Shigaraki wandered through the large mall complex, his hood up and face down. The place was filled with ignorant civilians. He needed to get some air, he was debating about blowing off some steam. But decided against it as the attention would be more trouble than it was worth.
He was getting sick of all the idiots he had lined up for his upcoming debut at USJ. Everywhere he looked he saw that symbol of peace. On the clothing of npcs, plastered on shop windows. "I am here" printed on nearly everything in sight. disgusting . Shigaraki was looking forward to the death of hope.
His thoughts were interrupted as an ignorant civilian crashed into him. He took a step back, his forehead stung, anger and annoyance filling him. The purple haired girl who had run into him was sitting on the ground, rubbing her forehead with one hand, holding a plethora of shopping bags with the other. She glanced around at the masses of people who walked around, ignoring her existence, then she looked up at Shigaraki.
"I'm so sorry," the girl said, falling on deaf ears.
Shigaraki reached out to decay the girl, but she took the out reaching hand as a gesture of help. The girl took his hand and as the five digits made contact with her skin… nothing happened. Shigaraki stared at the hand he was holding in his own, he felt his weight shift as the girl used him as leverage to regain her bearings.
"Thank you." She smiled, a sickening sweet smile. A smile so big, her eyes were closed. A smile that would be infectious to the average simpleton. Shigaraki's eyes narrowed with disdain.
"Are you okay?" The girl asked, trying to get a good look at his face, but his blue hair covered most of it. Shigaraki tapped his fingers on her skin, again nothing, except this time the girl gave his hand a quick squeeze before trying to remove it from his grasp. Shigaraki couldn't stop staring at his hand.
"Again, I'm very sorry. But I do have to get going." She started to back away, while checking her surroundings.
"What did you do?" His voice was cold and louder than he intended. His spare hand scratched at his neck. He yanked her closer to himself. The girl could see the anger in his red eyes.
The girl's eyes darted towards the bags she carried. Clearly she was misinterpreting his question. A small number of bystanders started watching the show unfold.
"W-what do you mean?" She asked, still trying to escape his vice-like grip.
A vibrantly dressed man with the face of zebra was making his way through the crowds, a Pro-Hero. The girl made eye contact with the hero, Shigaraki intended to loosen his grip, he didn't need this today, but to his surprise the girl replaced his grip with her own. She looked around the crowd and she bowed towards them quickly.
"So sorry for the scene. My boyfriend and I will be leaving now." She said as she started to leave, tugging Shigaraki behind her. Between his anger and confusion, Shigaraki barely noticed he was following the woman.
The Pro-Hero called out for the girl to stop. Shigaraki thought he heard the girl laugh as she sped up, weaving the two of them through the crowd of oblivious people.
She was dressed in a pink dress, the mint coloured frog shaped purse bounced against her hip as she ran. But what stood out was the plastic extensions clip that was slowly falling. With his spare hand, he reached out and touched it, and it disintegrated in his grasp.
The girl tucked into a nearby alley, after exiting the mall, using Shigaraki's body to shield her from anyone passing on the street. She watched over Shigaraki's shoulder as she saw the Zebra hero exit the mall. He looked around and started down a different street, in the opposite direction. She relaxed her body and examined the blue haired stranger.
Shigaraki continued to stare at their hands. It didn't make sense, he felt irritated, unable to do or stop anything that was happening. However her warm flesh touching his, a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time, was enjoyable, over stimulating and was making it difficult to process anything else. The way this girl acted and talked was like a script. The way she was dressed and the way they met, seemed to be written by a shoujo artist, or a dating Sim. A dating Sim. Of course, this was all a tutorial, that's why he felt so frozen. the game won't let him progress until the end of chapter one.
A jolt went through her as she saw the expression he wore. She followed his line of sight to her hand, which was still holding his. She let go and took a step back.
"So sorry for inconveniencing you so much." she said while flexing her hand. Shigaraki's hand felt unbelievably cold as her hand left his. He thought about taking it back, but didn't want to lose the progress he had made so far.
