December 24 - Day 12
The trip to Takoba Beach took a great while. Not only because of the time and date being the early afternoon of December 24 – meaning the streets are very much crowded, but also because of Chitose's nervous stuttering pace – which certainly got a lot of stares from the people around them. Yet the young woman ignored them all, the only thing on her mind (or things rather) throughout the trip is Skeptic, specifically all the events that happened so far that are all somehow connected to him in one way or another.
"O-okay w-we're here! W-we're finally h-h-here!" Chitose stammered as she gestured forward with one shaking hand, that is still holding onto a now-fully-melted ice cream. If it weren't for the seller's gimmick of giving their cold confections 'comically large cones', the entire thing would have dripped off her fingers and stained her dress, all the way to the her jacket currently tied to her waist. "L-let's do some training!" she added, her voice cracking and her vision going blurry for a brief while.
"Kizuki, I don't like what's going on with you," Izuku mumbled as he went into view, looking at her with visible concern. "You've been like that ever since you went out of Cybersleuths."
"M-Midoriya, you've been saying that ever s-since we left Cybersleuths!" came Chitose's reply, trying her best to pull up a harmless smile while at the same time hurriedly wiping off the sweat that have already formed on her forehead. "But let's not t-talk about that anymore. I-I have only around 6 hours left here and l-let's not waste time!" she instinctively gulped in nervousness before continuing, "w-we got a whole afternoon a-ahead of us!"
Right after talking, and taking yet another gulp out of nervousness, Chitose took a step forward and gestured for Izuku to follow her down the worn-down marble stairs that lead straight into the sands of Takoba Beach. It was all going well until she reached the final steps, when a drop of sweat suddenly went into her right eye, blurring her vision and making her miscalculate, ending up with her going face-first into the sands - the filthy unclean sands of Takoba Beach.
Almost immediately Izuku went down to help her up. "Kizuki, I think you need to rest a bit and sort those things out and…"
Chitose was sure Izuku said something more, like an actual full-blown paragraph as he was helping her up, yet her mind is just too focused on other things to comprehend it. The moment her face went out of the sand, she quickly stood up and dusted herself with her left hand, while her right hand immediately grasped down afterwards – only to realize that she accidentally threw her ice cream halfway across the beach as she fell. "I'm uh… you go test out your Metapower, I-I'll just uh… I'll sit down for a while and sort my stuff out…" she blurted out in a trembling voice before walking over to the nearest spot she could sit on.
An overturned worn-down refrigerator, the exact same spot Inko sat on some time ago.
She felt her legs ache along the way there, a slightly much more painful sting than the previous ones, but far from the same level as the one as she experienced back in UA just this morning.
'What now?!' she wasted no time asking herself in her thoughts as she sat on her preferred spot, her shaking right hand now securely holding onto her Memory Purse. 'Skeptic clearly keeps knowing things he shouldn't even be supposed to know. He's somehow tied himself to ALL the strange events surrounding December 12… now he wants to meet up tonight at another suspiciously specific time… Something's not right… Something's going to happen…!'
She sighed as she thought some more. Is is she just overthinking things? Skeptic's always been that one person in the MLA who's obsessed with punctuality and time more so than any other member that she knew of. But the way he's somehow knowing things without reason, and the odd string of events that are clearly tied to him, are definitely things she could NOT just throw out of the equation.
Her worries eventually switched over to the MLA. If something's going wrong with Skeptic, then it shouldn't be surprising that something's also happened with the MLA. But what could it be? At this point she could already rule out the League, as they're only six people and should have lost by now (maybe even killed off). But what about the giant? But then again, is the giant even real or just part of the illusion? One one hand, she saw the damage herself and it's within the Deika City illusory field. But on the other hand, the TV report made no mention of it. Meanwhile there's High-5's audio logs that also talked about a 'Mountain Giant', but she could just be joking about it.
So what really happened?
Her arms began to tremble, making her instinctively put them on her lap, just making sure that they're not grasping down onto her wounds. She could feel more sweat beginning to form on her forehead, at the same time her legs ached again, adding even more to her current ongoing mental turmoil.
'Now what…?'
She turned her head to her right and was utterly surprised Izuku is already sitting beside her. "H-hey, Midoriya! I didn't see you there!" she chuckled nervously afterwards, completely failing to look not the least bit nervous. "I thought you're already pulling things around!"
"Kizuki…" Izuku pulled up a small paper bag from out of her view and placed it on his lap, and within it he pulled out an even smaller paper bag, and within it is an elegant pair of sunglasses. "Since you won't tell me what's going on, not that I blame you I can understand a person valuing their privacy, and you're leaving and all, I kind of want to give you this pair of sunglasses I bought." He raised the item he's holding onto in the same level as Chitose's eyes. "It's Obelix, same brand as your jacket."
Chitose stared at the item for five seconds, her lips moving as if wanting to say something but stopping at the very last moment. While one part of her is now telling her to just blurt out what's wrong in the hopes of receving some sort of support or at least feel she's not alone, while another one is completely holding her back on the notion that if she did tell Izuku everything, he might call All Might out of concern and it could all eventually lead to the entire MLA being found out and dismantled – all of which is going to be her fault. And on top of both of those her abandonment issues are already firing up on the perceived fear of Izuku walking away once he knew about the situation, leaving her completely alone to deal with her troubles.
