This is the start of your messaging history with Unknown Number 1w ago
19:57
I have a proposition for you.
19:59
If you ask for nudes I will call a bomb threat on your house.
19:59
I was thinking more along the lines of robbing the yakuza actually.
20:00
Who the hell is this?
20:01
Minoru Mineta, and it will be a pleasure doing business with you.
20:05
Wtf.
My insomnia had followed me through to my next life.
On the one hand, that was helpful. It was much easier to conduct business under the cover of darkness when you didn't have a strict sunset curfew. On the other, sleeping was one of my favourite hobbies, which made it all the more tragic that even after all this time, I still sucked at it.
Still, being able to function properly over consecutive days with less than three hours of sleep was its own kind of superpower. A much better superpower than the one I had now. Unless I could use my hair as little pillows.
…Alright I would have to test that later.
The streets were empty as I silently trudged along, eyes jumping between the road ahead of me and the directions displayed across the phone in my hand. Even away from the bustling city centre of Yokohama (which had confused me until I realised that was the city that Mineta lived in), calling the streets silent would have been hilariously incorrect. All around me was the hum of electronics, the rumbling of cars going down other roads. Even as the clock ticked over to two in the morning, the city was aglow with life.
That didn't stop me from holding onto the briefcase in my other hand like it was a lifeline. I may have been barely able to lift it, but it would make one hell of a weapon if someone jumped out at me from an alleyway.
A stray cat had already learned that lesson. Sure, when it attacked I'd kind of shrieked and tried to automatically heft the briefcase over my head to bring it down on the poor creature's skull, and only managed to get it stuck on my own hair after my triceps failed me. But I'm sure as it streaked down the street away from me, it was due to the unbridled fear that my display had wrought. That's also what I told myself when I'd noticed people poking their heads out of their doors, no doubt to figure out why there was a congested gamer screaming in the middle of the street.
I'd left that neighbourhood behind fairly quickly. Thankfully the business I had wasn't there.
Unknown number 5d ago
3:13
How on earth did you crack the security on their network so quickly?
3:16
? It wasn't even that hard?
3:18
Whatever. We're on board with the plan, but the payment you mentioned will have to be in cash. Any movement of money that large will be noticed eventually.
3:23
That gives me an idea.
3:24
Oh fuck.
The map had taken me a fair distance away from my house. Useful for trying to maintain innocence in the grand scheme of things, but much harder on my little legs, especially when I had other things that needed doing that night. I couldn't really complain about it, despite complaining being one of my favourite hobbies, because just the fact that I'd managed to attain this map in the first place was kind of a miracle.
It was also the point of no return, so for better or for worse, pump my little legs must.
They took me away from the residential area. The buildings around me dropped wood as a construction material as I made the final turn, most adopting something that I could only guess was concrete for their walls. The distant waves and salty tang of the air was a better indicator that I'd reached my destination, taking a few more turns until I couldn't see anymore houses and, more importantly, they couldn't see me.
The directions I'd been given led to a dock. I guess they were a cliche for a reason.
Unknown Number 2d ago
14:34
I found the source of the accelerant you wanted. The supplier is asking for 36,000 per gallon.
14:45
Everything else is already prepared, right?
14:48
The derivative R18 is hinting at a price hike, but otherwise yes.
14:49
Hang on a sec, I'll dip into my savings for it.
14:49
They're going to notice that.
14:51
What are they gonna do, kill me?
A short vibration from my muted phone told me that I'd made it to the corner it had been guiding me to. It was placed into a pocket that was barely big enough to hold it. Eyes that would have been drooping and exhausted if they belonged to a healthy person were instead alert and attentive, water and animal life doing nothing to drown out the beating of my heart or any footsteps that would soon be approaching me.
Most of the buildings around me were fairly nondescript. Blank walls hinting at nothing that could be going on inside. Anything that neglected windows in their design I could only assume were warehouses, or some other such structure that I didn't really need to care about. The only things around of any note were the mechanic that was advertising 30 percent off any parts they'd need to replace, and the security camera pointed directly at me.
That should have worried me. It really didn't. I wasn't the only person who would be here tonight that had something to lose.
I also wasn't the only one who might attract unwanted guests. The surrounding buildings were quiet, though. Much quieter than I would have been expecting. Either the crime rate wasn't up to the average in Japan, which still could have placed it depressingly high, or there was a well known hero in town. It had been interesting to watch last week when Best Jeanist had come into town to promote some new fashion line that I didn't really give a shit about, tie up one dude who was doing something dumb, and watching the online statistics for reported criminal activity drop 10 percent.
Too bad I was part of that renewed 10 percent. And it wasn't going to stop here. I really needed to start thinking through my dumb decisions some more.
