EIJIROU:
I was trying not to feel too guilty about Okami the next day. I kept turning in my bed, telling myself that he was dangerous, he was gonna hurt innocent people, and we had no choice but to stop him.
Right? He was a villain. That's what heroes do. They stop villains, and villains are bad guys…aren't they?
My cell phone rang, and I saw it was Ashido. It was a bit strange for her to actually call me, instead of text. I answered.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Hey, E-Kirishima. Do you have a minute?"
Her voice sounded way shakier than I'd ever heard it before.
"Sure, we don't start patrol for a while. Did something happen?"
She took a deep breath. "Butterfly and Goggles…Musha's sidekicks…they got killed last night."
My jaw dropped. "No way. Killed?"
"Yeah. While we were going after some villains. They were - m-"
She couldn't finish the word. I had a pretty good idea hough what it was. Murdered.
"Oh man. Ashido, I'm so sorry."
"We found the bodies."
She choked it out. It sounded like she was crying. I wanted to run right to wherever she was calling from and hug her until she stopped. What kind of things could I just say, over the phone?
"Oh…" was all I could come up with, and I tried hard to think of something better.
"They were my friends, Kirishima. They were great pros and they helped me, and Tooru, and Aoyama! They didn't deserve to die, like that! Not because of some stupid villains, some stupid, awful villains, who just wanted to - to hurt people for no reason, no reason at all, and now they're dead…It's just not fair."
"You're right. It's not fair." I said that, hoping it would help her, at least a little. And help me stay firm. "They shouldn't have done that - the villains, I mean. I'm really sorry, Ashido."
"Thanks. I'm - I'm sorry for getting all - I mean, you've got your work study - are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks. And hey - any time you need to talk, it's no problem at all."
"You're the best." She gave a little watery sound kind of like a hiccup, and then said, "You know, you kind of saved me last night."
"I did?"
"Yeah. I'll tell you about it some time. Good luck." There was a sound at the back of her voice, like it was hard for her to say that, but she was trying to sound positive.
Right. That's why we're here. Even if they-re - like that guy, villains are villains, that's what you gotta remember.
Fatgum, Tamaki, Tetsutetsu and I took patrol together again, Fatgum being pretty cheerful, and telling me how I'd done good that night.
Suddenly, as we turned a corner, we heard a scream -
From above us. A woman was falling to her death, a villain hovering far above our heads.
ASHIDO:
We didn't patrol for a full day after it happened. I was gonna tell Musha it was ok if he wanted to end our work study and grieve, but he seemed determined to go back to work right away. The funerals would be in a month or so.
We were taking things more slowly and had been asked to monitor a nearby college campus, where students had been threatened by a villain. The villain had mostly just left creepy threatening notes and made phone calls so far, but the students said they'd feel better with some pros around.
We stepped out of the car and found a number of young girls in uniforms - an all girls' school.
"Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Musha, for coming to look after us!" Said one of the girls. I couldn't help but notice that she had big eyes and antennae like Butterfly - did, and Musha couldn't stand to look at her.
He said nothing and there was a long silence. The girls were looking a little nervous.
I jumped in and grinned at her. "No problem, ma'am! You can count on us, at the Musha agency!"
"Oui, mademoiselle," bowed Aoyama. "We young heroes of Class 1A shall-"
"They are! They're totally from UA's Class 1A!" Said one of the girls, jumping up and down, and suddenly we were being asked for autographs. I think it was good for Musha and Splatter that no one was looking at them. They didn't have to pretend to smile.
Even for us it was hard, and we'd only known Goggles and Butterfly a few weeks.
We settled in for a regular stake-out style patrol that night, around the boarding house dorms.
"Kinda reminds me of Heights Alliance," I said.
"Yeah. I wonder why these kids are in danger? All Might isn't teaching here. It's not a hero school, just a regular one."
"Even regular schools can be the targets of terrible things," said Musha.
My cell phone buzzed. I wondered if it might be Eiji. He'd really helped me calm down this morning after everything that happened.
"I don't know the number," I said, as the others looked at me. Musha and Splatter exchanged a look.
"Answer it," said Musha.
"Huh? But it's just spam."
"Do as I say, Pinky."
That was an order. I answered. "Hello?"
"You look sexy in that skintight costume alien hero girl. You wanna know what I'm gonna do to your corpse once I get my hands on you?"
The villain himself was on my line.