December 23 - Day 11
Chitose slowly sat up, feeling her head a little bit lighter and slightly more painful than normal. Was it because of something she drank last night? Was it about something she ate? Or was it because her annoying and useless group members decided to dump all the hardest activities onto her and forced her to pull an all-nighter just to finish it-?
She suddenly opened her eyes, quickly realizing that it's just those memories again. She's not a college student, nor someone who has an entire thesis dumped onto her to summarize. She's just fine, and NOT currently in a hurry to finish anything right now-
"The heck…?" she muttered to herself in surprise upon turning her head around and seeing herself back in the Midoriya household, currently lying down on her usual bed in her usual spot in the middle of the living room. "Was everything just a dream…?" she whispered involuntarily as the memories of her waiting for a speedboat, crying to Izuku about being abandoned, and fighting off a Nomu came rushing back. Everything just felt a little too real to be just a dream, so what really happened? How is she back here?
She looked around, and her eyes eventually settled by a closed window. Basing off of the faint reddish glow, she deduced it's about 6 in the morning, in which she confirmed by the nearby wall clock.
'What the hell happened…?'
She was about to ask herself in her thoughts again when she caught a faint whiff of something familiar-yet-indescribable coming from under her blanket. Grabbing the entire thing and shoving her head in, she sniffed again, and instantly noticed a faint smell of, what she could piece together as, dried blood (although smelling a little different from normal dried blood).
'Dried blood…?' she thought, fully remembering how the Nomu's blood balloon exploded onto her. Looking down, she immediately noticed that she's still wearing that same jacket she wore during that same Nomu encounter. And sure enough, the jacket also has that distinct smell of dried blood on it. So does that mean a Nomu really splattered her with blood and she's just not dreaming? 'But how am I here-?'
"Oh, I see you're up now!" came the gentle voice of Izuku as he peeked over from behind the sofa. "You might be wondering why you're back here?"
"Uh… yeah…?"
Izuku slowly walked over around the sofa and sat on it, pulling his legs up. "All Might arrived last night and uh… how do I say this uh… He sorta smashed you straight into the sand for mistaking you as a blood-soaked lunatic about to attack me."
Chitose's eyes widened, her mind immediately tying that little piece of information to her mild headache just now. "What?" she asked, annoyance and frustration dripping from her tone. "But the speedboat!"
Izuku shook his head. "The speedboat didn't arrive. After you got slammed down, I explained to him that you're not a villain and what he did is a mistake, and then he spent the next fifteen minutes just apologizing nonstop," he said, taking a deep breath afterwards before continuing, "and then he left again to get something to pay you back since he's kinda wearing his super outfit and I'm pretty sure you already know how those skin-tight things don't really have any pockets on. He took a whole thirty minutes before he reappeared. No speedboat ever arrived. No Nomus anymore either."
"I have so many questions…" Chitose shook her head. "Like why is All Might there? How are you suddenly okay being left alone for 30 minutes just after a Nomu attack? Where's the speedboat? Are there any other heroes there? What happened to me? What the hell are you doing all that time? What the hell happened? How am I back here again?"
Izuku's face immediately contorted into a look of joy like he can barely contain himself. "All Might brought us back here! In fact he told me he's going to visit again today!" he then puffed out his chest as if full of pride on something, before gesturing towards the entire room. "And that is why I spent all night cleaning up, everything is spotless! Can't let the Number One get in here with everything looking dirty, no?"
Chitose raised an eyebrow, not understanding why Izuku only answered her final question. But before she can ask her questions again, she decided to just ask him to carefully relay what happened last night instead.
"Well you see I still panic-called the heroes last night, but instead of the local guys, All Might himself arrived and immediately slammed you down for mistaking you as a villain. I explained you're not a bad guy and then he apologized for fifteen minutes straight. He then left to get some cash to pay you back for his mistake, and although we're just alone there, with you passed out and all, I didn't even get scared at all in case another Nomu comes around because come on, ALL freakin' MIGHT is already within the area for crying out loud! Anyways, upon arriving, he asked some stuff about you, and I told him you're Chitose Kizuki from the news, just a whole lot younger, and that you came in our house all beaten up and sick, and that you lost all of your bank money, and that you gave us 50000 Yen, and how you don't know how you're suddenly younger, and then about the speedboat and how there's a Nomu suspiciously waiting for you-"
"You told him all… that…?" Chitose abruptly asked, feeling her raised eyebrows slowly turn into a look of worry and fear. While she definitely knew All Might does not know she's part of the MLA, there's just something not right about having that much information leaked to the Number One hero of the country himself. "W-what happened next?"
"He got really confused on the whole 'Chitose Kizuki' thing and told me to repeat it, so I did, and then he got confused even more, and that's why he wants to have a chat with you today. Don't worry I didn't tell him about the whole being lonely thing. Anyways you better get ready! Because he'll be here in two hours! Oh man I can't wait!"
