Hello hello! Sorry for the late chapter, Ramadan has only started and I've already fallen sick twice already (tbh the first time was two weeks ago, not in Ramadan ik but still) so yeah... I'm still sick. Somehow, my EAR is clogged instead of my nose so I can't hear anything and my throat hurts sm. N e ways, enough of my ranting! Look at this amazing piece of art submitted by @Simp from Quotev so a huge round of applause and gratitude for them, for this beauty of an art! Love how [Name] looks like a female version of Shoto (cause they're literally twins) and just the overall look! 1000/10 for this! Tysm! Pls enjoy!
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Touya had noticed that something about you was off.
Actually, it was pretty obvious. You had been cooped up in the house ever since your birthday, acting like a hikikomori, who had lost all hope in the world and was only waiting for the comforting embrace of death to take them.
It was almost three days since then and with how you were, you weren't even one to stay in the house for too long, except for sleeping. You were always out and about, so seeing this change in you had him quite worried.
But then, you spoke to him and suddenly, he felt like everything was falling into place like a puzzle.
"Let's go back, Touya."
Your brother froze in his tracks, eyes wide as he stared at you in shock. He was quiet for so long that you were almost convinced that he hadn't heard you. That is, until he finally replied, "What...?"
"Let's go back."
"But why? Why... would you want to go back?"
You had a tired look in your eyes and even heavier eyebags under them, making you look far older than your actual–physical–age.
"Why not?" You asked, huffing a little. "It's not like we're being hunted down," Touya looked like he wanted to say something to that, but you cut him off because you knew exactly what he was about to ask you.
"Before you ask, yes. I looked into the orphanage. No one... survived, so their master definitely considers us dead. And it's not like it matters. We're not nearly as important or special for him to turn the whole town upside down just for some kids." You spat out with vitriol, not even knowing that your own tone had been so aggressive.
Even Touya was taken back, but he quickly collected himself when he realized that you were serious. You really did plan on going back...
"... I just don't understand. Why do you want to go back?" Although it was hard for him, Touya somehow managed to keep a leveled voice, knowing that he had a habit of bursting into anger.
But deep down, he knew that the thing that he dreaded the most was coming to life; you were ready to leave him just for that stupid family... For Shoto.
"Why don't you want to go back?!" By now, you were starting to lose control of your emotions. Had this been you a few weeks, you would have been the level headed sibling, talking it out with Touya.
But lately, you have been feeling more and more drained, to the point where you feel like everything is out to piss you off. You knew you were bound to snap, it was just a matter of time when it would happen.
And, this disagreement with Touya was not helping you in slowly losing sight of your emotions.
Instead of being the calmer person, like you usually were, you were starting to lash out on Touya. And even your brother had picked up that you weren't feeling like yourself, so in order to keep the peace between you two, he had been trying to keep his anger and frustrations to himself, instead of bursting them out on you like he was always doing.
"Because I don't want to go back to that house. I don't want to go back... to that family."
Is this guy for real?!
"Are you crazy?! I'm not asking you to act all buddy buddy with Endeavor! I'm just saying- we can't live like this! I don't want to be alone anymore–"
You recalled your last death.
You had died all alone, with none of your loved ones near you. You didn't get to see Nozomi, [Brother Name], or Iyashi for the last time.
Your death... was filled with nothing but regret and loneliness.
You don't want to die like that again... Especially now that you know that everything was useless. All your efforts, your death, your suffering, your guilt and your grief... All of it was useless.
"Am I not enough to cure your loneliness?!" Touya finally yelled back, bursting out his anger like a lava as the temperature of the room rose thanks to his quirk, but you didn't dare back down.
"Touya, you- this isn't about you! We're living a shit life! Your job doesn't pay enough and I literally have to do illegal stuff just to put food on the table! I don't want that for either of us, not when we can help it. If this was out of necessity then I wouldn't have said a word but we're deliberately putting ourselves through agony just to–what? Fight against a man who never gave a shit?!"
"It's not about that! I just don't want to live with him! He–Endeavor... why should I live with the man who left me to die?!"
"Because we're not going to live with him. We're just going to use him to live a normal life, before we–you can finally move out!" At this point, neither of you were ready to budge on your opinions, and both of you knew that.
Still, you guys relented, waiting for when the other would cave in.
"I don't care! I don't want any of his dirty money–"
"Ah, yes! Because the money we use right now is sooo clean, right?! I literally fucking extort money from people!"
"It's cleaner than his fucking hero schtick money! Why the fuck are you after all that materialistic shit anyways?!"
Unable to put a stop to your anger, you finally spat out angrily.
"Because I don't want to live a shit life again!"