Too late for regrets now, though. It had taken a few minutes, but eventually I'd heard the faint clicking of heels approaching. They were late, but I'd arrived behind schedule as well, still not used to the added travel time with my dramatically shortened limbs.
They'd also come from out of town, so, you know.
Aside from placing the briefcase on the ground, I didn't move. It was kind of depressing that I could still hold onto its handle with no issue. The footsteps stopped, settling at the edge of a gap between two warehouses. After a few seconds, my phone buzzed, and I made a great show of turning my back to where the footsteps had come from, my strides purposeful even if I couldn't make them long.
There was no point in talking. The briefcase held exactly what I'd told them it would. It had been the ticket to this whole operation that I'd put together. If the deal would end up being off, there was nothing I could do about it anyway. But they wouldn't screw me over.
I didn't know them personally, but I was well aware that one of them was quite the gentleman.
Especially not when they now had a few hundred million yen as a bounty on Eri's head. To be returned alive with the rest of her body, of course. Ever so graciously provided by the Shie Hassakai themselves, and stolen from one of their unguarded safehouses by yours truly.
How had I gotten away with that one, you might have asked. Well, here's the funny part; I didn't. I'd made no attempt whatsoever to cover my identity or my Quirk. The building was remote enough that tossing a rock through one of the lower windows and knocking the rest of the glass out carefully with a few towels wrapped around my hand didn't alert a single soul. From what I'd been able to gather from their own files, the main Yakuza stationed in Tokyo had similar places like this set up all over the nation, pockets on the outskirts of cities to hold resources for members who would need to hide out if something went wrong.
There was no point guarding them. Nothing they would hold would be irreplaceable, and they were alarmed and remotely monitored to such a degree that I didn't really know where to begin in trying to undercut their security measures. There had probably been an alert going through the system of whoever was in charge of this place the second the rock had been put through its newest entrance. There had probably been a second, more urgent one when I'd swiped the key from its hiding place under an innocuous floorboard, unerringly found the correct door it unlocked, and correctly inputted the code for the safe they'd hidden behind a portrait of an old dude on my first try.
To add insult to injury I'd taken the portrait too. The logical reason was because I needed to go out of my way to piss people off. The real reason was because I thought it would be funny.
And I was right.
The three briefcases that had been in the safe each contained, to the knowledge of whoever was in charge of data entry for the Shie Hassakai's business expenses, three hundred million yen. I didn't know the exact conversation rate off the top of my head, but I was confident in assuming that was a whole fucking lot of money. There was barely any room for it all in the wagon I'd attached to Mineta's tiny bicycle, and making the trip back while having to tow it all was torture, but it was a necessary evil. Leaving any after getting this far would have been suspicious, and if there was something I couldn't afford to come across as with this, it was suspicious.
Besides, it wasn't about the money. The second briefcase was sitting pretty in my room, completely unguarded and unlikely to survive the night. The third had been handed off to a very wide-eyed man as payment for what was to come later. He hadn't been familiar to me, but I'd been assured by the people who'd taken the first briefcase that he would be trustworthy, and for the amount of money I'd given him for a relatively simple job he damn well better have been.
He also hadn't asked any questions. That was a good thing for many reasons, chief among them being I had no idea how the hell I would answer them.
"I woke up in a different world and in a body that I despise, so I was making bonkers plans on how I could change that, and before I could give up on them as insane I accidentally remembered that one of those insane plans was torturing a child. So I took the insanity and refined it because my guilty conscience was forcing me."
The truth is often stranger than fiction, as the saying goes. I would just let him think whatever he wanted; all he had to do was be a glorified taxi and he'd be set for life. Well, for myself and also for the portrait, that for some reason I had decided to hold onto. Don't ask if you don't want a deluge of word vomit that eventually tapers off and ends with "I thought it would be funny."
The journey back to my house had been just as uneventful as the trip to the docks. Perhaps even less so, given that this time there was no stray cat to scare the shit out of me. I hadn't needed a map this time, content to just wander along the streets I remembered and muse, but by the time my house was in view, I'd pulled my phone out once again.
3:37 AM. My ride was coming to pick me up at 4. Every other preparation had been made. There was nothing left for me to do other than wait.
Well, wait, and also check what that last message was.
I still say this entire plan is insane.
A masterful attempt was made to smother my snort of laughter with a cough. Hopefully nobody would be awake to hear that. The less obvious I was about my loitering, the better off I would be.
It was refreshing to have someone to talk to after a fortnight of self-imposed exile. I scrolled up, for lack of anything better to do with my time, to read through some of our earlier communications.
23:25
I'll hand you the money tonight, make sure to be in position by 3 in the morning the day after. The car I bring in will have the gear we need.
23:35
Did you scope out some potential angles for us to get shots of the whole place?
23:37
Only the ones I sent you. I have a drone set to arrive later that we can attach a camera to, if we can have a fourth to pilot it.