"I… uh… okay…?" Chitose replied, instinctively gulping down in nervousness after letting out a few awkward chuckles. Now that Izuku told All might that she's the same Chitose Kizuki from the news, and obviously not dead, that would likely prompt the Number One to send an investigation crew in Deika city. While there's nothing really wrong with that, but what if the Deika City cloaking field existed just to prevent such investigations in the first place? What if Re-Destro is planning something in regards to it?
Chitose nervously scratched the side of her neck. What if the Liberation got found because of that? Now it's all going to be her fault. And then they would kick her out and ignore her and cut off all communications from her and-
She shook her head, clearing the needlessly negative thoughts. The news came out days ago and investigations must have commenced by then and still found nothing.
Chitose let out a sigh of relief, wiping off the sweat that quickly formed at her forehead. It's not going to be her fault, and that's that.
"Uh… are you okay…?"
Chitose was snapped out by Izuku waving at her and asking.
"You're not used to All Might? I thought you're Chitose Kizuki? Shouldn't you have already met the guy multiple times?" Izuku asked again, one hand going up to scratch the back of his head. "Relax, he may look big and intimidating, but as long as you're not a bad guy, there's nothing to fear!"
"Yeah… I guess so… this whole nervousness is probably just a side-effect of going younger," Chitose replied, letting out a few awkward laughs. "I'm not really the most confident person back in the day. I'm pretty sure you already know about that," she added with even more awkward laughs, trying to remove the accumulating nervousness within her. She was about to ask about the speedboat when she suddenly noticed that the bottom 3 buttons of her jacket are strangely buttoned together, which is something she never does – both her young self and her old self.
"Uh, why is my jacket buttoned like this? Did you do this?"
Izuku immediately froze up, his face turning red faster than he could even react to the question. He started fidgeting around on the sofa he's sitting on, scratching his head, looking around, and mumbling all kinds of incomprehensible words. At the same time sweat were already forming up on his forehead.
Chitose narrowed her eyes on him, not because he might have done something to her while she's passed out, but because she noticed something odd with Izuku's blushing. "Why am I getting the feeling that you can actually feel heat and you just lied to me last night?"
"Okay newsflash! I can feel heat-!" Izuku suddenly stopped, crossing his arms and looking away. "But only for specific circumstances!" he added while still heavily blushing.
"Let me guess, you feel heat only when you're embarrassed? Seems like it…" Chitose raised one eyebrow, her expression softening. "So what happened to my jacket?"
Izuku took a deep breath and sighed. "I thought about you getting cold last night so I thought I'll just zip up your jacket instead. But then it turns out it has buttons instead of a zipper, so I tried doing that but have to stop midway because uh…" his voice trailed off. "It can't fit around your uh…" he mumbled, barely audible.
"You didn't really… touch anything… right…?"
"Why would I do that?" Izuku replied back, his blush almost immediately leaving his face. He wiped some sweat off of his forehead and sighed afterwards. "The whole point is that, it simply can't fit, so I just stopped midway. That's it. I didn't touch anything at all."
"Well I'm glad you didn't force it out because uh… none of my jackets really fit that well… over here…" Chitose said with a quick awkward gesture on her chest, followed closely by awkward chuckles all the while awkwardly scratching the back of her head.
"Why not get something that fits? What about the baggy ones? For me those are most comfortable jackets."
"I like the small ones - the ones that only go a little above the hips. They exude this unique aura that's perfect for a high-ranking publishing executive like me. While yes I can't comfortably button these kinds of jackets up, but I can't help but like the way they look! They're classy, elegant, and stylish! Catch my drift?"
"I guess so?" Izuku shrugged.
"But soon, Midoriya, soon I'll eventually find something I can button up," Chitose said as she slowly stood and stretched her limbs afterwards. She was about to say something else when her gaze landed down on her half-buttoned jacket. "But come to think of it, I never really tried buttoning these jackets up yet ever since I bought them days ago. Let me go give it a whirl."
"I think that won't be necessary…"
Chitose ignored the young man's weak reply and hurriedly buttoned the jacket up all the way up to the base of her neck, only to find out that, yes, the jackets she prefers to wear still won't properly fit around her chest, with the buttons already looking like they're about to burst any second now. She just stared at it, her eyes narrowing at the stretched-out fabric, and eventually letting out a defeated sigh. "What a disappointment…"
"Kizuki, you may not want to point those things at me. Buttons flying off are… very lethal weapons… according to anime…" Izuku stuttered, deliberately looking away with an obvious light blush on his face.
"That's stupid," Chitose muttered in response as she quickly unbuttoned her jacket and took it off altogether (before the buttons really fly off as what Izuku is talking about). But as she slung it over her shoulder (after narrowly avoiding tying it up around her waist out of instinct), she inadvertently caught another whiff of the stench of dried blood still very much attached to it. "Oh God I stink… by the way what happened to the rest of the blood on my stuff? I remember getting drenched, how come there's very little blood left?"