Even Touya was surprised by what you meant when you mentioned 'again' but he bit his tongue to stop himself from questioning, already judging by how you were seething that you were not in the position to be further fought against, or you would definitely either destroy something or someone.
Meanwhile, you had your teeth gritted, eyes burning with unfathomable rage and vitriol. But when you saw how Touya had stopped yelling, you took this time to finally collect your thoughts. With a throaty scoff leaving your lips, you gritted your teeth once more before grabbing your coat and dragging your feet towards the door.
"Nevermind. I'm going for a walk." You muttered as you didn't even give the older boy a chance to reply and just slammed the door shut. Deep down, you knew that you were getting way too worked up. Of course Touya wouldn't want to go back.
Enji had quite literally left him to die in the fire. Any child would hate the parent that had left them to die.
But your biggest problem was that you didn't want him to get along with Enji. That's not what you were asking Touya; but rather, you wanted Touya to use Enji to live as freely as he wanted and finally leave him when he was done leeching off of him.
If he had ruined all your lives, the least he could do was make sure none of you ever had to worry about money or hurt someone just to put food on the table.
But Touya was adamant that you were trying to make him get along with Enji, when really- you could care less if Endeavor will die tomorrow or today.
As you walked through the cold of January, you began to use your quirk to warm yourself, but stopped in your tracks when you felt a familiar presence near you.
Atsuhiro.
Great. Just your luck to run into the most obnoxious magician after you lost your cool.
"Hello there, dearest [Name]-chan!" He greeted as he sat on the railing nearby, with his legs crossed and his hands twiddling with his marbles. One other thing you noticed was the additional presence you sensed that accompanied him today.
"I wanted to reach out to you back when you were still at the apartment, but I heard some yelling and figured that I would just be intruding on a very rare sibling fight." He teased with a knowing smirk as the other presence kept themselves hidden.
"What do you want?" You spoke up, your voice still a bit hoarse from all that yelling. You don't even care anymore if Atsuhiro found out that you're Endeavor's lost kid, you're too tired for that.
You didn't want to imagine anything, but you swore you saw Atsuhiro's expressions morph into that of worry for a few seconds. But they soon fell as he replaced them with his usually faux suave look.
"Hmm, just a little task for you. I don't know if you're aware but I have a plus one with me here. My assistant, if you will. He'll be accompanying you today–"
"If you already have someone to do it, then keep me out of it. I'm no mood to be dealing with this right now." His frown returned but like before, it only stayed for a few seconds before a smile sprang on his lips.
"Such a rude little child. Tch, you should definitely be a bit more kinder to this poor old man, you know?" He teased, watching how your frown remained plastered on your lips. Ultimately, he heaved a sigh to himself as he restarted.
"Look, I just need you to track down someone for me, who's messing with my businesses, okay? The target's stealing from my clients so I need you guys to bring him to me. It's a simple enough task and I'll pay you well." He coaxed and while you were in no mood to be doing this, he didn't really give another chance to think as he introduced the person hiding in the shadows.
A tall, muscular man with glowing yellow eyes and shoulder length, light brown hair. Atsuhiro pointed to him and smiled, "He's Rappa. Kendo Rappa. He's also a underground fighter so you can rest assured that he's strong too." Watching how you still didn't seem convinced, he continued.
"Just do me a favor this once, okay? I promise I'll compensate you well!" The magician coerced and left you and Rappa alone, making you heave a tired sigh.
You watched how Rappa's expressions morphed into that of amusement, or perhaps it was a look of superiority. He was definitely looking down on you for being a child.
Oh, well. You could literally care less.
All you did care about was getting over with this.
And so, you turned to the older male with a blank look, "Who does he want us to track?" The man snorted the moment you said that, "Don't bother using your tiny, developing brain, brat. I'll take care of it all."
You certainly hoped he would. Cause you don't plan on lifting a finger now, not even if he's on death's door.
As the man began to walk away, you followed him silently. You're sure he must have known that you were following him but perhaps he thought of you as too young to actually be considered a threat.
Whatever the reason was, you didn't speak the entire time, whether he was asking around for the target or just scavenging in the alleys, you simply followed him wordlessly.
Although you did follow him around, you had your mind stuck elsewhere.
You... were thinking about where you had ended up in your life.
Back when you were still [Last Name][Name], everything was so easy. Everything was black and white for you. Kill those who fought against you and save those who were your allies. You had a goal, you had a purpose.
Defeat All for One and give your family a world worth living in.
But now... all your ambitions had been shattered and thrown around like dirt. Now, when you thought about it, all you think of was the destruction you brought.
Because that's all you had ever done. You had killed people... children. You used to think that everything you were doing would all end up having a meaning in the end. However, you couldn't help but feel like that meaning had slowly withered away.
