December 22 - Day 10

Chitose stepped off the bus, immediately raising one hand over to her face to check if both her mask and sunglasses are still in place, which they still are. She then looked around as the bus drove off. Fittingly at the time, there were only very few people walking about, and everything is still relatively silent apart from faint holiday music from nearby 24-Hour business establishments.

That, coupled with the numerous festive decorations and flickering lights, gave her an odd and unusual sense of peace, safety, and calmness that she herself cannot properly describe nor explain. But in the middle of her observations, thoughts about her old self and her old habits, as well as the MLA, suddenly resurfaced, almost instantaneously clogging out her previous thoughts and making her want to focus on the new one instead.

'What happened to the MLA?' she asked herself in her mind as she stood motionless beside the bus stop she was dropped at. 'Why won't Skeptic just tell me where they really are…? What's going on?' She was about to ask further when a cold wind blew upon her face, setting her mind back to the present.

So far it's still just dawn. Her speedboat service still won't arrive until later this evening.

'Maybe I could-' Chitose suddenly stopped as she caught sight of the towering bright neon sign of Cybersleuths Internet Manga café sticking out behind some buildings. After a quick mental calculation, she decided to go there instead of towards the beach on the thought that if she can pester Skeptic enough (especially at this hour in the morning), he might eventually send her a speedboat or whatever transport vehicle far earlier than what was initially agreed on. Hopefully, that is.

After a few short minutes of walking, Chitose eventually arrived at her destination, in which she quickly entered the establishment following a quick check on her sunglasses and face mask. This time she made sure to duck down the rather short doorway to avoid hitting her head like last time. But unlike what she said to herself last time, she found herself still wearing high heels, which she only noticed until now. It got a sigh of relief from her, quite thankful that at least her old high-heel loving self is still within her. The last thing she needed right now is fully turning into her younger self before returning to the army.

Looking around, she found an empty seat and made her way there.

Sitting down, she let her attention wander around the Internet café a bit, in which she noticed that there are now far more people than just a few hours ago when she first went here. Some are casually browsing the internet on their computers, and some are just quietly sitting on the chairs near the manga cabinets minding their own businesses. But one thing Chitose easily noticed, is that most of them are wearing sleepwear, which is understandable as Cybersleuths also doubles as a hotel, like many other Internet cafes in the country. Observing further, she eventually found the computer she used earlier, already occupied.

The sight of the cubicle made her think. She's going to do 'MLA work', and if she's going to proceed then she's going to need a much more private computer than where she is now. Standing up after realizing her mistake, Chitose then walked towards a nearby empty computer enclosed in a cubicle and booted that computer up, slotting enough coins for a full one hour before closing the doors. No one should be able to see her typing into a suspicious chatbox in the middle of an empty screen.

Compared to her earlier computer, the one she's about to use now booted a little slower. But just like the last one, her computer once again has a desktop background composed of various anime characters grouped together in a photo on the beach. And exactly just like last time, her gaze is once again magnetized towards a very specific character in the middle – the prettyboy of the group.

Shaking her head, Chitose hurriedly opened up a web browser and then quickly pressed the Maximize button to cut her vision off of the incredibly attractive manga character. But as she was about to open a search engine, a thought entered her head.

'Maybe if I keep catching myself acting like my young self… and then stopping myself from continuing… I could be able to preserve the old me-?!' she cut herself off as she noticed she's already once again staring at the prettyboy manga character again, and that she somehow clicked the 'Restore' button along the way without her even noticing it.

"Dammit!" she whispered loudly as she clicked on the 'Maximize' button once more, trying to forget the incredibly handsome character just beneath the web page covering her screen. Not wasting any time, she locked the doors to her cubicle and immediately prepared to contact the MLA.

She was already in the middle of typing out a very specific URL when she suddenly paused, an idea suddenly appearing in her mind. Immediately opening another tab, she hurriedly typed in the name of a notable underground hero into the search bar.

Shota Aizawa.

Chitose, her older form at least, had always found the hero (extremely) attractive. While she very well knew she's far too visually unappealing for him to even notice her (not to mention Erasure goes against the principles of Liberation), she had always found herself occasionally thinking about the mystery he exudes, and how much she wanted to know more about him.

The young woman finished typing and hit the 'enter' key, and in a second, photos of Aizawa filled the screen, her eyes immediately scanning all of them in quick succession.

'Oh… crap… this can't be happening…'

Chitose, much to her shock, found none of the photos attractive. Instinctively gulping down in nervousness, she resized the webpage to give herself a better comparison between Aizawa and the 'Prettyboy manga character.'

No matter how much she forced herself, her eyes just keep on getting magnetized towards the manga character.

'Must act now to preserve what's left' she thought to herself as she closed the Aizawa tab and hurriedly opened up a text document. She figured if she's rapidly turning back to her younger form, she'll eventually forget who she came to be and the 'family' she came to know. Shuddering at the thought of possible impending loneliness, she started typing in everything she knew about the Liberation, all while trying to log into Skeptic's contact system on the original webpage she opened.

She was already halfway through her text document when she suddenly stopped just as she was about to type in Geten's real name.

