-December 16 - [Day 4]-

Chitose stood by a bus stop located just a short distance away from the capsule hotel she just spent three nights on, lightly shivering from the cold winter wind blowing past. There were other people nearby, some of them once again giving her odd looks, but most generally kept to themselves.

'Now where could the MLA be?' a thought entered her mind as she waited for a taxi. 'Where is everyone?'

Hovering her right hand over the purse slung on her shoulder, she thought about visiting the MLA hideout closest to Deika, but quickly abandoned the idea as she doesn't have any more cash left to make it. Furthermore, there's always a chance that the army is not even there to begin with anyway, as there are multiple hideouts scattered all over the country.

The young woman took a deep breath and sighed, her mind switching over to think about the Gunga Mountain Villa - the main Headquarters of the Liberation Army. Based on what she could remember of the plan, the top brass and the highest-ranking executives would stay there for the entire duration of the civil war following the Revival Party, making strategic decisions and relaying orders to the troops on the field.

"Gunga Mountain Villa…"

Chitose checked her purse again, specifically her remaining cash. If she's going to head towards the Mountain Villa, then she's going to need a lot more than what she currently has. Additionally, anyone within the Liberation Army, top brass included, would have to call the caretakers beforehand in order to be allowed within the general 'territory' of the mansion, and that's not even counting the multiple security protocols…

'I can't even call a single Liberation member anyways…'

After a few minutes, a taxi eventually arrived into the scene, hoping to get any potential passengers from the people waiting by the bus stop. Chitose eyed the waiting vehicle almost immediately as it arrived, mentally calculating the remaining cash she has left and weighing her options between waiting for a bus to arrive and opting for a more expensive taxi ride to the bus terminal.

She waited for a few more minutes, her green eyes repeatedly making glances on the taxi as she waited for her favored mode of public transportation. After a full minute, she gave up waiting and walked towards it. She has to get to her nearest luxury apartment from Masami and wasting time waiting for a bus is not the way to go.

"Masami Bus Terminal," she said to the driver as she got in, pulling up her purse and checking the cash allocated for transport afterwards. As expected, she fell a little short, and with her destination at around 3 or so kilometers away, some adjustments had to be made. Chitose quickly thought of possible alternatives, but the best she could think of is to just tell the driver to drop her off at the maximum distance her current allocated cash of 850 Yen can reach, so that's what she did.

The trip didn't take long, and she was eventually dropped off at a relatively empty residential area littered with a few broken street lamps. There were some people walking about, and about half of them looked like they're below the poverty line.

"Just go straight. Masami Bus terminal's just some distance away over in that direction," the taxi driver said as he gestured towards the only visible road into the area. "In case you want to get there quicker, there's also a bus stop along the way. Any bus coming from the left goes directly to the terminal," the driver added before finally driving away. While Chitose looked at the leaving form of the vehicle, she couldn't help but notice the odd lack of buses on the roads.

'Okay here we go…' Chitose thought to herself as she slowly turned back to further inspect the place she was dropped in. The main thing that got her attention is the road, it was unusually wide, and looked like it was already halfway through being repaired, with the concrete being replaced with proper asphalt. As for the houses as far as her eyes can see, while there were quite a number of worn-down ones and other tall dilapidated buildings that dot the scene, most of the houses were in good shape. Overall it was just the few people walking about and the broken lamp posts that gave the area an initial creepy vibe.

She stood where she is for the next few seconds, gaze running up the entire length of the road. It might not be the safest way to reach her destination, but it's definitely the quickest.

"At least the journey's almost over…" Chitose whispered to herself as she ran a hand through her short lilac hair and began walking, grasping onto the handle of her suitcase as securely as possible. The streets are eerily quiet, and the flickering lamp posts can be a little too unnerving at times, but nothing too serious to be concerned about.

There were multiple sketchy-looking people loitering in the dark alleyways. Some are gambling, some are smoking, but most are just minding their own business.

'Where are heroes when you need them?'

Chitose continued to walk through the neighborhood, always keeping towards the side of the road with less worn-down houses. She noticed a few suspicious individuals staring at her from the shadows, their gazes lingering far too long than she wanted them to. It could be either they're sizing her up, or other things, or could just simply staring at her for her weird looks as women and girls normally don't get unsightly physical mutations in the Post-Quirk era world. Either way, she discreetly monitored them as well, ready to react in case some of them tried to make a move. She may be a high-ranking publishing executive, but she's no stranger from a fight.

