Chapter Text
"When are you going to introduce me to Dice?"
Kokichi raised his book so that he could look across the apartment to see Kaede was standing in the kitchen. He was hanging upside down off the edge of the couch, feet brushing against the wall where they were propped up on the back of the couch and his hair brushing the floor. Kaede still had her back to him as she focused on burning breakfast.
Well, Kokichi assumed that she would burn it because she was a terrible cook. She could rarely follow a recipe without trying to add something or getting distracted so that it ended up burned. The fact that she was keeping her eyes on the food would have been a good sign, but the fact that she had started this conversation meant that her mind wasn't really on it. He didn't mind though. They had poptarts in the cabinets that he could snag.
"I have introduced you to Dice," he replied. It was pretty much impossible for him to spend any significant time with someone without them colliding with Dice in some way. Dice were the most important thing in his life and while Kaede was steadily climbing higher on that list, she hadn't and likely wouldn't surpass Dice.
Kaede turned to glare at him over her shoulder. "Only, like, three members," she said. Technically five, but he wasn't sure she had realized that he had long recruited some of their former classmates. Though if he really thought of it, all of Dice had met her by now, she just didn't know it. There was no way Dice would ever let their leader date, let alone live with someone that they hadn't met and vetted to some extent. She was at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to spotting Dice members though. There were a lot of people that came up to her all the time, either because she was a Hope's Peak alumni or because she was a famous pianist, and it was hard to keep up when you met that many people a day. Or so he heard. Kokichi was pretty good at remembering people.
"So, what about it?" he asked.
"Three people isn't all of Dice," she complained. "I want to meet everyone."
Kokichi sighed and closed his book, tossing it up on the couch beside him. "What for?"
"What do you mean, what for?" she asked, voice becoming louder with incredulousness. "Because they're important to you. They're practically your family, right?"
"They are my family," he corrected.
"So why wouldn't I want to meet your family?" She asked, fully turning toward him and putting her hands on his hips. Definitely going to burn those eggs, or whatever it is.
Kokichi sighed loudly. "Sounds like a lot of work, to me."
"Kokichi," she said in a scolding tone. She walked away from the stove, big mistake, and kneeled down so that she could look him in his eyes. A silly thing to do when he was upside down. His expression went from scolding to soft in moments. "I want to be closer to you. You want that too, right?"
Kokichi met her eyes and said, "Your food is burning."
The calm expression was immediately replaced with panic as she got to her feet. "No, the omelet!" She ran over to the stove and began fussing around with the pan, trying to save the undoubtedly ruined meal.
Kokichi slid off the couch and onto the floor before rolling over and getting to his feet. "Poptarts are on the shelf," he told her helpfully.
Kaede gave him an exasperated look over her shoulder. "I don't want junk food for breakfast."
"And I don't want burned food," he said, walking to the cabinet and pulling out the box. "Guess our tastes are just too different."
"Don't eat that, she told him. "I'm going to make us a nice breakfast for once."
Kokichi gave her a flat look. "A nice breakfast of what? Cereal?"
Kaede frowned, looking back down at the mess in her pan. "Maybe it doesn't taste that bad?" she asked hopefully.
Kokichi looked her in the eyes as he ripped open his poptarts and took a bite of one. "Then you eat it."
Kaede made a sound of distress as she hung her head. Kokichi pat her shoulder as he walked by.
"Better luck next time, sweet cheeks."
"Don't call me sweet cheeks," she grumbled half-heartedly. She knew by now that objections basically guaranteed that he would use the nickname again, but it was a hard habit to break.
Kokichi watched from the couch as she scrapped the food from the pan, dropped it in the sink, and slowly trudged over to sit beside him. He held out his poptart for her to take a bite and Kaede sighed before doing so.
"See, it's not so bad," he said.
Kaede groaned and let her head fall onto his shoulder. He continued letting her take bites of his poptart
It was mid-afternoon when Kokichi met up with Dice. They had a lot of meeting places within the city, the main one being in an area that had been dubbed Hideout Park. It was a completely normal park but after meeting there a few times, Joy had made a joke about it being their hideout and the name had stuck. It wasn't the largest park, but it was in a fairly busy area making their constant gathering seem very inconspicuous.
There was a path that ran through the park and a picnic table that sat to one side, known as the throne after he routinely used it as a chair instead of a table. Today was no different and Kokichi hopped up on the table as soon as he arrived. "Bow to your king!"