'What now?! What to do?!'
…
Chitose glanced at Izuku, who's just staring into the beach after stuffing the sunglasses back to the paper bag he got it from. Should she just tell him what's wrong? Would she get some support on it or Izuku would just leave? Her lips trembled. Is it safe to just tell him and ask for help…?
…
Chitose took a deep breath and sighed. At the end of the day, she's only still breathing and walking simply because Izuku invited her out on a walk in the beach that one night. She should have been sliced in half and already rotting in these very sands as of this moment if it weren't for that. And on top of all that he even covered-up the real story both to his mother and even to All Might himself just for her convenience, among other things. Izuku clearly has her back, she can fully trust him to not just leave her alone.
…
"Midoriya… I uh… I have something to tell you…"
"On second thought, Kizuki, you can just hold it in. If it's some super private information I think it's best to just tell it so some person you really trust-"
"I'm not leaving…" Kizuki suddenly spoke out, stammering in her words a little. "I… I-uh… something happened back there…" she added, a trembling finger discreetly pointing out the general direction of Cyrbersleuths from Takoba beach. "Something…"
"Hmmm?" Izuku shifted closer as he adjusted his bonnet, his multitude of piled-on sweaters getting wrinkled as he slouched forward afterwards. "Is it something about another Nomu?" he whispered loudly, just loud enough to be heard against the waves of the ocean.
"No… N-n-o… it's more than just a Nomu. The person I t-talked to, the person I have in contact with my organization…" Chitose paused a bit and nervously gulped down. " I connected some dots and I think he's the one behind everything that happened to me thus far…" she said, her voice audibly cracking and eventually trailing off. After a brief pause, she then proceeded to tell the entire story: About Skeptic's odd knowledge on things, about how she figured out he's the one who ordered the Nomu assassination, and is planning an attempt to assassinate her again tonight, all the way to the strange string of December 12-related events. Basically almost everything.
"He f-figured out that I'm me just from my complaints about my b-b-bank account being empty and some other things…" Chitose stammered some more, now visibly shivering. "It's him, it's got to be him! But why?! He's been loyal to the organization for over twenty years! And all that time he'd never done anything close to what he's acting now!" she continued. "And now he won't even tell where they are!"
"That person must also be the reason why you're younger."
"Exactly!" Chitose exclaimed and wiped some more sweat forming on her forehead. "All points just keep leading towards him! I don't want to believe he did it, but everything is just pushing me towards it! It's SKEPTIC! He's the one behind all this!"
"…Skep… tic…?" Izuku muttered, tilting his head a little. "Skeptic who?"
Chitose froze a bit, her trembling fingers intensifying their twitching. She accidentally blurted out a top secret Liberation codename. She was about to excuse it as a tongue-slip when she figured out that 'Skeptic' very much just sounds like a standard codename and not at all can be tied to the Liberation Army. "Skeptic is our IT guy's codename, he's really really good with tech."
"That's a… that's a funny-sounding codename."
"I know. But Re-Destro insists hmmph-!" Chitose abruptly stopped, immediately covering her mouth. Unlike Skeptic, Re-Destro is at the highest rank of the MLA, and a lieutenant saying his codename beyond the Liberation Army is equivalent to-
"Re-Destro doesn't sound too bad of a codename, I think it's badass actually."
"No it's not. It sounds good in a Japanese perspective. But in an English perspective, it sounds childish –OH GOD DAMMIT!" Chitose yelled out before instantly burying her face in her hands. How could she say that? While she'd always thought that Re-Destro's codename, as well as the rest of the codenames he picked out, sound a bit too awkward especially for someone who speaks fluent English like her, but she'd never just suddenly utter her opinion on it out loud. Almost immediately she blamed her young self and the nervousness she's currently experiencing. "Hey! Forget that I said that! Re-Destro is a top tier name!"
"What about you, do you have a codename too?"
"I don't want to talk about it…"
Izuku paused for a while, mittened fingers fidgeting about. "Say uh… Re-Destro sounds like Destro… the 'author' of the Meta Liberation War book you want to buy earlier, and also a big Free Quirk Use advocate… That's a funny little coincidence-"
"Because it's JUST WHAT IT IS! Coincidence!" Chitose loudly interrupted. It's already close enough that Izuku somehow figured out that she's part of a Free Quirk Use organization, at best she should NOT be blurting out any more information that could be tied to the MLA. "Let's not talk about that, let's talk about my impending assassination!" she added, bringing up her legs to her chest and encircling her arms around them.
Izuku paused a bit again, before bringing up his phone. "I could call All Might? I mean it's an assassination and all-"
"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT-!" Chitose yelled out, just abruptly stopping upon realizing her absurd overreaction. With a loud sigh of disappointment, she continued in a more solemn tone. "Skeptic's just one person, he's the only one bugging me. If you call in All Might, that could lead to a disastrous investigation-domino effect that could result in the entire organization being found out! And you know how heroes don't want anything other than them using their Metapowers freely!" she then sighed and paused a bit before continuing, "Skeptic is the only one there that needs investigating. But he can't really be investigated without the organization being found out… I don't want to be the one to single-handedly cause the entire downfall of the only family I've got at this point."
