Chapter 4

Carry On, Young Man

Deku stirred awake to the sun beaming in through the window, filtered by the curtain. It was extremely weird not to have anywhere in particular to go – he had a vague idea of what to do based on a very long conversation with Mr. Aizawa the day before, and his own ideas about his responsibilities here. It was overwhelming, but he had to just take it a little bit at a time.

If Leto didn't come for him, he needed to find scientists he could trust to reveal what had happened. That would take extreme caution, and a lot of time to really trust them. In the short term, he needed to settle on smaller things to do. He wanted to increase his knowledge of this world, to gather as much information as he could for the fight against All For One and for the return home, if he did go home.

Mr. Aizawa didn't know the vow he'd made, so Deku had had to filter his feedback through that lens.

Today, he was taking it slow. He was going to go to the Society for the Defense of Metahuman Rights and see if there was anything he could do. But he wouldn't do that until he would be out of school, to avoid raising suspicions.

Until then, he would see if he could check anything else off his list.

He wanted to see his little sister, even if he couldn't say anything to her or let her see him. He just wanted to see her, know what she was like. He wanted to find out if Toshinori Yagi existed here, he wanted to check on his friends. He was going to try to reach out to Leto's counterpart, if she had one.

After working out at the hotel's gym (it was minimal, but he could at least get some weight training in) he decided to take his first chance with Leto. He used the hotel's computer, checking frequently no one was looking over his shoulder.

When he searched her name, everything came up in Greek. Not just in Greek, but in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of course – he should have known. He clicked a few of the social media results, but none of them had her picture. Well. That was going to be tougher than he thought, but he'd figure it out. He could narrow it down by university, he'd just have to figure out which universities had physics programs, and those were most likely.

It took some doing, but by the end of the day, before Deku headed out to the Society's office, he found a lab website which had a picture of the staff. Leto was there, and after a few more clicks, he was able to send her an E-mail. He didn't start with the full story, she'd think he was an insane person. He wrote in his best English, saying he'd seen something about her research and thought it was cool and just wanted to ask a few questions about wormholes.

And then, he got the address for the nearest SDMR office from the same computer, which he felt he'd hogged for long enough at this point, and headed off.

The building he sought was a solid brick building, nestled between two office buildings across from a pretty park. There were worse places to put a building like that.

He made his way to the door. There were two men standing at the door. "What's your business here?" one of them asked. He wasn't intimidating, but it was still very odd.

"Oh I … I just want to see if there's anything I can do to help the cause."

"All right. Front desk is right through these doors and to the left. Talk to Ms. Yamaguchi. She'll direct you," the guard answered.

A middle-aged woman with faint green skin that seemed to be scaled and vibrantly green hair was sitting at a large desk, filing paperwork. "Hi, how can I help you?" she asked brightly.

"Hi, are you Ms. Yamaguchi?"

"That depends on who's asking. Just kidding, that's me."

"The man at the door said you could direct me? I … I saw the news last night, and I just … really want to do something to help."

"Do you have a talent that's helpful in finding things?" For the first time since he'd gotten One For All, he faintly wished he had Mom's quirk.

"No …"

"Okay well. I can pop you on a mailing list for events and petitions, but we usually need adults for that. Do you have a metahuman ability?"

Should he lie? His counterpart didn't. But his counterpart would never know about this. "I do. I have … an energy quirk, that lets me use extra strength and speed as long as I control it."

"Quirk? That's a cute term, I'll have to start using it. And that's very impressive! Do you feel like you're in good control of it?"

"Yes," he answered cautiously.

"Do you think you could show others how to use theirs?"

"I … maybe?"

"Why don't you come back tomorrow afternoon and see? At five o'clock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we have classes for little ones. We've had a lot sign up this year and our teacher could use the help."

"Oh! Okay, yeah, that sounds fun." How bad could that be? And he could help little kids! He needed to work on his skills with little kids anyway, it had been on the back burner but he might as well take this opportunity. And he'd be here, getting to know other people from the community. Surely he'd pick up useful knowledge and skills.

"Oh! How are you at social media?"

"Uh … okay I guess."