Joy was kneeling on the ground in a circle of dogs they were meant to be walking, trying to pet all seven of them with her two hands. She looked up at him, rolled her eyes, and continued trying to pet the herd of excited canines. Princess was sitting on the grass with one of the smaller dogs in her lap and she waved at him. Bishop and Ace both smiled at him, the latter trying to reach over Joy to hook leashes on dog collars.
"Hey boss," Bishop greeted.
"You're late," Ace told him.
"A king is never late," he declared. He looked around briefly to see if he could spot any of his other minions, frowning when he didn't. "Where's my good for nothing second?" he asked.
"Angie had a commission," Joy answered. "She took Raeve with her and Jack thought that he should supervise."
Kokichi sighed. "Typical." Angie, otherwise known as Brush once he had taken her under his wing, was more chaotic than she was reliable most of the time. Kokichi didn't need a reliable stick in the mud though, that's not what made her his second in command. No, he needed someone that could ride the same wave of chaos that he did, someone that was devious and reckless but not stupid. Lantern thought that he should be second in command because he was reasonable and usually tried to reign Angie in for that reason. The fact that he usually failed emphasized his lack of suitability to the role.
"Did you need her for something?" Ace questioned. His bleached blonde hair stood up at a 90 degree angle, but rather than make him stand out, he looked rather normal among them. A lot of people bleached their hair and used too much gel. Bishop was big and round with a bald head, Princess was smaller than even Kokichi with hair so long it nearly trailed the ground, and Joy had bright pink hair with shaved sides. Comparing them, Ace seemed like your typical delinquent.
"Kaede wants to meet you all," Kokichi said instead of addressing Ace's question.
Joy's face lit up. "We get to meet the mistress?"
"Don't call her the mistress," he said. "That makes me sound like some sleazeball."
"What does she want with us?" Ace questioned.
"The usual," Kokichi answered with a shrug, looking at his nails. "Torture, interrogation, intimidation."
Ace's eyes widened. "Wait, really?"
Joy snickered. "No way. He's kidding."
Ace looked at Joy. "But are you sure? I mean, if she's dating the boss then..."
"If she was like Kichi then she would have already met us by now," Princess said. She looked up at Kokichi. "Right?"
Kokichi smiled widely at her. "Some minions are brighter than others."
"Hey!" Ace yelled.
Kokichi laughed as he hopped off the table. "Enough messing around. We've got a job to do!"
They all nodded, getting to their feet and handing out the dogs leashes until they all had the dogs that they could handle. Dice Dog Sitting services had been a successful endeavor for them since before he graduated from Hope's Peak and it was enough for them to scrape by. Of course, their other endeavors went a long way as well.
"Onward!" he exclaimed.
"Onward!" they echoed him.
The minute Kaede reached the table where Shuichi was waiting for her she let out a loud groan. She let her body fall into the seat and dropped her head onto the table, not caring at all if she got a few stares from the other patrons at the cafe. She and Shuichi always chose to sit outside where the noise was more acceptable and years of dating Kokichi had made her less uptight about causing small scenes in public. The same couldn't be said of Shuichi though, who looked around nervously before he even addressed her.
"Um, is something wrong?" he asked.
"Today was a disaster," she told him. "Again!"
Shuichi's eyes still glanced around but he kept the majority of his attention on her. He really did worry too much about what others thought of him, she wasn't being that loud. "What happened?"
"I ruined breakfast."
"Well, that's not new," he said. When she lifted her head to look at him, Shuichi tried to swiftly backtrack. "I-I mean, um, did Kokichi complain or..."
Kaede sighed again, deciding not to comment on his less than delicate reponse. "No, but he never complains. And he still doesn't want me to meet Dice either!"
"Did he say that?" Shuichi asked and Kaede could tell by the way his eyes sharpened and his lips thinned that he would be offended on her behalf if he did. The thought actually made her smile, just a little.
"Not in so many words," she told him. "But he did change the subject." The fact that the subject changed to her burning food was irrelevant. She folded her arms under her and sulked just a little. It wasn't fair that he had a secret organization and wouldn't tell her anything about it.
Shuichi lifted his hand to his lips as he thought, a habit that he still hadn't broken all these years later. "Maybe he has a good reason that he doesn't want you to meet them."
Kaede frowned. "What reason could he have? These people are his family and I live with him now!"
