December 22 - Day 10
Chitose crossed her arms, instinctively gritting her teeth in sheer annoyance with herself – especially with her younger self's preference on cute boys, and how Izuku conveniently has enough points to fit in that category based on said young self's very broad definition of one, and how she can't stop staring at how he ever so adorably stumble around trying to reach yet a third zipper that also somehow ended on his back.
She scoffed at her own actions, rolling her eyes in one desperate attempt to remove it out of its primary focus, and yet it quickly returned back to where it was before. She averted it again, and still it automatically returned. She did it once more, and once more it returned.
Izuku continued to stumble around awkwardly, and it's only making him even more adorable in the young woman's eyes.
'Dammit…' she mentally said to herself, quickly thinking of some ways to combat the sudden unwanted attraction. It took a short while but she eventually thought of one.
What if she channel the inner pessimism of her older self in regards to dating and attraction to cancel out the unexpected feelings? Would it work? Chitose is not sure. While her younger self is certainly a hopeless romantic despite the opposite gender's general aversion to her (Or any gender to be exact considering her appearance and lethal Quirk), her older self is extremely good at suppressing feelings as a byproduct of endless rejection – romantic or not.
'Okay…' Chitose thought, 'this should be easy… all I need to do is think negative thoughts…' she glanced at Izuku. 'This guy called me a beached whale stuffed with mayonnaise just-"
"Okay I'm done! So…" Izuku said out loud as he turned to face her, interrupting her thinking, and gestured for her to follow him on. "…Let's walk! We got a whole night ahead of us! Well maybe not a whole whole night, also not half of the night, or even quarter of a night, but you get the idea."
'Oh my god even the way he speaks is so frikkin cute-' Chitose shook her head and instead just walked along, immediately refilling her thoughts with absurd amounts of negativity as to why she shouldn't be attracted to anyone – starting with the known fact that no one has ever shown interest in her in her entire 46 years of existence, because she's just too undesirable to anyone, therefore she should just STOP being attracted to anyone because it's pretty much guaranteed they will NOT like her back.
With her overloading her own mind with negative thoughts, the effects were almost instantaneous, she's immediately able to avert her eyes off of Izuku, although it seems that it's not the final solution since she can still feel her cheeks being warm and her heart is still beating noticeably faster and harder than usual – and it would have been awkwardly audible if it weren't for the ocean waves completely masking the sound.
She continued thinking negative thoughts, especially the details she could clearly remember about her lonely adult life, and about how people just do not want to associate with her. And as with her previous negative thoughts just a while ago, it once again had an immediate effect, this time now completely removing her current infatuation issues, at the cost of feeling depressed. But at least the attraction issues are done, and that is all that matters.
Hopefully…
Maybe…
"Is there something wrong?" Izuku asked, noticing the young woman suddenly stopped walking.
"No it's uh… I just remembered something. I think I didn't properly close the door on the Internet café earlier?" Chitose stammered, quickly making up an excuse for her sudden stop. At the same time she made sure to lock her eyes with the young man's to check if she has successfully removed all her unnecessary feelings for him, and to her surprise she actually did. No noticeable increase in neither temperature nor pulse rate. "Nah they have security guards for a reason, I'm sure they already got that covered!" she added, shrugging.
Izuku nodded, slightly shivering from a sudden gust of wind that blew past. "So what is it about this whole Free Quirk Use thing?" he asked, trying to make his steps lighter as to not plunge his feet into the sand too much. "Is you asking me my opinion on it related to that club of yours?"
Chitose nodded in response. "Well you see, I want to hear other people's opinion about it – oh and by the way about your whole fire-breathing thing and burning uvula as you so rightly said, is it biologically-caused? Or is it just magical like a majority of Quirks-" she suddenly stopped, noticing she automatically slipped in the word 'Quirk' in a casual sentence and not part of some terminology, something she hasn't done in over a decade now ever since she fully adapted the term 'Meta Ability' some two decades ago. Or maybe she had said 'Quirk' before? Did she just forget the same way she keeps forgetting things in her current young state? Shaking her head, she continued, "So uh… do you have a dedicated organ designed to create uvula fuel or none?"
"I don't really know. Although it would be a lot cooler if I have a unique organ that makes gunpowder." Izuku said gesturing something that looked like he shot something out of his palm. "I've always imagined what could have been different if I don't have these stupid Conjoined Quirks and instead have something flashier like… blowing up things!"
Chitose shook her head again. "Trust me, you don't want a Meta Ability that blows up things, it only looks good in context."
"Huh? What do you mean? But isn't it flashy?"
"While it looks great and flashy at first glance, having a damaging and explosive Meta Ability means you're effectively Quirkless 99% of the time because there aren't really any use to it outside of… blowing up things…" Chitose said, her voice trailing off for a lack of a better word. "I often see people get frustrated, annoyed, depressed even, that they were born with a weak Meta Ability instead of a flashy powerful one, but at least they could use it at home where the 'Quirk police' can't get them," she added, before quickly looking left and right. "Between you and me, I'd gladly trade my Meta Ability for something like yours, Telekinesis looks very interesting indeed."
