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“-know about this dress. I feel like I should have chosen-”
“Hey man, how’s my tie?”
“Why oh why did I sign up? What if they don’t like me?!”
“I’m sure it’ll be-”
“-ope it’s one of the Pros. I’d love-”
“Did you hear? They say-”
Hitoshi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. So noisy. One would think they’d have already had these discussions before the event started.
“Hello.”
Hitoshi glanced at the small frog-like girl.
“Come to check out the competition?” he asked by way of greeting.
She tilted her head. “Ribbit?”
“Surely you realize this is nothing more than a glorified interview in the name of charity? They may claim it’s just a fun ‘hang out’ but half the people out there are searching for sidekicks.” He looked at his fellow students, many of whom had had an impressive showing in the Sports Festival. “That means half of us will have yet another leg up when it comes graduation time, and the rest of us will have to put up with whoever we’re forced to spend the next five hours with, with nothing to show for it.”
That’s if some of them weren’t skipped over entirely. He figured he had a fifty-fifty chance of leaving the stage without any bids whatsoever. He may have gotten a bump in popularity after the Sports Festival, but most people still wouldn’t want to spend five hours alone with someone who could control their every move. They’d probably request a chaperon if someone actually won.
It’d been stupid of him to come.
“I guess that’s true,” she said, following his gaze towards the mingled groups of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, “but even if you don’t get bid on by a recruiter, you can still make the best of it. All Might says it’ll be good training for handling fans.”
“I’m not planning on having fans.”
The girl studied him. “You’re a lot like Mr. Aizawa, aren’t you?”
Hitoshi blinked, but the door slammed open before he could answer.
“Are you ready to rock and roll, listeners!” Present Mic threw his hands into the air.
The room was dead silent.
“All right then! Let’s get this show on the road!” Present Mic continued, unperturbed by their lack of response. “Everyone form a line.”
Hitoshi waited for the line to start to take shape before making his way to the front.
“What do you think you’re doing?” some boy with glasses asked, looking absolutely scandalized.
“I’m not sticking around all night to wait for the rest of you.” Hitoshi turned away, ignoring Glasses’ continued spluttering. He wasn’t going to stand there, watching the rest of them get bids for who-knew-how-long on the off chance he wouldn’t be sent home immediately.
“Iida, it’s okay. Just let him,” someone said behind him. Hitoshi didn’t bother to turn around to see who.
“Follow me, kiddos. When we get there, I’ll announce you and you’ll step onto the stage, got it?”
This time there was a little more of a response as several people muttered their agreement.
Present Mic led them to the side of the stage, where they waited just out of sight.
“Are you ready to start the night off with a bang, listeners!” Present Mic shouted, stepping onto the platform. He got a far better response from the audience than he had from them, the crowd cheering and clapping as he waved. “Okay then, let’s not keep you waiting! First up we have Shinsou Hitoshi!”
Hitoshi trudged out onto the stage, hands in his pockets, face firmly blank.
“Shinsou comes to us straight from the General Studies program, but don’t let that fool you! He packs a powerful punch - a mental punch that is! His quirk is brainwashing and he can make you do anything he wants with a mere thought. Scary! Better watch out or he’ll have you under his spell in no time!”
Well. That’d been equal parts flattering and threatening.
“Let’s start the bidding at one thousand yen, shall we?”
“Fifty thousand yen!”
Present Mic’s mouth dropped open.
A pink-haired girl wearing the most ridiculous goggles Hitoshi had ever seen ran towards the stage. Present Mic visibly retreated as she slammed her hands down on the stage floor.
“I bid fifty thousand yen!”
“Uh…okay. I mean, it looks like we have the first bid of the night, listeners! Fifty thousand yen! Going once! Going twice!”
No one else in the audience seemed to even know how to react to the strange turn of events. Some of them were even actively avoiding looking at the girl like she might curse them if she caught sight of them.
“Say congratulations to our winner, the scary girl at the front, one Hatsune Mei!”
She gave Hitoshi a grin that had him considering feigning a horrific illness and sneaking out the back.
“You’re going to have so much fun with my super cute babies!”
He shouldn’t have cut in line.
&&&&&
“So, Hatsume Mei, you’re a support student, aren’t you?” he asked as she led him out of the auditorium-turned-charity-auction-area.
He could vaguely recall someone with her level of…excitement at the Sports Festival. She’d lost on purpose, which annoyed the part of him that had put his all into winning, but she’d achieved her goal in doing so, something which couldn’t be said for him. He tried not to be too bitter about it.
“You remember me?” she asked.
“Obviously.”
“Perfect.”
The way she said the word left him weary of what was to come.
