I frowned as I beheld the empty training field. It was a simple, empty expanse of bare ground several hundred meters across devoid of vegetation or any other distinguishing features. The ground was packed hard, trampled and upturned by countless claw marks.
Ryuko had rented it some time ago, once it became clear the forest was not an appropriate location for sparring. When two multi-ton dragons go at it in a forest, there's going to be damage. And with her having graduated from UA she needed a place to train with her Quirk, even when I wasn't with her.
Today, we were supposed to be sparring. After the discussion in the restaurant two weeks ago, Ryuko had promised to clear her schedule a little, and a couple days ago the school had sent a message saying evening math lessons were cancelled. Seemed like they'd finally canned Fujiwara.
But something must've come up, since it was twenty minutes past the time we had agreed upon and there was no sign of Ryuko. I glanced at my phone.
Twenty-three minutes, now.
My finger hovered over the call button, weighing my options. Even if she was constantly late, Ryuko would have at least called me if she knew she was going to be this late. If it was an emergency, I didn't want to distract her. But if she was actually coming, I didn't want to just leave without saying anything.
After a few moments, I pressed the button. If she couldn't talk she just wouldn't pick up, and I'd leave her a message that I'd gone home.
It rang for a while, but just as I was about to end the call it was picked up.
"Hi!"
I did a double take, because that was not my sister's voice. It was much higher pitched and younger, full of energy.
"Ah, um." I floundered. "I must've had the wrong number?"
I really didn't see how I could've, considering it was the same one I used on a daily basis, but it was the first response I could come up with.
"Oh, this is Ryukyu's phone, this is just her intern speaking-"
I frowned, and not just because the voice sounded way too young for a student.
"She doesn't have an intern."
"Oh, um, I only started today?"
Was that a question or an answer?
Before I could formulate a response, I heard a muffled voice call out in the background.
"Oh, uh, Ryukyu's asking who I'm talking to so…"
"Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, her sister." I responded, slightly bewildered. "Did you just... grab her phone from her desk when it rang?"
"...Yyyyeeeesss?"
At that point, I heard the phone being grabbed from her hand, and it was Ryuko's voice that came through the speaker next.
"'Zaki? Is that you?"
"Yeah. I guess you're not coming over for the sparring today?"
"Wait-" Ryuko paused, probably to look at a clock. "It's already past three?"
She sighed, and I could picture the way she was rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry 'Zaki, I got distracted. I got an intern application from UA today and I've been going over it all day and I just…"
"It's okay."
"No, it's not okay. Uh, I don't think I'll be able to make it today, but I'll see about something next week?"
"Nah. It's alright."
I hung up on her, sighing in disappointment. Another afternoon wasted.
I put my hands in my pockets and started walking away, towards the city. The training field was located on the outskirts of Musutafu, next to a large park on the opposite side from home. A straight path through the city center would probably be faster, but it'd also be really crowded, and I preferred to walk the long way around. I pulled out my headphones and put on some music, an instrumental soundtrack from eighty years ago I'd found on the internet.
Music had a way of clearing my head and calming me down, making it easier to think. It made it hard to stay in a bad mood.
The day was actually quite beautiful if you could discount the cold, and I was wearing five layers of clothing for that. The sun shone overhead, illuminating the fresh snow covering the park, the paved pathways layered with frost.
The river crossing through the park had yet to ice over, and dark water churned beneath as I crossed a small wooden bridge, admiring the view and taking off the headphones for a moment. Save for the noise the river made, it was quiet. No birds, no speaking, no cars… nothing. It was… pleasant.
But the cold was starting to seep into my limbs and ears so I put the headphones back on and kept moving, accelerating to a jog. Might as well get a little bit of training out of all this.
The river fell away into the distance, replaced by a winding pathway past thickets of pines. A background of occasional bird calls and songs began to appear, feeder posts dotting the landscape. An irrational desire to transform just to shut them up popped in the back of my head, but I just turned the volume up on my headphones to drown it out.
Time passed. I was making good time towards home, lost in my own thoughts, when I felt something tap my shoulder lightly.
As I turned to see what it was I saw the briefest glimpse of a clenched fist before my right temple exploded with pain. I staggered and fell, my elbow catching roughly against the pavement.
Before I could even begin to form a reaction something impacted my stomach like a sledgehammer, knocking the air out of my lungs. I scrambled onto my elbows, gasping for air and tensed for the next blow to fall.
