Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Taylor Pov .
"Very well, now clean that dagger next to you." I could feel the vein in my forehead twitch slightly. I'd spent all day cleaning, polishing, scrubbing, and removing all the dust and stains in front of me, three times, while the old man remained leaning against the wall. All the insects in the world could not have stopped me from feeling the frustration I felt.
"Is that all we're going to do? No customers came," I growled through gritted teeth. The old man opened one eye and looked at me lazily.
"That's because they're coming in the afternoon, around 6 p.m. They'll start arriving. Don't worry, go back to cleaning," the old man said. She gritted his teeth.
"I've been cleaning since morning. Three times I've cleaned everything, and no one came. If they only come at night, why keep it open all day? " I asked, glaring at the old man.
"I'm retired, kid. You see any other things to do?" the old man asked dryly. My eye twitched.
"Train me, perhaps?" I asked just as dryly. The old man stood up nimbly.
"If you wanted training, why didn't you say so sooner? Come on, let's get started," the old man said as he stood up and dusted himself off. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself.
"...very well, let's do this." I finally sighed, looking forward to what he could teach me.
"First, let's start with a mental exercise. You've cleaned and inspected all the weapons in this shop. Tell me, which one is the strongest? " The old man asked as he looked around. I stopped and frowned. I looked closely at the weapons. I'd gone through daggers, swords, spears, hammers, grimoires. While they all seemed strong, they all seemed about the same level. There wasn't one that I felt was superior to another, at least not obviously.
"None? It depends on the user? " I ventured, looking at the old man. It was something he'd said a few hours ago; Izumi was far more skilled with a sword and was capable of defeating any hunter with any weapon in this shop. The old man raised an eyebrow at me.
"What's with that stupid answer? Are you an idiot? " the old man said condescendingly. I instinctively grabbed Shusui's handle before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I'm sure Izumi won't miss his grandfather that much.
"... So, which sword is the strongest? " I asked through gritted teeth. The old man pointed to a corner, where a barrel of discarded swords lay. I followed his finger and saw that it was pointing at the completely rusted sword. He'd tried to do something with it, but it was practically ruined. "Is this supposed to be a joke? What is it going to do, tetanus poison its enemies to death? " I asked incredulously.
"Hey! I heard you, four eyes! I assure you I'm completely healthy! " My head whipped around so fast toward the barrel of swords that I could hear it creak.
"W-who spoke?" I asked cautiously.
"Of course I spoke, idiot!" The guard part of the sword moved as the voice finally came out of the sword.
"What the hell..." I muttered incredulously.
"Now, Derff, be nice. She's Izumi's fiancée," the old man scolded.
"Huh? That four-eyed girl is Izumi's fiancée?! I don't believe it!" the sword exclaimed, and I felt my eye twitch.
"Fine, I'm going to destroy that sword," I growled in annoyance.
"You can try, but you won't achieve anything, Four-Eyes!" the sword exclaimed, almost sounding amused. The old man stepped in between.
"Girl, this is Derfflinger. As you can see, he's a talking sword," the old man introduced.
"Wait, isn't that a person? With one of those weapon transformation quirks? " I asked confused.
"I'm a sword!" Derfflinger exclaimed indignantly. The old man gave me a disappointed look.
"It's a sword, girl. This isn't the 20th century. If it's going to feel like a sword, then it is a sword. Especially if it looks and sounds like a sword." The old man said in a reprimanding voice, but I could see the glimmer of amusement in his eyes. I could feel my eyes twitching once more. Yes, he was totally related to Izumi. They were exactly the same when it came to annoying other people.
"I apologize then," I said through gritted teeth. "How the hell do you 'sound' like a sword?!" The old man nodded in satisfaction. "How is that talking sword the strongest sword in this shop?" I asked, changing the subject. The old man hummed.
"Oh, pretty simple. Derff has the ability to absorb everything thrown at him: Quirks, auras, haki, dust, and almost anything that monsters throw at him." The old man said simply. My eyes widened, and I looked towards the rusty sword.
"Hehe, you stayed silent because you were surprised by my power, four eyes?" Derfflinger asked presumptuously. I snorted.
"Of course not, I just refuse to believe you're good for anything besides being a rusty sword." I countered. Great, now I was fighting a talking sword.
