Chapter 19: First Blood
So I just woke up and saw this story hit 1K+ power stones for the first time, figured you all deserve something for that, no this won't be a weekly challenge.
I just had a few minutes before my usual upload time and since I've already edited all the August chapters I decided to put this together, sorry if it's a bit terrible, it was spontaneous and rushed :/
Think of it as a smaller and terrible version of the side stories on my pa.treon. Enjoy!
Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
Sitting on the balcony of their rented beach house Kiku and Corazon are having breakfast, while the currently nine-year-old Law is more occupied staring at the neighbors.
"Hey finish your breakfast first," Kiku says, causing him to return his focus to the table, rolling her eyes at his eagerness.
Perched only a dozen meters from the sandy shore in this remote part of Japan the beach house they rented was not very modest, but certainly served multiple purposes.
A perfect weekend at the beach for a little surfing trip, relaxing between Kiku's big solo jobs, and Law's first targets were their neighbors. It was perfect.
"So you decided how you're gonna take her out yet?" Corazon asks, taking a sip of his orange juice after finishing his breakfast.
"Yeah," Law says to his dad after swallowing a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I'm gonna just find a spot up on a nearby hill and use mom's rifle," he explains casually.
Kiku and Corazon look at each other for a moment, then both break out in laughter.
"What's wrong? That's how we always do things," Law says.
"Nothing son," Kiku says. "That's how I always do things, my Quirk makes me a living arsenal, hence the name, but you're a walking talking act of god, look around you, there's certainly something here you can use, after all, the best hits and the ones that nobody knows is a hit," she nods toward the ocean.
It takes a second and Law immediately smacks his forehead, hard enough to leave a red mark. "I didn't think of that!"
Corazon laughs, "because you look up to your mom too much, take the lessons she taught you and understand why they work, then apply them in your own way, that's what you've always done in the operating room after all, and you're already ahead of me...of course it helps that your brain is a cheat sheet," his dad jokingly adds.
"Jealous?" Law asks cheekily.
"Literally everyone is," Corazon rolls his eyes. "But the point is you need to get your own operating style."
"Exactly," Kiku adds. "You can take everything we teach you to a completely different level, just gotta stop being us and start being you, and it'll always be enough."
"Yeah, you're right," Law turns in his seat, seeing the ocean nearby, and the neighbors. A lovely Japanese couple with a picture-perfect family. But unfortunately, someone wanted to ruin it.
Luckily it wasn't his place to judge, they were just names on a list after all, the first names on his list, he narrows his eyes at the woman as she plays with her kids on the beach.
"I've got it," he says. "They always go in the water after lunch, it'll be easy."
"We'll get packed up before then..." Kiku says, casually drinking her tea as their little vacation comes to an end.
Hours of beach fun later they're all ready to head back to Tokyo, with a long drive ahead of them.
Sitting in the back of the jeep they rented for this trip Law is all packed and ready to go, his parents loading the last of their bags in the trunk and tieing the surfboards to the roof.
He has his phone in his hands, his entire body tilting side to side as he plays a new racing game he installed.
"Mmm," he hums along to the engine sounds coming from his phone as both his parents get in the car, with his mom in the driver's seat.
"She in yet?" his mom asks.
"Almost," Law says, not taking his eyes off the screen. His Quirk allows him to keep tabs on his target easily and with no indication that he's doing anything.
And a few minutes later, "ok, she's going in....shambles," he says.
---At the shore...
While the Matanis were already at the road ready to leave Yua and her family were playing in the sand. The young couple, only thirty years old, and both their daughters, six and five years old respectively.
She wears a simple blue bikini and sits in the sand with them, watching her husband help them make yet another sandcastle.
Taking a look at the sparkling water in the mid-day sun she sighs and stands up, "I'm going in, anyone coming with me?"
"Girls?" the man asks his daughter, earning headshakes from both of them. "Looks like we're playing in the sand today, don't go too far."
"I know," she says, walking toward the ocean.
He makes sure to keep an eye on the water, unknowingly watching his wife walk in for the very last time.
Walking into waist-high water Yua sinks down until up to her neck was submerged, feeling the gentle push and pull of the ocean relaxing her body, eyes locked on the shore toward her family.
She sees her husband and daughters wave, and she happily waves back, only twenty meters away from them.
"Gah!" she takes a deep breath, and submerges her body entirely, disappearing beneath the surface to search for some sea shells. Looking down she sees a few in the fine sand, and the moment she reaches out to grab them.
SHAMBLES!
Her view suddenly shifts from fine sand near the shore, illuminated by the sunlight through only a meter of water.
To dark and cold water, the shells are gone in exchange for massive rocks and kelp.
"Ah!" she panics and screams at the sudden change, releasing the remaining air she had.
Immediately looking up she sees the sun above, ten meters above her. Her eyes widen in horror as she puts all her energy into rushing to the surface.
'Nononononononoono!' she screams over and over in her mind, desperate to get some air, to get back to her family.
As her fingers just barely breach the surface, she feels air against her fingertips, freedom, life...
SHAMBLES!
"Ngh!" she suppresses her scream, suddenly feeling rocks against her back as she finds herself on the ocean floor again, restarting her journey.
Desperately rushing back upward she doesn't even notice the small rock sinking down, from the spot she had recently been in.
'NO! Please!' she feels her throat burn as her body instinctively tries to breathe.
"argh!" water floods her lungs, searing pain like swallowing red hot coals. She keeps fighting, working on pure adrenaline and primal instinct, and for the second time, she reaches the surface.
SHAMBLES!
"ngh...!" appearing on the ocean floor again she looks up, one last time. The light fades away as her body goes numb and cold. Her eyes stayed open, as if still desperately begging to live, to get one last breath, to see her family one last time.
And she finally stops fighting, slowly floating with the current, as her family happily makes sand castles only a hundred meters away...
A gruesome and confusing death, but everyone who investigated would come to the same conclusion, a freak accident, swept away by the current and pulled under the water...no fault to anyone, just nature at work, a true tragedy...
---The Matanis...
Looking up from his phone Law smiles, "it's done, I did it!"
"Never doubted you, clean efficient work, just like we taught you," his mom cheers him on, already driving away from the house.
"Mhm, and you know, the first job is kind of a big deal," his dad turns around in the front seat to give Law a proud smile. "You know what that means?"
"Katsudon!" they all yell at once, happy smiles all around.
His dad reaches back and ruffles his hair, much to Law's annoyance, "and since we expected this perfect success, I even got us some special Wagyu steaks for burgers tomorrow."
"Mmm," Law's mouth starts to water at the thought, "I love you guys..."
Kiku can't help but laugh, "don't worry, we'll always be here for you, no matter what, because we love you too..."
Yet another happy family adventure for the Matanis, and one of the many jobs that would never be traced back to any of them.
On the long drive back through rural forests, Law takes out his phone and plays on it until the battery dies, then takes a small nap, enjoying what he would see as an ideal childhood, with his perfect parents.
The only people in the world who mattered to him, the only other people...who were truly perfect...
END CHAPTER---
Nezu: You'll be a great hero!
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
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