Chapter 9
" Midnight's Dog Grooming Van"
The night slowly coming to an end, with the group of UA teens having collapsed onto a pair of couches; a nearby table stocked with water and sodas, to re-hydrate themselves. Mineta being quite clingy to his phone while the rest relaxed, breathing from their dancing.
"Did you all have a good time!?" Mic called into the crowd as the music wound down for the end. A chorus of yes! answered him.
"AWWWEEESOME! Let's keep this night close to our hearts then! Thank you all for coming out!" The music was coming to an end, now and he was very clearly heard. "Travel Safe, Don't forget to tune in to Hands up Radio! I hope I can see you all next show! GOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD NIGHT EVERYBODY!"
Alarice looked towards the front of the venue, as lights were slowly coming back on, so people weren't blinded by bright lights. There was a small gathering of fans around the stage, and she could clearly see Mic, big smile on his face, talking to his Fans. She jolted, feeling some one touch her shoulder, turning around to see Ashido with a sly smile on her face. "You're staring."
"What?! No! No I'm not!" Alarice's face flushed pink and red.
"Hmm yeah that looked like staring to me too." Jiro joined in, smiling herself at the amount of emotion they were able to get out of Alarice.
"Come on guys! Don't gang up on me!" Alarice pouted, only for her new friends to all be cheekily smiling at her. She puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"See, now would be an 'appropriate' time go do a little fangirling riiight?" Kaminari leaned on his elbow, waggling eyebrows, before his face lit up. "I know! You can ask him to sign your phone!"
The flushed glare he received was enough to make him start laughing at her expense. Before Ashido stood up, offering her hand to Alarice. "Come on, I'll come with."
She knew they were still teasing her, but she took it any way. Getting up off the couch and walking with Mina Ashido who was so chipper about it. Jiro and Kaminari following behind with Mineta left to drink his soda in silence with his phone.
"OH Mr. Present Mic! Before you leave, my friend wants a signature too!" Ashido called, her voice pitched to a silly tone, as she pushed Alarice up. It would be weird if he was still at the school, but he wasn't, he was performing in a... performance role. The flush had left Alarices face and she had already gotten the phone out. Despite the teasing, and the embarrassment of the screaming phone incident, it did pretty much land her here.
Mic didn't miss a beat, smiling a wide smile. "Oh my, Pink Listener! Your friend is in luck then! I think my marker still has some ink left!" He turned to Alarice who offered the phone up as sacrifice. "Is that what you'd like me to sign, Miss Listener?"
"Yes Please." Alarice responded, her cheeks pink, and a smile tugging on her cheeks that she was trying to keep down. They were making it so much more silly than it needed to be.
Mic took it from her, having a chuckle at the silliness. Signing it with added dramatic flourish.
"Alright, do you young listeners mind cooling your heels till my crew's got it mostly packed up? Once that's done, I'll get us back to UA." Mic's voice was back to a calm, familiar teacher-like tone. He handed Alarice back her phone, and patted her on the head. The look on her face was like he'd handed a her a solid gold brick.
"That's fine Sensei, we can wait. Do you mind if we go over to the corner store and get some snacks though?" Jiro asked, agreeing, it wouldn't take to long to break down the things, but, she was hungry. The word 'snacks' had gotten Alarice's attention too.
"Sure, just be right back, and get me something too." With that he had to turn back to his crew, so they could start packing up. He was the boss man here after all.
"Was he joking?" Kaminari mumbled as the group headed to the exit.
"Maybe? Possibly?" Ashido questioned, before just shrugging "I don't know"
Alarice followed behind them, pleased as pie with the signed phone. Truth was that she simply hadn't been sure of asking. Just getting to enjoy his show was good enough for her, she thought, but now she had an actual memento to keep with her.
The night around them was quiet, it was late enough that most people weren't walking around at night. The corner store was actually, on the corner proper and not that far away. Hell they could still see the venue from there.
