I stood on the stage, off to the side in the gym. Everyone wanted to get one last practice in just at the last minute.
But I was distracted. That last consultation with Boss...
Of course, I had to tell Doc and the others. They were as shocked as I was.
In the end, we devised a way that we could keep it secret. Boss said he could find a way to show only one baby, once Recovery Girl started doing these ultrasounds.
I didn't know what difference it would make if there was one or two babies, but I didn't want the drama with Mr Aizawa, 1-A or Principal Nezu, once he was eventually told.
Then there was the issue with Gentle Criminal. Did I scare him and his little red haired friend? Yes. Did I think he would still ignore me and go ahead with his plan anyway? Yes.
How were we going to stop him from sneaking into UA?
I tapped my chin. Maybe, we didn't have to stop him. As long as he got in and out without being seen or the alarms going off, there wouldn't be an issue.
I closed my eyes and groaned. But I wouldn't be able to help him, because if I was caught, that would be the end of that.
Kirishima's voice cut through my thoughts. "The gym's closing soon! Let's do a final check and one last run-through!"
Jiro came over to me. "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Uh, yea sure."
"You don't have to sing if you don't want too. I got it."
I smiled. "No, it's fine. You don't have to mollycoddle me. I'm pregnant, not dead." I grinned. "Besides, it'll take my mind off things."
"Well, if you're sure..."
I nodded. "As long as I don't stuff it up."
Jiro laughed. "You'll be fine. We'll both be singing anyway."
"And I'm extremely grateful for that."
I followed Jiro back to the others.
"I am getting nervous."
I bumped Momo gently. "If anyone's gonna be fine, it's you."
"You think so?"
I nodded. "Sure. The only one likely to flake, is me. For obvious reasons."
"I think you will be fine as well."
I smiled. "Thanks, Momo."
The doors to the gym flew up and we all jumped.
"It's already 9pm! Students should only be here till nine!"
"Shoot, let's go home."
We all quickly walked past Hound-Dog. I was the last one to pass him.
He sniffed as I stepped passed him.
"Kitia."
"Hm? Yes, sir?"
He looked down at me with his small, dark eyes. The way he was looking at me kind of unnerved me.
"I want to speak with you before you go back to the dorm." His voice was a low, soft growl compared to other times when he spoke. He normally just yelled a lot.
"Ah, sure. Let me just tell the others."
He nodded and went to find Iida.
"Hey, Iida."
He waved his arm up and down. I had to duck out of the way. "Oh, Kitia! We're all set to go back to the dorm now!"
"Uh, actually, Hound-Dog wants to talk to me about something."
He put his arm down and looked at me with concern. "Did he say what it was about?"
I shook my head. "Though I could probably guess..."
"Will you be alright?"
"Oh, yea. Of course. If I'm safe with anyone, it's Hound-Dog, right?"
Iida smiled. "Right. Well, we'll see you at the dorm then. Don't be too late. The school festival starts at 9am, and you need rest."
"Sure."
They all headed back to the dorm and I went back to Hound-Dog.
"You wanted to speak to me, sir?"
He growled a little, then pointed the ground. "Sit."
I blinked as he sat on the ground himself, crossed-legged.
"Oh, ok." I sat down and positioned myself so I was comfortable.
He studied me for a moment. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
I looked at him and turned my head slightly, blinking. "Sir?"
He growled again. "You smell different."
I widened my eyes. Of course! Hound-Dog has a wicked sense of smell. Of course he'd be able to tell the difference.
I face-palmed, then peeked through my fingers at him. "No point in hiding anything from you, huh?"
I couldn't tell if he smiled or not. Not with that muzzle on his snout.
He shook his head and made a noise that sounded cross between a growl and a purr. "They made me the counselor for a reason."
I took my hands down. I looked at him and laughed, closing my eyes. "Well, I guess that's true. Nothing can get past you, huh?"
"Have you told anyone?" His voice was gruff, but gentle. Seems that he wasn't as scary as everyone thought.
I nodded. "1-A know. Mr Aizawa and Present Mic know. Oh, and so does Recovery Girl. That's as far as I want it to go for now."
"Does Principal Nezu know?"
I shook my head. "It's not that I don't want to tell him, it's just..." I thought about the real reason. My memories. But then I thought about the school festival and how excited everyone was. "With everything that's already happened, I don't want anyone to miss out on this." I shifted and stretched my arms over my head. "That, and I can't actually remember anything about it, so there's no point in bringing it up right now."
