Princess Yurei
"The fun thing about being a ghost? No one's surprised when I have skeletons in my closet." Reiko Yanagi and Class 1B. Just what is going on over there? F/F romance, neurodivergent MC.
8-8
Chapter 35—Playing the long game
8-8
My finger runs along the smooth leather panel under the car window. Only Jun's gentle snores and the soft blinking of the car's indicator reach me. To avoid the media frenzy, Haimawari suggested we move under the cover of night. I'm not sure I agree, but I have no alternative just the same.
The motorcade pulls off of the main road, into UA's 'district'. Din starts up long before I see them. Bright lights, flashes going off like a strobe. Everyone wants to get a picture, an interview, 'just one question'
Delise phases over my head as Nami opens her door and storms out. "One flash and I start a body count." I can tell even without seeing that she unholsters her pistols and clicks off the safeties—to show she's not bullshitting. "Back up! NOW!"
Trunk pops, a figure looms outside my slowly opening door. No flashes to be seen. Not even the spots that lit up the street a moment ago. Only the dimmed streetlights light the way, flickering to offer me the least light possible—I need to do something nice for Nezu, I really do.
I hover myself out of the car into the awaiting wheelchair, not fighting Yonju as he claps down the footrests or arranges a blanket on my lap to keep my legs nice and toasty. Sleepy-head Jun hovers out and into my lap, already mumbling about needing five more minutes. The throng of reports stare, speechless, as Nami pushes me along.
Emily struts along beside me, wagging her tails to show how comfortable she is.
We enter UA, leaving the rabble to pick up their jaws off the sidewalk.
8-8
"Princess Yurei!" Sigh.
UA's auditorium is filled with annoying little shits, but Jun already set the ground rules; no cameras, no flashes, not even audio recorders. They're allowed questions, and old fashioned pen and paper to jot it all down. Only Jun herself is permitted a camera, her phone's camera, which she holds up and records snippets she feels work well. I point to another one.
"How could UA allow yet another attack?"
"I am a student at UA, but I am not UA. Such questions are better directed at Principle Nezu." I glare at the little shit. "Furthermore. Yanagi Corp has been working closely with UA, to offer what assistance we can to ensure security is at its best." I point to the next one, already annoyed beyond words.
"Princess Yurei. Do you regret becoming a student at UA?"
"I do not. The fact is becoming a hero is more than the glitter and glamour most seem to think it is. We are icons, idols, yes. But we are also the protectors of this nation, of Japan's denizens. Often, that means putting our own lives at risk to save people we'll never know. If UA has taught me anything, if my homeroom teacher has taught me anything, it's that we, as heroes, must always be ready to face the worst of the worst. This time, it meant someone that tried to infect me with their worldview."
I turn to Jun, giving her a warm smile. She presses her electric blue lips against my cheek, and takes a picture to show the evidence of her lips' imprint on me.
"Princess Yurei. Why didn't the staff assist you, a st—"
I stand. Jun eeps surging to her feet to help me as she can. I mouth, record, and Jun's phone beeps.
"Listen well. Because I'll say this only once. There isn't a staff member in UA that did not do all they can to assist me, while villains once again came knocking, looking for trouble. Eraser Head did everything in his power to get me to back down. Vlad King did everything in his power to shield me when I was under assault. Hound Dog did everything in his power to track down the villain and secure the school grounds as quickly as is feasible. Principle Nezu was in constant contact with me and the Pro Hero Edgeshot. Rescue Hero Thirteen did everything they can to train me, to prepare me, for this inevitable scenario.
"But do you know what I see? Reporters too busy blaming the hero, to see the villain for what they are: scared. UA has not, and will not, stop training the newest generation of heroes. The same can be said for hero courses across this great nation. And we heroes in training? Me? My classmates, my friends? Nothing will stop us from becoming the heroes we set out to be.
"We will not stop protecting all we hold dear. Even if we have to do it from a wheelchair." My legs give out, and Jun scrambles to help me sit comfortably. She fixes my blanket, hooks the stray strands that dared shift out of place.
I pick up Jun's phone, smiling into the camera as it continues to record.
"After all. I have the most amazing supporter." I tap Jun's chin, letting her know I aim that at her. "Who would dare let them down?" Recording ends. "No further questions."
Nami walks out with Yonju and Rokugan, ready to escort me off stage.