“Clearly my babies did their job if a General Studies student remembers me. I can only imagine the impression they made on the support companies.” She clapped her hands together.
Hitoshi’s eyes narrowed. “And why wouldn’t a General Studies student remember you?”
Hatsume seemed to catch the dangerous lilt to his voice as she turned to look at him. “I just meant that you wouldn’t know me from outside the Sports Festival. Since General Studies students don’t usually have reason to access the support team.”
No, they didn’t. Which left them at an even greater disadvantage if they ever wanted to catch up to the Hero Course students.
“Where are we going?” he asked, changing the topic.
“I got special permission from Power Loader to use the support room for our date night.”
Hitoshi smirked. “Planning on using your toys on me?” he asked silkily, half expecting her to get offended and leave and half expecting her to slap him so he could get offended and leave.
Any excuse would do, really.
She did neither, instead spinning around and giving him a smirk right back. “You’re going to love them.”
“Is that so?” He didn’t know if he should be amused or worried.
“My babies are the best babies around. We’ll get you outfitted with two or three or maybe seven and you’ll be ready to fight a tank! Oh, a tank. Now there’s an idea. I should ask for one next time I see Power Loader.”
Worried. He should definitely be worried.
Hitoshi didn’t let his apprehension show as she grabbed his hand and all but dragged him the rest of the way. Thankfully, if there was one thing his quirk had been good for growing up, it’d been teaching him how to appear cool.
She flung open the door when they reached the room before all but shoving him inside.
“Behold! My super cute babies!”
Her ‘babies’ lined every available surface in the room from counter to counter and a bit of the floor too. And that wasn’t including the dubious pile of junk thrown in the corner.
“Charming.”
“Aren’t they?” She rushed over and began lifting the items one by one. “What should we start with first? Oh, how about this? It’ll brace your knuckles when you punch people, not to mention the special secret kick I’ve added in for additional damage.”
She snatched his hand and shoved a glowing orange glove onto it. Hitoshi twitched when it zapped him.
“Did you feel it? How was it?” She leaned in close until her face was centimeters from his, her strange yellow eyes peering deeply into his own as if looking for physical evidence of his soul.
“This sucks,” Hitoshi said, slipping the glove off. It gave him another zap as it passed over his palm. “Nobody wants a support device that also hurts them.”
“Rest assured! It’s not supposed to do that.”
He was not assured.
She gave him a grin before taking her ‘baby’ and putting it back where she’d gotten it. “Don’t worry precious, I’ll work out the kinks and then you’ll be a real show stopper!”
And now she was talking to inanimate objects.
Hitoshi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Somewhere out there Glasses was probably cackling as karma tore him a new one.
Hatsume grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around so that he was facing away from her. Hitoshi choked a little as she secured what felt like a cape around his neck. “This baby is even better than the last one.”
“Better at injuring people?” Hitoshi asked, reaching up to adjust the straps around his neck.
“Injuring villains. Say you’re out heroing and someone comes up behind you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and Hitoshi couldn’t breathe.
He tried to elbow her in the stomach, but the damn cape got in the way, the stupid thing solidifying and causing his elbow to ache as he hit what felt like metal.
“Oh no! You’re trapped! What are you to do? Simple! Just press this button-” She reached underneath the part of the cape that fell over his shoulders and did something. Nothing happened. “Huh, that’s not right.”
She let go and Hitoshi was allowed to breathe again. He bent over and touched his knees as he gasped for air before reaching up with a shaky hand and unclasping the murder cape. He threw it to the side, not caring when it landed on several other items and knocked them off onto the floor.
Hatsume tapped her chin. “Odd. It’s supposed to fling the person off of you. Oh well!” She popped her hands onto her hips and beamed. “Guess that’s another one for the rework pile! What should we try next?”
“Nothing. I’m leaving.”
She jumped in front of him as he made for the door. “We’ve only just begun!”
“And I’ve already almost died. I think once is enough for me. Now move or I’ll make you.”
She sighed as she stepped to the side. He kept an eye on her as he slid past, watching her lean against one of the counters and prop her head up on her fist.
“I should have bid on Iida. He was so helpful in the Sports Festival,” she complained to herself. “Or maybe Midoriya. He was wonderfully resourceful in the race; I’ll bet he’d have all kinds of ideas for improving my babies. Oh well. I suppose I’ll see them later when they come to work on their hero costumes.”
Hitoshi paused. Hero costumes. He wasn’t likely to even get one. Not unless he could convince someone - anyone - to take a chance on a General Studies kid who hadn’t even made it into the top three. And if that didn’t pan out, he’d have to wait until next year’s Sports Festival to even attempt switching courses again, all the meanwhile his competition would be getting better and better, training with their specialized costumes and equipment in addition to everything they’d be learning from the Pros.
