Just as scheduled, Shi returned to the tent the next day. It was strapped to the back of a truck that looked like it was dragging along a parade float. They walked inside the tent.
"Machigai! Haii!" They dashed to her. "We're so excited! This is only our second show, and you're already so willing to help us!"
"Yes. But-ah, my show name is Mirror. Could you call me that whilst on the job?"
"Mirror, got it!" They saluted her.
"This will be our moving circus."
"Moving?!"
"Yes. You will stay here with the tent. Of course, you can still back out of our deal..."
"Of course not! We'll stay here!"
Shi was so excited about their shows. They were scheduled to have one every week. Of course, Olly started to get worried when Shi was no longer showing up at school.
"They're too old for UA anyways," the class would say. But Olly knew something was wrong. After all, both Olive and Dimentio had a surprising interest in going to UA, so why would Shi miss out on such a chance? The class only listened when Iida began to get worried as well.
Olive had been staying over at Iida's house after he left Dimentio's control and Iida noticed Shi wasn't coming back. The class held a meeting.
"Could they be missing?" Ochaco asked.
"No, cause missing posters would have been put up by now. It's almost the end of September!" Izuku leaned back in his seat.
"We could use Stapler to-" Olly tried before being talked over by Bakugou.
"So what? It's not they were helping or anything!"
"Kachaan! They've helped us plenty! If it weren't for them, Piper would have killed us all by now."
"We could-"
"What about your mom?" Kirishima asked. "Has she seen them anywhere?"
"We-"
"No, she hasn't," Izuku sighed. "I already asked her if she can see if the Police have seen them."
"W-"
"Have they?" Tokoyami asked.
"No. It's impossible to track them down."
Olly was getting tired of being ignored. "SHUT IT!"
Silence fell over the group and everyone looked his direction.
"As I was trying to say, we could have Stapler track them down!"
"Hey guys!" Mineta rushed over. "Look what I found in the store! Doesn't it look like Shi?"
He handed Izuku the plush he saw Dimentio sewing in the car. He examined it.
"The store? But..."
Olly peeked over. He grabbed it from Izuku. "Yes...I see. This was machine made. You can tell because the sewing is perfect. Not even Rubber band, master clothing maker, can sew this well." He tossed it into the air, catching it again. "We have a lead!"
"Not so fast," Izuku said, taking it back. "Dimentio said he was doing it just because he could. So why would it be in the store, with new sewing? Unless...Mineta, were there more of these?"
"Plenty! A whole shelf of 'em!"
Izuku examined the tag. "Mirror Studios? Anyone hear about that before? Maybe they're being held captive for money."
Olly fiddled with his hands as the group discussed.
"Why would somebody kidnap Shi to make products off of?" Ochaco asked.
"Well, they have no parents on either side of the fusion, so who's going to notice they're missing besides us?" Bakugou shrugged.
"You have a good point. Do you think Mirror knows about Shi being a fusion?" Izuku considered.
"Maybe it's another person who's after Dimentio!" Olivia gasped. "He did burn his home world, right? Maybe they know him!"
Olly's gaze went to the floor. He hoped nobody could see him.
Todoroki glanced his way for a second. "I think Olly knows something."
Olly jolted, straightening out his stance. "I-!"
"Brother? What does he mean by that?"
Olly sighed. "I'm sorry for not saying something sooner but...They were on TV."
"Huh? That's not bad." Kaminari said.
"On a commercial. They looked really stressed out, but it was like they were being forced to do it. I don't remember what the commercial was, but I do remember them wearing a maid's dress...?"
"A commercial?"
"Stressed out?"
"Maid dress...?"
Whispers fell over the group, then they turned back to Olly again.
"Olly," Izuku said, crouching to his level and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I need you to be honest with me. Okay?"
Olly let out a small squeak, then nodded.
"Try to remember what it was about. Do you know, or did you just see it as you were walking past?"
"Mm...I was watching the news for information about Shi...Then that popped up. It was...Oh!" He clapped his hands together. "They were advertising a doll! I don't know why they-wait...they were supposed to be the doll in the commercial. That's why they were wearing that dress."
"Odd, but keep going," Todoroki said.