"That's an interview position but we're looking for someone to help with that. It'd have to be something you could devote a lot of time to, so you'd be compensated." Oh no, he didn't want to take their money. They probably needed it. But he would have a lot of time, at least until he started making headway on his investigations. Maybe he could do it for free after all?

"Sure, that sounds like something I'd like to help with but … I really am looking for volunteer work."

"Well, we can cross that bridge if you get there. Here's an application, bring it back when you come back to teach the kids," she said kindly, handing him an application several pages thick.

Well. That errand was done quicker than he'd expected. Could he cross something else off his list today?

He wandered through the park while he tried to organize his thoughts. It was hard to make much progress without a phone and having to hog the hotel's computer – should he ask Mr. Aizawa to get him one through Chisaki? No way, it bothered him enough that the clothes on his back were paid for by him. Maybe he wasn't a complete monster in this reality, but he was still a gangster. He'd go back to the hotel and find the nearest library and use their computers instead. He should have asked Ms. Yamaguchi where the nearest one was to the SDMR office, but he'd ask tomorrow.

It was extremely weird not to see very many quirks in use. Going through a park, you usually saw people with visible quirks jogging and laying out in the sun and playing, and you could see people using quirks in every which way, to catch frisbees or keep drinks cold or anything else. But this was like he'd been transported back in time a few hundred years.

He shuddered, thinking how different Ms. Namura looked in his reality compared to this one. How many people here had been surgically altered to look "normal?" How many people had amazing quirks they could be using to make themselves or others happy that they had to hide?

Internally, he renewed his vow.

Slipping into the abandoned warehouse was like slipping into another world. Everywhere you looked, someone was using their powers at all times. To practice, to show off, to do mundane tasks, for any reason imaginable. On the outside, it looked so nondescript, like any other abandoned building. On the inside, they'd done what they could to make it comfortable and clean. It had to be dark, to avoid attracting attention, but there were dividers making rooms and all kinds of little decorations to make the sections into home or a hangout spot. The building had to serve as both. It was a beautiful, vibrant place. And very fragile.

Hitoshi wouldn't have come today, if he wasn't desperately hoping someone else had heard from Toga. It didn't take long to spot a familiar face. "Ashido! Have you heard from Toga lately?"

The pink girl who wore vibrant colors despite everything she'd been through turned to face him, temporarily abandoning her conversation with an unfamiliar girl. It was rude to interrupt, but he had to know if anyone had heard from Toga. It was the dread everyone with powers knew when one of their friends went out of contact, made all the worse by knowing Toga had no one at home to miss her. "No, I thought I made her mad or something."
"If you did, I must have too."

"I'm sure it's fine!" she said brightly, but her smile wasn't quite as bright as it usually was. "Shinso, I'm sure it's fine! How would the snatchers even know about her power, she's so sneaky!"

"But if they did find out, it'd be useful for someone."

"Shinso cheer up, there's no reason to think the worst has happened. Come on, this is Miku …"

Hitoshi endured the introduction, trying to be nice despite his worry.

He excused himself as soon as it seemed forgivable to do so, but he didn't leave. He should go, his parents would be upset if he stayed out too late again when there was studying to do. But he wandered the warehouse, as though hoping Toga would walk in at any moment. "Hey, are you hanging out here tonight?"

"Nah, I've got to study. I just came to see if …"

"If you could see your girl?" Monoma asked, raising his eyebrows.

Hitoshi felt his ears burning. He didn't like that kind of talk, especially not from him. "It's not like that, I've told you that. I haven't heard from her since Monday."

"Me either," Monoma said, straightening up. "That's … very bad, if you haven't heard from her. But I mean … maybe she lost her phone, or she had to ditch it and hasn't got your number back yet …" It wasn't uncommon to get texts from strange numbers, explaining it was one of your underground friends who'd been forced to get a new number. Hitoshi was always worried it was a trap, and had a password he made his friends use. Most of them thought he was paranoid but played along.

"Ashido hasn't seen her, either."

A moment of painful silence passed between them. "Maybe it'll be okay, if it was the snatchers."

"What did you just say?"

"Maybe her parents will let her come home if …"

Hitoshi grabbed the front of Monoma's shirt before he could stop himself. Several people turned to look curiously, probably hoping to see some action, though their powers wouldn't necessarily make for a visually interesting fight. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry … I was just trying to think positive," the blond said quickly. Hitoshi took a deep breath, and gathered himself. "Man, you've got it really bad for her, don't you?"

