As you stared at the man on the ground in front of you, you wondered if his supposed network of connections extended to what you needed of him.
Fake documents.
The fire was forming a ring that surrounded all three of you while keeping Compress's lackeys away. In other words, it gave you the privacy you needed to strike this next deal.
"Tell you what... We'll work for you." You stated, an empty look in your eyes as stared at him. Now that you're having a real good look at his face, why does he seem so utterly familiar to you? It's almost like you've seen his face for a long time.
Atsuhiro had an uncomfortable look as he silently kept waiting for you to continue, "-but saying that the compensation for doing your dirty work would simply be a residence and a bit of safety... It's kinda unfair, don't you think?"
Again, you were met with silence. Instead, the brunette was trying to figure out in his head, just what was happening. There's no way he was getting threatened by a 7-year old, right?
There's no way you were the one who was the mastermind out of the two of you.
You're a literal child–
"So, instead... How about I state my demands and you state yours? Since our relationship is going to be purely based on business, I suppose it would be wise of us to also treat it as such." A small smirk flashed on your child face, and that's what had snapped the male out of his shock.
No, this was actually happening.
You had him locked in a checkmate, leaving his hands completely immobile and him, utterly defenseless. His usual dexterity was of no use as he could barely feel his hands, they were practically numb and frostbitten.
He was more surprised that his hands weren't starting to get affected by necrosis, but figured that perhaps it was also your doing. Keeping the conditions of his arm just cold enough for it to be frostnipped but not that cold that he'd forever lose his arms.
What terrifyingly accurate control you had over your quirk...
Seeing you show your true strength, he was slowly starting to accept why you were the one in charge. But it was still unbelievable that a 7-year old would be this smart to not just keep herself but also her brother alive, while living on the streets.
Even if you factored in Touya's little part-time, Atsuhiro knew that it would barely stock up enough money to feed one person, let alone two growing children. Besides, even if Touya's quirk did take care of warming you both, you still needed clothes and had other basic needs.
All in all, what he meant to say was that while there may have been a public image of Touya being the main provider, and the one in charge but behind all that facade, you were the one who mainly provided for both of you, and took care of all major planning. Be it keeping both of you well-fed and happy or taking care of the finances.
"What... do you want?" After a pretty long time, Atsuhiro finally spoke. He didn't want to admit it but he was dying with curiosity over what you both could require that made you fight back with such fervor.
You seemed rather pleased with his pliant question, "Oh, it's simple. Along with your initial offer, we'd like to add a few more things. The first and the most important one being... fake documents."
The man was surprised.
Did you just say fake documents?!
But you didn't falter upon seeing his surprised face, and kept a calm face, "I-I'm sorry, fake documents? As in, forged documents?! Why-Why would you even have the need for that–"
"I don't think knowing the reason for their use is a necessity to have them made. Can you, or can you not do it? You did state that you have a network of connections..." You muttered to yourself under your breath, but it was loud enough to let the man on the ground hear it.
Touya was keeping watch of Compress's lackeys and maintaining the fire around you guys. Man, can this guy just agree to all your terms and conditions so you can just call it a day and go sleep? You're dying to just get some sleep in.
You don't know if you're genuinely tired these days or perhaps you have just reached that age in which everything in life just tires you out and you want nothing more than to rest. Maybe a mix of both? Who knows, who cares.
"Well, yes. I can get it done. But is that really the only addition you needed to be made?" Even though Compress knew that he was helping you guys by continuously asking you if that's really all you guys wanted, he still couldn't get it through his head that you would request for some easily obtained forged identities and documents.
"Now, now... Don't get hasty. I was just getting to the other part of this." It's then that you began to explain further, "The second thing I need is information. If you're truly that well versed in the underground, and I'd assume you also have all sorts of knowledge about other villains and heroes, correct?" He narrowed his eyes at where you were leading this conversation, but nonetheless nodded.
A smile made way to your lips upon seeing his agreement, "Well then, I suppose it wouldn't be to much for me ask of you, to look into a few people, right?" Now, he was getting more and more suspicious.
Just what did you need from him?
But then at that moment, you let go of his throat and stood back to your full height, a sweet smile resting on your lips. Atsuhiro noted that the moment you smiled at him, the feeling of blood rushing back into his arms returned and he was finally able to feel his arms again.
Before he even knew it, he could use his arms again.
The man stared at you in shock as you walked a few steps back and stared right at him, "Well then, if you agree with both of these terms of ours, we'll work for you. Do we have a deal, Mr. Compress?" The brunette was left in shock.
These two demands were what had been stopping you two?! These were literally such easy tasks that he's suspicious that there might be an underlying, cryptic code in your words.
But to his surprise, you just kept a sweet smile on your face as you stared at him. Patiently waiting for him to accept the deal.
