Current Quirk Overview:
|||Immortal - born with
|||New Age AFO - born with
|||Decay
|||Blueflame
|||Cat
|||Fierce Wings - copy
|||Amalgamation - many random quirks thrown together, useless

    Kai cowered under his bedsheets as the heavy footsteps of a large villain crept carefully down the hall. The young man had remained visibly aloof when in All For One's presence, but there was no denying he held fear for the man who could so easily ruin his life in a heartbeat. (Y/n) was one problem. One which he felt sure enough he had handled by now. But her father was an entirely different beast. And it didn't help any that AFO liked to toy with the young man from time to time while the two were alone.

     The floor boards creaked, the elder's slippered feet uselessly stepping as lightly in they possibly could. Kai tore off his special night gloves, which were longer and tighter around the wrist to prevent from slipping, in preparation for a potential attack. All For One made it no secret that he was interested in the brunette's quirk, after all. And as Kai found out, there was nothing that scared him quite like the thought of losing his quirk. It was, after all, essential for his plans... And All For One knew of this fear.

     The creaking ceased on the other side of the dark rectangular shape in the wall. Quiet clicks and clanks sounded as the brunette's door was unlocked effortlessly without the use of a key, the dark rectangle opening up to pour a thin stream of pale light through. Kai's legs curled in closer to his body as the face of the other villain smiled through the cracked open door, half of it sharply illuminated in distant lamplight. AFO just stared for a moment, that terrifying grin unmoving.

     "Please..." Kai whispered hoarsely, whole body trembling. "Don't take my quirk..." Though Kai was powerful, within his own bed and under the roof of his own house, he felt insanely vulnerable. Not just now, but every night as well. It had taken him several months adjusting to the prospect of a quirk thief living in his house after you moved in. And now he had to do the same with another, arguably far more dangerous one.

     AFO did not respond. After a few eery seconds, however, the villain chuckled darkly and shut the young man's door again, locking it after. Kai sighed, shallow gasps for breath making up for the oxygen he'd ben neglecting.

     Alright... That was it. That was the last straw.

     Out in the hallway, the villain turned around and held his hand out in front of the door knob. A few clicks and creaks from inside sounded until finished. Then, the man simply opened the bedroom door.

     You lay inside on your mattress as usual, but your body was trembling. Already, your pillow and blankets were nothing but ash. The remaining sheets were signed through-to the mattress in several areas, and on your fingers still lingered some small blue flames. You mumbled in your sleep, cutting in-between breaths were the occasional sharp hisses and half yelps. Clearly, some kind of nightmare was at play. And though your struggling was soft and for the most part quiet, the elder had heard your faint voice moments before while wandering in the night, woken by his own nightmares.

     The moonlight drifting in through the window barely lit your form. More light spilled in through the now open door. All For One neared carefully, humming softly as he knelt down beside you. With narrowed brows, the man nibbled the inside of his lip watching that pain in your face as you struggled to breathe. Reminded the elder of when he would watch you lye there as a newborn. You were always a very restless creature. Despite your relaxed attitude, your mind was always in several places at once, your sleeping habits reflecting that. But, of course this struggling had more to do with the nightmares, which even he dreaded. So, he had a rare case of empathy there.

     After you had rolled onto your back, curling up tightly and digging your face into the pile of ash, your father reached out while he had this opening and placed his hand firmly on your back. He activated his quirk deactivation abilities, which killed the flames in your hands at once.

     Instantly, your body fell still. Then, you sneezed, blowing dust in all directions. The man chuckled, beginning to rub his hand up and down your back to calm you further. Your breathing settled into a gentle rhythm, mouth falling open to drool and stick ash to your face. The elder huffed as he took in the mess you had made. As a little girl, you used to kick the blankets a bit too hard and make them explode, resulting in some pretty serious messes. At least you didn't pee in bed like other children. No, instead you'd make other kinds of messes with your old quirks while in your sleep, all of which were often...interesting to walk in on. Especially as a parent needing to clean up after.

     All For One's personal favorite "sleepwalking" story of yours took place not long after you had taken that object levitation quirk. You had somehow wrapped yourself into a tight burrito of blankets, which started to float after a while. Somehow, you'd managed to float into the living room and get your blankets caught on the ceiling fan, which was turned on. Suffice to say, your father was a little worried to find his daughter being swung around by the fan blades, somehow completely sound asleep. You were a very deep sleeper, he quickly found out.

