All she could see was fire. 

She was trapped. Trapped in a building consumed by black flames. And, even though the flames didn’t burn her, she screamed. She screamed from rage and regret and sorrow. How could she not scream? She had just witnessed one of the only people she had left die right in front of her. No, he hadn’t just died. He had been killed in cold blood. 

She no longer cared about escaping as the building collapsed. She just sat there, clutching her hair that had somehow turned black, as though it responded to her frustration. Her eyes were wide and seemed hollow as they took on a crimson red hue while tears streamed down her face. She no longer had any control of herself, and her mind seemed to be lost in despair as she could only listen and scream along with the others who had also been in the building at the time. 

It didn’t take long before the building collapsed in a heap of rubble.

It was only then that silence fell from amongst the screams. The only sounds to be heard were the crackling of the fire and the sobbing of the girl, who, despite all odds, had somehow survived.

A black haired girl going by the name of Mio Kana woke with an irritable start, and she sighed as she rubbed at her eyes, trying to get the nightmare she had just had out of her mind. This was hardly the first time that she'd had this dream, and she doubted that it would be the last. After all, it wasn't exactly a nightmare as much as a memory. 

"I s-suppose this is what I g-get for actually trying to sleep for—for once," Kana muttered in disdain as she stood up from the cold, hard ground she'd been laying on with a large stretch, her joints emitting large, audible pops as she did so. 

Kana Mio hated sleep as much as she loved it. She was always in one of two moods: sleep is for the weak or I need a nap before I murder somebody. It was quite the dilemma at times trying to decide which mood she'd side with. 

This dilemma was generally solved by coffee.

And that's exactly what she was about to go grab. 

Kana had dropped out of school ages ago despite only being fourteen years old and had little in the way of friends, so it's not as though she had anywhere else to be. Though, she did still have her part-time job that she went to after school hours in case anybody noticed her lacking school attendance. If it weren't for the fact that food costs money, she probably wouldn't have dared to get a job, but she wouldn't be caught dead trying to steal.

Well, she takes that back. 

She had recently developed a tendency to steal Detective Tsukauchi's phone or hat whenever the chance arose. Then again, she preferred to call that borrowing since she always gave them back. Besides, it's not as though he really cared anymore. Sure, he may grumble about it all he wants, but he had certainly grown accustomed to it and was mostly just amused or exasperated by her actions nowadays. 

Now, you may be asking, 'How does this homeless, hermit-of-a-girl know a police detective? Did he arrest her at some point or something?'

Well, to answer your questions, no, he did not arrest her. Though, Kana was sure that he certainly strove to. After all, she was the infamous Shirokage, the number one, most wanted vigilante in all of Japan. 

Honestly, she probably spent a majority of her time as Shirokage these days. The only reason she even donned the name Mio Kana and interacted with the public outside of her mask was to work at her part-time job. Then again, her identity as Mio Kana was just as much of a mask as Shirokage was. It was just a name she had come up with after her real identity had been declared legally dead. Everything about her seemed fake at this point, and she was so far deep that even she wasn't sure who she was anymore. 

"You look like shit." Kana was broken from her thoughts by her favorite barista that worked at the cafe nearby her 'home,' which was really just an abandoned building she'd claimed as her territory. She paused in place, tiredly taking a moment to glance at her surroundings.

Somehow, without even noticing, she had managed to make her way to the cafe where she had been planning to grab some coffee. Apparently her mind had said 'coffee,' and her body was, like, 'I gotchu.'

Was it sad that this was not the first time this had happened?

"What else is n-new?" Kana sighed as Chiyose, the barista, got started on her order without a second thought, an ode to just how much Kana frequented the place. 

"Rough night then?" Chiyose raised a brow in concern as she looked at the dark, heavy bags under Kana's dead looking red eyes.

"Something like—like that…" 

Chiyose hummed in response with a slight, sympathetic frown while handing the girl her extra large coffee. "You still applying to UA next year?"

"Mhm," Kana nodded, letting out a small breath of content after taking a large gulp of her still steaming hot coffee. It was something that happened nearly every morning, but Chiyose still cringed every time. She was really just starting to think that Kana had burned all of the nerves and taste buds right out of her mouth a long time ago. "Exams are in t-ten months, so—so I'm a bit busy pre-preparing."

