『ARC TWO: CAREFUL STEPS』

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"Where did you come from?!" Daiki's panicked voice resonated within the walls of the hidden basement. He had jumped back, spine pressed against the grey walls while his eyes were blown wide in shock.

Tanami shook her head, the two crystals on the side of her head slapping her cheeks with the movement. She blinked twice, sitting up from the soft, dirty rags that she had fallen onto after taking a dip from the shoot. Her gaze shifted around the room, taking in the scene of a startled Daiki and an amused Yoshimi.

"How are you not scared by that?" the pink-haired teenager scrunched his nose up and peered in confusion at the taller male.

"I saw a green dot falling in the corner of my eye. Figured it would be someone stupid. Didn't think it would be you." Yoshimi answered in a dull tone. His fingers brushed against the ancient washing machines pushed in the corner. His eyebrow twitched when his fingers collected massive amounts of dust.

"You always have to take a jab at my IQ, don't you?" Rubbing her head, Tanami's face twisted in disgust as the horrible scents of the rags she landed in burned her nostrils. A shiver crawled up her spine and she did not even want to know how her uniform looked. "I came from the supposed basement. Is... is this the basement?"

"It's my source of enjoyment, Tanami. When you refer to the tablet, yes the room you fell through was the basement." Raising the tablet in his grasp, Yoshimi shook it lightly before shoving it into his pocket. "But if you consider my Quirk, then no."

Daiki released a loud sigh and pulled away from the wall. A wary expression was painted across his face before he ran a hand through his locks. "No, but seriously. Why did you fall from the freaking ceiling? Scared the soul out of me."

Tanami snorted, placing a hand on the pile of dirty rags she fell on. Shoving one leg out of the bin, she awkwardly clawed herself out since the bin was taller than she expected. She nearly lost her footing once she got out. She irritatingly brushed the dirt from her skirt and pressed her hands to the lower back of her blazer. "Clearly since that last sentence wasn't even correct grammar. Did you forget how to speak your own language?"

Rolling his eyes, the pink-haired male released a sarcastic bout of laughter. Picking up a small wooden box he dropped, he said, "very funny. I'm dying of laughter."

Shrugging her blazer off her shoulders, the female took a look at the article of clothing. Her lips tugged into a frown. Black patches were splattered onto the fabric. Her face fell at the sight and she did not want to know the condition of her skirt. Thank the heavens she wore leggings and they were black. With a sigh, Tanami tied the sleeves around her waist so neither stain would show. "How did you guys get down here?"

Yoshimi yanked open one of the washing machines' doors, "I grabbed one of those giant pliers from the janitor's closet, went to the boarded-up elevator, smashed the boards, and here we are."

She scrunched her eyebrows together and waved both hands nonchalantly. "What if the elevator- I don't know, didn't work or you got stuck down here? Or even the elevator stopped working midway?"

"Then Kohei-san would have to rescue two kids, three now, and hand in a lot of paperwork," Yoshimi stated in a matter-of-fact tone as he straightened his back. "Nothing in here either."

"Wow. What a well thought out plan." the periwinkle-eyed girl said as she adjusted the ends of her white long-sleeved shirt. Although she should not be talking.

Daiki laced his fingers and cracked them. His gaze trailed over to the elevator and then to the speaker attached to the corner of the room. "He didn't stop us from coming down here so it's safe to say it was alright. Kohei-san would have stopped us."

"Would he? He's trying to fake kill us." Tanami sauntered over to the boxes sitting in the corner. Flipping the side upon, she began to dig into the box. She might as well help search. "Akihiko and I had to run from whoever the actual killer is."

"I don't think having two or three kids dead on your record as a Hero let alone as a teacher is ideal." Yoshimi tucked a stray strand of brown and aqua hair behind his ear as he checked another washer.

Freezing instantly, it suddenly dawned on her that her brother must be losing his mind. She instantly took out her phone and typed out a response as quickly as she could.

Tanami

Hey, I'm fine. I think I fell down a modified version of the laundry shoot. I scared the crap out of Yoshimi and Daiki when I landed in a cart full of old rags. There's a second basement that isn't located on our maps. Yoshimi found it with his Quirk. I'll meet you later.

