NeonHorizon: As you read this, keep in mind that throughout this chapter Kugutsu is still covered in blood. It adds to the effect. I guess I should put a "mentions of torture" warning up here, too. I really wanted to show her trying to get along with the other members of the League, but it kept ending with her trying to kill Toga so maybe I'll save that for next chapter.

Shigaraki stared down at where Kugutsu's hand rested on his knee, eyes wide. He remained perfectly still. Like someone that had little to no experience with girls. Like someone that had no idea how to react to having someone that he might like actually touching him. Like a NEET that was being touched by a girl for the first time so he simply froze up and went silent. That last one was a little too accurate.

Kugutsu still had her head down. Her free hand fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as her other hand remained on his knee. Warm. Comforting. It was making his heart beat too fast. It actually started to hurt a little.

The pain in his chest made him want to push her away and go back to his room. A glance over at Spinner made him change his mind. The second I'm gone, she's going to start talking to him. I can't stand it. Thinking about her talking to Spinner made him start furiously scratching his neck.

"Sh-Shigaraki…?" she murmured.

He saw how Spinner reacted to her talking to him. He looked so excited. So happy. It was disgusting. It made Shigaraki's stomach turn, seeing him get so excited about talking to his fan girl. Calling her "cool". Watching that video over and over again. It was at this point that he reached a realization.

He's her fan. Shigaraki failed to hear her say his name again and began chewing angrily at his lower lip. His eyes were narrowed, focused on Spinner as the reptilian-looking villain showed an uninterested Compress another video of Kugutsu's fight, from a different security camera. My fan girl has a fan.

The fan girl in question felt his arm tightening around her midsection, a hand pressing hard at her side and keeping one finger lifted. She squirmed a little, becoming just slightly uncomfortable.

It was such an odd revelation that he had no idea what to even think about it. The girl that thought he was so cool. The girl that had geeked out over his efforts to kill All Might and had kissed him. She had a fan of her own. Someone that called her cool and geeked out over her efforts to kill the yakuza leader.

Most people would see that as a potential relationship. Like she could decide to focus all of her romantic attention on Spinner now. Shigaraki, being the socially inept villain that he was, instead worried about her becoming a Spinner fan.

The hand on his knee shifted, fingertips lightly digging in. It made his breathing hitch and he looked down. Kugutsu's obsidian nails were pressing at his knee through his pants, her hand trembling. Seeing this brought him out of those bad thoughts and into what was happening in this moment.

Kugutsu's back felt warm against his chest, her pointed ears just a short distance away from his face so if they twitched just right, he could feel a hint of a breeze against his cheek. There was a quiet purring coming from her so he was pretty sure she was happy and it confused him.

What kind of psychopath gets excited about this? Shigaraki felt her ease up, her nails no longer pressing at his knee. Instead, he now felt her seem to almost lean back against him. The coffee was finished and she had given most of it to him so, in a show of rewarding his loyal fan as well as demonstrating some dominance in front of the other villains, he reached up to start rubbing behind one of her ears.

Normally, she would just continue to purr, but something had Kugutsu more excited than usual and she reacted a bit differently. The girl nuzzled her head against his hand, urging him to keep petting when she thought he might stop. He would have been satisfied with the purring. He would have preferred it. When she acted so eager for him to touch her, it pissed him off. No one had ever craved his touch like this before. He had no idea how to feel about it so he was annoyed.

As irritated as he was, it boosted his confidence. It made him feel powerful. Important. Thoughts of her potential betrayal were gone and replaced with the simple idea that this girl with cat ears felt so strongly about him that she actually wanted to be close to him. She loved him in a way no one else ever had and that love was acting as a fuel to his ego.

Shift P.O.V

Kugutsu bit her lower lip when she finally drew away from his hand, fully aware that her face was probably so red that it looked like she had an oozing head wound. She was just glad that the other villains were too preoccupied to notice her acting like an attention-starved fan girl. Even if that was exactly what she was.

I have to say something! He's going to get bored of me if I just sit here like this! She remembered something important. A little project she had been working on in her spare time, just for fun. Kugutsu drew her phone from her pocket, still purring, and brought up a social media profile to show Shigaraki.

"This kid…um…Midoriya. He's from UA."

Instantly, Shigaraki's blood-red eyes narrowed on the image and his arm tightened around her more. "Are you stalking him? Psycho."

"It's…actually called "cyber-stalking"," she admitted with no shame whatsoever. "I use a throwaway account and…I sent friend requests to him and his friends. I wanted to tell you…" Kugutsu's lips drew into a grin and she removed her hand from Shigaraki's knee so she could cover her mouth. "I wanted to tell you. This plan that I have. It's kind of twisted, but I think you might appreciate it."

Remembering her plan for All Might untimely demise via dismemberment, the villain's eyes took on an excited appearance. They widened, the corner of his mouth twitching as if he might want to grin. "What? You made a plan? Are you trying to impress me or something?" he grumbled, as if to try to mislead her into thinking it was just an annoyance.

She was embarrassed to admit it, but it was true. Kugutsu had done some research and hoped that her plan would, at the very least, amuse him. "I…love you," she said in a whisper. "I want to impress you." It took a lot of courage to say. Especially in front of the other villains.

Shigaraki sighed, slouching behind her. His face was now just at the edge of her vision as he chewed at his lower lip. The villain pulled her further onto the seat, bringing her flush against him as he looked at her screen. "You thought of something just to impress me? Fine. Tell me what you have planned for him."

Bubbles of excitement rose within her, heart rate increasing as she looked at the screen as well. What she had planned was pretty horrible. Sadistic. Terrifying. Almost as bad as her plan for All Might's death.

