Chapter Text
Once the sun goes down and the rest of Japan has gone to sleep, a figure rises out of the shadows to walk the streets on the dark side of town. The figure, a young girl no older than fourteen, walks with confidence down back alleys and side streets, her hands hidden in the large pocket of her midnight blue hoodie. Her combat boots splash through puddles of a mysterious origin and she wears a grin across her freckled face. This is clearly her territory, and she revels in her patrol through it.
A scream cuts through the air and she is running. Down the alleys and back streets to the source of the sound. A large man with the head of a bull is wrestling a woman to the ground. The woman locks eyes with the young figure and she screams again, this time begging the figure for help. She doesn’t hesitate, running at a nearby dumpster and kicking off of it, using it as leverage to jump on top of the man. She grabs him by his horns and pulls . The man lets out a howl as his head is wrenched backwards. He releases the tearful woman below him in exchange for going after the smaller person currently kneeling on his back. The woman is smart enough to take the opportunity to run, leaving the girl and the bullman behind.
The girl jumps off the man, doing a backflip and landing atop another nearby dumpster. The man growls, stomping and sliding his feet against the ground like he’s preparing to charge. The girl lets out a laugh like bells and drops her hood. The man’s eyes grow wide.
“What do you think you’re doing in my territory?” The figure asks, a laugh in her voice.
“Please, forgive me, Makaria! I- I was just-”
“You were attacking a woman in my territory. Do you know what I do to people who trespass on the rules that govern my territory, Watanabe?” The man grows pale at the mention of his name.
“How- how do you-”
“-Know your name? Oh, you poor thing, have you not heard? I know everyone who causes trouble around here. And your name has been circling for quite some time. It seems you have quite the mouth on you when you’ve had too much sake.” Her once smiling face turns deadly serious. “I’d say to run, but it’s too late for that.”
Watanabe tries to stand tall again, his face turning angry. “What are you gonna do? You’re just a kid. Your daddy might be-”
His words are cut off as a knife flies past his face, leaving a cut along his cheekbone and tearing through part of his ear. He immediately grabs at his face and ear, the terror back in his eyes.
The girl, Makaria, tilts her head. “That was a warning shot.” She is suddenly holding another knife in each hand. “Don’t you ever speak of my father again, you absolute worthless bastard. You’re not even worthy enough to speak my name, but I let it slide this once, and now you try to bring him into this? I was going to leave you with a heavy warning, but now you will really pay the ferryman.” A knife is suddenly impaled in Watanabe’s shoulder, another finding a home in his thigh immediately after. He tries to run but finds his way suddenly blocked by Makaria. She meets him head on, first kicking him in the gut before quickly following it with a knee to his nose as he bends over with a groan. He tries to falter back, but she’s at him in the next moment, twisting the knife in his shoulder before pulling it out. She then uses his thigh to leverage herself to go into a backflip, both shoving the knife further into his thigh with her foot before kicking him under the chin and knocking him on his back. He groans in pain, but doesn’t get back up.
Before she can leave, a new voice enters the night air. “Vigilantism is a crime you know.” She turns to the mouth of the alley where a hero dressed in all black with a pale scarf and yellow goggles hanging around his neck stands, blocking her escape.
“So is being a rapist, but I feel like one of those things is worse than the other, so…” She shrugs and laughs.
“I can give you that one.” He nods before taking a step into the alley. She doesn’t move other than to lean casually against a dumpster. “So you’re the Makaria I’ve heard so much about.”
“I hope you haven’t heard too much, Eraserhead. It kinda ruins the whole mysterious thing I’ve got going on with the cops in the area.” She smirks.
Eraserhead takes another lazy step into the alley, his caution reminiscent of one trying not to scare off a stray cat. Which is probably the best way to approach this situation to be honest. Makaria watches him and wiggles an eyebrow. She seems to be enjoying herself, her body language staying casual and unthreatened.
“It’s true that you’ve got the police scratching their heads, but I have a few connections in the area that are… let's say, fans of yours.”
“Oh, I have fans? Interesting. But I’m sure you’re not willing to reveal who these so-called fans are, are you?”
This time, Eraserhead smirks. “No, I’m not one to give up my sources.”
Makaria pouts. “Boo, oh well. Would you at least be willing to tell me what they’ve said about me?”
Eraserhead rocks his head side to side. “Maybe. Are you willing to bargain for the information?”
Makaria scrunches her nose. “Not really. If you had anything good you’d have already tried to arrest me.”
Eraserhead frowns. “And what would I be arresting you for?”
