Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Izumi Pov.
I Easily dodge the shadow spears that the Arch Liche just cast at me. Sun Breathing: Thirteenth Form. I danced around all the undead surrounding me while decapitating them with extreme ease. The heads fell off as the bodies dropped. Only for the Arch Liche to keep reviving them.
"Don't you know anything else besides choping off heads?" Tawata asked from behind me with a mocking smile, and I snorted as I rolled my eyes. She was sitting on top of a pillar, easily ignoring all the undead. Or rather, the undead were ignoring her, since I was the one who attacked the dungeon boss it's focus was on me.
"You don't want me to destroy the essence stones, you don't want me to bisect them in half, or cut them into even more tiny pieces. So you're stuck with the severed heads," I said simply with a shrug. Apparently, it was a lot of work for the harvesting teams to loot the monsters' bodies when they're torn to pieces. Who would have thought.
So I stuck with head-chopping. Elegant, easy, and the monsters die quickly. Besides, if the harvesting teams are traumatized by having to carry a cart full of severed heads, that's their problem; they shouldn't have gotten into a profession where you'd find monsters killed in a variety of ways.
Or so it would have been, if the dungeon weren't a damn undead dungeon. The dungeon had already been cleared days ago, and the harvesting team had already taken out everything they could without getting close to the dungeon boss's nest. Once they were done, it was up to Tawata to close it down. From what I understood, they would have sent more S-ranks to take out the Lich, but apparently, it was much weaker than usual. After all, it was only an A-rank dungeon.
Still, the constant re-emergence of the monsters was annoying.
"Get it over with Miyamura, just break it's essence stone, it's the only way to kill the Lich, I have other things to do and you have an internship to finish," Tawata said with more emotion than she should have. I chuckled, she definitely couldn't wait to be rid of me. And I don't blame her. For the entire past week I'd been having the time of my life while driving Tawata crazy.
And not just her, but the other S-ranks as well. When Taylor mentioned they were going to try to harass her into selling Shusui out, I definitely had to do something. And what better time to do it than while he was at their headquarters?
I have to say, some of them disappointed me. Sugimoto was one of them. Really, for an S-ranker, she was quite weak. I didn't know if it was because she was the one in charge of most of the paperwork and everything related to running Draw Sword, or if she was just that weak.
Oh, she was definitely stronger than any A-rank, but for an S-rank, she was at the bottom percentile without a doubt. So, annoying her was effortless.
Unfortunately, it all had to end. While I was still dancing with Sun Breathing, I approached the Arch Liche and before it could get away, I stabbed with a Sunflower Thrust, and pierced the lich's essence stone. The lich's green, toxic energy exploded and dissipated into the air as its skeletal body fell to the ground.
The undead that formed his army collapsed as if their threads had been cut. I sighed as I sheathed Wado Ichimonji once more at my hip before stretching out.
"Well, that was a good warm-up for the internship," I said lazily as I stretched. Tawata approached me while huffing and puffing.
"You're a monster Miyamura, I'm sure no student and most hunters would classify an A-rank dungeon as a 'warm-up'" Tawata said dryly, I looked at her amusedly.
"And the S-ranks?" I asked presumptuously. Tawata's lips pursed and she looked away. My smile only grew.
"You are a very annoying monster," she said simply, I burst out laughing.
"Admit it, you're going to miss me," I said mockingly. Tawata turned to look at me, thouroughly offended.
"The moment you leave Draw Sword, I'll throw a fucking party to celebrate regaining my freedom," she said dryly. I burst out laughing again. Tawata just rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's just go before this dungeon closes. We have to warn the collection team to see if they can get all these monsters out," Tawata said . I nodded, still smiling.
"Huh?" I stopped and saw a small stone with a rune next to the Archliche's skeleton. I bent down to pick it up.
"A runestone?!" Tawata asked incredulously beside me. My eyes widened.
Runestones. Stones capable of granting an ability to the user. A second quirk. It was extremely rare for a monster to drop one of these runestones. And the total value of a runestone was really high, stupidly high, even the weakest ones. The strongest ones found had an astronomical price.
And the reason was simple. If an A-ranker used it, with luck, it could become an S-ranker. But if an S-ranker used it, it had a chance of becoming a national rank. It was something all hunters sought after.
The only thing I still had doubts about was how exactly a runestone worked. Even now, no one has been able to answer that question exactly. Granting another quirk to a person seemed almost unheard of unless your name was All For One.