"Who are you?" Shigaraki asked.
"Kishi." The girl almost looked surprised as she blurted out her name. She took a pause, and scanned the area, "Meiko Kishi." She would have extended her hand for a handshake, but given the situation it may not have been appropriate.
"Kishi?" Shigaraki mumbled as he scratched his neck. Suddenly, Kishi's phone went off, a loud ringing sound that was immediately shut off by her.
"Look, I have to go. But I do owe you." Kishi messed with the bags. She extended out a black shopping bag, white tissue paper covered whatever was in the bag. Shigaraki looked at the bag then at her, before accepting the bag holding it with three fingers.
The girl smiled, "Oh, and if that Zebra asks about me. Please don't say anything." she placed a finger to her lips, indicating to keep quiet. Shigaraki looked down at the bag, An item prize for completing the chapter. when he looked back up, she had vanished. _
Kishi bit her tongue and focused on turning her quirk off. The strange man she got tangled up in her mess was still staring at the bag she gave him. She thought about dropping all the bags, and making a break for it. But Tony probably already had eyes on her. She prayed that Tony would teleport her out soon. It was going to get awkward if the man in front of her opened the bag with her present. She knew she was going to be in trouble for giving out her name and for giving away that much cash as hush money. But the poor blue haired guy had nothing to do with it, and deserved something for his troubles. He was a like minded soul. She became both anxious and relieved when she felt Tony's hand tap her shoulder. As a reflex she closed her eyes. Tony's quirk allowed him to teleport anywhere to where he could see, and he could take anything he touched with him. Being teleported by Tony felt like you were being thrown down a flight of stairs at a rave. Violent, bright, no sense of up or down. It always made Kishi want to vomit.
It took a few teleportations but the two arrived back at Tony's apartment, which acted as a base for their branch of the small villain group, Silent Death. Kishi stumbled a bit as Tony released his touch.
"Not in the bags! Not in the bags!" he urged as Tony took the bags from Kishi. Kishi gave them up with no fight and made her way to the living room where the other two members of their villain team were. Kishi did not consider anyone in this apartment, aside from herself, to be an actual villain. Criminals sure, but stealing from stores, scams and tagging buildings were nothing compared to the murderers, kidnappers and the villains who destroyed whole neighborhoods. Hell her own mother was a greater villain than these fools. She doubted anyone else in the group would be able to see a corpse, let alone make one. Yet they bragged about their villainy, how their actions caused discourse and change. If the Boss hadn't forced her, Kishi would have never aligned herself with these idiots.
Kishi sat down on the old sofa and threw her legs over the lap of the pink haired woman next to her. The woman was too much into the video game she was playing with the catboy to acknowledge Kishi. Kishi closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the peace before the storm.
"Hows the Boss doing?" Kishi asked the cat boy.
"Wouldn't know. No one was there when I showed." the cat boy responded, still guled to the TV screen.
"So I risk my hide, to do your job, and that orge stands you up?" Meiko rubbed her temples.
"Hey, be careful saying shit about Boss with Tony around." the cat boy responded.
"Tony can eat a dick" Meiko replied. She wasn't used to thieving, and she often fucked up on missions that involved her doing anything that wasnt fighting or killing. The Boss and Tony would most likely be on her case for a while for releasing her name.
Meiko closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She opened her eyes as she heard the sound of Tony's shoes enter the room. The blond man stared daggers at her.
"Guess who got caught?" Tony asked the room. The other two paused their game.
"No one." Kishi replied as she swung her legs off the woman and onto the floor. Already sick of the asshole.
"Ruby!" the pink haired girl sing-said.
"Ruby, you gave some creep your name." Tony grumbled.
"Yeah, Tony, isn't that why we have aliases?" The woman asked, while pulling her pink hair into a ponytail, dismissing the man.
"Ruby gave her real name." Tony stated.