The crystal waited a few seconds, thumbs pressing harshly against the screen of the phone. Moments later, the 'read' appeared soon after but she did not get a reply. She shrugged and pocketed the device. It worried her slightly but she figured that everything was alright. Dipping her hand in the rags, she scooped out the photographs that had fallen with her.

Cocking his head, Yoshimi looked questionably at the three photographs. "What's that?"

"Oh, in the basement I was in, we found reports, magazines, and pictures of Himari's affair." She held them out to the two, showcasing the photos of Himari and that one man whose name she could not remember off the top of her head. It was somewhat hard to pronounce and the syllables did not string together in her mind.

"What did she do? Screw another guy." Daiki asked as he plucked one out of her hand. He fiddled with it, turning it around to inspect it thoroughly.

"Yeah, some foreign guy and they were engaged."

"In the end, she dated two guys behind the other's back and announced that she was engaged to someone other than Akio. Isn't that something?" Yoshimi commented as he reviewed the other two pictures. Tanami took notice of the slight twitch of his eye.

Yoshimi clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and blew a pesky strand away from his face. "Akio and Gin killed Himari. Kaede was killed afterward for her to be silenced. Who actually committed the deed is beyond me. Either one assisted and the other dealt the blow or they took turns. Both are at fault."

Running a hand through his fluffy, cotton candy locks, Daiki pressed a hand to his chin and sighed. "Well, that was somewhat easy... I guess. I don't know. Don't we need evidence and a motive? A clear, cookie-cutter motive that loops it all together?"

Before any of them could speak, the chime of three cell phones went off. Opening the message to the group chat Kohei forced them to make, Daiki read it out loud. "Junpei sent it. Everyone meet on the second floor in room one-hundred-and-five. We might as well finish this before lunch. Time to set the mousetrap."

Yoshimi's deadpan expression morphed into one of exhaustion. "I swear he has a mind-reading Quirk. Sometimes it feels like he has a master cheat to life."

"Way to reference video games," the female took a quick glance at her phone screen. Still no response from Akihiko. A flutter of nervousness crawled around the insides of her chest. She bit down on her lip, shooting another look before resigning to the fact that there must have been a reason as to why her brother has not answered.

You know what? He'll meet up with the rest of our classmates. ...will the rest of our classmates even meet up in room one-hundred-and-five? Tanami pondered. She lowered her head and released a puff of air. For now, she will just hope that Akihiko will go to that room.

Pressing the elevator button, the doors cracked open with a ding. Pushing against their backs, Daiki annoyingly shoved the pair into the small space. "We've searched long enough down here. The last thing we need is getting trapped down here."

It was not long before they arrived at the right room. However, they had to take a few detours to loop around a few times if they did not want to encounter Akio or Gin. They were lucky that Yoshimi can detect others so they were able to avoid them. If it was them.

The first thing Tanami witnessed when stepping into room one-hundred-and-five was Junpei's body being flung across the room. Lucky for him, his body collided into the softness of the bed. His figure bounced and he was quick to roll onto his back with laughter.

"Are you sure your Quirk isn't super strength? You tossed me like last night's leftovers." Junpei commented as he threw his legs over the side of the mattress.

Standing a few feet away with her teeth clenched, Yua's purple eyes narrowed in his direction. Her nose scrunched as lines were drawn across her forehead. She did not make a move forward in his direction but she was one word away from decking him.

Taking a quick glance around the room, all of Tanami's classmates were present except for Akihiko and Kagemi. Her fingers unexpectedly curled into her palm as her lips pressed together. Where were they? She wanted to question her classmates but Junpei's chipper tone cut through and stole everyone's attention.

Hopping off the bed, Junpei smirked as he stalked over in front of Yua. "I can't fathom the fact that you're soooo sensitive over such a topic. I thought everyone would be thrilled to have the current number one as a parent. I mean, who wouldn't want a Hero as a parent?"

"My mother only holds the top place right now because the top three, Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto, were sent overseas to help the American Hero Organization with a problem occurring with a Japanese Villain Organization." Yua crossed her arms across her chest, head tilted slightly as she clicked her tongue.

