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They're laughing at him.
What with the way their eyes stray, and Monoma slowly gaining a tick at the corner of his eye, Eijirou doesn't feel too bad about it though. Nah, not at all; if this were happening to anyone else, he'd be mad distracted too.
With a wince, Eijirou plucks fruitlessly at the fingers cutting off the circulation to his hand, and whispers, "S'little tight there, Mina-chan," as more eyes fall on him.
He hadn't been able to feel it before with his quirk activated, but now? Yeesh, the amount of strength contained in those tiny arms is no joke, for sure. She can't be more than maybe, five? Six? She could probably still give him a run for his money in an arm wrestling contest.
The grip on his hand loosens just a little with an almost noiseless and disgruntled huff, and Eijirou can't help but find it adorable. Charming, really, and so very different from the Mina he knows.
He's never seen a baby picture of her before, or even one of her at this age, so it's fair to say everyone’s surprised. Gone is the bright pink skin, a deep red in its place, hair and all. Her horns are mere orange nubs that barely escape the fluffy confines of her hair, and her sharp baby teeth could put Eijirou's own to shame. The only thing the same are her eyes, dark and yellow and fierce.
He doesn't know why she won't talk though, why she's picked him of all people to continue to latch on to. Mina’s always loved the jagged and inhuman angles of Unbreakable from the very first day. It's a moment he'd always held dear, how she'd always been more friendly even with the most mutant of quirks, with his unhuman shape, when most kids, and even some adults, are frightened of it, and yet. She'd clung, hid her face in the sharp planes of his neck, and hadn't let go.
"— with Red Riot until the effect ends."
Wait. "Huh?" he says, and yes, everyone is definitely looking at him now. Now who's distracted? "Wait, Monoma-san, uh, repeat that?"
The tick by Monoma’s eye worsens. "I said,'' he repeats, over Ochako's pitched snort in the back, "that it's been decided that Ashido-san will remain with you until the effects of the quirk end."
Eijirou blinks, splutters, "But I don't… I don't know how to care for a kid?"
"If you'd been paying attention, you would know that we have plenty of staff who are willing to provide you with advice on the matter," Monoma hisses, and people laugh. What a wild debriefing this must be. "Ashido-san surely has had a... trying day; separating her from you may continue to prove difficult."
Ah. Yeah. Eijirou winces again, and thinks about the poor nurses that Mina burned at the hospital. They'd only wanted to weigh her, get a better gauge on her age, but she'd refused to even contemplate being more than a breath away from him, and splashed acid on the nurses when they wouldn't stop. Luckily enough her quirk is but a bare facsimile of what it will be. Otherwise… it could have been a much more nasty situation.
"Okay," Eijirou says, and accepts the easy defeat. He looks down into staring, unblinking eyes. "You alright with me, huh?"
Mina doesn't answer, just continues to stare, and Eijirou sighs.
It's something of a whirlwind after that. It's been a long day, and everyone scatters pretty quickly once the meeting draws to a close because it's just another day in the life of a Pro Hero really. The novelty's worn off by everyone but Ochako and Mezo, the former cooing ineffectively at a mullish looking Mina who's still firmly attached to Eijirou's hand. Mezo merely pats his shoulder, drawing Mina's attention briefly with a curl to her lip, baring pin-needle teeth.
"You could probably call Tsuyu-chan for advice?" Ochako says, muffling a giggle at the staring contest Mezo's drawn into. "She has younger siblings. Tooru's gonna be so upset she's missing this."
Shifting his hold on the duffel bag of children's clothes that had been pressed into his hand by a harried Monoma, Eijirou shrugs. "Maybe? I mean, it can't be too hard, right?" he says, but it sounds dubious even to his own ears. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Famous last words," Mezo murmurs, and concedes defeat, looks at Eijirou. Mina's hold maybe loosens a little more. "Good luck."
Waving them away feels much like he's being abandoned. Woe is the life of inter-agency loan-work and raids gone somewhat wrong.
Eijirou sighs again, and flexes his hand, drawing Mina's attention from where Mezo and Ochako disappear down the hall. "Let's see if Monoma-san's pulled his car around, huh, Mina-chan?"
Again, no answer. It worries Eijirou, but until someone manages to get in contact with her vacationing parents, or the ever elusive Tooru, there's not much to be done. So, with a smile, he drops the bag to the crook of his elbow and tugs the hood of the slightly too large donated hoodie up over her head. Can never be too careful these days.
