Me coming back to FFN and realising I haven't updated Stars here at the same times as Ao3. Embarrassing.
TV usually did wonders keeping Kaina's attention, today, the drone of the reporter was uncomfortable. The longer it went on the more I was reminded of the sniffles sounding from the person snuggling with a stuffed Bullet Bill at my side.
I couldn't look, couldn't acknowledge beyond tussling her hair sometimes as comfort. She didn't seem to want to be acknowledged right now.w
"- re today is astrophysicist Dr. Subu to talk about yesterday's spontaneous sola-"
The TV clicked off, the remote in my hand the cause.
"Why'd you turn it off…?"
"It was too loud." It wasn't helping you, "Wanna play a game? I have-" Super Mario 179, Pokemon Camp Ranger, Sporf 1-5, Cad Bolt, and- "Portal 2?"
She sighed, "Again? That one always makes me think so much."
"Thinking a lot is good for you Kaina."
"I know." She slumped over to the controller, politely retrieving one for me while she was there.
The game, Portal 2, was one of a few 'masterwork' games that get ported to new consoles every couple of years. According to dad, atleast. He was something of a 'gamer' according to himself. I'll spare my internal monologue the details.
The important part was it might distract Kaina from her lackluster shitsack parents. Not to mention Portal 2 would help put her head to use.
Our gameplay was mostly a slow trek, Kaina had learned fast, but Portal two was no joke.
Kainas sniffles stopped halfway through, going unmentioned beneath a brief rant about "how the H are we supposed to do this one?!"
Eventually, it was time for bed. Really it was bed three hours ago, but mom recognized the importance of letting someone upset fool around a little.
"Kaina, we should head up. It's eleven now, mom will be mad if she has to call us up."
"Huh?" Kaina jolted, "Eleven? I've only stayed up this late-" She paused looking around before her face set into stony serenity, "Never. Not even once."
"Uhuh. I bet." Came from the hall stairs behind us.
Ah. Maybe we stayed up longer than she expected.
Mom leaned over the bannister, "Kotone is right, Kaina-chan. You two have school tomorrow. Aren't you excited to play together again? You wouldn't want to be too tired for that right?"
"I won't be tired!"
Yes you will.
"Come'on Kaina. I wanna read some books." I pleaded, eyes wide with false need.
She sighed, shaking her head in exasperation, "Fine.."
Mom raised an eyebrow at my unsubtle manipulation, but said nothing.
Soon we were upstairs, and soon Kaina was asleep. Mom had left us alone, entrusting me with putting my sleepy friend to bed. She'd fallen asleep reading a book about cats fighting each other. She was muttering about it in her sleep. Something about clans?
I should head to sleep too.
But first…
I grabbed my phone. It had taken a lot of pestering to get one, but in this moment, it was more than worth it.
-Recent kidnappings- my phone read. Bold black headline and grayed photos. A dozen results caught my eye after three hours of searching.
Three hundred and eighty two kidnappings recently. Mostly middle of the lane quirks with a few gems here and there. I could tell because the news only reported their quirk when it was a 'good' one. Not that I had much room to speak. I could tell mine was a keeper.
In my age, police evidence was all secret. So to anyone from that age, the availability of evidence was definitely strange.
The new age had brought new problems though, and an influx of corrupt police and politicians had sparked a campaign of police accountability and visibility protests. Usually these were ignored, but when there were people breathing fire and crushing skulls it was a tad harder.
I had to thank those protesters, they had given me a lead.
The kidnappings were sudden. Targets were alone. The targets were always transported in a different vehicle. Suspected quirk interference regarding unusual lack of video evidence. Particularly in two places.
First: the site of the actual kidnapping. Camera equipment had usually been recently vandalized, typically a week beforehand, or had never been present in the first place.
Second: The vehicle's final destination. The vehicles were never caught on camera coming to a stop for anything but traffic. They never entered buildings on camera either. Eventually, the vehicles would round a corner and disappear.
My guess was that they had someone who could detect cameras from far away, and created a route that avoided them.
