『ARC ONE: EXAMS AND MISHAPS』

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"Inscribe, if ya don't make it within the time limit, then I guess yer two kids are going to disappear just like the other Heroes! I hope that motivates ya to move faster!"

The blood rushing through Tomohiro's veins suddenly turned ice cold. For a moment, his entire body froze like he was suddenly caught up in Puppeteer's Quirk. His arms stayed still at his side as he watched with little interest as the purple and golden doors slid open to reveal a corridor splitting into multiple pathways.

Did his ears deceive him? Did he hear the right thing?

The Hero's gaze lingered on the space where the woman resided before he stepped forth to inspect the twins. By the time he reached the bed, Tanami had already begun to sob. She wailed, big droplets of tears dribbling down her pale cheeks. Both her arms reached toward Tomohiro with her fingers spread out. Awkwardly, Tomohiro wrapped his arms around her small frame as she cried into his shoulder. He felt a squeeze at his hand.

Glancing downward, he saw the creak of blue as Akihiko gently wrapped his thin, bandaged fingers around his own.

His white eyes darted in between the two before he gave in. Promising himself and them, he said, "I assure you that nothing will even happen to either of you again."

Charm tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear before lightly tugging on his grey cape. The shift of the fabric placed over his shoulders snapped Inscribe out of his daze. He tilted his head, hair shifting from the movement and releasing a few drops of ink onto his clothes. Almost in a confused manner, white eyes quickly moved to stare at Sumiko like she had told him the most atrocious story ever. Shishi gnawed on his pants, growling quietly in an attempt to get him talking. The dog started to yip when that did not work.

Her eyes narrowed, revealing a serious glint. "You heard the crazy lady. Sixty minutes. We got to get a move on."

Releasing her fingers from his cape, she stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway painted lavender with yellow triangles. The fluorescent lights dangling by wires that were attached to the ceiling flooded them in a light blue hue. Pressing a hand to the wall, Charm cocked her head back. "Are you going to come or am I going to have to drag you around? I'm not in the mood to hold your hand and lead you through a maze like a lost child in a grocery store. Too much of a hassle."

Tomohiro blinked thrice, and slowly emerged from the small space of the elevator. Shishi trekked behind him, tongue sticking out of its mouth. Tugging at the end of his glove, the ink Hero sighed heavily. Shaking his head, he walked up to her side. "Right, right. Sorry. That comment threw me in a spiral for a second."

"A second?" The blue-eyed woman placed a hand on her hip. "Just a second. You looked like someone just murdered your family in front of you."

"Shush you. You are not the one with two kids... who might disappear." Tomohiro struggled to release his final words. He began to tug on his gloves.

Breathing in deeply, Inscribe took out his notebook and his calligraphy pen. "Call... call Metallic and tell him that under no circumstances are Akihiko and Tanami allowed to leave Mizu. They are not allowed to leave until we get there. Kagemi as well. He might be targeted just by being close to the two."

"Are you sure you want to call Metallic?" Charm raised a brow but slipped her work phone out of her pocket anyway. "You threw a book at him... like- two days ago."

Inscribe flipped to a random page and pressed the tip of the calligraphy pen to the sheet. He began to sketch the outline of a platform of some sorts. "Yes, and sadly, the book did not hit his head."

Clicking her tongue, the blonde quickly tapped the screen before raising it to her ear. Tomohiro on the other hand, ignored her hushed tone and allowed the ink to slip free from the page. It slowly slid across the ground before stopping at the wall at a turn. It quickly morphed into a flat rectangular shape before growing still. Keeping both items in his grasp, the white-eyed male ushered for Shishi to step onto the hardened ink. Once Shishi leaped onto it, Sumiko pocketed her phone and placed a hand on her hip.

"Done, though he says you owe him one day that you don't throw anything at him, specifically his head."

Tomohiro nearly rolled his eyes before settling for a sigh. The shaking of his hands had finally gone away. "Let us go then."

They almost stepped onto the hardened ink in sync. The platform shivered, the thick onyx liquid trembling as it pushed itself upward with the trio on it. It was not long before it halted at the top of the wall. Taking a quick glance, the maze itself was the size of eleven warehouses combined. Under normal circumstances, the two could take their time in investigating the maze and see if they could find any clues. However, that was not the case. An area this large was a lot of ground to cover in an hour, not to mention highly impossible without the right Quirk.

Sumiko's shoulders slumped forward at the sight before she breathed out heavily in disappointment. "I'm suddenly wishing Shishi had a sense of smell. He can see and feel, why can't he smell if he has a nose?"