"When All Might took us home, he flew so fast the blood basically flew right off!" Izuku quickly answered, his blush gone and the embarrassed look on his face almost instantaneously replaced with a look of joy. "It was so cool! You should've seen it!"
"Very well. I'll uh… I'll just go take a bath for a while. Where's my suitcase?"
"But I thought that belongs to me now? We even did a whole back and forth over it!" Izuku said in a joking tone as he pointed over to the suitcase the young woman is referring to, standing just beside the dinner table. "Oh and by the way here's All Might's payment for accidentally hitting you last night," he added as he hurriedly shoved a hand onto one of the pockets of his pants and pulled out a relatively thick stack of money.
Chitose did an overly exaggerated eye-roll and a sigh directed at Izuku's comment about the suitcase. "Pass it here!" she immediately said afterwards as she gestured for the young man to toss the cash towards her, in which he did and she successfully caught. It was a decent amount, far more than she was expecting. Instinctively nodding in satisfaction, she made her way towards the suitcase and took out a fresh batch of clothes. But before she zipped it back up she made sure to stash her wallet, the cash, and the Quirk-Erasing bullet (that is still within her jacket's pocket somehow) into it. "All Might will be arriving in two hours, you say?" she asked upon finishing.
"Yep! Oh man I can't wait! What if I get out all my All Might collectibles and lay them out on the floor? Oh wait not on the floor that would be stupid. But what about on the dinner table? Yes! That's it! On the dinner table! And then I'll whip out my All Might hoodies and lay THEM on the floor in a neat little line…"
Chitose raised a curious eyebrow. "I never thought you're such an All Might fan. You have that that many collectibles? Where do you keep them? I've been to your room and I didn't see a single one."
"I keep them under my bed."
"Alongside the super special Lady Nagant in Pajamas calendar photo?" Chitose jokingly asked, stifling a giggle. But instead of a return joke from Izuku, the young man's face instantly turned into a serious one.
"I prefer you to not talk about that anymore, okay?"
Chitose simply replied with a slow nod, fully understanding what Izuku meant, before proceeding towards the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Almost immediately right after she hung the batch of clothes she's carrying onto a nearby rack and took off her dress, she heard vacuum cleaner noises coming from outside, which only made her wonder how come Inko is still not awake yet from all the noise.
Turning around, the young woman faced the bathroom mirror. It was hung relatively low, and obviously not exactly fit for someone over six feet tall like her, but in the end she's not really complaining, although she always felt a little awkward bending down just to look at it, inadvertently sticking her backside right towards the door.
Chitose suddenly felt the urge to check if she really did lock the door, making her turn her head to confirm it. The door is indeed locked.
She turned her attention back to the mirror again. As she was checking if there are some discolorations on her face brought about by blood stains, she stayed still long enough for the stench of the dried blood from her jacket slung over her shoulder to whiff over to her nostrils.
It smelled… horrendous, with the unpleasant smell accentuated further because of the bathroom being an enclosed space with only one window located in the shower area. But instead of just immediately removing the stinking jacket over her shoulder, her mind suddenly started thinking about all the possible components that make up the blood to give it such a unique odor. Is the stench caused by some molecular compounds integral to the overall function of such humanoid abominations? Maybe it helps as an aid to their regenerative capabilities-
Chitose shook her head to clear off the nonsensical thoughts at the same time just tossing the jacket onto the floor nearest to the door. Turning back to the mirror, she lightly lifted her bra strap on her left shoulder and sniffed it, and it stank as well. The other strap has the exact same story. Everything on her smelled like dried blood. She smelled like dried blood.
The Nomu event is certainly real. It obviously happened. She's not dreaming about anything. The monster exploded onto her, no doubt about it.
'But the speedboat…' Chitose thought. What happened to the speedboat? Isn't it supposed to arrive at exactly 10 pm? But Izuku said it never came. On one hand he could just be lying… 'But on the other hand WHY THE HELL IS THERE EVEN A NOMU THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?! She narrowed her eyes on her own reflection, mirroring her rising frustration levels. 'And why the hell did it slash the area I'm supposed to be standing in?! Is this some kind of murder attempt?!'
Chitose's eyes widened, feelings of paranoia rising within her and making her involuntarily glance over at the small exhaust window at the other end of the bathroom. It's obviously a murder attempt. It's also obviously tied to the League, hence the Nomu. Maybe it's also somehow because of the League that she's suddenly younger? But what about the lack of a speedboat? Skeptic said it multiple times that there WILL be a speedboat, so how come there's no speedboat?
She suddenly felt cold, on top of her rising paranoia. But on the other hand, at least she already knows that the person who is apparently trying to kill her is impersonating Skeptic, so-
'Don't worry, come this evening all your issues will be effectively cut in half.'
