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It first begins when Fumikage finds Shouji one fateful night.
One night that could easily have ended much worse than it did, in an abandoned alleyway that every single one of the other sparse civilians passing by would have taken a detour to avoid, Dark Shadow senses someone in distress.
“Fumi, that way!” she urges. Through their bond, Fumikage feels it — a soul in need of their help.
And without hesitation, they take off running, led by pure instinct and Dark Shadow’s sixth sense, letting the darkness guide them where they need to go, until they find the source of their sensation.
A young boy lying crumpled on the ground, covered in gashes of varying depth and size, and obviously frightened out of his wits as a group of three older men towers over him.
He can’t be more than twelve years old, possibly even younger — the baggy-fitting clothes obscure his frame, even though it’s impossible to hide the way his body shakes with every silent sob.
Fumikage is frozen in shock for all of a second. And then one of the assailants spits out, “you freak,” voice all venom and disgust.
And his mind fills with nothing but rage, and he loses control, and the next thing he knows when he comes to himself again is that he and Dark Shadow are now alone with three very much unconscious men and one extremely frightened boy.
“S-sorry,” he gasps out around the ragged breaths coming from his desperately working lungs. “Didn’t mean…to scare you.”
Fumikage draws in one deep, long breath followed by another and yet another. The other boy’s expression has morphed into something more like relief, mingled with pain left from his injuries.
“You, you both saved me,” the boy whispers into the almost silence. “Why?”
“You looked like you needed help,” Fumikage replies simply. “I couldn’t deny you aid.”
They both lapse into silence again, before Fumikage moves cautiously forward to crouch in front of the other boy.
“I’m Tokoyami Fumikagi, and this is Dark Shadow with me.”
“...Shouji Mezo,” the other boy finally says, flinching as he shifts his body.
“You should get those injuries treated, where are your adults?” Fumikage asks, casting a nervous glance at the unconscious men around them.
“Not here,” Shouji says shortly, looking away from Fumikage as he says it.
Wordlessly, Fumikage pulls his backpack off his back, opening it up to dig through it for the supplies he’s looking for. Finding them, he hands a bottle of water and a roll of bandages and gauze to Shouji. The crinkle of a wrapper leads him to the leftovers of a chocolate bar, which he promptly also offers to the injured boy.
“Here, chocolate always helps me feel better,” Fumikage says softly.
Shouji stares at him, frowning as if Fumikage has done the most baffling thing a person has ever done in his life. And if simple kindness is that much of a rarity to him, Fumikage is going to make sure he stays in his life longer to offer much more kindness to the other.
It is the least he can do, for someone who reminds him so much of himself. Of his lonely path through the world, he can see a reflection of that road within Shouji. It isn’t a pain he’d wish on anyone else, not even upon an enemy would he wish this misery.
After that night, Fumikage doesn’t see much of his new acquaintance until a few days later, when he makes the mistake of walking home from school slightly too slowly, giving his bullies just enough time to catch up.
It’s all the same old usual jeers and taunts, nothing new in the way they have Fumikage’s insides knotting on themselves and Dark Shadow trying to comfort him while keeping herself as small as possible to avoid drawing any more of their ire.
But then-
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” a new voice shouts, and Fumikage turns to see Shouji standing imposingly a few feet away, backpack slung over one shoulder, obviously having just come from his last class as well. “Get away from him! Leave him alone!”
“Of course someone like him would defend you,” is all Fumikage’s classmate manages to get out in the three strides before Shouji is towering over her, arms crossed and glaring down.
“And? Care to explain?”
“I mean- you’re- you’re both-”
Shouji straightens to his full height and with a squeak, the girl turns tail and is gone, her two cronies wasting no time in following suit.
“Thank you,” Fumikage tells Shouji, his voice wavering ever-so-slightly. Dark Shadow pops out fully to greet him too. “You… saved us.”
“As did you,” Shouji replies simply. “I never properly thanked you for the other day, actually.”
“Don’t mention it,” Fumikage answers.
“They’re all pretty much the same, aren’t they,” Shouji comments. “The people who think we’re freaks and the others who don’t care enough to step in. But then there was you. You’re… you’re like me.”
“We’ll protect each other,” Dark Shadow vows. “You, me, and Fumi. They can’t hurt us if we have each other’s backs.”
And with that, from this moment onward, two becomes three.
***
They pick up their fourth friend a few weeks later.
Well- it’s more like they’re led to each other, really. At the side of the road as Tokoyami and Dark Shadow walk home together with him one day, Mezo spots a stray bengal cat who seems insistent that they follow him.
They find him curled up, hands over his head in a futile attempt to protect himself from his attackers, and Mezo, Tokoyami, and Dark Shadow waste no time in making quick work of those who dared harm this boy.
Later, they learn through drawings in the muddy ground and shaky sign language and finger spelling that his name is Kouji Kouda, he can communicate with animals, he’s the one who sent the cat to find them in a desperate last-ditch attempt to seek help, and nobody has ever protected him like this before.
Instantly, Kouda is deemed to be a part of their family as well. There is no question, no need for any sort of deliberation; there is only a shared understanding of what it is like to have felt so alone.
The truth is that no one else is watching out for them, so they will do it for themselves. Stand together in the face of scorn and distrust and hatred and never let someone suffer alone through it. If the adults won’t, then they will.
Together they are safer, and the comfort of having one’s friends around cannot be overstated. The safety of the group allows them to grow more comfortable in their own skin. Tokoyami stays dramatic, in fact gaining more and more flair to his dramatics as he relaxes around his friends. Dark Shadow stops shrinking herself, and Mezo starts standing taller and walking more confidently.
They learn sign language for Kouda, including making some of their own secret signals up for later hero use; for every single one of them wanted to be a hero. Wanted to become something to look up to, and to make sure no one like them got left behind again.
They will become the heroes they wish had been there for them. Step by step, friend by friend, they will persevere.