Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

As the Vines Drip Red

Ryker's POV:

"Ryker." I turned around as I was walking through the hallway of my school and saw Kenichi standing there. "Ryker, Shinju and I are actually-"

"Dating? I've been waiting forever!" I smiled at him. "I'm happy for you two."

Kenichi scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. He seemed a lot more happy than usual. "I need to ask you a favor, though."

"What can I do for you?" I asked, eyeing the clock to make sure I wasn't late for third period.

"Shinju and I are going to start killing people for money; I need you to ask people if they have anyone they really hate, and to send them over to Graffiti Alley after school." Kenichi proposed. "If it's not too much trouble, that is."

"I'm sure I can figure something out." I told him. "Don't worry about it, just expect at least a few people showing up."

Kenichi nodded, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I can always count on you."

He walked away.

I walked into my third period class and my eye immediately caught on Milo. I noticed they got a new haircut; but they looked not as energetic as usual. Fox didn't attend this school until recently so he wasn't in any of their classes so that I could ask what was wrong.

I walked up to Milo and crouched down. "I love your haircut; I can finally see your eyes. They're pretty y'know."

I noted Milo's black and red eyes. Their face flushed as they took in what I said. "Oh, thank you. I thought it looked stupid, Kingo said it was."

"Kingo? Why would he ever say that?" I asked, my voice filled with confusion.

Milo shrugged, resting their head on their arms. "Kingo doesn't really like me all that much. Even if he was joking, it didn't sound like it."

I scratched my head. "If you need something to take your mind off it, I have to run some errands for Kenichi. If you want to come with me, I have nobody to go with, and I don't really want to be alone.."

I expected Milo to say no thanks or shrug it off, but they didn't. "Sure, I don't have anything better to do anyways."

I smiled at them. Hopefully I'll know where to look, just like before...

I waited for Milo outside the park of the school, and as I expected, Milo came out the doors. They were walking with Fox; but it seemed that they were annoyed of him. As usual, nothing new there.

As they came closer, I could hear their conversation.

"You were supposed to help me study! This school teaches way different stuff than my other school does. I thought you'd at least come by for an hour!" Fox whined, gripping his hair.

"It just so happens that I like Ryker's company better than yours." Milo retorted. "Fox fled fast far away."

In an instant, Fox started fleeing the opposite direction of Milo. With some shouts and curses, Fox disappeared behind the horizon line.

Milo walked towards me, amused with their quirk working. "My quirk is useful after all."

I awkwardly nodded, not knowing much else to say. "What else can you do with it?"

"Anything, really. The sentence just needs to have three or more words with the same first letter next to each other. Then I have to imagine what I have in mind for it to happen." Milo put their finger to their chin. "Crispy crunchy crackers."

Suddenly, a roll full of crackers appeared in their hand. "A cheesy sentence, sure, but it's useful in a lot of situations. Like when Fox is constantly nagging me about being hungry.."