Instead, there was a noise like somebody was speaking, but my ears were still ringing from the first blow. I shook my head, hard. The headphones were lying on the ground next to me.
"-thought you were so clever huh?! Thought you could get away with it?!"
I recognized that voice. I blinked repeatedly, and as my vision focused I could make out the figure of Katsuke Fujiwara, standing over me. He looked even more disheveled than usual in his hoodie and loose pants, his eyes slightly bloodshot.
"Well guess again!"
I winced in pain, the loud noise sending waves of pain through my head. I had no idea what he was on about, but I could worry about that later.
Picture the bottle.
It's drilled into the heads of every child to never use their Quirk in anger, over and over again.
You are the bottle.
But there are limits to what people are expected to tolerate, even in this society.
Now uncork the bottl-
A kick crashed into my ribs, sending me sprawling on the ground once more, the back of my head hitting the pavement hard. With my concentration broken the energy field fizzled out, the transformation interrupted.
"You thought I didn' come prepared, huh? Do you think I'm a fuckin' amateur? I know how your Quirk works. You need to concentrate to consciously activate it."
He tapped a finger to his temple, smiling. "I read your file. They removed my access but they weren't quite fast enough."
"Mistä vit-" I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. It was like a yo-yo was bouncing around the inside of my skull. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"When they fired me, you fucker! Your sister came down on the administration like a sack of bricks."
What?
"I didn't…"
I hadn't asked Ryuko to do that. The topic was never even broached. She wouldn't...
"She told the principal I'd 'verbally assaulted' her beloved kid sister. That they needed to get rid of me." Fujiwara foamed, but I wasn't listening.
Had Ryuko gone behind my back? She would've had to have gone out of her way to make sure I wouldn't know about it. Would she really do that? Maybe he was lying? But the anger seemed genuine?
My head hurt just from trying to think. I tried to pull myself up, but a wave of nausea rolled over me, and I fell down on my elbows.
Can't fight. Can't run. Trapped. I felt a tendril of panic rising up my throat.
"Nothing to say for yourself, huh?"
Nothing to… nothing to say.
That was it. Keep him… keep him talking. Draw it out. Hope somebody comes.
That I could do. With a clear goal to work towards, I could shunt aside the panic and focus. Keep him talking, make him think I'm beaten. He seems to enjoy that. Don't talk back, he'll only get angry. Ask questions instead.
I pulled myself into a crouch, fighting to keep my dinner down as I maneuvered my right side away from Fujiwara.
"How-" I croaked, my throat dry. "How did you even find me?"
As I spoke, I ran my fingers down the side of my pants, feeling for the blocky shape of my phone in my pocket. Tracing it's outline, I found the distinct button on the side.
"Easy. I know where you live. A real fancy house you got." Fujiwara sneered. "After that it was just a matter of followin' you."
And I hadn't even noticed. I shook my head- I needed to focus.
One long press, two short, one long, three short, followed by the small vibration of confirmation. When Ryuko had explained the usage of the panic button the first time around, I'd thought it stupid and pointless. If I got out of this alive, I was never complaining about her attention to detail again.
Help would be coming. I could take a small amount of comfort in that. Now, all I needed to do was hold out until then.
"So let me get this straight. You… you got kicked out of Hero School?"
He frowned, and I did my best to conceal the wince at how obvious my stalling tactics were. Smooth talking convincingly was very much not on my list of strengths.
"That's right. I had to watch people like you get everything handed to you, while I was booted out because I "lacked potential". And now you think that you can just take away everything I had left? I lost my job, and now I'm going to lose my apartment. I've got nothing left!"
He leaned in closer and raised his hand, fingers splayed.
"Well, it doesn't really matter. Because soon enough neither will you."
His fingers suddenly began twisting, the tips opening up into hollow tubes, tiny grooves lining the sides. I realized I knew all too well what those were.
Those were gun barrels.
So that's what his Quirk was.
Well. Fuck.
What happened next was pure instinctual response.
Faced with death staring you in the face, there's only two options. Fight or flight. And flight wasn't on the cards.
So I did the only thing that I could.
I headbutted Fujiwara.
Now, as a rule, legacy Quirks are nowhere near as strong as true Quirks. Dad could drive his horn through several inches of solid steel plate, while I couldn't do anything close to that outside my dragon form.
