Chapter 12
“So you’re from a really rural area then Fuma-san?” I nodded in affirmative to Hokami-san, the girl with the white horn hair as I sipped my boba tea.
The girl instantly nodded as she pulled out her phone and started fiddling with it while Kana-san, the girl with black eyes and orange hair, leaned forward squinting at me. The third girl, the tallest and palest -and by pale, I mean light blue in skin- with long black hair, Kagayuku-san leaned on her elbow. “That would explain it then?”
I didn’t reply to that and just raised an eyebrow as I drank. Which was par for the course, I hadn’t actually talked much since I’d been invited and then as school let out, basically ambushed by these three girls before being escorted here with a promise of it being their treat. Honestly, this could probably be considered like bullying, or coercion of some kind, but considering the scale it wasn’t actually that big of a deal. Especially since I hadn’t actually, you know, talked to anyone once school began.
After a bathroom break, I was able to replace myself with a Bunshin and wandered off. Not terribly far, I couldn’t actually maintain a clone from very far away so I had to be in the school building. But doing things like sitting at a desk, walking between classrooms, and moving a pencil around didn’t actually warrant much attention for me to set my clone to do in my absence.
“Where you came from or, more specifically, why none of us have ever heard of you.” Kagayuku took a sip of her own drink.
“And why exactly would you have heard of me?” I said before reaching down and grabbing one of the pastries. Huh, this was a chocolate one. Is it… nope that’s dark not milk. The crust was pretty good though.
“Because of your quirk, do you know how many doctors want to look at a regeneration quirk? ALL OF THEM.” She hit the table at this.
“Akira, our drinks.” Hokami said as she picked her tea off the table. The white haired girl let out a breath before she moved her eyes from her friend, “Don’t mind Akira, her family owns a hospital and she seems to have it in her head that she can just grill people on their quirks because of it.”
“I don’t grill people unless it’s really interesting! And quirk genetics is always interesting. What were your parents like, by the way? Do you have any siblings? Do they have similar quirks? Is it an evolution or a combination?”
“This is why no one talks to you during break.” Hokami sighed as she took another deep sip before she eyed Kana and smacked her on the back of her head, “And stop using your quirk, you know that’s illegal.”
I blinked and looked from the two of them to Kagayuku, who had a hand on her face, “Kana-san has a vision quirk, she can examine people like some sort of scan machine.”
“Not exactly the same.” Kana rubbed her head from where it was smacked, “It’s not xray, cause that causes radiation, it’s more like an MRI. Though I don’t see everything that those show either.”
“And you were just scanning me.” I said, looking at the other two girls. “Is that why you brought me here? Because questions are one thing, but that’s a massive invasion of privacy. Do I need to call the cops?”
I was only half joking. Seriously, what the fuck? Who just randomly does scans on another person with a quirk? I know this is a kid, but medical information is secret for a reason.
Hokami’s eyes widened at the response, though Kana seemed less concerned. The white haired girl grabbed her friend by the neck and bowed her head, “Apologize you idiot.”
“What? It’s not like I needed to bring her here to…”
“Shut up, you’re not helping.” Hokami hissed.
“I think she’s joking.” Kagayuku said, half-eying me. I gave her a deadpan look as I ate a strawberry filled croissant.
We sat there in silence for a few more moments before I took a sip of tea and turned out of my chair to get up and leave. I felt the movement, but didn’t dodge the clumsy grab as the two hands gripped around my forearm.
“Wait, wait, wait, sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Didn’t mean to do what? I answered your questions in class, then the three of you dragged me out here to do further interrogation. Then you use a quirk that’s the equivalent of a medical procedure that’s supposed to be confidential. Is this standard procedure here, am I to expect some hounding for the rest of my schooling here?”
“No, no, I mean, we just…” Kana looked at the other two who were at this point glaring at her. “Nothing happens around here, and then you just appeared out of nowhere!”
“So?”
“So it’s fascinating, you’re fascinating, you have a fake arm, and a rare quirk, and a mysterious past, you’re like the perfect background for a hero.”
“A hero? Really?” I said with a sigh, “What is this, a light novel? A prosthesis doesn’t make me special any more than a pair of glasses would. And what does a quirk have to do with anything? Also, my past is mysterious because I haven’t told you, and now I’m not going to because quite frankly you don’t deserve to know.”
Nevermind that they’d never believe me if I told them the whole truth anyway.
“But quirks have to do with everything! Everyone has a quirk, it’s their own special thing. Like my eyes! I’m gonna be a doctor like my parents. You could totally be a hero since if you get hurt you could just heal yourself and keep going.”
