Countdown to Reality
1. Thank you for reading! That's all!
2. Regarding Hagakure. She never met them before, never heard them talking. She cannot recognize them easily, I guess. You'll understand while reading!
Day 3. Later that morning. Countdown: 19:15:11
The Small Hana was smiling, and nodding, and smiling, and nodding. The more she did, the scarier her grin grew. That smile was almost as large as All Might's but with an additional hunger that their teacher never sported.
Hagakure cautiously unfolded her legs and slowly stood, doing her best to have perfect control over each and every of her muscles. She could not even afford one wrong move.
She took small, careful steps towards her boss, thinking every breath, until she could smell her expensive perfume. Yet, she could still barely hear the inspector talking on the phone. She breathed one last time and took a daring step closer, her head almost on Hana's shoulder.
"...can't be more specific... but we are getting closer. The fires complicate things, and we had to evacuate two villages. There are still no severe casualties but you will have to prepare a defense in regard to the destroyed forest for your next interviews..."
Hagakure could literally hear her heart as loud as the voice of the inspector. She was too aware that she was not at school, and that lives were at stake, including hers.
She could see the hair on Hana's neck, the tiny imperfections on her skin, reflections on her nails… she was so close she was afraid the woman would smell the sweat rolling between her shoulder blades.
"Shigiya-san wants to deploy more forces, but the kid is clever. Anytime we get too close, he starts another fire, and it gets more complicated to move around. There is too much smoke, and he forces us to review our priorities if we don't want to put citizens in danger. It will probably backfire at some point, and we are waiting for that opportunity... is there anything more you need to know, Shimura-san?"
Hagakure took one prudent step back, swiftly, and inhaled through her nose, pumping oxygen into her deprived lungs.
There were hundreds of forests in Japan! If only they could name it…
"No, that's all, thank you very much inspector. I hope you are going to catch them." She said as a goodbye, hanging up without losing her smile. Then, looking at her desk and speaking to no-one but herself, she added a few words. "… before I do."
She pocketed the phone, and taking nothing but a long silk shawl, she headed for the door, Hagakure tiptoeing in tow. She opened the door, and her secretary, sitting at her desk just on the other side, jumped on her feet as soon as she appeared.
"Shimura-san, your next meeting is…"
"Tell them to come back at 7pm; I have something to do right now."
The secretary did not try to negotiate, and wrote the order down while the Small Hana called the elevator, ignoring the three people queuing to meet with her. Hagakure tailed her like a shadow. For a few seconds, she imagined Hana would go downstairs and prepare to head outside, going after her friends by herself. Then, she chose an upper floor and Hagakure admitted her idea was stupid. The Small Hana was a politician, not exactly someone who could afford to dirty her own hands.
Hagakure had not explored the entire tower, and had imagined it as a never-ending office, with different companies on each floor. When the elevator stopped, she was surprised to discover a bare corridor looking very apartment like. It was a little old-fashioned, and dirty enough that she would not want to live in there.
Hagakure trailed after her boss, who did not stop at any of the doors. She went all through the corridor, until she faced another door, a thicker one, which needed pass code to open. Hagakure took note of the code, in case she would need it later on, and jumped on the other side before the door automatically closed behind her.
On the other side, the corridor continued, a little less unwelcoming. Some nice cooking smell was in the air with a few doors hanging open. Hagakure, curious, stared briefly inside. People lived there, but it was not apartments. Just rooms, a little like what they had at the dorms.
Not wanting to loose Hana from sight, she continued to follow her, until the woman stopped at the entrance of a wider room. She did not enter, she only leaned on the doorframe, and Hagakure had to stay behind, in the corridor.
"Is my brother here?" Hana asked.
There was a noise, in the wider room, and Hagakure tried to find an angle from where she could see who was there, but Hana was blocking the view entirely.
"No." A first, deep voice answered.
