-December 13 – [Day 1]-
Chitose continued her journey through the silent dimly-lit roads connecting Deika to the neighboring town of Masami, only stopping upon seeing an empty metal bench she could take a temporary rest on. It was a bus stop, and a rather simple one with a built-in light attached on its roof.
She sat there silently as the cold winter wind continued to blow, ripping off the last autumn leaves still attached to nearby trees.
The night is quiet, almost a little too quiet for her liking. She basked in the eerie-yet-calming chirping of the crickets and rustling of nearby leaves for a few moments until her attention went to the empty road connecting Deika to Masami. With the close proximities of the two cities, there's a respectable amount of people choosing to work on either side. But despite all that, she hasn't seen a single car drive past, both into and out of Deika City.
Chitose shook her head, one hand going up to comb through her hair as if an automatic response to her state of confusion. She'd been in these roads before, and by this time of the evening it should be almost jam-packed with traffic, but tonight it's emptier than an abandoned cemetery.
How come the helicopters didn't notice anything strange with these roads? Maybe because the pilots aren't familiar with the surroundings? Or maybe because they're just assuming everyone from neighboring cities went to whatever event they're currently throwing at Masami? Maybe the road is also under another illusion field that makes it normal when viewed from a distance?
Chitose suddenly perked up, a thought entering her mind. What if everyone at Deika is currently at Masami? What if the entire army is just there waiting for her to appear and then surprise her with a huge party over their obvious victory? Maybe that's why there's an illusion field in the first place?
Gaining newfound vigor, the young woman stood up and began the final stretch of her journey.
-[o]-
Chitose reached her destination with just a meager 45 minutes of walking, slightly earlier than what she's expecting.
The road that connects Masami to Deika leads almost directly to its downtown, which is closer to the edge compared to other nearby cities. While the overall aesthetics is not that very different from any downtowns across the country, what stood out here is the presence of actual people. Chitose wondered a bit if they're also illusory constructs like the one in Deika, but only time will tell.
With a few steps into an intricately-built arc with a carved-in sign of 'Welcome to Masami', Chitose officially entered the city. She then immediately slowed down her walking pace to observe, but with the amount of people wandering around, she eventually bumped into some waiting to cross the road, earning her a few snide looks and comments from said people about her appearance.
She glared at them in response before backing off a few steps. Upon reaching some distance away, she noticed that quite a number of people nearby are still giving her disapproving glances, with some families even outright moving their children out of the way as they passed her.
Rolling her eyes, the blue-skinned young woman continued backing off a few more steps and leaned on a nearby wall, crossing her arms and silently judging the people who are still giving her strange looks. It took a good while before the traffic light finally turned red, allowing the group of people to cross the road, allowing relative peace and quiet to return to her once again.
Taking a deep breath, she let out a sigh afterwards. Being born visually unappealing and looking like a villain, complete with glowing green eyes and a very destructive Meta Ability, is not the best thing when it comes to social situations. She gets stares, she gets glares, she gets judged, she gets very much the short end of the stick everytime, and it's one of the main reasons why she would rather stay in her office all day long than associate with her associates.
And as a result of this reclusive lifestyle, her social life is basically almost non-existent, with the brief meetings with the MLA top brass and other executives (Both in and outside of the Liberation movement) being the only semblance of it.
Chitose continued observing but eventually stopped herself after a few seconds. Once the Liberation movement proceeds, there will be no more mutant discrimination anyway.
Hopefully… Maybe… She doesn't really know how Re-Destro and the Liberation movement would put an end to it, but he keeps reassuring her he can despite not really saying his methods to do so.
Turning around, she glanced towards the road where she came from. From a distance, she could still see the illusory lights of Deika City. But as with the case earlier, the road is still empty, and there are neither people nor vehicles heading towards it.
A barrage of firecrackers suddenly lit up the sky, immediately getting Chitose's attention. Remembering about the event that was being held, she quickly made her way through the crowds of people,fully ignoring strange glances sent her way, and head straight to the location where the firecrackers were launched. As she got closer, the sounds of music got louder and louder, until she eventually reached her destination.
