Chapter 116
.::Interesting Talks::.
So, Mina's agenda for the morning was simple. Buy Ochako a train ticket to Nabu. Then go to the park with Kiri to meet up with Mail, Glitch, Ojiro and whoever else showed up with them, and help with ghost-distracting duty. Because so far Ojiro had been mostly in charge of it, and that had to be wearing down on him so a fresh face could shake things up. Besides, she could use the chance to pick Mail's brain for stuff about Porter, their siblings and this world in general.
But upon arriving at the park, her plans got slightly derailed. Not that she minded.
"She's not letting go anytime soon, is she?" Mail asked, sounding faintly amused.
"This usually happens when new people meet him," Monoma sighed, before adding more loudly, "You will tell her if you're uncomfortable, right, Naota?"
"It's still nice!" Naota called, and Mina wanted to squeal and hug him tighter. When Ojiro and Monoma arrived Mina's attention had been snapped up by the small boy with cat ears trailing behind them, which had been too adorable to ignore. The past five minutes had been spent sitting on a bench snuggling the boy, though he didn't seem to mind.
He radiated more pure-hearted innocence than Midoriya. She didn't even know that was possible!
"Why is he here, anyway?" Kiri asked with a frown. "I thought you guys wouldn't want Mail around him."
"He overheard us talking about him this morning and wanted to meet him," Ojiro explained, sounding very tired. "We tried to leave him behind, but he managed to sneak out and follow us. We didn't notice until after we'd already met up with Glitch."
"He's just as sneaky as a cat," Mail mused, crossing his arms with a smirk. "I didn't even notice right away. You've got a natural knack for stealth, kid." Naota seemed to preen under the praise, his ears twitching, and Mina had to muffle another squeal of delight. He was just so adorable!
"Maria already texted that she's on her way with Rockfish, so he won't be here for long," Glitch added. "We can put off serious talk for a few minutes."
"If she tries to exorcise me again, I'm leaving," Mail declared flatly. "Seriously, if she starts chanting I'm taking my chances following train tracks out of here. Where did she even get that bottle of holy water, anyway?"
"...You know, I don't know. I didn't even realize how weird that was."
Mina ignored the exchange aside from the implications that she should focus her full energy on cuddling Naota while she still had the chance. The kid was cute and cuddly, give her a break! They'd had some really stressful weeks since waking up in this world, she deserved it! "Thank you, I needed this so much," she whispered as she smooshed her cheek against his hair, and felt his ears perk up when they brushed her face.
"You're welcome!" he chirped brightly, all sweetness and innocence. Mina squealed yet again and cuddled him even harder, drawing everyone's attention.
"Well, at least she asked first," Monoma muttered, and Mina shot him a brief glare. Of course she asked before hugging him, what kind of creep just hugged a random kid out of the blue? And he seemed to like the hug, going by how he purred. Mina shot the top of Naota's head an awed look and grinned as she suppressed another delighted squeal.
(Meanwhile, the boys felt a brief spark of envy at the scene. Who they envied, they couldn't say for sure though.)
While she focused on cuddling him, the little catboy glanced over at Mail. "Are you really a ghost?" he asked curiously, blinking mismatched blue and gold eyes at him.
"Yep," Mail confirmed with a nod. "Though that's not—" He was cut off mid-sentence when he vanished.
"Yeah, you're not talking to him," Glitch declared flatly with a huff, getting some nods of agreement from the other runaways. They all seemed fiercely protective of Naota, which made sense given how small and vulnerable he was—
"Do you still need glasses?" Naota asked, and his ears briefly perked up before going back down, head tilting in in apparent confusion at mid-air. "Um, three?" Everyone exchanged confused looks as he began turning his head, eyes seemingly locked onto nothing. "What do you mean? You're right there, aren't you?"
Alarm flashed on several people's faces, and then suddenly Mail was back, now hovering a bit closer to Naota. "—ually I'm not visible to most people," he said, apparently reappearing mid-sentence. "Maybe it's because you have a cat mutation...? I mean, Karla could see me too when she transformed, and so could..." He trailed off with a frown, expression becoming a bit more distant.