8-8
Midnight goes on and on with her lecture. Luckily, none of this counts for exams—something meant to 'culture' us, as it were.
When she finally reaches the end of her rope, she bows out and gives the boys a jolly little jiggle, all bouncy and shit.
The door closes behind her. Not missing a beat. Setsuna spins around and gives me her trademark grin. "Good to have you back, Rei."
"I'll say." Monoma's just as happy about it. "Those One-A bastards have gotten cocky."
"Aw, come on, Nei-Nei." Tetsu gives our blond a pouty little smile. "Are you saying you don't enjoy Class A getting…excited?"
I cock an eyebrow, but that only spreads Monoma's blush further. "Shinsou, huh."
"What?! No way!" Monoma backs up so much he almost puts his chair through the wall. "Yanagi, how'd you even…?"
"Well." I smile, prop my elbow up on my desk, and plop my chin on my palm. "Is he sweet on you?"
"Jeez. Took a month-long nap, and still figured it out before us." Tetsu chuckles, turning her chair around and leaning onto Monoma's desk. "Well, Nei-Nei? Is she right?"
Blondie sighs, wheeling back to his desk. "Alright, Yanagi. What gave me away?"
"Nothing, really. It's just he's the only one that fits the profile." The whole class turns, eager to hear how this plays out.
"What profile?" Monoma asks, propping his elbow up on his table, to mirror me.
"Hmm?" I give him a sidelong glance. "So, Tetsu. You pick a name yet?"
Tetsu collapses onto Monoma's desk. "Ah…Yeah?"
"Iromi, right?"
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with our Rei?"
A month is a long time to be left with your thoughts. "Hey, Iro? You started hormones yet?"
"I…started yest…wait, you remembered?!"
Why is that surprising?
8-8
My wheelchair pushes itself along, down the busy side street where Uncle Shinya's agency is. It's been a while, but the first time I walked down this road, before I knew of our blood relation, I didn't feel anything. Not nervous, not excited. Too focused on getting stronger, but…
What changed?
Why do I…why are my palms sweaty?
I wipe my hands in my sweats as the buzzer goes off on its own, letting me in.
Down the familiar path—passed the familiar dirt I complained about. Wheelchair hovers up the stairs, the doorknob twists open on its own.
A familiar face is more focused on checking the paperwork than me. He probably doesn't even realise I let myself in. "Oh, hey Kenta. They stick you out here again?"
"Hey! If it isn't our…" His round face plants itself on the desk. The next thing I know, his head is in my lap. Damn it. Another dream?
Girls walk into the reception hall, topless. Their eyes are like mine—possessed, no doubt. One slips her hand into her trousers, into her knickers, into her. Cheeks warm, redden. Red X pupils dilate.
Three girls. Ten girls. More and more. A harem just for me.
Each time one of them moves towards me, I move away. One tries to jump me, tries to 'please' me. No matter how I kick her off, another takes her place.
The hall empties. Desks, thralls, arts hanging from the walls. All of it just poofs away.
In the very centre, Jun sits on a picnic blanket, with Taeko peering into the basket to spy what's in store. Inky eyes smile, just for me. No possession, but also need desire to leave me.
My eye flutters open, finding only darkness and silken sheets. A soft drum against my ear. Soft gurgling. Two chest pillows cushion in hand. Thighs hug me. Fingers comb through my hair.
"Bad dream?"
Head shakes, no. "Started that way."
"Hmm." A smile tinges her tone. She hugs me a little closer. Dry kiss presses to my crown.
"Help me to the bathroom?"
8-8
Iromi charges me, fists balled and ready to throw down. I take a page out of Tsuburaba's book and condense the air, forming a shield to block her punches. They shatter at the slightest touch, of course, but that's what this is about—training, for Iromi and for me. TDL is, per the norm, a warzone with our trainings. And Iromi and I don't exactly break the mould.
Each time she thrashes through a single barrier, I create three more, flinging them into her punches and kicks to overwhelm her.
No matter what I try, she steadily gains ground. Each of her attacks gains her another step; not much, but there's barely ten metres separating us.
Figuring it can't hurt, three barriers fly at her at the same time. She punches two, head-butts the third, and gains two steps before the next one gets in range.
"Jeez, Romi! Give a girl a break!"