'WHAT'S GETEN'S REAL NAME?!'

Her fingers trembled over the keyboard as she searched her mind for that one missing information.

One minute passed… Five minutes passed… ten minutes passed.

She somehow can't remember Geten's name. No matter how hard she tried to think, the name just keeps eluding her.

'How the hell could I possibly forget that beautiful bastard's name?!' Chitose thought to herself as she stared down the blinking cursor behind the word 'Geten', her eyes narrowing more and more with every blink until she eventually gave up seeing she already wasted thirty whole minutes of just trying to remember it.

But before she continued, she went back and checked if the contact system is ready first. It already is. Once again like last time, she clicked onto the lower right corner of the blank webpage. Some time later, a chatbox appeared, with a 'Who is this?' already typed into it – in a font that only Skeptic is allowed to use.

'Curious again. Can you just hurry and pick me up already?' she typed in response, immediately noticing that her font is not her intended font. 'Also where is the Curious font?'

'Do you not know the meaning of patience? Do I still have to spell it out for you? We're already patching your teleport module so just sit down and wait.'

'Teleport module?' Chitose typed back, one eyebrow raising. 'I thought I'm going by speedboat?'

'I meant speedboat.' Skeptic responded. At the same time, his previous typed words teleport module suddenly changed to speedboat.

Chitose instantly felt an overwhelming sensation of frustration and annoyance after seeing Skeptic's response. 'Are you saying my transport is not even being prepared yet?! Where's Re-Destro, I'd like to speak with him.'

'I don't know if your neural network is functioning well, but may I remind you that it's currently around 3 in the morning. In case you have forgotten, which you clearly do, Our Grand Liberation Commander is still asleep at this time.'

'What's the big problem why can't you just tell me where the army is already? You just keep going around my questions and never answering them. You're not making any sense, Skeptic."

'Don't worry, come this evening all your issues will be effectively cut in half.'

Chitose narrowed her eyes onto the screen, her annoyance growing further. While her old self is fully tolerant of Skeptic's natural way of speaking, as well as his endless derogatory remarks on her, her younger self obviously isn't. 'You're seriously not making any sense here.'

'Whatever.'

'Have you checked what happened to my bank account yet?'

There was a pause before Skeptic typed back. 'Yes. It appears whoever this hacker is that stole your money, he or she definitely has the skills far surpassing mine. Literally pulled it right under my nose, your account was.'

'Weird. You never praise anyone but yourself… I wouldn't be surprised if you're the one who stole it.' Chitose typed, rolling her eyes at her own sarcasm. 'Can the speedboat hurry up already?'

'Tomorrow evening, Curious. Didn't you get what I just said? Although I can understand if you didn't, seeing how utterly miniscule your capacity for comprehension is.'

'Skeptic, I had a long day, don't test me.'

'Whatever.'

'I'm out here literally trying to go back to the Army. Stop calling me an idiot, dumbass.' Chitose typed in as a response, her irritation and annoyance causing her to greatly narrow her eyes onto the computer screen, as well as grit her teeth. She's trying her best efforts to return, and getting randomly insulted is just doing nothing but making her blood boil.

She kept her gaze locked onto the screen, fingers hovering on the keyboard, ready to retaliate if ever Skeptic returns with yet another passive-aggressive insult. She waited a long while, but what she got instead is just a simple reply of, 'Takoba Beach. Tomorrow evening. Pile of rusted trailers.'

'You're still talking weird. Someone in the army already found the cure?'

'It's a bit complicated than that but yes.'

'Why can't you just tell me where the army is? Is there something stopping you from telling me? Is it part of Re-Destro's plan or something? What's stopping you from telling me ANYTHING?'

'Takoba Beach. Pile of rusted trailers. Tomorrow evening. 10 o'clock Don't be late.' Came Skeptic's response. Chitose was immediately tapping her fingers into the keyboard in retaliation as to why her colleague just won't answer her questions. But before she could submit it, the chatbox suddenly disappeared. And just like last time, any tries to reopen it just resulted in a failure.

'What the hell is that guy's problem?! What's so bad about just telling me where they are?!' Chitose thought to herself as she hastily stood up from her chair and walked outside her cubicle, making sure to grab the provided keys first before locking it. If Skeptic still won't answer, then it's time to test out some other ways.

Looking around, she eventually found a payphone near the Internet Café's entrance. She wasted no time in trying to contact the army the moment she got there.

But just like her previous attempts in the past few days, she still can't connect to anyone. And just like her forgetting Geten's real name just a few moments ago, she realized that she's also now forgotten a few contacts.

Instinctively gulping in nervousness, Chitose abandoned trying to remember the contacts she forgot and instead walked back to Cybersleuths and back to her cubicle and immediately signed into her GlobalConnect social media account.

If her contacts won't respond, and Skeptic won't tell her anything, then there's only one more thing left to do.

With a few taps on the keyboard and one press of a button, Re-Destro's account appeared on her screen.

It was his Detnerat business account, one which he really only ever uses to appeal to the general public. It was filled with photos of Re-Destro himself wearing casual clothing and visiting orphanages and schools, and not a single one of him standing in one of his mansions or any other similar display of wealth.