And not only that, everything related to the gates remained a huge mystery to everyone. From the dust to the gates themselves. Everything seemed like magic, and perhaps it was. But if it was magic? Who or what was generating it? The gates, the dungeons, aura, the beasts, everything. In canon, everything was generated by the rulers to try to infuse the world with magic and make it more resilient.
But here? If the rulers didn't exist? Who was causing all this? I didn't know, but I was really curious.
"Do I have to give it to Draw Sword?" I asked directly while looking at the runestone. I didn't really need a second quirk; I was satisfied with my swordsmanship, so it wasn't really a loss for me.
I looked at Tawata, who had a conflicted look on her face as she stared at the runestone. After what seemed like a mental battle raging on in her head for several seconds, Tawata sighed tiredly.
"No, keep it. You killed the boss, it's yours by right. It's practically a rule unless the loot arrangement has been decided beforehand," Tawata said almost patiently. My eyes widened even more in surprise than before; I hadn't expected that. I certainly expected her to take it without hesitation.
Miss Tawata, you have risen by several levels of respect in my book.
"If you're really sure," I said carefully as I slipped the runestone into my pocket. Tawata followed the runestone until it was out of sight and sighed once more.
"Yeah, I'm sure, just... don't mention it to anyone. I'd really rather no one knew," Tawata said with a grimace. I paused for a few seconds, but nodded. I could understand. If anyone from Draw Sword knew she was practically giving away a runestone, I'm sure she would be in big trouble. Especially with Goto so insistent on getting promoted to national rank.
The weird thing was, she didn't really bother with my swords during my entire internship. Maybe it was something about not shitting where you eat. Or she just didn't care about my swords. Goto must have money. Lots of money. She could get any weapon she wanted. She proved it by offering insane amounts of money for Shusui.
But I guess what she wanted wasn't Shusui itself, but everything that came with it. Shusui is Ryuma's weapon. There's a lot involved in that. Much was expected of the next Shusui wielder, especially for the Japanese. And Taylor was in their sights now.
"Thank you, Miss Tawata." I said honestly. Tawata seemed surprised by the sudden display of respect, so I smiled more mockingly at her. "I guess I could cancel the last prank I had planned for you." Tawata's expression immediately fell.
"I hate you, Miyamura. I really hope we never meet again." Tawata groaned, and I burst out laughing. "Let's just go damn far away from each other." Tawata moaned as she turned around and started walking. I continued to chuckle as I followed her, or rather, as Tawata dragged me along so I wouldn't get lost.
Getting to the exit was easy. Once we stepped through the gate, Tawata nodded to a person, who immediately signaled to the collection team. They quickly began running with all their gear through the gate. The boss had a watch in her hand, keeping track of the time as she entered. After all, they had to leave in less than an hour.
"Okay, Miyamura. You have all your things, right? " Tawata asked me. I looked over at my empty briefcase and backpack. I gave her a thumbs-up. She smiled widely. "So, the internship ends right now. You're not my problem anymore." Tawata said, completely happy. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"You could stop smiling so much when you say that," I said dryly, though with a hint of amusement.
"Sorry, I can't help it. I'm trying." Tawata said happily. I rolled my eyes. "Then see you, Miyamura. I hope we never meet again." With that, Tawata ran off in the opposite direction and got into a car, which immediately started. I heard a whistling noise behind me.
"It's incredible how quickly she was moving away from you. You made her suffer." I looked over my shoulder and saw Azula looking at me amusedly.
"Zula," her name rolled off my tongue easily as a smile grew on my face. I turned and pulled her into a kiss. She reciprocated immediately, though sadly, she pulled away terribly quickly.
"Relax, there's a ride waiting. You can drop by once we get to UA." Azula said playfully, licking her lip. I pouted, and she just rolled her eyes before grabbing my things and starting to walk toward the parked car.
Once we got in and were in the back seats, the car began its journey, I climbed onto Azula's lap surprising her.
"Yeah sure, wait until UA." I said teasingly before kissing her fiercely. Azula moaned, but immediately latched onto my body. I quickly deepened the kiss and slipped my tongue inside Azula's mouth, drawing out another moan as she reciprocated with her own.
I don't know how long we kissed heavily. But we only stopped when the woman who was our driver cleared her throat several times while looking at us, blushing. Apparently, we had already reached the train station, and we both groaned in disappointment when I got off Azula's lap.
Reluctantly, we got off, just in time to board our train back to Musutafu. We had about an hour of travel time, which meant I had time to climb on top of Azula once more. I shifted once more to get into the same position only for Azula's hands to land on my waist, keeping me firmly planted in my seat.
"For Agni's sake, could you calm down until we get to UA?" Azula asked, completely blushing. I smiled mockingly at her.