"It also mentioned some sort of...circus show? Today at um...Seven!"
The group moaned.
"I can't," Tokoyami sighed. "My grandma's birthday is today and we were going to a restaurant at six to about seven thirty. I'll be gone then."
"I can't either!" Mineta said. "I need to do my homework after dinner. Dinner's at five."
"I'm free," Olivia said. "What about you, brother?"
He shook his head. "Izuku has family game night today, and I'm also invited since I'm staying in their house. It's actually really nice of them to do that."
"I'm also free," Ochaco said. "Maybe my dad can drive us?"
"Looks like you two are on your own," Izuku said. "Sorry I can't come."
"Don't be! Olly, do you remember where the address was?"
"Ooh! Ooh! I actually wrote it down!" He grabbed a paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. "You know, just in case I needed it. Looks like I did. Yay, me!"
"Great! Thank you!" She pat his head. "That's fine, right? I know you don't like being touched."
"That's fine, yes."
"Alright, Olivia. Looks like we're going to this show tonight. Make sure to grab a jacket, because it'll be cold!"
"Got it!"
They stopped in front of the tent. Lights illuminated the inside a golden yellow.
"Is this it?" Ochaco's dad asked.
"Yup! You're going to pick us up, right?"
"Yes. Be safe, you two. I'll be back at eight."
"Thank you!" She hopped out the car and helped Olivia out.
"Ocha, do you think I can be small here? I've never folded small yet because I'm worried someone will step on me!"
"I think you'll be fine. But for the sake of having seats, you should probably stay big for now."
"Okay."
They entered. The seats were nearly full.
"Wowie!" Olivia gasped. "Shi got so popular so fast!"
"This is a lot." She looked at the ticket. "Our seats are over this way."
A kid with tan skin and short orange hair waved at them as they walked past. Olivia waved back, and they beamed.
As they sat, Olivia looked around. The noise started dying down when a female with a fiery red dress entered from the opposing wall.
"Welcome all! My name is Mirror! Welcome to our show! Now, the moment you've all been waiting for, Dokeshi!"
Ochaco leaned over to Olivia and whispered "Dokeshi? Who's that?"
Mirror exited, and Shi burst through the curtains. They were wearing a green one piece outfit with no sleeves or pants, a wave pattern with the dark green on the top fading into a lime green on the bottom, and a small cape on the back. Their hat was now completely purple, with the black parallel stripes still there. Olivia had never seen their arms and legs before, they looking robotic; being black with blue line lights lining them. They had round metal things on their shoulders, it a pale yellow with black hearts painted onto the center. Despite having no sleeves, they were wearing the ends of a dress shirt sleeves on their wrists.
"Hello and welcome!"
The crowd grew loud with cheers. Olivia covered her ears.
"Hey now! Don't get so excited! The show hasn't even started!"
"Their happiness," Ochaco muttered, "feels so fake."
The crowd died down a bit.
"Buuut, that was kind of fun. Give us another hand! Make it louder!" They cupped a hand by their ear.
That was when Olivia noticed they didn't have any. "Must be from Olive..."
The crowd grew restless, so they calmed them down again.
"Let the fun begin!" They grabbed onto a pole held into the air by two ribbons and hopped backwards onto it as it rose towards the ceiling. They swung back and forth on it was music began playing.
"Music?" Olivia asked.
"Today has a way of scarring your eyes with negative light, but it's a disguise." They stood on the pole, hardly being able to have both feet on it. "We put on our shades and see through the lies. The convenient truth is..."
Olivia was impressed, as she has never seen air acrobatics before.
"Light is on the way, we'll be having a fun time! It's such a lovely day, we should pocket the sunshine! And never give it back, even if there's a heatwave!" They swung forwards on it, reaching for the kid that waved at Olivia before. "Or terrorist attack, it'll just be a close shave! We know-"
They missed the kid's outstretched hand.
Their smile faded, and the music slowed to a creepy stop as they shot backwards, spinning on the ribbon-held pole.
"Waaaaah!"
One of the ribbons snapped and they hit the ground with a loud thud. They dusted theirself off and stood.
"No, no, no!"