Down the elevator they go, and out back to Monoma's idling car. It takes a long minute to convince Mina to crawl into the back seat, convince her that there wasn't anything to worry about with the rumbling engine. Monoma looks as tired as Eijirou feels; first time lead detective on a taskforce must ask for a lot of sleepless nights, huh? At least Monoma won't have to deal with Eijirou for much longer, and he can get back to bossing other Pros around in Chiyoda.
The car ride's quiet otherwise. Monoma tamps down on the road rage, muttering angrily just under his breath, and Eijirou almost falls asleep, the tiny hand in his warm and soft. It's no time at all before they're in front of his apartment complex, and Eijirou cajoles an equally sleepy Mina out of the car. Stubbornly, she remains on her feet and squints suspiciously at Monoma when he rolls his window down.
"That should be enough clothes for a week, week and a half," he says, and Eijirou nods. "You're on paid leave until then, barring an emergency. According to the quirk user, this was probably a mutation since she's only ever managed to refresh old fruit, but left on its own it would revert back. There was some math done, mass and energy and science, so. A week."
A week. A week with this tiny, strange version of the Mina he's come to know. Eijirou likes kids, can entertain them with ease, but actually caring for one… this might be his toughest mission yet.
"Thanks for the ride, man," he says, scratching a finger at the stubble on his chin, and grins at the answering eye roll.
The window goes up on, “Stay out of trouble for once in your damn life, 1-A,” like they haven’t been out of Yuuei for years now.
Then Monoma's gone, the tail lights of his car fading down the road into the evening light. Soon, it'll be cold, and turn seasons once more. Whatever happens in this next week will probably feel like a dream two or three months from now; not that he'll ever let Mina forget.
She makes for a very cute, if odd, kid though, and he wishes he knew this under better circumstances.
Eijirou looks down at his charge, and gets a yawn for his trouble.
Adorable! he thinks, and tugs gently on her hand, starts them up the stairs.
The warmth of Eijirou's apartment is a soothing balm to his growing exhaustion, and it takes everything he has to merely dump the bag by the couch and not fall face first into it. Still, Mina refuses to relinquish his hand, but the death grip has relaxed into just a firm hold. With a huff, he leads her over to the fridge, and stares in embarrassment at the almost empty shelves.
Right. This was his first real day off after a week. Right.
"Kids like fruit, right?" he says aloud, and at no answer, he looks at Mina from the corner of his eye. "Though, with those teeth…"
Well, can't hurt to try? Eijirou thinks, and slowly gathers out the chilled peach slices and leftover fruit salad one-handed.
Tomorrow, he'll have to brave the supermarket, Mina in tow. He can't imagine how it'd go wrong.
"Alright, Mina-chan, let's sit at the kotatsu," Eijirou says, and leads her over to the low table. Tugging a flung red cushion over, he crouches next to it and pats it encouragingly. "Right here."
She stares at him, and sweat gathers at his brow. He's seen pictures of her teen self sitting with her parents like this; she has to know how, right?
With an unsure chuckle, Eijirou sits, legs crossed, and pats the cushion again. "Like this…?"
Like a light bulb lights behind her eyes, her gaze flickers from his face to the cushion, considers it, and then Mina takes a stiff step forward to plop down on top of it. She looks at him, legs splayed, and Eijirou swears he can hear the And now what? just from that alone.
"Alright, well let me get your…" he starts, standing, and trails off as his attempt to retake his hand fails and Mina scrambles upright to keep up with him. Oh man. "Uh, Mina-chan, you can wait there… I kinda need both hands?"
Her hold tightens.
Ah. Uh. Maybe she was just a really clingy kid? "I'm not leaving, I'm not even gonna leave your sight," he says, trying for a soothing tone. "Please, Mina-chan."
There's a long and uncomfortable moment, but something in his voice must get through to her. Hesitantly, Mina relinquishes her hold, and flops back down, draws her knees up. She almost blends in with the cushion.
"Thanks, Mina-chan," he says, smiling, and can feel her gaze firmly attached to his neck as he goes about dumping the salad in a bowl and adding some of the peaches.
