could tell was wearing a large, brimmed hat. "In the past, there were lots of scary groups that ran the underworld. But after heroes started thriving, they were unmasked and disbanded and once All Might appeared on the scene, that era was over. The survivors who hadn't been caught became designated villain groups. In other words, they were treated like villain reserves just scraping by to make a living under the watch of the police. Frankly, they're obsolete and should be a protected species."
"Protected species, huh?" You heard Chisaki sigh. "Well, he's not wrong..."
"So, why is this impoverished yakuza boy here?" Twice asked. "Are you also on a high because of All Might's retirement?"
"No, it's less about All Might and more about the loss of All for One," Chisaki's answer caused your breathing to hitch. You really had missed out on a lot of information, mentally scolding yourself for avoiding the news. And Chisaki knew...and didn't tell you that so much had occurred. "The emperor of darkness who ruled over all the underside of society...my generation treated him like an urban legend. But our elders believed they had reason to fear him even after he was rumored to be dead. But this time, he showed up in the flesh... All Might retire and All for One was thrown into Tartarus. In other words, right now, for both those in the sun and those in the shadows, there is no leader. So then, who will be the next leader?"
"If you know who my master is, and you're still saying that..." The dark figure took a step closer to Chisaki as your brain tried to comprehend his sentence. His master was All for One...it couldn't be...could it? "Are you here to challenge me? I'm the next leader. Even now, I'm gathering my troops. Our numbers will increase soon. And with that power, I'll crush hero society starting with its head."
"Do you have a plan?" Chisaki nearly interrupted.
"A plan?" The figure's tone was slightly offended. "You little... You came here to join us, didn't you?"
"A goal with no plan is called a delusion. If you present me with a delusion, then how am I supposed to react?" Chisaki began, going on a rant about the LOV's lack of preparedness.
"Chrono..." you whispered with a slightly panicked voice as Chisaki droned on.
"Shh..." he scolded you as if you were a small child, pistol pointed directly at the dark figure - the leader of the League of Villains.
"Chrono..." you whispered again, nervously holding the long, thin beak of your mask, "who is their leader? Do you know his name?"
Chrono made a sound of exasperation and turned his head toward you. "Shigaraki Tomura. But we don't know much else other than the fact that he has ties to All for One."
"That's what I thought," you murmured and turned back to continue listening, feeling your heart begin to rush in your chest as you released your mask - not wanting to peek with any clear vision. Your mouth quickly went dry as the nerves continued to take over.
"Twice, don't bring people before checking their intent," Shigaraki quietly scolded. Twice quickly gasped, clearly feeling incredibly guilty after Chisaki tore through the LOV.
"In order to execute my plan, I need a lot of money. There isn't really anyone willing to invest in some obsolete small-time yakuza. But it'd be different if I had you guys with your increasing name recognition. Put yourselves under me, I'll show you how well I can use you. And then, I'll become the next leader." Chisaki reached out to him and made a fist, a motion of encouragement.
"Go home," Shigaraki muttered as the excited, red-headed figure began to lunge at Chisaki.
"Sorry, yakuza boy, we didn't come together to be under someone!" The character unraveled whatever it was they were holding. In the same moment, you and Kurono tensed and he prepared to line up the shot.
Their quirk was clearly associated with magnetism, drawing Chisaki close by the metal of his beak.
"I'm here because I don't want to be bound by anything!"
As his body was being drawn close, Chisaki tore his glove from his hand and Kurono stood down knowing he was going to defend himself. Why waste a bullet on a corpse?
"We will decide where we belong!" The large metal object came back as the figure continued shouting. You watched closely, completely on edge despite knowing Chisaki would be just fine.
Just as the object met his body, Chisaki used only a scratch of his finger to completely disintegrate the figure's torso - it exploding into a shower of blood in almost an instant. You winced at the sight, trying to keep the image from your mind. This was the part of being a yakuza member you detested.
"Big sister Mag!" The figure you knew as the young girl screamed bloody murder.
