『ARC THREE: AGENCIES AND CRYSTALS』

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

The sound of crystal and bone colliding together harshly rang through both of the teenager's eardrums. Crossed against each other, a katana created of black tourmaline slid against the surface of a piece of curved bone. Gritting his teeth, Akihiko narrowed his eyes in slight annoyance before he applied more force into his arm. The edge of the sword managed to nick the bone before it sliced through it.

Shimada shoved himself back just as the tip of the crystal blade dangerously swept across his throat. Beads of sweat slid down the olive-haired male's face as he curled his body into a backflip. As gracefully as one could land on their feet without being cut with the sharp slices of a blade, Shimada landed with a bit of difficulty.

Without giving the boy a chance to take a breather, Akihiko curled his hand into a fist in front of him. One of the four angled pieces of black tourmaline shattered, fragments piercing the air as they soared. Shimada's eyes widened briefly before he instantly raised both hands. The fragments of crystal banged against the bones that elongated from his forearms, nicking at the curved pieces slowly to chip at. Since some had flown past his defensive position, they sliced through his clothes and skin like before.

The member from Team Beta clenched his teeth, trying to ignore the pricks of pain that danced across his skin. Once he felt the pricks come to a close, he raised his head slightly. With much caution, he peeked through his arms in search of his opponent. His lips parted a bit in confusion as he did not see Akihiko in front of him any longer. He loosened his stance.

All of a sudden, he felt a sharp hit collide with his back and a strained gasp left his lips. The unexpected attack shoved him forward and sent him tumbling to his knees. Not one to give up so easily, Shimada slammed both of his palms into the concrete ground before pushing himself back onto his feet. He stumbled a tad as he regained his balance. The olive-haired boy chuckled lightly as he swiped a couple of beads of sweat from his chin. He heaved, inhales and exhales sounding haggard.

"Man, you do pack a punch," the amber-eyed male said in an airy tone. "Both you and your sister are hard opponents. But, here's the thing, I don't like losing."

Shimada reached behind him as a piece of jagged bone tore through his skin and the fabric of his clothes. Elongated nails scratched at the base of the bone like it was nothing. It was not long before his sharp claws sliced through and broke the piece off his spine. Once it was firm in his grasp, Shimada swung his arm as he caught a gleam in his peripheral vision. Bits of black tourmaline sliced through the air, whistling sharply as they grew closer. His teeth clenched down harshly as the crystal banged against the bone.

Forcing his arm to move with a bit more strength, Shimada managed to shove aside the fragments of black gemstone. The pieces soared, fracturing as they flew. The shards of crystal collapsed, banging against the concrete ground like raindrops hitting a glass plane. It would have sounded prettier if he was not being attacked.

The sound of heavy footfalls rang in Shimada's eardrums as he slowly shuffled back. His amber eyes connected with the crystal-haired boy, watching the shifting of light in his irises. One he recognized as the multiple shine of lavender whereas the other was dark as night with thin white cracks. It was even more strange because the person in front of him, Akihiko Mochizuki, was known to have periwinkle irises with diamond pupils. He was not supposed to have this mismatched look.

The crystal snapped his fingers and the fallen shards began to rise. They slammed together, loud noises of glass coming into contact to form four large spirals that ended with pointed tips. Behind Akihiko, the remaining angled shards of black tourmaline gave off a quick flash of white before reverting to their normal color. A hum slipped free from his lips. "Why are you running?"

"'Cause I don't wanna get caught?!" Shimada replied as he tightened his grip on the bone. "Ain't that obvious, Mochizuki-kun?"

"You're bad at running, hiding too."

"How can someone be bad at running? Are you supposed to run away a certain way?"

"It looks pathetic." Akihiko's voice echoed, vibrating like more than one person was talking. "Seems fitting for someone of your kind."

Shimada did not have much time to ponder on it because he kicked off his feet to avoid one of the black spirals aimed at him. The olive-haired boy curled back, throwing himself into a backflip with one hand. The soles of his black combat boots hit the ground, skidding slightly to break his fall. His dodge was short-lived as he suddenly felt his feet being ripped off the ground. Without the teenager noticing, two spirals had slipped behind him. They swept underneath him, forcing his body in the air without any stability.

The remaining two had made their way above him before Akihiko released his grasp. No longer controlled, the crystals fell down with the help of gravity. They nailed the sides of clothes to the ground, keeping him pinned because of the amount of weight the gemstones carried. His eyebrows knitted together as he tried to raise his left arm. His jaw tightened as he realized he could not move. He tilted his head, eyes landing on the quiet footsteps walking toward him.