Again, Eijirou finds himself at an impasse when he scoots the bowl in front of her, and she stares at him, at the bowl, and back. He pops one of the leftover peaches into his mouth when she doesn't make a move to eat and chews slowly. Her eyes waver, and without pausing, she snatches up a hand full of the scattered fruit and leaves.
Startled, Eijirou chuckles, and doesn't have time to motion to the chopsticks laid out by the bowl, barely has time to say, "Ah, look," before she's stuffing it into her mouth.
Her mouth now full of blunt teeth.
Now it's Eijirou's turn to stare. He's too stunned to stop her, and can only watch as she demolishes the whole bowl before eyeing his few slices. He slides the plate over, and just as quickly, they're gone too.
What, he thinks, and under the scrutiny, Mina wrinkles her nose, glowers.
"You know what," he says after a long moment, "I think it's time for bed."
That turns into a disaster. Mina refuses the couch, and totters after Eijirou like a curious but stubborn puppy. It ends with him tucking pallets beneath the kotatsu instead of curling up in his own bed and Mina fidgeting in slightly too large pajamas. He falls asleep to shiny eyes watching him in the dark, a tiny hand attached once more to his own, and with more questions than he started with.
Breakfast is a whole other affair.
The grey light of dawn is what wakes him up before his alarm, along with the numbness of his left hand and the foot flung across his stomach. Detaching Mina’s almost too easy an endeavor; Eijirou shifts, leans, and she rolls limply off his arm from where she'd wormed closer in the night, dead to the world.
At least some things don't change, he muses, stretching, and makes for the bathroom.
Eijirou's only just rinsed his hands and face, considering his flat hair in the mirror, when there's an ominous thump and the most horrible screech. He nearly jumps out of his skin, and knocks his knee against the door frame as he hurries back into the living room. Mina's curled on the floor out from under the kotatsu, tears in her eyes and clutching at her own knee; she glares sleepily up at him when he comes to a stop over her and chuckles.
"Hit the table, did you?" Eijirou asks, and she bares her still blunt teeth at him. God, he has so many questions and no one to ask them. "Well, anyway, we gotta hit the supermarket up before it gets busy, so let's get changed, okay?"
He lets Mina pick the clothes this time, still neatly arranged in the duffel bag until she dumps it upside down on the couch. The white shirt's splotched with yellow, green, and brown, and looks nice with the soft pink pants she finds. Eijirou snaps a quick picture when she's mostly dressed and studying the child-sized green leopard print crocs with the most intense expression from atop the couch. Some things really don't change.
In solidarity, he puts on his own pair of leopard print crocs, and can't help but enjoy the way her face lights up. She's clearly the more fashionable of them compared to his faded Crimson Riot hoodie and gym shorts, but he can make it work. Eijirou tugs her into a dark grey hoodie, pulls the hood up once more, and then they're ready without further incident.
Outside, everything's slightly damp from a night's rain, and Eijirou squints at the grey sky before hurrying them along, regretting their shoes a little. The death grip returns the longer they walk, the more people they see. By the time they make it to the market, Eijirou can't feel his fingers again.
"Mina-chan," he pleads, softly, and flexes his hand. She blinks wide, unsure eyes up at him, and loosens her hold, lets go to clutch at the hem of his hoodie. "Thank you… and don't worry, you've got me here; I'll protect you for sure. "
There's a soft laugh, and Eijirou looks up at the elderly couple standing in front of the fresh produce beside them. The two women smile at him and Mina, and he can only hope to return it with one that doesn’t betray how lost he really is.
"How about some more salad?" Eijirou says as they wander away, eyes drifting, and lands on the free children’s snacks. "Or… a banana?"
He'll make her some eggs or soup when they get back, but for now he picks out the nicest looking of the bunch and hands the banana to her without thinking. Eijirou doesn't think more on it until he's gotten through the vegetables and fruits, a small bag of too expensive apples covering the carrots. He looks down at her to put the peel in the trash, except—
Except there is no peel. He looks back the way they came, and then back down at Mina. The floor is clear, nothing yellow where yellow shouldn't be, and her pockets look empty.
"Please tell me you didn't eat the peel," he whispers, almost begs really, but of course there's no answer.
Mina just stares.