Inscribe hummed in response before placing his foot on the flat surface on the top of the wall. It was about a foot wide due to the thickness of the overall wall. It was not hard to keep balance and stay up on it. The male's eyes gazed at the gap between one wall to another. It was about twelve feet apart and the height of the wall was approximately forty feet. He was certain he could make the jump and if he did not, well that was going to hurt.

Clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth, Inscribe took a few moments to ponder their next course of action. He quickly shook his head in deep thought before acting as if he was chiding himself. "Running around the maze will take a long time. How many small cameras do you have?"

"For a second I thought you were going to tell me we were going to jump. And I have about three." Sumiko sighed in relief before opening the compartment of her belt.

"I do not have a death wish. We have a little over fifty five minutes. Take out your cameras." The ink-haired male turned to stand on the platform. Charm and Shishi followed. The platform shifted slightly and began to lower itself until it reached the ground.

He pocketed the now almost empty calligraphy pen and switched it for another. "I have four. Since there is too much ground to cover between the two of us, we will not be able to find our way through the entirety of this maze in such a limited time frame. So, we do this."

In about a minute, seven animals stood around them. Three of them were birds, specifically a peregrine falcon, a golden eagle, and gyrfalcon. The last four consisted of the same breed of dog which were salukis. This breed was slim with long, thin legs, and a rather long snout. Their fur is short, although the fur on their ears was a bit curly. The one thing that they all had in common was, of course, that they were made of ink with a few white streaks and white eyes. In excitement, Shishi happily hopped over to the other four dogs. Obviously the shiba inu was smaller so it was jumping up to tug at the other dogs' ears.

The salukis would growl lightly but did not try to stop Shishi. The three birds would scratch at the ground or ruffle their feathers as they did not care much to what was going on. If you looked close enough, you could see the outline of straps and collars on the birds' legs and the dogs' necks.

Without saying a word to Charm, the woman began to connect the small cameras to the birds' legs. They cawed quietly as she did so. She muttered a few words to them. Not a second later did the trio spread their wings and took off into the air. They spread out in different directions, looking downward for anything suspicious. Inscribe did the same with the dogs. The salukis were quick to spread out as well. By then, the count down had dropped to around fifty-three minutes.

"Come. We do not have much time to spare." Tomohiro commented as he allowed the platform to absorb back into his notebook.

In no time, both Heroes and Shishi began to run down one of the corridors that the salukis did not take. The soles of their shoes slammed against the light blue, almost crystal like tiles decorating the ground. Each step landed with a thunk while Shishi's small claws scraped a bit irritatingly on the tiles. Each time they entered a new hallway, the light would change to either purple, red, or blue. It had no real significance but hurting their eyesight due to the rapidly changing shades. Rounding a corner and nearly crashing into another wall painted a bright hue of violet, they were met with an odd sight.

Before either of the two Heroes could react, Shishi had bounced forward with a growl vibrating through its chest. The dog's body expanded mid-air, stretching until its body resembled a liquid like curtain. Whatever was in front of them was engulfed by a small spread sheet of ink. The thing that was engulfed struggled a bit, but it ultimately gave up. The shiba inu proceeded to spat out what it consumed.

The majority of its body was covered in ink of course. Its figure was no longer than a foot and a half and it was quite thin. The odd thing was the bell acting as a head. Its eyes and mouth were the two holes and hollow lines curving into a 'V' like smile. In the center of its 'forehead' was the same clock logo as seen on the elevator door earlier. A small lavender dress was draped across the entirety of its body with a yellow bow on its waist.

It kind of spazzed for a few moments before stilling and plopped into a small puddle of ink.

Inscribe and Charm glanced at each other for a moment. They did not drop their guard as they slowly inched closer to the strange thing. Shishi growled at it, front paws digging into the tiles while its back legs were slightly bent.

Hesitantly, the blonde woman reached a hand toward the thing. Delicately pressing her fingertips to the metal, a light yellow glow emitted through her fingertips and into the thing. A dim aura lit around it before it faded. "There. The chances of it attacking us has been reduced to zero. Although it will only last for ten minutes."

Drawing in closer, Tomohiro knelt down and rubbed his knuckles against its head. It did not shift or do anything against his touch. It just laid there doing nothing.

"How much time do we have left?" the white-eyed male inquired.

Sumiko lifted her arm to take a quick glance at her watch. Her expression immediately shifted into one of grim and surprise. "Nineteen minutes."

Tomohiro's lips parted slightly in shock before they pressed together. If you gazed close enough, you could see the panic beginning to swirl in his white irises. Not only his two adopted children in possible danger, but another kid is being locked behind bars for no explicit reason. He was Quirkless for heaven's sake! There was no possible idea as to why they would do that to a kid. Unless he was the child of a Hero and they were using him as blackmail, but, why would that crazy woman be leading them here? She might be leading them into a trap and that possibility was a great one.

