The Loser | by Isaac7525

After Aizawa left the underground market, the duo immediately bid each other farewell. Leo insisted on heading back to his restaurant to explain Sanson's death, alongside the sanitation and labor issues regarding the cooks and staff. Aizawa, on the other hand, immediately beelined for Oboro's apartment. He knew today was Thursday, the annual dinner between the friend group. He also knew Isaiah would be present there. 

Without saying another word, he stuffed the silver card into his pocket and headed down the street, before taking a rental carriage back to Oboro's apartment. As he stepped out of the carriage in front of the somewhat run-down building, a pit formed in his gut. After taking a small while to suppress his emotions, he now calmly entered the apartment and headed to the third floor, where he knew Oboro's room was.

The hallway lining the doors was dark and moist. Only the faint flickering of the kerosene lamps provided him a look down the corridors. Suddenly, a foul odor flooded the hallway, making him instantly cover his noise with his hand. He watched in revulsion as one of the people in the same hallway as Oboro, a young woman with a gaunt face, placed a big filled with something mortifying into the hallway, nestling it by the door. 

Upon a brief yet closer inspection, Aizawa learned that it was feces. Don't these apartments literally have toilets and plumbing? Or does this woman have stool issues that the toilets can't bear to flush? Without thinking of the matter any longer, the man hurriedly made his way to Oboro's apartment room and opened the door. The warm, homey scent and feel of Oboro's apartment flooded into the hallway, before sealing back abruptly the moment the door shut behind him. 

"For your first dinner here, I'm surprised you remembered and bothered to come so early!" Oboro, who was caught head-first in washing dishes, looked back to Aizawa and offered him a small smile. 

Aizawa coughed in an effort to hold-back his current emotions, and offered Oboro a smile back, though his was a lot less meaningful and twitched on the edges as if wanting to collapse at any given moment. 

He made his way to the area by the fireplace, sitting himself down on the sofa facing the warmth of the roaring flames.

"If you don't mind, how bout' you shovel a lil' bit of coal into the fire?" Oboro asked, his focus never leaving his current task. 

Without saying a word, Aizawa slowly stood up and walked over to the section of the floor where the wooden floor shifted into cold tiles. Hanging by the fireplace was a series of iron tools, some more worn from use than others. After making a quick deduction, Aizawa picked up the tool that closely resembled a shovel. 

On the far end of the fireplace was a wooden box filled to the brim with the iron-black rocks, some spilling onto the floor from the sheer quantity that had been purchased. After shoveling enough coal into the fire to allow the apartment to substantially warm up, Aizawa collapsed back onto the couch and slowly let out a long sigh. 

His hand darted back into his pocket to ensure the silver card was still there. And sure enough, it was. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, followed by Catherine's voice. Oboro put down the last of the dishes and approached the door, allowing her entry. Carter followed behind her, but he didn't carry any food. 

"I apologize if this meal isn't the best of quality; I hate to admit it, but I forgot today was our little dinner," Catherine, who carried a small dish of something covered by a towel, walked into the room and placed it on the large table by the window. 

"Hey, someone's quite early." Carter's usually eccentric voice rang across the apartment, startling Aizaa who was locked in a daze with the card. He immediately stuffed it back into his pocket and turned around to face Carter, leaning back on the couch and nodding his head. 

"It's best to be early than late, it's the only rational thing to do, honestly." 

After Oboro and the duo got everything situated for the rest of the guests, Aaron and Isaiah entered the room without bothering to knock. Aizawa could quickly guess this had become a statement at this point, for the bond Oboro and his friend shared was unlike one he's ever seen. The older man with white and gray hair entered the room carrying a large bottle of dark-green rum. 

Isaiah, on the other hand, carried nothing in his hands. In fact, his hands were stuffed in his pockets as he rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath from the forced attendance. Whilst Oboro, Catherine, Carter, and Aaron prepared the meal, Isaiah put on a pair of glasses specifically patented for his one eye, and sat down on the far end of the sofa, engrossing himself in a book. 

"Where are the kids, besides Isaac?" Catherine's brows furrowed as she turned to Aizawa. 

"I..don't know where they are. But for the most part, I'm sure they're safe."

He turned his head over the back of the sofa and continued, his lips forming a comforting yet subtle smile. "I'm sure they'll remember this little occasion and make their way back to the apartment."

As if on cue, the door which had been left open by Aaron, was entered by another two figures. Shinso and Ayumi entered the apartment without saying a word. Shinso's shoulders were slouched as he yawned, while Ayumi's body language screamed she was tense in some way. Aizawa immediately took notice of this and didn't hesitate to speak.

"What happened to you guys?" He asked.

"We just got back from the cathedral, apparently they wanted to give us a long-ass lecture on their founder or something before answering any of our damn questions," Shinso groaned, plopping down at the table and slamming his head into its wooden surface.

