Chapter 84

.::You Can't Escape (Studying)::.

So the situation in Odawara was still bad, but apparently under control. Probably. Hopefully.

...Ran really doubted it was.

Through some crazy chain of events, Present Mic had showed up to shadow Ashido. And the runaways had then kidnapped Present Mic. Ran still had no idea how he made the connection that everyone theorized: namely, that he'd found out Eraserhead was in custody of the Alliance, followed by connecting Midoriya to Ran, and then Ran's relation to Kuroe to Odawara, and thus making Odawara a target for Mic's seemingly eternal search for Eraserhead.

Just laying it out like that, it sounded like a ridiculous stretch. Yet despite that, it still seemed a lot more likely than him taking a sudden interest in Ashido and Kirishima's cases when he had zero involvement before. Even Oracle himself, the hero actually directly involved in watching Ashido and Kirishima, hadn't visited Kuroe yet.

It was just so random, and she had no idea how he'd made the connection between Ran and Midoriya in the first place. She had been paranoid enough to ask Kuroe for help mapping all the security cameras in her area when she first moved into her apartment in Kamino. She knew none of them would have caught her and Midoriya alone. She even chose the Wacdonald's because she knew that street had no working cameras, so no one would see her and Kaminari talk to him.

They had only talked in a large group heading to the signing; Ran had purposely avoided talking to Midoriya after that. Hell, he'd talked to her classmates more than he had to her. She'd even used one of Rintaro's scales to send Kaminari straight back so there wouldn't be a trail to Odawara. Everything had been planned carefully, to minimize the chances of anyone making a connection.

And yet Present Mic had still somehow managed to make a slim connection, and get lucky enough to stumble upon Ashido in disguise.

The universe was clearly working against them now. The odds of Present Mic just happening to run into Ashido was just so ridiculous, but at this point she should just expect more ludicrous stuff to happen.

They'd have to push up the big move out of Odawara now, which would require massive coordination. She'd have to think of a way to explain the sudden move to Kuroe without mentioning them kidnapping a Pro Hero. Just organizing shifts to guard Present Mic so he wouldn't clock onto Mongoose being the one with the paralysis Quirk would take work. On that note, they still had to brief Midoriya on this at some point; the big escape plan on his end would probably have to combine with the Present Mic mess.

There were just so many logistics to work out, and she still had to study for her freaking finals next week.

"Hello, earth to An-chan?" She turned to look at Kirameki as a hand waved in front of her face, the other girl's cheeks puffing in dismay. "You've been zoning out for the past five minutes! Dang it, we're supposed to be studying, remember?"

"Sorry, lot of stuff on my mind," Ran apologized with a shrug. Kirameki huffed as she turned back to her textbooks.

"Just help me with this problem already, okay?" she asked, and Ran obligingly leaned over her shoulder to talk her through it. They sat in her apartment, classes having been canceled yet again. For once it had nothing to do with a villain attack or Quirk shenanigans though, but instead because a pipe had burst overnight. A fact that only became clear after teachers arrived to find several rooms flooded.

"What's even up with this year, anyway?" she asked when they finished the latest problem fifteen minutes later. "It feels like class gets canceled every other week."

"I know, right?" Kirameki asked with a nod. "I mean if it's not villains or Nijisaki, it's something else. At this point we might as well go all online!"

"Maybe we should just do that next semester," Ran mused. "Sakakura's online program isn't the best, but it's better than nothing."

"You just say that because you hate socializing," Kirameki huffed, which wasn't completely wrong. Ran didn't hate human contact, but she did prefer staying at home purely because it made it easier to optimize her time.

"Counter-point: we can have daily sleepovers and sleep in a little since we don't have to worry about physically getting to school on time."

"Okay, we're switching online next month!" Kirameki declared without missing a beat, but then paused. "Wait, but if we do that, then I won't be able to meet any cute guys or girls anymore!"

"Are you saying me and Ashido aren't cute?" Ran challenged, raising an eyebrow, and Kirameki crossed her arms in an "x".

"No way! Mina-chan is the cutest! But she's not, like, girlfriend-cute?" She shrugged. "She's been my bestie forever, it feels weird to think of her that way. And like, you're not really a 'cute' type of person, you know? I mean, you're still cute in your own way, but not the kind of cute I'm into. And you don't seem like you're into that sort of stuff anyway?" She ended on a questioning note, and Ran paused to think about it.

