(Y/n) pulled his mask onto his face, adjusting it before tossing Shouto his haphazardly, "Come on, before we miss him."

"I don't see why you're so intent on messing with that guy," Shouto sighed as he put on his own cover-up, "he doesn't want us there, and we don't know what'll happen if he snaps."

"Yeah, yeah," (Y/n) brushed that aside, "but I think I know who Kraken is. I just want to be sure. We both know he rarely doesn't go out."

Shouto gave him a look, "You know who he is? How? It's definitely not Shiota or Akabane; Kraken's way too short to be Yamaguchi, too. We haven't met any other ghouls."

"You forgot about the guy who originally stopped us from meeting... uh... the blue-haired kid," (Y/n) pointed out.

"Shiota Nagisa," Shouto corrected, "so you think that guy's the weirdo ghoul?"

"Yeah, it didn't occur to me until now that I had seen him before, and I think the Kraken's hunting place is where," (Y/n) mentioned, "it was only a matter of time until someone recognized him."

"I guess, I mean, he doesn't wear a mask," Shouto sighed again as he opened the window. Might as well get this over with... I'm tired...

(Y/n) slipped out behind his cousin, immediately getting a move on. Shouto quietly shut the window at their backs, hoping that they wouldn't get caught. They moved swiftly through the night, the cool air chilling them through their clothes. (Y/n) went ahead, not even thinking while Shouto kept an eye out for hungry ghouls. This was the way it always was; Shouto was always the responsible one.

As the two of them kept on to the Kraken's main feeding place, they heard a distant scream. Both teens froze, knowing what had probably just gone down. The screaming became strangled, then stopped suddenly. Another stupid human bites the dust, (Y/n) thought to himself. The two continued after that, the fact that they listened to someone die leaving their minds almost immediately. 

It wasn't long before they made it to the sight, only to bombarded with the scent of old meat and blood. It made their nostrils flare; it made it easier to locate him. Shouto turned in the direction of the maskless ghoul, making his way in that direction. He hated this, he just wanted to go to bed already.

"What are you two doing out here?" the Kraken asked; they weren't even in his line of sight yet, "you two ate recently."

"We aren't here for food," (Y/n) sighed, "I just wanted to confirm that you are who I think you are."

"Do that and leave," the Kraken continued eating, ultimately not paying them too much mind, "you're disturbing my peace."

"Wow, cold," (Y/n) joked, "but in all seriousness, are you the guy who stepped between us and Shiota in class this morning?"

The Kraken stiffened, but only for a moment before responding, "That depends on which class and who you are."

"So it is you," Shouto clarified, "Ikaia, was it?"

"Itona, Itona Horibe," the ghoul corrected, "now leave, please, and let me eat in silence."

"Before we leave," Shouto paused and looked around cautiously, getting an uneasy feeling, "shit."

"Took you long enough to notice," Itona scoffed as (Y/n) made it obvious that he was confused, making the maskless ghoul sigh, "we're being watched."

"Well, crap," (Y/n) cursed, "we totally just ratted you out, huh?"

"My deepest apologies," Shouto said quickly, "we wished for nothing of the sort."

"It's fine, this ghoul already knows me..." Itona trailed off, "I think. Just leave me be, already."

Shouto and (Y/n) quickly went off, trying to catch of glimpse of whoever was listening in. They were granted no such luck, though. They really messed up. Giving away Itona's name could get him tracked and caught. That could then lead to investigators figuring out others; Shiota, Akabane, Yamaguchi— and crap— us.

"We fucked up, didn't we?" (Y/n) sighed, as they neared the house.

"Royally," Shouto ran a hand through his hair, "hopefully the ghoul won't turn Horibe in."

There was no more conversation as the two slipped back in through Shouto's bedroom window. (Y/n) shut and locked the window, catching a glance at his reflection before taking his mask off.

┈

"Yo, Kirishima!" the energetic blond, Denki Kaminari called, "wait up, will ya?!"

"Sorry bro, I met up with Mina and we walked," Kirishima grinned sheepishly. 

"Wow, so then it was both of you who totally ditched me with Bakugou," Kaminari stated dramatically, "and here I thought we were friends!"

Kirishima chuckled, "stop being such a drama queen, it was a one-time thing."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaminari scoffed, "anyway, you won't believe what I heard last night."

"What?" they were so casual that nobody even thought to consider their conversation suspicious.

"The Kraken really is Itona, and those two Kira Koneko punks are in his class," Kaminari filled him in.

"Really? What class is Itona in, again? We should visit," Kirishima babbled, "also, what's the deal with them? Like, are they teamed up or..."

"Not from what I heard," Kaminari foretold, "their acquaintances; the Kraken doesn't feel like fighting them and even they're not stupid enough to try starting something."

"Kind of reminds me of how we started out, don't you think?" Kirishima recalled and asked.

"Yeah, I suppose," Kaminari and Kirishima continued walking, talking absentmindedly before practically slamming into another teen. It was after school, so it happened, but they had to be careful with this one. It didn't even take a full second to realize he was another ghoul.

"Oh, sorry!" the tall brunet smiled sheepishly.

The even taller blond next to him snickered, "Yeah, sorry about him, but he probably couldn't see you guys from up here."

"Oh my God, Tsukki," the brunet choked back a laugh, "I'm so sorry about my friend, really. The name's Yamaguchi Tadashi."

"Kaminari Denki," Kaminari said, slightly annoyed,

"Kirishima Eijiro..." Kirishima trailed off. We're not even short, you guys are just gigantic.

"It was nice meeting you and all, but I have to go, sorry!" the guy, Yamaguchi, sure did apologize a lot, "we're trying out for the volleyball team, so..."