With you having never stood a chance against All for One, you wonder why you even bothered fighting. Why any of you bothered fighting? Why did anyone have to die when it was all meant to be Shinomori Hikage's job?
It was never yours.
So why...?
You knew you would never get the answer to that why, so you just let the regret you had burn your insides until you were nothing but bones and amber.
Because that's what a monster like you deserves...
After a while of walking around, you realized that you guys had ended up in the same area as where the base of Shie Hassaikai was, making you wonder if you'd run into them.
"Have you finished with having your fun, tailing me like a little spy, brat?" The dude spoke up, making you turn to him wearily. He sure seemed to yap a lot for someone who couldn't hunt a simple guy down...
"This job was given to both of us. But since you refuse to tell me who the target is, I don't have much to do but tail you." You explained. "You sure love running that mouth of yours, little shit." He scoffed, and you heaved another sigh.
"Just tell me who the target is."
"Like hell I would, bitch. Little whores-in-the-making like you should just go mind their damn business and leave the heavy work to us men."
"What... did you just call me?" Your eyes narrowed, watching as a grin grew back on his lips, "Where's the lie?" You were tempted to kill him right then and there, not holding back like you usually would have if you were actually in the right state of mind right now.
But you stopped in painting the walls with his blood when he walked away and you saw a picture fall out of his pockets.
The picture of the target.
As you picked it up, you studied the person. He was a nobody, nothing that could warrant him being a threat. He didn't seem strong but you knew better than to underestimate anyone based on their looks.
And so, you wordlessly turned your head away, focusing on the fact that there was no info other than a picture. With just the picture alone, you picked up that the man was in a bar-like area.
But there are over 30,000 bars in Tokyo alone. If you were to go to each and every one of them, then that's impossible. This means that you have to narrow it down.
If this guy's messing with Atsuhiro's business, then that means that he must be in the brunette's territory. And from what you know, the bars in his area are around 20-30.
And from what you remember Mr. Compress saying the man wasn't doing anything other than stealing from his clients.
That's what you used to do. This means that the target isn't rich enough to actually put a fight against Atsuhiro, and instead is trying to fill his own stomach. This means that he won't be able to afford any expensive bars, whatsoever.
Not to mention, you can barely see any women at the back of the photo, other than the ones drinking, which suggests that it might not be a hostess bar or one that has a lot of female servers. So that crosses off a few more on your list.
That left you with around 6-7 bars that fit the area this guy might frequent.
"Okay, let's get this over with." You muttered to yourself and just for the sake of it, you checked your phone to see if Touya had called.
No calls... None.
Even if it made you feel a certain kind of anger in you, you ignored that and walked away to check the bars yourself.
With the shitty condition all these bars were in, a bit of puppy eyes and some white lies that you were looking for your father, and everyone immediately caved in.
You asked around a bit, and apparently the man had a habit of frequenting almost all of the bars you had narrowed down to. But no one could tell when he would come and in which one. And since he always kept a gun on him, no one dared to cross him or tell on him.
Great... Just your luck.
With a sigh leaving your lips, you were about to leave when you realized that maybe not all of your luck had ran out.
Because just before you was the golden goose.
Lo and behold! In all his mortal glory! The dude you were looking for had actually showed up at the bar you were just about to leave.
You acted as casual as you could, not really paying him much mind and just asking the bartender for a cup of water. The target himself, didn't seem to have noticed you either, because he immediately went to his spot and ordered something to drink.
Hmm, maybe you should just knock him out? Atsuhiro didn't explain shit about the mission but from what your so called-partner had told you, you're just supposed to bring him to the magician himself.
But how do you do it inconspicuously enough for the bar to not call security?
Actually, you already have an idea in mind; wait for the target to get drunk.
You don't know if he'll drink enough to knock himself out or not, but if he can have just two or three drinks then you can make do with that too. With that in mind, you patiently waited and didn't rush it. You watched how he downed his second glass too, but he didn't look tipsy enough.
Oh well, maybe you'll wait a little bit longer.
But it seems that waiting a bit longer ended up backfiring on you.
Because suddenly, the entrance doors to the bar were slammed open as it unveiled your partner, Rappa. But before you could go over to him or even signal him to stop, he had his golden eyes locked onto the target, eyeing him like a piece of meat.
"There ya' are, fucker!" He declared as he marched over to the half-tipsy man and grabbed him by the collar. Immediately, you rushed over and tried to hold your partner back, but he just gave you a mocking grin, "Now I know why that magician keeps ya' around... You're a good dog, sniffing out the target like a bitch." He snarled.
On the other hand, you watched how the target began to pull out the gun that he was rumored to always have on him, making your eyes widen in surprise.