"You have no memory?" He growled a little louder. I could feel the tension, so I knew he was mad.
I quickly put my arms down and waved my hands, my eyes closed and sweat on my face. "It's not that big of a deal. Honest. I don't remember what happened, so I don't have flashbacks or nightmares!" That was a total lie, but even Hound-Dog wouldn't be able to figure that out.
"Somebody hurt a student..."
"Uh..." Uh, oh...
I sat back quickly, and stared as Hound-Dog jumped up and howled angrily, with his huge arms in the air.
"Hound-Dog, sir! Please calm down! It was nobody here. It was-"
He looked down at me breathing heavily, and lowered his arms. "Work studies...Grr..."
"Uh, yea. How did you know that?"
He puffed out a few more times, then held his hand out to me. I took it and he helped me up.
"Your hormones. I can smell the change in hormones."
I shifted a little and took my hand back, sweat on my face. "Well, that was straight forward. And a little creepy..."
"Hmph. I'll walk you back to the dorms. Come." He walked passed me and towards the dorms.
I smiled and shook my head. I don't think I could think of Hound-Dog as scary ever again now.
He glanced over his shoulder. "COME!" He shouted.
I jumped, the sweat flying off me. "Coming!"
Ok, so maybe he was still scary.
He put his hand on my shoulder as we walked towards he dorms and squeezed slightly.
I smiled up at him. Scary, but only a little.
I finally got back to the dorm, after making Hound-Dog swear he wouldn't tell Principal Nezu until at least after the festival was over. He had, surprisingly, agree. Although grudgingly.
When I walked into the common area, I was surprised to see there were still a few people up.
"Kitia! You're back!"
"Iida? I'm surprised you're still up." I looked around and saw Kaminari and Mineta running around in circles. I shook my head. "I'm not surprised to see those two are still up..."
"Quiet down, you two! Some people are sleeping!"
I wandered over to Aoyama and Midoryia as Kaminari started to tease Jiro.
"Hey, Kitia."
"Hey guys." I stood at the end of the table. "What you doin'?"
"Oh, just checking that everything is ready and safe for tomorrow."
I nodded. "Good idea."
"Shouldn't you be sitting, mademoiselle?"
I breathed out. "Now that you mention it, my legs are a bit tired."
Aoyama tapped the chair next to him and I sat down.
Midoryia picked up the rope that was meant to carry Aoyama over the crowd tomorrow.
"It's frayed. Wow! We did abuse it quite a bit during practice."
"It's proof of our friendship!"
I shook my head. "Maybe, but it's dangerous to use now."
"Sorry, I didn't realize."
"Why don't you ask Momo to make you one?"
I shook my head at Kaminari and opened my mouth, but Ashido beat me to it.
"Momo's already sleeping! Don't treat her like a handy tool!"
"But people use me as a charger..."
"This is what it means to look down on men..."
I grinned. "No. Just you two."
They both glared at me, as I scratched the back of my head, giggling.
"I'll go buy a new rope tomorrow morning. I'm the one who didn't realize it was frayed. There's a few other things I want to buy too."
"Wait, but the performance starts at ten tomorrow. Most stores don't open until 9, right?"
I thought back to the shop next to the tea place Gentle Criminal had planned to visit. Suddenly, a light-bulb appeared above my head.
"Hey, Deku."
"Yea?"
"There's a shop not too far from here that opens at 8. It's called Work-Son. That's probably your best bet if you wanna be back here in time." I sighed and put my chin my hand. "I would come with you, but I'm on lock-down..."
"Thanks, Kitia! Yea, I know that place you're talking about. Good idea."
"That's cutting it pretty close..."
I waved my hand. "It'll be fine. Have faith in his determination for everyone to have a good time."
Midoryia nodded. "Yea."
"Now, I should be getting to sleep!"
"Yes."
I nodded and stood up. "I agree with Dodo. I'm going. Mineta, Kaminari...You two better go to sleep too. I don't wanna hear either of you whinging tomorrow."
They saluted as I walked away.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than I intended. I got up, showered and wandered around. I wasn't needed to help with the rest of the set-up. Well, more to the point, nobody would let me lift anything.