Shuichi held up his hand, leaning away from her glare. "It was just a suggestion! I don't want to-"
Kaede leaned closer to him. "But you're a detective, right? So detect something!"
Shuichi leaned further away from her. "Um, it doesn't really work like that."
Kaede sighed as she put her head back on the table. "Sorry, I'm just driving myself in circles here. Why doesn't he want me to meet them? Does he think they won't like me?"
"Well..." Whatever Shuichi was in the middle of saying was cut off by a scream. The two of them, as well as several other people in the cafe, stood up to look around for the sound. Several people were beginning to run past, though they still wouldn't see what was causing the commotion.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"It's a Yokai attack!" someone hastily spat out.
"What?" Kaede pushed herself away from the table as she got to her feet, trying to look toward what was happening.
Shuichi put a hand on her shoulder. "Kaede. We should go."
Kaede noded. "Right."
While the people around them were standing up and trying to lean over the cafe's rail to see what was happening, she and Shuichi went the other way toward the bathrooms.
Yokai, as he called himself, had been making random attacks on the city for a while now. No one was sure where he had come from, or what he wanted, but every time he made his move he was there and gone before anyone had the chance to do anything about it.
That was, until now. Kaede looked down at the small winged brooch that was clipped to her shirt. "Do you think we should?" he asked softly. She looked up at Shuichi, seeing the same indecision on his face before he nodded.
"If we can do something, then... we should try," he said.
Kaede smiled at him. "You're right. See you on the other side." They went separate ways, him into the male restrooms and her into the women's. She briefly looked around to make sure the place was empty before ducking into one of the stalls. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "Alright, we can do this. Nooroo?"
Her kwami, a small purple plushie-like creature with large eyes and butterfly wings, floated out in front of her with a smile. "You'll be great, Master. I believe in you."
Kaede smiled back at it. "Alright, Nooroo. Wings rise!" There was a flash of light around her and she could feel the transformation as it spread over her. Once it was done, she opened the door and looked over herself briefly. She'd only transformed a handful of times before and she hadn't really gotten the chance to see how she looked any of those times. Red butterfly wings drooped behind her and there were wings on the side of her cap. She had a red mask over her eyes, with matching gloves and shoes, but her shoes and tights were black. The cane in her hand looked a bit more like a wand, a red butterfly emblem below the pommel.
Kaede only paused long enough to give herself a quick once over before she was pushing herself out the bathroom's window, and rushing toward where she heard the commotion.
Shuichi was only a few steps behind her. He looked a lot less elaborate than she did, dressed all black with a button up shirt tucked into slacks, a black cap pulled low on his head, and black fingerless gloves. The only spot of color was the blue of his mask, his hair that looked wilder and fluffier than normal, and the dog ears peeking out from the sides of his cap.
Kaede gave him an encouraging smile. Even though he'd done this a little more often than she had, he was still far from being an expert. "We can do this," she told him.
Shuichi pulled on his hat, much like he used to in highschool. "I hope you're right."
They heard the screaming before they got to the scene. There was a web of string covering the area, thin in some areas but thick and black in others. At least, Shuichi thought that it was string, before he was able to spot Yokai standing in the center of it all. The man was dressed in a loose, flowing white top and golden hakama trousers, a giant paintbrush strapped to his back. He had skin that was pure white like it was made of marble, golden pupil-less eyes, and long trails of black hair which were connected to the trails of string all around them. All around the area, he could see people being accosted by this sentient hair, grabbing hold of limbs or wrapping around necks.
"Oh no," Kaede said as soon as she saw what he did. "We have to save them."
"I'll rescue as many as I can," he told her. "You need to distract him."
"Right." Kaede set her sights on Yokai and jumped into the hair, the red wings on her back coming to life to help carry up to the top of the building where Yokai waited.
Shuichi focused his attention on the first person he saw whose neck was being gripped by the hair. He pulled out his weapon, a small blue ball, and tossed it at them. It hit them and bounced back into his hand. "Fetch!" he called out and the person was teleported from where they were into Shuichi's waiting arms. The sudden weight brought Shuichi to his knees as he tried to hold up the person as they coughed and struggled to catch their breath, but he sighed in relief that the power worked like it was supposed to. He couldn't spare too much time though. He ran through the area, tossing his ball out at anyone that was in a bad spot and calling them safely to his side.
