Shouto took it upon himself to walk up to the male with piercing, icy blue eyes. The eyes stared lazily back at him, so cold that they burned. Shouto knew right there he was looking at another ghoul, but the person he was approaching had a perfect facade. (Y/n) walked with him, but stopped in his tracks when his eyes barely crossed acidic amber. It was quick, but before they could process what it meant for themselves, said person was standing in front of their desired target, beginning a conversation.

They know each other, shit. It was always more challenging to make means with ghouls who already had trusted allies. To truly trust someone in their world, you need to have worked with them for a while. They've been together for some time and they're obviously alive and well... The only problem with that was that this gave the easy mindset that they need not another ally, and therefore things quickly go sour. 

Shouto and (Y/n) were glad to have it pointed out to them before they made the mistake of approaching an unknown ghoul who wanted nothing to do with them. That said, this just meant they'd have to catch them later. They changed paths effortlessly to introduce themselves to the brunet ghoul with freckles. Said boy stood up and met them halfway, doing two things at once. One, surprising his friend who obviously didn't expect this extrovert-like behavior from him; two, using his obvious height advantage over them as a warning. Shouto was tall and (Y/n) was a bit above average, but this kid was taller than both of them. 

"Hey!" the freckled teen smiled softly, "I feel like I've seen you guys around; have we met?"

It was a classic greeting, a smart one too. That greeting was doing more than starting a conversation. They'd obviously never ran into this other kid, but the tall brunet was acknowledging them. He was telling them that he knew they were ghouls and that he himself was friendly. This ghoul didn't want any trouble.

"I think so..." (Y/n) pretended to wonder.

"Are you from around here?" Shouto questioned, making sure to hide all caution.

This was an extremely important thing to ask. Basically no one at this school was actually from the area, everyone came from places all around the country. All the people here knew that. Even some of the teacher lived out of the city. What he was actually asking, though, was if his territory was here or nearby. Most ghouls hunted close to home, but there were some who were extra careful when it came to getting caught.

"Ah, no," the tall brunet with star-like freckles smiled, "I'm from Miyagi..."

His answer was vague, but that was all the two other teens needed to hear. This answer was easily telling them that like them, he didn't have a territory. That was concerning, as this meant that they could run into him at night. 

"Oh, we're from the Shizuoka Prefecture," (Y/n) informed. That was vague, and the boy in front of them gave the two a knowing look. 

The blond who was sitting next to the freckled teen before got up an approached them. The two almost felt threatened before the boy in front of them gave them a warning look. The look went unnoticed by everyone except for all the ghouls in the room. The brunet flashed his eyes, which would have seemed over the top if Shouto and (Y/n) didn't immediately recognize the blond as human. Even the two ghouls not involved in the conversation got the message: Off limits.   

"Who're these guys, Yamaguchi?" the blond asked, looking down on them. He was even tall than the brunet.

"These two?" the brunet, now revealed to be called Yamaguchi smiled at his friend, "these two were at that 'Bring Your Kid to Work Day' my mother brought me to!"

They knew what he was doing, "Yeah, we were surprised to see each other again so soon," Shouto lied.

"I'm Okina (Y/n), and this is my cousin Todoroki Shouto," (Y/n) smiled, "it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Tsukishima Kei," the blond stated in a bored tone, "Yamaguchi, we should go sit down, class is about to start."

"Okay, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi responded in a bubbly tone, "I'll talk to you guys later!"

It amazed Todoroki and (Y/n) how well the ghouls they had encountered today kept up their walls. That off-limits human, Tsukishima had no idea that Yamaguchi was a ghoul. The way that he went from threatening to like a cute puppy in a split second was scary. The blue-eyed boy was a little less discreet, but the way acted wasn't suspicious.

┈

At physical education, Shouto and (Y/n) were confronted with something they didn't want to deal with— at least not yet. There was the blue-eyed ghoul from their class, along with a taller, red-headed male. As they took a couple steps closer, they quickly recognized that he too was a ghoul. The way he looked at them was so similar, yet so different from how the short of the had. His stare wasn't cold, it a fiery and it burned into their minds. Both glares were hot, one way or the other.

The redhead walked up to them confidently, the shorter of the pair with him, just as calm. Something about the air around them was sinister, dark, and experienced— in more ways than one. It sent chills running down (Y/n)'s spine, but he'd never point that out. That was a sign of weakness, and he couldn't do that here. He didn't know these ghouls like that.

"Hey, guys, why so tense~," the redhead asked in a teasing tone.

"No reason, just wondering why your friend here suddenly wants to approach us," Shouto said.

"Nagisa? He's nice, why wouldn't he?" the redhead questioned, obviously already knowing some of the answer.

"They're put off because Itona stepped in earlier," the icy-eyed teen, Nagisa informed, "they ended up talking to the freckled beanpole I told you about."

Itona must be the amber-eyed ghoul from this morning.

"Anyway, the name's Karma Akabane," the mercury-eyed teen smirked, "this is Nagisa Shiota. Sorry about him, by the way, he wasn't in a good mood earlier and no one likes him when's angry."

Shouto and (Y/n) registered his tone change. He was telling them something; that something being that this Nagisa Shiota guy is dangerous. The look Nagisa gave his taller friend reeked of unimpressed. 