"Wait-wait-wait-wait I thought you don't have a Quirk?"
Chitose suddenly blanked after hearing the young man's response. She was supposed to say she wanted to have a Meta Ability like Izuku's and instead said something drastically different. Almost immediately she started thinking of a good excuse for another one of her tongue-slips, and instantly came up with a few. But seeing she's going to leave in a couple of hours anyways and this is probably the last time they would ever see each other so…
"That was a lie. I do have a Quirk," she said, while gesturing for Izuku to continue their walk. "I uh… I decided it's best to just not tell people about it."
"Why? Is it uh…" Izuku's voice trailed off, followed closely by multiple embarrassed stammering. "Does it have anything to do with uh… whales…?"
"Wha- no!" Chitose said back, stifling a laugh. "Although, not gonna lie, that would have been fantastic. I can already imagine myself as a cetacean! I'm just out there in the open sea, basking in the sun, scooping up tons of krill with my majestic baleen thingies!" she added, imagining the (supposedly majestic) life of a (supposedly majestic) whale. "And then I'm gonna get mauled to death by giant dolphins…"
"Giant dolphins?"
"I was talking about Orcas. Orcas are just giant dolphins, look it up."
"Okay now you just gave me a weird mental image of Gang Orca, in full attire, jumping in hoops and talking in clicks."
"Wait you don't know he can talk in clicks?" Chitose asked, raising one eyebrow. "I thought it's pretty common knowle- wait-" she stopped, instantly remembering that Gang Orca's capability to talk in clicks like marine mammals do is definitely not common knowledge. She only knew that by dipping an underwater microphone into the waters near the hero is patrolling, in which she confirmed that Gang Orca can indeed talk to marine mammals in a way.
She remembered the hero being absurdly ticked off upon her finding out, and paid her a considerable amount of cash just to keep it quiet, even though the entire 'investigation' is just pure curiosity on her part and she never really planned to have it leaked to the public. She's just generally interested in physical mutations that lead to additional abilities beyond one's base Meta Ability (like having an Orca for a head allowing communication with other marine mammals). She remembered trying to push for a personal interview, planning to ask how many marine mammal languages he knew. Needless to say, her offers were refused. And that was the end to it.
Maybe perhaps she should just stop showing up uninvited? But where's the fun in that?
Anyways, in the end, it's NOT common knowledge.
Chitose shrugged it off and was about to continue when she suddenly started wondering how did she mistake a memorable moment as something that's widely known to the public? Are her memories starting to get fragmented further? Or she's just thinking things too seriously? Or she just made a simple error? "Er… No wait. Gang Orca can't speak in clicks, I mistook him for someone else."
"Selkie?"
"Yeah… Selkie," Chitose said with a nod, before quickly glancing behind her and looking towards a pile of rusted trailers still visible in a distance, and then to the ocean for any approaching watercraft. Seeing that the literal coast is still clear, she turned her attention back to Izuku. "I think we should take out the bonfires, it seems that noone's coming back here anymore."
"Yeah, night's getting late, let me take care of that one," Izuku said, voice teeming with odd confidence as he hurriedly took off the mittens covering his right hand. And with a dramatic pulling motion, he dismantled the sticks underneath the nearest bonfire, effectively putting it out, before shivering and muttering something about his hand being so cold. "So whats your Quirk- I mean Meta Ability then?"
Chitose was about to respond with a simple, 'Landmine,' but stopped before she could utter anything. "I… I don't want to talk about it," she said weakly. She tried to open her mouth again to say an alternative meaning with a hint, but backed out at the very last moment. She knew very well that telling people that she has an ability to instantly kill them with a single touch, without them even getting a hint of whether they've been primed to explode or not, is NOT a good idea. It is NEVER a good idea.
She lost far too many relationships over that already, both professional and personal.
'But since I'm leaving anyways so…'
"My Meta Ability is… uh… it's uh… La…" Chitose stammered, finding herself still unable to utter such a simple word. She tried again, but something is just blocking her and making her unusually worried and fearful. "I… I don't want to talk about it, just in case I decided to do a surprise visit…" she said with an awkward grin, mentally cringing at her own words and utter inability to simply say Landmine. She tried again, yet failed once more, making her ask herself why can't she just say it? She's never going to back here. The Liberation will begin once she's back. Why worry saying your Meta Ability to a person you'll never meet again?
"Do you have a dangerous Quirk?"
Chitose was snapped out of her thoughts, eyes already widened at hearing the question. "Er… no… it's uh… it's about chemistry-related… stuff…"
"Is having that chemistry Quirk somehow related to you being a part of a Free Quirk Use club, and why you're asking me about my opnion in free Quirk usage?"