She suddenly remembered some of Skeptic's words from yesterday.
'Cut. In. Half…' it repeated, word for word.
The vivd image of the Nomu's unique slasher arms appeared in her mind. Piecing together some more information, she eventually came across the memory of the unusual way Skeptic is acting while she was talking to him, especially his odd refusal to directly answer any of her questions and the general praise he gave to the hacker that took all of her bank money. He won't even budge no matter how many times she asked where the Liberation army is.
Chitose paused for a while, her green eyes still locked onto her own reflection's. It is clear as day, she was never talking to Skeptic, she was talking to someone IMPERSONATING Skeptic – quite obviously with ties to the League.
?
'But that can't be right! I connected to Skeptic's network! That HAS to be him!' Chitose planted her hands onto the sink. She is SURE it was Skeptic, he even talks EXACTLY like him! It CANNOT be anyone other than Skeptic. His network is defended by layers upon layers of countermeasure-Metapowers, on top of conventional countermeasures, specifically against tampering from outside forces. That person she talked to SHOULD be no other than Skeptic, and NOONE else.
Chitose shook her head, light dizziness beginning to come through. 'But if it's Skeptic, why is there a Nomu and no speedboat? Why did he say something about a teleport module once? Why does he keep avoiding my questions? Why the Nomu slasher arms and the odd quote about being cut in half…?'
With one raised eyebrow and deep in thought, the young woman continued to stare onto her own reflection, very much confused.
But overall, IF it's an impersonator that attempted to murder her , then she currently has the advantage. All Might took the two of them back home, and is now visiting in a few hours. No villain would be stupid enough to commit a crime within the general vicinity of the Number One hero of the country. In fact even his mere presence alone is enough to completely prevent any crime happening in the current city he's in. By all means, she's perfectly safe as of the time being.
But on the other hand, she's a villain. And now the NUMBER ONE HERO of Japan is coming to visit.
Chitose involuntarily gulped down, her heart beginning to race and faintly echo around the bathroom walls.
'But what is there to fear? All Might doesn't even know I'm a villain!' the young woman thought, trying to calm herself down and letting out a few awkward laughs in the process as she nervously readjusted her bra straps. 'I'm just the SUPPOSEDLY dead executive director of Shoowaysha! Certainly not a villain!'
Chitose nervously laughed again, continuing to further fidget around with her bra straps with now-trembling fingers. "I need to take a bath," she suddenly said, hoping to further ease the thoughts. "I need a clear head to think. I need a clear head to plan. I need a clear head so I can hopefully map out a masterful escape so I can return to the… return to… the… what's the name of the organization I'm part of again…?"
'My purse! My memory papers! I need to find-'
Chitose hurriedly turned around, unlocked the door, and then slammed it wide open. She already took one step in preparation for a sprint towards her purse, wherever it might be, when she realized that she's just in her undergarments. In a twist of luck, Izuku is busy vacuuming near the door and facing the other way, he didn't even notice she went out of the bathroom in the first place.
Chitose quickly went back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, and of course locking it as well – before unlocking it and locking it again for good measure.
'This is getting out of hand! I'm starting to REALLY forget things! I'm turning younger! My speech mannerisms from way back than are already in full force! Soon I'll eventually forget everything!' Chitose raised her hands and clamped them on the sides of her head as she leaned her back on the bathroom wall. 'And now I just went out the bathroom almost NAKED! What the hell am I thinking?!'
The young woman stayed in her position, quickly taking repeated deep breaths, before eventually reaching out an arm and taking a nearby bottle of shampoo. 'I need to take my mind off of the important things first… I don't want to get out naked again… No…' she stepped underneath the shower and closed the shower curtains. 'Keep calm and try to plan out excuses. All Might is arriving in a few hours and Midoriya already told him most of the story. You can't lie your way out of this one, not with the Number One himself… keep calm and plan out excuses to hopefully get his attention away from Deika City…' Chitose then turned on the shower. 'Just keep calm, you can do this… You'll eventually get your memory papers and remember everything back… you can do this…'
…
Surprisingly, Chitose finished taking her bath without her mind relapsing into panic mode. She herself couldn't believe it, but she somehow did it, ironically thanking her younger self's ability to literally drown her thoughts under the shower. But everything is still not perfect, for that ability also unironically ended up its biggest downfall, for she took a complete bath, without even realizing she's still wearing her undergarments.
'Oh great… just more things to worry about…'
Rolling her eyes on her ignorance that caused her more trouble than she began with, Chitose hurriedly took off her undergarments and put on new clothes. She then exited the bathroom, and immediately tossed her used clothes straight towards a nearby laundry bin that's specifically there for her (and also still somehow there despite her already leaving yesterday), before turning around and walking back in because she forgot to comb her hair.
"Hey uh, Kizuki?" Izuku called out after briefly stopping vacuuming the floorboards. "All Might asked me three times last night about what city you grew up in. I don't know why he repeatedly asked about it but I thought I'd just give you a heads up. I think he'll ask about it again."