Don't laugh, Eijirou thinks, and tries really hard not to lose it then and there when he glances up at the camera in the corner. Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't—
He quickly shuffles them down the first aisle, and flies through the rest of the shopping. Rice, beans, some chicken and fish. He almost doesn't buy the beef, but at Mina's curious stare he does, and resolves to make something of it. Maybe curry. Can't go wrong with potatoes and carrots, right? Eijirou wavers on the snacks before deciding on chips, and the kind of gummies that get stuck in his teeth, before considering it done.
The cashier takes one look at them when they reach the counter, and obviously bites the inside of his cheek, the wings on either side of his head ruffling as if to hide it.
Well. That answers that.
"Are you an alien or something?" Eijirou asks Mina as they slowly make their way home. He's joking, of course. Quirks and the quirk factor make for strange mutations, but she probably got all sorts of little red Martian jokes as a kid. Where would the world be now, without quirks, he wonders."I won't tell anyone else, honest."
Mina doesn't answer, eyes large and doleful.
Mindful of the banana's fate, Eijirou gets her settled back at the kotatsu with the contents of a gummy packet once they're back at his apartment. He does away with the wrapper before taking his eyes off of her, putting the groceries away. It's as he's scrambling her an egg with spinach that he realizes she's no longer at the table. For a heartbeat, he's worried, but then there's the unmistakable flush of the toilet.
The wrinkled look on her face as she ambles back into the room makes him laugh, but at least she knows that much. Eijirou wouldn't even know where to begin if not. Youtube maybe? WikiHow?
With a wry shake of his head, he slides the eggs in front of her, and only just catches her hands before they can smush it in quick fists. "No, here, like this," Eijirou says, and she glowers at him but lets him fold the chopsticks into her hand. "See?"
If anything, tiny Mina’s a quick study. Eijirou only has to puppet her hands twice for her to get the idea and then she's shoveling the food down. He eyes her blunt teeth before eating his own omelet, squiggling a line of ketchup over top. By the time he's done, she's slumped on the edge of the table, asleep.
Eijirou lets her sleep until lunch, clearing emails on his laptop and begging for advice before waking her. Mina slowly chews through the rice and steamed vegetables, a cup of water, and bundles up into his side for another nap after she's done. She's a warm weight that almost puts him to sleep, and it takes longer than he likes to focus on his laptop screen.
Is this like what having a cat is like? Eijirou thinks, long after he's caught up on paperwork and stuck in place.
Eventually, he slithers out from her hold to begin dinner, but this time she blinks awake after he's stood. Seemingly content with watching from the still rumpled pallets, Mina flops over, resting face inscrutable. Whatever she makes of the rich smell of curry, Eijirou doesn't know, and offers her leftover sliced carrots when it’s stewing on the stove.
The crunch seems to throw her off, eyes flying wide and startled, but not unlikable by the way she munches determinedly through them.
"You've gotta be bored, huh," Eijirou says when Mina pushes the empty bowl around. It's a shame, but taking her out more than absolutely necessary is a no go. "Mmm, like cats? Cats are funny."
He loads up the longest cat compilation video he can find, and the way her pupils dilate rate it a success. But, then she almost breaks the hinges on the laptop lid, grabbing for the cats as they jump across the screen in a cucumber panic-driven frenzy. It's a very near thing, the poor thing getting shoved back further than it's meant to. At least Mina's effectively cowed by his strangled yell, so she doesn't try again, but. She's enraptured, and Eijirou's confident enough to take his eyes off her to finish the curry.
Is it good to introduce kids to the internet this young, though? She almost ignores a steaming plate of curry for another cat video, so Eijirou should probably limit it, right? Maybe he can get someone to bring him some paper and color pencils; he always loved to doodle when he had nothing else to do as a kid.
He's still thinking on this, washing the piling up dishes when there's a sort of gagging noise, like a cat with a hairball if he's honest. Eijirou whips around just in time for Mina to barf up the curry she just ate.
Oh fuck, he thinks, and drops the rag and spoon.
If anything, she just looks confused, a stark contrast to the horror Eijirou feels as he scrambles to scoop her up from the mess. Mina's face twists, and her feet kick at the air as he walks her to the bathroom. Luckily enough, she only got the pallets, maybe the skirt to the kotatsu, and not her own clothes; the white shirt wouldn't have survived.