"He is with your grandmother Hanaaa-chan." Another, girly voice completed. "It's Friday. They always are together on Fridays…"
"…and she puts her ideas in his head." Hana completed. "I know. I just wanted to make sure he was not around, because, you see, I have a job for you, and he doesn't agree with my plan. Are you in?"
"Depends." The deep male voice answered.
"Can it get bloody?" The girl asked, but there was no worry in her voice, none at all, just a creepy excited curiosity. "Can I stab people?!"
Hagakure suddenly had a very, very bad feeling about that.
"You can, as long as you don't leave proof behind."
"The Prime Minister will arrive any minute! We are not ready!"
"Don't worry, we'll manage anything!"
"Don't take it lightly! It's more difficult than receiving the princess!"
"I'm taking it like a man! We are the manlier team, we will nail it!"
"Good, that's the thinking! Get back to the kitchen, Red Riot!"
The world best restaurant in the entire universe was in a turmoil, since the princess – the blue doll missing one foot – had posted a picture of herself eating flower-pie on the official website of the Empire of Somewhere-Land. All famous people of Eri's imaginary world wanted to do the same and reservations were pouring down.
Red Riot had cooked for several presidents, two billionaires, one mermaid, and a famous thief (he left without paying the note despite their vigilance). Kirishima did not really know at which point he lost himself in the game, but he was wholeheartedly ready to be the best doll-hero-cook of that universe.
"Plates, ready!" Eri said with enthusiasm. "It looks very manly!"
"It does!"
Eri jumped on her feet, boxing the air with her tiny fists. "Security team, ready too!" She exclaimed.
"Flower-pies and gastronomic-grass-salad ready as well!" Red Riot announced from the kitchen.
"He is arriving!" She screamed. "Security team is pushing the journalists to the sides, and oh no! One journalist is bothering the president… he is going to hurt him… and the security team jumps and…"
Eri shot into the ugliest doll, sending it flying halfway the courtyard.
"Security team wins!"
Mafioso-nanny looked above his newspaper. He was checking on them every five minutes or so, sometimes complaining about the noise. That time, he looked at villain-journalist-doll, then at Eri, and sighed.
"Playtime is over." He grunted, folding his newspaper neatly. "I received a message. Your checkup is back to its original time, Eri."
"Checkup, what checkup?" Kirishima exclaimed, almost crushing the entire rock-and-grass kitchen in the process.
"Oh... she has a checkup because of her… bike accident." The man lied, picking her up.
Kirishima almost extended a hand to grab her before he did, but he managed to keep his face neutral.
"That must have been a really nasty bike accident," he said instead.
"I love my bike," Eri chirped, raising her arms above her head. "I have accidents all the time."
Kirishima felt his stomach roll. She was lying so easily, she was smiling so normally, but he knew better than these appearances.
"You got time, right?" Her caretaker asked him. "Gather the toys and put them back in her room. It's that door."
The little girl waved his way, and he reluctantly waved back, hesitating. Hesitating to jump and grab her…
"See you!" She said.
Kirishima did not move. He watched her little and frail silhouette getting out of sight, getting further and further away.
That was not manly at all, in his opinion.
He was still holding onto Red Riot – the doll –, and he suddenly threw it on the ground, breathing heavily. He took a step forward, another, ready to attack. Mafioso-nanny had his hands full with Eri, he had his back to Kirishima, and he would never have time to reach for the gun. It was a perfect opportunity.
His fists hardened, joints sharper than earlier, and he…
"Uncle Kai!"
…he stopped dead in his tracks.
His skin went back to Quirkless, and he held his breath. Chisaki was standing by the infirmary door, looking at a thick bundle of papers.
He looked up, his eyes first ending on Eri, and then going very slowly back to his papers, and then up to Kirishima. He looked upset.
"Get inside," He said first to Mafioso-Nanny, and he added for Kirishima: "You too."