"Not really," she decided. Maybe it was just her current set of priorities made romance seem pretty inconsequential, but she never really got into all that stuff about dating. Kirameki nodded in satisfaction.

"See? This is the peak of our youth! How can I have my great high school romance if we stay at our apartments all the time!" She clasped her hands together, the air around her sparkling. "I've spent my whole life waiting for it, that precious fated encounter with my future lover! I want to have all my dates and almost-kisses and give a boy a hand-knit scarf and all the other hallmarks of a teenage romance!"

"...You read too much shoujo manga."

"You don't read enough!"

"I don't even read manga. Anime culture is for geeks." That had Kirameki gasping, as if offended by the very notion.

"How are we friends?"

"I sit next to Ashido in class, she basically declared we were friends, and there is no stopping her once she decides that." Kirameki paused before nodding.

"Yeah, that checks out." She wavered then, her expression becoming more somber and the shoujo-manga sparkles fading. "Hey, she's okay, right? Wherever she is?"

...And now Ran was back to thinking of Present Mic in Odawara, dammit. She pushed the thought away before it could fully fester. "She's fine. This is Ashido we're talking about."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kirameki said softly. "But, do you think she'll be able to come back soon? Like, before next semester?"

That one had Ran pausing. Honestly, she didn't know. Clearly whatever Quirk swapped their Ashido with another world's had no hard time limit. While they now had some potential leads in the form of Porter, she had no idea if he'd be able to fix it once they found him. Most likely, they'd have to get involved with Pro Heroes for the six dimension jumpers to find a way home.

Ran didn't want it to last too long. Aside from how troublesome the entire situation was, she also missed Ashido. And even after they resolved it, even after their Ashido came back, Ran knew things wouldn't be able to go back to normal anymore. Too much had happened in too short a time.

She must have taken too long to answer because Kirameki slumped in her chair. "I guess not, huh," she muttered bitterly.

"It's a weird situation," Ran relented with a sigh. "There's so much going on, even I'm having trouble keeping track of it all." Given she'd spent the past couple years serving as the remote coordinator for an entire network of runaways, including a few traveling vigilantes, that was saying something. "Good news is most of the people involved seem pretty competent at least."

Ran didn't want to sugar-coat it and pretend everything would magically go back to normal, and she hated empty platitudes, so that was the best she could offer. Kirameki seemed to recognize that, because she sighed and turned back to her textbook. "Fine. Let's just get back to work, I guess." Not the best tone to end the talk on, but they did have a lot of studying to do.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and Ran was showing Kirameki how to use their graphing calculator for a certain formula when they heard the distinct click of a lock turning. They jumped in alarm at the sound and spun to face the front door just in time to see it open, but Ran quickly relaxed when she saw it was Kuroe.

He pocketed the key as he started to enter, but stopped short in the doorway as they locked eyes. "What are you doing here?" he blurted.

"School's canceled today because a pipe burst," Ran replied with a shrug, and he stared for a moment.

"...What is going on with your school this year?" he muttered before entering, and Ran snorted as he unknowingly echoed their earlier conversation. Kirameki still looked heavily alarmed at the new arrival, but seemed to be recovering now.

"Um, who's that?" she asked.

"Oh, right, you've never met," Ran mused. She'd shown Kirameki and Ashido a picture of him in the past, but it was natural to forget. "Kirameki, my brother, Meisanki Kuroe. Kuroe, Kirameki Kumiko, my friend."

Kuroe nodded at her. "You're the sparkly one, right?" Kirameki perked up a bit, flashing him a literally sparkling grin as the air around her seemed to glitter.

"Yeah, I am! Nice to meet you, Meisanki-san!"

Kuroe just hummed in acknowledgment, eying her for a moment before turning to Ran. "Anyways, can't really stick around for long, I've got a meeting after this. I was just gonna drop off that thing from your old classmate while you were at school." He pulled out a small package wrapped in tissue paper, and Ran got up from the table to take it. She could tell even without opening it that it was one of Rintaro's scales.