But still, luckily for her no one really made a move beyond staring.

"Looks like this isn't so-" she stopped her whispering mid-sentence, hearing a strange clicking sound akin to that of horse hooves galloping over asphalt road, but continued walking. It was only until she passed by a lamp post when she saw the shadow of a lanky figure with four spikes jutting out of its head and unusually long arms looming right behind her.

'A random street thug eh?'

Quickly deploying her Curious Flattener on her right hand, she swung backwards as hard as she can and successfully hit the person stalking her. She pulled back from delivering an explosive blast, as the resulting noise could wake up nearby people and potentially slow her down even further.

The sound of the support equipment smashing directly onto the would-be assailant's face is not what she was expecting. Instead of metal hitting flesh, it was metal hitting metal. She didn't get any time to process it as an iron ball collided directly on her face with considerable force, sending her stumbling downwards.

She lost balance and eventually fell onto the road in a few seconds, her vision in a complete blur and unable to lock onto anything. She turned her head from side to side, trying to pinpoint the location of her attacker in an attempt to fight back, and settled on a vaguely humanoid figure standing directly under a lamp post. Her vision went green for a brief moment, accompanied by the feeling of something being lifted off of her, yet she ignored them and kept her gaze centered on the tall lanky creature that seemed to be looking left and right and acting unusually skittish.

Panic welling up inside her, she kept her focus centered onto the figure as she rapidly thought of things she can do in such a situation. She was able to form thoughts but all ended up into incoherent mental blobs as the combined forces of fear, dizziness, and pain worked together to quickly shatter them. Running out of ideas, she resorted to contorting her face into the most menacing facial expression she could muster in an attempt to scare off the attacker, as well as raising her Curious Flattener and pointing it towards the threat. It was all for show, in reality her head was spinning so much from the hit that she can't even plant down a single Landmine.

Chitose's vision was abut to give way when she felt metallic rods gently slide onto her back and lifted her just enough so she could somewhat stand. She was in full confusion in the entire time, with the rods holding her in place as if aiding her to stand. A few seconds later she felt something on her right hand, making her instinctively grab onto it.

It was her suitcase's handle.

The metal rods that helped her stand quickly moved out of place, followed by the same galloping sounds she heard earlier, getting fainter with each passing second.

Chitose was speechless for a short while, her mind in the middle of a combination of panic and confusion, trying to process what just happened, before hastily making her way out of the neighborhood in a sprint. It didn't matter that she still can't see clearly yet. She tripped multiple times, and only at the fourth one she noticed that her nose is already profusely bleeding, which she deduced was from the attacker's hit earlier. Taking off her coat as she quickly stood, she immediately brought it up to her face to wipe off the blood.

Almost instantaneously, it resulted in a sharp sting of pain, making Chitose let out a loud yelp. As much as the Backforce phenomena now exists, it only provides defense against powerful blows, against weaker attacks it's next to useless. If the hit was any stronger, she would just have a mild headache and very little to no injuries at all.

Chitose regained her vision over the next several seconds. After a quick look around and seeing that the coast is clear, she wiped the painful area on her face again, staining the coat with even more red than before.

'All I want is to get back to the army, why are all these things happening to me?!'

She immediately turned back again, quickly checking if there's another assailant waiting for her. If there's one thing she knew about villains, is that most won't hesitate taking down a weakened target. More feelings of panic quickly welled up within her, her fingers twitching trying to re-activate her Curious Flattener even though it's still in cooldown. Her villainous looks can only protect her for so long, and won't obviously work against an enemy that now knows she's easy prey.

Chitose pressed on, trying to get out of the neighborhood as fast as she can, one hand keeping her coat firmly clamped onto her face while the other is dragging the suitcase. Not long after, a bright light shone onto her direction.

It was a bus, much to her relief. Raising a hand, she managed to grab the bus's attention and in she went, towards the backmost empty seats of the vehicle amidst an extreme headache. Based on what little her one unharmed eye can see, the bus is fairly full, but most of the people were sitting up front, giving her the space she needs at the back.

