Chapter Text
1
"Good morning Japan!"
The hosts were enthusiastically excited. Izumi made sure she had her best smile on when the spotlight shined down. They don’t have an in-house audience other than the crew but Izumi knew this show was being broadcasted live.
Meaning there was no room for mistakes.
They went through the normal introduction of every guest and the hosts dived right into their special speeches praising heroes, saying how hard their work was.
"It can get grueling but it is worth it," Yaoyorozu said, still a bit shy. She had grown to be a wonderful hero who led people out of dangerous situations plenty of times but facing interviews was still a bit different.
“We’re happy to help,” Uraraka added. “It is our job to protect the smiles on people’s faces.”
A series of compliments came from the other models. It was a professional atmosphere, where nice words and laughter streamed constantly. The hosts do not ask sharp questions, instead they fill the void with witty comments and pop culture references.
It was a good first half. Izumi had no intention of hitting hard right at the get go either. Even talk shows had their basic structures and she knew the next topics coming up were more suited for what she wanted to achieve.
They had a group of female celebrities and heroes. A story was good when it contained hardships, when the audience could find trouble to relate to. As an idol, Izumi knew that well. They were celebrities but they were also a reflection of what people desired. From looks to the glamor, from their histories to their personalities, all needed to have their own appeal to the crowd.
It was simple even. All they needed was to talk a bit about how like all girls, they had body parts they thought could be improved. Late night cravings during diets or biases and challenges encountered in professional settings. School troubles. Balancing grades and their careers. Crazy schedules and efforts were easy cards to win sympathy from the crowd.
Izumi talked about the story everybody knew well by now. People didn’t believe she was idol material. Of cruel girls who tossed buckets of cold and dirty mop water onto her in the bathroom or horrible words scrambled on her desk at the beginning of her career. It was why she was so invested into all the anti-bullying efforts in schools across Japan. When she was fourteen, the story of school bullies being charged and arrested broke the news.
It had been the first case in Japan where minors received an actual harsh sentence that matched their crimes. Normally the bullies were let off with warnings or community service and the school would never suffer much consequences but this time, a whole bunch of teachers were arrested along with the bullies.
All thanks to the evidence Izumi gathered.
Right before she graduated middle school, she compiled all her notes and videos about what was happening in Aldera into one large file for the police. Quirk discrimination, cover ups, emotional and physical abuse, even corruption…she had a very thorough list of everything. Enough to give the principal ten years in prison too. Even one of the bullies got sentenced to a year because the judge deemed the effects of the rumors he spreaded to be so damagingly heinous.
It was easy to keep the conversation on this topic. Uraraka and Yaoyorozu elaborated on the efforts to expand bullying laws to cyberspace. The hosts and other celebrities added on about their own or people they knew experiences in the matter too.
Only Katsumi had nothing much to say. They were speaking about Japanese laws, which a foreigner who grew up abroad wouldn’t have sound knowledge in. Even if they did, they had to watch what they said–compliments or criticism–otherwise it would easy be a point for the public to attack them with.
“Violence is never the answer,” Izumi repeated to the hosts of the show. “But we can use the law as our weapon to fight for our rights. I know it’s tempting to want to hurt people as they have hurt us but we shouldn’t stoop to the same level as the evil trying to drag us down.”
A good sob story with a happy ending. Justice always prevailed. That was the tale people wanted to hear.
Izumi turned to Katsumi with a smile. “Don’t you agree, Victoire?”
“Sure,” the blonde woman agreed easily, voice sweet as if they were good friends right on cue. Such a flawless switch from when the camera was off.
Nodding as if encouraged by the approval, Izumi turned towards the camera quickly. A dazzling smile on her face as she said, “I know sometimes it feels like we’re all alone in this fight or that people aren’t on our side but hope starts within ourselves.”
And hope filled Izumi’s heart too.
_______
#Bullyingisneverok
#Izumisopretty
#Uravitybabe
#Bunny
Post 1: OMG THE GIRLS ARE SO PRETTY IN THE HERO SUIT.
