Chapter 8
[418] Boiling Over (So Someone Turn Off the Burner)
"I'm fine," Ochako growls, swatting at Tsuyu's hand.
"You're still bleeding-kero," the frog girl replies, coming back for her once again with the cotton ball dipped in hydrogen peroxide.
"And I'll keep bleeding here, until I can figure out where Stain is going next, and then I'll bleed over there while I Comet Homerun his ass into a coma," Ochako snaps back.
Tsuyu stares at her, looking ever so unimpressed with Ochako's declaration. "Don't make me get Momo to make a sedative."
"She can do that?"
"I can do a lot of things," Momo answers, strolling around the corner as a pair of latex gloves envelopes her hands. "Including process crime scenes." She lifts her blouse, displaying a brief expanse of her (enviously toned) stomach before a large black duffle bag is dispensed from her abdomen.
She drapes it over one arm as she walks into the study, no doubt to collect Ukitake.
"She just made a body bag," Ochako observes slowly.
"Just be glad she isn't putting you in one after you didn't call for backup."
Ochako whips her head back around, but flinches when she realizes Tsuyu isn't upset. She's mad. Furious at her in face if the grit of her teeth and the flex in her jaw is any indication. Furious at… at her.
"I- I'm," Ochako starts, but stalls as Tsuyu pushes one finger over her lips and silences her.
The frog girl opens her mouth, a myriad of expressions flashing across her face, before she gets up and storms out of the room. Ochako hesitates, unsure just what she should do, or even say to her to…
Well.
There's not much she really can say.
Ochako pulls her knees to her chest, curling up against the wall. She rests her chin on top of her knees, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of those around her. It's all she can do. She's already messed up, gotten tangled up in something so deadly, so lethal, Heroes were arriving on scene with body bags instead of stretchers.
"Uravity, could you come give me a hand?"
Ochako hums, slowly forcing herself to her feet, straightening out her legs and pushing herself up the wall. It's with those same heavy feet that she trudges into the study. The decapitated body is gone, the black bags stacked to one side. Momo is leaning over the desk, considering a few blood-stained documents the CFO had pulled out in the minutes before his death. She sorts them neatly into two different piles, though if there is a reason for her choice Ochako can't tell.
"What do you need?" Ochako mutters.
Creati stretched out one hand, a porcelain saucer clattered to the tabletop underneath her palm, shortly followed by a teacup.
There's a moment of pause before she reaches behind her, moving her ponytail out of the way as she produces an electric kettle. She sets it on the desk, detaching the hot plate from the kettle.
"Fill this up," Momo demands, and Ochako just stares at her.
Momo glares at her, something hard in her onyx eyes. It's something forged in darkness and quenched in blood, and Ochako doesn't have the matching mettle in her eyes to resist the command or to muster up a response.
She takes the kettle.
She carries it down the hall, past the bloodstained walls and the streaky red wooden floor. Two of the bodyguards died before assistance was rendered. Four of them are in critical condition. Three more of them will survive with major injuries. Ochako numbly steps over the bloodstains at the top of the landing and descends the steps.
She was once concerned with the tracks her dirty boots would leave on the floor, but now she doesn't bring a thought to her bloody prints as she treks across the tile to the sink. The drone of water filling the kettle floats over her, and her gaze drifts to her path.
The front door to the stairs has a trail of dirt and muddy footprints from her arrival. Yet the path between the stairs to the sink is now marked by red boot prints. Blood that didn't even belong to her. It belonged to men that lost their lives waiting for her, for a Hero to arrive.
And yet she didn't save them. She couldn't save them.
She couldn't stop Stain. She couldn't stop [.ku]. She couldn't prevent this tragedy, and yet she had all the cards to do so.
The kettle overflows and icy water splashing her cuff makes Ochako flinch. She shuts the water off, pouring out a portion of it before wiping off the kettle with a spare towel. Then it's back up the stairs, a second trail of blood following after her as she makes her way back to the study.
"Set it on the plate," Momo directs as Ochako enters the room.
