now playing: 2.3 - go home, kid
01:43 ━━━━●───── 03:50
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tw !: mentions of kidnapping.
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"Kaz, are you sure you don't want me to come?" Aizawa asked, watching as Kazumi did her hair into two low buns in her bedroom mirror.
The two lived together in Aizawa's apartment in the faculty building, it had been Kazumi's idea to live together because it made sense to live with her guardian if he were to live there too. So, she had her own room in his apartment.
"I'll be fine." She reassured, tying off her bun before smiling at her reflection in the mirror. "I'm just going to sit on the roof and turn up my hearing to see if they're still in the area. If we're lucky, maybe they won't be too far."
Aizawa leaned on her door frame, sighing.
"I'd rather them be far away rather them to be there while you're scoping them out."
Kazumi glared at Aizawa through her vanity mirror, her eyeliner making her look intimidating.
"Sho," She said in a warning tone. "I won't engage in any unnecessary fights, you know that I don't waste energy."
Aizawa pursed his lips, watching as Kazumi stood up in her hero suit before grabbing a pair of binoculars and her laptop off her bed and throwing it into a black backpack. She decided that she was going to try transcribing the video Tsukauchi gave her while she was on the roof if it was safe.
"Alright, sorry, sorry." He surrendered, letting her walk past him through the door. "Just text me when you get there and on your way home, got it?"
Kazumi smiled at him, nodding before quickly kissing his cheek and heading off.
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Kazumi breathed heavily as she hauled herself onto the roof of the abandoned building, unlocking herself from the clamp on her waist that was attached to a rope tied around a pipe on the roof.
She momentarily laid on her back, attempting to catch her breath.
She'd scaled the side of the building to the roof since there was no guarantee that the villains had left the building. Even though Kazumi had used her hearing beforehand to check if the coast was clear, she didn't want to risk anything — especially since there seemed to be a camera inside the building that the League could possibly get their hands on.
Kazumi rolled onto her stomach, slowly sitting up as her palms laid flat on the building. She closed her eyes, adjusting her hearing range and volume to see if she could find where they were.
There was definitely no one in the building and no familiar vitals that matched the profiles of the villains in any buildings nearby. So, it was safe to say that there were no League members nearby as Aizawa had hoped.
She collapsed into a sitting position, her legs out as she caught her breath. She was secretly relieved that there were no League members around too, but she'd never admit that to Aizawa.
Her eyes landed on her backpack that she'd abandoned nearby, remembering how she'd brought her laptop with her. She grabbed it out, alongside a notebook and pen, before connecting her headphones to the laptop and opening the footage.
When she pressed play, she immediately adjusted her hearing to the crackling and distortion, hearing the audio perfectly. The lighting was a bit too dark, but she could remember the outlines of the league members.
She watches as Twice slowly leads a male, who she assumed to be the Yakuza leader, into the factory and she feels shivers run down her spine as she hears the leader speak for the first time as he complains about the dust.
Her body had frozen to the floor, her fingers trembling as it hovered over the spacebar. She was too terrified to even pause the video.
"The young head of the Shie Hassaikai... So he's the number two of organised crime? Oh my, I've never seen anything like him!"
She watched as the male figure came into the light, causing her to suddenly clutch her head as her eyes recognised his all too familiar appearance. Her laptop slid towards her as her legs recoiled to her body, haphazardly bringing the screen closer to her.
She knew that the case the detective had outlined to her sounded way too familiar.
"So, why is the impoverished yakuza boy here?"
"It's less about All Might, and more about the loss of All For One." His voice slithered into her ears, poisoning her and impeding on her movements. "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?"
Her eyes widened her fingers pulling at her hair as she trembled with pure fear and anger.
She felt her heart drop as Shigaraki immediately challenged him, claiming he was already in line as the next leader.
However, the yakuza leader proved himself to be more prepared as he questioned Shigaraki's plan. He pulled apart their past dealings and questioned their moves as a league, making a league that had kidnapped her seem small minded and unprepared.
The way he talked about the villains who'd died in Shigaraki's hands was as if they were chess pieces in a game, as if they were poorly played and were lost due to their own incompetencies.
"But I have a plan." The masked man announced, "I didn't come here today because I wanted to join you. 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. "
Kazumi's breathing grew erratic as she remembered those exact eight words spoken to her two years ago. It really is you... Dad.
The video had been cut off. The parts where he'd murdered Magne and chopped Compress' arm off hadn't been provided to Kazumi since they concluded that it was probably unnecessary for her to see it.
She tried catching her breath, staring at her white knuckles. She didn't know whether she was terrified or absolutely livid. She slammed her laptop closed before snatching her headphones off, putting them around her neck.
She hated to admit it, but Bakugou was right. She shouldn't have agreed to work for Tsukauchi. Her kidnapper had been closely linked to the League after all.
Kazumi fell backwards onto the floor, her hair splayed out on the roof as she stared at the starry sky.
When she was younger and couldn't control her quirk, she used to love looking up at the dark sky and imaging space. The one thing Kazumi was envious of were astronauts. The thought of space has always calmed her down given that noises couldn't be heard in space because space has no air to vibrate and that is how sound travels.
