"Only her fingers?"

"Yeah, lame right?"

Chizue stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth; she tried to imagine what Mr. Compress' expression was under the mask. She couldn't always quite tell what he meant just by his tone alone and visual cues were easier for her to follow. From the way Mr. Compress was leaning forward on his perch, he actually seemed invested in the story.

"I can't see how that could be very useful." Magne pondered next to Chizue, snatching some of the popcorn.

"Hey!"

"That's your fifth bag." Magne said with a teasing smile. "Chi-sweetie, haven't you heard the saying 'no honor among thieves'?"

"Have you heard, 'keep your hands to yourself?'" Chizue shot back with a loud snort. "Besides, I need to watch my figure."

"Hey, so if your friend cuts a finger off by accident, she can grow it right back? I hear it's hard to hold things with only four fingers." Toga remarked; they all avoided glancing toward Shigaraki, not sure whether he was lost in thought or actively listening to their conversation, as his face was obscured.

"Now keep in mind, me and this girl are like, what, seven?"

"Wouldn't you know? It's your story." Shigaraki commented.

Chizue couldn't help smile. "Well anyway, she was actually really jealous of my Quirk since I can basically eat as much as I want; smart kid though." Chizue added. "But one day me and her got to talking about what human meat might taste like. We had a bet; I said pork, she said beef."

"Which is it?"

"Pork, mostly." Chizue told Mr. Compress. "We decided to test it though with her fingers; we didn't think much of it at the time, but the issue was, we had no idea how to cook them. After a bit we go back to my place and decide it'd be faster to just fry them up in a pan."

"How is that faster?" Toga inquired curiously.

"It was her idea. Hey, I didn't say she was that smart; anyhow, it ended up causing a house fire and by the time the firefighters got there my parents were crispier than potato chips and my buddy was dead from smoke inhalation. I couldn't see the door with all the smoke." Chizue licked the salt off her fingers. "Long story short, that's how I discovered fried food was my favorite."

Toga was riveted. "But how did you get out?"

"I ate until I was strong enough to smash right through a wall. Didn't I just say fried food was my favorite?"

"As great as story time has been, would you mind holding off on accounts of familial cannibalism until I'm anywhere else?" Shigaraki snapped; his face looked a bit paler than usual.

"Sorry Shigaraki." Chizue smiled sheepishly and held out her bag. "Want some popcorn?"

"No."

"Toss me some! Listening to stories is better with snacks." Toga raised her hands; nearly a quarter of the popcorn fell out as Chizue threw it.

"Watch it dammit." Shigaraki stepped on one of the kernels, the sharp crunch echoing in the deserted building; the bag had nearly knocked 'father' off his face.

"Mm, it's cheese flavored." Toga sighed happily as she munched.

Mr. Compress chuckled. "You might want to slow down or you'll spoil your dinner, and you know Chizue is preparing to make a feast fit for a few dozen kings."

"And queens." Toga added with a giggle.

"You said it Toga-chan." Magne turned to Chizue. "Do you need help? It's not as if we currently have much supplies for a proper kitchen."

"We can't bother with settling in when we need to be on the move." Shigaraki reminded her with a tired sigh. "Where is Twice? He's late."

"He should be here shortly." Mr. Compress updated.

Shigaraki nodded, but it was clear his patience was at odds with his weariness. Their leader had a lot on his mind as of late.

"Hey Shigaraki, did I ever tell you what a dish you are?"

"What?"

Chizue grinned and Shigaraki stared at her for a long time, caught between irritation and being downright puzzled.
"You know? 'Cause I eat people."

Suddenly, Twice came bursting through into to the room with a stranger in tow.

Chizue leaned in close to whisper into Magne's ear. "Whoa, I wouldn't mind hitting the mat with bird boy."

"For wrestling?"

"Wrestling, a pillow fight, whatever, just get me on the ground with him."

Magne blushed and giggled, slapping a hand over Chizue's shoulder and trying to regain her composure.

In that moment, Chizue could confidently say she felt almost happy.

But then the man named Chisaki Kai made his intentions known; whatever Chizue had said about her deceased friend, she had no delusions that she herself was a genius. That didn't mean to say the woman's raw instincts weren't anything to sniff at; the second the man began to speak, her impression of him went from a casual attraction and curiosity to an odd twisting in her gut.

