Mimic Meeting
Another night had fallen over Kyoto, the city’s lights casting a gentle glow on the streets as Renji once again took to his patrol. The events of the previous days had been informative, to say the least. His encounter with the priest at the temple had left him with more questions than answers, prompting him to dig deeper into the patrol routes and patterns across the city.
Renji had contacted the Kraftwerk Hero Agency, requesting additional information regarding the patrols. Impakt himself had been too busy to meet with him directly, but he had sent Floor to assist. Even Renji, grumpy as he was, had to acknowledge how tremendously helpful Floor had been.
Floor had arrived at Renji’s temporary headquarters carrying a substantial stack of files, documents, reports, and maps. "Better to keep records of everything by hand," Floor had said, "in case the city suffers another blackout like during the last attack." He had then helped Renji set everything up, turning an entire wall and a couple of whiteboards into a comprehensive display of schedules, routes, and reports from most heroes currently operating in Kyoto.
Besides the already identified area in southeast Kyoto that lacked patrols, he had noticed a similar dead zone on the western outskirts. This new potential weak spot gnawed at him, but it was too far for him to check while also maintaining his current patrol route.
As he scanned the area, his eyes caught a figure flying over the city, the blue draconic wings unmistakable in the moonlight. He recognized them immediately—Seiryu, the Spring Dragon Hero. Renji prided himself on being well-informed, even about underground heroes, and Seiryu was no exception. Seeing Seiryu land nearby, Renji decided to intercept him and copy his quirk. Flying would allow him to investigate the city more efficiently.
Renji quickened his pace, following the direction where Seiryu had landed. He saw the hero descend behind a small building and hurried to catch up. Just as he turned the corner, ready to confront Seiryu, he bumped into someone else entirely.
The figure he encountered was a short female hero with white hair, wearing clothes of the same color. Her sleeves were so long they almost reached the ground, and her skin was a sickly green that matched the tired look in her eyes. The woman stumbled slightly, quickly apologizing.
"Sorry about that," she muttered, her voice soft.
Renji barely acknowledged her apology, his focus still on Seiryu. "Where's Seiryu? I need to meet him."
The woman tilted her head, a hint of amusement in her eyes. "Are you a fan or something? Sorry if you wanted an autograph. He isn't around."
Renji didn't spare her a glance initially, frustration evident in his posture. After a moment, he turned to her, scrutinizing her appearance. "Are you a hero? What's your hero name?"
"Takahashi Mako," she said without thinking while yawning. "Alias Ersatz."
Renji narrowed his eyes. "Ersatz, huh? What are you doing out here? I don’t remember seeing your name on the patrol reports. In fact, you should have been on the other side of the city."
Then she realized what she had just done. Mako shifted uncomfortably, a flicker of nervousness in her eyes. She had spoken her name without thinking, sleep deprivation clouding her usual caution. "I... I was just helping out. Some of the agencies are stretched thin, so I’m filling in where I can."
Renji wasn’t buying it. He pressed on, his tone insistent. "Which agencies? What exactly were you doing?"
Mako dodged the questions, her answers vague and non-committal. "Just... general support. Wherever they needed an extra hand."
Renji’s frustration grew with each evasive response. "You’re not being very specific. What exactly were you doing out here tonight?"
Mako bit her lip, desperately trying to come up with a plausible explanation. "Like I said, just helping out. It’s been chaotic, and we’re all doing what we can."
Renji suddenly changed his tone, his abruptness catching Mako off guard. "Alright, fine. If you’re really here to help, then help me."
Mako, exhausted and barely holding on after several sleepless nights, felt a surge of irritation but swallowed it down. She had to maintain her cover. "What do you need help with?"
Renji didn’t hesitate. "I need you to fly me to another part of the city. There’s an area I need to investigate, but it’s too far for me to cover on foot while keeping up with my current patrol."
Mako stared at him, trying to process his request. Flying him around the city was the last thing she wanted to do right now. Her muscles ached, and her eyes felt like they had sand in them from lack of sleep. But she couldn’t let Renji suspect she was on an unofficial patrol.
"Sure," she finally said, forcing a smile. "I can do that. Where do you need to go?"
They landed near the western outskirts, and Renji quickly released his grip, stepping back to give Mako some space. She folded her wings, her shoulders slumping with fatigue.
"Thanks," Renji said, a rare note of genuine gratitude in his voice.
Mako nodded, too tired to respond verbally. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.
Renji had copied Ersatz’s quirk during the trip. As they landed, he took a moment to experiment with his newfound ability. He envisioned Seiryu, focusing on the blue dragon hero’s distinctive features. His hair turned dark blue, his eyes red, but he stopped the physical transformation there, wanting to prioritize using Seiryu’s quirk. His frame became slightly more muscular and taller, with faint blue scales appearing on the sides of his face and along his arms. His senses heightened in this partial dragon form, and the first thing he noticed was the smell.
