───

     "CAN I PLEASE STAY WITH YOU?! PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE?! I WANT TO BE YOU!! AND I THINK THAT YOU'D LOOK VERY NICE WITH BLOOD ALL OVER YOU!", toga himiko — the snake demon — exclaimed.

     "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!", mimic protested.

     "we're already accompanying this woman and we're not about to have this crazy one tag along!", the small tengu complained.

"AWWW PLEASE!! I PROMISE I'LL BE OF HELP TO WHATEVER YOU'RE ALL DOING!!", toga begged, making a pouting face, as mikoto simply hummed.

"I..."

"OI! YOU!!"

     everyone snapped their heads around as they were face to face with five tennins in training.

     mikoto raised a brow, noticing their heavenly aura, which alerted her of who they were.

     "you're all competitors for the exam", mikoto mumbled to herself.

     "huh? how'd you know?", ashido mina — who exerted a light pink skin tone — asked.

     "it's obvious from the bronze bangles that you five are wearing on your left wrists", mikoto answered.

     indeed, every tennin had a bangle with either bronze, silver, or gold to represent their rankings.

     "who are you and why did you let the demons go?", bakugo interrogated.

"why should she answer to you, you filthy angel?!", mimic scoffed.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?!"

"YOU HEARD ME! I CALLED YOU A FILTHY ANGEL, YOU BRAT!"

"FIGHT ME, YOU DEMON!!"

"b-bakubro, we probably shouldn't take on that many at a time. we're still kind of inexperienced and we don't know what quirks they ha—"

"SHUT UP SHITTY HAIR! I'LL TAKE ALL OF THEM ON EVEN IF I'M BY MYSELF!", bakugo katsuki — probably one of the proudest heavenly people — yelled.

"kirishima's right though. we should at least call for help first. I can sense that a few are nea—"

"mimic, I actually need you to lead the rest of the shie hassaikai towards mount fuji", mikoto interrupted, completely ignoring the angels' existences.

"HEY!! ARE YOU IGNORING U—"

"hah?! and why should I listen to you?", mimic scoffed.

"OI! I'M TALKING TO YOU GU—"

"I had deduced that you'd be the perfect selection to lead the group for the task, but am I perhaps wrong?", mikoto asked, causing mimic's ego to waver.

     "WHO SAID?! I'LL DO IT!", mimic proclaimed.

     "good", mikoto smiled, picking the small tengu up, as she whispered what she needed them to do.

     "if it's not there, then you can just meet us back at the kinshi forest", the woman instructed, to which mimic had only answered with a grunt, as he flew off with the rest of the shie hassaikai — leaving only kurono and chisaki now.

     bakugo gritted his teeth as he hastily attempted to exorcise the demons in front of him.

though his brashness had only caused a wall of blue flames to force him back to his friends' sides, as the unknown power had peaked everyone's interest.

"another demon?", ashido breathlessly questioned.

     indeed, a nine-tailed fox had appeared. though he had a dark mask that covered the top half of his face, burnt skin and stitches littered across his jawline and all parts of his body.

"AND WHO ARE YOU?!", bakugo yelled.

"I go by dabi...for now", the dark-haired male answered.

eri gently tugged on mikoto's brocade, catching her attention, as she sneakily slipped away with the young demon.

     "is there something that you wanted to ask?", mikoto questioned, kneeling down, as she could hear the demons and angels starting to fight in the background.

     "u-umm...c-can I travel w-with you as w-well? I don't have a-anyone...and...you seem really nice...", eri mumbled, feeling embarrassment rise up to her cheeks.

     mikoto seemed to weigh her options for a moment.

     "it'll be very dangerous though, and a lot of walking", mikoto softly stated, attempting to persuade her to leave with kurono and the remaining demons that were still with here at the moment: toga and the other one with seemingly slight anger issues.

"I-I don't mind!!", eri immediately answered, to which mikoto's face had contorted into an awkward expression.

the journey certainly wasn't fitting for a child, and plus, she herself was never good with children — in her opinion at least.

"I suppose it'll be fine, but make sure you don't get into any trouble", mikoto kindly warned.

eri nodded with a small smile — so tiny that one would've mistaken it for nothing.

mikoto gently patted the girl's head, as she turned around to see how the heavenly people were holding up.

it was to no surprise that the demons were winning, though that didn't stop the blonde tennin from trying his best to kill them all.

     "that's enough", mikoto called out, causing them to all halt, as she motioned for toga to come over to her and eri.

     "if you wish to tag along, then please take care of her and make sure she's safe at all times", mikoto commanded, watching toga immediately carry eri, as the blonde girl nodded with a huge smile.

     "OF COURSE!! THANK YOU!!", toga squealed.

     mikoto then arrived beside chisaki and dabi, staring down at the five gods and goddess in training.

     "I meant no harm when I let them free. they promised me that they would never hurt any human or tennin unless being attacked, so please leave them be", mikoto explained.

     bakugo gritted his teeth as the rest of his friends had passed out from the overexertion of their quirks.

"LIKE HELL I'D LET YOU DEMONS RUN FREE!! EACH ONE OF YOU ARE LYING, CONNIVING VILLAINS!"

mikoto just stared at the blonde boy, who was fuming like dabi's flames.

"let us kill them now, so that they won't be a problem later on", chisaki bluntly suggested.

"no killing", mikoto rebutted.

"we have places to be and things to do, just let them be. they won't be able to catch up to us with wounds like that anyways", the woman persuaded.

chisaki clicked his tongue in annoyance as he begrudgingly followed behind mikoto.

even dabi and the blue-haired demon listened, as mikoto just spared bakugo one last glance, allowing him to pass out from frustration and fatigue.

"why're you two following us?", mikoto questioned, as they were finally away from the village.

     "who're you?", the oni asked, his raspy voice sending chills down eri's spine.

"you're following me and you're asking who I am?", mikoto mused, shifting his attention to dabi, who had chimed in.

"I'm only here to repay your service since I don't like owing people", dabi responded, successfully catching both chisaki and mikoto's attention, but for different reasons.

'he's on the same path as me? just how many demons has this woman saved?'

"oh...you're the nine-tailed fox that I met a few days ago", mikoto said.

"well, I already have kai and the others helping me. I think I'm okay, so you don't have to repay me", the dark-haired woman dismissed.

dabi's brows furrowed, though it wasn't noticeable under the mask that he was wearing.

"I hate owing others", dabi repeated, to which chisaki had related quite a bit.

the blue-haired demon beside dabi had agreed as well.

"I also hate being indebted to people..."

mikoto blinked twice. the three must've been tied by a single brain cell, because she did not understand why they wanted to repay her so badly when she already made it clear that she didn't want anything in return.

the woman sighed; more help was better than a little or none.

"fine, just don't get in my way. we're heading to the ishikari river to retrieve a pair of fans", mikoto informed, leading the way, as she just accepted that perhaps she should just do without a horse.

"a pair of fans? why?!"

mikoto then diverted her attention to the snake demon.

"because they were a gift, and I'm their rightful owner".