A dot blue in a sea of Darkness [Miyami | Saga]

Just what kind of idiot would agree to meet with a complete stranger over the internet? This one, of course! Because the poor girl needed money, and doing things the legal way was both too slow and not really an option for her. So here Miyami was, getting ready to meet up with this Daffodil character. Dressed in her blue hoodie and carrying the bare minimum on her (because that was currently really all she had), the girl made her way to the location sent to her.

What could possibly go wrong? I mean besides everything? Still, I don't have much of a choice. I need something. I can't just survive on instant ramen every day. ...Well I mean I could, but I can surely do better than that.

Normally, Miyami took her sweet time arriving whenever she needed to meet with someone. But not this time. One, she was already close enough to the meeting spot, so there was no point in taking long. And second, if someone was going to give her an opportunity to actually help her out, then the least she could do is not be a piece of crap who shows up late. Nah, it was best to actually try and not keep Daffodil waiting too long.

But where exactly was she? Miyami raised an eyebrow. I'm actually the early one for once? But no, Daffodil was there, the masked lady just appeared to come out of nowhere. The fuck? But Miyami quickly composed herself, returning to her cold and seemingly uncaring persona, speaking in a tone that seemed to imply that she was very sleep-deprived. Not entirely untrue, either. "Yes, that's me. And I'm guessing you're Daffodil." Okay, so the two were here now. So now what? Miyami waited to see what Daffodil would say next. The least the girl could do was listen.

As Miyami could feel the piercing gaze of Daffodil (at least she assumed so, it was obviously not easy to tell when the lady had a mask on), the girl remained as cold and indifferent on the outside as she could manage. On the inside, however, she was feeling worried. What is this lady thinking? Is this going to be some kind of trap? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised at this point. But for now, it was best to play it cool and play along in case this actually was legit.

Of course Miyami wanted to learn to be more stealthy. It would make breaking into houses to steal valuables much easier and far less of a hassle. It was hard to think of that one fiasco. And of course she needed the money. Nothing against the Iron Maidens, but Miyami wanted to have a nice proper home for herself, rather than live with other female delinquents in a run down warehouse. If this Daffodil person was serious in being able to help with that, then Miyami would do whatever she could.

"Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."

No nonsense. No complaining. Miyami was serious. She did not care much for others, but when it came to getting paid and learning useful things, then she was not one to half-ass anything. As for just what it was she would need to do, the task seemed rather simple. Just listen and keep an eye out for any information. That seemed simple enough. Hell, the only thing that could possibly make it into a challenge was San'en deciding to pop in at an inconvenient time. But that was fortunately an uncommon situation at best. "No problem. Leave that to me. I usually wander around anyway, so I can easily pick up on anything important."

Then came Daffodil's question. Where to train the girl. Miyami paused for a moment before quickly coming up with an answer. "There's this one abandoned building not too far from here. With how old and creepy it looks, people tend to avoid that place. So we won't need to worry about anyone coming in to interrupt us. Hell, we don't even need to go inside the building itself. The alleyways surrounding the place are also creepy as shit, so nobody ever goes in there." With how often the girl had to make plans to steal something, it was always good to have escape routes in mind. That was why she was more than familiar with which streets and alleys were safe and which to avoid.

"So when do we start?" The sooner Miyami got paid and the sooner her alias Silent Shadow became fitting for more than just her quirk, the better. Speaking of her quirk, she hoped that Daffodil would not end up asking about that. She would rather not have to answer, or even worse, admit to having a quirk she could not even control. That would undoubtedly be a deal-breaker. And that was something Miyami needed to make sure didn't happen.

Alright, so from Daffodil's words, it seemed as though Miyami did not immediately screw up like she had been worrying might happen. She tended to be terrible with first impressions, so that was good. One less thing to worry about. But best not to get relieved too quickly. Complacency was something the girl wished to avoid. After all, it was never too late for something to go wrong. A painful lesson she knew all too well. But hopefully there would be no need to worry about that here. All Miyami had to do was listen and do whatever was asked of her. Should be simple enough, right?

The girl nodded. "Understood." All of what Daffodil said seemed straightforward enough. Show up to meetings, text the lady directly should she come upon any useful information. So basically, don't be an incompetent dumbass. It was good that Miyami would be taught to discern the difference between what was and was not considered useful information. Since on one hand, Miyami did not wish to spam Daffodil with walls of text containing nothing useful. But on the other hand, she also did not want to accidentally neglect to mention something that seemed irrelevant but could end up being very major.