Chitose nodded. "Sorta… it's kinda complicated."
"So may I ask that uh… so about your Chemistry-related Quirk… in a scale of one to ten, is it lethal-"
"No it's not I swear-!" Chitose said out loud, raising her hands, only to realize and eventually get confused as to why she even did it in the first place. But if she knew one thing from her sudden involuntary defensive reaction, is that it's definitely related to her younger, more Meta Ability-conscious, self. "I can just make chemical cocktails, that's all!"
"You're kinda… scaring me with that tone, should I stand a meter away from you or should I…? Do something else?"
"No no no it's fine! You don't need to move away-!" Chitose suddenly stopped, her expression freezing upon fully realizing she is somehow directly mirroring her younger self's irrational fear of being left alone and abandoned, something that is almost completely out of her system upon reaching her thirties. But before she could compose herself, feelings of being left alone and abandoned suddenly flooded her mind, making her question the fragmented mess her mind is quickly becoming. It continued to swirl around, making her dizzy and light-headed, and then eventually slowed down, but still leaving the feelings of abandonment at full force as well as a voice going on loop, Don't tell him your Meta Ability. "You know what?" she suddenly stopped, unable to find the correct words amidst her emotions starting to go haywire. "N-n-nevermind…"
"Is there… something wrong…?"
Chitose quickly glanced towards Izuku, as if the question triggered something. Hands trembling, breathing heavy, mind racing with an indescribable combination of confusion, frustration, fear, worry, and hopelessness, she was inches away from figuratively blowing up and ranting about her overall loneliness caused by having a dangerous Meta Ability on top of being born with a villainous appearance when she somehow stopped herself. There was silence for a bit. But before she could say an alternative fake problem (and hopefully cull down the nonsensical random feelings), something began to nag on the back of her mind, something that's telling her to start talking what's wrong. It went on and on, going around a neverending loop, in a voice once again sounding like her younger self. She tried very hard to counter-act against it, reminding herself why it is never a good idea, but she eventually gave in, the multitudes of emotions finally overrunning everything.
"I'm… I'm…" she said weakly, holding on as best as she can from breaking down. But voice went louder, the loop went even more repetitive, making her grasp her head as a massive head-ache suddenly rolled in and further complicating things. Flashes of fragmented memories rapidly flashed in her eyes, all the times she tried to tell her problems to anyone, and all of them ended fruitless. There's literally no sense, why bother-
'Go on… he will listen… just leave out your Quirk…" the voice echoed amidst the pain, this time sounding eerily much clearer than the earlier ones. 'Don't be shy now… you won't get a chance like this ever again…'
Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. Chitose took one deep breath and…
"First I have this stupid ugly face! And then I have this stupid ugly Meta Ability! No one wants me around and I spent my entire life being tossed about and abandoned over and over and over again!" she whined, breathing heavily while staring directly at her curled up hands and further gritting her teeth afterwards. Her vision blurred a few times, but it turned out her eyes are just getting watery. "I'm always not good enough! There's always someone better! Just for once I want to belong but-b- but well too bad! I'm too stupid to keep my mouth shut on what my Meta Ability is and you're probably scared of me now! Nice try Kizuki! You self-sabotaging idiot!" she added with a joking tone accompanied with a playful tap on her forehead as she hurriedly recomposed herself, despite her cracking voice sounding just within seconds of a complete and total break down.
Still breathing heavily and quickly wiping off the forming tears, Chitose slowly turned to face Izuku, immediately putting on the best smile she could muster despite all her sudden burst of emotion doing its best to pull it down. "There I said it! Happy now? Yeah I know I'm pathetic dumbass loser who WILLINGLY joined an unruly club just to feel important! But hey at least it's me instead of an ACTUAL person with an ACTUAL future!" she said out loud as she fell to her knees, completely breaking down in tears.
?!
Chitose suddenly stopped, almost immediately moving off her face from her now tear-filled hands. Complete utter confusion and frustration quickly replaced what's currently in her mind. Why did she suddenly break down?! All Izuku did was ask what her problem is! The voice only said tell him what your problem is! So why is she breaking down?! Is it the sudden overwhelming feelings of abandonment combined with Izuku's awkward question that caused her to lose it and spew out tears like there's no tomorrow?
?
Either way it's happened now. All she managed to do is just make herself utterly pathetic and embarrassing seeing as she just figuratively blew up on such a simple question. Now absolutely depressed for a multitude of reasons, Chitose turned around to quietly continue sobbing to herself, and hopefully get sorted out before her speedboat arrives. "What are you waiting for? You can leave now…" she spoke out, negativity oozing through her cracking voice.
"That club of yours… sounds… very concerning…" came Izuku's worried response. "I think-"
"Just leave."
"Well but-"
"Just leave."