Still, he and Sumiko were both Heroes and their job consisted of throwing themselves into dangerous situations for the good and safety of the people. This was the reason Tomohiro never wanted to have a significant other in fear that his job would do this harm. Now that one fear that he had was coming into light except this was with his own children. The tips of his lips tugged downward into a deep frown as his fingers curled into a tight fist.

Then his fist uncurled slow. Wait a minute. Nineteen minutes?

"I swear it has only been about five minutes. Thirty-four minutes have already passed? Is your watch ticking time correctly? I know when thirty minutes pass and it has not been thirty minutes." Inscribe stated as he brought a hand to his chin. He narrowed his eyes at the bell headed thing.

Charm looked taken aback by his statement. Suddenly realization dawned on her. More than thirty minutes has not passed so why had her watch given her the wrong time? "A time Quirk?"

"Most likely. Another Seraph is in this vicinity, somewhere. Their forcing the timer to go down so we purposely fail. They want us to not make it in time. They are going to take Tanami and Akihik-"

Tomohiro abruptly stood up. "What do you want with them?!"

His voice echoed across the maze. He slowly spun in a circle, gazing up at the ceiling while waiting for a response. Angry lines were drawn over his forehead and his teeth were clenched together.

Static filled the air, sometimes jumping to a high pitched screech that made their ears want to bleed. More than a few times did they have to raise both ears to plug them. Finally, the static faded before a familiar feminine voice took over the speakers.

"Well, well, well!" the woman's voice from earlier announced in the most enthusiastic voice possible. "Ya finally figured out the main idea of this maze! Congratulations! I guess two heads are better than one! The two of ya solved it waaayyy faster than anyone else! Yer literally the only two with enough common sense to go 'oh, well something around here seems funny! Ahhh, the time seems a bit shifty don't ya think?' So that was a stunning realization, correct!"

"You didn't answer his question, you wackado!" Sumiko yelled while glaring at one of the many speakers.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't get yer cape in a twist now, Deary! No yelling! No yelling! Wow, ya Heroes always get so uptight when ya don't get answers! Can ya like- not be so exasperated?! I'm trying my best to be yer entertainer slash announcer and I get this type of audience?! What a world, what a world!"

"If we ever meet this lady, is it wrong to punch her at first sight?" Charm questioned while tugging irritatingly on her ponytail. She was biting her lip, cheeks slightly dusted in a red hue of anger.

Inscribe kept his gaze on the speaker. "Considering she made a threat and confirmed a portion of how the Heroes had gone missing, I would say its more or less okay."

"Now, both of ya figured the trick! The two of ya are actually smart, ya know that?! But yeah, this is a trick? Trap? Trickity Trap? Ahh, who cares! Anyway, about those two kids? I could care less! I really could care less!" The woman's voice dipped into an over exaggerated tone. "But, my boss wants them! Why? I have no clue! He doesn't tell us anything until the right moment! Kinda mean, don't ya think?!"

"What do you want?" The black-haired male questioned.

"What do I want? What do ya want?"

The Luck Hero stepped forward and lightly jumped to make a point. "Do you ever shut up?!"

"Why of course not! I am a performer and announcer and entertainer! I must talk, talk, talk after all!" she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Does that not make sense?!"

"Get on with the poi-" Inscribe began before twelve rings resonated across the entirety of the large area. Annoyed by the loud noises, Shishi began to jump like a spring and yipped at it like a mini alarm. Its inky tail sort of shivered at each ring before settling down.

"Ah, ah, ah! Sixty minutes are up! Ya know what that means!"

Not a second later, cracks began to run across the floor. Before they could react, the floor beneath them shattered. The trio fell since they no longer had a flat surface to stand upon. Inscribe tried to shout something but it drowned out as they all fell into darkness.

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The first thing that registered in Tomohiro's head was the searing pain that dragged from the middle of his thigh down to the underside of his kneecap. He automatically assumed that it was a large wound as it felt like edges of the skin were on fire. An ache flooded through his spine and shoulders and he was sure that he was going to feel that pulsing in his back for a while.

A groan slipped out of his throat. Pressing a gloved hand to the dirty ground, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He felt small pebbles and sharp pieces pierce the fabric and dig into his palms. Tomohiro felt his lips tug downward. He stifled a wheeze as a shot of pain jolted up his thigh. Forcing his eyelids open, the first thing he saw was a multitude of bright colors displayed on various screens stacked on top of each other. Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the vivid lights. Instantly, his hand flew to his belt to find a notebook and to his dismay, it was not there. He shifted and found one of his calligraphy pens and grabbed that instead.

