Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The darkest nights seem to always attract the worst people, though maybe it’s because they think they’ll stay hidden so long as no one sees what they’ve been up to.
Certain things in this world are always inherently bad, even if it’s done nothing to prove itself so, while other things in this world are always good. Despite how awful they are under the surface.

'Powers, abilities, mutations, whatever. They are gifts that some get but even in having them they don’t make you special, nor do they make you a hero… at least that’s what I’ve been told. Heroes, Villains, Vigilantes, normal people. The only thing that makes us special in our powers is what we do with them… that’s what I’ve learned.'

It was dark, the only light being the moon above and the streetlamps he occasionally walked under. New place, new start, probably the same outcome. The one walking was no hero, he had no plans to be. Unnamed, though everywhere he appears people seem to call him Calico, probably because of his cloak…
‘Calico’ continued to skate along the street, keeping in the dark as much as he could. His cloak flew behind him and the ears of his hood jumped up at every motion. He came to a pause as he heard commotion, turning to go towards it.

“Typical, you know how lame it is to rob someone at night? Too scared to do so when the sun is up?” He spoke as he approached. The group stopped and looked towards him, the tallest one cracked a smile as he began walking up.

“Cute hoodie kid, you lost on your way to your mommy?” the rest of them started laughing.

“These new heroes are getting lamer and lamer, what’s your power? A terrible knitting job?” another chimed in and they continued laughing.

‘Calico’ didn’t move, he simply began to adjust his gloves, tapping his shoes at the heel to make the wheels in the bottom retract back in.
“Cat got your tongue? Wouldn’t that be ironic.” They continued taunting. The tallest one stopped in front of him, peering down. “What hero covers their face so much? You ugly or what?” He began cracking his knuckles. “I don’t like beating up kids, so why don’t you just-”

He didn’t finish the sentence before ‘Calico’ threw a punch, the man stumbled back and grit his teeth, lunging forward to grab him.
Shadows began to stand from the ground and wrap around the man and the rest of his crew. Meanwhile ‘Calico’ took a step back, keeping his hand raised. Once they were all down on the ground he stepped over them, careful not to step on any limbs. It looks like the person that was here had left… unfortunate. So he turned and stepped out of the alley, coming face to face with the one who had been in there.

She bowed. “Thank you, be careful out there…” before she turned to quickly leave. He squinted slightly, mumbling under his breath and trying to ignore the redness creeping on his face. “... huh.”

He opened his eyes as the sun started filtering through the broken roof. Honestly he had just found a place he hoped was secluded enough that no one would find him sleeping. Slowly he began to change from his night time outfit into normal clothes. He fluffed his hair up a bit and smoothed out his jacket to get any dirt out of it before pulling his bag on.
Sakura Haruka, he possesses the ability to bend and create both light and darkness. Though as of now he’s only known for his control of shadows. He walked along the street with his hands stuck in his pockets. He cast quick glances at the cars driving by and at the people walking near him though he tried to appear like nothing was bothering him. Being somewhere new was strange… but it’s not the first time he’s had to just simply leave… and he doesn’t expect this to be the last. Sakura continued walking along the sidewalk, stopping as he came to the main street filled with shops. He took a deep breath and quickly made the decision to pass it, though he didn’t since he noticed something… some people walking back into an alley. “Well that’s probably not innocent…” he thought… Was it really his problem to intervene though? It’s day time… surely a hero will go and…

He found himself walking up the other side of the alley, he only had his mask with him so he just put his jacket away and used his shadows to create a pseudo cloak. He reached half way and he saw a small group, of about four. Against the wall was someone else with brown hair. Calm body language… vs a fearful one, it’s exactly what he figured might be happening.

“Do you know how lame it is to do this shit when the sun is up? Have some decency… if you’re gonna be lame during the day then don’t hide.” He called. The group looked towards him and dropped whoever they’d been messing with. “Really? You gonna teach us how to not be ‘lame’ then?” one spoke. The others began to charge up their abilities.
Sakura let out a deep sigh and opened his hand. “Sure… I have time.”

He turned to the one who was still pressed against the wall, he was a little roughed up but fine otherwise. He had intended to simply walk by after checking him but the other grabbed his arm.
“T… thank… you… for helping me…” he mumbled. Sakura looked away to hide his blushing. He squinted slightly and grumbled. “It… it wasn’t anything, you don’t gotta get so handsy…”

The other let go and looked down. “I… just didn’t want you to leave before I said it… by the way are you a hero? I’ve never seen you around here before…” He reached into his jacket and Sakura looked back at him. “I… why does it matter?” Sakura glared slightly which caused the other to reel back. “I… it doesn’t! I just… noticed you covered your face up so maybe you were on patrol or…” He trailed off. “Nevermind… you got a slight scratch while fighting them… can I treat it as a thanks?” He held a bandaid up. Sakura grit his teeth, turning his face away again. “I… d… do what you want…”
He moved closer and began to unpeel the patch, he then took Sakura's hand and carefully put the patch on the back of it. Sakura jolted his hand back and hissed. “Wh- hey that stings-” he yelled. The other also jumped back a bit and waved his hands. “Aaah I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t put anything on it so it shouldn’t have-”

Sakura tore the bandaid off… and it was healed… what healer uses bandaids… “You’re… a healer?” he squinted at him.

He shook his head, “No no no absolutely not… I don’t even have… powers…” he trailed off as Sakura showed the back of his hand. He simply blinked in stunned silence. Sakura looked at the back of his hand again before he sighed.

“A…ah!” Nirei suddenly spoke. “M… my name is Nirei… by the way… so if you aren’t a hero are you-”

“I don’t like titles… if you’re going to help people why need a title… I just do what I’m wanting to…” He turned to leave and Nirei quickly stepped beside him. “Wait wait wait… at… least what is your name?”

Sakura squinted, his eyes wandering to the side a bit. “... Calico…”
Nirei started writing. “I see… are you… new here? I can help you if you are…”
Sakura crossed his arms. “As if, I can find my way around.” He began back down the alley. “Just try to not get beat up again…”

0 - 0 - w - 0 - 0

Sakura only tends to go out during the day to see his surroundings and of course to get food and basic things. Being new here he honestly didn’t think ahead about anywhere to live or really what he was doing. So he simply continued wandering around the main street, his eyes darting side to side as he did. Being around so many people, it was unsettling. How could he tell if they really were… good. Though it seems people here were much more open about using powers if they had them… and no one seemed to care much at all…
He stopped outside of a cafe cause… he saw everything floating inside seemingly without someone there. He /was/ hungry… might as well check it out. So he did, he carefully pushed the door open and squinted as he looked around before he fully stepped in.

“Welcome in…” A voice called. There was a girl standing behind the counter… she was the one controlling all of the floating stuff…

Sakura sat down at the counter and looked around, picking up one of the menus and staring at it. “Uh… So do you just… make tea?”

“Read the menu and you’ll find out?” She gave him a confused look, what kind of question is that?

His eye twitched. “How do you know i wasn’t just ordering tea…” he grumbled, though he still opened the menu and looked over it. He was looking for a long while… She eventually leaned over the counter to look too. “So do you want food? Or just a drink… or both?” She spoke. Sakura jolted back, getting to his feet immediately. “Hey! Personal space! And don’t rush me!” he hissed.

Sakura slowly sat back down and continued looking over the menu… after a moment of silence he simply threw it down. “Just… surprise me…” he mumbled.
The girl shrugged and turned around. “So… did you just move here? Nice hair…” She hummed. Sakura blinked a few times. “I… what…”

A few moments later she placed a plate in front of him. “Omelette rice. Enjoy.” She smiled at him.
Sakura picked up the spoon and carefully took a bite, his eyes immediately widened and he continued eating. “So… what’s your name?” She leaned on the counter, looking him over still. “My name is Kotoha… you look really interesting… your eyes are-”

“Sakura.” He spoke quickly, he kept his gaze down at the plate. He figured this would happen, next it’s going to be do you have powers, what are your powers, and then they freak out and…

“... really lovely…” Kotoha finished her previous sentence, crossing her arms and leaning back a bit. Sakura finally looked up slightly, and the first thing he saw was the pots floating and washing themselves… what…

“You some kind of witch…” He mumbled. Kotoha tilted her head, before she looked behind her, she then looked back at him with an amused expression. “Telekinesis.”
“Uh… huh… cool…” He continued eating. As he finished he stood up and placed a ball of money next to it. “Are you a hero? Or one in training? Have a fun group name?” She said, Sakura looked towards her a moment, before back towards the door. “No, and I don’t need a silly group to take on anyone.” And he left. Kotoha hummed, picking up the plate with her hand, not her powers. “It’ll be easier for whatever you’re about to do….”

He stepped out and continued walking, looking up and down the street. This place… it was easy enough to find… all he had to do was come back at night.

So that’s what he did, he found a place to leave his bag that hopefully no one else would be going inside of. He stood atop a building, watching the minimal people pass by as the street below gradually became more and more bare… til it was empty.
“aah look at that… I found a cat up here~”

[now, we return back to earlier :)]

Nirei watched Sakura leave before he looked down at his hand. That cut… it disappeared after he put the bandaid on it… could he? He shook his head and began walking the opposite direction, stepping back out onto the street. There’s no way I have powers, that's something someone is born with… they don’t just appear suddenly…
He stepped inside of Pothos and called. “Kotoha… I was told to bring this to you.” he placed a small box on one of the tables and the contents immediately began to float out.
“Thank you Nire, I was wondering why it took so long to get here.” She didn’t even move from where she was, or even look too long at the box. Everything went to its place and neatly sat. Nirei stood there watching for a moment, then began fidgeting with his hands. “Ah… I… had a question… actually and maybe you could have insight on it…” He mumbled quietly. Kotoha’s gaze went towards him, signalling him to continue.
“So… do you think it’s possible… for someone to gain powers far after when they should’ve first awoken…” He said.
Kotoha hummed, picking something up and beginning to wash it. “Anything is possible really… I mean powers awaken more than once depending on what you do with them.”

“Yeah… but for them to awaken you have to have them…” he made an unamused face, which only made Kotoha laugh. “Well thinking from that perspective, you can gain them, that means that's the first they’ve awakened.”

“... that or they were so weak it just now started working…” He looked at his hand. Kotoha stared a moment before she quickly came around the counter. “Did you gain powers then? What can you do now?” She tilted her head.

“A… Ah- I mean I’m not sure if it was actually me but… I gave someone a bandaid and the cut under it healed…” His gaze flitted to the side. “I… it was probably a mistake I mean-”

“So you’re a healer… that’s incredible.” She smiled. “I’ve heard healing is quite rare as a base power. Guess that's why it took so long to show up!”

Nirei laughed nervously. “I… guess? Though you don’t have to cheer me up, it's fine…”

Despite his own denial, he continued to think about Kotoha’s words as he walked home. Healing… as an ability? Weird to know how it would even work… His mother did have a shielding ability but that still didn’t explain anything. He stopped a moment and took a small book from his jacket, flipping through the pages quickly. Surely a local hero or person also has healing… It would be nice to be able to ask someone about it.
He lifted his head a moment to stare at the sky however… all he saw was someone falling down above him. He began to look around in panic but a plume of shadow appeared around the person and they appeared in front of him now.
Oh… it was the one he met earlier. “You… you’re Calico ri-”

Sakura instead jumped back quickly as a fox seemed to perfectly land right between the two. The fox however began to waiver and become smokey. From the dispersed smoke was someone else… bandages wrapped over one side of his face, long earrings… very flowy clothes and a gourd on his hip. “I only wish to speak, no need to be so jumpy~” He smiled.

“Only weirdos and people up to no good sneak up on someone and say creepy things in the middle of the night!” Sakura yelled and pointed.

“You’re Meigui!” Nirei gasped which caused the formerly fox to turn around. “Oh… is that what people call me? Not entirely false but it’s not like I’m dead…” He shrugged.

“You’re gonna be in a few minutes if you don’t explain who the hell you are!” Sakura pointed which only made the other laugh.

“My my you’re so sharp, I haven’t even done anything~” He teased before placing a hand on his chest. “I suppose I’ll keep that name, I am Meigui.”

“Why are you following me?” His eyes narrowed.