"City?" Chitose replied as she walked out of the bathroom. "The city where I grew up in? Not where I currently live?"
"He specifically asked about the city you grew up in."
Chitose instantly raised an eyebrow. Why does All Might need to know what city she grew up in? It has nothing to do with the things happening right now. Maybe some unresolved hero work? Maybe he's worried about his standing there? But what does it have to do with everything? "Chitose," she answered.
"Chitose who?"
"Chitose, Hokkaido. The city I grew up in."
Izuku turned around, a confused look etched on his face. "You're named after a city? You didn't change your name to suit your Qui – I mean Meta Ability?"
Chitose slowly nodded as she walked towards the mattress she slept in, aiming to find her 'memory purse' that should still be around there somewhere. "I told you last night, I never liked my powers. My powers are stupid. I just kept my name as it is. I don't want to change it."
"Even your surname?"
"Yes, even my surname," Chitose replied as she began searching around the mattress. It wasn't until she flipped the entire thing around when she finally saw the purse that she's been looking for, also with hints of bloodstains. Hurriedly, she opened it, nervous about the state of the contents within. She immediately let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that everything is still intact, albeit lightly drenched. But that doesn't matter, the papers are still in relatively good condition, and after a quick read she finally re-remembered the organization she's part in. With a satisfied smile, she turned back to Izuku. "So All Might really wanted to know where I'm from, huh? I don't remember getting saved by All Might at all as a kid. Getting punched last night is literally my first hero-work-related interaction with him!"
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll apologize this morning."
"Where's your mother anyway?"
"Still asleep. Heavy sleeper. Not gonna wake up any time soon. I didn't bother to wake her up because I don't want her getting tired on helping me clean the house, and totally not because so I can brag to All Might that I cleaned the house myself. Yep! Totally not the second one," he replied, shortly before giggling to himself and muttering about maybe he could get a limited edition hoodie from the Number One hero as a reward for it.
Chitose nodded and then turned her attention back to the papers she's holding. "Are you sure the speedboat didn't arrive?" she asked while lightly tilting her head.
"Nope, no speedboat."
"How about a teleport module, or something related to teleportation?"
"Nothing. Literally nothing."
"Can you open my GlobalConnect account for a bit? I'd like to check on something. Maybe my club left a message," Chitose said as she slowly stood, paper still in hand.
"Honestly I don't think it's a good idea to open your account when all we got last night is a Nomu. Oh and by the way how the hell did you beat that thing…?" Izuku asked, stopping on sweeping he floor and turning around to face her. "The thing just… it just exploded… is that your Chemistry Quirk…?"
"Well actually I just tore off the balloon sac on its back and that's the thing that exploded. I have quite a number of experiences against Nomus, and they're not that really hard to beat once you get to know them. They're also quite predictable too." Chitose replied with a shrug, mentally congratulating herself for quickly thinking up a good excuse.
"But Nomus didn't appear until just months ago, where did you get that fighting experience?"
Chitose raised her head from reading. "Like I said, they're very predictable and slow. Once you get over how terrifying they look, it's very easy to beat them. Like all made-up beings, they don't have Backforce and they die very easily."
"But how did you get over how terrifying they looked?"
"Midoriya…" Chitose narrowed her eyes at the young man. "Why should I be scared of things less uglier than me?" she said, framing her sentence as a joke, even though the real reason why she was never scared of Nomus, unlike Re-Destro and the others, is that she has seen far worse things in front a mirror. At this point she wouldn't be surprised if Nomus can outright beat her in a beauty contest by a long shot.
And judging from the fact that there are already toys based off of Nomus (due to Japan's way of mocking villains by making toys off of them) and are already quite popular with children, that statement might not be too far from the truth.
"Now if you may excuse me, I have some things to read and remember," Chitose added as she sat back down onto the floor, immediately noticing Izuku just awkwardly return to sweeping around. She knows he can't say anything in return to comfort her in that regard, considering he himself called her insulting names just some time ago.
Turning her attention back to her printed papers, she began scanning them from top to bottom and page after page, and then a second time, and a third time... So far so good, besides temporarily forgetting the name of the MLA earlier, she confirmed that she hasn't forgotten anything else. Everything is still very much intact at the moment, especially Geten (Although she still couldn't remember the Iceman's real name). She was about to shove them back into the (still smelly) purse when she suddenly felt the urge to go have at it a fourth time, in which she did, but upon reaching towards the end of her six-paper print, containing the names of some other notable MLA people, she instantly raised a confused eyebrow.
She suddenly can't recognize a single person she listed there.
Chitose pulled the paper closer to her face, narrowing her eyes onto the names in an attempt to somehow re-remember them, even reading them over and over and over again. But no matter what she does, even re-reading the entire file for the fifth time, she somehow can't remember the people she listed on the last part anymore.