The shorter teens understood and stepped out of the way, suddenly slightly envious of the way the taller two made long, elegant strides. When they had their backs facing each other, Kirishima turned back, only to catch a glance of Yamaguchi flashing his eyes. A clear warning. It made Kirishima uneasy, but it was a good thing that he got the point. 

"Hey, Kaminari," Kirishima called to his friend quietly.

"Yeah, bro?" Kaminari responded cluelessly.

"Even if the opportunity ever comes up," Kirishima started, "don't eat blondie."

┈

"What?" Nagisa asked, "please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope," Itona replied lazily, "they found me out."

"Well isn't that just perfect!" Karma said in an overly happy, extremely sarcastic voice, "anything else we should know while you're telling us how bad you screwed up?"

"This guy from 1-B heard us," Itona recalled.

"Do you have any idea how many people you could have just fucked over?" Karma whispered, "I mean, there's us..."

"Todoroki, Okina, Yamaguchi..." Nagisa continued.

"In my class, there's this one girl, Yachi; Ren Sakakibara's in my class too," Karma added.

"Hey Itona, did you know that Isogai's school is under construction?" Nagisa asked.

"No," Itona replied.

"Well guess what?" Itona didn't reply to Karma, "his school is transferring here temporarily while their campus is out of commission, so you just clipped Isogai too."

Itona remained silent, unable to think of a reply. He just walked into class once they got there, not bothering to say "bye" to Karma. This was not how he wanted to start his day. There was a good chance that nothing would happen, anyway. He was sort of, almost friends with that kid from 1-B, Kaminari. Also, telling could get him in trouble too. How did he know what school he went to? What was he doing at the cemetery that late at night? How'd he not get caught?

When (Y/n) and Shouto finally stepped into class, they had the same expression Itona did. Not very many people noticed, a couple girls who gossiped about what could have happened (they were human and had no idea, they were one hundred percent off), the teacher, and Tsukishima Kei. The tall blond was almost curious, but he could care less.

┈

"Kaminari, dude, what are you waiting for?" Sero called from down the hall. They were supposed to be going to gym class, but Kaminari stopped suddenly.

"I'm waiting for one of my friends in 1-A, go on without me!" Kaminari told them; they left him hesitantly. 

Kaminari waited another moment before two figures approached him. He thought at first they were just going to walk past him, but it started to look less and less like that as they got closer. They were ghouls as well, which probably meant he did something he wasn't supposed to. Once they were close enough for casual conversation, the taller of the two grinned.

"Hey buddy," the redhead said in a mischievous tone, "you're Kaminari Denki, right?"

"Yeah..." Kaminari sounded unsure.

"Cool, we're friends of Itona. Sorry he couldn't meet up with you," the smaller, blue-haired male apologized— lied "he got called to stay after class."

"Okay," Kaminari wasn't sure what the deal was.

"Oh, and before we leave you be, there's something we were supposed to tell you..." Karma grinned at the blond, "snitch on Itona and there'll be plenty of us out for your head."

"Su... Sure..." Kaminari played the threat off as nothing, hoping they were messing with him.

"We're serious," Nagisa joined in, "I'm not gonna give out any real names, but just think;" Nagisa paused and then whispered, "Crimson Raven, Coluber Constrictor, Kira Koneko... who else, Karma?"

"Rose, Anonymous, hell, Ikemen doesn't even go here, but he's definitely on the list," Karma added.

"We didn't count that one brunet ghoul, or any others that might be on his team," Nagisa pointed out.

"I get it! I get it!" Kaminari said quickly, "I wasn't gonna tell anyway! I have my own friends that would get hurt from that."

"Good," Karma stated darkly before his whole demeanor changed, "would you look at that! Nagisa, we gotta go to our next class."

"Ah, we wouldn't want to be late," Nagisa smiled softly as the two walked away, "nice chat, Kaminari. We should talk again later!"

Kaminari felt a chill go down his spine. Definitely not friends...

┈

"Hey, Todoroki," Itona called out in a bored tone.

Shouto looked in his direction, leaving (Y/n) to continue trying to befriend the sarcastic, tall blond. He hadn't spoken to Itona in a couple days, deciding to keep his distance (he felt as though Itona getting officially ratted out was his fault). To say he was a little shocked at the fact that Itona wanted to talk to him was an understatement.

"Yeah?" Shouto responded in an equally unbothered voice.

Itona whispered, "Was there something you wanted to ask before you left the other night?"

Shouto felt a familiar pair of icy eyes burn into his back as he spoke, "Oh, yeah, actually... I was wondering why there's never been a discovery of.. um... your live food. Are you that good at hiding or..?"

"They can't count them if there aren't any," Itona responded.

"Wait," Shouto processed the information slowly, "so you mean to tell me that you've never..."

"Yep," Itona sighed, "I may be a binge-eater, but I'm fairly docile."

Shouto just nodded, unsure of where else to take the conversation. He'd gotten all the information he needed, and he wasn't friends with Itona. There was no real reason to keep talking to him. What else was he supposed to say? He couldn't bring up Shiota or Akabane, there wasn't much to speak of there and it would just go downhill quickly.

"Can you just piss off?" Tsukishima's voice cut through Shouto's mental rant, causing him to look in the direction, "I don't want to talk to you."

"Yamaguchi, how are you friends with him?" (Y/n) asked bluntly, "aside from your height, you guys are nothing alike."

"What do you mean?" Yamaguchi questioned. Shouto took this as his key to leave.

"Sorry, Horibe-"

"Itona,"

"Sorry, Itona," Shouto glanced back at his cousin, "I need to keep (Y/n) from pissing off more people..."

Itona nodded, actually glad himself that the suddenly awkward atmosphere was gone. Shouto made a mental note, thinking it would possibly come in handy somehow later.

Itona 'Kraken' Horibe; Kill Count: Zero 

┈

(2223 Words)