Unofficial Report #11027B
(I recieved this from Eraserhead today. He mentioned it was a student report of Rabbit. So I'm not filing it officially since she's still a minor, but I'm including it in our file.)
[How kind of you. Froppy will no doubt appreciate that]
(STOP MESSING WITH OUR FILES)
[Just be thankful I'm not deleting them- Rabbit]
It's a feeling she's been getting.
A shiver down the back of her spine, a tickle at her senses when she's out and about. It's never- well- rarely- at school, but it's not terribly infrequent when she's out. Especially when she's with the other girls, wandering around in the mall or down the streets.
The feeling had been growing fainter since the Rescue Training camp, even more so sense the official retirement of All-Might, but every now and then it would spring up, and she'd have to stop herself from looking around and trying to find who was watching her.
She has a feeling she already knows who it is anyways.
And that feeling, after having the hairs on the back of her neck raised all the way from her walk from the UA gates to the dorm room had her making coffee at near midnight, brewing two cups and carrying them up to the roof.
In actuality, she really needs to be sleeping.
There's a test in the morning, a quiz with Aizawa-sensei, and she just hasn't been sleeping well in general since All-Might….
She shakes her head, unwilling to dreg the image of him, bloodied and beaten in the dirt in front of that monster. So she instead focuses on the warmth of the ceramic mugs as she carries them up from the kitchen-around a sleeping Aizawa on the couch, and to the roof.
"You take yours black-Ribbit?" She announces as she kicks open the door.
He flinches, a notebook and a pencil flying free of his hands as he does, both items landing on the rooftop while he flails and tumbles over the edge.
She jumps, tongue lashing out in surprise at the villain's clumsiness. Far from her characterization of him. And the faint tingle in her tongue, a relic of a memory now, overridden by the heroic instinct to save him. It wraps around his outstretched arm, heaving him back onto the roof.
She hesitates, then snaps her tongue back into her mouth. It's a faint feeling, but one she'd woken up to- cold, sweaty and scared and unable to return to sleep. Electricity on the tip of her tongue. And then a high voltage when he advanced, a dark gleam in his eye.
It's a complete contrast to him now.
The villain is panting, one hand over his heart and the other on his knees as he peers up at her. Emerald eyes wide with shock as he looks at her. Then they trickle down her face to the coffee in her hands, before around to his notebook.
She follows it, first to the pencil- a thick and heavy artists pencil, and then to the page, where a half-finished sketch of a helmet lay.
It looks. Spacy. Bulky and a bit familiar but…
He hurries to it, snapping the notebook closed and then clutching it to his chest.
"You scared me." He swallows, then clears his throat. "I. I'm. Uh." He blinks, and it's like he has to reprocess everything. "Why are you…?"
She stares at him instead of answering, her own mental gears turning.
He's here, on the top of the UA dorms roof, not breaking in, not scheming from the looks of it, but sketching. And unless she's missing something. All he has on him are the drawing materials in front of her. Which means…
"Why are you here?" She replies, edging away from him to place one mug on the roof edge.
He lets her, and his lower lip slides into his mouth, teeth working nervously on chewing it. His eyes follow her from the edge and back, but they're not dark or hard, they're. Concerned.
At least.
She thinks.
He takes a slow step forward, then another, each movement slow and carefully steady as he advances on the cup. He picks it up, then looks to her.
"It's not poisoned, is it?"
"Do you really think I have access to that here-Ribbit?" She quips back, taking a sip of her own mug pointedly.
"You have access to Creati." He replies, standing back up as he sniffs the beverage, humming softly. "And she's… recently had access to some knowledge that might help her in that field."
Tsuyu cocks an eyebrow at that, but instead takes another sip. And Rabbit rolls his eyes, either conceding the fact she probably wouldn't, or deciding it wasn't worth it to argue as he takes a tentative sip.
"Why are you here-Ribbit?" She asks again.
He shrugs, taking another sip before backing up to the roof ledge. He squats by it, carefully setting the mug down on the edge as he flips through his sketchbook and picks up his pencil.
"It's quiet." He decides, and it doesn't sound like a flat lie. But.
There are other quiet rooftops in easier to access areas. And not in immediate proximity of a horde of students, teachers, and other heroes that want your head. Metaphorically.
"Weaaaaakkkk." She croaks. "Why are you always around my classmates-Ribbit?"
He shrugs again, but this time his expression quirks, his lips drift into an uncertain expression before locking back into a tight look.
"You saved Iida-Ribbit." She pushes, and he doesn't answer, so she continues. "You talked with Todoroki and Yaomomo." He shrugs, a flicker of a smile on his lips.
