Chapter 94

.::Wake-up Call::.

Sundays. Sundays still seemed to be cursed in this world, because yet again Mina found herself just bored. She had access to a whole network of runaways, had a bunch of friends from her world here now, they literally had kidnapped a teacher, and she was still bored.

Everyone was just so busy right now! Half her friends were off in other cities searching for that Porter guy, Kaminari and Jirou had to study (bleh), Midoriya was stuck with villains and all that jazz... Meanwhile, right now, Mina had no tasks of her own. The runaways had guard duty for Mic perfectly handled, and she still felt kinda guilty and awkward after yesterday.

...Yeah, she might have screwed up yesterday.

"Just, was telling him the truth a bad move?" she wondered aloud. She sat on a tree stump outside the tunnel where Mic was being held, venting to a couple of the runaways taking breaks from guard duty. "I mean, I was trying to do the right thing, but... I don't know."

"Well, I mean, it's kinda unbelievable," remarked a younger blue-haired girl named Navi, peeling the wrapper of a granola bar. "It's super crazy, y'know? Other worlds? It's like... Woosh." She spread her free hand as she talked, and then took a big bite of the granola bar, her words muffled as she continued, "Ipff jush inshane!"

"Navi, please don't talk with your mouth full," Shiozaki reminded the girl, getting a muffled "sorry!" while she turned her attention back to Mina. "But Navi isn't wrong. We, too, felt sincere doubt and concern when Yuki-kun first told us his plight."

"Mostly the part with him looking for a villain," Navi added after swallowing.

"Yes, that was rather concerning," Shiozaki agreed with a nod, which got a snort from Fuse—or should Mina say, Awase from 1-B. She had actually recognized him because he'd visited Yaomomo at the hospital after the summer camp disaster. Even in this world, the guy had a thick headband for his spiky black hair, though it might have a different pattern? She was pretty sure it wasn't blue and white plaid back home.

"I'll say," he said. "I haven't even met the guy, but the stories about him were spreading like wildfire before that big show Nettmegg put on. Everyone was convinced the guy was brainwashed or something."

"Yeah, he sounded super crazy even to me!" Navi piped up before taking another bite of her granola. Whatever she said next was incomprehensible with her mouth full.

"Yeah, Todoroki's, uh, not the best with talking to people," Mina said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. She had been vaguely aware of this before, but the full scope had become much clearer since getting stuck with him in this world. Hard to believe she'd ever thought of him as a stoic "ice prince" kind of guy after all the things she'd seen and heard here. "I think he was kinda sheltered...?"

"Yeah, I'd expect that from Endeavor's kid," Awase huffed. "Still, guy had us all paranoid as hell. Heck, I only believe it now because Rogue told us, and that guy never bullshits us."

"Well, now Mic-sensei's gonna be super paranoid too," Mina groaned, shoulders slumping dejectedly. "Because I suck at explaining this stuff too."

"Yeah, yesterday was, uh, kinda messy," Awase muttered, grimacing slightly, which just had her groaning even more loudly.

"I just, I don't get it!" she whined. "I explained it to An-chan and Kiri and Kumiko just fine, but not this time! This time I totally bombed it!"

"Nettmegg was already aware of the possibility thanks to Shouji's request, though," Shiozaki reminded her. "And I recall Tsuyu-san mentioning you also had some information that convinced Kirishima specifically."

"Yeah, I did," Mina relented with a sigh. "Maybe I should've waited for others to be there to help back me up..." And maybe they still could, when they got back. Mic-sensei's hearing aids were dead, so they'd have to use writing or something instead though, which might take longer... But it's not like he was going anywhere, right?

As she considered it Awase balled up his now-empty granola bar wrapper, tossing it into a nearby trash bag they'd set up. "Honestly, for what it's worth, not sure it would have made a difference to have others," he said. "Actually, it might spook him even more."

"What do you mean?" Mina asked with a frown.

"Think about it. The only folks from your world who are currently in Odawara are Todoroki and Uraraka, right?" Mina nodded. "So you've got Endeavor's missing son, and some rich heiress who's probably got a bunch of heroes looking for her."

"...Definitely has a bunch of heroes," she said, paling a bit as she remembered the visit about her. "Midnight-sensei is her tutor in this world."

"Who?" They all looked at her blankly.

"She's a hero who teaches us at UA. I think she and Mic-sensei are super-tight, so they're probably super-tight here, too. So he'd totally know about Ura-chan running away." While Mina spoke Navi pulled out her phone and made a choking noise.

"Wait, is your teacher a dominatrix on the side?" she blurted, and Shiozaki leaned over her shoulder and reared back with a sharp gasp.

"Oh my! That's so scandalous!"

"She's the R-Rated Hero," Mina said. "So, uh... Probably." It certainly matched up with Midnight's personality.

"...Wait. Does she dress like a dominatrix at school?" They were all staring at her again, and Mina could only shrug. In retrospect, probably a weird hiring decision for a high school. Especially since she helped referee the first year students' Sports Festival.

"Well, anyways," she said, dropping the topic. "She talked to me after Ura-chan ran away. So they already know there's a connection between us. And since they probably know it's connected to Mido-chan, I guess it'd look even more suspicious."

"Mido-chan?" Navi repeated in confusion. "Do you mean Tsu-senpai?"

"Oops, I meant Midoriya," Mina replied sheepishly. Right, Tsuyu used Midori as a codename in this world. "He's the guy from our class who's stuck with the Villain Alliance."

"Yeah, that's the other point that doesn't help in your favor," Awase said. "The second Mic made that connection, convincing him was an uphill battle. Especially with that Eraserhead guy. Pretty sure that thing he said about 'holding people prisoner' was specifically about him."

"Yeah, we kinda figured the Pros found out about Aizawa-sensei by now," Mina agreed with a sigh. At least they had confirmation now?

"If this Eraserhead guy taught at UA, it'd probably be easier to think any stuff you knew about it came from him," Navi piped up. "I mean, didn't we think something similar was going on with Todoroki's memories?"

"Yeah, we figured they were all planted by villains," Awase said with a snort. "Either Gentle Criminal, or someone else, since his goal was to go after him."

"His goal was Tokoyami, not that Gentle Criminal guy!" Mina countered.

"Same difference," he dismissed. "Either way, it was shady as hell. I remember we had to restrain Lee from going after him a couple times."

Mina stared at him blankly at the name. "He means Ojiro-kun," Shiozaki offered helpfully, and Mina gave a small "oh". Right, she kept forgetting his alias since she barely saw him after their first meeting here.

"Lee's been super worked up lately, hasn't he?" Navi commented. "He was always super serious about taking down bad guys, but now he basically gets murder-eyes whenever villains come up. Can't really blame him, though," she added in a grumble. "I'd be pissed too if my best friend got kidnapped."

That had Mina snapping to attention. "Kidnapped?" she repeated seriously. "Who? When? Can we help at all?"

Navi started to reply but was cut off by Awase. "We appreciate the offer to help, but you've got bigger things to worry about right now," he said bluntly. "Your hands are already full enough with Present Mic—and ours are, too."

"Fuse's right," Shiozaki agreed with a nod. "Your offer is very kind, but you also have many pressing concerns of your own. We can't ask you to do anything more."

"Come on, maybe I can help!" Mina pressed. "I have literally nothing to do today but wait for everyone to come back. And who knows, maybe I know this guy from UA!"

"You realize the odds are really low, right?" Awase deadpanned, and Mina turned to look at him.

"Your name is Awase," she said flatly, making him startle. "You're in 1-B, just like Shiozaki. I don't know much about your Quirk except that you used it to stick a GPS Yaomomo made onto a noumu at the summer camp. And I don't know his name, but that Mime guy is also from 1-B." She crossed her arms, glaring at them as she continued, "I haven't seen all of the runaways yet, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if there's more people I know here, especially if they're around our age and a vigilante." Which she assumed this guy was if he and Ojiro were friends.

"What does being a vigilante have to do with it?" Navi piped up.

"Because so far all the vigilantes I've met in this world became vigilantes for the same reason we signed up for the hero course back home," Mina replied with a huff. "They want to help people. But there's no hero schools in this world anymore, so all that's left is to do it illegally. So if they're our age and a vigilante, they're probably hero students back in our world, too!"

It was sound logic in Mina's opinion, and maybe they agreed because none of them argued. They just eyed her silently for a moment, weighing their options, before finally Awase spoke up. "Know what, fine. Won't give you his name, but he's around our age, has purple hair and eyes, and a Brainwashing Quirk. That ring any bells?"

...Yes, it did, and Mina felt her mind briefly shut down.

Around ten minutes later, Ran's phone suddenly rang next to her laptop, making her groan as she snatched it up. A glance at the caller ID had her groaning again, recognizing the number of the burner phone she'd given to Ashido. "This better be important," she said in lieu of greeting.

"You knew about Shinsou!" Ashido hissed angrily, and dammit.

"Are you alone?" Ran asked sharply, pulling the phone away from her ear to open the app Kuroe had made for her Quirk to interface with. Ashido was at Kuroe's house, along with his own dot.

"Yeah, I am now! But I totally almost freaked out right in front of—"

"Go to the guest room and close the door. I'm hanging up and swapping an ear with you. You have ten seconds." Ran hung up before Ashido could respond, and counted to ten before activating Neural Network to swap the hearing in their left ears. Upon the swap she could hear footsteps from Ashido's end, making her roll her eyes. "Still not there yet?" she asked, and heard a startled yelp.

"What the heck?" Ashido's voice blurted in shock.

"I told you, I swapped hearing in one of our ears. Get to the guest room and close the door."

"This is so much weirder than Kaminari made it sound." Even as she spoke Ran heard Ashido's feet continue to pad across the creaky floorboards on the hallway leading to Kuroe's guest room. Swapping only one ear could lead to sensory overload due to conflicting noises in each location, but since Ashido was at Kuroe's house it would be easy enough to avoid that. Soon enough she heard the transition from wood to carpet, followed by the door closing. "Okay, I'm in the guest room now."

"I figured from the door closing," Ran hummed, getting up to walk to the bathroom.

"I hear footsteps, where are you going?"

"The bathroom," Ran replied, stopping in front of her sink. She leaned forward, pressing a hand over her left eye as she looked at the mirror. "There's a mirror over the dresser. Cover your left eye and look into it."

"Um, okay, but why—huh?" Ran's vision immediately changed from her reflection the bathroom mirror to show Ashido's reflection, one eye covered by her hand and the other wide and surprised. She leaned forward a bit and squinted. "Woah, I think I see you?" She peeled away her hand and then flinched. "Woah, what the heck? That's so weird, it's like my vision's totally split!"

"Yeah, that's why I said to cover your eye," Ran said, rolling her own eyes. She saw Ashido's reflection give a little start before her vision swiveled a bit, making Ran sigh. "Okay, try not to roll your eyes. Just look at the reflection straight on. I figured we might as well talk face to face."

"Okay, then," Ashido said, still squinting at the mirror almost suspiciously. She lifted her hand over her left eye and pulled it away, repeating the process a couple times. Yep, typical Ashido curiosity.

"So, as you were saying?" Ran asked, and that seemed to snap the pink-skinned girl out of her stunned stupor, expression quickly hardening.

"You knew about Shinsou all along!" she accused, back to sharp and almost angry as she glared at the mirror. "Awase told me that Shinsou's one of the runaways and works with Ojiro and Monoma as vigilantes! You totally knew from the second Mido mentioned him on that first phone call!"

Ran stood a bit straighter at that, eyes narrowing. "You didn't tell them, did you?" she asked lowly.

"No, I didn't," Ashido huffed. "I just said he was in gen ed. But I know you didn't just somehow totally miss that, you're super smart. And I remember you freaking out when Mido mentioned the muzzle. But what the heck, An-chan! He's totally on your network, right? Why didn't you ever tell us! That would've saved us so much time trying to figure out Nabu when Uraraka couldn't say it anymore! We could've found them all way earlier!"

"He's not on it anymore," Ran said, and Ashido blinked, making Ran's own vision briefly flicker before Ashido's reflection stared dumbly back at her.

"What?"

"Don't tell your friends just yet, but there's a way to cut off the connection," Ran said, frowning to emphasize her point. Ashido's eye widened as Ran continued, "Last fall Shinsou went on a trip, solo. I don't know the details of why, or where he went. Just that one day, the link suddenly cut out. One second it was there, and then it was gone."

It was hard for Ran to describe how the links in Neural Networking felt to others, just an always present thing in the back of her mind. Cutting the link always felt like an electric shock to Ran: there'd be a sudden jolt, her whole body shuddering, and then in the recesses of her mind, there would be a sudden emptiness. A void where something once existed.

Ashido still looked stunned, both eyes now uncovered and wide. "What... How... Why did he do it? How did he do it?"

"Don't ask me why he did it," Ran said with a shrug. "I don't know. All I know is that he did. I didn't even know where he was when he cut it. It's not like I have a constantly updating map in my head. I have to actually think about it to be sure, and even then it's not that exact. As for how he broke it, I'm gonna keep that to myself for now. I really don't want any of you guys cutting it off." She gave her reflection a pointed look, though she couldn't see the mirror herself.

Ashido still seemed to be doing her best impression of a fish, mouth slightly agape. Slowly she began to recover though, jaw softly clenching as she frowned and covered her left eye again. "Okay, fine. I get it. But why didn't you tell us! Why didn't you tell them! You saw how worried we got just over hearing about Bakugou and Midoriya being missing! But you know Shinsou and Ojiro and Monoma personally! Ojiro and Monoma and all the other runaways must be worried sick! You should at least tell them he's alive and that we're trying to save him! So why haven't you—"

"Because Ojiro and Monoma would go after Shinsou and get themselves in trouble," Ran cut in sharply, and Ashido immediately went silent. Ran sighed, running a hand through her hair as she frowned. "Look, Ashido. I get that it's upsetting and seems like I'm being a jerk, but I want to remind you that when Uraraka found out Midoriya was stuck with the Alliance, her first plan was to run away and join them."

"Yeah, that was uh, pretty bad," Ashido agreed with a small grimace.

"And here's the thing: Uraraka only met him at UA, right?" Ran asked. When Ashido nodded, she continued, "Well, those three have known each other for years. They were already a package deal when they got dumped on Kuroe's doorstep. So think: how would you feel if you found out Kirameki had spent the past two months locked up in a tiny cell, surrounded by villains who might have a specific grudge against her, with a muzzle?"

"...I would do everything in my power to break into that prison and rescue her," Ashido declared almost solemnly.

"Yeah, thought so," Ran said flatly. "That's probably exactly why Shinsou cut the link in the first place. He didn't want them getting into danger too." She sighed, resisting the urge to shake her head as she leaned over the sink a bit. "I did tell Rogue after Midoriya mentioned him, and he told Glitch. We're keeping it on a need to know basis for the time being. Otherwise, some of our vigilantes might just run off to Nabu to stage a rescue and get themselves captured too, or worse."

"...That's why you're so invested in this, and don't want heroes involved," Ashido said quietly. She looked at the mirror with an almost eerily calm expression, gears visibly turning in her brain. "Because once they get involved, the chances of getting Shinsou back are even lower. They'll just send him back to his family, or arrest him for vigilantism, or maybe recruit him for that school... And you don't want that."

A surprisingly astute observation. While Ashido might not be the most book smart person (or the most wise, either), she wasn't a complete idiot. Especially when it came to people. "This is our best bet at getting him back," Ran confirmed simply. "If the heroes get involved, we'll lose our chance to get Shinsou back with the runaways. He'd hopefully be safe and alive, but it's still a giant loss since we wouldn't be able to talk to him. That, and the heroes might try to get information about the runaways from him."

Ashido's expression was still dark, mouth pressing into a thin line. "It's almost like you're using us." It wasn't accusatory or upset, just stating a fact.

"Not really," Ran said with a shrug. "Midoriya was planning to escape with them anyway. And besides, we're actually helping. I have Midoriya on the network now, so I can help coordinate the rescue and escape to go more smoothly once we work out a plan."

"Why not tell us, though?" Ashido pressed, and Ran paused as she considered it.

"...I really don't have a good answer for that," she finally admitted, and Ashido threw up her hands in frustration.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. Honestly, I guess it's just our usual paranoia." She shrugged. "Once you get in the habit of keeping some stuff secret, it can be hard to break that mindset. And it's not like you'd be around Ojiro or Monoma that much, so not like you'd slip up and mention Shinsou around them."

Ashido just gave her a very judging look. "So," she said. "Remember when Todoroki got a phone call from Hawks, about Dabi, who is actually his brother? And how Ura-chan and Mido figured that out on our first phone call, and she planned to tell him in person, but Hawks beat her by a day?"

Ran paused at that, grimacing slightly. "Okay, yeah, I get your point," she relented. "But seriously, don't tell Ojiro, Monoma or any of the runaways yet. They will barge in and get themselves in trouble. Trust me on this."

"I don't know," Ashido said with a frown. "Ojiro's not really the super-impulsive kind of guy back home... Doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd do."

"How about Uraraka trying to join the Villain Alliance?" Ran retorted. Everyone from their class seemed stuck on that detail, and from the way Ashido grimaced she'd made her point.

"Okay, point there. Definitely would not have guessed that one."

"We'll let them in on it after we have an actual plan," Ran said. "But until then, just... try to keep it quiet, okay?"

Ashido didn't look happy, but Ran expected no less. It was a pretty shitty situation all around. "Is there anything else you're hiding?" she finally asked, seeming almost frustrated.

Ran had to pause to think about it before saying, "Don't think so."

"Ran!" Ashido snapped, and Ran held up both hands, even opening her left eye. Immediately her vision split in half, one with Ashido and the other her own reflection. The two radically different images were a bit jarring like always, her brain struggling to merge them together like it would when looking at things normally with two eyes. Having two eyes visible made her glare more impactful than just one though.

"I am the coordinator for a network of runaways. I have tons of secrets. But I don't think any of them are relevant to this situation, and I'm not going to violate people's trust if it's not absolutely necessary. So yeah, I'm hiding stuff from you, but I can't tell you everything." Ran spoke firmly, glaring at her and Ashido's reflections. She meant business, and needed Ashido to understand.

Fortunately, Ashido did seem to get it, even if she didn't seem too happy. "Fine," she grumbled, and Ran closed her left eye and covered it again while the other girl continued, "But if you realize something does matter, tell us ASAP!"

"I will, I promise," Ran swore. "If the conversation's done, I'm gonna cut the link. I need to get back to studying for exams." Ashido's face twisted up with disgust at the notion, her nose even wrinkling a bit.

"Yech. Good luck. So glad I don't have to do any exams."

"At least until you get home," Ran said with a smirk, and saw Ashido's face contort in absolute horror.

"...We're going to have so much work to make up," she whispered faintly, and Ran snickered.

"I'll talk to you later Ashido," she said with a smirk, and the other girl sighed.

"Alright. Later, An-chan." With that Ran swapped both senses back, but she didn't head out of the bathroom just yet. She leaned against the sink with a heavy sigh, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes.

"Fuck," she said softly. Not for the first time, she reflected how this whole situation was just so fucked up. She really hoped this wouldn't backfire at any point, and that they'd get Shinsou back safely.

After a moment she walked out of the bathroom and swiped her phone from the desk, opening FacePage to bring up her messages with all the jumpers. The talk with Ashido was an important wakeup call. She was used to keeping stuff under wraps, but there was absolutely no reason to hide this particular fact from the dimension jumpers. If anything, it would be beneficial for them to know, especially Midoriya.

'Hey, got some important info I need to share. Can't go into detail over text, but it's about that guy deku_breaks_bones mentioned. The one from gen-ed, Shinsou.'

I realized there was no point in Anjou keeping Shinsou's identity secret other than my own desire to have some big dramatic reveal to everyone else when Shinsou reunites with Ojiro and Monoma after the escape. Curse my characters for being too logical for my whims! *shakes fist*

Also, if you didn't realize, Fuse is Awase. I didn't mean to make that a secret, sorry!

Question for next time: What event/development do you want to see happen in Chapter 100?