"Uh… I might sound rude but your back-and-forth attitude on whether I leave or not kinda reminds me on that one time when I was 10. It sounds like a defense mechanism, pushing people away to-"
"What are you even talking about?" Chitose asked, not even bothering to look due to sheer embarrassment.
"I'm just saying you're in a pretty rough spot right now and you said you don't want to feel lonely for once so I-"
"Midoriya, stop pretending you care, because you don't. Honestly it's just making me feel worse," Chitose said, her sudden miserable state clearly affecting her responses and making them lean heavily into the negatives.
Izuku slowly started pacing around, but mostly just keeping within meters of his original spot as an attempt to drive off the cold. "I was just trying to make up to you since you seem really offended by the uh… beached whale thing... I even brought pizza!" he said in a joking tone and making a square gesture with his hands despite the young woman not even looking. "And it's right beside you!"
Chitose sighed. "Just leave…" she said weakly.
"Okay then?" Izuku said deliberately loud, but not too loud. "Well I'm leaving." He then turned around and did one exaggerated step, stomping the sand loud enough for the young woman to hear. "I'm leaving, I just took one step further away from you," he added.
"…"
Izuku hopped a meter away. "I just took another one. I just left my previous location!"
"…"
He then did another exaggerated stomp onto the sand, once again with enough force to e heard amidst the ocean waves crashing onto the shore.
"…"
"Well the sand over here looks too soft for my liking, so I took two steps instead!"
"…"
"I think I should be really going home no-" Izuku said, deliberately weakening his voice to make it look like he's already far away. Almost instantly it got a reaction from Chitose, quickly turning around and loudly saying "wait!" in response, involuntarily raising one hand.
With a nod, Izuku immediately started walking back. "I learned that little trick from Mom. She told me that sometimes you really just need to leave and not force yourself in. If the person called you back, then good, if not then you'll just have to respect their wishes," he said, sitting down onto the sand a noticeable distance from the young woman nearby. "Although if you're planning to research on its effectiveness, please don't cite me as your source, that would be really embarrassing," he said with a joking tone in an attempt to lighten up the mood.
Chitose muttered something incomprehensible amidst her light sobbing.
"Okay since you called me back. I guess I'll just accompany you for a while. Now I gotta say my Mom handles these kinds of situations better than I do but I'll just try my best!" he said, once again in a joking manner. "Now what should I do if I were her? Hmmm… I can't believe this is actually harder than I thought… I've never cried in a long time. Life is stable enough, aside from financial issues but uh… I've never been technically sad either… except that one time I failed to get in UA's hero cour- of course! Hey Kizuki, do you want a hug?"
Chitose slowly glanced over in silence, but just slowly shook her head.
"Okay well I'm not the one to force physical contact anyways but uh… My Mom's always open to giving away hugs, I'm just throwing that out." Izuku yawned and then stretched out his legs onto the sand. "So Kizuki, care to tell a story or something? I'll listen."
"I used to get randomly beat up by newbie heroes for mistaking me as a villain whenever a crime scene happens within a general vicinity of me. They had to pay me back afterwards for the mistake, but at least it's good money."
Izuku raised a concerned eyebrow. While it's common knowledge in the modern world that criminal-looking mutants get accidentally beaten up by beginner heroes on the regular, the young woman in front of her doesn't even look 'criminal' enough, as compared to others with more monstrous-looking mutations. "Is that a joke or…? Because you don't technically look like a regular villain."
"Heroes don't care, they see the slightest bit of a person looking like a villain near a crime scene that's running away, they get hit. It doesn't matter how they obviously need to pay back for damages caused, what's more important is they looked good for the masses. And if mutants press charges? Everyone knows mutants can't win against heroes in court."
"So that… explains the scars then…? And why you cover yourself up?"
Chitose slowly nodded, not bothering to look over. "Beginner heroes don't know the right power levels yet to deliver the correct Backforce hit that just knocks out their enemy with very minimal injuries, unlike seasoned Pro Heroes."
"Or maybe they're just unsure about hitting girl villains? It's a well documented thing, you know?" Izuku added, bringing up a finger to his scarf-covered lip and citing multiple studies that heroes ironically injure female criminals more because they tend to hold back their attacks when it comes to them, hitting them with far weaker hits that are unable to trigger Backforce.
Chitose nodded again. "Well maybe that too…"
Izuku almost immediately started fidgeting around, his mind instantly swirling with confusion and curiosity as to why the young woman's words are simply not adding up. If Kizuki is a daughter of a millionaire, then why is she saying something about heroes paying her back for accidentally beating her up is good? Why is her supposedly millionaire mother okay with that? "Hey uh… Kizuki? How come your mother never… you know… kinda sued those beginner heroes that beat you up? She's pretty high up in the social ladder, she'll obviously stand a chance in court. Also why do you think you receiving money from getting beat up by heroes is good if you're uh… if you're rich and uh… You can just ignore my questions if you don't like answering them but I'm really just kinda curious…"
It took a while before the young woman could respond. "I think it's time I tell you the truth… since… since we're probably not seeing each other again after this…" she said as her voice trailed off. "I'm an orphan. I never had a millionaire mother. I ran off from home when I was young and spent most of my young life in the streets."
