『ARC TWO: CAREFUL STEPS』

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The moment the twins arrived home, they both collapsed onto the couch with exhausted groans. Akihiko plopped down while Tanami landed face first into the cushion. Their bags were thrown carelessly next to the front door while their shoes laid hazardly right in front of the entrance. 

An amused chortle floated in the warm atmosphere of the house. Smiling in delight into the warm mug of dark coffee in his hands, Tomohiro took a long sip of the bitter liquid. The scalding liquid crawled down his throat and he hummed in satisfaction. Pulling the mug away, he could still feel the warmth of the smoke lingering on his face.

Raising a brow, the ink-haired male opened his mouth to speak. "How was your first day?"

"Terrible."

"Horrid."

The bottom of the mug clinked against the surface of the kitchen table. Propping an elbow onto the surface, Tomohiro leaned his jawline into his palm with a slight smirk. "Well, when it comes to first day classes, Mizu never seems to be a let down. Different than what you expected?" 

Akihiko only groaned and slumped further down the couch while Tanami awkwardly jabbed her arms forward. This only elicited a cheerful chuckle from Tomohiro. The adult's hands shifted to neatly bring the pile of scattered sheets into a single stack. A solemn gleam shined in his eyes before it disappeared when he took a quick glance at the papers.

"Half of our team are people who don't want to comply with each other, let alone see eye to eye." the fifteen-year-old girl started with a huff. Her voice was muffled slightly as she pulled her face away from the cushion.

"And it does not help that our bonding task was to get out of an escape room." Akihiko finished while poking at the crystal dangling on the side of his face. "We... did not escape."

With a shake of his head, the Hero pressed his lips together. A pale finger made its way to his chin as he pondered momentarily. "An escape room, huh? Seems much more fun than the first day exam I had."

Swerving around to lay on her back and propping her feet on her brother's lap, the female whined in retort. "What was yours? Clearly not an escape room from the looks of it."

Mulling over his thoughts, the white-eyed male swallowed softly. "An obstacle course. Except you needed three to four people to do one task at a time. And I never saw eye to eye with Stormcaster so there was that too."

Akihiko cocked his head slightly. Drumming his fingers on his thigh, he said, "Stormcaster? Isn't he the one you fought with thirteen years ago? The fight that divided your team."

Tomohiro sipped the dark coffee slowly before placing the mug down once more. A few moments ticked by before he responded dryly. "I fought with him hundreds of times. Throughout high school and those two years when our teams were still connected."

"Like... with Kohei? Fights like that?"

The adult watched the liquid in his nearly empty cup swirl blankly. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. They did not miss the slight turn of his lips. "Sumiko had to pull us apart on a daily basis. We... err- had various differences when it came to heroics. We tolerated each other when it came to cases but, everything else was a lost cause. Kohei's just an idiot that pisses me off."

Shaking his head, a few droplets of ink dripped onto his white short sleeved short. He released a heavy sigh. "Enough about the past. What Quirks do your teammates have?"

Brushing the ill aura their caretaker radiated, Tanami cranked her head up and held her fingers up. She put one day each time she mentioned something. "Obviously you know ours and Kagemi's. You've met Yoshimi so you know his too. One can control paper, one can make drugs with his body fluids, one is literally a gummy, one has wings made of light, one can have information instantly with butterflies- Junpei? Yeah, him... and the last one has two which is practically copying movements and fury."

An expression of thoughtfulness painted over Tomohiro's features. He took another sip from his bitter coffee. A smile slipped onto his face. "Ahh, you're going to be that type of team."

"That type of team? What do you mean by that?" the male crystal asked with lines drawn over his forehead. His teeth were still slightly clenched together when his sister mentioned Junpei. 

Not wanting to reveal anything, the adult shook his head and turned his attention back to the stack of papers lying in front of him. "You'll learn soon enough. There are three different teams that they can make at Mizu."

"Kohei-san said we're equidistant." Tanami commented while rubbing her cheek with her hand. "What does that mean?"

The adult's eyes narrowed and his nose scrunched up in disgust. "Kohei? You were admitted into his class? You two are transferring classes."

"That sounds like a lot of work, Tomo." 

"I don't care. You'll learn nothing from him."

"Seriously? Can you not be at Kohei-san's throat for once? What is it? Pride that makes the two of you fight?" 

"Pride? No. I'm just extremely petty and spiteful. I thought you knew this. You've lived with me for ten years now. I expected better."

