o1. cammelia

01.

Shouto’s story starts with fireworks. They light the sky as Shouto and Fuyumi walk home, laughing as they whisper about the things they saw at the festival. They weren’t supposed to go out at all, but Shouto is back for the weekend from university, and it’s all in good fun. It doesn’t matter, they’re heading home, early enough, Mother was expecting them for a late dinner…

Except… 

Except home is no more, it’s up in flames, and there’s no sign of Mother outside. 

More explosions sound in the sky, and that almost masks the rumbles of the approaching car.

02.

Shouto wakes up, days, maybe months later, with his best friend crying at his bedside. Normally, Yaoyorozu Momo is…not stoic, exactly, but she’s normally more put together, but her hair’s a mess and there are bags under her eyes, but she looks so, so relieved to see him awake that he can only grin and try to crack a joke. It falls flat, but Momo tries to smile, regardless. 

The mood instantly darkens when she hands him something. There’s a tablet in her hands, with YouTube opened up playing a news clip of a service a few days ago for the deaths of the wife and children of a prominent politician. Todoroki Enji plays the grieving husband and father on the glossy screen.

It’s a perfect picture.

It’s also a lie.

While the car was unfamiliar that night, the reflection of its passenger, looking at the prone forms with derision? That’s one he could recognize, even through the pain and the anger.

To think that man would arrange for a “tragic accident” to take the lives of three of his family members… Something burns inside, and it takes a moment to realize that it’s not just his rage, he’s actually lit up the left half of his body, flames licking up the side.

Momo sighs, gently removing the tablet from his hands, even as her touch smothered his flames with nary a hiss. “I know you Shouto,” she says quietly, carefully, unsure, and everything he’s never known Momo to be. “And you’ve always been driven to do the right thing. As someone who works for the police, I shouldn’t encourage this, but as your friend… Well, I can help, if you want to go around the law…”

“What, you think I should take up vigilantism?” Shouto asks with a snort.

“Something like that. You know where to reach me when you decide.” And with that, she gets up, smooths her smart pencil skirt down, and leaves.

Shouto refuses to watch her go, eyes instead riveted to the bouquet Momo left behind on his bedside table. The lone white camellia shined brightly surrounded by its more colorful neighbors.

03.

Shouto’s first kill is an information broker who’s selling of private data caused the deaths of a dozen police officers and about twice that many civilians. It’s done at a distance and it’s the first time he’s ever made a target of a living being with a bow.

His trainer — who spent three months breaking him into the organization, both literally and figuratively  — doesn’t make any comments about Shouto vomiting into a trash can a few hours later, sick at the thought that he’s honestly taken a life, just like his father. He’s even nice enough to hand him a pocari sweat, although Shouto is smart enough (by now) to check the seal to make sure it wasn’t tampered with before opening it to take a swig to remover the taste of sick in his mouth.

“Your assignment is in. You’ll be with B for a bit. Good luck dealing with those crazies.”

Considering his trainer, who still, three months in, refuses to give him a name other than ‘sensei’, has nearly broken his arm no less than three times, and constantly comes into the training room in a variety of ugly vacation shirts, is calling someone else crazy, Shouto is rightfully concerned.

04.

“You’re both benched.”

Shouto shoots their team leader — blue haired, tall, glasses, called himself Ingenium, of all things — a stern look even as Gale — stocky, dark haired, and with a personality that grated on Shouto all the time — gives an indignant noise in response.

The blue haired man didn’t care. “That was utterly unacceptable for the both of you. Shouto, you should have never taken a lethal shot at our assignment –” then why the fuck did he spend months working with a man to kill people — “and Gale? Punching teammates is just not on, why, if I could I would have you not just benched but jailed for such an egregious–”

Momo — no, Creati, Shouto had to remember to use her codename — stops the tall man from gesticulating further. “That’s enough Ingenium. Shouto was pending a move into Class A anyways — Cellophane will be returning by the time we have your next mission, so the team would be back to normal soon enough.”

The last member of the team snorts, complaining about the stuck up pricks in Team A (which caused Ingenium to begin lecturing again, this time about Phantom Thief’s lack of faith in their fellow team).

It’s not much of a loss, Shouto never really got on with any of his teammates, so he’s pleasantly surprised (and very confused) when Gale links up their phones (“You’re an ass, but a good guy man, wouldn’t mind getting together and sparring off the clock.” Shouto isn’t well versed in people, but he knows himself well enough to realize he’s not opposed to meeting Gale again).

The car ride is silent as Momo takes them through the city and back into the heart of Tokyo. It’s a long ride, but at least it takes him closer to his home. Eventually the car stops in the parking garage of a nondescript building. The walk through the building ends in front of a door.

The door swings open to reveal a smiling brunette, pink cheeked, and eyes glittering as watches the two enter.

“So, Todoroki-san, correct?” the woman begins, standing up from her chair. “How would you like to hunt some dark beasts instead?”

05.

Over the past year, Shouto’s life has become limited to a duffel bag and suitcase. It makes it easy enough for him to pack up and leave, wherever his missions for Kritiker takes him.

And now he’s lugging them out of Asui’s (“Just call me Tsuyu, gero.”) compact, in the middle of the night outside of a three story building in the heart of Tokyo. It’s hard to make out, but the sign at the front appears to read ‘Koneko no Sumu Ie’.

“The House Where the Kitten Lives, huh?” Shouto mumbles to himself, following the wide eyed woman around the back. The upper two stories open up into apartments, similar to many similar businesses up and down the block.

“It’s a bit of an old joke or something I guess? The building has been in the company for years.” Asui admits, even as she pulls out a key to open the gate to the bottom of the stairwell. It opens easily enough and Asui hands him a copy. “You’re on the far end of the second floor. Should be easy enough to find, kero.” Her eyes fall to his meager luggage, even as he starts to lug it up a flight of stairs. “Well, you’ll have a stipend to do what you want with your room, once you get settled in.” And with that she turns away, off to drive back to the building where he met Uravity.

Shouto opens the door with nary a squeak. It’s a quaint, if sparsely furnished, 1K apartment. Toeing off his shoes into the genkan, he considers trying to start unpacking, but it’s 3 in the morning and all he wants to do is sleep. He might have already been out by the time his face hits the cushions of the puce  colored couch.

06.

“Hey, you awake man?”

Someone was in his room, moving around.  For one terrifying moment, Shouto wonders if everyone can get into his apartment when red hair and shark teeth opens his mouth once more. “You kinda left your door open man, and while we’re all friends here, it probably… isn’t safe? A bunch of peoples — including ladies! — have access into our gate and I know Hatsume-san has no problem jumping on people if she sees them in bed.”

Whoever that Hatsume-san is…. she’s someone Shouto doesn’t want to meet.

“Heey, no seriously, Bakugou told me to get the new guy and I really don’t want to subject him to you yet. You awake man?”

Shouto grumbles but does eventually roll over to see who opened his door. Someone with a shock of red hair and sharp teeth. New teammate?