Post 2: Click to see behind the scenes exclusives
Post 3: Pop Idol Midoriya Izumi’s New Look?
@boen39: Love the new episode! Everybody looks great and yes, thank you all for helping further the cause. #Bullyingisneverok
@fjwue978: We still have a long way to go but this episode reminded me of why I love Izumi so much! Thanks to her case, I was able to get the jackass in my school too!
@oeo55_re: Victoire looks like she hadn’t aged a day since sixteen. It’s crazy.
@49ufdm_joke: lOL, I think you mean #coldtoire. No wonder she doesn’t do a lot of talk shows. She just sits there. Could have swap her out with a lamp and I’m sure no one would notice.
@kjeixal: She’s a runway model, can’t ask much from them.
@dking555: Also, that “sure” from her is especially laughable because IT’S HER? The internet has memories and I remember very well about how she treated that little girl a few years back.
@kiki_love: oooh? Tea? Please spill *getting mug ready*
@kjeixal: I think I remember. There was this group of girls who tried to throw acid on Victoire. One of them was being threatened by the rest who hated Victoire for one of the comments she made about another male celeb they loved. but Victoire reacted so fast that the acid ended up spilling back onto the girl’s hand.
@dking555: And then Victoire still sued her. Poor girl was being blackmailed, had a nasty scar, and having to deal with Victoire’s lawsuit. Victoire’s team said a bunch of word salad that was basically victim blaming, saying that girl shouldn’t have agreed to help the others. She was a kid. She was scared. She’s not going to make good choices.
@kiki_love: …I thought acid attack was a felony? Suing her or not isn’t really up to Victoire…isn’t it?
@kjeixal: I think it was two different cases, one under the Criminal Law and another under civil.
@hco_cola: They were minors. They didn’t know any better. aND Victoire didn’t even get hurt. Charge the other bullies but that girl was a victim too. It’s not her fault for not being able to stand up to bullies or say no. She was dragged along and if she didn’t go, she was going to get hurt bad.
@ll00299: Yeah, really no need to sentence them to the max possible sentence. Enough is enough. Punishment should match the consequence of the crime. They’re so young they could have learned better.
@ur6anis7: Locking kids up for decades isn’t justice.
Izumi exhaled. As expected, she didn’t even have to push anything. The internet was a space where even the most innocent of sentences could be spun into a vicious mess. People took words and interpreted it through skewed lenses then turned it all around to accuse you of voicing horrid opinions.
Besides, Katsumi wasn’t liked by all. She was popular and loved for sure but many hated her too. There were crowds who thought she enforced harmful body images or pandered to the patriarchy with her beauty. Many believed she was brainwashed by feminism, on her way to hit the wall and accumulated a body count she would regret. People said she partied too much. Or too little depending on their moods. One second she was the Yes Girl and the next it was Yes, Queen.
Izumi turned her laptop off. The show was just an appetizer, here in the news after was where the real battlefield was. And it might not look like much right now but it was a start.
2
Katsumi had nobody to complain to about the little bitch who tried to undermine her on the Japanese show she was on recently.
The thing about living with a bunch of insane assassins was that their most natural and efficient solution to all problems was to kill. It didn’t help that most of her colleagues were male but Katsumi preferred to attribute the main cause of the problem to them being the mafia instead.
Violence was not always the correct resolution but it sure as hell was the damn easiest.
Except she couldn’t just kill a famous civilian.
They were Vongola and they had a code, a way of how they do business that they were proud of. Levi wouldn’t bother with bloodshed unless it was mission-related, Lussuria collected the bodies of those he defeated, even Bel primarily targeted killers as prey. Sure, they have killed plenty of innocents as well but there was always a principle to their madness. Katsumi wasn’t about to taint that honor for some stupid idol eyeing her man all funny.
She’d also be laughed at if the only solution she could come up with about love rivals was murder. If she could only keep a man by slaughtering the other woman, then it made her feel like she lost not just the war but also her own dignity.
Midoriya Izumi wasn’t worth it. Her blood would just spoil Katsumi’s daggers and mood.
