Finished - November 2, 2022

Word Count - 1923

Music - Black Cauldron - Audiomachine

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Blue shutters hung simply on a plain house, a house which sat in a regular neighborhood, surrounded by matching houses and simple yards. The suburban roads were all decorated with halloween decorations and fall festivities.

A common home that looked just like the rest, overly decorated and filled with memorabilia of past memories. Photos of friendly faces, trinkets one would see in the gift store and a grand piano that no one could play. An unfinished knitting project tossed over the armrest of a comfortable chair while the radio played softly in the background.

Within this ordinary house three people sat around the living room, each inspecting dozens of photos strewn across the coffee table.

"Look at this one, this is a good one." A man held up one of the many photographs and showed it to his companions.

"Are you kidding me? You can see too much of that blond hair idiot." The woman snatched the paper from his hand and slammed it back down on the table.

"Come on Jonichiro, we can't shuffle through these forever. Just pick a few and send it off." Diodo folded his arms in frustration at her comment.

"Hey, picking the photos is the best part of this meaningless operation." Jonichiro grabbed a handful of new pictures.

"You don't mean that." The third member of the party, Mareo, joined in the conversation. "You wouldn't have stuck to the plan all these years if you didn't somehow believe in it."

"Shut it quirkless asshole." Jonichiro snapped at her teammate.

"It's that guy again." Diodo interjected Jonichiro and Mareo's quirrell and pointed to a group of photos. The man noticed a familiar thread throughout the collection and compiled them together.

Diodo flipped through the dozens of photos he had gathered, in every photo there was a presence of their main Target, Allira Takari. But it was proving harder and harder to find her alone. This was never a problem before they moved to Shizuoka, before U.A.

Now Allira was constantly surrounded by her classmates, at first, against her will. They could tell by her body language and facial expressions. This team of three had been watching Takari for years, learning her habits, her tendencies and her temperament. After so long, Diodo felt like he knew her, that they were friends. Though they hadn't seen each other since they were children, Diodo never let go of his childhood friend. Over the isolated years, he had tracked her everywhere she went. Which was impressive, since she would hop from place to place continually.

Because of this Allira was always alone, she preferred the quiet and usually kept herself busy. Stayed on top of her studies and locked herself in her room.

But now, since attending U.A. things had drastically changed. She was continually watched by Pro Heros, bombarded by classmates and even living on campus. Normally students weren't a problem, Takari would find an excuse to leave large groups and stay away from activities. However, these Hero students were persistent.

When taking photos, there would always be another person. A few showed signs of a pink skinned female and the son of Endeavor, others he didn't recognize. However, one student popped up twice as much as the rest. This hot tempered, red eyed boy.

"The blonde guy?" Jonichiro didn't seem surprised. "Oh yeah, he is all over her."

"Who is he anyway?" Mareo stood behind the couch and leaned his arms on the back rest, looking closely over Diodo's shoulder.

"He is a pain in my ass, that's what." Jonichiro grabbed one of the photos of Takari and the strange blonde boy, she then slammed it on the table and used a large back sharpie to scribble out his face.

"Do you think he is a threat?" Mareo asked.

"I don't know, we'll have to do some research about him." Diodo examined the boy's face closer. "See if you can catch his name next time you take photos, Jonichiro."

The woman paused her vigorous scratching and looked up slowly, her face calm, but her voice screamed otherwise. "Oh, yeah. I'll just do that."

"Don't get all high and mighty." Diodo shook his head.

"You think it's easy, taking all these photos?" Jonichiro activated her quirk, her fingers growing into long thin ribbons. All ten streamers moved as a group, fluid and light, but incredibly strong and durable.

"Knock it off, before you break something." Mareo warned, his eyes not leaving the cluster of photos.

Jonichiro retracted her ribbons and rolled her eyes. She was tired of taking orders from Diodo, he always told her what to do, where to go and how to act. She was tired.

Tired of it all, she joined the group because she wanted to be free. She wanted to make a change against  the suffocating Hero Society and their rules. However, she found herself forced to listen to another man and his ideals.

"I'm sick of all this." She flopped herself back onto the couch, arms folded tightly.

Her rough movement caused a few photos to fall off the cushions and even rustled several from the table. Mareo's quick reflexes caught a few in his fingers before they fell to the floor.

"How can you be so unhappy, we have everything we could ask for." He inquired.

His statement caused Jonichiro to laugh slightly. "If you like sitting in the dark."

"We are doing what we cn right now." He persisted, angered by the fact that she was insulting their cause. The very same cause that Mareo was spending his energy into helping.

"By blackmailing some random guy and his pathetic daughter?" Jonishiro slammed her fist onto the table in fury. "What on earth will that accomplish?! We have been hiding for years, I'm tired of sitting  here!"

