Chapter Text
Something slams into the brick wall, the echoing thud reverberating throughout the alleyway.
Toga Himiko twitches, groggily opening her eyes. She had just been having such a pleasant dream. She’d been at a feast of birds for her to drink dry of their delicious red nectar, but before she could take so much as a single nourishing gulp, someone had to interrupt her.
Himiko considers rolling over and going back to sleep, but there’s the possibility that she’s actually in danger.
She shifts, quietly, subtly, and holds her breath. She clears her mind, concealing her presence, and vanishes in the dark of the night.
Himiko creeps out from around the dumpster she’s been using as a shelter from the wind to see what all the commotion is about.
She has to bite back the urge to scoff.
A man in dark clothes has another man—a tall blonde twig of a man, the kind of guy who looks like a stiff breeze would collapse him like a house of cards—shoved against the wall, a knife held threateningly to the skeleton’s side.
A mugging.
Her nap was interrupted by an average, boring, uncute, run of the mill mugging.
Himiko wants to cry. She’s barely gotten enough sleep as it is these past few days since she—
Demon spawn! Monster! Witch! She-devi! Bitch! Murderer!
—Since she left home.
Himiko tunes out the familiar ringing of her parents screams and curls back up on the small piece of cardboard that she’s taken for herself to use as a bed. She has no blanket, unless you count the somewhat ragged school uniform she had meant to wear to her graduation ceremony, before Saito got into a fight.
The idea of caring about her appearance feels like a lifetime ago.
But now she’s free.
And she’s not going to give up this newfound freedom over a scuffle that’s none of her business.
Her breathing hitches as a memory suddenly rockets to the forefront of her mind.
“Principal… I’m worried about Toga.”
“What do you mean? She’s an exemplary student.”
Himiko catches her breath in her throat, not daring to breathe and give herself away. Why was the nurse talking to the Principal? Did they know? She’d been so careful to be Normal! There was no way they could know what she really is, right?
“It’s… well, I think she might not be happy at home.”
“Parents and children argue all the time at their age. If she and her parents have had some kind of falling out, that’s none of our business.”
Her throat aches with thirst, as it’s ached for the past ten years.
She closes her eyes and swears in her head.
Himiko is about to do something really, very, extremely stupid. And she isn’t even going to have the common decency to look cute doing it.
She creeps closer to the man in the dark clothes and his skeleton victim.
“—just give me the fucking money, man. I’ve got a knife, you’ve got shit. Give me the money and we can both go home happy and healthy.” He taps the knife against the skeleton’s side to make his point, and the skeleton winces. “Capiche?”
Who the heck says ‘capiche?’
She’s right on top of them now, and neither of them have noticed her. She reaches for the shiv hidden in her skirt, but hesitates.
Freak! Bloodlusted thing!
The skeleton probably doesn’t want to be covered in the mugger’s blood.
She’s so thirsty.
Himiko runs her tongue over her sharp fangs.
She doesn’t need a knife.
Only blood.
“Alright,” the mugger spits, and Himiko refocuses. “I’ll give you to the count of five. One. Two. Three—”
Himiko pounces, surprise flashing across both the mugger and the skeleton as she seemingly manifests from the shadows. Himiko sinks her teeth into the man’s exposed shoulder and he roars, but Himiko couldn’t care as the sweet, sweet blood pours down her throat.
The mugger falters, crashing to the ground under Himiko’s unexpected weight. She hears his knife clatter to the ground and with a smooth movement swipes it deep into the alley. Knives aren’t cute in the hands of guys like this.
She relaxes her jaw, licking the puncture marks left behind, as she raises herself to keep the mugger pinned.
“That wasn’t very nice of you, you know,” she says in a quiet singsong. “Some people are trying to sleep around here, and you’re going around making a mess.”
The mugger thrashes under her hold. She tightens her grip.
“Crazy bitch!” he snarls.
Himiko rolls her eyes. She’s never heard that one before.
Today.
It’s clear that she’s already won. She hasn’t drunk enough blood to kill him—at least, she’s fairly sure she hasn’t—but the blood loss has weakened him significantly.
“It’s sleepy time,” she coos, giving him a good smack across the head to encourage him to do what Himiko wants to be doing right now. That and his sudden loss of liquid assets has the man rolling his eyes back and passing out beneath her.