"Thanks," she said with a nod, carrying it to the kitchen to put on the counter until later. She could see Kirameki starting to buzz in her seat as she looked at Kuroe. They hadn't outright told her where Ashido and Kirishima had gone, but Ran knew she'd probably made the connection to Kuroe pretty fast. The fact she asked if Ashido would even remember her having a brother made that pretty obvious.

Even so, she seemed to decide against asking about Ashido and turned to Ran. "What is that?"

"A thing," she replied vaguely, and Kirameki glared at the obvious non-answer while Kuroe snorted.

"Anyways, nice seeing you, but like I said, I got a meeting so I can't stick around. I'll catch you later."

"Alright, later Kuroe," Ran replied, heading back to the table to join Kirameki while he turned to leave. Kuroe paused before opening the door though, glancing back at them.

"By the way, if your friends are planning to take over Japan, you'd tell me, right?" he asked, and both girls turned to stare at him.

"...They're not, but sure," Ran replied, faintly amused. She leaned her cheek against palm with a smirk as she added, "Do you really think a bunch of teenagers could take over Japan?"

"At this point, why not," he muttered, shaking his head. "Anyways, later." He left without another word, leaving the two girls to sit in silence before breaking out into giggles.

Outside in the hallway Kuroe quietly heaved a sigh as he locked the door and pocketed the key before heading for the stairs. The brief encounter with Ran had been unexpected, but not unpleasant. And at least he got to see that Kirameki girl. She actually seemed normal. It was kind of refreshing, and reassuring to know that his sister had some normal friends.

"Wonder what that's like," he mused quietly. Normal friends, who didn't fake their deaths and foster a grudge against Endeavor, or who didn't have a role in nearly toppling all of society in Japan. There was a reason he genuinely wouldn't be surprised if these kids started a process to overthrow Japan. Then again, Aiko was probably not the best standard to use to judge other teens.

Maybe if they'd been normal, he wouldn't be about to head to meet someone who may or may not be human and a bunch of yakzua.

Or maybe he'd be dead. That was just as likely.

Eh, whatever. This was his life now, and he'd long accepted this fact. He headed into the brisk winter chill and started for the train station, knowing better than to dawdle too long and run the risk of running late. He didn't get very far though. "Excuse me," someone called, and he immediately turned to see a guy around his age walking over.

Years of dealing with the underworld had Kuroe immediately on edge. The guy had had a casual and friendly enough demeanor, hands stuffed in his pockets, but everything else? He had clearly foreign features and wore dark clothing, which seemed normal on the surface, but paired with those heavy-duty combat boots... Yeah, this wasn't just a civilian.

"Can I help you?" he asked, turning to face the stranger fully. They were on a public street with other people around, so he probably wouldn't attack if he had ill intent.

The man just smiled pleasantly as he nodded. "Ah, yeah. You're Meisanki Kuroe, right?" Kuroe stiffened, and the man's grin widened. "Thought so. Don't worry, I'm not shady." He pulled out a hand and offered it for a handshake. "Pro Hero Oracle of Team Storm Chaser, at your service."

Alright, this was dangerous, but for completely different reasons than he originally thought. "Nice to meet you," he replied, ignoring the offered hand. Oracle seemed to pick up on his lack of intention to shake it and withdrew it.

"Sorry for calling you out so suddenly. I knew Sakakura canceled classes today so I thought about talking to your sister, and happened to see you leaving her building." Kuroe frowned, wondering how he knew Kuroe's relation to Ran, and the other man inclined his head as he added, "No, we've never met, but I ran a background check on you while investigating the runaway case, so."

Oh great, one of those types, Kuroe thought sourly. The type who'd be super-thorough about every avenue of investigation. He had a meeting to get to—"Sorry that you're in a rush, but this is pretty important," Oracle said. "If you miss the train, I could just drive you instead." So what, he'd be trapped in the car with a hero for hours? No thanks. "Fine, I'll call a taxi then."

Okay, seriously? Putting aside how it was annoying to have his questions preemptively answered, did he really think Kuroe's information would be that useful to shell out cash for a taxi? "Well, your sister did visit Ashido the night before," Oracle commented. "And she then went to visit you that same weekend." He held up a hand before Kuroe could speak as he casually said, "Yes, yes, I know that visit was planned before Ashido ran away." He lowered his hand and gave another over-telegraphed shrug. "And I'm sorry for the short notice, it really was a coincidence I saw you."