The other eyes in the room were glaring at Kishi.
"Whyyyyy?" The pink haired woman whined, "I don't even know your real name, why does some rando get to know it before meeeeee." The woman leaned into Kishi. Kishi pushed the woman, keeping her away with her extended arm.
"Because he won't use it against me, Indy." Kishi responded. Indy's quirk allowed her to see personal information about anyone she knew the full name of and had a face to go with it. She was a master scam artist.
"You are missing the point. Not only did Ruby tell someone her name, get spotted by Zebra, she gave away a chunk of our efforts to the creep!" Tony lectured, like an angry parent.
"Our efforts? You stood on a building and watched as I stole wallets and robbed stores." Kishi replied.
"Just doc it from her cut." The cat boy stated, tired of the conversation.
"Joey, she got spotted by a Hero. Then told a civilian her name, then gave the civilian evidence!" Tony was at his limit.
"When you put it that way… Ruby you really fucked up." Joey said as stood up, "give her half pay".
Tony was boiling.
"Hey, what did the Boss say when you told him?." Kishi asked
Tony covered his face with his hand.
"I haven't told him…. Yet." Tony admitted
"Then relax, as long as you don't tell him. I promise nothing will happen. I stopped using that name in high-school. I doubt they can find anything recent" Kishi stated.
"Police have access to more than just a google search." Tony stated, "They'll know where you live, where you work, what your quirk is. Who your family are. All that is pretty standard."
"Well shit, Ruby you need to lay low." Joey said as he rested a hand on Kishi, "You can stay with me until we know if that creep ratted you out." Kishi's skin crawled as the wannabe touched her. She rested her hand on the mint bag she wore. She thought about how many bullets the concealed gun had in its chamber. But the thought left her as the headache she would endure, was going to be a lot more painful then the one she has now.
"Thanks." Kishi replied.
"It's the least I can do." Joey responded flirtatiously.
"It really is." Kishi removed his hand, as if it were a used tissue.
Joey sat back down at his original spot and unpaused the game he was playing with Indy.
"You aren't staying with the cat. You'll stay here." Tony replied.
"Aw, you don't trust me?" Joey mocked.
"No I don't" Tony responded as he exited the room.
Shigaraki had Kurogiri bring him back to the bar, much earlier than he had originally intended. He sat at the bar as Kurogiri cleaned dishes behind it. The first thing Shigaraki did was decay one of the bar stools. His quirk was working, but why wasnt it working on her? Clearly it was a quirk… How was he going to advance to chapter 2? He had her name, he could find her… Would forcing their next encounter cause him to lose progress? Did he have to wait until she showed up again? Did he want to even play this game?
"Bar stools aren't cheap-" Kurogiri trailed off as he took note of Shigaraki aggressively scratching his neck.
Meiko Kishi….
He kept looking at the bag, he thought about decaying it, moving on, ignoring the game. but curiosity was getting to him. He removed the white tissue paper to reveal stacks of cash. The bag easily had more than 250,000 yen.
"What the?" he mumbled as he dumped the contents on the bar.
"This should cover more than the bar stool." Kurogiri stated as he examined the cash infront of him.
Shigaraki thought about all the other bags that the girl, Kishi, was carrying. Made sense that the hero was chasing after her. But how did she manage to acquire so much money with only altering one pro? What is her quirk? Would it be helpful at USJ? USJ, he needed to focus on that.
This dating Sim had now given him currency. Which probably meant it was either a money management system or a pay to win. He figured it was probably the latter as he didn't meet any other girls in the tutorial. Which means, any lost progression could probably be bought back. If he lost any progress by ignoring the game until after his goals at USJ were complete, he'd just figure out how to buy it back.
Shigaraki looked at his cold hand.
"Kurogiri, find some information on Meiko Kishi." Shigaraki said as he placed the loose cash back into the black shopping bag, "I need to confirm some things".
(This Fic is also on A03, under my account SadyetHappy)