Izuku slowly extended a hand (not towards Kacchan, he had no desire to be punched a second time), feeling the air for something invisible. His fingers only met nothingness. He tried again, just to confirm there was truly nothing, and turned back to his friend.
Mitsuki was beside him, calling his name and frantically stroking his shoulder, but Kacchan was not responding, eyes vacant. Objectively, he did not look sick or anything, (since he stoped blinking and holding his breath, though), just lost in thoughts so deeply that it was becoming creepy.
"…I knew it, I knew it was not a good idea, I knew…! Katsuki… I wanted to make you happy but I knew, I knew it was a bad idea!"
Thankfully, the little alleyway was empty, but there were no guarantee it would remain that way. Spotting the toilets, Izuku grabbed his friend's mother by the arm.
"Let's take him in there." He told her.
Mitsuki had her bags all around her, her makeup melting on her cheeks, and Izuku actually doubted he could count on her to help. Yet, she stumbled to her feet, and stared at the toilet door, considering how to take her son there.
Izuku carefully get closer to his friend, and Kacchan's eyes finally snapped back into the living world. His gaze settled on the neon light for some long seconds, then went back to the empty alleyway, and he swore loudly.
"FUCK, he is gone!"
Mitsuki instantly grabbed him into a hug, and Kacchan face turned red. He pushed her away, stood on his own feet, and looked at the neon again, as if he expected it to explode. Then, only, he turned to Izuku.
"Tell me it was a fucking joke and that you saw him too. I'm not in the mood at all for that shit."
"Him?"
"Fuck."
"You saw someone in that street, Kacchan?"
Before his friend could give him an answer, Mitsuki was between them, looking into her son's eyes.
"Baby, there was nobody in that street. It is what I explained to you earlier, you remember? There is nobody but us in that street, it's okay, it was just a dream, you just saw a little part of it, there is no problem, there are no heroes. It's okay. It's going to pass… what about we go grab that food, the three of us? And… we go in some quiet park, I'll show you around, okay? And we can rest a little and…"
He pushed her away again, only gritting his teeth.
"Deku. Did you see the light bugging?"
"The light, which light? The travel agency neon light? No. I did not."
His friend whirled around, facing his mother agian.
"I'm fine. I'll go wash my face, and then we can grab some shitty food. Deku. Come with me."
"Huh?"
Kacchan kicked the toilet door open, and dragged Izuku inside. Before closing the door to his mother's face, he pointed at the sign on the panel, saying "Men only."
The toilet was empty and looking clean, but more important, the door was very thin and clearly not sound proofed. It was not the best place to have a conversation, especially with Kacchan's mother on the other side.
"Ka…"
"Before you say any nonsense, nerd, shut up." He stopped him. "We fucking don't have all day. What happened today, it's what happened yesterday. I saw that old bat in your neighbor apartment: she disappeared. Today, I saw Aizawa and he disappeared."
"Aizawa?! W-what do you mean Aizawa? Aizawa... our teacher?!"
"What stupid question is that?! Of fucking course like our teacher!"
"Y-you saw A-aizawa-sensei in that street?!"
"So you really did not see him, it was not just to fool my mother." His friend concluded. "Fucking wonderful."
Izuku wanted nothing more than to believe what his friend was saying, but the aisle had been empty, really, completely empty… and his horrible doubt about Kacchan-maybe-not-fully-Kacchan was lingering on the edge of his thoughts.
"Aizawa tried to tell me something." His friend went on. "I couldn't really hear him, but I understood a few words."
"Which words?" Izuku probed.
"There was 'Don't save' and then 'The pajamas'." He declared very seriously, as if he dared Izuku to laugh.
"D-don't save the pajamas?" Izuku repeated, making sure he heard properly.
"It was not 'Don't save the pajamas'! Fucking nerd, it was two separate sentences! It was as if he wanted me, us, not saving something, and then… and then…"
"Pajamas?"