She does so, and the kettle clicks before the water begins to heat up. Ochako lingers, uncertain and unsure if she now has permission to sit, or if there are more tasks for her to attend to. Like there was no doubt more meetings for this… Ukitake to go to. More scams to run, more people to meet, more Heroes to manipulate, lives to ruin more-
"Do you have a preference?" Momo breaks Ochako out of her thoughts, dangling the different tea types in front of her face.
Ochako startles, blinking a few times before plucking one of the bags at random from her hand.
"Berry it is," Momo concedes, dropping the bag into the teacup and pouring her a cup. "Count to sixty twice and it'll be ready."
Ochako frowns, knowing full and well that Momo could just make a timer, but instead she takes the tea set in her hands and starts counting.
When she gets to fifteen Momo steps away and starts going through Ukitake's papers again. When she gets to thirty Momo clarifies and asks her to count out loud. With another huff, and because Momo is stern and scary when she's in a mood, Ochako complies.
"Forty seven… forty eight…" Ochako grumbles as Momo packs a few pages away, takes a few pictures with a camera.
"Sixty two… sixty three…"
"Close your eyes, Ochako," Momo recommends, walking past her and rubbing her back. It's a gentle gesture, and it's supposed to be soothing.
It's not quite soothing, but it's not uncomfortable either. Ochako snaps her eyelids closed, focusing on the image of the numbers instead of the memory of blood on the floor and gore soaking into the carpet and –
"Out loud, Ochako," Momo reminds her as she walks about the room.
"Seventy th-th-three."
"Thank you."
The study door clicks open and closed. The heat of the tea has finally saturated through the walls of the cup and is warming the bones in her hands. It feels like heaven, defrosting the chilly ache that's settled into the joints. She can smell the scent of berries in the blend, sweet and fruity.
"Ninety-four… ninety-five."
Momo's phone clicks and vibrates on the decks next to her, but before Ochako can crack an eye open to check the screen she's already scooped it up and is texting the individual back. She huffs, shoving the device into a pocket before muttering, "The nerve of that asshole…"
"Who?"
"I said count, woman," Momo snips back at her, and Ochako dutifully replies by starting at one-hundred and three. Which…
"Didn't I say sixty twice? Not one hundred twenty?"
Ochako cracks an eye open to find Momo staring at her from across the room, a light frown on her face as she considers her.
"I'm an overachiever?" Ochako suggests slowly.
Momo hums, and Ochako resumes counting, focusing on the next number and the next number and not tripping over her own tongue. One number rolls into the next, and the numbers mask the noise of Momo sorting through the crime scene and her preliminary processing. When she finishes and plucks the teabag out of her cup, Momo is ready, sliding a trashcan over towards her as she tucks a set of plastic bags into a briefcase.
"Feel better?" She asks, zipping it up and hoisting it up onto the desk.
"I… I think so?" Ochako isn't sure, and so she takes a slow sip of tea while she considers.
"You just needed time to calm down, not think. Just be." Momo takes a seat on the corner of the desk, crossing her legs as she rests her hands on her knee.
She's wearing a neat black pencil skirt with a cute red top, and it's a look Ochako wishes she could pull off. But where Momo's legs were long and elegant, she felt like her own were thick. Ochako purses her lips, tucking the feeling back away in the recess of her mind.
Momo flashes her a smile. "Tsu is just worried about you. That's why she's mad."
"It was my choice to charge in," Ochako defends. "I should have waited for backup, but I didn't because I felt like someone's life was in danger." She toys with the cup in her hands, rotating the saucer around under the cup. She taps it with five fingers, keeping it balanced underneath the cup with slow shifts and positioning.
"And you were right to choose that. But this is Stain. The Hero Killer. [.ku] made a poor choice in making him a tool, and I'm sure he's already working on some solution for that, but it doesn't change the fact that we knew he would be here, and you weren't prepared. We sent you out alone," Momo replies. Her expression is tight when she finishes, a look of regret in her eyes.
And Ochako can't help but feel like there's a story there. Some other tragedy that occurred to break and shatter her and maybe even others in her Hero'ing class.
Some hidden reason for a fear that shouldn't be there in a Hero so young.
Like why Tsuyu always flinches when hands get near her face.
Why Momo doesn't like making anything electronic because it might mess with her pacemaker.
Why GrapeJuice didn't like nautical missions.