"Inscribe has been out of the picture for unknown reasons, Kohei-san is our teacher so his ranking dropped, and everyone knows that either Hawks or Ryukyu should have taken the spot. Madam Psyche is not worthy. So shut your trap unless you want me to break your nose."

Madam Psyche?

Pulling gently at the knotted sleeves wrapped around her waist, the name instantly brought back a memory. When she was thirteen, Tomohiro arrived home irritated with an angry Shishi trailing behind him. After fifteen minutes of prying, Tomohiro had finally told him what had left him and Shishi in such a bad mood.

Inscribe's agency temporarily paired up with Madam Psyche's agency to take down an infamous drug cartel running amok underground. Tomohiro was not entirely on board with the combination but pushed through it anyway. Madam Psyche was the one who was paying them for intel and it was anything but cheap so the pay was worth it.

It took two weeks to gather all the information with Sumiko nearly becoming electrified due to a broken wire dangling much too close to the sewer water and Tomohiro nearly getting toppled by a man with a bull Quirk. They tiredly handed over the information, waiting for both agencies to collaborate so they could take down the enemy together.

That did not happen.

Madam Psyche lied about the time they would strike, instead of taking her own agency without backup and risking the lives of seven sidekicks. There were casualties on her side. However, they somehow managed to take down the drug cartel. To make it worse, when the media interviewed her about the case, she smugly announced that her agency snuck around the shadows, collected the data to take them down, and did the job. When asked about Inscribe's participation, she said that Inscribe turned the offer down to help as it would be a waste of time.

Needless to say, Inscribe's agency was furious but kept their mouths shut. They could not get involved with a scandal at the moment and they did not have the time to anyway. However, that did not stop Tomohiro from having Shishi sneak into her home and occasionally cause the electricity to go out, the water pressure to go from zero to a hundred, and sometimes steal the food that was delivered.

The room was quiet as no one knew what to make of the words spat. Madam Psyche was a good Hero. Not the best but not the worst. The only reason she currently held number one was due to the reasons Yua angrily listed. Although no one voiced it, they all simultaneously agreed that either Hawks or Ryukyu were better fitted to hold the number one position since the top three were gone at the moment. Those three from U.A. never held number one for long. One day it would be Shoto and the next Dynamight before it switched off to Deku.

Swallowing the saliva building up in her throat, Tanami's fingers bunched up the fabric of her skirt. If you looked close enough, you could see the few resemblances between Madam Psyche and Yua. Both shared the same magenta hair color, albeit Yua's was much, much curlier. The adolescent's skin was a bit darker than the Hero's and the two did not share the same violet irises. Personality wise... well Yua did not seem like the type to take credit for anything someone else did.

"Or do you just not want to talk about it since Madam Psyche would only recognize you if you made it into U.-"

Curling her fingers into a fist, the pink-haired teenager instantly stepped forward to take a punch at the boy. Her knuckles would have slammed into Junpei's nose if a stream of golden light did not wrap around Yua's abdomen.

Off to the side, Ichigo sighed heavily into her hand. Behind her, six wings made solely of auric light, three on each side protruded from her back. They were not attached to her skin nor her clothes but stretched an inch away from her shoulder blades. Three had elongated, hooking around Yua's waist and yanking her off the ground. The purple-eyed female dangled, stunned from her feet being ripped off the floor. It did not look like she was planning on punching someone else as she did not dare make a move.

"Fighting each other will get us nowhere. Unless you want to fail this assignment, I suggest we compile what little evidence we have acquired and come up with a plan." Ichigo stated as she slowly retracted her wings. "First and foremost, no killing our classmates."

Yua was placed back on her feet as Ichigo's wings dispersed into thin air with a small shake. The curly pink-haired female's shoes sunk into the beige carpet and she grumbled something inaudibly. After a few moments of silence, she nodded solemnly while glaring at the dust bunnies decorating the carpet.

Ichigo quickly tucked a strand of baby blue hair behind her ear. "Mei and Shinsha were attacked and 'killed'. By who? They cannot speak."