It was a live rock band concert currently in the middle of playing a song, with the combined noise of the cheering audience and the speakers at maximum volume hurting Chitose's ears. Backing off to a safe distance, she saw the slogan and figured out that the whole occasion is just a random charity event for disabled children – and certainly NOT a surprise celebration aimed at her arrival.
Chitose walked off, mildly annoyed, her mind immediately setting back to her original plan. Wandering around the city, she eventually found a pawnshop. She then went to inspect, scanning her green eyes among the various signs plastered all over the front walls. While there were a few useful ones such as the general price of specific objects, the rest were just random advertisements. Chitose was a meter from the entrance when she decided to inspect her jewelry first in case something's wrong.
She walked to the nearest lamp post before reaching towards her right earring and carefully removing it for inspection. It looked perfectly fine. She raised an eyebrow as she felt the jewelry on her fingers, wondering how there's not a single scratch from her fall earlier this morning despite being an easily damaged 18 karat gold earring. She let her thoughts tumble around for a few seconds before eventually brushing it off. There are already too many things happening that don't make sense, why bother wasting more time?
After that, she inspected the second earring. Like the other one, it's also in pristine condition with absolutely no scratches at all.
After the earrings successfully passed two more extra rounds of inspection, Chitose went in and pawned them. Being high-quality gold in mint condition with high-enough demand, the amount she received is relatively high, and definitely more than enough to cover a three-night stay at a cheap hotel, plus all necessities, and still with enough to spare to take her to her nearest luxury apartment if needed – that is as long as she can get a cheap enough place to stay.
Chitose exited the establishment, somewhat glad the pawnbroker didn't give her any strange glances nor assumed that she might have just stolen the jewelry from someone else, and immediately looked for the closest payphone.
After a few minutes of walking, she eventually found one in front of a convenience store relatively near to the still-ongoing rock concert. After going to said convenience store first to get some bills changed into coins, Chitose made her way back outside and onto the payphone, and accidentally slammed her head on its low-hanging 'roof'.
She quickly looked around, and sure enough a few people are looking in her direction. She rolled her eyes at them and went back to her primary objective, discreetly cursing her new height as she used her coat to wipe off the handle of the phone before grabbing it. And since she's already at it, she then wiped off the buttons as well, ignoring any further strange looks nearby people are giving her.
After greatly ruining the surface image of her coat, Chitose finally picked up the phone and started contacting specific people within the lower echelons of the MLA organization.
She tried to make contact with the first one, only to get a 'No Signal' beep in return.
She tried to make contact with a second one, and got another 'No Signal' beep.
She tried contacting a third one, and still got the same result.
A free hand went up to scratch the back of her head after calling a few more, wondering as to why no matter how many people she called, everything just returns a 'No Signal' beep. Thinking it could just be the payphone, she tried calling a certain hotel from Kyushu, and sure enough someone answered. Trying again, she called the receptionist at one of her luxury apartments, and someone answered as well.
Chitose wondered for a bit if the MLA people she's calling are all just coincidentally busy. While she very well knew the contact numbers of members higher up in the organization ladder, they wouldn't just answer a call from a line they have no idea of – no matter how much she tried to prove herself. In a world filled with Meta Abilities, it pays to be extra careful, and that is the main reason how the MLA amassed so many members under the radar over several decades.
The young woman hesitantly paused for a bit, before continuing to contact low level members. As with earlier, not a single one of them answered in return, nor the signal even reached them in the first place.
"Dammit!" Chitose whispered loudly in frustration as she tried to call yet another person, only to end up with another 'No Signal' beep. As far as she knows, Re-Destro only orders massive signal distortions every time there's a very important meeting, could that be the case happening now?
The only thing that could breach Skeptic's numerous jamming equipment, that she could potentially get her hands on, are her own 'Command Laptops' located in the safes of every luxury apartment she owns. Specifically built for the top brass and other high-ranking executives, it directly connects to a highly secure and heavily-encrypted network managed only by Skeptic himself.