“Aaah I just thought you were interesting, I’ve never seen you before so naturally I had to check who you were.” He anchored his hands behind his back.

Sakura stepped back. “Are… you a hero?” He tapped one foot on the ground and the wheels popped out of the bottom. ‘Meigui’ tilted his head, and then smiled “No, I’m just wandering around at night bored.” He hummed.

Their conversation was cut short however by an actual hero showing up. “There you are, you got a friend now huh? No matter, you aren’t escaping tonight.”

All three of them looked up and Nirei immediately began flipping through his book. “That guy… apparently he has a binding ability.”
‘Meigui’ hummed. “Ah yes, though he has to have eyes on the person he’s binding or the effect becomes breakable.” He turned towards the other. “Let me guess, those goggles you have are so you can see me through my illusions?”

“Smart, though that’s not going to save you or those two with you.” He pointed.
“Calico, simply follow me and you’ll be alright.” ‘Meigui’ smiled at him. It was… surprisingly genuine… Guess it’s alright to trust this guy at least once. The three began to back up before ‘Meigui’ snapped his fingers, he then turned and began to run. Sakura and Nirei both followed after.

“I already know those goggles work, I was hiding our extra friend here and he still knew, meaning if anyone gets caught we probably won’t make it out.” He spoke a bit too excitedly.

“I… I’m not… even a… vigilante… I don’t… have pow…powers…” Nirei gasped, trying to keep up with the two. Sakura stopped and circled back, in a swift motion he picked Nirei up and continued skating to catch up with ‘Meigui’ again.

“They don’t care, they’re just looking for a quick promotion for bringing in people who did nothing wrong.” Sakura spoke. “Insecure assholes can’t do their usual job but most will spend their time hunting vigilantes.”
‘Meigui suddenly stopped and Sakura slid into him, well almost, he dodged the two which only made Sakura slip and bring both he and Nirei to the ground.
“HEY! WHY DID YOU-” He started but stopped.

Ah, that hero found them. His hands began to glow as he stretched them out. “I’m not playing hide and seek with ghosts. Let’s go.”
‘Meigui’ began to reach for the gourd on his waist but Sakura sprang to his feet, jumping up towards the hero and kicking him back. He then opened his hands and the shadows in the alley began to wrap around him.

“As if that’s gonna happen while I'm here!” The shadows continued to cling to the other before Sakura finally let him go, he stumbled back, pressing a hand to his face. “You… you’re a monster!” He yelled and charged in. The Hero swiped and missed before Sakura kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

‘Meigui’ walked up beside him, looking down at the other. “Mmm… not very durable against kicks…” He reached down and pulled the goggles off of the hero. “Your spoils~” He offered them to Sakura who reluctantly took them and clipped them to his belt. Nirei quickly ran up behind the two. “You’re amazing! I mean you were amazing earlier when you fought those guys off for me but you’re like… amazing amazing!” he spoke. “S… So are you Meigui, I didn’t even know you used an illusion like that or that you could, how did you find out you could do that? Does it always happen when you snap or was that just a signal? Can you see your own illusions too?” He flipped his book open.
‘Meigui’ simply laughed while Sakura looked away slightly and began blushing. “So energetic…”

“Oh hey…” He put his book away and took Sakura’s arm. “He cut you… hold on I have bandages on me.” He began to fish around his pockets. Sakura looked at the cut.
“It ain’t that bad…” He mumbled but Nirei was already opening a bandaid. “It’s good to still cover it for now until you can treat it!” He took Sakura’s arm again and carefully placed it over the torn fabric. Sakura flinched again and hissed. “Ow hey!” he stepped back. “What's wrong with the band aids you carry!”
Nirei blinked a few times after his abrupt reaction. He then swiftly moved closer and yanked Sakura’s arm back over. “HEY KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOUR- OW-”
Nirei ripped the bandaid off. It healed again…
“My… It seems you do have powers!” ‘Meigui leaned closer.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The two ended up simply following Sakura back to the place he had left his stuff. “Why are you two following me…” He grumbled.
“Well we all were equally being chased so we should stick together for now no? Besides, I originally sought you out because I wanted to make a proposal.” ‘Meigui’ walked by and sat on a crumbled wall. He crossed one leg over the other and in an instant his appearance changed, it seemed to be… his actual self.

“I want to work with you. Both of you…”

Chapter Text

All three of them simply stayed there in silence, both Nirei and Sakura staring at the one before them.
“You… what-” Sakura started but he suddenly stood which made Sakura jump.
“Aaah we should do introductions! How silly of me to forget.” He placed his hand on his chest. “Suou, you two?”
Suou Hayato, he possesses the ability to create illusions, it’s unknown his exact restrictions though he really only ever uses them as distractions as some have claimed.

Sakura and Nirei traded looks before Sakura leaned in and whispered. “Can we trust this guy…”

“Wh… Why are you asking me!?” he whispered back. The two looked back at Suou who was still just standing there with a stupid grin. They both squinted before Nirei finally let out a deep sigh.

“N… Nirei…” He spoke slowly. They both then looked at Sakura who yet again jumped. “I… Absolutely not…” He grumbled under his breath.
Suou quickly walked up to him, stepping all around him. “Aww why not? If we’re to work together we should be formally acquainted besides you already know I’m not a hero, if anything ratting you out wouldn’t do me anything since I’m also a vigilante like you are so turning you in would only also get me in trouble and you know it’s also quite rude to turn in another vigilan-”

“SHADDUP ALREADY JEEZ I UNDERSTOOD ALREADY!” He shouted. Sakura squinted and grit his teeth. “I’m… Sakura.” He crossed his arms and turned away.

“Why is your face so red-” Sakura flicked Nirei immediately.
Suou clapped his hands. “Well Sakura and Nirei, I look forward to working with you two~” His outfit from before appeared again and the rest of his appearance changed as well. He walked up to them and smiled, before simply walking out.
“... creepy…” Sakura mumbled.
“Wh- hey don’t be… yeah nevermind you’re right…” Nirei sighed.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0-0-0–0

Sakura went about the same routine, he woke up once the light started seeping through the cracks in the ceiling and he changed into his usual clothes. He slowly stepped down the stairs from where he’d been sleeping and rubbed his eyes.
Did that all actually happen last night? Apparently so… As he stepped outside a bright voice spoke.

“Aah morning~”
“Y… yeah morning!” Nirei added, trying to match Suou’s bright demeanour.

He slowly looked to his left. The three of them stood there a moment staring at each other before Sakura yelled and stepped back, pointing at the two. “WHAT THE HELL-”
“Haha, no need to be in such a panic, we ran into each other walking and decided to come see if you were all good~” Suou laughed
“We were waiting here quite a bit too, did you not hear us talking?” Nirei added.
Sakura grimaced. “No… I clearly didn’t…”

The three walked until they reached the main street. Right… this is where he met both of them…
“So how about we stop for breakfast? We can go to the bakery or-” Nirei started but Suou shook his head.
“Let’s go to Pothos instead, I have a feeling it will be interesting.”
“As long as I get something good…” Sakura sighed.

All three sat down in the back and Kotoha approached the table. She stared for a long time at Sakura who glared at her. “What…” Kotoha smirked. A pot and cup floating over and pouring something already and placing a cup in front of Suou who nodded thanks. “Nothin… what can I get you two…”
“Egg sandwich.” Nirei nodded.
“Whatever that… weird omlet thing you made was…” Sakura mumbled. Kotoha nodded and walked away. “Alright… they’ll be right over.”
“Sakura, have you met Kotoha already?” Nirei turned to him. Sakura shrugged. “Yeah… I came in here while I was walkin around cause I saw a ton of floatin stuff…”
“That is her specialty. A cafe automated completely by telekinesis, and a little bit of lifting.” Suou placed his cup down.
“You didn’t order anything… Are you not hungry?” Nirei tilted his head. “I can share some of my sandwich with you.”
Suou laughed a bit. “I’m fine, thank you though.”
Two plates floated over and carefully dropped in front of them. “Enjoy!” Kotoha called.
“Thank you!” Nirei called back. Both of them began to eat. It was quiet for the most part. No one else was in there… Not for a while. Sakura had finished his food really fast… he looked over at Suou. “What did you mean by it would be interesting here?”
“Ah… give it a moment longer…” He sipped his coffee.
Three…
Two..
One.

There was a sudden burst of commotion outside. Sakura immediately jumped to his feet and ran to go outside and the other two stood and followed.
“Aaah a villain, perfect!~” Suou hummed.
“You’re way too happy about that…” Nirei mumbled.
“Seeing one up close is interesting, no? I mean it’s even more interesting trying to understand why they’ve decided to do this.” He began walking down the sidewalk. Nirei stuck close and Sakura hesitantly went along. Everyone was panicking which gave a great opening for the three of them to slip into the alley. Sakura immediately began slipping into his cloak and accessories and Suou simply snapped and switched into his other outfit. “Oh dear… Nirei doesn’t have a costume…” Suou mumbled. “I suppose I can just hide you with my illusions, you’ll have to just move if something comes towards you…”
Sakura walked towards him and shoved a spare mask into Nirei’s hands. “Here,” he spoke.
Nirei took it and looked at it. He then hesitantly put it on. Sakura took one of his hair ties from his wrist and tied Nirei’s hair back, at least what he could. He then covered him with a pseudo cloak which for some reason was shaped with dog ears…
“Now let's go, we’re wasting time.” Sakura turned and stepped out of the alley. Suou just shrugged and followed, Nirei doing so as well.
“So… book holder, any info on who this is.” Suou looked back at Nirei who fumbled to take his book out. “Uhhh h… hold on- let me see…”
Sakura simply jumped in and began to fight, keeping him distracted.
“Alright… this guy… he’s got some weird force ability. He pushes people back… that's all I know… I don’t have any other specifics other than that he has some vendetta against elemental heroes…”
“Good thing none of us fall under that!” Suou hummed.
“The Elemental or Hero part…” Nirei mumbled.
Suou just smiled.
Sakura came flying back between them. He tried to use his shoes to land but he forgot to retract his skates so he slid forward and face planted on the ground. “This… isn’t going to go well…”

“Oh great… it’s you again…” Someone spoke. Past them walked a hero… and not just any hero. He wore a suit and symbol that only five specific heroes wore in the town. “How many times are you gonna keep coming back… this is starting to get old.”
Hiiragi Toma, also known as Onyx. A hero with the ability of earth control.

All three of them seemed to pause, at first they were ready to run however Hiiragi was not interested in the three of them in the slightest. Of course he saw that pathetic attempt though it did alert him to who it was causing trouble. They watched as he walked up casually, hands in pockets despite the other trying to push him back. The other then landed on the ground and swung a kick.
Hiiragi let out a deep sigh, gripping his foot which began to encase in rocks that floated from the sides of the street. “How many times are we gonna have this talk? It’s getting old and annoying, not even stressful.”
He then pulled him off of his feet and swung him around, throwing him back towards the three. “HEY NEWBIES, CATCH!”
In an instant Sakura dashed forward and kicked the oncoming body to keep it from hitting either of the other two. “HEY WATCH IT! THAT GUY WAS MINE AND YOU STOLE HIM!”
Hiiragi stopped a few feet from them, placing a hand on his hip. “Really? It looks like you were battling the pavement more than him. You were solely unprepared for who you were facing… leave this work to the pros and don’t try to jump into hero work until you’re properly trained…” He waved his hand as he walked past them. “It’s for your own safety that we have this rule. Though commendable spirit for trying.”
“S… Calico… Maybe we should go back for now… and wait until night…” Nirei mumbled.
“Agreed. Daytime isn’t the best to be trying to do this, we’ll get caught easier… besides we haven’t come up with a hero name for our friend here!” Suou turned and began walking.
“Wh… me??” Nirei followed.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Met some interesting kids today… Never thought I’d see Vigilantes in the day.” Hiiragi spoke.
“Really? Sounds fun! Do you think they’d be open to joining us then?” He set his cup down and smiled at Hiiragi who reeled back a bit “What… you wanna recruit them?”
“Yeaaah! I mean if they’re bold enough to do something like that in the day time they must be raring to go. We can’t let possible heroes get taken away as criminals.”
Hiiragi picked his cup up, taking a sip. He stared at the other a long while before setting it down. “I may not be the best one to try… though they looked quite young… Perhaps we can send Wyrm to try and meet with them… he needs more guys his age anyways.”
“Ooo good idea. It would be great for him to complete a mission on his own!” The other laughed.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0–0-0–0-0-0

“How odd… Nire is late tonight…” Suou hummed. Sakura finished adjusting his hood and the other parts of his outfit. “Maybe he’s just taking a break. Not like he can do much yet other than tell us who we’re up against… he should learn what he can do first before he puts himself in too much danger…”
“Aww Sakura, it sounds like you really care about him~” Suou teased. Sakura blushed a bit and glared at him. “I… you… I just said he should know his limits before he gets hurt geez!”