The pole crashed into one of the beams supporting the structure and it caved in. They extended their arms and tried to keep it holding up. The crowd was screaming and fleeing at this point, Olivia and Ochaco following. Olivia stopped and saw the kid running down the stands towards Shi.
"Wait! Don't go that way! It's dangerous!"
Ochaco stopped at that and spotted the child as well. "No! We need to save him!" She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Kid! Don't do that! You'll get hurt!" She gave Olivia a worried look. "He's not listening. Looks like we're going in."
"Don't fall, please!" Shi grunted, trying to keep the tent up. The pole they were keeping up swung around and smacked another one down. "S%^&!" They sat on the ground and used their legs to keep it up instead, using their arms to hold up the other.
Chōkaku walked over to them and signed 'Are you okay?'
Fear struck Shi. "Get out of here!"
He tilted his head to look Shi in the eyes.
"S%^&! He can't hear us!" Tears streamed down their face. "We can't keep this up forever..."
"Shi!" Olivia came over. "That looks painful! But Ocha and I are here to help!" Olivia leaned against it a bit. "Move, please!"
"We'll help you, Shi!" Ochaco tapped the other pole they were holding up before it was able to rip the tent. It began floating, so Shi let both poles go and Chōkaku rushed over and dragged them away.
Olivia started to crumple. "Oh, that's not good. This is way too heavy! Ocha, help me please!"
"I'm coming!" She elevated that one as well, so Olivia moved away and fixed her paper.
"That was close. Shi, are you okay? Why are you doing this whole show in secret? You could have told us."
"Izuku would have been so mad." Every part of their body started sparking aggressively. "Zuzuzuzuzu..." They flopped to the ground when it stopped, the color draining from their eyes.
"Argh!" Mirror screamed from outside.
"Uh oh," Ochaco whispered. "We should leave."
They lead Chōkaku out with them. Ochaco called her dad and told him what happened. He came back early to pick them up.
Mirror kicked Shi in the side. "Get up!"
They sparked in response.
She sighed and lifted them over her shoulders and brought them to her trailer outside the tent. The tent collapsed behind her. She dumped them onto a bed and turned them over. She forced open their control panel and sighed.
"What did you do to bust yourself so badly? Gosh."
She removed the plates from their shoulders and set them aside. She twisted their arms a certain way and popped them off. She removed their hands and set them down, placing their arms on a desk. She did the same to their legs, having nothing to remove from them. She restored their power and began working on their arms.
Shi slowly opened their eyes. "Hrm...? Mirror? What are we...doing in your trailer?"
"You broke pretty badly. What were you doing?"
"The tent...it started falling...First the fire and now this? We've lost our groove."
"I can help with that, if you'd let me." She reattached their left arm and hand.
"Really? You can help us get our groove back?" They rotated their hand and waved their arm to return the feeling in it as she reattached their right arm and hand.
"Of course. Does that mean yes?"
"Yes! We would really appreciate it!" They repeated that process with their other arm as well. "But...it feels like you're working us too hard. And we don't like that doll advertisement...It feels like you're selling us rather than showing our talent."
"Really? Well, to make you feel better, I'm not. I really do appreciate all the help you're giving doing those ads."
They smiled a bit as she reattached their leg. "Really? Y-you appreciate us...?"
"Of course I do. You're the best person I've ever met. You're kind and talented and smart too." She playfully pinched their cheek and reattached their other leg. She moved back to the desk. "Can you feel your legs?"
"Mm..." They moved both of them around. "Yep. Thank you." They started to sit up, but she shoved them back down.
"I'm not done."
"But our systems are running fine, and you fixed our limbs. R-right?"
"You want me to help, so I'll help." She shoved something into the open panel on their back.
"W-wait! You can't touch that! That controls us! If you mess anything up-" Their neck sparked, spinning in a circle. "Mirror, please don't. We changed our mind. We don't want this anymore..."
"It's too late, Dokeshi. You agreed. I gave you your chances to leave, and you stayed. You've run out of chances, Shi. Now hold still. You're about to be the best Showperson ever..."
They screamed as she drove the object further into their back, lime green lightning illuminating the tent from the inside.