Miyu wanted to stay with Garou longer, but he said he had things to do. She never knew what he did when they were apart, but she knew he would come back at the end of the day. That seemed to be the routine they fell into. Not that she minded; she never really had friends before Garou. So having him around always made her feel a little better.
Though, she noticed lately that things were kind of different. She used to be able to look him in the eye and talk to him without feeling that weird, fluttery sensation in her stomach and chest. Sometimes, it felt like her words were getting caught in her throat or like she was having trouble keeping her breathing normal.
It's only around him, she thought with a frown. Why? Is it…something to do with me becoming more monster-like? Or is it something else?
Her phone's ringtone snapped her out of her thoughts and she dug her phone out of her pocket. She leaned against the cold, hard wall within the alley she had been walking through and answered. "Usagi speaking."
"I ran into some issues." Sonic's voice greeted her smoothly, without an introduction. "I'll be gone for a few more days. You haven't had any problems, have you? If you know what's good for you, you've been staying inside."
Miyu looked down at her clawed left hand. "…right…"
"I upgraded your hotel room so you would be comfortable with staying indoors. I thought it would be better than the shabby little room you were in before," he continued.
She flexed her fingers, tilting her head at how the sunlight glinted off her sharp nails. "It's…nice. But you didn't have to do that-"
"We needed more room either way." There was a pause and when he spoke again, Miyu could imagine to grin on his face. "Now that I made my feelings clear, I don't have to hide anymore. So I'm going to make myself comfortable. Of course, I'll still just take the couch. But I won't be disappearing when your back's turned anymore."
Does he know what would happen…if I went full monster? He knows why I'm like this. He knew how to delay the transformation and he knew where to go to try to find a cure. Does he know what's going to happen to me if I finish turning? How much does he really know about this?
The girl blinked slowly and tightened her grip on her phone. While she was thinking, Sonic was still talking. Finally, he went silent and she spoke again. "What if I…want to be a monster?"
"You don't."
"What if I do? What if I would be better off as a monster?" She kept her voice quiet to avoid risking drawing attention, but her heart was starting to hammer in her chest. "What if I would be happier-?"
"You wouldn't be. I'm not going to argue with you about this right now, Miyu. You'll just have to take my word for it. You don't want to finish turning into a monster. Besides, wasn't it your dream to be a hero? How will you do that if you're a monster? That would go against everything the Hero Association wants heroes to stand for, wouldn't it? Just trust me. Stay in the apartment. I'll be back soon with the cure."
The wind howled through the alley, blowing her pink hair into disarray. With the call over, she pushed her phone into her pocket and looked down at the ground. But why do heroes have to take down monsters? What if they just need help and that's why they're so close to normal people? What if their brains are just…damaged from the change? So they don't know what they're doing.
She navigated to the ghost town easily, as if she was being directed by her instincts. Standing in front of the door to the apartment, she hesitated to knock. Worrying she might be bothering him, but needing someone to talk to. Sonic was so dead-set on keeping her from becoming a monster and Garou was all for her finishing the transformation. She wanted an unbiased friend's opinion.
When she finally gained the courage to knock, Miyu heard Saitama call that the door was unlocked. She tugged up the hood of her fluffy black jacket, feeling self-conscious about her ears, and went inside. "Um…s-sorry to bother you, but I just…I needed someone to talk to about something."
Miyu slipped off her shoes and proceeded into the main room, frowning. The bald hero was lounging on his futon with a manga in his hands and when he saw her, he pushed himself to sit up. His face was always pretty deadpan, but it was clear he was vaguely concerned about what he was looking at. She sat at the table nearby and slowly slid her hood off. "I…I messed up," she mumbled.
"What? It's not that ba-! What happened to your eye?" He leaned close and when she tried to pull back, he grabbed her chin. "Wow. Both eyes now, huh?"
"Both-?" Her words died on her lips when she remembered; Garou struck the right side of her face during their sparring match. She remembered how everything got distorted on that side of her vision and how it turned red. "Both eyes. This is…just great." She slouched and looked away from him.
"But they match now, right?" He said this as if it would somehow make her feel better. Then his eyes went to the short claws on her hands and the fangs that were showing in her mouth.
She listened closely to make sure they were the only ones in the apartment. The last thing she wanted at the moment was to see Genos. "Saitama-san, I'm turning into a monster."
He looked unimpressed, but that came as no surprise. "I already knew that."
"I almost hurt my friend today." Miyu pulled back and slouched a little more, chewing at her lower lip. It was strange; the feeling of soft flesh under her fangs made her feel comforted, somehow. "We were sparring and..." She ended up telling him about the sparring session and spared no detail. Knowing that he was not going to judge her.
When she finally finished, he just tilted his head and his eyebrows raised a tiny bit. "Sounds like you're getting pretty tough."
"But that's not the point! I could've really hurt him!"
"Yeah, but you didn't."
"But I could've-!"
"What could've happened doesn't really matter, right? I mean, even if you do end up going full monster, as long as you don't hurt anybody then it's not a problem, is it?" The way he said it was so simple, but he made a good point. "When Genos comes back, we're going to spar. Do you want to go with us?"
She honestly had nothing else to do so she just nodded. Miyu fidgeted with the monster egg in her pocket as Saitama put on the news. Should I ask him about this egg? He probably doesn't know anything about it, though. He doesn't seem to know much about monsters. But what he's right…right? As long as I have my humanity, it shouldn't matter if I look like a monster. As long as I don't hurt people.