"I don't want to kill him," she started, trying very hard not to laugh. "It's really…more like mutilation. But it's not like normal! What I have planned…!" She paused to let herself tremble in silent laughter and only continued when she had calmed a bit. "Imagine this! A metal can, filled with melted chocolate, heated up until the chocolate is bubbling and boiling. The metal has to be red though. It has to be so hot that you need tongs and gloves to handle it."

Kugutsu was unaware of how the other two villains were now looking their way, intrigued by her excitement. "You put the can against his mouth and make him drink it. It would be so hot that the metal cooks the skin of his lips and makes his throat blister. Imagine it! Can you imagine…him choking on burning hot melted chocolate and crying?! Screaming when you rip the metal away from where his lips cooked on it! He'd be sobbing and begging for it to stop! And his throat would be totally seared on the inside and there'd be nothing he could do about it! All the blood and the blisters! Imagine posting that image up on the UA social media page! Can you imagine it?!"

She began to giggle in that high-pitched, terrifying way that she did when she got a sadistic thrill from something. "A school that's supposed to make heroes! And there's a picture of one of their students crying and bloody! Looking pathetic and weak! Can you imagine it?!"

"That's…awesome, Yami!" Spinner exclaimed before Shigaraki could reply.

"That sounds excessively cruel," Compress agreed, tugging his hat forward a little. "Are you going to capture the student yourself or do you need help?"

Shift P.O.V

It was a horrific image that she described and it absolutely delighted him. Shigaraki could imagine it and it was distressing. The idea of forcing hot liquid down a hero-in-training's throat to scorch them from the inside out. Displaying the image of that teenager; bleeding and tearful. Full of agony that they were unable to ease.

He was impressed. Just as he had been when she told him how she would kill All Might. Both were absolutely horrific fates that no human being should suffer through. Both involved displaying the result to present a message about heroes.

More than just impressed, Shigaraki loved the idea. He wanted to see it happen. That is, until he heard the other two praise her. The second that Spinner called her plan "awesome", Shigaraki became irritated. It was like when you really enjoy an indie game with a small following and then the most annoying person you know gets into it. All interest fades the second that person starts going on about it.

"We're not doing that. I've got a better plan," he spoke up. He slid an arm around her neck to reach up, scratching at an itch at the side of his own neck. Doing this brought her even closer against him, in a move to show the other two that the villain with cat ears was his. The odds of an onshore shark attack were still greater than the odds of him admitting how much he was beginning to like her.

"What?! It's a great plan!" Spinner protested. Realizing that he was going against his leader, he quickly backed down. "What's your plan?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself. You'll have to wait until those others get here." Shigaraki looked from him to Compress, daring them both to argue with him. It was not needed; they seemed perfectly fine with waiting to hear his plan.

Sitting in front of him, well partially on his lap, Kugutsu was trembling. The hand that was holding her phone shook so violently that he thought for a moment she might drop it. She curled forward a little in a slouched position, withdrawing as droplets dotted leg of his pants.

Unlike last time, Kugutsu was now shaking because she was crying. She was literally sitting halfway on the villain's lap, crying her little catlike eyes out. All because he turned down her plan. She was absolutely heartbroken.

A normal person would probably try to comfort her or at least feel bad about making her cry. Shigaraki was far from normal. Instead of trying to console her, he grinned. His heart was palpitating as he felt her shake and heard a soft, sort of muffled sob.

If there was a question about her love for him before, this was the answer. She was so in love with him that a simple rejection of her idea was enough to make her this distressed. Having the villain that she loved tell her that he had no intention to use her plan left her nearly heartbroken and it filled him with immeasurable satisfaction.

Shift P.O.V

"Come get me when the others are here," Shigaraki announced. He moved to stand, giving her a rough nudge forward so she was standing.

Kugutsu wiped at her eyes quickly, trying to keep her head down to hide how red she knew her face was. He didn't like it…? He really didn't like it! I let him down again! Why do I keep doing this?! How many times can I let Shigaraki down before he stops wanting to talk to me?

She expected him to just leave, but then she felt a hand grip onto her wrist with only four fingers making contact. Kugutsu's cat ears flattened against her head and she felt her humiliation increase as she realized that she would have no time to recover from this little fit of despair. She would have to force herself out of this incredibly emo moment and try to act like a normal human being.

Shigaraki walked ahead of her, pulling her along behind him and into the back hallway. He was quiet and avoided looking back at her. However, she still managed to catch sight of his face. The grin. It gave her a flicker of hope that maybe he did like her plan. Or maybe he wanted her to help him with his plan.

I just…don't want to disappoint you. I don't want you to hate me. I don't want to let you down. I want to do everything I can because I want to make you happy! She watched him grab his handheld console from the desk before settling on the floor with his back against the wall. The girl saw him start the game and ruffled her scruffy black hair, trying to figure out what exactly he wanted.

He glared up at her through his hair and nodded toward the empty spot beside him. "I need items," he stated without further explanation.

"Oh. O-okay. Sorry." She sank to the floor and dug her console out of her bag, still trembling. Now she was shaking from nervousness instead of sadness. She was glad that he seemed to still want her around, even if it was just for the game.

Being the somewhat socially awkward gremlin that she was, Kugutsu left about six inches of space between them. Really, she was treating Shigaraki like a strange, rare creature you would see in nature and be careful not to startle. She wanted him to like her and since her plan had failed to impress him, now she was determined to get him whatever items he needed in the game.

He saw her sit and waited a moment before grumbling. "What're you doing? You're acting like I have something wrong with me. I thought you liked me."

"I do!" she blurted out. "Er…I mean…I admire you…um…" She moved closer to him and felt warmth bubbling in her when their legs touched. "L-let's get started."