Chapter 3: The Missing Dragon

It has been hours since the assassination attempt made against Kiryu in front of the school's gate, said man was being looked over by Recovery Girl, the student and faculty nurse of U.A. Alongside Takeyama, the school teachers were discussing what had transpired in an attempt to know just who exactly was No …

"This is going nowhere." Aizawa almost nonchalantly mentioned. "Face it, we know nothing of these 'Amons'. There's nothing in the criminal database about No, much less about this clan of his."

"It's not uncommon to be missing data about a single villain." Midnight commented from across the table. "But if it's an entire clan? I don't doubt that this assassin is from Kiryu's world. I can't exactly imagine Kiryu could've done something to piss off an entire clan in less than a year."

"I mean, that's pretty obvious. It's not like No said how he has disgraced his clan for decades." Takeyama remarked, rolling her eyes. Midnight glared at the blonde heroine, to which Takeyama responded by reciprocating the glare.

"Those two still at each other's throats?" Snipe casually asked Ectoplasm to his side.

"A-anyway!" All Might hastily interjected, hoping to quell the rising tension between the two women. "Mt. Lady, how are your injuries?"

"Huh?" Takeyama turned towards the former number one hero. "Oh. They're alright now. Recovery girl helped to fix me right up. None of them were serious, so it was a pretty quick recovery. But I'm worried about Kiryu. He took a lot more than I did in that fight." She said as she rubbed her hands, still grateful for Recovery Girl's assistance.

"Speaking of him. Had he ever mentioned anything about the man that attacked him prior to your encounter with him?" No. 13 asked.

"No. While he did talk about what he did back in his world, there was never anything about an Amon though."

"Then we may just have to ask him ourselves when Recovery Girl is done with him." Cementoss said.

"That won't be possible." A new voice announced. Turning towards the doors, the heroes saw Recovery Girl herself making her way into the room.

"Recovery Girl?" All Might question, but Takeyama was quick to cut him off.

"How's Kiryu?"

"And what exactly do you mean that it won't be possible to ask Kiryu about Amon?" Vlad King questioned. Recovery Girl simply looked up; a frown plastered on her face.

. . . . .

Recovery Girl was mumbling to herself. It wasn't too long ago that she finished healing up Kiryu, but now she felt conflicted. Just as she was mulling over what to do with her newfound information, she heard rustling coming from the closed room. Opening the door, she saw Kiryu out of bed, just finishing up putting his clothes on.

Hearing the door open behind him, the man turned towards the petite woman.

"Finally up, I see." She commented, smiling despite herself.

"The school nurse, right?" Kiryu asked, to which Recovery Girl nodded. "I see, well, thank you for nursing me back to health." Kiryu looked away, expecting her to say something. After a moment of silence, Recovery Girl finally decided she might as well bring it up.

"That tattoo on your back…" She frowned.

"So, you did see it then." Kiryu looked sullen. Another moment of silence. "I guess it was an eventuality." Kiryu reasoned, buttoning up his shirt and walking past the small woman.

"Where are you going?" Recovery Girl asked.

"I'm leaving. I'll only cause more trouble for you all by staying here. With Amon after me, I'd be putting the students in danger. I know that there are heroes here, and that the students have quirks to defend themselves with, but even then, none of you know what these people are capable of. That, and I doubt that most heroes would not be happy to know that they've been letting a yakuza member roam around in their school." Kiryu continued down the hall a bit more before coming to a stop. "Tell everyone, especially the students and Takeyama, to be careful of anyone wearing a black coat." Recovery girl could only huff and watch as the man walked away.

. . . . .

Vlad King slammed a fist on the table.

"You just let him walk away?!"

"What would you have had me done?" Recovery Girl sighed at the man's temper. "I'm a defenseless old woman that couldn't hope to stop him, even if I tried." Vlad opened to his mouth to retort, but he knew she was right. He tightened his fist before falling back into his seat.

"We should have assigned someone to watch over him." He grumbled. Aizawa simply shook his head in response.

"We had no way of knowing up until now. It's pointless to dwell on what we could or should've done."