"So… who's the blue lady from TV then?"
"Me," Chitose answered after a deep breath and a sigh. Slowly glancing over she could see the young man's face seemingly contorting into numerous expressions until it eventually settled down into just a look of curiosity.
"You're Chitose Kizuki?"
"Yes."
"Aaand you're uh… a lot younger than the one on TV…" Izuku asked, his look of curiosity slowly getting replaced by that of confusion. "Did you die and got reincarnated? Or is that part of your Chemistry Quirk? Or you're just joking?"
"I'm not joking. I don't even know what happened. Last thing I remember is getting levitated and dropped from around 30 meters high and then the next thing I know I'm like… this…"
"Hmmm… provided you're not joking we can already rule out that you died and just reincarnated because come on that's impossible these days! Have you seen how hard All Might pummels his villains? Falling that high should be nothing!" Izuku immediately raised hand as to stop the young woman from replying as he thought some more. "Is your Quirk related to rebirth and reincarnation in any way?"
"No. My Meta Ability is the farthest thing from that." Chitose replied as she wiped her tears off. She was about to talk back when Izuku hurriedly shuffled closer, startling her. "W-what are you doing?"
"I just want to sit nearby to check if your strangely loud alien heartbeat is still there, but well the sea's pretty loud tonight so uh…" Izuku quickly went back to where he's sitting earlier. "So are you really alive? Or uh… what are you, really?"
"I already told you, I am Chitose Kizuki. A- and I don't know why I am like this."
"Did you get hit by an illusion Quirk?"
"Illusion Quirks only last a couple of hours, with the maximum being three days. I already waited out three days before I even got here, and as you can see I'm still young. But at least I'm going home now, my people should know what happened."
"So what about your money being all gone? And why did you get reported as Dead during the Deika City Terror attack? I suspect there's more to what happened to you than just a freak accident."
"I'm afraid that's the case, and it's making me nervous. I've done my part of investigations lately and everything just seemed to tie back to December 12. It's like something happened there…"
Izuku cleared his throat. "I dunno what's really going on but uh… whatever's happened to you might be bigger than what you're already thinking… Just saying."
"That's okay, my guys will know what it is. They may just be acquaintances, but they know their stuff."
"I don't want to be rude but… are those people really trustworthy? You kinda broke down earlier about being… lonely…" Izuku's voice trailed off, but before he could go silent, he immediately added, "Not being rude but-"
"I can trust them as is. I just… I… I just think they're… I just…" Chitose pulled back her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, mind once again suddenly being overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy. "I uh… I think they're just tolerating me because I'm… I'm useful…" she said, stuttering along the way, eyes starting to water. For the longest time she had wondered about the army's perception of her and her less-than-stellar Meta Ability, about what they really think of her. While their outward appearances are normal, something in her mind always told her she's not welcome there. The stares, and sideward glances, the gossips, the weak Landmines… She learned to just ignore it over the years, after all it's been two decades. But now that the enormous amounts of insecurities and various other mental issues of her young self are beginning to resurface one by one-
Chitose froze, suddenly remembering something. It is only now it dawned to her how few were the people backing her up during the fight against the League, as compared to Trumpet who had literal hundreds behind him.
She remembered that day clearly. Upon Trumpet signaling the start of the Revival Party, she just called out to the army behind her to go support her in her interview.
And out of the thousands present…
There were only about twenty that came along with her…
Chitose quickly shook her head, her breathing suddenly heavier. Was it because they know she will just send them to explode on her whims? But Re-Destro specifically told the Deika City army about it, and they all agreed (in which she found a little too unnerving). After all, everything is for the Liberation at that point! Maybe she's just overthinking things? Maybe she just didn't see that there were more people behind her during her interview? That's it! She's just not looking! She can't just assume barely anyone followed her to the spot she wants? That would be stupid-
'They hate you, Kizuki… everyone does… the people at the MLA… the people at work… your family…'
Chitose smacked the back side of her head in an attempt to clear out the sudden pessimistic thoughts.
'I am important to the Liberation. They will NOT abandon me. Skeptic is coming to save me. As much as how annoying and self-centered he is, at least he cares!' Chitose desperately tried to counter the negativity. The MLA will not abandon her. She is of utmost importance to it. And whatever happened to her, they will fix it.
