Chapter Text
Tougou stepped out in the open air and took a long, deep breath, enjoying the way the smell of freedom filled his nose and lungs. It didn’t matter to him that freedom smelled like piss and garbage from the prisonyard. He was free and that was all that mattered.
“Are you done being dramatic?”
Tougou looked over his shoulder and glared at the prison guard, who yawned.
Tougou turned around and smiled and bowed. “Thank you for your services all these years, guard-san.”
“Yeah yeah, just be off already.”
Tougou put on a hat and swung a mostly empty satchel that carried all he had left. He climbed onto the bus, said a simple greeting to the bus driver, and took a seat. He mused. After all these years he could finally do what he wanted. His fellow inmates had asked him what he planned to do, and he had laughed and said he’d learned his lesson and he was ready to turn over a new leaf.
Of course, he’d lied. He knew what the real world was like, and an honest living would get him nowhere. He’d just have to be smarter this time around. And meaner.
He pulled out a small photograph from the satchel and stared at it, letting the anger and resentment spit anew inside his ribcage. The photograph was of himself, a married couple, and six identical children sporting identical face splitting grins.
It’d been years ago and these children were adults by now. They’d probably forgotten him, but of course, Tougou never forgot, and he never forgave.
There was only one thing on his mind now.
And it was revenge.
The bus shuddered to a halt, pulling Tougou away from his thoughts. He looked outside, to the sign in neat print that said “Central Akatsuka” and he couldn’t help but smile. He was one step closer to the one goal in mind that had been driving him mad for all these years.
But there were a few things he had to take care of.
He’d made a few hectic phone calls a few weeks beforehand so when he got to the tailors in town there was a suit ready and ironed out for him, as well as a few spares.
“And how was your trip abroad, sir?” asked the store clerk.
“Marvelous,” said Tougou, slick and charismatic, paying them with money from their own cash register.
He stopped by a hardware store on the way to the residential area, because there were some things prison couldn’t beat out of you. He weighed the knife heftily in his hand, appreciating the familiar glint of metal and the dullness of those black wave designs. He turned it over, still in its plastic casing, and got a look at the price tag.
Curses, he didn’t have that much on him.
He grumbled as he put the knife back on the shelf and marched out of the store empty-handed.
He managed to swipe a few pockets on the way out of town. That, along with the suit he was wearing, made him feel like himself for the first time in a long time. They never warn you how prison strips you of your identity. He’d probably invest in some nicer shoes to complete the look.
He stopped in front of a small, old house, looking horribly out of place surrounded by high-rise apartment buildings. It was pitiful to look at.
Oh he had dreamt of this moment for so long.
He knocked on the door, and forced his smile down to a normal level.
He waited.
He knocked again.
Still no answer.
He peeked inside the windows, and confirmed his suspicions. Nobody was home.
He could break into the house, and sit himself in their living room and surprise them all when they came home. He grinned widely. He could already imagine the looks of fear and surprise on their faces.
But nah, he already had a plan in mind and he was going to stick to it.
He settled himself in the little café around the corner, under the pretenses of ordering enjoying a coffee and reading the newspaper (as if he gave a shit about that). From here he had a pretty good view of the Matsuno residence. They wouldn’t come back without his knowing.
He sipped slowly, eyes fixed just above the edge of the newspaper, glued to the front door of the house.
Eventually the six of them showed up.
He sputtered out his drink, rather violently. Coffee spit across the whole newspaper and down his new suit.
“Wha- what – what the!” he shouted, not believing what he saw.
Yes there were six of them but no way in hell those were the little Matsuno boys he knew. These men had multicolored hair, red green blue yellow, urgh, the whole rainbow. Sharp, angular jaws. And they were walking around in their boxers so he could see so clearly those chiseled abs that practically glowed and no way those were the same onion faced boys he was after.
“Excuse me,” he called out to a waitress after he had a moment to collect himself. “Is that the house of the Matsuno sextuplets?”
“Oh the famous demons of akatsuka ward?” she asked. “Yep that’s them in front of that old house of theirs.”
“Why,” he asked, “do they look like that?” He pointed for emphasis. They looked nothing like the people around them. Were they created by a different god entirely?
She blushed a little as her eyes fell lovingly onto them again. “Heh yeah, they do that sometimes,” she said in a shy voice. “But not enough.”
“Do what?” he asked, just a little annoyed.
His question was immediately answered as the brothers seemed to poof - yes, poof – surrounded by clouds of smoke, which they walked out looking a little more normal. Normal being reminiscent of the troll faced children he was familiar with, short stubby limbs and heads too big for their bodies.
They were downright hideous.
The waitress lost interest real quickly and refilled his coffee, as if she too had gotten sick of the one glance she had of their normal selves.
“Interesting,” said Tougou. He really didn’t know how else he could describe it.
Across the street a little boy ran, stark naked and cursing loudly. “Damit damit damit damit,” Tougou could hear him shouting. “I AM NEVER GOING TO TURN INTO A TITAN AGAIN!”