But, nonetheless, I had horns. And by necessity, I had fairly strong neck muscles, if only to deal with the extra weight. And so, driven by do or die desperation, I could put a fair amount of force into a headbutt.
There was a terrible crunching sound as the flat side of my forward horn slammed into his face, his nose cartilage shattering in a spray of blood.
Fujiwara staggered back, blood streaming between fingers clutching his shattered nose, but I was in no position to exploit the opening I'd created. The usual adage that a headbutt hurts you as much as the other guy can be mitigated with proper technique, and stops really applying if you have actual horns. However, there was a truth in that headbutting does still hurt, and doubly so if you happen to have suffered two nasty hits to the head, beforehand.
My head felt like it'd been split open with an axe, and a bit of warm blood was dripping down my horn and into my eye. I wanted- needed to run, right now, if I wanted to have any chance of making it out alive, but the ground seemed to be swaying beneath my feet.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!"
And it seemed like my brief respite was over. If retreat is impossible, then the only way is forward.
I weighed maybe half of what Fujiwara did. I was pretty tall for my age and in decent shape, but he was an adult man whilst I was barely a teenager. I had some fighting experience, but that was a lifetime ago, in a different body. If he wasn't lying, Fujiwara would've had far more recent combat training. My only advantages were a dubiously useful legacy Quirk and raw, manic desperation to live.
There was no way in hell I was going to win.
But god, I had to try.
If there was one piece of fighting knowledge I remembered from all those years ago, it was to control the legs. That's the key. If you control the legs, you control the fight.
Instead of trying for another headbutt, I went low and tackled Fujiwara, hooking a leg behind his in an attempt to trip him. I gave it everything I had, but the difference in mass and strength was just too much. He staggered and hobbled backwards, struggling for footing, but didn't fall.
A knee slammed to my stomach, sending me staggering back, away from Fujiwara. There were stars in my vision, but I could see him raising his hand and-
There was a burning sensation in my chest. My ears were ringing. I glanced down, and oh that's a lot of blood-
I fell, but the sensation felt distant, like it was somebody else's back crashing on cold, frost-encrusted pavement. My vision was blurry, but I could see Fujiwara, a wisp of smoke extending from his fingertip.
He- He just shot me.
It was getting harder to breathe. There had originally been three pinpricks of pain on my chest, but now a dull ache seemed to be spreading across my whole body.
I'm dying, aren't I?
I- I can't die. I h-have so much to do. I have a life! A sister, a family! I can't just die, not again.
I could feel warm, sticky blood on my chest. Wisps of mist were coalescing in the cold air, rising on small columns towards the sky.
I didn't want to die.
But what could I do? The Fucker was just… just standing there. He looked- he looked shocked almost, like he hadn't meant to go this far.
That made me feel angry, more than anything. He was shocked. What fucking bullshit. He'd attacked me out of nowhere. How fucking dare he be shocked that he'd- he'd…
Killed me.
I could feel my head getting light and lighter, my thoughts growing fuzzy. There was nothing I could do.
Well.
Maybe?
I could try transforming. It's a long shot. But it's the only one I've got.
Dragon would be tougher. I don't know if wounds remain. Never had reason to test.
Everything's so sluggish. Time's running out. I have to try.
Imagin-
It's hopeless. Can't focus. Hurts too much.
Imagine the bottl-
No!
It slipped away again.
It's impossible. I can't do it.
Imagine the bott-
Hnnng.
I don't want to die.
Please!
God, if you're listening, I don't want to die.
Imagi-
Fuck, I'll take anything. Satan, if you're listening, help me.
Imagine the bottle. You ar-
It was no use. I felt my head floating.
I was going to die.
Again.
For some stupid, meaningless bullshit. If I'd kept my damn mouth shut, we wouldn't be here. But I hadn't and so we were, so what was the point?
What was the point in any of it? Look at me, I literally got handed a new life, with fucking superpowers. And not just anything, but a superbly powerful Quirk. A loving, well-off family. A chance to become an actual, no-joke Superhero. All the advantages in the world laid out for me, and what do I do with them? Get shot and killed by my bitch of a substitute teacher in some godforsaken, nameless alleyway.
What a fucking joke.
Well, I suppose I can't complain. Most people don't get another do-over after fucking up one life.