They will…
'Pfffft! Not a single one of the hundred thousand of them even bothered to remember your birthday for two decades straight, what makes you think they will fix anything-"
"AAAARRRRGGGHH! STOP IT!" Chitose yelled out and grabbed onto her head, fingers digging into her scalp as tears once again run down her face. Out of all the things she can remember, why even her birthday? "I am important! They WILL fix it!"
"Kiz-"
"Midoriya! If I return there looking like this they will abandon me!" Chitose said out loud, quickly turning to face the young man beside her. "I'm only there for years because I follow the rules and I'm too important to kick out! But once I come back looking like this, they WILL quickly find a replacement- they might even already found a replacement that's why I they haven't looked for me in over a week!" She yelled before cupping her face in her hands and continuing bawling her eyes out.
Izuku, on the other hand, not knowing what to do, immediately started fidgeting and looking around. While he knew he's quite knowledgeable on quite a lot of things, comforting crying people is not one of those.
Meanwhile Chitose continued sobbing, her confused mind just going over and over in circles wondering as to why she's even affected by the things she's currently crying about, on top of the heaps of negativity that just keeps on spilling over. She knew there's nothing to be afraid of in the MLA. She knew she's an important figure there and will never be kicked out. She knew it's just her younger self's form affecting her mind and giving her her insecurities, yet she can't figure out why is she finding herself agreeing to them.
'A real MLA lieutenant will not get answered by a mocking salute. Geten deliberately let you fall so everyone can laugh at you as you lay unconscious in the middle of the road! Just like back then in college!' the voice of her young self echoed in her mind. 'And your Curious Flattener is utter crap! You KNOW it! You've interviewed heroes with far more impressive and effective support equipment that they got for far cheaper! Why did Re-Destro give you such an expensive but useless piece of junk? It's because it's WHAT THEY THINK OF YOU!'
Chitose gripped her head tighter, trying her best to eliminate the thoughts but to no avail.
'Skeptic didn't even question why you're younger! He didn't care about you losing all your hard-earned money despite it's his job to defend it! He deliberately left it out in the open so people can steal it! Open your eyes, Chitose! The guy NEVER respected you, do you think he'll ever defend your bank account?! Do you think he'll even send you a speedboat here?! He WON'T EVEN TELL YOU WHERE THEY ARE!'
Chitose shook her head, a little more violent than she wanted to.
'Face it. You're not important to them, nor to anybody. You're a disposable tool. Stop fooling yourself. You and your dangerous Quirk never belonged anywhere…'
"I... belong… to th-" Chitose muttered between sobs, but can't get herself to finish her own sentence before burying her face in her hands and continued crying, trying her hardest to just tone herself down despite the mental onslaught.
…
The echoing voice of her younger self suddenly stopped. She herself cannot explain why. Was it because it just decided to? Or just because she focused everything she has onto the sound of the waves crashing upon the shore? Or is it the faint moonlight reflecting off of them somehow managing to calm her down?
She continued staring at the ocean, awaiting the dreaded return of the voice and not even bothering the wipe the tears streaming down her face.
…
Her mind is now silent, not a tone of her voice to be found inside. Did she finally chase it off-?
She heard light footsteps as if someone is walking away.
'You bored that one random person that ever bothered to even join you here... now you're back to square one – crying alone on how pathetic you are! Oh and by the way, how do you feel being a murderer now? You know? That one thing you said you'll NEVER going to be?'
Chitose narrowed her eyes onto the crashing waves. "It's for the cause…" she whispered to herself. "It's for the Liberation…" she repeated. "They died for the cause…" she said again, her voice starting to teem with frustration, annoyance, and sadness "That's okay…"
'What the hell are you even doing in the MLA anyways? Will you ever benefit from that stupid Free Quirk Use goals they're always yakking about? How is Landmine ever going to benefit from Free Quirk Use? Not to mention it's WEAK… YOU'RE WEAK… in an organization that's all about STRENGTH… No wonder no one respects you there…'
"They… respect… me…" Chitose whispered to herself. While her Landmines can deal passable amounts of damage if stacked enough, it's still terribly weak when compared to any other explosive Meta Ability. And she can't even improve it anymore either because of what Re-Destro said about making her powers potentially unstable. And on top of all that, she's back to being young now - her Landmines are even weaker.
'No they don't… But hey at least you're too useful to be kicked out now. Enjoy it while it lasts,' the voice said before finally stopping.
Chitose couldn't help but nod. She's not going to be abandoned. She's important.
Wiping off her tears, she reached into one of her jacket pockets and pulled out her Curious Flattener, currently in its armband form, and wore it. She pressed a small button on its side that caused a small display to light up, showing the time. She stared at it for two seconds before raising an eyebrow. How come she forgot the wristwatch function of the Curious Flattener way back then when she was walking in the empty streets of Deika City? Was it related to her being younger-?
"It's 9pm already…?" she whispered loudly to herself in surprise after seeing the time.
How long has she been sobbing here?