Wow, not giving Kuroe a chance to actually answer, huh? Oracle smirked, a mischievous glint in his eye as he cocked his head while making full eye contact. "And yes, my Quirk is a precognition one. Thank you for not guessing it's a telepathy one like almost everyone else I meet. You'd be amazed at how many people ignore the 'Oracle' part of the name."

By this point Kuroe's patience was growing rather thin. "Can I talk now?" he asked, which basically confirmed he could.

"Sure, go ahead," Oracle responded cheekily. "Just wanted to ask if you've seen Ashido or Kirishima."

"I have no idea where either of them are," Kuroe said flatly. Kirishima had left to who knew where, and Ashido had ended up staying out for the night with the runaways, so he didn't know her location either. Deciding to preempt some of the obvious follow-up questions he continued, "And before you ask, no, I'd never met Ran's friends before. I'd never even heard Kirishima's name until this runaway business started. Can I go now?"

"Really eager to catch that train, huh?" Oracle teased lightly. Then his face suddenly went slack with shock before he burst into laughter, catching Kuroe off-guard.

"What now?" he groaned, and the hero's laughter died down as he grinned, shoulders still shaking with suppressed snickers.

"I'm sorry, I know I look crazy. But I was just going to ask 'and what would I see if I went to your place tonight' and you just responded 'I don't swing that way' totally deadpan without missing a beat!" He barely managed to get the words out before he almost howled with laughter. "Dang, man, I've been stabbed, burned, even got a face full of acid in one vision! But never had someone joke their way past it!"

...Yep, Kuroe really had no luck meeting normal people. "I'm just going to go now and catch my train," he said, turning to walk away. "If you want to question Ran some more, she's got her friend Kirameki over too. They're studying for the final exams next week though, so might not be the best time."

"I'm sure they can make time to talk about their missing friends," Oracle responded easily. "I won't hold you up any longer. Nice talking to you, Meisanki." Kuroe just grunted, already hurrying to the train station in hopes he'd make it in time. After all, Chisaki Kai did not like to be kept waiting.

Denki sat in the coffee shop with his laptop, ready to spend the day focusing on the lectures. The workers had agreed to let him spend the day there working on his classes as long as he regularly bought drinks and snacks, so he didn't have to worry about being kicked out. Too bad that involved actually focusing on classes.

Sure, he still had to look out for Gentle Criminal and/or Tokoyami, but today studying took priority. Right now it looked like they'd be stuck in this world until after the final exams, so that meant they had to do it or else they'd screw over their counterparts. Denki already felt bad enough for everything else they'd done (like the online schooling, and getting roped even deeper with Hatsume with the vigilantism, among other things), so this was the least he could do.

Also, everyone else shot down his suggestion to just live full-time as Santos Raijin, so he really had no choice but to take the exams.

He yawned as he half-listened to the teacher drone on through a single earbud. The classes had gone purely into review mode with no new material, which made them actually optional for online students today. Alas, Jirou had tasked him to note down the topics that came up since they hadn't been around for a majority of the term. They needed to know what to focus on with Yaomomo over the weekend.

He really envied Jirou. She got to go check out the area around Nighteye's office instead of doing another day of review for their upcoming finals. Right now she should be on the train to Chiba, where he'd set up office in this world, just like Denki should be.

But no. Present Mic had somehow managed to decide a connection must exist between Anjou and Midoriya, and Denki had talked to both of them. So chances were he and other Pro Heroes had seen Denki on security footage somewhere, and would recognize him. Given Mic was now missing, seeing Denki snooping around Nighteye's office would probably raise some alarm bells.

So he was stuck here, in Hosu.

Studying.

"Totally could've done this on the train," he grumbled under his breath as he glanced out the window. Still no sign of Tokoyami or Gentle Criminal. Not many people were out since it was past rush hour. Most had already gone into their offices, and the street didn't have many shops besides the café. That just meant if they did want to spy on the buildings, it'd make sense to use the café.

...Come to think of it, would they even get anything useful from spying on the buildings all day long?

The teacher changed topics to something new on the laptop, and Denki promptly switched to paying attention, grabbing his pencil.