"But…" Takeyama started, looking unsure. "I can't wrap my head around Kiryu being yakuza though. He just… doesn't seem like he would be."

"He had the tattoo of a dragon. I'm old enough to remember what old yakuza used to be like, and he certainly fit the bill. I'm guessing the title 'Dragon of Dojima' was in reference to the person he served under. Not to mention he practically admitted it to me." The small nurse stated. Takeyama opened her mouth to say something but chose against it and instead looked towards the ground.

'There has to be some sort of explanation. Right?'

"Mt. Lady." Aizawa called out to her, shaking her out of thoughts. "You were tasked with keeping an eye on Kiryu, correct? Wouldn't it be best to try and find him?"

"O-oh!" Takeyama realized. "Uh-probably." She said, getting out of her seat and heading out the door.

"… So how long exactly have we been allowing a yakuza member to beat up our students?" Nezu asked, almost too casually, causing everyone to look at him.

. . . . .

"I wonder how Kiryu is holding up." Kaminari questioned out loud, casually laying across the couch and throwing a ball into the air.

"Well, he did get stabbed…" Uraraka stated matter-of-factly, drinking from a juice box.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's with Recovery Girl after all. Plus he's tough as hell."Kirishima reassured the worried students, gaining murmurs of agreement. As the students tried to convince each other that Kiryu would be perfectly fine, Midoriya noticed Takeyama at the front of the school about to leave.

"Deku?" Uraraka saw the young boy hurrying out the building, wondering what he was doing.

"Mt. Lady!' Midoriya called out to the blond heroine, getting her attention.

"Oh, uh… you." Takeyama stuttered out as the teen got closer, making it very obvious that she had forgotten his name.

"Midoriya." He reminded, making the pro hero look away, embarrassed.

"Right." She mumbled, before turning back to him. "Uh, what do you want?" She asked, though she had an idea why he stopped her.

"Have you heard anything about Kiryu?" Takeyama hummed in responsesadly.

"I had a feeling you wanted to know about him." She crossed her arms, looking down. "He's gone." She simply stated. After a moment of silence, Takeyama looked back up at Midoriya, only to be met with a face filled with horror and shock. That's when she realized how what she said sounded. "N-not dead! Not dead! He's not dead!" She frantically waved her hands in front of herself, trying to correct her mistake. Midoriya thankfully calmed down, letting out a big sigh of relief.

"Bad choice of words on my part." She continued once Midoriya had calmed down. "But he isn't dead. Kiryu's fine, Recovery Girl nursed him back to health. He is gone though, he left once he was feeling well enough." She explained as the teen took in what she was saying. "Recover Girl said that he left because he was worried about putting you guys in danger."

"Because of that man in black I'm guessing?" Midoriya chimed in, gaining a nod from the woman.

"No Amon. He's probably worried that you guys will get hurt if you come across him." She huffed. "I'm going to try and find him. He is kind of my responsibility right now." She turned to leave, but not without saying one last thing under her breath. "Especially since it seems like he's yakuza." Takeyama walked off, not noticing the look of shock on Midoriya's face. As she eventually walked out of sight, Midoriya was processing this new and sudden revelation.

"Kiryu is a yakuza member?"

. . . . .

'I don't even know where to begin looking.' Takeyama thought as she wandered through the streets, no real destination in mind. 'My only lead was his hotel. Without him there, I have no idea where he could be.' She stopped mid walk, contemplating the situation at hand. "Hm. Maybe it'd be best to look for him as a giant." She concluded. "At least it'd be easier to get through the city." Just as she was about to shift into her giant form, her thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Wait! Stop! Thief!"

Substory

Collection of misfortunate events

Takeyama turned to her right, seeing a man in a business suit clumsily chasing a dog man, though he was quickly tiring out.

"Please… stop…" He heaved out, completely out of breath. He eventually came to a full stop, doubling over as he was gasping for air. "I'm… completely out of shape…" He muttered to himself. Takeyama couldn't help but feel sorry for the man.