She flashes her cocky grin and jumps over the next barrier, rolling under the next three and taps my chair.
"Damn it."
"Don't feel bad. You made me work for it!"
We bump fists, and she dashes back to start for another round. How the hell does Tsuburaba make them so damn strong? Hmm. Maybe avoid using air? It's obviously not the right medium.
"Gimme a sec?" Iromi nods, crossing her arms.
I hold my hands out, coating them with the same energy I focused in the air a moment ago. Come on, Rei. You've been doing this for weeks. Focus.
…
But the damned energy won't leave my hand. Maybe another route?
I ghost my hands and pull back. The energy stays put. With a little focus, the smoky blue energy shifts and churns, forming a single block. Heh. That's more like it.
"Alright. Game on!" I fling the energy at Iromi, hitting her in the gut. She jerks back, but other than the dragging mat, she doesn't seem to notice.
"Come on, Rei. You can put more power into that that." Her grin peaks out, eyes lit up with mischied. "Think fast!" She dashes for me, sending me in to a frantic flurry of claps as I try to make dozens more of the little bricks.
She thrashes each, gaining ground even faster than before.
Damn it, Romi!
8-8
Midday sun illuminates the cityscape as All Might explains today's exercise—two on two, Class A versus Class B. Tension in the observation room is at an all-time high as everyone sizes the other up. But don't bother to. If I'm allowed to take part, it'll be a massacre.
We do the usual number picking thing, teaming me up with Iromi, as Team Bee-Four.
"Alright. We'll start off with Bee-Four versus Ay-One," All Might calls it.
"Heh." Iromi. Please don't. "Guess we're going…before you guys, ey? Ey?"
My wheelchair hovers along, my charms rolling their eyes at the lame attempt. Still, the pair of us make our way down, along with Midoriya and Todoroki. Their costumes haven't changed since last I saw them, but Iromi's is more of a skin-tight body suit with a waistcoat to lend to outfit an air of elegance. Curiously, the tell-tale bulge is missing. Huh. In their place is a more of a bulge up top—not much, barely more than a puff, but enough to show changes are already starting.
Winter's chill greets us as we make our way out into Ground Theta, my wheels leaving a trail don the empty street. Emily shivers, her twin tails curling up as I pet her.
"What d'ya think, Rei?" Iromi walks beside me. "You take Midoriya?"
"Well." It can't hurt, really. I've been training my weakness, close-quarters combat. Romi's been training hers, long range attackers. The path of most resistance should help us grow stronger. "It'll be interesting, if nothing else."
We take up position in the middle of the street. And we wait. The snow is really piling up. Could make for interesting projectiles.
On the opposite end of the main street, Todoroki and Midoriya take up position, side by side, each with their game face on.
"Che. You see that, Rei? They think they stand a chance."
"Don't underestimate them. They're both planners." Marin and Fantine puff up from my earrings. Little rabbit's ears twitch this way and that, anticipating Midoriya's speed. But Fantine? Her links spread out, her eyes taking in a full circle around me—impressive, given how little I trained with my sword. And, just in case, one of her eyes points straight up, so there's no way we'll be caught offguard.
Iromi cracks her knuckles, eager to get to it.
"Teams!" All Might's voice booms over the loudspeakers. "You get ten minutes. GO!"
Midoriya and Iromi dash ahead. Predictably, Midoriya rushes for my teammate, but snowballs fling themselves right into his trajectory. He tries to dodge, and mostly succeeds, but with me distracting him, Iromi moves in for the kill.
Midoriya lashes a kick, the maelstrom of wind trying to dislodge my assault and keep Iromi off her game. Neither works. The snowballs skyrocket and come at him from above.
Todoroki ambles around, trying to get a clear shot at me or Iromi, so I shift my angle of attack, forcing Midoriya to lash out another attack, kicking up snow that blocks Todoroki's trajectory.
Already tired of the game I'm playing, Todoroki lashes out with his quirk, turning the snowclad playground into an ice rink, that he uses to skate about, faster than before.
And right into Iromi's path. Whether Todoroki wants this is irrelevant—Iromi certainly does.
"Get away from him!" Midoriya loses his cool, using my snowballs as rungs on a ladder, he rushes to his teammate's defence.
Didn't see that coming. Interesting.
I reach out, telekinetically grabbing Midoriya and flinging him away. He's too strong to restrain, but if he doesn't predict it, it's fair game.