Five minutes later, he just felt lost and mildly panicked.

What the heck were "Mendel's laws"? And what were "Quirk alleles"? Wait, was this a genetics thing? Why were they suddenly talking about genetics? They were just talking about conservation of energy and entropy! They didn't even go over this stuff at UA yet! And what did pea plants have to do with any of this!?

As the teacher wrote on the blackboard, Denki whimpered. He honestly whimpered. This was so over his head, and he couldn't imagine passing the test.

"Hey, are you okay?" He startled at a voice and looked up to find a girl his age with neon blue hair standing by the table with a cup of coffee. "You look kinda freaked out."

"I'm absolutely not fine!" Denki confirmed with a strained smile full of panic. He probably shouldn't sound so upbeat, but his brain was in panic mode and that kinda seeped into everything else.

"That bad?" the girl asked.

"I'm listening to my teacher do a review for finals and have zero idea what he's talking about, and I'm getting even more lost by the second."

"Oof, been there, done that," she said, plopping down into the empty seat across from him. "So glad I'm out of school now!"

"Maybe I should just drop out," Denki moaned. "I'm totally gonna bomb this test."

"Guess it depends on what you want," the girl said. "Like, I totally loved elementary school, but for middle school I had to switch to online classes and that just took out all the fun. It's just so boring not being able to see your friends every day!"

"I know, right?" Denki agreed. "That's like, the best part!" That had been one of the reasons he loved UA so much. His smile faded as he added thoughtfully, "Come to think of it, I don't really have any close friends here though." His counterpart had plenty of casual friends, sure—he'd gotten a few texts over the past month and talked to a few at school—but no one close like at UA. It made things easier in the long run, but it felt a bit lonely to realize.

Apparently the girl agreed. "That sucks. Are you always online?"

"Nah, I only switched over, like, last week I think? I moved here for high school, and a lot of the kids are honestly kinda rich, and, well, I'm not." And also he got into debt with Hatsume, which seemed to be a big "avoid if you value your life and/or sanity" indicator to other students.

"It's already winter though," the girl pointed out. "You've gotta have some friends, right?"

Jirou immediately came to mind and he nodded. "Yeah, I guess..." Come to think of it, should he be saying this much to a stranger? Actually, was she a stranger? Something about her felt familiar, but he couldn't place what it was. "Hey, have we met before?"

"Nope, don't think so!" the girl replied, not missing a beat. "Not unless you're one of the 1-A Vigilantes!"

Denki jolted at that. "Wait, what?"

"They saved me from a mugging just this week!" she declared cheerfully, waving her hands energetically. "This guy was all mean and scary and going 'give me your wallet', but then they swooped in and were like, 'Wham! Kapow!' Taser Brain tazed him, and then Punk Step just hit him with this sticky stuff! It was so amazing and cool!"

As she spoke Denki abruptly recognized her as one of the people they had saved from a mugger on their last patrol. That particular fight stuck out because Denki usually tried to avoid using his Quirk while doing vigilante stuff, making it a little more memorable than others. Still, this marked the first time he'd run into one of their rescued victims outside of costume, and just like everything else, it gave him a warm feeling.

"Yeah, they're pretty awesome, aren't they?" he asked with a grin. "Probably the best thing to happen to Hosu in ages!"

"You must have tons of stories, right? I've been trying to find out anything I can on them!" She leaned forward eagerly, and Denki's grin grew.

"I know a few," he admitted lightly.

"Tell me, tell me, tell me!" the girl chanted, and her enthusiasm felt infectious.

"Okay, okay. So, you know that villain attack last week? The one with the crazy lady who attacked a street?"

As Denki began recounting their encounter with the villain from last week, he completely forgot about the ongoing lecture. Later Jirou would scold him for that, but in the moment it was just so cool to meet a fan, he couldn't help it.

(And because of his distraction, he missed the chance to see two hooded figures walk past the office buildings.

And he also missed how a few minutes later only one passed by again.)

I had to look up a bit about the Japanese curriculum to come up with stuff that would be on Kaminari's review. I did not plan to have a "they still have final exams in this other dimension" subplot when I started writing this story, but it's a thing and I am highly amused by it.

Question for next time: How would YOU try to "break" past Oracle's Quirk?