On the other hand, she could just still be under the effects of an illusion and everything currently going on is not real. Maybe she's still dreaming that's why she's still somehow twenty years younger?
'Maybe tomorrow…'
Running her left palm down her face in exasperation, Chitose placed the phone back to its rack and entered the convenience store once more to buy two small bottles of rubbing alcohol, as well as a decent-sized purse, before making her way to the nearest train station to find the cheapest hotel she can find.
She eventually found one just after around 20 minutes of walking. She would have gotten there sooner if it wasn't for a random villain that was caught nearby, causing a lot of people to converge in and block her path.
It was a capsule hotel. Just by looking at the overall aesthetics of the building she could already deduce that the price-per-person is going to be higher than regular capsule hotels, but still overall lower than standard hotels.
'Better this than nothing…' Chitose thought to herself as she removed her stained coat and immediately began tying up the sleeves to her waist. She was in the final stages of fastening it when she stopped herself, her mind immediately wondering as to why she decided to do something she stopped doing more than a decade ago.
She brushed it off and just swung the coat over her shoulder before entering the establishment and quickly booking a room for three days.
The process is swift, like most single-person reservations, and just in a relatively short while she's already inside in her own capsule. Tired, she swiveled her head to her right, and was immediately surprised to see the digital clock installed on the wall displaying December 13 as the current date. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, one free hand going up to scratch the back of her head.
She knew for a fact that the clash with the League is scheduled to proceed in December 12, so why is the date December 13? Didn't the fight just occur earlier this day?
'Did I just sleep for a whole day in Deika's storm drain river system…? And then got younger because of it…? Fountain of Youth sorta-thing?'
In the midst of thinking, tiredness eventually managed to keep up with her, causing her thoughts to slowly dwindle away into incoherent globs of memory as she lied down and eventually fell asleep.
…
-December 14 – [Day 2]-
Already awake but not yet opening her eyes, Chitose slowly sat up straight, trying her best to prop herself up with her still-sleepy arms.
'I didn't finish my homework last night… And I think I forgot to set the alar-'
Her eyes instantly shot open and then immediately turned her head to face the clock, panic immediately welling up inside her mind upon seeing 9:37 am on the digital screen.
'OH SHI-'
Chitose hastily turned to her left, smacking her forehead on the capsule wall with considerable force. If it weren't for her picking the empty capsule located farthest from the rest of the occupied ones, the sound would have been enough to wake up any still-sleeping guests.
"Wha-?" The young woman backed off from the wall, one hand going up to gently rub her forehead. Once her vision cleared up, her eyes immediately widened at the sight of the entire capsule 'room'. She then scanned every single centimeter of the mysterious place she found herself in, eyes darting towards every nook and cranny. It's not until half a minute had passed that she remembered she rented a room in a capsule hotel last night.
Turning to the left, she stared at herself in the mirror built-in to the side of the wall. Despite expecting the illusion to have worn off by this time, the image that stared back at her is still her young form in her twenties. She wondered a bit if her suddenly turning into her younger form could be attributed to her suddenly tying her coat by her waist and waking up in a panic about forgotten homework, but she eventually brushed it off.
Who knows? Maybe the illusion is still going strong?
Chitose sat in silence, pondering about the strange aura covering Deika City, and the series of bizarre events that happened to her. Her eyes then went again to the digital clock, mind thinking about whether she should call that she's going to be absent for work. It took her a while of thinking until she also brushed it off. She has decided she's not going to work until she has everything sorted out.
Taking one deep breath and exhaling, Chitose slid off of the mattress, only now realizing that not only she slept with her shoes on, but she apparently used her coat as a pillow and almost rolled her head into the sharp end of the mysterious Quirk-erasing bullet she found that is currently lodged in one of its pockets.
She slowly exited the capsule, stretching her limbs afterwards. She was about to head off to the restaurant portion of the hotel to get some breakfast when she noticed a strange smell, like a mix between smoke and dried sweat, coming out of her capsule room. The stench didn't even stop there, and even extended all the way to the dress she's still currently wearing.
