Living under the bar is peaceful for the most part. Except for the few times Shigaraki shows up with a mysterious new injury, everything is pretty quiet and still.
Naomi actually kind of likes it. She gets to eat food, read novels on her phone and study and nobody can stop her. Nobody is around to tell her that she needs to do something like housework or getting a regular job.
Even if she's not getting paid at present, she also doesn't have to buy food, rent or anything else she needs. Kurogiri can just put a portal in front of a shelf in the middle of the night and all she's got to do is reach in, grab the shit, throw it in a sack and then go back to the bar with one step backwards.
The portal itself is a shadow and blocks the cameras from seeing her, so even if they know stuff is missing- which they likely don't, since they only take from certain places at certain times… they'll never be able to figure out who took it even if they go looking.
Meaning she's essentially living the good life now. She could ask Kurogiri to get her an entire entertainment system and he'd probably oblige.
But she wants to be careful. Only get the essentials, wait until they're flush with cash and then only steal the things they can't afford.
She's always thought capitalism was a terrible system and that everyone who needed a computer or phone should have one. Which gave her an idea.
And Kurogiri enabled her, because that's just what he does.
"These parts were all thrown away," he says as he observes her taking apart and putting together several computer towers. "What good will they do?"
"If we sell them for a flat hundred bucks apiece, it's quick and easy income. Even if we're only able to salvage half the stuff we found and make it into workable computers- you have no idea the amount of people who need computers and aren't able to buy one or can't get a new model. These might not be cutting edge, but they were made in the past five years. That's pretty good for someone who's poor as fuck. And if we give a few away for free in return for 'services rendered' that will also gain us a different kind of capital."
"So that's why there's computer guts everywhere," Shigaraki takes the last step down into the clinic, Father firmly affixed to his face. The rest of his family is absent.
'That means his anxiety levels are low-ish today.'
"I'll have Kurogiri warp the leftovers to a landfill when I'm done," she promises. "And I'm only using the bar because my clinic needs to stay sterile."
"If it'll get money for the league or favors we can call in," he says. "I'll allow it. But next time, you should ask me first."
"Didn't really think it'd be a problem," she replies. "Kurogiri said he could handle it, it'll benefit the league. There's no real cost involved. Ordinarily, those who lead groups only need to be consulted when there's a cost/benefit analysis to be done."
"Kurogiri stealing things for you is a risk," he says. "Even if it's from a landfill. People are going to notice if warp gates open up all over the place."
"Not if you open them at night in the shadows where they can't be seen," she replies with a smile. "But sure, I'll send you a list of things I need and you can just pass it to Kurogiri if you think it's safe and beneficial."
He nods at that, apparently accepting the answer. She wonders why the hell he's accepting everything so easily.
'Is it because I'm a healer?' she wonders. 'The League never had one before, in the show. It's possible that people down here in the back streets and alleys are desperate for medical care. He could be trying to give me enough leeway that I feel safe and comfortable here. Avoiding venting his anger on me so that I won't leave.'
She thinks that's actually kind of amazing. Overhaul would just lock her up. Shigaraki is… different. She doesn't know if he wants her to believe in his cause or if he just needs the healer and doesn't care what she believes… but it's a good approach.
"Oh hey by the way," she says and turns to him. "I need tasks to do. They all count as 'Quests' as long as they're given to me by someone else or I find them by going out and walking around. I've been picking up litter and such, but that's tedious. So if you could get me some healer jobs where we'd be paid for my services, either in capital or favors…"
"...yeah…" he scratches once at his throat. "That's a good idea. We'll need someone to protect you wherever you go, though. You wanted them to bond, so… the men I've hired so far will take turns escorting you to different places."
"Sure…as long as it's impressed upon them that they can't just kill me themselves when they get irritated with me," she replies. "Anyway… what's 'Decay' mean?"
He pauses and scratches again. "Where did you hear that?"
"It's in your character profile," she replies. Not even lying. She's got to give some kind of basis for how she knows some things. "I got this new skill called 'Quirk Identification' and at level one, it just says 'Decay'. It says 'Physical Contact Required' too, but that's basically it."
The profile is actually more detailed than that, but she's keeping some cards hidden in case she needs them.
"What else does it say about me? Not my Quirk," he says.
"Age, blood type, other medical information," she recites as she looks it over. "There's also this thing here that says 'unlockable bio'. I think this is where everything you tell me about yourself goes. Like a journal of people's backstories."
"It doesn't tell you about my past?" he asks.
"No, I think that's really something you have to tell me yourself," she replies. "It'll probably present as a quest, or a secret quest, rather."
"Hm," he grunts.
"So?" she asks and tilts her head.
He frowns, but seems to remember the question. "It means the things I touch, die."
"In what way specifically?" she asks. "Medical question."
"...they decay," he replies. "Turn to dust."
"Dust, huh?" she frowns this time. "That's actually a lot more like Disintegration than Decay, isn't it? Maybe the Quirk thing in the window names the quirk what the person thinks it is. Interesting. Anyway, you had your booster shots and stuff?"