It was very faint but unmistakable—a certain stench that permeated the entire area. Renji’s enhanced senses quickly identified the source: numerous manhole covers were not properly closed, and some in more secluded spots were completely open. The further they moved west, away from the few residences in the district, the more noticeable this became.
"Something’s off," Renji muttered, his voice a low growl thanks to the partial transformation. He turned to Mako, who was trying to keep her exhaustion at bay. "We should split up. You take the skies and cover as much area as you can from above. I’ll sweep the ground level."
Mako nodded, relieved to be back in the air where she felt more at ease despite her fatigue, as it meant being away form Mash's autism. "Got it. Keep your eyes peeled."
Renji grunted in acknowledgment. He decided to descend into the sewers to investigate further. His draconic senses would give him an edge in the dark, confined space. He lowered himself into the manhole, landing quietly on the damp, grimy floor. The tunnels stretched out before him, a labyrinth of filth and decay.
Not being used to working with others, Renji had almost forgotten to inform Ersatz about his plan to go into the sewers. He stepped out again, looking up trying to locate her to singal her to come.
Realizing he needed a break from Seiryu's heightened senses, dropped the transformation. His features returned to normal, and he took a moment to recover. The stench of the sewers, which had been unbearable with his enhanced senses, became merely awful.
It was during this brief respite that a shadow loomed behind him. A hulking, shaggy figure emerged from one of the sewer tunnels. The creature was humanoid but massive, covered in matted fur, with a prominent brow casting its eyes into shadow. It wore nothing but a ragged loincloth, and it moved with surprising stealth for something its size.
Before Renji could react, the figure struck him from behind with a blunt metallic object. Pain exploded in Renji’s head, and his vision went black as he hit the ground. He slipped in and out of consciousness, feeling himself being dragged along the grimy sewer floor.
When he next opened his eyes, Ersatz was there, looking slightly older, healing Renji's quirks with a regeneration quirk. "Hold on," she said, her voice a mixture of concern and focus. "I need a few seconds to shift into someone better suited for combat after healing you."
Renji’s head pounded, but he forced himself to sit up. "What the hell was that?" he asked, his voice slurred but determined.
Ersatz glanced back at him, her eyes flickering with recognition. "That looked like Yaju, a low-level villain associated with the Night Parade."
Renji's mind raced. He remembered the Night Parade from the reports— "Great," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet despite the dizziness.
After a couple of seconds Renji had been healed enough to move again, and both heroes were back on the chase. Yaju was ahead, his heavy footsteps echoing off the tunnel walls. Renji's head still throbbed from the earlier attack, but he pushed through the pain, determined to catch the villain.
As they closed in on Yaju, he turned and threw something at them. Renji's eyes widened as he recognized the makeshift pipe bomb. "Ersatz, watch out!" he shouted.
The device detonated with a deafening bang, sending shrapnel and a dark red liquid flying in all directions. Renji instinctively tried to switch to Impakt's quirk to absorb the impact, but he wasn't fast enough. Ersatz, however, was already transforming into Seiryu's full dragon form. She shielded Renji with her massive, scaled body and wings, taking the brunt of the explosion.
The blast wasn't powerful enough to penetrate her thick scales, but some of the liquid splattered onto her eye. She let out a pained roar but quickly reassured Renji, "I'm fine! Go after him!"
Renji didn't hesitate. Even before she told him to go he was already dashing past her.
He hadn't gone far when he heard a guttural growl behind him. He glanced back to see Ersatz, still in her dragon form, behaving erratically. Her body convulsed, and her eyes, once filled with determination, now glowed with a menacing red hue. It was as if something was seizing control of her.
"Ersatz!" Renji called out, but she didn't respond. Instead, she let out a deafening roar and charged at him, her claws slashing through the air with deadly intent.
Renji's heart pounded. He couldn't afford to fight her and let Yaju escape. He had to think fast. As he dodged Ersatz's wild attacks, he kept his eyes on Yaju, who was still retreating deeper into the sewers.
Yaju turned down another tunnel, and Renji followed, Ersatz hot on his heels. The sewers were a maze, and Renji's sharp mind was working overtime to keep track of their route. He could hear Yaju's heavy breathing up ahead, a sign that the villain was tiring.
He tried to plan. He couldn't switch quirks quickly. Once he picked one, changing would take him a minute at the very least. Meaning that in a quick combat situation he'd be stuck with the firts quirk he decided to use.
"Come on, think," he muttered to himself.
And then he made his choice.
He had no time to swap quirks now; he needed to immobilize both Yaju and the berserk Ersatz before the villain could escape.