To Miyami's immense relief, the walk to the alleys proved to be quick and uneventful. As she led Daffodil to their destination, not a single person would be in sight. Of course the girl already knew this, but there was always the chance some dumbass delinquents would choose to hang out here. Crisis averted.

Upon arriving, Miyami once again listened. It's not like I chose to wear blue because I want to. This is just the only hoodie I currently have that doesn't need to be washed. Plus, it's not that bright, is it? Naturally, the girl kept these thoughts to herself. Best not to say anything stupid out loud. "Of course. I'll be sure to get more blacks and greys." Because clearly the gloomy girl did not have enough of those already. To be fair though, those were the best colors to wear whenever stealth was needed.

Once Daffodil gave the girl her assignment, Miyami nodded. "Alright, should be simple enough." Surely she wouldn't screw this up too badly. So Miyami began to move, pretending that this was just another house she was breaking into at 2 AM. The only difference was that the girl would be moving a lot faster, as there was no need to tiptoe. With careful and delicate steps, Miyami began moving from one end of the alley to the other, making absolutely sure that not a single sound was being made by her.

Drip... drip... drip...

For just a moment, Miyami froze up. Oh god no! Is that...? One finger to her forehead. A huge surge of relief upon seeing that her finger was dry upon checking, but Miyami was careful enough not to let out an audible sigh. Okay, good, I thought that was San'en for a second there. Turning her head to the right, Miyami noticed a leaking pipe. Fuck you, I was starting to panic! Shaking her head due to the false alarm, Miyami continued onward.

Upon finishing her task, she looked over to Daffodil to see what was next. Sure, she could always ask, but she wanted to confirm that this little test was over before opening her mouth and risk accidentally breaking the 'not making a sound' rule. Okay, Miyami thought to herself. I'm pretty sure I made my way across without making any sound. But was I good enough? Well there was only one way to find out. In the girl's mind, she did a pretty good job at living up to her alias of Silent Shadow. But would Daffodil agree?

Alright, so how did the girl do? Miyami was at least reasonably sure that she had not made any sound at all. After all, her alias was Silent Shadow. It would be very counterproductive to do the exact opposite of what her chosen alias implied. But nope, apparently she had screwed up somewhere and didn't even realize it. Geez, just how sharp is this lady's hearing? Miyami could not believe that she had actually made any sound at all. Unless it was a very tiny sigh, and Daffodil had the most sensitive ears in all of Japan. Though in all honesty, that would be extremely impressive if that were indeed the case.

"Huh. I could have sworn I kept silent the whole time. I even stopped myself from sighing when I was about to. But I guess I still have quite a ways to go." Well this sucked. Daffodil probably thought the girl was an incompetent dumbass now. But before Miyami could explain or say anything, she heard the rest of the lady's words. Oh. I guess I didn't completely suck after all. Not that Miyami would be foolish enough to say this out loud.

Moving on, now it was time to answer Daffodil's question. How does the Silent Shadow earn her alias? "I suppose I really just make use of my environment. If I see something I can hide behind, I use it. If a path has too much light, I stick to the shadows. If there's a way to turn off the lights without drawing any attention to myself or alerting anyone, I take the chance to do so. I keep my mouth shut at all times, unless it's somehow more advantageous to do otherwise. Whatever I can do to hide every trace of my existence, I don't hesitate to do. There really isn't anything fancy to what I do. No special tricks, nothing flashy. Just common sense, sharp eyes, and plenty of improvisation if I need it."

Seeing as the subject was likely to come up sooner or later anyway, Miyami figured it was best to just get it out of the way now. "Oh, and I suppose if all else fails, I can use my quirk to ensure I stay hidden. Though due to its nature, I prefer to only use it as a last resort. I'm not one to rely on it too much." Hopefully Daffodil did not actually ask the girl to go into specifics on how her quirk actually worked. The last thing Miyami wanted to admit was the fact that she had no control over her skeletal summon. She wanted to do her best not to look weak, useless, and incompetent, after all. Though if Daffodil chose to pry, Miyami supposed that she could tell her the truth. Or at least bend it as much as she could.

Would these answers suffice? What would the lady think? Would she be satisfied or disappointed in Miyami's answer? The girl stayed silent as she awaited Daffodil's response.