The pain was really starting to set in now. My chest was burning, tendrils of liquid fire seeping across my body. It was getting harder to think.
But… that was just it. Most people don't get a do-over. For whatever reason, I'd been given another chance, where billions of others lived and died. Maybe I didn't deserve it, but I had it nonetheless.
I owed it to at least not let that life slip away without a fight.
When I went to meet my maker, or whatever else awaited me, I wanted to be able to stand tall and say "I fought every step of the way here".
Hnnng.
I shifted, the sensation of movement so distant I wasn't sure I didn't just imagine it, and did everything I could to just focus.
The last thing I thought of before all conscious thinking was washed away by an ocean of pain was the bottle.
Then, once more, there was darkness.
I don't want to go.
------
Reality slammed into my consciousness like a freight train, an overflowing stream of images, sounds, smells, sensations, all in painful clarity- the park, blood staining the snow, but viewed from above, and Fujiwara suddenly looking so much smaller so much less threatening.
An overwhelming wave of nausea washed over me, my stomach churning like a grain mill. Vomit spilled out between my jaws and onto the snowy pavement.
That was when it really hit me.
I was alive.
And not just alive, but in my dragon form. I could feel the strong, steady heartbeat hammering my chest, the muffling sensation of being clad in an armour of interlocking scales, the comforting heat in my chest, the confusing yet somehow natural sensation of suddenly having three additional extremities, and all the other small things that marked the shift.
I checked over myself. The plate-like scales that covered my chest seemed untouched, and it certainly didn't feel like I'd been shot. I was nauseous and dizzy, but I wasn't dying.
Which meant-
I lifted my head toward Fujiwara, and I saw several emotions flash through his face. Anger. Fear. Regret.
I charged.
What ensued could not even at the most generous of terms be called a fight. Previously Fujiwara had had gross physical superiority on his side, but now the situation was more than merely reversed. At least then we had been operating on the same orders of magnitude.
I bowled the man over with ease, roughly knocking him into the snowy ground. Before he could move, a massive, clawed forelimb came down on his chest, pinning him to the ground like a mouse trapped by a hunting cat.
I lowered my head to look him into the eye, and I could see real fear as fangs longer than his forearm came uncomfortably close to his face. He was sweating profusely, though that could probably be attributed to the sheer heat emanating from the furnace in my chest- the snow-encrusted pavement was rapidly melting in an expanding radius around us, columns of mist rising towards the bright evening sky.
Honestly, more than anything else, I wanted to kill him.
Tear out his throat, watch him bleed out and feel what I'd felt.
I could say it was an accident, I was just defending myself. Nobody would ever know.
But…
I pictured Ryuko's face, twisted with disappointment
I moved my jaws away from Fujiwara's head. I couldn't do it.
This act seemed to trigger some sort of defiance in him, as he brought his arms- still free, stupid, stupid- up and fired. I closed my eyes in an instinctive reaction to the thunderclap of noise, but instead of the burning sensation of being shot what I got was more like… I guess somebody chucking golf balls at me really hard? It still hurt, but the pain was mostly superficial, muffled by my scales.
That was one way to find out they're bulletproof, I suppose.
I tried to pin his arms but he kept firing at random as he struggled to get free, and I felt one of the bullets pierce the membrane of my right wing. A jolt of pain passed through the limb and warm blood began trickling down it's surface.
Seeing no other option, I shifted the majority of my weight on my forelimbs. With his hands pinned between just short of three metric tons of angry dragon and the pavement, there was a crunch followed by a yell of pain, and finally the gunfire seemed to stop for good.
There was finally silence in the alleyway. Well, aside from Fujiwara's whimpering, but I wasn't inclined to give him much in the way of sympathy.
I breathed in and out, scalding-hot air puffing in the cold air. The wound on my wing was aching, but it was nothing I couldn't deal with. The actual membrane itself had little in the way of blood vessels of nerves. For a few moments I just focused on breathing. In and out. I was alive.
I was shaken out of it by the sound of sirens coming closer. Turning my head to watch, I saw a white and black police patrol car approaching along the pathway. It pulled to the side as it came close, two officers of Musutafu Police Force piling out.
"I-"
"Holy shit you have to help me!" Fujiwara suddenly yelled out. "This crazy dragon is trying to kill me!"
Oh.
Shit.
