The train ride to Kamino wasn't too awful. Toru hummed to herself and playfully kicked her feet, always moving so people would glance over and take note of her.
Random strangers can help bring up my reputation as a bubbly, energetic, normal girl. If ever asked about that "invisible girl" they'll say that I'm just a bubbly normal girl who is easily excitable, instead of someone suspicious. Toru thought.
She was sure she was looking unique on the train, but not necessarily suspicious. If anyone did eventually get suspicious of her for going to Kamino there was plenty of eyewitness testimony now to claim that she wasn't being sneaky or out of character when she was out of the eyes of UA staff.
Nobody from Class B looked like they were on the same train she was, so she could rest easy knowing nobody else had chosen his Purple Highness's agency.
Hopefully, this will be as much of a breeze as all those interns testified it being.
The agency was luckily not that close to the league of villains nor the Nomu warehouse. If the league of villain's bar was to the Northeast, and the Nomu warehouse to the South, the agency would be due west of the bar.
The big flashy words in neon lights that advertised the agency were about the best maintained thing about it. "PURPLE REVOLUTION AGENCY" the building was purple, but it was very vividly in a state of disrepair. It was 2 pm and the windows still had their shutters closed, not allowing light in.
Toru opened the door to the office, knowing that she was arriving perfectly punctually.
"HELLO-!" She greeted loudly and excitedly.
If this agency is anything like what I read on the web, I should be ignored almost immediately.
Instead of seeing nothing, though her eyes were greeted by a huge party banner over a reception counter that read "WELCOME UA STUDENT!" there was a cake with candles as if she had walked straight into a birthday party.
A loud party horn blared. Suddenly confetti rained down from the ceiling. A man stood up, having been hiding behind the reception desk.
He was dressed in purple princely garbs with long hair in a ponytail. He had quite a bit of facial hair and a large boob window in his outfit to show off his excessive chest hair. He had a big smile on his face, but the smile didn't completely read as genuine.
This…Is much different than I was expecting. Uh-oh. Toru thought.
The pro hero who was clearly his purple highness, extended his arms while smiling. Despite his happy looking attitude, he didn't seem to have looked at Toru yet. His eyes were closed to keep confetti out of them.
"Welcome student of UA! I am so excited to meet you and train you as a hero and show you the ways of the world!" He struck a pose, eccentrically.
Is this just for show? He seems to have quite a bit prepared to greet me…She could see very visible wrinkles on his face and bags under his eyes though. There was a bit of a tremble to his eccentric pose, and it wasn't hard to see he was very stressed.
This doesn't match any of the other interns' reports. Could it be that he's trying to show off because I'm from the famed UA? All of this does look like he's trying very hard instead of being actually genuine. And from the bags under his eyes, I can tell he didn't sleep a wink. Perhaps this sort of greeting would excite any normal student, but Toru was suspicious of it.
"Hello! I'm excited to learn all I can to be a hero from you!" Toru bowed.
His Purple Highness looked around as if trying to find Toru, as if she had been lost in all the streamers and confetti. Once he finally spotted the school uniform floating in the air his eyes widened a bit more, and then his face turned white. The energy level he had previously tricked himself into happening dropped.
"Ah…. Um…You're an invisible girl." His Purple Highness said the obvious, his legs trembling.
"Yep!" Toru replied chipperly. She shook her arms excitedly. "Is that a problem?"
His Purple Highness looked visibly scared, but he shook his head. "No. It's just…Um…My agency is one where people usually come to me to learn how to be manly or smiley! And you can do neither of those things." He tried to be polite as he stated the obvious.
Hmm…Is that really it? Toru wondered. She doubted that was all it was that caused that reaction. She slumped her shoulders to imitate sadness. "Ah…Well…I won't take up too much of your energy if you don't want me too…"
His Purple Highness waved his hands worriedly. That managed to shake him out of his fear, so Toru knew it wasn't her specifically that was scaring him. "No! No…It's not you! I didn't mean I didn't like you or anything!" He reassured. "It's just that well…" He swept his hand through his hair. "My quirk is chest hair. It highlights my manly traits. The more chest hair I show off, the more powerful, agile, and faster I get. I am a manly, flashy hero."