Akihiko knelt down, balancing on his toes with ease as he tilted his head. The corners of his lips twitched as he smiled innocently at the boy. For a split second, creases were drawn across his forehead as he paused for a second. The edges of his lips curled into a frown. He raised a finger to his lips, signaling Shimada to stay silent. Confusion bubbled up in the amber-eyed.

His bewilderment did not stay for long as a few seconds later, he heard the rapid footsteps of someone else drawing closer. Not long after did another member of Team Alpha appear. Kagemi's jog slowed into a walk, his breathing evening out as he stopped by Akihiko's side. The moment his eyes landed on the scene, his nose scrunched up.

"We have to capture people in pairs, Aki. You can't go doing stuff on your own." Kagemi scolded as he sent a glare at the crystal. He crossed his arms, an expression of displeasure written all over his face.

"Couldn't pass up the chance, now could I?" The male twin stated, his eyes no longer glowing the same shade of crystals. They had faded back into the pretty shade of periwinkle. But even if they did, Shimada still felt as if something was astray. He just could not put his finger on it. Figuratively and literally since he was pinned by massive spirals of black tourmaline.

Shimada could try to break free by forcing bone to rip through the other side of his forearms but the amount he already produced was making his limbs very sore and he was not sure how long he could last anyway. In frustration, the boy's jaw tightened as he glared at the high ceiling above him. Where was one of his teammates when he needed them?

After reluctantly admitting defeat to himself, the sound of metal crashing with gemstone resonated across the area. What?

Tilting his head, Shimada caught the glint of black tourmaline blocking the downward swipe of a silver baton. Clenched firmly in his gloved grasp, Kagemi applied more pressure against the angled crystal that was used to shield Akihiko from the attack.

The edges of Akihiko's lips twitched, pulling down in what seemed to be a combination of a frown and a scowl. His right forearm was raised, the black tourmaline acting as a barrier between himself and the metal stick. His eyebrows pulled down a bit when Kagemi pressed down even further. Akihiko's tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth and he jumped back while he retreated from the crystal.

Once the purple-haired male separated, Kagemi instantly changed his focus. He dashed to his left, swinging the baton against the base of the crystals holding Shimada down. Three collisions were all it took for the base of the gemstone to break. Once it did, the two-colored-haired male curled his fingers around the sleeve of the dark grey zip-up Shimada wore. With a bit of difficulty, the boy from Team Alpha picked up the other.

Kagemi spun around and pointed the tip of the baton toward his friend. His onyx eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

Shards of black tourmaline rose alongside the broken pieces Kagemi had broken. They instantly collided, reforming into the angled crystals behind his back. Once again were the four wing-like crystals floating in the air. Akihiko blinked once and the moment his eyelashes stopped covering his eyes, amethyst and black tourmaline coated his irises once again.

"What did you do to Akihiko?"

"What did I do?" The same multi-toned voice slipped free from his lips as he raised his left hand to his chin. "I did not do anything really. Only momentarily took over to protect."

Kagemi's lips pulled down into an irritated scowl. "Protect? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Can't say," Akihiko lifted his right arm, fingers spreading. The fragments of leftover black tourmaline hovered in the air briefly before he snapped his fingers. "But you're in the way."

A few shards slammed against the baton while others reflected off the bone. The second Kagemi no longer felt anything hitting him, his fingers hooked on one of the elongated bones sticking out of Shimada's arm. Without any warning, the member from Team Alpha tugged the other from Team Beta into a sprint. They rounded the corner of a wall, barely escaping the jagged points of gemstone embedding into the concrete they ran past.

After a couple of seconds, Shimada yanked his arm out of the other's grasp. He lightly grimaced at the small droplets of blood spilling from the openings in his skin. He decided to ignore the pricks of pain on his arms and spine. He had other things to worry about now. "What is going on?"

"If I knew, I would have told you already. What did you do for Akihiko to attack you like that? He would attack you with a reason." Kagemi questioned as he crouched down to evade a spiral of crystal.

"I don't know! Didn't you say something about that being a different person? He looked normal when I met him earlier. Then his eyes turned like that!" The olive-haired teen exclaimed. He felt a few shards zip past him as a sharp blow of air whizzed by his hair.

"His eyes," the onyx-eyed male muttered. His lips pressed against each other for a moment before realization hit him. "It's his Quirk."

"His Quirk?"

"His Quirk has been acting up since Saturday. I don't really understand the details-" Kagemi felt Shimada's hand curl around the fabric of his back before pulling them before down. "-but his eyes were fully purple, like amethyst, in the morning. Not half and half like right now."

