April 10th, 2128

Sky-blue eyes drifted over text in a computer, being made up of long lines regarding lessons and set weeks for activities — a syllabus. Rubbing her stomach gently, the woman in her hero costume remembers the big bruise she received. 

"Midnight." A fatigued grunt followed a man's voice, getting closer before stopping just behind her.

Releasing her hand from her stomach, Midnight swivels her chair around and exclaims. "Eraser! I heard you didn't expel your students this time. I assume you like them already?"

"They're… alright." Eraser Head, otherwise known as Aizawa Shouta, huffed. "A few are going to be troublesome but at least they have their motivations, unlike the last batch."

"It feels nice to be a teacher, no?" 

"I need my sleep, Midnight. I can't watch hyperactive children all day, that kind of time could be used to sleep." Aizawa stops to point an accusing finger at Midnight. "Also, don't dodge what happened last night with small talk."

"What if I tell you that I have a coupon for a cat cafe? It's for around two hours of stay, what do you think?" Midnight applies the classic strategy of bribery.

"You probably don't have them on hand."

Midnight confidently pulls out two coupons from her drawer, swaying them in front of Eraser Head. "Nope, here they are— Hey!"

Eraser Head swipes the two coupons before stuffing them in his pockets. "Confiscated. So can you tell me about what happened?"

Grumbling for a bit but eventually relenting, Midnight recounts the failed arrests. "...They've recently added a new member, I couldn't tell what she looked like because of the gas mask she was wearing. As for her hair... it's a bit hard to tell amongst the darkness but I caught a glimpse of red."

"She?" Eraser Head noted "...Curious. Face aside, what can you remember?"

"Hmm…" Midnight pondered. "She's about 170 cm tall. Based on her voice and attitude, she could be in her late teens or early adulthood. Oh, and she's got C cups from when I got close to her."

Eraser Head stared at Midnight with even more displeasure than usual, trying hard to ignore that Midnight knew a villain's cup size. "...Aside from physical descriptions, what else?"

"When I fought her, she's talented at batons. So… martially trained. Although I can't get it out of my mind that Gouger and her have similar— no, pretty much the same style of fighting."

"The same? You're confident about that."

"Believe me, they were moving in the same way, just replace the spikes from Gouger's quirk with batons and you've got what Queen Crimson can do. A lot of quick jabs and some swipes while using footwork to close the gap and quickly move into position."

"Queen Crimson, that's her villain name?"

"Mhm, found it out after Gouger tried to call for her after I cornered him."

"And how exactly did you get beaten? I recall this small group being made up of small-time villains. The only dangerous one is Prophet, that's why I asked you to take my place."

Midnight frowned. "I had the upper hand, aside from Prophet and the girl, I had three knocked out and everything under control."

"Then you started to play with them." Eraser Head sees Midnight sheepishly twirl her hair in embarrassment. "...I figured as much. Still, a pro-hero losing to an unknown villain. I need an explanation."

"They were in total sync. I had to work hard the moment Gouger somehow broke free from my quirk. Each time I had to defend my back, another was coming for my front at the same moment. I tried to break their rhythm by counter-attacking but they didn't get phased."

"Broke free? How?" 

"I'm guessing it's the quirk of the girl."

"I see…" Eraser Head nodded. "Well, I can look up the quirk registry for anything similar. The in-sync trait troubles me. One, I'm confident Gouger never had a protege. Two, Queen Crimson is a new addition, there's no way for them to build experience working together in such a short time."

Midnight argues, "But what if they did work together? But just from before for a long time. Or you just didn't see her all along? I saw your reports, Prophet always slips by committing another crime without any hero witnessing the act. It's how you discovered that he could tell the future. Maybe Queen worked with him but you just didn't know about it?"

"It's only a guess. Either way, I can only start building a profile for this Queen Crimson. A possible quirk is negation but in a limited capacity." Aizawa clicked his tongue. "I need to find out more."

"Don't overdo it. If you want to take a break from going out at night, I and Present Mic can always help."

"Thanks as always. I'll get going… there's a bunch of children I have to address."

<>

A bow, a smile, and a wave. Sometimes a mix of two, other times all of them in succession — that's what Kia did for every customer that walked in.

While it wasn't necessary, Kia had to adhere to some standards.

Never would she expect that much effort put in just for a person going inside a convenience store. This was Japan where its society had a hundred years extra to reinforce the culture of politeness.

Tiring.