Toru nodded. His quirk was a little weird, but lots of people had weird quirks.
"So, people usually choose me because they want to learn how to be manly or flashy. I teach them the tricks to be in the spotlight or have a better public perception. So uhh…. I don't know what I'm supposed to do for you." He admitted at a momentary loss.
Toru pretended to continue looking discouraged. That's odd. The latest intern reports claimed he taught them nothing. So, he's clearly lying to me. Or perhaps he wanted to treat an intern of the famed UA better than he normally does to get a good reputation.
Her best guess was that His Purple Highness was shallow and able to put on a good public face which he was trying to use on her.
"It's all right!" Toru tried to reassure. "I'm sorry I'm so difficult…" She played the sympathy angle.
His Purple Highness looked guilty.
"Why don't I just follow you around on patrol and observe you from there? This is my first internship so I'm sure there's a lot for me to learn!" Toru pretended to be overly enthusiastic.
If he is just pretending, too much energy and enthusiasm will smother him, and he'll cut me loose pretty soon and give up. I have seven days here so that's plenty of time to annoy him into giving up. Toru thought.
His Purple Highness winced at the words 'follow around on patrol'. He put his hand on his face as if to shield his expression. "No…Um…I don't think that's a good idea…"
Does he not patrol anymore? Toru wondered. Was he lazy or was his age getting to him?
"Oh, I know!" He seemed to be looking around his office. "You should look through my files of completed hero work and learn how to do paperwork. Analyze how a completed task gets filed off and heroes make their money! That's an important job of a hero!" He clapped as if he had come up with something brilliant.
So, he wants me to learn how to do paperwork and look at his success stories. Toru thought. She doubted any of her other classmates were learning all about the joys of paperwork on their internships.
"That's a plenty safe job for an invisible person…" She heard him mutter under his breath. She took note of that.
"I think you can do that great, kid! So you should go off and look through the files. I uhh…Gotta go take an aspirin and lie down on the couch. So, you get started without me!" Purple Highness was still smiling, but it was more visibly forced. He fumbled away.
Just like that Toru was abandoned as her pro-hero left to collapse in the back room.
He didn't even show me where this cabinet was with the paperwork. Despite the initial hiccup when he was all excited about having a UA student this is exactly what I was looking for. Perfect. Toru hopped over the reception desk to sit in a chair awkwardly looking for those files he wanted her to look at.
It wouldn't be long now before he just gave up and had no more tasks for her and set her free. For now, though she'd pretend to poke around and grab whatever paper caught her eye.
She was sure that he'd probably report to UA if she just ditched before giving her permission to ditch after all.
The files in the Purple Highness agency were a disorganized mess. And behind the counter out of public eyes was trash littering the entire floor. Empty beer cans, take out dishes not thrown in the trash, broken bottles. It was a mess.
So, he has a drinking problem and that's why he lets his intern's ditch. It's probably because he's drunk off his ass. One mystery was solved.
Every now and then Toru heard the loud words "This is awful!" from the back room as His Purple Highness moaned to himself, thinking she couldn't hear him. The walls were not soundproof.
Perhaps he's already forgotten I'm here? People tend to do that. Toru thought. Or he could be drunk even now.
"I…I was going to confront my fears just like my therapist advised!" He continued moaning to himself. "I was going to do right by a UA student! Nothing awful was going to happen! Not like last time! I was going to make them into a star, and they would love me! I was going to make it up to UA and the past…" He continued moaning.
Ah. I get it. Despite UA forgetting the student's death from this agency, His Purple Highness hasn't. He's suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and that's what caused him to fall as a hero and try to put on a front to me. If he had trauma and a mental illness...well, that was even easier for her to exploit!
"Why do I have such bad luck to get someone invisible? If we go outside, I won't be able to see her! It will be dangerous! How am I supposed to see if rubble crushes her?" His Purple Highness was now loudly crying.
