NeonHorizon: I'm trying to keep Shigaraki as in-character as possible so...if he seems kind of harsh, that's why. The next chapter is going to be kind of intense.

He's being loud. Who is he talking to anyway? Kugutsu looked across the office at Giran, who was chatting away on his phone like he was the only person in the room. Even when their eyes briefly met, he seemed to either not register that he was distracting her or he simply did not care. Either way, it was pissing her off.

She clicked through the files he had sent her, giving each one a brief look through before jotting down some notes. All these new members and I've still only met a few. She chewed on the end of her pen, frowning to herself. It really did feel like Giran was distancing her from the others on purpose. Does he think I won't get along with them? If it's for Shigaraki, I can try to do pretty much anything.

"I don't know. That's a weird question. I've never really thought about that before." His voice got a little louder with surprise.

What? Kugutsu tilted her head as their eyes met again. Is he taking a product survey or something?

"I want to say birds."

What the hell? What was the question? She almost wanted to laugh. It sounded sort of like he was having someone fill out a personality quiz for him. Or a dating website profile. Not that she could picture her boss going on a date with anyone. She had seen him look at women, but never actually talk to them.

"Well maybe it's fish? Maybe both. She gets weird about rabbits, too. One time, she spent half the day stalking one when she was supposed to be running an errand. That was the last time I sent her anywhere rural," Giran said with a laugh.

Heat overtook her face as she realized that he was talking about her. She stood and stalked across the room to slam a hand on the desk beside his laptop. Leaning down close, Kugutsu's catlike eyes narrowed and she let her lips twitch into a snarl. The shadows at her feet seem to start bubbling and when he looked down, his eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah, but anyway, we should really be talking business!" He gave her a grin that was not even remotely apologetic and nodded toward her desk.

As she returned, there was a ping on her laptop. Kugutsu saw a new message on her social media tab and tilted her head when she saw who it was from. Iguchi Shuichi? She opened the message and had to fight back a smile.

It read "If you still want to do your plan, I'll help! Let's pick a different kid though. Stain marked that one."

So she typed back "You want to help me? Even though Shigaraki has a better plan?" It was both confusing and uplifting at the same time. Her crush had bluntly told her that he was not going to use her plan so she was still a little sad. However, Shigaraki was their leader so they had to follow his orders. So why's Spinner going against what he said?

The reply came quickly as "You said you wanted to send a message about hero students! I want in! And if we do it ourselves, Shigaraki will have to be impressed that we took the initiative to do this for him!"

Impress Shigaraki…? That was literally all it took to make her face start turning red. Kugutsu nodded to herself, feeling her confidence increase a bit with Spinner's encouragement. So she typed "You really think it's a good idea?"

To which he replied "I think it's a great idea!"

She hated it, she really did, but her lips moved up into a half-smile. Before she could ask him if he wanted to meet to discuss it in person, to avoid leaving online evidence, Kugutsu heard Giran laugh and her attention became divided again. He's having too much fun over there. Who is he talking to?

"Oh! Is that so?" Giran took on a sheepish smirk and looked directly at Kugutsu. "No; she's not doing anything right now. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to have something to do."

"…I'm working…" she murmured, but she knew he was ignoring her.

"Sounds good. I'll let her know." He ended the call, settling his phone on his desk and appearing amused. "Kugutsu-chan, I've got a job for you this afternoon."

"Can it wait? Iguchi and I-" She was cut off by her boss tossing a bound bundle of cash her way. The girl caught it and counted it on reflex before giving the man a curious look. "What's this for?"

"Villain costume." He stood and leaned against his desk, lighting a cigarette.

"You have my measurements; just send them to whoever made Jin-san's costume," she grumbled.

"Bubaigawara's costume is a special case. You really don't need much; you just can't wear your everyday stuff. Really, I think it'd be best if you wore the same kind of school uniform as Toga. Yeah; you're too old to be in high school, but you look pretty young. Anyway, take that money and get yourself a costume."

Shift P.O.V

Every time he thought about it, he started to feel weird. Bad. Not exactly guilty, though he was unsure if he could even tell if what he was feeling was guilt. He just felt bad. He was feeling something that he wanted to banish.

The only way to get rid of this is to kill her, Shigaraki thought to himself as he continued walking. Carefully avoiding the other people walking through the crowded shopping area. Keeping his head down, his hood pulled up, his hands in his pocket as he clutched "Father".

Of course, a certain worry surfaced when he thought about killing her. It might make the weird feeling go away, but it also might make it worse. As he tried to imagine her body succumbing to his disintegration quirk, it did make the feeling more intense. He gritted his teeth, scowling at the floor as he attempted to shake the image from his mind. For some bizarre reason, it sort of hurt to imagine that.

Truthfully, Shigaraki did like her idea. The way she described it, how excited she had gotten, really made him want to do it. If Spinner would have just kept quiet, they might have even attempted her plan.

He chewed at his lower lip as he remembered how the reptilian villain had praised her. How he had been so impressed with her fight against the yakuza. How he had touched her console. Shigaraki tasted blood and licked it from his lower lip, his frown getting deeper. Her fan. My fan's fan. Why does she have a fan anyway? She's only been a villain since I asked her to join the League of Villains. If it wasn't for me, she'd still just be a broker's assistant.

The villain was walking past a particular shop when he happened to glance up and catch sight of a familiar figure with cat ears. Shigaraki's eyes narrowed as he came to a halt. She was standing with her back to the shop window, apparently looking at clothes. Just the sight of her conjured up certain images that made his heart do that annoying palpitating thing that it had recently gotten in the habit of doing.

