Chapter 12: Meeting

[Author's Note: Yo comment on this note about how you think the story is progressing and what areas I could improve it might seem slow and the gathering of people might be boring but its necessary, I'm trying to make things make sense while not completely revealing everything at once. If you have some constructive criticism I would appreciate you telling me even if it might seem harsh if it means I can be better it's alright.]

[PS: If your question is if I'm going to be more constant then the answer is yes I'm trying but I'm lazy.]

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

"Now when you put two ones together they add up to two!" The teacher collided both her hands that each had a single finger pointed up until they both collided and became a single hand holding up two fingers.

"Oooooooo." The student's eyes widened in amazement at this unforeseen witchcraft.

Shin was clicking his pen completely ignoring everything except his thoughts, a week had passed and the fact that Mr. Compress found their hideout still bugged him.

He had hacked into all the CTTV's cameras in the area though it was useless because even his shadow didn't even show up.

Today was the day that he told Mr. Compress to call his burner phone. If for some reason Mr. Compress didn't call him then he would discard the phone as he wasn't going to constantly stick by a phone in hopes for a call from a dress up magician.

*Buzz*

*Buzz*

"Um Mrs. Beppu, may I use the restroom?" Shin stood up and Mrs. Beppu smiled at him.

"Of course Shin."

Inasa raised an eyebrow but decided he needed to focus on these numbers as they were getting harder to count ever since 20.

"Mr. Compress." Shin answered the phone and changed his voice back to Hiroshi.

"Greetings, I am calling you at this time as you wished." Mr. Compress politely greeted.

"I moved recently so I am thankful that you waited a week like I requested."

"Oh? If your worried that I might do something to a strange-"

"Mr. Compress, let's meet later tonight at the Mustafar local park." Shin didn't want reassurance over the phone, instead he wanted to meet in person.

"Hmmmmmm very well, how about 9:00?"

"Perfect." The call ended and Shin took out another phone from his backpack and started typing something.

'Meet at Mustafar local park at 9:00' - Shin

I was getting a little bored waiting - Dabi

Shin walked back to his classroom, his recent actions had left the underworld in immense tension.

The Yakuza was furious at the attack and they started to become more aggressive, Yu Hojo was apprehended however after Shin had stolen all the dirty money he awoke and started carrying out Shin's brainwashing.

Setting his office on fire Shin commanded him to burn all evidence since his standing in the Yakuza could be compromised if he let the authorities get their hands on so much evidence.

Yu Hojo was convicted of arson though the charges didn't stick since the lawyer the Yakuza hired was a really good one.

He was set to be released tomorrow and it was then Yu Hojo would text his burner phone and Shin would lure Overhaul so he could get a quirk that could heal without him feeling incredible amounts of pain as well as an amazing quirk.

"Alright everyone now let's talk about shapes!" Mrs. Beppu clapped.

"Psssst Shin, how many sides does a circle have?" Inasa whispered while Mrs. Beppu wasn't looking.

Right now they were given a worksheet with all sorts of shapes and basic addition with some subtraction.

Shin had filled it out and then continued planning on how to slowly absorb the Yakuza, there were a lot of options though almost every single one resulted in an internal war which would cause rival gangs to join in so what he wanted most was to minimize the shrinkage of the Yakuza force's while maximizing his gains.

"Zero it's a circle." Shin answered and Bakugo's ears twitched as he started to erase his answer.

"And a square."

"4." The two started to scribble down his words.

"Shin, please don't give them the answers." The teacher overheard him and turned around.

"I was only listing off my favorite numbers teacher." Shin made up an excuse and Inasa/Bakugo vigorously nodded their heads.

"Mines 8!"

"Mines 3!"

Squinting her eyes she turned around however her attention now shifted in their direction, class finished an hour later much to Inasa's dismay.

"Shin!" Toga threw herself at Shin.

"Watch where you're going!" Bakugo hissed as Toga bumped his shoulder.

"Shin shin shin." Toga kept muttering Shin's name on repeat while digging further into his embrace, completely ignoring Bakugo.

"Tsk." Bakugo didn't want to waste his time with the freak trio and left, a green haired boy was about to say something though shut his mouth seeing Toga glare at him causing him to scurry off.

Shin along with Inasa walked Toga home as she had purposely been showing up late so she could see him more, after the third time in a row her mother stopped showing up to the school all together saying Toga was 'ungrateful'.