So that's how the last intern died…. Rubble. And that's why he's scared of me. Toru had momentarily wondered if perhaps he had recognized her from something to do with the league, but no, he was just afraid of putting her in danger. I know his trigger now. That means whenever I want I can induce a panic attack.
This was even luckier than she had previously dreamed. If she needed to break this hero to get her free vacation time, well, she could easily break his fragile mental state.
"I think I might have read some of the files?" Toru said loudly, reminding His Purple Highness that she existed. "Do you want me to clean up next, Mr. Highness?" Toru asked even more sweetly and over enthusiastic than before.
It was as if she was slamming her existence in his face, to remind him that she was going to exist until he set her loose.
"Sure…Sure, that's fine…" He said from the break room.
Toru got to cleaning. Once I run out of mundane things for him to order me to do, I should be able to subtly lead him into giving me time to just explore the city. If I get him into the habit of just agreeing to my suggestions, he should be easy to lead into what I want.
This would be a fine internship!
A half an hour later, His Purple Highness managed to pull himself out of the back room and stagger over to check on his intern.
Toru continued to chipperly clean away.
He glanced at his desk that now had a nice stack of his completed reports. This seemed to send him a pang of guilt.
"…W-what…What did you say your name was?" He asked, trying to confront his fear and make conversation with the UA student in front of him.
I had thought he didn't want to ask because he didn't want to give me an identity due to a fear of me just dying on him or something. Toru thought.
"Toru Hagakure. Hero name Invisible Girl! So, you got it right when you were moaning who I was." Toru tossed more trash into a bag, tightened it, and hummed to continue her routine of annoying the pro hero.
His Purple Highness stared at her, the bags under his eyes seemed to worsen. His shame that she had heard that was evident on his face. "Um…Why did you choose me, Hagakure?" He tried to change the subject. "You might be unaware, but you're my first UA student in the last 13 years." He might have been trying to cover his tracks to see how much she had heard.
Toru pretended to be shocked by that news. "I didn't actually know that! Wow! I must have really lucked out by getting a veteran, huh?" She said bubbly.
"…Ah…An airhead. Goody, goody." His Purple Highness mumbled to himself, deciding Toru's personality based on a few interactions.
"Hagakure, you have all the attitude traits to be a good hero already. I sometimes help shrinking violets, not friendly people like yourselves. Why did you choose me?" He asked again, trying to portray strength in his voice.
His eyes seemed to be begging for an answer as to why she had to be his fate. Why all of his plans had to be ruined. He needed a concrete answer besides just luck of the draw.
Hmm…If I say I read up on him, he'll know there's something wrong. So, I'll just appear shallow like I did with my classmates. Toru decided.
"For Kamino!" She replied very excitedly. "You were the only hero here on UA's list! I really really like shopping malls and all the really fun activities here, like spas and oooh there's a cat café…" She rattled on, excitedly.
His Purple Highness just sighed. This is who he had ended up with?
"Ooh and I did a little bit of research and saw that Kamino doesn't have many big villain attacks! The crime rate is low, and I don't excel at combat, so I thought I could learn more from you stopping drug deals or tax evaders than villain fights." Toru added in case he reported to UA that his intern wasn't taking things seriously.
She was now beginning to suspect his Purple Highness had moved his agency to Kamino, specifically because it didn't have much crime.
He wanted a place that he could continue working as a hero without triggering his PTSD. Sucks to be him because Kamino is actually the biggest den of villains. It was almost ironic.
His Purple Highness nodded, as if making peace with her reasoning. "I suppose first-years would be prone to choosing an agency based on location instead of based on the hero. You are all just young kids, after all." He reminded to himself. "Honestly, Hagakure…I moved here for mostly the same reason. The older I get, the worse I get with villain fights so I'm sure we can find a place for you here!" He tried to laugh and make some sort of connection with Toru.
Yuck. He's trying to bond with me. He's trying to push through and use his public face to get through this. But I want him to give up and set me loose. Toru thought.
"What is your hero costume?" His Purple Highness asked, wondering if perhaps there was anything he could work with.
"Just gloves and boots to keep myself as invisible as possible! And if we get into a combat situation, I'll discard even those, so I won't get hurt since I don't have my license." Toru smiled and replied.
