The Loser | by Isaac7525

With the carriage driver properly restrained, Aizawa and Olivia headed down the road with the map in hand. According to their current location in the kingdom—the industrial district with a less dense population, the duo could anticipate arrival soon. 

Olivia looked back to the restrained driver, who had been tied to the wheel of the carriage, she let out a low sigh as she turned to Aizawa. 

"He mentioned asylums here. Wasn't that woman we helped earlier an asylum patient?"

Aizawa nodded his head. "The woman who took her away said she was, but the old woman wasn't wearing a uniform unlike the men in the road."

"Wasn't she wearing a coat? Maybe we just didn't see under it." Olivia quickly made a deduction as they rounded a corner. As they continued to walk, the volume of smoke stacks atop the complexes gradually faded away, replacing with ordinary slanted rooftops, closed restaurants and city-wide establishments. 

This portion of the city was much like the area around the Parterre de Fleurs, lined with homes and shops. For the most part, the people in the surroundings had mostly receded into their homes, resting peacefully. Most of the houses were small yet comfortable looking, run down to a certain extent but still possessing a satisfying structural integrity. 

"Y'think Madame Fitzgarold lives around here?" Olivia asked, her eyes scanning the surrounding streets as she surveyed each of the houses carefully. 

Aizawa remained silent, scanning the houses and restaurants lining both ends of the streets. 

"I don't think she'd live in such an unsuspecting mansion," Aizawa replied, numerous thoughts coursing his mind. 

Whilst U.A mostly taught the fundamentals of becoming a hero, the second most logical procedure was to teach them courses and subjects of a regular school on top of it. The last thing they wanted was for heroes-in-training to lack the necessary intelligence, only possessing the skills of the battlefield and strategy over a basic knowledge of mathematics and English. 

When Aizawa had begrudgingly taught Class 1-A about the Victorian Era, he had brought up numerous historical documents, papers, and videos detailing the economic difference between the rich and the poor of a society like this. The rich always sought lavish mansions in richer sections of the city, whilst the poor and middle-class were condemned to regions of collective housing. 

At that moment, he couldn't help but chuckle. "We're probably in the wrong location."

After finding the nearest street sign, he darted down and looked at the map of the entire kingdom. From their current spot, the location with the highest chance of Madame Fitzgerald living there was only a few blocks down. 

He raised his hand and pointed down the road. "If this map is entirely accurate, her house should be in a location out of this neighborhood."

Olivia nodded, taking the map from Aizawa and stuffing it into her pocket. "I'm sure we don't need this; something tells me we'll know which house is hers."

Aizawa considered the woman's words for a brief moment before nodding his head. "Alright." 

As they continued walking forward, their gaze drifted to the sky, noticing that the snowflakes had gradually slowed in their descent. 

"You mentioned something about Oboro earlier tonight," Olivia piped up. 

At that moment, the man's entire body seemed to tense up upon hearing her words. His blood ran cold as he turned his head to look at her. 

"I-I did," He replied, not trying to deny the situation. 

Olivia paused for a beat, her expression carefully studying Aizawa, who had turned pale and broke out into a sweat. 

"Are you ok?" She asked, her expression softening slightly after catching onto Aizawa's mental state. 

He looked away from her, sighing softly as his voice carried a slight tremble. "I-I…no."

"Since you first saw Oboro you've acted differently. You're stiff, shaky, and you never stop looking at him."

As if her words were a curse uttered by a witch, small tears formed in the corners of his eyes, which he defensively wiped away with his sleeve. 

"Me and him go back further than what you've seen," His voice was a low whisper as his voice trembled, bordering on crumbling completely.

"But…you've only been with him about a week."

"No, no, no," Aizawa's voice lowered to a whisper as he turned away, rubbing the back of his neck slowly as he began to speak once more. 

"Oboro was my friend when I was in high school. He was among the first people to approach me and offered me friendship. Following that, we were almost inseparable, along with my other friend, Hizashi, who you know as the teacher Present Mic back at U.A."

More moisture formed in the corners of his eyes as the hand rubbing his neck began to shake. "It was our first hero mission; we were tasked with protecting kids from a collapsing building."

He then looked towards Olivia, a single tear running down his left cheek. "He was crushed by the rubble saving them, and I was too damn weak to save him." 

The man extended his leg and kicked a cluster of snow sitting in front of them, scattering the powdery white substance across the road. 

"Now that he's here, that Isaac sent us here with whatever ability he has, I can't dare to lose him again. I don't want to lose anyone close to me, I still have to protect all of you."

Unexpectedly, Olivia tensed the moment she felt Aizawa's arms wrap around her, pulling her into a gentle yet firm hug. He pressed his head into her hair, inhaling the shampoo she had used recently. 

"I may have only known you for a short while, but I already feel like you're one of the closest people in my life."

Hearing his words, Olivia's lips curled into a smile as she returned the hug, pressing her body against his. "I promise you I won't leave."

She looked up at him, her eyes carrying a faint edge of tiredness as she continued to smile. "Ever."

Aizawa's lips curled into a small smile as he let go of the woman. His face flushed around his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. 

