In lieu of a Halloween special, have a chapter from Toga's POV! I apologize for how short it is, but I had a really hard time writing this chapter. Trying to think like Toga made me feel... dirty.
Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup.
"And we're back, talking about the pair of individuals that have surely left their mark on Japan, if not the world. To start with, we have the Hero Killer: Stain! Why did he do it? What did he hope to gain? And who is the mysterious vigilante that put a stop to him? Why did Stain praise him? What could this mean for our society? Don't be shy, we're taking calls and wanna hear your thoughts.
"And we already have our first caller of the night: Yoshino Sachi! Welcome to the show, Yoshino-san!"
"Hey Toshihiro-san, thanks for having me!"
"So tell us, what are your thoughts on the events in Hosu this past Wednesday?"
Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup.
"Well Toshihiro-san, to be completely honest, I think that in general we've been focusing on all the wrong things in that video. Everyone's been so focused on Stain and how he was trying to change society for the better, but they don't notice the contradictions between what he claimed and what he's done."
"Oh? How so?"
Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup.
A tuneless humming resonated in the small tunnel in time with the quiet, shuffling beat.
"From what we've been led to understand, Stain's whole ideology centers around a return to the so-called 'original' values of heroics; heroes that value self-sacrifice and will go to any lengths to protect people, but many of the targets he chose don't actually contradict that essential criteria. For example, there's the Turbo Hero: Ingenium. Ingenium is widely known for his community outreach programs, donating the vast majority of his personal income to local charities. He mainly performed rescue operations, in which he had one of the highest success ratings in the nation. Really the only beef Stain could have had with him was his failed fight with the Bat Villain a few years ago, but that argument is invalid because despite his failure, Ingenium did everything he possibly could to take him down, including risk his personal safety by removing the airbag system of his costume. Honestly, he and his team would have taken that creep down easily if he hadn't been doped up on Trigger."
Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup. Ti-tap, ti-tup.
The tune was harmonized by the hushed rumbling of the cars passing up above and the muted moaning of the wind.
"Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, but wasn't that exactly Stain's point? That a hero should be ready to face anything, no matter how unfair the circumstances?"
"Not at all. If you've been following Ingenium's social media accounts, you'd know that his testimony states Stain specifically targeted him because Ingenium believes hero work is accomplished better as a team. Stain wasn't upset that Ingenium failed to take down the Bat Villain, and he didn't want him dead-as some people have speculated-because Ingenium was trying to retreat. Stain wanted Ingenium dead because he tried to call for backup. He used the Bat Villain case-a single, isolated incident-to justify his prejudice against hero teams in general and the Iidaten Agency in particular. Now come on, no sane person actually believes that pro heroes should face every single villain they face single-handed. Not everyone can or even should be All Might; thinking that way is an unsustainable fallacy."
Ti-tap-clip, ti-tup-clop. Ti-tap-lip, ti-tup-op. Ti-tap-ip, ti-tup-p.
A soft, steady counter to her regular pattering, just audible past the voices in her earbuds, announced the arrival of her date. She managed to withhold a squeal, not wanting to spoil the surprise.
"It's well-known that heroes regularly call for backup when their quirks are unsuited to a task. Additionally, statistics show that in cases of rescues and natural disasters, heroes that work on teams are nearly eight times more likely to succeed at the task without casualties or minimized casualties than solo heroes.
"That's why I say Stain's logic was flawed and hypocritical. He believes that heroes should do everything in their power to save others, but then when they do something in their power that he disapproves of, he calls it unheroic, such as working in a team. But what could be more self-sacrificing than giving up the spotlight in order to more effectively save others by working in a team?"
"A fascinating argument, Yoshino-san, thank you for your commentary."
"Thank you for having me."
"Next we have-"
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Himiko darted behind a pillar, removing her earbuds as she went and tucking them into the pocket of her cardigan. She quickly bit down on her knuckle hard enough to make it bleed, licking at the cut to muffle her delighted whine as she carefully peeked around the pillar to watch her date glancing around in adorable bemusement. It was so much fun to greet her dates with a surprise, especially ones as cute as this! Long black hair and black eyes, dressed in business shoes and the most perfect white canvas on which to paint her masterpiece. He looked so much better in red. That was why she was planning on taking him on a cute little painting date for their first night out.
"H-Hello?" her date called again, turning away from her. Ooh, this was her chance!
Himiko took a deep breath, clearing her mind and creeping forward, carefully sneaking up on her date until she could flash her hands up to cover his eyes from behind. "Guess who~!" she sang, giggling as her cutie-pie flinched and spun around, stumbling away from her.
