{NOW}
"This won't do," Aoku Shigaraki mutters to himself as he tries to rub the blood off from his collar.
He looks back at the pulp of flesh on the ground and frowns when he notices that he is standing on top of a pool of blood.
More than that, his silver hair is a mess. It is sticking out from his head more than usual when he checks himself through the broken panes of the window.
Ever since Spring, Aoku always tries to tame his hair into sleekness. Something different that he wanted to try for a change in his monotonous villainous lifestyle.
Now, he is late.
He knows he is late but he seems to have various reasons to delay the inevitable meeting again.
How long has it been since then? He thinks to himself as he shoots out through the broken window and flies away from the scene of the crime. Seven Months since I last saw Her. Seven months since I last visited the coffee shop.
Aoku remembers the day as if it was yesterday when the girl was very open about herself and had not hesitated to share information with a complete stranger.
{THEN}
"I dropped out of College. Fortunately, I was able to secure a job at a local library around here," the girl prattles on with a beatific smile while Aoku pretends to be interested in the book he is reading.
He knows that he is being rude by opening a book while the girl talks his ear off but he can't help himself, the girl is something else entirely.
She is nothing but persistent. And she seems painstakingly naive too to be providing him information without much prompting.
"It also happens to be the library next to the Orphanage, where I grew up," the girl provides without batting an eye.
"You were an orphan?" Aoku can't help but ask in obvious surprise.
"I grew up without any parents. No one wanted to adopt me too because I was old when I came into the Orphanage," the girl says with a shrug. "Once I am of age, I had to find work and try to support myself on my own."
"Have you considered becoming a Hero to help with your situation? There is a program where you -"
"I never aspire to become a hero," the girl cuts in swiftly before Aoku could finish. "It turns out that my quirk is far too weak and useless for anything other than move books from bookshelf to bookshelf,"
By this point, Aoku somehow has lost interest in his book and has turned his full attention on the girl seated across from him.
"You know…" He starts to say while his eyes narrowed into slits. "I find it strange that you are telling me all of this, especially your past and your current living condition. Are you quite certain that you have not heard of me at all? Or are you here because you wanted - "
"I can assure you that I don't have any motive in telling you all of this," the girl interrupted him once more with an amused smile that says otherwise. "Other than perhaps get to know you more. So consider it more of an exchange of information…. It's also been a while since I've talked to someone of your stature."
"Someone of my stature? And exchange of information?" He raises a brow at the terms, "You are sounding more and more...questionable by the moment. Who do you work for exactly?"
Strangely enough. Aoku hears the girl say as she shakes her head in an almost disparaging way. "Ugh, having a proper human conversation, especially of the opposite sex, seems to elude me…"
"I beg your pardon?" He asks.
"Sorry. I was talking to myself." the girl explains. "Will you think it strange that you are the first man that I ever spoke to in such a way?"
"In what way?" He is clearly puzzled but he does not show it to the strange girl.
"You know in such a...flirtatious way."
"You call this flirtatious?" Aoku is terribly aghast. Stupefied in fact that the girl even dares to voice out the question out loud.
"Well, what do you call it then?" the girl says, her emerald eyes openly curious.
"If you want my honest opinion, I would prefer to call it unnecessarily talkative," He tells the girl, who simply tilts her head to the side like a little bird. "Talking about yourself doesn't also mean that I am willing to give up information about myself in return. So you should be very careful what you say to a stranger."
"Well, I am not sorry for telling you all of this," the girl says dismissively, completely untroubled by his advice. "In fact, here is my number where you can contact me wherever you want."
"Your number?"
"Yes, my phone number where you can reach me whenever you need company or feel lonely..."
"Me? Lonely?" Aoku says chuckling at the absurdity of the situation. "Why do you think like I am in need of company?"
"Let's just say that I know enough about you to learn that you need someone to talk to," the girl informs him with a knowing look that causes Aoku to freeze.
The look she gives him suddenly feels like she knows something about him that he doesn't.
He doesn't say anything else after that, except accept the scrap of paper where the girl wrote her number.
{NOW}
That was seven months ago.
Seven months wherein Aoku Shigaraki spent his time trying to forget the scrap of paper with the girl's number on it, which he now carried with him wherever he went.
It had also taken months for him to use his resources and find out more about the girl, where he even ordered his men to watch over her while he was busy trying to forget she existed.
Now, he was ready to go back to the coffee shop and speak to her again because he just couldn't resist the siren's call.
Those emerald eyes of hers and her beautiful smile had simply captivated him.
It haunted him.
He just couldn't resist being drawn to her yet again.