Trepidation clung to Tanami's limbs like bulky chains slithering across the ground. They creaked and groaned, yearning for some relief as anxiety decided to make itself known. The rapid thumping of her feet fell steady, albeit hurried as she forced herself into a light jog.

The strings of her jacket thumped against her chest with every movement while her backpack slammed against her lower back. The girl ran. She ran and ran and never stopped for a breather. If she stopped, she feared that her past guilt and secrets would catch up to her. To mock her for being a coward that hid in the shadows and fled like a rat because the road behind her threatened to showcase her emotions.

The past should stay in the past. To never be brought up once again because she feared that the slightest remembrance would make her crawl back. Soft, warm smiles flickered in the crystal's mind, but she furiously shook her head. She made her decision. She had to keep it because that was what the crane told her to do. It all tied back to that stupid piece of origami and that woman. The woman that no one could beat.

Her heels dug into the concrete, slowing herself to a rigid stop. Her hands connected with her knees as she hunched over. Greedily, she swallowed mouthfuls of air as her lungs reached their limit of protesting. Beads of sweat rolled down her jawline, leaving wet trails in their wake. Her heart hammered, making its presence known, and all she wanted was for it to shut up.

With her sleeve, she hurriedly wiped at the perspiration staining her face while glaring at the ground. She was not quite sure why she had grown so frustrated with herself. She had made peace with her decision. Her hand stilled. Had she come to terms with what she had chosen? She must have. A year had passed by already, so she should be all right.

A chuckle managed to rumble through her chest. Maybe if she lied to herself enough, she would start to believe it.

Sucking in a deep breath, it took only a few moments to rid her eyes of tears that wanted to fall. Rubbing her eyes until they turned red was not exactly flattering, but it was not like she had anyone around to scold her for doing so. However, Decadence would surely try zir absolute best to wrangle an answer from her. She was sure her appearance was crappy, but she could at least say the lack of sleep was the reason for it and not her stupid feelings.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye as she made her way to the city's outskirts. Words of her previous conversation with Junpei not too long ago fluttered freely within her mind but were quickly cast aside. It was not necessary. Just a fleeting passing. Although she did not know Junpei for long, she knew the teenager would not tattle. The sudden shift in his carefree expression told it all.

Running her fingers through her bangs, the deep brown crystal that once coated her bright amethyst hair broke off. Slowly bringing her palm up to eye level, the dark crystals swirled like a mini snowstorm. Sunlight graced their presence, lighting them up like stars while giving her hair a twinkling glow. With a quick clench of her fingers, the gemstones shattered into dust. As if they were never there in the first place. Pitiful.

A hum danced across her tongue as the view of an abandoned warehouse began to make itself known as the city behind her grew distant. Even from where she walked, she could easily make out the burgundy bricks that created the building. She could almost feel her taut muscles growing loose with every step she took. The frustration and sadness pricking at the walls of her consciousness slowly began to ebb away. Or maybe she was trying her best to block it out.

Would that not be easy for her brother? To block emotions out? How lucky.

Dust stirred beneath her soles as she pried open the rusted door. The hinges groaned loudly, irritating her ears as they were forced to work. Her lips pressed together in dismay. Tanami thought Roisin would have fixed that by now. The woman hated noises such as these. But then again, when was the last time Roisin left this place? Honestly, she cannot remember.

Old crates and boxes covered in grime and shadows from the little light filtering through the boarded-up windows could be seen from the corner of her eye. She shifted the katana to the arm with the plastic bag. With her free hand, she pulled at the handle of the latch in the center of the warehouse. Tanami slid down the ladder, which in hindsight, was pretty stupid considering it was a thirty-foot drop. Still, it was the least of her worries.

The soles of her shoes hit the ground, and she stumbled back. A noise of surprise echoed as she plopped back onto her behind. A slightly flustered frown formed on her face, and the rapid twinkling of her hair ricocheted off the walls of the metal corridor. Experimentally, the teenager lifted her arm with the bag and heard the wrappers crinkling inside with slightly bruised sweets.