"Noooo~" Toga whimpered as Inasa pried her off.

"Toga I'll see you tomorrow." Shin patted her head right as Inasa got her off of him.

"STOP!" Toga was about to lunge on Shin until Inasa dug his feet into the ground stopping her.

"Hmph!" Toga pouted walking back to her door while kicking a couple of rocks on the way.

"Bye Shin~" Toga showed a smile before walking into her door completely ignoring Inasa.

"Crazy vampire." Inasa scrunched his eyebrows a little upset Toga kept ignoring his presence.

Shin and Inasa started walking back to the orphanage until Inasa ran in front of Shin, seeing his serious look Shin sighed.

"No."

"Why not!" Inasa stomped his foot as Shin knew exactly what he was going to ask.

*Sigh*

Then after he cleared his eyes a deadly look appeared in his eyes as he rushed at Inasa, seeing this gaze Inasa flinched taking a step back.

Shin appeared in front of him grabbing his neck, raising him into the air Inasa started to squirm under his grip.

"Because you lack the instinct and training, not once during that did you instinctively use your powers that I have been training you to use." Shin dumped a cold bucket of water on Inasa, dropping him to the ground.

The only counter to stubborn people in Shin's experience is reality, reasoning is useless when only the cold hearted truth wakes people up.

*Cough*

*Gasp*

Inasa held his neck coughing up every once in a while, Shin leaned down at Inasa's pathetic behavior.

"Inasa if I asked you to kill someone would you be able to do it now?" His words made Inasa flinch as his silence answered Shin's words.

"Then you're not ready, if you hate it so much improve yourself." Shin stood up while continuing his walk.

Inasa grasped the dirt but released it knowing that Shin was right, stumbling up he just followed Shin back not saying a word the whole time.

Inasa didn't think too much about Shin's words thinking he was overexaggerating, twirling some wind his fingers he sighed while gazing at Shin's back.

Later that night

Shin had made sure no one followed him and changed into Hiroshi, arriving in the park Shin saw Dabi playing with a blue flame in his hands.

"Dabi." Shin greeted and Dabi bowed his head before getting off the table he was sitting on.

"Nice piercings." Shin commented on seeing his new nose and ear piercings.

"The old man is a retired tattoo artist that also did piercings." Dabi responded by rubbing the multiple earrings on his ear showing the tattoos on his arms as the sleeves rolled down revealing a part of them.

"And the tattoos?" Shin pointed as the sleeves started to droop down more.

"My arms have been burned for as long as I can remember so it was weirding me out that they looked so...…healthy, so I asked the old man to tattoo all the places where I had burn scars."

Dabi had gotten used to the feeling of not being burned; however the constant burn scars that haunted his body since he was a small child made him unable to accept his normal healthy bare skin.

"The old mans really talented." Shin rubbed his chin in admiration at the immense detail, Dabi rolled up both sleeves so as to give him a better look until a sudden smoke cloud appeared a little bit away from them.

Both of them immediately jumped back as Dabi ignited fire around him and Shin pushed the smoke away with a strong gust.

"Greetings!" Mr. Compress appeared as Shin fully blew the smoke away revealing Mr. Compress's showmanship.

"Great, it's the clown." Dabi rolled his eyes while sighing in a bored tone.

"Oh look it's the cliché emo kid." Mr. Compress fired back a little insulted at being called a clown.

Dabi scrunched his eyebrows as the flames in his hands became more aggressive as if wanting to consume everything.

"At least I'm not dressed like a failed street performer." Mr. Compress twitched behind the mask as he was exactly that.

"Well I'm glad knives aren't a part of my routine or you might get some self inflicting ideas." Dabi started to laugh, however his eyes became full of rage.

Shin was watching from the side a little curious as to how far this would go so instead of interrupting them, he thought that they should settle this before they start their conversation since they both could go on a tangent while he's talking about how much they hate each other and Shin didn't like being interrupted.

"Why don't you go to a nearby street corner and get ignored since none wants to see a third rate magician."

"Third rate?!?!" Mr. Compress gasped as four marbles appeared in his hands, Dabi took another leap back.

Seeing Shin's use of his powers he could guess that touch was essential for turning things into marbles.

"Take it back and we'll continue the show." Mr. Compress squinted under the mask and Dabi smiled.

"Who in their right mind would voluntarily watch a shitty show." Hearing these painful words four marbles were thrown at Dabi who immediately shot his fire at them.