Before Izuku could speak up, Chitose added, "On the other hand, if I didn't show up tonight. Skeptic could extend the search and start actively hunting me down! And you could get caught in the crossfire! W-What to do now?!" she yelled in a stuttering voice as she wiped off the tears forming on her eyes. "What to do?! What to do?!"
"Calling in All Might is the only thing I can think of. What's clearly about to happen to you is an assassination attempt… and you can't really take those things very lightly… This Skeptic person is clearly trying to kill you," Izuku mumbled with a small nod at the end, his finger-fidgeting intensifying as he too, brought up his legs to his chest and hugged them. "You already survived one attempt… you can't just dive into the lion's den a second time."
"I don't even know how Skeptic's got himself some Nomu… that's League property!" Chitose uttered out in response, wiping more tears forming on her eyes. "I don't really know what to do. You're the only person I trust right now and I… I…"
Izuku slowly turned to face her, his eyes showing the same concern they've been showing for almost the entire day now.
"I…" Chitose stammered, instinctively hugging her legs even tighter. She has the words right at the tip of her tongue but something is just blocking her from uttering them outright. She opened her mouth and tried again, yet nothing came out of it. "I… need…" her voice trailed off as her legs trembled at the same rate as her arms.
"You need…?"
"I…" Chitose grit her teeth and sighed as loud as she can in an attempt to cool herself down a bit. She then turned to face Izuku directly and raised a trembling hand with a trembling pointed finger as if preparing a lecture. "You're the only person I trust right now and I desperately need…" her voice trailed off again, until she eventually whispered a weak, "I need help."
"Kizuki… asking for help is completely normal. You don't have to earn it…" Izuku reached out and gently placed a reassuring hand onto the tall young woman's back. "I know I may just be 18 years old and this is a real assassination attempt, but we'll think of- wait what…?" he immediately took off his hand off Chitose's back, paused for a brief while, and then placed it again, noticing that there are, in fact, rapid rhythmic vibrations emanating from it. "Is that… a heartbeat… on your back…?"
Chitose, instead of answering it, just lightly nudged the hand away and instinctively tightened her tied-up jacket that's currently around her waist. "What to do now…?"
"Wait… let me think…"
"Midoriya I… I apologize for bringing you into this mess. B-but I promise you if I make it out tonight, you won't be hearing anything from me again. I'll just leave and stop bringing in any more mess, o-okay?" Chitose stammered as she lightly shifted away, hands back to being wrapped around her legs she brought up to her chest. "Help me out just this one time, and then I'll be gone, I swear."
"Kizuki, if you die tonight, then I won't be hearing anything from you anyway. You're approaching this the wrong way-"
"My brain is all over the place! Of course everything I can think of will obviously be in the wrong way! I'm so nervous, my thoughts are spinning in circles! My mind is in shambles! The guy all events are pointing towards doesn't even make any semblance of sense and now I'm about to get assassinated tonight! A SECOND TIME! And I can't even just report it or else-!"
Izuku suddenly stood up, interrupting the young woman beside her. Almost immediately he started to walk back and forth, right hand on his chin, and muttering something nonstop. "Hold on… since I'm technically not on the hit-list and not as much as nervous as you are, let me see if my slightly-less-muffled head can think of something… Hmmm… you said he's the IT guy, right? A real tech genius?"
Chitose stared on for a brief while before nervously nodding. "H-he's gonna track me through the computer I'm going to use. He said I should be using one and talking to him by the time he sends in the person to 'pick' me up… as if he really wants me to stay put on one spot. No walking around this time."
"Hmmm… you evaded the first Nomu strike, he's obviously not gonna be messing around this time…" Izuku's voice trailed off as he continued to walk back and forth. "You can't really call him from another Internet café because he's tracking your computer… what to do? What to do- wait…" he slowly turned to face Chitose, face blank as if an idea popped into his head. "How is he tracking you anyway? By radar? The usual top-down radar?"
"By satellite, yes. Why?"
"If he's tracking you by that, wouldn't that mean you'd only appear as a dot around Cybersleuths and he can't know your exact location there-?"
Chitose suddenly perked up and quickly latched into Izuku's shoulders as he walked past, before violently shaking him back and forth. "HOLY CRAP! YOU'RE RIGHT!" she exclaimed before immediately going back to her previous state, now with more sweat dripping off her forehead. "I've seen his radar system… he doesn't have a zoom-in function that could pinpoint my EXACT location… all he will be able to see is a massive red dot around Cybersleuths! Yes! Skeptic has an exploitable weakness! MIDORIYA, YOU'RE A GENIUS!"
"Well actually I got my IQ tested before and I'm just of average intelligence," Izuku said as he straightened his posture, looking like he just earned a Nobel Prize for something. "But still…" he added, his accomplished expression rapidly fading. "This is an assassination attempt we're dealing with here, can't we really just call All Might on this?"