"No! I don't. I just …" forget it. It wasn't worth explaining. And he should go.

"You don't have to go, I'm sorry … I'll cut it out."

"I have to study," he reiterated, though a huge part of him did want to stay.

Eri was not doing very well with her lesson today. She was too upset by what had happened with Midoriya the other day, and something had happened at her grandfather's house. She didn't want to tell Shota about the latter, and if it didn't directly affect his charge he wouldn't have wanted to know.

She stared at the plant. And stared at it. Her power didn't activate for even a moment. "Hey, Eri, let's take a break," he suggested.

"Grandpa doesn't want me to practice," she said. Was that all that had happened yesterday? Chisaki had had a real stick up his rear about whatever it was yesterday, but seemed fine today, so maybe it really was that minor. Or maybe he'd had help removing the stick, but that didn't bear dwelling on.

"He didn't want you to practice?"

"No. He said I should just not use it."

"Eri. We've talked about this. You can't know how to stop your power if you don't practice stopping it. To do that, you have to use it."

"I know! Uncle Kai said that too. I don't understand why Grandpa doesn't understand."

"Your grandfather doesn't have a quirk, does he?" Eri shook her head. "It's hard to understand if you don't." And the old dinosaur was probably so set in his ways he probably thought gay people could just stop being gay too. "He put you in your uncle's charge. Your uncle wants you to learn. So, let's learn."

"Okay," she said, determined.

He let her get pretty far into de-aging the succulent, let her really get into it. Which was definitely to help her stop more effectively, and not all to try to teach her own power without her family knowing that's what he was doing. He let her go until the plant started to shrink into itself, almost disappearing beneath the surface of the sand. "Stop," he said. She did, instantly. He hadn't even had time to start the timer.

"Good job! That's a record."

She hugged him, clinging like it was life or death. He put an arm around her. "What's going on, Eri? Why are you so scared today?"

"Please don't stop teaching me. I want to do good, I want to make Uncle Kai proud and make Grandpa happy. But if I can stop when I need to, you'll leave me."

Her little world was so small. "Eri. I have so much more to teach you. I'm not leaving anytime soon," he said and patted her back. He'd been adding thirty seconds to her stop time in every report he gave to her uncle for a while, to buy more time as her teacher.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

They finished up for the day, then he dismissed Eri to her playtime before dinner. She loved to learn, but like any other kid, ran off happily to her toys as soon as lessons were over. "Do you have a moment Shota?" Midoriya's revelation made the fact Aiko could get in and out of rooms without anyone noticing make so much more sense. She was still as light on her feet as a cat, despite her family's best efforts to make her normal. The only way it would make more sense is if he told him her quirk was sliding through walls like a ghost.

"What's going on?"

"Emi sent me a picture of the painting she made from one of her sketches and it's just …" She held out her phone, and he took the phone and examined it.

The painting of the hero All Might flinging the slime villain into the sky with a punch so strong it produced a weather effect, made with such skill by a talented young artist, did even more to spark hope than the sketch of the same had. "I'll buy it from her, for the boy. He'll need something to give him hope," he said, without hesitation.

"She's doing paintings based on all of the sketches she did, and she wants to meet with him again."

"That's up to him. I'll give him her information, if you don't mind passing it along." She nodded, and pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote the girl's phone number.

"Arrange buying that painting, and let him know she wants to speak to him." She looked the way Eri had gone, making sure she was out of earshot. "Did Eri say what happened at her grandfather's house yesterday?"

"She mentioned he didn't like that she practices her power, he thinks she should just not use it. Apparently, Mr. Chisaki was unable to convince him of the necessity of the practice."

"It's not just that, something else happened. He wouldn't tell me anything, I had hoped maybe Eri … Well. It's good she knows to hold her tongue." Shota wasn't sure he agreed, but he nodded.

"Let's hope whatever it was is resolved soon and for the better," he said. She nodded – it was all they could do.

Deku showed up back at the SDMR building and turned in his application for the social media position, then Ms. Yamaguchi, who was just as bright and delighted to see him as the day before, directed him to the room where the class was happening.

