『ARC THREE: AGENCIES AND CRYSTALS』

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Monday came along much sooner than Akihiko wanted. Then again, he did sleep through the entirety of Sunday because of his little escapade on Saturday. To be honest, he preferred to sleep through the rest of the day but he already missed enough school. More than what he liked. He really cannot afford to miss anymore. He still had to complete his algebra homework and an essay for history. He, unfortunately, had to ask for an extension on his homework and considered himself extremely lucky that his teachers understood and gave him a couple more days to complete them.

The sound of his lunch tray lightly hitting against the table as he placed it down echoed a bit. He winced, his ears still buzzing a bit from the mild effects of amethyst. At times, a sharp throb would strike the sides of his head but nothing too bad that it would hinder his daily activities at the moment. He desperately hoped that he would not encounter a slab of painite somehow. That would be absolutely fantastic.

Just as he slid into his seat, Tanami plopped down in the seat to his right and carefully placed her tray down. Her brows connected as she tried hard not to tip over the cup of orange juice she had gotten. Almost right after did Daiki, Kagemi, Yoshimi, and Yua follow her example except with less care. Yua's brows were furrowed in irritation as Tanami had forcefully dragged her over to the lunch table that they occupied by pleading with her all morning.

The refreshing scent of food filled Akihiko's nostrils as he used his chopsticks to pick up a bit of soba. Even if he had not eaten it yet, just sitting down and taking a break made his body relax. He did not even know his muscles were clenched tight until he allowed himself to take a deep breath. Or maybe that was the amethyst. The crystal was supposedly good at relieving stress but he felt like it just kept piling on until it wanted to be negated.

Akihiko shoved the soba in his mouth to keep himself from groaning aloud. He had no clue as to how the amethyst worked. He believed it had a mind of its own because it constantly hummed or buzzed or flicked the sides of his head whenever certain people talked or grew close. Blinking twice, he decided to concentrate on the steam swirling upward in curls from the steaming hot soup that laid in a couple of his classmates' bowls.

Around them, various students began to filter into the room. Some rushed over the lunch line while others hurried to pick one of the many tables scattered across the cafeteria. Voices of different conversations amongst the students collided. Nothing was fully understood unless you really focused on a group's conversation. Sunlight filtered through the glass windows and some rays struck the twins' hair. A bright shine emitted from the amethyst and a bit of red and aqua mixing in somehow. Their small group did not blink or flinch from the sharp light since they had already grown accustomed to the vibrant flashes attacking their vision.

He was glad no one questioned his and Tanami's slightly new appearance. After a bit of begging, Tomohiro begrudgingly performed the same carving procedure that he did for Akihiko. Since the male twin's hair suffered from his clawing, his was much more choppy and curled at the ends. Tanami's was more even so the strips curled inward with ease into a shoulder-length bob. It was strange seeing his sister with a normal hairstyle and it was the same vice versa. It was also weird to fall asleep since he was used to the jagged pokes and not soft touches.

"Hey, have you heard of Decadence?" The question flowed out of Daiki's lips with ease as he casually plucked a piece of striped chicken from his katsudon. At the inquiry, Akihiko clenched the wooden chopsticks in his hand. They were poised above his plate. That name sounded very, very familiar but he could not pinpoint where he heard it.

"Decadence?" Tanami echoed as she halted her arm from moving the fork with a piece of omurice on it. Her nose scrunched up as she tried to recall where she heard that name. Seemed like she was having trouble remembering that name as well. It sounded so familiar.

On her left, Yua picked at the grains of white rice in her bowl like she did not have much of an appetite. "Isn't zie that vigilante that's been giving Pros a fucking run for their money in the past ten years or something?"

"Right," Kagemi tapped the end of his tray with his finger. "They said zie was last spotted Saturday night in downtown Kyoto. Some college student recorded a video of zir when they were walking home."

"Yeah, except it was taken down by the Hero Commission in the first twenty minutes," Yoshimi commented as he looked up from whatever was on his phone. "I managed to watch and download it before it was removed from Herotube. The video finally showed a fraction of Decadence's Quirk."