A harsh sigh trickled out of her nose as Tanami picked herself off the ground. Rolling her shoulders back, a series of pops could be heard. Stumbling a bit down the hallway, she finally managed to get back to a normal pace. The metal walls blurred at the edges of her vision as she was already accustomed to their appearance. As she drew closer to the end, she heard the exasperated and frantic voices of two people.

Tanami pinched the bridge of her nose as the aches of a headache began to form. Why was she expecting a bit of silence once she returned home? She really should not have, considering Decadence was here. Zie was not exactly known for being well-mannered or quiet. That did not mean she could not wish. She just hoped she would not be held up long by whatever was going on.

"Neith, this is why I told you not to keep the latch open! How many times do I have to tell you? My gosh, you are just like a child! I don't have to remind you every step of the way! Listen for once!" Harsh words glazed over with exhaustion and frustration were evident in a feminine tone.

"Aww, come on, Roisin. You're exaggerating. Nothing terrible happened now. No need to get flustered over something stupid like this." Decadence's, or Neith's, voice fluttered in the air with a hint of nonchalance laced in it. A cheerful chuckle followed afterward.

The corridor widened to reveal the living room and kitchen combined. Two people stood a little off to the side near the burgundy sofa. The one on the left was quick to brush strands of black and white behind zir ear while a broad grin slithered across zir lips. If Tanami looked close enough, she could see the light reflecting off of zie glasses. Right in front of zir, a woman with curly blonde hair that cascaded down her back shook her head in defeat. Slowly, she opened her eyes to reveal crimson irises.

She stretched her hand outward toward the direction of the fridge. Specifically, at the top of the refrigerator where a torn-apart bag of what used to be bread and three crows picking at the slices. At the sight, Tanami's feet came to a sudden halt as she blinked a few times. She did not sleep for one night. She should not be hallucinating this soon.

"Then what do you plan to do with them?" Roisin's brow twitched in annoyance.

Neith's black eyes flickered to the crows and watched a stray feather descend onto the beige tiles before looking back at the blonde-haired woman. With the most serious tone zie could muster, zie said, "train them and make a bird army?"

"Wrong answer. Get them out before they start defecating the place! I am not cleaning up after your mistake!"

"They do no harm!"

"They're eating our food. Are you going to say the same thing once they make it to your macaroons?"

At this, the dual-haired person's eyes widened in realization. "You're right. They're a menace to society and must be disposed of."

"Glad to know we are on the same page... sort of." Curling a finger around a blonde curl, the woman finally lifted her gaze to where Tanami stood. Her exasperated expression quickly morphed into a relaxed smile. "Please tell me you closed the latch."

"Yes, I did," Tanami replied without a second thought. Honestly, she did not remember if she did, but that was later a problem. Plus, it seemed like Neith was on bird duty anyway.

"Oh, you're back!" Neith's arms swished at zir sides as zie made zir way over to Tanami. "Did Arcane give you a hard time?"

"A little more than usual, but-" the teenager's words were cut off by the dual-haired person placing a hand on her shoulder. For a moment, the girl could see emotions flicker through Neith's irises, but they were quickly veiled by joy. Although Tanami wanted to question it, she did not want to linger around any longer than she needed to.

It was not that she did not like either of them, but the lull of sleep was getting stronger with every moment that passed. All she wanted to do was go to sleep at this point. That and she did not want to find out how exactly Neith was going to get rid of the crows. But she did assume there would be a lot of angry caws during the process.

"Did you manage to buy the vials of trigger, then?" Roisin questioned. However, right after she did, she flinched at one of the crows dragging its claws against the top of the fridge. "Neith, get rid of them."

Waving zir hand like zie was shooing the older adult away, the black-eyed person snorted. "You're too uptight. I'll deal with them in a second. Aren't you curious about Mochi's descent into the black market?"

"She's gone there plenty of times. Unless something strange happened, I don't believe it is necessary." The blonde shifted her attention over to the crystal, her gaze solidifying. "Of course, you can refute my statement."

Swallowing the saliva building up in her throat, the teenager plopped herself on the couch. She dropped the katana and plastic bag on the floor. Removing her backpack, she quickly pulled out the briefcase that contained the rest of the Yen and the vials of trigger and handed it to Roisin. "Arcane mentioned that someone was buying the whole stock of trigger in the entirety of the market. I only managed to get those because Arcane holds up her end of the contract. She said it was a man who called himself Delphic."