Alarice had to admit: she hadn't had many chances to go shopping or look around at the different offerings so she found herself staring at the new variety of foods she could eat. A lot of this wasn't really available in the states, and some of it was obviously familiar, with new packaging of course.
"So, I guess his silly Radio Show helped you learn Japanese too?" Jiro couldn't help but ask, joining to stand next to her, in equal questioning, if different reasons of her choices.
"hmm? Yeah," she scratched the back of her head. "Only a little bit though, I have taken actual classes."
"It makes sense..." Jiro commented, her voice trailing off as she also stared at the chips. Rather than just grabbing a familiar bag of chips that she knew she liked, Alarice, decided to go with something she'd never had before. She liked shrimp and she liked chips, and since caloric intake wasn't an issue...
Alarice followed Jiro up to the front to pay, apparently beating the rest up there. Getting their chips paid for, and leaning against the wall waiting for the others.
"I've never had shrimp chips before.." Alarice said while opening up her bag of shrimp chips, catching a whiff of them from in the bag. This was definitely going to be interesting flavor!
"Yeah? They're alright, not my thing though usually." Jiro stopped talking to eat some of her chips. At least this was a good choice. "We should probably try to get Mic something, he did ask."
But neither girl could figure out what that thing should be.
Alarice buried herself in chips at that point, reminiscing about her previous life before UA. She remembered telling her Japanese teacher about who her favorite hero was. Who, she had to admit, seemed to find it weird that she'd like the radio show but said nothing. Her dad vaguely knew, but really no one else had actually known about it. No one here would have known now, either, had Kaminari not pulled her headphones out of her phone by accident. It was nice to have friends, especially ones who didn't judge you too hard for your interests. Ashido and the rest made it back up to the counter too now. Alarice had already eaten all of her chips in startling speed. Wolfed them down, she was hungrier than she thought.
As they walked out, chattering as teenagers do, a man who clearly saw their group just walked right through them, having hit Alarice to do so as he'd come out of the alley way. Knocking her hard enough she actually made a noise. One hand going to her side with a wince, and the other against the wall so she didn't fall down. Much like the rest of her group she'd turned her attention to the stranger as he continued to speed-walk away. The teens were a little to shocked to say anything for a moment. Except for Mineta, who hadn't been watching the stranger; "h-hey, you're bleeding."
"That guy just stabbed her!" Kaminari gasped out, and it was unclear which one gave chase first, him or Ashido, but both were suddenly running down the pavement after the stranger.
"Guys! Wait!" Jiro called, failing to get their attention. "Mineta, go get Mic! Right now!"
Alarice pulled her hand away from her body at the statement, looking at the bloody red digits of her hand and the 3 holes now in her body that hadn't been there before. There was a lot coming out. She felt cold for a second, then hot, as she put her hand right back to her wounds trying apply some pressure to them. That sent a whole new sensation screaming up her spine that made her legs shake, skin feel cold, and the world start to rotate.
Mineta didn't really think to argue, she was so forceful with her words, that he simply did, running back to the venue as fast as his short legs could carry him. Thankfully it hadn't been more than a few buildings down the block away. Scurrying around the legs of the crewman who'd opened the door, and ducking under the arms of another who was carrying a speaker.
"PRESENT MIC SENSEI!" Said hero whipped around to see why Mineta was shrieking. Making a short run over to the small teen to hear what the alarm was about. "This weirdo stabbed Alarice! Denki and Mina are chasing after him!"
"What direction?" "Heading south down the ave-"
He didn't finish his comment he'd tried to keep up with Mic's longer legs as he'd speed-walked to door, but once out the door and with directions, Mic had taken off into a run. Mineta was a little surprised at how fast Present Mic could move. He was always the presenting voice at school, it was easy to forget he was a fully licensed Hero. Mic caught a glimpse of Jiro, Her phone was out, and she made brief eye contact with him, nodding once. Alarice was on the ground next to her.