A pang of pain struck the sides of Akihiko's skull. He forced himself to not wince. "What was it?"

"Light refraction. The area around zir was surrounded by a multitude of slashes made of light. A slight rainbow tint could be seen if you looked close enough." Tapping a few times against the screen of his phone, Yoshimi propped his phone up onto his water bottle so the device would not fall. He lightly pressed the play button and the video began to play.

The scene of a person running across the rooftops of downtown Kyoto with haste was seen, the tails of zir black coat flying behind zir. Zie effortlessly leaped down from the roof, knees bending as zir feet hit solid ground. A moment passed before zir swirled around on zir heels and tugged sir hood further down zir face. Swiping zir left hand outward, the area around Decadence grew still for a second. All of a sudden, silver spikes that were small in diameter soared in the vigilante's direction.

Picking zir head up slightly, a soft chortle left the person's lips. The moment the spikes entered within a four feet radius, the sound of something being sliced was picked up by the phone's audio. Multiple slashes that gleamed a multitude of colors cut the spikes with ease. With a snap of zir fingers, the sliced spikes fell to the ground with multiple thunks.

A few scattered around Decadence's feet but zie did not move from zir position. Zie stayed that way for a good five seconds before realizing that the person attacking refrained for some reason. Averting zir eyesight for a minute, the camera captured a few of zir features. For one, zie was pale with black hair that faded to a white at the tips. Zir eye color could not be seen because of zir hood. The lower half of zir face was hidden by a grey scarf.

Finally witnessing the camera, Decadence turned around and vanished from sight by running into the alleyways. The video turned black to signify that it had ended.

"So Decadence can practically bend light to her will?" Tanami rested her pair of chopsticks against the plate. A bit of concern flashed in her eyes before she lifted her hair. Strips of crystal clinked together from her movement. "The Hero Commission should probably send some equidistant Hero Team. They would probably find out more about zir if it's been ten years."

"Doubt it." Daiki swiped a strand of pink hair from his face. "Inscribe and Metallic's agencies deal with murders or raids. Other teams like that are busy with that stuff too. I doubt they would be commissioned for a vigilante unless zie did something majorly illegal. Yeah, zie's breaking the law, but like- zie's technically beating the Heroes at their own game.''

"I heard that the Idaten or the Dynamight Agency might take on the case," Kagemi mentioned briefly before spooning a bit of miso soup into his mouth.

"Dynamight is already back from the States?" Lifting the cup to her lips, Yua sipped slowly on her green tea.

"Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto are back from America. I think the news broadcasted it on Saturday...?" The pink-eyed boy hummed softly as he tried to remember. "Yeah, it was Saturday. How did you guys not hear that the top three were back?"

"Caught up in a jewel heist." Tanami and Yua replied simultaneously.

"Wait," Kagemi swallowed a spoonful of his soup. "Did you two actually try to top the robber?"

"No! Of course not!" the female crystal exclaimed. Her grip on the chopsticks tightened.

"I may or may not have scored a deal-"

"You threatened me!"

"-that I would not interfere with the robber from the jewel heist if Tanami relented the urge to fucking throw the pie and encase it in emerald." That sounded like something Tanami would do but since she was given an ultimatum, well, she had no other choice than to comply.

Suddenly, another sharp pain assaulted Akihiko's temples. He bit down on his bottom lip to conceal the grunt that wanted to escape him. He swallowed the little bit of saliva that pooled in his throat and just as fast as the pain came, it disappeared. A buzzing vibration resonated in his eardrums but even that vanished without much hassle either. He must be tired from all of the events that happened from the weekend.

The chopsticks in his hand clattered onto the table and when Akihiko blinked, he was no longer in the cafeteria but outside of his home...? High above, the rain stirred, harsher than when he and Tanami spoke outside on Saturday evening. Droplets pelted against the ground, soaking up the grass and drowning the potted plants. Except unlike the calm atmosphere displayed earlier, the feeling that crackled through the air was hostile and filled with a suffocating feeling of negativity. It was beginning to become hard to breathe.

