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We need to look inconspicuous…so you decided to wear that? Kugutsu's eyes roamed up and down her friend for a second, her brain trying to follow whatever wild thought process had led him to decide that this was the right choice. The point was to blend in, but it seemed like Spinner had failed to consider that.
If he had just put on the UA school uniform like she told him, it might be alright. He might just look like a high school student from general studies with too bland of a personality for anyone to remember him. That was not the case here.
Whatever insane line of thought he had somehow led him to determine that wearing a hooded sweatshirt under the blazer was a great idea. It was only the height of summer. Surely no one would look twice at some weirdo trudging around the streets in a hooded sweatshirt under a blazer when the weather was hot enough to make any sane person stick to air conditioning.
To make matters worse, he was wearing that weird choker that matched hers. At least he had taken off all of his Stain cosplay. He still looked extremely suspicious, though. His hood pulled up, hands in his pockets. Constantly glancing around.
"…just calm down…" Kugutsu muttered. She moved closer to his side, keeping her face expressionless. The school uniform she was wearing felt awkward. The hat she had put on to hide her ears was hot and pushed her ears into an uncomfortable position. Honestly, she just wanted to finish getting supplies and hurry back to the new base.
"How can I stay calm?! You know they're still looking for that kid!" He frowned within the shadow of his hood and tried to lower his eyes to focus on something other than the people passing them. "How are you so calm?"
"It's called being a professional. I've had years of practice."
"How many years?"
"I've…been practicing this face since I was twelve. The trick is to think of something that comforts you and just focus on that." She hooked her arm through his, guiding him through a crowded section of the shopping center and flashing a fake smile when someone looked at them for a little too long. Thankfully, that person smiled back as if they were admiring her and then turned away.
"So what do you think about?"
"What?"
"I mean, like, what comforts you? Do you think about Shi-?"
"I think about the first dating simulator I ever played. In middle school…I saved up my allowance and ran errands for a shop owner so I could buy a dating simulator. The music, the graphics, the character design, the voice acting…all of it was amazing for back then. It made me really happy and I'd always play it when I had a bad day or if I was stressed out. So when I need to calm myself down and I'm having trouble, I just think about that game."
"Oh! That's actually pretty cool!"
Kugutsu was biting the inside of her cheek so hard that she tasted blood. She knew that if she thought about Shigaraki, it would have the opposite effect. Her heart would start racing, adrenaline would start pumping through her veins, that weird tingly feeling would probably show up again. Thinking about Shigaraki made her too excited and it took actual effort to keep herself from constantly thinking about him now.
Her free hand lifted and she almost tried to ruffle her hair, but managed to stop herself before she could touch her hat. Shaking her head, she tried to push away thoughts of Shigaraki so she could calm down again. "Why are you wearing that hoodie anyway? You'll overheat."
"I'm fine!" Spinner tried to look tough, but he was clearly bothered. "Why? Does it look weird? Dabi said it was a good idea."
"Dabi is a walking dumpster fire! Why the hell would you-?!" She bit her lower lip and bowed her head, the girl's cat-yellow eyes narrowing. Her arm slipped a little and her hand rested on his arm, nails digging in through his shirt, hoodie, and blazer sleeve. "He's…an idiot. Why would you take advice from him?"
"You guys really don't get along."
"...my parents taught me not to play with trash…"
Out of everyone in the League of Villains, Kugutsu and Spinner were probably the worst choices for this job. They were completely aware of this fact. Spinner was a tall guy with green scales and when it came to the female villain, he would go along with whatever she wanted to do. Kugutsu was a maniac with cat ears and trouble controlling her emotions and, by extension, her quirk. These two were the absolute worst choices for this job.
Okay. Maybe we're not the absolute worst. That crispy creep Dabi would be the worst. That idiot. Piece of burnable garbage. Charred ragdoll. Twisted…purple splotch…nightmare-fuel…ugh! Whatever! He isn't here! Shigaraki picked me and let me bring Spinner so what does that say? I'm way more important than that patchwork piece of shit!
"Yami, your phone keeps ringing."
"Ah! Not again. Tell me it's not-" She looked at her phone, panic making her heart race. If she missed another call from All for One, she would throw herself in a river because there was no way she could live down missing his call again. Instead of an unknown number, she saw Giran's name come up on the screen.
Kugutsu felt a flicker of relief before anger set in. When she answered the call, it took all of her willpower to not scream at her former boss. "You're just now checking in to make sure I'm alive?!" she hissed.
The two villains had moved away from the more popular parts of the shopping center and were hanging around some vending machines. Spinner was looking at a selection of drinks, trying to figure out what Kugutsu might want since she was now completely focused at throwing rage Giran's way.
"Hey, I have confidence in you. I knew you wouldn't get yourself killed," Giran tried to explain. "So everything's going well, right? I heard you guys relocated."
"Yes. We found a new location." Kugutsu managed to calm herself down enough to speak to him like an actual sane professional. She walked over to where Spinner was still looking at drinks and tapped an obsidian nail against the selection for a citrus-flavored soft drink. The reptilian villain's eyes widened and he grinned, nodding. He put in enough money for two cans.
"So I've got a serious question. You didn't fuck Shigaraki, did you?"
It felt like all of the blood in her body was rushing to her face. She had the sudden urge to throw her phone against the wall as hard as she could, to smash it into little pieces beneath her shoe. Kugutsu had the overwhelming desire to just burrow deep into the ground and never come out into the light of day again.