At the top of the page is just a post just yesterday saying that he's now doing well.

'If he managed to post something yesterday… then that means…' Chitose clicked on a mail icon located right beside Re-Destro's name on the page, and immediately clicked on the 'Send Private Message' button.

'Re-Destro. It's me, Curious…' Chitose suddenly stopped from typing, her thoughts trailing off. She knew the Grand Commander doesn't really visit this page very much, and more like only twice a month, and furthermore he doesn't check his messages at all. But since she's running out of options, with the only other ways to really contact the Grand Commander being through Skeptic's network – which he somehow won't let her in anymore nor even allow her to talk to him for some reason, and her Command Laptop – which she doesn't have right now. Anything will do at this point.

'It wouldn't hurt to try…' she thought to herself as she continued making her message. It was a rather short one, only at three sentences, but she suddenly felt to make it longer so she filled it up to the brim with Liberation principles to hopefully convince Re-Destro that it's really her. She sent the message afterwards

And waited…

Nothing happened.

….. [*Around 15 hours later*]…..

Chitose spent the entire day just inside her cubicle, slotting in extra coins into the CPU coin slot to extend her time, only going out to eat and doing other minor miscellaneous things. Her initial plan of pestering Skeptic to send in an early speedboat didn't work, and now she's stuck here for the time being. It was a relatively boring day, and times like these she wished she was at work or just doing something productive… like staying at work.

'I miss work already…' she thought as she did another check if ever Re-Destro saw her message – which he still didn't. Taking one glance towards the computer's clock display, she saw that it's still 3 hours away from 10pm, making her roll her eyes and facepalm, indirectly shoving her Cybersleuths ID – an item that's required for anyone who wish to stay for more than 2 hours, down into her shirt, in which she quickly pulled out in annoyance.

After a yawn, she turned her attention back to the screen, towards the anime that is currently paused. It was a classic anime, with its main premise being people battling each other out using their colorful monster pets they found in tall grass. It was a silly premise, but then again, almost all of anime's source material is based on one. She was already in Season 3 after binge-watched the entire thing nonstop for hours. But instead of continuing, she exited out of the streaming platform to choose another one as she was getting a bit bored. She ran through a database of old animes, some easily from 200 years ago, way back then before Quirks took over.

There were animes about 'Magic Schools', lots of them, easily numbering in the hundreds. She just scanned their titles but didn't watch any, being all too amazed by their obliviousness of what will soon become of the world. She scrolled down for a few minutes before growing eventually bored, in which she just shut down the computer despite the available time displayed on the CPU still being around 3 hours.

And with that, she picked up the 'MLA information papers' she printed just this afternoon, went out of her cubicle, handed over the 'Overnight ID' back to whoever she got it from, and exited the establishment altogether, making sure she has her sunglasses and face mask on to avoid being known as that one Executive Director that apparently died days ago (even though that news is not being reported anymore).

The night sky is a little too cloudy for her liking, but as long as rain is not threatening to pour down, all is well. It was only after looking down she realized she automatically tied her jacket onto her waist again, making her instantly remember one of the very first signs she got that she's turning younger.

Hastily untying it and putting it on normally, Chitose made her way to Takoba beach, carefully folding the MLA papers she printed along the way.

It took a good while, but she eventually made it. There were quite the number of people, some just children running around, and the rest are older people just sitting on the sand and having conversations over bonfires. Both parties not minding the mountain of trash surrounding them.

Chitose on the other hand, fully knowing having unsightly physical mutations at night is generally more of a nuisance than help – especially her faintly glowing green eyes, chose to stay back and just sit on one of the many stairs leading down the beach, neverminding the dirt as she hastily shoved the folded papers into her purse. She sat there in silence, letting the crashing ocean waves and the cool winter breeze soothe herself despite a major nagging feeling that something must have happened to the army while she's gone, which could explain why she can't contact anyone despite the army numbering to a hundred thousand. But not only that, there are no search parties being sent out, despite the MLA having a significant amount of members with Meta Abilities that can locate people.

'What's going on…?' Chitose thought to herself as she adjusted her sunglasses and placed her hands on her lap, instinctively grabbing onto her dress in her confused state. 'I hope everyone's okay.'

She was in the middle of thinking whether she could make an entire article about her little misadventure when the odd thought about the League of Villains entered her mind. Despite normally being in the news almost once a week ever since they first appeared into the scene (for all their supposed crimes), this week oddly has no mention of them whatsoever.

'Strange-' she was immediately cut off by the sound of loud crashing coming from behind her, like two cars just collided with each other. Turning around, she instantly saw multiple red beams shot into the sky, fired from some distance behind some buildings, followed closely by the combined noise of wailing and cheering people. She was about to turn her attention back to the ocean and ignore the entire thing when she heard a loud echoing voice yell out 'FIST LAUNCHER EXTREME' in English but with a thick Japanese accent, and then another loud crash like someone got punched from orbit.

'Random street villains…' A thought appeared in Chitose's mind as she observed, followed closely by a thought about heroes should just stop yelling out their attack moves in English.