"Zula darling, don't act like you don't want this," I said hoarsely. Azula blushed even more, but she controlled her body perfectly and didn't move. I snorted and stopped trying to move. "Boring." I snorted. Azula sighed in relief.
"As much as I want to kiss you, Izumi, I really don't think it's a good idea to do that in public." Azula cleared her throat as she looked away. I raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"If exhibitionism doesn't bother you, then I dont care either" I said with a wide smile. Azula's face cracked as she stared at me in disbelief.
"Not that!" Azula growled, embarrassed. "You still have your hero costume on. You're already trending because of the pictures you posted in that Draw Sword jacket. It's best not to add fuel to the fire." Azula explained, and I rolled my eyes.
"If I really cared about what people said about me on social media, I wouldn't have uploaded those pictures in the first place just to annoy Tawata," I said playfully. She rolled her eyes.
"I know, but behave yourself. The last thing I want is for my face to be on the internet in such a compromising position. My brother will go crazy." Azula snorted.
"And doesn't that make it better?" I asked with a mocking smile. Azulo rolled her eyes, but a smile grew on her face.
"In most cases? Yes, annoying my brother is one of the reasons I live," Azula agreed with a smile. "But in this case, the last thing I want is to hear him try to lecture me on how to behave chivalrously with a man. And I definitely don't want him to involve Ursa in that." Azula rolled her eyes. I chuckled.
"Okay, we'll leave it for later. But tonight you have no escape." My voice dropped an octave, Azula bit her lip as she looked me up and down.
"Who said I want to escape?" Azula purred as she bit her lip, I moaned loudly.
"You're making it hard not to throw myself at you," I growled in frustration, Azula gave me a smug smile. I sighed. "You're mean, Zula. Now let's talk about something else. How was your training with Endeavor?" I asked to distract myself. Azula took the change of conversation as such and began talking.
She'd already informed me via video that she'd managed to enter the Total Concentration Breathing state, and she was really good at it. Apparently she'd made up some excuse to Endeavor for the sudden power boost. Because yes, apparently improved Cheat-level breathing would enhance a breath-based fire Quirk. Who would have expected that? Not me.
So now she was stuck back at the beginning of her training trying to control several times the amount of fire she could generate before and being the perfectionist that Azula was, she had a long way to go to achieve it.
It seemed like she wanted to do it using a sword. She wanted to completely master Nichirin's sword so she could use it in unison with her quirk. And that was definitely something I was going to root for. I really wanted to see how far her quirk would go.
We continued chatting about various things throughout our ride to Musutafu, and then we took another taxi to UA. Once we approached the dorm, I could feel all the presences inside the building as a group of insects settled on my costume. Half of our classmates were already inside. Taylor and Ruby were two of them.
"Izumi!" A red missile hit me hard as I opened the bedroom door. I caught her firmly while Ruby was hanging on me.
"Ruby, I missed you." I said with a smile before kissing her softly. Ruby sighed against my lips as she relaxed in my arms. Unfortunately, this time I was the one who separated us when I heard Taylor walking closer.
"Heya Cuddlebug," I said with a smile as I put Ruby down and walked over to Taylor.
"Izumi," Taylor said, taking a step forward. I grabbed her hips and pulled her toward me to kiss her too. I'd missed the taste of her mouth—hers, Azula's, and Ruby's—and it had only been a week. I was really feeling bad.
"Um," Azula interrupted. "We really should take this... reunion to your room, Izumi." Azula said amusedly as she looked over at us. I reluctantly broke away from Taylor and saw several of our classmates spying on us before turning my head when I looked in their direction. I snorted, but nodded.
After a few polite greetings with the rest of our classmates, we headed to our room. I quickly took off my costume, not caring that the others were standing in front of me as I undressed. The girls simply made themselves comfortable in their seats and stared at me, clearly enjoying the view.
When I finished changing I grabbed my costume to put it away when the rune stone fell to the ground.
"What's that?" Ruby asked curiously.
"A runestone," I said honestly, which stopped all three of them in their tracks. I guess they knew what that meant.
"You... stole it from Draw Sword?" Azula asked carefully. I looked at her flatly.
"Do you really think I'd steal something like that?" I asked dryly. I only received three expressions that said it all. I snorted loudly. "Betrayal. But no, oddly enough, it was dropped by the last dungeon boss I defeated before finishing the internship. Tawata let me keep it because, well, I killed the monster, so technically it belonged to me. Although it's better if no one knows. Especially Draw Sword." That made the three of them grimace.