     AFO laid his chin down on the edge of the mattress, leaning it to the side a little as he watched you with a small but warm smile. He didn't know if he had changed somehow, or if he was simply getting so good at faking his little act of genuine love that he was beginning to fool himself now. This feeling was...strange. It started the moment he found out you had inherited his quirk and grew slowly with time. It wasn't exactly like how others described love. There was no burning, passionate fire in his heart or anything. But, something about his insides seemed a little softer and more easily susceptible to pain. More forgiving and gentle. You weren't an object to him; something that could be easily cast aside or claimed without a care. No, this was different. Even his own brother had felt more like a possession to him than this. This feeling had to be nurtured and cared for in order to grow. It hurt him just as much as it rewarded him. For now, it was like a precious little sprout. So delicate. ..Hm, made his life a heck of a lot more interesting trying to keep that sprout alive. But..it felt worth it somehow. Even if it hurt to think that ity bitty thing could be so easily crushed.

     Because you were his. His little angel. Unlike with his brother, who he wished would stay small and unmoving like a doll, he wanted to see you grow. Explore the world even... Even if that world was a dark place deserving of destruction, he'd let some live just so you could one day see it.

     "Be back soon.." Your dad whispered, hand leaving your back as he again stood. He left to the bathroom and returned with a futon, which he rolled out onto the floor beside your bed. After setting the bed up, he picked you up gently, brushed some of the spot off of your body, and tucked you into the cleaner bed. From there, he cleaned up what he could of the bed, resulting in him resorting to throwing everything away, even the mattress. Only the short frame left of your bed, your dad entered the bedroom again, carrying in his own. He made your bed anew from the necessary parts torn from his own. The wall nearest your bed had suffered from some minimal fire damage, so he just pulled the bed a little further from the wall for now. There, good as new. This..room was pretty small. Smaller than his own bedroom.

     You started to stir a little in your sleep as your bed was completed. AFO waited for you to settle down again before wrapping you snugly in blankets like a big baby and laying you down on your new bed, his own blankets, pillow, and all. You wiggled a little once placed, whines reminiscent of a newborn escaping your mouth as you wordlessly complained in your sleep about the restricting blankets. Your father chuckled softly and kissed your forehead.

     Now needing a place to rest his own head, your father laid down on the futon he'd just rolled out and rested there. For whatever reason, it took another hour and a half before he could bring himself to sleep. Wasn't quite sure what the reason might be. Maybe he wanted to be awake in case you slipped into another nightmare, or he cherished this quiet moment while you were simply at peace in his presence, him able to listen to your calm, sleeping breaths like he used to. Or maybe it was because his mind was full of memories. Memories he thought were long forgotten. But here they were, so vivid now as he lay there, remembering when he used to hold you as an infant. Your precious giggles every time he would make a funny face. Your excitement to be like him one day, even if that meant becoming a villain. He wasn't entirely sure why his mind decided to remember these of all things. After all, he had lived so long that the man had to be very selective about what he did and didn't remember. He had forgotten entire children of his because of this. So, why he remembered these small details of all things, he hadn't a clue.

     But he was happy to have you. Even if you didn't love him too.

     Your dad eventually fell sound asleep and stayed like that all night... The next morning, you tripped over him, cutting your lip open on the corner of your desk. Oww.

----------

     The interesting thing you found out from being number one at the Underground Masquerade "II" was that these groups functioned a lot more like rival gangs than you expected. Some of them were even connected to Yakuzas as their way to get around a few dodgy laws. Since you were the top dog at your location, you were occasionally invited to other locations to fight. Those business men who were somewhat your managers now also on occasion invited other champions to your location as well. It worked like a pyramid, the invitations. Since the Underground Masquerade was basically brand new all over again, the only champions your place could invite were from smaller, even lesser known locations. It went the other way too. Accepting to visit a smaller ring was heavily frowned upon here. You could only accept to visit a location if they were on higher or equal standing with yours. But, not to worry. The men in suits took care of all the complicated stuff for you. You were only expected to follow their guidance and fight where they said to fight.

     This new stadium was bigger, brighter, far more like the old one you used to attend. It was shiny and loud. So much energy in the crowd.

     First came the trial round. The show before the real show, where the top dog from another location shows the crowd how they might win by fighting several rookies at once. Today, it was one v five. With quirks enabled, of course.