"Is that truly all?" He reconfirmed, but you just had a innocent look on your face as you nodded, "Yup! That's all we ask of you!"
"[Name], are you done?" Touya called out, having just about enough of standing there doing nothing. You turned to your brother and narrowed your eyes.
Why is he whining again? He doesn't get that privilege after he threw all your efforts down the drain by yet again, haphazardly attacking someone. Jesus, you'd think the first time would be enough of a lesson but you guessed wrong.
"And what if I don't want to accept your little deal?" The magician edged, making you smirk. You knew he'd ask this question. Which is exactly why you walked closer and closer, holding his gaze and making him watch you in nervousness.
"What makes you think you have the choice to refuse?" Seeing the look in your eyes, Atsuhiro was quick to get the message.
If he refused, he would die.
For some reason, that brought a playful smile on his face.
"Honestly, as much as I should be wary of both of you, I can't help but feel more and more intrigued. I suppose as a magician, I'm dying to see what cards you are hiding." The brunette started and you returned your gaze to smile at him, matching his passive aggressive aura.
The older male gave you a lazy smirk as he continued, "Fine by me, I accept your demands." And you nodded at his words, "Excellent, we have a deal!"
You snapped your fingers and in an instant, the blue flames surrounding you three were extinguished, all while you and Atsuhiro were locked in a staring contest. The latter's men rushed at you two, and Touya almost jumped in to fight. But the brunette in front of you let his gaze drift to the men and spoke with absolute authority, "Stop. Don't attack them."
The men were confused.
What the hell was he talking about? He was just attacked by you two!
"They're our allies now, and you will treat them as such." You're sure one of the main reasons why Atsuhiro accepted your offer is because he still thinks you're a dumb little kid. He knows you're strong, but he still thinks that when it comes to street smarts, he takes the cake. Even if you hadn't threatened him with death, he would have still accepted.
And the reason would be quite simple... because your demands were too plain and easy... in theory, that is.
However, he was unaware just who you were going to get him to collect information on. Ah, he really does have bad luck.
The poor man ended up making a deal with you... That's something not even the devil would dare to do.
————
You and Touya had finally returned home for the day, scampering in that rundown building that you called home. After today, you had been asked by Compress to gather your belongings and move into one of the many one-bedroom apartments that he owned.
He had been so generous as to gift you both a key to an apartment, but along with that, he had also assigned around two-three men to keep watch of you both.
"It's to keep you both safe."
That's what he had told you, but you knew better than to trust his word. It's obvious that his statement directly translated to: Don't try anything funny. I have my men watching you.
Clearly he was trying to regain the leverage he had held over both of you like he did in the beginning of your first meeting.
Touya wasn't too happy with the setup but since you were the one who had made the deal, he was a bit quicker in sucking it up and dealing with it. Good to know that he trusts your judgement blindly.
Sooner than later, you both had moved into a shitty apartment–less shitty than the abandoned building, as provided by Atsuhiro.
There had to be a lot of cleaning done and you're sure you had your work cut out for you. Still, you took what you could get and rolled with it. Touya, however, cursed out the magician the entire time he cleaned.
In his words, if he was going to give you both a place to live, couldn't he at least give you one that didn't look like someone had gotten murdered in there? Granted, you did agree with his sentiment but he needed to know that beggars can't be choosers.
You should gratefully take what you get. That's how you got by back in the day when you could barely make ends meet.
Still, you figured that Touya was a child, much younger than you so you should cut him some slack and let him whine if he wants to.
During the entire shifting in the rundown apartment, a few months had passed. And the moment you two did settle down, Atsuhiro wasted no time in visiting you both. You concluded that perhaps the men keeping watch were the ones who had informed him that you and Touya had finally settled down.
The magician pranced in the, now cleaned and set up apartment like he owned the place–that he did, but it was still annoying because he had went back to his old persona that he had greeted you with; cheeky, taunting and suave.
It took everything in you to not punch him the face.
But his actions were more annoying for Touya than they were for you. Because while you were guarded around the older man, Touya was the one who had actually seen what the brunette was capable of. What he had put the younger boy through...
Those few minutes of you being trapped in Atsuhiro's quirk, were the most terrifying minutes of Touya's life. He felt like his chest would rip apart and his heart would jump out with how fast it was beating. Moreover, he couldn't even fight properly because he was just so shaken.
He can't lose you.
He would much rather die than lose you.
And that's exactly why he will never–and he means, never trust Atsuhiro.
"What can we help you with, Mr. Compress?" You had kept a polite tone when you greeted the older male, making the said man turn to you with a lazy smirk, "Nothing of importance. Is it wrong that I just wanted to check up on my new little assistants? How are you faring?"