"That's rich coming from you, Karma," Nagisa gave a soft smile, "but whatever. Today's a free day, so do you want to get to know each other more?" 

This surprised Shouto and (Y/n) greatly. Were they proposing that they team up? Whatever they were doing, it'd be best to comply. They didn't know what the deal was, and they weren't afraid of the two other ghouls. The reason they went along so easily was that not doing so could come off wrong, and the last thing they needed were foes at this time. The group began to walk around the track, keeping their distance from everyone else doing so.

"What're your names?" Karma asked, "I bet you're one of those crow weaklings, huh?"

(Y/n) knew what he doing, his taunting tone was testing their limits, "Kira Koneko."

Nagisa's face morphed into one of disgust and horror. He absolutely hated the two ghouls. The way they ate and played with their food beforehand was mortifying. They also made extra sure that no one would cross into that dead-end alley again, which he had actually planned to mark and claim as his territory. 

Karma also looked unhappy at the announcement. It was easy to say that even if the two ghouls weren't binge eaters, they made all ghouls look a lot worse. The way that the two of them left a mess every time they did their thing was beyond gross. No one really wanted anything to do with them, and now Karma and Nagisa knew who they were outside of their ghoul names. This could be bad; Karma and or Nagisa could leak their names to others and get them killed.

"You guys are disgusting," Nagisa scowled.

Karma was surprised, he'd never seen that expression come to Nagisa's face, "the way you ruin things for other ghouls is annoying, not to mention messy overall."

"So?" (Y/n) retorted, "you guys act like you've never been tempted to try it."

"That's because we haven't," Nagisa replied, "unlike you guys and binge eaters, we hunt, eat, and go."

"That's why people fear us specifically, not just together like you guys," Karma huffed and began to jog ahead. Nagisa followed and had a lot less trouble keeping up than Shouto and (Y/n) imagined being the case.

(Y/n) and Shouto let the two other ghouls go ahead, slightly puzzled. They had never encountered other ghouls in such a nature, and were confused by Nagisa and Karma's dislike for them. Was the way they tormented their prey really so bad that other ghouls frowned upon it? If that was the case, then maybe they should tone it down a little... The last thing they needed were people who knew who they were and disliked them.

With those thoughts going through Shouto's head, he ditched (Y/n) temporarily to catch up with Karma and Nagisa, who had gotten much farther ahead than he imagined. As he approached, he heard one of the two groan in annoyance. He assumed that with them being fellow ghouls, they most likely had no trouble smelling him as he came closer. 

"Akabane, Shiota, wait a sec," Shouto called out to them as he slowed beside them, "I want to clear a few things up."

"What is there to clear up?" Nagisa questioned, part of his tone a bit condescending.

"You basically told us that you're one of the two ghouls that even we hate more than binge eaters," Karma scoffed.

"We only hunt like that because that's how we were taught," Shouto said quickly.

"Why should that matter to us?" Karma questioned.

"Let us see you hunt whenever you do so next," Shouto proposed, "we'll learn from you guys."

"How do we know that you won't just scavenge off of us?" Nagisa asked, "no offense, but we don't know you well enough to turn our backs to you while we hunt or eat."

"I understand," Shouto responded, "we won't take anything."

"What about your friend?" Nagisa continued, "even if believe you, we don't know anything about his thoughts on the matter."

"We work as one," Shouto told them, "I speak for the both of us."

"We'll think about it," Karma sighed, but quickly changed his expression back to his signature smirk, "see you around. When you wanna watch, just come find us."

With that, Nagisa and Karma walked off to a different area of the outdoor space. Shouto joined up with (Y/n) again, taking very little time to explain the situation. (Y/n) was in no way discreet about his frown after Shouto finished telling him what was going on. The part at the end was confusing, but then again the whole outcome of the conversation was left in a weird place. Nagisa Shiota and Karma Akabane were definitely not their friends, but they weren't totally foes either. At least that's what the two of them would like to think.

"What does he mean, 'just come find us'?" (Y/n) asked.

"Exactly what he said," Shouto sighed.

"Thanks, genius," (Y/n) grumbled, "what I meant was how are going to do that? I don't know you remember this, but we didn't exactly get their names, smart guy."

"I know that," Shouto told him, "but really, how hard is it to point out a ghoul with bright red hair and another with blue hair?"

"As hard as it is to find a ghoul with natural red and white hair who works with a partner," (Y/n) replied, sounding intelligible.

As gym class finally ended, everyone headed into the locker rooms. (Y/n) and Shouto were glad that it was over with. The last thing they needed on their mind was the problems they stirred up for themselves during this period. Hopefully, all of that would blow over soon enough.

Even as these thoughts went through their minds, the two ghouls couldn't get rid of the feeling that they were being observed at the moment. It wasn't a fond observation like the ones of their siblings. It also wasn't the stern one of Shouto's father, Enji Todoroki, nicknamed 'Endeavor' by the doves. This was more of a glare— one that pierced through your flesh and bone and tore you to shreds. Deciding to turn around and see who thought it was a good idea to burn a whole in the back of his head, (Y/n) was two dark looks. One consisting of an icy blue so cold it burned, and fiery mercury so hot it disintegrated everything upon contact. 

┈

(2242 Words)