He raised a hand to brush his bangs from his eyes but his arm froze in the middle of the action. His breath left his parted lips as he took another look at the sight in front of him. The world seemed to be tainted in a faint grey hue that dimmed everything that glided across his vision. The only real splash of color that illuminated the space that he occupied was the unnatural light that his hair gave off. Only then did he hear the familiar sound of cracks that threaded through the crystals that he was so used to making with his hands. Slowly lifting his gaze, Akihiko's eyes widened at the dimmed scene that played out in front of him.

Standing on the street and facing each other on opposite sides were what seemed to be himself and his twin. Raindrops traversed down their crystallic hair, washing off any remaining polish that lingered on the amethyst. The him that was on the street wiped his cheek with his thumb, smearing a bit of red that dripped from his nose across his pale skin. On the opposing side was the dulled version of Tanami who had a few shards of pink spinel dancing across her fingertips.

The gemstone pieces swirled around her hand before 'Tanami' swung her arm across her body. At her command, the shards soared forward, their dimmed illuminance heading straight for 'Akihiko's' chest. 'Akihiko' instantly jumped backward, allowing the shards to fly over his shoulder.

"You are so stubborn! Get it through your skull!" 'Akihiko' screamed as his feet connected with the asphalt of the road. He could hear the soles of his shoes scraping to halt his body from being pushed back any longer.

Gnawing down on his bottom teeth, the boy's eyes widened at the sight of a flurry of jade being hurled at him. He raised his hand, the back of it facing the viridian shards flying toward him. Just as the teen suspected, the crystals paused mid-flight. They vibrated slightly, the two twins fighting for control over them. 'Akihiko's' lips twitched up as the jade pieces fluttered toward him before falling innocently to the ground.

Little by little, he was beginning to acquire a medium-sized pile of gemstones surrounding his feet. He grimaced slightly since he could see them out of the corner of his eye. There were so many. Raising his head, his periwinkle eyes connected with the same shade thirty feet away from him.

His sister was breathing heavily, sweat trickling down her forehead from her pores. Her hand connected with her chin briefly as she wiped a drop from her jaw. She was hunched over slightly but she quickly straightened her back. Her eyes were narrowed into a glare, swirls of emotions he could not identify in his irises.

'Akihiko', on the other hand, was in peak condition, or as best as he could be at the moment. Fiddling with a green gemstone in his other hand, he lifted the actinolite cat's eye to display it to 'Tanami'. It was pinched between his thumb and index finger. This small piece of crystal was really the only thing allowing him to still stand to be honest. Without it, well, he did not want to find out so soon.

Breathing heavily, 'Tanami' allowed the soft glow of pink to emit from her hand. "I don't need to understand! You're the one who started this!"

The teenager had to throw himself onto the ground. He tucked his knees toward his chest as he curled into a roll. Jumping back to his feet, he barely managed to evade the sprouting of jagged pink spinel from the ground. The smooth tips at the ends of the crystals made him feel a tad bit better that his sister was not trying to injure him fully. Partially, he had no idea. With a swipe of his hand, the flower made of spinel collapsed into shards before being commanded to join the rest in the now growing pile.

"I did not start this! You are the one who escalated a simple conversation!" 'Akihiko' responded.

He was growing tired of this fight. Why were they even fighting in the first place? You know what? He is done. He refused to fight his own flesh and blood any longer. He dodged another attack while scrunching his nose. Would this idea even work? He has never tried but surely it would not hurt to try.

Screw it. He did not have any other option. Commanding a portion of the shiny pile, he pressed his hands together. A light came from each gemstone shard before it engulfed each other to form into a ball of dark green and scarlet. Snapping his fingers, the condensed ball of light soared toward 'Tanami'. Unable to create a barrier fast enough the light enveloped her hands and feet. Dull gemstone encased her limbs up to her joints. Releasing a gasp of disbelief, 'Tanami' gazed at the shiny rocks.

"...opaque polycrystalline chalcedony," she muttered quietly. "It's only a two."