So Katsumi turned to complaining, whining about the insufferable little bitch who thought she was so clever and innocent. Those were laughable tricks–actually, Katsumi probably couldn’t say those were tricks–it was just how Izumi was. Katsumi wouldn’t say that Izumi had no idea what she was doing or the effects of her words but she did it because she thought it was the right thing.
That woman genuinely believed she was in the right. And she was. Smiling so nicely as she tried to keep peace, offering guidance and understanding to everybody while sympathizing with their stories. Unlike Katsumi, Izumi’s persona in front of a camera wasn’t a fake, not just a mask that would slip off once the spotlight was gone.
A small part of Katsumi felt horrible. Ridiculous and hurtful, the nicer Izumi was, the more it felt like an insult. It was as if someone held up a mirror to Katsumi’s face, reflecting the wickedness in her heart. Her hands were covered in blood and her crown made of bones and thorns while the other girl was clean and surrounded by soft petals.
“Cheer up, Princess.” Bel slumped down next to Katsumi on the sofa, waving a spoon that he was using to eat ice cream straight from the box with. “Boss doesn’t even know who she is.”
Over twenty but still acting like a child, Bel’s words brought little comfort.
They were in the common living room located in the center of the wing that hosted Varia’s upper officers’ bedchambers. It was dark out but inside the castle, the crystal lights lit the room like day. The news was on while Levi wrote his report by the window. The man was in sweatpants and T-shirt, probably rushing some minute work before turning in for the night. Lussuria hummed as he laid down on another couch, face smeared with a paste of green mask while his feathered pink robe dragged on the floor.
“If you really want to get rid of her, there are many things we can do,” Lussuria offered.
“Blackmail?” suggested Levi without looking up.
“She’s as clean as they come, not even a jaywalking accusation.”
It was absolutely ridiculous how clean Izumi was. Normal people might have a parking ticket or some minor flaws that those around them found annoying at times. However, besides being quirkless and getting bullied for it when she was younger, this woman had a perfect record in everything else.
The sweetest. The purest. The most hard-working. The kindest.
Ma dio mio, Katsumi just might hurl if she doesn't see some blood or skulls being bashed in soon.
“I don’t see what you have to worry about. It’s not like she’d be knocking on the castle door one day with Boss’s kid in her belly and demanding a wedding.” Bel glanced at Katsumi. “Speaking of…the Ninth has been wondering when he’s getting some grandbabies. Some of the lower ranking trash in the castle also have a betting pool for when we’re getting a mini-Boss.”
The way he looked at Katsumi showed that he thought it was illogical that they don’t have a kid yet. Katsumi wished Mammon or Squalo was here, at least those two’s presence would save the last of her sanity. But after their curse was broken, Mammon went to bed as early as they could, making sure they were getting plenty of rest in order for their body to grow tall and healthy. Squalo was out of the country and she didn’t want to bother him with unimportant things when he was finally enjoying some vacation time.
“You can have a kid first,” Levi said.
“That is the stupidest suggestion I’ve ever heard.” Katsumi could slap him. “If I need a child to keep a man, I’ve just admitted to being worthless myself.”
Wasn’t that how it always went in the movies and dramas? The woman would show proof of pregnancy in order to beg the man to stay in a relationship. They were presenting an offer, using an unborn child of that man’s blood as a bargaining chip. That kid was what was important and the mother? Nothing but a buy one get one freebie who was expected to play a set role. She wasn’t important any more, her purpose as a person stripped down to nursing someone else’s legacy, her existence reduced to wallpaper or a symbol of motherly care and sometimes even the villain if a new passion rolled into the man’s life.
Katsumi would never allow herself to stoop to that level.
“I’m going to bed,” she announced as she stood up. That was enough fuming for the night, any more and it was going to affect her beauty sleep.
She had her own room but she wandered towards the end of the hall, where Xanxus’s room was located. The door wasn’t locked so she let herself in. Katsumi found her love already in bed, back against the headboard while reading. Slipping under the blankets, she laid her head on his chest.
“Boss.”
A grunt came from above her head.
“Xanxus.”