Himiko sits up and wipes sweat from her brow. Mugger down. Now she can go back to sleep, but she’s gonna need to find a new alleyway now. This guy is not gonna be happy in a few minutes when he’s back up.
The skeleton coughs and Himiko jumps out of her skin. She’d completely forgotten about him.
“Young lady,” he says, and Himiko stiffens to avoid flinching. “Are you alright?”
Himiko blinks. Of all the questions she had anticipated from someone who watched her crack open a guy like a juice box, that wasn’t one of them.
“Uh,” she says.
The skeleton hums, his sunken eyes sweeping over her and seeming to pierce into her very self. Himiko pulls herself in a little.
“I think,” he says, “That you could do with a warm meal and some fresh clothes.”
Himiko tilts her head. After several seconds, she says, “…are you offering?”
“Sort of,” says the skeleton. “I work as an assistant in Might Tower—” Himiko’s eyes blow wide, and she swallows. “—and we have services available for people down on their luck like you are.”
“Are you…” she chokes, “Are you going to—to get my parents…?”
The skeleton purses his lips in thought.
“A runaway…” he murmurs as he crouches down to be at eye level with Himiko. Louder, he says, “I’ll be honest. It depends on why you ran away from home. If—if your parents hurt you, then I promise you, young lady, that I will ensure that they never do so again.”
Oh.
Oh, he’s going to call them.
“It was my fault,” she whispers, more to herself than to him.
“No.”
Himiko starts, raising her head to meet the skeleton’s gaze.
“I have worked at a Hero Agency for a long, long time, and I have heard those words many times before. And every time, every time, they were not true.” The man stands back to his full height. “Here is what is going to happen now. This mugger needs to be arrested, so I am going to call the police.” Himiko flinches. “I will not restrain you. You may listen in if you wish, to see if I say anything about you. I have no intention of doing so. If you want to run, you can. As far as I can tell, you did not use a Quirk so it isn’t even Vigilantism.” The skeleton chuckles. “But first… my name is Yagi Toshinori. Who might you be?”
“…Toga Himiko.”
The skeleton—Mr. Yagi—smiles wide and warm. “A lovely name. I’m going to call this in now, and then, Young Himiko, I want to help you, if you’ll let me.”
The corners of Himiko’s eyes sting. She tries to blink out whatever it is that’s in her eyes, but all it does it make them wetter.
She doesn’t understand. Why is he acting this way? He saw her drinking blood! Why isn’t he afraid! Why doesn’t he hate her?
Why? Why? Why?
Mr. Yagi pulls out his cell phone, moving slowly enough that Himiko can follow his movements easily. He dials and holds the device up to his ear. After a moment’s pause, he speaks.
“I would like to report a mugging,” he says. Himiko tenses, ready to bolt the moment he says anything about her.
Mr. Yagi gives the mugger’s physical description and the location of the attack. And then he gets to the part that has Himiko’s stomach churning in dread.
“The man was taken down by a passing good Samaritan,” Mr. Yagi says. He pauses. “No, I didn’t get a good look at him. No, he wasn’t dressed like a Vigilante. I think he just happened to be nearby.”
Himiko openly gapes at the man. He… he lied to the police… so that he could protect her? Why? She doesn’t deserve that! She’s a monster! Why would—
A sob escapes her throat.
Why is he acting like this?
She doesn’t understand.
“Why?” she manages to say, her vision blurry; her cheeks are wet, and she doesn’t know how.
“Why what?” Mr. Yagi says.
“Why didn’t you tell them? Why didn’t you sell me out? I’m a monster! Why didn’t you tell them!?”
Mr. Yagi sucks air in through his teeth.
Oh, she’s crying. That’s why her cheeks are wet. She wipes her face on her sleeve, her sobs hiccupping.
“Who told you that?” Mr. Yagi says, slowly, shakingly.
Himiko opens and closes her mouth several times. Why does it matter who told her that? It’s the truth—who told it to her doesn’t matter.
“Young Toga…” Mr. Yagi says quietly. “Is it alright if I hug you?”
Himiko doesn’t know what to say. Even how to speak seems a distant memory right now. She sluggishly opens her arms and feels Mr. Yagi wrap his arms around her. He’s much sturdier than she’d initially assumed, but she focuses more on how warm he is.
