BNHA: Undying (Ch 79) (Patreon)

The third round has Shoko and Uraraka as the villains, with my fellow hostage being a large rocky-looking fellow who seems to be hyperventilating. Uraraka is desperately trying to help him, but anytime she seems to make progress he glances over to me and it gets sent right back to where it was before. I glance over at Shoko, who hasn’t taken her eyes off of me since she walked into the room.

“Should we-”

I don’t even have time to finish the question before Shoko answers. “Head out to a separate room on our own? Absolutely.” Without another word or any warning she grabs hold of my arm and starts pulling me towards the door. I’m surprised enough that all I manage to do is look back over my shoulder and see Uraraka giving me a befuddled look. She opens her mouth to say something, but by then I’m through the door and Shoko slams it behind us.

Then she uses her ice to freeze it shut.

I give her a deadpan look, getting a small shrug in reply, accompanied by the small smile on her face that she’s had since she saw me. “This will help keep the heroes out of the room. And if I freeze over the entire hallway before we leave they won’t be able to tell they’re in that specific room.”

I hum in acknowledgement but don’t drop my suspicion. Not that she seems to care, since she continues to drag me towards the stairs where she does indeed stop to send a wave of ice down the hallway, freezing everything. She gives a satisfied nod before prompting me to start climbing the stairs. I do so easily, curious about what her overall plan is for the exercise.

We go up, and up, and up, eventually reaching the roof. She freezes the door shut behind us. “None of our classmates have quirks that would encourage them  to climb instead of going through the building. Except Shoji, but he has some reticence about using his quirk to its full capabilities and tries his best to fit in with everyone else.”

I frown. “That sounds like an unhealthy mindset. Discrimination based?”

She nods. “Most likely. He absolutely refuses to remove his mask around anyone, even during lunch. He’ll normally grab his food and leave somewhere he can eat alone.”

I hum in thought while frowning. “Doesn’t UA have a therapist? Nezu kept arguing for me to visit whoever it is everyday while we hashed out the details for my stay here. Got him down to a session a month on the grounds that anymore and I’d jump off the roof of the building.”

Another nod, in which she ignores my comment about jumping off the roof. “That would be Hound Dog. Most of the class doesn’t really go to him though, except for Izumi. Most of them weren’t really all that affected by the League of Villain’s attack on the USJ.”

“Makes sense,” this time it’s my turn to nod. “The main targets for that were the Yagis, but All Might didn’t show up until the main act was over so we had to improvise.”

“Interesting,” she says as she puts her hands on my shoulders and guides me down to the floor alongside her. She sits me on her lap and starts playing with my hair with a content expression. “It definitely had an effect on Izumi. But enough about her and everyone else. Tell me about what you’ve been up to.”

I chuckle, leaning into her touch. It’s nice, gentle. Just like when she did the same thing back in middle school. “Well, where should I start?”

She lets out a low hum as she combs my curls. “How about you tell me a bit about your villain friends? I’m curious.”

I smile. “Sure, but you have to tell me about your friends too.”

She nods. “I don’t have many, pretty much just Yaoyorozu. Though I guess her friends are kind of like friend extensions?”

“That’s fine, tell me about them?”

She flicks my ear. “You first, mister rabbit.”

I chuckle, deciding to start off simply. “Well, despite how Shigaraki acted at the USJ, he’s actually pretty well put together, if impulsive. He’s also a huge game geek and…”

`~`

The hero class of 1-A stares in silence at the monitor showing a scene on the rooftop, the sound not working for some reason. They’ve all forgotten about the three on the hero team who have been trying to smash through all the ice blocking their way while they try and find the hostages.

“...Are they seriously cuddling?” Sero asks with a voice full of disbelief.

“They totally are! And they were sharing a moment before the exercise even started!” Toru squeals while her gloves wave around excitedly in the air. “They’re totally crushing on each other! How long do you think it’ll take for them to confess to each other!?”

She turns to her friend and asks the question, only to see her with a thoughtful look on her face instead of the mischievous/excited look she usually has when seeing two people being cute with each other. “Huh? Mina? What’s wrong?”

“Wha?” The pink girl jumps a bit when she feels her friend’s hand on her shoulder. She looks around before realizing that everyone else is still staring at the monitor with a variety of looks on their faces. “Oh, um. It’s nothing.”

Toru gives her her best deadpan stare (not that anyone can see it). “Girl, if it was anyone in our class having a moment like that you’d be snapping pictures, trying to hold back squeals, and probably need to be restrained so you don’t rush them while yelling about how much you ship them.”

“Oh, come on! I’m not that bad!” Mina says indignantly.

Toru just lets out a sigh, and Mina can feel the amount of pity in her look. “Yes. Yes you are.”

The alien girl pouts with her arms crossed for a moment before she sighs. “Fine, fine. It’s just…” She gets a complicated look on her face. “I want to know about him and Izumi.”

Toru blinks, having not expected such a reply. “Huh? Are you talking about how they’re supposedly siblings?”

Mina lets out a heavy sigh, her arms dropping to hang limply in front of her. “Yeah, it's… I need to know. Izumi has told me a lot from her point of view, but I need to hear his side of the story.”

The invisible girl hums. “Well, why don’t you just ask him? He’s barely acted like a villain since he showed up, so he’ll probably answer?”