"No. I already told you we can't."
"But Cybersleuths is full of people. We can't just leave them out of the picture! What if this non-Nomu assassin Skeptic's going to send in target them too?"
Chitose blanked out. Why didn't she think of that? "Oh crap… last time it's only luck that… wait a minute…" her voice trailed off, remembering the night of the first assassination attempt, specifically the unusual string of events that eventually led to it. "Skeptic told me I'm leaving by speedboat, and made me go to Takoba. Next, there's a random villain attack that occurred, effectively making everyone leave. Next, a Nomu arrived with a built-in balloon that allows it to hover silently across the sands, and then slashed the spot where…" her voice trailed off before continuing, "It's all a set-up for an ambush! The speedboat… the villain attack to get everyone to leave… the balloon Nomu… everything!"
"Hmmm… looks like this Skeptic person only wants you out of the picture, and ONLY you. He wants no other person out, ONLY you…"
Chitose gulped down in nervousness, realizing an odd layer to Skeptic's plans. "But what the hell is he even going to get once I'm out of the picture?" she asked herself. Does Skeptic want to stop the distribution of the MLW books? For what reason? "But still, some part of me is STILL somehow hoping that he's just fooling with me and I can finally get home… DAMMIT! Stupid brain making me think stupid things!"
"Kizuki. He's repeating the exact same things he did before. Skeptic clearly doesn't want you back home. He's trying to kill you," Izuku said as he walked right up to stand in front of Chitose. "But since as you said I can't really call All Might on this and risk your club getting found out, we have to think of an alternative to-"
"The only other alternative I can think of is to actually be at Cybersleuths, and then fool Skeptic into launching an attack on an empty space. That way, once he thought he's killed me, he'll stop any future attempts, leaving me with a whole lot more breathing room to think and eventually get to him…" Chitose's voice trailed off. "B-but the people… there's a lot of innocent people… we can't just expect him to do the same trick all over again-"
"Wait!" Izuku blurted out loud. He then paused a bit before continuing, "technically speaking, if All Might is just around, wouldn't that mean Skeptic's assassin couldn't launch a wide-scale assassination mission or else it would trigger AM to appear far earlier than it is a regular crime within his area? No criminal is dumb enough to NOT know that. Although that doesn't really answer the question as to why Skeptic pulled everyone before the Takoba assassination considering it's just a disposable Nomu, or maybe he just wants them out so no one would be alarmed of a floating Nomu sneakily approaching towards you-"
"Of course! All Might is just around!" Chitose suddenly blurted out as she leaned forward, breathing heavily. "All Might's presence will basically force the assassin Skeptic's going to send in tonight to just 'minimize' his crime and stay out of the general area or else risk being caught! There will be no drastic attacks! Civilian risk is minimal!" She giggled nervously, not really sure if whatever she said is even correct. "Right! So with the two facts that I would only appear in Skeptic's radar as a big red dot, and his assassin is heavily restricted to long-range targeted assassination... I could easily fool them!"
"Well actually-"
"Yes! Now we have a plan! GREAT! IT'S GOING TO GO GREAT! GIMME A HUG!"
Izuku did not get time to react as the taller young woman quickly lunged forward, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, a very tight hug.
"It's going to go great…" Chitose nervously chuckled as she rested her chin onto Izuku's bonneted head. "I'm going to be fine. It's going to go nicely. I WILL survive. I will make it. And then I will find a way to tell everyone about Skeptic's crimes…" she continued chuckling nervously, her trembling arms making the already awkward hug even tighter. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Nothing at all. I'm going to be fine. Soon I'll be back to the club like nothing happened…" she made the hug tighter as her arms trembled further. "I'm going to be fine! Skeptic will pay for all of this… I'm not gonna die… I'm not dying today… holy crap I'm totally going to die…"
"Hey uh… Kizuki…?"
"Y-y-y-yes…?"
"Is your heartbeat even meant to sound and feel like this…? You're not about to get a heart attack, no?"
"No-It's-Just-That-It's-Currently-Going-At-Over-250BPM-Right-Now-Don'tMindItIt'sPerfectlyFine! I'mPerfectlyFine!" She stuttered, rapidly feeling her cheeks heat up amidst her entire nervous and trembling state, upon realizing that she ended up grabbing Izuku's head and is now hugging him extremely tight against her sternum, with her oversized two-chambered heart ferociously hammering directly against his ear, noticeably shaking his entire head in rhythm. And to add to the awkwardness, only now she found herself that her legs have apparently also clung onto him. But as much as she knew she looked like an absolute nervous wreck, with tears now streaming down her face, she found herself unable to let go.
A volatile combination of fear and worry preventing her from doing so.
She heard Izuku lightly mutter something, but she didn't hear it much to comprehend it. All that is on her mind right now is that she's about to face an assassination attempt within 6 hours... one that she can't just easily escape from.
She felt Izuku's arms broke free from being entrapped by her legs. The next thing she felt is a pair of arms now hugging back from him.
"Kizuki, I can feel your heartbeat on your back. Is this supposed to be normal-?"