The two decided to go on patrol after waiting so long. It was oddly quiet… as if all the trouble had been taken care of already… or simply been scared away by another presence. The two descended from the place they had moved to, getting ready to head back. When they saw a silhouette standing behind them. He was tall, with long hair that was half tied back, scales covered over only key parts of his arms, neck, and face while the rest were clothes or actual armour.
“Ah…” Suou tilted his head.
“... you know him?” Sakura looked over.
“This is a hero in training. His name is Wyrm… he works directly under the top hero of this area… who belongs to a pretty popular faction of heroes. Remember we saw one of their top players earlier…”
“That stressed out rock guy??” Sakura squinted.
‘Wyrm’ glared slightly. “I was sent… to bring you two with me…”

“So every hero here is like this too… tch…” Sakura stepped forward. “We ain’t goin’ with. Run back to your top guy or whatever.” He put his hands in his pockets and raised his head slightly.
“Aaah…” Suou took a step back and vanished. “Not very wise words Sakura.” His voice echoed.
Sakura looked around, trying to find where Suou’s voice was coming from, but as he turned forward again ‘Wyrm’ was right in front of him.
He swung to punch and Sakura quickly jumped forward. A loud crack rang out, like stone slamming against another stone as he punched the ground instead. He raised his fist slowly to show the cracked concrete under the blow.
Sugishita Kyotaro, his ability is usually referred to as “dragon armour” which allows him to cover his body in hard scales, scales like a dragon's one would assume.
Sakura removed his hands from his pockets and took a stance, shadows began to rise all around him. “This might be fun actually…” he smirked and dodged another swing, each one bringing him closer and closer towards the street until…
He slipped over his wheels again.
He really needs to remember to retract those in. Though… It did help him dodge another swing. He caught himself and kicked upwards, his heel cracking as it hit the scales on Sugishita’s chin and knocking him back. Before he could regain his footing, shadows rushed forward and knocked him off his feet. Sakura was about to continue on but Suou reappeared next to him. “We should get going… it’s about to be morning.”
“You interrupted when it was getting good.” He glared… though he listened anyway. He gave one final long look and called. “We aren’t done, you hear me! Next time we cross we’re finishing this!” He followed Suou once he finished yapping.
“That… was really stupid you know.” The illusions around Suou fell and his normal appearance came back. He looked back at Sakura who had pulled his hood and masks off. “What… he approached us so I fought him off, what of it?”
He stared at him, before he hummed. “If only Nire were here… I feel he would have explained it all that moment why it was good to not pick a fight specifically with that faction. Of course I still can, though it’s more fun to simply watch.” He waved his hand. “Anyway, I suggest we steer clear of making them enemies, they are actually quite nice compared to other heroes.”
“You still aren’t explaining any- Damn you…” He tried to finish his sentence, but the other had vanished already. Speaking of the other… Where the hell was he tonight? Sakura was the one who said himself he was hoping he was training his powers or something along those lines but… they didn’t see him during the day either…

Sakura wasn’t going to admit it (outloud) but he hoped he was fine.

Chapter Text

He was sick.
He was really sick.
Okay maybe a small exaggeration. After their patrol two nights ago he woke up and he was so hot and achy he couldn’t move… which was so weird considering he usually just stands there and does nothing but look through his book.
Of course his mother was concerned about how he even got sick.
/”It’s probably a bug, it’s still cold out you know and you’ve been staying out far too late.”/

That’s fine… though usually colds get better when you sleep… he just needed to sleep… and drink some water… take the cold medicine. It would be fine… it would go away. He’ll meet with Sakura and Suou and tell them he was okay.

It did not go away… it didn’t even get better. He woke up to golden liquid dripping from his nose.
What the hell…
Nirei grabbed a tissue from the side of the bed and wiped his nose… the gold burned straight through the tissue. What the hell…
Maybe it was just the fever… but he didn’t have the capacity to think of any logical explanation for this…
He tried to go back to sleep, but this golden stuff was still dripping from his nose and it was now burning his pillow too. This was getting so frustrating… he was so sleepy but he couldn’t sleep cause he was hot but he was so dizzy it was making him nauseous… but he wanted to sleep cause he was dizzy and nauseous… What normal cold is even like this?

He laid on his back to avoid burning his pillow anymore, though he just stared at the ceiling. This sucked… this was awful… he always heard about people getting weird awful colds but this was weird and awful…
/”If it’s not better after a few more days… I’ll take you to the doctor… it’s like this medicine isn’t working at all…”/ his mother had said.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his mouth.
He immediately opened his eyes and squinted. Something was tickling his throat. That felt weird, he didn’t like that, he hated that. He slowly sat up and placed his hand over his mouth. He didn’t feel like he was gonna be sick… he also didn’t feel like he was choking, obviously, cause he just took a deep breath.
He wasn’t gonna cough, that’s how it always starts when you’re sick… you cough once and you never stop coughing. He looked around until he found the bottle next to his bed, he grabbed it quickly and began drinking it. Though… It made him cough. He coughed and coughed… and coughed until he eventually spat out… feathers… What. They were covered in that weird gold stuff and spit. He stared at them.
He would usually freak out at this but maybe it’s the fever… he can’t logically process this right now to freak out… this was gonna make his head hurt…

No…

His head was actually hurting… really bad… like it was stabbing… ugh. He brought his hands up and grabbed at his head, curling forward and squeezing his eyes closed. Everything was spinning, it’s so hot, this sucks…
Nirei continued curling forward until his head nearly touched his knees. This sucked… he always heard illnesses get worse at night but this was worse than worse…
Why the hell was it suddenly so bright in there… He lifted his head slightly to try and see but… that just made his head hurt… and also the light moved with his head…
Against his better judgement he slowly got up off of his bed.
The light followed with him.
What the hell…
Was it above him then? He stumbled over to the closet door and slammed his hands on either side to keep himself from falling. Slowly looking up at the mirror.
There’s a halo… behind his head…
What the fuck…
This he needed to contemplate because why… where did this come from… He stood straightish, stepping back from the mirror. He was still achy, but his back was most achy… particularly two points near the upper part of his back… He was about to sit on his bed but he found himself instead going to the ground.
That ache in his back was growing, it was terrible… why did it feel like his back was tearing apart…
His fingers dug into the carpet and he grit his teeth. It only got worse, it was only getting worse. He was trying to not make any noise but he could feel the two spots begin to open and slowly tear apart as something fought to push itself out from the two torn areas of his back.
He gasped out a strangled yell, pressing his forehead down onto the pillow below him. He heard something crack and could smell something burning but he couldn’t really think about what it was through the pain of… whatever this was…
The sizzling and burning smell didn’t let up, though the pain was starting to finally fade so he slowly lifted his head and looked towards the sound…
Feathers… dripping with golden liquid…
Are those wings.
Feathers fluttered down around, sizzling as they made contact with whatever they touched. He wanted to get up… he wanted to see what these could be but… he instead found himself falling face first onto the floor instead. His whole body hurt… he wasn’t feeling hot or dizzy anymore… he was so tired.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“It’s been a week now… he still hasn’t shown up…” Suou sighed.
“Maybe he doesn’t wanna do this stuff, which is fine. Like I already said there’s no reason to get pointlessly hurt because you don’t know your limit.” He stood.
“Okay… so then why are you getting dressed in your patrol uniform in the middle of the day.” Suou hummed.
“... I’m going to look for him.” He stepped out and Suou followed after. “Maybe go in your normal clothes then? You’ll get him in trouble looking like that.”
Sakura paused, he looked back at Suou with a slight blush on his face before he sulked back inside. He came back outside in his normal clothes. The two walked up and down the street for half an hour asking everyone if they’d seen Nirei at all the past week and everyone said the exact same thing. The last they saw him was with the two of them, when they went to get breakfast… so they were at a complete dead end.
“Does he have a phone?” Suou crossed his arms.
Sakura shrugged. “Probably… but do either of us have his number…”
“No…” Suou hummed.
“Have you ever followed him home?” Sakura squinted.
“What? Of course not… I had my own matters.” he shook his head.
The two continued walking though they stopped when they noticed… was that Nirei? Sakura was about to go running over but Suou grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Hey! What are you-”
“He’s out with someone… we shouldn’t intrude on them… let’s wait and see if he comes by tonight.” He stepped back, turning to begin back the other way. “If he doesn’t, then we shouldn’t push the matter, we will only overwhelm him.”
“But… we didn’t even confront him at all, how would that… ugh…” Sakura reluctantly followed the other, despite his disagreement.
That night the two waited around before they were about to leave, it had been a bit more silent between the two after earlier… not like either of them were upset…just… there wasn’t much to talk about anyways.

The two began walking out but they heard a loud thud and the large door slid open.
It was Nirei… He… had wings… and he was holding a staff. “I… I’m here… I’m… sorry I was… gone…”
The two stood there a moment before Suou finally spoke up. “Are you alright? You disappeared so suddenly…”
“Why do you have wings now?” Sakura squinted, both of them walking over, Nirei however took a quick step back.
“I… I’m alright…. I uh… my… I think it was… my powers…” He laughed nervously.
“Oh… did they awaken?” Suou tilted his head. “That would explain your wings… although you didn’t need to stay away from us… we would’ve understood had you told us…”
“I… It wasn’t that… they didn’t exactly… just awaken and that was it… I was a bit under the weather for a bit…” he sighed.
“I see… are you still feeling unwell then? Was it caused by your powers?” Suou walked up to him. Sakura however stayed at a distance.
“I… think it was… I still feel a little off but I started feeling a bit better after… these things grew…” He looked back at his wings. “Oh… I also got these things.” He motioned up at his halo and held up his staff.
“So… what’s your power then… I thought you were just a healer…” Sakura mumbled.
“You’re like an angel huh?” Suou tilted his head.
“I… I don’t know… I mean… I’m not sure what I can even do… I don’t think anything really changed… other than these wings…” He shook his head.
“Have you tried using your powers at all?” Sakura walked up as well.
“Uh… no… I’m not sure where to start…” Nirei smiled a bit. “But it’s okay… I’m fine if I only heal… or if I don’t use them at all…”
Sakura squinted slightly, why did that statement unnerve him so much? It shouldn’t bother him hearing that… someone is free to do whatever they want with their powers but… hearing him say that… it made him feel something…

“No… you should try… if your powers are awakening weird then they’re different than what you think…” Sakura spoke up. Why does he even care… it’s not like he even has a clue on this…
Nirei and Suou traded looks before Suou nodded and both took a step back. Nirei first tried opening his hand. Nothing happened.
He then opened his wings and fluttered them a bit, nothing happened.
He then held up the staff and squinted. The staff began to glow just a little but… then it stopped and powered down. Nirei sighed. “I’m not sure what exactly I’m supposed to be going for… I mean I can’t heal thin air…”

“Then… attack me.” Sakura walked into the middle of the path, pulling his hood on.
Nirei made a slight face, lifting his staff, the two stood there in silence for a moment before he lowered it. “I… can’t…”
Sakura sighed. “Are you serious… come on already.”
Suou laughed and stepped back, an illusion appearing where he had been standing. “Aww don’t be pushy, he just doesn’t wanna hurt you~ here, you can hit this illusion instead.” he walked over to Sakura so he was out of the way. The illusion didn’t look like anyone, just a silhouette with a blank face.
Nirei took a deep breath and lifted his staff towards the illusion. Light began to glow at the ends of the staff before trailing to the middle and swirling in the open circle. So he could command light as well?
The light shot off towards the illusion, going off course and grazing it and slamming into the wall, it was weak though. It burst into small specks of light and faded away. Despite that, the small graze began to burn at the illusion just a tiny bit, leaving a golden imprint.

