When Dabi said he wanted to turn Chizue into a sobbing wreck, walking in on her crying over a cardboard box while Toga comforted her with a half hug wasn't what he had in mind.
"Dabi-kun, stop sneaking around, I'm trying to talk to Chizue-chan." Toga had on her ever present smile, but it was considerably mask like once she caught sight of him coming around the corner.
"I'm not. I was just coming in and I heard noises."
Dabi zoned in on the delicate arm placed tight around Chizue's meaty shoulders and took pleasure in imagining throttling Toga until she was a pretty little bloodstain on the ground.
"What's up with her?" Dabi asked, giving every impression he was only inquiring out of a flimsy sense of obligation for stumbling on the two.
"Chizue-chan's friend died. If you're going to be mean, then buzz off."
"It-it's okay Toga. I shouldn't even be acting like this." Chizue was desperately trying to wipe her dripping nose before it could leak out; she was holding a now tear stained pink handkerchief that Dabi suspected she didn't own.
"You're not acting. You're sad."
Chizue managed a half smile. "And it's not helping."
Dabi's tore his eyes from her face to give the box in her lap a once over; Chizue didn't notice. She had barely looked at him.
"Is that their's?"
Chizue sniffed. "You remember the other night when I came in late? The guy, Yuudai, his landlord said there was a fire. They don't know if it was a gas leak or what, the building's a piece of shit and...well, I went by today and heard he died in his room. This is some of what wasn't burned."
Chizue gestured to the cardboard box; it was singed at the top flaps, but otherwise it looked in decent shape. Inside was a notebook, some papers, change, and a photograph bent at one of the corners.
Toga looked inside with a curious look. "Hey, is that you?"
"What?"
They both looked at Dabi, but he didn't pay attention to their odd stares at his sudden inquiry; he was studying the photograph closely and it was just as Toga said. Right there in color was Chizue's smiling face, her grin cheeky as ever as she flipped off the camera; there was an odd red stain on the side of her mouth, like sauce.
"Oh yeah." Chizue nodded as she picked up the picture. "Yuudai was messing around with this disposable camera thing. He said he didn't like taking photos on his phone, that he rather have them on paper. I...I thought he threw this out. It was such a dumb picture, and-"
Another sudden, but brief sob left Chizue lips; she covered her face with her hands in shame and turned away. Toga looked almost alarmed.
"Chizue-chan?"
"I-I shouldn't have looked, but I didn't know it was his journal," Chizue stammered and sputtered weakly as she curled in on herself. "He asked me not to go that night; if I stayed maybe...I could have..."
Toga opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out; all she could do was watch blankly as Chizue used her already soaked handkerchief to wipe her stinging eyes.
"I'm so stupid. I don't even know his real name; I never bothered to ask, I treated him like he-he-"
"He only did it for money in the first place." Dabi pointed out blandly. "And you didn't care about him, so what does it matter?"
"What does it matter? He burned alive; how can I not be upset?!" Chizue let the box fall on the ground with a loud bang.
Dabi stared at her ominously and frowned; why was she getting mad at him?
Toga was beginning to look upset herself, her smile long gone from her face. "Dabi-kun, go away, you're making Chizue-chan feel worse. It doesn't matter how it happened, he loved her, and now he's dead. Of course she'd feel bad."
Dabi held back a sneer; what was Toga even talking about? She didn't know a thing about the situation. Why was little miss murder suspect acting so compassionate anyway? Her idea of a relationship was draining the other person dry like a vampire and becoming their doppleganger.
On that note, he couldn't understand why Chizue was getting this way over someone she basically used like a glorified sex toy. Or was it possible she felt bad because of it?
Was it even possible she had feelings but never acted on them due to the nature of their 'relationship'? Sure, Chizue seemed friendly enough with Yuudai, but it wasn't as if he was someone important to her, like how Magne had been a trusted comrade.
Yuudai was nothing, even less than that; whatever his feelings had been, how were they any of Chizue's concern? Dabi couldn't understand it; it was just nonsense, but apparently Toga was able to, at least enough where she could lend Chizue a comforting ear and a shoulder to cry on.
"I guess she's like this 'cause of me."
Dabi didn't feel guilty in the slightest; in his opinion, Chizue's behavior was irrational and unwarranted. If anything, he felt annoyed. Dabi thought he had taken care of the problem, but it seemed he might have only created another obstacle.
Chizue barely spared him a glance; Dabi wondered whether he could pass off incinerating the box as an accident.
"Why not get in contact with his family? If that's all was left, they might want it." Dabi suggested; it would at least get the trash out of his sight.
"The landlord told me he didn't know who else to give the stuff to; he said Yuudai never mentioned family, the only person he ever mentioned was…"
Chizue held the photograph in both hands; the tears had ceased, but her eyes had taken on a dull sort of quality, as if she had cried out all the life from them.