She spent the next few minutes trying to calm herself down as to stop the bleeding, which she did so successfully in a rather short moment. Carefully taking off the coat from her bleeding face and gently touching the affected areas, she confirmed that the bleeding indeed finally stopped.

Chitose took a deep breath and sighed, taking one last quick glance on the digital clock installed on the front end of the bus before finally closing her eyes and leaning back in her seat in comfort, with her right hand holding up her coat to cover her face once again. Her mind continued to be in shambles for the next few minutes, preventing her from making actual coherent thoughts. It's only when the driver of the bus increased the volume of the music speakers that her mind felt somewhat relieved. The song that's currently playing is relatively new, released just a month ago. She could still remember all the articles she wrote about the song's controversial chorus lyrics.

Those were the good times. She's just in her air-conditioned mansion clacking her blue fingers off the keys of her laptop, mind chock-full of ideas that spanned up to five articles which she wrote in a matter of an hour and a half. To her side are two cups of coffee milk tea, extra-strong just to last her throughout the late hours of the night.

She remembered still being up until the break of dawn, unable to sleep from all the combined forces of excitement from seeing the reactions of the public, caffeine, and heart palpitations. She knew high-caffeine drinks are unhealthy for people her age, but she just can't help it. If she saw a juicy topic, then she's going to milk it for all its worth just for the sheer fun of it.

But what about now? Now that she's younger, can she now drink all the-

The vehicle abruptly stopped, sending Chitose lightly slamming her face onto the backrest of the seat in front of her, instantly waking her up.

"What the-?" Chitose looked around, immediately noticing the sudden lack of people in the bus. She continued her scan all until her gaze landed onto the digital clock on the front end of the bus, in which her eyes widened upon seeing the time displayed is now an hour and a half since she boarded the bus.

'I fell asleep…?'

Light nervousness welling up inside her, Chitose instantly turned her attention to the windows, her green eyes searching for any landmark she could find in the hopes of figuring out where she is now. It was a regular neighborhood, devoid of anything that she could use to pinpoint her current location.

'Did I board the wrong bus…? Where am I?'

She looked around again and noticed that she's the only passenger left, and that the bus is now about to enter a terminal – very different from the one she saw at Masami.

"To the person at the back of the bus…"

Chitose immediately perked up, staring right into the mirror at the front end of the bus, with the driver just looking at her while speaking on a microphone beside him. Standing up, she walked down the aisle and into the fare box, one hand still holding onto her coat covering the right side of her face.

Setting her gaze towards the fare box, it is only now when it dawned to her that she didn't get a ticket as she immediately went straight to the back of the bus upon entering, and shortly falling asleep afterwards. Not only that, but the earlier feeling of something being lifted off of her is apparently her purse being stolen.

And that's where all her money is…

Frozen in shock, her hands stiffened up, letting the jacket fall down to the floor. The driver immediately let out a light gasp after witnessing her injuries, but before he could even speak, Chitose grabbed her jacket and suitcase and bolted out of the bus through the conveniently open door and out of the terminal as fast as she can, going through multiple alleyways in an attempt to outrun her pursuer.

If she's being pursued, that is.

She eventually stopped some time later, immediately checking for any sounds of rapid footsteps coming her way, yet she heard none. But still, she kept going and going until she could run no more.

Hands on her knees and panting in the middle of the empty streets, too tired to go any further, Chitose kept looking around her just in case of another villain attack coming her way. Her green eyes scanned every nook,cranny, and possible attack routes, but eventually realized that the neighborhood she found herself in is drastically different from the one she found herself earlier. There were no run-down houses and dark unlit alleyways. Everything is normal. No need to be extra vigilant.

'I should've waited for the bus…'

Confused, frustrated, massively disappointed, and without any idea where to go next, Chitose stared blankly ahead, mind racing with all kinds of thoughts.

'Now what…?'

She looked around, taking very slow steps forward as the pain on her right eye intensified. She didn't take note of the place she is right now at the bus terminal and is more than likely lost. Now without any way to contact a single member of the Liberation Army and no more cash left to boot, the only thing she could do right now is find the nearest women's shelter and spend the night there while she thinks of alternatives and solutions to her current predicament.

Now if only she knew where the closest one is, but now she's far too cold and tired to even walk any further. If ever the people from the bus terminal got to her here, or worse, another villain appears, she's done for.