Shift P.O.V

What would a real villain wear? It's got to be something easy to move around in. No gloves though; I need to be able to touch shadows for my quirk. Kugutsu chewed at her thumbnail as she examined a rather bulky sweater. It was cute, but definitely not something that a person should wear while fighting heroes and trying to create absolute blood-painted chaos.

She was about to move on when she felt a tug at the back of her shirt. Kugutsu looked over her shoulder, expecting a nosey employee or a little kid that wandered away from their parent. Instead, her cat-yellow eyes met a pair of blood-red ones that made her jump. "Sh-Shigaraki?!"

His eyes narrowed when she jumped and he looked down to where he was gripping the back of her shirt between his thumb and two first fingers. "What're you doing here?"

"Um…well…ah…" The girl wanted to turn around to face him, but he was still holding onto the back of her shirt so it would be awkward if she did. "Giran-san told me to come here to get something to be my villain costume." She kept her voice low to keep from attracting the attention of other shoppers.

He looked up from her shirt, lips twitching into a scowl. "I told Kurogiri I was coming here."

This was a setup. Not that she was upset about seeing him; she was overjoyed. This was the highlight of her day. She just wished Giran had not felt the need to go behind her back to plan this with Kurogiri. So…what now?

An idea sparked and she decided to be bold. Or at least attempt to be bold, in her weird and horribly awkward way. Kugutsu reached a hand back and very gently took his hand. "Do you…? I mean…" She averted her gaze, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. "You're the leader and I've never done this before so…do you want to help me pick out my costume?"

To be completely truthful, part of her just wanted to wear a costume like his. Without the hands, of course. The simple black pants and shirt seemed so comfortable. Really, she only needed to have her hands exposed. As long as she could touch a shadow directly with her skin, she could control it. However, as crazy as she was, even Kugutsu could recognize how creepy it would be for Shigaraki's fan girl to dress like him.

Now he was looking down at where she was holding onto his hand. Seeing her slender, delicate fingers with their obsidian nails grip his hand gently. He slowly looked back up to her face and his lips twitched again. This time, he began to smirk. "My fan girl wants me to pick out her costume?"

Something about the way he said sent a shiver down her spine, but in a weirdly good way. Kugutsu had to stop herself from smiling, despite the growing blush on her cheeks. "…yes…I'd…I'd love that…" she murmured.

He stared at the other villain for a moment, seeming to take in her reply as well as her reaction. She was clearly ecstatic about the idea of having her object of affection make such an important decision. He was clearly pleased by this and started leading her off with little hesitation.

In the end, Kugutsu ended up with a rather different costume than what Giran probably expected. It was all in black; pants with holes in the knees and a long-sleeved shirt that was a tight fit with holes in the elbows, shoulders, and with mesh running along the forearms. So it was kind of similar to Shigaraki's costume, but with more skin exposed so she had more options for touching shadows.

The fact that he had managed to pick out such a perfect costume was a bit strange. Mostly because he kept acting like it was more of a pain than an honor. Like he would rather be doing literally anything else. However, he seemed content when he saw her hide a smile behind her hand.

Even after the task was complete, she walked beside him. All it took was being in his vicinity to make her pulse race and brain feel giddy. She might have hated how it ruined her professionalism, if not for the whole "blinded by love" thing. I definitely have to impress him now! I want him to be happy and I want to be the cause of it! Kugutsu curled her hand into a fist, nodding to herself.

"Why are you nodding?" he asked, sounding mildly annoyed. He scratched at his neck, watching her from the corner of his eye.

"…sorry…" She shook her head, glancing away from him. "It's nothing." The girl saw him quicken his pace and moved to catch up to him. When he rounded a corner, she jogged to keep herself from losing him and felt her heart palpitations grow so intense that she thought the organ might escape her chest.

The second she was around the corner, Kugutsu's back slammed against the wall and a hand gripped her neck. Four fingers pressed against her flesh, the villain's other hand braced against the wall above her head with his little finger extended. Shigaraki's face got close. Horribly, unsettlingly close. So close that, if Kugutsu had more cat traits, she might have tried to boop noses with him.

The villain's scarred, dry lips curled into a grin and a strand of pale blue hair fell forward to brush against her right cheek. He could see her face turning red from either lack of oxygen or a blush. Really, since it was Kugutsu, it was probably a creepy mix of both. "Well? Aren't you scared? I could kill you right now."

Kugutsu felt the pressure increase on her neck, but kept still. Staring at him, blushing. Feeling a warm tingle run through her as he drew closer. So close that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her lips. She saw his eyes narrow further and the hand on the wall moved.

The back of three fingers brushed along her cheek as his grin fell to a frown. For a second, he actually looked almost a tiny bit concerned and confused. As if her lack of fear bothered him. Shigaraki saw her eyes half-closed as his skin made contact with hers and he bit his lower lip. Her lack of fear both pleased him and irritated him. "Why aren't you afraid?" he questioned her.

She could feel the pressure ease up gradually until she could breathe easily again. "Because I…like it," she confessed. Saying this seemed to magnify the feeling. Kugutsu wanted to lift a hand to touch him, but stopped herself. I'm just a peon. He's above me. He's…so much cooler than I am.

"You actually want me to touch you?" He sounded almost angry now.

"Yes." The raven-haired villain had been looking away and now met his stare. Sweat dotted her hairline and her stomach felt like it was doing flips.

He tapped his fingertips against her neck and seemed to be considering his next move. Leaning away, Shigaraki pulled both hands back to push into his pocket. He fidgeted with "Father" as he tried to discern whether or not she had just offhandedly told him she wanted to die. "You're weird."