"Are... are you trying to guilt trip us?" Akihiko questioned with a slight raise of his voice.

Tomohiro hummed in response. "I've been stuck in this house for who knows how long reading case reports and watching Shishi try to figure out that the turned off vacuum will not randomly come to life and attack. Let me have fun."

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The second day at Mizu Academī was not much better than the first. Neither of the twins thought that they could loathe high school more than they hated elementary and middle school. However, there was nothing they could really do to change their decision so they were stuck. And switching schools, and classes, were a hassle so that option was out the window.

Tanami pinched the end of the crystal that hung on the side of her face. The material was smooth between her fingertips. To her right was Akihiko and to her left was Ichigo and both were doing their own things. A hefty sigh left her lips as the strain of deep awkwardness weighed heavily around her. Glancing around the room, she was quick to notice the heavy weights of discomfort placed atop of her classmates' shoulders. 

No one tried to make chit chat or made any drastic movements to draw attention to themselves. It was kind of sad actually. Although she only really knew Kagemi, Yoshimi, and Akihiko, she thought she could get along with Ichigo and Daiki. Daiki was Yoshimi's friend so she could assume ahead of time and Ichigo looked like a person who would make do if needed be. But besides that, Tanami understood the reason why no one wanted to make much effort to get to know each other. A lot of personalities clashed and no one knew each other well. Plus some interactions yesterday were more sour than others.

Tearing her attention away from her classmates, the crystal inspected the room around her. All ten of them were seated in normal plastic school chairs. 

The singular wooden desks were pushed against each other, forming a circle as the upper corners touched. It was an odd seating arrangement but it made sense as they were all facing each other so it must have been on purpose. The periwinkle-eyed girl wondered what Kohei would do when they would have actual written exams, but she just assumed he knew what to do in that situation. Anyway, there was nothing they could do about the seating arrangement and it was visibly shown on most of her teammates' faces when they entered the room to see the seating arrangement.

The walls were coated in a light hue of grey, and the ceiling panels a crisp white which complemented each other well. The morning sunlight poured in through the yellow tinted windows to give off a golden hue inside the room. If Tanami and Akihiko moved enough to one side, the light would hit their hair and it would give off an ametrine shine. It was exceptionally bright so they tried their best to not let the sunlight strike them in the perfect spot. They were hunched over a bit and it was a bit uncomfortable but not new. It was a tad frustrating for the twins, but it was that or possibly blinding someone and getting themselves into an argument. 

Placed in the front of the room was a massive chalkboard with pieces of chalk and an eraser on the railing. In front of it was a wooden podium with Mizu's emblem. Metal lockers lined the back of the room with various items locked inside. Some tried to see what was inside but gave up instantly when they realised they needed an ID to swipe. An ID that they did not have yet.

At this point, everyone was doing their own little thing in their chairs. Whether it be looking through the textbooks given, scrolling through social media on their phones, fiddling with their fingers, or just boredly staring at the table in front of them. It did not take a genius to figure out that even if they tried to start a conversation, it would not turn out good. 

It vaguely reminded her of how elementary and middle school was. Those times when she and her brother would just keep their mouths shut and did not utter a word to anyone else in the school besides Kagemi. Even though it has not even been two days, she noted that no one gazed greedily at the sight of the crystals they produced. They looked intrigued at the sight but no one radiated that type of aura that made them want to shrink and pull away from society. Despite the fact that her classmates did not see eye to eye, it felt nice to know that no one wanted to be with them because of her and her brother's Quirks. 

It felt relaxing to know that no one wanted to use them.

A few minutes ticked by and the heavy air was finally becoming easier to breath. Tanami was beginning to wonder when class would actually start. She lightly flicked the crystal dangling the side of her face, watching the various shades of purple shift from light to dark. Sometimes a glimmer of aqua or crimson would flash but disappear as soon as it appeared.

After what felt like an eternity, the classroom door creaked open. The hinges released a bitter sound as if they were not used in some time. It was not an ear splitting noise but it was enough to catch everyone's attention. Walking inside was their teacher, Kohei, who was adorned in a simple white button up, black slacks, and black dress shoes. His blond hair was brushed back as his golden eyes scanned the room with excitement and a bit of seriousness swirling in his irises.

Clasping his hands together, Kohei joyfully treaded to the front of the room and stood directly behind the podium that faced all them. He leaned forward, placing his forearms on the podium. He glanced around the room, his eyes settling on one person for a second before moving on to the next. With the shake of his head, he chuckled with light amusement.