"He said in the journal he hated me 'cause I never stayed longer. He said...he wished we could have met some other way, because I only saw him as a prostitute. All this time and I never even asked his real name. It never even crossed my mind and now he's six feet under."
"But Yuudai-kun never told you, right? And it's not like you set his building on fire." Toga pointed out cheerfully. "I think it's pretty sweet, like something out of a romance novel."
Chizue couldn't help the laugh that escaped her; the attempts to cheer her up were well meaning, if not strange. "Toga, I'm pretty sure most of those kind of stories don't end like this. I swear, I really am dumb. And I know, it's not my fault, but...it's just shit timing."
Chizue leaned back on her hands and exhaled like she had been holding her breath; Toga moved away to give her a little space.
"You mean after Big sis Magne…?"
Chizue nodded. "Maybe I'm jinxed. I ate the wrong person and their family put a curse on me so people I like get killed. Or maybe…"
Before she could finish, Chizue clicked her tongue and stood up, taking the bent box with her.
"Thanks Toga, Dabi. I'm okay. I'm still in shock honestly." Chizue flashed them a smile. "I should go eat something; starving myself isn't going to make me feel any better."
Toga returned the smile but Dabi didn't bother even making eye contact; he knew she wasn't, and he honestly couldn't stand to see anymore of her tears. It was little more than a slap in the face for her to be mourning Yuudai's death.
"Huh, that's funny. This is the fourth person Chizue-chan knows that's burned alive." Toga said absently. "Wow, maybe she is cursed. I didn't think that stuff was even real."
Dabi blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Chizue-chan's told me her parents and friend died in a house fire accident; she said she only got out 'cause she ate them to get strong enough to bust out on her own." Toga relayed the story to him like it was a particularly interesting piece of gossip. "Crazy, right?"
"Yeah." Dabi turned away and continued to walk in the direction he was before getting distracted. "Or enough to drive someone crazy. Now wonder that woman's a freak."
Toga giggled. "I like Chizue-chan, but that's pretty wild; I wonder if she ever took a bite out of that Yuudai-kun? If I ate people, I'd only eat someone like Mr. Stainy or Deku-kun."
"No surprise there."
But secretly, Dabi was a bit impressed; Chizue was cut throat and determined enough to survive that she'd devour the flesh of her own family to make it out of a tight spot.
On the other hand, he had an idea just why it was so hard for her to look at him; if she harbored any guilt for her past actions, it could be likely his face reminded her of the ones of her deceased family and friend, and not because she was inherently disgusted with his features.
"If that's it, would Chizu even be able to make the connection? Probably not, and even if she did, it wouldn't change things."
The real irony was that while Chizue had no way of knowing it was Dabi who had disposed of Yuudai in the first place, her discomfort with him would only be cemented and his face would serve an awful reminder of yet another painful event in her life.
"In short, I mighta just screwed myself over."
There was a bit of a silver lining though; it would seem killing Yuudai had served a purpose if what Chizue had read was true. Dabi wasn't an expert, but he was pretty sure sex workers didn't usually hide away pictures of their clients or practically beg them to stay the night. Whatever the result, he knew he had taken the right course of action.
"But what now? What's stopping her from just going to someone else?"
Dabi didn't have the time or energy to just continuously be picking off every threat; there had to be a more straightforward way to resolve this issue.
"What a hassle. I didn't ask for this shit."
None of this was meant to be happening in the first place; part of Dabi was even hoping he was going insane himself. But the fact was he knew denial and feigned ignorance would only make things that harder. It wouldn't solve his dilemma or make the thoughts in his head go away, no matter what his actions or words.
"It won't change the way I feel about her."
Telling himself Chizue was just another comrade, and a loony one at that, wouldn't make him feel less angry or envious of how she conversed with Toga or really just anyone in the League who wasn't him. It wouldn't change how he had clenched his fists hard enough to make his nails dig into his palms to the point of drawing blood when he saw another man pin her down. Pretending that he didn't want to be in the same place wouldn't make the desire fade and ignoring Chizue wouldn't make it so she wasn't clouding his thoughts when she was absent.
It would be more efficient to actually do something about it though; the sooner Dabi did, the sooner he could regain his focus and not waste precious time.
"Chizu isn't going to respond to something subtle; if she's under stress and angry, chances are she'll miss it completely."
The only good news was that despite his cold front, Chizue didn't seem to dislike him personally, whether or not she was able to stand the sight of him. Dabi knew he only had himself to blame for seeming unapproachable; no doubt she was under the impression he didn't want to be bothered. Chizue may not be the brightest of bulbs when it came to reading between the lines or having a poor memory, but she did have enough sense and instinct to read a room and the moods of the people there.
Dabi cursed under his breath; in the end, it just couldn't be helped.
"It's pretty dull, but I guess I have to take a more direct route."