'I should've bought new clothes last night…'
Despite her general hunger, she took all the foul-smelling materials off of her capsule, while making sure the bullet is stashed somewhere safely, and made her way to the laundry facilities of the hotel to wash them, all while rejecting offers of help from the staff. She does best accomplishing her tasks alone.
With the coin-operated washing machine started, Chitose then went on towards the restaurant section of the hotel and had her breakfast. Yakitori and various grilled seafood is not her usual choice in breakfast, but that will do for now. At the end of the day, there's still a high chance of her under an illusion Meta Ability after all.
After finishing breakfast, she quickly went back to the washing machines and took her belongings back to her capsule room, before going out the hotel to buy some basic necessities and clothes to last four days, trying her best to move as fast as she can to avoid lingering with other people for too long, especially with her smelling of dried sweat.
She successfully bought a pile of new clothes and immediately headed back to the hotel's individual bathrooms to change and take a bath. As she was pulling back her arms from the sleeves of her dress, she noticed a row of scars running up the length of her arm - ones that are clearly older-looking and not part of the numerous minor injuries she took when scampering through the ruins of Deika. Raising an eyebrow to the sight, Chitose slowly walked up to the mirror to inspect them. She knew where the scars came from, and she remembered them being very prominent in her twenties. With her suddenly going younger, she couldn't help but be amazed at the detail accuracy of the illusion Meta Ability casted on her.
Afterwards, she spent her remaining free hours trying to regain contact with the MLA using the various readily-available coin-operated phones in the hotel. Despite thinking all the connectivity problems from yesterday are just odd coincidences, the exact issue still persists. No matter how many times she called the members she could remember the contact numbers of, she somehow can't connect with them.
Meanwhile all the other contacts she knew of worked fine.
Giving up for the day, Chitose went back to her capsule room and just decided to watch TV until late in the evening, oddly finding herself more interested in anime than watching her usual drama shows – another trait of her younger self.
…
-December 15 – [Day 3]-
Chitose started the day exactly in the same manner as yesterday: being awoken by strange dreams about forgotten homework and failed tests, and then immediately banging her head in the same exact spot she bumped into the day before.
But unlike yesterday, there are no unwanted smells wafting all over the room, which earned an approving nod from the young woman residing within.
Getting out of the capsule and walking out of the area, she then went to get breakfast first being trying to contact the MLA once again, spending almost her entire morning doing nothing but pressing phone buttons.
But no matter how many times she tried, she still can't connect to them. Many times she thought about contacting MLA executives higher up on the ladder, but decided against it. If the Liberation Movement is to proceed, she must not contact the higher-ups at all costs, and risk getting wiretapped by a third party – especially heroes.
'But with the massive signal loss over at designated MLA contacts, wouldn't that mean an important meeting is going on?' Chitose thought to herself as she stared down the numbers on the payphone in front of her. But normally, Skeptic only jams communications just long enough for one meeting session, before putting them back online before the heroes suspect a thing. Yet the signal's been out for 2 days straight now.
'Something's definitely not right.'
Placing the phone back to the rack, she immediately went out the hotel, purchased an umbrella, not minding the multiple villain attacks in the general vicinity, and then walked all the way back to Deika. She thought about bringing a cab but backed out at the very last minute on the thought of the illusion field being a part of Re-Destro's overall plan.
She wondered a bit as to why she's somehow not tired yet, but immediately brushed it off as she reached the 'No-Entry' signs blocking the road to Deika. Beyond it, is what seems to be, a regular day at the city, with people walking around and minding their own businesses. She thought about the illusion being over, but immediately backed out of her thoughts as she entered the field to find the area still as deserted as ever.
Switching over to her Mine Vision, she can still see the one far away dot that she saw back then. She then switched back and continued walking around the ghost town, resting every once and a while. Beyond the landscape, she could still see the fringes of the crater around the area where Re-Destro's tower used to stand.