"Y-y-y-es MyHeartBeatsForwardsAndBackwardsThat'sJUstHowItIs!" she stammered as she tightened her hug even further. "It'sBasicAlienBiology101!"
"Yeah… I can feel that…" came an awkward-sounding response at the same Izuku started gently rubbing his mittened hands around the young woman's back in an attempt to hopefully calm her down. "So how long should we stay like this?"
"I don't know… I'm really scared…" Chitose replied, burying her face on Izuku's bonnet. "Skeptic's clearly planning something… yet we can't just tell All Might about the matter or else the club's gonna get found out… I don't even know if our little plan's going to work or I'm just risking myself for nothing…"
"Or I could just wait for the slightest bit of an issue and then call in All Might. This is an actual murder about to happen. I don't think we really have a choice once it gets bad."
"I know…"
There was silence for a bit.
"…Is your heart going at this speed normal? Because if it suddenly stopped right here right now I'm going to be haunted by it forever."
"My pulse rate can go as high as 250 bpm with no ill effects…" Chitose lifted up her head and sighed, before burying it into Izuku's bonnet again. "Just don't mind it." Once again she thought about letting go for a bit and adjusting the hug so that Izuku is not awkwardly pressed on her chest anymore, but she just somehow can't move anything.
"Oh okay. By the way I do apologize again for calling you uh… a… a beached whale… I think it's the main reason why you want to leave as soon as possible and you just won't tell me about it."
"Honestly I already forgot about that insult by now…" Chitose's hug slightly loosened. "It's just that I j-just really wanted to go home. I'm really worried about what happened to the only family I've got at this point. Skeptic won't even let me talk to them…"
Izuku tapped her back twice. "You know what, I just remembered, way back then before you first left the house, you mentioned something about me having good luck with a U-Aid Exam. What did you mean by that anyway?"
Chitose sighed, further loosening her hug. "It's uh… It's something to do with your Mom's Christmas present for you."
"Really? What is it? I'm not good with surprises. Now that you told me about it, now I want to know about it!" Izuku chuckled in an attempt to lighten up the mood. It sounded more awkward than he imagined, but at least it's better than nothing. "I promise I won't tell Mom you told me about it. So what is it? Tell me!"
"She has you already enrolled in a U-Aid course. She's going to reveal it tomorrow. Although I didn't really train you much-"
"Woah, that's amazing!" Izuku replied, trying his best to understand what the young woman is talking about considering half of her voice sounds distorted due to his left ear being pressed up on her chest.
"Hmmph…" Chitose raised her head and slowly disentangled her arms and legs around the young man. "Don't worry, no matter what happens, you'll always be a hero to me. I never felt like someone's truly had my back until… now."
"Aww that's nice," Izuku lightly stammered as he took one step back and quickly wiped off some sweat from the side of his head, especially around his left ear.
"Uh I apologize on the sweat…"
"Well that was totally different from what animes normally portray…" Izuku muttered a bit as he did one last wipe around his left ear. "So anyways let's go plan an actual solid plan. We have around six hours as you said, and we already have the general idea of how it's about to go down. This should just be easy enough."
"I don't know…"
"I swear Kizuki, you WILL make it out tonight! You will survive until tomorrow! You hear me?" Izuku walked in closer and planted both his mittened hands onto Chitose's shoulders, but yet the young woman's expression didn't change one bit.
"Midoriya, uplifting words will not change the fact of what's about to happen tonight. It's just making me more scared."
"Yeah but you said I can't really call All Might on this… I'm afraid but this is the only way I could help. I'm sorry." Izuku nervously shrugged, taking his hands away from Chitose's shoulders. "You know Skeptic better than I do. The majority of the actual planning is just going to fall on your hands. But don't worry I'll try to help in any way I can. You need extra ideas? Extra opinions? Emotional support? I'll be here right beside you."
Chitose slowly nodded, a warm smile appearing on her face despite her ongoing nervousness. Izuku choosing to stay and help even though her problem is a literal assassination, certainly gave her hope, determination to prevail, and some peace of mind. And almost immediately a plan automatically appeared inside her mind – a relatively crude one with a whole bunch of loopholes, but one that already covers the basics. Now all she needs to do is to build up on that.
"You're looking a lot more hopeful now, Kizuki. Already cooked up a plan?" Izuku asked, cracking his knuckles. "Ready to outsmart this Skeptic dumbass?"
"Why are your hands trembling?"
"Well actually at the end of the day we're still dealing with an assassination attempt I'm not allowed to tell anyone and I'm actually as nervous as you are. But I assure you, I-I'll support you in any way I can."
"Understood." Chitose nodded. "Okay here's the plan..."
Chitose, with a brand new hooded jacket with the hood currently slung over her head, lightly adjusted her face mask and sunglasses (the one that Izuku bought for her) before shoving her blue hands within her jacket's pockets, hiding them from plain sight. As it currently stands, she's physically unrecognizable. If ever Geten is possibly waiting around the outsides of Cybersleuths, he wouldn't be able to know it's her. "Okay let's go," she told Izuku right beside her, her voice stammering a little from nervousness as she began walking towards Cybersleuths, securely clutching on both her Memory Purse and a small paper bag containing a pair of binoculars.