He made his way up the stairs and to the back of the building. He could hear children's voices before he even reached the end of the hall – said voices were filled with laughter, and it was infectious. Deku couldn't help but smile. Several children were headed in the same direction, and they ran past him towards the classroom. At least they were eager students.

He opened the door and found a room that was spacious but very sparse. There was a training dummy that had seen better days, a full length mirror on one wall and a very basic (and relatively short) climbing wall on another, and cushions lying absolutely everywhere. There were sections marked off with tape for different activities. But the most noticeable thing, of course, was that the room was full of children, many of them with visible quirks, running around or talking in groups. Class hadn't started yet, and apparently the teacher didn't mind if they were loud in the meantime.

Speaking of the teacher, he was a tall man with golden hair kneeling by a group of kids, deep in conversation with them. "Um, hi, Ms. Yamaguchi directed me here, she thought I could help out?" he said as he approached, sorry to interrupt.

The teacher turned to look at him. Deku's heart soared. He just stopped himself from calling out, "Togata!"

"Hey, nice to see ya! As you can see we have quite a few students, I'd definitely appreciate the help. I'm Mirio Togata, what's your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya."

Togata put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. All of the kids turned to listen. "Listen up everyone, this is Izuku Midoriya, he'll be helping us out today. Everyone say hi!"

"Hi Midoriya sensei," they said, in dozens of overlapping voices.

"Since we have some new students and a new teacher, let's remind ourselves of the rules. Who knows the first rule?" Several hands went up.

"Sakura, give it a shot!" Togata said, calling on a young girl dressed all in pink to match her hair.

"We never use our powers on each other without permission."

"Very good! What's rule number two? Kaoru?"

"We don't make fun of anyone's powers or their appearance," a little boy with a furry face and hands who was sitting like a dog answered.

"Very good, what's rule number three? Satsuki?"

"We're careful and we look before we use our powers, so we don't hurt anyone." Satsuki's face reminded Deku of Tsu, and his heart ached just a little bit.

"All right! And rule number four? Everyone can answer this one!"

"Have fun!" the children all shouted at once.

The kids scattered into groups and different activities. "Unfortunately since there's so many, this is mostly chaos," Togata explained. "We mostly make sure no one gets hurt, and take turns with the kids. You can just kind of follow me around today and see what I mean. Today, it's Satsuki's turn first. Right Satsuki?" The little girl from earlier nodded enthusiastically.

They made their way to the climbing wall. "I'm scared, Togata-sensei," she said, squeezing Togata's hand.

"It's okay, I'll be right here. Just go as high as you can." The little girl nodded, and then hopped on the wall and began to climb it, frog-like. She slowed before she got very high.

"You're doing a great job, Satsuki!" Deku said encouragingly, and Togata nodded.

"It's okay, you won't fall. You're too good at climbing," the older boy assured her.

Before long, the girl was at the top. She pulled herself on top and seated herself. It was only about two meters off the ground, but probably felt like being atop a skyscraper to a little kid. "Good job! You made it!"

"It's not as high as I thought," she said thoughtfully. She looked to the wall next to the climbing wall, which was of course just plain wall.

"Can I try going down on the normal wall?"

"Go ahead!" Togata answered. She'd barely used the handholds going up, so it should be no problem.

Carefully, slowly, the little girl climbed onto the wall, and then down. "Togata-sensei! I did it!" she said proudly.

"You did! You're a natural. You'll be climbing all over walls like your big sis before you know it," Togata said encouragingly. Big sis …? "Do you want to do that a few more times?" She nodded.

Satsuki made the climb three more times, each time a little faster. "I need to go help another student, Satsuki. You can keep practicing if you want, but be very careful. Think about what else you want to practice next time," Togata said after congratulating her for her fourth climb up and down.

And it was like that the rest of the hour – they only got to a few students, which is why another set of hands would be great once Deku could help on his own. Some of them basically just needed encouragement like Satsuki, others needed more complex help.

"I can go really fast, but I get scared because I can't see very well when I go fast," a little girl explained.

Togata tried to walk her through it with solutions, based on his own experience of not being able to see when he was passing through things. "Let's try that out," he said, and took her to the area that was marked off for speeding across the longest segment of the room. The little girl ran at a blistering pace for just a few meters, then stopped, shrieking in alarm.