"What just happened?" Monoma demanded sharply, and Mail glanced over in surprise.
"Oh, I'm visible again?"
"Yes, now answer the question," Ojiro ordered, tone not quite a growl but still threatening.
"I didn't do anything, so I'm guessing his cat mutation lets him see me," Mail replied with a shrug. "I mean, I figure that's what's going on, anyway, this doesn't happen much. I think cats and dogs can see me, but none of them really ever interact with me so I'm just assuming. Heck, not even Nedzu can see me."
"You've met Nedzu?" Mina asked in surprise, latching onto the name and feeling a thrill of terror down her spine. (She would never be able to look at wrecking balls without feeling like she was sixteen and fleeing for her life again.)
"Technically, not yet," Mail murmured with a wry look, before continuing, "Generally most people with animal mutation Quirks don't notice me either. But like I told Ojiro the other day, my sister Karla had basically a werewolf Quirk, and she could see me when she transformed. And I've had a couple other people manage to see me due to some stuff with their Quirks. I guess this kid's similar."
"So, my Quirk's actually useful for something?" Naota asked, ears perking up. The sheer hope in his voice had Mina's heart breaking, because that was the tone of someone who was used to being put down for their Quirk. Who could possibly be mean to cute little Naota-chan!?
"I'm sure it's useful for a lot of things," Mail told him with a kind smile. "You just need to figure out its strengths and limits. There's probably more to it than you know."
Naota's ears were still perked up as Mina nuzzled his head with her chin, gaze focused on Mail up until Monoma stepped between them. Mina could see about half of Mail's face around his head, but she could tell his body would block Naota's view of the ghost. "While we appreciate you trying to give Naota a pep talk, we would still prefer you don't talk to him at all," he said coolly. "I'm sure you understand."
"No, I get it," Mail assured him with a nod. "If any strangers talked to one of my little siblings..." He trailed off, face going eerily blank and dark. There was something very ominous about it that had Mina feeling on edge, but his expression quickly smoothed out again into a non-threatening neutral look as he gave a lofty shrug. "I'll keep my distance, don't worry."
"But, but what if I want to talk to him?" Naota asked, cat ears flattening against his head pitifully.
"Not allowed," Glitch, Monoma, and Ojiro all chorused, which made the little boy slump dejectedly.
"It's okay, Naota-chan," Mina reassured him, cuddling him a bit closer. "If you have any questions, you can just whisper them to me and I'll ask him after you go!" She didn't expect him to go for it, mostly she just wanted him to cheer up, but his ears perked up as he tilted his head back to look at her.
"Really?" he asked hopefully, and she grinned.
"Of course!" That would also give her an excuse to meet him again in the future and get more cuddles in.
So that was how Mina spent a good fifteen minutes typing up all the questions Naota whispered to her on her phone, up until Shiozaki arrived with Kouda to take him away. Mina waved them off while holding back tears, feeling just a little bit colder without the warmth of a tiny cat-child.
"Well, that was fun, I guess, but should we get down to business?" Ojiro asked. "I want to go over the basic ground rules before you say anything."
"You make it sound like it's babysitting," Mail griped with a small frown.
"It basically is," Glitch piped up flatly.
"You realize I'm older than all of you, right?" Mail asked, voice having an almost petulant note to it.
"Hey, I'm cool with hearing the rules, but can we maybe move somewhere else for this?" Kiri piped up, glancing at the overcast sky as he added, "It feels like it's gonna start snowing any second." The sky had been incredibly cloudy and dark since they woke up, making everything feel a bit chillier without the warm rays of the sun. It gave the air that faint heaviness that sure felt like it meant snow.
The others seemed to feel the same as they hummed in agreement. "Sure, though we'll need to stick to abandoned places," Monoma said as they started walking. "Probably the karaoke bar or old restaurant since he's been there already."
"Restaurant is closer," Glitch commented with a nod. "We'll go there."
"But won't those places be cold?" Mina asked with a frown. "Why can't we go to a cafe or somewhere with heating?"
"It's better to avoid crowded places since he's not really dressed for the cold," Ojiro said dryly, side-eying Mail's button-up shirt and slacks.