Ochako nods slowly, bowing her head. "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to worry you and Tsu."
Momo sighs, shaking her head and getting up. "Just…" She hesitates, her back to Ochako as her fingers skim the desktop. "There are few Heroes right now that know what it's like to lose someone close to them… But my class… my friends… we know exactly what that feels like… in every different way."
There's a flicker of light as a drop of water catches the light. But then Momo wipes her face and combs her fingers through her hair.
"It's just something to think about. Another reason to be careful when you're out there on the field." She gives Ochako a smile. "We care about you Ochako. So please. Please be safe."
"I… I will."
Ochako stumbles out of the house a few minutes later, still carrying the teacup Momo made for her, and still feeling a little dazed as she walks down the stone path to the front gate. It's a bit odd to exit the estate through the door when she entered by soaring over the wall. It's even more odd to consider her mood when doing so. She was so sure she'd be able to get there before Stain or [.ku] did.
And yet all she got was blood on her hands.
And something else to keep her up at night.
"You know, you staring off into space makes it really obvious you're contemplating life and why you're living it. Right- Kero?"
Ochako jolts slightly, glancing around the courtyard to find Tsu. Only for the frog girl to hop down from the top of the wall, landing in a squat next to her with a huff.
"You know we're not mad with you-kero. We're just… worried." Tsuyu explained, straightening up.
Ochako nods, huffing lightly before answering. "I know. I'm just… thinking."
"Thinking isn't always a good thing when it's about things you can't change-kero," Tsuyu offers casually. She takes the tea set from Ochako's hands, gingerly placing it on the ground by the door. "How do you feel about going and getting cake or something?"
"Uhhh." Ochako frowned, trying to remember her account balance off the top of her head. She paid rent last week, mailed her water bill today, and the electrical bill was due…. Next… week? "I-I dunno." She started as Tsuyu took her hand, pulling her down the street.
"Good. There's a coffee house around the corner that serves a mad cheesecake."
Ochako stumbles after Tsuyu, unsure where they were going or what the purpose was. Nevertheless, she follows the frog girl down the street, a bit in a daze as they walk much more than a block and Tsuyu unceremoniously shoves her into a booth as soon as they walk in.
"You like cookies and cream cheesecake, right?" Tsuyu asks, and Ochako nods as she stares at the woman.
She leaves her in the booth, walking up to the counter and ordering. It takes a flash of green hair in the back of the store for her to realize where she's at, to realize it's the same coffee shop Detective Tsukauchi took her to.
She didn't realize it sold sweets. Oops.
Tsuyu waits by the counter, talking with a brown-haired barista for a time until her drink is served, and a platter is handed to her. She walks back, handing the plate over to Ochako as she sits down with a cup of something hot. She hums as she sips it, smiling faintly at the flavor or the warmth.
"So," Tsuyu finally broaches once Ochako's picked up a proffered fork.
Ochako hums back in response, idly picking at the cookie crumbs on the top of the cheesecake slice.
"I'm sorry," she finally says, digging the fork in and carving out a bite of the soft cream cheese.
"Kero?"
Ochako frowns, giving Tsuyu a look before shoving the bite of cake into her mouth. She chews it, maintaining the glare before huffing and swallowing.
"Charging ahead…" She mutters. "I… I should have assumed that .ku would have something like a jammer in place, and I was… I am… lucky to have gotten out of it…"
"You're safe-kero," Tsuyu says, and Ochako shrugs her shoulders and doesn't know what to respond with. So Tsuyu carries the conversation. "You made a mistake. You got heated, you got invested, and you overlooked your own safety-kero. That's…" Tsuyu mulls over her next words with a sip of coffee and by drumming her fingers on the table for a moment.
Ochako takes a bite of her cheesecake. It's actually really good, quite creamy. But it still feels like lead on her tongue and a brick in her stomach. The fact that there's a very smooth saxophone playing in the background does not enhance the flavor.
"We had… some tragedies, when I was going through UA," Tsuyu finally says, "by now, Momo's told you about her pacemaker-kero. Iida made the news, and that ties into Stain. Kaminari wasn't ever the same after that…" Tsuyu flinches, wrapping her arms around herself, fingers tracing idle circles on her shoulders. "That whole incident weighed on all of us." Her voice slides off her lips like a whisper. Quiet and scared.
