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CHAPTER START---
---December 17th, 2315...
"Are you sure you'll be fine without me? I just know how much you can't live without me..."
Sitting behind his desk, in his room, Horizon is typing away to complete some reports and update ongoing cases while speaking to Ryuko.
Her face was on one of the screens, showing a video of her on a train to the far side of Japan.
"Can't live without you, really? What makes you think you're my favorite 'Ryuko'?"
Her playful expression changes to a soft glare, "that's not funny."
"And that's your opinion. When are you getting back anyway?"
"Early January, you'll have to find some other way to occupy your bed for a month."
"I'm sure I'll think of something," Horizon says. "My plans are pretty much the same, just do the usual Pro Hero nonsense, make some appearances at orphanages, hand out gift, that kind of stuff."
"Oh, since when do you have a heart?"
"Hey! I'm nice to kids."
"I know, and it's cute. Isn't your class Christmas party today?"
"Yeah I can sense everyone getting ready downstairs, they're treating it as if it actually matters. It's just another day," he says.
"Well to some people it's important, like Eri, aren't you guys doing something special for her? I think you mentioned that before, right?"
"The Secret Santa thing, basically everyone pulled a name from a bag and has to get that person a gift, plus a gift for Eri."
"Oh, and who'd you get?"
"Asui."
"Frog girl, so what'd you get her?"
"Salt..."
Ryuko gives him an annoyed look, "that had better be a joke."
"It is, I got her a sword, a green one."
Ryuko looks confused, "why would you get her a sword?"
"What else was I supposed to get her?"
"Anything a teenage girl would like, did you ever consider that?"
"Yeah, and a sword is just better."
"Should I ask what you got Eri?"
"A gun."
"Babe!"
"I'm kidding," he laughs at her distress. "I wouldn't get her a gun yet, she's too young. And Aizawa wouldn't like it."
"And it's illegal! Did you forget that?"
"I'm Horizon, I can do whatever I want. If I got her a gun nobody would be willing to do anything to me about it."
Ryuko sighs, "so aside from thinking about handing guns to 7-year-olds, what did you actually get her."
"A knife, obviously."
Ryuko just shakes her head in disbelief, "Please tell me this is a joke..."
"She's too young for a taser, so I figured this would be better."
"How are you so smart and so terrible at this all at once."
"Hey it's a good idea, her Quirk isn't exactly good at self-defense and she's had a rough past, so getting her a knife is a good start."
Ryuko sighs, "I really hate how much sense that makes, but please don't give a child a knife."
"I'll teach her how to use it."
Ryuko holds her head feeling a headache starting, "You're...unbearable."
"Nah, you love me for it," Horizon looks at his door for a moment and stops typing. "I have to go, call me whenever you get away from your team."
"Yeah, the last thing I want is Mandalay realizing I didn't keep that promise, see ya..."
The moment they hang up there is a knock on Horizon's door, and with a thought he commands it to swing open.
And in walks Momo, wearing a green Santa Claus outfit with a matching fluffy hat. However, her hat had a little book at the top of it.
But Horizon was more concerned with the blue and white Santa Claus outfit folded in her arms.
"No," is all he says while she walks over to him.
"Everyone else is wearing theirs."
"They aren't me, I have an image to maintain," he says as she casually seats herself in his lap.
"You can still pretend to be a jerk while wearing this outfit. Plus I made this one different, it's the only blue and white one. All the others are like mine or the classic red and white."
"Hmm, tempting, but still never gonna happen," he wraps his arms around her as she leans back against him.
"How about just this" Momo takes out the hat from his outfit. Blue with a fuzzy white lining, and at the very top was a tiny scalpel. "You should at least wear just the hat, get in the Christmas spirit."
"Mmm..."
---30 Minutes Later...
Now sitting in the common area with the other members of 1A, Eri, and Aizawa, Horizon is wearing the hat just as Momo suggested while they start the Secret Santa reveals.
Deciding to go in seating order, Mina was up first.
Which is why she's currently dancing in place, celebrating while holding up the new boots Momo bought her.
After she got her gift, Eri's present from Momo was revealed, to be a thick stack of children's encyclopedias...
Apparently, Momo thought this was normal as she always asked for them while growing up, and even now reading encyclopedias is her main hobby.
"Well, who got Asui's name?" Momo asks, feeling embarrassed about her gift to Eri.
"That would be me," Horizon says, and everyone got a bit nervous. They really didn't have any idea of what he'd gift people.
In fact, they were expecting him to simply refuse to participate...but later that day Nezu convinced him to play along.
"Merry Christmas froggy," Horizon waves his hand and a piece of confetti floats into the air, and is suddenly swapper with a katana.
A light green scabbard and matching hilt with black accents.
Everyone's eyes open wide, not expecting that.
'I wish he got my name...' Tokoyami and many others think.
"A sword?" Asui reaches out and holds it, realizing it was short, the perfect size for her, and nowhere near as heavy as Scalpel.
"A normal one," Horizon says.
She draws the blade, seeing it really was standard, then looks a bit closer at it, "This isn't blunted..."