Her trembles become more pronounced when he sits her on the edge of the tub, shivering as if she's cold. Her face goes complicated, that hacking noise erupting from her once again pin-needle mouth, and Eijirou manages to set her in front of the toilet for the next round of vomit. Mina's tiny little body heaves, and she clutches desperately at the edges of the bowl. He rubs her back, slow circles, and tries his best to keep the panic at bay.
Only the second day. New record for a fuck up, huh? Eijirou makes some sort of half forgotten soothing noise, and is scrolling frantically on his phone with his other hand when it pings with a call instead of the search results for Kid throws up what do I do?
Sorry Tooru, he thinks, and thumbs the call to decline. Eijirou doesn't get much further before it pings again.
"Heeey, Tooru-chan," he answers, Mina sagging underneath his hand, "I, uh, have a situation right now so if I could call you back — "
"Is Mina okay? I heard something happened, and I couldn't reach her but Shouji-kun said I should call you," she says, bulldozing over Eijirou. "Is everything okay? I only got a short reprieve from my current tasks, but I'm on the first train back in the morning and, and is she okay? Can I talk to her?"
Eijirou's mind blanks. "Uuuh," he says, and tucks the phone between his ear and shoulder, looking from Mina to the ceiling. "Mina-chan… got turned into a kid? I figured someone would have called you, what with her parents being out of the country…"
"I know! I had a few missed calls but I was out of range," she frets, and then pauses. "Wait… what? A kid? How… How young? "
It's a testament to the ridiculous world they live in that Tooru doesn't really question the how or why, Eijirou thinks. With a frown, he tugs Mina up and away from the toilet. She squints miserably at him, lip curling, but doesn't fight as he pulls the long sleeve shirt over her head, flushes the toilet.
"Assuming about five? Six?" he says, and sets her on the lid before groping blindly beneath the sink for a clean washcloth. Mina scrunches up her face when he wipes it clean with the now wet rag, fingers twisting into the fabric of her undershirt. "But, uh, listen, is that too young to give kids ginger? I think the beef curry I gave her upset her stomach…"
There's a long pause, so much so that Eijirou pauses in offering Mina a glass of tap water from the cup he keeps by the faucet. "Tooru-chan?"
" ... I don't think so but, um, maybe hold off on that," she says, nervously. "Mina had weird allergies as a kid, like beef and some spices… has anything else weird happened?"
"Mina-chan's like five," he says, holding back a somewhat helpless laugh. That poor banana. "There wasn't anything on her file as far as Monoma-kun said, but… she won't talk? Like at all?"
"Ah."
"Ah?" he echoes, and Mina seems a little more guarded, doesn't immediately take his offered hand. Eijirou tries for a reassuring smile as he turns her arms over, one after the other, the skin clear of hives or rash. "Tooru-chan, why wouldn't that be on file? I gave her beef, I've seen her eat beef. Like maybe not in middle school but definitely in high school."
Tooru doesn't immediately answer.
"... Tooru-chan?"
There's a deep sigh. " Just, just don't give her any meat, alright? Keep the strong spices to a minimum, and don't give her soap unless it's unscented. I'm taking the first train in the morning, and I can… explain. You're gonna be caring for her right?"
"Well, yeah, aren't you two in the middle of a move?" he says. "Mina-chan also wouldn't let go of me, so we didn't want to scare her…"
Tooru chuckles, a little too high for his comfort. "That's fine, I'll… I'll be there early. God, Mina's gonna be so embarrassed. "
I'll say, Eijirou thinks, after they hang up. Mina's slumped over in his lap, having crawled there while they were talking. Forgiven him for his lapse in knowledge.
It's all very suspicious to tell the truth, but. But Tooru will arrive God knows when in the morning, so there's that; he won't be left in the dark for much longer.
With a sigh, Eijirou stands, Mina curled in his arms. She doesn't stir when he lays her out on the couch or goes about scrubbing the kotatsu clean. Out like a light, and Eijirou doesn't have the heart to move her, merely tugs the clean pallets closer to the couch. It's doubtlessly going to put the worst kink in his neck, but he drapes the blankets over his shoulders once everything is put to rights, and props himself on the side of the couch, pillow in arms.
Day two, here we come, he tells himself, and closes his eyes.
He set an alarm hoping to beat Tooru to the punch, his phone laid bare on the kotatsu and set from vibrate to ringtone. He set the alarm in the hopes of being able to get a shower in, maybe even one for Mina. His last shower had been… brief, to say the least, so.
