A boring sort of day. A drab, yet calm, sort of day. Neneko frowned and glanced at her phone, hoping that perhaps she had failed to hear it chime with a message. There was nothing.

She toyed with a lock of her hair, thinking about how it had been before. Dreading visitors. Dreading phone calls and video chats with clients. Of course, she still feared those things. There was just an exception now. Bubaigawara Jin was the exception. She enjoyed his visits and she had even had her assistant pick up some coffee when he got her groceries again.

Neneko's gaze flitted to the time and date, her frown growing deeper. The day was drawing nearer. She had to act soon if she wanted to help him. For the past few days, she had been practicing every chance she got. Preparing. Dreading. It was a necessary inconvenience.

Returning to the document open on her computer, she continued working on the translation with her attention divided. She was trying to determine the best time to make her move. Waiting too long would run the risk of being unable to help, but moving too fast would leave her open for the chance of being discovered.

The document was translated and she sent it back to the business owner, allowing herself a small smile of satisfaction. Though some of her clients were shady, she did work with legitimate businesses sometimes. This one happened to be a small business that was attempting to expand and sell their products overseas. By translating for them, she was helping them grow their company.

Neneko decided to call it quits for the day. It was late afternoon by this point and she wanted to relax. There were movies she wanted to watch, tea she wanted to enjoy. As she looked through her collection of tea, she heard a knock at the apartment door.

Her heart skipped a beat and she swiftly, but quietly, padded down the hallway to the door. She hoped to find Jin when she looked through the peep hole, but to her dismay, it was a stranger. An odd stranger with an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Ah…can I…help you, sir?"

The man grinned sheepishly, leaning closer to the door. He seemed to have realized that she was watching him. "You're a translator, right? I got your name from T-san."

T-san was an alias used by one of her shadier clients. The man had a small gang and they were involved in some nonviolent crime so she tolerated working for him on occasion, providing her translation and writing skills. "I see…and you…require my services for translating something?" she asked with hesitation.

"This letter got slid under my door today. I have no idea what it says, but I think it's in…German?" When he paused, he looked down at his open palm and squinted before stating the language he thought it was in. "So can you help me? I can pay, of course. How's twenty thousand yen sound?"

"I see…" Neneko bit her thumbnail and frowned.

The man on the other side of the door looked extremely shady. His hair was short and grayish in color. He was wearing glasses with circular frames, the lenses speckled with some sort of liquid that had splashed up. The scarf he was wearing hung loosely around his neck and had the unfortunate shape of intestines. It made her stomach turn to look at it for too long.

She quietly put her shoes on and grabbed her purse. Neneko was experienced enough to know better than to have a client come into her home the first time she met them. So she slipped out the door and locked it behind her. Turning so she was face to face with the man, she bowed slightly. "Kuroiwa Neneko. Translator. Pleased to make your acquaintance…"

His grin spread. "Giran. I'm a broker. You're cuter than I expected."

You had some expectations as to how I would look? Neneko frowned and bowed her head. "If I could, I would rather discuss this somewhere other than my home. You must understand; I rarely have my clients come into my home for safety reasons."

"Of course, of course! Not a problem!" he assured her. "I know a good place. Not too far from here, but should be classy enough for business."

How gentlemanly, she thought without amusement. If you must use the term "classy" to describe a place then it is, by no means, a place of class. Simply the manner of things.

Walking behind him, she attempted to read his motives. I don't appear to be in danger. The fact is that he is being compliant enough; if he wanted to hurt me, he could have easily pushed his way in when I opened the door to leave. He may be leading me somewhere, but not by force and if I feel danger impending, I can flee.

The second that they were outdoors, he lit his cigarette and glanced up and down the sidewalk. As if he suspected someone was following him. When he saw the puzzled look on her face, he grinned sheepishly. "Hey, no big deal. Just never know who might be around, right? Wouldn't want to piss off a client of yours, Kuroiwa."

Neneko gave a brief nod as it sank in. Yes, this man was without a doubt one of the shadiest guys she had ever spoken with. However, he was smart. He was experienced. He was like her; calculating risk before danger could even appear and probably planning his own escape route if she were to turn on him. She already had her own plan of escape for if he became aggressive.

Shift P.O.V

When Jin saw the man casually strolling down the sidewalk, he tried to fight the urge to follow. He instantly recognized him and it sparked anger. He vividly remembered the night he fought him. The man's plans to break into Neneko's home and pillage her valuables, violate her for fun, and most likely kill her.

It was bad enough for Jin to have to imagine her enduring those horrible things, but then to think of Neneko being killed was a whole new level of agony. Imagining her being taken from the world, taken from him, hurt too much to bear. She was his comfort, his warmth. She had seen the real him and she accepted him.

So when he saw Neneko's neighbor walking alone by himself, he began following him. He had no plan. There was a good chance that Jin would never even approach him. I just want to see what he's doing, he told himself. What kind of person is this guy? I bet he's a good guy! He scowled and paused in his steps, digging his fingers into his hair.

A variety of things went through his head as he kept a slow, but steady pace behind the man. He thought of the last time he was with Neneko; sitting together on her couch with her dozing off, leaning against his side. He thought of her assistant. The younger man was always so cheerful. Jin had seen him loitering around her building a few times now. Loitering or running errands for her.