All of them came to a stand in defense as Chisaki recovered. You could tell he was covered in hives from the blood spatter thanks to the way he was feverishly scratching his forearm.
"You all made the first move," he muttered, slowly standing straight. "Ugh...that's filthy..." he shook his head nervously, still scratching. "That's why I hate stuff like this."
Just as he finished complaining, the figure in the large hat took a dive, Shigaraki calling out to stop the person he called Compress to no avail. Kurono took his shot then, successfully landing the needle in Compress' shoulder.
Just as his hand reached out to use whatever quirk he had, Chisaki activated his own at a much faster pace - the anti-quirk bullet immediately taking effect.
"Don't touch me!" Chisaki shouted furiously, disintegrating Compress' arm without hesitation.
"Go, this is getting messy quickly," Kurono advised you while turning around and giving a hand signal to those waiting on the ground outside.
You dove down just as Shigaraki was on the move. You had the advantage here, knowing just what to show him to freeze him in his tracks. At the same time, Kurono took a second shot - missing, which was why you dove down in the first place.
You landed just in front of Chisaki who still stood hunched over from the action. He looked on as you did what you did best.
You tore your mask away and stood tall as Shigaraki's body completely halted, his red eyes widening at the sight of your clear face before the hallucination took hold.
He quickly fell to his knees, heavily breathing and looking at his empty palms. You felt warm tears beginning to well at the base of your eyes as you watched your childhood friend tremble with a mix of sadness, fear, and anxiety.
You could see it with him... The small dog disintegrating into ash and blood from under his grasp... A small, innocent, five-year-old boy with no one on his side - clutching and killing one of the only things in his life that loved him unconditionally.
Just as things began to settle, the other Bullets burst through the walls. The rest of the LOV stood back in shock as you gently released the hallucination, grip loosening on your plague mask that was in your hands.
Shigaraki looked up and made direct eye contact with you through the hand that covered his face. "I see..." he mumbled, voice slightly shaking with emotion as he came back to a stand. "If you started with that, it would've been a lot easier to understand what you wanted."
"That was close, Overhaul," Kurono appeared beside Chisaki. You took steps backward to meet with the two of them, leaving your sore eyes on the blue-haired figure in front of you.
"You're late," Chisaki chastised as he put his gloves back on.
"And I missed a shot," he noted and proudly held up the pistol, "but there was enough immediate effectiveness."
"Wait, where did you...?" Twice was in complete shock. "We weren't being followed!" He reassured Shigaraki who held an irritated stance, eyes still magnetized to you. It was almost as if you were holding some kind of silent conversation.
"It was probably someone's quirk..." he muttered, looking directly at you.
You hadn't yet learned to use your quirk against masks, but Shigaraki didn't know that. He was thinking you had shielded the group from Twice's view as he arrived with Chisaki.
"It'll be hard to make objective decisions like this," Chisaki scratched at his arms more as he spoke. "Right, it's unproductive to cut down each other's forces, anyway. And, unfortunately, we're not even seeing as there is a corpse and missing arm on your side. It's a good time to stop. Let's cool our heads and talk again another day." Chisaki turned and began leaving. "We'll owe you a body and an arm."
"Bastard," Twice cursed, "I'll kill you!"
"Tomura, I can cut him," the girl angrily hissed with a knife in her hands, "I'm going to, okay?"
"No," he said in monotone, still glaring at you.
You were the one to break eye contact, closing your lids and sighing as you turned away - putting your mask back on and pulling your hood back up.
"Let me take responsibility!" Twice begged.
"No," Shigaraki repeated.
"A wise decision, Hand Guy," Irinaka teased while perched atop Katsukame.
"It doesn't have to be right away, but the sooner, the better." Chisaki called out. "Think carefully..." he tossed a business card in their direction. Your expression was of complete sadness as you watched Chisaki, still walking toward his side. "...About your own organization and stuff. Give me a call once you've calmed down a bit."