Chapter Text
Izuru Kamukura would be one of the first to tell you they weren’t a good person. Granted, some might say they are a better person now than they were before, but they attributed that to the change in environment. For one, they were no longer living in an active apocalypse. Sure, the Boiling Isles were dangerous, but there was society and stuff here instead of chaos with a handful of survivors running around. Another major change in environment was that they thankfully no longer had to deal with Junko fucking Enoshima. The other big change came from the Neo World Program. They had been the one to exit instead of Hajime, yes, but they’d fused, in a way, granting Izuru a wider emotional range and a decrease in their level of boredom. They’d also thankfully grown out of their belief that they were superior due to their many ultimates, a belief that was quite embarrassing in hindsight. If their emotional range wasn’t as limited as it still was, they might’ve blushed thinking about how they’d treated people. They didn’t particularly care about their ultimates that much anymore. They were incredibly handy, sure. But they would rather not deal with everything that came with them, whether it be the direct effects like the boredom or indirect like the scientists meddling with their emotions. Regardless, they didn’t consider themself a good person, even to this day. But that didn’t stop them from going to track down the sound of a child crying in the woods. They weaved easily between the trees until they found the small clearing the sound was coming from. Sure enough, there was a kid there, curled up and looking rather miserable.
“Hello.” they started, not bothering to expend the effort to put emotion into their tone. “My name is Izuru Kamukura and I use they/them pronouns.” the child startled slightly, wiping frantically at their face with their large sleeves. Izuru sat down beside them.
“Um, I’m the Collector, they/them.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“Why are you here? I mean, you can be, I’m just-”
“It is fine. I heard you crying and I was somewhat worried. Are you alright?”
“Why are you asking me that? You should hate me!”
“And why is that?”
“I…you don’t know who I am. I’m the one who destroyed the Boiling Isles.” they looked away, clearly expecting Izuru to get mad. Which they supposed was fair, but that wasn’t what they were feeling.
“Nothing that can’t be rebuilt or such like.” the Collector glanced at them, confused. “Besides, I’ve seen worse. Now I am curious, why would you do that, when you clearly regret it now?”
“...I didn’t know. I thought I was just having fun with King but now I know I hurt a lot of people and destroyed a lot of stuff and King was scared of me the whole time and stupid Philip was a liar and he was lying to me the whole time so I indirectly hurt even more people-”
“Breathe.” Izuru interjected. “I do not blame you for anything, not when you didn’t know that what you were doing was bad. You are a child. You can not be expected to know everything.”
“I’m a thousand years old.” they replied with a slight pout.
“You are clearly still a child in both mind and body. And you can not be expected to know things if you are not taught.” a sniffle.
“I didn’t know what death was until yesterday.” they admitted. This was one of the rare times Izuru was thankful for their limited emotional range, as it kept them from reacting much to that.
“And you had no way of knowing until someone explained. I do not blame you for anything. As long as you do not repeat that behavior I think you are fine. Now, do you have anyone to return to?” hesitation, then a nod.
“Yeah. Luz and King and their friends.”
“Where do they live? I can accompany you there if you wish.” they could see the Collector hesitating. “It is no bother to me, if that is what you are worried about. I have no obligations for the rest of today.”
“Ok. I’d like you to come if you want to. They’re probably at the owl house.”
“I have a map. Do you think you could point out its location?” they pulled out the map and laid it on the ground.
“Here.” Thankfully, the location wasn’t incredibly far, probably around half an hour's walk, maybe a bit more.
“Well, shall we go?”
– - –
Sure enough, the owl house came into view after a little over half an hour of walking. Izuru strode up and knocked on the door. There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and the door was swung open.
“Hello?”
“Hello. My name is Izuru Kamukura, and I use they/them pronouns. I am here because I am accompanying the Collector.” they stepped to the side in order to reveal the kid who was half-hiding behind them.
“...I’m Luz, she/her. Thanks?” she paused. “Where did you come here from?” Izuru named the town.
“It’s about a half-hour walk from here.” they supplied.
“Oh! Come in then, that’s a slight hike!” as they entered, Izuru absently tucked a piece of hair behind an ear. There was a quiet gasp from Luz.
“You’re human?” ah. Pretty much everyone in the small town they lived on the outskirts of knew. So they’d forgotten.
“Debatably so.” they replied, walking in.
“I mean-I’m human too. What do you mean , ‘debatably’?”
“That is a very long story that boils down to two words. Unethical scientists.” Luz let out a hiss in sympathy. “Indeed.”
“How long have you been living on the Boiling Isles? ‘Cause I thought I was the only human here except kinda Belos.”
“I’ve been here for a few years. It makes sense you haven’t heard of me though, I generally keep to myself and live in a small town.
“...Right. Oh! I should go tell everyone the Collectors back!” she turned to the kid in question. “We were all super worried when you ran off.”
“...oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
“It’s fine. Just let us know next time you leave, ok?”
“I can try.”