     Using your regeneration alone as your quirk sure was difficult..but fun. It forced you to become more agile, acrobatic, and purposeful with every strike. Thanks to a couple different personal trainers you'd obtained around here, you'd gotten better and better at all of these, making up a fighting style that was ruthless, relentless, and fast.

     You sprinted and jumped into a high cartwheel of sorts, catching the hood of one fighter and throwing him into the body of another. A spout of fire attacked your clothes, filling your ears with the sound of flame and your eyes with heat to make it harder to pinpoint anyone. You landed and patted the bag on your face until the fire died out, a small hole revealing a simple black mask around your eyes underneath said bag. The two you'd just attacked weren't getting back up, meaning you only had three left.

     Fire guy sprinted. You flipped back and grabbed a hold of the bars of metal, flipping back over your arms to climb up them. Did I mention this was a cage fight. Another already crawling around on the walls jumped at you, a heel aiming at your jaw. You flattened against the wall, allowing him to fall into the other wall of iron instead of you. A sticky vine grappled around your waist and tugged you off the wall toward the fire guy, the vine's wielder behind him. As a wall of flames shot your way, you bent forward and bit the vine in two, snapping it. From there, you flung freely toward them. You flew through the wall of flames, aiming yourself to kick fire guy in the head. It landed. The man in an ancient-type helmet dropped to the ground unconscious. The viny one swung out another arm, gripping your wrist. The crawler tackled you before you could even do anything about it, pinning you on the ground with a knee on your stomach and a forearm on your throat. Most annoyingly about this were the purple sparkles that fell into your face from him. The animorph's green body was still visible through his purple, glittery painted scales, so he wasn't really hiding anything! Wait a minute... This wasn't just any animorph. This was--

     He appeared to note your appearance through the hole in your bag mask as well. At the same time, the two of you gasped.

     "Spinner?!"
     "(Y/n)?!"

     A moment of horror shared between you.

     "Don't tell Tenko!"
     "Don't tell Tenko!"

     You shoved Iguchi off of you afterward, yanking on your ensnared wrist to tug the last on the other end toward you. Iguchi was still in shock. You used this to your advantage, standing quickly and throwing the viny one into him. She fell on top of him and you stomped them both, holding them in place until the counter called time. The battle was won. You hurried off the stage to the break rooms. You had about an hour before the real fight.

----------

     "Hey, hey! (Y-) I mean Punching Bag!" Spinner banged on the break door. How was he even allowed back here? Probably wasn't. You growled, standing from the table of fine foods and snacks.

     You swung the door open, glaring down at the little one. "What?"

     "What do you mean, 'what?' What are you doing here?!"

     You leaned in the door frame and crossed your arms, rolling your eyes. "Training, obviously. Nobody at UA is teaching us how to fight, exactly. I'm assuming you're here for that same reason?"

     Iguchi dropped his shoulders, looking away down the empty concrete hall and nodded. "Yeah... Kind of hard when you can't rely on your quirk much and need the combat training... But when did you get another quirk?? And how are you so good???"

     Lifting a hand and using your fingers to count, "First of all, this is part of my quirk. Just like how I can destroy material with my hands, I can reverse destruction in my own body. Secondly, I've been in this business for more than two years now. I know how these people think and I learned pretty quickly how to beat them up. Thirdly, once you reach a certain point, you can basically pick and choose trainers to teach ya how to fight better and win more money for them."

     Iguchi blinked up at you, mouth falling open. "...You think you can get a personal trainer for me??"

     "Heh," you smirked "after I win this fight, I'll have enough money and influence to offer you three."

----------

     The mass of thumping of boots fell against the stadium grounds to a beat as the masses cheered on their approaching champion. You stood up on stage already, watching as a hooded stranger in a light blue parka with two brightly glowing blue eyes entered the ring. Wait, this was... somehow familiar.

     Didn't matter. You rolled your shoulders and hopped from foot to foot, energy rushing through you for the fight to come. Iceman was his name. And his looks sure fit that bill. You smiled big, a new bag on your face to hide it away.

     You held up your fists and your opponent just stood there. The alarm blared and your opponent just stood there. You hung back, watching and listening closely. You couldn't hear his boots tapping or see his blurry form moving. So you stood there stupidly as well, waiting for him to do something. After a few silent seconds, the rowdy audience started to boo and complain. Obliging, you started your sprint forward. The moment you reached the center of the platform, the pipes in the ceiling broke open. A rush of ice dove in from all angles and trapped you. Trapped in the center, caught up in it mid jump, you were unable to even breathe.