Preparing her fake identity and papers that is. She had made and forged many of the official documents for her false identity ages ago, but she still needed to falsify some records for whatever school she decided that she was going to be 'coming from.' She also needed to make sure that everything was done perfectly. She knew all too well that she couldn't half-ass anything if she wanted it to get past Nezu. Nezu was crazy enough that there was a chance he'd let it pass simply for his own entertainment, though. 

Yeah, she could definitely imagine that. 

"Well, good luck!" Chiyose told her as she began walking out. "I'm sure you'll do great!"

"Th-thanks, Chiyose-san," Kana raised a hand in goodbye without looking back as she exited the small, quiet establishment. 

Walking down the cold, dark streets of Akashika, where Kana happened to live, was oddly soothing. Akashika had been dubbed one of the most crime ridden cities in Japan nearly four decades ago and had been declining ever since. Nobody wanted to move there, and those who did mainly consisted of runaways, outcasts, criminals, or those who just wanted to stay hidden from the world. 

Kana fell under all of those categories. 

She'd been living in the decrepit city since she was eight years old, and she had no particular plans on moving away any time soon. She had originally moved there for a multitude of reasons, but the main reason was that she needed a place to lay low after being declared legally dead. If they knew she was alive, they'd make sure to immediately rectify the mistake, and she had no doubt that they'd somehow involve those closest to her, her family, her friends. Now that was something she'd never allow if she could help it. 

So nobody could know that ₳łⱫ₳₩₳ ₥₳₴₳₥ł was still alive.

Nobody. 

****

"Hmm?"

Kana had somehow wound up walking along the sidewalk next to the trashy shore of Dagobah Beach. Normally, the place was great for finding different types of items to salvage. She'd found a fair few amount of blankets, weapons(she wasn't going to question it), technology, and etc. She had even managed to find a flip phone that she was able to fix up easily enough. 

However, at the present moment, her salvage heaven was actually being cleaned!

Kana had very mixed emotions about it. 

On one hand, it was probably good for the environment. On the other hand, all of the salvageable items were being taken away, and if this place ended up becoming a tourist hotspot once it's clean, it would no longer be a nice and quiet place for Kana to visit. 

Ignoring the whole pros and cons of the beach being cleaned, the beach being cleaned didn't surprise her nearly as much as the people who were doing it. 

Only twenty meters away from her stood two people that she was all too familiar with from a long time ago: Midoriya Izuku and Yagi Toshinori.

Midoriya Izuku had once been one of her closest childhood friends, and Yagi Toshinori had been a close friend of her parents, well, moreso her mother than her father. 

Kana wasn't entirely sure how the two knew each other. 

Then again, Kana knew all too well how big a fan Izuku was of All Might, so it's not entirely strange to think that the pair would cross paths at one point or another. And yes, Kana knew all about All Might and his weakening state as well as how he was one and the same with Yagi Toshinori she had grown up around in her childhood. The main surprise lay in how All Might was actually training Izuku. There was only one explanation that crossed Kana's mind. 

"So he's finally found a successor…" she murmured under her breath. 

Kana couldn't help the upward twitch of her lips as she looked at the pair. Knowing Izuku, he'd make the perfect successor for All Might, and that certainly made for one less thing to worry about in the future. 

She looked forward to seeing the green haired boy grow and become the number one hero like he had dreamed of all those years ago. 

"Hm?" 

Kana's brows furrowed as she noticed a large fridge dangling precariously from one of the large piles of trash that the duo were standing by, and, too enraptured in their own conversation, neither of the boys seemed to notice it until it was already falling and Kana had shot her hand out in slight panic. 

A black fire seemed to appear out of thin air and was quick to curl around and catch the large fridge before it was able to land on either Izuku or Yagi who had only just noticed the heavy appliance. Both males panicked as they looked frantically for whoever had just helped them out. 

"Y-you guys should really be m-more careful in places like this," Kana murmured from where she had snuck up right next to them in a matter of seconds, tilting her head with furrowed brows as the mentor and mentee shrieked in surprise at her sudden appearance. "It's d-dangerous."

She proceeded to ignore Izuku's incomprehensible sputtering as she set the fridge down as gently as possible before kneeling down next to it to see if she would be able to salvage any of its wiring. 

"A-Ah, thank you for that!" Yagi snapped out of whatever stupor he'd been put into in his surprise and looked at Kana curiously as she took a few screwdrivers and flat heads out of her hoodie pocket to help her take apart the fridge.