"...is that a joke?" he asks.
"Right, villains," she sighs and rolls her eyes. "Off the grid. Clinics usually have cameras and sign-ins. Um… well, maybe I'll unlock some immunization skills at some point… what about your skin condition?"
His itching pauses only long enough for him to glare at her from behind 'Father' for a second. "What about it?" He nearly snaps it.
'Touchy subject? Weird. I didn't think he cared about it.'
"Have you tried getting your hands on some anxiety medication? It's possible that the cause is an imbalance in certain hormones," she says quickly. She doesn't want to imply that he has anxiety, just that the meds might help because they rebalance the right hormones.
"That's too much of a hassle, people always notice when medications go missing," he replies. Voice hoarse and rough.
"Maybe just the ingredients before it becomes the medication? The powder that gets pressed into pills? We could get a press and make the pills ourselves. Or we could create fake identities- or oh, we could employ a psychiatrist in our network, get them to write prescriptions."
"You have way too many ideas," Shigaraki says. "Slow down for now and worry about the computers and healer gigs."
"I tend to think way too fast," she replies. "It's good that you know how to say no to me. A lot of people just let me keep going until I burn out. I don't really have any self-regulation skills in that area. I guess you could say I 'need' you for that."
His fingers slow down until he's not scratching anymore by the time she's finished speaking.
"Kurogiri isn't any good at saying 'no'," he says. "So come to me, before you decide to do anything."
"Probably a good idea," she replies. "Now. I want to ask you about something to implement in the future. Something we should work towards. Do you have any short or mid-term goals I should know about?"
He frowns. "Our goal is to destroy All Might, and hero society. That's all. I don't want anyone getting distracted with a million sidequests."
"But sidequests are essential if you want to level up," she replies, easily and quickly. "If you just follow the main storyline, you'll make it through by the skin of your teeth- but you'll die a lot along the way. And we don't have multiple lives. Doing sidequests ensures that your party members stay alive and you reach the final boss with minimal damage. So that when you do face him, you have the best possible chance of victory. Not to mention all the cool weapons, armor and potions you pick up on the way."
That actually seems to pause him. His eyes dart this way and that with the speed of his thoughts. "What sidequests could we do to prepare? The date of the attack is already decided."
"But you're the one who decided it, aren't you?" she asks. "You don't have to feel constrained by your own rules."
He blinks once, slowly. "But we don't know when they'll all be in those positions again. It's a perfect plan."
"It would be, if you had time, preparation and strength," she replies, frankly. "But so far as I've seen, the only thing you have is 'numbers' and we don't even have a lot of information on peoples' Quirks. You should figure out who should go where if you want to win. Like, you wouldn't throw a fireball at a slime, would you?"
He makes a face, that I can barely see. "Of course not."
I almost laugh, but I can't laugh. He just sounded so disgusted.
"Right. And you wouldn't set a fire user against a water user unless the water user was shitty and the fire user was an expert. In that case, maybe they might be able to overcome their limitations- but these guys you're sending, they're going to be facing kids who've been trained in combat by the best heroes in the country."
She doesn't actually want them to win and hurt the kids. But she figures if she can talk him out of big, flashy moves- and move him in another direction… maybe the kids won't have to be involved at all.
"So we need to weed out the people with terrible skills?" he asks.
"No- well, yes. But also no. You need to cultivate those with potential while also assigning those with different kinds of potential to different jobs. Like, I'm the only healer you've got, but I am not a combat healer. I wouldn't be able to go out in the field. I'd need constant protection and there'd be a big glowing target on my back. But you don't need healing quirks if you can't find them. You just need people with quirks that won't hurt a patient, to learn medical skills."
His eyes drift slightly. "…like if someone has a fire quirk, they can cauterize wounds?"
"And if they have a water Quirk, they can clean them," she confirms. "However, if they drip acid from fangs that are constantly protruding from their mouth, they'd need special equipment to make sure they don't damage the patient but can also attack if needed. There's lots of considerations to go into this. And since your Quirk activates on contact and I've seen you touching things weirdly, that means you can't turn it off, right?"
He frowns and scratches again. "Yeah."
"So someone like you would need either special gloves, or you'd have to run defense for the actual healer," she says. "It'd be terrible if your glove slipped and you disintegrated someone you were trying to heal."
Sighing, Shigaraki's shoulders drop. "This morning, everything seemed so simple. But now you're making my head hurt."
"You should listen to her," Kurogiri speaks for the first time in a while, completely startling Naomi. "Every leader needs advisors and she seems to have a mind for these things. Though I do wonder why she is so completely loyal already, that can be determined later."
She huffs through her nose. "Hey, I live here, alright? If he gets jailed or killed, I'm screwed. I'd have to go to someone else for protection. I came here because this is the most attractive option. I don't want to join a gang."
"I'll think about it," Shigaraki says. Almost on top of the end of her sentence. "Mid-term and long-term goals. Short term goal… is to get stronger and build up resources."