Phantasm and Akatsuki

Inside the Bakugo residence's living room, Bakugo Mitsuki sat, sighing.

It's been a week. She'll have to tell him sooner or later.

And right on time, the front door opened and in came her son, Katsuki.

"Hey, mom, I'm back."

"Ah, before you go to your room, I have to tell you something." Mitsuki smiled nervously. "Do you remember your old playmate, Izuku? The one who switched to homeschooling five years ago."

Katsuki suddenly stopped and turned towards his mother. "Yamikumo? Is his homeschooling done?"

"A-about that-" Mitsuki stuttered, growing hesitant after being subjected to her son's bright and eager eyes. "Th-they moved out of town."

In the end, she couldn't do it.

"Oh..." Katsuki visibly deflated. "We can still visit them, right?"

"S-sure!"

She couldn't tell him the truth. Not when his childhood friend was deemed dead by the government, his body having been burnt to ashes in their house.

...

"The fuck you lookin' at?"

Outside a nearby pub, two rather villainous looking individuals were having a heated staredown.

"Lookin' at your ugly ass."

"The fuck you say?!"

The buildings were gloomy, the streets were littered with broken glass shards from liquor bottles, and the people passing kept their heads low and out of sight.

It was obvious to see that they had arrived in gang territory.

"So, um... For research purposes- You don't have to answer if you really don't want to." Shisei said hesitantly as he peered at Mikumo's face, trying to discern the boy's expression. "What's your quirk?"

"I don't-" Almost instantly, the boy replied, only to halt mid-sentence, ducking instinctively as a bottle of gin flew past his head.

Oh, right. He had a quirk now. Inwardly, he thought he should've been happy since he had been wishing for this in a long time but, somehow, he couldn't feel the slightest bit of happiness. Or even any other emotion at all. He just felt drained, as if something was sucking away at his emotions.

No happiness upon recieving his quirk, no sadness upon realizing he can never return to his perfect life from years ago, and no guilt when he finally became a killer of four people. One of them having been killed twice.

Maybe it was the side effect of the quirk?

"Hey-"

"Phantasm." Mikumo said, turning to focus on the road as they made their way further into a brightly lit alley. "I've never had a chance to register my quirk so I gave it this name."

"It allows me to give physical forms to the creatures in my imagination."

Shisei stared at the boy with wide eyes, his footsteps really faltering. Is this kid serious?! He's wandering the streets, homeless, with a quirk like that? What the hell?!

"C-can you create real people? Their quirk included?" Shisei stuttered, gazing at the boy in complexity.

Suddenly, Mikumo thought back to his father, the recreated version. The same disgusted glare, the same violent personality, and the same hot flames.

"Yeah. I guess."

"Damn. Shin really hit jackpot this time." Shisei whistled in awe. "Well, anyways! We're finally here so you can tell me all about your quirk once we get inside! For now-"

"Welcome to Esuha City's Red light district!"

Dimly lit shops, smoke filled air, and red lanterns strung on strings above the road, as the alley opened up into the well hidden pleasure center of the city.

It was a mystery how this place existed when heroes could walk in at any moment. Though who was to say that heroes weren't customers of this place as well?

At first glance, Mikumo knew that it was no place for a minor like him should be in.

"Hey, Shisei! You got a fresh face with you?" From one of the shops to his left, a tall woman sporting a revealing attire and high heeled leather boots beckoned to Shisei.

It should be too early for their shops to open. The sun hasn't even sunk yet.

"Yeah!" Shisei waved casually to the woman. "I'm having him be the showmaster every Friday and Saturday nights so come watch when you have the time!"

Curiously, Mikumo looked towards the brightly lit sign of the building which he guessed to be a kind of strip club or brothel.

Checkered Rogue?

"Oh, yeah! Sure!" The woman shouted and waved back, ducking back into her shop. "Drinks on you!"

"Hah! Alright!" Shisei chuckled humorously, putting his hand on Mikumo's shoulder and guiding him on his way.

Presumably, he did this to prevent the boy from being lost in the crowd but, it might also be to warn off the people who were shooting the boy various kinds of interested gazes. Most of them being the borderline dangerous type.

"And we're here! Akatsuki!" Shisei proudly stood in front of one of the more luxurious looking establishments in the street.

Looking up at the gleaming black glass of the building, decorated with mysterious red lighting along with a red crescent moon on the signboard, Mikumo was honestly impressed. Atleast, he knew Shisei had a good sense of style.

"It's better than I expected." Mikumo muttered, drawing Shisei's ire.

"What was that supposed to mean?!"

"When you said you owned a sketchy bar-" Mikumo had his eyebrow raised, his hands tucked in his pockets. "I was thinking more along the lines of rundown pub and not this."

"Whatever." Shisei rolled his eyes. "Just get in quickly so I can run you down on what you're supposed to do in your job."

"The showmaster every Friday and Saturday nights, right?" Mikumo tilted his head as they entered the building from a side door.

"Uh, yeah!" Shisei nodded to the curious staffs they passed in greeting. "You're a minor so we can't really have you be a waiter or a bartender so, I thought of having you do a more backstage job. Fortunately, your quirk just happened to fit the bill."

"Oh." Mikumo hummed in understanding. "This building isn't just a bar, right?"

"Uh-"

"There's too many floors for it to just be a bar." Mikumo muttered seemingly to himself. "I'm guessing the first floor has a bar for the more private customers and a separate club on the other side. And, we passed by a set of stairs leading down before so there's probably either a pc room, an arcade, or casino below. Or maybe it's all three."

As the boy mumbled to himself, Shisei's face grew increasingly more perturbed by the minute. "The second floor should have a private lounge, a restaurant, and a viewing deck for the club below, while the third to sixth floor acts as a hotel of some sort."

"Right?" Mikumo peered at Shisei's face in curiosity.

"Y-yeah...?"

"Cool."