He set that alarm for those reasons only, and it ends up a moot point anyway.
You're smelly.
Eijirou jerks, snapping awake with a startled snort. The blanket slips off a shoulder, and the brush of cooler air makes him shiver. Mina blinks slowly at him, her hands fisted into her pillow. The light's dim morning, no further than sunrise. Hm.
With a yawn, he puts his head back down, eyes slipping shut.
You're smelly!
"Huh?" he yelps, jerking back, and the blanket falls fully off his shoulders. Eijirou glances around, and then zeroes in on Mina.
Her eyebrows furrow, nose wrinkling, and then he hears it again.
You're. Smelly!
Eijirou blinks. "Wait… me?" he asks, dumbfounded, and with an unimpressed look, Mina nods.
You're smelly. Go away, says that same thought. It doesn't sound like a voice, but neither does it actually sound like Eijirou's inner thoughts. Stinky. Gross.
His jaw drops. "Wait, wait, " he squeaks, and leans in closer. Mina scooches back, eyes flashing, and bites her lip. "Wait just a minute… What? "
You're stinky! it says again, except, no. Mina says, somehow, directly to his brain? His ears? What? Go bathe!
Eijirou snaps his mouth shut, and fails to move, eyes wide. Isn't your quirk just acid? he thinks, maybe hysterically.
What's a quirk?
Oh. Oh.
There's a heavy knock at the door, sharp and loud, and Eijirou really just doesn't have the mental fortitude this early in the morning. He grabs Mina, blanket and all, and barely feels her feet kicking him in the side as he hefts her and scrambles for the door. She yowls, much like a cat and squirms under his arm as he fumbles with the locks on the door.
It swings open on a puffed grey vest and purple joggers, sleeve clad arm still raised. Eijirou wishes he could see Tooru's face, not for the first time; they must be a sight.
"Eijirou-kun," she starts, and doesn't get any further than that.
"Tooru-chan, what the fuck," he hisses, and grabs her arm, pulls. She stumbles through the doorway, and he quickly shuts the door. "Why wasn't any of this on file? "
Mina isn't fighting anymore, startled at the presence of another person probably, and Eijirou straightens her on his hip, waves a hand when Tooru doesn't answer. Staring, he can only imagine.
"I'm… Mina-chan?" she says, shifting on her feet. Eijirou glances down, and takes in Mina's wide, wide, and awed eyes.
Let go!
The thought pierces Eijirou's mind with a brief spike of pain. With a wince, he carefully sets Mina down, and isn't fast enough when she immediately darts forward and gets caught in the blanket she's still bundled in. Tooru, however, is, and instead of face-planting on the wood of the floor, Mina trips into her arms. It's all very cinematic, if Eijirou thinks about it, but he doesn't.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" Tooru says, hauling Mina up into her arms and off the floor. "Eijirou-kun, I'm so sorry I — "
Mina grabs at empty air, grabs hold , and everything grinds to a halt, every visible line in Tooru's body going taut.
Eijirou takes a startled breath. "Hey, hey, Mina-chan that's not nice," he says, and makes to reach for her, except. "Mina-chan…?"
You're so pretty, comes that same voice, soft and awed. Mina's hands brush over the invisible planes of Tooru's face, sure and gentle, probe deftly over something Eijirou's never seen, that no one's ever seen, and yet.
There's a pause, and then Tooru, inexplicably, laughs. "O-Oh, I forgot," she whispers, and sounds oddly choked up about it. " I forgot. "
Alright, Eijirou's definitely lost. "This is really starting to hurt my brain," he admits, and Tooru laughs again, settling Mina more firmly on her hip. "Mina-chan… can see you?"
He's heard of quirks mutating as children age, as people grow up or experience a precipitating event, but for it to all but fade by high school? Eijirou might have to consult Midoriya by this point; this's more his alley. Unless, of course… Mina's been lying about her quirk her whole life because it should have been on file. He really, really doesn't want to get her in trouble; there's got to be a good reason for all of this, right?
Tooru bats playfully at Mina's wandering hands, and the little girl huffs, eyebrows furrowing, but clearly besotted. "She can," she says, soft, and really, they have it so bad for each other. "Or, she used to be able too; she couldn't anymore after second year."
Eijirou feels a little betrayed by that. "I think I should be sitting down for this."