"So does your friend know you like him?"
Miyu jolted and turned her head quickly to look at Saitama. "Wh-what do you mean? Like as in "like" like? It isn't like that! I don't…think it's like that. I've…never really liked someone like that before so I don't know what's it like, but…like…"
"How many times did you say "like" just now?" He quirked an eyebrow and put on that weird, kind of dopey smile he sometimes wore. Resting a hand on her shoulder and leaning closer. "You obviously like him. I could tell right away when you started talking about him. Your face was pretty much the same color as your hair. So do you think he knows you like him?"
"Er…h-hang on. So, um, so liking someone. Does that feel like…all fluttery and warm? Is that what it feels like?" she questioned. Not sure if Saitama had ever had a crush on anyone in his life because, while he was insanely powerful, he also came across as not very self-aware.
Saitama's eyes narrowed and his expression shifted. That normally deadpan face was gone and replaced with unexpected intensity. "Listen, Miyu. Everyone gets crushes and sometimes you get a crush when you're in junior high and you confess your feelings. But she says she isn't allowed to date until high school so you feel bad, but you tell yourself you'll just wait and ask her out in high school. Then the next day she's holding hands with that jerk on the soccer team and all of her friends are congratulating her for being brave enough to ask him out."
"Um…Saitama-san?" She could feel him squeezing her shoulder tightly.
"Liking someone makes you feel fluttery. It's better to go it than to wait around and be disappointed in yourself," he finished. His free hand lifted and he gave her a thumbs up. "So I say go for it. Besides, you're pretty cute. And you're getting stronger. You have a lot going for you."
The apartment door clicked open and footsteps approached the main room, along with the rustle of plastic shopping bags. Genos stopped just a few steps into the room and glared down at Miyu when she looked at him over her shoulder. "Master Saitama, why is she here?"
The bald hero rubbed the back of his head, his serious expression gone and replaced by that blank look again. "Come on, Genos. You should be friendlier. Aren't you around the same age?"
"I have no intention of being friends with someone that defends monsters. Pink Bunny lost any amount of respect I might have had for her when she got between me and the egg-laying monster."
"You're just mad that she pushed you, right?" It almost sounded like Saitama was teasing him and the weird mini half smile definitely did not help matters. "Come on. Maybe you two just need to shake hands."
"I am not going to shake her hand."
"I…don't want to shake hands with him," Miyu confessed. She tucked both hands into her pockets to hide her claws from the cyborg's penetrating gaze.
Genos took a step closer and narrowed his gold and black eyes. "You let the monster escape. I was unable to locate it again so it could be anywhere in the city, laying more of those eggs. The city could be overrun with them and we will be forced to collect all of them again for disposal. If you thought-"
"Oh. Another egg hunt? I'm game. What do you think, Miyu? Want to help us look for monster eggs?" Saitama drew her attention from Genos and his expression was unreadable.
Miyu gritted her teeth, but nodded. "Fine."
"Master Saitama, we planned to spar today. The hunt can be done on a different day. You promised that we would spar and you would test my progress since my training began," Genos argued.
"Yeah, but this sounds cooler." He stood and stretched a little, letting out a yawn. "Right. Let's go."
"I need to put the groceries away before we leave." The cyborg looked down at Miyu again before he disappeared into the kitchen.
She stood and nervously glanced at Saitama. "Um…I might have a problem." The girl nodded toward the fluffy, pink rabbit tail protruding from the back of her pants. Her hoodie stopped just short of it so it was on full display.
"Oh. You want to cover that up? Are you sure?" He could see how anxious she was so he decided not to push her. Walking over to a laundry basket, he dug around in the clean laundry and pulled out a red and white hoodie with what looked like a yellow design on the front. "Here. This will probably cover it."
Miyu held the hoodie in her hands and blood rushed to her cheeks. The blush spread across her face and she felt her stomach tighten. "Y-you don't have anything else?" She glanced over and saw him tilting his head.
"What's up? It's the only clean hoodie I have. I don't know if my t-shirts would be long enough."
She looked at the yellow design again and tried to decide if wearing a shirt that said "oppai" would be worse than being seen with a fluffy pink cottontail. If anything, the shirt was unfortunately better; she could at least use the excuse that she was borrowing it from someone. Miyu took off her fluffy black hoodie and replaced it with Saitama's.
He gave her a thumbs up, but something about his expression made it seem like he was tempted to laugh. "So are you going to tell your friend how you feel?"
Miyu was tucking her long pink hair into the hood and paused, frowning. "I don't know. It just…seems embarrassing." She lowered her head as she pulled up the hood. "More embarrassing than this hoodie," she muttered.
"What? No way. It's my best one." The hero half-smiled and set a hand on the top of her head. "I say you should go for it and tell him how you feel. If you don't, you might feel regrets later, right? Does he know about you being half-monster?"
"Yeah. And he…actually likes it. He said he likes me the way I am and that I shouldn't change just because people wouldn't want a monster for a hero." Saying it made her pulse quicken and the blush on her cheeks deepened to red.
"He sounds pretty okay."
She was unsure if that was meant to be a compliment or not so she gave him a nod and tucked her hands into her pockets. Should I tell Garou that I think I like him? What if he doesn't like me, though? What if I make things awkward and he doesn't want to be around me anymore? And…what about Sonic? He said he likes me, but I don't even know him that well. Even if he knows a lot about me. What should I do?