Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|112| A Talk With The Servants

"K-Karma... y-you can't keep tying up every single person who wants to see Rie..."

"Why not?" he questioned innocently, the azure-haired male sighing as he glanced to the side, having given up, "anyway, Todoroki, you wanted to see Rie, right?"

"Yes," he stared back at the sadistic male, "could you... untie me?"

"Nope!" he beamed, "at least, not until we tell you about her."

"Karma-" Rio tried to cut in, the boy waving her off.

"She gave us permission to tell him as much as we wanted, so we're gonna do just that," he hummed, "knowing her, she's not going to tell him anything unless she's prompted."

He gazed back at the boy, who was still tied up on the chair.

"Be grateful he hasn't gagged you, at least," whispered Isogai so that the personal servant wouldn't overhear, the heterochromatic stealing him a concerned side-glance, "do you want anything to eat?"

"No thank you," he declined politely, "but I'll let you know if I do."

The head chef bowed, leaving the small group to it. The heterochromatic expectantly stared at Karma, who hummed.

"Where do I start... I suppose I'll start with the basics: Rie - and Ace - were born into a family of Villains; their parents on both sides are well-known Villains, though they're not as famous as some of the other ones out there, such as All For One and Crimson Death."

The irony...

"Her older cousin, Illumi, is also one, but he would be considered more of an anti-Hero with Villainous ideals," he continued, "Killua and Alluka, who you've met, were both trained to be assassins-"

"Karma," Nagisa warned slowly.

"Assassins?" frowned the Hero-in-training, "does Rie know?"

"Yup," he popped the 'p', waving the wary boy off, his mercury eyes softening, "she... she has a tendency to think that because of her upbringing, everyone around her ends up getting hurt or killed because of her."

"Because of..." he echoed slowly, letting the words sink in, "is that why she..."

"I can't say for sure, but it's the most likely reason," he shrugged.

"What do you mean, 'because of her'?"

"Well, either her parents end up hurting them in front of her, force her to hurt or kill them, or she kills them."

Nagisa struck Karma on the head.

"Ow! What was that-"

"Rie's... killed people?" repeated the boy, his voice distant.

"I... I'll leave that with you," he cleared his throat awkwardly, sweat-dropping under Nagisa's sharp gaze, "you can ask Rie when you go up."

He walked around the chair, untying the rope and leading him to the lift.

"Is she... also a Villain?"

"Who, Rie?" he glanced over, the boy nodding.

He took the silence as a yes.

"She... she misses you," he admitted lowly, "in all honesty, she does this every time something bad around her happens. She pushes other people away to not hurt them but she hurts herself more in the process."

He remained silent.

"We're here," he informed, the doors sliding open, the personal servant leading him in front of a room. He inhaled, knocking on the door, Karma nodding as he re-entered the lift.

"Good luck," he mouthed.

"Coming!" he heard her voice from inside, footsteps sounding towards the door as he tried to calm his rapid heartbeat, exhaling as a familiar figure opened the door, seemingly unaware of who was on the other side, "hey, do you need any-"

Her hand remained over the doorknob.

"Hey, Rie," he greeted quietly.