     Unable to breathe.
        Unable to breathe!
           Unable to breathe!!
              Unable to breathe!!!

     Crushing you, the solid, cold water surrounded you. Toya's quirk gave you some aversion to the bite of frost, but you were still trapped!!

     The audience started to laugh, their voices muffled, hardly audible through the intensity of your beating heart, the hyperventilation of your breath. You hated this! You hated this!! You HATED this!!! Each one of your limbs over exaggerated the sensation of cold into something far more painful. Stinging, jabbing, tearing apart your nerves, severing your limbs! It wasn't real, there wasn't any real pain and you knew that! So why did it hurt so bad!?! Why did your lungs seize up like they were full of water, your head ache like it was being crushed?!

     The crowd laughed and laughed, the bite and sting of it all slowly settling until you realized you were being mocked.

     Flames sprouted from your fingers, licking at the ice around them.. but no. You couldn't give in and use another quirk. You struggled to break yourself free with your own strength, but it wasn't enough. You were trapped and helpless!

     Fear, shame, betrayal, embarrassment.. it all accumulated together into a deep, intense rage. Listening to their voices... All that laughter to your struggling.

     ...All you wanted to do was kill them all. Discard everything you'd built for yourself, sprout Hellfire Wings.. and take them all out right here and now...

     You almost agreed on it too.

     But, you remembered Iguchi was here, probably watching in the back. A pang of guilt checked you. Of course...

     What would Tenko think if his old friend never returned? You wouldn't be able to live with yourself knowing you had killed him. You gave up struggling, breathing intensely still as the tears soaked into your mask.

     You wanted nothing more than to simply disappear.

----------

     You lost, obviously. Embarrassingly so at that. The people left and right teased you, all while you walked around carelessly like a ghost after the event closed up. You hardly spoke a word. A few commented on your demeanor, patting you on the back and inviting you to come with them for a drink. These people were familiar enough from your home location, some even good acquaintances. You reluctantly decided to join.

     You'd never been able to get drunk before, but maybe having a drink would help take your mind off of things. Iguchi lingering through all of this. You mostly ignored him and he pretended not to know you as any more than a popular fighter. However, when he heard you agreeing to go get a drink, he slipped in between you and the group and whispered sharply.

     "You're under age!"

     "They don't know that." You smirked. Presently, your black cloth mask was on and your hair was dyed pink and put up into a ponytail. Still, you had a very androgynous appearance and we're more often than not referred to as a sir. It helped that you talked with a deeper voice around these guys. Twenty-three was the age you always gave whenever somebody asked as well. Iguchi tried a few more times to convince you otherwise, but you got so caught up in conversation that he was easy to ignore. Even walking backwards, directly in front of you glaring, you just tilted your head away. Finally, he gave up.

     "Hhhhh, don't get into any trouble, okay? Tomorrow's Monday."

     "Yeah yeah, sure. Don't worry." You waved passively at the animorph as he left. You mostly let the chatter happen around you as your familiar group of acquaintances from the Underground Masquerade brought you to the bar. Thankfully, no one there asked to see an ID of yours. The mask probably helped. Your buddies still had their masks on too, because, at the end of the day, you were all still strangers.

     "Just because I didn't win doesn't mean I didn't get a (pretty penny) out of the fight~" You mumbled to the others. They all 'ohh'ed together, knowing where this was going. "All drinks on me!" You hollered, followed by a load of cheers. Ahh, finally, the audience reaction you wanted. After everyone in your group had gotten their drinks, you decided to grab some yourself. "Hey guys, watch this." Turning to the mix of men and women fighters while grinning. "I bet I can all the drinks in this place without getting drunk!"

     "No way!"
     "What??"
     "Prove it!"

     "Ight, you asked for it! Ay, bartender! Bring over your strongest drink! And keep 'em coming!" It was a neat little party trick. The drinks tasted terrible, but it was the astonished faces of the audience that fed you. After a few drinks, though, your buddies started to laugh at you for getting a little tipsy. You didn't even notice it yourself at first. You just thought you were finally starting to have a little fun. But, no. Your arms started to get a little heavy and it was getting harder and harder to keep your mouth shut. In denial, you had a couple more drinks until you were positively drunk.