"I can't really control how I appear," Mail said with a shrug, folding his bare-looking arms behind his head. "So yeah, I'm with him on that one. Really don't want to deal with another old lady throwing a coat through me and screaming for an exorcist."
It sounded like there was some sort of story there, and Mina was curious but didn't press. Mainly because both he and Ojiro looked very exasperated. If Glitch's face wasn't so weird and glitchy, she had a feeling he probably would too from the grumble he gave. "Anyways," Ojiro said, clearly changing the topic, "ground rules. So first off, obviously you need to watch what you say around him. Assume anything he hears will eventually be known by heroes."
"And remember, he might go back before you carry out your plan," Monoma added. "So even if you plan to eventually go to the heroes afterwards, he might be able to report it to them before you can make your move, and I doubt they would just sit around and wait to see what happens with it."
"So nothing about the runaways or anything else going on, got it," Kiri said with a serious nod, Mina copying him. They really didn't want the heroes to find out about the rescue with it so close, it could ruin everything. They wanted Mido to be able to have a big role in the escape/rescue to have more proof he could be trusted. If the heroes carried out their own rescue/raid, they might not be too open to believing him, no matter how much the jumpers vouched for him.
Ojiro continued, "Second, don't check messages on your phone in his line of sight. If you need to check it, make sure the screen is facing away so he can't see it."
"I still can't read most kanji," Mail reminded them.
"We still have no confirmation of that," Monoma countered lightly, and Mail sighed but didn't try to argue while Ojiro went on.
"Also, please don't ask about anything ghost-related," he said tiredly. "Please. This is for your own sanity and peace of mind."
"Is it really that bad?" Kiri asked nervously.
"It's really hard to fall asleep when pondering existential dread," Glitch deadpanned.
Mina still kinda wanted to ask about the old lady who shouted for an exorcist, but Glitch's last remark made her suddenly have a different question. "Wait, don't you need to sleep?" she asked. "You can't be using your Quirk in your sleep, can you? How do you make sure he doesn't leave or do anything?"
There was a moment of silence as Ojiro and Monoma exchanged glances, but Mail scowled and crossed his arms. "Bribery, that's how," he grumbled.
"Bribery...?"
"We play some old anime on autoplay on someone's phone at night," Monoma said with a shrug. "It's apparently very effective."
"My stupid sister never bothered watching anything after the original run ended," Mail growled irritably. "That was the one I actually got invested in, and she never bothered looking to see if there was a reboot or anything else!"
"...Well, if it works, it works, I guess?" Kiri said uncertainly after a beat, while Mail seemed to just sulk. For a guy who claimed to be around Aizawa's age, he was pretty moody.
Mina decided to change track as something else popped into her head. "Oh, by the way, thanks for teaching me how to pick locks!" she exclaimed with a bright grin. "Especially that trick with the handcuffs, Mail! That totally saved us yesterday!" That had him, Ojiro and Glitch all coming to abrupt halts, heads swiveling to stare at her in shock.
"Wait, you what?" Ojiro yelped, while Mail's expression lit up.
"You actually used the bottle trick?"
"Yep!" Mina confirmed with a jaunty nod. "We totally never would've gotten them off Todoroki if you hadn't told me about that!"
Glitch jolted in alarm, his whole body flickering for a half-second. "They were on Todoroki?"
"I'm sorry, what's this about a bottle trick?" Monoma asked with a frown. "And why was Todoroki in handcuffs?"
"Just to check, you're talking about the shock cuffs, right?" Ojiro asked tightly, making Monoma jolt in recognition. "The restricted kind police use on criminals with dangerous Quirks? That normal people shouldn't be able to get?"
"Yeah, those," Mina confirmed, a little less exuberant now as she picked up on their tension. "Hawks used them—"
"Hawks?" the runaways blurted in shock, and she winced.
"Uh, yeah... Yesterday was, uh, kinda crazy. But long story short, Todoroki's brother turned out to be in Nagoya, and so was Hawks, and I guess they know each other and work together or something, so we had to rescue Todoroki from them?" The runaways just stared at her open-mouthed with disbelief, while Kiri, who knew the story, buried his face in his hands with a groan. Their reactions made Mina shrink sheepishly, fully aware of how lacking her explanation was.