"But hey, at least I learned that this is a potion fragment!" Ayumi took out the wooden disk with floral patterns, showing it to everyone. 

At that moment, Catherine turned around with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape. "Already?" 

She shot up from her chair, walking over to Ayumi before unexpectedly wrapping her in a hug—a tight one. 

"You'll digest your potion in no time!"

The girl's face noticeably paled from the sudden contact, wanting to hide herself from view. A sudden yet sharp 'ahem' from Carter roused her from this. Catherine suddenly realized what she had been doing, immediately dropping the girl back to her feet and shuffling back to her seat, letting out a shaky sigh, followed by a noticeably strained smile.

"I apologize, Ayumi." Catherine's left hand coiled around a few strands of her black hair as she spoke. 

"You've never been that good with children I see." Carter smirked. 

"That makes me sound like a damn butcher!" Catherine snapped back. "Be grateful I don't go out into the streets murdering all the children I see!"

The light banter between the two was abruptly ceased as Aaron stood from his seat, clearing his throat as he smiled at the people sitting at the table. He poured himself a glass of rum and lifted it into the air, silently encouraging a toast among the friends. Without any further arguments, they all stood up and clashed glasses, before downing the small servings in unison.

Aizawa remained on the couch, watching from the sidelines. At that moment, Isaiah adjusted his glasses and turned to him, arching an eyebrow. "Your girl seems eager to advance."

Aizawa was momentarily caught off guard by the statement, but he quickly adjusted his posture and turned to Isaiah, nodding his head. "She didn't have powers until now; I'm not surprised she's eager to..advance any further."

"Being eager to advance is both a positive and negative thing," Isaiah continued, placing his small book on the coffee table. Aizawa secretly read its title for a few seconds, it was a book about alchemy. 

"Why?" Aizawa asked. 

The man with white hair and one yellow eye smiled, looking towards Ayumi. "Someone as strikingly pretty as her would get a little too much attention after advancing to Order 7 of the Saint Pathway. From what I've studied, it changes one's gender to the opposite of what they are now."

Aizawa felt a small surge of shock upon hearing that. He leaned back a little, asking curiously. "Why would that be a bad thing? I don't know much about Ayumi or her psychology, and you seem like you know a lot about what you're talking about."

Isaiah's voice lowered to a whisper as his smile widened. "I know you took my Card of Replication, Aizawa. And I'm pretty sure I have her name on it."

"Huh?" Aizawa froze in his spot.

Isaiah suddenly extended his hand, and the card shot out of Aizawa's pocket, magnetizing to Isaiah's wrinkled palm. 

"Tell anyone here, and I'll kill you. Easy." 

Aizawa looked towards the others in the room, watching them quietly talk amongst themselves. "What does all of this have to do with Ayumi? What do you mean by 'having her' on the card?" 

Isaiah stood up, looking down at Aizawa. "Follow me, please."

The duo walked into the nearby bathroom, and Isaiah locked the door behind him before turning on the lights. He looked in the stained, slightly cracked bathroom mirror for a few moments before speaking once again, his one yellow eye shimmering in the dim illumination. 

"The card allows me to copy the looks and appearances of anyone I desire as long as I possess their DNA."

He held up the card to show Aizawa, the image of Belle Ramsey surfacing on its illusory surface. "Being partners in crime with Sanson a few years back helped me gather enough identities in the meantime."

Aizawa took a step back, almost falling into the tub. His entire body trembled as an eerie cold sensation crashed over his body. He watched as Isaiah pulled out a strand of hair from his pockets, it was long, thin, and black. 

"Luckily, I managed to snatch a little while she wasn't looking," Isaiah's eyes narrowed as a Cheshire smile resembling Carter's own spread across his aged, wrinkled features. 

The man held the strand of hair up to the surface of the card, and shortly after, Ayumi's face appeared on its surface, alongside her full name. Aizawa's fists clenched at his sides, his teeth gritting in his mouth as he tried his hardest to suppress his anger and fear.

"I came here to tell everyone about what I saw you do down in the market," Aizawa spat, his voice scolding and bitter in contrast to the rather chilly air of the bathroom.

Isaiah stuffed the card back into his pocket, now grinning as he leaned back against the mirror. "Not if you can't remember why you came here to begin with."

At that moment, Aizawa's body froze in place, the trembling of his limbs coming to an eerily abrupt pause. The man watched, his entire body paralyzed from his head to his feet as the colors and images in the room slowly desaturated and turned blurry. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Isaiah's smirk, which never left his face as he watched Aizawa like a malevolent king upon his throne.

The scene in the bathroom fizzled out of Aizawa's memories, and the man's crimson eyes glazed over as if losing the life within them. His lips parted as if wanting to speak a word or two, but nothing spilled out, not a single sound. As Isaiah waved his hand again, Aizawa silently fell to the floor, and Isaiah quickly left the bathroom, his gaze never leaving Aizawa's form.