     You stood leaning against the counter next to the others, continuing on your spiel about a chicken moving to France. You were so certain how funny it was that you kept interrupting yourself with laughter, even as you repeated the same sentence for the third time. In your drunken babbling, some woman who had been quietly sitting beside you suddenly slid her hand into the back of your pants. Your body whipped around, overcome with an intense anger as you gripped the woman's arm and yanked her off the chair. You realized in horror that your grabbing her, in your drunkenness, was with the intention to kill her right then and there. Thankfully, though, your quirk hadn't activated.

     Wait... Hadn't activated??

     The woman screamed as her body hit the floor, her shoulder torn out of socket. You stumbled into the back of another man, staring down in shock. Your brain ticked twice per minute, slowly putting together what this all meant.

     If she was still alive, then you didn't have your quirk. And if you didn't have your quirk, then that would explain why and how you managed to get drunk. Wait. No quirk? NO QUIRK!?

     "Hey, man, what'd you do that for?!" An older guy strode your way, angry on the fallen women's offense. Another guy jumped in to help her up, glaring at you as well. The mood of the whole place suddenly shifted in hostility toward you. You slipped up your hands, shaking terribly. After all, you'd just lost your quirk for a reason you had no idea.

     One from your group barged in to speak for you. "Listen, Bag here didn't mean to. He just got back from a fight and is clearly drunk!"

     "Oh, so you're all the trouble making type?" A crowd formed against you. One built up of dangerous looking men. Everyone in your group backed up, dragging you along.

     "We'll just be leaving."

     "No, you'll be paying for her hospital expenses!"

     "But I just spent all that on drinks!" Not helping, but you thought adding that little tidbit might get them off your back. It did not.

     Your group and you all ran out of there, a group of guys chasing after. You kept tripping over yourself so many times that eventually the guys helping you along had to drop you in order to save their own skin. After slamming into the ground, the only thing on your mind was why the cuts on your palms weren't healing right away. Half of the men from the bar swarmed broke off from the one still pursuing your buddies to swarm you, deciding that instead of paying for her expenses, you'd be paying for your own instead. They picked you up, threw you into a nearby wall, punched you and tossed you around, threw you into the ground and kicked at your guts. All while you tried and failed to activate your quirks. Please, any of them would help out here! Why couldn't you activate at least ONE!? Eventually, you just had to curl up into a ball and take the hits, hoping the it would all end soon.

     "What do you think you are doing?" A very snobbish, feminine voice spat out at the men. The berating ceased as each one of them, as if against their own will, told the woman in fine detail exactly what it was they were doing.

     Even you, unable to think clearly, croaked out, "Getting beat up."

     "What are you supposed to be doing right now?"

     "Sleeping." You.
     "Working."
     "Hanging out with friends."
     "Taxes."
     "Sleeping."
     "Studying for exams."
     "Sleeping."
     "Going to the bathroom."

     "Well then?.. What's stopping you?" The woman's grating voice was..familiar. Yet your mind was too hazy to process anything. And answering her questions came involuntarily, like the truth was literally being ripped out of you!

     Everyone again answered, your answer somewhere along the lines of, "Maybe if they stopped beating me up I would." Through the men's legs, you caught a glimpse of the woman posing perfect posture. Her clothes were casual. A long, gray skirt, deep maroon turtle neck shirt and a long brown jacket. Her hands held one another together before her. On the edge of her nose was a pair of circular glasses.

     "Well if you men are so busy and this is the only thing stopping you, then why not quit early and go do something meaningful with your time instead?" It was strange. That woman's glare killed the anger in those men. She was right, after all. Why waste their time on you? One after another, the men backed off until it was just you and the woman who had scolded them.

     You coughed and wheezed there on the ground. The woman neared and knelt in front of you. "Sit up, young lady." She demanded with a reprimanding tone. You growled at her but sat yourself up anyway. Once finally up, the struggle ending, a harsh slap stung your cheek.

     "Ms. Yamashi?" One eye was swollen and the other one too tired to study anything.

     "Yes. Now stand up." She then stood up, leaving you to do it all on your own. "What were you thinking?? Drinking under age, getting drunk and starting fights?? And here I thought you were finally improving."

     While pushing yourself up sloppily, "..How d'.. how'd...y' know where I was?"

