Snake House

How many floors are in his apartment building?

"Six. No, it's eight, idiot!"

How many windows are there in his room?

"Two. Are you blind?! There's only one!"

In his mind, which one of them is the real him?

"Me. That's me, of course!"

Who is he really?

There are too many clones of him running around. In the end, is he really sure that he's the original one, or did the original already die at some point and he's just one of those delusional clones pretending to be the original.

Who knows? Who knows?

He didn't know.

But-

"Oh, you look like you're quite troubled over something." Golden eyes peered right into the the holes of his paper bag mask. "Are you perhaps in search of an answer?"

Maybe someone else knows.

...

Yukigaoka Middle School was an ordinary public middle school in Naruhata. But, if one were to try and find something that separates it from other middle schools, then perhaps, it would be the fact that it has a higher rate of students with animal-based quirks than others-?

Like, those two students, for example. The two boys sitting beneath the shadows of an old sakura tree, eating their lunch in silence. One of them has an obvious mutation of a raven's head, while the other's golden eyes reminded people of snakes.

Some distance away, several girls could be heard chatting amongst themselves.

"I heard your class got a transfer student, Miki-chan." A girl with short brown hair asked her friend from another class. "What are they like?"

"I don't know..?" Miki, fiddling with her chopsticks, stared at her food hesitantly. "He's um- strange."

"Strange? How strange exactly?" The girl from the other class continued questioning. It wasn't common that they'd get transfer students during their final school year and after the school year had already begun after all.

(School in Japan begins during Spring, around April. Summer break begins on July and ends by August.)

"I mean... His quirk is-" Miki shuddered when she remembered how the new boy explained his quirk when the class asked him during his introduction several days ago.

"My quirk?" Akaguro Mikumo tilted his head, as though he were trying to find a way to word it properly. "The doctors named it Hidden Snake Realm. But really, it's just many, many snakes slithering inside my body."

Miki winced, no longer finding her food appetizing. "He's just creepy."

"O-okay?" Her friend looked at her in confusion but dropped the topic.

Under the tree, not far away, Tokoyami nibbled on an apple slice as Dark Shadow used the top of his head as an arm rest. "You are aware that everyone will be avoiding you for the rest of the year, right?"

Being avoided by children? Mikumo almost wanted to laugh.

Orochimaru never cared about what people thought of him. Never cared when his peers started isolating him when they learned of his genius, never cared when his comrades feared his reputation after the war, and certainly didn't care what his sensei and teammates felt during his betrayal.

Perhaps Izuku would care, but at this point, he was more Orochimaru than he was Izuku. And he certainly was glad about that.

"Yes, that was the whole point of it." Mikumo said calmly, closing the lid of his now empty bento box. "Gochisousama."

"I'm afraid I do not understand." Tokoyami frowned. "Are you not afraid that they will pick on you?"

Fearing children? How can he fear them when he was too familiar with what their insides looked like.

"Here's where you are mistaken." Mikumo leaned against the tree trunk, head tilted towards his bird friend as he spoke casually.

"If you're just a little strange, they will pick on you." He said clearly, golden eyes turning into slits as his smile widened just a smidge. "But, if you're too strange, they will leave you alone."

Tokoyami held his breath, a slight chill going up his spine making him shudder, feeling as though he were being stared at by a predator.

"Because nobody wants to catch whatever sickness you have." And a healthy dose of killing intent.

Mikumo's smile showed just a little too many teeth to feel unsettling.

Tokoyami's hands were shaking.

"Or, so the psychology book said." Mikumo shrugged. And, just like that, the strange pressure that surrounded them disappeared as though it were never there. "Anyways, do you remember the large egg I was holding when we were training during the weekend? Well, it's been showing signs of activity this morning, so I think it won't be long until it hatches."

"I- I see." Tokoyami released the breath he didn't know he was holding, stiff muscles now able to relax. "That surely is... interesting."

"Hmm? Wha-?" Dark Shadow, who was previously napping on top of Tokoyami's head, was woken up upon the movements of their humanoid pillow. "Ooh! Apples!"

...

The chilling air caused shivers to travel through his skin. Silence blanketing the neighborhood as he traveled from one rooftop to another on his randomly chosen patrol route, his dark hero costume hiding him from sight.

It was a little past 3 AM in Naruhata, and, for the past week, he's been patrolling around the city in unplanned routes from late at night until dawn, trying to familiarize himself with the city's bright roads and dark alleys, being an underground hero not local to the area.

So far, aside from a few run-ins with the local vigilantes, he still hadn't found a clue for what he was initially called here to do.