The two girls nodded with deadpan expressions. Both were seated in chairs in the corner of the room. Mei had lifted her hand, jabbed her thumb out, and quickly dragged it across her neck. Theoretically, they were dead and neither one looked thrilled that they could not contribute to the investigation.

"Akihiko and Kagemi are not present either. Anyone know anything?"

Tanami opened her mouth to speak but was instantly cut off by the speaker.

"Akihiko had a situation and Kagami had to take care of it. Do not worry. Both are... fine but they will be excused from today's assignment."

Tanami's body grew rigid and her muscles tensed. Her breathing stopped for a few seconds and a panicked Daiki lightly patted her back in order to remind her that she needed to breathe. Instantly, she swirled around to face the speaker. Her hands were beginning to sweat. "What happened to my brother?!"

"It's best you find out yourself. You can be excused from class if yo-"

Kohei did not even have time to finish his sentence before Tanami had flung the door open. However, she did not make it far as she heard someone call out her name.

"Before you dart out of here, make a syringe, Tanami," Junpei stated nonchalantly with a grin.

She did not even think twice before shoving a corundum syringe- constructed quite nicely despite being frazzled, into Yoshimi's hands before bolting out of the room.

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The sound of the soles of Junpei's black boots colliding with the polished orange tiles of the long corridor he walked across echoed. The usual cheerful and mischievous glint that sparked in his deep pink eyes was replaced with a solemn and tired look. The flames burning the candles in the lamps flickered, swaying as the luminance caused the shadows around him to dance in a haunting way.

He tilted his head back, ignoring the black curls of hair that tickled the side of his neck. He paused his strides, a blank expression painted over his features as he gazed over his shoulder. A shadow skittered across the floor like a rat attempting to sneak across the basement floor. He looked around, searching for the presence of someone lurking in the dim hallway. The hairs on the back of his neck stood.

Wrinkling his nose up, Junpei lightly snapped his fingers. Six purple butterflies materialized into existence. Flapping their glowing wings, the light emitted from the insects brightened up the area he occupied. Even with the extra light, not another life form lingered in the same hallway as him. The feeling of dread crawled up his spine like spiders creeping up his skin. Swallowing, he allowed his butterflies to disperse despite the dismay racking his body.

Turning away, he continued his journey down the hallway. A hand had found itself positioned to his chin. Junpei's eyes narrowed slightly. None of his classmates had a stealth Quirk besides Kagemi. But he could be ruled out due to the fact that it was reflective and the smoke would be visible. Another reason was that he left him with a certain someone in the basement and they already left/.

A slight fear-filled sigh slipped past his lips. He shook his head. It must be nothing. He must be hearing things. There is no place to hide in this corridor as it is much too long to hide behind a corner and no doors littered the sides. In no way, shape or form would someone be tailing him without any cover. His stomach twisted.

Just as he was about to convince himself of the numerous possibilities of how someone cannot be following him, the chilling sound of a whistle entered his ears. A freezing gust of wind blew through the corridor and the flames burning the candles went out with a sizzle. Junpei could still smell the burning wax wafting through the air.

"Great." he hissed to himself.

He picked up the faint sound of shoes hitting the tiles. Breaking out into a sprint, he rushed down the long corridor. The entirety of his body was engulfed in darkness and he could not make out the things in front of them. The hallway was already dark but he was now running blindly. Nearly crashing into a wall, he pressed one hand to it.

A turn. It was a turn. Without skipping another beat, his fingertips lingered on the wall as he ran down the hallway. At least this way, he would lower his chances of running straight into another wall. Junpei's teeth lightly grounded together. He was beginning to wonder if there would be randomly placed furniture in the corridor. If he crashed into a random desk or chair, that would raise his chances of becoming 'killed', that would be a problem. His leg muscles burned as he continued to force himself to move forward in the darkness. His breathing was frantic, inhales, and exhales slightly scratchy. Beads of sweat trickled down his jawline. He was beginning to slow his pace. Exhaustion was rapidly clinging to his body.

Why did he have to be so athletically inadequate?

