If there was something Enma lacked, it was how to be present for the people. He could fight, he could hunt, but he could NOT for the life of him give a smile that wasn't scary to an onlooker. In fact, he had recently even embarrassed himself and left a bad impression on fellow students when he accidentally injured one during a lesson hosted by Farrin. With the spirit of keeping a baseline competency for these things, he needed to branch out.

There was the growing friendships, the budding love between Masao and him, the increasing complexity of his presence at UAU. That was only going to continue to be the case as he prepared to be a hero. As he entered and lurked more in the back, he would hear the initial lecture and nodded along. Yuki Onna gave him crucial advice and he even took a social media class as a way of covering his own ass.

Enma needed to do more. Arriving in his usual dark themes, lighter in material and swordless; he wondered what the class could teach him. As he wanted to find his place in the class, he saw Jun whom had defeated him in their game of 80K. That was a friend, at least he thought. Not realizing who was next to her, he came up and greeted the fellow student. "Jun-san, I did not know you were taking this class. How are the figures--"

His heart sank. He hadn't had the opportunity to properly apologize to Kikurage. The venom in her response made him fear that he hadn't the possibility to repair that initial impression. "Ah, hello there. I...hope you can forgive me for what happened. I've been studying non-stop to make sure that doesn't happen again..." Sheepish, Enma hadn't quite hardened his emotions when it came to being in presence of potential colleagues. It was a vast expanse that the journey for was very analog.

Seeing Oniki, Enma was actually excited because he appreciated the honest nature of their match. Using it as an excuse for leaving Jun and Kikurage alone, he met her. "Oniki! I think your quirk is cool." What was he? A kid? Enma was trying, that's what mattered. The frightening part of the class was the way they were going to...use their quirk's parlor tricks? What could he do? Break something and fix it?

"Um...I can, uh, paint." Vague, smooth, incredible parlor trick. It was likely the most surprising part of his power or himself, whether someone knew what he did in a fight or not. He swore he would keep the image of a deadly monster hunter as his sole reputation. Maybe this was how...he let go of those insecurities imposed by Papa Arashi.

---

The greater the beast, the greater the cage. It took a lot to truly put down a monster such as Dracula. It took ingenuity, it took study. Beasts like Dracula were devilish creatures that needed a lifetime of research captivated within the brevity of a mortal's life. The greater the stakes, the motivation -- the spite, even -- the more efficient the search. Answers were needed NOW. The question? How to remove the obstacle stopping whatever force was driven to want to cleave the inheritor Paragon from the world.

After the psychotic cyborg was faulted in his efforts, arrested and shattered, it was back to the drawing board. Masao was given too much freedom by her family it seemed, but no one could account for love. Two strays in a world of social people that made high-octane, artificial connections with the berth of the internet and the inherent necessity of public relations in hero work. The dark manipulator could not have the foresight that the first attempt would be thwarted by this monster of a mortal.

Now, that issue was rectified. There was a facility, well-hidden in Tokyo Bay under the guise of a shipping warehouse. The warehouse wasn't seemingly too large on the outside, but it was a skeleton that was operated by this manipulator. On the inside, it was a complex that descended into Yomi it seemed. At the heart of it, a mechanical well. The laboratory contained within the heart of the complex already extended two sub-levels down, but within the lab was Enma's prison.

Originally, it was built to contain erratic chimera built by this mysterious malefactor. Now, it plunged Enma down 60 meters in a watery prison. Pressure squeezed all around him, a mask providing air and shrouding his senses. All he could feel was a cold cage around him. In this belly of water, his arms were outstretched and clasped past the elbow with large, metal cylinders split into segments used to adjust to the limbs captured.

A girdle was cast around him, attached to a spine with needles digging into his spine all throughout and finally connecting to the mask. This kept him preserved, ripe for experimentation once Masao was dealt with.

As for her, she was left to wait for hours before finally being contacted. It came in the form of mysterious dead drops that hoped to inflate her paranoia and make her steep in fear. She was to come alone to the facility. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. The implied consequence would be the risks to Enma's life, but there was a promise in the dead drops that he would be released if she complied.

Unaware of how they caged him and what to anticipate, who would she call on?

---

Masao was an angel. Pure to a fault, which is why she was perfect for him. They had their own issues that made socializing hard, but to find someone it was easy with meant everything. They've gone beyond that, the two having shared their bodies, their minds, their souls. Enma could do things like make breakfast for her, clean the dishes, make her life easy before she engaged in her duties as a smithing genius.

As he moved like lightning, he would not give her the opportunity to lift a finger. She needed to know just how much she vitalized him. With that vitality, they needed to make use of it before it was wasted. "Of course it's a yes. I'll let you do the dishes when I die!" He giggled as she did, making sure everything was spotless and dry before meeting her once more. As clothes removed, as embraces were had, he squeezed her waist and felt the soft, beautiful flesh that made him know this was real.

Pulled into the shower, he'd scoop her up and carry her along. The shower wasn't just for hygiene.

=

Some time after the shower, Masao was getting ready to go receive an order. They both had this...glow about them. It made him forget that she was only recently in danger. Only recently they would have their first hurdle as a couple, overcoming the psychotic cyborg that was sent to assassinate her and anyone she was with. Enma forgot that he was someone who struggled with the world and the loneliness that captivated him.