My eyes flickered down at Fujiwara, pinned beneath my claws. This probably didn't look very good on the outside.
"Get off him and put your hands in the air!"
And now there was a gun pointed at me. Again.
I stepped back and off Fujiwara, but I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to put my hands in the air as a dragon. I'm a quadruped, I would just fall over.
That was when the sound of wingbeats filled the park.
I'd spent thirteen years of my life living with Ryuko Tatsuma. During that time I'd seen her in almost every state of emotion thinkable. I'd seen her happy, playful, serious, sad, disappointed, jealous, embarrassed, stern, disgusted, surprised, hungry, afraid, and more.
But I don't think in all of those years I had ever, at any point, seen her well and truly angry. Disapproval? Sure. Frustration? All the time. But genuine anger?
It was something to behold as she dropped to the ground, the earth shaking with her landing. She wasn't even wearing her costume -she must've dropped everything when the panic button went off- but there wasn't a soul in Japan who wouldn't recognize the Number Ten Hero of Japan as she glowered down, the distinct smell of ozone in the air. Fujiwara's face had gone pale as he looked up at her.
"Officers." It's not really something you notice yourself, but from the outside perspective turning into a dragon has a way of distorting your voice. Obviously the vocal cords are completely different, and your voice ends up sounding a lot deeper and scratchier, like it was being run through a distorter. "Would you like to tell me why you are brandishing weapons at my sister?"
To their credit, the police took it in a stride. The older-looking officer lowered his gun slightly, addressing Ryuko.
"Ma'am, we responded to a distress call from a panicked pedestrian, telling there were gunshots coming from this area. When we arrived we reacted according to the situation as we saw it. He-" he indicated Fujiwara, "-called out for help, and we moved to defuse the situation."
Ryuko whipped around to glare at Fujiwara, and I saw a momentary, almost imperceptible flicker of surprise in her eyes before she glared down at him. Leaning back onto her hind legs, she tapped a clawed finger on a device strapped to her wrist. She'd shown it to me once- a communicator manufactured by Pro-Hero Support Item companies, outfitted with all the latest features: an adjustable strap, EMP-proofing, all the capabilities of a commercial smartphone, and more.
A voice started to play from the device.
"-nothing left! Well, it doesn't really matter. Because soon enough neither will you."
Another feature was the ability to link panic buttons directly into it, receiving GPS data and audio recordings from them once triggered. For a few more seconds there were sounds of struggling, Fujiwara shouting and then-
Gunshots.
Ryuko turned off the recording.
"I received an emergency message from my sister here, and came as fast as I could." She scowled. "Now can you please point the guns somewhere other than the victim?"
The officer sighed, and holstered his gun, moving to check up on Fujiwara. "Sorry Ma'am, standard procedure."
"I, um-" Suddenly all attention was on me, and I flinched. "What happened was, I was walking home when Fujiwara attacked me. He- he shot me. T-that's his Quirk. I managed to use my own to s-subdue him."
I wasn't sure if the officer would've believed me by myself if his expression was any indication, but with Ryuko backing me up I guess he didn't want to argue.
"You know this man?"
"He, um, he w-was my school teacher?" I hated the tremble in my voice, no matter how justified it may have been.
"How old are you?"
"She's twelve, officer, this is getting ridiculous." Ryuko bit out, clearly starting to lose her patience.
The man's eyes widened slightly in realization.
Oh.
I guess with the transformation and the voice- he mustn't have been able to tell.
"Alright then." I'll need to call dispatch and get an ambulance for him. You said his name was Fujiwara?"
"K-ka-katsuke Fujiwara."
He nodded and began walking over to the patrol car.
Ryuko approached me, her eyes drawn to the blood on my wing.
"Are you alright?"
I couldn't help it- now that she was here, now that it was over, the shock finally began to set in. And with it went the last of the composure I'd been holding on to.
Dragons can't really hug comfortably but I did the next best thing, pressing to Ryuko's side, ducking under her wing. Now that adrenaline was fading I could feel the tremors in my limbs, and I was confident if I had tear ducts they'd be leaking right now.
Ryuko seemed surprised at the contact, but instead of shying away leaned in, pulling her wing over me.
"Shhh. It's alright. I'm here now."
"I-I was dying, Ryuko." I choked out.
"Sssh. You're not dying. You're going to be okay. It's just a bit of your wing, it'll be fine."