23:38
We can leave that to your driver. He'll probably crash it though. Is that ok?
23:40
If he manages to land it on Chisaki I'll double his pay.
Really, that had been the biggest stroke of luck in this whole plot. Some people would have called it manipulation, but by my own choice I'd put myself into a position where I would need to take any advantage I could get. Knowing exactly what someone wanted and how I could use that to get what I wanted in return was just one method.
They'd made their own choices. Showing them the footage I had of Eri just sealed the deal.
The distant grumble of an engine had my head tilting back up. There was a hedge to my back and I had been getting ready to take cover behind it before the driver flashed their lights down the street twice. With a sigh of relief, I opened up another window in the chatting app that had come with this new phone, one that was rumoured to be less than readily available to the more altruistic of society.
Shady phone in hand, I sent confirmation to my getaway driver. In the form of a string of emojis that ended with a smiling turd. We'd not really made a code or anything, I just assumed he would be entertained by it.
Judging by the distant cackle, I had been correct.
The engine of the car roared. Even with the idea that it was coming, it still made me jump backwards a little in surprise. Faster than should have really been plausible, the driver was halfway down the street, pulling into what I could only imagine was a very illegal u-turn and sliding to a stop directly beside me. Both of the front doors opened, the driver hopping out of the car with another laugh, this one being directed at me as I very sloppily threw myself into the passenger side.
The only things I could make out about him in the darkness was a taller than average frame adorned in dark clothing, including a beanie pulled so far down his forehead that it was practically covering his eyes.
Ironically enough, getting into a car with a stranger was about to be far safer than running back inside my house. Eschewing the passenger side completely, I ducked through the gap in the front seats, diving to the floor and unfolding the blanket that had been left back there. I'd gotten it mostly over my body, barring difficulties with my hair, by the time the sound of splintering wood echoed through the night like a gunshot.
Living alone had its benefits. Nobody to overlook what I'd been doing, nobody to monitor my internet history or odd habit of leaving in the early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, living at all was going to be extremely difficult for Minoru Mineta, seeing as even if he hadn't yet managed to fill out the application they'd sent to him, he still had the eyes of U.A University on him. Nevermind him no longer deciding to be a hero, him being dramatically different in terms of body and mind were bound to raise more than a few eyebrows.
That, and his recent criminal activity.
So, for the second time in history, Mineta Minoru would have to die. This time in his own body.
Or, well, he'd have to come close enough.
The house had been sealed when I left. I didn't really know if that would help with proceedings, but I had 'accidentally' left one of the gas outlets on the stove on before 'going to sleep'. That, along with the frankly absurd amount of flammable things I'd 'spilled' over the course of the last week and never bothered to clean up because I was too lazy (ask anyone who knows me, that last one didn't need quotation marks), I had been living in the very definition of a fire hazard.
That on its own likely wouldn't have been enough to sell the narrative, but once it came out that I'd been dipping into Yakuza finances? And I'd raided a Yakuza safehouse while nobody was home? Well, maybe they would want to get a little revenge on me for taking their stuff. After all, how could they possibly know the kind of damage that would be done?
I lay under the blanket, holding my breath and counting the seconds before we would be leaving. Once I hit thirteen the car dipped slightly, breathless laughter coming from the seat in front of me as the tyres screamed.
I yelped right back as the car lurched forward, the force of it flattening me to the ground. Uncomfortable to say the least, and I almost threw the blanket off to complain about the first rough turn when the ground quaked.
Even through the blanket, I could see the sky light up red and orange. There was already a line of houses between us and my former abode, but once I'd ripped the blanket off and gotten onto the seat to actually see the damages, I couldn't help but gape.
The flames looked like a solid pillar. There wasn't so much a house fire as there was a pyre to my former life. It couldn't have been physically possible, but in that moment I could have sworn the fire was reaching up to where the force of the blast had disbanded the clouds. The sun was still hours away from rising, but the streets we blitzed past were bright enough for me to see the people stumbling out of their houses to see what the commotion had been about.
When I found my voice, it was barely more than a gasp.
"What the fuck did you do?"
The driver laughed again. The noise hadn't changed, but it felt less like simple joy.
"The instructions were to leave no trace!"
That looked like a pretty fucking big trace to me. "No trace of my body, not the whole fucking house!"
"...Huh." The laughter stopped. Another sharp turn almost flattened my brains against the door. "That does make more sense, yeah."
"My neighbours!?"
"Don't worry, they're fine. I made sure!"
With no choice but to accept that, I hid under the blanket to make sure Minoru Mineta, dead at age 18 in an alleged firebombing by the Yakuza he'd stolen from, wasn't spotted in a speeding car fleeing the scene.
The conspiracy theorists were going to have a field day with this one.