"We're off to a great start, aren't we." he said with a bit of cheer laced in his voice.

No one uttered a word after he said this comment. They all sat quietly, phones and textbooks tucked away and fingers laced atop of the table. Everyone just stared at the blond teacher.  

Drawing in a deep breath, Kohei began to speak once more. "Well, let's forget about yesterday's incident considering that went terribly wrong. Just for a moment though. Let's focus on what team you're going to be. Specifically the team Mizu chose for this group to be. The students, you ten, are definitely not fit for a frontline team. Yes, you have strong Powerhouses, but the Pillars are not suited for this type of work. This is mainly because your team was not assigned a full fledged healer. Daiki can create drugs which can be useful, however, he cannot repair injuries in an instant or within minutes with his Quirk. You are not suited to be a disaster rescue team. You can barely fit into this category, but you're not going to be. The team you will be equidistant. What is that you may ask?"

Knocking his knuckles against the chalkboard, a few words miraculously appeared on the board. Despite not lifting a piece of chalk to write them down, the words analytic, detective, rescue/arrest, mainstream, and underground were plastered on the chalkboard.

Tanami narrowed her eyes in bewilderment. Those words were ringing a bell in her mind. She recognized them well. The corners of her lips turned up in a smile. She felt her brother nudge her ankle with his foot. The crystal smiled and she lightly tapped him with her elbow. 

With his lips tilted up, the Pro Hero placed his open palm against the chalkboard, ignoring any white dust that settled on his skin. "Your Quirks are better suited with case solving, not for frontlines and not for immediate rescues after disasters. This is the reason I gave you the escape room exam."

"In what way are we good for detective work? I mean, Quirk wise? Intelligence wise, I can explain the entire periodic table and the ingredients needed for most medicines to you but- ahh, you get it?" Daiki asked while he blew a strand of pink hair out of his eyes. 

Laughter echoed across the room. Kohei gestured to all of them. "Daiki, you answered your own question. You would be able to detect foreign substances with few equipment needed and recreate it since you already know chemistry and can do it without a second thought. Kagemi can confuse and easily carry out a task without being detected easily. Oh and hide you all with his smoke. Yoshimi can see things you all cannot and Junpei can easily retrieve information and piece it together. Despite not being registered as a Powerhouse, Shinsha can carry out missions just as well as one. Same as Yua. Tanami, Akihiko, and Mei are your main Powerhouses which should speak for itself."

As soon as he finished speaking Ichigo had raised her hand, fingers pressed together as she waited for Kohei to call her name. He gestured for her to speak and she lowered her hand. "The reason you gave us the escape room yesterday was to show how well our skills are concerning how to detect clues and piece them together?"

Their teacher nodded furiously, affirming her statement. He looked like a kid who was given free candy. Tanami laughed quietly into her hand. She assumed Kohei always dealt with students not getting things right or straight up arguments all the time so this must have been a miniscule breath of relief. "Correct! That is exactly why I put you through that type of exam, however, all of you didn't inspect the room thoroughly. If you did, you wouldn't have spent most of your time in there. Or all of your time in there."

A hand listlessly raised itself into the air. Smirking slightly, Junpei twirled a curled piece of black hair. "Can I say something?" 

"You've already opened your mouth, why not just continue yapping?" Mei sputtered out with a pushy tone. One of her hands mindlessly tugged at the end of her braid, picking at chocolate strands. 

"Rude," the pink-eyed teenager mumbled before raising his voice to sound a little more chipper. "Kohei-san, did you assume that we wouldn't check the door?"

Kohei pressed his spread fingertips together with a grin. "Now why would you say that, Junpei?" 

Propping his elbows onto the table, the boy shrugged his shoulders before lacing his fingers. "Easy. This is a Hero school. Everything given should be expected to be hard. In our case, we put the cart before the horse. We assumed that as a difficult assignment, we had to do as we were told. To escape a room. No one bothered to check the door because of this. You knew we wouldn't check."

"So you tricked us, huh? We wouldn't have thought of something so obvious. You played us for fools. I looked at the door and assumed it was locked. Too bad my scanner can't show me open or closed doors." Yawning loudly, Yoshimi had shoved his hands into the pocket's of his blazer. His head was slightly tilted as he stared pointedly at his teacher.

"Well, it would be natural to think like that," the blond teacher announced with a swipe of his hand. "But you should also think of all possibilities. Sometimes the easiest route is the better option. Pushing the topic of that aside, we still have to focus on one thing the most. Trust."