Can of espresso clicks open. "You shouldn't lose focus on me." I warn the new wall decoration as thousands of compressed snowballs rain down on him, sipping like I'm in a café. "Or did you think you can take us both on?"
8-8
I hover up the stairs, back into the observation room, with two properly cowed boys trailing behind my teammate and I. No point in denying it, Midorya's gotten stronger. A lot stronger. Faster, too. But, the fact remains, you can't beat what you can't hit.
The nausea is a bit much. And it feels like there's a hole in my stomach, so hungry. Emily was snoring through most of it, so she was no help at all. Lazy bitch. I fish out a riceball and chow down.
"Read it and weep, losers!" Monoma is still doing all he can to get under One-A's skin. "Even in a wheelchair, our VP still wiped the floor with your best fighters! You must be wallowing in shame as—"
"Not cool, Nei-Nei."
Itsuka's hand freezes, millimetres from Monoma's neck to knock him out. But Shinsou's words hit him harder. And the others didn't figure this out? That's just sad.
The highlights are playing on the screens as we enter. Midoriya all but disappearing, so fast, but I ghosted through his every attack just the same, and Fantine pummelled him each time as he tried to escape.
And Iromi's mad dash through Todoroki's flames plays out next, especially the haymaker that knocked the boy out.
"Midoriya," All Might takes his usual strong man pose, the effect not quite as potent with how stringy he looks. "Tell me. Where do you think you went wrong?"
"I…" Midoriya pokes his index fingertips together, looking away. "I underestimated my opponent. I thought that Yanagi could never keep up, that I just had to overwhelm her with speed. But…"
"Right you are. She used your overconfidence against you. Instead of relying so much on your speed and power, why not look for the weakness? Granted, Yanagi's is time and you didn't have it, but you should never stop thinking. And Todoroki?"
"My famesh binded me." I think he said that his flames blinded him. His cheek's a bit swollen. "I yost a tacticar avuntish." And that he lost a tactical advantage. I'm guessing here.
"Cor-rect! You've been training hard with your quirk, and your mastery is nothing to sneeze at. However. If you lose sight of your opponent, you lose a valuable resource: intel. Keep that in mind as you move forward.
"Now. Tetsutetsu. You worked well solo. But you forgot this was a team exercise."
"Not at all." Iromi holds out her fist, and I bump mine against hers. "Rei and I train together all the time. She's used to taking on brawns like me."
"Unn." I nod. "Part of being on a team, is trusting your teammate to handle themselves in combat."
"That's true. And you did handle it." All Might rubs the back of his head. "I can't help but wonder what Sekijiro's teaching you kids."
My classmates exchange looks, all smiles and chuckles.
"Anyway. Using Todoroki's attack against him was smart, but risky. The path of most resistance is great during training, but don't make a habit of it. Sometimes moving around the problem is the best route. And Yanagi. Using the snow as makeshift projectiles was pretty handy. Use your surroundings to your advantage. And I liked your setup. There was little Midoriya could do to get the drop on you. But the more you use your quirk, the shorter the window you have to pull out a victory. If that match was a minute longer, you'd have lost."
I nod, agreeing fully.
"You kids need to start treating these matches as preparation for the real world, not just as training matches. You won't be students forever. Especially those of you interning." All Might sighs, hanging his head. "I must be crazy letting you fight in a wheelchair. Alright. Next up, Bee-Two versus A-Six. Let's go."
8-8
I walk. With a cane, Jun steadying me, and three over-eager bodyguards ready to throw themselves onto the snow-clad pavement to break my fall, but I walk. Well, it feels more like a series of stumbles as I slosh through the ankle-high powdered ice.
Another long day of classes, mostly theoretical. Now, there's just a meeting that, if I read him right, both of us have been putting off.
"Tempted to go for a long run?" Jun teases, hugging my side tighter so I can feel her quivering with laughter. As if I didn't hear it in her tone.
"Soon." My face itches from all the makeup—just not used to it anymore, I guess. I keep myself from scratching at it; I'll no doubt lose focus and wind up on the ground, with four overprotective people banning me from walking until I'm too old to move. "You'll come with me?"
Quivers turn to quakes, breathy chuckles kiss my hearing. "You're not sick of my yet?"