Suou seemed to wince at the light after it flared off, squinting his eyes a bit. “Wow, you’ve got interesting power.” He clapped, he was keeping normal as ever.
Sakura tucked his hands into his pockets, tilting his head a bit as he looked at the area the light had hit. It was stained with gold too, what kinda light was that?
“Lets just get going already… it’s probably best if you still just stay outta sight and heal-” He started, both he and Suou beginning to leave. Though the other winced and placed his hand on his chest.
“Ow… ow…” Nirei hissed. “It… feels like something… tearing apart…”
Both of them walked closer, though still kept a bit of a distance. “Is the light still a bit too much for you to handle? Maybe you should rest a bit more…” Suou frowned.
Sakura couldn’t help but stare, why did this whole situation… bug him.
{“containing light… is a big responsibility… it’s a power that can guide all others.”}
{“why would someone this that have a power like that, he doesn’t deserve it…”}
{“Light and shadows probably shouldn’t mix… but they did and for some reason you now exist.”}
He hates remembering those things…

Sakura held his hand out and the white part of his hair started glowing. His eye that was usually covered began to glow as well. He placed his hand in front of Nirei, hesitating before he finally made contact and placed his hand on his head. Light began to spill from his hand and cover over him.
His halo began to change and so did his staff, the golden intensity dying out and becoming more and more mellow.
He let out a slow breath and looked up.
“... there… it… was a trick I learned… It should help steady your light… so it’s not as intense…” Sakura looked away as he began blushing.
Nirei’s eyes widened slightly as he looked up at Sakura. He didn’t get the chance to say anything before the other quickly walked away.
So no one tried, the two simply, and quickly, caught up to him so they could finally start their patrol.

Chapter Text

There are many types of powers in this world, as rare as they can be, they still can be quite abundant. For the ones that can be found they’ve been categorized by what they manipulate, be it the environment or the user.
Mutations tend to be powers that cause the user to change, either fully from a human or only half from a human, adding parts, instincts, looks of animals… or monsters. Though that’s usually the extent the power goes.
Elementals are as they sound, control over the elements, as far as it stands anyone who wants powers wants to be an elemental. No matter what element you get, no doubt it can be lethal.
Supporters are also as they sound, powers that rely on a special object to function. Without this object the user could place massive strain on their body, these objects are called a focus.
Lastly there are Magicians. Their powers are outside of the three scopes, not elemental, support, or mutation. This category still encompasses many powers but not as many have been seen to sort them. Healers, enhancers, psychics… they all can fit under a magician.
It’s never been known for anyone to have more than one of these.
--------
Patrol had been going well once they had started… though now they were all running from someone with a growth ability… fun!
“Can’t you… trick it… with an illusion…!” Sakura yelled.
“Ahaha.” Suou laughed.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN AHAHA” He growled

They all ducked into an alley quickly to let him pass.
“He’s going to crush something…” Sakura mumbled.
“He’s going to crush someone!” Nirei groaned. “Honestly we should’ve probably ran the other way… why did you have to piss him off?”
“I called it like I saw it dude was making alotta noise and bashin everything around! That’s throwin a tantrum!” Sakura yelled.
A foot slammed by the entrance of the alley but as he looked around he didn’t see them.
“Stay quiet…” Suou murmured under his breath. “Now… we should lead him the other way… I will use an illusion to do so… beating him while he’s large won’t be easy. Once he gets in an open place Calico you attack first… I will use several “yous” to keep him from hitting you.”
“W… What about me?” Nirei whispered.
Suou tilted his head a moment before he looked to the side. “Mmm… if things get bad aim for his eyes.” he gave a thumbs up.
Suou put his hands together and closed his eyes. “I will stay here, easier for me to focus on where my illusions go with less noise.” An illusion of Sakura stepped forward from where Sakura was, and then another and another and another.
One of them skated out of the alley and darted down the street, causing the villain to follow. Once it was far enough Sakura stood.
“Will… he be fine here alone?” Nirei also stood.
“I’m… sure he will be… let’s just go.” Sakura skated after the villain and Nirei quickly ran after.
Running… was getting so tiring… especially with these wings… what’s the point of such things if he can’t actually touch the sky?
Sakura got there and the other illusions were already bouncing around the villain making him swing wildly. Huh, Suou is pretty good at those illusions huh?
Sakura slid to a stop and the wheels on the bottom of his shoes retracted, he launched himself into the air, using his shadows to latch on to the arm before pulling himself up. Before he could reach all the way though he was thrown down. He used his shadows to grab onto something and somewhat land softly.
Nirei quickly raised his staff, trying to aim for the eyes… he missed and grazed his ear instead which drew the guys attention away from the illusions and down to the two of them. Sakura quickly got up and grabbed Nirei, skating out of the way of a stomp.
“Dammit… if i can get up there I can knock this asshole out…” Sakura grit his teeth. “Try firing around him, I’ll try jumping up there again.” He stood and pulled himself up the building with his shadows while Nirei stood and took his staff again. He aimed his staff and began to fire, grazing and missing around the giant, added with the illusions he swatted and dodged. Sakura jumped and latched on again with his shadows, pulling himself in and up.
[”this is working… if Sakura can knock him out then he’ll shrink and it’ll be fine…”] Nirei thought. There was that slight feeling of tearing though, his hand shook slightly as he went to fire and he hit one of the illusions instead of firing around everything. That should be fine… but all of the illusions just… vanished?
Nirei’s eyes widened slightly. “Huh…” His wings opened slightly, he can’t fly… he knows he can’t… but if Sakura falls he needs to-
The giant suddenly fell over… and shrunk to normal. Sakura was standing next to him as if nothing happened. He used something nearby to tie him up before walking over. “Let’s go find Suou.”
“Yeah… lets… I’m not sure why he dispelled his illusions…” Nirei turned and began walking along with Sakura.

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“Aah… if you want to wake me next time… could you please use a quieter sound…” Suou hummed. “Echo… A hero of sound… bending.”
Kusumi Yuto, a hero of soundbending. He can bend and direct the sound around him. It’s not really much to explain…

Kusumi gestured with his hands, putting them together and nodding apologetically. He began to type on his phone before holding it up.
[“I heard breathing and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a citizen over here! My fault! You’re Meigui correct? I’ve heard of you >u> you can create illusions!”]
Suou sat up a bit, his hand twitching against the ground. He was ready to cast one right now if it meant getting away. Of course when someone doesn’t have a power that can be used for attacking that means they themselves either are used to fighting or they carry a weapon. He didn’t wanna deal with that. Not to mention Nirei definitely hit one of his illusions, he felt it right before Kusumi woke him up…
Kusumi began to wave his hands, shaking his head. He quickly began to type again. [“Wait wait wait don’t leave… I’m not trying to catch you… Are you injured or something? You were sitting here so still and quiet I figured you had gotten hurt. D:”]
Suou squinted. “uhh…”

0-0-0–0-0-0-0–0-0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0

“He should be around here somewhere right.” Sakura mumbled and looked around. Nirei looked around as well, Sakura stopped though as he looked over Nirei. “When did your hair turn blonde…”
Nirei tilted his head. “What? What do you mean?” He turned to a window to check.

“You two… it’s farrr past currrfew forrr teens. Also it’s not halloween last I checked.” a voice called out, both of them turned to see two approaching. One completely disinterested, typing away on his phone with headphones in, and the other staring them down with his hands in his pockets.
“Eh?” Sakura squinted. Nirei grabbed his arm though and started backing away. “W… We were just heading home! You know how it is… Wanting to get the best shots for a cosplay… come on lets go-” he tried to pull Sakura along but he didn’t budge. “We still need t’find that idiot.” He looked over at him.

“Stop wasting our time, we already know who you all are.” The one with headphones pulled them down. “Calico, you showed up weeks ago and it's been nothing but chaos. Not to mention your new friend… never seen anyone around here with wings before… meaning you’ve begun to pull civilians into this as well.” He took a sucker out and put it in his mouth. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll give you both one chance to just come with us and meet with him. Or you can spend the next few nights in recovery.”
His friend shook his head, “Hiiragi told us to not go too farr, we’rre just brrringing them in to talk!”
“If they don’t want to talk now, they won’t want to later. Echo already has one of your friends, so once again, come without a fight or else.” He cracked his knuckles.
Kaji Ren, his power is commonly referred to as rage since it’s an emotional enhancement. He’s able to draw on his own feelings of anger and enhance his strength.
Enomoto Takeshi, magnetic. He can control and move around bits of metal, the bigger it is the harder it is to move. He can also mend them together in some circumstances.
“C… Calico… these are two we definitely shouldn’t fight… We got lucky that Onyx didn’t engage us but anyone from their team isn’t really one to mess with… besides they aren’t threatening to turn us in so maybe we should hear them-” Nirei started but Sakura put his hand up.
“I’ve heard this bullshit over and over all the time. You just wanna talk, you just wanna keep us safe from bad decisions, you just wanna keep them safe from us. They’re all lame excuses to cover your own asses from the fact that you're too slow to handle your own shit and second that you can’t stand seeing the ones you rejected getting ahead of you.” He stomped his feet one by one and the wheels popped out of the bottom. “So what? You grabbed that illusionist while we were busy taking down that giant bastard cause that was more important than some rampaging idiot? Good job! I ain’t goin with either of you and you ain’t winnin against me either!”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Loud smacks and cracks echoed through the streets, Sakura slid back and quickly jumped into the air as Kaji punched into the ground. The lids of trashcans came flying up at him and he spun around, using his shadows to smack them all away before using his weight to drop himself back to the ground and kick at Kaji who rolled away. Nirei simply stood back, hiding behind something as he watched, there was really nothing to do… was there?
[“If I get close… I’ll be in his way… but Sakura fighting two on his own… isn’t fair… I want to help… I need to help… Why am I still so useless? I thought gaining these powers were supposed to help me help them…”] Nirei gripped his staff.

Sakura put his arms up as Kaji kicked him back. He opened his hand and twirled around, sending light towards him instead of shadows. It bounced off of the lids and collided with something, causing it to burst. Sakura squinted slightly before Kaji rushed in and snapped him out of it by forcing him to dodge. “This is exactly why there’s no need for vigilantes. You guys are dangerous. You clearly don’t know how your own power works!” he growled.
Sakura jumped out of the way of another swipe and kicked, which Kaji dodged. “I do! I just don’t use that light! if your dumbass didn’t dodge that wouldn’t have happened!”
“Do you realize how stupid you sound saying that?” Kaji grabbed his cape and yanked Sakura towards him. Sakura covered himself in shadows just before getting hit and bounced back, standing back up.
“Yea well…you’ve sounded stupid this whole time!” He yelled.
The belts on his outfit began to rattle and pull him towards the two, he quickly used his shadows to anchor himself in place.
“This fight is over, you’re coming with us.” Kaji launched towards him and he covered himself in a ball of shadows again. This time he didn’t dispel them. Kaji grit his teeth, punching at it again.
“It’s fine, I’ll attach some metal to it and we can drrag him back with us… I’ll go get Echo, you make surrre he doesn’t move.” Enomoto spoke.
“Fine… what about that bird though.”
“He didn’t look like much of a thrreat… besides he rrran it looks like.” He turned to walk, shadows grabbed both of them and hoisted them into the air. Sakura dropped his shell and huffed. “I swear, you people let your guard down so easily…” He continued raising them higher.
Kaji didn’t look at all surprised, he lifted his fingers to his mouth and let out a whistle.
The hell?
The whistle suddenly pierced his ears and got louder. The shadows began to waver and he pressed his hands to his ears, stumbling back. What the hell??
Kusumi now stood just at the entrance of the alley, one hand opened slightly. Directing the sound around.
The shadows finally dispersed and the two dropped to the ground. Kaji walked up to Sakura, a slight look of… maybe empathy in his face. “Your friend is fine, he was with Echo the whole time. Now let’s go already.”
“Don’t… touch me…” he mumbled.
“Don’t be stubborn… you already…” He trailed off. A bright glow was building up behind him.