"Th-that's none of your business! Why would you say s-something like that?! Are you out of your mind? You can't just s-say stuff like that to someone! That's…that's really unprofessional and-!"
"Got it. Okay, so try to keep that under wraps, Kugutsu-chan. I don't think the big boss would wanna hear that you were doing that with his protégé." There was a click of a lighter and the sound of Giran exhaling shortly after.
"But I didn't-!"
"You know, you're lousy at hiding your emotions when it comes to him." The broker chuckled and was probably shaking his head. "I'm serious, though. Don't let anyone know about that. And you're using protection, right? I don't even wanna think about what kind of crazy quirk you'd make if you guys had-"
"J-just shut up already! I told you I didn't do that so just believe me and stop talking!" Kugutsu hissed this through gritted teeth, trying to keep her voice down so she could avoid looking like a lunatic in the middle of this public place. How cringey is it to have your boss try to give you the talk?! And how does he even know that we did something?
"Right. So are you busy right now?"
"Yami." Spinner held the can of soda out to her, his head slightly tilted in confusion since he was only hearing half of the conversation. To him, she just looked like she might have legitimately snapped and be planning to gut Giran alive.
Kugutsu took the drink from him with a small nod of gratitude. Right. Spinner's here. I don't want to look crazy. I just…need to calm down. She carefully moved her phone a little and opened the soda. "We're getting supplies. Why?"
"We? Who's with you?"
"I'm with Spinner."
"Oh." There was a hint of disappointment in Giran's voice. "I've got a job for you. It's nothing big; you can probably get this knocked out in about ten minutes. It's a retrieval job. Someone thought they could swipe some files off my desk while they were in the office. If I send you the address, you think you can track them down and get the files back? They're pretty important."
"…am I getting paid…?"
"Of course. I'll send you the address. Just get the files and bring them back to my office."
Kugutsu looked at the address he sent and had some idea of where it was. A glance over showed Spinner looking curiously at the screen as well. "I need to run an errand for Giran," she started.
"I can help."
"No. Honestly…this isn't something you'll want to do." After all, Spinner was a Stain fan boy. She was pretty sure Stain, with all of his high and mighty morals, would frown upon going into a bar and slaughtering everyone in it just to retrieve some mystery files for a shady guy like Giran.
"So what am I supposed to?"
"Get the supplies and go back to the hideout."
"If we split up, it's more dangerous," he pointed out.
Kugutsu crossed her arms and gave a nod. "Okay…I don't want to take the supplies with me so we'll have to circle back here when I'm done. You're going to have to wait outside while I work."
"That's fine!" If anything, he now seemed excited. Like a fan boy eager to see his favorite idol on stage. Or a shut-in who was about to watch a girl he liked fight a bunch of people. That was a much more accurate description.
Shift P.O.V
The League of Villains had moved to their new hideout. The hideout that Shigaraki had found on his own and selected for them. Of course, since this was an abandoned building, it was missing some things. For starters, there was no electricity. No running water. No air conditioning.
The summer heat was making everyone miserable already and there were a lot of complaints, but they fell on apathetic ears. Staying at the mahjong bar was out of the question. Especially with Dabi continuously using the front door to enter and exit. A man like him, covered in scars and staples as well as dressed like some kind of cringey villain from a children's show, was bound to draw attention.
The blood had been cleaned up in the stairwell, but the human heart and plastic wrap had been left behind in the room on the second floor. When Magne came across it and asked questions, she was ignored and Shigaraki simply grabbed the heart with all five fingers. It was now just a pile of dust on the floor, about two feet away from where he was sitting.
A hand lifted, fingers absently scratching at his neck as he wondered how long it would take for Kugutsu and Spinner to get supplies. He was becoming irritated with the thought of them hanging out together. It was like letting someone borrow your game controller and then having to watch them touch it with their disgusting, soda-sticky fingers. Gross enough to make your stomach turn.
Sending Kugutsu was a good idea. She was his loyal fan so she was bound to do a good job. Not to mention that he knew she was competent. It was when she requested Spinner to help her that Shigaraki started to have his doubts. Spinner was far from inconspicuous and he looked at Kugutsu the way she looked at Shigaraki. Like a doting fan. It made the blue-haired villain feel kind of sick.
"Want me to go after them?"
Blood-colored eyes raised from the wooden floor and Shigaraki started chewing at his lip in irritation. Dabi was leaning against the doorframe, not quite appearing smug, but just giving off the aura of an arrogant fool. "You think you can do a better job? I'm only letting two people out at a time. If you don't like it, you can leave the League."
He pushed himself to stand and stalked past Dabi, out of the room. Moving out into the hallway, he walked at a leisurely pace. Anything to get out of the stagnant heat of that one room. His room. His and his fan girl's special room.
Since the first time, he could feel his confidence steadily growing. It had helped him a lot when he was moving the group from the bar to their new hideout. They listened to him instead of wandering off and doing their own thing. They even obeyed when he told everyone else to stay in the hideout while his fan and her fan went for supplies.
Now Shigaraki needed to determine his next move. They had their new member and he was actually cooperating now. They had a new hideout. He had better control over his followers. As he pondered his next move, darkness abruptly fell over the entire building and the street outside. Then the screams began.