“Uh uh, Eraserhead! No information for free! Toodles!” Quicker than Eraserhead probably expected, she makes her way up the dumpster and flips over him before running down the street and into a side alley, disappearing from sight.
Eraserhead sighs before picking up his berber phone and calling in the man still groaning in the alley. “Yeah, I have a suspect for pick up at my location. A vigilante seems to have gotten here first, so send medical as well.”
—
“I met your vigilante last night.”
Hitoshi shoots up from where he had been lounging on the couch, all thoughts of watching cat videos on his phone while waiting to go to school gone. He looks to where his dad is walking into the kitchen, headed straight for the coffee pot. “You WHAT?!”
“Hitoshi, quietly, please. It is six-thirty in the morning.”
“You can’t just walk in here and say you saw Makaria and then tell me to be quiet about it! What happened?! Did she beat up a thug? Of course she did, she’s amazing. Did you arrest her? Please tell me you didn’t arrest her! I will never forgive you if you arrested Makaria!” Hitoshi climbs over the arm of the sofa and hangs on his dad’s arm as the man tries to pour himself some black coffee into his purple cat mug.
“I didn’t arrest her.”
Hitoshi releases his hold and flops down on the floor. “Oh, thank God! I was ready to disown you, I really was. Okay, you have to tell me everything! Did she look the way she’s described in the posts? Did you get a picture? Did you talk to her? Did you ask her any questions? Did she answer any questions? What was she like? Was she, like, really tough? Did she-”
“Toshi, please, I beg of you. I will answer your questions as soon as I finish this cup.” His dad goes back to sipping his mug of coffee so very slowly.
Hitoshi stands and stares at his dad, biting his bottom lip to hold back his stream of questions. It lasts for about thirty seconds.
“Just tell me what happened, please! I will be silent for the entire ride to school and won’t even turn on the radio. Please!”
His dad looks at him for about a full minute before he sighs and sits down at their kitchen table. “Fine, sit down already and eat something while I explain.”
Hitoshi shoots a fist in the air, grabs a bowl of rice and some boiled eggs, and sits across the table from his dad. He eats slowly as his dad describes hearing the sounds of screams and racing across rooftops only to find the woman he assumes had been screaming running from the mouth of the alley. He climbed down the fire escape of a nearby building before sneaking his way toward where the woman had run. He describes how he saw a teen girl arguing with a wanted villain with a mutation quirk. He watched as they spoke, the villain’s face going from pale to flushed with anger before the girl pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere and threw it at the villain. He listened as she threatened the man before making good on her threat. He describes the beat down she gave the grown man before she turned to where he had been standing and he got a good look at her. He guessed at her identity, having heard a little of their conversation, and she just calmly held a small conversation with him before running off.
“I called it in and then finished my patrol.” Hitoshi’s dad finishes his coffee and gets up to get another cup as Hitoshi sits in stunned silence.
“That. Is. So. COOL! That sounds just like her! Oh, I can’t believe you saw the real Makaria! I have to tell my friends! They are not going to believe me!” While his dad finishes two more cups of coffee, Hitoshi opens up the private groupchat between himself and a bunch of other teens he met in an underground Makaria chatroom. He knows they’re all around his age because they’ve discussed homework on the chat before.
Sleep?DontKnowHer: You guys are not going to believe what my dad just told me!!!!
AllHailQueenie: Oh, spill the tea!!
IceBearDontCare: What Queenie said.
HowYouDoin: Spill that piping hot tea!!!!
M4sterm1nd: What did your dad tell you?
Sleep?DontKnowHer: He saw Makaria on patrol last night! He actually saw her!!
Sleep?DontKnowHer: He actually saw her!!
Sleep?DontKnowHer: He said she’s suuuper sassy and a total pain to deal with!!
Sleep?DontKnowHer: I’m legit crying right now!!
AllHailQueenie: The true queen has been sighted!!
AllHailQueenie: That’s so cool, Sleep!
HowYouDoin: My true love has been seen with human eyes!!
IceBearDontCare: Hasn’t she always been seen with human eyes?
HowYouDoin: Not humans that I actually know!!
M4sterm1nd: Do you know Sleep’s dad?
HowYouDoin: No, but I know Sleep!
HowYouDoin: And that’s basically the same thing!
AllHailQueenie: We are getting off topic.
AllHailQueenie: @Sleep?DontKnowHer , you HAVE to tell us EVERYTHING!!!
—
Izu reads the groupchat and does her best to hold back her grin as she heads off to school.