"I tried but I got scared," she said apologetically, collapsing to the ground.

"That's okay! It took me a long time to get good at it, you just need practice. Go ahead and try again," Togata said soothingly.

She nodded, and stood up. And tried again. And made it just a few more meters. "I'm never going to get it."

"Don't give up Ritsu. You've got this. It'll just take time," Togata said patiently. He was so good with the kids, Deku didn't think they were going to like him nearly so much.

The time for class ended. "Stay close on this one, it's the most important part," Togata said to Deku, and once again whistled to get all the kids' attention.

"All right everybody, that's class." There were little groans of protest from the children. "I know, I know. I'll see you guys soon. Pick-up kids, over here. Everyone else, over here."

The kids had to be let out the back, a few at a time, and only after checking to see no one was in the line of sight. "If they're not already registered well … we don't want to be the reason they are," Togata said, trying to be cheerful about it but Deku heard the note of sadness in it, and it made him so angry.

Now and then a person approached to pick up their child or siblings, and Togata seemed to know all of them so he knew when to be alarmed and when not to be. "I see my sister!" Satsuki said excitedly, and sure enough. Deku's eyes stung with tears, but he managed to keep a straight face as Tsu came into view. Satsuki's quirk was visible, so privacy was less important – even so, Togata checked both ways before he motioned for her to leave through the door. "See you next week!" he said cheerfully, and Satsuki hurried off, froggy style, to her big sister's side.

"I hate that we have to be so careful," Deku said softly as they watched the last of the kids leave with their furtive mother.

"I know," Togata agreed ruefully.

They started to walk away, and something occurred to Deku. "Say, where did you practice your quirk? I need to work on mine, but it's hard to find a safe place."

"Oh, the thing with mine is I can practice anywhere. Sometimes I practice here, usually I practice at my house. Not just to hide the ability but …" he looked around and leaned to Deku conspiratorially. "My clothes don't go with me, it's easy to lose them."

"Oh … that's awkward, I can see why you'd rather do that at home," Deku said, trying to pretend that was new information.

"But some of my friends have a place they practice. I can take you there this weekend."
"That sounds great!"

Overall – this had been a good day. He could consider this a day he'd made the most of it.

Deku realized where Togata was taking him when they were halfway there, and his heart started to lift. "It's sad because it's sort of trashy," Togata said as they drove. If it was anything like home, "sort of" was a very light way to put it.

They pulled up at Dagoba Municipal Park Beach and Deku's eyes watered with nostalgia. It was, indeed, just as nasty as it had been before he cleaned it in his home reality. If anything, it was worse.

"Maybe we could try to clean it up," Deku said, remembering how nice it was to have a clean beach at home, and how much cleaning it up had helped him.

"Ah that's a good idea, a nice community service project," Togata agreed as they got out. "But then it might be harder to hide … part of why we use this is no one comes here, and since it's so trashy people don't even usually send drones over." Ah. Of course. He should have guessed. It was so hard to have nice things in this world. "Are … you okay?"

"I'm fine," Deku said, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. "Thanks again for bringing me here."

"No problem. Do you want to show me what you can do? It sounded pretty special."

Deku flushed a little. "Sure!"

He looked around for particularly dangerous waste. Maybe they couldn't clean it up all the way, but they could make it a little better. His eyes fell on several old refrigerators. Those had dangerous chemicals, didn't they?

He called on One For All, just at ten percent, and heaved one of the refrigerators onto his back. "Holy cow!" Togata exclaimed, and Deku couldn't help but smile. If only he could really show him what he could do.

Togata agreed with him – the fridges and any batteries they found they should remove, at least, if they could borrow a truck from someone to haul the fridges out (Deku couldn't very well carry them all the way to the designated collection center in this universe). For now they'd put them all in one place, so it would be easier if they found said truck to borrow. Togata was strong, a lot stronger than Deku had been when he cleaned the beach back home, and now Deku had not only trained his body, but he could use One For All at low power levels. Between the two of them, they had moved a half dozen refrigerators to one spot in about an hour. Togata had taken his shirt off and was drenched in sweat, Deku had barely broken a sweat. "Togata! You should have let me do more of it," Deku said, realizing how hard the blond boy had worked.