"Uh Kizuki?" Izuku suddenly spoke out as placed the broom he's holding onto a nearby wall and picked up the portable vacuum cleaner. "Is it normal that your eyes glow through your eyelids? Because last night your eyes are kind of slightly glowing," he added, gesturing towards his eyes.
"Yes, my eyes just never stop glowing, why?"
"Nothing, I just noticed them," Izuku replied, starting to sweep the vacuum cleaner around and continuing his cleaning, placing it on the lowest setting so the resulting noise won't drown out the conversation. "-Because you were kinda clinging onto me last night. I mean I was in the middle of deciding whether to continue buttoning up the jacket and then suddenly your right arm swung forward and latched on. Is that also normal?"
Chitose stopped reading, feeling her face rapidly rise in temperature. "My uh… my young self tends to do that," she replied, stuttering, fully remembering all the awkward moments she got from that automatic habit – and another one has been added to the pile just right now. "So uh… I didn't do anything, right?"
"Nothing."
"How long did I do that…?"
"Around thirty minutes, until All Might returned."
Chitose ran a palm down her face. Thirty minutes? Thirty minutes…? That was absolutely embarrassing. VERY embarrassing. And on top of all that now there's suddenly a mental image that appeared in her head of herself sleepy-hugging an annoyingly adorable idiot while alone in the beach and under the moonlight. She smacked her forehead in frustration and in an attempt to remove it, yet the image refused to disappear from her mind, all the while blood rushed around her system at several miles a minute. "Uh… All Might didn't say anything about that… right?"
"No, he mostly just asked again what city you grew up in once he got back." Izuku replied as he continued vacuuming whatever he felt like vacuuming at the moment.
Taking one deep breath, and a quick mental note that she should NOT be getting attracted to her 'roommate' for various reasons, Chitose straightened and composed herself, despite her fingers still slightly trembling about. "So uh-"
A series of loud knocks is heard from the door, making the two of them freeze and turn their attention towards it. A few seconds later there was another round of knocks arranged like some sort of code, in which suddenly brought Izuku into a state of panic, wildly flailing his arms around while still carrying the broom and the vacuum cleaner, all while still somehow managing to stay almost completely silent.
"What? Who is it?" Chitose asked, quickly stashing her papers back to her purse and then shoving them back under the bloodstained mattress.
Izuku quickly turned his head to face her and immediately mouthed, 'ALL MIGHT'.
"But I thought he won't be arriving until an hour from now?!"
"That's what I thought too! He specifically said around 8 in the morning, he repeated it several times even!" Izuku whispered just loud enough for the young woman to hear as he ran back to a specific spot at the dining area and hurriedly placing the broom there. "Quick! Fold up the mattress! Throw it here!" he immediately ordered as he opened the door to his room and shoved the entire vacuum cleaner there, before running off to tie some curtains.
"Are you even sure that's him?" Chitose asked as she watched the young man run around, hurriedly fixing things that don't even need fixing in the first place, indirectly just ruining them further.
"Of course I know it's him! It's his signature knock! It's illegal to copy it! Not to mention NO ONE can even copy it!"
Chitose instantly raised a confused eyebrow at what Izuku just said. She knew she has definitely heard about All Might using a secret door-knocking rhythm once, but at the same time she felt as if this is the first time she heard that the Number One uses a particular door knocking rhythm in the first place.
'Hmmph… fragmented memories…' she thought to herself as she quickly stood up, grabbed the mattress, and walked into Izuku's open room and threw it in, but not before taking the 'memory purse' and slinging it over her shoulder. It may have the annoying light stench of blood in it, but it is the most important item as of now and she couldn't let her eyes off of it for a second or else risk forgetting about it altogether.
"Kizuki, can you please open the door for me?"
Chitose instantly turned around, noticing the voice sounded as if Izuku is right behind her, and indeed the young man is suddenly standing behind her giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
And it was absolutely adorable.
"I thought there's nothing to be afraid of All Might unless you're a villain?" Chitose rolled her eyes, rapidly repeating the memories of Izuku calling her a beached whale just to be sure her face won't heat up again, which surprisingly worked. "Fine I'll do it, just stop with the eye-thing, it's making me feel weird."
"Thank you, Kizuki!" came the reply, followed by Izuku doing his best dogeza bow. "I am in your debt."
Chitose shrugged it off and walked right to the door, one hand already holding the door knob. She took one last look at Izuku, and once the other person responded with a light nod of his own, she opened the door.
And right behind it, in all his statuesque and muscular glory (that can barely fit in the narrow corridor, much less the door itself), is All Might, the Number One hero of Japan himself.
"Uh… hi…" Chitose squeaked out a few words, feeling the fear slowly creeping in despite the man himself donning his usual smile that has the (proven) power to calm down civilians within a radius of a thousand meters. "All… Might…" she added, instinctively gulping in nervousness as she stepped back to allow the hero to enter the room.