Sakura fell over and behind him was Nirei, the moment Sakura was out of his line of sight he fired a bright bolt of light that flashed gold for a moment and it for once managed to hit a target… the target being Kaji. It was more like a stun though. Kaji fell over next to Sakura and Nirei began to charge another, but before he could cast it the area around them changed. Huh?
“This has been the most lovely meeting, I do apologize things have to end this way.”
Suou.
He slowly picked up Sakura, slinging his arm over his shoulder, Nirei slowly walked over and helped him. “I had a fun time talking to you Echo! I’ll let you know if I see any cute dogs on my next patrol.”
Kusumi gave a thumbs up, walking over to check on Kaji. The three quickly left.
“So that’s it? We’rrre just going to let them leave??” Enomoto looked down
Kusumi looked up at him, then over to the direction they left. He then just smiled and shrugged.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Nirei… What was that?” Suou spoke.
“What was what?” He replied quietly.
“That bolt of light… last I checked you couldn’t do more than small bullets…” He carefully placed Sakura down.
Nirei looked at his staff, some of the pegs towards the middle were singed black from whatever he had done.
“I have no clue… I was just thinking about how I couldn’t do anything and I saw Sakura in trouble so I aimed it and I hoped something would work.” He set the staff down. The moment his hand was no longer in contact his hair and eyes went back to being brown. He blinked a few times and shook his head. “That feels weird…”
“I see… how fascinating…” Suou hummed. “Is there anything else on your mind though? You seem quite down.”
Nirei looked down at his staff, sitting next to it, he flinched when he remembered the wings behind him and carefully closed them.

“I wish to fly… but… right now… my own wings keep me chained to the ground…”

Nirei Akihiko, Angel. A dual power of elemental light and mutation where the user seems to be angelic. Having the healing and defensive capabilities of light while also having a mutation of feathery wings. It’s unknown how this power functions or affects its user.

Chapter Text

[19:23]

[Jacket, Goggles, earplugs…]

[19:48]

[Outfit in place… hair tied back…]

[20:23]

[Music… dummy in place… door locked.]

[20:30]

‘W4bb1t’ was off into the world. His neon pink straps flying after him as he jumped roof to roof, pixelated creatures followed after him all chittering and laughing.

Kiryu Mitsuki, a technical summoner. He can bring certain things to life for a period of time and command them. There’s a limit on how many things he can move and how big they are. Currently for him they can be no bigger than your average stuffed animal… They also for some reason become pixelated…
He slid down a ladder and to the ground, stretching. “Alright, I can do this!” He turned to walk and ran into someone else who was also hiding in the alley. He was tall, really tall, his hair was back in a ponytail bun and he had a mask on. He looked down at Kiryu… and Kiryu looked up at him.
“...”
“...”
“Hey-”
“-Hi?”
They both stopped.
Who the hell is this sneaking in the alley at night? It was a union thought.

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“Nire… did you know most baby birds fail to fly before they gain their feathers?” Suou put his finger up.
Nirei looked over at him with a slightly annoyed and slightly surprised look. “Huh?”
Suou nodded. “Birds often will flap their wings, and baby birds will fall from their nest, flapping desperately to fly and they fail, and they fall… they do this over and over until eventually they take off to the sky.” he stepped in front of him. “Or they stay confined to their nest and die, given they don’t die upon impact with the ground.”
There was a long silence between the two of them. Nirei opened his mouth to speak but he didn’t, so Suou continued. Despite his words, his tone was gentle. “What I’m trying to say is… I understand how you feel… you’ve suddenly manifested power and the power you thought would help you has left you feeling trapped instead. Lamenting on what you should be able to do won’t help you achieve what you can do and you can only achieve that once you experience falling from the nest again and again until you finally touch the sky like you want to.” He turned away from him. “I don’t know anything about flying… but in the short time I’ve known you I can say… I don’t think you’ll die on impact from the ground… which is why I don’t think you should keep yourself shackled to the ground.”
He then simply turned and walked away. Disappearing as he walked out, Nirei stayed sitting there, leaning back against the wall. The only way to fly is to fall, okay…

Sakura woke up many hours later, practically… In the morning, he sat up quickly, and immediately swung around himself, looking around. When he saw where he was, he only relaxed a little bit. His gaze fell on Nirei, who had seemingly stayed there all night, he was laying on one of the wooden benches with his wings over himself to act as a blanket.
[“... he kinda looks like a bird…”] Sakura walked up, tilting his head to the left… and then the right as he looked him over. He was trying to first make sure he was okay and second look at his wings. They really were pretty… bright white and they faded to a little bit of brown at the ends.
He reached out to touch one, he wanted to know how they felt… his fingers brushed one of the feathers and Nirei jolted awake which made Sakura jump back.
He rubbed his eyes and sat up and Sakura stepped back, pretending like he wasn’t staring at him and touching his wings. “You’re… awake… why are you still here…” He mumbled.
“Wuh…” Nirei squinted. “You got knocked out by those sound waves… I wanted to make sure you were alright… I’m not sure if my healing actually did anything but I tried to do something if you were in pain…” he rubbed his eyes again.
“Oh… thank… you…” Sakura was blushing.
Nirei just smiled a little. “Um… Sakura… were you touching my wings…?”
“No! Well- Listen! They’re like… weird okay! I mean they look like bird wings but they feel… soft…” He shook his head and groaned. “I just wanted to know what they felt like!”
Nirei opened his wings and closed them again, it was still so weird having them honestly, yet moving them now felt like it was just moving another body part. He stood and walked over to Sakura, stretching a wing towards him. “Here.”
Sakura looked over at him, before down at his wing. He slowly reached out and carefully ran his hand along one of the feathers. They were soft… not exactly like a bird's feathers but still light. “Amazing…”

“Aww did I miss the sleepover?” It was Suou, he walked up with his hands behind his back and was calm as usual. He was holding a bag. “Did you two sleep well?”
“Yeah…” Nirei nodded.
“What’s that?” Sakura pointed.
Suou held the bag up, before setting it down and opening it. Bottles of tea and water, snacks, and a really odd looking brush.
“What’s all this for?” Nirei tilted his head.
“Well there isn’t much here so I brought these.” He handed Sakura the snacks since he was inching closer. “As for the brush, it’s for your wings. You don’t have claws or any other bird-like features to keep them in shape so you’ll have to use a brush.” He turned to him, smiling. “How about I brush them first?”
Nirei made a face. “I’ll pass… you seem too excited about that.”
“Of course, it’s not every day you get to prune a bird's wings, most do it themselves.” He motioned him to sit, which he did.
“Yeah but I’m not a bird… I don’t think…” Nirei huffed, opening his wings so Suou could brush them. He carefully picked through his wing with the brush, humming happily. He just really likes animals honestly.
“Sakura~ would you like to try?” Suou turned to him.
Sakura stopped mid bite. “Eh?” He looked over.
Suou pulled him over to where he was standing and put the brush in his hand. “Just carefully run the brush through, you don’t have to pull hard.”
Sakura gave him a slightly worried look, before looking back at the brush in his hand. He carefully took Nirei’s wing and began to run the brush over it.
Only a few feathers fell from them brushing it out, and the feathers seemed to turn gold and dissolve once they were detached from his wings… How fascinating.

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They spent the better half of the evening watching Nirei attempt to fly, using a makeshift trampoline and a pile of trash to make sure he wouldn’t get too hurt when he jumped off of the second story. They made some progress though! At least he can glide and somewhat hover now. And so they all got ready to leave that night, getting into their costumes. Suou using his illusions, Sakura pulling his hood and each piece of his costume on, and Nirei taking his staff which made his hair and eyes change, it also changed his outfit.
They took off into the night. They usually rotated areas, staying in one place was usually asking to be caught by a hero. So today they were east of where they had been the last few nights. In this place the streets were a little more narrow and a little more darker, especially since it was much more residential, meaning there would hopefully be less powered criminals and just petty idiots trying to steal stuff. The three of them sat on top of the building of a convenience store, Sakura was eating a sandwich they had grabbed before they got up there while Suou and Nirei were keeping watch. It was so boring tonight, much less eventful than the last few weeks have been, though maybe it was a needed break… between running from heroes, running from villains, and Nirei’s powers awakening they were all tired in their own ways.
Someone came running out of a house nearby, followed by screaming and someone else following after them. A robbery, it didn’t look too… big though. The guy was just outrunning whoever he robbed.
Sakura stood, but Suou opened his hand. Created an illusion of a pitfall in front of the guy to make him stop. Though before the guy reached it a… pink bear slammed down on top of him. They all sat up at that, who was that?
Someone jumped down, from nearby, and on his shoulder was someone else wearing a visor. He carefully got to the ground and picked up the items that were taken, he then turned to the one who had been chasing him and offered it back. The man seemed to thank the two quite adamantly before departing back home. They both stopped at the sight of Suous illusion once they were going on their way again. But the taller one seemed to say something and both walked over it like it was nothing.

The three decided to jump down to see the two. However Suou walked forward first, he usually hung back and let Sakura handle it…

“... It’s you.” He mumbled.

“OH HEY MEIMEI!” He laughed. “I KNEW THAT WAS YOUR ILLUSION!”

Suou made a face. “Uh… huh…”

Nirei and Sakura looked between Sakura and the other. He was really tall, he had a bandage mask and he kinda… looked like a wrestler from his makeup and outfit… odd he knows Suou though… these two couldn’t be more opposite…
They’d never seen Suou look so… bothered.

“Meimei…” Nirei mumbled.
“So… you two are…” Sakura stepped up next to Suou.

“W4bb1t~” Kiryu hummed, waving his sleeves around, Sakura looked at the other who gave a big smile. “Virtue!”

“Virtue… and Wabbit…” Nirei took his book out to write. Kiryu walked up next to him. “You spelled it wrong… W4abb1t…”

“H…uh…? Wait, how are you doing that?” He squinted.
“Doing what?”
“With… the numbers- nevermind…”

“You guys aren’t heroes are you…” Sakura spoke, simply watching them still.
“Far from it.” Suou answered. “Kiryu… Didn’t you get in trouble already from doing this?” He tilted his head.
“Hey hey, what happened to not saying actual names!” Kiryu frowned.
“It’s not like it’s a secret… your power is the only one advertised by an entire family.” Suou began walking.
Kiryu shrugged. “I wasn’t caught, I just got grounded, that was all.”
“H… Hey- why don’t we have them join us!” Nirei turned, watching Suou who paused at Nirei’s suggestion. “I mean… I know the three of us handle things pretty well but… it wouldn’t hurt to have just two more… Right Calico?” He looked over at Sakura, who just shrugged. “I don’t care either way…”

And so… they recruited two new members! They returned to the base and the two looked around. It… was still extremely run down though. To be fair they really only sat around there sometimes and then went out… other than that Sakura just slept at night and then went out during the day. Kiryu hummed as he looked around. “Wowie, what a place. Kinda trashed though~” he pushed at a piece of wood on the ground. “I’m sure we can fix it up though.”
“Fix it up?” Sakura mumbled. “It’s fine for its function…”
“Mmm yes but it could also be nice and cozy~ And cozy makes you comfortable!” He smiled.
“comfortable?” Sakura tilted his head.
“Oh yeah!” Kiryu turned. “What’s your name by the way?” He looked at the taller one.
“What.” all three spoke in unison.
“You were sitting on his shoulder like you were so familiar though…” Nirei mumbled.
“Not to mention you immediately trusted his word about walking into Suou’s illusion!” Sakura added
“And you didn’t even know his name…” Suou continued.
He laughed loudly, waving his hand. “It’s fine, being cautious is just how we have to be as vigilantes. Withholding information is unfortunate but now that we’re teammates I’ll now trust you all! I am Tsugeura!”

Tsugeura Taiga. His ability allows him to enhance himself and sometimes those around him via words. The effectiveness of his enhancements links to the roll of the “dice” in his eyes. The higher the number the more belief in his words. His power, just like his name, is called Virtue.

“Oh hey where did Suou go?” Nirei looked around. Suou had vanished.
“Doesn’t he always do that…” Sakura mumbled
“Oooh Meigui is as mysterious as the rumours~” Kiryu waved his sleeves and hummed.
Tsuge just hummed in agreement as well.