"Wh-What the-!? Who the hell are you?!" he cried.
"Aw, you're so cute when you're confused!" Himiko squealed, clapping her hands together in delight. "I'm so happy you agreed to meet me, Haru-chan!"
"What? I-I didn't ag-gree to- H-Haru-chan?"
"Yeah! Your name is Haruto, right? So you're Haru-chan!" Himiko giggled, skipping towards him. "We should get started, you know? Don't wanna keep me waiting, do you?"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he demanded, stumbling back. "I don't even know you; stay away from me!"
"You don't remember?" Himiko pouted.
"Remember what?"
"Remember the day we fell in love!" she sighed wistfully, hands clenched and pressed to her glowing cheeks as she reminisced upon that moment. "You were walking under this same underpass, your arms wrapped in white bandages and soaked in blood; you looked so handsome; surely you remember, it's the whole reason I chose this place to meet for our date!"
"You're… You're talking about when I was involved in that villain attack and walking home from the hospital two weeks ago… But then… Are you the one who's been stalking me since then?!"
"See, you do remember!" Himiko squealed, bouncing on her toes as she reached into her pocket. "So, why don't we start off on our date~?"
"Whoa, what the hell?" her cutie gasped, stumbling back as HImiko pulled a knife from her pocket. "Wh-What're you gonna do with that?!"
"We're gonna have a date, silly! Red really is your color, you know? That's why I wanna have a paint-date, see? So we can splatter each other in red just like they do in the movies!"
"Hey now, there's no need for that! I-I'll give you whatever you- Gah!"
Himiko laughed in delight as her knife entered his stomach, red spraying across Haru-chan's white shirt. "Why do you think I'd want something from you?" she beamed as he pulled away and started to run. "Ooh, playing hard to get? That's okay; I love tag!"
Haru-chan cried out again as Himiko's knife slashed across his back while he ran away. He stumbled and collapsed against another of the concrete pillars, turning to look back at her. "Wh-Why the hell are you… d-doing this?" he gasped.
"Because I wanna get to know you better!" Himiko giggled, skipping up to him and plopping down into his lap, looping her arms around his neck and lightly scratching his scalp with the tip of her knife, sending a few more trickles of blood down his face, grinning. "I wanna love you. I wanna be you. I wanna know all about you," she whispered, leaning in towards his neck and opening her mouth with her tongue creeping out.
"Hey!"
Himiko barely dodged the black something that slashed towards the spot where she had just been sitting, rolling aside and then somersaulting away from her date, neatly rising into a crouch. An open-palmed strike flew towards her face next, forcing her to backflip away from the blow. The blond girl stuck her lip out in a pout. How rude, for someone to criticize her dating methods! When she was finally able to take in her surroundings, she saw the people determined to interrupt her date: two women and someone else in a full black bodysuit, their hands flying in wild gestures.
"She was about to suck his blood?" the woman in front-a short, slender thing-grimaced, glancing back towards her date and giving Himiko a perfect angle to view the twisted rivers of raven hair bound in a fancy bun. She was dressed in a sleeveless, blood red dress that extended just below her hips along the short edge of the asymmetrical hem, the longer side reaching just a little further, brushing the tops of black, thigh-high leather boots. Popping her hip, the woman turned back towards her, curling blood-red lips that perfectly matched her dress under a black mask with a design reminiscent of curling rams horns. "Okay, I know I have the whole 'succubus' vibe going for me, but that is just wrong."
Himiko felt a shiver down her spine, heat flushing her cheeks as she brought her fists up to them. All that red looked absolutely fetching on her, but it would be even better if it gleamed in the moonlight the way that actual blood did. She'd have to be sure to give her a cut or two to test that theory.
"H-His pulse is weakening," the other girl called, her voice trembling. "Stab wound in the stomach; he'll bleed out without help!" Himiko cocked her head to one side, examining her. She couldn't really see how tall she was, crouching beside her original date as she was. The girl had light brown hair tied back in a ponytail, black leggings, gray ankle boots, and a long-sleeved purple shirt, with a black face mask to hide the lower half of her face. Himiko pouted at that; it was hard to tell what she looked like when she was when she was wearing a mask. Either way, she wasn't as pretty as all of the red that the other woman was wearing, but she still seemed pretty cute. Maybe they could be friends!