Brushing off the event, she turned her attention back to the beach, instantly noticing that the people there are now starting to leave, with basically all of them saying something about wanting to see a cool hero versus villain fight. Within a few minutes, the entire beach is deserted.

Chitose turned around again, noticing the rapidly-escalating battle going on just some distance away, with the sounds of cheering people now out-weighing the actual battle itself. She thought about moving away in case a car comes flying in her direction, but since it's been some time now and the sounds of the action still seems to be coming from the same location it started, she decided against it. There's just no chance of being hit with a flying car.

Turning around once more, Chitose continued sitting in silence, her mind somehow now thinking whether she should just stand up as well and watch the fight for entertainment purposes since there's nothing to do yet anyways. It took a brief while, and she was about to stand when she saw a very familiar figure in a distance in the general direction of the battle, wearing an awfully huge amount of sweaters layered on top of each other, as well as a bonnet over its head. It walked in a cumbersome manner for a few steps before bumping into a lamp post.

She just watched it until the figure turned, revealing it holding onto a very familiar suitcase.

Rolling her eyes, she slowly stood, removing her sunglasses and face mask in the process and stuffing it in her purse. In just a short while, the figure eventually turned around in the right direction to see her, in which it immediately waddled towards her as fast as it could despite obviously being burdened my multiple layers of winterwear.

"Midoriya…" Chitose said straight away as the figure came close enough, "I told you the suitcase is-"

"The suitcase is yours, I'm returning it, it doesn't belong to me. Also I apologize again for calling you mean names," Izuku quickly interjected before hurriedly placing the suitcase in front of him and giving it a push towards the taller girl. "It's yours. I'm not keeping it."

Chitose stared down the suitcase, contemplating on whether she engage in another pointless argument on who gets it. It took her a full minute before just running a hand down her face and letting out an annoyed, "alright fine, I'll take it…" With that, she took the handle and sat down onto the stairs again. "You can leave me alone now."

"Uuhhh… so how long are you going to wait here?" Izuku asked, his voice sounding like he was shivering despite his numerous covers.

"Until 10," Chitose responded without even looking back.

"Would you mind if I stay for a while? I uhhh… I brought some snacks?" Izuku waddled closer and sat beside her, but made sure to maintain some distance, before bringing up a small pizza box and placing it on his lap.

"I'm betting your mother pressured you into returning the suitcase?"

"Actually, she doesn't. This one's on me. I-uh… hid this in my room."

"Oh? Let me guess, it's because you didn't really tell her what happened yesterday huh?" Chitose said, slowly leaning her head forward in boredom. "I bet you just told her I need to leave early because my guys are here."

"Uhhhhh…" Izuku nervously tapped his fingers on the pizza box. "I thought you weren't really annoyed by that?" Izuku said with an awkward chuckle.

"Hmmph…" Chitose sighed afterwards. "It's just that I'm sick and tired of helping out and then hearing those people talk behind my back. If people just called me a beached whale for no reason then maybe I can understand it, but calling me names after I helped out? Not cool."

"I'm sorry…"

"Look pal… I already left the apartment, what more do you want? You want more money?" Chitose sighed again after running a palm down her face. "I gotta be honest with you, since we probably won't see each other ever again anyway, I will never accept that stupid apology, got it?" She said with narrowed eyes, before waiting for a response, but receieved nothing instead.

Chitose lightly nodded to herself. It's good that Izuku didn't not respond at all, sometimes things are just better that way. She then turned her attention to the beach ahead, keeping an eye out towards the general area of the lighthouse, not minding the crashing noises of a hero versus villain battle currently ongoing just a few streets behind her.

There was an odd ruffling sound from Izuku's location, which made her discreetly glance at him. By her observation it seems like the young man is fidgeting with his gloved fingers, running them around his multiple layers of sweaters and jackets as if trying to find something he could use to break the ice and initiate a conversation. It went onwards for up to ten minutes until she finally heard a weak, "I have pizza," from him.

In response, Chitose took a deep breath, calming herself down from and trying to remove the looping thoughts of Izuku calling her a beached whale stuff with mayonnaise that suddenly appeared in her mind. She then slowly turned her head towards him as she put her sunglasses back on. "What toppings?" she asked in a bored manner.

"Smoked Salmon… and Garlic…?" Izuku answered awkwardly, his fidgeting slightly intensifying.

Chitose noticed that he looks like he was to say some more, but backed out at the very last moment.

"So… are you going to share that or what?" she asked.

"No-uh, well actually it's just for you," Izuku hurriedly answered, his tone sounding of embarrassment, as he quickly shuffled in and placed the pizza box beside Chitose before moving out again. "A thank you gift…" he added as his voice trailed off, followed closely by an awkward giggle and even more finger-fidgeting.

Chitose responded with a sarcastic chuckle of her own, fully knowing what the pizza box is really meant for - an apology, rather than a 'thank you' gift. But instead of just retaliating and saying something about it, she decided to just reach out and open the box instead. "What time did you buy this?" she asked, noticing the still-warm box despite the cold weather.