*Snap*

The marbles turned into four knives before they could be engulfed in the blue fire, Dabi saw this and shot more flames outward.

One of the knives made it through causing Dabi to dodge, tilting his head to the left a thin cut formed on his left cheek as some blood dripped down.

"I thought you said you didn't bring any knives." Dabi lifted an eyebrow and Mr. Compress twirled his cane.

"A entertainer never reveals-"

"His secrets yeah yea and you called me cliché." Dabi rolled his eyes, crossing his arm as Mr. Compress took a deep breath.

"Don't let hecklers get too you." Mr. Compress whispered to himself trying to calm down; however he took out six marbles contrary to his remarks and immediately threw three forward at high speeds as Dabi's words got to him.

Three huge boulders formed above Dabi who used his fire to propel himself backwards weaving through all three.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The boulders crashed into the ground causing dirt to rise off the ground making his vision dusty, seeing that he used his flames to propel himself upwards.

Dabi lifted his arms into the air as a huge ball of blue fire condensed in his hand then rapidly expanded on for it to be condensed again.

Two bolas were thrown at Dabi who just ignited his body causing them to burn up upon impact, the dust cleared up revealing Mr. Compress holding a pistol pointed at Dabi who finished and just gently held a fiery sun above his hands.

"So it's a Tie huh?" Shin asked, holding his hand on his head while scratching his cheek with the other.

"Tie? I could incinerate this bastard with the flick of my wrist." Dabi scoffed then upon hearing him Mr. Compress then had a scoff of his own.

"Is your wrist faster than a bullet?"

"You wanna find out." Both squinted at each other and Shin sighed.

"Mr. Compress if you don't want to chat then by all means shoot him but if you want to have a civilized conversation then please sit." Mr. Compress tightened his grip a bit before turning the gun into a marble making Dabi smirk in victory.

"Very well, I apologize for going off script." Mr. Compress put the marble in his front pocket while adjusting his attire.

"Dabi stop drawing attention." Shin tiredly commanded and upon hearing him Dabi stopped using his quirk allowing the blue flames to dissipate.

"So now that you have gotten that out of your system let's chat shall we?" Shin smiled as Mr. Compress sat down.

Dabi sat on the same side as Shin and returned to his usual bored atmosphere as Mr. Compress composed himself.

"Yes, I would like to apologize for that performance again as hecklers really get on my nerves." Dabi lightly scoffed at being called a heckler and Shin smiled.

"I understand you are dedicated to your craft so of course you would be very passionate about your performance." Mr. Compress nodded greatly at Shin's words since entertaining was everything to him.

"From our last confrontation you said that you are a villain, correct." Shin gestured to Mr. Compress who nodded.

"Well I am against the hero system so being a villain is only natural." His words made Shin raise an eyebrow.

"You do know that by identifying yourself as a villain you indirectly play a part in the hero system you so despise, correct?" His words made Mr. Compress flinch before shaking his head.

"No, I wish to oppose heroes by-"

"By being a villain?" Shin wanted to feel out Mr. Compress but all he was understanding right now was that he was playing right into the hero's hands.

"...." Mr. Compress remained silent as it hadn't been long since he decided to become a 'villain', only after he found his grandfather's legacy did he decide to take up his ancestors beliefs so his reasoning wasn't that strong as it would be in the future.

"I want to carry the same burden my grandfather did and rid the world of heroes, if that means becoming a great villain like him then so be it." Mr. Compress adjusted his collar as the sudden heat made him feel claustrophobic.

"I'm guessing it hasn't been long since you have found out your relation to the peerless thief." Seeing him nod Shin could somewhat grasp Mr. Compress beliefs.

*Sigh*

"Mr. Compress do you truly believe he's a villain or are you just referencing what the association has taught you." Shin decided to go from another approach.

Even from their short interaction Shin could tell that Mr. Compress had just now found his path so his foundation for his beliefs was still shaky and seeing this Shin wanted to take advantage of it the only problem was Mr. Compress seemed competent which meant Shin would have to pull back instead of his usually pressing approach.

"Well no...…" Mr. Compress was at a loss for words as he never thought about his grandfather being anything other than a notorious villain.

"I see, well Mr. Compress, I think we're done here." Shin stood up abruptly causing Dabi to follow.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Compress was greatly confused at Shin's words and seeing his actions couldn't help but lean farther into Shin's phycological trap.