"...I have no idea where to even start with that," Monoma admitted after several moment.
"Yeah, uh, me neither. Like I said, yesterday was... crazy. A lot of stuff happened."
Mail just surveyed the looks of disapproval and chuckled as he slowly clapped. "This is why I have zero intention of trying to leave. This is comedy gold. Please tell me there's a story to go with this that rivals Mic losing to a bird."
"There's a story alright," Kiri muttered, voice slightly muffled by his hands.
"Like what?" Ojiro asked flatly. "You managed to free Todoroki, and then trap Hawks with his own handcuffs?"
It was clearly sarcastic, but Mina grimaced as she opened her backpack. "...Uh, actually... I got them off after we ran away and pelted them with sticky bombs, so..." She trailed off as she pulled out the handcuffs, and once again, they all just stared.
Then Mail shrieked with laughter, rolling over in the air while clutching his stomach. "Oh my gosh, this is even better! A missing pair of shock cuffs is gonna be a mess! The police and hero agencies are going to go nuts! Thank you, Ashido. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift."
Mina wasn't sure why he was thanking her for causing trouble for police and heroes, but he so far had the only positive reaction so she just beamed and accepted the praise. Glitch finally recovered from his shock and heaved a large, exhausted sigh as he pulled out his phone. "I think we need to call Rogue for a meeting," he muttered.
"Good idea," Monoma agreed faintly, still staring at the handcuffs. "Also, I'm afraid to ask, but what are sticky bombs?"
Mina perked up and grinned. "Okay, so Kyou-chan and Denki became vigilantes, right? Well, so I needed to stop by their apartment the other day for something, and Kyou-chan told me to check this one drawer..."
Izuku sprawled on the bed and stared at the ceiling listlessly, letting his thoughts run wild. He'd been in the room alone for an hour now, his meal long since finished and leaving him with nothing to do but think.
Shigaraki had been irritated when he dropped off breakfast, but at least it didn't seem to be directed solely at him. Izuku had waited to see if he would return for the tray, or send someone else to get it, but no one had shown up. Instead, around fifteen minutes ago a small portal opened on the desk for the empty tray to fall through. It seemed the "raid party" Shigaraki had mentioned was pretty urgent after all if Kurogiri couldn't even visit himself. He probably wouldn't get any visitors until lunchtime.
Which meant now was probably his best chance.
He took a deep, shuddery breath, sitting up slowly. "Seiko," he called softly, and when he turned his head he found her standing next to the bed, silent and still as ever.
For a moment neither of them spoke, just gazed at each other. As always, Seiko's eyes were eerily empty and void of emotion, her blank expression impossible to read. The overhead light cast a bluish-green hue over her, making her always overly pale skin look downright sickly. Her eyes didn't seem to reflect the light at all, making the blacks feel even darker and her white irises just like blank, empty space.
A creeping sense of unease slowly trickled up Izuku's spine, that pervasive feeling of wrong whispering at the back of his mind stronger than ever. He swallowed thickly and pushed down his discomfort. "You're not part of the Alliance."
He didn't bother phrasing it as a question. Shigaraki's words had made it clear enough.
Seiko tilted her head, expression still empty and void of anything resembling emotion. "I am not," she confirmed dully, sounding almost bored despite the heavy impact of her words.
Izuku sucked in a sharp breath, fists clenching at his sides. He had so many questions, he didn't even know where to start. For so long he'd associated Seiko with the Villain Alliance, because she was just always here. Even after a whole night to think about it, he was still reeling from the revelation she wasn't connected to it—at least, not officially. It threw everything he knew about her—or thought he knew—into question.
Facts. He decided to focus on the facts he did have, and go from there. "Toga and Aiko know about you," he stated. Both of them talked about Seiko openly enough, and knew her on a personal level. "And so do Kacchan and Hijack, since you've talked to them. But does anyone else?"
"Kurogiri knows I exist. We do not interact though."