"Why would I get you a useless blade?"
"I thought it was a decoration."
"No this is for cutting people, although I don't think it fits the child-friendly Froppy style."
"I think I'll just hang it on the wall, but thank you, this is a nice gift," Asui says. "But what did you get Eri?"
"This," Horizon raises a hand and warps a white and yellow pocket knife into his palm.
Eri's eyes go wide as she recognizes what it is, and wanting to be like Horizon she excitedly reaches out.
Only for Aizawa to reach out and grab it first, "no knives, she's only 7."
"She's already 7, and when I was her age I could already use a sword, she'll have to learn sometime," Horizon shrugs.
"I'm trying to give her a normal childhood, not whatever you had," Aizawa says as he puts it in his pocket.
"Tch, normal doesn't keep the monsters away..."
---2 Hours Later...
While most of the students, and Eri, were asleep, some were up late watching the snow fall.
And others like Kirishima were outside playing in the snow, or as he calls it, 'testing himself against the elements'...he just wanted to play in the snow.
Now Horizon, Shinso, and Momo were sitting in the common area.
"So I'll have the tower all to myself until after Christmas?" Horizon asks.
"Yup," Sero says. "I haven't seen dad in a while so we've got a lot of stuff to do and talk about this winter break. Honestly, he wanted me to stay at home until the new year starts, but I don't think I can sit still for that long."
"Hmm, looks like I've been teaching you well," Horizon says. "Most of these people aren't gonna be doing any Hero Work during the winter break, it's a good time to get ahead of the competition."
"Well, you won't be doing my actual Hero Work either right?" Sero asks. "Minato Tokyo is pretty much a safe zone these days."
"Yeah but I've got things to do all across Japan, I need to take the time I have and get it all done, before the next semester starts and I'm stuck in UA again."
"What about you Yaomomo?" Sero asks.
Momo snaps out of her daze at the sound of her nickname, "I'm sorry what was that?"
"Winter break plans?"
"Oh, I'll just be here at UA, training."
"Seriously? Figured you'd be more happy than anyone to run back home, considering you live in that awesome mansion and all."
"Oh, about that," Momo's brain begins scrambling to think of a lie, not wanting her falling out with her mother to become public. "My parents are already abroad on a business trip so they wouldn't be there. So I just figured I could use the extra time to train and catch up to everyone else."
"That's pretty smart," Sero says. "But you really don't have to talk like that, you're almost at the top of the class. Honestly, the only person ahead of you is Horizon, and he's a cyborg."
Horizon sighs, "Can you please stop spreading that rumor? Honestly, the number of villains that have tried to hit me with saltwater because of it...so annoying."
Sero just begins laughing hysterically.
"And Momo, if you want you can visit Horizon Tower, since we're the only students basically spending the Christmas season alone, having some company could be nice."
Momo blushes, knowing how picky Horizon is about who he invites into his headquarters, "right, I'll be sure to visit!"
END CHAPTER---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene (Unlimited chapters ahead)
CHAPTER START---
"So did you come here with a date, or are you available tonight?" An older man asks.
He had a head of salt and pepper hair with a matching mustache, a well-tailored suit, like every man in this massive ballroom, and was surely respected in whatever field he worked in.
But even as he hovers above the beautiful woman in front of him, he was anything but appealing or refined, the way he clearly drank in her appearance with his eyes.
Viewing her as a piece of meat.
Worse, an easy to get piece of meat.
But Ms. Midnight was used to these looks, even as tonight she's Nemuri Kayama.
She gives him a polite smile and takes a sip of her champagne, and he takes a moment to keep staring at her.
Her dark purple gown, deep neckline barely showing any cleavage, long gloves, a matching and fur-lined scarf.
Her outfit was much more conservative than what she usually wears out as Ms. Midnight, but all the men and women here knew exactly what hid beneath it.
Her Hero Costume made sure the world knows exactly what her body offers.
"Sorry but I'm only here on business, maybe some other time," she says politely before sauntering off, her habit of swaying her hips making his eyes track her across the room.
'So shameless,' she thinks, recalling the wedding ring on his finger, and his wife who was chatting across the room.
Contrary to what the media and people may believe, she actually hasn't had more than a handful of partners.
Her reputation keeps any men worth involving herself with at bay, quite the double-edged sword she's placed at her own throat.
Without her Hero Costume she wasn't easy to recognize, especially behind her regular glasses, but her would-be admirers would always spot her.
As yet another person takes the stage to give a speech she grabs a fresh drink and makes her way to the empty balcony.
Pushing open to door and feeling a cold winter breeze cash against her face, light snow falls onto Tokyo as she shuts the door behind her.
But the thankfully heated balcony wasn't unbearable, and happened to be entirely empty.
Looking up she sees the entire top half of the large skyscraper this ballroom is in looming above, and looking around there are some shorter buildings around them.
But the other skyscrapers block the true beauty of the Tokyo Skyline at this time of year.
All the Christmas decorations and lights were hidden away by monuments of glass and concrete.