Masao eliminated that loneliness and helped him be confident in befriending others. The advice of those that taught him was one thing, but she was his hope. As she gave him her keys, they kissed for the last time and she ran away saying she loved him. It happened so fast, that she saw a blushing Enma stunned by it. "I...love you too, Masao!" Holding the keys with a fluttering heart, he felt like they took a big step in their relationship.

This was love. Love was accepting that they could trust each other and plan for a brighter future. Could they eventually live together? Would their relationship become something more...than boyfriend-girlfriend? Shaking himself free of the fantasies, he needed to grab something from his apartment in preparation for work. Making his way there, he'd absent-mindedly leave her dorm keys in his own as he grabbed his uniform and credentials.

It was time to put his foot down. His father couldn't use him anymore, he had to accept that Enma's life was going to become a lot more dedicated and he needed time for hero work and all that entails along with his support of Masao.

Entering Tokyo, he would make some distance between the university and him. Captivated by the fact that he had a true love and that their relationship was truly beautiful and blossoming, his senses weren't so keen. Mumbling under his breath and caught up in his fantasies, his vision went blurry. Something struck him. It wasn't enough, he was stronger than this. Turning, he saw a set of laser-red eyes.

Something else struck him. More eyes, then another piercing feeling. Everything dulled until everything went dark. Whoever captured Enma and dragged him into the van knew that he wouldn't go down easily. The uniform and credentials were left behind. A note was left in front of Masao's dorm.

We will contact you. We have him. Come quietly, come alone. Don't and he suffers.

---

Today was going to define a lot for Helsing. Crossing the horizon, swallowing his fears, shouldering loss for the sake of the future. He knew that he would lose people that in his mind's palace, he could see bridges being built to. Distance that could've closed. That was the pre-requisite of victory for the raid on Takamagahara. He needed to trust Masao that she took care of herself, she needed to trust that he would do everything in his power to make it home to her.

Things were beginning to heat up, both regarding the stakes and in the literal sense as his feet...He couldn't worry about them now. The dragon was glowing, roaring, threatening to undo the gambit that was still underway. Vox, Playboy and him were able to open up the first part of the end of this initial raid. Enma didn't have time to worry about how this was only the beginning. He didn't have time to worry about how the beasts threatened to thwart the first part of a much deeper raid.

As the dragon's hide lit up like the sun, Stellar helped whisk the boy with burning feet away. Helsing's eyes were blazing with dark crimson, vibrant as the dragon's sun-like luminescence. The Raid of Takamagahara East would paint upon his torso through the Journey, showing his feelings on his sleeves and the battle on his back. Raiju would enter one final transformation, detailing the combatants that helped bring down the owl and dragon. It developed as the scene unfolded, hidden within the scabbard that acted as armor.

Everything was happening so fast. Split-second decisions that could fail or further their goals had all worked out in the raiders' favor. "Thanks Stellar! Vox, don't worry about me. As long as we're together, I CANNOT fail. WE will not fail." Helsing's quirk was putting his emotions on overdrive, but he never felt more confident in what he needed to do. He just had to look to Rahul, who helped keep the anxious, neuro-divergent Enma an active part of their fundraiser. Who helped him when he was having a panic attack because he wasn't accustomed to public mistakes.

Rahul became a statue, a symbol, a moment where Helsing had to act without hesitation and with the greatest might he could muster. If he despaired now, unsure of what it meant for Rahul to crystallize, he would fail the world. No big deal. As the meteor crashed down, Helsing needed to plunge it as deep as it could go. Thank-you, Rahul. I want to go home to Masao. Waiting for the moment to play his part, a quiet prayer and admiration slipped. "Plus...Ultra."

The moment came, Helsing would ascend and dash in a spiral up the meteor before kicking off of its table. Eyes, body, sword all radiating from the Journey; he sealed the monsters' coffin. They fought, trying to push the lid off the pot as hard as they could. Heat plumed from the crevices, fumes split by the diamond's facets. Like a firing pin, the warrior plunged Raiju and a near-cataclysmic tremor would shake the East wing of Takamagahara. Through vibrations, he felt the tip forcibly form a culet on the owl as heat rose.

The diamond became red-hot with the dragon's incredible heat and Helsing both kept the Nomu buried and withstood the heat for as long as he could. His boots turned to ash, ankles of his pants being eaten by combustion. While diluted, it still incredibly injured him as the flesh of his feet marred. It didn't matter, he needed to make Rahul's sacrifice worth it. Looking down, fighting tears, he clenched his jaw to hold back crying out in pain.

Whipping his head up to Stellar, shaking violently, he would stare wide-eyed and seized in dutiful suffering. When it eventually subsided, he would collapse and smell the burning flesh. The Journey fizzled away and Raiju's scabbard fell apart. Revealing the bottom half of the blade showing the raid, it would tell the tale in three parts. The blackguard and terrible archers. The salamanders and lesser owls. A portrait of Rahul, diamond-like and capsuled by the traditional mark of one as it descended into a pit containing the blazing dragon and inky-black greater owl.

Grabbing his scabbard as it sizzled against the super-heated diamond, he couldn't muster the words but he could shuffle to his feet. Someone needed to grab him, stepping slowly across red-hot carbon that was mostly buried into the ground. Not many steps later, he would collapse once more. The battle was hopefully over.

---