Once he'd rescued everyone that was in immediate danger, he turned his attention to Yokai and Kaede. Yokai was brandishing his giant paintbrush as a weapon and Kaede was using her cane to deflect the blows. She looked far from confident though, slowly backing up from Yokai's steady advances as he rained down blow after blow.
"Why are you doing this?" Kaede asked. "Why are you hurting people?"
Yokai ducked beneath her guard and jammed the end of his paintbrush into her stomach, making her double over. "I don't think that's any of your concern."
Kaede looked up at him, face contorted in pain. She still managed to fling her cane out toward his leg, causing him to hiss in pain. "It is my concern! I refuse to let you do whatever you want!"
Shuichi ran to get closer to her, jumping from cars to streetlights to make his way up to her side. He tossed his ball at her once he was close enough, knowing the projectile would travel faster than he would.
"Unfortunately for you, I wasn't asking for permission," Yokai said.
The ball returned to Shuichi's hand just as he noticed someone else coming toward them. No, coming toward her.
Shuichi didn't think, he just yelled. "Fetch!"
Kaede disappeared just as someone landed in her place, creating a crater in the top of the building. Kaede blinked several times in confusion as she appeared at Shuichi's side. "Wh-what?"
Shuichi turned his gaze back to the roof. While Yokai had appeared several times now, with ever changing abilities at his disposal, this was the first time that he'd ever had someone at his side. The girl was dressed in white, with brown hair that looped at the top to look like ears, a cat paw print on her top, and black and red paint surrounding her red eyes like a mask. She looked dangerous, the way she zeroed in on them and immediately took up a fighting stance, claws on one of her hands.
"Who are you?" Kaede questioned.
"Mauler," she answered curtly. "Don't get in our way."
"We're not going to let you hurt people!" Kaede responded.
"Then you'll get hurt," the girl answered. She kicked a chunk of concrete that had been dislodged by her attack, sending it straight at them. Shuichi and Kaede separated as they dodged. Shuichi landed on the top of a nearby car, while Kaede took to the air. The onslaught didn't stop, as Mauler punched the ground once again and began kicking more debris their way. Shuichi quickly dropped down behind the car to take cover while Kaede dodged in the air.
Unfortunately, they had both forgotten about the web of hair loosely covering the area around them. Shuichi didn't realize that he was trapped until the strands tightened around his limb, binding his arms to his torso and causing him to cry out. "Ack!"
"Cerber! Ahh!" Her cry was cut off as the hair wrapped around her leg and dragged her from the air, slamming her into the ground below.
"I feared that this would be a difficult task," Yokai said, standing at the edge of the building and looking down at them. "But it seems I overestimated you."
Kaede glared, trying to kick her leg free, but more tendrils were wrapping around her and closing around her other leg too. Her face was absolutely panicked and for a moment, Shuichi thought they were done for, that this would be their first and last attempt to use these powers, their Miraculous, for anything good. But then she cupped her hands together, a small light gathering in her palms, before she flung her arms out, releasing a small white butterfly. Kaede kept her gaze on Shuichi as the butterfly traveled to him, landing on his hair.
"Shuichi? Can you hear me?" Kaede questioned, her voice floating through his mind. He could see the white outline of butterfly wings around his face and her mouth wasn't moving, so this must have been part of her ability.
"I can hear you," he thought back to her. "How are you doing this?"
"Part of my abilities are to empower others," Kaede said. "I can give you the strength to save us. What do you need, Shuichi? Show it to me."
Shuichi tried to think, what could he do to get them out of here? The problem was that Yokai could trap them too easily, they needed a way to be able to escape his web and then they could take care of the rest. He imagined the ability he would need.
"Alright. I can do it," Kaede responded to him. "Just trust me."
"I do," he answered confidently.
Kaede smiled at him and then she called out, "Metamorphosis!"
Shuichi could feel her power rushing over him and closed his eyes against the bright light it produced. He could feel his abilities becoming stronger and he instantly understood how to use them. He tossed out his ball and yelled, "Chase!" As soon as his weapon hit the ground, he was teleported out of the tangle of hair and to the location his weapon had landed. "We did?"
"Good job, Cerberus!" Kaede said. "A little help here?"
Shuichi was knocked over before he could respond. He looked behind him quickly, pailing as he saw Mauler standing over him. "Forget about me?" she asked. She held up the hand adorned with claws. "Clout," she said quietly, causing her claws to glow with energy.