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“So they beat Kaji and his group as well? That’s amazing!” He laughed. “We didn’t even mean for him to run into them that time.” He clapped, sitting back against his chair. “These new guys really have spunk huh, they’ll be helpful for what’s coming.”
“Helpful… only if they’re on our side. At this rate though they’ll be our enemies though if we keep running into them like this.” Hiiragi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I know I know… I get what you’re saying.” He sat up. “I guess it’s my turn then, I’ll go try and talk to them myself.”

Chapter Text

For almost all of his life he’d been alone… and yet now…

“HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!” Sakura yelled. “MAKE THOSE THINGS STOP IT-”
“Mmm? But this colour really suits the room~” Kiryu hummed, waving his hands for his summons to continue painting away. “You’ll get sick if you keep staying somewhere like this anyways.”
“I… You…” He groaned and turned away to hide the fact he was blushing. “That’s none of your damn business! I didn’t say you could do that!”

“I’m not sure you can stop him, besides this was just a random building you made yourself comfortable in…” Suou laughed.
Tsuge and Nirei both jolted, looking behind them. No, Suou had not been there before.
“S… Suou?? When did you…” Nirei started but Suou just began laughing again. “It’s still early in the day, Nire~ You should be practicing flying~”
“Ah! R… Right…” He grabbed his staff from what it was leaning against and went to leave but Suou caught him. “After… I tell you all what I was doing, my you’re so hasty.”

“Oooh? What did you disappear to do Mr Ghost?” Kiryu was still pointing his companions around and Sakura was still chasing them and trying to get them to stop. Suou took a small box out and placed it on some of the rubble that was piled high enough. “Well there’s five of us now, and we all do different things. It’ll be easier for all of us to ask us for help when we’re further away without having to yell or go to the other if we have these.” He opened the box. Small ear pieces.
“That’s smart…” Nirei picked one up.
“One step ahead as always, Meimei!” Tsuge also picked one up.
Sakura walked up, squinting at them. “But… we’re all usually right there…” he poked at one.
“Yes… usually. Though think back to what happened recently when it was just the three of us, against those heroes? I couldn’t tell you guys I was already tied up, and if Nirei could fly and was any higher in the air you couldn’t have told him you were trapped.” He smiled.
Sakura cringed.
“Besides alerting each other, we can also relay info faster so we don’t have to stay in one area constantly, if something happens then the rest of us can go to where the other is.” He nodded.
“I… guess… you already thought it out huh.” Sakura picked it up. “It does work better if everyone is where they should be… instead of stuck together and in the way of each other…” He sighed.
Suou leaned in close. “Aaah you like my idea? How sweet Sakura! I knew you would~”
Sakura pushed his face away. “Shut up, it makes sense and I hadn’t thought of it… that wasn’t a compliment to you.”
Suou was still beaming.

And so everyone went on to do whatever they were doing, Suou and Nirei went outside to keep practicing flying for Nirei, Kiryu continued cleaning up much to Sakura's displeasure, and Tsuge simply watched the two while helping a little for the sake of training. By the time it was night everyone began getting ready.
“Ooh so your costume is an outfit… I assumed it was your power…” Kiryu fixed his goggles.
“Huh? Why…” Sakura pulled his gloves on.
“I mean… most I’ve seen with element powers like yours just go woosh and boom fancy mysterious costume.” he waved his sleeves.
Suou and Nirei both finally came back inside, Suou simply in the blink of an eye changing into his with his illusions and Nirei held his staff up slightly, light covered him a moment and his appearance changed.
“... you mean like that.” Sakura went back to fixing his outfit. “I could if I wanted… but no one taught me how to do it… besides it’s a waste of energy… clothes work just fine.”
Kiryu frowned slightly, before looking him over. “Did you make your costume? I like it… we should go shopping together sometime!” He opened his arms. “Especially to decorate this place.”
“... I’ll think about it.” He squinted.

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They split up into sorta even groups. Obviously not easy to do with five people. Sakura and Tsuge on the ground while Suou and Nirei went by the air… a little, more by the roofs. Kiryu simply stayed in one place and used a few of his summons to report to him.
It was… very very oddly quiet. Like everything just kinda evaporated that night. Not even a minor bad thing happening for them to observe. Sakura rolled to a stop and hit his skates back into the bottom of his shoes. He was at a large overpass.
[“Should we call it a night early? It seems like… extra dead tonight…”] Kiryu spoke.
[“No way! They’ll come outta hiding the moment we dip.”] Tsuge responded.
[“Aha… I don’t think so… They would’ve come out regardless…”] Suou sighed.
[“They still could though… but W4bb1t is right… it’s real quiet…”] Nirei added.
Sakura was just staring at the overpass, he didn’t really have anything to add so he was just listening to all of them yap. He slowly started walking towards it but he paused. Something felt off…

“Not a good idea kid. You don’t wanna poke the bears over there.” Hiiragi! (cheer sfx) he came walking up from the path next to him. “We don’t watch over there, so we don’t have anything to do with what goes on over there.”
“... What? You’re heroes, you're saying you have boundaries about where you go?” He squinted.
He shrugged. “Think of it more like an agreement than a rule. I could tell you more but-”
“If you’re gonna ask me to come with you, you already know the answer to that…” He opened his hand and shadows began gathering around it.
Hiiragi put his hands up. “Alright alright… I’m not here to drag you back by force, kid, I just wanted to see how you were doin…”
Sakura squinted, he’s way too calm… like…
Sakura quickly turned around as Sugishita came right up behind him, going for a grab, his hand was covered in scales. He brought his knee up and his kneepad shattered the moment Sugishita’s hand collided with it. He winced and took a deep breath, vanishing all of a sudden. Hiiragi and Sugi looked around, for where he went, though he suddenly appeared under the bridge, gasping for air. He hated using that, but he can disappear if he holds his breath… He was about to get ready to bring his wheels back out, he could outskate them… but plants wrapped around him. Both Sugi and Hiiragi looked to the side as someone else came walking up.
“Great work you two, I hate we had to get rough though…” He sighed. “Now… This is much harder to do at night so if we could please just talk this out nicely… I promise it’s really not what you think…” Up to him walked… someone tall… with white hair that was pulled back. He was the one controlling the plants huh…

Sakura lowered his head slightly, glaring up at him. “Not a chance… you are all exactly the same and there’s no way in hell I’m going to be tricked into going with any of you heroes…”
He sighed, snapping his fingers, the plants fell and he extended his hand, Sakura got ready to attack but he just was holding it out. “Dragonfly, I’ve been wanting to meet you Calico because I wish to-”
A bright light began to fill the tunnel which caught everyone's attention. It was Nirei, he was charging his flashbang again. Hiiragi went to create something to block and Sugi went to grab him but the moment he made contact his hand… went through? The moment the illusion fell apart Tsuge jumped up and grabbed his arm, he seemed to suddenly mimic his scales as well, throwing him aside to the ground.
[“Calico~ the whole point of these things is to tell us when you’re getting jumped~ close your eyes for real this time.”] Suou spoke. Sakura grumbled, right, they all probably heard literally all of that.
For a second time a bright light began to fill the space and a beam of light slammed into the ground, just barely missing Hiiragi who had put up a layer of rocks just encase. Nirei twirled his staff and pointed again, getting ready to fire again.

[“Ah ah, don’t worry, I got it.”] Kiryu hummed. Three small rabbits came running up from behind Hiiragi, one grabbed onto his leg, one jumped up onto his arm, and the other jumped onto his back. He tried to shake one off. “Is… this supposed to be an attack…” He mumbled.
“Maybe.” Suou hummed. Hiiragi turned around and Suou kicked upwards, though it of course did not knock him out. He jumped back and quickly moved as a flood of rocks ripped past and tore through his illusions. He reappeared right back where he was and huffed. “Jeez… you kids are something else…” Hiiragi grabbed one of the summons and ripped it off, throwing it aside. He grabbed another and it burst into gum. That’s… annoying.

“So… what do you think they’re doin?” Someone laughed.
“No clue…” Another huffed.
“Kinda boring… should we kick them off though? They’re imposing on our turf…” One of them stood.
“Sure… though two of them look familiar…”
“Who cares… let’s just go have some fun…”

Dragonfly came walking out of the tunnel, under his arm was Sakura who was wrapped up in vines. He saw the others engaged with Tsuge and Suou, as well as Nirei still hovering above gripping his staff and sighed. He held his hand out. “Really you guys… we don’t need to fight…”
Plants fell from his hand and into the ground, they then sprouted up from below the two. Suou immediately went invisible only to be pulled out of his illusion by the plants while Tsuge was pulled from his enhancement. Both of them were pulled towards him. Nirei was about to aim but something with a mouth sprouted up and bit at his legs, pulling him to the ground. It tore apart once he was close enough and wrapped around him. “There… Now let’s all talk calmly, yeah?” He set Sakura down between Suou and Tsuge.
Kiryu walked around in circles. This is bad, this is really really bad, their first night as a group and they already got caught?? What the hell? Why can’t they catch a break? That would be a nice thing!
He looked around trying to find anything he could try and bring to life but everything was too big, plus if they noticed him then freaky plant man would just bind him too and then it really was game over…

Smoke suddenly began to fall over the area, Sugi and Hiiragi got on guard again and they all turned towards the tunnel. “It’s a bit late at night to be wandering around you know.” There were three of them, the one in the middle laughed. “Hey, if you caught those four on our turf… that means they’re actually ours to turn in… who thought such big shot heroes needed to break the rules to make a quick buck so bad…”
All of their gazes narrowed. The other two with him seemed to stay back, silently cackling at the interaction. “Yes… we did stop in the tunnel.” Dragonfly turned. “However… they are usually on our side of town… and they were over here out of curiosity on their own patrols… we were simply talking, not capturing them.”
“Oooh? Isn’t that against the law or something? You helpin these cosplayers break the law? How sof-”
Energy burst around Sakura and he dashed forward, at the same time Sugi also lunged forward. Both of them slammed into the guy and knocked him down.

Dragonfly walked forward quickly to see where the two disappeared, it had only been a bit further down the tunnel. Hiiragi walked in behind him to see as well and the two were simply standing next to each other. Ahead of them above the one they’d jumped were two more.
“Woow, what a lame way to get taken out.” One of them spoke, he had long hair that had been tied back.
“I know. After all the stuff he was saying too, what a let down.” The other spoke. He was much taller and had his hair combed to one side. The two continued snickering between themselves. Similar to most hero or even vigilante groups, they too had a similar symbol on their arms. The same one this guy had on his.
Sakura squinted, why aren’t they concerned, shouldn’t they be trying to fight right now after what they did?