Kia's cheeks were hurting, no wait… her entire body as well. Soreness was all she felt, especially in her arms. Last night's shenanigans began catching up with its consequences.

Who knew exerting yourself beyond what you can do was painful? 

She barely won that fight with Midnight, Kia imagined what her life would look like if she didn't. Stuck in a single cell room for years with no family members to even contact or friends to talk to while inside. A nightmare. There was free food and a home but that wasn't living, Kia needed the outdoors, she was used to the free-roaming lifestyle.

But Kia won… somehow. It was all possible because of one thing — her quirk. 

"I don't even know what it is…" Kia whispered to herself.

"Excuse me?" The high schooler in front of Kia asked. 

Snapping out of her idle thoughts, Kia quickly bowed and apologized. "Oh! Uh, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind and… ah, I'm not supposed to talk too much— I mean yeah here's your things!"

Kia knew that things needed to go fast, perhaps getting lost in thought was the worst thing she could do while on the job.

The boy nervously smiled. "Thanks…" 

What followed was the quick exit, a small chime indicating that the door had closed followed.

Kia almost went for a quick nap right there on the table. 

"Rorinsanda?"

Jolting up, she faces the source of the voice. "Yes?!"

"Are you holding up well for your first day?" It was Tanaka quietly approaching. "That was quite the reaction for some bread."

"That was a lapse in attention, it won't happen again. Also please, you can call me Kia."

"Kia then." Tanaka chuckled. "I won't reprimand you for it. Especially since it's only your first day."

Kia slowly nodded, contemplating whether to ask something before eventually speaking. "...Tanaka, where can I get my quirk tested around here?"

Putting a hand under his chin for a moment, Tanaka answers Kia with some uncertainty. "Hmm, there should be clinics that can accommodate a quirk diagnosis. But this late in your life, what made you suddenly ask for a test?"

Kia thought of an excuse to say. "Just a hunch that I might be, er… wrong about my quirk. How much is the fee?"

"5,000 Yen I believe."

'I'll get my crime money tomorrow anyways, let's just trudge through today and see what kind of quirk I have.' Kia returned her attention to the cash register, thanking Tanaka along the way. "Thank you, I'll have to go there sometime tomorrow. Matsuura might have to do overtime again sometime tomorrow."

"Ahaha… there's no need for him to do that. I pick up the slack in the late hours. I sleep in my office during the day."

"Are you sure you're okay? Well… since you're an old man and all."

"I'm old, not dead. I can still work." he proudly proclaims. 

Kia grimaced. 'Even in the future Japan still has that kind of work standard. Godspeed old man.' She does a mental salute.

<>

A meeting is taking place in a singular room with chairs and tables enclosed by unfinished and dank bricks. Five people were present, and only one of them spoke in a commanding tone.

"You… lost them?" A ruffle from a man's hair followed. "How much are we talking here? Let's see… 200,000 for the smuggler's fee… somewhere around 748,000 for the custom orders… and 1,200,000 value of lost materials. Along the way, we pay off a few employees and government officials, so we can say we lost around 3,000,000 Yen in a single night. Where were the heroes I paid off? How, and I emphasize, HOW… did that warehouse get raided?"

The guard from the facility meekly answers, "I- I- I don't know, Giran! It was fine the entire week, the only day the heroes nearby were all busy or on leave did someone attack us!"

Giran extinguished his cigarette on the ashtray, standing up with an unsatisfied look. "On leave? Busy? I paid them off to look over the products! What will I say to our clients here… It's not like the world of crime has insurance. Pah!"

"...We could try getting them back?"

"Hmm, 'we'? Sorry, but the deal is over the moment I heard you lost that much. I'm blacklisting every distribution facility your boss owns."

"Wait!" The guard pleads. "I'll get killed for that!"

"Your life is not my problem. I have to reimburse everyone to restore faith in my services. Trust doesn't come cheap, letting you and your small gang take the fall is part of the cost. To that, this meeting is over."

"But—" the guard gets his arms locked by two others, dragging him away and leaving Giran alone with another person sitting on the chair in front of him.

"How will you fix this?" The man beside Giran asks.

"I will offer to reimburse part of the damages and help to identify those responsible for this mess, including reporting any of the heroes that were supposed to be involved."

The man nods. "We will not forget this mistake but your response is satisfactory. I'll be sure to ensure we maintain our partnership, Giran."

"As always, I appreciate that. Professionals have standards after all. I made a mistake in partnering you with a faulty middleman, so I will rectify it."

"Until next time."