"It's- it's n-not-"
"Everything's going to be alright. Can you shift back to human for me?"
"I- don't k-know. I was shot. B-before I transformed. I was- I was going to die."
Ryuko shifted, craning her neck down to look me in the eye.
"And you transformed to get through it?" There was a note of alarm in her voice that hadn't been there before.
I simply nodded, and she put a clawed forelimb on my shoulder.
"Okay. We need to get you to a hospital, as soon as possible." She seemed to contemplate for a second, then went on. "Fastest way to go is flying, and I can waive the license for an emergency. Do you think you can manage it?"
"Y-yeah. I t-think so." The bleeding had stopped by now, leaving a small rip in the membrane, but it was tiny compared to the full surface area of my wings.
"That'll have to do. And whatever happens, don't shift back until we're at the hospital."
She turned to the officers, who were checking on Fujiwara.
"I'm taking my sister to the hospital. You can contact my agency for a statement."
For a moment I was afraid the police were going to argue, but then the senior officer nodded.
"We'll want to talk to you at a later date, but health and safety takes precedence. We'll call an ambulance for him." He nodded towards Fujiwara.
Then we were off, Ryuko leaping into the air with me right at her heels.
She led the way, speaking to her communicator and checking on me every few moments over her shoulder. The wound on my wing hurt a bit, sure, and it was quite cold so far up, but it was nothing I couldn't bear. I took the time to try to calm down and get a hold of myself. Bad enough that I'd been stammering like an idiot in front of the police.
Ryuko could reach speeds of over a hundred kilometers per hour on overland flight, and though I couldn't match her I could manage sixty in a hurry. The city scape whipped by below us, and in a manner of minutes we reached Musutafu Central Hospital.
It was a large, blocky building with a large helipad on the top. It seemed like they were prepared for us, as the landing area was cleared and marked with red flares.
The tricky part would be the landing. Taking off and keeping aloft was fairly simple despite my relative inexperience, but landing in such conditions was going to be tricky. It was getting dark, and the forewind was substantial.
Ryuko knew that too, as she pulled up closer to me, her voice carrying over the wind.
"Don't worry about the landing. Nobody's giving style points, as long as you can hit the helipad. It can take an impact."
It seemed like her words would be tested soon enough as I spread my wings and began slowing down, only to find my increased air drag was allowing the winds to pull me off course. I adjusted, and then some more, but the end result was a faster approach than ideal, and I landed heavily on the helipad, claws skidding on the metal.
Ryuko landed gracefully beside me, a claw on my side steadying me. I folded my wings, and pulled myself upright.
A bald, bespectacled man in a white coat strode towards us, a hand making broad gestures towards the side as he struggled to make himself heard over the wind.
"Follow me!"
The elevator was a wide, spacious one, probably doubling for cargo as well. Ryuko transformed to give me more space, keeping a comforting hand on my side the whole time.
As the doors closed and the noise of the wind disappeared, the doctor introduced himself with a bow.
"Dr. Shojiro Matsubara. Ryukyu I've worked with before, but I do not believe we've met before?"
"Y-yeah. Ryuuzaki Tatsuma."
"A pleasure to meet you. Now, I believe you were shot, before using your Transformation Quirk?"
"Y-yes." I replied. "At least t-three times. In the chest. I bled, a lot."
"I see." Matsubara nodded gravely. "First of all, do I have your permission to use my Quirk on you?"
"Um-"
"It's a simple sensory Quirk. As long as I'm touching you, it allows me to scan your internals. It's faster and more precise than getting X-rays.."
"Alright."
He pressed a hand to my chest, and it felt like an electric tingle running through me. He nodded, and withdrew the hand, running his fingers through his beard.
"It seems like you're in perfect health aside from the wound on your wing, as far as I can tell with your altered biology. It seems to have already stopped bleeding, however, so we shouldn't have to worry about it for now. According to the registry your Quirk shunts material not part of your body into storage when you shift, correct?"
I nodded, and he continued.
"I assume that's where the bullets have gone, unless they exited through the back. That's good."
"But… won't they reappear inside of me if I turn back?"
"It's… hard to say. There's still so much we don't understand about Quirks, and each is unique in its own way. But either they do, or they don't. If they don't, that's our best case scenario. But if they do it'll definitely still be easier to remove them than digging them out now, if they were still inside of you."