He sighed as he slowly turned around.
He was already regretting this.
&&&&&
“Oh! And this one will help keep you balanced in the air-”
“I don’t have a flying-type quirk,” Hitoshi said, for what felt like the sixtieth time. He didn’t have a flying-type quirk, he didn’t have an animal-type quirk, he didn’t need to scare off bears, and if his scuba gear broke while he was twenty meters below surface level he’d just die.
“You never know when you might have to take flight! But you’re right, how about you try-”
“Can we take a break?” Hitoshi asked, fully intending to do so no matter how she answered the question. With how she’d been going nonstop for the past forty minutes, he doubted she’d notice any lost time if he decided to brainwash her while he dared to find food.
She tapped her watch. The face popped open and a miniature globe sprung up out of it. The globe spun once before zeroing in on their location, the time popping up in bright yellow digits. “We have 127 more super cute babies to get through and at the rate we’re going…” She mumbled to herself for a moment before giving him a thumbs up. “We have 14.38 minutes to spare!”
He should have left. He knew he should have left even as he’d stopped himself from leaving. Why had he stayed?
“Is this all you have planned for the night? Using me as your guinea pig for other people’s quirks?”
“My babies are designed for a wide range of different quirks! Besides, what else would we do?” she asked, picking up a small gadget and fiddling with it.
“Eating is a good idea, if you don’t want me to pass out.”
Hitoshi hadn’t had dinner before the auction, figuring he was either going to go home right away after receiving no bids, or he was going to have dinner with whoever had won his free time, like a normal person.
He hadn’t counted on Hatsume Mei.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Her grin was practically devilish as she pushed some items out of the way to make room for whatever she was about to unleash upon him. “This baby here can give you a boost of nutrients! Perfect for heroes who end up trapped in building collapses.”
The device she hauled up onto the worktable was easily as big as Hitoshi’s entire torso.
“That would never fit into tight spaces,” he found himself saying before he could talk himself out of it. No need to encourage her. “At best, you might convince some offshore heroes or members of the mountain rescue force to use it.”
She examined it for a moment before nodding. “That makes sense. I’ll have to slim this baby down later. How about this baby instead?” She pushed the nutrient contraption aside and pulled out a pouch filled with different-colored vials along with what looked like an injector. “This super cute baby contains twelve suppressants for emergency situations. One for thirst, one for exhaustion, one for hunger-”
He zoned out as she listed them off.
“-and one for urination. You’re not allergic to poison, are you?”
Hitoshi didn’t know how to answer that.
“You said they were suppressants,” he said, side-stepping the question. “That means they don’t actually have any effect on your body. Meaning they’re essentially useless for people who genuinely need food.”
“Not entirely useless! These babies are here to help you stay focused when you can’t take care of your needs right away. They work great! I had three this morning.”
Hitoshi hoped he was far away from here when she inevitably fell over and died.
“If you don’t like that baby, I have-”
He held up a hand when she reached for another device. “I’m going to the nearby cafe. You’re welcome to come if you want.”
He didn’t actually want her to come, but he figured this way if she complained, he’d just tell the auction committee that he’d told her to meet him there and she must have gotten lost on the way or something.
Unfortunately, she did actually follow along, grinning to herself as they silently walked to the only food source approved to be within a kilometer of the school. Apparently the owner went way back with the principal.
“Welcome!” a small, vaguely dog-like creature said, waving at them from behind the counter. “Would you like your usuals?”
Hitoshi had been to the cafe a grand total of three times, so he wasn’t certain if he could be considered someone who had a ‘usual’ but Hatsume seemed to be a regular here as she smiled and nodded.
“Thanks, Mr. Cafe!” Hatsume said before dragging Hitoshi over to what must have been her regular table.
Hitoshi gave the place his first real look around as they sat. It seemed they weren’t the only ones with this idea.
The cafe was packed, which wasn’t unusual from what Hitoshi could remember. Being so close to the school, it tended to get a fair number of students and even some teachers. But tonight it looked like half the auction participants had decided to make this their go-to destination. He spotted the boy who’d beaten him in the Sports Festival - Midoriya Izuku - across from them boy who’d beaten him. They were both pathetically red in the face as they shared a piece of cake.
A flash of annoyance flickered through him. Clearly neither of them had taken the auction seriously. It would have been smarter to allow one of the recruiters to win and go on their little ‘date’ at a later time.
He turned back to find Hatsume carefully scanning the crowd, a terrifying grin on her face as her eyes jumped from person to person. Of course she was watching them.
