Kazue let out a sigh of exhaustion as he tipped back his head and downed the last of his water, sitting down heavily on a rock protruding from the ground of the training field. He cracked his neck, the relief of the session finally being over settling in like a cup of hot chocolate in the dead of winter. So much so that his consciousness felt the need to make an obnoxious metaphor. "This was a pain in the ass," the brunet drawled as his father's sidekick plopped down next to him.

"I mean, you are sitting on a rock," Iwata replied with a small laugh, knowing fully well that the teen meant the training, not his choice of a seat. The man let out a small groan as he stretched out his muscled arms, then proceeded to slam a foot into the stone beneath their feet. A sheet of rock shot up from behind him, smoothed out with a gentle curve, while a smaller rock made itself known under his feet. The hero leaned back in his newly-created chair, somehow finding the fact that he was sitting on hard objects comfortable.

The green-eyed boy deadpanned at the sad attempt of a joke–not that he'd do any better to begin with–wishing for the thousandth time that afternoon that his arm would just heal faster. Training with a broken limb was annoying, even if it was targeted at his Quirk rather than physical ability. "Or crushed bones. Fueki-san did mention something about the fights occasionally getting rather violent," he commented, experimentally poking at his seat as if to test the theory.

Iwata shot him a queasy look, quickly pulling his feet off of the footrest and sitting up straight. "Maybe... that was a different arena. She had a couple before getting caught, right?" he queried, referring to the woman's previous self-employment as the leader of several underground fighting rings. Since she'd been forcefully removed from being the unofficial owner, they'd more or less come under Katashi's name as training locations for heroes in the big cities. Minus this one, seeing as it was outside the city proper and out in what was referred to as the 'dregs'.

Kazue shrugged while he pretended he didn't know the answer (he did), looking around where the old arena used to be set up. It was the basement to a warehouse in the not-so-friendly area of Hosu, with several exits to accommodate for large crowds. For the most part, the giant room had been cleaned out completely. Whether by the police or not, the brunet had no idea, but it provided a nice training space for Iwata's Quirk considering the floor was made out of the right material. "Maybe, maybe not."

"That's cold," the hero replied in mock hurt, placing a gauntlet-clad hand over his chest. Kazue snorted under his breath as he sensed Iwata use his Quirk, noting that the weak vibrations shooting through the earth were searching for anything not supposed to be there. "And I'm definitely not checking to make sure."

"Sure," Kazue drawled with a touch of dry sarcasm, cracking his back both ways before standing back up with an exhaled groan. He had no time to take a break for anything if he wanted to stay on schedule—ahead of schedule, whatever, same thing. Ignoring the annoying throbbing pulsing through his broken limb and the fatigue from constant use of his Quirk dimming his vision, the teen mentally ran over a checklist. School, training with Midoriya, and his own training were completed so far. Next in line... a pain in his ass.

Also known as paperwork.

He sighed, shouldering his gym bag and heading towards the iron-wrought doors. "I'm heading out," Kazue called back flatly, knowing that whoever really knew him was used to him leaving abruptly.

"See ya, kid!" Iwata replied, the sound of rocks shifting echoing through the space as the previous stone bench shifted into a singular chair. Like he always did after training, the hero would likely stick around for a few more minutes to relax, then smooth out the place before heading out for his patrol shift.

Kazue spared a single glance back as he slipped out the door, confirming the regular pattern before it slammed shut with a bang. "Bye," he mumbled, shifting his grip on the bag and making his way up the steps. Walking back to the agency was a bit annoying, and taking the train was even more so, but Fueki was otherwise occupied. Doing what, the brunet had no idea, but it meant that the car was unavailable.

He sighed in resignation, pushing open the doors at the top of the stairs and into the abandoned warehouse above, wasting no time in leaving the largely empty space as well. Unfortunately, seeing as the training site was located in a goddamn abandoned warehouse, the train didn't exactly run through places like that. Meaning... Kazue had to walk into the city proper, then take the next train to Musutafu.

Of course, that also meant the area wasn't exactly... safe. A disturbingly large number of heroes tended not to patrol areas where they wouldn't be recognized by enthusiastic citizens and be treated like celebrities. That was so extremely wrong, yet it was the unfortunate truth of society.

There were a few good ones out there; ones who went out of their way to patrol places like these. Those were the heroes that Kazue actually liked, rather than just tolerated or compiled mental rants about. But seeing as they were few and far between, those areas still tended to not have a hero around.

Anyway, the point he was trying to make was that none of those good heroes were on patrol at the moment. Kazue subtly clenched his jaw as he continued to walk unperturbed, mentally telling whoever the hell was watching him to fuck off. Between Nezu's e-mail to his father and the annoying conversation he'd had the previous day, he wasn't really in the mood to deal with a creep at the moment.

Of course, seeing as Kazue wasn't exactly a telepath, the person did not 'fuck off', as he'd so eloquently put it. Rather, the feeling that someone was watching him only strengthened as he walked down the street and turned the corner. He narrowed his eyes, moving his free hand to rest in the pocket of his unzipped tracksuit top, adjusting the scroll wheel of the small device within. Almost instantly, his ears detected the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps from-

He stopped suddenly, ducking low and pivoting on the ball of his foot to lash out with a low spinning kick. The person who'd been running up from behind him fell back with a muffled, vaguely masculine yell of surprise, landing flat on their ass as their legs suddenly weren't under them anymore.