I squeeze her arm, gentle enough to let her feel the answer as we continue on. But the jokes fade as the gate comes into view. Uncle Shinya stands in plain view, his sole visible eye trained on me.
We exit school grounds, greeted by a snowy street with almost no foot traffic. Uncle Shinya's sidekicks, the lot of them, stand at attention, their eyes on my pitiful state.
I pat Jun's arm and give her a little smile, a private smile just for her, pulling away to walk these final steps myself. She's hesitant, but she doesn't fight me.
Shoes crunch snow underfoot, cane stabs right through to the pavement. As stoic as the man himself is, a sole tear steals away from him, down his cheek as I make my way to him. It should only be five paces; somehow it still takes me almost fifteen.
My free hand slithers around Uncle Shinya's middle. Cane drops as my other hand joins the fray. Two arms wrap around me, his whole body shaking no matter how hard he tries to fight it.
"You didn't fail me."
His grip intensifies as he takes two fistfuls of my winter jacket.
"You taught me to be strong enough to survive."
A jerky nod, he picks me up, holding me like the little girl he no doubt feared he'd lost.
"Train me? For the next asshole that tries it."
Uncle Shinya snorts, sending fresh tears cascading down his cheek and ricocheting off mine. "No more kiddie gloves. At all." Masked kisses press to my brow, to my crown, as he comes to terms with whatever he's been struggling with.
"I'm not promising I won't bitch about it."
His whole body trembles as hoarse laughter escapes. "That's fair."
8-8
"Fucking stairs." Bitch and bemoan as I do, I grip the railing tight and take the next one. The dust almost makes me itch—why the fuck hasn't this place been properly cleaned? But I take the next one, just the same. Ten to go.
My foot reaches the top step, I push off from the railing and right into Jun's eager embrace.
"You did it." She cries a little, happy tears. Didn't use my quirk once to get my ass up here, even if I did have three bodyguards stalking me every move, just in case.
We stumble along, into Uncle Shinya's agency, greet the usual two manning the receptionist desk, and I move right along. Jun doesn't leave my side for a second.
There's a little party set up in the canteen. Balloons, streamers, even a little cake with strawberry and kiwi slices. Jun helps me to sit to the low table—getting back up later will be a bitch, but I'll manage. It's training, after all.
Everyone's here. Mount Lady, Kamui Woods, Ibara, Uncle Shinya and his sidekicks. Yui, Itsuka, Setsuna, Kuroiro, Class A's ninja-boy duo, Hagakure. We're all here.
Food shares out, everyone fills their plates over and over as we dig in, as a team.
Of course, my plate overflows. Jun and Nami take pride in refilling my rice bowl and scooping up more and more food for me to gorge on.
"Jeez. You'd think she's trying to make up for lost time." Mount Lady props her elbow up on the table, smiling over her long-empty plate as I take sixths.
"She'll need it," Uncle Shinya says, his visible eye smiling just for me. "Especially with the presents I brought."
Oh? I rush to empty my plate, curious what he got me.
8-8
I stare, eye wide as my grin. In Uncle Shinya's office, there are three cages. One, a travelling kennel, has a house cat licking their tiger-striped fur without a care. One medium sized one housing two snow white wolves. The last one houses a single bear. White fur, brown eyes, and so large that even while on all fours, it's as tall as I am.
"You need an army, and I refuse to let you wander your mother's path. So I've been training these for you. We'll start with the largest. This is Fiona. An ursid hybrid. Dame's a polar bear, sire's a Kodiak. She's a lot to handle, but she's," Uncle Shinya pinches his chin, "as tame as any bear can be."
"She's gorgeous." I reach through the bars of her cage and scratch behind her ear. Fiona snorts, but doesn't seem to mind me touching her.
"She doesn't hibernate. Too much a polar for that. She's hypercarnivorous, so she'll need mostly meats, but fish will do in a pinch. She takes after her sire in fat layers, so she can adapt to summer months, as long as she's allowed to swim regularly to cool her off. Don't take her out in a heat wave. She almost had a stroke."
My hair flares up and my left up flutters open. Fiona meets my gaze without a shred of fear—she doesn't even fight me as I hijack her mind. She blinks and two white Xs set against blood red eyes stare back at me.
Her only thought is going for a nice long swim. So I reach in and grab her muzzle, flooding her with my energy for a full possession.