"Mr. Compress you seemed interesting in a way I pictured you in my future plans however hearing your thought process I became greatly disappointed at your reasoning. If you think that your grandfather the peerless thief was indeed a villain like the association pictured him then you're no better than one of those puppet heroes." Shin turned away ruthlessly walking away, Dabi smirked a bit while following Shin.

"W-what?" Mr. Compress stood up feeling lost in Shin's words, he sat back down and started to truly think about Shin's words.

Mr. Compress didn't want to be a cog in the machine the association called society. It was why he choose this path and started improving himself.

It started when he became a runaway at fifteen as his father was an abusive alcoholic, his father didn't approve of anything he enjoyed so Mr. Compress thought he could pursue a better life by himself.

Finding solace in being an entertainer the common people frowned and ridiculed his decision calling him an idiot, what drove him was seeing their ridicule and disdain ridden eyes be replaced with amazement which filled him with great joy.

Though as time passed and he got older those eyes stopped turning into amazement and seemed to always remain hateful.

It wasn't until his father died did he get a key to a storage locker that had all his ancestors belongings, there he understood how his father was able to continuously gamble and drink himself to death without working a day in his life.

He became fascinated reading his ancestors journals entries, like the populace he was also convinced at a young age of the necessity of heroes and villains however reading his ancestors words his opinion turned upside down.

Now wanting to realize his ancestor's dreams he set out on his journey though only a year after discovering his ideals he was faced with another shock.

"Was my ancestor wrong?" Mr. Compress squeezed his hands until a light bulb popped up above him.

"No, I was wrong! My grandfather never identified himself as a villain but the association just said he was one, how stupid could I be!" Mr. Compress shook his head at his failure while clutching his hands about to get up.

*Buzz*

"Huh?"

'Don't follow me, I'll contact you' Mr. Compress who was about to chase after Shin stopped seeing the message on his phone and after hesitating for a while he decided to turn back.

Dabi who was watching from a distance as they had looped back around to watch him couldn't help but become a little frustrated.

"Shin, anyone but hi-" Mr. Compress had been talking out loud this whole time and Dabi couldn't believe that Shin was interested in such a weird guy like that.

"Dabi, do you know how useful it is to turn things into tiny marbles?" Shin turned the phone he was holding into a marble.

"What's better is that he also hates heroes and he's still finding his beliefs, that's why I think it would make a great opportunity." Shin's smile became wider, this power was extremely useful; transporting things would be a breeze and he could essentially sneak anyone into any place by carrying a blue marble in his pocket.

*Sigh*

"You're the boss." Dabi crossed his arms as a tired look formed.

"When Yu Hojo gets out of the authorities grasps were going to make our move on his boss, be ready I want to absorb the yakuza in two years and the whole underworld of Japan before I get out of high school." Shin stated his plans, making Dabi nod.

"What should I do?" Dabi asked and Shin smiled.

"You're going to start planting some of the dirty money in the eyes of the yakuza so as to raise the tension."

"When?" Dabi already accepted the task, wanting more details.

"After we take care of Overhaul, once a prominent figure disappears and their money starts to pop up all over the place. The Yakuza will have no choice but to do something since if they remained silent then the underworld would try to take a bite of the cake." Shin fiddled with the marble in his hand.

In a dark room

"Hojo, tell me again what happened again." A man with a serious atmosphere who adorned himself in an expensive suit, his fingers that were covered in white gloves while they rested gently on the oakwood desk.

"Yes boss, we were ambushed by a combined effort of the Sumiyoshi and Inagawa."

*Scratch*

The man started to scratch the table as the sound of fingernails trying to tear through a hard surface resonated in the room.

"And what did you hear before you passed out?" The man said in a crazed tone as the scratching sounds started to become louder.

"They will meet at the northwestern province of the beast forest in two days."

*BAM*

The man slammed the table making a huge crack slither down towards the end, he leaned farther into the light as a hive filled Overhaul appeared.

"Those bastards dare to move against the Yakuza!" Overhaul hissed out in a fury gripping his fists tightly while scratching his neck.

"Gather the eight bullets, we're going to clean up those scum." Overhaul ordered not even questioning Yu Hojo's words since he is the most loyal out of all his direct subordinates.

"Yes Boss." Yu bowed and walked out the room and once he turned a corner he pulled out his phone before putting it back into his pocket.

Turning his head fast he saw that no one was behind him and after staring in a certain direction for a while he continued to perform his duties that Shin implanted into him.