"Its rust is the least of it, if not its potential. Derff is like a master and a sword on its own. In fact, it has its own aura, its own Haki if it tries to. Paired with a skilled swordsman, it's basically cheating, turning any fight into a group fight. There's a reason hunters who graduate from Shibusen in groups of two are truly dangerous. They're even capable of resonating their auras with each other to boost themselves," the old man said cheerfully.
My eyes widened slightly. Was that even possible? I'd heard of Shibusen before, it was almost impossible not to. The principal was a national-level hunter, and the school only accepted people with specific quirks—those who could be transformed into weapons and those who could wield them. I didn't know what resonating auras were, but I could imagine the amount of skill required to try something like fusing them together. It was truly impressive. But there was something that bothered me.
"You just said it didn't depend on the user. The question was about weapons." I retorted angrily. The old man rolled his eyes.
"This isn't about weapons, girl, it's about teamwork," the old man said, scolding me. I looked at him incredulously.
"But you asked about the weapons!" I exclaimed in annoyance.
"Don't dwell on the past; you're too young for that," the old man waved his hand. I really wanted to stab him. If I just wanted to introduce myself to the stupid sword, there was no need to do all that.
"Can we do a real workout now?" I asked again.
" Okay, if you want a workout, we'll do something for that." The old man snorted as he walked over to one of the display cases and pulled out a piece of paper, some tape, and a marker. He quickly wrote on the paper and handed it to me, along with the tape. "Here, stick it outside," he said simply. I grabbed the paper and read it.
Special offer!!
Hit the employee and get 10% off!
All attacks are valid! Quirks, weapons, punches, kicks, sneak attacks, killer attacks, it's anything goes!
Just give the employee a clean swipe and the discount is yours!
Valid for this week only! (Only one attempt per person)
I stared in disbelief at the paper in my hands as it began to shake. I looked at the old man, and he had a shit-eating grin.
"By the way, this is a high-value shop, so most of the customers are B and A-rank Hunters, and occasionally, an S-rank might show up, so do your best. I don't want to lose any money." The old man said amusedly. I looked at him in disbelief. He just clapped twice. "Chop, chop, put up that ad already. People are almost here." The old man said with a smile.
That bastard!
There wasn't anything I could do, so I had no choice but to post the damn sign on the store door. When I came back inside, the old man had already gone back to bed.
About 20 minutes passed until the first person of the day entered the store. A woman a few years older than me strolled lazily into the shop while looking around. I saw the old man, who didn't even move from his spot, and I sighed.
"Welcome. How can I help you?" I asked as the woman approached.
"Are you the employee?" the woman asked without even looking at me.
"Yes, I so-" The woman moved immediately, pulling out a dagger she'd been hiding, and her attack immediately aimed for my neck. She was fast, but not that fast. Instinctively, I moved Shusui with his sheath and intercepted the attack. The girl clicked her tongue as she saw her attack fail.
"I need some dust, raw, refined, and bullets, a little bit of everything." The hunter said easily as she put away her dagger. I looked at her in disbelief before remembering the damn ad. I looked at the old man who still hadn't moved. I sighed tiredly as I made my way around the store. Unfortunately, I knew where everything in this store was after cleaning everything three times. I-
I paused for a second. Was that... the old man's plan? I looked at the reclining old man and wrinkled my nose. Even if it was, I wouldn't believe it. I quickly gathered everything the woman had asked me for. The woman quickly inspected them and nodded.
"How much would it be?" the woman asked. I blinked and went blank. What was the price of the stuff?
"That'll be 85,000 yen," the old man's voice next to me made me flinch slightly. What the hell, I'm sure I'd left insects on his body to track his movements, but I still didn't feel him move. The woman paid quickly with her scroll, grabbed her purchase, and left the store. I sighed.
That's how I spent the next few hours. My bugs guarded the entrance and attached themselves to every customer who entered the store. I was as tense as a spring every time someone approached. If it weren't for my bugs, they would have hit me many more times than they already did.
He was right; they were all B and A Rank Hunters, and none of them hesitated for the slightest second to try to stab me.
They tried to backstab me more times than I should have been comfortable with. After the tenth attempt, I practically expected it every time they pointed at something behind me.
The most annoying were the ones that used area-of-effect Quirks. They were by far the most annoying to dodge indoors. Luckily, the shelves were very sturdy and served as good shields.
The worst were the ones that came in groups, groups of experienced hunters. They knew how to move in unison, and each one had only one attack, but they made the most of it, and none of them needed to open their mouths to communicate, so I barely had time to react.