It must have been the eyes. They were the only feature Chizue could see, but one glance made her teeth on edge. The warmth in her belly quickly changed to something akin to a block of ice lodged in her guts. The apprehension spiked to an intense level the second Magne shot up from her seat to take the offensive.

Chizue's lips were just barely able to get out a 'wait' when with one touch Chisaki had reduced her comrade's upper body little more than a stain on the ground.

The yakuza rubbed at his skin, face alone easily conveying his utmost disgust at being splashed with his opponents blood.

"Magne!"

Chizue didn't recall who screamed or even whether it was she or Mr. Compress who leapt to their feet first.

"Mr. Compress, Chizue, stop now!"

Chizue's speed was half of the other man's; Shigaraki was able to hold out his arm in front of her before Chizue could go any further. She heeded his order on impulse and immediately regretted it when it was Mr. Compress' arm to be blown off next.

"You rat!" Chizue screeched when at least half a dozen other people busted through the wall directly into the base.

"I said to stop."

Chizue rounded on Shigaraki, ready to fling curses, but her anger wilted at the odd expression on what she could see of his face. She didn't say another word until Chisaki had left them his card, along with one of their own dead and a one wounded.

"Chizue, help Mr. Compress."

Chizue ran off at Shigaraki's instruction to her room to fetch something to stop the bleeding. It took a minute to grab a few of her old shirts and some hydrogen peroxide.

"Toga, I need you to go and get supplies for the wound. Twice, contact the others and tell Kurogiri we'll need to get in touch with Giran, he'll know where we can get prosthetics."

"They killed her. They just busted in here and that yakuza freak killed Big sis Magne like it was nothing."

Chizue was helping Mr. Compress up to sitting position; she tried to mop up the open wound as well as she could without pressing too hard. When the blood started to stop seeping out so much, Chizue tore the shirts into strips.

"I'll rip them open. Rip, tear, kill. Every last one, I'll eat them alive until they really are an extinct species. They can all just die!"

If she hadn't been in such a state, Chizue might have been able to feel more impressed with how Shigaraki was handling the sudden disaster. He was acting like a real leader and taking care of business, yet it was this same calm attitude that somehow made her feel more indignant.

"My apologies Chizue, my recklessness is the reason you have to ruin your shirts."

"Don't you start that." Chizue tried not to glance over at what was left of Magne, only casting a brief, hateful glare at the pile of clotted blood and guts of the man Chisaki had used as a human shield.

Shigaraki was staring at the corpse unblinking.

"Chizue, you and Mr. Compress both acted recklessly. You both could have been killed just as easily as Magne."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Big sis isn't weak, that rat planned all this out!"

Mr. Compress placed his remaining hand on Chizue's arm. "Stop talking now."

She shook him off, still shooting Shigaraki a dirty look. "Why didn't you let me rip him up? You just let him walk away!"

"Watch what comes out of your mouth next Chizue."

"Or what, you'll kill me?!"

Shigaraki began to walk toward where she was crouched at Mr. Compress' side.

"I want you to listen carefully. Do you think this is the end?"

Chizue blinked as Shigaraki bent over to picked up the card with Chisaki's contact information off the ground; he absently wiped away a bit of dust caused from the wall being sent crashing down.

"What's important now is to help Mr. Compress and plan, not go rushing into a fight that'd get us all killed. Do you think Magne wanted you to end up-?"

"I'm sorry."

Shigaraki looked over his shoulder; Chizue was holding the makeshift bandages tight to the bleeding wound, but her hands shook in place.

"I know. Thank you for stopping me. I just...I'm just sorry."

"Don't be. Just focus on what needs to be done now." Shigaraki said as he stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket; his eyes slide over from Magne's mangled torso to Mr. Compress to Chizue's wobbling chin. "Once we do that, you can tell us some more nauseating stories."

"Thank goodness my arm was blown to bits instead of being cut clean off." Mr. Compress remarked lightly as he patted Chizue's head. "I don't feel partial to your, 'waste not, want not' philosophy."

"Y-yeah."

Chizue was grateful neither made any comments when she used the leftover strips of cloth to mop her face clean.