“Or I could just, you know, be a normal person, and get hurt doing normal things.” Reaching over I pulled her fingers off gently then looked at the other two girls. “Is this why you two are here too? To get all the information on the mysterious new girl?”
“We were just trying to get to know you.” Kagayuku said this but didn’t look me in the eyes. “That’s normal.”
“Really? Is she?” I pointed at Kana.
“No.” Hokami growled, “And she promised she wouldn’t do this.”
“Well, she lied.” I reached down and grabbed another pastry and my bubble tea. “Thank you for the meal. Please don’t talk to me again.”
Pulling out my phone I headed to the door but didn’t stop even as my thumb moved around the screen, and pulled up everything I could find on the three of them. I might have solidly burned that bridge, but I might as well figure out more about those three, especially the one who definitely gave the vibes of a maybe future stalker.
–
Stepping out of the car Makoto looked up at the burned out building and snorted as she checked her phone for the time. It was just a little after four and Koichi was on his way, having left work early to meet her here. That wasn’t his fault, her flight had gotten in early and she didn’t want to hang out at the airport. Still, looking at the building she decided to sit on a nearby bench and wait rather than take those stairs. It had been a hectic last few months, but now that they were in January, there was a lull in her assignments and activities that wouldn’t start to pick up again until late spring.
So now she was home, or almost home. On a more ambitious day she’d maybe take the stairs but the extreme amount of jet lag traveling between Japan made her want to collapse right there and then. Instead she waited for Koichi to make his commute from whatever disaster area they’d had him inspect at work. In a less exhausted state she’d start planning the presentation for getting him to properly start up his own agency. There would be snags of course, the system was in a process of flux and the matter of insurance was always going to cause some risks. That was a problem she’d sort through after a long nap and a meal though. Pulling out her phone she checked the time absently one more time to see how long it had been, not even a few minutes. She let out a breath through her nose and leaned back.
“He’ll probably be here soon. Trains were pretty empty when I got off.”
Starting, Makoto stood up to find Ume, the young girl who’d started living with Koichi late last year. When did she… wow she must be tired for the girl to have snuck up on her. The girl didn’t seem to notice her surprise as she played on her own phone and sat on the bench next to her.
“Ume-san,” Makoto tried to push the tiredness out of her voice. She hadn’t really had any time before to talk to the girl Koichi had brought home. Really the man was quite the pushover, but she’d accepted it as part of his charm long ago, “I see you’ve just come home from school. How was it?”
Makoto sat next to the girl, her hand brushing her as she replied. “It was fine.”
Lie.
Pulling back, Makoto schooled her face. That hadn’t been on purpose, but now she was curious. “I see, did you make any friends?”
“Nope. But it’s fine. I don’t plan on making any friends there.” The girl absently adjusted the sleeve on her shirt. She’d taken off the blue blazer and tied it around her waist. Shoko would probably give her an earful about wrinkling the blazer on a new uniform, but that was beside the point.
“Well, what do you intend to do at the school, Ume-san?” Makoto reached over and helped the girl unbutton the cuff on one of the sleeves. She was trying to do so with the fingers on her false hand but it was proving difficult.
“Blend in.” Ume said, but let out a deep sigh, “Or at least, I was trying to, but that’s not going to work out, is it?”
Not Lie.
“Did something happen?” Makoto started to roll up the sleeve for the girl.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Lie.
So they probably needed to change location. Well they were in public, and Makoto was going to spend a few months here for her vacation so it wouldn’t hurt. She checked her phone again, Koichi was coming from Gawa, so at least thirty minutes until he showed back up.
“I’m feeling a bit sluggish. Want to go wait in a cafe to get a coffee?” She offered, she’d heard from Koichi that the girl had some unusual drink tastes for her age and she could probably use one herself.
Immediately the girl’s nose scrunched at the suggestion, she didn’t need her quirk to see something was wrong there. Ume shook her head a moment later.
“Convenience store then.” Makoto offered instead, “We can get some pudding and bring it up to the roof with us.”
“Yaki Onigiri.” She stood up, slowly putting away her phone, “With pickled plum.”
Makoto smiled, “I don’t think it comes grilled at the store, but I’m sure we can do a light sear once we’re up at the apartment.” If they talked on the way up the stairs, that might be okay too. Even if her feet would ache, she could handle it. Though she didn’t think she’d be settling down any time soon, it would be good practice for if and when she had her own children.
Plus, she hadn’t eaten for a bit and some Yaki Onigiri did sound pretty good.
Bon chapitre merci