Shit!
Even though the crowd had immediately backed away from the two fighting men, that didn't mean there weren't any people around. You might be able to protect yourself from the bullets with your temperature barrier but what about the other people?!
But Rappa acted without thinking and slammed his fists against the target's face, knocking into several tables and causing even more panic to ensue. Great, you can already see some of the people rushing to call heroes or the police.
"Rappa, you're creating too much of a scene! You're going to get us arrested–" The man proceeded to shut you up by trying to slap you across the room, and had it not been for your temperature barrier, you would have definitely ended up with a few broken bones.
You gritted your teeth, already feeling yourself at the end of your wits. Maybe you should kill him? He's been nothing but a nuisance and he's even managed to trash your hard work.
But you watched instead, how the police began to flood in the bar, forcing you and Rappa to get away without the target.
As if that wasn't the last straw, that son of a bitch actually glowered at you and slammed his fists in the wall next to you as he proceeded to have his tantrum while glaring down at you, "You little fucking runt... Because of you, I lost that son of a whore and you! You're so useless–"
"You didn't lose shit! I lost him, because your dumbass couldn't even find him in the first place!" You sneered back, making the man's eyes widen in surprise for a second before an angry look replaced that surprise.
He looked like he wanted to punch you to the ground but you quickly cut him off by your loud sigh. Trying to calm your raging emotions, you kept taking deep breaths, "It's okay... It's okay, we can still look for him. Come on, we just need to go back and track him down again–"
"Like hell I'll follow your bitchass. A brat like you has no right to go acting like you actually know anything." You stopped in your tracks, turning back to face him and just stare at him for a good minute.
"What... did you say?" He's really saying that after you're the one who found the target and he wrecked your hardwork.
"What? You want me to say it to your face?" He grinned with a cruel look in his eyes, "Sako thinks the same too. You don't know shit anyways, not about how to work in this business or anythin' about life in general. And you actually think people're gonna take you serious? Ha!"
"A loser like you, 's gonna end up whoring off in a backalley couple years from now. Little dumb bitches who actually think that the world revolves around 'em or that they can actually do something. But the only thing you're good at is thinking you're entitled to anything–"
He was cut off by the scream that left his own throat when his leg began to burn intensely. The pain of the burn was so severe that he felt as if someone was sawing his leg off.
Rappa immediately fell to the ground, the big, strong man reduced to a screaming mess in just a few seconds with just a little flick of your finger.
"The only thing I'm good at is thinking I'm entitled? I think the world revolves around me? You useless little fuck." Your glowered, with your bright [gray/blue] eyes shining menacingly, glaring down at him like he was the scum of earth that dared breathe the same air as you.
And he was.
You? Entitled?
No... In fact, you've been too forgiving.
"You think I'm entitled?! Huh?!" With sharp and calculated movements, you swung your leg and kicked the screaming man in the jaw, throwing him on his back as he laid there helplessly.
You walked over, a look of insanity swirling in your eyes. Perhaps it the result of everything that had happened over the course of the week... But you had finally snapped.
"Then you can be the one to die for everyone then! Go ahead! Kill yourself! Do us a favor and die in our name! I'll be the one to hail you as a hero! But don't you dare complain! Isn't that what you bastards ask of me?! Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?!" You screamed, while continuing to kick him in the face, to the point that you broke his nose.
"Screw this hero crap! You think I wanted to save anyone?! Like hell I did! Everyone can go burn in hell for all I care! If All for One wanted to kill them all, then so be it! What have they ever done for me?! Why should I have saved anyone but my family?!" By now, Rappa didn't even look recognisable as you had kicked his face in. He had even stopped screaming and had just fallen unconscious, but that still didn't stop you as you continued to kick him and scream.
"Heroes and villains, you're both fucking liars!! All of you should grovel at our feet and apologize to us, your fodder! Why did we fight for you all?! That son of a bitch, Shinomori! Why did I have to bear his responsibility?! Why did I have to play God and control people's lives when it was his job?!"
You were unaware of the pair of golden eyes that stared right at you in amusement, finding your outburst very... entertaining. And that was saying something, as he considered you an absolute rotten piece of scum.
But something about the way your screams of absolute rage were, it managed to entertain him. They were the screams of someone who would kill everyone that crossed her, and just your current state, compared to how he was used to seeing you was such a humorous contrast to him.
Meanwhile, you had finally managed to pull yourself together when you felt that Rappa's breathing had became shallow, as if he was about to die any minute.
But unlike the guilt you expected yourself to feel, you didn't feel anything... No, you did feel something deep down...
And although it should have disgusted you, you were far too angry to care.
What you truly felt after almost killing Rappa... was pleasure...