Chapter 21 – The princess of the lonely castle.
"Young Miss, you can't run around without your shoes!" A worried maid hollers out to the white-haired child.
The child ran wildly, caring not for furniture or decorations across the estate. No one would care if they were damaged since no one ever took the time to gaze at them. None but the maids and butlers of the estate held a connection with the different items lying across the manor.
Arms spread out as she ran down the never-ending halls of the manor, Izumi Kiyabu's energy had never been matched by anyone in her home. Neither her pets nor her skilled butler ever outpaced her in her running. This is thanks to her quirk, which she has been taught to use consistently.
Her running doesn't end until she rams into what feels akin to a rugged, obsidian wall. "Ouuph!" Falling onto her back, the child flinches as she is drawn from her imagination. The borders of her vision widened and faded away when she looked up to see the tall, shadow-casting figure standing over her.
The dark visage appeared to be a man in a black suit, only growing more dimly lit as her eyes traveled up to see his face. At first, she could not see the man's face. The ominous aura around him becomes reminiscent of one all too familiar to her. "F-F-Fath—"
Izumi doesn't get the words out, stuttering as she stares at the mountainous man. It was a rare occurrence for her father to arrive at the manor at a time like this. Although she couldn't see his face, the ominous aura of power that engulfed him was the same that nearly suffocated her on her first birthday. That suit he wore, it was always carried the same smothering presence.
She'd seen firsthand how this presence snuffed the lights of many envious businessmen. The existence that strayed the eyes of acrimonious men and women was never tried in the business industry. Thanks to the technology their family possessed, the Kiyabu Family was the last group anyone ever wished to cross swords with.
"Young Miss!" The voice of her maid snaps her from her daze.
Adjusting her eyes to focus on what she'd crashed into, Izumi found one of her butlers looking down at her with a concerned face. She can't see the look of horror and primal fear engulfing her being, but the butler can see it very clearly. "M-Madam Kiyabu, forgive me... I hadn't noticed you!" The butler's contrite tone reaches her ear, helping to compose her.
"Y-You don't need to apologize, silly!" Rising to her feet, just in time for the sweating maid to finally reach her, Izumi pats the leg of the butler. "But, you need to make this up to me by making lots of sweets, okay?" The innocent eyes of the child swayed the worries of the butler.
"O-Of course, Madam Kiyabu, The finest sweets will be prepared for you!" Hurrying a polite bow, and a programmed turn, the butler hurries down the way he'd come. Presumably, there was more than one way to reach this side of the mansion.
"Thank you, Mr. Niwa!" Waving as the butler ran off, Izumi's forced smile wavered slightly.
For a moment, she believed she'd bumped into her father, who rarely showed his face in this place. She feared his anger and the white room that could follow behind it. The emptiness, the quietness, and the loneliness that followed after each disturbance during the earlier parts of her childhood were terrifying.
"Young Miss, please, we need to get you properly dressed for your outing. Ms. Shuzenji will be crossed if you are late!" An accent lays at the tip of the maid's tongue, carefully using her body to block the rest of the way forward. Whatever way the butler went was deeper into this portion of the estate, decorated with a gallery of family portraits.
The estate hardly received visitors, unless it was related to business with the heads of the Kiyabu Corporation—both of whom were just as rare to see as visitors!
Pinnley, the child's faithful butler, had personally called a guest to their estate for Rimi—the red-streaked girl Izumi couldn't get enough of! Recovery Girl, an older woman from long before the birth of even Izumi's parents, was visiting and wanted to go on an outing with Izumi and Rimi together!
"I don't really know her, but if it's a chance to hang out with my dearest Rimi, then I won't mind at all!" Turning to face the way she came, Izumi strides down the hallway with a delighted smile. Behind her, the maid sighs in relief, happy that the child was more focused on her childhood crush than going further into the area behind her.
'The Young Miss must never go down those stairs,' thought the maid as she followed her lady. Outside of their sight, a passage leading deeper into the mansion, lower than even the basement, lingered and waited patiently for its owner to return to it.
