Show Time and Spilling Secrets

Mikumo sighed in relief.

Good. Nobody seemed to have noticed.

From his hiding place behind the bar counter, away from the eyes of the audience, he surveyed the meager amount of people who came to check out the new showmaster.

Although the previous weekend regulars were initially disappointed to find that their Jazz Fridays and Saturdays was being replaced after the accidental death of the previous showmaster, some of them still showed up, some in curiosity and others mainly because they had nothing better to do.

And fortunately, they came.

At the south side of the bar where a space was set up for the showmasters to perform, the stage which was originally supposed to be there was replaced by an enchanted forest.

Within the forest, a cacophony of playful sprites and faeries flew from flower to flower, singing ethereal songs as they flitted about. The leaves rustled and a soft wind blew from the forest and reached the viewers, caressing their skin with a faint floral scent.

Whatever this show was, it was incredibly realistic, making all those in the bar feel like they were transported into an entirely different world.

Then, from within the forest, a slender, green wyvern raised its head, seemingly surveying the audience with faint interest before growing bored a huffing out a stream of fog which carpeted the floor, tickling the surprised audience's ankles.

"Amazing." Beside him, he could hear Haruse's quiet voice say breathlessly and somewhere behind them, Shisei was smiling in an almost sinister manner.

It was only Haruse manning the bar right now because, for some reason, the person who was supposed to take over for Hotaru during the weekends, Kaguna, was running late. And Shisei insisted on watching Mikumo's debut after the whole nearly disastrous incident that happened just some hours before, saying; it was his responsibility as a good boss to watch over his employee's health.

The good news was, there weren't too many patrons today so it was much easier to handle.

From the amazed gasps of the audience, Mikumo could tell that they took well to the new arrangement for the weekend shows. Everything seemed to be going better than he expected.

Just that-

There was a creepy man staring at him extremely intently. The strange man completely ignored the fantastical show happening at the front and focused all of his attention on Mikumo behind the bar counter, grinning so widely that his toothgap became apparent.

In a moment of curiosity, Mikumo controlled a single sprite to separate from its group and fly towards the strange man. So, under awed eyes, a tiny flying creature dropped a pink flower on top of a creepy man.

But he was still staring.

Mikumo narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Did he know him?

Tap.

Pulling Mikumo out of his thoughts, Shisei tapped his employee's shoulder and pointed towards the stage. "It's time."

"Ah, yes." The corner of his lips twitched. See, it was common knowledge that minors cannot legally work in bars, right? Especially since heroes often visit, secretly or not.

That was why he had come up with an alternative. So, as per Shisei's suggestion, Mikumo's workplace alter ego was born.

"Good evening, everyone. And welcome to the new Friday and Saturday night show, which my boss has dubbed, the Mystic Nights!"

From within the forest, a tall woman wearing a long, black gown with spiderweb patterns walked forward confidently, her wavy, white hair swaying with every step.

"In case you're wondering, no, I'm not a magician." This earned a few chuckles from some of the audience. "What you see here, is a product of my quirk, which you'll find out the more times you visit, so do stick around!"

If the audience's interest weren't already captured by the fascinating display, then they would be after seeing the enrapturing alter ego. Though none of them really knew it was actually not a real person.

From the corner of his eyes, Mikumo saw the strange man give the alter ego a short glance before snorting and turning back to stare at him.

Or maybe almost no one.

"So please sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. My stage name is Kumo." The alter ego smiled and bowed. "Also, I take requests so hit me up anytime."

And with a mighty roar from the wyvern, the first show of the night finally began.

Unlike the bar though, somewhere at the other side of the city, things weren't proceeding as smoothly for three people.

"Aka! Take your brother and run! Find some place to hide and patch him up! I'll distract the heroes!"

"Alright! I got it! Stay safe, Toho-san!"

Despite his growing nerves, Akane tried to stay calm. This was no time to be panicking! He had to pull himself together, for him and his brother.

But, there was so much blood!

He felt tears starting to cloud his vision. Just what were they fighting for again? And was it really worth it to watch his brother get injured time and time again?

Akane- no, the villain Aka, was a villain who wished for change yet, unwilling to kill anyone. And, due to that indecisiveness, his brother, Aki, ended up getting hurt time and time again.

Of course, with his quirk, Restore, he could return his brother to perfect condition but, what if he couldn't get there fast enough?

Would he end up killing his only family left because he couldn't bring himself to kill people?

Jumping into an open window of an empty building, Akane slumped towards the floor and carefully set his brother down.

The bloodied shirt clung stickily to his brother's abdomen where a long slash ripped his skin open. It was supposedly a shallow injury but, the immense amount of shed blood made it seem much worse than it really is.

But, it made Akane sigh in relief. He hurriedly took off his brother's mask and made sure he was breathing properly.

It's still okay, he's still alive.

Putting his hand on the injury, he winced and hurriedly activated his quirk when his brother hissed in pain.

Slowly, after a soft light was emitted from Akane's palm, the wound began to stitch itself up.

Akane bit his lip in worry.

How did it end up this way?

This mission was supposed to be easy! Just check in on one of the gangs in the area to make sure they stuck to their own territory. But, suddenly, heroes began attacking them out of nowhere!

Why?!

Did someone rat them out?! If so, then he had to warn Shisei!

...

As the last customers of the night trickled out of the bar, Mikumo could finally relax and dismissed his creations. Before heading to his room for a much awaited sleep though, he was pulled back to the counter by his boss in order to introduce him to the other barhand, Kaguna, who had managed to arrive shortly after the first show began.

"Hey! Sorry, I was late, boss!" Kaguna bowed deeply as he apologized. "I've been having body aches recently so I dropped by the pharmacy for painkillers first!"

With red hair and tattoos peeking from the collar of his shirt, Kaguna had a cheerful personality and a bright smile that infected people.

"So is this the new guy?" Kaguna turned his attention to Mikumo.

Perhaps he would have liked this guy if it weren't for the next words that came out of his mouth.

"I thought you said your organization avoids unnecessary killing?" Kaguna spoke without care and seemed to not notice everuone else going stiff with apprehension. "How'd this kid already kill five?"

Shisei and Haruse froze in shock, staring at the kid agape as they processed Kaguna's words.

And when a giant dragon head suddenly appeared and threatened to bite Kaguna in half, chaos ensued.