"Okay, so how do we stop him from trying to kill us? Why hasn't the teachers interfered ?" Shimada pressed his feet back onto the ground and continued to run in a steady sprint.

"Good question."

Before either could speak any further, a thick wall of crystal materialized in front of the two. It stopped them from running any further and it was too slippery and too dangerous to try and climb it. Both of them turned, eyes falling on Akihiko's figure. The angled crystals behind the purple-haired male had disappeared, converting themselves into four spirals that swirled into thin but pointed tips. The same coloring laid in the depths of his irises. He did not speak another word as he presented his arm forward.

Following the adolescent's command, the spirals were effortlessly thrown into their direction. Kagemi allowed his eyelids to flutter closed as he waited for the attack to fall upon the two of them. A few seconds ticked by and his breath left his lips. Nothing had hit him. Slowly, he cracked his eyes open.

Liquid vines made of pure gold engulfed the black spirals, curling around the crystals and shoving themselves into their crevices. With enough pressure, the spirals collapsed in themselves, pitifully allowing the gold to drown the shards. The same gold had wrapped around Akihiko's body, forcing his limbs to stay firm at his sides. His two-colored eyes shifted to the right, narrowing as he glared at his captor through slits.

A thin needle punctured through Akihiko's skin as a clear substance was injected through his neck. His eyes widened slightly but quickly shut as the anesthesia injected into his body worked with hast. His body grew limp as the golden liquid began to slip away. Crystal fragments shattered on impact when they collided with the concrete.

Akihiko's body collapsed into Kohei's arms, face contorted into one of deep sleep. A deep frown etched itself into Kohei's face as he hooked one arm underneath Akihiko's knees. "Your Quirk is growing quite troublesome."

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

Stuck in a boundless dream, through a barrier of consciousness and unconsciousness, Akihiko watched glimpses of the outside world with the help of a warped gaze. He caught snippets of black tourmaline taking on strange shapes that he would not have thought of before, small flashes of Kagemi and Shimada, and a brief shot of gold. With these fragments of information, Akihiko could not distinguish what was happening because what he received was barely enough to paint a picture.

It was strange. It felt like his consciousness was shoved into a pool of water, submerging him into a comforting sleep before he was ripped away from the coolness with force. As if someone had grabbed ahold of his shoulders and yanked him up with the intent of waking him up. In those violent grips did he manage to catch sight of what was occurring before a calming sensation washed over him.

This time, he barely managed to registered the feeling of cold fingers slipping in between his own. His own fingers twitched yet made no other movement. All of a sudden that hand latched onto his own and hastily pulled him up. His eyes snapped open, revealing the normal periwinkle color with diamond irises. A gasp was torn from his throat as his chest heaved up and down heavily. His clenched hand pressed against his chest, feeling the rapid thumping of his heart colliding with his ribs.

His other hand slipped onto whatever hard surface he could latch onto to keep himself from tipping over. Various beads of sweat trickled down his face. He stayed bent at the waist for a while, trying to regulate his breathing and heart rate to a steady one. Once he did, he weakly managed to press himself back into a standing position. His eyes shifted, taking in the appearance of the room he was in.

Bright and yet dimmed ribbons of sunlight slipped through the glass planes that acted as windows. A few managed to slip further into the room, illuminating a black liquid that was familiar. Seated at the wooden desk was Tomohiro who had a pen in his hand. He lifted his hand briefly, ink no longer slipping out of the pen's barrel as he skimmed through the information on the slip of paper.

Akihiko blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing a trick on him. The same bookshelf, books, sofa, plants, shelves with files, and the rug that littered Tomohiro's office were present. Startled, the teenager stumbled back. In the process, his heel was caught by the leg of the sofa. He lost his balance briefly, his eyes drifting away from the present scene.

Was this another vision? Dream? Why was he here? He took another look, his eyes catching the pair of crutches leaning on the wooden desk. Tomohiro was still injured right here. So what was this? Past, present, or future?

The pen in his father's hand stilled and then banged against the surface of the desk as he released his grip. At a moment's notice, the man's hand slipped underneath his desk. He pushed the office chair back, the wheels squeaking from the sudden action. Tomohiro's thumb flicked off the safety of the handgun and his index finger laid firmly across the trigger. The tip of the muzzle was pointed directly at a woman standing six feet away from him.

Akihiko did not recognize this woman. Her green hair was pulled into a side ponytail with a braid running through it. Her eyes were two different colors, one blue and one pink with a plus and minus sign acting as the irises. Her gloved hand raised to grip the rim of her red top hat to tip it toward the Hero. A grin slipped onto the woman's lips as the bells on top of her hat chimed with glee.