The person in all black was rising to their feet behind her-black armour, black helmet, black boots, black, black, black! Ugh, it was just such a drab look-not cute at all!-but Himiko had a feeling that a few bloodstains would fix that right up! After all- "Oh! I know you, don't I?" Himiko squealed, clapping her hands together around her knife hilt in delight. "You're the one from Mr. Stainy's video, right? The one that was so beautiful covered in that monster thingie's blood? Ooh, you should let me cut you up a bit now, too! Everyone looks so pretty covered in blood, don't you think?"
The person shifted their weight, taking a half-step towards her before the lady in red put out a hand to stop them. "No, Wraith. I know you're most suited to deal with blades, but Shadow Dancer needs a stronger light source to get him to the hospital and I'm afraid that more than a minute in my aura will do that man in. Help her get him out of here; I can handle this creep."
"Hm?" Himiko frowned, tilting her head to one side in confusion as she watched Mr. Stainy's friend nod and step back towards Haru-chan, moving to help the other girl pull him to his feet. "Hey!" the teen cried, stepping forward with one hand outstretched as she realized what was about to happen. "Don't you know it's rude to steal someone else's da-?!"
It happened almost too fast for Himiko to register. A hand snapped out of nowhere to seize her outstretched, twisting the limb sharply, and forcing her to drop her knife. Before she could pull away, a pair of legs were suddenly in front of her, wrapping around Himiko's neck and yanking her forward and down, flipping her to the ground in an arm bar. She gasped in surprise and pain as her arm was bent backwards just shy of breaking, eyes wide with the sudden realization that this gorgeous woman may be a little bit more than even she could handle.
"Be careful, Yuki-onna!" the other girl called, her voice fading along with Haru-chan's groans.
"I'd advise you to sit quietly until the police arrive, ya' little vampire," the lady in red grunted warningly, legs tightening around Himiko's neck and chest.
The girl huffed for breath, a little dazed from the proximity of such a strong, powerful, beautiful person. "Yuki… onna," she whispered, breathless giggles vibrating in her chest. "Yuki-onna. Yuki-chan! You're really cool, you know that, Yuki-chan? All you're missing… is a little blood!"
Yuki-chan gasped in surprise when Himiko slashed at her leg with a second knife she'd had hidden away, her grip loosening just enough for the blond girl to squirm free, then leap back when her new friend scythed her legs around, trying to knock her off-balance before she swung them neatly back under her, rising to her feet with a silver-eyed glare. Himiko giggled brightly at the look on her face, another violent shiver going down her spine despite her flushed cheeks as she saw the blood sliding down her boot.
But… something seemed off. There was hardly any blood sliding down her leg. Himiko glanced at the knife in her hand. She knew she'd cut deeper than that… Why wasn't Yuki-chan bleeding more?
"Damn it, I really liked these boots" Yuki-chan grumbled, glancing up at the teen. "Oh, would you look at that? The cold is setting in already. Who'd've thought I was your type?" she smirked. Then she rushed forward, moving with such speed that Himiko barely managed to dodge the series of strikes that followed.
Something was wrong. She was moving too slowly and those shivers were getting worse. She felt cold. So very cold. Himiko didn't want to die. If she died, she couldn't love anymore. If she died, she couldn't be herself.
"Time to sleep, little girl!" Yuki-onna's voice echoed in the dark.
Gold eye met silver.
And Himiko moved.
Yuki-chan's voice cried out in surprise and pain as Himiko's knife pierced her side, then Himiko herself gasped as Yuki-chan's hands grabbed her wrist and elbow and twisted them painfully and the world turned upside down and suddenly Himiko was on the floor and Yuki-onna was on her feet, staggering back and hissing with pain as she did her best to stabilize the knife in her side. Himiko didn't waste any time, struggling to her feet through the waves of dizziness that had begun to crash over her and staggering back through the underpass.
"Get… back here, brat!" her new friend gasped.
"Don't worry, we'll play again soon, Yuki-chan," Himiko flashed a quick smile over her shoulder, then broke into a shambling run, clutching her aching arm close to her chest as she went. She wasn't certain how far she'd managed to get before she settled in a little back alley behind some sort of coffee shop. She still felt cold, sporadic shivers wracking her body for no apparent reason.
It was a strange effect her new friend had on her.
"Well that was rather impressive."
Himiko whirled around, snatching a third knife from the folds of her cardigan at the sound of the low drawl.
"Easy there, no need for that," the man chuckled, the words muffled as he clenched a cigarette butt between his teeth, the glowing tip marking his face, his tinted glasses glinting in the sparse light. "You know, there aren't many people that can give the infamous Yuki-onna and her team the slip. You must be quite skilled, miss."
"And who are you?" Himiko frowned, taking in his dress shirt with an open neck, gold necklace, and business jacket. He wasn't very cute.