I sighed as I wandered around the school, watching everyone set-up their own activities for the festival.
"Kitia!"
"Hm?" I turned around and saw Hound-Dog walking towards me.
"Grr...I want you to...Grr...Help me on patrol this morning."
I frowned. "Me? You want my help?"
"Yes. Grr. Now, let's go. Come."
He walked off and I had to trot to keep up with him.
Once we got to the forested area, he slowed down.
"So, uh, why did you want me to help you patrol?"
We walked further into the forest, with him sniffing every few minutes.
"I thought you might be bored."
I nodded. "Ah. You spoke to Mr Aizawa."
"Yes. Grr. He's concerned you're not getting enough exercise."
I dead-panned. "Hey! I'm getting plenty!" I crossed my arms and pouted, but kept following him.
He stopped and sniffed around.
"What's wrong?"
He sniffed again and growled. "Not sure. Hm." He looked around, growling. "We should split up."
I went to argue, but I stopped, thinking. "Right. I'll go this way." I pointed towards area where Gentle and La Brava expected to get in.
"Hmph." Hound-Dog went to walk away.
"Wait!"
"Grr?"
"Uh, what will I do if I need you?"
He turned and handed me a whistle. I took it and turned it over in my hand.
"A dog whistle?"
"Only I can hear it, and it won't alert anyone else." He started walking away. "Keep it on you. Don't lose it."
I smiled. "Yes, sir!"
I walked and walked until my legs were sore. I leaned against a tree and sighed. "I wonder how Midoryia is doing against Gentle and La Brava." I smirked. "Lucky that he needed to do shopping, or I would have been in deep-" I heard a noise to my right and looked up. "I wonder..."
I walked until I got to the wall. "Dammit!" I puffed, then smirked. I looked around, then Vamped to the other side, and kept walking.
The sounds of a fight got closer and I started to hum a tune. I swung the whistle around my finger and started to skip towards the noise.
I peeked out from behind a tree just in time to see Gentle Criminal stomp on Midoryia.
I bared my teeth and went to step out, but Midoryia was still moving.
"I've fought against stronger, faster people. I haven't lost yet!"
I smiled. "Hmph. Strong kid." I muttered. I looked at Gentle Criminal. He was glowing with pink-purple aura, and he seemed to be stronger than he was originally. I looked at the girl, La Brava. Her quirk, perhaps?
Midoryia flicked at Gentle, but he moved. Midoryia got up to face them, and they seemed concerned or worried.
"I think it's about time I called in re-enforcement's. Hold on Midoryia. Shouldn't be too long." I Vamped back inside the school grounds, near the wall. The sounds were almost clear.
I smirked. "Good. Now, Hound-Dog shouldn't be too far." I lifted the whistle to my lips and blew. I couldn't hear the sound, but it worked. Hound-Dog came trotting through the trees about 30 seconds later.
I pointed to the wall. "I hear something there. Sounds like a fight. It might not have anything to do with us, but it's too close for my liking."
Hound-Dog growled. "Agreed. Let's go find Ectoplasm. Grr."
I nodded. "Do you want me to wait here?"
"Grr. No. Come."
Before I could say anything, he grabbed me and pushed me up onto his back before he started to run back towards the school.
I held to the fur on his head. This was extremely unexpected, but I said nothing.
Once we got back to the school, he let me down and we found Ectoplasm fairly quickly. We explained the situation and they went off to deal with it.
I smirked. Let's see Gentle Criminal get out of this one. I checked the time. Do I have time to call Doc? Yea, I've got time.
I pulled out my phone.
"Doc?"
"What's wrong?"
I grinned, my face dark. "Gentle Criminal has been dealt with."
"Oh? Already?" I heard the amusement in his voice.
"I sent a certain green-haired friend on an errand." I shrugged. "I just happened to point him in the same direction."
"I see. Were heroes involved?"
"Hound-Dog and Ectoplasm are on their way now."
"And the festival?"
"Heh. Still up and running."
"Don't you think they'll still shut it down?"
I thought for a moment, then shook my head. "I don't think so. No alarms went off, and no one got into the school. I'll just have to wait for Midoryia to get back."
"Hm. Well, good luck with the concert."
"Yes. I'll call you later."
"Right." Doc hung up.
I put my phone away and grinned again.
Oh, how I missed all the action of being a villain.