Their synchronization ability surpassed even my reaction speed and movement speed, even when I had my insects tracking their every move. They cornered me quickly enough to put me at a disadvantage and were nearly impossible to defend against.
I was hit nine times throughout the night. Seven were by groups. Two were by individual hunters.
One of those attacks took me by surprise. In my defense, the 37-year-old, according to her ID, looked like a 12-year-old girl and acted like one, so I lowered my defenses. She was faster than I could react, and she ended up stabbing me in the thigh with a dagger, which was stopped by my aura.
And the other took advantage of a group's attempt to attack me, waiting for the best moment to practically attack me in the middle of the group's coordinated attack. The group immediately accused him of ' Kill' stealing, they and the lone hunter almost started fighting inside the tent. I had to flood the tent with insects to get them to calm down.
It was a damn long night.
"Well, that was a productive night." The old man stretched lazily. I grunted in his direction, still sore from the bruises. Neither of us held back. "Thanks to you and your honorable sacrifice, we've seen sales grow by almost 300%. I'll count on your help tomorrow," the old man said with a smirk. I really, really wanted to stab him or stuff his face with bugs.
"Of course," I said through gritted teeth. The old man yawned and looked around.
"Clean this place up; it's a mess. Then you can close the store," he said simply before heading through one of the doors. I looked around and saw stains, burns, and several pieces of furniture slightly cut from the constant attacks. I closed my eyes once more.
I hope Izumi has a very good reason for making me come meet this old man because he'll owe me a lot of money for all of this.
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Azula Pov
It was already late at night when we returned from patrol. I'd learned a few things from following Endeavor around the city. First, people were so stupid that they kept committing crimes even in front of the number 2 hero. Second, Endeavor was strong and knew what she was doing. I could still see the arrogant attitude Izumi mentioned, but she was still a terrifyingly effective and powerful hero. Most of the criminals were arrested because of her. So she was constantly using her Quirk and didn't even seem tired.
Once we returned to the Endeavor agency building, she said goodbye to us both and left us to our own devices. Fortunately, there was a receptionist who helped us find everything we needed. The dining room was the first place we went. Our rooms were next.
Once I took a shower and changed into my sleepwear, I started scrolling and stopped in disbelief as I stared at the picture Izumi had just sent to our group chat a couple of hours ago.
It was a selfie of him, with a huge smile on his face as he made the peace sign. That was normal. The weird thing about the photo was that he was wearing some kind of strange collar with a leash, and behind Izumi, there was a hunteress wearing a pink jacket with two swords in her hand, holding the end of the leash that connected to Izumi's collar.
Beneath the very disconcerting image was a video link. I quickly opened it and started playing it without hesitation. It was recorded on the phone of one of the spectators. The camera showed a gate cordoned off, surrounded by several police officers and other personnel. After a few seconds of waiting, the pink-clad hunteress emerged from the gate, and the crowd began to go wild.
Until Izumi came out behind her with the collar around his neck. The deathly silence that enveloped the crowd was the same as mine. Izumi took out his Scroll and started taking selfies of himself and the hunteress without the latter noticing. Until she did. The hunteress turned around and stared at Izumi's collar for a few seconds before looking at the leash in her hands. Then her face exploded red before she threw the leash to the ground, completely embarrassed.
Izumi had a huge smile as he offered her the leash again. The hunter groaned and was about to yell at him, but noticed the people around her so she turned around and started walking quickly. Izumi started running in her direction while shouting, ' Mistress Tawata.' The hunteress's completely mortified and red look was the last thing that could be seen before she hurriedly entered a black vehicle.
The video cut out once they both entered.
Oh, Agni, poor huntress.
I returned to the chat and saw Taylor and Ruby offering their condolences to the hunteress. Something I immediately imitated.
I continued chatting with the rest of the group. Izumi was locked in his room at Draw Sword, and even through the chat you could sense his absolute happiness due to the chaos he was causing. Was Taylor cursing some old man and a sword? While Izumi was laughing, I was missing context, a lot of context. Ruby, on the other hand, was on guard duty at her small camp on a secret island. It seemed like everyone was having fun.
My chat was interrupted when the ringing started, displaying the caller ID with Zuko's name on it. I rolled my eyes, immediately ended the call, and continued chatting with the group. It was far more interesting than anything Zuzu could have possibly wanted to tell me.
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.
Author's Note: Happy Easter to everyone celebrating! And thanks for reading and for the supporting!