Click

Click

Clack

Click

The both of them quickly stood up and covered their faces. What was that clicking sound… and why were they doing that.
He looked over and noticed Sugi suddenly starting to drift off to sleep. Ah… it was someone's power.
“I thought if you all would do one thing, it would be respect the boundary… though I guess that was my fault for thinking so highly of heroes.” A voice spoke. Both of the other two quickly stepped out of the way.
Dragonfly and Hiiragi pulled up masks that had been on their outfits, and one of them put one on Sugishita to keep him from fully falling asleep.
The clicking stopped and between the two now stood… long black hair that was tied back with several plastic barrettes and clips in it, tinted shades. He honestly didn't put a lot of effort into a costume. He had a jacket on that looked like it could match with someone else on top of a more traditional top. He was holding a glass bottle with a marble in it. He looked down at the other on the ground, before at the two ahead of him before slowly lifting his shades. “Woooah. One of the louder vigilantes. How impressive.” He waved his bottle. “You stopped them from catching him huh? I’ve gotta say I didn’t expect that from someone like you two.”
Hiiragi and Dragonfly both walked forward so they were in front of the two. “It was a misunderstanding that got out of hand. That’s all.” Hiiragi spoke. “We will be on our way now-”
“No no… leave him. He seems interesting.” He waved his bottle at Sakura who glared back.
“Absolutely not.” Dragonfly spoke immediately. “He is from our side of town.”
“Mmm I guess…” He turned. “However he and your trainee did this, yes~” He motioned to the one they had left lying on the ground. “Not only did they cross into our area… but you allowed them to do this… you do know how upset he’ll be if he learns this… mmm?”
Hiiragi and Dragonfly traded looks, so the glassesman continued. “How about we strike a deal! Othello goes for a high price correct? No wonder you’re trying to catch him-”
“-We aren’t-”
“-So we can settle this another time… and when we do. I want him there.” He turned, walking away. The other two quickly walked after him, none of them bothered to even try helping their still down teammate.
Hiiragi looked over at Dragonfly. “So now what? They’re the last idiots we need to be dealing with right now.”
“I’m thinking I’m thinking… first let’s get out of here.” He turned and began out of the tunnel. Hiiragi followed and pulled Sugi along who was doing his best to not fall asleep still. Sakura hesitantly followed after, looking back one last time at the guy on the ground and where the other three had just been. The moment they stepped out of the tunnel Dragonfly noticed all of his plants had been destroyed and were on the ground, they were torn, burned, or gnawed through. At a quiet sound he turned and stretched his hand up. Plants shot from his arm and grabbed both Nirei and Tsuge who had been trying to strike from above. Nirei dropped his staff and it clattered on the ground, it was covered in weird golden stuff. Tsuge just started wiggling around. “Dammit I thought we were quiet enough…”
“The one with illusions is probably around here too then-” Hirragi started looking around but Suou simply appeared in front of them. “Yeah I’m right here. I was actually there the whole time. Good thing I stayed invisible.”
Kiryu as well jumped down, staying semi behind Suou as he looked between them all. “So, since we’re here to talk, and we’ve clearly now caused you trouble… Can you let the two of them go and we talk?” Suou tilted his head.
Dragonfly hummed, before lowering his arm and the plants as well, letting Nirei and Tsuge go to the ground. Sakura casually walked over to join the rest of them and Hiiragi crossed his arms. “So… is this all of you then… no one else is going to randomly appear out of nowhere and attack?”
They all nodded.
“Alright then… let’s go somewhere better for a chat. I can explain who that was too.” Dragonfly began walking.
“Hold on a moment. Can we first start with who you are! You just dropped out of nowhere and-” Sakura began and Dragonfly stopped walking. He turned around and smiled. “Names are for trust, yes? I’ll give you mine when I know I can trust all of you. Just like I’d expect from you all.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“So… you just showed up here… expecting I’d still be open…” Kotoha looked between them all.
“Just this once pleeeease… I gotta show them they’re safe…” Dragonfly pleaded with her. Kotoha was not pleased. Regardless, she opened the door. “All you’re getting is tea, I just finished cleaning up…”

And so they all sat down, Hiiragi, Sugi, and Dragonfly at one table and the five of them at another across from that table. Cups floated over and placed in front of them, before a pot made its rounds and poured tea into each cup.
“Now… let’s start with your aliases and your abilities!” Dragonfly leaned on the table. “You guys all have such amazing skills!”
Hiiragi facepalmed. “Just your names…”
“Meigui…” Suou stirred his tea.
“W4bb1t.” Kiryu hummed.
“Virtue!” Tsuge is matching Dragonfly’s energy.
Nirei looked off to the side. “I… Uh… Don’t have one…”
“... calico…” Sakura mumbled quietly.
Dragonfly nodded. “I see, I see… Okay so now can I ask about abilities?”
“Only if you tell them about yours.” Kotoha spoke up.
“Oooh good point!” Dragonfly pointed. “Then I’ll go first! I control plants. It’s easier to control them during the day because I can also grow them like this!” He pulled his sleeve back and tiny sprouts began to grow on his arm.
“That’s creepy…” Sakura mumbled
“That's so cool!” Nirei gasped at the same time, he started writing it down. Suou just sipped his tea. “Aah powers are so specific sometimes… How fascinating.”
“So, what about you five?” Dragonfly leaned forward.

They all traded looks, like they were debating who was gonna be forced to talk first. Though that was cut very short as Hiiragi’s phone started ringing. He took it out, he was silent for the longest before he sighed and stood. “Looks like they’re going to have to just show us. He’s already on his way here.”

“Ah… Inertia…”

Chapter Text

“Inertia?” They all asked in unison.

Dragonfly stood and walked towards the middle of the cafe. “I said I would also tell you guys about who we faced and why we couldn’t do anything, or more why doing something would’ve been against our contracts.”
Their eyes followed him as he opened the door, Hiiragi and Sugishita both stood and followed after him which prompted the six of them to also follow.
“They are called Shishitoren. Just like you guys they’re a group of vigilantes.” He began. “However, their territory is considered an off zone, meaning no heroes are supposed to do work there unless we’re deployed there for high level threats.”

“Meaning bein a vigilante there is alright, they’ll turn their heads the other way for a group like that. Especially when most of them are just doing it for fun and only stopping petty criminals. Nothing big really happens in an off zone cause when it does that’s when they call in a hero like Fly said.” Hiiragi continued.
Dragonfly nodded and picked up again. “That had been the case until Inertia became the head of the group, they began actively seeking strong people with powers and their own members were seen causing trouble with anyone who entered who seemed to be a hero or another vigilante.”

“So then who was that guy under the bridge? The weird glasses man?” Sakura spoke up. “The other two seemed scared of him.”
“Chelydra.” Hiiragi spoke. “He’s Inertia’s second in command. He lulls people to sleep and the other…”
They paused as they arrived at the overpass again. It was… so eerily quiet… suddenly everyone was thrown into the air.

Immediately above Dragonfly was a tiny figure. He had on goggles and the same jacket Chelydra had earlier. He already had a punch winded up which Dragonfly immediately blocked. The plants around them sprouted from the ground and grabbed everyone to slowly pull them down while Dragonfly remained in the air thanks to the attack.

Tomiyama Choji, Gravity control. He’s able to control the gravity of himself as well as those around him in a radius.

“Wooowie, your reflexes are as fast as ever!” Choji exclaimed. “Ume come on, it’s your turn now~”

Umemiya Hajime, Gardener. He can control existing plants and create plants using the water and vitamins in his body, though it’s harder to do the second one at night.

“And you’re still so impatient… you know you can get in trouble attacking out of an off zone.” He stretched his hand out and vines shot from under his sleeve. Choji immediately created a tiny ball that pulled them in and cut them off before he pulled himself in to kick but a rope caught his shoe and pulled him to the ground. At the same time Ume was brought down with him.
It was Chelydra. He was using a small hook to reel him down. He sighed deeply once Choji was on the ground. “What did I tell you… You didn’t let me finish talking before you flew off…” He poked at his forehead.

Ume got his footing and the others quickly walked up, staying just slightly behind him still though. Great, now all of them were there… Choji turned and smiled, walking past Ume who stepped aside. “Hey-”
“So you’re the one Kame was talking about… I’ve heard about you. Your name is Calico right?” He looked up at Sakura who took a step back. “So what if I am-”
“You should join our side.” His gaze narrowed, though he was still smiling. “You’re quite strong huh?”
Suou and Nirei immediately placed their hands on his arms as if to pull him back slightly. Choji stood straight and frowned a moment before he beamed again. “Ohh the Ghost vigilante I’ve heard of you too, though I’ve only heard of you… I haven’t really seen much of you.” He smiled at Suou for a moment who only squinted back before he turned his gaze to Nirei who jolted slightly.
“And a bird huh, I’ve never seen you before. I bet you’re really strong, we should race, or we can fight-” He started towards Nirei but Umemiya spoke up. “Intertia. You’re here because we attacked one of your members in your territory. It was an accident that we were there in the first place. However you’ve now come over here and attacked one of our patrol groups and us as well which you know is an offense. We can call it even here and forget this all happened before the commission finds out any of this happened.”

[“The commission?”] Sakura thought.

Choji looked away a moment before he looked back. “Okay… but wouldn’t a fight be fun… just to finally settle the score…” He made his way back over to Ume. “I know, how about me and you finally finish this, and the winner gets to decide the fate of that colourful bunch you’ve taken in!” He motioned to the five of them still standing there watching in confusion.
“That’s-”
“But I’m not entirely unfair, I wanna see what they can do. So I want them to fight too! Each of you against one of my guys!”
The rest of them started to seem uneasy except for some who started to seem a bit excited.
“Like a tournament?” Chelydra hummed. “That could be-”
“That could be fun!” Choji jumped around.

“Hold on a second… I hadn’t agreed to anything yet. I’ll fight you Inertia if you leave everyone else out of this.” Dragonfly spoke up.
“Woow what a softie. I guess the great plant hero is a wuss.” One of them spoke.
“I’ll crush you.” Sugi growled.

“Hey…” Umemiya began but the others just simply began to bicker. So Choji took the opportunity to jump between them all and float slightly, waving his arms. “Aaah! That’s wonderful! It sounds like everyone is on board!”

“So then… For match ups we’ll have you against Dragonfly.” Chelydra began. “And I’ll take… the black cat…”

Sakura squinted. “It’s Calico.” he muttered.

“I’ll take the lizard then…” The one from before continued. Sugishita just stared at him. Sure why not?

“How about… the bird.” His friend next to him pointed. Nirei immediately stepped back and Suou stepped in front of him. “Mmmm, no. You can take me instead though cutie~”
His comment was not well received.

Hiiragi and Umemiya traded looks before Ume shrugged and Hiiragi shook his head. “This is what we get for trying to recruit them like this…” He spoke more to himself than to Ume. Umemiya laughed near nervously and near in agreement. “Well at least we’ll get to test them to a degree.”

“So let’s get to it now! I’m done waiting!” Choji turned but Chelydra picked him up by the back of his jacket. “Absolutely not. It’s nearing the end of the patrol segment meaning the commission is gonna be active again. We aren’t boxing when they’re watching. Especially not on their turf. Let’s go.” He turned and began to walk, dragging Choji along.
Choji groaned, “Fine! But tomorrow night, meet us in our place and we’ll duel finally!” Choji called while still being dragged like a small cat. The rest of the team followed after until they disappeared back through the tunnel.

“Well… I guess that’s happening…” Umemiya turned and began walking. “We’ll have to replan the patrol routes to exclude ourselves.”

“Right… what about the ones they attacked?” Hiiragi crossed his arms and Ume looked over at him. “Ooh… and them too.”

“Wait! What are we supposed to do?” Sakura called. The three of them turned and looked at the group who was still standing there half confused, half concerned. Ume hummed before he shrugged. “You could come along with us or you could just go back to your base or home. Just make sure you meet us back here tomorrow night so we can keep good on our deal.” He waved his hand as he continued on. “Like I said we weren’t here to arrest any of you, though our original plans can’t move forward until we deal with this. Good night.” And the three of them also left.

“So… Now what.” Kiryu spoke.
“No clue…” Tsuge added.
“We’re so done for…” Nirei mumbled.
“Aha…” Suou that's not helpful.
Sakura slowly looked over at all of them with an unamused face. He then turned back and began skating towards their base, ignoring how blurred the scenery around him felt this time. Once he got back he realized none of them actually followed him. That’s a first.
“I hope you aren’t sulking.” A voice spoke.
He hoped too hard.
Sakura slowly turned to see Suou standing there, surprisingly in his usual appearance. He sat on a piece of rubble and crossed one leg over the other. “Don’t you have like… a house or something to go back to? And where’s everyone else?” He mumbled.
“They went home. None of them are fighting so they don’t have a reason to go back now do they?” Suou smiled. Sakura began taking his cloak off.
“Again why didn’t you go home? We aren’t going over until it’s night time won’t you be missing all day be strange.”

Suou just smiled.

“Dude…” Sakura turned and squinted. Though something else caught his eye and he looked up, pulling a dagger from his pocket and pointing it. It was a dagger made from light so it wasn’t much in terms of damage, mostly for scare factor.

“W-w-wait!” Nirei put his hands up and stepped into the doorway. Sakura had seen the corner of his halo… and it spooked him. Sakura slowly put the dagger away and sighed. “Why are you here too… I thought you went home…”

“You left so suddenly, and you seemed upset, I wanted to check on you.” He raised his staff and his appearance went back to normal. He set his staff down gently before taking a seat near Suou.

“Okay… so same question with added question, you aren’t fighting and you’ll be missing all day tomorrow isn’t it weird for you to stay here?” He threw his cloak aside and began taking his other gear off.