That wording just raised even more questions, and Izuku had no idea how to approach that. So he decided to let it slide for the moment. "I'm not hesitant to write about you like I am with Aiko," he said instead. He'd referenced Seiko multiple times in his journals, including the investigations he'd done with Toga. "But I didn't mention you in my letter."
"Shigaraki read the letter when you first wrote it," Seiko said simply, head still tilted to the side. "He helped consult on what to write. He does not read your journals out of respect for your privacy though, so it is safer."
"Why doesn't he know about you?"
"It's more interesting that way."
Her answer was so simple, it almost made Izuku want to laugh hysterically. Of course that would be her reason. Everything Seiko seemed to do centered around whether she found it interesting or not, he should have known that by now. "That's why you hang around here, isn't it?" he asked quietly, and the corners of her lips quirked upwards into a small imitation of a smile unreflected by the rest of her face.
"Of course. This place is full of interesting people."
In the face of such blatant honesty, any other questions Izuku had felt almost inconsequential. The urge to laugh bubbled up again, his nerves starting to fray and unravel. Once again, he was reminded how different Seiko was, how other, but this time it hit harder than ever before. Because for the first time, he was starting to understand just how she worked.
Saying Seiko wasn't normal didn't do her justice. She didn't subscribe to any traditional form of morality, feel any true sense of right or wrong. To her, nothing that happened mattered beyond its potential entertainment value.
He shook his head, taking a few breaths to steady himself before his thoughts could spiral too much. "I'm guessing you won't tell me how to convince Shigaraki I'm not having an episode, right," he guessed dully, and her small "smile" faded as she straightened her head.
"I would be unable to help you either way. He asks questions about things only you would know, and asks different ones each time. So even if I do know the answers, I cannot help."
Her response had him heaving another sigh, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping them in a hug. "So I'm stuck here," he mumbled, voice quiet and meek.
"Only until the episode ends," Seiko said. And if she meant it as assurance, even with how dull and monotonous her voice was, she had failed.
Because this wasn't an episode, so it wouldn't end. This was the absolute worst case scenario they had feared all along, the reason he had tried so hard to hide. Shigaraki wouldn't let him out easily, wouldn't ease restrictions and let Izuku move freely while believing he was in the midst of an episode. He would be stuck here forever.
No. He couldn't let that happen. Izuku sucked in a sharp breath, fingers scrunching up the fabric of his pants as he felt his resolve build. He might be stuck, but he couldn't sit around doing nothing. "What if I use my Quirk to break down the door or wall? How would Shigaraki and the others react?"
"They would apprehend you," she replied without hesitation. "There are other places they can send you, Izuku. Places that you can't escape with brute force alone. And even without that," and she tilted her head again, an inquisitive gesture even with her blank face, "don't you care about your friends and Eraserhead?"
Of course he did, that was why he wanted to escape, but he knew what she meant. Kacchan, Shinsou and Aizawa were no longer just prisoners, but hostages now. If he stepped out of line and potentially endangered himself in Shigaraki's eyes, they would be the ones to pay the price, not Izuku.
The worst part was that they didn't know. He doubted Shigaraki or Kurogiri would tell them what was going on. Kacchan and Shinsou would figure out something was up, since he'd told them he was going to Shigaraki's room last night before effectively disappearing. They might not know he got caught, but they'd know something had gone wrong. Aizawa, however, would have nothing to go on.
He sat a bit straighter, turning his head to Seiko once more. He still didn't fully trust her—couldn't, not with how little he knew about her. She might not be part of the Alliance, but that didn't make her an ally. It made her a total unknown, something potentially even more dangerous.
But if there was one thing he did know about Heiwajima Seiko, it was that she cared about whatever she found interesting more than anything else. And that?
Izuku could use that.
"Seiko," he said carefully. "Can you do me a favor? I promise, it will make things more interesting."
Fun fact: I've had variants of the Naota scene in my scraps since like Chapter 76. Which was great because I realized the original Chapter 116 I wrote felt too much like filler with zero real new information/progress so I had to scrap that. So it made a nice bridge to the current scene. (Still running on almost zero buffer, hahahahahaha)
Also, Seiko says hello.
Question for next time: If you could ask Seiko one question and *maybe* get an answer, what would you ask?