Personally, I believe that the initial phase, wherein the vehicle visibly goes places was a red herring, and searching the areas the vehicles disappeared at would be fruitless. Namely because if my guess about the quirk was right, then there'd be no other reason to appear on camera at all.
In other words, the kidnapper only appeared on camera to make it look like they escaped to somewhere nearby when in reality, they had actually used a quirk to facilitate an undetected escape to a location much further away.
That was bad.
It meant I couldn't even try to triangulate their location.
I spent the remaining ten minutes until I would usually wake up brainstorming how I could get them.
By the time my alarm had rung, I had one. I also didn't have one.
Scour the city? Tokyo was too big.
Ask around? I look like a child.
Scour obvious locations? B-trains were still largely in disrepair from the still rampant state of the city. The running airports in Tokyo never went private, and air security was too thorough to bother anyways. The real target was the docks. They were sprawling throughout Tokyo, and were practically impossible to fully secure. Japan, much like rest of the world, didn't have much of a functional military. Much less one for something as niche as naval security.
Naval security was a low priority. Usually it'd be high but no country has a functional military that could even launch a naval attack. The quirk revolution was a worldwide phenomenon. And it had come with harsh consequences, still being felt today. Back then, there'd been a massive serpent that had all but obliterated every boat on the water.
I could end it there. Scour the docks and call it good when I came across twenty shitheads and a pedo-van. But there was a problem that I couldn't solve without more information.
Tokyo once again proved too big.
Even just the docks covered a huge amount of land, not to mention sea-side land that wasn't being used for docking. Massive beaches and the occasional park could still hide a well placed boat. There was nothing to do.
I slumped, ginger hair falling over me.
Right now my best option was to keep close to Kaina and keep a lookout for anything suspicious.
Useless.
But I couldn't change my options. Not with so little to use.
So I slumped over, pretending to sleep as my alarm finally rang, and Kaina roused from dreamy sleep.
The morning went slowly, Kaina was never much of an early riser, so much of it involved dragging her from sleep.
"I don't wanna go to schooooool…" Kaina moaned, "I have a stomaccchhh acheeee…"
"Liar." I berated, finger tutting at her, "You remember music class? Mom called school the other day. Juhiro sensei was willing to postpone his 'event' until we came back."
"Wha-" Kaina jumped up, energy suddenly alight, "Really!?"
"Really."
"Really really!?"
"Really really." I grabbed my backpack, "Now. Please get ready."
Kaina groaned.
"Soon? And preferably of your own volition."
"Finnnneee…. For music class."
"For music class." I agreed.
—oO0Oo—
Math was over, and the appointed day did come. As was foretold. Music class.
It was a mostly meh class that edged on the side of annoying. Music is fun, of course, but too many kids were out of tune or out of sync. Either dragging or rushing. One particularly notable occurrence had a kid try to get through footloose so fast it became an allegro.
But today would hopefully be different. If nothing else, Kaina was excited, and that was good.
"We'll be singing our own songs!" Started Juhiro-sensei, "Go ahead and raise your hand if you have one you'd like to sing!"
Oh this poor fool. Admittedly, I was already ninety percent certain Juhiro-sensei was pretty new to teaching children. But at the same time, it was a tragic thing to see him fail so spectacularly. None of these kids were gonna raise their hand knowing they might be embarrassed.
Juhiro-sensei figited, "Uh, no one? It's really rude of you to ignore your teacher…"
Yeah right. Good luck convincing anyone that singing is worth their social lif-
Kaina looked sad.
I nudged her, elbow to elbow, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah… I was just hoping to hear someone sing…"
"Oh." Well. Who doesn't love singing?
Wait, did I even know a child appropriate song?
Mhmmn outcome not bright.
Maybe not a song then..?
Or not one with words, atleast.
I stood up, unflinching at the two dozens eyes now watching me. Tartarus had done me worse than children.
In the Velvet room, it was always there. A tickle of noise at first, a vague impression that you should be hearing something overshadowed by the endless grinding of the chains and gears that pulled that clockwork elevator. Sometimes, if you paid attention, it could be heard. A quiet tune from far away, a woman singing her heart to the world. It always made me sad, so I'd sing it during karaoke with Junpei, Yukari and Akihiko.