Taking out a phone she sees a text from her manager, asking how the night is going, but she doesn't bother to respond.
Simply sipping her champagne and waiting for the night to be over.
After a few minutes, she hears a chorus of people trying to speak over each other.
Quickly turning around she sees a younger man step onto the balcony and close the door behind him before the crowd could enter.
A larger man steps between the crowd and the door, preventing them from following him outside, and he sighs in relief.
He turns around and gives an unapologetic smile, "Sorry about that, they're just...annoying."
"That's one way to put it," she nods and goes back to looking at the street below.
Glancing back she sees the man taking a phone call and realizes that's why he had to get away from the crowd.
Minutes later, as she's nearly finishing her drink she suddenly feels a gentle tap on her shoulder, and looks back to see him offering his jacket.
"Avoiding annoying people probably isn't worth freezing out here, at least not for the entire event."
As he's standing closer she gets a proper look at him, short dark hair, bright blue eyes, knuckle tattoos, and his suit was black and gold of all things.
Quite a strange person.
"Thank you," she says while allowing him to drape the jacket over her. "I didn't realize there were actual gentlemen at this event."
"There aren't," they both chuckle as he's joining her at the railing. "I hope you don't mind me interrupting your escape."
"You're the best company I've had all night, it's a welcomed change."
"Are the other guests that bad?"
"Well, I'm Ms. Midnight, so they think I'm just that easy."
Looking at the man she sees him staring at her, squinting as he observes her, "huh, never would have recognized you," he lies. "And I didn't think there would be any Pro Heroes here."
"Well, apparently whoever is running this event invested in the company that owns my fashion line and brand, so they thought it would be good if I said hello in person."
"You don't sound excited to meet him."
"Excited to meet some rich man who will expect me to act like a wh---" she cuts herself off. "To act unladylike, just because he has money...why would I ever be that."
"Well that's a relief," he says. "Finally a beautiful woman here that isn't trying to seduce me for money," he laughs.
"Seduce you?" Midnight turns to look at him, only getting a mischievous grin. Then it slowly dawns on her, "Oh, you're Law Matani..."
"The one and only, and what should I call you?"
"So you aren't mad about---"
"---There isn't anything to be mad about, and honestly it's a nice change from people always trying to flatter me."
She visibly relaxes at that, "well, I'm Nemuri Kayama, Pro Hero Ms. Midnight, so you can call me Ms. Midnight."
"Mmm, no," he shakes his head. "I don't really care for Ms. Midnight, so I'll call you 'Nemuri', and you can call me 'Law', sounds fair?"
Nemuri isn't quite sure how to react to that, so she just nods, "Yes, I suppose that sounds fair."
They share a comfortable moment of silence just observing the streets below.
Then she speaks, "So were people hounding you for money, is that why you ran away?"
"Pretty much, that's always the case, how about you, Nemuri?"
Nemui takes a sip of her drink, almost finishing it. "My reputation as Ms. Midnight isn't exactly, flattering. So men only come around for one thing, and they expect it to be easy."
"Well, I can somewhat relate," he raises his hand to show her the tattoos. "People always think I'm some kind of Yakuza or Mafia boss. The reputations we chose define how the world sees us, and it seems like we've both chosen a bit...prematurely."
"I'll drink to that," Nemuri down the rest of her drink. "And now every day I can't stop thinking about it, what a life, right?"
"Indeed," Law says. "I assumed it started as a publicity stunt maybe, something to separate you from other young aspiring female Pro Heroes, was it?"
"Not exactly," Nemuri gathers her thoughts for a moment. "Pro Heroes, we aren't just about punching villains in the face..."
Law raises a brow at that.
"At least for me, part of it is inspiring the other people, and younger generations. So naturally I chose to most extreme aspect I could, just to show people that no matter what you are, you shouldn't let society shame you and keep you caged.
You owe it to yourself to be yourself...but the message got a bit lost along the way. Now I'm just 'Ms. Midnight the dominatrix Pro Hero', which was never the intention."
"People find it hard to hear and focus on a message when a body like yours is almost naked in front of them," he says jokingly. "But I see what you mean, you tried to make yourself a martyr, it just got the wrong message across."
Nemuri relaxes, and gives him a softer smile, finally getting that invisible weight off her chest, finally feeling like someone understands.
After a few more minutes of surprisingly deep conversation, Law checks his watch, then they both look over at the gathered crows waiting for him to enter the main room again.
"Your money-hungry public awaits," Nemuri jokes.
"Yes, but, it's New Year's Eve, so how about we actually get a nice view."
Nemuri raises a brow at that, "what are you saying?"
He offers her his hand, "How about a simple deal, you save me from the masses as any Pro Hero would, and we'll go up to my penthouse where you can actually enjoy the skyline, and the fireworks that are about to start..."
Nemuri looks around at all the buildings still looming over them, then at the man she's become fast friends with.
And with no further hesitation, she takes his hand. Onto an adventure of breaking in the new year with her new friend...
END CHAPTER---
Next up, Volume 8-Horizon: Ascension
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