"Shut up!" Kacchan shouted. "NOT IN THE SAME SENTENCE! I don't remember the entire thing, but he talked about pajamas after!"
Izuku did his best to stay poker-faced. Kacchan was apparently aware that it was hard – really hard – to believe what he was saying. There was no need to add oil to the fire. Instead of pointing out that invisible-Aizawa talking about pajamas in the middle of a shopping center sounded… sounded… weird (at the very best), he did is best to find rationality in the situation.
"If Aizawa was really here…"
"Shove that 'if'! He was there!"
Izuku ignored the insult and continued, uninterrupted.
"…and he tried to give you a message, maybe he knows what happened, and he wants to help us. Maybe he doesn't want us to save something… someone? Because… because? Because... why?" Kacchan did not answer and Izuku continued to mumble cautiously. "… the only people we are actively trying to save are Todoroki-kun and Ashido-san, so that can't be it. Right?"
"Can't be. Icy-Hot is not that good. What he said must mean something different."
There was quiet knock on the toilet door, followed by Mitsuki's voice asking for Katsuki.
"Fuck, I hate that. She is…"
The door opened, and Mitsuki's face came into view. Kacchan growled, her only presence irking him, and he pushed Izuku out of the way.
"Can't I breath for one damn minute?!"
The answer on Mitsuki's face was a clear "no", even if she did not phrase it that way.
Hagakure was not sure to whom the voices talking with her boss belonged too, but she was sure they were bad news.
"Did you watch the news?" Hana asked.
"Of course we did." The male voice answered.
"Of course he did." The girly voice corrected. "They are related. It's not fun. They blur all the interesting pictures. Your brother, Hanaaa-chan, he said the police will kill the kids, they are too dangerous… it's such a waste, such good blood wasted and no one to actually…"
"We get the idea, thank you." Hana stopped her. "I want them. I want them before the police, alive, and I don't want anyone knowing where they disappeared to. Do you think you can manage it?"
"Of couuuurse…"
The other person did not answer immediately and Hana stopped leaning on the doorframe, straightening a little. Hagakure looked past her and spotted people sitting on an old couch. The girly voice could only belong to the blond woman looking at her boss from behind the backrest. She looked young, younger than Hana. Her hair was quite a mess and there was disturbing madness in her gaze.
The man, Hagakure could not really see his face from where she stood. He wore dark clothes, and had the kind of hair that betrayed a Quirk. No one could have hair that white without one. Funny thing that he did not dye it.
"Why do you want them?" The man asked.
Hana stepped into the room, and the blond girl giggled.
"If I were to tell you I want to offer them a real life back, would you believe me?"
"Do you call that a 'real' life?" He snickered, still not looking at her, but gesturing to the room.
"I was not talking about that kind of life." She said softly, getting closer, her fingertips grazing the couch backrest. "I am talking about a life outside, with classmates, friends, family… maybe. No prison, no police… and more important no Quirk anymore."
"Ha." The man said, with evident disappointment. "That's what you mean with 'Plan'. The plan you never stop ranting about, and that your grandma tries to convince your brother is a bad idea. You just plan to use them to advertise your drug deals. You don't care about them. That's more like you than your altruistic speech."
Hana stopped in the middle of the room, while Hagakure wondered what he meant. Which drug deals? Did it have a link with the deal Hana was trying to conclude with the old man?
She wanted to run away from that scary place, but she stepped inside, trying to get a better angle on his face.
"Yeah, that's it. So are you in? It will probably easier if you join." Hana said, not trying to justify herself.
There was a long silence, only interrupted by the girl frantic giggles. The white haired man stood from the couch, walked away from Hana, and only then gave her an answer.
"I'm in."
There was not a drop of enthusiasm in his voice. It was even the opposite.
"Perfect. Not a word to my brother. Now, let me share the details with you."
As afraid as she was, Hagakure still got closer to the couch while The Small Hana opened a map on her phone.