Actually, the trouble Taylor had with Draw Sword didn't leave any good impression on Ruby or Azula.
"That would be best. They're quite insistent... I ran into Goto Ryuko as I was leaving the store." I tensed up completely upon hearing Goto's name. The only reason I wasn't freaking out was because Taylor was right in front of me.
"You met Goto?! And you didn't tell me?! We've been talking for hours! " Ruby exclaimed in surprise, Taylor grimaced.
"I wanted to wait until we were all here?" Taylor said awkwardly.
"I guess everything went well since I see Shusui and you're healthy" Azulo said seriously, Taylor sighed, but nodded.
"Yes, the old man protected me and called All Might to intervene. Goto ran off. But I'll definitely have to be more careful when I leave UA." Taylor sighed. I sighed in relief, as did the other two.
"Well, I don't think Goto would be that dumb to try anything, though. she's already in All Might's sights, so if anything were to happen to you and Shusui shows up out of nowhere in Draw Sword, anyone could definitely connect the dots." Azula said with a frown. Taylor snorted.
"Thanks for the vote of faith," Taylor said dryly, Azula smirked at her. "Let's change the subject. She won't be able to do anything while we're at UA, just be another nuisance," Taylor growled. We all nodded, and then Ruby exploded in my direction.
"So what kind of runestone is it?!? What skill does it have?! Are you planning to use it?! What kind of monster dropped it?! " Ruby asked quickly in rapid succession. I hummed softly.
"I have no idea what ability it has, but the monster was an Arch "A mutated lich, it could control shadows in addition to reviving the undead. He had a few other varied abilities, but nothing major. Also, runestones can have different abilities than the monster that dropped them." I said simply, and Ruby vibrated with excitement.
"Even so! That's amazing, you'll practically have a second quirk! " Ruby exclaimed. "And you didn't answer on if you plan on using it." Ruby said quickly. I grimaced.
"I really haven't decided yet," I said honestly. It really wasn't something I needed. My swords and my Haki would take me to the top. It wasn't really necessary to get a second Quirk to be able to
"Boring," Ruby said with a pout. I rolled my eyes in amusement.
"You have nothing to lose by using it. You can always decide not to use that new ability. But it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it," Azula said wisely, before stopping and scrunching up her face. "I sound like my uncle." She said in horror. The three of us burst out laughing, while Azula glared at us.
I looked at her carefully. Being her, I thought she was trying to get the runestone to gain more strength. She noticed the look and rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to steal from you, Izumi. I still need to improve my new firebending." she shrugged amusedly. "I'd wait until we were married and your possessions became our marital possessions, then it wouldn't be stealing," Azula said.
"You can't blame me for thinking that, your thirst for power is almost as much as Goto's." I said mockingly, Azula wrinkled her nose and looked genuinely offended.
"Please don't compare me to her. I have more class," Azula replied playfully as she tossed her hair back. I chuckled.
"A thousand apologies, Princess. By the way, remind me to make you sign a prenup," I said playfully, Azula raising an eyebrow at me.
"Are you sure? You said it, I'm a princess, you're the peasant." Azula said simply, I paused to think about it.
"Hey, good point, no prenup." I said simply, Azula smiled widely.
"Good boy." Azula purred, causing the other two girls to giggle in amusement. I rolled my eyes, but had a smile on my face.
"You can always save it until you decide," Taylor finally said with a shrug. I nodded. I guess that's what I'd do. I went to my underwear drawer and placed it at the bottom. I rolled my eyes at the amused expressions the girls were giving me.
"So? Did you enjoy the internship? " I asked with a smile as I changed the subject and plopped down on my bed. "I just went into some dungeons with Tawata and then we just trained in Draw Sword. For some reason I didn't really meet any other S-ranks to train with, it was just Tawata and me most of the time." I said boredly.
I really didn't know Why that had been. Though, looking back on our first encounter, it's almost certain none of the Draw Sword S-ranks wanted to waste their time on a student, even one from UA. I really want to know who sent out the internship applications.
"Oh, it was wonderful! After Merlot, I went on Grimm extermination missions with Mom! We even entered a door! " It was B rank, but it was amazing! " Ruby exclaimed happily.
"I did training and patrols every day with Endeavor and Todoroki," Azula said with a satisfied smile. Taylor couldn't help but snort.
" Yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys had a good time, while I spent my time tending to a store," Taylor grunted bitterly. I chuckled.
"Anything you want to share with the class, Taylor?" I asked playfully, Taylor glared at me.
"You know what happened? Your crazy grandpa made me get beaten up every day," Taylor growled. I chuckled. The other two girls weren't even fazed by the mention of my grandpa; after all, Taylor had been very vocal about complaining about him every night.