Something is there.
In the way she flinches at open hands near her face. In the way she doesn't like being startled.
In the way it's close to Yaomomo's… own… event…
But Ochako doesn't know even about either of them to do anything but listen.
"Kero." Tsuyu mutters softly what Ochako thought was a quirk-side effect. Repeating the noise slowly to herself as she rubs her shoulders in a soothing gesture.
Ochako sets the fork down, offering her hand, palm down on the table to her. Tsuyu hesitates, eyes weighing on the slowly approaching hand.
"I watched one of my friends turn into dust before my eyes," Tsuyu finally says. "Me, Mineta and…" She chokes up, like the name is too much to bear. "She ended up with us on a ship in the USJ and…" She trails off suddenly, fingers drumming on the table before she sighs and says, "I learned that Shigiraki's Quirk was Decay from a front row seat, and that image has stuck with me ever since-kero." She suddenly looks up, staring at Ochako with tears in her eyes and a grit in her jaw. "He was coming for me." She whispers.
"Shigiraki was coming for me." It's a silent scream, a plea for Ochako to understand that it was Tsuyu that was supposed to have… have… "We didn't even see her." Tsuyu shakes her head, wiping the tears in her eyes away with the back of her hand.
There's a fragment of a laugh and a flicker of a smile on her lips. "Her Quirk was invisibility, you know? So I didn't even… She didn't… She just… I…" She flails with her hands, and Ochako's glad she set her coffee down a bit ago, else they'd be covered in it. "She was just t-th-there-kero."
"It's okay," Ochako whispers, finally reaching across the table and slowly taking Tsuyu's hand. She squeezes it, and Tsuyu squeezes back. "I'm not… I'm not going anywhere."
"But you could have- kero." Tsuyu says sharply. "You could have been the one on the floor. You could have been the one without a…" She swallows thickly, like there's a frog in her throat, before saying, "I can't deal with seeing another one of my friends dying-kero. I can't do that Ochako-kero."
"I- I'm not going anywhere," Ochako assured, doing her best to manifest a smile on her lips to soothe her friend.
"I'm… I'm sorry- kero." Tsuyu mumbles, "this wasn't supposed to be about me. You're the one that saw… and yet I'm the one…" She sniffles, pressing her palms into her face to try and mush the tears back into her eye sockets. "Are- are you okay?"
Ochako swallows, picking up her fork again to pick at her cheesecake. "I don't… I don't know," she finally says. "I'm just…" She huffs, stabbing the middle of the slice and twirling it around to scoop out the middle.
"I'm mad," Ochako finally settles on the emotion. "I'm mad at .ku for doing this. I'm mad at Stain for killing that man. I'm mad that he couldn't be brought to justice the right way. I'm mad that .ku even has a platform to stand on with this… this corruption crap. I'm just…" She angrily takes a bite, mushing the cake around with her tongue before swallowing. "I'm mad that he's right about us not being able to fix it, and that these… these scumbags are muddying up what it means to be a Hero, or to work for the people."
Tsuyu hums her acknowledgement, wrapping her hands around her coffee.
"I just…" Ochako growls, cutting a slice off the cheesecake and considering it. Her anger boils out of her a moment later, clarity and recollection numbing the heat of rage with the chill of loss and defeat. "He let a murderer out." She mutters. ".ku release the Hero Killer." She looks to Tsuyu for answers, knowing neither of them have one. "What did he expect to happen? Releasing something like that?" Ochako shivers, recalling the way the man moved, walked, the way his tongue dragged across the jagged blade of his katana.
Another shiver accompanies the first, and Ochako soothes herself with a healthy bite of creamy desert.
"Do you want a refill?"
Both girls jerk slightly, caught up in their conversation and unaware of the intrusion of the barista.
It's not the brown haired one that took Tsuyu's order, but Midoriya. He's wearing a matching green sweater, the sleeves touching at the back of his hands, and his brown slacks match it well, but there's a look in his eyes, partially hidden behind the frame of his glasses, that makes her realize he chose to approach them.
"I'm alright," Tsuyu replies, "thank you."