You had a lying suspicion that it wasn't that simple but didn't bother expressing your thoughts. Instead, you greeted him back with a rehearsed smile, "Ah... Quite well. Thank you for asking."
The brunette nodded before remembering that you also had a brother, turning to the said boy, "What about you, Tou-"
"Don't say my name so casually. I'm not gonna play house with you..." You were almost taken aback by the fire burning in Touya's eyes. It strangely reminded you of the time when you first began talking to him. When you tried to convince him that Enji didn't care...
"You're getting on my nerves over how casual you are when I know that you just want to control everything we do..." You could only blink wearily at your brother's words.
Everyone knows that Atsuhiro only wants to control you both. It's a commonly known fact, that he was trying to get back the initial superiority he had over you two.
But that doesn't mean that you have to outright say it. It's not going to help anyone, if anything... It's going to make Atsuhiro take more time to trust you. And you need to gain his trust as fast as you can, so the moment he gets you everything you need, you and Touya can get the hell out of here.
However, the magician smiled at Touya, seemingly not exhibiting any malice towards the latter's words.
I should be the one to say that to you kids... After all, at least I wear my heart on my sleeve. Unlike you brats, who I can't even figure out if the little girl might actually be a secret hero with a transformation quirk or if she's just some sort of scary prodigy.
"I understand. But we made a deal, didn't we? You have to trust me if you want things to work out between us all. Take your sister for example! I doubt she appreciates my presence, but she's still polite enough to not bite the hand that feeds her."
Oh, so he did notice your fake smile? Also, the hell does he mean by bite the hand that feeds her? You can literally punt his ass to the ground if you want, you don't give two fucks about which ever hand feeds you.
You simply need his extensive connections.
Atsuhiro then stopped to think for a moment, "Speaking of a deal, that's what I came here for." The magician turned to you two with a cheeky grin, while simultaneously picking out a marble from his pockets, which then materialized to reveal a manila colored file.
"Here you go, little lady~" He handed the file to you, but just when you were about to reach out, he swiftly snatched it away, "Ah, ah, ah... Not so fast, my dear." You could feel your eyes twitch with annoyance.
God, is it too late to kill this guy? Do you really need him that bad, that you'll go through this whole process of agony?!
Unfortunately, yes...
However, instead of expressing your thoughts on your face, you kept an eerily rehearsed smile plastered on your lips like you were some sort of creepy robot, "What seems to be the problem?"
Wait, why are you pretending to be nice? If he already knows that you're a powerful sociopath, then why bother pretending?
Oh... You forgot your own advice. Beggars can't be choosers. You gotta be sweet if you want him to work for you, instead of you working for him. After all, slow and steady wins the race.
Ah, you really are getting old.
Atsuhiro had that lazy smile on his face as he tutted at you, "You promised you'd tell me what this is for."
"Uh, no I didn't."
"Is that so? Well, now you will."
Both you siblings simply stared at the obnoxious man with contempt, barely holding yourselves back from beating him to death. Were you always this aggressive? Maybe not, but that just proves how annoying Mr. Compress is.
He's bringing out the worst parts of you.
"Just give me the file so I can see what you even collected. I'll explain once I know you got the right thing." You stretched your hand out again, and only then did the male fully hand it over.
As you skimmed past the papers in the file, you couldn't help but stop at a particular piece of paper, that ultimately made the two males in your vicinity look at you in question, "What's wrong, [Name]?" Touya asked, a look of unease on his face.
You kept quiet, opting to read through the entire page before saying anything. Meanwhile, Atsuhiro was intrigued by just what had caught your attention from the pile of papers he had brought. From what his men had told him, there wasn't anything in those files that could be of any use to you.
Once you were done, you closed the file and heaved a sigh.
"Well, what is it?" You were reminded that you were still amongst people when you heard Touya address you in worry. Atsuhiro was quietly observing you.
It had proved that despite the fact that a few months had past since the deal had been made, the brunette was still on edge with you both. Granted, he had every right to be.
You literally threatened him with death.
"You asked me to get you information about every person from the Himura family that had gone missing or died. What's with that weird request, little lady?" You could feel Atsuhiro's calculating gaze on you as he asked the question, but you focused your attention to Touya.
The albino boy certainly had an interesting look on his face.
While you were expecting him to be angry at you for digging in Rei's side of the family (because Touya thinks that they're absolutely scummy for selling Rei, which they are) but you weren't expecting him to look so calm.
"The Himura family, as you may know, is famous for their ice quirk lineage. In fact, their ice quirk was so renowned and important to them, that at some point, they were even okay with inbreeding just to keep it in the family." Mr. Compress had a look of unease on his face as he scrunched up his nose in disgust, "That's... an awfully inappropriate thing for a little girl like you to concern yourself with."