She continued until she eventually reached the crater and looked around. It's still the same as the last time she saw it. The entire city is still deserted, empty, and devoid of any people, and the only sense of movement to be found are the leaves being blown by the wind. She stayed in the general vicinity for a few minutes, hoping for a search party to come by and pick her up, before deciding to just find a payphone on the still-undamaged parts of the city.
She eventually found one, but there's still no signal.
Putting the phone back, her thoughts went towards the heroes that have a portion of this city as part of their patrol route. Not all heroes in Deika are part of the Liberation Army, and some could eventually stumble into the area. But so far, not a single word from those heroes as of yet.
It seems that Deika's illusion field is still unknown.
Chitose then decided to head back to Masami, her mind swirling with thoughts about the public transport vehicles that also have Deika as part of their route. She thought about it as she walked, until she eventually reached the same 'No-Entry' signs from before.
'Maybe the entire area is closed off... Even after two days later…?' she thought as she exited the illusion field.
The young woman stared at the illusory city one last time before making her way back to Masami. Once there, she immediately hailed a cab to take her to the nearest bus terminal. She didn't waste any time upon arrival and hastily walked to one of the ticket booths to ask some questions.
The results were rather quick. Apparently, all public transport vehicles currently can't enter Deika as there's a bus rigged with a bomb that exploded there just three days ago. Additionally, the so-called terrorist who rigged the bus hacked the computers of public transportation terminals which have Deika as part of their service route, and told them he had hidden bombs on some of their vehicles and wouldn't hesitate to detonate them if ever they enter Deika City. Furthermore, he also threatened to blow up private vehicles entering the area as well. As a result, Deika is currently isolated.
Upon hearing the story, Chitose backed out and walked away. While it does seem a good enough reason, there's still a whole LOT of unanswered questions.
'Three days…' the thought suddenly began looping inside her mind. The date traces back to December 12, the date of the Revival Party, which really meant that she really slept for a whole day beside the storm drain river system for some reason. And then there's the odd energy blast pattern… and also the bullet…
'How…?' Chitose asked herself over and over during her trip back to her hotel, her confusion reaching its peak as she entered, gaining odd looks from the staff as she accidentally pushed the door too hard. She ignored them all as she went back to the area containing the coin-operated phones and began calling again and again for over two hours straight until she got tired and frustrated at the lack of signal.
Placing the phone back to its rack with considerable force, Chitose immediately looked at the wall clock just right beside her.
3:30 pm. It came off as quite a shock because she never once felt hungry all this time, but quickly brushed it off as some effect of the sheer confusion that's been plaguing her since two days ago.
"One more day," the young woman whispered to herself with a clear hint of frustration as she began walking back to her capsule. Upon getting there, she hurriedly shut the curtains and hugged her legs to her chest, gently rocking side to side while taking deep breaths to try and calm herself. Is she still within an illusion? Is she not in an illusion anymore? What is even happening?
One more day. She only needed to wait one more day and the illusion will be all over. In the midst of her thoughts, she slowly turned her head towards the mirror built into the side of the capsule wall, staring right into the eerie green eyes of her younger form.
Sighing, Chitose slowly removed her blouse, leaving her in a simple black camisole.
'One more day…'
She continued staring into her reflection, wondering as to how she suddenly became what she is now.
'One more day…'
Chitose lied down onto her bed.
'One more day…'
…
-December 16 – [Day 4]-
Just like the days before, Chitose once again woke up feeling strange. The moment she opened her eyes, she's immediately bombarded with feelings of adequacy andand satisfaction, as if she apparently accomplished something last night. In a few seconds, new memories came rushing in in the form of her homework from last night getting a perfect score.
Chitose slowly sat up straight. All those strange thoughts starting with her first night here, combined with the current date, must be the ones that are from twenty years ago, back when she was still in her first year of college. She waited a bit more in an attempt to confirm if that's the case, but no more strange memories appeared.
Getting dressed up and finishing all her morning duties, she repeated the exact same things she did yesterday.
She spent the entire morning trying to contact the MLA, but once again to no avail. After lunch, she headed straight to the still-empty streets of Deika, finding the same things she saw as yesterday. Afterwards, she went towards the bus terminal, and once again the same story played out.