He kept up his run till he could see his two other students, trying catch up with the guy who had just stabbed their friend. Going from a run to a sprint, to catch up to them. He could hear the two students shouting at people to stay away from the guy they were chasing. Good, he didn't need any one getting caught in his attack.
He caught up to his two students quite easily, and ran past them.
"Hey, everybody! I want to see you... GET DOWN!" His shout was quite easily heard, and he was more than close enough to pull-off his attack. A hand went to the buttons on his directional speaker, and something like a whistle came out. While those close found the noise still terribly loud, the villain clearly heard it the worst, doing a face plant into the concrete.
His pace slowed to a jog getting to his villain, unconscious on the pavement. Kaminari and Ashido catching up to him now.
"You two, head back to Jiro, I'll be right behind you." It was weird to hear their up-beat English teacher speak more like their homeroom teacher.
Present Mic pulled out a zip tie hand-cuffs, while the two teens ran back to their fallen friend. Leaving him to the job he was fully licensed to be completing. Taking care of the villain was a short issue, the only thing else needed now was to get some one to pick up the other kids besides Alarice. His suspicion was confirmed as he made it back to the kids, finishing up his text to Midnight, the smell of blood hit him.
"Are the rest of you okay?" Mic asked, there was nods and a soft yes from Ashido. None of them were panicking. One of his Crew, a young man who worked with his audio set up for shows, had come over to also make sure the teens were all okay. The crew member looked more disturbed than the prospective heroes-in-training.
"The ambulance should be here soon." was Jiro's response to him as he walked calmly over, squatting down next to her and Alarice. She was keeping pressure on the wound, thought the girls had clearly decided used Alarice's Hoodie to stop the bleeding. The sleeves were tied on around her abdomen. Pretty tight too, Jiro's hand on the folded cloth kept it firmly in place and pressed down. Alarice had her right arm over her eyes, she shifted her arm to see that he'd come back.
"Keep doing what your doing Jiro, you're doing fine. Miss Stone, you'll be fine too, and hey, " He cracked a doofy looking smile, "At least you don't have to worry about holes in your shirt!"
Alarice gave him a lopsided smile of her own before sniffling, remembering the stupid net undershirt she had on. "That's so stupid."
"But it's true!," He was expertly distracting Alarice from the fact Jiro was pressing into her injury, and that she was clearly hurting. He noticed her wince though. "Hey, the ambulance will be here soon, do you want to hear my All Might impression while we wait?"
"I... guess?" It wasn't like any one there had anything else to do at that moment.
"alright! " He cleared his throat. Before striking a very dramatic pose, and in his deepest voice. "Don't Worry ! For I am Here~!"
Alarice smiled with teeth this time, "God that was so awful."
"what!? Awful?! Me?!." A hand went to his chest in mock offense. "What a thing for a fan of mine to say!"
Alarice continued to almost smirk at his mock offense. Letting out a little laugh at him. About then, the blaring of the ambulance as they were coming around could be heard. The Cops not far behind them. Mic had gotten up so he could talk to the cops, telling Alarice one more time, that she'd be okay.
The EMT's were gentle enough where it could be spared, they were more worried about the girls life than her comfort. Which was why Mic was pulled away from the cops. Alarice had to go right now to the hospital. Though she couldn't hear what was said right now, Jiro at least could tell it was serious.
Meanwhile Mineta stared at the unusual manner in which Nemuri, Midnight, had chosen to get over to the kids and pick them up.
Why was she in a Dog Grooming van?
"Kids, go with Midnight, she'll take you back to UA."
"But she's-"
"She'll do her job! I have to take care of Miss Stone!"
With that, he clambered in to said ambulance, which loaded up the wounded teen, and shut it's doors, rushing towards the closest hospital. Leaving the rest of the Gang, staring dumbfounded at the Dog Grooming van they were expected to ride in with Midnight, who didn't really look like Midnight right now. Event tho she'd put on her sunglasses to make it easier for them.