The final distraction arrives in the shape of information, "We'll be going out to town. Sir Pinnley will be your driver as usual, but he won't be joining you."
* * *
It took half an hour before chirping reached the ears of the vehicle's passengers. Rays of light shimmer through the car's windows. Rimi has never ridden in a limousine until now, marking this as her first taste of luxury, besides temporarily residing in a massive estate.
Enjoying the luxurious display was difficult, given the radiant, white-haired girl sitting across from her.
"...Do you mind?" Lax in her annoyance, Rimi questions Izumi on her choice to continue staring at her. The pale-skinned child couldn't hide her blush when Rimi pointed out her gaze. Quickly, she turns to look away, out the window behind her.
Tripping over her words, Izumi hurries to explain herself, "I-I... well, you see... if you think... I wouldn't... well...!" Once she caught onto the girl's gibbering, Rimi rolled her eyes.
She looks at the elderly woman seated a few feet away from Izumi. "Ms. Shuzenji, why would you bring us out to town? I haven't been out into the city in a while, plus I'm far from home. Higure's a small town, y'know. Unlike there, I can't..." The look the elderly woman gives her shushes any of Rim's potentially snarky comments she's thinking of. It'd been a while since she last interacted with a human normally.
Sadly, this limousine doesn't have one of these normal interactions.
"I'll just keep my mouth shut," Mumbling beneath her breath, Rimi can't turn sideways before Izumi speaks to her again.
"You don't have to keep your mouth shut, I enjoy your one-liners!" The innocent smile of the girl was more irksome than every comment she made. Rimi didn't know whether to be offended by the girl's insistence on speaking to her or the fact that she'd begun identifying Rimi's snarky dialogues as one-liners.
'They're not one-liners...' Anyone who could read minds would think that the girl was pouting.
The elderly woman chuckles, almost like she'd read the child's mind to hear her somber complaint. "Every hero has a one-liner once in a while, don't they?" Fueling the flames of the joke, the woman watches as a pink hue spreads on Rimi's face.
Even Pinnley, driving the limousine, seems to find the interaction amusing enough to chuckle from the driver's seat. Everyone is smiling, besides Rimi, who'd been made the butt of the joke. "Whatever," says the pink-faced child, turning away from the other passengers.
"So, Ms. Kiyabu, what do you do by yourself in your grandfather's mansion?" Chiyo speaks to Izumi, pushing away the silence from Rimi's selective mutism. The old-timer grew curious about the granddaughter of one of her old acquaintances.
Izumi's curious expression fixes on the woman, "Father insists that I stay here, so I play with the maids and go out with Pinnley whenever I can. Now, the maids don't want me to go out because it's been getting dangerous." The last time she went on an outing, the zoo she'd visited was attacked by a now-deceased villain.
Remembering the events of the zoo brings a pink hue to Izumi's face, brighter on her pale skin than Rimi's. "If I hadn't been saved by a beautiful knight, I'd have been injured badly!" During that time, Rimi saved her life from the abomination that'd nearly skewered her.
A faint scoff comes from Rimi, who rolls her eyes. 'As if she needed help,' thought the bitter child. After witnessing Izumi's unordinary quirk first-hand, the former killer knew how problematic Izumi could be in the eyes of anyone, especially when she struggles so much with her potent quirk.
Oblivious to the discontent from Rimi, or choosing to ignore it altogether, Izumi softly smiles in the direction of her obvious crush.
"Oh my," chimes the old woman. "How adorable!" Striking a nerve in Rimi's core with a mere complement, Rimi's pink expression turns red. Somehow, Izumi's expression only turns pinker. To Rimi, she was being packed together with someone that she generally disliked. A stark contrast to Rimi, to Izumi, she was being packed together with someone with whom she carried an unnatural infatuation. This can be dumbed down to a childhood crush.