     "M.." It appeared you caught her off guard somehow. "I was...buying a drink myself." She admitted, which really took a lot of her pride. "I wasn't sure it was you until you were already running away."

     "..Oh." Finally up, your weight swayed dangerously. Ms. Yamashi noticed and wrapped her arm around your back.

     "Is anything broken?"

     "I dhhno."

     "..My house is closer than yours. And I'm not returning you to your home while you are as unpresentable as you are." She guided you along. You limped, not up for fighting the woman over this. As you two walked, you realized something suddenly and stared down at your palm. It was completely normal. There was no hole in it like before. No sign at all of a quirk. The woman scoffed again. "What are you even wearing?? And is that a mask?"

     Even though you had a lie formed this time, you ended up telling the truth anyways. "They're m' fight'n clothes. I.. it's kinna like a job.." 

     "You, of all people?? Fighting for money??"

     "T'ss for practice too..."

     "Ugh.. You are the most repulsive, rambunctious, self destructive, idiotic lady I have ever met! What does any of this have to do with benefitting your future!?" You held your head low, unwilling to answer that. She didn't use her quirk on you, allowing time to simply pass.

     A few minutes later, you two arrived at an apartment. It wasn't low class, but it wasn't exactly as fancy or expensive as you imagined either. "Pff.. You live here??"

     The elder swatted you with her free arm, then unlocked the front door. "I got a divorce a few years back, moved here temporarily, and never cared to move out since." You hissed out something of a laugh. Somehow the divorce thing didn't surprise you. After entering, the woman let you down easy on the couch. "Stay here. I'll call Chisaki, then have you cleaned up by the time someone comes to get you." You flipped onto your back, groaning loudly.

  "Idon'twanttogobacktotjatd###place."

     "Now that is no way to speak about your family!" 

     Head yanking up to glare at the woman, "Says the one with nuh family!"

     "That's it!! You're cleaning up your own wounds!"

     "Dn't need it. M' dad can just reverse th' damage.." You stood yourself up slowly, using every surface nearby to make up for your lacking balance. "M'ma take a show'r."

     "He can, can he?.. I thought his quirk was-- nevermind. I don't really care about your side of the family."

     "Pffff.. What do y' care m'bout?" When the woman struck you with a very different, genuinely offended look, you knew you had overstepped. "...Sorry."

     The woman hung her coat up by the door and slid her shoes off. Her house was very neat, by the way. Not a mess or flaw in sight. "....I understand where you are coming from..." hanging her chin a little low. "Now take your shower quickly. I have some spare clothes. They may be a little tight, but will most likley fit you."

     "Heh, y'sure?? I usually have to grab things from the men's section."

     "I- um.. my size has fluctuated throughout the years."

     "Ah." It was hard to imagine her fat. Ms. Yamashi stepped into her own room while you made your way slowly to the bathroom, bracing against the wall all the way. After entering, you shut and locked the bathroom door and sat on the toilet seat, groaning and massaging your aching head. Everything hurt, but those were mostly just bruises. Thankfully, you didn't obtain many bleeding cuts. The ones you did were minimal. Hhhhh, it had been a long while now since you needed to care about injuries.

     "First aid kit and new clothes are outside your door! I am going to call him now." The woman announced.

     "Okay!" You grabbed them after she left and took a very quick shower to clean off. Sorry, Makia. You might not get any dinner tonight. After getting cleaned, washing the dye out of your hair and filth out of your scrapes, you dressed in underwear, took care of any cuts that needed bandaging, and put on clothes over that. Simple gray pants with some faint plaid designs in them and a dark purple, long sleeve turtleneck. Amazingly enough, it all fit. The pants were a little short, buuut.. You were even able to tuck the shirt into them! All finished, you hobbled back out of the bathroom, gripping your head.

     "Some pain medication." The woman, standing in the kitchen to the right, offered you a glass of water and singular pill. You took it and downed the pill without second thoughts. After that, you stumbled to the left, toward the couch, and collapsed upon it. "Na-ah. You seriously think I am just going to let you return home like that? You're still a mess!"

     "Whu?" Lifting your head groggily. The elder woman urged you to sit back up while she left to grab some things. She returned with a hair dryer and brush. She stood in front of the couch, you sitting at a tilt, letting her dry your hair and brush its wild wet curls into something more civil. Fun fact: your hair gets really curly when it's wet. Your mom's used to be the same way as well. So... Guess you got it from her..