Once again, I stood ready to sing it, her eternal aria.
Every high, every low. From short tune to long tune.
It was as if a memory, nostalgia at its core. It took me to the crash, though each dark hall of Tartarus, through each first meeting and last goodbye. My first death, to the deal, to the understanding that maybe I would never win, to each depression and each high.
By the end the classroom had faded away. Only the thick slurry of despair remained, pulling, tugging, grabbing and clawing.
"Minako-san! Please get up!"
"That was incredible, Minako-chan. Have you considered a future in singing?"
"I- uh. No. I hadn't." The words slipped out, falling like salt onto a wound. But it couldn't snap this trance. Stuck. A rock in the ocean.
"You ever skipped stones, Mina-chan? Well, I mean this ain't exactly the best place to find 'em, but I, uh, may have brought a few."
"I think you should Koto. You'd be so cool! An awesome singer to make the best songs ever!"
"I've always wanted to be an actor, Minako."
"Really?"
"Yup. Haven't you ever seen a show you thought was fun?"
"Yup." Liar. "Featherman Rangers was always alot of fun."
"Really?! I loved that show too, it's part of what's inspired me."
And what had gone unspoken? That it had distracted her from her mothers intrusive boyfriends. Kept her mother from bothering her.
Safety.
"Kotone? Are you feeling well?"
I responded instantly, practiced words of a familiar song. "Just a little stage fright, Yuka."
"What-a?"
"Hm?" I turned, seeing a confused Kaina, "Sorry. I was just thinking of an actor I met once."
"Oh. I don't remember that."
"I don't think I ever mentioned it."
She hm-ed softly, choosing to believe me, apparently. We turned back to the class.
For the next forty minutes, Jubiro-sensei, rather painfully, attempted to coax music out of the rest of the class. They hm-ed and hawed, but ultimately, no one else was willing to try.
The bell rang, and I watched sensei slump dully. I sent my condolences mentally while I packed up my binder. I had chosen to do homework during the class and nobody had stopped me.
Kaina waited patiently at the door for me, and fell into step as I passed.
We walked, talking idly about our next period when there was a shout ahead. Kaina and I looked up from our conversation, seeing two kids in some sort of altercation.
"Quit talkin' like you know everything!" One of them, some broad kid with stone hands shouted.
"It's true!" The other, on the floor, said, "You need to call your parents and tell them to leave!"
Huh?
The kid on the floor, slick black hair with a flick of yellow, had given out some freaky prediction.
Huh?
I turned the corner into the next hallway to our next class, already prepared to put this out of my mind.
But when I turned to talk to Kaina again, she was gone. Of course she was gone.
I turned on my heel, and stamped back towards the event. Sure enough, there was Kaina, right in the middle of them. With her bandaged arm, she probably didn't strike an intimidating figure, but the rocky hands kid hadn't done anything yet.
"-an't just push people down like that, Sanda!"
Oh, Sanda, then.
I was now behind Kaina, staring mildly at Sanda. It was tough holding back the threatening glare I knew I could produce, but I doubted it would make Sanda, a child yet to have his ass handed to him, any less aggressive. Besides, he seemed to be quite reasonable. So far.
"He's threatening my parents!"
Kaina looked back, leaning down and stretching out a hand towards the floor kid. Who would now be called glasses kid, because it was clearly his most defining feature. Glasses kid grabbed it, and she pulled him up easily, probably owed to the giant metal construct that made up her muscles.
"Talk." I said, not particularly interested in trusting someone who apparently threatened people near Kaina.
"Please?" Kaina said, elbowing me in the side.
"I did no such thing." They said, "My quirk allows me to see some parts of the future. Only about an hour or so."
"So what?" Sanda grumbled, "You said they'd get hurt if I didn't call! That's a threat!"
"Call them." I urged, irked at his stupidity. I shouldn't have been, really, he was only a child, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the few resets where I'd tried to get help from someone who didn't trust me.
His eyes went wide, "F-fine!" He pulled his phone out, dialing them in the silence of the hall, "He- Mom? I don't know wher- where you are. But can you leave? Please? I'm scared."