His Purple Highness immediately looked horrified and became even more clammy. She had confirmed his fears that he wouldn't be able to find her if she was injured.
He tried to make it not visible to Toru how absolutely terrified he was at that answer. "I wasn't aware after Midnight's hero costume got rejected that they allowed naked heroes anymore…"
Toru frowned. "The government's policy is if they can't see it, it doesn't require stepping in."
Purple Highness slowly nodded. "Well…Um…We won't be doing any patrols, so you won't need to discard your gloves and boots! There's barely any villains here so there's no risk of a combat situation…Uhh…I don't have any paperwork I need doing so…" He was at a loss as to what to order her to do.
Ignore me! Set me loose! You have nothing more you can or want to do with me! Toru smiled.
His Purple Highness bit his lip as if struggling with the fact that he was going to neglect and ignore a UA student too. "Well, if there are no incidents in the next hour, I suppose I'll let you off early. You already checked into the hotel you'll be staying at, right?"
Toru nodded and shook her arms. "Yep!"
"I suppose it'll be safe enough to let you loose if there's nothing to do anyway then…" His Purple Highness agreed.
Toru beamed.
It seemed like His Purple Highness's horrible luck had rubbed off on Toru. Thirty minutes later a speaker on the wall lit up and a voice came out of it.
"Robbery at Dante's Toy Store by villain on 43rd street. Requesting immediate heroic assistance." The speaker spoke.
That's odd…All villains in the area should be stopped by the league. And robbing a toy store? This was not something that usually happened in Kamino.
"Well Fishcakes." His Purple Highness snapped but made sure he wasn't swearing around children. He got up, his legs clearly shaking. "I…I'm not supposed to just leave my intern here…" He reminded himself out loud.
You can. But perhaps my enthusiasm backfired, and he thinks I'll chase after him. Toru thought.
"Suit up, I suppose…But you will do no combat, is that clear? Watch from a relatively safe distance and learn." His Purple Highness tried to be stern and strong, because he honestly did want a UA student to learn from him.
I suppose I can see how easy it is to traumatize him. And I'd also like to take a look at what villain the league missed to warn away. Anyone who's close to becoming a villain in this area we convince to move with either threats or business deals. So, I'd like to see what kind of person the league missed. Toru thought.
"Got it!" Toru replied, after taking off her clothes to get her costume she followed His Purple Highness and left the agency.
Maybe it's just some idiot kid who falsified a police report to pull a prank…Toru thought, hoping the league hadn't really messed up.
There were quite a few police cars outside the toy store. No policemen inside of them. That meant they were probably inside and facing an actual villain in there instead of a falsified report like Toru had predicted.
His Purple Highness looked around frantically for Toru to make sure she was a safe distance away before going inside. He could not see her though and started sweating.
Toru had ditched her boots and gloves on the street corner. I told him I would do it for safety if there was an actual villain and this gives me a chance to snoop and actually see the villain. There should be no problem.
"Just keep from damaging any property…" He reminded himself. "If there's no wreckage, then nothing can hit her, wherever she is…It'll be fine." He tried to soothe his fears away. "You've fought villains before! You're still the amazing Purple Highness you were many years ago."
Despite the calming words to help his self-esteem, His Purple Highness was breathing very, very heavily. He was trying to press on and face his fears head on though. He swallowed and opened the door to the toy store, instead of barging through like most heroes would do.
Toru followed him closer than she was supposed to. She couldn't observe anything from outside, after all.
Inside the toy store, the policemen were all over the ground.
His Purple Highness gasped. "Who…Who would dare do such a thing?" He asked.
Toru noticed that despite the policemen being unconscious and bruised, there were no bloody wounds. Whatever villain had attacked the toy store wasn't as violent as most of the people she knew in the league.
The villain who had made this attack stepped into the open from behind a stack of action figures. He was tall in what looked like an extravagant coat and cuffs. He looked like a refined gentleman with a mustache, cane, and slicked back gray hair.