The room he can enter is close. He just needs to make it to the end of the hallway and he can lock at himself in the room. Junpei's ears picked up the rapidly approaching footsteps behind him. Looks like they never stopped following him. Or maybe it was an illusion? Who knows.

His fingertips met a different type of material. It felt wooden and hollow. A door! Instantly, his hands quickly pressed the surface of the door in a frantic attempt to find the doorknob. Finally, he felt metal. Curling his fingers around the golden doorknob, he quickly flicked his wrist. The mahogany door flung open and Junpei was quick to slip inside. Pushing the door shut and leaning his shoulder onto it, he yanked the key from his pocket and hastily locked the door.

"No one can enter this room. There are only two keys and I hold one and Kohei-san has the other one." the teenager released a fit of laughter. He flicked a strand of dark hair away from his eye and tried to steady his breathing. "This room can only be unlocked and locked from the inside."

Running a hand through his dark curls, he stalked over to the bed. Taking a few steps forward, the sudden latch of his wrist startled him. Twirling around, he was quick to swoop the lamp on the bedside table. Without a second thought, he swung it at the person who touched him. The person instantly jumped back and stutter-stepped to reposition their balance. They placed about a few feet between them.

His eyes slightly widened and a smile curled onto his lips. "Oh. So it was you?"

Frowning, Akio did not respond. Instead, he lunged forward with the weapon, a scalpel at first glance, firm in his grasp. He jabbed the weapon. Junpei clenched his teeth and hastily shifted to the side. The tip of the weapon barely scraped by him as he narrowly managed to dodge. He glared at the killer and curled his fingers tighter on the lamp.

Skittering back, Junpei's spine collided harshly with the rim of the wooden dresser. Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain assaulting his back, he pushed himself off the floor and onto his feet. Once again, the killer ran forward and swung the weapon in an arc. The black-haired teenager lifted the lamp to block. As expected, the two items collided but brought no harm to either user. Akio's lips screwed upward into a scowl in frustration.

He seemingly did not like the fact that Junpei dodged and then blocked his attack. Instead of gearing his arm for another jab, Akio threw himself instead. Unable to escape and unable to swing the lamp fast enough, Junpei had been tackled to the ground. In an instant, Akio had sat atop of his abdomen and placed his legs on either side of his body so he could not escape. At the same time, the lamp had been stripped away from the teenager's grasp and tossed behind them.

Glancing up, Junpei grinned playfully. "Take out the person who could easily solve the murders first. Smart."

"Naturally. Your Quirk is bothersome."

Raising the weapon above them with both hands on the handle, the killed swung down with little force.

"Nice to know."

Emerging from the bathroom, Junpei caught sight of dark pink curls slamming into Akio's side. Kicking off the ground and landing swiftly onto her feet, Yua hastily positioned her body into a defensive stance. Holding her arms up with her fists clenched, she glared at Akio with narrowed eyes. Akio was up on his feet in an instant, rubbing his chin with his hand. It seemed like Yua had nailed him in the jaw with the plate of her foot.

"Did you take kickboxing or something? Man, that kick hurt?"

"I can always do it again." the pink-haired female responded in a dull tone. She placed her weight on her toes, waiting to see if she would need to dodge quickly.

Akio charged, raising the scalpel and swiping it at her chest. Yua shifted, stutter-stepping as she hopped out of the way. The adult's lips screwed into a smirk as his other hand instantly latched onto her forearm and pulled her in his direction. He stuck out his leg, swiping her feet from the floor, and instantly slammed her into the floor. She spat out a few curses in his direction.

Not one to accept defeat so easily, Yua placed her palms on the carpet and shoved herself to roll onto her back. Just as she was about to get onto her feet, she noticed she did not have enough time to get up. Her brows narrowed at his lowering form. She blinked once and took a split-second decision to raise both legs and dug them into his shins. He winced and bent at the waist.

Grabbing a hold of his shirt, she forced him to fall forward with a strong dug. Yua wrapped her legs around his waist. She tucked her body into a roll, tugging his body along with her, and threw him over her. Although it was not entirely strong since she did not use a lot of momentum, it did not mean that Akio's body did not collide with the wooden dresser. A groan escaped him from the pain coming from his back.

