Blood & Fire

New Beginnings

The train to Yokohama was rather quiet and uneventful, giving Kanashimi plenty of time to mentally prepare for all the ways the meeting might go. Giran had messaged her the coordinates earlier that morning, so once she got off the train, she plugged the numbers into her phone and followed where it told her to go. 

It was starting to get dark by the time she got to where the coordinates led. Nothing indicated where Giran and the others he was bringing were. There were some shops and an abandoned building, but no other signs of life. She observed her surroundings for a moment before she saw a narrow side alley a little further down the street, where she saw a pinpoint of light and then smoke rising from Giran's cigarette. 

"Looks like you finally found us. Thought you might have gotten lost." Giran greeted her as she walked towards him down the alley. There were two others with him, a small blonde girl who looked like she was still in high school and a taller guy leaning against the building. She couldn't quite see his face in the shadows.

"Now that we're all here, we might as well get this started. Follow me!" Giran took a drag off his cigarette and led the group around the back of the abandoned building. Kana followed along behind the others; the younger girl was practically skipping behind Giran.

They reached a door at the back of the building. Giran put his hand out to signal for them to wait outside while he walked in; as he opened the door, a bell rang from somewhere inside.

"Shigaraki! Your League of Villains has been the talk of the town for the last several days. Word on the street is you're about to start something big." They heard Giran say to someone inside.

"And? Who did you bring?" said a raspy voice that must have been Shigaraki. He sounded younger than Kana expected him to.

Giran stuck his head outside and waved them over to come in. The other two went on ahead, Kana following close behind. Giran closed the door behind them. The room was small and looked like a run-down bar, with warm lighting and sparse decorations. There was a man veiled in purple-black shadows with glowing eyes in a suit behind the counter and a gray-haired boy in black clothes with what looked like decomposed hands covering his body in various places sitting by the bar. 

In the light, Kana was able to get a better look at her two peers. The girl was blonde with golden eyes like hers; she had a wicked grin on her face and kept fidgeting with a knife strapped to her belt. The man she couldn't see as well outside had intense, dark burn scars covering most of his arms except his hands, where his skin appeared to be stapled together. The burns continued about halfway up his face covering his ears, and ended just under his nose and upper lip. There were also burn marks directly under his eyes. Hooped piercings connected his skin to his burnt flesh. Despite the gruesome burns, he wasn't the worst to look at, his face had softer features, and his eyes were a nice shade of blue that stood out under his dark hair. He was the first to speak up. 

"So it's really you, huh? I've seen you in pictures, but I gotta say you're way grosser in person." He had a look of contempt on his face staring toward Shigaraki. 

"Wow! It's the weird-hand guy. You're friends with my hero, Stain, right? Cool! Let me be in the League? I wanna be in your group!" The other girl said, extremely enthusiastic.

Kanashimi took the opportunity to introduce herself too. 

"I'm just here to see if our goals align. I'm looking to make the heroes suffer and follow Stain's example." Those words weren't untrue, but the real reason for being here was much more personal. 

"Kurogiri, get rid of these three. I can already tell they're exactly the kind of trash I hate. A brat, a Stain fanatic, and a guy with no manners." Kanashimi heard the slight aggression from Shigaraki's tone.