"An hour ago. I don't know when I'll find you here so I just went with Pizzaman's Pizzeria with their heat-retaining pizza boxes," Izuku said with a few awkward chuckles. "It's kinda way more expensive… but same toppings as the last one anyways," he added, coupled with some more awkward chuckles.

"Well this one does smell a lot better than the last one… or maybe because I'm just too sick that one time…" Chitose muttered to herself after getting a whiff of the pizza as soon as she opened the box. "Extra garlic?" she immediately asked after noticing there's something off with the toppings.

Izuku awkwardly nodded.

"Well I… I suddenly feel oddly nice that someone remembered that…" Chitose's voice trailed off, and was about to pick up a slice when she noticed Izuku's shivering even more intensifying just after a brief winter wind blew by despite his layers of clothing. "What's with you always shivering despite wearing all that?" she asked with one raised eyebrow.

"Uuhh… My Fire-Breathing Quirk pretty much gave me immunity to fire. As a result I can't feel heat."

"Oh? So you haven't experienced warmth before?"

"Well it's a bit too complicated but uh… I did experience warmth back when I was younger and uh… my Quirk hasn't properly developed yet, or so they said."

Chitose took a quick bite of her pizza. "So you have total immunity to fire? As in right now? You can blowtorch yourself right now and nothing will happen?" she asked, only to realize that her mouth is still a bit full, another annoying habit of her younger self. She quickly swallowed before continuing, "are you sure it's not just some sort of heightened resistance or something?"

Izuku slowly shook his head, looking unsure. He was about to respond when he noticed some of the still-lit bonfires and gestured for the taller young woman to follow him. "Wanna see me cook myself?" he asked in a joking tone as he started walking down to the beach amidst the loud crashing noises of the still-ongoing hero-villain fight just some streets away.

Chitose, on the other hand, closed the pizza box and carried it with her as she followed, finishing her slice along the way.

Soon enough, both reached one of the biggest still-lit bonfires in the area. Izuku then wasted no time in removing the multiple mittens on his right hand, pulling up his sleeve, and putting his hand straight into the fire, showing how he's completely unaffected by heat.

"Immunities are quite the rarity in the Meta Ability world, how long have you tried cooking yourself anyway?" Chitose asked right after Izuku did the same to his left hand and is now putting both into the fire and grabbing sticks at their burning tips.

"I've been drinking boiling water for years now. It's one of the few ways I can at least stop feeling cold for a few seconds. I've also been trying to get my hands on a heated mattress that can go above 100 degrees Celsius but that's a fire hazard at that point and other people don't really like fire very much," the young man with an awkward chuckle. "Well actually a mattress that can even go that high is obviously a defective mattress, but you get the idea."

"Interesting… What do you think are the odds that your Conjoined Quirks actually resulted in an immunity that's why it's so weak?"

"I don't really know about that. Like you said before there's very little research on the matter… and I haven't really shoved my hands into lava yet… or literally anything hotter than boiling water…"

"Well maybe I just overestimated it a bit. So how do you do Fire Breathing anyway?"

"My uvula ignites-"

"What? Let me see-!" Chitose quickly stopped and composed herself. "I'm sorry I just uh… I've always been curious about Quirks that need bodily modifications just to function."

"Is that curiosity somehow tied with you having a double-chambered fish heart? You think you have a Quirk tied with that-?" Izuku suddenly stopped and started fidgeting his fingers while still in the fire. "You're not really offended by 'fish heart'… do you?" he cut himself off almost as immediately as he received a stare, in which he's unsure if whether the young woman is indeed offended or not.

"You know what, I've always wondered as to why that is, but hell no I'm not going to dip my head into the ocean, especially in a beach full of trash," she said in a joking manner despite fully knowing she doesn't have any extra Quirks that allow her to breathe underwater, which she's definitely sure of because of how many times she already tried to test it out after knowing about her strange two-chambered oversized 'fish' heart. "Also you can take your hand out of the fire now, you're just going to burn yourself."

"No I'm not burning myself. See?"

Chitose glanced over at Izuku's perfectly unharmed hands after taking them out of the fire. "Since you can't feel warmth at all, probably even your own body heat, do you even sweat? Or…?"

"I still do when I'm nervous, have you forgotten?" Izuku said as he hurriedly covered up his hands with his numerous mittens. "It's just that heat just doesn't affect me in a lot of ways," he said, emphasizing the word 'just'.

"You know Midoriya, you remind me of-"

"What…?"

Chitose froze for a bit, the person she's about to mention suddenly leaving her thoughts. "I said you remind me of…" she repeated thinking she'll finally remember. "Wait… who's that guy again…?"

"Who?"

"The guy with the parka!" Chitose said out loud, stopping herself at the very last second from flailing her arms around in frustration that she suddenly forgot something about a specific person again, at a second time no less. "The guy who wears a red parka all the time- or wait is it yellow? Or purple?" she added, hurriedly taking out her printed papers in frustration. "Stupid brain forgetting things all the time!"

She heard Izuku mention something about her being a valedictorian, and about that's not dumb at all. "I'm not saying I'm dumb-!" she retorted as she quickly straightened out her papers and read the list of information under the Re-Destro segment.