"Just a businessman," the man offered her a gap-toothed smile, pulling out his cigarette and breathing out a cloud of smoke. "You can call me Giran. I may have a proposition for you."
Outtake:
Eri twitched in surprise, her head snapping up from her newest drawing at a soft, musical sound somewhere next to her. For a moment, she just stared at the blinking device lying on the floor-Dabi's phone. Her caretaker had just stepped into the bathroom, but she didn't think she'd ever seen him without it. Why he had left it there, she really couldn't say.
Curiosity piqued, the little girl peered at the device, seeing a short line of text on the lockscreen. Dabi had been teaching her to read over the last week and a half, but she wasn't very good at it yet. Still, she wanted to show him that he was taking his lessons to heart, so she pulled the phone towards her and carefully began to mouth the sounds of the words she saw.
Sss… Ahh…? Ay…? Vvv… Ee… Ssahvvee… Ssayvvee…? Sahveh? Sayveh? Save? Save! Mmm… ee… Mmee. Me. Save me? Save me!?
Eri scrambled to her feet, grabbing the device and rushing towards the bathroom. "Dabi!" she cried, her shyness largely stripped by her sudden surge of fear.
"Eri?" the young man frowned, stepping out while he wiped his hands on a towel and flicked off the light with his elbow. "What's wrong, kid?"
"S-Someone needs help!" the little girl replied, shoving the phone into his grasp. Startled, Dabi barely managed to grab the device in time, clicking the side button to turn it back on and bringing the phone up to see the message. Eri watched anxiously as he frowned, quickly unlocking the screen.
Then there came another soft, musical tone.
Dabi's eyes widened.
Then he burst out laughing.
Eri blinked in confusion as her caretaker slumped back against the wall and slid to the floor, tears spilling down his cheeks, arms wrapped around his stomach. "D-Dabi?" she whispered nervously as he began to calm down, gasping for breath.
"I-It's fine, Eri," the man snorted, covering his mouth as he spluttered again. "H-He's okay, just… Just a lit-tle out of depth."
"Wh-Who?"
"My friend Mido," he grinned. Eri blinked at him. He… looked nice, when he smiled like that. She'd only ever seen him with small, sad smiles before. Now he looked… happy. Bright. "Here, I'll show you," Dabi offered, holding an arm out towards her. Cautiously, the little girl approached and, with his encouragement, sat down next to him, leaning over his lap while he showed her the phone, reading the pair of messages out loud.
[Mido]
20:39
SAVE ME.
HOW DO I TURN DOWN A GIRL WHOSE IDEA OF FLIRTING IS TRYING TO STAB ME IN THE EYE!?
"If someone's trying to stab him, that doesn't sound like he's okay," Eri frowned, watching as her caretaker began to type a reply.
"If he were actually in trouble, he'd send me our code phrase," Dabi smiled, still obviously wanting to laugh as his phone chimed again.
"Oh…" Eri frowned, thinking through the message again. "Dabi, what's flirting?"
The man paused, considering. "Well, uh… How do I explain this to a kid…? Flirting is like… Well, when one person likes another person, they'll talk to them in a certain way to… let them know?"
"So, like when you told me I'm not a curse?" the little girl asked, tilting her head to look up at him.
"What?! No!" Dabi squawked, the tips of his ears turning red.
"But… you like me… d-don't… you…?"
"Oh. Of course, I like you a lot, Eri," her caretaker smiled, a small soft smile that left a warm feeling in her chest as he typed something else into his phone. "Just… not like that. When you flirt with someone, you're telling them that you… like like them."
"Like… like…?"
"Like, uh, you wanna… do… certain… stuff…"
"Stuff like stabbing them?"
"Yeah- I mean no! No, not like stabbing them!"
"Then why does a girl want to stab your friend?" Eri frowned deeper, now thoroughly confused.
"Uh, well, this girl is… odd."
"Odd?"
"Yeah, like she's, uh, not normal," Dabi explained, his expression twisted into a grimace as he sent off another message.
"Oh. Then what do normal girls want to do with the people they like like?" Eri asked curiously, tilting her head to one side.
"Uh…" Dabi looked away from her, scratching the back of his neck. "Well… things like… hugging, and kissing? And, like, uh, going on dates? Like, spending time together where it's just the two of them?"
"Oh. Okay," Eri nodded. She continued reflecting on his answers for a little while, watching as he sent a few more messages back and forth with 'Mido' and enjoying his warmth as she leaned against his arms. "Dabi?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah, kid?"
"What's kissing?"
"Uhh…"
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