“Young Toga,” he says. “You are a child. No child is a monster. No child should ever be told that they are a monster. Do you understand?”
No, she doesn’t. She shakes her head.
“Then I promise to help you understand. Please listen to me. You are not a monster. Can you try to believe me?”
“I—I can try,” she manages.
A police siren blares in the distance and they both tense. Mr. Yagi pulls away from her, looking over his shoulder.
“I want to help you, Young Toga. Please, hide nearby and when the police are gone, I’ll take you back to Might Tower, get you some warm food, clothes, and a roof over your head. I promise that you’ll be safe.”
Safe.
That’s something Himiko doesn’t think she’s ever been. She’s always had to be on guard to avoid letting anyone see her be anything other than Normal, see her being a devil—
The sirens grow louder, snapping Himiko out of her daze, and she scurries back to the nest where she had been trying to sleep only a minute or two ago.
Himiko conceals her presence again. Her heart roars in her ears, her heart aching with thin, fragile hope. She wants to believe Mr. Yagi, she does! But how could anyone honestly think she isn’t a monster? Maybe he thinks he can make her be Normal again.
But he said—he hugged—he promised—
She’s hungry.
She’s tired.
She shouldn’t, she knows she shouldn’t… but she wants to go with Mr. Yagi.
Himiko strains her ears, listening to Mr. Yagi speak to the officers. He repeats the same story he told on the phone. Himiko feels energy run down her spine. If he was going to betray her—it would be right now. He could tell them that she’s here.
But he doesn’t.
He even says that he doesn’t know where the bite mark on the mugger came from.
Himiko sits there completely bewildered as the cops load the mugger into the back of their car and drive off, not shooting so much as a glance towards her hiding place.
The car drives off, and Mr. Yagi relaxes with a sigh.
“They’re gone,” he says. “If you’re still here, you can come out now.”
Slowly, Himiko emerges from around the dumpster, crawling out and standing up. Mr. Yagi beams when he sees her.
“You… mean it…” she says near soundlessly.
Mr. Yagi softens. “Young Toga, would you care to come to Might Tower with me?”
Himiko bites her lip and nods. Just this once, she’ll take the chance.
Mr. Yagi leads her out of the alley and onto the street, lit brightly by streetlamps and neon signs. She trails behind, her footsteps so silent that Mr. Yagi keeps checking to see if she’s still there.
He leads her several blocks over, around winding streets, to a colossal tower of glass and steel. She has to strain her neck to see all the way to the top, where a model planet with two rings caps the building.
“Welcome, Young Toga, to Might Tower!” Mr. Yagi says.
She follows him into the lobby and feels like she walked into a palace. Everything in the building is so big! The walls climb high overhead, at least ten times taller than even Mr. Yagi!
“Welcome back, Yagi.”
Himiko’s head snaps to the reception desk, having somehow overlooked the only other person here in the lobby this late. It’s a short woman with dusty yellow hair curled up over her similarly dusty blue eyes.
The woman smiles, shaking her head. “I see you found another one.”
Mr. Yagi rubs the back of his neck. “Well, er, yes.”
“You can go ahead and get her set up in Suite B. I’ll tell Amano to get food ready for her.”
“Thank you, Fujimori. You’re a lifesaver.”
Mrs. Fujimori rolls her eyes, gentle smile still on her face. “We work at Might Tower, Yagi. It’s what we do.”
“I guess that’s true enough,” Mr. Yagi laughs. He gestures for Himiko to follow him into the elevator. Himiko has to force herself not to gape at the size of the elevator, too. It’s probably large enough for an elephant.
Mr. Yagi presses a button, and the elevator shoots off, leaving Himiko’s stomach behind. The door opens with a chime, and she staggers out onto sweet solid ground.
“Sorry about that, Young Toga,” Mr. Yagi says. “I always forget that not everyone is accustomed to elevators that fast. Don’t worry, you do get used to it.”
She nods, afraid to open her mouth in case she loses what little food she has. Once she recovers, Mr. Yagi leads her to the door labeled ‘Suite B.’