There was silence. The phone warbled a little.
"Out of service..?"
Glasses slumped beside me, "Too late.. again."
I let a hand rest on his shoulder, feeling an understanding sprout, slight as it might be. He startled, confused, "What are you..?"
"My name is Kotone Shiomi." I said. I felt some solidarity with him. Noone believing you sucks, even if I myself was still wary of him. I held out my hand for a shake, "You?"
His brow furrowed, and he glanced from me to my hand, "What an American gesture… very well," He grasped my hand firmly, "Sasaki Mirai."
I felt a connection in him, a persona, and eagerly reached out to grasp it, to forge our contract. But it slipped away, unwanting of my touch. What could it be..?
When I looked back at him, no longer paying attention to what was within, he seemed… conflicted. He glanced between me, Kaina and the terrified Sanda.
"I.. I have to go. Good luck." He said after us.
"Bye Sasaki-kun!" Kaina shouted after him. I however was a bit confused.
Good luck was such an odd way of saying goodbye to someone. It struck me, for some reason.
"Kaina. Gym is our last period. We should go." I said, waving her along, "Come on."
She nodded, following after me to gym class, bubbly as always.
—oO0Oo—
"I know it's…" She rubbed the back of her hand, eyes darting to the ceiling and me, "but, the officers thought that after an experience like that, that therapy" she stressed, "would be good for you."
I'd been called down to the office just near the end of gym class, my mother had come in. It was somewhat annoying, mind, to be taken from Kaina's side, I needed to keep her safe after all, but I also wanted a good relationship with my mother. I barely remembered my first one. I barely remembered any of them. But I could admit to myself that I wanted family.
Still, the kidnappers hadn't been found. I needed to find them and beat them first.
"Can Kaina come?" I sat down on one of the uncomfy chairs that always spawned in school offices like weeds and kicked my legs out.
"Kaina needs to go home, Kotone." Mom started, chin falling into one of her hands, "She can't just stay with us all the time."
I puffed my cheeks, eyebrows creasing in annoyance, "Her parents don't even like her."
"That…" Mom sighed, heavy and laden, "May be true, Kotone." She came closer, brushing on hand through my hair, "But my answer hasn't changed."
"Why not?"
"Kaina's parents are very wealthy, Kotone. We can only do so much to get her out of there." She held one hand, "Besides, her parents are picking her up today anyway."
"Will she be…" My hand raised, but still I couldn't close the gap, "be safe?" I asked.
"I'm sure she will."
I brought my hand towards hers slowly, still waiting for some kind of twist, for a lie to appear in her statements. I couldn't leave Kaina unless I knew she was safe.
They clasped without issue.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I was comforted by the warm weight of my mothers hand. Kaina would be safe, even without me, for one day. Her parents would pick her up and then she'd go home safe and sound.
I pushed doubts away, despite the feeling of foreboding weight on my mind.
"Come on Kotone?" My mother tugged my hand, beckoning, "You don't want to keep the nice therapist waiting."
I nodded, rising to my feet. We signed out, and as the school bells rang out for the day we got in the car and drove to school.
—oO0Oo—
Sasaki Mirai felt no small amount of regret. But at the same time, it didn't really matter anyways.
It had never mattered before - what he did.
The outcomes didn't change.
This, however, was the first time he'd simply said nothing. But he didn't like how failure made him feel. Didn't like when he tried to make people understand and they would shout at him.
Sasaki passed an alley, and this time, unlike all other alleys, he stopped. He peered inside, seeing the large van, the broken cameras, the blacked out windows.
He sighed, and moved on, for once not doing a thing about his visions. Sasaki Mirai walked right past the location where, twenty two minutes from now, one Kaina Tsutsumi would be kidnapped.
If it didn't matter what he did, maybe he should just give up..?
A/N Oh noes, Sasaki! You were suppose to say something! But now! Oh woe! Oh woe! My story will have to... damnable- enter the rising action! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
also totes sorry that I keep forgetting to add the updates to this story, but like, haha. I'm lazy and busy. Deadly combination. C-C-C COMBO KILLER! 21 hits!