"Ms. Shuzenji, please try to mind your manners. They are still children," the surprisingly serious voice of Pinnley comes from the front seat. Seeing the potential storm brewing in the backseat of his vehicle, the man was more than cautious. Between Rimi, who can decimate chunks of the terrain, and Izumi, whose unnatural quirk can leave even the fastest of enemies mind-boggled—Pinnley would prefer not to worry about either of the children throwing a tantrum or getting too excited.
"Why, you're right. Apologies, dear." The old woman had lived long enough to recognize when she was at fault.
The rest of the ride is a fairly quiet one. Besides Izumi's occasional poke at Rimi's attention, there isn't much discussion until they arrive at the city.
* * *
Rimi's eyes gaze up in infatuation. "I had no idea they came in this size..."
"Do you think they were this big during the dinosaur days?" Beside Rimi, Izumi stares up at the same display as her.
Shaking her head, Rimi doubts the existence of creatures as huge as the one she's looking at. "They couldn't have been. It's surreal."
Towering over the two in a large display case, a stuffed animal with the appearance of a blue and white penguin casts a shadow through the glass of its exhibit. It is far taller than either of the two children, easily towering over Rimi's mother, whose height is nothing to scoff at. The two could swear they saw its round, black eyes peering down at them with as much curiosity as they gave with their innocent gaze.
"It's so big, it could probably fit four of me in it," Izumi continues gawking in awe at the large stuffed toy. The image of four white-haired children filling the stomach of the penguin spawns in her mind. The way Izumi couched her words even gained a shudder from Rimi, who quickly envisioned the sight too.
Rimi rubs her hands over her cheeks, cleansing her psyche from the image that Izumi planted in her mind. "You've got a messed up imagination, jeez." Speaking in a low murmur, the child with red streaks in her hair sharply turns away from the amazing display.
She'd spun away to help get the image out of her mind, but also because she heard the bell chime of one of the nearby businesses, which only happened when someone opened the door to the corporation.
Arbitrary taps are released every time the senior citizen, exiting from the corporation, puts her cane against the earth. "You kids don't know how to control your tone in public, do you?" Chiyo, the Pro-Hero named Recovery Girl, approaches the two girls accompanying her on her stroll through the city.
"She hasn't even gotten to yelling yet," Poking her thumb to the white-haired girl behind her, Rimi apathetically rolls her eyes.
In their time training together, where Rimi never managed to secure a confident victory against the swift girl, she became familiar with Izumi's habit of squealing, screaming, and laughing in the heat of the moment. It was like she was on a rollercoaster, or watching a film.
Shivers run up her spine recounting those torturous hours.
"In the right circumstance, she can be even louder." Finishing her statement, the old woman had already walked past Rimi in the short time she'd been reminiscing. 'This old lady is light on her feet,' she thought. Old-timers often moved quickly when they weren't in a race.
Finally up to speed with the conversation, Izumi defends, "I am not loud!" Her voice is carried down the street, drawing the attention of a few people.
Eyes glance at Izumi from what feels like every corner to her. Tentative stares, which in her eyes, are waiting for her next action.
Darkness creeps around her, lurching and sticking to her flesh like a staining oil. "Quiet down, you're being too loud." Rimi's voice snaps Izumi from the momentary stillness. Only a second had passed, but it felt like several minutes had gone by.
"...Quit staring at me," Rimi had gotten used to Izumi habitually staring at her. It annoyed her just as much each time, given the glaring infatuation that reached her from the white-haired girl's gaze. This time, her tone came out differently, however. Instead of sounding annoyed like one would expect, Rimi sounds conflicted and hesitant.
The look in Izumi's eyes was not infatuation, but an expression too familiar to Rimi: fear. An expression identical to the faces of some of Rimi's victims in her past life. "Why... why are you looking at me like that?" Staggering back a few steps, the change in Izumi's obsessed behavior leaves the little killer stunned.
She had no clue the child who often appeared oblivious to her surroundings could make such a face.
When Chiyo's cane taps the ground, Izumi blinks and turns to the old woman wordlessly. Chiyo gives the child a sympathetic expression, frowning almost. "Come along, children. We have a few more places to visit," she says, then walks further down the street.