"Ah, what a twist! Just when I was about to escape, a pro-hero has arrived at the scene of the crime. Will I be able to continue my great crime in hopes of making the children of the world smile?" The villain didn't seem to be speaking to His Purple Highness. It was like he was acting for an audience.
Toru noticed the second villain by the man's side, a very short woman with pigtails and a camera.
…I can't believe this…He's videotaping his crime? Is this some sort of viewtube video he's making? Not only was this bad for the league, but of course they had missed this level of idiocy. Who would assume that a villain would video tape their own crimes?
His Purple Highness seemed caught off guard too.
The villain laughed, as if this wasn't stopping him.
The woman was now speaking, although she didn't turn the camera to face her. "I wonder what famous pro has come to try to stop our darling Gentle! He must be a big jerk if he wants to stop us from raining down plushies on the children of this city!"
"Agreed, La Brava!" Gentle nodded. He waved his cane as if he was ready to do battle. "Might I ask what hero thinks he can face Gentle Criminal?"
"The pro is dressed like a prince! Will Gentle become a prince if he beats him?" La Brava continued to comment.
His Purple Highness managed to find his bearings from these weird villains and answer. He looked less afraid when he knew a camera was watching him and he summoned all his courage. "I am His Purple Highness! And I will beat any villain!" He posed.
"You have not yet faced Gentle Criminal though!" Gentle wagged his finger, "And I am not like any villain!"
"You steal from a toy store! That seems cruel and like any normal villain!" His Purple Highness retorted.
Gentle glanced at La Brava. "Keep rolling." He reminded in a more hushed voice. "It seems the pro won't let me go. With his regal appearance it seems evident that this can only end in a duel. That is what you are after, correct, Highness?" He asked.
"Correct!" His Purple Highness seemed to have mentally found his youth and was now smiling.
"Since we both look like gentleman, let's have some ground rules. No hits to the face." Gentle discussed.
"OOOH Gentle Criminal is so cool! Putting some ground rules down for his opponent and treating him like an equal!" La Brava continued to swoon not doing much besides using her camera.
His Purple Highness was caught off guard by how reasonable that was. "No. I can not negotiate with criminals! It is not a hero's way!" He insisted.
His Purple Highness looked around for a moment after that. "I'm a little rusty against villain fights, so keep away!" He wasn't looking at Gentle when he said that. It was clear he was saying it in case Toru had followed him in, because he wasn't quite sure if she was with him, but Gentle just looked confused not aware Toru was even there.
"La Brava, you heard him. Keep away so you don't get injured." Gentle told his sidekick.
""AHHHHH~. Gentle's protecting me!" La Brava squealed. "Gentle, kick that heroes butt!" She cheered faithfully keeping the camera running.
Toru did not listen and back away from the fight. She had her own problems to solve now. It would be bad if they uploaded that video to the internet. It would give publicity to Kamino and perhaps beckon other villains to attack it. She had to destroy the camera, but she couldn't let His Purple Highness know she was intervening because she didn't have her license to be in villain attacks.
I should try to hit the camera out of La Brava's hand while they're distracted by their duel. Toru didn't recognize either of their names meaning they weren't very popular online, but she couldn't take that chance, nonetheless.
She started sneaking forward, carefully watching out to avoid any attacks that came her way.
His Purple Highness rushed at Gentle, his chest hair glowing. Gentle jumped back. Before His Purple Highness could reach Gentle, he flew into the direction he came from and crashed into a wall. It was as if he had slammed into a wall and bounced off of it.
"Oh dear. He is rusty." Gentle shook his head in disapproval. "We don't want any blood in this video! We don't want to get demonetized! Cut this part, La Brava! We need that ad revenue!"
"Got it, Gentle!" La Brava gave a thumbs up.
His Purple Highness's head was bleeding a bit from crashing into the wall so hard because he had charged forward with so much power. He coughed from pain impact, but managed to pull himself up, brushing himself off from the dust from the concrete. "What…What was that? It was like I bounced off of a trampoline…But there was no trampoline…" He was confused.
Gentle smiled. He took another battle stance and waited for His Purple Highness to charge again.