Tooru chuckles. "That might be a good idea. The story's kinda rambly, and even I don't know a lot of the exact details, but you're definitely going to think I'm crazy."
Well, it's not like he's pressed for time. In fact, Eijirou's got all week. "Try me?" he hazards as they tramp further into the apartment, settling around the skirt-bare kotatsu, because really, how bad could it be? "I mean, telepathy, some sort of altered vision, and weird adapting teeth aren't so strange… separately, anyway…"
Mina hisses at him from her place pressed into Tooru's side. Maybe he shouldn't have let her watch those cat videos.
Tooru pets her hair, and it's like Eijirou's chopped liver with the easy way she redirects Mina's attention. Is it weird he misses the death grip, all of a sudden? But, well, no time for that. He straightens, hands on his knees, and gives Tooru his undivided attention.
"Try me," he repeats, and Mina glares at him even as Tooru chuckles a little breathlessly. "It can't be that bad."
With a deep breath, Tooru straightens in turn, and says, with the utmost gravity, "Mina is… an alien."
Eijirou blinks, and blinks some more.
Well. That was anticlimactic. "What… is she not Japanese?" he says, eyes drifting between where Tooru's face should be and Mina huddled at her side, eyes cast away. No. There has to be more to this. "Like… was she an illegal special adoption? "
Holy shit that would explain so much right now—
Tooru trembles, a sleeve jerking up like one might cover a laugh. "No," she sputters, "no, God no… wait, yes? No, yes, maybe? Like… Like Superman! Yeah, think like Superman."
Any and all words die a quick death at the back of Eijirou's throat. Like Superman? Like sent to Earth because his planet got eaten by a black hole, Superman? Eijirou can't help a startled giggle.
"Haha, very funny," he says, and at Tooru's silence, can't help but think it makes for a weirdly elaborate joke, but. Tooru wouldn't joke like this, actually. It's certainly not funny. "Any moment now you'll yell sike, right?"
"No, Eijirou-kun… Mina's an alien, like... an outer space extraterrestrial."
Ah.
He thinks then of that first hero name they still rib Mina for even now: Alien Queen. Holy shit. If this is true… She makes so many alien jokes, what the hell.
"Oh my God…" he whispers, malfunctioning on what could be a cellular level, "...is she like alien royalty then?"
Tooru goes ramrod straight, Mina glancing up at her with a wrinkled nose, and erupts into a mass of giggles, arm flat against the kotatsu and bending over nearly in half. She laughs but it all just makes so much sense.
In, well, the loosest sense. Ejirou would have never guessed, never would have actually entertained the thought seriously, like… ever. People like to say they'd have traversed the stars and mapped their galaxy by now if it were not for the turbulent rise of quirks, which. Is a neat thought, and maybe a sad one, to think about the way the world fell behind due to the upheaval. But. But.
It makes so much sense with the way Mina has always hated looking up at a clear night sky, and never, ever, talked about what bugs she caught when she was little or any other thing the rest of their cohort's reminisced about. Ejirou thinks he remembers one singular time she'd mentioned having trouble with certain colors, seeing more than humans normally do, but she'd chalked it up to a weird quirk mutation and he'd believed her.
Which.
"... What do you look like?" he asks, and Tooru's giggles fall away.
She huffs, wiping at the tears he can just barely see shine in the weak sun through the blinds. "If beauty were sunlight, you'd shine from a million light years away," Tooru says, like she's repeating something she's heard and cherished, "and in every color you could imagine and even the ones you cant. Pretty cheesy, right?"
So bad for each other, Eijirou thinks because he can hear how much it must have meant to her, the invisible girl, to hear. The idea settles, and he echoes gamely, "Definitely cheesy."
Tooru laughs again. "Yeah, well, I should probably get into the nitty gritty of it, huh? Mina can tell you… about it all later if she wants, but hold onto your pants, it's gonna get weird," she says, like a challenge.
Eijirou puffs up a little. "Try me," he repeats, and Mina slowly looks away from Tooru to blink at him.
She stares for a moment before reaching out with her tiny hand. With a grin, he reaches across the table to feather his sharpened fingers over her palm, and she squeals, the noise skittering over his brain, and grabs hold of his hand with wide, happy eyes.
Alien, human, Mina’s not so different where it matters, huh?