Hizashi sighed as he entered the next area. "I was hoping we'd seen the last of those things..."

The hallway they had entered was the same size as most of the others, and still purple. It went forward a ways before turning left, and in the corner of that turn sat a creepy blue doll, like the ones from the previous room. This one was wearing a pink dress.

"You probably jinxed it just by wishing that." Aizawa commented with a smirk. Hizashi sighed dramatically.

"That wouldn't surprise me."

They walked forward, intending to give the doll plenty of space, until they spotted words painted on the wall above its head.

'Hello there, Yamada and Aizawa...I don't like being alone...Take me with you...!'

"Well doesn't that just scream 'cursed object." Hizashi muttered.

"You mean more than all of the other dolls did?"

"Well yeah! At least the other dolls didn't call us out by name!"

That was concerning, Aizawa had to admit. All of the other creepy phrases or invitations had been general, applying to anyone who happened to read them. This was the first time the gallery had called out to them specifically. Did that mean something? Was the gallery learning somehow? And why did it happen right now?

"I'm not taking it." Hizashi said. Aizawa raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's it? You don't think we should talk about whether or not there might be consequences to not following its directions?"

"Well, first of all," Hizashi said, holding up a finger "I'm sick of being strung along like this. Second, picking up cursed objects never leads to anything good. So no, I don't think we need to."

Aizawa figured Hizashi had a point. The placement and the words did make it sound like a trap, and just doing whatever you were told by the possibly sentient gallery that had already made a good attempt at killing you also seemed like a bad idea. So he nodded, and they moved on.

They followed the hallway left, but stopped part way. There was another doll, with a pink dress, and more words.

'Hey, why aren't you taking me?'

Aizawa and Hizashi looked at each other, then behind them. The doll in the corner was gone.

"Did the doll just teleport?" Hizashi asked.

"It would seem so."

"I hate this place so much."

Aizawa grunted in agreement. They walked further down the hall. It went right after a short while, and they turned with it.

The doll was sitting in the corner again.

'Why are you ignoring me? Do you hate me?'

"Now, now, don't jump to conclusions. I said I hate this place, not you." Hizashi said, holding up a placating hand. Aizawa narrowed his eyes at him.

"Are you actually talking to the doll?"

"Sure, why not?"

"You just went on about how it's a cursed object and shouldn't be interacted with."

"No, I said it shouldn't be picked up. Picking up a cursed object makes you cursed, but talking to one is either harmless or can help redirect the spirit. You need to watch more horror movies, Shouta."

Aizawa rolled his eyes, but continued to watch the doll as they walked away. He doubted that would be the last they saw of it.

And he was right. The hall continued to zig zag back and forth, and each time they turned away or walked far enough the doll would appear again.

'Hey, play with me! I know lots of fun things we can do...'

"I don't think we have the same definition of fun." Aizawa muttered.

'I've got lots of friends too...I'll introduce you!'

"If they're painting ladies or headless statues then I'm pretty sure we've already met." Hizashi told it.

'Be here forever...'

"I'm sorry, but I'm busy in the foreseeable future. Being a pro-hero doesn't leave you with much free time, you know?"

"Don't give the doll details of our lives Hizashi."

At last, the hallway ended in a purple door. And in front of that door was, of course, the doll.

'TAKE ME'

Aizawa took in the demanding message, looked down at the doll, then looked at Hizashi.

"Still think we shouldn't touch it?"

Hizashi nodded, though he didn't look quite as confident as he did before. "Yeah, still seems like a bad idea. I don't like the thought of stepping over it to go through the door though...hmmmm..." He looked down at the doll with crossed arms and a furrowed brow. "How about I just...push it out of the way. Very carefully. With my foot."

Aizawa nodded. They had no idea what this thing could or could not do, so it was as good an idea as any. He kept a hand on his capture weapon, ready to jump to action if the doll so much as twitched on its own. But, as Hizashi gently nudged it aside with the toe of his boot, nothing happened. They stood for a moment, just to be sure, but still, there was nothing. Hizashi took a deep breath, and let it out. Then he opened the door.

The color scheme remained the same. A cursory glance around the room made him think of half of the yin and yang symbol. The area they had stepped into was large, and fairly open, and over to the right it tapered off into a smaller area. There was also a small room within the larger area not connected to any walls, which made it sort of like that small bit of light or dark within the yin and yang symbol.

The glance around also revealed that the doll had teleported ahead of them. Again.

"Yeesh, how long is this thing gonna follow us?" Hizashi grumbled, following Aizawa as he walked over to the upper left corner to make sure it was the same one.

"Always apparently." Aizawa said, gesturing to the words above to doll. Hizashi leaned in for a closer look.

'I'll always be with you...my home is just nearby...'

Hizashi looked around the room again. Noting the number of doors he could see from that corner alone. Suddenly the thought of exploring them seemed even less appealing than normal.

The hallway that Mary and Izuku ran into was different than any he had seen in the gallery so far. For starters, it was narrow, so narrow that the two of them couldn't even walk side by side. The floor was also covered in tile rather than carpet, and there were a bunch of red and white light fixtures on the wall. Though Izuku wasn't sure if the light was actually coming from them or not.