"I know," 'Akihiko' responded. Breathing was suddenly becoming harder than necessary. "But it has other pros that you don't know. Now, can we talk?"

Just like before, fractures stretched across the scene. Breaking apart, Akihiko briefly caught the sight of purple before it disappeared. Blinking a few times, the similar look of amethyst faded from his eyes. He was met with concerned and slightly frightened looks from the people at the table.

The first thing he registered was the coldness of someone's palm pressing against his forehead. Leaning close in worry, Tanami pressed her lips together. "So that's what you meant."

"What was that?" Daiki questioned with wide eyes. "Your eyes looked like your hair!"

"Quirk evolution," was the only thing Kagemi spat out. "Not sure which way it teeters though."

"Hey, what did you se-" Yua began as she brushed a curl from her face.

Before they could converse any further, the bell signifying the end of lunchtime rang resonated across the walls of the cafeteria. Without any further notice, the seventy-seven students that occupied the room began to pick up their things and exited. As Akihiko moved to dump his trash in its respective place, he could not help but wonder why the name Decadence bothered him so much and not what had occurred with his Quirk.

Each time that her name was mentioned, a dull ache simmered against his head. Nothing alarming like sharp thuds whenever Tanami spoke. He figured it was because they both had amethyst hair but he was the one who could access mystical properties.

If Decadence's Quirk dealt with light, the vigilante did not fit the bill at all. Placing his tray in the designated area, he pursed his lips together. Decadence was the state of deterioration or decay. Clearly, it was not referencing zir Quirk and zie was not a Villain either. Well to the Hero Commission zie was but still, it did not make sense.

He shook his head to dismiss the stream of thoughts running through his brain. He was probably overthinking this. It was not his place to analyze something that mattered so little anyway to him. He needed to focus on Heroics class. After all, they were all still playing a game of tag against Team Beta. Akihiko just hoped that his Quirk would follow his command and not spring up with any new surprises. The teenager was definitely growing tired of those.

Walking at the same pace as his friends, Akihiko fiddled with the cuff of his blazer. The fabric felt soft against his fingertips. For now, he just listened to the random tidbits they spoke. At least some of their voices made him feel sane.

But what was that scene with Tanami? Why would he be fighting his own sister? What did that even mean?

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The metal briefcase in Akihiko's grasp felt heavy as he slipped into the confinements of the bathroom in the boy's locker room. He was not thrilled that he had to escape into the bathroom to change but even now, he felt insecure about the scars that trailed down his shoulders. They were faint and a pretty shade of lavender but a nuisance. As much as he wanted to keep that in the past, he figured he could slowly grow accustomed to displaying them.

But for now, he will settle with breaking away from his classmates for a while. Placing the briefcase down, he flicked the locks with ease and raised the lid. At first glance, the clothing displayed the colors of black and violet. Various items such as belts, canisters, and a few extras were inside as well. He was quick to tug on the clothing, drawing his attention away from his tainted shoulders. He released the breath of air he was holding when the tight long sleeve was fully slipped on.

Once he fully adorned the costume, he bent down and looked in confusion at the metal cuffs. Unlike the rest of the uniform that was accented with violet lines, the cuffs' purple strip was replaced with a shiny, almost reflective type of surface. Perhaps it was something that would help him with his Quirk? There was not much else that screamed out mirrors or glass. Not wanting to waste any more energy thinking about the items, he latched them around his upper arms and wrists.

They were slightly heavy but nothing too extreme that it would hinder his performance in the long run. In fact, they were kind of comfortable as he was reminded that something was around his arms and that they were his and no one else's. It brought him a weird sensation of pride. Exiting the bathroom, Akihiko did not spare a glance at himself in the mirror. His uniform looked almost exactly like the female costume except the males had slightly baggy pants instead of a full jumper and leggings.

He ruffled a bit of the purple strips with his gloved hand as he stepped back inside the locker room. The other four boys were still busy changing but they were almost done. Akihiko placed the metal briefcase down near a bench before readjusting the metal cuffs on his wrists. Curiosity piqued his interest as he lightly stomped his feet against the ground. The soles of his boots had a good grip so he would not need to worry about falling by accident. All in all, this costume was not all that bad. It was comfortable and did not weigh too much at all.