A little... Trigger situation.

But, with a week passing, with no leads whatsoever, he was stuck doing the most thankless job at the most thankless hour.

Though, perhaps, in the future, he would be thankful that he actually did this thankless job as it would eventually lead him to an important clue in his mission. Ironically.

And the lead to that was-

Thump.

A dull sound of a metal hitting wood broke the silence of the night, cathing the attention of a lone, patrolling underground hero.

Halting just as he was about to leap towards another rooftop, the hero turned towards where the sound came from, catching sight of a small figure standing alone in the darkness of a nearby rooftop, seeming to be throwing something and catching it periodically, the telltale metallic sheen glimmered as it caught light.

Squinting his eyes, the hero silently made his way towards the figure, jumping towards the rooftop where they were.

Thump. Thump.

The hero widened his eyes. Now that he was closer, he was finally able to see the figure clearly.

It was a child, around grade school age, playing with small, diamond shaped knives. And, from the looks of it, those knives were dangerously sharp.

Just what the hell was a kid doing, playing with knives at 3 AM, and where was his parents?

Unable to let this continue, in case the child accidentally injures himself, the hero decided to step in and snatched the knife that was falling when the child threw it in the air by the handle, before it could fall into the child's hand.

"Care to tell me what exactly a child like you is doing, playing with knives when everyone else is asleep?" The hero spoke in a tone that made it seem like he was just one step away from berating the child, eyes narrowed behind his yellow goggles. "Hell, it's 3 AM. You should be sleeping."

"Accuracy training." The boy said simply, showing no surprise at his sudden appearance, golden eyes darting towards the wooden target board directly across him as though it should be obvious. "And, I assure you, homeless stranger-san, I have a healthy sleep schedule. I just wake up early."

"I'm not a-" Does he really look like a homeless man? "Kid, I'm a Pro-Hero. Eraserhead."

"Oh. Hello, Pro Hero Eraserhead-san. I'm Grade school student, Mikumo." The child bowed politely.

"Uh- Nice to meet you." Eraserhead said awkwardly. Wait, what was he doing again?

Right! Stopping this kid from playing with knives and giving their parents a good talk on how to responsibly bring up their kid.

"Kid, you really shouldn't be out here at this time, playing with knives. Especially since they're this sharp. It's dangerous." Eraserhead tried to explain why knives can't be used as toys. "Where did you even get these? They don't look like something that's just being sold at roadside stalls."

"I am aware that they are sharp, but please understand that I know what I am doing and that no danger will befall me during my training with them." The child smiled politely, but his slitted golden eyes were starting to narrow in impatience.

"No, I cannot simply-" Eraserhead took a step closer to the child, trying to reason with him but-

Thump!

A sharp object flew past his cheek in blinding speed, landing with a significantly louder thump upon the wooden board behind him.

With his steps frozen, he tilted his head in shock, catching sight of a diamond shaped knife stuck right at the center of the target board.

"Although I am not preventing you from worrying about me, please do so in a way that does not hinder my actions." The child calmly walked towards him and gently pried the knife from his hand. "Because no matter how you worry about me, it does not change the fact that it is needless. All you're doing now is being a bother."

That night, Eraserhead decided-

He will never deal with any kids in his life. (Or so he thinks.)

...

It was half past 6 AM when he heard it.

With the sizzling of the eel grilling on the the stove as he prepared his breakfast covering up other sounds, he almost missed it.

The telltale cracking sound coming from the egg being displayed at the center of the dining table.

Ka-ka-kra-

Starting from a tiny shell falling from the top of the egg, a single cracked line followed through the entire egg, dividing it into halves.

Then-

Pa!

The lighter half of the shell fell off as a slender creature barely thicker than Mikumo's wrist cautiously poked out it's two heads.

Two heads?

Upon looking closer, Mikumo confirmed that it indeed had two heads.

The left head, resembled a cobra, with green eyes, and black and purple scales. The right head, on the other hand...

Before he could study it any further, the serpent in question raised a head towards him, flicking it's tongue out as though trying to confirm something.

Huh?

The moment the green eyes of the right head met his gaze, Mikumo froze in shock.

That arrogant stare, as though looking down on everything. The threatening flick of a forked tongue, assessing the surroundings. And, the recognition that filled it's gaze the moment their eyes met.

There was no doubt.

"You've got some nerve appearing before me again after dying so easily at the hands of that brat." The right head of the serpent hissed, slithering on top of the table to get closer to the boy, dragging it's body, along with it's conjoined twin with it.