Slowly turning her head to the right, she found a roofed bus stop bench illuminated by a single bright lamp post. Her vision immediately blurred for a moment and a ghastly image a crying six-year old version of her shivering on the bench briefly flashed.

Chitose immediately shook her head, half-wondering why a memory from 40 years ago suddenly decided to resurface, but quickly brushed off the thought as she pulled her suitcase over and sat on the bench, her mind still swirling with so many thoughts that she can barely focus on a single thing.

She sat in complete silence, just staring forward at the wall in front of her, with the only sounds coming from the wind rustling the leaves from nearby trees, crickets chirping about, and her own externally audible heartbeat. She tried to listen in for any odd sounds other than what's currently present.

Nothing. She's safe for now.

"What do I do-" she stopped herself from muttering and immediately lied down onto the bench, one hand still grasping securely onto the suitcase. If she is to think properly, she would need some rest first. But how is she supposed to rest when she's currently in danger of being either caught by the authorities or attacked by yet another villain?

'…'

Chitose's mind immediately went blank, and then a series of thoughts slowly begin to form: Come tomorrow morning, she would get to the nearest shelter, then try to contact the Liberation Army again, and plan out her next move to get to her nearest luxury mansion at Kanagawa if ever she can't connect to anyone again.

"Hmmm… I guess that's not bad of a plan…" Chitose whispered to herself as she removed her jacket and rolled it around, before placing it below her head as a makeshift pillow. She then reached over her suitcase to grab another spare jacket to use as a blanket. It was small, relatively thin, and doesn't really provide that much protection against the cold, but she doesn't have anything left and this will have to suffice for now. At any rate, she could still be called lucky the assailant didn't take her suitcase away – which she found really odd. And if ever she got caught by the authorities, she can just blast her way out. After all, once the Liberation proceeds, her criminal records wouldn't matter anyway.

'I'm missing my bedroom already…' she thought, involuntarily gritting her teeth as her mind went on and on about how a millionaire like her is reduced to living in the streets in a span of three days just through a series of unfortunate events.

Her mind suddenly went blank again for a brief moment as she turned her head to face skywards.

'What happened to the Liberation movement?' she asked herself in her thoughts. If everything went as planned, with the League done and all, the next phase of the Liberation should already be well underway- and that is to take over the HPSC headquarters. But so far nothing has happened yet.

'Are they waiting for me? Did the plan change? Did something go wrong?' she asked herself again, lightly wondering if it has something to do with the fact that she can't make contact with the MLA for three days now.

Chitose sighed in disappointment, hoping that her suddenly going missing didn't become much of an inconvenience to the army. Hopefully she can contact them by tomorrow…

Hopefully…

Hopefully she doesn't get attacked anymore…

…

Closing her eyes, the young woman tried to sleep, doing her best to ignore the freezing winter winds continuously blowing about. But no matter how much she tried, the cold still managed to seep in. She twisted and turned in her little makeshift bed and assumed all kinds of positions but no amount of it stopped the cold.

"Dammit-!" she immediately stopped and froze, hearing the faint sounds of footsteps approaching her location. Almost immediately, fear and panic flooded her systems, but quickly disippated once she saw that the approaching figure is just a short woman with short green hair, wearing simple baggy clothes that suggest she's from one of the nearby homes in this neighborhood.

"Ah-are you okay there, miss…?" the woman asked, worry evident in her voice.

Chitose widened her eyes a bit to get a better look, causing the woman to stutter in her next sentences. Basing off of her reactions, it's either she may have seen her strange glowing green eyes or the bruised and swollen mess on the right side of her face. Chitose kept her eyes trained onto the older woman as she talked, even though her right eye can now barely open and her headache from earlier suddenly returned, making her unable to comprehend what the other person is even saying.

But one thing stood out from the ramblings of the short woman, and that is the word 'Ambulance'. Chitose immediately perked up and raised her hands. "No! No need to! I don't need an ambulance!" she protested. She needs to find a way to either connect to the Liberation army, or to get to her mansion at Kanagawa. Being sent to a hospital from a simple black eye and bloody nose is just slowing her down.

She doesn't even have any money left to pay for anything anyways.

"What-?" The other woman asked, sweat visibly forming on her forehead as her fingers continued to randomly hit the buttons on the phone she's now holding onto.