Doesn't matter. For once the voice finally stopped, maybe just for now. She's sure she will not be abandoned by the MLA. She will NEVER be abandoned, especially in an organization she's an important part in for the last two decades. Her younger self is just affecting her mindset, that's all. As for her suddenly lacking in professionalism? They'll understand.
They'll understand…
Chitose quickly began wiping off her tears until she felt her face is now mostly dry. While she may be hideous in appearance, but if there's something positive it gave her, and that is the ability to conceal whether she cried or not. People can't tell if you cried if you simply have black sclera.
'Wow what a bonus…' She thought to herself as she straightened her legs out onto the sand, fully ignoring the cold winter wind that's been blowing up her for the last hour or so. Every once in a while, she would look at the general area where the speedboat will be arriving.
Hopefully her insecure younger self's mind will not bother her again for the next hour or so.
…[*]...
Chitose took a deep breath and checked her Curious Flattener wristwatch again for the time.
9:48 pm. Time to go.
The young woman stood up and stretched her limbs. She took one last glance on the now-empty pizza box beside her feet and thought about throwing it in the trash when she realized that where she is now is already an entire trash heap. But might as well pick it up to-
"M-Midoriya?!" she blurted out, seeing the all-too familiar shape of Izuku and his multiple layers of winter clothing just sitting on an overturned refrigerator just some distance away from her. "I thought you uh… I thought you already left?"
"I just left earlier to give my mother a call and tell her I'm gonna be staying up here until 10 because reasons I can't really tell."
Chitose could instantly feel the pessimism of her younger self bubbling up again, telling her that Midoriya only stayed because he's guilty about calling her a beached whale. She shook her head to clear the thoughts, which surprisingly worked all things considered. "I'm going home now."
"You're okay now?"
"I think I pretty much solved all my issues in the past hour or so," Chitose said as she did one last wipe of her eyes just in case she missed something. "So uh… I'm leaving now."
"You know what I'm gonna go with you," Izuku replied and hurriedly got off of the refrigerator he's sitting on and walked up to her. "I hope you don't mind a little company."
Chitose sighed. "Okay… but this time only…" she answered weakly.
Gesturing for Izuku to follow her, they began walking back towards the pile of rusted trailers at the other side of the beach.
"Do you still want me to tell you my opinions on Free Quirk Use?" Izuku asked as he pulled a random stick from on of the now-unlit bonfires nearby with his Quirk. "Shall I give it a go?"
"No need to. I'd rather not talk about an interesting topic only to leave 10 minutes later," Chitose said. As much as it is definitely part of her original plan, there's really not much sense to talk about potentially interesting topics only to end it just minutes later.
"Do you want to exchange phone numbers?"
Chitose raised an eyebrow at Izuku's suggestion. "I'd rather not," she quickly said in response. "People tend to stop talking to me within days anyways. And it just makes me feel sad."
"I promise I'll go talk with you more than a week."
"Yep, that's what they all say…" Chitose rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood for accepting to be someone's pity friend. Plus I don't even have a phone on me right now."
Izuku shrugged. "Well I sure do hope that club of yours are real friends, you're kinda worrying me back there."
"Don't worry. I've been with them for years. They're genuine and real and totally just not tolerating me because I'm too useful. They're going to get me home and fix my whatever-the-hell age issue I'm experiencing right now... and also my bank account."
"You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure! Why would they abandon me?" Chitose said, trying to keep her voice confident even though she could already feel the nagging feeling on the back of her head again, telling her she'll never be enough for anything. "I publish their holy bible for crying out loud!" she added, deliberately ramping up her voice in an attempt to get the thoughts to leave.
"Holy what?"
"Nothing. The point is, that they're-"
Both instantly stopped, seeing two bright red blade-like rods suddenly stick out from behind the rusted trailers in a distance, on either side of it. Before any of them could even react, the glowing rods slashed through the pile as effortlessly as hot knife through butter. The entire thing wouldn't even have made a sound if it weren't for the cleanly sliced rusted trailers to eventually topple over.
Chitose just stared on in shock as the smoke cleared, revealing that not only a Nomu did it, the area it slashed is also the exact same area she told Skeptic she'll wait in. She would have been cut in half (or quite possibly decapitated) if Izuku didn't invite her to walk out into the beach. Slightly trembling, she slowly raised her right arm to look at the time.
10 pm.
The Nomu looks exactly like the standard humanoid Nomus she commonly makes articles on, but this one has a huge red balloon-like fleshy outgrowth on its back allowing it to float a foot off the ground, on top of an added set of extra arms on its sides where the red glowing blades are attached.
Chitose was about to tell Izuku to silently walk back when the bladed arms of the Nomu suddenly detached and fell down, quickly disintegrating themselves into nothing but black smoke, leaving the Nomu itself just idling about as if it looked like it got the job done and now has nowhere to go.