My tummy groans and grumbles, as does Fiona's. She ghosts and lumbers out of her cage, grumbling about being hungry. I pet her and scratch behind her ear again.
"I'm hungry too, Fiona. We'll get something to eat in a moment."
Uncle Shinya smiles, obvious even through his mask. "Can you handle a few more?"
WRRRRRT!
"I'm tempted to say yes." I pat my tummy. "Someone disagrees."
Uncle Shinya chuckles. "Let's hurry then. The next up are arctic wolves. Don't let the name fool you. While they thrive in subarctic conditions, they can handle higher temperatures than Fiona."
"I think possessing them," WRRRRRRRrrrrrrTTT, "will be a bit much just now." I heard you the first time!
"The house cat then. Bengal breed. Excellent swimmer, very intelligent. Learned to identify explosives in record time. And a wide array of popular street drugs."
The kennel hovers up and I ghost my hand through the little door, taking the kitty cat out.
The door opens behind us. Corinne and Delise spy Uncle Shinya's boys bringing in tray after tray of another healthy meal. Momoko even brings a large soup pot and plops it in front of Fiona, who dives right in.
"If it helps, I planned for each of you eating your weight in meats."
Warmth swims in my chest, grateful for Uncle Shinya like never before. I hover the Bengals up and possess them quickly.
My stomach roars, demanding to be filled post-haste.
8-8
Everyone digs in. Fiona's helping herself to thirds. Emily's stealing scraps of my plate every chance she gets. The wolves, Julius and Victoria, shared a cow's leg, already gnawing on the bone for desert. Zia, my adorable little cat, gorges on tuna pâté. Half a kilo of it, and little Zia seems to be handling it well enough on her own. My mice are having a field day of their own, stuffing their adorable little faces with ginseng root and pumpkin seeds.
All of them sport red eyes with white Xs, of course. I wouldn't trust eating in front of them if they didn't.
With my tummy good and full, with their tummies rapidly filling, something feels different. Majorly different. It feels like there's…less pressure than before, if that makes sense. Like when you eat too much and you loosen your belt and unzip your pants?
"Reiko." Uncle Shinya slides four ID cards across the table. For Fiona, Julius, Victoria, and Zia. "I've already informed MPD of your assistants. As long as you don't cause a panic, you'll be fine."
"Unn."
8-8
The van pulls offroad and parks between the army of police cars and vans. Even the Swat team is here, it seems.
Detective Tsukauchi rushes over to us as Nami helps me out of our van and into my wheelchair. The place is surrounded by uniformed police. And given we're in the suburbs on the outskirts of Musutafu, there're more than enough room between houses to block off all escape routes.
It's a quiet neighbourhood. On the higher end of the social ladder, given the houses are all huge and the gardens all perfectly tended to.
"Edgeshot. This isn't the time for games."
"Good." Uncle Shinya nods. "What's the situation?" Fiona saunters out behind me plopping on the ground at my side as the twin wolves jump out and claim my other side. Zia rests on my mask, perched atop me to fend off the cloudless midday sun. Emily, of course, just licks her tails, sprawled off in my lap.
The collection of otherwise wild animals gives the detective pause, but he has no wiggle room to mess around.
"A gang holds the family hostage. They warned that any sign of movement and they will be executed without hesitation. We don't have the blueprints, we don't know how many are inside. All we know is that there's a sniper on the roof monitoring our every move."
Without needing the order, my mice puff up from my bracer and ghost right through the wooden wall. Zia is hot on their tails, already sniffing around for explosives. Nami hands me a clipboard with a mechanical pencil and a ruler. I start drawing a simple map.
The garden, the doors, the windows, estimated heights and widths. Once I'm satisfied, two of my nice ghost through the ground, looking for underground escapes. Nothing. Not even a sewer system out here. They're cornered, and they'll be all the more desperate for it. No wonder the detective is freaking out.
No explosives detected; good. "How long of a stand-off?" I ask as my mice ghost through the outer walls of the building itself. I continue drawing the place, the hallways, monitoring the assault rifle bearing thugs as I detail their patrols.
The one on the roof is alone, continually talking into an earpiece that all the others listen in on. Four hostages. A woman, three kids—two teenage boys and a little girl, maybe six.