As he ran, he kept a close eye on his surroundings, searching for the perfect spot to trap them. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He saw an opportunity just ahead: a narrow section of the tunnel where both Yaju and Ersatz would have to pass through. Even the hero in her dragon form would have to touch the floor with all four limbs to get pass that. It was his best chance.
But his train of thought was interrupted. Renji gritted his teeth as he ran, feeling the pain from Ersatz's claw slash on his back. Blood poured from the wound, each step sending jolts of agony through his body. No time to scream. He had to trap them now.
Renji took a deep breath, ignoring the searing pain, and shouted, "20-meter standing room!" He activated Floor's quirk, and an invisible force clamped down on the ground within a 20-meter radius, sticking both Yaju and Ersatz to the floor.
Even with the slash on his back, Renji didn't fall. He had only a few minutes to incapacitate Yaju before the villain's feet were no longer stuck to the ground. The blood loss added another time limit, one he couldn't afford to ignore.
He moved toward the villain, his mind racing. He couldn't swap quirks now, so he decided to rely on the martial arts skills he had copied from Floor.
Yaju roared in frustration, swinging his massive arms wildly. Renji ducked and weaved.
Despite not having a combat quirk, Renji's movements were fluid and precise. He landed a series of quick strikes to Yaju's ribs and knees, causing the villain to stagger. Yaju snarled, his eyes burning with rage, and swung a massive fist at Renji's head.
Renji dodged the blow and countered with a swift kick to Yaju's knee, causing the villain to buckle. He followed up with an elbow strike to Yaju's jaw, sending the villain reeling. Yaju's brute strength was undeniable, but Renji's skill and precision were more than a match.
Ersatz, still in her berserk state, struggled against Floor's quirk, her claws scraping against the ground. Renji knew he had limited time before she broke free. He needed to finish Yaju quickly.
With a final, powerful kick to Yaju's chest, Renji knocked the villain to the ground. He pounced on Yaju, pinning him down with a knee to his back and a firm grip on his arm.
Yaju snarled and thrashed, but he couldn't break free. Renji kept him pinned, glancing over at Ersatz. She was still struggling, her dragon form roaring in frustration.
Renji's back felt like it was on fire. Ignoring his wound, Renji pulled out a pair of reinforced handcuffs from his belt and secured Yaju's wrists. The villain growled and cursed, but he was firmly restrained.
Ersatz awoke with a start, finding herself lying on a stretcher. She glanced around, seeing whiteboards and maps covering the walls.
Despite feeling groggy and exhausted, she was otherwise healthy. As she began to sit up, she was startled by Renji's voice.
"Your quirk is really useful, you know that?" Renji said, his tone as matter-of-fact as ever.
Ersatz turned to see Renji lying on the floor next to the stretcher. "What happened?" she asked, her voice still weak.
"I caught the villain, called the police, and had them arrest him," Renji replied. "Used your quirk to try turning into different heroes to see which quirks would help calm you down. Turns out, a cleansing quirk did the trick. You snapped out of it but passed out right after."
"No, I mean, yeah, but also what are you doing down there?"
Renji sighed, clearly irritated. "I can't move. My whole body hurts from using too many quirks, including yours. Before you woke up, I was trying to crawl over to you to kick you off the stretcher and use it for myself."
Ersatz couldn't help but let out a small laugh despite the situation. "You really are something else."
"Yeah, yeah," Renji muttered. "You gonna help me up or what?"
Ersatz rolled her eyes but moved to assist him, her exhaustion evident in her movements. As she helped Renji onto the stretcher, she couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to write a report about what happened?"
"Already done and submitted," Renji said nonchalantly.
Ersatz's heart sank. She was sure her rogue patrols would be exposed. "Did you mention... everything?"
"Nope. Just listed it as a team-up. Didn't want to share the glory. Better be grateful I left out the part about you attacking me, or the part about your vigilantism."
Relief washed over Ersatz. "You mean... you knew I was doing illegal hero work when you found me?"
Renji's expression softened slightly. "After how dodgy your reactions to my questions were? Even I would notice that. But I didn't feel like making a fuss about it."
Ersatz was speechless for a moment before she burst out, "You should have said you knew instead of making me worry all that time!"
"But I don't care about you worrying?"
The attitude of this man. It took her a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Mako thought about changing the topic. Maybe that would help her relax.
"What about that bomb Yaju used? What was in it?"
Renji, now resting somewhat more comfortably on the stretcher, explained, "Yaju was carrying three bombs. One he detonated, one he used to bash me on the head, and a third intact one. They seem to contain weak explosives and that red substance."
Ersatz frowned. "What is that red liquid?"
Renji's expression darkened. "We had it analyzed. It's a cocktail of several unidentified drugs, but the main component is something else."
"You sure love to be dramatic. Just tell me what it is." said Mako, too tired to deal with Renji's bullshit anymore.
"Blood."