His hand landed on the back of her neck, pinching just a bit too tight that stopped her hands from roaming. “What?”
“The elders are wondering when we’re going to have a child.” In the name of the Ninth too. The previous don was old but not stupid. He would know better than to push or goad information from Xanxus in such an obvious manner. This was gossip mixed with a bit of curious anxiety, trying to make waves. The old geezers were probably nervous about whose child might crawl out of Katsumi’s stomach since they were putting on a ploy with Tsunayoshi right now.
They were waiting to see if Primo’s bloodline would continue or if the tyrant’s heir would arrive first. Either way, there would still be plenty of easily swayed loyalty since most people didn’t know Xanxus was adopted and not an illegitimate blood son born of a whore. To them, no matter whose child Katsumi gave birth to, so long as it was a son then that baby would be the Eleventh.
How stupid. Fathers and sons. A legacy counting on a woman’s womb yet her name was of no importance and her daughter given no spotlight. It was funny how some believed they would have more of a chance if she had a girl. Marry this girl and the whole of Vongola would belong to another name…yet they chose to forget how the Eighth had ruled them once too.
“Fuck them, they need to stop policing what goes on in other people’s pants when they can’t even count how many bastards they each have.”
True. Katsumi couldn’t agree more. She was twenty years old and as much as she loved Xanxus, she wasn’t ready for a child now. While she wouldn’t hate having a child of her own, she didn’t look forward to one either, not with her career smooth-sailing towards another high and the Decimo’s rule still so delicately loose on their family.
If she could, Katsumi wanted to welcome her child to this world without a ceremony of mafia violence. Wishful thinking? Yes, certainly considering that she loved a man so filled with wrath and their work so stained in blood.
“Good. We’re on the same page.” She rolled onto her back, relaxing while the curve of her spine sank into the softness of the mattress. A shadow moved on top of her and her gaze met a pond of crimson. Lifting a hand, she touched his scars. “Is something wrong?”
“They want to find Sawada a wife.” The smile on Xanxus’s face was unnerving, as if he suddenly remembered something horrendously funny to only the soulless of vile villains. “A proper little lady of Italian roots, to wash the blood clean again.”
They wouldn’t want a woman with no ties to the mafia, someone too normal and too clean wasn’t suitable for Don Vongola. However, there would be hell rising if Tsunayoshi chose a woman of less stellar backgrounds too. Preferably, it would be the daughter of an ally, raised right and pretty and quiet.
“He could use the support but it would be at a cost.”
“That’s his problem to sort out.”
"I have a feeling that he wouldn’t choose to take a wife just for that reason."
“Then he will need something stronger to shut everybody up.”
They were the mafia and they were Vongola. It took more than just knowing how to inflict violence to stand at the top. If Tsunayoshi couldn’t balance between the light and the dark, then he was only half of a Don.
“Do you want me to do something about it?” Katsumi doubted it. There wasn’t anything to gain from sabotaging or helping Decimo’s marriage. Besides, this sounded more like a Reborn or Tenth generation guardians’ problem. She grabbed Xanxus’s collar, pulling him towards her.
His lips grazed the edge of her left ear, hot breath lingering on her skin as he spoke. “Keep out of it. It’ll keep them busy.”
“They’re busy enough as it is.”
"Good, then they shouldn’t have time to annoy us. Should be a nice vacation without all the noise."
The trip. Family business as Xanxus had told her before. Katsumi couldn’t wait to spend some alone time with Xanxus too. While she enjoyed spending time with the rest of Varia, she still needed some peace and quiet from time to time. Xanxus wouldn’t tell her where they were going. She hoped it was someplace colder, maybe with a lovely snowy view that they could enjoy together with a cup of good wine.
Katsumi curled herself towards Xanxus and she closed her eyes, relaxing against the heat of her love’s body. Even without looking, she could envision every detail of Sicily outside the castle. Sparkling sea and busy ports, rows of houses along the coast.
This was her home.
A princess. A queen. Even if crownless and without a drop of noble blood, Katsumi had been promised the world.
And there was no way she would let some green haired shrew take her throne.