"It was no problem, it was a workout," Togata said with a broad grin. Yeah … that it was. Deku remembered very well what a good workout it had been.

He'd come back later when he was alone, and try to use Blackwhip to lift the heavier pieces of equipment. He had to master that quirk, one way or another. For now though? He was just glad to be here with a friend.

A week went by, with no sign of change. Mr. Aizawa came by to bring Deku groceries and pay the hotel for another week. "I got something else for you, too," Mr. Aizawa said, removing a flat package from his jacket. Deku unwrapped the plain brown paper surrounding the gift, and tears began to fall from his eyes. It was a gorgeous painting of All Might punching the slime monster into the sky.

"I thought you might like it."

"Yes, sir, I do, thank you!"

"It's from the young lady we met with when you arrived. She'd like to meet with you again, here's her number if you want that."

"Yes, I think that'd be good," Deku said, trying to wipe tears from his eyes. Deku hung the painting in a place of honor, where he'd see it first thing when he woke up every morning.

"How are you doing? Have you found something to do with your time?"

"… sort of …" Deku had found a location for most of the people he wanted to see, but hadn't worked up the nerves or the excuses to go and see them yet. So, his main source of progress, slow though it was, was at the SDMR classes. "I'm volunteering at the SDMR center, teaching little kids how to use their quirks. I'm not very good at it."

"You'll get better. I'm glad you have that."

Mr. Aizawa stayed with him a lot longer than he needed to, probably because he sensed his loneliness. But eventually he had to go, and Deku was alone again.

It was Wednesday again. The last of the kids were picked up or sent home – Deku's heart still ached to call after Tsu, but he didn't know how he could do so safely and without coming off weird – and he and Togata parted ways. "Izuku Midoriya?" asked a voice that was familiar, and yet so strange, just as he was leaving.

Deku turned to face Shiga … Shimura, and forced himself not to jump. "Hello sir, yes, that's me," he said nervously.

"Sorry to spring it on you, do you have about thirty minutes for an interview about the social media position? If not we can schedule something later." Deku had almost forgotten about the application and the position.

"I have time today," he said, almost happy to have something to do since his E-mail to Leto had gone unanswered and his sidquests had all stalled.

"Great! Follow me up to my office."

Deku followed toward the elevator. "So how are classes going? I'm glad we finally got someone in to help Togata, there's more and more kids needing help."

"It's fun and I'm glad I can help but … I'm not as good a teacher as Togata," Deku admitted sheepishly.

Shimura shrugged. "Few people are. Plus, you just started. If you keep it up, you'll be great."

Shimura unlocked the door to an office on a top floor with a physical key, and Deku followed him in. It was a small office, cramped with bookshelves filled with books on ethics and law. "Are you a lawyer sir? Or studying to be one?"

Shimura scoffed. "No, I wanted to be at one point but … this place is a full-time job."

Deku took a seat in a chair across from the desk while Shimura took a seat on the other side. He had a very relaxed posture. It was probably supposed to put Deku at ease, but it only made him look more like Shigaraki despite the more kempt appearance. Shimura leaned over to open a mini fridge wedged between the desk and the wall. "You want something to drink? I've got water and cola."

"I'll take a water Mr. Shimura, thank you."

"Oh, none of that, if you call me Mr. I'll look over my shoulder for my father," he said, placing a bottle of water in front of Deku and opening one himself. Deku recalibrated. He'd never been asked by a man in their twenties to address him like a peer before. Deku watched Shimura pick up the bottle. He held his little finger out at first, then closed it on the water with no effect. Deku's heart sank a little, knowing what that meant. He'd assumed as much, given that his hair and skin were so much darker here, but he hadn't known for sure. How long had it been, that he still had the instinct to not hold anything with all five fingers at first?

"So you had some … interesting answers on your application."

Deku almost panicked. Had he been caught in a lie, or had he somehow given himself away? He was useless for stealth work. "What do you mean?" he asked.

" 'Quirk' isn't a term I've come across very often, where'd you hear it?"

Mentally, Deku tried to calculate. He decided to be mostly honest, with a dash of omission. "I don't know where I heard it first, mi … Shimura, it's just what my family always called them."