"It's on the house." Midoriya doesn't pull back his hand, and there's something reluctant in his expression, something like a grimace on his lips. "You both look like you had a hell of a day."
Ochako huffs but flashes him a smile she doesn't feel. "The price of being a Hero."
Midoriya hums, a comment stewing on his lips no doubt, but he retreats when Tsuyu hands him her coffee.
They both watch him retreat, meandering behind the counter for a moment as he fills a new cup. They watch him for a few more moments as he produces a second cup of coffee.
"He's actually kind of cute," Tsuyu mutters.
Ochako's head snaps back to her, eyes wide as she stares at him. "Do what?"
Tsuyu shrugs, flashing Midoriya a smile as he hands her back her coffee. "Thanks, Midoriya."
"Anytime, Froppy." Midoriya replies. He hesitates, then considers Ochako for a moment. "Where's your… phone?"
"Broke it," Ochako mumbles, taking another slice of cheesecake and shoving it in her mouth to prevent any other explanation.
There's an awkward silence between the three of them, in which Midoriya definitely should have left. And yet he stays, staring at her until she swallows.
"Did you not buy another one?"
"No?" Another bite.
"What about a company replacement?"
Silence, until Ochako swallows and then, "I didn't want to ask."
Tsuyu hums, pulling out her own phone and rattling off a text before setting it on the counter. She winks at Ochako, and a surge of fear crosses through Ochako's heart at the idea Tsuyu just informed Ryukyu she doesn't have a phone.
"Please tell me you didn't."
Tsuyu shrugs, giving her a devious smile as she takes a sip of her new coffee.
"Tsuyu, please," Ochako whines. "I was going to get it fixed, and it wasn't going to be an issue. We do comms on missions anyway. I don't need the phone."
"You love that phone."
"And I'll get it fixed." Ochako responded.
"How'd you break it?" Midoriya jumps into the conversation again, and Ochako purses her lips.
"Intense conversation."
"She threw it against the wall."
Midoriya hums his response, clicking his tongue before, "Sorry about that." It's an odd comment, but one they both dismiss when he goes, "I might be able to fix it, if you… if the wall…" he corrects with a smile, "didn't break the main board."
Ochako hums noncommittally, but shrugs her shoulders and responds with, "I'll think about it." She won't be able to fix it on her own, and the offer isn't unwelcome considering he's already offered to fix the screen. "I might drop it off later to get fixed if you'll be on shift."
Midoriya shrugs. "If I'm not at school, then I'm working here. You're more likely to meet me than miss me." He saunters away then, waving vaguely back at them. "Let me know if you need anything else today."
He retreats to behind the counter, his laptop making an appearance on the bar top before he's focusing on the screen, fingers rapidly clattering across the keys as he works.
Tsuyu hums, breaking Ochako's focus as she stares at her.
"What?"
"Interested in him?"
Ochako feels the heat rush across her face, and instead of answering she takes another bite.
"He's our age, you know." Tsuyu furthers.
Ochako chokes on her cheesecake, gagging before forcing it down. She coughs, blinking rapidly as she fixes Tsuyu with a look. The frog girl shamelessly shrugs her shoulders, like there is nothing wrong with her suggestion.
"He's cute."
"We are not having this conversation. We just got off a crime scene. We are not about to discuss a cute barista!" Ochako hisses back.
"So you admit he's cute." Tsuyu gives her a sultry smirk.
Ochako's jaw hangs open, words on the tip of her tongue as she looks from Tsuyu to the boy- man- in question.
He is cute. Tsuyu isn't wrong on that count. He's lean and thin, but if the casual way he rushes about the coffee front and she's never seen him out of breath, he's at least not out-of-shape. She wonders if he's a runner. His eyes flick up from the computer screen and lock with hers. It's a bit startling, but she supposes that she has been staring.
He gives her a faint smile, and then returns his gaze to the screen.
"I'm a Hero, he's a barista," Ochako reaffirms, huffing out a breath. "We're on two different schedules, and he's taking classes. He's always busy and I have enough on my plate without a relationship. We'd never see each other, and you know it." Ochako defends.