A deep silence fluttered in the room. A cough followed twenty agonizing seconds later.

"Not to sound rude, Kohei-san, but that seems borderline impossible! Most of us clash as shown by yesterday! It will be a miracle if we do get along. Scary even!" Mei suddenly exclaimed without even raising her hand or asking for permission to speak beforehand.

"With all due respect, it seems a bit difficult for all of us to get along. As Daiki said, some of us may but there are many obstacles to form a bond of trust." Ichigo said softly while combing the ends of her light blue hair. Next to her, Shinsha nodded softly in agreement.

"But that's the reason why you do need to get along! Many Heroes in this day and age are too prideful or are only in it for the fame! They shy away from teamwork, the thought of needing to be saved by someone else or sharing the spotlight has become a barrier between them and others. One person can only do so much. A team can do much, much more. And you don't even need to like each other. You just need to tolerate each other." Kohei grinned at his students.

Tanami's eyes flicked away from the Pro Hero for a moment. Unwillingly, she caught the quick regretful expression displayed on Yua's face before it was hidden away by a bitter frown. The purple-eyed teenager crossed her arms over her chest and forced herself to glare at the desk in front of her. The female twin shifted her attention but the action lingered in her mind as strange. However, it was not her business to meddle with someone who does not even want to be here with them.

"Let's see," the teacher had tapped his chin, eyes glancing up in thought as he searched for his next words. His lips quirked up. "Say Inscribe and myself. Our agencies are usually paired together for work. We don't despise each other, but we don't get along to best and we still accomplish our missions."

"D-don't you two always argue or throw stuff at each other on TV? It s-seems kind of alarming." Shinsha suddenly commented with a shy raise of a hand. She smiled awkwardly.

Akihiko and Tanami both snicked which raised questionable glances. Junpei only smiled innocently and Kagemi and Yoshimi kept their mouths shut. 

"Yes, it's best that you don't question how our relationship works so don't try to wrap your head around it. I've known him for a long time and that's just the way we work, although we don't get along all the time, we do try to push past that. We both have a common goal. When you get paired for a job, whether it be a frontline, a rescue or and or the same team as you. There is an in between. Who knows, there may be a time when you're stuck in a rough place and one of you is going to have to save the other. Not because you tolerate them, not because you have to like them, but because it's your job to each other and the people."

Circling around the podium, he placed his spine on the rim of it and leaned back while tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Now I want you to at least try your best to tolerate each other for the rest of the week, or the next three years is preferable. If you can't find it in yourselves to tolerate each other, well, you're stuck with each other unless you transfer out of the school or leave to go solo at the end of your high school years. Now, for your lessons..."

"Oh, what type of lessons are we doing? Please tell me it's not another escape room." Kagemi voiced loudly with a groan. "Because that went so well the first time."

Kohei shook a finger in a 'no' gesture. He smiled cockily with a mischievous glint shining in his auric eyes. "There's no doubt that there will be a make up exam with the escape room whenever I believe you're ready. You're going to do trust exercises. And not your run of the mill fall back into someone's arms type of thing. Actually, I don't think I can call it an exercise. It'll exercise your brains though."

"What do you mean by that?" Akihiko inquired. His eyebrow was quirked as he stared at Kohei confused. 

Tanami suddenly felt her heart drop. She had a feeling that whatever was to come was not going to be easy in the slightest. She only took a deep breath and lightly jabbed her pinky into the side of her brother's hand. He only rolled his eyes and softly kicked her foot.

"This is an equidistant team. Analyze and solve. Plus, conventional means won't work with you kids. They do say that bonds can be formed in strange ways." the blond tapped his fingers together as he pondered his next words. "Hmm, I guess I can try that lesson. You'll learn something from this. Consider this your second exam."

Ichigo's hand rose. "May you elaborate on what you mean?" 

Grinning, the Pro Hero placed a hand on his lip. "You're going to solve a fake murder. But before I elaborate on that more, I'm going to speak more about equidistant teams. 

"Unlike the flashy Heroes that are known to beat theatrical villains on the daily, equidistant are much more mundane. Considering your applications, most of you answered questions related to not wanting to stand out for reasons that I will not disclose."

Akihiko and Tanami felt their shoulder muscles tense for some reason. 