I should do that, he thought as he rubbed the back of his neck. Why should I let some kid do that stuff for her? I can do it. I can do…anything…if it's for her. I love her. Just thinking this to himself was enough to make him want to smile.

He lit a cigarette to try to keep himself calm. Thinking about Neneko was making him too excited. It started pushing him a little too close to feeling like he might split. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment and attempted to think of something calming. He imagined the scent of lavender, imagined the taste of tea.

"Oh, hey, dude. Can you spare a cigarette?"

Jin frowned down at the man. In his moment of trying to calm down, he had failed to notice Neneko's neighbor turning around and approaching him. Now the man was standing in front of him, giving him an expectant stare. Jin rummaged in his pocket for his cigarettes and offered one.

"Thanks, man. I just ran out. Got a light?"

He had not thought it possible to hate the man more, yet it was. Not only was Neneko's neighbor a total creep, but he was the type of person to demand stuff from a complete stranger with no words of thanks. Jin held out his lighter without a word, watching with narrowed eyes. His teeth gritted as the man leaned away and inhaled from the cigarette.

"You should move."

"Huh? What'd you say, dude?"

They were close to an alley. Conveniently close. So close that no one paid it any mind when Jin grabbed the man's arm and swung him into the dark opening. A hand closed on the stranger's throat as he glowered down at him. "If I see you in that apartment again, I'll make things really bad for you really fast. You understand?"

The man stared up at him with wide eyes, mouth falling open and cigarette tumbling to the ground in a wasted burst of embers. "Wh-what? Do I know you or something?"

Jin leaned down, beginning to tremble with a blend of rage and the struggle of keeping himself together. "If you ever touch Kuroiwa, I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

Realization sparked in the man's eyes. "Y-yeah, man. Okay. I'll move. I swear. I didn't know she had a guy, okay? I swear!"

"Good." He released him and stepped back. Immediately, the man sprinted off out of the alley. Jin watched him go and then set off once more on his errand. The whole reason why he had gone out was to get something special. A little gift that he could give her the next time he saw her. Something to make her smile.

Shift P.O.V

Neneko frowned as she read through the note he had passed to her across the table. The dim light in the bar made it a little difficult, but she managed. Her shoulders drooped a bit as she glanced to the man seated across from her and then back down to the table. These are…a German translation of Jin's meeting details, she quickly realized.

She was a smart person. Nothing like a typical fan fiction original character or manga heroine. She rapidly pieced together that this was definitely the man that Jin had been corresponding with for his upcoming meeting with Shigaraki. Now she had to wonder if he was simply absentminded enough to have just used a translating application to translate a random document or if he had intentionally given her this to tell her who he was.

Giran was sitting there with a beer in front of him, talking on his phone and acting unconcerned. "I can be over there later. I'm busy right now. What? Yeah; I've got my own side projects, you know."

Side projects…? And just what sort of side project is this to him? Why has this man approached me with something like this? He must know who I am. Such ignorance is impossible. Such a coincidence would only be possible in a movie or book. Reality is never so convenient.

"Sorry about that, Kuroiwa. So what's it say? Can you read it?"

She skimmed through it once more and her eyes fell upon a scrap of dialogue from the film Pulp Fiction. In her soft, whispery voice, she read, "English, mother f*cker. Do you speak it?"

His eyebrows lifted quickly and it seemed to take a moment for the shock to wear off before he snickered. Shaking his head, Giran grinned. "English isn't my forte. Sorry."

"I'm aware that English is a weakness of yours," she agreed, her violet eyes meeting his gaze over the rim of his glasses. Neneko drew her spiked tea closer, not taking her eyes off of his as her fingertips trailed over the condensation-speckled glass. "Giran-san, you…have a penchant for American crime films…correct? Your English skills are lacking. Your copy and paste skills…leave much to be desired; you often forget to include punctuation. You use peculiar slang in your messages when you attempt to use English. And…you are either absentminded or you have a need for me to know of your involvement with…Bubaigawara Jin."

The man blinked in surprise and leaned back. He ran a hand over his hair, looking away as if in embarrassment or concern. When he finally looked at her again, it was with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, well, maybe I was curious. Bubaigawara said he met someone so I thought I'd check you out."

"I see…"

"Let me level with you. I know that you know what's going on with him. You're a smart girl, right? You know seven languages, don't you? Want to make yourself useful for a good cause? You could join Bubaigawara and help out. What's your quirk?"

"I have no quirk. Additionally, I…have no interest in joining an organization that promotes hatred," she replied firmly.

"C'mon. What is it? You don't like him or-?"

"I do…like Bubaigawara. However, I cannot condone joining such activities. I refuse to take part myself, but I will not fault him for doing what he believes he must." She sipped her beverage, still maintaining eye contact.

Giran's grin twitched into a smirk. "Oh yeah? So that's what love's like, huh?"

Neneko chose not to answer. She was falling deep into thought so it would be a waste to answer the question. Not that she was even certain of her feelings. She knew that Jin was important to her. So important that she was willing to do something drastic. Something gut-wrenchingly anxiety-inducing.

It needs to be tonight. If I prolong my plan any longer, I will be unable to help Jin. I must do this for him. I need to keep him safe. No matter what it takes. She took a long sip, hoping to gain some liquid courage for the night's events.