Kazue straightened up slowly, returning his volume back to normal as he took in the appearance of his almost attacker. Obviously male, maybe around seventeen to eighteen, with short and spiky black hair and red eyes. He was around the same height, too. "Why were you following me?" he asked flatly, wincing internally at the fact that he'd just done a maneuver like that with his arm in a cast and sling. Fucking hell, that hurt.

A menacing smirk spread across the older teen's face even as he scrambled back a meter, showing off his shoeless feet and ragged black jeans burned off below the knees. "What were you doing back there?" he shot back, his Quirk flaring up dangerously beneath the surface. "The flatfoots were all over the place a couple years back; cleaned it out completely."

"I know," Kazue replied carefully, shifting his stance casually to one more ready to deal with the potential onslaught of a Quirk great for offensive attacks. One could never be too careful, even if he was pretty sure that the red eyed teen just wanted his wallet. "Dreynen owns that warehouse now."

"Ah," the guy spat, rolling his eyes and not bothering to stand up from the pavement. Now, his expression seemed like less of a smirk and more of the nervous grin animals adapted when they were cornered. It seemed like he hadn't been around the area recently if he was just finding this out now, though, but clearly, he was homeless, so how he'd gotten around seemed a bit questionable. "Of course a hero does. Fucking damn it!"

Kazue raised an eyebrow at the exclamation, not surprised in the slightest at the older teen's dislike for the profession. "So, what business do you have with Fueki-san's old fighting ring?"

The red-eyed boy blinked, then squinted his eyes in obvious confusion. The inferno within him died down to roughly house fire level rather than the entire country up in flames at the woman's name. "The fuck? How do you know Shun, hero wannabe?"

"First of all," the brunet replied dryly, relaxing once more. If the guy's Quirk were to flare up again, then he'd make sure he was ready, but he sensed no threat at the moment. "I don't want to be a hero. More of... everyone else wants me to want to be one. Also known as a pain in the ass."

He received an eye roll. "Whatever, rich boy. You going to answer my question or do I gotta make you answer?"

Kazue was getting nowhere, which slightly annoyed him. On one hand, he just wanted to get back to the agency, finish his work for the day, and go home. Tinker around in the basement-turned-workshop. Contrary to popular belief, Kazue wasn't drowning in money. At least, not to the standards of the Todoroki family, let alone even within shooting distance of the Yaoyorozu family. They were more of... low upper class?

He and his father did live in a house rather than an apartment, but it was moderately sized for two people. They weren't the type to have anything more than basic wants and needs; Kazue with his manga collection and his father with his 'secret' obsession with patterned socks. Sure, there may be a few exceptions in the case of rather advanced technology along with a multitude of power tools inhabiting their basement, but that was as far as it went. They were essentially minimalists.

"Come with me," Kazue finally responded, hoping he wouldn't regret the decision. It was obvious that the older teen used to be a fighter in Fueki's ring back when it was still in operation. Likely, it was also his source of income, considering that she paid her competitors well, and even more so if they won regularly. He had to admit, such an operation on a wide scale was extremely profitable. And if the brunet factored in that the other guy had called Fueki by her first name...

"What, so you can parade me through the streets like your personal charity case? Just answer the question," the ravenet practically spat. It was highly likely, at this point, that he jumped to conclusions fairly quickly. That was the farthest from the truth that one could get.

Meaning, of course, that Kazue rolled his eyes. "No, genius, it's due to the fact that Fueki-san owes Dreynen a great deal of favors, one of which is to work for him. Unfortunately, she's out at the moment, but I estimate she'll return to the agency in a few hours."

The older teen (Kazue really needed to ask what his name was) made a face, apprehension clear at the offer. "You his student or something? For not wanting to be a hero or whatever the hell, you sure do like rubbing shoulders with the big leagues."

They were still getting nowhere. Kazue, now a bit more annoyed, sighed and extended a hand to represent the metaphorical olive branch. "My name is Kimura Kazue. Dreynen is my father. Are we going or not?" he replied, enunciating his words a tad more than usual.

A strong hand clasped his own and he assisted in pulling the other boy to his feet. As an afterthought, he briefly wondered how painful it would be to walk around on concrete without even socks on a regular basis. "Adachi Takibi. And yeah, yeah, keep your head on, geez," Adachi rolled his eyes. "Don't want to lose it with that thick-ass band-aid already there."

Kazue already regretted his decision, that much was clear.

Woah, a chapter just over 2k without a single page break?!

Didn't know I had it in me.

Anywho, yay, yet another of SO MANY OCS. Takibi wasn't even planned until I started writing the chapter. In case you didn't catch it, he's based off of Shinra Kusakabe from Fire Force, albeit with a completely different personality. 

I have so much planned for the future. In the meantime, aka the next chapter, I'm gonna enjoy writing a little bit of Shun (yeah, Fueki has a first name, shocker for me, too) and Takibi. 

Just so I know what to fill the less-than-two weeks before the Sports Festival with, because I have no idea why so many people skip over this time, which character(s) do you want to see more of? I remember the last time I asked, I got the Rooftop Squad 2.0 (and I will, just give me a chapter or two), but is there anyone else?

(Sorry 'bout the long A/N; for once I don't have a buncha chapters prewritten)