“You know,” he said, “if you’d waited a little longer and not just jumped on the first person up for auction, you could have probably won someone with a physical-type quirk, and you’d have gotten better test results for your inventions.” He waited until he had her full attention before adding, “Everything we do tonight will likely go to waste and all you’ll have to show for it is fifty thousand yen missing from your bank account.”
He was being unnecessarily cruel, but he was tired and hungry and in no mood to be mentally compared to all these other students who hadn’t failed the entrance exam and who hadn’t lost their chance to take their place in the Hero Course.
“I believe that all results are good results! And don’t be silly. I didn’t pick you because you were first. I carefully scoured all of the available candidates beforehand and decided you were best suited for my purposes. It was just luck that you ended up going first. Think of how many more super cute babies we can test with the extra time given to us!”
Hitoshi’s thoughts ground to a halt, and he could do little more than stare at her.
“You chose me. Specifically.”
“Yes.” She leaned across the table, her strange eyes boring into his as she somehow invaded his personal space despite the literal chunk of wood sitting between them. “You are the perfect candidate.”
She backed up then as Mr. Cafe brought their order.
Tea and sandwiches. It’d do.
Hitoshi waited for him to leave before asking, “What makes me the ‘perfect candidate?’”
He tried for casual, but the question came out more demanding - more desperate - than he’d intended. Luckily, Hatsume seemed to ignore that just as she’d ignored most of everything else he’d said this night.
“Your performance at the Sports Festival. Your cavalry plan essentially relied upon other people supporting you in order for you to win.”
“So you figured I’d be more open to people supporting me in other ways,” Hitoshi said, understanding. A disappointing answer, but not anything too unexpected. He bit into his sandwich.
Hatsume nodded before taking a sip of her tea. When she’d placed it back on the table she added, “Not to mention, the limitations of your quirk will require you to have some sort of support item, for when you can’t subdue villains with just your voice.”
Hitoshi nodded. He’d figured as much.
“You’ll win next year’s festival for sure with the help of my super cute babies and then support companies will come banging on my door, begging me to work with them.” She threw her hands into the air, drawing the attention of several nearby people, most of which quickly looked away once they seemed to realize who she was.
“You’re planning on making me your meal ticket?” Hitoshi asked, a grin beginning to form at the corner of his lips. He supposed he should have been insulted she was using him, but he of all people could appreciate riding on the backs of others to get where you needed to be. And, if he were brutally honest with himself, some small part of him was pleased that she believed in him so strongly.
Not many people ever had.
“You will be my shining achievement. The support companies will have no choice but to recognize what my babies can do when they get a load of you. It’ll be magnificent.” The look she gave him probably should have given him nightmares, not dreams.
“I’m not planning on becoming a public hero. If you expect to see your ‘babies’ in some magazine one day, you’ll be disappointed.” Better to lay everything on the table now, while they were having this strange heart-to-heart, than have her abandon him later when she realized he wasn’t the means to achieving her goals.
She shrugged. “They care more about results than popularity.”
That made sense. It’d be stupid of the companies to only focus on those in the spotlight. The most popular hero didn’t even require support items, after all.
“Then I suppose we have a deal,” Hitoshi said, holding out his hand.
She looked at it for a moment, as if surprised he was agreeing, before grabbing it and shaking it vigorously.
“I can’t wait to get back and show you the baby I made for you,” Hatsume said when they released each other. “It changes your voice so that you’ll be more easily able to trick villains into answering you.”
“That’s…useful,” Hitoshi said. He swallowed and looked down at his plate. A support item. Specifically designed for him.
“Thanks,” he added, voice low.
Hatsume nodded. “You’re going to love it.”
She’d said that about a lot of things this night, but for the first time Hitoshi actually believed her.
“You know, you’re not so bad,” he said, giving her a little grin.
She grinned back. “You’re not so bad yourself. And you’re not so bad to look at, either. That’s the other reason I bid on you. I figured if nothing else you’d be a pretty face to look at while I worked.”
She added that last part casually, giving him a wink before taking a swig of her tea.
Hitoshi’s mouth dropped open.
This girl.
Hatsume slammed her empty cup down on the table before snatching his hand and sliding out of her seat. “Time’s up!” She grabbed her plate with her empty hand and held it up towards Mr. Cafe. “I’m taking this with me, okay?”
Mr. Cafe didn’t even look up as he waved. Clearly this was a regular occurrence.
Hitoshi glanced at his tea and then at his hand. He chugged the rest of the former and grabbed his own plate. He allowed Hatsume to drag him over to the counter so that they could pay. Well, so she could pay. He was ‘her date’ after all.
She all but skipped her way back up the street towards the school, her plate balanced precariously in her right hand while she swung Hitoshi’s with her left.
Hitoshi smiled to himself.
This was going to be interesting.