"They'll end up getting together."
"Shush. Half the student body and staff already are making bets on it- Ribbit."
"I'll do 10 million yen that they'll get together sophomore year."
"Talk to Nezu, he's running the polls- Ribbit." Then she clears her throat. "And you saved Bakugo- Ribbit."
He looks uncomfortable at that but doesn't reply to any of it. "Ka-…" He hesitates. "Bakugo might be an ass, but he's not someone that deserves to die." He decides, and his flipping has stopped, idled on a fully drawn sketch of the man in question.
It's his winter uniform, an explosion in the midst of blooming from his palm, a scowl firmly etched into his face. It's a partial sketch, but one that had been done neat and tidy.
He notices her gaze, flips to the next page, which is one of Red Riot in action, all dark angles and sharp edges.
"You really like drawing us." She mutters.
"You're all good heroes." He replies. "And even if you don't support me. I admire you, the ones that do the heroing right." He hums, flipping back a few pages to reveal another sketch.
It's one of her.
In the previous iteration of her costume, with the thick headlamps for underwater exploration that make her look like a frog. She really liked them, but practicality and streamlining made the newest versions smaller and more fitted to her head.
She's diving into the water, hands outstretched, part of her tongue peeking out of her mouth as she takes in one last breath of air.
"You really enjoy sketching us-Ribbit." She reiterates. And then she has another question, one that's.
Been trickling through her mind ever since the USJ. Ever sense having that terrifying first meeting and the confusing second, followed up closely by the uncomfortable third and now, their interesting and uncertain fourth.
"Is there a reason you watch out for Class 1-A?"
He hums, taking his pencil into his hands just so he can tuck it behind his ear. He shifts the notepad, gently tearing the sketch of her out as he chews on his lower lip.
"I suppose I feel that I owe it to you." He decides once the page is out, extended to her like some new-age peace offering. "After the USJ incident, and after all the danger I put you through, because of my faulty information, and my bad judgement. I decided that I wouldn't let my faults affect your lives, and more to it, if I could help. Then I would."
And that's…
Not what she expected.
She figured there was an obsession behind all of his actions. Something off in his brain that made him obsess over specifically Class 1-A, but no. He just.
Wanted to make amends for his errors.
Wanted to settle the score so to speak after putting them in harms way.
Goddamn it he is the sinnamon roll he looks like.
She takes another sip of coffee, huffing as she stares at him for a moment. It's an effort to not look at him as a villain, what with him perching on the rooftop in the pale moonlight, and holding out a drawing of her in her hero costume.
She reaches out, takes it from his scarred and callous hands. Turning it around to better examine the picture. Then she pulls her eyes back to the artist looking him over again.
And-
Underneath it.
He's just a boy.
And that's…
Painfully obvious underneath the dark clothes, the careful matching of clothes to make him look older, the way he positions himself so that his back is straight, his chest pushed out to make himself look bigger even though he hasn't filled in the muscle yet.
He's just a kid.
A kid like her.
"Why'd you taze me?" She asks.
He freezes, and immediately looks guilty and pained at the reminder of his crimes against her. And even at night, with only a half-moon for light, she can see the flush of red across his cheeks, and nearly feel the blush as he sputters.
"I mean- I didn-I really didn't want to- but I-." He huffs, swallowing. "I didn't want to get caught. And I… I knew I couldn't get away on land, what with All-Might and Ectoplasm there. So I dove into the water and hoped you'd be too preoccupied to stop me."
"But I did-Ribbit." She retorts.
He snorts. "Just like a hero." He huffs, and she suspects it's both an insult and a compliment. There's something about him that just… makes her feel like he has a complicated view of heroes. "But. Yes. You did. And I… had to get away." He grimaces. "How's your tongue?"
Anyone else, and she'd say it was fine. That it was never better, and after training, it was stronger than before. But with him. She decides to be honest, because that seems to be what keeps him off guard. "Whenever I reach for someone with it." She starts, then shuffles her feet, already uncomfortable with the confession. "I-I get scared they'll shock me. Or that. That you'll appear and shock me-Ri-Ribbit."
He looks pained by the admission and sets both the pencil and the pad down. "Froppy…" He hesitates, then sighs. "I guess it wouldn't really do any good to tell you I'm sorry again." He stands, uncertain as he paces away from her. "You have an amazing quirk." He says suddenly. "Really." And he looks up at her, emerald eyes sparking so bright she wonders if that's his quirk.
Bright Eyes.
Pft. Yeah right.