"Aha! It's Geten! You look like Geten! That's it! The blue parka guy whose name I still can't remember!" she said in a triumphant manner. "It's-" she was about to continue when she suddenly found herself at a loss for words again. Almost out of instinct, she brought the paper to her face and quickly scanned a specific part. "Geten… It's Geten…" she repeated, wiping some sweat off of her forehead, before putting it right in front of her face and looking at it again. She was in the middle of re-scanning the specific kanji characters it was printed in when-

"Who the heck is Geten?" Chitose suddenly asked out loud as she narrowed her eyes directly into the now-mysterious words on the paper she's just holding onto. "Re-Destro's kid? Very powerful cryomancer? Needs water for Meta Ability to work? Who the hell is this? Since when does Re-Destro have a kid? Is he even married to someone?"

"Uh… are you okay, Kizuki?"

With a raised eyebrow and mild frustration, Chitose quickly turned to face Izuku, who asked again if she's okay. In response, she stared at him, both because she's still in the middle of being confused on the 'Geten' she apparently printed onto the paper, and also because she just doesn't have anything to respond to him with.

She turned to the paper again and slowly scanned the mysterious text, until it suddenly re-clicked.

"Oh! The Blue Parka Guy! With the Ice powers!" she slowly said as she straightened her posture, letting out a few awkward laughs along the way. "Hey Midoriya, you look like the Parka Guy."

"Y-Yeah I think we already established that…"

But instead of continuing the conversation, Chitose once again stared at the 'Geten' she printed out. "Wait… if I'm younger now… wouldn't that mean any information I try to remember will now get stashed under my young self's mental database? What if I think hard to put these information on my brain, would I not forget about them…?" she muttered to herself before turning towards Izuku. "What do you think?" she asked.

"Uh… is your Quirk activating…? Or what…?" Izuku tried to reply as he walked around. "You're talking strange."

"You know what, it's nothing. Just pretend it never happened okay?" Chitose waved a hand and hurriedly stashed her papers back to her purse and picked up the pizza shortly afterwards, chuckling to herself awkwardly. "I've been getting a lot of weird memories lately… I don't know why…" she added, trying to excuse her sudden strange behavior.

"Is it your Quirk manifesting, perhaps? I've heard stories of people going all the way to sixty before they realize what their Quirks are."

"Oh you mean the grandfather who just recently discovered that he has a Meta Ability that prevents him from stubbing his toe?"

Izuku shook his head. "I was talking about the grandmother who has a Quirk that gives her the ability to talk to American Black bears, and only to American Black bears. Some Quirks are just too niche."

Chitose raised an eyebrow. How come Izuku didn't know of the Grandfather with the Anti Toe-stubbing Quirk? isn't that only from-?

…

…20 years ago…?

…

Chitose quickly shook her head, snapping herself out of her trance. She was about to speak when she suddenly felt an urge to look around, in which she did for a few seconds, at which the hairs on her arms are strangely rising. Is it fear? Is it dread? She doesn't know, for the strange feeling disappeared just as fast as it appeared. She shook her head again, one hand going up to comb her short lilac hair in frustration.

"Are you okay, Kizuki?"

"I need… to remember who I am," she replied, neverminding the fact that she sounded strange. "Every passing hour some part of me disappears into unrecoverable oblivion…" She then started pacing back and forth. "If I don't do something I might reset myself to this-"

Chitose suddenly though of an idea. "Hey Midoriya," she called out to the young man nearby, making him raise an eyebrow instantaneously as he turned to look at her. "What's your opinion on Free Quirk Usage?" she asked on the notion that if she can somehow get a full conversation going with Izuku about a topic directly tied to the MLA, the rate of forgetting might decrease as she waits for the speedboat.

She doesn't know how it will work, but she's slowly running out of options. Anything will do at this point.

"Free Quirk Usage…? Just like what you typed into my homework? Why?"

"You know what, let's sit down." Chitose hurriedly sat down on the beach sand, placing the pizza box on her lap as she tried to make the most harmless face she can muster – a great difficulty considering her unsightly villain-like appearance and (very) unattractive face. But seeing Izuku shrug and sit down opposite of her with the campfire just beside them, she might as well say she pulled it off – or maybe because he's just still guilty about calling her a beached whale and is just acting out of some perceived obligation.

Either way, works for her.

"So what do you think?" she asked amidst the loud crashing noises of the still-ongoing fight just some streets away from their location. "Since you seem to be not planning to go away yet, I want to know your opinion on the matter."

"Why?"

Chitose slowly frowned. "Look, I'm trying to get the awkwardness out okay? We can't just sit here alone in the beach, with just the two of us under the starry night sky, doing nothing but staring at each other."

"That sounded oddly specific…"

"Look, I know you're probably annoyed it's not you alone in a beach with whoever you're fancying at the moment – you do have someone you're currently eyeing, right?"

Izuku's eyes instantly started darting around, with one of his free hands going up to pull the scarf up his nose to obscure his face even more. "Yeah…?" but before Chitose could respond, he hastily crossed his arms in front of her and asked a question of his own. "What about you? Whoever he is, he must be a lucky guy seeing a daughter of a millionaire is interested in him."