She had to remind herself that taking this job will make her useful.
Yes, useful.
Kazumi raised her hand to the sky, trying to calm her breathing as she searched for constellations she could recognise.
However, her eyes widened as she heard an unfamiliar presence suddenly land on the pavement not too far away from her.
She sprung up into a sitting position, closing her laptop with her foot before stuffing it into her bag. Standing up, she put a strap over her shoulder before her eyes darted around the dark roof.
Her ears flinched as she heard the familiar 'whoosh' that birds would make when moving their wings – except this time it sounded dense, heavy even. Kazumi whipped her head to the left when she heard calm footsteps making their way over to her and she tried her best not to seem nervous. She didn't want it to be another possible League member who'd found her snooping around.
However, she nearly collapsed in relief as the number two hero walked into the light, his hands nonchalantly tucked into his pockets. He appeared just as tense as she felt before she realised who he was and she quickly raised her hands above her head.
He eyed her with his beautifully shaped eyes, his hand raising to lift his glasses on top of his head.
She could tell from his defensive stance that he was extremely suspicious of her, especially due to her dark outfit and the rope and clamp at her feet.
Hawks raised a brow, grabbing a feather from his wing before pointing it at her.
"W...Wait! I'm Kazumi Amano, a first year student at U.A." Kazumi stammered anxiously, pointing to the pouch on her leg. "I have a provisional licence in my pouch."
Hawks' eyes widened as he carefully observed her.
"Oh... the sound waves kid from the sports festival..." Hawks said, lowering his feather. "Hey... weren't you the kid involved in the kidnapping case recently?"
Kazumi nodded, trembling under his intimidating gaze.
Hawks was always seen as a carefree and, admittingly, handsome hero. But facing him one on one, she realised that perception was not the case. His civilian persona was instead replaced by an almost threatening presence.
"What exactly is a first year provisional licence holder doing here so late? Isn't that exam taken by second years?" Hawks interrogated, Kazumi feeling her blood run cold. "You better have a good excuse, otherwise I'll get you in trouble with your teachers."
Kazumi shook her head, swiftly pulling out her licence before holding it out to him.
"First years are required to do it now, I got mine early because I was recommended for an early sitting." She explained as he took her card. "I'm here to investigate the League... since I was kidnapped by them and know their vitals and information."
"Well..." he glanced at the name on her licence. "...Dulcet, this better be an official order because that is a dangerous task to do."
She was about to retort until she noticed how his fingers tapped on her licence as he played with it.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
'I am undercover.'
Kazumi's face dropped into a calm expression, eyeing Hawks who side eyed her.
Hawks was a bit more than familiar with the kidnapping case Kazumi was apart of. If anything, he'd been keeping a sharp eye on the sound waves user ever since he recognised her as the little girl who used to hang around the Commission before she was adopted.
Since then, he'd been keeping tabs on her; it wasn't a hard thing to do since she seemed to be all over the media after the sports festival, sightings of her working for Best Jeanist, and of course the League kidnapping.
Not to mention that he knew to use morse code with her after hearing about how she'd contacted Eraserhead the location of the League's hideout.
She was an intelligent student with a bright future. It made him kind of wish that he took her under his wing as an intern.
"Fine... I'm here on my own volition..." Kazumi lied in a guilty tone. "Please don't tell anyone, I just got my licence, I don't want it to be taken away."
Hawks chucked her card back at her, Kazumi catching it smoothly before tucking it back into her pouch.
"You're lucky you ran into me, Kid. Who knows what could've happened to you." Hawks commented before making his way to the balcony behind her and leaned his arms on it. "I'll have to tell Eraser about you... unless you can pretend tonight didn't happen and leave."
Kazumi eyed him carefully as he ushered her towards him, hesitantly approaching the balcony and leaning on the railing too.
"As long as you don't tell my homeroom teacher, I won't say a word." She promised, Hawks grabbing her hand and putting something in it before tightly clasping her fingers around it. "But... I just wanted to help."
"Didn't you just get kidnapped? Go home, kid." He retorted. "Besides, my feathers can do that for me."
She opened her fingers, hands trembling as she held one of his red feathers. She looked up at him as he patted her shoulder, his head jerking towards the city below them.
Kazumi opened her mouth to speak only for her ears to twitch.
Someone was going to enter the building they were on.
She quickly analysed their vitals and footsteps, immediately recognising it to be Dabi even before he could step foot into the building.
She glanced at Hawks who seemed oblivious to the man's presence... yet too on guard to be completely oblivious. It was as if he knew something dangerous was coming from how defensive he seemed to be with her being around, not to mention how he said that it wasn't safe as if he were expecting someone.
'Dabi is here,' she mouthed hastily, Hawk's eyes narrowing before he nodded.
Kazumi immediately picked up her clamp from the floor and hooked it to her belt, tightening it quickly before putting her backpack on properly.
"Fine... I'll drop it." Kazumi retorted, nodding at Hawks who had watched her intently.
She played with the clamp, making sure it was secure, before carefully hoisting herself down the side of the building where she'd came from, clutching the feather tightly to her chest.
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