In the midst of frustration, Chitose was about to return back to the hotel and continue trying to call when the sight of a hero team apprehending a random villain caught her attention.
'Hero Agencies…' she thought to herself as she began her trip towards the nearest one. With the MLA having tons of hero devotees, it's not hard to find an agency with a Liberation member within. And in a country that puts special emphasis on heroics, it's not that hard to find an agency in the first place, and she eventually found one after just a few minutes of walking.
The building in question is brightly-colored in hues of blue, standing out from all the nondescript buildings in its row like a sore thumb, and looking more like a public play place for children instead of an actual agency. Based on the overall wave-like design and aesthetics, this agency is specialized in water-based situations.
Entering the building, she immediately got almost everyone's attention, from the meager staff currently present to the actual suited heroes on standby.
Despite the judging looks from everyone from looking like a villain, she held her head high ignoring them all and walked towards the only vacant receptionist. Taking one glance over at the framed portraits of the heroes working under the agency conveniently on a wall just behind the receptionist's table, she immediately recognized quite a number of familiar faces within the MLA.
"I'd like to request the aid of uh-" Chitose blanked out for a bit, remembering the title of the specific hero in her mind, "-Surfing Hero: Waveshaper for-"
The receptionist immediately raised her hand as polite as possible to get her to stop talking. She then explained that Waveshaper is one of the heroes involved in the Deika bus bomb incident and is currently out of commission. And due to privacy laws regarding injured heroes, the agency is not allowed to tell her where he is.
Chitose looked at the list again and requested the help of another hero, who's once again part of the MLA. Just like Waveshaper, the second one is injured as well, but on a different incident. She requested a third, but somehow unavailable for some unknown reason. Frustration welling up inside her and midly affecting her speech, she requested a fourth one.
"Coastguard Hero: Hydroneer" Chitose blankly said, suppressing her anger just enough to avoid figuratively exploding. At this point some of the heroes nearby are now visibly keeping tabs on her in case something happens.
The receptionist calmly took a phone on her left and began dialing some numbers.
Chitose crossed her arms and looked around, and was about to start tapping her foot in impatience, when she heard the familiar 'No Signal' beep slightly audible from the receptionist's phone.
"No Signal?" Chitose asked before the woman could even speak, in which she received a light nod in response.
Nodding in return, the blue-skinned young woman was about to ask about other MLA-aligned heroes within the agency when an idea popped into her head. She quickly thanked the receptionist and apologized for the inconvenience before hurriedly leaving, ignoring any hero that tried to ask her some questions.
Chitose went back to the hotel and headed straight towards the internet café section. She didn't waste any time and started researching about this so-called 'Deika Bus Bomb incident': It took place on December 12, at around fifteen minutes before noon. It was a relatively minor incident, involving a small bomb attached on the underside of a bus. There were four heroes present at the time, all of which tried to disarm the bomb upon its discovery, but just ended up exploding on their faces. If it weren't for the Backforce phenomena making all explosives near-useless to humans, their faces would have been completely blown off.
And that was it. The entire event isn't exactly that big of a deal. The bomb is small, the heroes are only lightly injured, and the bus is empty. As for the terrorist hacker, the heroes are already on the case. Despite Deika currently on lockdown, it's expected to only last less than a week and didn't raise too much panic among its citizens.
'If the heroes are only lightly injured, then how come they're unavailable…?'
Chitose stared at her computer screen for a bit, her mind going around in circles as to the odd series of events somehow preventing her from making any contact to the MLA at all, before settling towards the specific date of December 12.
Based on what she can remember of the Revival Party, it started at exactly 9 in the morning. The bus incident took place not only at the exact same place the Revival happened, but also only around 3 hours later.
She then researched about information regarding the League of Villains. Strangely, the last news article about them is months ago - when they attacked the convoy containing Overhaul. She searched the web some more, but couldn't find anything related to the Revival Party four days ago. Maybe because she's not there to publish articles yet?