"We can cut the pleasantries for a moment, we have to find them both!" Olivia's movements down the road grew more deliberate as she kicked aside the accumulated snow down the road. 

Aizawa followed beside her, slowly observing as the houses along each side of the road disappeared, gradually transforming into larger houses with spiked metal fences and neatly trimmed, snow-covered foliage. 

"Damn it!" Olivia mumbled, gazing upon this new section of the neighborhood. "Every house looks the same."

"Look," Aizawa approached one of the street lamps, snatching a paper strapped to its post. He approached Olivia with the paper in hand and showcased it to her. 

"This is the advertisement for the babysitting job. It shows her house in this painting," He pointed to the bottom of the page. A small painting was stamped onto the paper, showcasing a clear look at Madame Fitzgerald's establishment. 

"It doesn't look much different than anything else here," Olivia commented, holding up the paper to the crimson moonlight. 

"Well, this neighborhood is a square according to the map, so we won't have much difficulty finding it if we analyze each one closely."

Suddenly, they heard a noise in the distance. Olivia and Aizawa turned their heads, their eyes widening in unison as they caught sight of a burly-looking black dog running in their direction. It let out a low whimper as it stopped at Aizawa's feet.

A long chain was strapped around its neck; at the end of it was a dislodged wooden pole that dragged behind it as it ran, causing a thin trail to form in the snow. 

"A dog?" Olivia asked, puzzled. 

Just then, the animal spun in a circle, letting out another low whimper. The animal froze for a moment before suddenly lunging forward and sinking its teeth into Aizawa's shoe, tugging insistantly. 

"It wants us to follow it," Olivia observed. Without a second thought, she stepped forward and gazed down at the dog. 

Seeing her, the dog let go and began running in the opposite direction, occasionally looking back at the duo to ensure they were listening. Aizawa and Olivia exchanged a glance, the man feeling a surge of skepticism at the suggestion. 

"Maybe they're both in danger," Aizawa ran forward, accompanied by Olivia as they pursued the dog down the road. 

They ran past most of the houses in the neighborhood before stopping by the house they had seen in the photo. Aizawa's analytical yet frenzied gaze immediately drifted to the portion of the gate which had been dislodged from the rest, resting on the snow-covered front lawn. 

At that moment, he felt a surge of panic. "It's broken."

Olivia turned towards the section of the gate, nodding her head. "Either someone broke in or broke out, maybe it was Shinso looking for him! Maybe that's why he was out at that time, and that's why the men were Brainwashed!"

The man didn't hesitate, he ran through the gap in the fence and towards the front door, which had been left open. Olivia followed closely behind, pausing the moment Aizawa froze in the doorway. The crimson moonlight leaked in through the front door, spilling into the darkened hallway. 

Aizawa darted into the house without hesitation, his intuition telling him that the abnormality wasn't a good sign. He ran up the stairs and into the hallway, his gaze barely able to penetrate the thick darkness.

…

The boy didn't have time to react, failing to turn around in time to see his attacker. Oboro's eyes widened with fear as he watched the female figure leap at Shinso with inhuman agility, pinning him to the floor as she raised her talon-like hands and began to swing and claw at Shinso's throat. 

Shinso's hands held the figure back from making direct contact; her hands were just out of reach from the thin, delicate skin of his throat. Letting out a low groan of effort, he landed a kick to the figure's chest, sending her back into the corpse suspended from the ceiling. 

"C'mon!" Oboro shouted from the doorway. During the brief confrontation, Oboro had already made an attempt to escape the unseen attacker. 

Shinso glanced at the direction of the toss, only to see that the figure had disappeared from view. His hairs stood on end upon seeing this, and his blind instincts took in. The boy immediately turned towards the door, bolting out into the hallway and slamming the door shut. 

The entire hallway was shrouded in silence, which was barely penetrated by the duo's shaky breathing. 

"Don't tell me my mother hired more of you," A male voice sounded in the darkness. 

Shinso's heart tightened as he instantly turned in the direction of the voice, swinging at the air with a sharp slap. 

Raymond let out a sharp wince at the contact, his head recoiling from the assault. "Do you have the manners of a neanderthal?"

"Shut up!" Shinso hissed, covering Raymond's mouth with his hands. 

"If you damage anything in here, my mother will have you thrown in prison," Raymond scoffed, his voice muffled and obscured by Shinso's hand. 

"Tell that to the man we found inside that room," Shinso whispered, pointing to the room beside him. 

"I know, I witnessed it firsthand with my siblings," The boy replied, crossing his arms. 

"Did they…end up like him?"

Raymond shook his head. "I locked them in my study to ensure their safety."

"Did someone named Isaac come here?" Shinso asked. 

Raymond nodded. "Yes, he was hired by my mother to watch my brother, Bertram."

Hearing his words, Shinso felt the anxiety in the pit of his stomach increase tenfold. "Is h-he safe?"

"That's unbeknownst to me," Raymond scanned the surroundings for a few seconds, only for the silence to be broken by Oboro. 

"Then why aren't you accompanying them?" Oboro asked. 

At that moment, Raymond pried himself away from his grip and chuckled. "They aren't the ones with mystical abilities."