The teenager's hand clenched into a fist for some reason. The sound of the bells jingling sounded familiar, like he had heard it so long ago but could not place a direct memory to it.

"Hello, hello, hello, dear Inscribe! Fancy meeting ya here on this fine day!" The woman said with a grin and cheerful tone despite the fact that she had a gun pointed in her direction. "Oh, I've barely spoken a sentence ta ya and ya already look like ya want me dead! No, no, no! Not fitting for a Hero!"

"How dare you show up here?" Tomohiro glared at the woman as he tried his best to balance on his good leg.

"Ta, ta, straight ta the point aren't we, Darling! What a disappointment if ya ask me! Disappointing!" Settled in her right hand was a black baton which she threaded through her fingers with ease. "Why ya need to relax! Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all, nothing, nothing, nothing!"

It seemed like the response given was not one that Tomohiro wanted. The Hero's jaw tightened briefly before he spoke. "Was replacing ɥʇᴉʍ ɐ ʎɯ ....llod ƃnᴉɥʇon?!"

The words cut out as if static was coating their existence to keep Akihiko from hearing them. At the same time, a thin, hairline fracture began to form in a downward stroke. It was beginning to break.

Cheerful and innocent laughter tumbled from the woman's lips. Her chest rumbled and the small shakes of her shoulders caused the golden bells on her attire to shake. The chime filtered through the air, carrying a dreadful sound. "Oh, ya worry too much! It was a simple prank! A joke, a bit of action ta stir up the quietness. Ya need ta be more relaxed!"

The sound of a bullet leaving the barrel of the gun struck the air. Akihiko wished he would have flinched but he did not. Instead, he watched with bated breath as the bullet soared passed the woman's head and embedded itself into the wall. The hole left behind was proof of that. Tomohiro's finger pulled down the safety once again.

"Ah, ah, ah, can't kill me now! Yer not permitted, not permitted, not permitted at all! Otherwise Ario would have been offed quickly! Quickly, Quickly, Quickly! But ya need information, correct?! So ya can't unless ya want the Hero Commission hunting ya down. How do they do it? A? ?ʞool ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ʎǝɥʇ ɐʇ ǝɹɐ ...nǝʌǝ ƃnᴉʎɹʇ sʇnǝdnʇs? Are they?" The woman exclaimed as she shifted her attention to her baton. She balanced it on the top of her two fingers, gazing as it swung side to side with the fear of it falling.

"Where are the others? ...ᴉsɯ dnɐ ɐɹɯ?" Tomohiro questioned. His free hand slipped onto the surface of his desk as he was growing tired of putting all his weight on his functioning leg.

Four more fractures splintered across the surface. Pieces of the scene began to fall off, one side showing a mutated look while the other showed the gleam of amethyst.

"They're fine! Nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong! Not one bit! No need to worry!"

"The..., who created them? Why did you create them?"

Shards started to rain down upon them as more cracks ran across. Each second revealed a new fracture and another piece collapsed.

"Wouldn't ya like ta know? Not yet, not yet, not yet dear!" The woman shifted her gaze, dual eyes peering in the exact direction where Akihiko stood. An innocent smile crossed her lips. "It's not kind ta peek into someone's conversation, darling."

Akihiko's hand slammed against the softness of the cot. His body lurched forward, adrenaline and shock burning through his veins. His hand grasped harshly at the jacket he still wore. His eyes were wide open and he tried to make sense of what he had just seen. His breathing was rapid but it did not feel like he was catching any air. He is not breathing. He is not. Where, where, where? His fingers dug further into the fabric. He cannot breathe. He barely managed to feel two hands grabbing a hold of his arms.

"Breathe, breathe," a soothing and gentle voice said. "Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale."

Hearing the soft tone, Akihiko began to mimic the words spoken to him. It took a few minutes but he managed to regain a steady breathing pace. His eyesight focused and he managed to catch the sight of white. The nurse, Kura, had carefully grabbed onto him and coerced him out of what seemed to be a panic attack.

The crystal gripped onto Kura's sleeves. Fear was drawn across his face. "Dad- I mean call Tomohiro! Please!"

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

Author's Note

So if you're wondering why three or four lines have messed up, unreadable text, it's because that is meant to be. I had to hide some words from coming into light and static over the words couldn't hide it well. So I went extra had just made it illegible.

Other than that, this chapter is 300 words shorter than normal because something happened to my doc and I lost some of the chapter. I rewrote what I could and what was supposed to happen but unfortunately, it was not as long as before.