Once she recollected herself, Izumi turned to look at Rimi with a regretful face. It was so different from usual that Rimi considered the possibility of Izumi playing a role until now. They don't speak to one another, however. Izumi maintains her silence as she turns and follows Ms. Shuzenji.
'What was that look for? I... I feel like shit,' Rimi thought as she followed the two. A contrite feeling swells in her core as if she'd made a mistake.
'Ms. Shuzenji looked like she felt the same way I did. No, she looked sympathetic... is there something I'm missing?' In the long run, Rimi understands that she hasn't known Izumi for long. For a moment, she believes that her initial assumptions about the white-haired girl might've been too imprudent. Withholding these thoughts, Rimi focuses ahead of her to see where the old woman is leading them.
"Are you serious?" Rimi's miffed voice comes out, directed not at Izumi, but at Ms. Shuzenij instead. She hadn't known about a hero museum in the city, nor would she expect to be brought to it even if she had. "One of the places you needed to visit is a hero museum?"
"Why, of course." Chiyo slowly climbs the museum's stairs, uninterested in the toddler's displeasure. Children needed to follow adults before they could do as they pleased, otherwise they wouldn't get anywhere. 'Well, this one might be an exception,' she refers to Rimi.
It isn't until the woman has paid for their entry that she explains why they are visiting the building. "I've heard from the Pinetree that Ms. Kiyabu is interested in becoming a hero. Ms. Yonamine has also done her fair share of heroic attempts too," explains the veteran hero. "I'll show you all some great heroes, maybe you'll get inspiration from them."
The hero museums are made to memorialize the legacies and deeds of Pro-Heroes throughout generations. Information from heroes old and new can be found, including how they fell in battle or lived out the rest of their lives.
Currently, the trio are strolling down the narrow halls of the museum, the walls replaced with exhibits showcasing mannequins, fitted with the suits of former or current heroes. At the front of the museum, a large statue of All Might was established to draw more attention.
Rimi noted how strange it was that there was no display for him in the main building, but was quickly drowned in facts about other heroes.
"Tupperhead's pretty cool, I guess." Rubbing her neck from the unpopular opinion, Rimi stares at the display in front of her. A large bowl with legs and a mouth stand before her. Tupperhead, a unique Pro-Hero who uses his bowl-shaped body to collect liquids and items, has been added to the museum. "I think he could use a new hero costume, though." Vividly, she remembers her sister poking fun at her as a toddler for being a Tupperhead fan, even though she wasn't. Admittedly, it was inspiring that someone with a meager quirk still can work to make a difference in the country.
Many displays follow Tupperhead's, many being practically nameless heroes whose reputation didn't reach the spotlight or headlines as much as the big hitters such as Endeavor, who's been falling short of All Might for as long as Rimi can remember. Someone who stood out in the museum to Rimi was the Mother of Quirks, the woman who changed the world with her advocation for change in a time when Quirk users were feared and hated.
The description of the woman, from how the museum wrote of her, seemed very similar to Rimi's parents. Even at her lowest, they didn't turn away from her actions. Instead, they pushed to try to make her better — the slightest push meant the most.
Rimi and Izumi both notice the absence of the Chiyo during their walk down the gallery. They find her at the very end of it, staring up at a statue of a posing hero, adorned with a camera over his chest, and a bright smile. This one was not a mannequin, but a carved statue.
"Who's this?" Izumi questions as she and Rimi arrive at the elderly woman's side. While Rimi was not very interested in the man, Izumi found herself drawn to his appearance. It was very familiar, the painted white hair of the man being very similar to hers.
"The Quantum Commander is what they called him, a bit of a tongue twister." Lightly, Chiyo jokes while staring up at the statue. This was a deceased hero, who'd apparently retired and passed away peacefully years later. "Some don't know he was a bit older than me, but had the energy of a boy brimming in his youth."
Reminiscing on times long gone, as if they were right in front of her, Chiyo looks down at the white-haired child. "His name was Kazuhiro Kiyabu, your grandfather."