She looks to him nervously, and he nods for her. Gingerly, she takes the doorknob and turns it. The door opens, and she steps inside. The room is probably a little bigger than her old bedroom. There’s a short hallway from the door to the main part of the room, with a closet on one side and a bathroom on the other. The suite itself has a desk in the corner, a large bed with a puffy comforter and a widescreen television on the wall facing the bed. The floor has a thin carpet.
“Make yourself at home, Young Toga,” Mr. Yagi says. “The mattress is adjustable; feel free to change it however you wish.”
“…no futon?” Himiko says.
“Oh, do you want one?” says Mr. Yagi. “We have some if you—”
“No!” Himiko covers her mouth with her hands. She didn’t mean to yell at Mr. Yagi, but she’d been so surprised to be given a bed instead of something more traditional, and she’s never slept in a bed before, she was so surprised and she didn’t mean to yell, and she—
“Young Toga, breathe,” says Mr. Yagi calmly. He murmurs reassurances to her until her breathing evens out again. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” she rasps. “Hungry.”
“Well, the food will be up here shortly.” Mr. Yagi pats her on the back. “And then you can sleep. How does that sound?” Himiko nods. “I unfortunately have some other matters to attend to. If you need anything, there’s a phone on the desk and a list of numbers you can call.”
“…I can’t pay for this,” Himiko whispers.
“No,” Mr. Yagi says. “But All Might can and has. These suites are for people who need a little help, and Might Tower is happy to feed anyone.” Mr. Yagi smiles widely. “I hope you like it, Young Toga. Here’s your room card.” He hands her a small plastic card, and she clutches it to her chest. Mr. Yagi says his goodbyes one more time and makes his way down the hall back towards the elevators.
Himiko watches him go.
There’s a knock on the door to the suite a few minutes later, and Himiko opens it to find a man with a large cart with a full course dinner sitting on top of it.
“We’ve got a restaurant where you can go if you want to order anything yourself,” he says. “That’s on Floor 3. Remember not to eat too fast or you’ll make yourself sick.” Himiko nods, salivating at the sights and smells. The moment the man leaves, Himiko tears into her food like an entire pack of wolves. Tearing and biting the meat and vegetables, draining the broth in large gulps.
She hadn’t realized how famished she truly was until she’d seen real food for the first time since… since.
She wipes the back of her hand against her mouth, setting the last empty dish back on the cart, and flops onto the bed. She reaches for the knob on the side and makes the mattress as soft as she can get it, sinking into the material like a particularly dense cloud.
She’s out before she can even reach to turn off the light.
This is nowhere close to the strangest day Yagi Toshinori has had.
Being mugged is rather atypical, especially so close to Might Tower, but he was wandering around at night in his tweed suit, so he supposes he should’ve at least acknowledged the possibility. The homeless girl tackling the mugger before Toshinori could take him down was, admittedly, unexpected.
Toshinori hates seeing runaways, seeing children deciding that the streets are safer than their own houses.
He opens up the police database under his authority as All Might and types in ‘Toga Himiko.’ The response is immediate.
Several days ago, at the graduation ceremony from her Junior High School, Toga had unexpectedly attacked another student, sucking his blood through a straw with—according to eyewitnesses—a look of ecstasy on her face. Following the attack, she fled apprehension and disappeared, with a warrant currently out for her arrest. The boy, Saito, is still in the hospital recovering from the severe blood loss. Toshinori leans back, exhaling.
At least the boy survived.
He closes his eyes and goes over the facts. She had drunk the blood from the mugger in the alleyway, and then been afraid of how he would react to seeing her do so. She was lucky it was him, if he’s correct. As All Might, he’s seen all sorts of weird things in his long career. Watching a girl drink someone’s blood like a vampire out of myth isn’t even a blip on his radar anymore.
But when he’d offered her his help, she’d been afraid that he would involve her parents. Swallowing his dread, Toshinori scrolls through the police file for any interviews with her parents.
Two minutes later and he is shaking from fury.
How could they say such things about their own daughter!?
He takes a calming breath. It would not do to accidentally use One For All in his office. Most of his equipment and furniture is custom-made to be as durable as possible, but if his control slips, he could easily break most of it.
Toshinori picks up the phone, then hesitates. It’s almost two in the morning. He’d better make it an email.
He starts drafting.
‘Detective Tsukauchi, I have a lead I would like you to pursue at your earliest convenience.’