"Uh… I don't think he can fit through-" Izuku didn't even finish his sentence. For in the blink of an eye and a slight gust of wind, All Might – despite clearly not able to fit through the small doorway, is suddenly inside the room, posing dramatically like he just defeated a villain.
Chitose backed off a few more steps, ultimately finding herself standing beside Izuku. She very well knew about All Might's mysterious abilities to fit through small doorways, yet never really knew about how it really works as All Might himself consistently refuses to answer it. Does he shrink himself? Does he simply phase through? She has no idea.
"CHITOSE KIZUKI!" All Might immediately said as he faced her, accompanied with a peace gesture with his fingers. "ARE YOU WILLING TO-"
"Chitose, Hokkaido!" Chitose suddenly blurted out from sheer nervousness. It was only a few seconds later before she realized what she just did, making her instinctively gulp down as she tried her best to keep calm.
"She's named after a city!" Izuku added, chuckling awkwardly afterwards. "Hooray!"
All Might suddenly froze in the middle of his peace-sign heroic pose, his smile twitching for a brief moment but quickly returning back to normal. "THAT... IS A VERY NICE NAME! I GIVE IT A 10-OUT-OF-10!" he said as he straightened himself. "ALL MIGHT APPROVES!"
"What do you think of Izuku Midoriya…?" came Izuku's weak question while raising a trembling hand.
All Might simply responded with a thumbs-up gesture before quickly turning his attention back to the tall blue-skinned young woman standing beside him. "CHITOSE KIZUKI, I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS FOR YOU!" he then gestured towards the living room couches, inviting the two. Upon walking towards one of the chairs, he tried to sit down, but realizing he's too big for the couch, he just decided to sit on the floor instead. "IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE THE ONE ON TELEVISION SOME DAYS AGO? AS YOUNG MIDORIYA HERE RIGHTFULLY SAID?"
Chitose was about to answer when the door on Inko's room opened, and out came the mother awkwardly shuffling about like she's still half asleep. She slowly made her way towards the sink to wash her face, before slowly walking back to her room and re-locking the door, not a single time she noticed anything different.
"Uh…" Chitose muttered, instantly turning the other two's attention to her. "That was me. I was uh… I was younger and uh…I don't know how…" she added as she stood behind the couch Izuku chose to sit on. "I really have no idea on what's going on right now…"
All Might nodded, bringing up a hand under his chin in the most dramatic way possible. "ARE YOU REALLY FROM CHITOSE, HOKKAIDO, MISS KIZUKI?"
Chitose raised an eyebrow, noticing the sudden switch on a topic that's already covered. "Uh… yes?"
"CHITOSE, HOKKAIDO?"
"Y-yes…?" Chitose raised up a hand and scratched the back of her head, almost immediately feeling a very light sting of pain there, in which she deduced as because it is directly where All Might hit her last night. "I'm from Chitose, Hokkaido, why?"
All Might suddenly sat up straight, once again in a very dramatic manner. "A VERY INTERESTING BIRTHPLACE INDEED! BUT I SURE DO HOPE YOU'RE NOT LYING!" he said, his voice a lot softer now.
"W-why would I lie about it?"
All Might did a light nod, before suddenly bringing a hand up to his ear like he caught wind of something. "MY MIGHT SENSES ARE PICKING SOMETHING! DID YOU HEAR THAT?" he said, deliberately aiming his ear in an exaggerated manner straight towards the nearest closed window.
Chitose took step back, one hand going up to her chest in embarrassment that All Might might be picking up her faintly externally audible heartbeat, even though she was definitely sure that the Number One hero does not have any Super Hearing ability, not he was even pointing at her. "Uh… I'm not hearing anything," she said in an attempt to deflect it, if ever All Might is indeed picking up on her circulatory functions.
"A TROUBLEMAKER IS CAUSING TROUBLE!" All Might said, before instantly turning to face Chitose. "DO YOU, BY ANY CHANCE, HAVE ANY FREE TIME TOMORROW MORNING? I WOULD LOVE TO STAY AND CHAT BUT DUTY IS CALLING AND I MUST ANSWER!"
"Yes-?"
"IT'S SETTLED THEN! AT THE NEAREST KFC FROM HERE. 10 IN THE MORNING TOMORROW. DON'T BE LATE!" All Might did an overly-exaggerated clap, yet no sound came from it. Standing up, he immediately went out the door so fast it almost seemed like he teleported away.
"That was-" Chitose didn't get to finish when the Number One hero returned, now carrying a phone.
"SELFIE TIME!" All Might said as he immediately positioned himself between both Chitose and Izuku and wrapped an arm around them, using the other free hand to quickly snap a photo. And after a quick thanks, he left again, this time he didn't return anymore, or at least within 10 seconds.
