Fallen Angel

Bunny Hero, Miriko

Days passed after that fight; Hawks and Lucifer continued to work as if nothing had happened. Lucifer had trouble fitting back in at first. Things started to fly off properly, but while Tokoyami was concerned about their presence, it didn't take long to trust their skills as a hero. It was to the point he even learned some new tricks from Lucifer.

One day, after getting a villain from a robbery, Hawks started to fly away, as usual, to take him to the police station. Tokoyami, who was having trouble keeping up, stood his ground, trying to take a few deep breaths. Lucifer with their new hero uniform, walked next to him.

"Don't tell me you're tired, newbie," smirked Lucifer.
"No..." he replied, catching his breath, "I'm... resting..."
"I've had worse. Here:"

Handing a white feather to Tokoyami, he felt relaxed and energized.

"This will help you with your body's restoration." they continued, "It'll help you when working with Hawks."
"Is that why you're not exhausted?"
"Nope. I've learned to master my exhaustion levels when running."

In seconds, a villain was jumping near Lucifer and Tokoyami's area. Feeling Tokoyami's Dark shadow pulling us away from the impact, we kept our guard up as we saw the villain emerging from its attack.

"Looks like we'll discuss that later," Lucifer replied, pulling the cape from their back. "Right now, we got a villain to deal with."
"What about Hawks?" Tokoyami asked. "He doesn't know there's a villain nearby."
"Don't worry. You're talking to a pro-hero, you know."

Pulling the large feather sword from their back, Lucifer held their ground. It has been a while since they've fought, but they still got the skill.

"WHO DARE FIGHT US?!" the voice echoed in question.

'From the sound and impact, it must be a big character,' Lucifer thought internally, trying to find the source of the sound.

As they stopped midway, they sensed a powerful villain swinging towards them.

"Feather! Stone shield!"

In an instant, the feather, which stuck on the ground earlier, suddenly transformed into stone, making the impact deflect their strike. As the hand started to move away, it chained up the villain.

"Now... into a sphere!"

Within seconds, the sphere held the villain tight as best as it could, making them unable to fight. As Lucifer sighed, their wing dusted off the fog, allowing Tokoyami to see the impact. 

"See? Caught them without any means to fight."

In seconds, the sphere started to crack while Lucifer walked toward Tokoyami. Right then, the villain escaped and pounced right at them, preparing to strike with a hard blow to the head. However, the power never came as another hero hit them squarely by the head with their feet.

"Looks like you're getting a bit rusty there, Luci!"

Looking towards their direction, Lucifer knew the source of that familiar sound, coming from the top of the villain's head.

"Good to see you too, Miriko."
"Back from the grave and you still haven't managed to beat this one down."
"Well, it would've worked with my feather if the villain wasn't that strong."
"Oh come on, Lulu! It's not bad that you've kept him hostage, but maybe practice more with your spells, okay?"
"Don't call me Lulu."
"Oh, come on, Lulu~ I know you like it!"

Confused about how Miriko made it here without backup, you realized Tokoyami was standing right near you two.

"Tsukuyomi," Lucifer greeted, "this is Miriko. You may have heard of her from the Billboard Charts for Heroes. Miriko, this is Hawk's new intern Tsukuyomi."

Bowing in respect, Miriko walked up to him, trying to sense the power he wields.

"Looks like you've got quite a lot to learn, kid. Just make sure that they're teaching you right."
"Like you're one to talk."
"Come on, my school taught me all the stuff. What did your school do?"
"I was homeschooled, in case you forgot."
"Right and yet, Hawks was the gifted one out of the two of you."
"...Are you done?"
"You know I'm teasing you, right?"

As I sighed aggressively, Hawks had just returned to notice Miriko nearby.

"Miriko? What brings you out here? I thought you would be over at the west side of town."
"Well, it seems like your partner here has been having a hard time handling a villain, I thought I'd hop on by. Plus, it gives me the excuse to see you again, tough guy."

Seeing them interact somehow gave me some form of envy that I never expected to happen to me before.

"How do you two know each other?"
"Oh, we bump into each other now and then. Funnily enough, he talks about you a lot, which I can't seem to wonder why."
"Funny, he's never told me about you."
"Okay, ladies... just- try to calm down."

We stared at each other. I knew Miriko would be trouble, but I've got a long way to go if I were to be equal to her level.

"Come on, Tsukuyomi. We're taking the criminal to the authorities."
"Luci-"
"Don't bother, Hawks. Talk to your friend. You two have some catching up to do."

Tokoyami noticed the interaction and knew there was tension between Miriko and Lucifer. As we dragged the criminal to the station, he asked me about it. What happened was that Miriko, Hawks, and I were in the hero licensing exams growing up, but due to my inability to use my power properly, I failed the first exam while those two got it first. However, since then, Miriko never let me down on it. It infuriated me that Hawks and Miriko could make each other happy when they're together, but some tension builds negatively between her and me. Tokoyami looked surprised: it was if he was seeing a repeat of his other classmates. A whole generation backward to the pro heroes if he told me.

*****

"And I think we're done for the day!" I sighed with relief later that night, "Why don't you head on back, Tsukuyomi? I need to bless the station first for a second before leaving."
"Right, see you tomorrow."
"Don't stay out too long!" I called out as he ran to Hawk's agency.

Grabbing a feather to bless the station, a mysterious person grabs me from behind, holding me tight. I recognized this grasp anywhere. It was the same one that got me years ago.

"We meet again, Lucifer~"