Mikumo blinked slowly, seeing the shadow of a once immense creature on this newly hatched serpent.

"Ah, though haven't you also died by the very same hands as I?" He slowly sat down before the table, hiding his shock behind a visage of calmness. Old memories, long thought to have been forgotten, resurfaced all at once; through wars and bloodshed, even after he betrayed everyone else, there was only one partner who was always beside him.

And here they were again, in a completely new world, back at each other's side. "Welcome back to the living world, Manda. I am glad to have you back."

Looking at each other, green eyes upon gold, the bond once torn by the parting of death, reconnected once more.

"Tch. There better be sacrifices for me." The former great serpent grumbled, looking at the extra head on it's body in exasperation.

Clueless, the real newborn serpent flicked it's tongue at it's conjoined twin's face, gaining an irritated hiss from the other.

...

Nine. Exactly nine laps around the park and not a single step less.

It hasn't reached the bare minimum of ten laps that he'd initially set for himself, but, granted that he'd only started training for a week, the improvement from six laps since he first started to the current nine, was enough to prove that this body wasn't completely hopeless, atleast.

In any case, he was doing much better than his training partner who gave up after only five laps.

Even worse than he did at the beginning.

But, perhaps, he should relax his requirements a bit, considering how he now realized that, without the aid of chakra, which used to unknowingly strengthen the bodies of Shinobi, in this world, if not aided by a passive strengthening quirk, normal bodies are just going to be naturally weaker than he was used to.

That doesn't mean he was going to slack off during training. He still plans on improving himself until his body is up to his standards.

What he meant by relaxing his requirements, was that, he'll start training by increasing the difficulty gradually to help his body get used to it first instead of expecting instantaneous changes. After all, without chakra, even muscle strain might become dangerous if he overtrained.

But, that was his plans for himself. Now, on the other hand, this boy-

"Ne~ Fumi-kun?" Mikumo crouched beside the bird headed boy who was currently laying on the grass, chest heaving in exhaustion as he tried to catch his breath. "You don't have to accompany me if you really dislike training."

In the first place, he only told Tokoyami to join him as a joke. He never thought that the boy would take it seriously.

Children usually didn't enjoy training after all.

"No. I will continue." Surprisingly, Tokoyami actually declined, his eyes gaining a determined glint as he hauled his body up despite his obvious exhaustion. "This is something I must do as well in order to accomplish what I aim for."

"And that is?" Mikumo tilted his head in curiosity.

"I aim to become a Hero." Tokoyami stood up on shaky legs trying to increase his laps one heavy step at a time. "That is why... I must persevere."

Hmm? Somehow, this kind of determination feels familiar.

"How inspiring!" Mikumo jogged beside his bird friend, golden eyes squinted pleasantly. "Perhaps, I shall push myself a little more today. After all-"

He sent his friend a meaningful smile.

"I, too, aim to become a Hero."

Anyways, muscle strain can be easily fixed with a little Iryōninjutsu.

...

"Akaguro-san, your uh-... friend, is looking for you!"

Stendhal was a moderately known vigilante in Naruhata, but, when not out patrolling dark alleys in the middle of the night, he was working during weekday afternoons in a small martial arts dojo as a kendo instructor.

Though, with less and less students studying the arts since the appearance of quirks, there was very little monetary remuneration for instructors such as he.

Still, he carried on his work, hoping to pass on his knowledge and techniques to the right people so they may do good to society with it. Become real heroes, or something along those lines.

He'd like to think that even after he gave up becoming a hero himself (long disillusioned with the heroes of today, only after wealth and fame, parading their shiny costumes like models on a runway instead of the selfless saviors that they should be), that he was still doing his part in making the world just a little bit better.

Atleast, that was his reason on why he continues teaching in this little dojo.

His colleagues, on the other hand, he can't really say anything since he was never that close to them to initiate such personal conversations. In fact, he wasn't close to anyone (period).

Even that brat that now lives with him because they were somehow relatives.(?)

How did that even happen? He was sure, last time he checked, all his blood relatives, aside from that one old lady with dementia, were dead.

Perhaps, this was the world's way of making him pay for all his sins. That brat certainly had a way of shaving away at his lifespan.

Anyways, the point was, He has no friends.

So, why was this homeless-looking guy standing outside of his empty dojo, looking for his specifically?

"Akaguro Chizome-san, right?" The hobo regarded him with judgemental eyes weighed down by layers of eyebags. "I would like to talk to you about your ward's early morning escapades, if you're free right now."

Ah, of course.

It just had to be something that brat did.