The only thing he did not like was the fact that he did not have anything to cover his hair. Shiny crystals caught people's attention with ease when a sliver of light struck someone's eye. He would probably need to request an adjustment from the support team at one point. However, at the moment, it was the least of his worries.

"Everyone done?" Yoshimi asked as he leaned near the door. Although his question was directed at all of them, his eyes did not meet any of theirs. No, his attention was focused on his phone's screen. If you looked close enough, you could see the slight tightening of his jaw. "Alright, let's go."

Despite no one giving a clear response, everyone followed Yoshimi out the door and into the hallway. Not another word slipped out of anyone's lips as they traversed down the corridor. Underneath the fabric of his gloves, Akihiko felt sweat beginning to pool in his palms. In response to this, he curled his fingers to his fists and released a deep breath. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage.

To be honest, he's frightened. He's scared that this evolution of his Quirk will spiral out of control. It will not do his bidding, refused to listen to him because he never had control of it anyway. Dull aches still racked his brain and a tingling sensation drummed across his fingertips. It was like an itch that he desperately needed to scratch. A feeling that thrummed in the back of his head that he needed to use a mystical property. Any mystical property and it was slowly driving him insane.

Akihiko finally snapped out of his stupor when Daiki stopped walking in front of him. Yoshimi was busy punching in a code in the keypad that allowed the two teams into separate rooms that gave them time to plan. Walking inside, Yoshimi and Junpei moved to the front of the room where there was a whiteboard and a laptop. The remaining three had sat down on a couple of chairs scattered across the room. The girls had yet to arrive so they were probably still getting changed.

Periwinkle eyes shifted up to look at Junpei. The shorter male was busy typing something into the laptop. For the entire day, Junpei stayed away from the crystal. No words were spoken to each other, no glances, and not even an 'accidental' run-in had occurred. This made unease curl in his stomach as he tried to relax his nerves. This was strange, very strange.

The mandatory class bonding session was supposed to happen on Wednesday since none of them knew if they were going to end up in the infirmary during the exercise. He would get more answers then, or at least he hoped to.

"Let's talk after school at the arcade. Kohei wants us to bond or whatever with the class. We'll talk then. I'll give you what you want."

He was going to get answers. One way or another. He was not going to allow anything to stop him that time. He was tired of going around in circles. The feeling of something sturdy smacking his ankle caused Akihiko to break out of his thoughts. Snapping his head upward instinctively, he caught the sight of Kagemi straightening his legs out before crossing them at the ankles.

The onyx-eyed boy tilted his head slightly, leering at the crystal through his glasses. "Whatever you're thinking, stop it. You're getting that same look Nami gets when she overthinks things. We're about to do an exercise and we don't know whether we're Taggers or Hunted. Focus."

Dumbfounded, the purple-haired boy only nodded his head in response. He blinked a few times, trying to settle the beating of his heart. Right, he did not have the time to focus on something that would occur later on. He needed to focus on the task in front of him first before his mind trailed off to something else. The only thing he should worry about is the assignment.

Yes, he may have the urge to use, to feel that new power once it came to light but he cannot. He does not even know the first thing about it. Akihiko forced his hands to stay on top of his lap as his fingers twitched with this feeling. It will be fine. It is not like he knew how to draw out the mystical properties of crystals so nothing could go wrong. Besides, the amethyst only affected him and not others. At most he would experience another one of those visions and a terrible headache. They were not ideal but the gemstones did not hurt anyone else.

It will be fine. It will be fine.

While Akihiko's heart rate settled into that of a normal one, the door's lock could be heard before the door was pushed open. The rest of Team Alpha walked in, all of them fully decked in their costumes and gear. Tanami wasted no time in plopping right next to him while dragging Yua by the hand. The magenta-haired girl only followed because she did not seem to find the will to break out of his sister's clutches.