His Purple Highness did not charge though. Instead, he looked at his hand that was dirty from the concrete he had brushed off. His eyes widened and he looked behind him at the wall that he had crashed into. His body was pretty strong and heavy, and he had caused pieces of thick stone slab to come crashing down, and a crack to start forming in the ceiling. There was only a little bit of blood which had come from his head and mouth when he had coughed from the impact.
He froze when he saw the rubble and debris He hurriedly started looking around, obviously triggered. "Girl! OH NO…I forgot her name!" He shouted in horror, "GIRL? Where are you?"
The panic and horror had momentarily caused him to forget crucial details like he was battling a villain, and what Toru's hero name was, even if it was very basic. He was very obviously panicking, the little bit of concrete clearly triggering him.
I should be more careful when I move. Toru didn't have time to pay attention to His Purple Highness's mental state, or his fear. She had to destroy that camera no matter what. I don't know what Gentle's quirk is, but it seems strong if it caused that much damage to the building. Now that could be because His Purple Highness was moving very fast and with a lot of power, but he bounced off of the air so I need to be careful with my steps to not hit what he hit. She told herself.
"It is just us…" Gentle reminded, rather confused. "Oh no…La Brava…How old is this hero? I can't be fighting someone with dementia! It would be bad for my image."
"I don't know, Gentle…Probably 60 or something? Mid 60s by his looks?" La Brava suggested.
Gentle looked stunned. "I thought he was in his early thirties like me!" He also looked quite old and seemed horrified that he was fighting and old man. "This is bad…Not only is it not very gentlemanly to fight the elderly but he makes a big impact when he bounces…He's strong and I don't want anyone injured here."
His Purple Highness snapped out of his panic after Gentle confused him for a dementia patient. "Rude! I'm 55!" He jumped this time, to try to dodge the invisible barrier he had run into last time.
Gentle sprung up off of the floor and hit the air with his hand before Purple Highness got to him. His Purple Highnesss's face slammed against the now solid air and bounced him off of it. He was sent flying through the wall of the toy store again, this time creating even more rubble.
He's making the air bounce His Purple Highness away. Could his quirk be installing elasticity in what he touches, including air? Toru wondered. That just meant she had to avoid moving anywhere Gentle Criminal had been. She didn't know how long his elastic touch lasted so she should try to avoid him.
"Gentle, I just got thinking…Do you think he has a partner? What if he's not forgetful and there's someone else here?" La Brava asked worriedly.
She seemed a little smarter than her partner. "We should probably bounce instead of risk getting caught!" She suggested, frantically.
Crap. She's on guard. Toru was so close too. But she didn't feel confident enough to run at her, since she didn't know if Gentle had touched anything around her.
"Good eye, La Brava. I know just how useful a sidekick can be!" Gentle agreed, "I don't really like to fight either, and he's creating a lot of wreckage. A gentle criminal does not destroy things! I would like to leave before he further destroys this beautiful store!"
La Brava smiled and nodded.
Gentle leaned down and touched the floor this time. The entire floor started jiggling like jello making it much harder for Toru to move. Gentle gave it a few practice bounces too and Toru ended up fumbling and falling to the ground, mere feet away from the camera. The toy display she was next to fell too, and a tower of rabbit plushies rained down on her.
"Ahh!" La Brava managed to dodge the rabbits, more used to bouncing than Toru.
Crap. I guess I gotta practice moving more on trampolines. It wasn't a very common terrain, but she tried to pull herself up out of the plushies and collect herself. Elasticity was a very strong quirk. This villain, although he hadn't been recruited by the league, was powerful.
Gentle did not wait around to finish his duel with His Purple Highness. He rushed to La Brava and the rabbit plushies.
Despite all the bouncing Toru managed to wrangle her hand out of the plushy prison, reach over and slap the camera out of La Brava's hands while she was distracted. The camera fell to the floor and bounced off of it.
"The camera!" La Brava yelled.
Toru had watched the force His Purple Highness had displayed. She knew how much force was needed to make the camera hit the ceiling. And as predicted the camera slammed against the ceiling which was not bouncy and broken into pieces.
La Brava looked horrible distressed. "Oh noo… Now this whole heist is pointless!"