"I'm not interested in anyone right now. I gave up on dating a long time ago."

"Why? Getting butterflies in your stomach is fun! While yeah there's always a massive chance the other person doesn't like you back, especially if you haven't really done anything to win her affections but uhhh… at least it's fun." Izuku said as he leaned back and propped himself with his arms. "Plus I get a 'morale boost' wi-"

"It's a co-worker then?"

Izuku froze, and started gesturing around like he's trying to find the correct word, after a full minute had passed by and he still can't find the right one, he eventually settled with a weak, "yes." But before his voice can truly trail off, he asked, "so what about you? Why give up?"

A frown slowly appeared on Chitose's face. "Do I even need to spell it out for you why I gave up? Is this face still not enough of an obvious reason…?" she replied with a highly annoyed tone as she leaned back and crossed her legs in the sand, not minding her current lack of professionalism as she pointed a free hand towards her face. "Oh, and before you hit me with that 'there's someone waiting for you in the end' crap, just don't, okay?" she added, fully knowing she reached 46 years old with no one waiting for her there, nor anyone even bothered to 'wait' there in the first place… or anywhere…

Izuku did an awkward nod. "So… you want me to talk about free Quirk usage?" he suddenly asked after Chitose didn't speak for a whole minute.

"Yeah…" Chitose sighed as she facepalmed. "Let's just not talk about dating anymore. Why the hell did I even steer the conversation to that anyway?" she said, but quickly added 'I'm sad now' in a joking manner afterwards to make it look like the entire thing is not at all serious. She didn't know if she effectively pulled the 'joke' off, but seeing Izuku's slightly worried expression, it seemed to have failed.

She was never a good actress after all.

"You know what, why don't we have a walk? I'll just tell you all my opinions about it along it along the way," Izuku said as he stood up, gesturing towards the pizza box beside the young woman to make sure she doesn't forget it. "The villain battle over there is over, it's quiet now, what better time to clear your head?"

"Hmmph, I should really stop whining about how I look…" Chitose responded, slowly standing up and dusting herself with one free hand while the other holds up the pizza box by the plastic twine it came with. "Although I gotta be honest with you… whining kinda… lifted some of the burden off."

"You really don't have friends, do you?"

"Hey you don't need to rub it in…" Chitose said as she rolled her eyes, feeling stung by Izuku's words. "All I really have are work colleagues."

"Work huh?" Izuku shrugged, slightly confused as to why such a person like a daughter of a millionaire even needs to work. He was about to add something when he noticed that Chitose pointed to a direction and started walking towards it. "What is it?" he quickly asked as he kept up, seeing they're going towards the only pile of rusted truck trailers on the beach.

"My pick-up crew will be looking for me there at exactly 10pm later on… via speedboat," Chitose said, and then afterwards hearing a faint chuckle from the young man behind him, which is probably because of the word 'pick-up crew' she used.

"That's a very odd choice to pick up someone like you. I was expecting a helicopter, or maybe a hover-car… or maybe a hover-car that transforms into a helicopter."

"A speedboat isn't fancy enough for you?"

"Yeah it's fancy but why a garbage dump out of all places?"

"The 'crew' is very picky that way. But hey if it means I'm going home then I'm not complaining one bit!" Chitose said as she picked up her pace, reaching her destination a few seconds later. As with some spots on the beach, this one also has a small pile of sticks that acted as a bonfire earlier, before the people put it out after leaving to watch the hero-villain fight just some streets away.

It was only then she realized the other still-lit bonfires the people just left alone.

It was almost unsurprising that a fire broke out in this area just some months ago-

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a bright green glow to her right. As it turned out, Izuku was holding onto one of the sticks from the pile, and blowing green fire onto it directly from his mouth. He stopped almost immediately as he realized he's being stared at. "What?" he asked, quickly dropping the now-burning stick, that somehow conveniently landed onto the rest of the pile it came from and re-ignited everything with green fire.

"Well that is plainly beautiful," Chitose couldn't help but say, seeing the odd green campfire. "How hot is it?"

"Regular fire. I tested it numerous times. But hey at least it's not weakened by the whole Conjoined Quirks thingy… or maybe it is… I don't know…" Izuku's voice trailed off. "But I can assure you it's more or less just your standard everyday fire, just green."

"You calculated everything? Including fire spread? Resistance to wind? Ability to stay alive depending on the material it's burning itself from?"

"Well sorta... It's the one 'flashy' Quirk I have. You know how everything is about flashy Quirks these days, so I ran some tests on it… and it just turned out to be regular fire, but green."

Chitose nodded in response, before walking around and kicking away anything that remotely resembled a piece of metal or glass sticking up from the sand. By all means she wanted the area to be spotless, the last thing she needed is being seen tripping onto things and embarrassing herself once the speedboat arrives. She felt childish thinking about it, but then again she's back to her twenties, so she felt it was fine. "Okay I'm done cleaning this up! So about the Free Quirk Use thingy..."

"Since the crew will not be arriving until 10 anyways. I say we go for a walk a bit? I think conversations play out better while walking."