Tanami sent him a small smile before her attention was ripped away from Yoshimi opening his mouth to speak. He did not like the thud that pressed against his temples. Whatever his Quirk wanted to tell him, it did not communicate well enough because Akihiko had no idea as to what it was hinting at. He kept his gaze firmly in front of him, curling his fingers as he impatiently waited for Yoshimi to begin.

"Alright, everyone here? Good." Yoshimi started as he pushed the cap of the black marker back on. The cap clicked loudly. "We're Taggers this round."

"Finally!" Mei threw her hands in the air, brown braid sliding off her shoulder from the quick movement. Ichigo, who was sitting next to her, nearly fell out of her chair leaning back so the back of Mei's hand would not smack her in the face.

"G-gosh, we've been H-hunted the first three rounds," Shinsha mentioned as she raised her hand to show three fingers.

"Seriously, that was not randomized," commented Daiki as he messed with the gas mask hanging around his neck.

"No kidding. How unlucky could we be to get Hunted three times in a row?" Tanami questioned while leaning forward a bit.

Kagemi coughed in his hand. "Obviously it wasn't randomized."

Yua scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "No shit, Sherlock."

As the conversation was heading elsewhere, Yoshimi slammed the tip of the marker repeatedly against the whiteboard. The constant tapping successfully grabbed ahold of everyone's attention as their chatter slowly grew to a close. "Moving on. We're going with the original plan for when we are Taggers. I'll explain it again since Akihiko wasn't present last time and I'm pretty sure that idiot didn't speak a word."

Puffing her cheeks out, Tanami mumbled something under her breath. Akihiko noticed the slight twinge of red decorating the girl's ears from embarrassment. She sent a playful glare at the brown-and-aqua-haired boy who just brushed it off.

"For this to work in our favor, we're gonna have everyone go in pairs! Good thing too now that we have Akihiko." Junpei had sent the boy in question a sly look before tearing his attention away to face the rest of their classmates. The cheerful grin was still plastered across his face. "These are the teams of two! One Powerhouse and one Pillar!"

Written across the whiteboard were the specific pairs that were either planned or chosen at random.

Ichigo and Yoshimi

Mei and Shinsha

Akihiko and Kagemi

Daiki and Yua

Junpei and Tanami

Scanning through the list, Akihiko nearly paled at the sight. Why was Tanami stuck with Junpei? Was this done on purpose or was it actually randomized? Could there be an ulterior motive? Could he just be overthinking things? A buzz rang in his ears and Akihiko was just going to assume it was his Quirk agreeing with him to make himself feel like he was not going crazy.

"Team Beta's Quirks consist of Livid Dreamer, Bone Protrusion, Instinct Psychometrics, Magnet, Boundary Shield, Stash, Frostbite, Healing Wings, Cat, and Ghastly Energy. Most of them speak for themselves and a majority of us have already experienced them and vice versa. The only one they haven't seen is Akihiko." Lifting a finger to represent the number of Quirks, Yoshimi's unamused tone echoed around the room. For a split second, his aqua eyes flickered to meet Akihiko's for a quick second.

"Not that it matters. Your Quirk is practically a copy and paste of Tanami's." Junpei commented as he twirled a curl around his finger. A mischievous smile slipped onto his lips while a laugh rumbled his chest. "Well, almost."

Akihiko was desperately hoping he meant the way he converted glass into gemstones rather than the slight thumping against his head. He also really hoped he figured out a way to turn off the buzzing and pangs. They were growing even more annoying by the passing minute and the itch writhing under his skin was getting worse

"Everyone will capture Team Beta in pairs. Try to only go against one so it can be quick but if you can't, well nothing we can do about that. Communications are down until either Junpei or I hook it up to the tower."

Akihiko tuned out the rest of the explanation. He preferred to focus on keeping himself from acting out on this urge he felt. For some reason, the image of black tourmaline kept popping into his mind.

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Author's Note

Sorry for the delayed update. I had to edit and add something to this chapter that I, unfortunately, missed the first time around until I read it again. I didn't have enough time to do so until earlier in the week.

Besides that, we'll see how well this game of tag goes.