Immediately after going through the entrance she turned to look at the wall clock just nearby. 7:15 pm. Despite the initial plan requiring the both of them to be already present at Cybersleuths as early as 4:30 in the afternoon, but after so many loophole-patching, fixes, and various other preparations, they arrived significantly later. It may be a lot riskier since it's closer to the intended meeting time of 8:15 pm, but they have no other choice. It's either a half-baked plan with a massive chance of failure, or this.
She heard Izuku mutter something about the apparent fullness of the establishment, before quickly exiting back out after saying something about keeping her original jacket safe. And indeed what he said is true – Cybersleuths is still the same state as earlier, incredibly jam-packed with people. Almost immediately she scanned everyone within her vision range for any suspicious people that could be Geten, and found no one that resembled him. Although while doing so she noticed a few vacant seats that are of considerable distance from the door.
But still, to be on the safer side, Chitose went up the second floor, once again checking for any suspicious people immediately afterwards. Finding no one, she deduced that Skeptic, and by extension Geten, are indeed fully aware of All Might's general presence, and as such, would most likely go for a long-range assassination, as sticking too close to the scene of the crime is very risky.
But as for any vacant seats, unfortunately for her, the entire second floor is fully occupied, forcing her to go back to the ground floor and just take one of the vacant seats she found earlier. It's not within a cubicle and completely exposed, making her a lot more vulnerable. But still, it's relatively far from the entrance and that's good enough in her book. In the end, all she would appear in Skeptic's satellite map is just one big red dot anyway.
She placed the paper bag containing a pair of binoculars just beside her left leg and then leaned back in her seat, taking multiple deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. If the plan is going to work, then she's going to need her mind to be as clear as possible (as well as hope that Skeptic goes according to plan).
Taking yet another deep breath, Chitose turned her attention to her chosen computer and hurriedly turned it on.
"Okay, it's already 7:20 and the third escape route is cleared up and ready," said a voice that approached from behind her. It was Izuku. "Is the path really supposed to go through a wall? Your Chemistry Quirk works with walls or something?"
"Yes." Chitose nodded. "The escape route goes right through the wall…" her voice trailed off. As much as she doesn't want Izuku to ever know about her Meta Ability, but in terms of escape, Landmine is a very important tool. She doesn't really have a choice on the matter in this life or death situation. If push comes to shove, she will have to reveal it. "My Metapower has a unique interaction with walls."
"Okay… I hope everything goes smooth tonight…" Izuku nervously chuckled to himself as she placed both hands on the back of Chitose's seat. "Alright, so how are you going to chat with this Skeptic person?"
"Hold on a bit, this is gonna take a while. Don't peek okay? This is top-secret organization stuff…" Chitose said, trying to sound as calm as possible despite her fingers visibly trembling. Turning her attention back to her computer screen upon Izuku turning away from it, she hurriedly did all the various prerequisites needed to access Skeptic's private communications systems, not minding at all if ever anyone saw it (after all it's mostly just a blank white web page). Once the 'program' has entered it's loading state, she swiveled her seat around and tapped Izuku on the back. "Okay it's on the loading state, is All Might ready on the speed dial? Where is he as of the current time?"
"He said he's still at UA, doing 'All Might things' or so he said… It's all good but… do you think he should be closer to Takoba?"
"It's good, he's close enough. If ever things indeed happen here, he'll arrive within 2 minutes. That's basically close enough that there's very little chance that the assassin would even make a physical appearance here, everything it just too risky for them."
"What if Skeptic backs out and reschedules the assassination?"
"Skeptic never backs out. Once he says something, he goes through it."
"Your fingers are trembling, Kizuki…"
"I know… it's just that there's this looming feeling of dread that I'm the only one going to be targeted here. Where are the calming devices?"
Izuku picked up something from behind him. Two copies of a particular popular manga. "Here you go, My Hero Academia Volume 24. I was nervous and all and I just uh… picked up a random volume…"
Chitose nodded and got her copy, immediately noticing the hideous-looking character featured on the back cover of the volume. She has heard many things about this particular UA-funded manga, even within the Liberation Movement itself, especially because the MLA is actually one of the main antagonists in the series (much to everyone's ironic enjoyment of it). But the one thing that stood out is-
"Midoriya, the main character looks exactly like you!" Chitose nervously giggled as she turned to face Izuku and lifted up the manga on a particular page, with the supposed main character that looks like him in full view.
"Yyyyyeah I get that sometimes..."
"What's his name? Oh it's… Mikumo Akatani, sounds cool huh? That should be your secret agent name!"
"Okay I'm gonna be agreeing with you on that one!" came Izuku's response, his voice also sounding a little too obvious on the nervous side of things.
Soon enough, the loading screen finally finished. And as usual, a chatbox immediately appeared on the top left portion of the screen, but this time without a message from Skeptic already pre-typed. Chitose quickly reached over and tapped Izuku's back. "Okay I'm connected to the private network, get ready," she told him, in which she quickly received a nod in response. "Keep watch on anything ice-related," she added. "And anyone wearing very thick clothing like yours."