"Don't w-worry about it."

Izuku and Yagi shared an uncertain look as the black haired girl seemed to pay barely any attention to them. 

"Um, my name's Midoriya!" Izuku managed to get out in his state of nervousness. "Midoriya Izuku!"

Kana glanced at him for a second, causing him to straighten up when he felt like he was being assessed.

"...Mio Kana."

If it was up to her, she'd have as little interaction with the two as remotely possible, but even she couldn't bring herself to completely ignore the pair. 

"What, uh, what exactly are you doing?" Izuku asked. 

"..." Kana's face scrunched up as she tore a few parts out of the fridge and placed them in a reusable bag that she had previously had folded up in her pocket. "Dumpster d-diving."

She stood up, satisfied with what she had managed to salvage from the fridge. 

"D-Dumpster diving?!" Kana looked a bit amused at the pair's surprise, her lidded eyes just barely gleaming with a little more brightness than before.

"For s-support items," she explained simply. "Dagobah B-Beach is the perfect place for those interested in fi-fiddling with technology and inventing but don't have a l-lot of money."

Now that definitely caught Izuku's attention. 

"You create support items?!" He asked excitedly, his anxiety about talking to an actual girl seemingly fading away in a matter of seconds. "Are you a Support Course student at a hero school?! Have you ever created something for an actual hero before? What kind of—"

"Midoriya," Kana cut him off calmly but not unkindly, causing him to clam up once more as his mouth locked shut. "You're r-rambling. One question at a t-time please."

"Oh, uh, right, sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, but still seemed to relax a bit upon seeing that Kana didn't seem to find his rambling annoying. If anything, she looked almost amused. Though, it was admittedly a bit hard to tell since her exhaustion appeared to overpower any other emotions that might make an appearance on her face. "Um, I was, uh, wondering if you were perhaps a Support Course student at a hero school? Since, you know, you mentioned support items."

"No," Kana shook her head. "H-however, I will be applying to UA for the n-next coming school year."

"Really?!" Izuku grinned. "That's amazing! I'm going to be trying to get into the Heroes Course, so maybe we'll see each other! I mean, that's only if we both get in— Ah, that's not to say that I doubt your ability to get in! If anything, I'd doubt myself—"

"Midoriya," Kana had to interrupt him once more by placing a hand on his indescribably floofy head of hair. "Breathe."

The boy sucked in a large breath of air as he flushed upon realizing that he'd been rambling once more.

"I'm sure you'll m-make a great hero," Kana ruffled Izuku's hair lightly. "Don't d-doubt yourself so easily. Doubt leads to—to hesitation and hesitation l-leads to failure." She tilted her head curiously as Izuku seemed to take in her every word like he was dying of dehydration and her words were gallons of water. "How can you inspire others to b-believe in you as a hero if you can't believe in y-yourself?"

Was that too harsh? She felt like that came out a lot harsher than she meant it to. 

"That's some mighty fine advice, Young Mio!" Kana looked up at Yagi through tired, lidded eyes. The man was giving her a smile and a thumbs up as Izuku looked contemplative but otherwise seemed to be taking the advice fairly well. 

Huh. Apparently it wasn't too harsh. Whoo.

"Thank you…" she quietly dipped her head a bit in thanks. "I know m-my presence is a bit unexpected and that you guys are working on cleaning the b-beach, but would either of you mind if I looked f-for a few more things while I'm here?"

"A-ah, not at all!" Izuku flailed with Yagi also reassuring her that it was fine. Kana was honestly pretty sure that neither had expected any sort of visitors to the beach, but that's what happens when you assume things. 

Life sends a big 'fuck you' to the face. 

"Thank you," Kana gave another nod of thanks. "I'll do m-my best to stay out of your w-way."

It wouldn't exactly be hard given how large the beach was, but she figured it'd still be polite of her to at least mention her intentions. Besides, it was in her best interest to stay as far away from them, too.

Without another word or waiting for a response, Kana turned on her foot and began walking towards the other side of the beach, away from the people she would have once considered family. 

Somehow, she knew that this would hardly be the last time that they met. 

*****

2743 words excluding A/N's

My child literally ditched Izuku after only answering one of his questions. RIP.

Finished - May 20, 2022

Bye~