     You sighed sadly, staring off to the side at a small family picture framed and propped up on a stand beside the couch. The picture contained three individuals. A blond man, a dark haired woman, and their blond son. None smiling. Looked like one of those really old black and white photos, but with color. Your eyes lingered on the teen boy a little longer.

     "...You have a son?"

     The woman flinched, startled by your sudden, personal question. She glanced over at the image and frowned. "Did." Tugging your hair as she griped.

     "Oh.. I'm sorry."

     "No, he's still alive. He's as good as disowned, however. That whole side of the family pretty much is... The boy's a con artist now. Call me conservative, but I've always sided with Chisaki when it comes to things like honor and integrity." She was talking about Pops, right?

     "That is... I can respect that..." She finally finished blowdrying your hair and instead just brushed it some more. "So how do you know Pops anyways?"

     "Chisaki and I have been friends since elementary school."

     "Oh wow."

     "I know. Heh. I'm a little older than I look."

     "Nah, you look about right-- kidding! Kidding!" Raising your hands over your head, you laughed nervously. The woman, holding the brush up in the air, set it back down gently and brushed out a few final knots, seating herself beside you. "Honestly surprised you two were able to stay friends for so long."

     "Hmhm, I am too. Wanted to marry him even when we were younger. But, he was forced into an arranged marriage the moment the girl was born and was destined to wed her, so I had to give him up pretty quickly."

     "...Oh... That's kind of sad."

     "It is...if you think about it too much. Now, I just think all that was a blessing in disguise. I have a hard time believing either of us would wind up happy in a relationship like that. No, we probably would have just ended up destroying each other." She chuckled again, somewhat mournful this time. You just listened quietly. "Nah... In a way, he's been closer to me as a friend than he ever could be as a husband.. if that makes any sense."

     "Heh, no, I think I get it. I've never really had a crush on anyone or anything, but I can bet it gets tiring living with the same person all the time."

     Laughing along, "It really does!" You laughed too, lost your balance, and fell against her. The woman grabbed your shoulders to ensure you didn't fall any further. You gave up using your muscles and laid the back ofyour head on her shoulder. Though stiff, the woman allowed you to use her as the back of a chair, your breaths calming as your body prepared for sleep. "...(Y/n)?"

     "Hm?" Not caring to open your eyes.

     "...I'm sorry for how I've been treating you."

     "Huh??" Were you just imagining this?!

     "I am. And don't make me take it back."

     "Y-yes ma'am."

     The woman set the brush down and combed her fingers through your now soft as silk hair. "...For the trouble you are...you're a good kid. I think the biggest thing you need to work on right now would be treating someone with respect who you don't think deserves it. Because I've seen how polite you can be to the people you really care about."

     "Psh, why should I though?"

     "Situational, really. Sometimes, all it takes to change someone's opinion of you is to simply be a little kinder. Even if they don't deserve it."

     "Ghh.. Guess you're right. I-- I mean, a splendid proposition thou hast brought me, dear madam~" The woman chuckled this time, which made you smile.

Knock-knock knock-knock

     "That must be them." The woman pushed you away and stood. She shuffled toward the door and peeked through the small hole. "Yep. Looks like Kai to me."

     "Kai?" Sitting your back against the couch, you watched from afar. Strange, you thought of all the people to come and get you, it would be your dad.

     The woman cracked open the door, revealing a lone Kai Chisaki in the doorway. You blinked your one decent eye and stared. He looked a little... different. Green jacked with a purple frilly hood. Everything else looked normal for him, but that jacket was familiar for a different reason. Likewise, the article of clothing that looked familiar despite never seen on him before...was his mask. That red and gold plague doctor inspired one, to be exact. You weren't really alarmed by this. After all, these articles of clothing were bound to show up eventually. What was a little strange was the way in which he stared down at you, already spotting you across the room. Yeah, you were caught drinking under age, but you knew his facial expressions well enough to know this wasn't about breaking the law. No, those eyes had a plan behind them.

     "Thank you for finding her." The young man nodded to the woman as she allowed him to pass. He strode right up to you and knelt down to about eye level with you. "You're injured. Is your quirk malfunctioning?"

     You rolled your eyes. "Hhhh, yeah.."

Click
      click

     Your eyes widened, finding yourself trapped in a staring match with the barrel of a pistol, one only a few inches away and pointed directly at the gap between your eyes.

     "Good."