Sitting on the middle of three oak tables pushed together in front of the screens was the woman that had grabbed his ink rat earlier and raised the camera to her face. She was excitedly tugging at the ends of her olive green hair was was tied up in a side ponytail along with a braid running down it. The lights emitted from the screens behind her made her skin appear darker than the tan complexion but her one pink and one blue eyes with a plus and minus sign as her irises. She was mindlessly twirling a golden and red baton between her fingers with a grand smile on her face,

Her dual-colored eyes lit up in excitement once they landed on him. Her smile widened ever more slightly. Slipping her hand into her plaid black and grey skirt, she pulled out the notebook that Tomohiro had been searching for. "Looking for this? Ya don't need something like this!"

Without warning, she tossed the notebook behind her. One of the screens flickered, releasing an ear piercing screech before absorbing the item fully.

Before Tomohiro could retort, it immediately dawned on him that something is not connecting with the sight laying in front of him. "Where are Charm and Shishi?"

"Ya mean the blonde lady and the tiny dog? Ahh, they were evicted to the outside of the warehouse 'cause they are not needed at the moment." The woman tilted her head in confusion as she answered. She placed the baton on her lap, the sleeves of her red and gold trimmed blazer moving up a bit. "Plus, it's not like I wanted to move with that in yer leg."

Inscribe did not need to glance down to know he was a large gash running through his thigh and underneath his kneecap with a lengthy piece of broken tiled glass sticking out. The blood was soaked up into his black pants. Removing the piece would just bring more danger without any medical help with him. Luckily, he has not lost too much blood so that meant he was not unconscious for long. He tried his best not to huff in exasperation and kept his eyes on her. The ink Hero had felt his nose scrunch up at the thought that, perhaps, in reality, his teammate and dog were still in trouble. Hell, he did not even know if his poor rat or his birds or his others dogs were alright. Charm had the camera footage on her watch and he did not have access to it at the moment.

His grip tightened on the calligraphy pen. He wondered how badly he could sketch something out on rubble and glass littered ground without looking out it. Would ink even draw a good line on concrete? He had half a mind to try it out but he does not want to tear his attention away from the olive-haired woman in front of him. He instead drew in a deep breath.

"What do you want?" Inscribe inquired. He shifted slightly, but not enough to disturb his injury

The woman pursed her lips and tugged a bit harshly on the hair framing the side of her face."What do I want? Good question! I don't want anything! I just do whatever I'm told as long as I can keep someone entertained! Now, now, now, there's yer answer!

"Then why do you have a Quirkless kid and why do you want my kids?"

"The Quirkless kid? Ya know, just for fun or whatever! I told ya I don't have a single clue for either of those questions." She suddenly threw her hands out. The action caused the multiple golden bells attached to her red tophat to ring an irritating sound.

"Why am I here? There must be a reason as to why you kept me here." Tomohiro was beginning to press the tip of the calligraphy to the ground. A few drops of ink dribbled out of it.

"Ding, ding, ding! There's the question I've been waiting for!" She harshly jabbed her index finger in his direction with a large grin. "Why ya are here? Simple to say the least, even though yer agency has not been too troublesome, yer a thorn in our sides. And well, we can't have that now can we? So, instead of getting rid of the whole agency because that would be a conundrum!"

"What a wondrous idea," the ink Hero spat out and he did not try to hide the sarcasm laced in his words. Perhaps that was not the greatest tone to be using in front of one of the Seraphs but, he had no idea what this woman's Quirk is, where he is exactly, and how to get out of this situation with a large piece of glass jammed in his thigh. Frankly, he was quite clueless as to how the shard cut underneath his kneecap.

Out of his peripheral vision, the room the two occupied had no windows from what he could see let alone a door. He could assume a door was behind him but he did not want to crank his head back to find out. Who knows what could happen if he turned away for a second.

"Instead," the dual-colored woman raised her arms above her head in a grand gesture. She laughed heartily. "Our boss said, why not just take out the leader?"

"So you are just going to get rid of me? Not to be a downer, but getting rid of me seems like a waste of time. My team can function on their own and unfortunately, my children know what can happen in my line of work. What are you going to do? Make me disappear like everyone else?" Inscribe retaliated. Leaning forward while trying his best to not disturb the glass in his leg, he narrowed his eyes and glared at her through slits. "You can do it. It will not change a thing with the case concerning the Seraph. And you used my kids to draw me in. You did. Nothing will change concerning the eight of you."

The woman shook her head rapidly while crossing her arms in an 'X'. "No, no, no! Nothing like that! Just put ya out of commission is all! A Hero who can't work can't be considered a Hero, ya know?! Tick Tock, time's up!"

Red flashed in Tomohiro's eyesight.

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Author's Note:

I absolutely hate writing soon-to-be named villain. Every time I write her I think of her voice as haughty and loud but annoying as well. Very high pitched too.

But beside that, what do you believe will happen to Tomohiro?