"If you got beaten up, it's because you needed it," I said, Taylor froze and growled in frustration.
"What the hell does that mean!? Your grandfather said the exact same thing!" Taylor exclaimed, I stopped stiffly.
"Wait... you really don't understand why he made you do that?" I asked carefully. Taylor glared at me.
"I think it's obvious I Do not," Taylor grunted, I grimaced and sighed tiredly.
"Okay, time for an exercise," I said simply as I stood up. "Stand up, turn around, and remove all the bugs from the room, all of them," I said simply as I moved around the room. Taylor simply looked at me. "Just do it, and you'll understand everything," I said simply. Taylor grunted, but did as I asked.
I grabbed several things from around the room. A book, the alarm clock, a shoe, and Shusui. I stood behind Taylor, facing her back. Taylor was standing anxiously. I let out a bit of my fighting spirit and threw the first three things at her head.
Taylor moved just as I expected, easily dodging the three objects without looking at me. I then threw Shusui, sheath and all, into the air, spinning so that it hit right above her head. Taylor raised her hand and grabbed Shusui. She then turned around with a frown and an impatient expression.
"So what did I have to prove? " Taylor asked frustratedly. I smiled softly at her.
"Taylor, you needed to learn how to dodge without your bugs, how to use your natural reaction," I said softly. Taylor frowned.
"Why? It's the best way to use them. I can react faster with them, I can track everyone around me without any problem, I can monitor the entire area with them. It gives me spatial supremacy," Taylor emphasized forcefully. I smiled at her.
"Exactly." I said simply, which only frustrated Taylor further. I sighed. "No one denies that you're strong, Taylor, and your bugs are practically a trap. With your bugs, you were able to dodge most of the hunters that attacked you on the first night, while on the second, you were hit by at least 10 times that amount. And that shows exactly why you needed it."
"Can you get to the point?" Taylor growled. I gave her a pitying smile.
"Taylor. There are no bugs in the dungeons." I said bluntly, which completely froze Taylor, in fact, she went completely pale. Ruby and Azula, who had been watching until now, also looked surprised. And I wouldn't blame them.
Bugs are everywhere. We're practically used to knowing that there are bugs everywhere. It's something universal, like, the air. We know it's there. It's not something we constantly think about. But the dungeons were practically a completely different dimensions, isolated, just filled with monsters. Bugs? There weren't any. And I had entered a couple of dungeons during my internship.
"I... oh." Taylor said stupidly, I sighed.
"You're strong, and it's not bad that you rely on your quirk, and it's possible that you can get a swarm to the door, but it's possible that at some point inside the dungeons you'll run out of bugs. And you saw exactly what would happen if you got caught without them. If B-rank and A-rank hunters could beat you up, what do you think would happen against monsters? " I asked simply. Taylor took a step back as if she'd been slapped.
"b-but-" Taylor tried to retort. I walked over and grabbed her hands.
"I'm not saying you're weak, Taylor. There's little to nothing I can already teach you with the sword. You're strong, and you have an insane level of responsiveness, no one doubts that. But right now, you're practically calibrated to react to your insects' stimuli. You just have to... recalibrate them so that even with your normal senses, you can react just as quickly." I explained gently. Taylor bit her lip hard.
"I... I guess you're right," Taylor said plaintively.
"I'm sure you'll make it, Taylor!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed with a huge smile. "You'll catch up in no time!" she added once more.
"Stop crying, Taylor, you'll get it soon," Azula said. Taylor smiled slightly and nodded. Good. I guess everything went well. At least she doesn't seem so bitter about Grandpa's training anymore. Should I mention it was also basic training for Observation Haki? Nah, she may have taken the first steps, but she still had a long way to go.
There was that fire in her eyes that I found so attractive. That tireless determination.
I guess I've waited too long.
Author's Note: Regarding the runestone, a second quirk for Izumi is still under consideration so it may never be used, but I wanted to leave the option in case you want to add it later.
Now, I even decide to do it. There are several options. Several people asked for Ten Shadows Jujutsu Technique Kaisen, and I have no problem with it, in fact, I quite like it and have some ideas for adapting it to the world.
The other options would be something related to swords. And there are quite a few options, honestly, from Zanpakutou, shikai / bankai, to more basic powers. Maybe even some that have nothing to do with swords, like Sho, stopping time. Kusakabe from Fire Force or Rolo Lamperouge by Code geass .
As I said, it's still under discussion. Maybe I'll take a vote if I'm undecided.
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.