"Calm down! I don't need an ambulance! I'm fine! I'm perfectly fine!" Chitose suddenly leaned forward and raised her hands to her face, indirectly flinging off the jacket that she's using as a blanket onto the road. Eyes darting about, she quickly thought of an excuse to stop the woman from calling the paramedics and making more noise. "I-uuuhhh, I can't go to hospitals!" Chitose said out loud, but not with enough volume to wake up the people residing in nearby houses and complicate things further, just enough to hopefully calm the other woman down.

"Look at you! You need-"

"I have weird internal anatomy and standard hospitals won't cut it," Chitose quickly said as an excuse. "I could easily die from the wrong medicine!" She mentally cringed a bit at what she said. While it may be a fact that her internal systems are partially different from regular people and hospitals don't really handle it well, she could have thought of a less disgusting excuse. But it was too late, she already said what she said.

There was silence for a bit.

"Huh? Mutant insides?" the other woman asked, tilting her head a little and one hand going up to lightly scratch her cheek. "As in-"

"Yep. Almost everything inside me works very differently from a regular person's," Chitose said with an awkward smile. She once again mentally cringed, but what's important is that the woman looks like she was calming down and buying her excuse to not get hospitalized.

"Looks like we have a problem then," the woman said, lowering her phone, yet her eyes still retaining worry. "Aldera General Hospital doesn't have the necessary tools to deal with that but I can call another-"

"I'm fine, okay? I'm just a little beaten up, that's all. Regular-people-medicines tend to make me very sick anyways."

"You look pretty battered up, what happened to you?" The woman asked with a gentle voice, walking a few steps closer.

"Got robbed and beaten up, typical villain stuff," Chitose responded, noticing the other woman is perfectly fine approaching her. Normally, people tend to get weary of those with physical mutations that make them look like standard villains once the sun goes down. "Nothing too serious," she added.

"You're not bothered by it? Are you lost? Need a place to stay for the night at least?" The woman asked, backing off a few steps to point at something to her right. Chitose tried to look at whatever it is, but her somewhat blurry vision ramped up by her headache is making her unable to see what it really is. "I can see you from my apartment, and you look like in need of help. Not a lot of shelters in this part of town, the closest one's almost three kilometers away…"

'This woman's oddly helpful…' Chitose thought as she listened to the woman recall some past events about a nearby shelter that is forced to close after getting attacked by villains for apparently hiding someone. 'Should I take the offer? I don't have anything on me right now. Better to sleep at an actual house than freeze out here…"

"I'll take the offer," Chitose suddenly blurted out, she herself taking a solid few seconds before she realized what she just said. The woman just gave her a warm smile and nodded, very different from the reaction she was expecting.

"Always glad to help," the other woman said before stepping backwards.

Lightly nodding back, Chitose intermediately placed her jackets back on the suitcase and stood up. A sudden headache caused her to wobble a bit for a few seconds before managing to stabilize. It is only then she realized that she's not even standing straight, but with her intense headache and blurred vision, she shook off the thought, posture should be the last thing on her head right now.

"You're quite tall for a lady, aren't you?"

Chitose slowly turned her head towards the other woman as the two began to walk. Despite not even having the capacity to stand straight, she still towered over her. "Yeah," she said. "And you seem a little too willing taking in a random person off the street and giving them a place to stay, you're not really a gang boss are you?" Chitose added, trying to force a smile.

"Do I look like a gang boss to you?" the woman said, letting out a soft giggle afterwards. "Anyways you look badly beaten up, it's the least I could do. Come tomorrow we'll see if we can get you a shelter, or maybe an actual hospital. Or we could tell the police about-"

"I don't have any more cash left, my purse got robbed. I have nothing to pay," Chitose said, stuttering a bit. While she's well aware of free healthcare offered by some hospitals, especially those located in the bigger cities, staying there would mean less time for contacting the MLA or getting to her mansion. She must not get hospitalized at all costs.

"Don't you have an identification card or something? You're not a homeless person, are you?"

"No, I got robbed of almost everything, and hitched a ride, and then found myself here. From what I heard heroes had already apprehended the culprit. Where am I?" she asked, deliberately changing the events of what happened earlier. If she said the criminal is still on the loose, the woman might try to report the crime to the authorities on her behalf and slow her down even further.