Shuichi quickly scrambled backwards before tossing his weapon. "Chase!" he yelled in panic. Her claws were inches from his face when he vanished and a crater was left on the ground where her fist had landed.
"You can't dodge forever," she told him.
No, he probably couldn't, Shuichi was very determined to try. He moved to put more distance between them, trying to avoid the web of hair as it lunged at him. When he was finally close enough to Kaede he tossed his ball out to free her. She slumped against him, giving him a weak smile. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet," he said. "I have no idea how to defeat them."
"I think I do," Kaede said. "We need to get that brush from Yokai. That has to be how he's using his power, right?"
"Maybe," Shuichi answered hesitantly. He couldn't think of anything else though and it would be easier to steal that than trying to take Mauler's claws.
"Ah, Look out!" Kaede yelled, pushing them both to the ground just in time to avoid being barreled into by Mauler. The woman was fast, immediately getting back to her feet and raising her claws.
"Clout!"
Kaede grabbed him around the waist and jumped into the air, out of Mauler's reach, her wings fluttering quickly as she struggled to keep them both in the air.
"Chase!" He yelled, teleporting them to one of the nearby buildings.
Kaede smiled at him, but it looked tired. "I think this power is taking a lot out of me. I'm starting to get a headache."
"Let's try and finish this quickly then," he said.
"Yeah." Kaede took a deep breath, putting on a determined expression. They both ran toward Yokai, splitting up once more and Mauler leapt between them. "Stay out of our way!" Kaede yelled, hitting the girl with her cane. The hit knocked Mauler back a few steps, but she was running at them again quickly. "Go on, Shu- er, Cerberus."
"Right." Shuichi turned to run toward Yokai, teleporting to get to the man more expediently.
"That's a rather interesting ability your friend has," Yokai said, tilting his head to observe him. "Cerberus, was it? The two of you never properly introduced yourself."
"Cerberus and Red Wings," Shuichi said. "Not that you'll need to remember it for long, since you'll be going to jail soon."
Yokai laughed, low and sinister. "I doubt that."
It was only the tilt of his head that alerted Shuichi to something coming toward him and he moved before he even saw what it was. A tendril of hair swept the area where he had just been standing and even after landing again, he wasn't safe. More and more tendrils swiped at him, trying to capture him. Shuichi was a bit out of breath trying to dodge them all while also trying to get into a position to throw his weapon. They caught up with him at the same time his weapon bounced off Yokai's brush, the strands tightening around his feet and causing him to fall.
"Fetch," he grunted, his hands tightening around the brush as soon as it materialized in front of him.
Yokai began walking toward him slowly as the hair tightened around his legs. "I wasn't going to bother with trying to take your Miraculous," Yokai began. "But on second thought, both of your abilities would be quite useful."
Shuichi pulled the paintbrush closer, looking around as he tried to decide what to do.
"Let me guess... you look rather like a wolf and the name would lend itself an air of viciousness," Yokai said calmly. "But no, that doesn't seem right with your attacks. The dog Miraculous? Am I right?"
"Chase!" Shuichi yelled, throwing his ball, but Yokai's hand whipped out to catch it.
"No, not this time," he said.
Shuichi took the moment of distraction to toss the paintbrush over the edge of the building. "Red Wings!"
Kaede leapt into the air, looking a bit worse due to the fight she'd been having with Mauler. Her hat had been knocked off and her wings looked a bit crooked, but they held her well enough to fly and she scooped the paintbrush into her arms. "Ah ha! Yes!" She grinned victoriously. "Give it up, Yokai!"
Yokai watched them both calmly as Mauler jumped to his side. "I could take her," Mauler said.
"No," Yokai said. "Let them have this victory. I learned some very interesting things this time. That's more than enough."
Mauler growled before nodding. "Fine." She backed up to the edge of the building before jumping off, shortly followed by Yokai. Kaede flew after them, looking around a few times before she turned to Shuichi. "I don't see them."
All at once, the web draped over everything disappeared, along with the brush in Kaede's arms. Shuichi blinked at his sudden freedom.
"What happened?" she questioned, landing beside him and helping him to his feet.
"They must have de-transformed," Shuichi said. "I guess we were right and he couldn't control the ability anymore."
Kaede sighed. "That was way harder than I thought it would be."
"Yeah, I never would have guessed that being a superhero was that exhausting," he agreed.
"Ugh! We didn't even get to have lunch," she groaned.
Shuichi chuckled. "I think we can give ourselves another hour, don't you?"