And it rolls off her tongue like liquid silver, the line practiced dozens and dozens of times in one variation or another. She's a Hero, she doesn't have time to date. She doesn't have time to focus on herself, she's supposed to be protecting lives and making sure people are safe from villainy and stopping people from harm.
Tsuyu stands, picking up her coffee, and Ochako realizes that she's finished off her cheesecake somewhere in her delay tactics. Which is unfortunate because it means she's tasted a grand total of none of it in the anxiety induced eating.
Damn.
She was sure it was delicious too, based on the sweet aftertaste lingering in her mouth.
"Feeling better?" Tsuyu asks as they walk out the door.
Ochako shrugs, glancing up at the sky, which is cloudy but still bright. The sun hasn't quite started to set, and it's odd to consider the emotional state she was in before. Frantic and deranged even, whereas now she's almost… melancholy.
"I guess." Ochako shrugs. "What's on our agenda for today, partner?"
"Finish up our patrol, head back, do paperwork, get everything in order, submit a requisition to Momo for a new cell for you." Tsuyu smirks at her and Ochako groans. "And call it a day. Anymore and I think you'd explode."
Ochako nods, kicking her feet at the sidewalk for a moment before nodding. "Alright. Lets… let's do it."
Keep calm. Get through the rest of the day. Regroup and reset after a good night's sleep. She could do that. She can do that. She… she will do that.
She's a Hero. A Hero that has been tested and tried and she can handle it, maybe not alone, but that's what friends are for. Ochako smiles at the thought, the feel of that word on the tip of her tongue.
Friend.
It's been a while since she's had any of those, especially good ones that care and make her tea or take her out for deserts.
He fucked up.
[.ku] combs his fingers through his hair, gritting his teeth as he paces about his room.
"Damn it. I shouldn't have trusted him to-" He shakes his head, ruffling his hair back into its original style. There's no point in crying over faulty code. He simply needed to readjust, counter Stain's tendencies, and fix his faults.
[.ku] took a calming breath, cracking his fingers and shaking them out as the window behind him slid open.
"You're playing a dangerous game," [.ku] warns the intruder, even as he feels the jagged blade drop onto his shoulder.
There's a potent pause, neither party moving before [.ku] steps away, and Stain allows him to.
The katana flips back around, sheathing quietly as Stain follows him to the computer humming in the corner.
"You cannot stop me from testing false Heroes, not when you yourself admit that the system is corrupt," Stain mutters, leaning over the screen as [.ku] tabs out of a folder, printing out something else.
The printer hums to life, spitting ink onto paper as it compiles the file- Stain's next target- into a hard copy version for [.ku]'s tentative ally.
"I'm not, I'm asking you to complete specific jobs clean, because the targets we're going after can't be lauded as martyrs, and they can't be commemorated as sacrifices for your capture," [.ku] huffs, shaking his head as he gets up.
"Vermin and villains will cling to the shreds of their identity regardless of how swiftly you strip the carcass of meat." Stain offers the metaphor casually into their conversation, and [.ku] simply gives him a look as he turns over the packet.
"Stay away from Uravity."
Stain cocks one eyebrow at him, his tongue dipping out of his mouth slightly to lick his lips. "A true Hero will chase a villain. Regardless of what their handler says."
[.ku] hums, pulling something off the desk and handing it over. "Your new earpiece, since you lost the first one. Same features as the last, one-way Hero comms, police and emergency responders. I'll be keyed into it."
Stain hums, grumbling softly as he takes it, shoving it back into his ear. [.ku] watches him, waiting for a moment before nodding and turning back to the screen.
"I'll be watching."
"So will she," Stain replies, and when [.ku] turns to consider the Hero Killer, the man has fixed him with a stern look. "And if she's a true Hero, neither of us will be found anywhere but Tartarus when this case closes."
{.ku] clicks his tongue, considering before shrugging. "I think correcting the Hero system is a little bit more important than the life of a Quirkless good-for-nothing and a mass murderer."
"Every life is the same to a true Hero." There's a sudden pause, then a shrug. "But most of those died when All-Might did." Stain leaves the conversation at that, diving through the window before [.ku] can respond.
The hacker is left with the words, weighing heavy on his mind, and a question on what he expects to find at the end of this track. It certainly wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel.