Chapter Thirty-Nine
~Shina's POV~
In the morning Shina got herself and Kaito ready before she asked her grandmother to watch Kaito while she and Dabi went to go see her uncle. Her grandmother was happy to watch Kaito while Yoshi was mainly annoyed because he was going to be stuck in the Valley of No WIFI, as he'd dubbed it. Her grandmother promised to give him some chores if he kept whining. Shina had left before she'd seen the end of that argument, pulling Dabi behind her to the truck.
"Why the hell do I have to come with you?" Dabi asked as he got into the passenger seat. He had a cup of black coffee that her grandmother had given him as well as a bag of snacks to share. Shina had no doubt he was going to hog it all as he glared at her every time she tried to reach for it.
"You know why. Besides I'm not making you do anything. You can stay here if you want." She offered as she was still waiting for the truck to warm up. "Pretty sure you can help by herding her sheep."
"Shut up I'm going brat." Shina bit her lip to stop from laughing at his petulant look.
"Suit yourself Dabi." With that they left the house, driving slowly along the dirt road towards the main road. "It's gonna be at least an hour before we get to the prison."
"So?"
"So, share the snacks before I run us off the road." Shina attempted to swipe the bag of snacks, but Dabi caught her arm. His hand heated up warning her to back off.
"What road? It's nothing but sand everywhere you look." Shina jerked her arm back, there was a red handprint on her forearm, but she didn't really care as it would be gone by the time they got to the main road.
"Please Dabi?" Shina tried. He just blinked at her.
"I like you begging. Do it again." Shina scrunched up her face.
"Ugh no. Fine forget it. I'll starve."
"Suit yourself brat." Shina stuck out her tongue at him. He gave her the bird.
~Kana's POV~
"Guys! We should try and stick together and move as a group!" Midoriya ordered. Kana saw the logic in that, but she also saw how the other schools were eyeing them and knew the UA students were going to be ambushed. Kana had no desire to be pummeled out in the open. She needed to get to shelter so she could knock out as many combatants as she could.
"Kana!" She heard Momo call after her when she ran forward.
"Sorry guys! Nothing personal!" Kana called as she created a portal to the top of one of the towers they had in the cityscape. Kana landed on the edge of the tower and closed the portal after her. She doubted anyone was in her area yet which meant she had the place to herself. Kana looked behind her only to close her eyes and start walking as fast as she could to the exit. She still hated heights.
The inside of the building was clean and honestly looked like any normal building, except for the fact that there was no one inside which honestly, creeped her out a lot more than she intended. Kana focused by taking a deep breath and letting it out. She needed to get to work.
Kana ran through the entire building until she found what looked to be a security room. Kana quickly hacked into the systems and opened up all the security cameras. She then put in a small USB that would allow her to take control of the cameras from anywhere in the building. She would have to thank Yoshi and by extension Hatsume (Hatsume had had no idea this was what Kana had in mind when she'd built the initial tech for her but she didn't need to know everything her 'babies' went through now did she?)
When the cameras were hers Kana looked at the building across from her and made a portal to show her the outside to a random floor. She got a good look at the room inside before she closed her portal and made another portal that allowed her to get inside the room. Kana repeated her routine to find the camera room and hack into that. She now held two of the towers cameras under her control, so this afforded her more leeway. Kana sat down in a random corner office and watched the cameras go off as people started to move into her towers.
"This is going to be so much fun." Kana grinned as she got up. "But first," It would be more beneficial if she got a few of these players out of the way first. Kana stretched her arms and her back before she tossed her ball up and few times and threw it at a portal. The portal was already opened to show the gang that had followed her soon to be allies into the building. Kana's balls hit the center of the targets as she kept opening and closing her portals after tossing in her balls. When Kana was out of balls she opened a portal and fell through with her leg already in motion to kick one of the other students in the head effectively knocking him out. Kana skipped over to the ball closest to her and reached forward. A portal opened in front of her and she tapped it against the guys chest lighting up all three of his markers.
"Kana?" Momo spoke. Kana bowed.
"Hello classmates!" Kana greeted. "Sorry about that little show there, I figured I may as well get these guys off your tail before I brought you guys into the tower." Her gauntlet lit up. "Oh, hold on." Kana tapped at her gauntlet to show another camera going off in Building 2. "Looks like Tokoyami and Yuto are in the other building. Want to come and help them?"
"Are you serious?" Tsu asked.
"Yes." Kana nodded. "I know I left you all on the battlefield but I'm more comfortable being in a position where I can take advantage of people's weaknesses. Which is why I took control of this building's cameras as well as the other building across the street there." Kana pointed out the door. "I can see when anyone comes and goes in the buildings and if you want to team up we can hit them all at once?"
"Well it would be a lot easier if we were working together." Jiro stated.
"Agreed." Shoji nodded.
"Momo? Tsu?" Kana asked.
"Okay, what plan do you have that will get us all to the next level?"
"We're going to take care of this Hunger Games style." Kana stated.
~James POV~
"Quit running away kitty boy!" The girl sang out. James didn't bother to respond to her or her classmates. They'd been running after him since he had taken out their leader. Foolishly, James had thought he'd only needed to get one person out but it figured he would need to handle more. It was just a good thing that he even managed to get to the industrial area before they'd managed to start attacking.
"Gotcha!" One of the girls called when she appeared in front of him. She extended her limbs towards him like a spider.
"Not this time!" James yowled as he formed his Chaos Claws and swiped at her. As he expected she pulled back, trying to keep him from touching her, but she hadn't been his target. James felt his claws hit the metal pipes and they started to disintegrate. Gravity took care of the rest as the pipes fell down around him and the girl.
James used this to his advantage to jump from one pipe to another to get away. What he hadn't been prepared for was the loud screeching of metal. James whipped around to see a hole where the metal pipes had been. Standing there was a big hulking boy whose hands were wrapped around a ball of metal.
"Take this!" He threw the ball towards James who was confused as the ball wasn't going to hit him. His thoughts halted as the ball expanded to reveal the missing pipes were now going to crash into him. James formed a Chaos Sphere and used it to hit the pipes coming at him. They disintegrated but his fur started to stand up. His Bad Luck was charging up. Hopefully it would work in his favor and not against him.
"Where you goin sugar?" The spider lady called to him from where she was literally climbing from a crevice.
"Anywhere you aren't." James called as he stepped back. His ear twitched as he heard a sharp click.
"Looks like the cats in a bind." A male laughed from behind him. James looked down at the ground and gulped. He was standing on a landmine. There was a literal minefield all around him. Crap they'd managed to trap him. He had fallen into it without looking as he'd assumed they were following him but no, they'd been corralling him.
"I don't really think you all want to do this." James spoke.
"Oh we do." Another girl landed by the guy who'd taken a chuck of the pipes and threw it at him. Her pick eyes bored into him with anger. "I'd say it's nothing personal, but you just took out one of our best fighters."
"You know, this is how villainy starts." James called. "I mean, if you're trying to be heroes, this definitely isn't the way to go about it."
"You should talk." She called. "You hit us before we even knew it."
"Yeah because it's a test. I doubt my fellow heroes are going to turn on me unless they've switched sides. Is that how you're going to go through life? Someone takes out one of your guys and then boom, you're a villain and being carted off to Tartarus?" James could see the words working and honestly, he was shocked. He was just spouting whatever to get out of this.
"Like you said," Pink eyes spoke. "It's a test."
"Well unless I step off this landmine I doubt we'll see anything happen." James smiled. Pink eyes raised her hands.
"Unless I do this. RUPTURED WAVE!" Waves of something came rushing at James making his hair and fur fly back from the force. James grit his teeth as he was forced to make a split-second decision. He tensed his leg muscles and jumped straight up. The landmine he'd been standing on exploded, helping to aid his jump as he went higher than he normally would.
James formed a Chaos Sphere in both hands that he forced together to combine into one giant ball. He could feel his fur standing on end as he yelled out,
"MISFORTUNE ARC!" The sphere cracked before it shattered and then shot outward like a thousand arrows crashing to the ground. The opponents he'd been fighting took cover but even that wasn't enough to stop the shards as they buried through metal, sinking into the ground.
When James landed he looked around at the huge mess and sighed.
"I over did it." He heard coughing coming from the students who had come after him. James shrugged and walked over to him them all huddled together. Pink eyes was the only one half-conscious. "Do you know how mad my classmates are going to be? They're tired of my bad luck." James didn't get a reply from Pink Eyes. "Let this be a lesson, cat's do not like being cornered." He tapped her markers before getting her classmates as well.
~Shina's POV~
"You really brought me to a prison?" Shina wasn't sure why Dabi was shocked. She had told him that her uncle was in prison. Hadn't she? In any case, he should have picked it up after he'd heard Shina and her grandma talking about it last night. Shina unbuckled her seatbelt as they both stared at the grey concrete entrance to the prison. Like all things on Shina's homeland, the prison was in the middle of nowhere. Anyone who escaped would have to deal with being visible for miles. Which was probably why no one had ever bothered to escape here. Well that and it was the desert, the summer sun was torture enough.
"Yep. Good news is you can wait out here. I doubt they'll care that you're a villain. As long as you haven't done anything to anyone here which let's be honest, we haven't really been around anyone for you to get annoyed with to try and kill." Shina stated. Dabi scoffed.
"You're plenty annoying on your own." Shina nodded in agreement.
"True enough but I have faith that our mutual bond of roasting Shigaraki is enough for you not to kill me." Dabi glanced at her
"Not like I can anyway with the way you absorb light from my flames." Shina hummed thinking of that time she'd done that after getting him on the ground. "And your freaking self- healing." Shina glanced at the forearm that Dabi had grabbed an hour earlier. There were no marks on her arms to suggest he'd lightly burned her.
"Let's be honest Dabi you like that I can heal from your heat. Just means you can hit me harder and I'll keep coming back like an annoying virus."
"More like a disease." He snorted as he pulled out the bag of Cheetos that Shina had had to buy as he had still refused to share the snacks her grandmother had given them. Bastard had also drunk all the coffee she'd bought as well leaving her with the soda.
"As long as it's fatal." Shina grinned. "Besides, if someone's gonna take the time to try and kill me I'm going to make them work for it. And calm down will you? No one's gonna do anything here to you."
"There are cops all around us!" He growled.
"So? I believe Japan is outside their jurisdiction. It's not like they're going to be doing any favors for anyone outside the Nation's perimeters." Shina grabbed her wallet and tossed him her phone. "Besides, the windows are tinted, no one can see you. So just eat the snacks, drink your juice, and watch your show."
"I'm not a child." Shina blinked at him innocently.
"Then why all the whining?" He threw a Cheeto at her face making her laugh. "Fine, fine I'm going." Shina closed the door only to hear the radio start to blare making her roll her eyes at Dabi's action.
Shina made it through the initial screening to get into the prison alright. She had to leave her wallet behind but that was the only thing she had on her. The guards didn't talk as they got her in and had fer follow one of them to an isolated room that only held a metal table and chairs. Shina sat down to wait for her uncle to arrive.
It took about five minutes wherein Shina had gone through multiple ways she could try and escape this prison before a guard appeared with a man in orange. Shina snapped to attention as the door opened and Edward Nara entered the room.
His yellow-gold eyes widened, and he froze for a split second when he saw her.
"Hello Uncle, it's been a long time." Shina greeted. He unfroze allowing the guard to finish unchaining him. He sat down while the guard exited the room. Shina took in her uncles features while he seemed to be doing the same to her. He had the same eye shape as Kana, but his eye color was reminiscent of a cat's. His hair, Shina remembered, had always been long but now it seemed longer. Kana really took after her father's looks as his hair started black on top and turned a lighter purple further down. The only thing Kana hadn't inherited was the cat-like grace her uncle moved with. Guess grandma's gene's were only slightly strong in him.
"For a moment there I thought I was looking at your mother." His voice was deep and slow, almost a purr but there was a layer of grief in them that Shina noted.
"I don't remember my mom having red hair." Shina finally stated as she crossed her arms in front of her. A faint smile crossed his face as he looked down.
"She did at one point." They were getting off track here. Shina straightened her posture before taking the professional tone she usually took with her clients.
"Interesting to know. I assume you know why I'm here so let me just cut to it. I need you to cancel the marriage contract for Kana." He didn't react to that except to tilt his head.
"How is she?" Shina frowned. He wasn't acting like how she'd expected him to be. The concern seemed to be real when he asked. There was even the slightest bit of desperation in his eyes.
"… She's good." Shina finally said. He nodded.
"I don't suppose you have any pictures of her?"
"Of course, I do. But we're getting off topic here aren't we? I'm not here to do a show and tell on her. I'm here because you agreed to a marriage contract for her." He nodded, sighed and sat back.
"It was the only way to get your attention." Shina was lost now.
"… My attention? For what?" She asked slowly.
"I had assumed your mother left you all the evidence but apparently I was foolish to hope she did. She was too careful." He looked away, clenching his jaw. Shina herself felt anger rise.
"You better start explaining if you're going to be bringing my mother into whatever this is." She hissed. He sighed.
"Sunflower-"
"Don't call me that! You don't get to call me that. Not after what you did." He thumped his fist on the table making Shina flinch.
"I'm innocent! Your mother knew that." That held Shina's attention. The facial expression on his face was too genuine to be faked. Although he'd been in here for years so he could have had a lot of practice. Crap, she felt too raw doing this. She should have just had her grandma come and do this questioning.
"Explain." Shina ordered.
"I loved your aunt. She and Kana were my world. I wouldn't have done anything to hurt either of them." He stated. Shina narrowed her eyes.
"Yet you were found bloody and holding a knife. Kana saw you!" He shook his head furiously.
"No that wasn't me! I didn't kill Yuuki. You of all people have to believe me sunflower." This was a mistake but unfortunately this wasn't something she could just take back now that she'd come this far. Besides, lie or not, Shina couldn't see this man, her uncle, killing her aunt. He looked too destroyed to do it. On the off chance that he was playing her however,
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because your mother did. She had evidence that I was innocent." Well, that was news to her. If her mother had evidence though, why had Shina never heard about it? Her mother had never given any indication that her uncle was innocent. Not when they were here and certainly not when they'd moved to Japan. So, what the heck was going on?
"She never talked to me about this." Her uncle clicked his tongue like she was slow.
"You were only 14 when this happened. I doubt Sanaa would have told you about the conspiracy."
"Conspiracy?" Shina was starting to think she was being punked. Who in their right mind would want to conspire against the Nara's? They weren't anyone special.
"Did it ever occur to you that your Uncle William's passing was suspicious?" Shina's mind flashed to a tall man with shaggy black hair and an infectious laugh. A man who was friends with shadows but was unable to enter their world.
"Not really. I mean he was driving at night on a mountain road in winter. Black ice isn't exactly magical is it?" It was a sad fact that even in a world full of Quirks and Heroes, accidents like that could still happen. They may have powers but that didn't make them gods, only humans.
"He's driven that road multiple times before." Uncle Edward stated. "You really believe your uncle would be able to make a mistake on that road? What about your uncle Ernest?" Another flash of a strong man with kind blue eyes.
"He was a hero who died fighting a villain! I'm pretty sure this is one of the hazards for that occupation." Shina stated softly. It was just too bad that the death of his parents had left a scar on James. He hated winter because of that villain. Shina didn't blame him for that.
"A villain that has never been seen again?" Uncle Edward insisted. Shina pulled herself out of her memories to focus on the present. She frowned at her last living uncle.
"Well, I would assume that any villain who managed to kill two heroes would either be passing through our nation to bigger and better things, or he got paranoid and decided to skip town to avoid being found."
"Your uncles died two years apart. I was framed for my wife's murder a year after my brother William passed! Whoever planned that wasn't very consistent as all of this happened during winter!" Okay when he put it like that Shina's mind did agree that it was strange. Coincidence? Probably but it was a long shot. She would need to do some investigating on her own. It was too bad she had Dabi with her.
"Okay I'll admit the timing didn't really work out on those and it does seem suspicious. But things happen all the time." Uncle Edward gave her a look that let her know he wasn't buying her attempts to dissuade him.
"And what about your mother?" Shina remembered the smell of the hospital, the feel of the sheets and her mothers hand in hers as well as that horrible beeping. She violently pushed those memories away to glare at her uncle.
"… She died from a virus." Uncle Edwards voice was gentle.
"From seafood? She's eaten seafood before Shina." His hand twitched like he watched to reach across the table towards her but he refrained. "Don't bury your head in the sand sunflower. You've gotta be smarter than that! You can see the patten you're just hiding from it." Shina refused to acknowledge the tears at the edge of her vision as she looked away. She discreetly wiped at her eyes before she cleared her throat.
"Alright say I believe you, which I'm not saying I do, but for arguments sake let's go down this road. Who would want to kill Uncle William and Aunt Ingrid? Uncle Ernest and Aunt Clarice? Who would want to kill Aunt Yuuki? Why would someone want to kill my mom? What would be the reason and what was the catalyst to do this? I'm pretty sure if anyone wanted our family dead they would have done so before we were born." Or at least finished the job of killing the grandkids and the grandmother.
"That's what your mother was looking into." Uncle Edward sighed as he sat back, suddenly looking older than he had when he'd come in. "That's why I thought- I thought she would have given you some hint or clue and you were working on this, but it's been years and I haven't heard anything from you." Shina bit her lip before stating,
"So, you thought putting Kana up for grabs was the way to get my attention?" He tilted his head as he stared at her. She desperately wished he looked elsewhere.
"Your grandmother said you were watching out for her and your brothers. I figured if you were doing that then you cared about what happened to them." That had the earlier anger return as Shina slapped her hand on the table.
"Of course I care about them! What kind of madman wouldn't? As far as your situation, I had no reason to go looking into my family's morbid history and looking for clues about their deaths. I just assumed it was all a big coincidence. Like you said, I was 14." He nodded.
"Coincidence only happens once maybe twice in a lifetime. Don't you find it odd that I'm the only one alive now that I'm in prison?"
"Grandma's alive and she's still an active Hero." Shina stated drily.
"If she keeps getting into fights with the wolves she may not live long." She rolled her eyes at the statement.
"And who's fault is that?" Shina and her uncle stared at each other before her uncle smiled. Shina was taken off guard with how much he looked like Kana when he did that.
"… Heh, you sound like your mother."
"…" She wasn't sure how to respond to that. This visit had drained her more than she'd been expecting. Of course, there was way too much information that had been given that blindsided her.
"I can't do anything more to convince you sunflower. If you want to continue to run from these truths that's your journey. But I am telling you, I am innocent." Shina was struck dumb as her uncle leaned forward, throwing his eyes from a yellow gold to almost black as his pupils dilated. "I loved my Yuuki with my entire being. Her happiness meant everything to me. You don't wake up one day and throw all that away. It- It kills me that I couldn't protect her." Shina couldn't say anything to that. The sheer emotion in his voice and face, there was no doubt in her mind that he was innocent. Whatever arguments she could have made against it was crushed as her uncle's words imprinted themselves in her mind.
"Times up Nara." The guard announced as he came in making Shina blink back to reality.
"Tell Kana I love her." Uncle Edward said.
"Hey we're not done." Shina cried to the guard. He merely shrugged.
"Sorry kid, only thirty minutes of visitation." Shina frowned.
"It hasn't been thirty minutes yet."
"Yeah it has. Come back tomorrow." Shina was left with the option to either leave and come back or knock out the guard and try to smuggle her uncle out. In all honesty, on her own she was pretty useless. If Kana had come with her maybe they could have been successful. The only option was to wait.
"Fine." Shina nodded as she got up and left the room. She would be back tomorrow, but for right now, she needed to do some thinking.
~Yuto's POV~
"Hey look who made it guys!" Yuto called to his teammates/classmates as he pointed to where Denki, Kirishima and Bakugou were coming in.
"Looks like Midoriya and his group are also coming in with them." Tokoyami added.
"So glad to see you all here!" Momo went over to greet with a cup of water. "I was worried."
"Momo Yao! Good to see you guys!" Denki cried in happiness. "You guys got here quick huh?"
"Yeah thanks to Kana's plan we were able to get here a few minutes ago." Jiro added. Yuto threw an arm around Kana's shoulder.
"She really took control of the cameras in the buildings and had us give them hell." Yuto grinned. "I've never been prouder!"
"Knock it off Yu." Kana shook off his arm. "Todoroki was the first one here."
"I was sure you'd beat us here Bakugou." Jiro called. "But it makes sense now, you had Kaminari."
"Hey! Take that back!" Denki called.
"The key to unlock the targets is over there," Tsu informed the newbies. "We're supposed to return them to the shelves along with the ball bags." Yuto's attention was caught as James walked into the room.
"Dude, you okay?" Yuto asked seeing James twitching ears and tail. James blinked at him before he sagged.
"I kinda went overboard. So expect some bad luck to happen."
"I'll let the others know." Yuto sighed as he pointed the return box for the targets and the balls. "Go return the targets and the balls. Denki and Co just made it so they should be over there to show you how to do it."
"Thanks Yu." Yuto nodded as he went over to where the class was gathered.
"I have good news and bad news people." Yuto announced. "What news do you wanna hear first?"
"What news?" Denki asked.
"Uh good news?" Uraraka asked. Yuto smiled.
"James made it. He's returning the things right now."
"That's great." Momo stated in relief.
"What's the bad news?" Todoroki asked. Yuto deflated.
"He said he went overboard so prepare for some serious bad luck." Everyone's spirits fell.
"Well it was nice knowing everyone." Kana commented. "If these are indeed our last moments I just want to say, Mina?" Kana went over and held her hands. Mina blinked at her.
"Yes Kana?"
"You're too good for this world!"
"Aw thanks Kana." Mina sweat dropped as Kana nodded.
"No final words for me?" Yuto asked.
"You've already heard everything I had to say to you." Kana answered. "I'm just sad I won't be able to cash in the bets I had on Kira ending up with Agent Ruff." Yuto snorted.
"Please, she's obviously meant to be with Shoto."
"You got that off their one meeting?" Kira asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Why not? You ship Shina and Hawks and they've only met once." Kira glanced around before she switched languages.
"To be honest, I'm kind of rooting for her and the burned villain." Yuto snickered.
"I can get on board with that." The giggled.
"What evil are you two planning?" James asked as he joined them.
"Nothing." Yuto and Kana chorused. Janes blinked at them.
"Okay I was saying Shina would end up with the burned taco because they seem to get along better." Kana said. Yuto rolled his eyes.
"No she should be with Hawks." Yuto protested.
"They only met the one time!"
"They text all the time." Yuto said. "She's always texting him."
"Okay not that it matters," James interrupted. "But she's gonna end up with Shiggy." Both Yuto and Kana stared at him before they exchanged a look.
"No." They both said before Kana bopped James on the head.
"Bad kitty, very bad kitty."
"Ow what was that for?" James growled.
"IT'S OVER!" Was suddenly being screamed out. The Nara's looked around wildly as everyone started to cheer.
"What happened?" Yuto asked Tokoyami as he was closest to him.
"The end of Round 1. Our entire class passed." Yuto grinned.
"Really? Wow I never thought I'd say this but Aizawa's training from hell worked to improve us!" Yuto cheered with the rest of the class.
"Will those who didn't pass head for the exit? Thank you." The tired announcer proceeded to talk over their cheering.
"I can't wait for the next round." Yuto grinned at Tokoyami. "Any ideas?"
"We will find out in a moment." Tokoyami seemed to be amused with Yuto's instant droop.
"Can't you guess?"
"Why guess? We'll know in a minute." Yuto shrugged as he did have a point.
"Now will the 100 of you who passed please look at the screen?!" Everyone calmed down as they did as asked. Yuto was confused as it was just a show of the arena. There was a terrible booming sound that had Yuto grabbing onto Tokoyami's arm as everyone became concerned about an earthquake. But that was only for a second as the screen detailed the cityscape as well as the other surrounding locations suddenly toppling.
"Round Two's the last one. You examinee's will venture into the ruins as bystanders and prove your worth when it comes to rescuing innocents!" Yuto clenched his jaw. This, this he could do.
~Shina's POV~
Shina wasn't really sure where she was. She was walking down an old hallway when suddenly it opened up to reveal a warm kitchen. A woman with black hair looked like she was moving around to cook. Shina had no time to process before the words were out of her mouth.
'Mom?' The woman turned to show the heartbreakingly familiar face of her mother, Sanaa. She smiled at Shina.
'Hi baby, help me with dinner?' Sanaa didn't slow down as she kept moving around the kitchen, preparing dinner.
'Yeah.' Shina didn't hesitate to jump in to help. Her body stopped suddenly as a thought hit her that this was wrong. Her mother was gone. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realized this was nothing more than a dream. At the edges she could see the dream start to ripple.
'What's wrong honey?' Her mother turned Shina to face her. Shina whimpered.
'I have so many questions, but I don't know which one to ask first.' Sanaa smiled, a soft sad smile.
'I see. I suppose now would be a good time to tell you that I'm going now.' Shina's eyes widened.
'Wait what?' Dread, heartache and sorrow started to fill her chest as she clutched onto her mother's arms to keep her there. Anything to keep her in front of her.
'You don't need me anymore.' Sanaa stated simply. Shina shook her head in denial.
'Yes I do! I need you to stay and help me.' Sanaa slipped from her grip as she backed away making Shina reach out towards her, trying to grab her.
'You're already doing more than I could ever do honey. Your taking care of your brothers and sister. You have a job that pays well.'
'Have you seen the villains I'm running with? I wouldn't exactly call that a good job. You can't go I need you!' Shina sobbed as the dream started to wobble before it suddenly dissolved.
'No you don't.' Sanaa turned around, leaving Shina alone in the dark.
'Mom!' The cry was hoarse and almost real. Shina had a feeling she'd said that a loud in her sleeping body.
Shina woke with a ragged gasp. Her hand was raised up like she was reaching for something to grab onto but there was nothing. She was still in the blue house lying or sitting now, by Kaito. Yoshi was still snoring above her and Dabi was lying across the room with his back to her. Her mother was gone. Tears were running down Shina's face as she worked to calm herself. She couldn't wake up the boys, she didn't want them to see her crying. They would only worry about her. She wasn't sure what Dabi would do but she definitely didn't want him to see or hear her.
She quickly rubbed at her eyes and cleared off her face to hide the evidence of her tears. When that was done Shina sat up fully to calm her breathing as best as she could before thinking back on her dream. That was a mistake as her eyes immediately started to water again so she cast her mind elsewhere.
Naturally it got caught on the prison visit to her uncle. She'd been thinking on it all afternoon when they'd returned to her grandmother's house. Shina had thought to ask for records from the hospital or at the very least the police station, but she would need her grandmother to do the requesting as she was only the niece. Shina wasn't sure how to break Kana's betrothal, but she would ask her uncle about that again tomorrow. If nothing else she was sure the wolves would agree to a monetary exchange. Which left her with the mystery on her families deaths. Obviously this was going to drive her crazy before she got any answers.
Shina looked over at Kaito before she tucked the blanket around him and left her pillow beside him so if he rolled over he wouldn't roll towards the iron stove. Shina then got up and silently exited the house, intending to get some fresh air.
Moonlight shone down on the land making it easy to tell where everything was without any aid from flashlights or lanterns. The relative silence felt deafening as there was no noise from traffic or other people to break it. Even the animals were silent in their sleep.
Shina walked away from the house, not sure where she was going but knowing she just wanted to do something. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts that she had to shut down as best as she could to focus on what she knew to be facts. Her mind worked better with some common sense. (Coffee would be great but there was no chance of that right now.)
Fact#1: Most of her family was dead.
Fact#2: It was suspicious how her grandmother's children all seemed to die a year apart. Except her oldest son but he wasn't in any position to do anything. As much as she tried to deny it her mind did want to proclaim this as a 'conspiracy'. But that lead her down roads thinking of some Victorian-era protagonist in a corseted dress, so no.
Fact#3: Uncle William and Aunt Ingrid died after they drove off a mountain road after they hit some ice. Yuto was in the backseat but survived thanks to his shadow quirk. It certainly was suspicious given how often her uncle commuted along that road.
Fact#4: Uncle Ernest and Aunt Clarice died fighting a Villain while Christmas shopping. The fact that no other Heroes arrived in time to lend any aid was certainly suspect. Everyone in Shina's homeland used their quirks whether they were a hero or not.
Fact#5: Uncle Edward may not have murdered Aunt Yuuki… the jury was honestly confused about this one in Shina's head. It may not have been a fact but for now Shina was labelling it as such.
Fact#6: Shina's mother died from what the Japanese doctors assumed was a virus from seafood. She may need to get the medical records on this to verify because she honestly didn't remember much during this time.
Fact#7: Her grandfather was dead as well, but he had died YEARS before his kids so no relation there.
Fact#8: Well, this was more of a question than a fact, why was her grandmother still alive? Why were Shina and her cousins still alive? Was it just a vendetta against her grandmothers kids? Kind of a 'son for a son' kind of thing?
Gods she felt like a poorly sketched protagonist in a faulty murder mystery. Shina came to a stop as that thought crossed her mind. Well, that was just it wasn't it? She wasn't in a murder mystery. She wasn't sure what genre she would say she was in, but it was obviously something to do with a sordid backstory. If that was how this was going to go then maybe she should think like the lead? This was dumb and all kinds of idiotic, but she had nothing else to do. She certainly wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon. Maybe she needed something like this to distract her.
Shina walked barefoot down the sandy road, sticking to the moonlight as the shadows were cold and probably hiding something like snakes or insects. Gods why hadn't she grabbed her shoes? Moving on from that thought Shina continued to think half-incoherent thoughts on what it meant to be a protagonist as she continued to walk. By the time she came to a stop she was going round and round in her own head about what it meant to be a protagonist and the usual head cannons of such stories. It was dizzy and exhausting, but it served it's purpose in distracting her from her dream.
'I always knew I was insane.' Shina thought with mirth as she looked around to see where she had wandered to. Her gaze landed on a familiar structure about half a mile away. A lone house stood in the middle of the landscape. It was dark in the moonlight but the door to the house was a lighter grey compared to the house. She hadn't seen it since the day they'd left for Japan and honestly, she didn't think she would ever come back to this house.
'I shouldn't be here.' Despite her thoughts her feet lead her down the dirt road that looked like it hadn't been travelled down for some time. When she stood in front of the house she hesitated as her hand reached out to touch the doorknob. She knew it was locked but it didn't take much thought for her finger to form a shaft of light that she inserted into the lock. She concentrated on feeling the light move to fit the lock before she twisted. The lock moved and the door clicked once before she used her weight to move the door inwards. The door groaned before it gave away.
Shina stumbled as she entered the house. The living-room was bare except for dust. In the moonlight it was hard to see properly but that was remedied when Shina moved further into the room as her natural brightness spilled out to give light to the kitchen and dining room just beyond the living room. If she turned it up a bit more to chase away any shadows, well no one was around to see.
Her eyes danced from one location to the other before she gazed down the hallway. There were two doors on the right, another door at the end of the hallway and one door on the left. Shina slowly walked down the hallway, gazing into the rooms before she made it to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. The bed was bare, the mattress covered in a protective plastic wrapping. The wooden furniture was surprisingly in good condition, at least on the outside, she wasn't about to go open those drawers. Shina stood in the room just breathing in the smell of dust and memories lost to time.
If her mother had been investigating Shina doubted she would have left behind anything in here, but then again it wouldn't hurt to check. Shina carefully moved to the closet and opened it fast. There was nothing in there except some wire hangers. Shina clicked her tongue in disappointment as she turned back to the room. As much as she wanted to stay here and reflect, it wouldn't be healthy for her. She shouldn't have even entered this house but the need to find secrets and see her mother's bedroom had won out.
It was a monumental effort, but Shina exited the bedroom to check the other bedrooms for any clues. Her old bedroom held no information that she could see, although she did find some old clothes that she hadn't realized she'd left behind, not that any of them would fit her now. When Shina looked through the kids old bedroom she didn't find anything there either. Shina was heading out to the living room when she looked up and saw the attic door. She'd honestly forgotten they had an attic. There was no wire or rope to bring down the door, but Shina was able to use her Quirk to wrap a thin strand of light rope around the small handle to pull the door down. Dust and debris came with it as an automatic ladder descended. Shina didn't trust the ladder with how rotted it looked so she carefully used her Quirk to make a construct of stairs to help get her up to the dark entrance of the attic. The darkness was lit up with her Quirk the closer she got until Shina finally bit the bullet and poked her head through the attic door.
There wasn't much that she could see up front. Just sand mounds and darkness. There were some cobwebs directly above her but she didn't see much more except dust.
"Great, another dead end." Shina muttered. When she made to get back down she turned her head and saw something in the far back glinting at her. Shina blinked and used her hand to increase the brightness making the glint reappear stronger than before. It was something shiny buried under a sand mound. Now this was promising, at the very least if she didn't find any secrets she could say she found something shiny!
Before Shina could climb further into the attic to crawl to the shiny object she felt something latch onto her ankle and jerk her back down. Shina screeched trying to grab onto the attic floor but the grip on her ankle was stronger than her surprise. Shina had cancelled her Quirk upon being scared so she ended up falling into the rotted ladder that honestly didn't put up a fight as she landed on it with her full weight, making it break. Dust rose into the air as Shina crashed onto the floor. Coughing and groaning she looked up to see Dabi who had an evil smirk on his face.
"Didn't think I would make you scream that loud."
"You asshole!" Shina coughed as dust got caught in her throat.
"The hell are you doing in this dump?" Dabi asked as Shina got to her feet.
"I was looking for ghosts." Shina snapped. "I found a zombie instead." He sneered at her before he smirked and reached a hand down.
"Come on brat." Shina glared at his hand before she reached up and grabbed Dabi's forearm.
"Thanks but I'm not done here." Dabi gave her a dull stare.
"Yes you are. The baby's probably awake."
"He has Yoshi." Shina waved off the concern as she looked back at the dark attic entrance that no longer had stairs to allow her to get inside. "I saw something shiny up there."
"What are you a bird?" Dabi rhetorically asked.
"I prefer the term raccoon." Shina stated as she used her Quirk to boost her back up to the attic. She looked around for the shiny and found it after a second. Shina hoisted herself fully into the attic and started to army crawl to the back of the house. "They're awesome!" The closer to the shiny object she got, Shina was able to realize that it was a piece of metal that looked like it was apart of something else. She hadn't seen it properly from her vantage point due to all the sand piled up around it. Clearing the sand from around the metal she pulled a book
"Trash pandas you mean." Dabi stated. Shina pulled the book out of the sand, dusting it off gently.
"Only the city ones. The wild ones are smarter and far cuter. Just like me." Shina yelled back distractedly. Why would a book be in here? Shina looked back at the sand piled up before she started to move it around making sure there was nothing else hidden in it.
"Hurry up!" Dabi's voice seemed to be coming from somewhere closer, like he was right under her.
"Don't rush me! I'm excavating." Shina found the edges of what looked to be another attic door. Shina knocked on the door before she put one hand on it and pushed. The door didn't budge so Shina shuffled around and started to feel for the edges. When she could see the door Shina put the book to the side and pushed with both hands on the door. A loud groaning came before suddenly the door opened and Shina fell forward.
"Shit!" Shina yelped as she fell through the air before crashing onto something that also ended up going down as well. Shina groaned as more dust came down making her sneeze and cough. "Well, I found the exit." Shina coughed.
"Get off me!" Dabi snarled. Shina blinked looking up towards Dabi's face only to see him covered in dust and grime. Thankfully he wasn't glaring as there was too much grime to see through. Shina gingerly moved around to sit up, gently hovering over his torso as she tilted her head back to look up at the attic exit. The closet they were in was the same one she'd been in a few minutes ago. This was her mother's bedroom closet. The attic must have had two doors. Though why the book would have been over this entrance was curious. Crap where was the book? "Hey idiot! I said get off!"
"Yeah yeah!" Shina huffed as she climbed to her feet before she made a platform from light and used it to pull herself into the attic. When she popped up she saw the book right by the opening. Shina grabbed it before she cancelled her Quirk, landing nimbly on her feet. "Got the book."
"I should burn that thing." Dabi grunted when he was on his feet.
"No!" Shina snapped. "Besides your fine." She watched in amusement as he dusted himself off. He shot her a dark look when she snickered at him. "You're just a bit dusty for a zombie but that's par for the course for your kind."
"I'm going to murder you. Toga can take your place." Shina started coughing.
"We've been over this Dabs, you like me too much." A loud creaking sounded that had Shina and Dabi tensing.
"Idiot, let's go before the entire house falls around us."
"Yep I'm with you there." Shina raced Dabi out of the house.
GM NASAI: So there was some flirting, some plot, and some background. I feel like I'm going too fast with this because I know Horikoshi's timeline is written in a few months but honestly? I wanna stretch that into at least two years of schooling because everything that's happened so far in cannon happens in half a school year. That seems so fast paced compared to normal schooling it made me and my minions of organized chaos dizzy. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! Until next time!