Chitose just stared at the still-slightly-open door from where All Might left, her mind still in the middle of processing what just happened. Not only All Might, on top of appearing far earlier than usual, just repeatedly asked her about the place she grew up in instead of the questions she's expecting, but he suddenly seemed to be in a hurry out of nowhere as if he really just wanted to know if she came from Chitose, Hokkaido.
In her days of being a journalist, he managed to snap an interview with him multiple times, and not once he even acted remotely similar to what he acted right now.
"He's not an impersonator under an illusion Meta Ability, isn't he?" she asked in a state of confusion, even though she very well knew impersonating heroes is against the law, not to mention there's no villain alive on the planet that's even dumb enough to do that on All Might out of all heroes.
Izuku took a while to respond. "Wow… All Might sat on that very rug…" he muttered to himself before walking slowly and sitting on the exact same spot All Might sat on earlier, fully ignoring the young woman's question to him.
"Hey Midoriya, notice something odd with All Might?" Chitose asked again.
"He's in a hurry. I mean the guy's the Number One of the country, what do you expect? But he said he wants to meet up again so it's still a win! Man I can't wait to meet with him again! Maybe I can finally get his autograph! And maybe get a free hoodie!"
"Did you notice something odd on how he took our photos? He didn't even wait for us to smile. He just went in and took one at the front and another at the side like some sort of mugshot."
Izuku raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure he just took a photo up front, what do you mean at the sides?"
Chitose took a glance towards the still-slightly-open door. "All Might took two photos, didn't you see? He quickly swiped his hand over to your left and took another one," she said re-enacting the way All Might swung his hand for the second photo as she walked closer to the door to it to check if the hero is really gone.
"I swear I didn't see anything. Are your eyes seeing something that I don't?"
Chitose neared the doorway. "Maybe… Or maybe All Might is just acting weird and it's making me see things I'm not meant to see-" she instinctively dove backwards after seeing a flash of reds and blues rapidly coming her way.
"I'M BACK! SUDDENLY!"
It was All Might again, once again posing dramatically after somehow getting through the doorway that was clearly way too small for him.
"All Might! You're back-" Izuku was stopped as the Number One immediately raised a hand in a dramatic manner, silencing him. He then quickly ducked down into Chitose, who's still hyperventilating on the floor. "NOT TO SOUND DISRESPECTFUL MISS KIZUKI, BUT ARE YOU AN ORPHAN BY AN CHANCE?"
"Uh ah… I'm uh…" Chitose stammered as she caught her breath. "Y-yeah…? E-e-every time my parents get mad at me they tell me I'm adopted-"
"VERY WELL SAID, DON'T FORGET THE MEETING TOMORROW!" All Might interrupted and out he came, almost as quickly as he re-arrived.
"What the hell was that?!" Chitose almost yelled, clutching her chest as she caught her breath, finding herself still unable to sit up straight due to the sheer terror (and shock) All Might instilled in her. "The guy's going to give me a heart attack! Since when does All Might act like that? Are you sure that was even him?"
Izuku quickly walked over to her and assisted her in sitting up, before turning to face the doorway. "He did the super secret door knock! Only All Might can do that! Have you seen the multiple game shows where contestants are literally tasked to replicate it? No one can do it! Even sound-replicating Quirks can't replicate it! The guy can somehow make knocking sounds only he can make! That's definitely him!" Izuku said as he sat down beside her, excitedly fidgeting with his fingers. "Maybe he's just in a hurry? But what could he be doing at this hour? A super secret mission perhaps? But he still found time to visit! And now he's inviting us again!"
"I don't watch game shows, Midoriya…" Chitose muttered back in annoyance as she straightened her sitting posture, trying to calm herself down as she continued to catch her breath after her shocking experience with All Might. "I'd rather watch nature documentaries. At least I can actually learn something from those," she added, slouching forward and planting her palms on the floor.
"I hope he's not lying when he said he wants to meet up again! I hope he won't mind if I tagged along with you!" Izuku said, keeping his gaze locked onto the door in front of them, massively hoping that the Number One would return again.
Chitose couldn't help but roll her eyes, not from the statement, but from the way her heart immediately going back to rapidly hammering against her rib cage just at the mere sight of Izuku's (somehow) freckle-framed perfect smile as he stared at the door way. She quickly turned her head away with a rather loud scoff and wasted no time reminding herself to just stop thirsting over some random 18 year old as she's technically still 46, just in the body of her 20 year old self. She already has too much issues on her hands right now, there's no point adding more.
"Hey Kizuki, I can hear your heartbeat from here. Excited if ever All Might returns again? Because I am."
"The guy's acting odd, the way he asked multiple times about my birthplace is really weirding me out-" Chitose didn't finish when she heard the door from Inko's room opened.
"I had the weirdest dream last night," Inko said to herself as she drowsily wandered outside. "It's about Miss Kizuki returning… and then there's All Might…"
"…"