Now with more confusion than earlier, Chitose left the place and proceeded back to her capsule room as more and more thoughts swirl inside her head in one big convoluted mess of ideas. Upon reaching her destination, she wasted no time getting inside, not even bothering to remove her shoes.
It's been three days. The illusion should be over, but so far nothing's happened yet.
'What's going on?' she asked in her thoughts, as she once again stared at her young form from the mirror beside her. The signals are still cut, which means there's really a huge meeting going on right now at the Liberation Army, but how come they haven't contacted her yet? Yes she left her phone in one of her luxury apartments, but she repeatedly went back to Deika in the past few days, if there's a search party, she would have been seen two days ago.
But so far nothing happened.
'Have I been abandoned…?' Chitose wondered, shaking her head. "They can't abandon me! Trumpet was in his position just because of me! The MLA had a hundred thousand members just because of me! I'm a one-man propaganda machine! I'm an integral part of the army!" she whispered out loud, talking sternly to her own reflection.
She was about to continue but another thought entered her head. What about the strange mocking salute Geten threw at her direction seconds before she fell? Was that related to anything? Is THAT an illusion? Is THAT real?
Chitose stopped thinking and instead just stared at her own reflection.
"Did you just waste three days in this hotel thinking they'll find you, but in reality you could have just headed straight to your apartment and contacted them sooner via Command Laptop?" she asked her own image.
"The hell do I know? I don't even know if everything's just an illusion!" Chitose continued talking, answering her own question while still locked onto the mirror. "But apparently, nothing's an illusion and you just made yourself look like a fool."
"Yeah, but you're still younger. Look on the bright side, at least you won't be dealing with any crow's feet anytime soon."
"Wow, what an advantage… Hooray…" Chitose rolled her eyes and locked onto her younger image again. As much as it would be nice to be young once again, but it could also mean her job would be greatly affected, or worse: her position in the army.
She eventually plopped onto the bed, arms splayed sidewards, while staring at the empty screen of the foldable television set neatly installed on the capsule ceiling. While it makes sense to leave now, she doesn't want to waste any money on the 3-day promo package she got, despite making millions a month.
"The army can wait, I could really use some more alone time…" she whispered to herself and grabbed the remote.
-[o]-
Chitose watched the television for hours straight, only getting up to get something to eat and do other mundane tasks, while repeatedly checking the time. Once the clock struck 6 pm, she immediately got up and put on her orange coat, leaving her camisole within, and left the hotel to head towards the nearest mall she saw on her way from the hero agency earlier that day to buy a moderately-sized suitcase.
Going back to the hotel and into her capsule room, she quickly stashed all her belongings into it and hurriedly got onto the bed to make her last minutes here worth it by watching a rerun of a drama show she used to watch.
Not long after, she received a note from the staff via a small beep and a digital message displayed on a small panel on the bottommost part of the huge mirror installed on the side of the capsule room.
Her time is up.
Dressing up to conceal all traces of her scars and injuries, Chitose did one last look in her room before checking out. Her exit took a little while as the staff made her wait in the lobby a bit as they searched her room for any oddities or any items she might have left. Once all is clear and nothing is strange, she's finally allowed to exit the establishment.
The night air is fresh, albeit a bit more colder than the nights before. The atmosphere is unusually peaceful, especially with the jingles of Christmas songs playing all over the place, as well as the matching decorations illuminating the night with their festive glows.
Chitose sighed at the sight, her attention eventually going over to the reflective back side of a stop sign to her right and once again seeing her own image staring back.
The MLA needs her back. The Revival Party's done. The next step is about to commence, and everything is just in a standstill because they're probably still waiting for her to show up.
'But how come not a single contact is left outside the jamming field…?'
Chitose stood still as she processed her thoughts. It's not until a cold wind blew upon her direction which made her remember her initial quest. If she wants answers, then the Command Laptops stashed within her luxury apartments are the only things that can provide them.
Note:
Initially, I planned out a story with Deku having both Attract and Fire-Breathing Quirks. Then I also thought about a fic where Curious is the main character. In the end I decided to just mash them both.