"We should probably go look around the corner, just to make sure nothing bad is in the next hall." Mary said.

"Okay, that's a good idea." Izuku said. It would be good to know if there was anything more dangerous here than that box might be. He felt uneasy as they started walking though. The walls were so close and their shoes made sharper sounds on the tile than they did on the carpet. He didn't like the idea of running into a statue or painting lady here.

"Hey Izuku, if you had to choose, would you go to the beach or a mountain?"

"Huh?"

"Like, if you wanted to go have fun somewhere. Would you rather go to a beach or a mountain?"

Izuku didn't know what to make of the question at first, it seemed so random. Then he remembered a game he sometimes heard the other kids playing at school, which sounded really similar to what Mary was saying.

"Um, I think I'd go to the beach. Mountain trails are really fun to explore, but there's a lot of fun things to do at the beach. You can make castles with the wet sand, and find seashells, and go fishing, and I like playing in the waves. If you stand in the right place the sand tickles your feet when the waves go away."

Mary turned her head toward him, enough so he could see her smile rather than just seeing the back of her head.

"That sounds fun! You think we could go to a beach sometime?"

'She wants to go with me?' He thought incredulously. "Y-yeah! Sure we could! The one I used to go to has a lot of junk now, but I bet we could find a better one."

"Awesome! What about school? Would you rather go to the beach or to school?"

"Well, I kind of have to go to school."

"You do?"

"Yeah, don't you?"

"No, I've never been."

'She must have been taught at home. I wonder if that means she has trouble making friends too.'

They came to the corner at that point. The hallway turned right, and they both peaked around the corner, Izuku crouching down so he could see around Mary better. It was just another hallway, long and narrow and empty, but it looked like it turned again a ways down. So Mary started walking again, and Izuku trailed behind.

"So if you didn't have to go to school, what would you want to do?" Mary pressed.

"Well, I like that we learn things at school, but the beach is a lot more fun."

Mary hummed and nodded. She was quiet for a moment, but with her head turned away from him Izuku had no idea what she might be thinking.

"Hey, Izuku? Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure."

"Are Mr. Mic and Mr. Aizawa related to you? Like, is one of them your dad?"

"Huh?! N-no, Dad works in another country." Izuku rushed to explain, face going red in his embarrassment. Where had she gotten an idea like that?

"So they're strangers? Isn't talking to strangers bad?"

"Well, I guess they're strangers, sorta. We didn't meet until today, but I knew about them because they're heroes, and that means talking to them isn't bad because it's like talking to the police when you get lost."

"Oh, okay." Mary nodded in understanding, making her hair bounce. "What about your mom? Is she nice?"

"Yeah! Mom is the best! She plays with me, and fixes my clothes, and makes really good food, especially her katsudon! She works really hard, and she only gets really mad at me if I get too close when watching heroes."

"Oh, so she does get mad at you sometimes." Mary said with a giggle. It was cut off with a sigh. "I bet you want to see her soon."

The smile that had lit up Izuku's face when he started talking about his mom suddenly fell. "Yes, I hope we find the exit soon. I really miss her."

Mary nodded again, slower this time, so her hair slid rather than bounced. "I wanna get out soon too."

It was quiet for a minute, the somber moment hanging over them like a cloud. The only sound was the clacking and scuffing of their feet on the tile, which slowed as the pair reached another corner. They looked around it, and once again found more empty hallway. This time though, Mary didn't start walking again.

"Izuku...um..." She didn't look at him, just continued staring down the hall.

"Yeah?"

"If only three of us could get out of here...then what?"

"What?" Izuku frowned. He didn't really get what she was saying...he wished he understood English as good as Mr. Mic did. Mary fiddled with the sleeves of her dress.

"Like, if one of us had to stay behind, who would you choose to go with?"

Izuku frowned even more at that. 'What is she...oh! Is this more of that game from earlier?' he wondered. Some of the kids at school used the 'Would you rather' game to ask about really weird things sometimes. Yeah, that was probably it. And this time, his answer took almost no thought at all.

"I'd stay. I'd stay here so that all of you could get out."

Mary's head spun around so fast it made Izuku jump in surprise. Her eyes had gotten really wide, and her mouth had fallen open.

"Wha! Really? But if you stayed then you'd never see your mom again! Or your dad. It...it would be really lonely, you know?"

Mary got really quiet as she said the last part. Her eyebrows went down, and her mouth pressed together in a way that made him think of how his mom sometimes got when they talked about his dad. It made him want to comfort her.

"Well, I guess it would be. But not for long, because I know all of you guys would come back with help soon. So I'd find a safe place to wait for you, and then when you came back I wouldn't be lonely anymore. Besides, I don't think I could leave anyone behind. I don't even like thinking about it." Izuku said with a smile. Mary's eyes got all wide again, and for a moment he worried he'd said that wrong thing, but then she smiled back and grabbed his hand with both of hers.

"Then don't. Don't think about things like that. We'll leave together, okay? Promise!"

Izuku nodded eagerly. "Yeah, promise!"

Mary let go with one hand, but kept her other hand in his as they continued to explore the hall. She held on a little tighter than was comfortable, but considering how sad she seemed earlier, Izuku decided not to complain.