"We will have our time to shine." Diodo stood his ground.

"Say that one more time and you will regret it." Jonichiro extended her right arm, red tendrils reaching for his neck.

Diodo ignored her quirk advancing upon him and continued speaking. "We simply need to be patient."

"I have had enough of listening to you." Her unbreakable ribbons closed in upon Diodo's throat, yet he did not move. Diodo did not cower in fear, he stood his ground with a straight face. "What makes you so special? You think you are the boss of me? You have no connections, your family wasn't special. They weren't heroes, not even villains. You are no one."

Upon hearing mention of his deceased family, Diodo's aura exploded. His once calm demeanor flipped like a switch. Jonichiro had gone too far. She could insult him as much as she liked, but no one spoke ill of his family.

"Say that again bitch." Diodo's eyes flashed red as he activated his dangerous quirk. Suddenly every piece of furniture was flying around the room. Couches, desks, rugs, picture frames, even the grand piano. The living room elements swirled around the confined space like a tornado.

Mareo had seen this coming and was not fazed by the unusual weather inside the room. However, he wanted zero part in the matter and walked seamlessly through the debris and exited the room without a word.

"Oh, did I hit a soft spot?" J laughed in juxtaposition to the chaos surrounding her. 

"You know nothing of family." Diodo was blind with rage, his quirk only getting stronger.

"You're right," J chuckled ironically and egged him on, finally ready for action.  "Only child. Distant parents. Broken home. Suck on that."

"You act like you are proud of that." He scoffed.

"At least I don't mope around, pining for my dead parents. It's been ten years. Get over it." Jonichiro used her steel ribbons to bat away the furniture flying towards her.

"You weren't there! You didn't see what I saw." Diodo remembered his childhood and what happened to his parents and little sister. "You didn't have to watch as a Hero saved the people right next to you. Watch them rush away, without even looking in your direction."

Jonichiro had heard this story dozens of times and wasn't remotely interested in hearing it again. But one thing was sure, she knew how to push his buttons. The boy was a walking basket case of impetuousness and needed serious therapy.

"That damned hero left us to die. I will never forget that." He spat.

"Yes!" Jonichiro found her opportunity and seized the moment. "Hero's think they're so high and mighty, that they can get away with anything. Forgetting about everyone! Selfish, entitled bastards. They're the true villains."

Her words caught Diodo off guard and he looked up, his eyes not tied to his past anymore. Jonichiro shot her ribbons towards him and caught his wrist. She then used her quirk to propel herself forwards and entered the eye of his storm cloud, out of the warzone.

"Use that passion, don't bury it away." Her voice was firm and her eyes intense. "They have taken too much from us. Too many lives have been destroyed."

Jinochiro remembered her own family, her old life, her parents. Both pro hero's worked endlessly in their agency, taking too many shifts and being controlled by rules and regulations. The higher ups forcing them to work themselves to death. Until they were too worn out and too tired to defend themselves.  As a child, she watched the Hero Society tear her family apart and  it finally took her parents' lives and with it, her childhood.

While the two settled their argument, the living room door opened an elderly woman stepped inside. She used her back shoulder to push the door open, a large platter of freshly baked cookies in her hands.  She swiveled her torso around to enter the living room and was welcomed by the swirling mass of the contents of her living room.

Her expression changed drastically in annoyance as she protected her baked goods from being blown away. "Diodo!"

The man heard the woman's call and immediately canceled his quirk, which caused everything to stop midair and fall to the floor loudly.

"What did I say about using quirks inside the house?!" Her head zigzagged back and forth around the room, taking note of all her belongings.

"My apologies K." Diodo said his sorry's, his eyes peering in annoyance towards Jonichiro. Which she responded by folding her arms and grabbing a cookie.

"Put all of this away immediately." K demanded, withholding her cookies from him.

With a flip of his finger, Diodo reactivated his quirk to set everything straight again. Every couch and piece of paper returned to its former place. Only when K was satisfied, she held out the tray of pastries.

Diodo sighed heavily and flopped down on the couch, cookie in hand.

"So.What was the reason for trashing my house?" K placed the platter on the table and joined him on the couch. Her eyebrow high with interest.

K was a simple old lady who lived for town gossip, she took Diodo, Mareo and Jonichiro in a few years ago, just after Diodo lost his family. She seemed to "collect" those who had been abandoned by society, gave them a place to stay and filled their bellies with sweets.

"Ask Jonichiro." Diodo shook his thumb at her.

The woman shot him a menacing glance before answering. "I'm tired of sitting around, waiting for some magical thing to happen."

"That's understandable." K nodded.

"Thank you!" Finally someone agreed with Jonichiro.

"Fret not my children." K held up a singular finger with a smile. "All good things come to those who wait."