I guess that made sense.
"So what's going to happen then?"
"Well, it's hard to say."
"What do you mean?"
"In treating Pro-Heroes, I've come to find that most Transformation-type Quirks can be divided into three groups, based on how they interact with wounds present on the user when activated. The first type simply replicates the wound on the new form. That is not the case here, as is evident. The second possibility is that the Quirk simply heals the wounds as it transforms the flesh into its new form, allowing it to function as a form of regeneration. Ryukyu, that is how your Quirk works, correct?"
"Yes. Wounds are healed between transformations." She frowned. "I didn't want to assume anything about Ryuuzaki's, however."
Matsubara nodded. "Sibling Quirks are often very similar, like the two of you, but we should assume nothing. Especially for genetic half-siblings."
Ryuko looked like she wanted to say something to that, but then thought better of it.
"The third possibility, however, is that the Quirk records the state of the previous form, and restores it when the transformation is reversed. This is why we'll have an emergency room waiting when you turn back, if the wounds return at full force."
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened, and he led the two of us deeper into the building.
"Is it really okay for me to be here?" I tested my weight on the floor. "I mean, is the floor going to hold?"
"Oh, don't worry." Matsubara assured me as he led the way. "Public buildings are constructed to a high standard, because we have to be able to service a wide range of body types created by Quirks. You're on the upper end, but still well within the safety margin."
The hallways were bustling with activity, and it was all I could do to keep my tail from accidentally knocking things over or getting into anyone's way, all the while trying to avoid scraping the floor with my claws.
Eventually Matsubara led us into a room filled with medical equipment, another doctor waiting for us.
"This is Doctor Yoshiko Fujioka." The short, brown-haired woman bowed. "She will be assisting me."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Now, I would like for you to revert your transformation, so that we can assess the situation." Matsubara continued.
"Alright."
I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes, bracing for the pain to return.
Picture the bottle. Imagine your body being squeezed into the bot-
I staggered a step backwards, my eyes flying open, feeling nauseous, heartbeat hammering in my ears. I was treated to the sight of my heavy, clawed forelimbs.
"It didn't work?"
Matsubara's question hung in the air. Instead of replying, I tried again, exactly as I had done every day for the last nine years or so. I pictured the mental images Mom and Ryuko had taught me to help consciously activate my Quirk.
Except nothing happened.
"Why can't I…"
Why can't I transform?
I felt panic tightening in my chest again, but Matsubara stepped forward, taking control of the situation.
"Please, calm down. You have gone through a highly traumatic event today, the stress and mental strain of which cannot be discounted."
Yeah.
Yeah, that had to be it. Deep breaths.
Matsubara stepped forward holding a hand out towards me.
"Could you attempt it again? I would like to try using my Quirk to see if I can identify what is going wrong."
I shrugged, and leaned forward to his touch.
"That is odd." He noted as I made the third attempt. "The Quirk Factor is moving, the Quirk is activating, and then it simply shuts down."
"What does that mean in practical terms?" Ryuko asked.
The two doctors shared a look, before Matsubara replied. "It means we don't know what's causing it. We'll need some time to make calls and confer with my colleagues- this is not a situation I've come across before."
"I'll need to take care of some business as well." Ryuko said, looking at me. "I'll be back as soon as I am able."
"Please, lie down and try to rest if you can." Matsubara added.
I laid down on the floor, dozing off in short order. My sleep was light and restless, half-formed shapes and images flicking across my mind. I wasn't sure how long it was until I was awakened, my keen hearing picking up on the sound of the door opening.
Ryuko stepped inside, smiling softly as she saw that I was awake. I'd always been a light sleeper, to the point that she'd never been able to sneak into my room when we were younger.
"Sorry if I woke you up."
I blinked a couple of times, shaking off the last of my sleepiness.
"It's alright."
"I just got off from giving a statement to the police. Everything should be okay for now."
"So I'm not in trouble for what I, uh, did to Fujiwara?" I asked, suddenly remembering the unnatural way his hands and fingers had been bent after I'd stepped off of him, bone sticking out from underneath the skin.
"They'll want you to come in at some point to give a full account of what went down, but with the audio recording and physical evidence it should be an open-and-shut case of self defence."
"Oh. That's good."
We fell into a silence for a few moments, before I opened my mouth again. There was something that had been digging at me for a while now.