"I… Isn't that… Did that thing just slash the spot where you're supposed to…" Izuku said, stuttering while instinctively grabbing onto the back of the young woman's jacket. "They're trying to kill you!"
"No! It's the League!" she said out loud, her mind immediately going back to Skeptic's supposed secure contact system. A Nomu appearing at this time could only mean that someone associated with the League somehow saw her online conversations with him and told them she's here and sent a Nomu to take her out. It must've waited so that it can also kill off her rescuers in a single slash.
Although the supposed speedboat is still nowhere in sight… Not to mention the Nomu is too big and conspicuous that anyone arriving from the ocean could've easily seen it…
Izuku, on the other hand, began muttering nervously, saying something about the only way out is being blocked by the Nomu's presence.
But as for Chitose, with full knowledge on how Nomus operate, just calmly stood where she is, her nervousness earlier quickly dissipating. As overblown as their capabilities are every time they're reported on the news, they're incredibly predictable and relatively easy to beat, especially the standard ones like what she's seeing now. She herself has her fair share of experience against them in her endless insistence to get a good scoop right in the middle of action. She may not be an onscreen reporter, but there's just something about getting first-hand experience in a particular big event that draws her in.
"Midoriya, stay here and hide, I'll handle it," Chitose said, lightly shoving Izuku towards a rusted car chassis. She didn't succeed as the young man is apparently still grabbing onto her jacket.
"Get down!" he said, whispering as loud as he could while repeatedly glancing over to the still Nomu just hovering about. "I'll call some heroes!"
"My speedboat is arriving soon and I don't want any heroes involved here, you got it?" Chitose immediately kneeled down and placed both hands onto a trembling Izuku's shoulders. "Trust me, okay? I'll handle the Nomu. You just stay here."
"You can't just go there and kill yourself!"
"Look, I do appreciate the concern but-" Chitose stopped, seeing the Nomu slowly start hovering sideways as if being blown by the wind. It would have been fine if it weren't being blown straight towards the shore where the speedboat would arrive. Pulling off Izuku's hands off of her jacket and hurriedly shoving him aside after telling him NOT to call the heroes, she sprinted towards the Nomu as fast as she can, waving her hands along the way to hopefully attract its attention and away from the ocean.
The Nomu perked up upon her getting a considerable distance closer to it, and responded by hopping slowly towards her, its balloon-like tumor preventing it from properly walking.
The young woman ran faster, quickly ducking once to pick up an exposed metal pipe sticking out from the sand. She then readied the pipe for a throw, aiming for the Nomu's exposed brain.
The humanoid monster roared at her, the typical inhuman Nomu roar – albeit far weaker, and slowly raised a balled fist, only for a spinning pipe to hit it square in the face before exploding, instantly splattering its brain and effectively killing it.
But what Chitose didn't expect is the balloon-like fleshy outgrowth on the Nomu's back to rip open and spew blood and air right towards her with the force of a maximum-power leaf blower, almost completely drenching her in disgusting viscera.
'Uuuhhh why the hell didn't I calculate the fact that blowing up a metal pipe onto a Balloon Nomu's face would cause said balloon to pop right onto me…? Well that was stupid…' Chitose thought to herself as she stood there motionless and embarrassed. What would she say when the speedboat arrives?
"Kizuki! What the hell just happened there?!" It was Izuku, running over towards her. Upon getting under a lamp post, Chitose immediately noticed how his entire face – or what's visible of it, is covered in sweat.
"The Nomu has Levitative Blood… and I just popped it right onto me… and now I'm dirty as hell… and disgusting… and smelly…" Chitose replied, looking down onto her jacket. "But hey, the monster's dead!"
"What did you do to it? How?" Izuku asked, his voice sounding half amazed and half-confused, as he averted his gaze from the gory death of the Nomu. "HOW?! DID YOU KILL IT?!"
"Well as you can see," Chitose stretched her arms and wiped her face with the still-not bloody back part of her jacket. "Nomus are weak to any- wait what…?" she stopped as she saw a very familiar object just standing by one of the nearby stairs – her suitcase given back to her by Izuku. She just stared at it blankly for a moment. "That thing's been there for hours now…?" she asked, involuntarily scratching the back of her head, before eventually realizing she actually forgot to bring it along with her after being called by Izuku earlier as he was about to demonstrate his Fire-Breathing Meta Ability. "Great… what else did I miss-"
Note:
Curious being portrayed in canon as a raging lunatic who gave it ALL to the Liberation (FAR MORE than Trumpet and Skeptic) really just screams, "I have major trust issues and this is the only group I feel important in! I must keep giving back or else they'll toss me out and abandon me!"
Being born with the ability to insta-kill people, as well as looking like an ugly villain, really must've took a MASSIVE toll on her mental health…
…
Yeah… I'm actually attempting to piece together the Whats, the Hows, and the Whys of the MHA fandom's most hated character!