Mina groans. “It’s not that easy. I can’t just go; ‘Heya! Can you tell me about how Izumi abused you? Because I think she’s changed and you should give her a shot at making amends’! There’s no way.”

There’s a moment of silence between the two, one that stretches into awkwardness. Mina looks up and sees the set of gloves being unnaturally still. When the invisible girl does speak, it's in a hushed whisper and Mina feels herself pale and a chill goes down her spine. “You mean… Izumi is one of the people who gave him those scars?”

Mina winces and casts a furtive look around the two of them before letting out a breath of relief at seeing how nobody is paying attention to the two of them. She fumbles at the air a bit before she manages to catch Toru’s head and bring it close, desperate to make sure nobody overhears. “Yes, some of them. But you can’t tell anyone!” She continues over Toru’s sputters of indignation.

“Look, I don’t think it’s as simple as either of them seems to believe it is. I mean, come on! Does Izumi seem like the type to treat someone like that?”

Toru’s silent for a moment while she thinks about everything she’s seen from Izumi. Reluctantly, she nods. “Ok, I see your point. But the evidence is on his fucking skin! How is the situation being complicated an excuse!?”

Mina lets out a heavy breath. “It’s not. And she knows that. Which is why she’s doing everything to stay out of his way. She hates herself for what she did!”

Another moment of silence before Toru replies, slowly, as if testing the words. “That… it would explain what happened while we were in the building.”

Mina looks at her sharply. “What? What happened?” She doesn’t recall anything happening, but then her mind latches onto the most likely possibility, a feeling of dread filling her stomach. “Are you talking about when the cameras cut out?”

“The cameras cut out?” Toru asks before shaking her head. “No, that makes sense.” She lets out a slow breath of air. “Ok, so when that scream happened… she had a panic attack.”

“WHAT!?” Mina shouts unintentionally, drawing attention from a few of their classmates and a jump from Jiro, who’s jacks flail at the air for a moment before calming down. After giving them reassurance that everything is fine and claiming that they’re just making shipping plans, the class resolutely ignores them. Which honestly hurts Mina’s feelings a bit at how easily the two of them are brushed off.

She has to mentally remind herself that she wanted them to ignore them, and that they aren’t doing it because of how she looks. After a few seconds of mental reassurance she turns back to Toru and continues their whispering session. “She had a panic attack!? Is she ok?”

She gives the concerned alien a thumbs up. “Yeah, I went through the five senses exercise with her and made sure to take her to Hound Dog’s office as soon as possible.”

Mina lets out a sigh of relief, pressing a hand to her rapidly beating heart. “That’s good to hear.” Then she blinks. “Wait, you know the five senses exercise?”

“Mina,” the invisible girl says with a flat voice. “I’m invisible. All the time. You don’t think I’d have issues? I constantly need to reassure my younger siblings that I’m alive and not actually a ghost haunting my own family. Not to mention that time all the kids at school decided to pretend I don’t exist…”

Her voice is strained at the end and Mina instinctively pulls her friend in for a hug. They stay like that for a moment before  she gives a dry chuckle. “Well. Looks like the three of us have enough members for a trauma club.”

Toru snorts, pushing the girl away. “Dork.”

They fall into a more comfortable silence this time, turning their attention to the monitor and watching as the villain and hero student laugh together, seeming like nothing more than two friends catching up after being apart for a long time.

“...I’ll help you.” Mina side-eyes the spot Toru’s standing. “I don’t believe that Izumi’s innocent. But if just hearing that scream sent her into a panic attack…”

She trails off before sighing. “I want the full picture before making my final decision.”

Mina smiles, bringing her friend in for a one-armed hug. “Thank you.”

Unbeknownst to either, their conversation was not as private as they thought. One of their classmates heard everything, and plans to launch their own investigation. Despite the green haired boy having been in their class for less than a day, he’s been rather easy to get along with. And given that every one of them has seen his scars…

They want the truth.

`~`

“My Izu senses are tingling,” Himiko says while staring at the wall of the bar. It just so happens that if one were to go in a direct line where she’s looking, they’d reach UA high school.

Eri looks up from the chunk of wood she’s whittling away at under Himiko’s supervision. “Mama? Is Papa in trouble?”

Himiko hums while petting her daughter’s hair, who closes her eyes and leans into the touch. “Maybe~. I know he’ll keep his promise not to sleep with anyone, but… She is there…”

Eri blinks. “Who?”

Himiko looks down at her daughter, a small smile playing at her lips. “Who who?”

Eri blinks again and furrows her brows. “Who who who?”

Himiko lets out an overexaggerated gasp before scooping the horned girl into her arms and spinning her around. “My little unicorn has been turned into an owl! Who has done this vile act of villainy!?”

Eri lets out a shriek of surprise at suddenly being airborne only to let out a laugh. “It was Papa! Papa turned me into an owl!”

Himiko lets out a giggle. “Well then, we’ll just have to have Papa turn you back into a unicorn then, won’t we?”

Eri’s eyes shine as she looks up at her mother. “Does that mean we’re going to see Papa!?”

Himiko smiles and boops her nose. “That’s right. It’s been a few days since we’ve seen Papa, so I think we’ll have to go visit them tomorrow.~”