The Emperor's Dragon II

The Silent Ones

Unten picked a thin cushion and placed it on the floor before he collapsed into it. He was so tired. And he hadn't even been working or doing anything much.

"What's the matter?" Rakura asked. She was sitting at a low desk, looking down at a book in front of her.

Unten was the one who'd invited himself here, so it would be impolite for him to expect Rakura and Shibou to completely rework their schedule. Shibou was making some tea, but he looked up and the question and Unten could see he was concerned.

"I-" he got the single syllable out before his jaw snapped shut. It wasn't that he couldn't speak, it was he had no idea what to say. "How's Goumanya doing?" Unten asked instead.

Shibou, at least, noticed the change of subject or rather knew that Goumanya was not the topic Unten wanted to discuss. Rakura probably knew it as well but was better at hiding her expression.

"Last I heard, the idiot was involved in some gang," Rakura said as Shibou poured mugs of tea.

Unten rolled his eyes. That sounded about right. And to be fair, it was exactly what his employer had wanted Goumanya... actually all of them to do. Not join a gang but do something that was flashy. He'd gotten out of that responsibility because he'd agreed to chauffeur- and before his mind could spiral, Unten firmly steered his thoughts away.

"Anything in particular?" he asked for more details.

Shibou handed him a mug and then gave the second one to Rakura before he went back to the bench and poured a third mug for himself. Their apartment was small and sparsely appointed but Unten could see the signs that Rakura and Shibou were doing okay. He could also see the signs they were still doing their best for the community, and the signs that the community wasn't accepting that help. It was in the little things. If you were really tight for cash, you only had enough cups for yourself. The fact that they had a third, and Unten could see two others told him they were doing okay. There was also some bedding, neatly folded at the side of the room. Rakura and Shibou could offer a safe place to sleep for others.

"Just dumb crimes," Rakura elaborated. "They've done some armored car heists recently."

"Really?" That was news to him.

"Yeah," Shibou confirmed.

"Enough to get caught?" Unten was curious.

"Probably."

That single word said a lot about the time they were living in. Probably.

But they hadn't been caught yet. Because the Heroes were far too busy chasing other villains that armored car heists were... Unten wouldn't say ignored but at least low level. "That could get interesting then," he said.

They knew what he meant. When, and it really was only a matter of time before Goumanya got caught, he'd talk about where, and how he got his quirk. That's what Dragon had said to do and given it was far easier than lying and bearing those consequences, Unten had no doubt that Goumanya would do that.

"Will you be okay?" Unten asked.

Once Goumanya talked, the three of them would also be impacted. No doubt the police, probably heroes, would want to interview them all. They might even be arrested. Unten wasn't sure how the law would treat them. He didn't even have to look to know there had never been a case like this and the courts would have to decide of having someone else's quirk given to you by a villain counted as being in possession of stolen goods.

The closest analogy he could think of was from the past. When people had their organs harvested and given to others. Except... no one ever prosecuted those who got the organs. Often their names were suppressed. All the pressure came on the people who'd done the harvesting...