Toru expected Gentle to rush to his sidekick and comfort her, but she hadn't observed enough of his personality. He grabbed a bag near La Brava on the floor and used it to quickly swallow up the pile of rabbit plushies and Toru, who he was unaware was in the pile. Toru was unable to get out of there before she was caught.
"I'm so sorry, Gentle! I dropped the camera! I'm so sorry!" La Brava said again.
"It's all right. The heist is not ruined. I have the goods. We can do an after-heist interview instead! All that matters is that you are safe, La Brava." He reassured.
The bag was closed, and he was holding it over his shoulder, like Santa Claus. He groaned a bit at just how heavy it was.
Well…This is bad. There was no light inside the bag. She could generate her own light that she had stored up, but she had been ordered not to use the full extent of her quirk without direct orders. Whenever she tried to kick or claw or squirm all she got was plushy and not the bag.
Despite a girl trying to squirm to freedom on his back, Gentle apparently didn't notice it.
"Come on La Brava, before His Purple Highness returns, we must flee the crime scene. Can you use lover mode for our escape?" Gentle asked.
"Of course, Gentle!" La Brava agreed, putting the broken camera out of her mind. Toru couldn't see if she picked up any of the pieces of it, but she could hear rustling. It worried her.
"This bag is a lot heavier than I thought it would be!" Gentle complained and Toru could feel the bag and him moving. Somehow he had increased his speed and power with this 'lover's mode. "And it's impressive that they installed a function to make these toys kick! We should do a review later, La Brava!"
Toru stopped kicking once Gentle mentioned that he had felt it but had somehow assumed it was the toys. The girl seems a little smarter…Will she realize someone's in here?
"Children's toys really are a miracle! It's so cool that they can do that, but I'm not sure why they made them that way!" La Brava chattered and she sounded like she was wiping a tear out of her eyes.
And with that Gentle, La Brava, and an accidental Toru had probably long since left the toy store scene.
Crap. Forget trying to ditch His Purple Highness. Now I'm going to have to try to ditch these two idiots. Toru thought.
His Purple Highness stared at the wreckage blankly, just standing there after the villains had fled the scene at a speed he couldn't even follow very well with his eyes. Or perhaps it was that he didn't have any faith he could beat the criminals anymore and didn't try to follow them.
I had a panic attack from this much rubble…The reality is that I'm not ready to face villains…He realized.
Just looking at the rubble made him dizzy and made his legs sway. It was like time slowed down.
"I should just quit!" He laughed to himself. "I tried confronting my fears and having a UA student intern under me, but it did no good!"
The ground eventually stopped jiggling. He collapsed onto it and relaxed a bit after he had come to terms with his weakness. He finally remembered the student's name that was interning under him. "Invisible girl!" He snapped his finger, "That was her hero name. How could I forget it? It was so easy!" He scolded himself.
He hoped she hadn't been right outside the toy store during the fight. He hoped she hadn't been hit by the rubble he sent flying by crashing through walls.
Purple Highness started shaking again. "Invisible girl? Where are you?" He called.
Silence greeted him. He got up and started walking around the store calling for her. He couldn't see her after all, so there was a chance she was just somewhere else watching.
Toru's voice never greeted him. And eventually His Purple Highness stopped at the street corner finding Toru's gloves and shoes.
…She did say that when a villain came, she would ditch these for safety…But…That means there's no way to find out where she is unless she just comes out. He started shaking again. Trembling.
He looked back at the store, hoping so hard that she wasn't under any of that rubble. Nobody would ever know.
"Did anyone see or hear an invisible person around here? Did anyone hear anything?" He asked people frantically walking by.
"I saw the cops go into a store and not come out." People responded.
"I was watching outside hoping for some cool explosions and there was nothing! You just crashed through the wall a few times and that was boring!" Someone else said.
He asked bystanders again and again, but nobody had seen any sign of an invisible person. How could they? She was invisible.
When more police arrived at the toy store to clean up the scene, there was still no sign of Toru. The police helped steady the knocked out police officers and call paramedics, and interviewed the store owner, and people around the area to see where the criminals went.