'If Kiryu was here, he would've dropped everything in a heartbeat to help this poor guy out.' Takeyama thought to herself. 'I, however, need to focus on finding-'

"Ah, Mt. Lady!"

"Crap." Takeyama hissed under her breath. Doing her best to hide her annoyed expression as she turned to greet the citizen.

"Mt. Lady, please!" The man pleaded, getting a little too close for the heroine's comfort, forcing her to take a step back. "That thief stole something important to me. I need you to please get it back for me!" Takeyama grimaced, she didn't really care to fetch something, especially since she needed to find Kiryu still.

"Uhhh, yeah, I would love to, but I'm really busy at the moment. I'm in the middle of-" Takeyama attempted to worm her way out of the situation, but the man instead cut her off, much to her annoyance.

"Oh, I get it." He blurted out, reaching into his pocket before producing a handful of yen, surprising the women. "50,000 yen. Plus another 50,000 once you get my item back." He said, forcefully shoving the wad into Takeyama's hand, who was having trouble processing what was happening. She needed to find Kiryu, but when you're a hero on a budget…

"Uh… yeah, sure. I'll get your thing back." She lamented, much to the man's joy.

"Good, good! He went that way!" He pointed towards a rough direction. Takeyama nodded before heading off in said direction.

'At least it's an easy 100,000 yen.' She mused, unable to contain the smirk on her face. 'I'll finish this quickly, then continue looking for Kiryu.' After running for a short while, she eventually came across the thief. The dog man was in a small alleyway, marveling at his find.

"Hey!" Takeyama called out, hoping to draw the dog out of the alley. Clearly surprised, the man turned around, pocketing the small box he was admiring.

"A hero?!" The dog exclaimed, worry and fear laced in his voice. "They got a hero to come after me?!"

"That's right." Takeyama proclaimed. "I'm here to get… whatever it is that you took. So what about we make this easy and you just hand it over? I've got things to do." She tried to coax him into giving up. The sooner she got done, the better.

"No way!" The thief yelled back. "I worked too hard for one of these! I'm not letting it get taken away now!" He bared his canine teeth, a pathetic attempt to scare Takeyama off.

"Even though you stole it in the first place?" The blonde woman asked, already growing annoyed.

"Shut up! It doesn't matter. It's mine leave me alone!" The thief started backing up, but quickly realized his mistake of wedging himself into a dead-end alley. Takeyama groaned; she was going to have to drag him out by force.

"Ugh." She rolled her eyes, before running forward towards the thief, gaining a yelp of fear from the dog. The thief threw out a haymaker as she drew closer. The heroine had no trouble dodging the attack, countering with a roundhouse to the side of the dog's head, gaining a whine of pain from him. He shook his head, trying to regain his thoughts. As Takeyama turned towards him to resume her assault, he brought out his claws.

He ducked another kick, scratching the leg as it soared over him. Takeyama winced in pain, but she didn't relent. Doing a full spin, she performed another roundhouse, aiming lower, nailing the dog in the legs. His legs buckled, making him fall to the ground. Takeyama then lifted her leg up, before bringing down her heel onto the villain's snout, disorienting the thief as he clutched his nose in pain.

Seeing the opportunity, Takeyama grabbed him by the shirt, before throwing him out of the alley and into the open street. The thief gasped in pain as his back made contact with the asphalt. As he tried to get his bearings together, a shadow loomed over him. Looking up to see what was blocking out the sun, he was met with the giant form of Takeyama, who's foot was quickly coming down towards him. The dog couldn't help but let out one last whimper as the giant stomped him into the ground, dirt, trash and a bit of the road being kicked up.

In the wind, Takeyama saw the small box being blown away, falling into a nearby sewage drain.

"Crap." She muttered to herself, shrinking back down to normal size. As she went over to check on the unconscious thief, the man from before finally caught up with them.

"Mt. Lady! I saw the commotion! Did you manage to get it back?" The man asked, hope in his eye. Takeyama couldn't help but sigh.

"Well, I did knock it out of his hand. But it ended up falling… into the sewers." She pointed to the drain behind her. The man looked frantic at the news.