“I…I mean… Even if I’m not fighting I wanna see. If we have similar powers watching you use yours will help me with mine right?” He looked at his hand.

Sakura squinted slightly, he was starting to blush. He unclipped his kneepads and turned his face down to hide it from the two of them. “I… don’t use that part of my power… so you won’t be gainin anythin…”

“I still wanna watch!” Nirei insisted. “Besides, if any of you get hurt I wanna be able to help you! If I can’t fight, at least let me heal!” His voice is so full of determination… +1 heart…

Sakura reached to take his other kneepad off but forgot about Sugishita’s present of shattering it. He winced as his hand scraped over his bruised knee. Nirei immediately jumped up and walked over to which Sakura waved his hands. “Hey hey wait no your healing hurts-”
Nirei still reached out and placed his hands on his knee. A soft glow emitted from his hands and at the same time Sakura felt a slight sting as the wound began to mend itself. Sakura's eye twitched and turned away, pressing his lips together. He only relaxed once the glow stopped and the burning subsided from his skin.

Sakura reached down, rubbing his hand over his knee. He wore a sour expression. “Why… does that hurt so bad… what the hell is wrong with your power…”
Nirei shrugged.
“Maybe it’s an evil spirit.” Suou finally spoke.
They both gave him unamused looks. That didn’t even make sense?

Sakura stood, walking out for a moment before he came back with his usual clothes on. “You guys still didn’t answer my question. Won’t your folks or something be concerned about you being missing for a day?”

“I told them I was at a sleep over.” Nirei sat next to his staff.

Suou just shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“Don’t you have something like… class or something??” Sakura said in a pleading voice.

“Ah.” They both traded looks.

“It’s… Saturday, Sakura…”

Chapter Text

Once morning came around Sakura slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the… ceiling… right. Nirei had insisted they actually go sleep at his place instead of there since it was literally falling apart. Arguing against someone who could probably vaporize him isn’t a good idea and he was too tired to come up with a good reason why the floor was better than a bed.
He sat up slowly and looked over at Nirei who was lying on his stomach. His wings were folded and his face was turned away. He didn’t look comfortable, he probably isn’t used to those wings still.
Sakura began to get up but stopped, he was gonna disturb him if he did that and he didn’t wanna do that. Ugh.
So he sat back and looked around. Suou had tried to pick sleeping on the floor but Nirei had insisted they could all fit if they figured something out so Suou was at the bottom of the bed… why did he lay like he was dead… Sakura shook his head and stared at the ceiling.
The bed felt so nice and soft…
Softer than the ground…
Much softer than his old bed…
He liked how soft it was…
He was getting tired again.

“Kura… Sa…ku… Sakur…”
Sakura opened his eyes. Nirei was looking down at him. “Were you really sleepy?”
“No.” He’s not lying. He’s just so comfy he fell back asleep.
“I’ve been trying to wake you for a while now… are you not feeling well? I can-” he went to raise his hands but Sakura immediately sat up. “I’m fine I’m fine… I just got bored and fell back asleep…” He huffed.
Suou was no longer at the bottom of the bed so he must have gotten up at some point and vanished, that doesn’t shock him though.
“Ah… Okay… Well come on, I made breakfast.” Nirei smiled.

Huh…

He’s sitting at a table… not in an abandoned building or alone on the floor but at a table…
Suou was sitting on one side of him, it was weird seeing him look… normal. He usually had bandages all over his face and his attire was much more flowy but now he was just wearing normal clothes and even his hair was shorter and slightly different in hue. He noticed Sakura staring at him and looked over, smiling.
Sakura grimaced and looked away. “W…what…” He mumbled. Suou continued to smile before he pointed at his eyepatch. “It’s an evil spirit~”
Sakura wasn’t amused. “It… what…” He squinted.
Nirei came walking in with a few plates in one hand and a pan in the other. “Ah- Sorry- I was trying to handle everything-” He set the pan down in the middle of the table and the plates as well before he opened his wings, he was holding cups.
“Wow, handy…” Sakura mumbled.
“And kinda unsanitary…” Suou hummed.
Nirei placed the cups on the table and ran back out, he came back with the rest of the stuff. “Alright, breakfast is ready!” Jazz hands yaaaaay.

It was a really simple thing, some toast that was nearing burned, some cut up fruit, and some eggs with meat and veggies cooked into it. He also had some coffee. He sat down with them once everything was down on the table. Suou and Nirei both were quiet a moment before they began to eat, Sakura just kinda sat there watching the two.
He zoned out.
“Sakura… do you want some?” Nirei spoke. Sakura looked down as Nirei had placed some on his plate. Oh.
Suou also offered him a cup of coffee.
“Suou, are you not hungry either?” Nirei frowned. “I promise the food isn’t as burned as the toast…”
“Hmmm? Oh I’m alright.” Suou smiled.
Sakura began to eat as he watched the two. It was nice, this was nice.

All three of them began to clean up once they finished. It was going to be a while still before they had to do anything. “So what should we do for the rest of the day?” Nirei sat and Suou started brushing his wings. Sakura sat nearby and watched, he shrugged. “I was going to skate around…”
“Ooh to get practice in? We can all go out together!” Nirei opened his wings slightly and Suou smiled. “I do need to go take care of things. You two can go and I’ll meet you tonight.”
After Suou left, Nirei went up to his room for a moment. He came back with different clothes on and a small bag. “Alright let’s go! I know an area that’s secluded so we won’t have to worry about anyone questioning us.”
Sakura nodded.

They arrived at the place Nirei mentioned and Sakura finished putting on a lighter version of his usual gear, just for protection in case of falling. He immediately began skating around. There was a lot for him to jump off of and slide on. It really was the perfect area, how did Nirei even know of a place like this?
Nirei sat on an elevated platform and watched him skate around for a while, it was mesmerizing honestly. Slowly he moved himself closer to the edge until he slid off and began to glide down, and then back up into the sky. He glided along, bobbing up and down before he boosted himself forward to catch up. Ever since he began to learn to fly, he had been focusing on keeping himself stable enough for dodging. It didn’t matter about battling in air, especially if he could be easily hit.
“Sakura I-” He quickly darted into the air to avoid some platforms before coming back down. “Sakura, I was wondering something.”
“Huh?” He looked up slightly, before back ahead, quickly skating around something before getting back on track.

That night they all met up exactly where everything had taken place before. Then they went under the bridge. Ume and Hiiragi walked ahead of them while everyone else decided to hang behind. Somewhere in the shadows Kiryu and Tsuge were also watching, just encase…

The zone they were in was lively at this hour, though where they were slipping off too was very dark and quiet. They came up on an abandoned building after being led by one of the other vigilantes; however, outside was Choji and the rest of them. Rather than going inside most of them were posted on the roof and the roofs around or inside behind the glass. Choji jumped up and around before trying to rush forward. “Come on let’s go-”
“Absolutely not. They just got here first off… and second the leaders aren’t going first.” Chelydra spoke. “How about… you, Fossil.” He pointed. ‘Fossil’ stepped forward, “Sure… that lizard was mine right.” He pointed towards Sugi. “You were so boring I forgot…”
“Aww look at you making friends.” Suou smiled up at him and Sugi just squinted.

Everyone cleared back, far enough that the two could use their powers without hitting anyone. Everyone else on Shishitoren's side were on top of the buildings around or inside watching through windows while their small group stayed back near the alley they entered from.
The two stood on either side of the clearing. ‘Fossil’ cracked his knuckles, giving a taunting smile to Sugi who… just looks like he wants to go to bed, me too bro.
Arima, or ‘Fossil’ as he was called. He can encase anything he touches in a multitude of rocks. Or simply just himself. He slowly began walking towards the other, rocks growing over his hands.
Yes he tried distracting him! Once Sugi looked away he closed in and punched him with his fist that was covered in the rocks… though they cracked. He had punched his scales, and Sugi immediately grabbed his wrist, cracking them more before pulling him close enough to grab his face and slam him down. Sugi then casually walked away, shrinking next to Ume who smiled and patted him on the head.
Someone dragged him inside. Once the circle was clear again Choji began clapping. “Wow, two powers that are similar but the scaly one still came out better. Do you think you could-”
“Okay who's next.” Chelydra is ignoring him lmao. No one was stepping up… So he simply pointed. “Gossip. You go.” He motioned.
“Aaah so it’s my turn.” Suou brushed himself off and walked out. After much much pushing and arguing ‘Gossip’ was also out there now.
And the two just kinda stood there, ‘Gossip’ slowly lowered his hands from his face. “I heard a rumour, you don’t fight well.”
Suou just blinked and tilted his head. “Okay.”
okay
‘Gossip began walking closer, before quickly speeding up and going to punch. Suou sidestepped him and pushed him away though there wasn’t as much force in his strike as usual.
“Oh… I see now.” He flexed his hand. “You can alter other people.”
The ground began to change look as Suou continued to dodge around each swing and punch. “You can’t just dodge forever!” The other called. Suou still dodged him. “Hmm? You’re not gonna use your power to stop my dodging? So you have to say a certain phrase to make it activate, how interesting!”
He’s pissing him off.
“I heard a rumour you-” before he could finish, hands shot up from the ground, he quickly stepped back but it passed through him. “S… Seriously? What a lame… Illusion…”
There’s now about five of Suou, and they all began walking around him. “Can you guess which one is actually me? I wanna know if your power can work on an illusion. If you need a hint I can give you one~” Suou laughed. All of them spoke at the same time as he spoke too.
‘Gossip’ looked around rapidly, trying to figure out which one was actually real. They were all moving the exact same. He finally pointed at one. “I heard a rumour that you aren’t the real one.”
That single one stopped while the rest kept walking. “Huh, it seems I am.” Suou spoke. Two disappeared but there were still three more. Including the one standing in front of him. He turned to check on the one behind him before turning straight into Suou grabbing him and flipping him. That one actually knocked him off his feet. Suou placed his hands back behind his back and began to walk around with his other illusion. “I see, so your power doesn’t stack, if you try to cast another rumour on me the previous one vanishes how fascinating.”
Both began to close in towards him. The ground was looking like it was starting to sink and the area around was starting to fade out.
“I… I heard a rumour that you don’t like mirrors!” he quickly shouted. All of the illusions suddenly stopped. Suou was just standing in front of him. The bandages on his face began to droop and he crouched down onto ‘Gossip’s level. He grabbed the one on the side of his face and yanked it off. No one is really sure what he showed him or what happened. They just saw something suddenly appear from under the bandages and ‘Gossip’ yelled, quickly jumping to his feet and taking several steps back. Suou let go of the bandage and fixed his appearance. He got ready to go at him but Chelydra put his hand up. “Enough. We aren’t here to play cat and mouse. It’s already clear who the winner is so let's not keep embarrassing ourselves.” He sighed.
Suou continued to stare at him a moment longer, before his usual smile came back. He tucked his hands behind his back and walked back over to everyone else.
“That was amazing! How did you manipulate so many of them at once?” Nirei slid in front of Suou who was still smiling.
“Yeah last time you made us leave you behind while you moved them.” Sakura crossed his arms.
“Aww did you miss me that badly?” Suou chuckled. “It’s not too hard to do something like that when I’m just walking. I mean the last time I had to focus on making sure they stayed moving like you move.”
Nirei is writing this down cause of course he is. <3

Sakura began stretching, he’s ready to get this all over with. Little does he know he is not next.
Before he could go forward a burst of light broke out from the crowd in front of them. Everyone quickly parted as the bolt of lightning came rushing towards them. Hiiragi jumped in front of them and blocked it quickly. Though it was not just lightning, it was actually someone else. He made a quiet sound of both annoyance and disappointment before jumping back and landing in the opening.
He does not have a vigilante name covering his own, he’s simply used his own name. Not like he was out there actually stopping anyone on the regular.
“Oh yay I knew you’d want to cut in. Now who do you wanna fight? How about the bird-” Choji started but he simply pointed at Hiiragi.
“Onyx. I wanna fight him.”
They all looked at Hiiragi who was still just standing in the same position from when he blocked it. Slowly he stood straight and began out.
“Alright. Sako.”