You ignored his remarks and continued, "Even now, all ice quirk wielders in Japan either share Himura blood, or perhaps come from the Himura lineage." The magician tilted his head, "Does that mean you both come from the Himura clan's lineage?"
You directed your gaze towards him before giving him a single, firm nod, "Yes."
"But Touya's quirk... Isn't it related to flames? Fire quirk are rare–"
"Touya's a special case." You made sure to quickly answer, not wanting Atsuhiro to get any sort of idea that you could possibly be the missing children of Endeavor.
The man, although confused, nodded regardless. Touya, himself was quiet during the entire conversation, only staring at the file with a foreign look in his eyes.
"Right... Well, that still doesn't explain why you needed all the missing or dead Himura clan members." You smiled to yourself at his question, "Do you remember what I had initially asked while making our deal? I want you to forge some documents. Identification documents, to be more exact."
You turned to give the man a knowing look, "If you forge documents, you're going to have to put in our parents' names too, right? Well, that's what this is for. One of these missing or dead Himuras is going to be our parent."
Atsuhiro's eyes widened, as if everything was starting to make sense to him. So that's why you specifically asked for missing or dead people. Because who's going to deny that you aren't their kids if they don't even exist anymore?
This also saved you from the trouble of forging paperwork for some fake parents. You can just look for someone who had a lifestyle that made it easy for no one else to jump in to accuse you of being a con, aka, someone who died or went missing all sad and lonely.
"Then, what will you do if someone asks about Touya-kun's quirk? Why does he have a fire quirk if you have an ice quirk?"
"Oh, no one said that they needed both the parents' information to forge the documents. We'll just say that he took the other parents' quirk. It's not like that's a lie, either. Jeez, it's really not that hard..." You deadpanned and the older male couldn't help but stare at you with a similar expression.
Why is she looking at me as if I'm the one who's being unreasonable? She's the one who's making these elaborate plans at the age of 7... Seriously, it's creeping me out with how smart she is! Are we sure that she's not an adult wearing a child's skin?!
The magician thought to himself as he broke out of his stupor and directed his gaze towards Touya, who was still quiet and staring into nothing. Noticing this, you snapped your fingers in front of your brother and brought him back to reality, "Earth to Touya? Are you okay?"
The older boy snapped back to reality, before he turned to you and gave you a small smile, "Yeah, I'm okay. So, that's what the file was for, huh?" Not a moment later, his softened gaze steeled as he turned to the brunette present in the room.
"But... what's the catch? You wouldn't so graciously give us all this information if there wasn't a benefit in it for you." The magician playfully placed a hand on his chest, a saddened expression on his jaunty features, "My, my... You wound me, Touya-kun!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, why did you agree to my request? What is it that you need?" You backed your brother, only making the brunette chuckle even more.
But then... His smile fell and a chilling look began to shine in his usually mirthful eyes.
"Ah... You caught me."
You narrowed your eyes at him. Suddenly, all your guards were up and you were ready for an attack at all times. Such a shame... These past few months, Atsuhiro had been pretty kind and generous to both of you, you really were hoping that he wouldn't show his true self; a calculating, sharp and cunning man.
But a scheming man was ought to show his true colors, no matter what.
Meanwhile, Touya was in a similar state to yours. The boy had stretched a hand in front of you, shielding you as he had the other hand outstretched, facing the magician in the room. Your brother was ready to fire his flames at any second, should Atsuhiro attack.
He brought his hand up and waved it around, as if he was about to make something appear like a magician would in a magic act.
But instead, he showed you both his gloved palm, before turning it around. When he turned it back around, he had materialized a single picture of a middle-aged man.
"Have you ever seen this man?" He showed both you siblings the picture, making Touya, very reluctantly take the picture from his hands and show it to both of you.
The man in the picture looked like an average middle-aged man. He had squinted-looking pink eyes and short gray hair that was parted to his right with side bangs hanging above his eyes. Other than a few wrinkles, the man also had a small mustache and a goatee on his chin, with one of his front teeth missing, leaving a gap in his grin that he was showing in the picture.
Nothing too out of the ordinary.
So, why was Atsuhiro showing this picture to you?
Both you siblings shook your heads, answering his previous question. He stared at you both, not really giving much of a reaction to your answers.
Finally, he heaved a sigh as he ran a hand through his curly brown hair, "I've been trying to find whatever scraps of information I can on him, but he's like a wary little rat. Even my connections aren't sufficient... He's got his own set of eyes on everything that takes place in the underworld, which is why his men can easily identify mine."
The brunette then turned to you two, "But there is one card that I have yet to use..."
"For the information I got you, and for the documents that are to forged, this is what I need you both to do. Consider this as payment."
A smirk tugged at his lips as he spoke up.
"I want you to get me any and all information on him."