Kohei waved a hand while rolling his wrist. "They act as a blend of mainstream and underground heroics as well as integrating hefty amounts of detective work to the equation. This team does most or all of the investigating for their own assigned case or they're commissioned from another team or a solo Hero agency.

"More often than not, they work on cases that exceed police purview. This can include solving Quirk related cases such as complex murders, trafficking and other darker cases that the officers can't touch. They don't act the way mainstream Heroes do. Most prefer to keep under the radar, keeping one main Hero in the spotlight. Such as Inscribe's agency. You know it's run by him but do you ever hear of the other Pros or sidekicks? No. Few are aware of the barest details of teams. The less popularity drawn to the entirety of the team, the more they can function even with one being prioritized.

"In fact, since these teams are secretive, they are regarded as partial underground Heroes as well. That is how this works. And tomorrow, you're going to get your first drink of what you're going to eventually do."

The sound of a loud bell struck three times. For some reason, an ominous feeling racked their spines. 

"Now, off to your history class!"

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Akihiko fiddled with the file in his hands. He twirled the stack of papers shoved into the binder around as if he would find something interesting about it on the outside. He did not and placed it delicately on the kitchen table. 

The school day ended fairly normal with the rest of the day filled with boring subjects that were required for their curriculum. The murder mystery would take the rest of the day to set up as it was not prepared beforehand. It worked out anyway because they needed to review the file about the victim.

It was strange to say the least. When someone thought of a Hero school, they expected them to teach them the basics of being a Hero, how to control and strengthen their Quirks, and how to adapt to situations where their Quirks worked best. This was not one of them. Mizu wanted to make them a detective Hero team to put it in simple terms. Those were not mentioned often in the news as they preferred to keep what they were a secret. These teams usually paired up with single Hero or team agencies to gather information before establishing a plan to carry out. If they are not paired, they take on difficult cases that are not revealed to the media and take out the organizations and villains without notice. 

Something that Inscribe's agency has done with the Seraphs case.

Releasing the tension in his shoulders, Akihiko slumped slightly in the chair he sat in. He glanced away from the binder. Kagemi was seated in the chair across from him. His binder was opened in front of him but he was not reading over it as his onyx eyes were glued on Shishi. He looked confused and intrigued at the same time. 

The shiba inu was whining softly beside an empty glass jar on top of the kitchen counter. Standing on its hindlegs, Shishi jammed one leg into the jar before sticking the other one in. Then it shoved its head inside and began to turn into liquid. It managed to get half of its body into the jar before its behind could no longer fit since the jar was not large enough. Both of the teenagers could see the sadness in its white eyes.

It yelped in frustration and tried to liquify the rest of its body to fit. Shishi did not fit as the jar was too small.

"Why is your dog trying to shove itself into a jar?" Kagemi asked bluntly.

"I have no clue. Its also been trying to fight the vacuum."

"I think this is the most normal conversation we've ever had. It's disgusting and weird."

"Please shut up."

Turning back to the file, the crystal-haired male read over the title. The Death of Sara Himari.

To Akihiko, it sounded straight out of a horror novel or movie. This was definitely going to be the weirdest exam he was ever going to take. He found himself preferring another escape room than whatever they were going to do now. Well, it was definitely certain that Mizu did not do things traditionally. The periwinkle-eyed boy was wondering why Tomohiro did not tell them that this school would be like this. Then again, the Hero did not seem like he was going to say anything from yesterday's conversation about it. 

Flipping the binder open, he was met with the first page. 

The Death of Sara Himari.

You and your nine classmates have been chosen as a detective team to find out the mystery behind Sara Himari's death. Himari is a twenty-nine-year-old woman who was found dead in her hotel room's bathroom. Her body was found in the bathtub, blood running down from her head. 

Since her room was the VIP Suite, no other residents littered the area. Two workers were on the floor at differing times and her boyfriend was the last person to talk to her. All three are being interrogated. Her death has been ruled as an accident at the moment. It is your job to figure out whether or not her death was an accident or a murder-

Akihiko heard a chime come from his phone. Puzzled, he fished his phone out of his pocket and the screen lit up. A sense of dread crawled up his spine as he read the message. 

Unknown Number

Hey Yama, do you want to play a game during tomorrow's lesson?

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Author's Note:

Finally, I finished writing arc two! Fifteen chapters and then arc three has five... I frankly don't know how that happened.

It's been about two months or more I think since I last updated this. College applications are stressful. Besides that, PMO will be updating every week on Fridays again. Also, there's a new cover because I got tired of the old one