"Skeptic's lackey has ice Quirks and he's weak to the cold, got it." Izuku stood up, but just after taking one step, he turned back again and whispered a weak 'Good Luck' before hurriedly taking the mangas he brought earlier and walking away to return them, before exiting Cybersleuths altogether to stand at the other side of the road. It's technically as far away as he could get from her, while still making himself still within view of Chitose from her computer.
Chitose, on the other hand, upon seeing Izuku give her a discreet thumbs-up gesture and a small wave of his phone to signify he's ready, gave a discreet one in return before quickly turning her attention back to the screen and opening up her GlobalConnect account. After a quick check of her message to Re-Destro (there's still no reply), she then loaded up a chatbox for Izuku and pressed a button to enable voice chat. She then wasted no time in reaching into her computer's provided headphones and wearing it after a few tweaks. "Akatani, are you there?" she joked into the mic, the nervousness of her voice very much apparent. "Am I perfectly blended in from there? Is my disguise working?"
"Yep, you're perfectly blended in. Although I can slightly see your blue hands, but they're not at all obvious," came a reply from Izuku through the headphones. "And as for the ice, there's still no ice here, nor people wearing ultra-thick clothing."
"Okay… here we go!" Chitose gave him one last discreet thumbs-up gesture before glancing back towards her computer and typing in, 'Hey there Skeptic! I decided to drop by a little early. How are you doing?'
'You seem awfully in a good mood today, Curious,' came Skeptic's reply a few moments later. 'Also I have to comment that it's rare for me to see this level of punctuality from you. I'm definitely impressed by your sense of time tonight. Very impressive indeed.'
A surge of nervousness welled within Chitose upon seeing the unusual lighthearted response. 'So does that mean you're fine with sending Geten a little earlier?' she typed in. She was already in the middle of thinking of a possible 'bait question' to use later when Skeptic immediately answered.
'Agreed. As of now I'm already in contact with Geten and moving him into position. He will be going for a simple surgical extraction - In and out by underground tunnel. For that plan to have a semblance of working, you must tell me your exact location within Cybersleuths Internet-Manga café at this very moment.'
'And there it is, he wants me in a very specific spot…' Chitose thought, also noticing the odd way of extraction via underground tunnel – the same level of oddity as getting extracted via speedboat instead of aircraft. Furthermore, Skeptic mentioning Geten 'moving into position' could technically mean that they're fully aware of All Might's relative closeness and are aiming to stay as far away as possible. Additionally, Skeptic requiring her to tell her exact location basically confirmed he's effectively blind to her real location. She told Izuku every single thing she thought about.
"Good! They think you're literally stupid enough to repeat the exact same mistakes in your desperation to get home!" Izuku said through the headphones. "They're underestimating yo again, exploit that!"
Chitose nodded in agreement. But still, she had to make sure that Skeptic is indeed REALLY blind to where she actually is. 'Hey Skeptic,' she began typing, 'why are you even asking for my exact location? If you're such a genius hacker like you always brag about, why can't you just hack the cameras here and see me yourself?"
'Curious, in case your brain got fried or just simply malfunctioning like it always does, I may have to remind you that cameras not connected to the internet in any way are beyond my hacking capabilities. Next time use your brain, if there's anything left that is.'
Chitose's left eyebrow twitched in irritation, the insult certainly threw off her concentration for a brief while. But still, she confirmed that Skeptic really is effectively blind to her real location. She let out a sigh of relief, the overall plan to counter the cameras is overly-complicated and she's glad she doesn't have to do it anymore. Turning her attention back to her screen, she typed in a question. 'By the way are you aware that All Might is just in my general area? Just giving you a heads up.'
'Curious, do you think I'm stupid enough to not know about that? Do you think I failed to not take that into account?'
Chitose instinctively nodded. Skeptic already knew about All Might's whereabouts and very much will act accordingly. That only made them a whole lot more predictable, at least to her. But soon enough, a question welled up inside her mind: What is the method they're going to use to assassinate her in such a busy Internet-Manga café? It's clear using drastic methods are out of the question. And another thing, would Skeptic once again ask her to turn on her webcam and-?
"Hey Kizuki, can Skeptic hack through the cams?" came Izuku's sudden question. "Should I initiate operation Guardian Angel?"
Chitose took a deep breath, one part of her very much sure 'Operation Guardian Angel' is not the term she used to refer to the camera-counterplan she made. "No need to. Skeptic can't hack the cameras. On the other hand, I find it odd that he's not asking me to turn on my webcam." She was about to talk some more when a text came up on the chatbox from Skeptic, asking about her exact location within Cybersleuths. "Okay Midoriya he just asked where I am again. You just go keep watch there for anything ice-related okay?"
After receiving a light 'okay' in response and a brief reminder about all her escape routes, Chitose then looked around for a perfect spot where Skeptic can launch an attack on: preferably somewhere devoid of people, somewhere that can't be easily seen from any window, and someplace where some potential damage wouldn't mean much-
Chitose's gaze settled upon a huge potted plant, sandwiched between decorative cabinets stocked with various mangas. It's completely behind a wall and completely unseen from any window. She told Izuku all about her plan before typing into her computer, 'Skeptic I'm exactly 5 meters to the right of the entrance door, and one and a half meters off the front wall.'