"The house belongs to a bank executive. They tried to ransom his family, but one of the neighbours called in suspicious behaviour. Advance recon team Bravo noticed the sniper and called for backup. We've had them surrounded for just over an hour and a half."
Hmm. Long enough to realise they're fucked. "And the husband?"
"On national television, pleading for the police to cooperate with the thugs."
Well. Isn't that just grand. Asshole. You embolden the other two-bit-shits that didn't have the balls before, give them ammunition for half-baked plans.
Another note is written, all twelve thugs located, I scribble that I'll guard the hostages, and I'll get him and his sidekicks into the encircled room. I hand Uncle Shinya the clipboard. He nods and hands the clipboard off to Momoko. Like a game of hot potato, the clipboard passes off down the line, until it's back in my hands.
"Whenever you're ready."
My obi flares out and wraps around the others, I ghost the lot of us and dash us into the room with the hostages. In a matter of seconds, the thugs are forcefully disarmed, wrestled to the ground, and cuffed, but Uncle Shinya's already missing—no doubt going after the sniper himself.
Fiona lumbers through the wall, already looking around to see if there's anything of note. Figuring it's already handled, she comes and lays at my feet, while Julius and Victoria lick the hostages' faces to show them they're perfectly safe now. Fantine puffs up and lashes out, cutting through the wire binds.
The sniper jerks in place, eyes wide as they try to pull the trigger. Nothing happens. Uncle Shinya poofs into existence atop the asshole, already pulling the military grade rifle from their now relaxed grip. The other thugs go down just as quickly.
8-8
The entire house is filled with police officers, double-checking every room and taking statements from the now freed hostages. The husband rushes in, almost bowling his wife over in his haste.
The boys rush over, jumping at their father. They're all in tears.
Especially the little girl. She presses her wheelchair's joystick, moving up as close to the edge of the wraparound porch as she dares. She looks…conflicted, especially as she eyes me, my wheelchair pushes right through the snow towards her.
"You're…you're like me." Her little voice is laden with a million conflicting emotions, the bruises on her face not seeming to bother her at all—they look somewhat faded, days old perhaps.
I reach out and hover the girl's wheelchair off the porch and down into the garden. "Go on. Your family awaits."
Tears well up in her eyes as she works the joystick, trudging her chair through the snow towards he family. Her father scoops her up out of the chair and holds her protectively in his arms. Her legs-stumps are bandaged—everything below the knees missing. From the yellow stained gauze, it isn't hard to tell it's a recent wound. Why isn't she still in the hospital? Was today her first day home?
The mother picks up the blanket, carefully wrapping her daughter in it to stave off the chill.
The banker comes to me, tears in his eyes as he carries his daughter.
"Thank you." His voice trembles, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I," he shakes his head, "we, we owe you everything."
"Hey, kiddo." My walking cane puffs up off my earring, and hovers over to the little girl. "You're not the only one that has trouble walking. Don't let it keep you down."
The little girl turns to me, eyes wide, jaw low. "But I…"
I kick up my footrests. "I don't have your problem. But." I stand, best I can. Uncle Shinya's already at my side, steadying me as my legs shake and threaten to give out. "Nothing. Is going to keep me down for long."
I step away from my chair, mutely bitching about how much effort it takes.
"Don't let this define," leg buckles, but Uncle Shinya holds me tight to keep me from falling, "define you. We're stronger than that. Even if we have to depend on our family for a little bit."
She reaches out, hesitant and unsure, but she takes my still hovering walking cane.
"The next time we meet. I want to see you using that to get around. Alright?"
Fire lights in her, determination shines through the tears. "Unn."
My wheelchair crunches snow as it comes to me, and her wheelchair hovers up onto the porch for her. I slump into my chair, already turning to head out. My mice rush to me, minimizing into my bracer bay, Emily and Zia jump up into my lap, and the twins and Fiona take up their positions behind me.
"What…"
I pause, but don't turn to look—no point, since Corinne and Marin both see her just fine.
"What's your name?"
"Princess Yurei." My wheelchair moves along, towards the van. "I'll see you around, kiddo."
8-8
End Chapter 35
8-8
A/N: Right. Sorry for the wait. Had a few things to handle.
So. For those wondering what's going on with Reiko and how things will progress? The next few chapters will be delving into that. Especially with the end of her first term at UA coming to a close.
Tune in next time for...something special.