His Purple Highness was still looking for Toru when the police arrived.
"The criminal shot up off of the ground and up some tall buildings and I didn't see him past that!" People shrugged and answered.
"It's weird!" The shopkeeper scratched his head. "He stole plushies that I was going to get rid of anyway because they weren't selling very well. I put them on display to give them one last chance before I threw them out. So, I didn't lose much from his thievery…Most of my costs will be from repairs due to that pro-hero crashing through the wall." The shopkeeper glared at His Purple Highness.
His Purple Highness didn't pay any notice to the shopkeeper's glares. He still had not found Toru. And he was beginning to realize in horror that she wasn't returning.
It…It definitely happened…Karma came to laugh at me for trying to break out of my past and I killed another intern…. His Purple Highness was shaking.
He just meekly listened as police continued to ask questions and write their reports.
"Officers, I had an intern with me." His Purple Highness finally confessed. "Is…." He had trouble asking the question, memories of waking up from a villain attack and being told that Oboro was no more were flooding into him, "Is there any sign of a body under the wreckage created by the fight?" He finally choked out.
One of the police officers looked at him oddly. "No? Wouldn't you be able to see the body? Nothing to see in the rubble." He gestured. "And all blood is probably from you."
His Purple Highness bit his lip. "She was invisible." He confessed. "Is there any sign of an invisible body in the rubble?"
The police officer grimaced. "I don't know…And there's no sign of your intern?"
Purple Highness shook his head.
The police officer glanced at his partner.
"Could be possible. A hunk of concrete could have crushed any remains. Does her blood become visible when she gets a wound?"
His Purple Highness didn't know.
The other police officer just winced at that. They could look, but how were they supposed to find an invisible corpse.
"Eyewitness testimony says that the criminal was carrying a human sized bag over his shoulder when he fled. Could he have kidnapped her?" A younger police officer suggested.
"Nah, he was carrying the plushies. The shopkeeper already confirmed that." Another police officer shrugged.
They started debating among themselves about this mysterious missing invisible intern. Purple Highness just fell to his knees, all of the situation finally getting to him.
I lost another one…Despair washed over him. Hagakure's energy, her excitement, it had been so like Oboro's and he had crushed it. It's always the excitable ones I destroy…
He didn't know if she had been crushed, kidnapped and killed, or what, but he knew he had failed her, and that she was gone.
"Purple Highness, if you would get up, we have some further questions for you and the code for this incident so you can file it with the government-" The officer tried to pull Purple Highness off the ground.
"No need." His Purple Highness almost felt cold, cruel acceptance. He helped himself up and waved a hand. "I retire immediately. There's no need for me to make a salary from this. This is my last incident, and I will not be answering further questions. This villain proved too tough for me and proved to me that I was too old for the hero game." He tried to smile but he couldn't. The smile he had taught so many others to have was lost.
The police officers hurriedly tried to ask him more questions and talk him out of his retirement, but he just coldly walked away.
I wonder if they'll eventually find her body…Or maybe if I go to sleep and wake up she'll be back and this will just be some horrible nightmare. Why did UA have to arrange the worst possible student for me? At least with Oboro, his parents could get closure and his confirmed death…But somehow, I did this student even worse than Oboro…
He felt cold, and dead inside. He had failed and had given up. The failure was too much for him and he had given up on searching more for his intern. Trying to fight against his trauma had put him in this situation and he had finally decided to rest.
His Purple Highness, the pro hero, was no more.
Fun fact! In my original outline of the story Gentle Criminal was going to have a HUGE PART. Why? I just like him. No real reason besides that. But because I looked at my outline eventually and was like "this doesn't make sense, Gentle Criminal should not be a main character here." I wrote him out. But I still liked him enough that I wanted him to do something so here he is, robbing a toy store.
My favorite characters in my hero academia tend to be the weirdos, like Gentle Criminal, Twice, Iida...Funny characters like those.
Anyway I hope His Purple Highness came off correctly as a man with severe depression who had been sourly traumatized by the loss of an intern, despite how Aizawa felt about him the last chapter, and how Toru thought of him.