She crawled onto her hands and knees and lunged forward. She latched onto his legs while Junpei finally decided to be useful and grab ahold of his arms. Coming out of the bathroom, Daiki, who was hiding in there alongside Yua earlier, emerged with the crystalline syringe. If you looked close enough, you could see liquid sloshing inside the barrel.

Daiki jammed the needle into Akio's skin and pressed down on the plunger and the liquid was injected into his bloodstream. The adult struggled for a while but he was out in a few seconds as his eyelids fluttered shut.

Yua's eyes widened in shock for a second. "How strong was that anesthesia?"

"Enough to keep him asleep for six hours or so." He leaned over and doubled checked to make sure he was not faking. Kneeling, he pressed two fingers to his wrist. Akio's heart rate was slow.

"But in a few seconds, seems absurd. It usually takes at least thirty seconds, not three." Junpei said as he stood up.

"You said you wanted something that worked fast." Daiki snorted while placing his hands behind his head. "So I amplified the strength by combining a few more chemicals. It's not hard even with a small amount of it. You won't believe how many times I've knocked out Shimi when he decides to play video games all night."

"Isn't that illegal?" the magenta-haired girl questioned while frustrating wiping her blazer of dust.

"Maybe."

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Junpei instantly stalked over to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open. Ichigo, Yoshimi, and a Gin with zip ties tied around his wrists and behind his back walked in. Sometime later, Mei and Shinsha entered as well. Gin snickered at Akio's unconscious form.

"Kohei-san!" Junpei cupped his hands together and placed them around his mouth. "Akio is the killer while Gin is the accomplice."

"Motive and how they got away with it?"

"Sara Himari and Jonah Millard announced to the public that they were engaged, unbeknownst to Akio that she was even with another guy. Once this was revealed, obviously it didn't sit well with him." Yoshimi explained. "But on regular circumstances, it wouldn't warrant murder. No, but-"

Ichigo messed with the silver band in her fingers and held it to the camera in the corner. It was an engagement ring, one that was extremely plain. "If you take a look at Akio's ring finger, you will find a light line encircling his finger if we are correct."

Raising the unconscious man's hand, Junpei nodded in satisfaction at the difference of skin tones on his ring finger.

"So, Akio and Himari were engaged. However, she preferred the foreign guy or it was her company forcing her to do so. Himari betrayed Akio in that sense. That's your motive. Akio enlisted the help of Gin, a butler in this hotel, and paid him to help, which is seen on a phone we found of a conversation between the two."

A smartphone with banking statements was held up to the camera with both men's names in clear print. One paying a hefty sum to the other.

"Gin poisoned Himari with the pufferfish dish. Gin hid Akio with his Quirk, fooling the security camera. Then, Akio snuck into her hotel room and busted her skull open with the faucet to make it look like she slipped and fell to make it appear as an accident. We don't know whether or not our theory with Kaede is true. We never found her again." Yoshimi finished.

"Are we correct?" Ichigo asked as she stared at the camera unexpectedly.

"To an extent. You forgot about how Akio covered up his shift and how he was present in the camera footage you were given. Another thing is how he got to the floor, the stairs, or the elevator?" Kohei paused for a moment. "Was there another accomplice? Gin couldn't have prepared the fish? Was it the chef? Remember, it is poison. You have to be extremely careful. Yes, you connected the bigger clues but you cannot forget about the smaller ones.

"Think about it. What if it wasn't Akio, Gin, or Kaede? You falsely accused two people with valid evidence but what if you find something that contradicts it? What then? You have information but you have the minimum. There will always be more. Given that you had a time limit from morning to lunch, even if seven of you searched, you would not be able to find everything in such a short time.

"I'll keep this brief, always envision what could have occurred and what happened before that. There are many things that can be missed. You just have to make sure you ask yourself the right questions and formulate the right decision. Get to lunch."

For some unknown reason, those sentences left a bitter taste in their mouths.

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Author's Note:

Would you be able to solve a crime or case?

I think I would end up overthinking it and not get anything done because of that. The next chapter is when Akihiko will finally make his appearance. I hope nothing bad happened to him.