"Ryuko?"
"Yes?"
"Did you arrange to get Fujiwara fired?"
"..."
"Please." I prodded. "Did you?"
"Yes." Ryuko admitted.
"...Why?"
"Why- What he did was unacceptable for someone supposed to be in charge of your education. So I looked up his name and sent a complaint to the school administration."
"No, why didn't you tell me about it?" I shifted my position on the floor to look at my sister, raising my head so that we were at eye level. "I mean, it certainly would've been easier to just ask me for his name than going through the school records."
"Would you have agreed?"
"Would that have stopped you?" I countered, and Ryuko flinched. "There are other ways to deal with people like that than getting them fired."
"I didn't have him fired. The school did."
"Of course they did, you're the Number Ten Hero!" I felt the heat in the room rise alongside my anger. "You're always saying you need to be careful with everything you do because of the amount of influence you wield. But now it's okay for you to pressure the school?"
"Sometimes it has to be done." Ryuko folded her arms. "There are times when avoiding conflict has its uses, but people like that need to be taught their actions have consequences, or they will never stop. To believe otherwise is pure naivete."
"This isn't even about him." I would have scowled if I could have, a little bit stung by her words. "This is about why you went out of your way to keep me out of it."
"This is why." She gestured at the two of us. "After the restaurant, I just… didn't want to have an argument. I didn't want you to have to worry about this too."
"And look where that got us." I muttered.
"I had no way of knowi-" Ryuko began, a bit of indignation creeping into her voice, when the doors to the hospital room were thrown open.
"Ryuuzaki!"
Mom was at my side in an instant, Dad following just behind. Matsubara and Fujioka came last alongside a doctor I didn't recognize, closing the door behind them. The three of them stayed at a respectful distance as my parents fussed over me.
"It's alright sweetie." Mom said, a bit of tears in her eyes "You're going to be okay."
"I…" I hesitated. "I can't transform back."
"We heard, the doctors filled us in. It's going to be alright."
"Ryuko told us about what happened." Dad butted in, a comforting hand on my shoulder. "What you did was very brave."
I didn't really feel that way, but I wasn't going to argue.
Matsubara cleared his throat, stepping closer as he gestured at the third doctor.
"This is Doctor Kaete Watanabe." The portly man bowed.
"I am honoured to meet all of you. Dr. Matsubara has told me of your situation, and we agree that, with your permission, I may be able to help you."
"His Quirk allows him to heal people at a touch. We wanted to see if that could help resolve Ryuuzaki's situation."
"Alright."
Watanabe stepped forward, touching a hand to the side of my head. I felt a pleasant warmth spreading from his fingertips, a faint stinging sensation on my wing as the small rip closed shut. But aside from that...
"I… don't really feel much different."
Matsubara frowned. "Could you try transforming again, just for clarity's sake?"
Picture the bottle. Imagine your body being squeez-
The world spun around me. I felt a faint buzzing grow in my head. The others were speaking, but it felt distant, unreal.
I was still a dragon.
"Well." Matsubara said. "I can truthfully say that I've never come across a situation like this, but after conferring with my colleagues there are… several explanations. There are records of people suffering brain damage and being unable to shift back, or discovering late at life that what they thought was a Mutant-type was in fact a Transformation."
"It's also possible it is some kind of internal mechanism or evolution of the Quirk itself." Doctor Fujioka added. "Truthfully, we do not know. Exactly how Quirks truly function is still an unexplored field of science, and many aspects of each unique Quirk can only be discovered by trial and error."
"Isn't there a Pro-Hero with the ability to turn off Quirks?" Mom asked.
"Nullification-type Quirks do not remove the physical effects of the Quirk, they simply disable them." Ryuko answered.
"That is correct, though it should still be tested. Mind control is another possibility to consider, but they are rare and often… finicky in what they can accomplish."
"So what do we do about this?" That was Dad speaking.
Matsubara was silent for a moment, weighing his words.
"Obviously, we're not going to be giving up. First of all we're going to run some checks, and we'll continue to explore possible new ways of approaching this. It is possible this is only a temporary state of affairs, but…"
He paused for a moment, before saying aloud what everyone present had already realized but were refusing to think of. "I'm sorry, but you may need to prepare for the long-term possibility that Ryuuzaki will not be able to shift back to human form."
PROLOGUE ARC END