Chitose paused for a bit just as she's about to kick away another intact glass bottle half-buried in the sand in front of her. Should she go for the walk or just stay put? In the end she just shook her head in utter disbelief as to why is she even thinking too seriously about such things.

She's finally going home… why bother taking a little walk too seriously? "I do supposed there's nothing bad about that."

Izuku shrugged, shivering a little. "Yep, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that," he said, shivering some more. "Oh and by the way you didn't really jot down notes on my Conjoined Quirks, I thought you want to research about it?"

"I'm sorry it's just…" Chitose said, her grip on the pizza box involuntarily tightening. "I'm just too worried what happened to the arm- I mean club. I was referring to a club, yes."

Izuku gestured his head to invite the young woman on the walk he suggested, and on they went. "What club?" he asked.

"The free Quirk usage club – slash- anti mutant-discrimination club at school. I can feel something happened to it and my only contact just won't tell me anything about it. It's serious business and uh… I can't really focus on researching… You know what let's just stop talking about it." Chitose quickly raised the pizza box she's carrying, "want some?" she asked.

With just a nod, Izuku removed the gloves on his right hand, reached into the box the young woman's carrying without even bothering to untie the plastic twine wrapped around it, pulled out a slice, and immediately took a bite out of the tip. "You're not eating?" he asked before readying another bite.

"For some reason one part of me is thinking there will be no speedboat tonight... It's freaking me out and making me uneasy," Chitose said, immediately noticing her childish speech mannerisms in the way she said her words. In response, she quickly got out her printed papers and scanned down the names of Re-Destro, Trumpet, and Skeptic, quite thankful she can still remember them.

-And also Geten, the blue parka guy.

Good. Her speech mannerisms are just the ones with issues, she can still remember the army…

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just kinda worried about the whole speedboat thing…" she responded after a sigh, putting the MLA information papers back to her purse afterwards. "At least the night sky's beautiful tonight, maybe it'll ease me out soon enough as I'm walking along on this fake date with you."

"We're just walking, it's not a fake date, Kizuki."

"I'm getting this weird feeling that you just felt bad for me for my entire inability to find anyone that's why you suggested this whole 'starry night' walk in the first place…" Chitose said with narrowed eyes. After all, what other reason could Izuku have to suggest such a thing?

Izuku looked around a bit, but still kept walking along. "Well actually I really just want to go for an evening walk. But well…" he said, before quickly picking up his pace and turning around, effectively blocking Chitose's path. "Since you insist… I'll be happy to take the daughter of a millionaire on a fake date!" he said while stretching his arms sidewards as he bowed.

Chitose just stared at him, trying her best not to laugh at the way Izuku's multiple layers of clothing are making him look hilariously round and stupid, like a penguin on a bad winter day. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, still stifling a laugh.

"What? That's your response? I used up all my confidence on that one!" Izuku backed off a few steps, head down and looking defeated. "Now I'm never gonna be able to ask her out after this…"

"Well fine, I'll go on a fake date with you up this beach, so then you could have bragging rights that some 'millionaire's daughter' agreed to go out with you – just don't tell them I look like a sour-faced beached whale."

"My oh my! Consider me… honored…" Izuku said, accompanied with a bow – a rather awkward and silly bow. "I will forever cherish this moment that I get to walk with the financially elite," he added in full English.

Chitose couldn't help but roll her eyes at Izuku trying, and failing, to speak coherent English. "Okay, where should we go?"

"We go onwards! No seriously that's the only direction we could go, unless you want to leave the beach?" Izuku said as he pointed towards the other end of the beach, towards the multiple exit stairs. "Wait, let me go adjust my third layer of sweaters for a bit…"

"I was expecting some grand old English but your response is okay-ish enough." Chitose shrugged as she turned towards the beach, seeing the moonlight reflect off of the waves in an almost hypnotizing brilliance.

As of now it's still early for the speedboat to arrive, might as well play along with Izuku's shenanigans.

She then turned back again, finding the young man still not done with adjusting his clothing, continuously spinning around as he tries to reach at a zipper that's somehow on his back – because apparently he put on one particular jacket in reverse without even realizing it in the first place.

It was honestly adorable…

…

A little too adorable…

…

Especially with the tufts of messy green hair through his bonnet… and the huge eyes… the freckles… all the makings of a p-

…

Chitose slowly frowned, not from the sight, but from the way her cheeks are beginning to heat up.

…

'What the hell…?' a thought suddenly appeared in her mind, making her instinctively raise an eyebrow as she continued to watch Izuku stumble around trying to reach yet another zipper from his back. But instead of saying something, she just stared on, getting even more annoyed that she somehow can't take her eyes off of him at the same time her heart is starting to beat harder.

…

'Oh no…'

Note:

About Deku very very very casually accepting a 'fake date' without blushing like mad or stammering (unlike what would probably happen to canon Deku), he's just very confident since he doesn't really find Kizuki attractive at all. Don't worry he'll still be a silly blushing mess once he meets the ACTUAL pretty ladies of MHA.

…

…

Also ugly blue girl gets a crush… this cannot end well…