"Musutafu, in-"

"Hmmm, close enough…"

"Are you sure you don't want to get hospitalized? You can't even walk straight. You want me to call your parents?"

"No need to. I'll be fine tomorrow morning. I've been in far worse conditions," Chitose answered, barely staying awake.

The other woman nodded a bit and began telling a story that completely flew past Chitose's ears due to her intense headache. As for the good news, they eventually arrived at their intended destination, yet the overall trip felt like an eternity.

It was a simple apartment complex, devoid of the usual decorations the more expensive and luxurious types she's used to normally possess. "Nice place you got here," Chitose said, trying to force out a compliment.

"Do try to be quiet, my son's already asleep."

Chitose could only nod, but in reality she didn't understand a single thing the other woman said. Her mind is suddenly once again stuck in the middle of processing whether or not it's a good idea to just randomly follow a random person offering lodging for the night. While it may just be out of kindness, but as someone with experience working with real villains, it could also be a trap.

'Curious… the woman is just offering a place to sleep, there's no way she's a trained assassin… just look at her! She looks like she couldn't even hold a knife without tripping over!' a thought appeared inside her head. While it's true the woman in front of her may look frail, but one should never underestimate anyone in a world where Meta Abilities play a big role in leveling everyone out.

Chitose lightly shook her head, brushing off her paranoia. Ever since she became part of the upper echelon of a huge terrorist organization, the random thoughts of an assassin suddenly coming in and killing her became more and more common.

"Keep quiet, okay?" the short woman said in a gentle voice as she ushered her into the apartment complex. Right off the bat, the moment Chitose took one step into the building, an unexplained wave of relief washed over her. Could it be the illusion of safety? The heated corridors? Or the fact that she's simply out of the cold streets? Whatever it is, a faint smile involuntarily appeared on her lips.

The interior of the apartment looked very much like any other inexpensive apartment complex across the country, making her remember a research she once did about the standardization of apartment complexes. She was currently eyeing up a landscape painting to her left when the woman she's following walked in front of her and gestured for her to follow, in which she slowly did.

The door to the woman's room sat on the second floor, requiring Chitose to pull her suitcase up the stairs amidst her ongoing severe headache. She got multiple offers from the woman to help her pull it up but she refused them all. She would rather take the pain over at potentially losing her suitcase.

"And here we are!" the woman said as she opened the door and took a few steps inside.

Chitose scanned the entire room. It was very different from the apartment rooms she used to rent back when she was still in college. Instead of the typical cramped spaces, the room is relatively spacious enough it's almost like a house of its own. She wondered a bit on how much is the woman paying for rent as she stepped in, but backed out at the very last minute upon seeing a wooden sign hanging on the door itself.

"Midoriya?" Chitose asked, squinting her eyes just to see the pieces of kanji clearly. Taking a further step back, it was only then she noticed a plaque on a nearby wall that says 'Midoriya Residence'.

The other woman nodded in response. "Inko Midoriya, in case you're wondering," she said as she gestured to the living room sofa. "You can go make yourself comfortable there. Would you like some tea perhaps?"

Chitose automatically nodded in response, and then slowly walked towards the living room area. As she sat on the sofa, she couldn't help but think about this odd generosity being displayed to her. Should she let her guard down? Is this a trap? Should she relax? She's a high-ranking member in the MLA, and currently without her bodyguards. While her explosive Quirk is capable of dealing tremendous amounts of damage if stacked enough in one place, she's very aware that people could just happen to have the right Meta Ability to directly counter hers.

She turned to glance over at the woman, who's lightly humming as she prepared some tea on the kitchen nearby. Chitose wondered what Meta Ability Inko could have. But since the woman doesn't really have any physical mutation aside from having odd green hair, the only other way she could deduce the woman's Meta Ability is through her name – exploiting the country's obsession with naming yourself, including replacing your surname, after your Meta Abilities.

Without the direct spelling, it's a bit tougher to guess. But if there's one thing she can't be wrong on, and that is Inko's surname directly references her green hair.

Chitose raised one eyebrow. Is that it? Having green hair is the entire Meta Ability? There's nothing more to it? She was about to think more about it when her headache suddenly intensified, forcing her to lie down on the sofa.

Despite the pain, she was suddenly asleep in a few minutes.

…