"And whatever disadvantages it gives you, you're training and working so hard to overcome. I'd… I'd hate to be the person that makes you not use a part of it." He gestures to the roof. "Especially when it's so capable of saving lives. Even the ones that don't necessarily deserve it."
She quirks her lips, glancing to the roof and back at him.
She had saved him.
Startled him literally off the roof.
But saved him as well.
"You really think so-Ribbit?" She asks.
And good lord. If he couldn't be classified as a sinnamon roll before, that smile and that laugh, definitely cemented his positioning in the category. It was a good thing he wasn't a hero in training here, because depending on his quirk, the girls would be all OVER him.
But his smile is genuine as he nods. "Of course! I think you'll be amazing! And when you get to be a Pro," he gestures at the sketch in her hands. "Could I get that autograph?" He laughs nervously, "I might be a bit on the wrong side of the law, but I… still look up to the heroes that are good."
Tsuyu sighs, considering it.
Someone who believes in her, all the way from the other side of the law.
Wow.
That was…
She snorts, shakes her head and sighs, taking another sip of coffee. Maybe this was all just an elaborate dream, concocted from the fervor of today and stress of tomorrow. What did Tokoyami call it?
"What a mad banquet of darkness- Ribbit." She mutters, finding that-even if it was just for today, she found the phrase fitting.
"I-I uh." Rabbit shuffles his feet, shrugging. "I hope that wasn't overstepping my boundaries. Saying that. I know I'm a bit of a villain." He shrugs again. "But I… for your class, and Eraserhead, I try to balance it out a bit."
"Just for us-Ribbit?" She clarifies.
He smiles and nods. "Only for Class 1-A and Eraserhead. Everyone else is far game."
She…
Knows it's probably wrong.
Knows it's actually probably illegal.
But she likes the boy.
He's cute. But more interestingly, he's intelligent and smart and genuine and…
She sighs, rolling her eyes as she considers him. The boy that tazed her tongue, made googly eyes at her best friend, and seems to always be there to antagonize or save her classmates.
"Friends?" She says suddenly.
He blanches, then frantically flails his arms. "I- I – Id on't know if- you want to- but I'm- I-"
She spits her tongue out, across the distance to grab both of his hands, snapping them together. He hesitates, obviously unsure of what's happening. She can see the brush of coldness in his eyes as he considers the situation, but she snaps her tongue back into her mouth as she walks over.
"Friends." She repeats, holding her hand out. "A hero to be and a villain in the making. Socially. Of course." She shrugs. "In the field."
"Anything goes?" He guesses.
"Anything goes." She agrees. "Well." She pauses, rolling her tongue around in her mouth.
"I won't taze you ever again." He assures. "That's a promise." And he hesitates, then takes her hand, squeezing it in a firm handshake. And the grin that spits his lips is… priceless.
Genuine and priceless.
"Well." He says suddenly, glancing to the sky. "I think…" He hums. "I think Eraserhead will be up in a moment. And you have a curfew…" He trails off. "But if you need anything from a less than legal source…" He hums, thinking about it. "Put that frog plushie on the roof." He decides. "I'll keep an eye out for it."
She decides not to tell him how lame that is, or how creepy that might be out of context. Watching a rooftop looking for a lost and abandoned plushie? What a dork.
But then again.
She shrugs and meanders back to the rooftop doorway.
"Rabbit-Ribbit?" She asks as she pulls it open.
"Froppy?" He replies, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You…" She hesitates, stewing on the words for a moment. "Are you sure you're a villain?"
He hums, considers it, and then his expression turns sad. "Well I never could be a hero." Then he shrugs and laughs it off like she can't see the pain that sentence causes him. "So I guess I decided to do the opposite." He chuckles to himself, but it's low and sad. "So I guess I am."
She wants to say more. Wants to push the issue, because he's still a kid like her, and more than that, she knows just how fragile a decision can be, and how uncertain of it you can be during, after, and right before.
But apparently both her luck and her time has run out, because a hand claps on her shoulder, startling her into looking up. Into the burning red eyes of Mr. Aizawa.
"You're grounded for life." He growls down at her, then that piercing gaze turns to Rabbit. "And you- little delinquent villain."
"Hahaha" Is the nervous reply, before Rabbit is bounding across the rooftop, sketchbook in hand as he races to the other end, Mr. Aizawa behind him, capture weapon expanding out.
"Hold still!" Aizawa shouts, just as Rabbit leaps over the edge.
"Not a chance!" Rabbit yells back, and whether or not he survive his second fall off the UA dorm building isn't her problem.
Surviving the Aizawa lecture that's coming her way right now.
Is.
(How'd he get away from Eraser?)
[Trade secret]