"What?!" He nearly yelled, diving towards the drain. "You have to go get it!"

"What?! Me?!" Takeyama exclaimed, turning towards the businessman. "Why?!"

"Please! You have to! Look-" He once again reached into his pocket, producing 50,000 yen. "Here's the rest of what I promised, but I'll give you 100,000 more if you retrieve it from the sewers." Takeyama opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut up once she realized just how much money was being promised if she went through with this.

But that meant going in the disgusting sewers. Plus, whatever killed those scientists could still be in there. But she could make even more money that she really needed.

'I'm really about do this, aren't I?'

"Fine, I'll go get it." She grumbled, making her way to a nearby manhole.

"You're a blessing." The businessman thanked her as she walked away.

"Yeah yeah." She muttered, halfheartedly waving a hand. After struggling to remove the heavy cover leading to the sewers, she cautiously made her way down the ladder, shuddering as she could feel the disgusting ladder sticking to her gloves, thankful that she at least wasn't in her civilian clothing. After hopping down to the ground, she took a nervous glance around, keeping an eye out for anything that moved.

She let out a yelp and nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw a couple of rats skittering across a nearby pipe.

"I hate this so much." She whimpered, walking slowly as to avoid stepping onto anything disgusting. "Just need to find that stupid box, then I can get my money and find Kiryu." She told herself, trying her best to not think about the situation at hand. After walking for a bit, and flinching at anything that happened to spook her, such as more rats or a drip of sewer water, she eventually found the box in question. Thankfully, it wasn't submerged in disgusting sewer water, instead resting on the path ahead.

Takeyama sighed in relief; this was going to be simple at least. Once she reached the small box, she started bending down to pick it up. However, a rat shot up from the back of the box, screeching at Takeyama. The heroine let out a scream, backing away from the creature in panic, until she backpedaled too much. Her left foot slipped off the edge of the walkway, and she plummeted into the discolored liquid below.

Quickly jumping up, Takeyama grabbed hold of the edge, soaking wet in sewage, trembling from both the cold water, and the fact that she was now waist deep in shit water.

"Oh… god…" She trembled, pulling herself up. As she reached the pathway, she stood up, holding her arms out, allowing the sewerage to drip off her person. "This better have been worth it." She angrily grumbled. She quickly reached down to pick up the box, squirming as more of the water clung to her body. Not even caring what could have been in the box, she rushed back towards the manhole, not wanting to stay if the situation got any worse for her.

"Ah, Mt. Lady. I hope the box didn't fall into the sewer itself?" The man asked as Takeyama reached the surface, seemingly not noticing that the woman was drenched from head to toe. Takeyama gave the man a glare, which also seems to have gone unnoticed, before angrily presenting the box.

"Here, take it. Now the money." She spat out, unwilling to play nice anymore.

"Right right, here you are." The man took the box out of the heroine's hand, replacing it with a wad of yen. Once back in his procession, the man was visibly relieved, slowly opening the box to ensure that the item within was in one piece. "Oh, thank goodness." He breathed out, taking out the item. In his hand, he held a small bottle cap. Takeyama's eye twitched at the sight.

"A… A bottle cap? You had me fetch a BOTTLE CAP?!" Takeyama questioned, bewildered, not even caring that she was raising her voice.

"Not just any bottle cap." The man began to explain, oblivious to the fuming woman in front of him as he focused on the gold coated bottle cap. "This is the rarest in the series! I spent nearly a million yen to get it. I have no idea what I would have done if I had lost it. Now I can add it to the rest of my collection, where it'll be safe. Thank you again, Mt. Lady." He put the bottle cap back into the box and pocketed it, before walking away.

Takeyama stood in place, watching as the man walked away. She shuddered, both in anger and from the sewerage.

"I… risked my life… for a stupid bottlecap?!" She seethed, clenching her fists as she stared at the ground.

Collection of misfortunate events

Complete

. . . . .

I got an editor! Lunarkitten707.

Also, I'm hoping that they explain the heat in Yakuza 7, because it seems very supernatural at this point.

But, as always, I hope you enjoyed!