Chapter One: Don't Touch That

"Even I can see it." Tome looks at the floating warped fog from the front before circling it.

"Step away from it, Tome. We don't know what it does."

"Don't be that way Reigen. This is the most interesting thing I've seen all month even if it is still underwhelming. Where do you think it came from?"

"Forget where it came from. We're here to get rid of it. Serizawa."

"I care!"

"On it!" Serizawa extends his closed umbrella. He's made such progress that he's been reducing how much he carries it with him, but he still feels more comfortable bringing it with him on field work. "Um, nothing's happening."

"What?!" Reigen coughs and waves his hand in front of himself. "It's got to have a weak point. I just need – Don't touch it!" Reigen watches Tome hovers her hand next to the vortex like a kid claiming that because they aren't technically touching means they aren't a bother.

"But nothing's ha-AHHH!" Tome's arm gets sucked into the nothingness. Serizawa uses his psychic powers to prevent her being sucked in even more as Reigen runs forward and tugs at her other arm.

"Not that I'm not appreciative but this is starting to hurt!"

"Sorry!" In retaliation to hearing he's hurting Tome, Serizawa momentarily stops using his psychic powers causing Tome to fall completely into the void and Reigen is most of the way behind her. Serizawa runs to pull Reigen but gets pulled in with them.

It was dark and windy making it hard to see anything.

"Hold on!" Just as Reigen says the words the wind tears them apart.

That's the opposite of what he wanted to happen.

Reigen and Serizawa vanish from Tome's line of vision as she falls through a crack.

She groans as she gets spit out onto concrete. That could have gone a lot better. She stands and dusts off her high school uniform.

Tome notices how dark it is. It was mid-day just moments before. She looks in every direction, but she seems to be in an alley of some kind. "Reigen? Serizawa?" She scares easily, but more than it being scary there is something unsettling about what happened.

"And what do you think you're doing out this late?"

The voice startles her. Her eyes find the person who spoke out, and Tome can't help but compare him to some rich kid trying to play dress-up of a homeless person.

Her legs start moving in the direction of what looks like the main street. At the very least there seems to be more lights that way. She takes a few steps when some kind of fabric wraps around her body.

"What is this? Let me go you creep."

"Creep?" The man sighs. "Calm down, I'm a Hero."

That answer isn't any better. What kind of weird fetish did this man have? "Like I'm going to calm down when some weirdo claiming to be a hero restrains me."

He shoves some kind of a card in front of her face. "Now can you tell me what you're doing here? Or why you thought it was a good idea to use your quirk."

"Did you make that yourself or did you pay someone to make it? I get that it's for pretend but none of the information makes sense." Maybe some futuristic fantasy? "Find someone else to play your game."

"I can assure you it's real. Let's start easier. What's your name and school?"

Tome whitens as she realizes that this weirdo can see her name tag and her distinctive uniform. "Kurata Tome from Peppercorn High School."

"…Peppercorn High."

Tome resists against the bindings. "I know it's not a prestigious school, but it isn't bad either!"

"And your quirk?"

Tome is reminded of the people who called the Telepathy Club creepy, or the looks her clubmates gave her when they realized she was serious about aliens. They bonded and met some cute but cool aliens in the process, but talking about one's quirks often leads to mockery. She can't even complain because she too passes judgment on other people's particularities.

"You can play dumb but I'm talking about the portal you made."

Tome relaxes. Maybe he was just super into the supernatural too. "Oh that thing." He stares at her like he was trying to communicate 'of course that thing'.

"Not actually sure. We were investigating it when it pulled us in."

"It's not your quirk?"

"Why do you keep saying that word? It doesn't make sense in this context." He mocked her school but it seem he was dumber than her.

His eyes squint. "What would you call it then?"

"I dunno. Some kind of portal? A vortex? Psychic powers don't work on it."

"You have some kind of psychic powers then?"

Tome shakes her head. "I wish if only so I can witness more cool stuff. Things aren't always strong enough for people like me to see them. Serizawa is the only one of us who has them."

"What's your power then?"

"Weren't you listening?! I wasn't born with any power. Don't act all surprise. I didn't even know they existed until Mob."

"Where did you say you were from again?" Tome feels the bindings slightly loosen.

"Seasoning City."

"Any you say there were others with you?"

Tome nods.

"Why don't we stop by the police station. To find your friends."

Tome is wary about following the man, but anything had to be better than this alley. She's already spoken a bit about herself, and if he truly was guiding her to a police station then that offers protection against this guy. "Lead the way."