"I like it. You're very poetic, Midoriya, and optimistic, I liked that about your answers. I think it's what we need. But I don't know what your school workload looks like, if this is something I can ask you to spend time on in good conscience. Based on what the last person reported, it's a couple of hours every day, seven days a week." Deku thought of all the lonely hours he had to pass until he could force forward motion on something, and he was ready to beg for this position.

"That's okay, it's very manageable right now. Actually, my school counselor was telling me I should do more volunteer work to help strengthen my college applications, that's part of why I came down." That lie didn't feel right. "Plus I just … It's not great, hiding and not doing anything. I really want to help."

"That's good to hear, all though this is actually a paid position."

"I don't want anything, I don't need it. Actually …" His conscience revolted for a second, but he would need them, especially to do what the SDMR needed him to do. "I don't need any money, except … I'd really like a computer, and a phone. I don't want to use my family's computer or my main phone for this, they … don't know I have a quirk, and I don't want my mom to worry."

Shimura nodded sympathetically. "Moms are like that. The phone's very doable, and I can get you a loaner laptop. It'd be our property still, you'd have to sign an agreement."

"That's fine!" That was more than fine, that was a relief. He didn't want to put them out of money.

"The other thing I want to make sure we go over is. You realize you're going to get a lot of just … vile comments and DMs thrown your way, on these accounts. Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes sir, I think I am," Deku said. It was just the Internet, he could ignore it.

"All right. So what you'll be managing are specifically the teen outreach accounts. It'll be refreshing to have an actual teenager running those. You'll get official posts from the public relations office. If you want to post other content, run it by them first. Comments, replies, likes, shares, all of that is at your discretion. But for the love of God, be careful with it. If in doubt, call the PR office before you do anything. No matter what abuse comes your way, keep a civil tone. Ignore or reply politely. Absolutely no swearing or sexual humor, no religious or political endorsements. Do you think you can follow those parameters?"
"Yes sir! I mean, yes."

"Very good. I'll get you the phone and the laptop by Friday, you'll start that night."

It was a long night, and Chikane was freezing in fishnets. But her kids had to eat. "Hey fellas, any of you looking for a good time tonight?" she called to a group of men passing by. They looked like college kids. The guys looked at each other and laughed, but didn't stop. Groups were a bad bet anyway.

"I'll take you up on that," a man said from behind. Chikane turned to look at him. Immediately, he gave her a bad vibe. But it was the end of the night and rent was almost due … she told herself she was just jumpy because of the killings.

They negotiated price as they went into a back alley, her bad feeling never leaving and only intensifying as they left the view of the street. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her neck. For what she was used to, it was a surprisingly tender kiss, and she didn't object. But then the sucking got very violent … ugh, fine, give me a hickey, I don't care. But it didn't stop, and only hurt worse, and she was starting to feel faint. She pushed him, but he didn't get off her. Just when the bottom started to drop out of her stomach, as she realized the danger she was in, as she realized … this is him, this is the killer … just as she started to try to fight, someone came to her rescue.

"Not tonight, brat," a woman's voice said from behind, and a pair of hands wrapped around his neck from behind. No, not around his neck – one arm held him across the shoulders, securing him in place, the other was held in front of his face and something pink floated out of the hand and into his face. He leaned into it with a sleepy, lustful look on his face, letting go of Chikane immediately. He slumped to the ground, leaning against the woman who'd saved her. Her rescuer was another lady of the night in a leather corset dress, stillettos that looked outright deadly, and thigh-high black stockings.

"Are you okay, honey?" her rescuer asked as she sank to the ground with the captive killer.

"I think so, but I feel like crap," she said, feeling of the place where he'd been sucking her neck. "That's him, isn't it? The salt vampire?"

The domme was tying his hands and feet with electrical tape with the practiced ease of someone who did this professionally. "Yes. I'm glad I was right about where he'd strike. Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I can, I don't think it was bad yet."

"Get home, drink a sports drink or water with a little bit of salt. Call the police when you get there."

"Thank you," Chikane said, tears stinging her eyes.

"Get home, take care of yourself. Don't cry, you've lost enough salt."

Chikane nodded, and turned to hurry home.

Next up: The Fall

Chisaki receives terrifying news. Deku is surprised to find his job as social media manager sometimes means helping in the search or Himeko Toga.