"All of it?" Neith's voice was filled with disbelief. "This 'Delphic' must be quite loaded. We go to Arcane because she's done work with Harue and Kiyoshi before. Despite being money-hungry, Arcane is trustworthy in a way. But it's worrying that someone would purchase everything."

"It is not reassuring to know about that. If someone's planning to use so many vials, it could cause a catastrophe. It might be a good idea to look into it. I'm going to make a few calls then." With those final words, Roisin twisted on her heels and quickly left the conjoined room. She disappeared down the central hallway, curls bouncing with every step she took.

"And there she goes," a sigh trickled out of Neith's lips. Zie narrowed zir eyes, almost like zie was exhausted and not Tanami, who had not slept a wink. The crystal had to bite back a not-so-friendly retort. She was starting to blame her sudden irritation on her lack of sleep.

"So," a grin slithered onto the person's face as a strand of black hair fell into zir eye. "Anything else that we should know about?"

Oh, you know, I just ran into my old classmate who unsurprisingly knows about what conspired that day and vaguely about what happens daily. Also, the fact that there's apparently some other person we have to be wary about, but I'm not allowed to say, Tanami thought to herself in slight anger. Instead, she lowered her gaze and tried her best not to curl her hands into fists.

Reluctantly, she managed to plaster a fake smile and said, "besides that, nothing else. It was pretty quiet in the Deep otherwise. I stopped by the convince store once I was out. But I'm pretty sleepy, so I think I'm just going to knock out for a few hours. Maybe Roisin will have some intel by then."

Again, Tanami could barely see the slight change in the other's expression, but she dismissed it. Maybe it was nothing, and she was overthinking things. She had been doing that a lot lately. Especially for things that were not necessary. Not to mention the headache poking at her temples.

Neith's brow twitched, although it was barely noticeable. Nonetheless, zie turned her attention to the crows destroying a slice of bread with their feet. Zie crossed her arms over zir chest and tilted zir head. "You think Roisin will like crow statues?"

"I think you need to keep the latch closed."

"You're gonna gang up on me too? I haven't done anything wrong!"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

The sound of plastic crumpling to the ground was ignored as the amethyst-haired girl dropped the bag alongside the katana. The thought of putting those things away weighed heavy on her mind, even more so than the exhaustion plaguing her body. Chimes ringing signaled the low clinks of her hair knocking into each other as her head sunk into the pillow. Her limbs were sprawled in all directions across the bed without a care in the world. Periwinkle eyes gazed at the ceiling, skimming over the white paint that was long there before she came around.

Words settled on the tip of her tongue, yet she could not find it in herself to speak them although she was alone. It was like her jaw was screwed shut by some unknown force, but in reality, it was her grinding her teeth together. Frustration, anger, annoyance, guilt, regret, sorrow—what is it? She was exhausted, but she was still wide awake.

Her muscles ached yet were pulled taut like something was going to come and stab her. Her eyelids drooped, but the light reflecting off her eyelashes forced them open. Thoughts ran through her mind like a hurricane. Ideas came and went, with doubt and questions interrupting them. Her fingers twitched, aching to grab hold of something solid, yet she could not muster the strength to do so. She wanted to move and wanted the ground to swallow her up whole at the same time. Was that so strange?

A deep ache settled in her chest. It pressed against her ribcage yet submerged her lungs. She forgot how to breathe for a moment, and she did not feel like she wanted to fight it. Why should she? Lying to yourself and fooling yourself can only get you so far. Little cracks will start to weave their way through like teasing whispers brushing against your ears. Fight as you may, they do not let up. They will wrap their sorrows and trickery around you, murmuring over and over until those cracks lengthen into large fractures. One final push was all it took to crumble.

Three knocks rapped against the door to her room, followed by two softer ones. Her eyes flickered toward the noise, and her lips parted to release a breath. No one should be here right now. Obviously, Neith was dealing with the crows, Roisin was investigating, and Chamaeleon, no Cashire, should have left for school by now. To Mizu where she used to go. So who was at her door?

With a low grunt, she finally willed herself to get into a seated position. Swiping the side of her hand across her lips, Tanami tried to make her voice sound as normal as possible. "Come in!"

The lock clicked, and the door was pushed open to reveal a familiar face. The first thing her eyes were drawn up to where the brightness of the other teen's orange eyes, which seemed to flicker through an array of different shades. Eyes that resembled the brilliance of gemstones yet revealed the muddled gaze underneath that mirrored her own. Misery liked company. Only nowadays does she understand that phrase.

"I thought you left already." Tanami forced a smile to her lips, although she knew it was useless. You could not trick a con artist who bore the same tricks and was more skilled.

Plopping on the edge of her bed, the sixteen-year-old ran his fingers through his brown locks to reveal a bit of his forehead. "I was, and then I saw Neith fighting a crow with a broom. I think I might be hallucinating, so that's a good enough excuse not to go to school."

The crystal tugged at the end of her sleeve in contemplation before her shoulders slumped. "You can't just skip school, Cashire. Roisin did a lot of work to get you in to get info on Namiko. You're an informant."

At this response, the boy scoffed. "I know that part, but I don't like school."

"It can't be that bad."

"I'm in the Hero course. It's that bad," the orange-eyed male did not miss the frown tugging at the crystal's lips. "I know you dream of being a Hero, and I won't discourage you from that. But that's the difference between you and me. I'm no Hero, and I never want to be one. People are selfish. It's human nature. Saving people means nothing to me. But to you, it's your everything."

Chamaeleon, Cashire, Delude, whatever name the other donned was just a name to him. Held no principles or no honor to a title. Even the one that carried a legacy of over four hundred years. Tanami and Cashire, to put it in simple terms, respected each other mutually and even managed to befriend each other at the nagging of Neith, but their ideals did not align. Tanami could not wrap her head around why someone would not lend a helping hand to others. Reaching out to someone who needed help was what she thought, but she was starting to doubt it.

Irritation flooded through the girl's veins as she tried her best to settle her words into a somewhat polite retort. "Not everyone is selfish. Just because you are doesn't say the same for others. People can be selfless too."

"Let's not get into another argument. I don't think you can take one anyway,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You look like shit, that's why. I could go on and on about why I hate Heroes and why they suck, but you don't seem up for a game of twenty questions." Cashire leaned forward, scrutinizing the girl's slightly sunken face with his eyebrows knitted. "What happened?"

Given that the other was taller than her, Tanami was still greeted with the boy's long eyelashes and bright orange eyes, even with the space between them. Her fingers curled around the fabric of her comforter, and she felt her ears burn slightly. It took a second for her to realize how close he was, and she instantly pulled back.

"Nothing."

"You're really gonna lie to the person who lives a lie? Nice try, but not good enough. Tanami, what happened." The brown-haired teen tilted his head as he spoke.

"Nothing!" Tanami bit down on her bottom lip and averted her gaze. "Why does it matter to you? Didn't you say you don't care for others? Why care for me? I'm just an outsider. I'm just here because I have to be. I'm just a burden to all of you. I'm no Hero, no vigilante, no Villain, none of those. I'm not good at any of them either."

"You're not a burden. Why made you think that?" Cashire could not figure out if he wanted to frown or keep a natural face since the edges of his lips kept twitching.

"I-I-" Yeah, why was that? Wait, she knew why. "I'm not like the three of you. I'm not smart like Roisin, I'm not strong like Neith, and I'm not as crafty as you are. Compare this to you three, I may carry the name of Caeli, but Caeli wasn't a Hero. Caeli was a nobody. Cepheus, Chamaeleon, Aquarius, Auriga, and Eridanus were Heroes and achieved great things. Caeli was just born so Namiko couldn't use Nori's power in full. Nori didn't want that and split his Quirk for his successors. I'm no one, and everyone still has to suffer anyway."

"All of their stories are buried in history. The first Heroes, the first villains, their ashes stayed in the past, and no one knows their stories but us. All of us, we're no one. Nobodies. We're Villains in the eyes of society, both those who fight for good and evil." The male placed a hand on his chest. "Tanami, none of us are good at the same things. You're good at fighting, anticipating, and so much more. There's no reason to put yourself down."

"I've never beaten you or Neith in a fight! I'm no good at fighting either of you!"

"I haven't beaten Neith, and I've known zir since I was a baby! Zie is terrifying to fight because zie can't be beaten!"

"That's the point! All of you can do stuff on your own! I can't because I don't know how! It's easy to don a mask, but the things underneath are still there! I'm tired of being someone I'm not! I'm not Caeli, but I'm not myself, either. The... old me died a long time ago. Do you think they would still love me? Someone who doesn't care about others anymore? It's so easy to ignore people in pain. So easy to brush them aside because they have nothing to do with me. Helping people is starting to mean nothing to me anymore."

Then she felt it. Those fractures spread forward, digging their heels into the plane of glass and shattering it into pieces. Falling shards mirrored the way droplets fell from her eyes. She bowed her head and tried to get her hair to veil her face. No, she should not cry. There was nothing to cry about. Nothing at all. So why was she? Why was she crying? A choked sob wrangled itself out of her throat before she could swallow it back in.

Airy laughter fluttered into her ears, but she could not dare to lift her head. Tanami did not want to. She did not want to see Cashire's expression filled with pity toward her. She did not need pity. She was strong, reliable, and could do things on her own. How many teenagers could say they can walk into the black market and come out relatively unscathed? Next to none. So why did the pressure in her chest tighten and curl, and why did she desperately want that pity? Pity was for the weak.

Tears trickled down her cheeks and ugly sobs that sounded broken, muffled, and raspy all in one tumbled for her lips. Her vision blurred with every drop that spilled, and no matter how many times she rubbed her hands across her eyes, they never seemed to stop. "Stop, stop, stop."

Vaguely, she felt the warmth of a finger hook underneath her jaw and raised her head. She kept her gaze down now that her hair could no longer hide her guilt and mournful expression. Tanami wanted to push the hand away but could not find it in herself to do it. Cashire was warm and playful despite being spiteful. He was not overbearing like Arcane's sweetness and was not vulgar like Lux. He was not cold like either of them.

Tanami did not remember when she latched on to him or when she buried her face into the blue blazer he adorned. She loathed the fact that Cashire wore that uniform, the one she was supposed to be wearing, but she knew it was not right. The crystal did not know when the other wrapped his arms around her and silently murmured sweet nothings in an attempt to soothe her. She had no idea what exactly he was saying, and she did not have the strength to decipher his whispers.

Tanami liked warm things. They felt safe. Tomohiro's hand was warm when he first reached for them. Akihiko's gaze was warm, even if she pissed him off. Yua's smile was warm despite her stupid antics. Neith's laughter always left her feeling warm inside. Roisin's words were stern yet filled with warmth, as if she were a child. Cashire felt warm no matter what. In a way, he felt like home.

Being a Hero, going to a Hero school, and saving others was not her goal anymore, was it? Tanami was beginning to understand it now. She's mourning her past self for being so stupid and her present self for being so heartless. But being selfish did not sound so bad. Being selfish meant you did not have to be selfless. Vigilantes are greedy, and she was no Hero. She was never going to be a Hero. Heroes were selfless and cowards. They waited for the perfect moment to strike out of fear but still put themselves in harm's way.

When Tanami asked Junpei how her family was, she felt terrible for what she had done to them. However, another part of her was happy. Happy that they were still looking for her and still suffered over her disappearance. They did not move on with their lives like she was nothing, and she almost smiled at the thought of it if she did not shove a red bean cake in her mouth.

She was not innocent, cheerful, or naive anymore. She was twisted and selfish now, and that's why she was crying. One last goodbye to her past. The final farewell to the 'her' she killed in order to stay alive. It did not sound so bad anymore.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Author's Note:

This chapter did a 180 from the beginning to the end. But Cashire is finally introduced, so yay? I swear Tanami in VD and PMO are so different that I want to cry, but no, I can't yet. Trauma is excellent character development, in any case.

Realistically, I wouldn't expect another update until the beginning of December. I want to focus on my schoolwork, but I felt like I needed to get this chapter edited at one point since I promised it like three weeks ago. So enjoy angst for now?

Character Spotlight:

Name: Neith Okazaki (Decadence/Cepheus)

Quirk: Alchemy

Likes: Blowing stuff up