'Noted. Stand by for a moment, Curious. I'm going to relay this information to Geten.'
"Good thing Mom's on a Christmas Party tonight or else I would have to explain a whole lot of things…" randomly came in Izuku's voice through Chitose's headphones. "Anyways so far I can't see any ice-related stuff here, want me to go around the building to chec-"
"Midoriya, what's wrong?" Chitose asked upon Izuku abruptly stopping, immediately swiveling her head to look at him through the windows. There he is, just frozen and unmoving. "Midoriya! What did you see?"
"K-Kizuki… there's a shard of ice the size of a pen that sneakily floated over to the top of the entrance. There's also some strange black fluid inside of it,exactly like a pen's," Izuku spoke through the headphones, his voice audibly trembling. "D-don't worry I'm not directly looking at it, but it arrived just now… W-what should I do?"
Chitose gulped down in nervousness, slowly turning her attention back to the screen, immediately noticing that Skeptic coincidentally just asked again to confirm her exact location. Despite fully planning about the entire assassination, and even technically being in the upper hand considering the people about to assassinate her are both effectively blind to her actual location, but there's just a feeling she can't properly shake off – the feeling that these people (people she knew for over a decade) are outright aiming to kill her. But still, if she can survive this particular encounter, then she'll be effectively off Skeptic's radar for good. And then she'll eventually make her return to the MLA, wherever they are, and tell them the whole story…
Provided nothing's happened to them, something she can't even confirm. As much as how Skeptic, as well as Geten, are effectively blind to her tonight, she's also completely blind on the current condition of the MLA-
Chitose shook her head, getting the random thoughts out. As of now she should be worrying about herself more than she should be worrying about the MLA. 'Keep your cool, Curious… you can do this…' she mentally reminded herself as she took a deep breath and slowly let it all out.
"Kizuki… I mean this whole counter-assassination is nice and all but they're uh… they're still assassins so uh… should I call in All Might? This is really freaking me out…"
"No. Just wait…" Chitose's voice trailed off as she weighed her options. If she gets All Might to appear now when nothing's happened yet, that could potentially send the message to Skeptic that she's getting defended by heroes. That could potentially cause Skeptic to spread the word across the Liberation Army that she's working with the enemy, and in return, either abandon her or send even more assassins to kill her.
No. Chitose shook her head. She's not planning on getting abandoned by her only known family tonight. She will outsmart Skeptic, return to the Army and tell THEM the whole story. If there's ever someone who's going to get thrown out and abandoned, possibly even killed off, it's going to be Skeptic (and by extension Geten), and not her. She thought about screenshotting his messages but quickly backed off upon remembering Skeptic's system is protected against that.
But still, how are they planning to get her murdered in such a busy Internet-Manga cafe without any other casualties? Surely they will not get anyone else in the crossfire and cause All Might to appear far earlier than his expected time right-?
An explosion happened in a distance.
Every person within the building immediately stopped whatever they're doing to look outside. And within just a few moments later, as natural to a society that over-glorifies heroes and other costumed law enforcers, almost everyone started pouring out of the building, each one muttering various words of excitement and readying their phones out.
And in just under a minute, the entire place is deserted, with only a few people left remaining.
'Uh Kizuki? The shard sneakily entered Cybersleuths as everyone's going out!' the voice of Izuku emanated from her headphones, making her nod nervously in acknowledgement. While there's definitely something about to happen, Skeptic is clearly once again only planning to make it happen to her, and only her, nobody else. They're fully aware of All Might's general presence and want to make as small of a scene as possible. And what better way to do that than setting up a villain attack, forcing everyone to leave, and then sneaking the ice shard in as everyone exits.
'Curious. Geten reported to me that a villain attack just occurred in your general area. Such windows of opportunity shall not be wasted. He's ready to tunnel under you. Now all you need to do is to confirm that you are still 5 meters to the right of the door entrance. I need pinpoint accuracy on this to work.'
Chitose shivered a bit from nervousness, making her turn her head towards Izuku outside, who just awkwardly gave her a nervous thumb-up gesture in return. "Midoriya, are there any more ice shards? What about a person with many layers of winter clothing?"
"Nope. No more ice nor any covered-up people. That's just the one shard."
"Good," she replied, wiping off some sweat that formed on her forehead. As she was about to turn her attention to her computer screen, another explosion occurred, followed closely by sounds of cheering people. It's clear, the timer for All Might's arrival has started, and Izuku didn't even need to call him in. If Skeptic wants to kill her, he should already be in a hurry. And soon enough, just a mere two seconds later, a message arrived from him:
'Time is of the essence, Curious! I've estimated All Might's arrival time there to be around 2 minutes. Confirm! Are you really 5 meters to the right of the door entrance?'
Chitose quickly glanced towards the location of the potted plant between the decorative cabinets right afterwards – the only thing within 5 meters to the right of the door entrance, her nervousness currently at peak.
'Yes.'
…