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Mei was wandering around by the prep rooms, getting ready for her match in the final round of the Sports Festival. The green haired kid who won the obstacle course did well in modeling her babies, but the one on one rounds would be even better! Support companies far and wide would be interested in hiring her after this. This was the rise of Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries!
After picking out which of her marvelous babies to advertise with the machine guy, Mei happily lugged everything out of the prep room. Even as she told herself that everything was finished, the inventor couldn’t help but make last minute tweaks. As it always was when working on her babies, Mei’s focus was completely on the way different parts came together to form something impossibly wonderful. That’s why she failed to notice the large person quickly rounding the corner towards her.
Mei collided head first with a broad chest, falling backwards from the sudden and unexpected impact. Her steampunk goggles flew off and landed behind her somewhere.
“Watch where you’re going,” a gruff voice snapped. Mei looked up to see a fuming Endeavor glaring heatedly at her, clearly annoyed. “Figures a support student wouldn’t care enough to pay attention.”
Another person might have cowered or even bristled at the blatant hostility clearly evident, but Mei was an unusual person. “Number Two Hero! The name’s Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries! I have a baby that would be just perfect-”
“I don’t have time for this, nor do I care. My Shouto will beat everyone else in the end anyway.” Nothing more was said. Before the girl could even attempt to continue her pitch, Endeavor stomped past her and continued down the hall. A sickening crack echoed beneath his feat and Mei felt her heart drop.
Shattered glass littered the ground around where her goggles had landed. They were broken, cracked and ruined.
No. No, no, no...
They were the only thing she had left, the only reminder of someone who had been so important to her. They were a remembrance of someone who deserved better. A memory of younger days. And a cautionary tale.
Mei slid her knees and stared at the mangled metal. Sounds echoed throughout the hall, another person coming through. She vaguely registered the voice as belonging to one of her classmates, but that didn’t matter. Even when whoever it was sat beside her and tried to say something, all Mei could focus on were the words someone spoke to her long ago.
“Hey, you’re the weird girl everyone talks about.”
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Most of the other nine year olds liked to kick a ball around or play tag after school while they waited to be picked up. Mei wasn’t like the other kids. While the rest laughed and goofed around, the little pink haired girl walked behind the school so she could rummage around in the dumpster. It didn’t matter to her that it stunk or wasn’t hygienic. If she got sick, it just meant less time learning boring things and more time messing around with the treasures she collected.
Twisting, turning, combing, building, it was always so exciting to her! Even when the things she made didn’t work, it still taught her so many cool things that let her do even better the next time. But none of this could happen if she had nothing to work with. Thus, the girl prepared to spend another afternoon sifting through what everyone else thought was useless.
This time, something was different. Every time that Mei had walked this way before, no one else had been present. Except now another girl was sitting by the dumpster. Blond hair hung like a curtain around her face as the student (Mei noticed the girl was wearing the same elementary school uniform) hunched over something. As Mei continued her approach, golden eyes snapped up to look at her. The strange girl had a mouse in her mouth, red staining the creature’s white fur. Whatever. As long as the newcomer didn’t try to mess with her pursuit of treasures, the burgeoning inventor wouldn’t mess with her.
The two stared at each other for a while, the blond one noticeably tense as Mei walked towards the dumpster. She only relaxed when the pink haired girl ignored her and flipped open the dumpster lid before diving in. The sounds of sucking and rummaging overlapped as the two went about their business. Finally, the girl holding the rat broke the silence.
“Hey, you’re that weird girl everyone talks about.”
A part of Mei, the part that still hadn’t quite realized how different she was from anyone else and hadn’t yet gained the confidence she would in the future, felt sad about that. She didn’t get it, never understood why the other kids didn’t like her. When the other little girls went to play with dolls, they screamed at the little robots she made out of reclaimed parts and batteries she snuck away when her parents weren’t looking.
“I’m not weird.”
The other girl snorted at her. “Of course you are. People talk about how you dig through the trash and make scary toys to play with.”
Another pang echoed through the girl’s heart. “But I love making things. When I build something, even if it doesn’t work, it’s mine.”
A quick glance showed that this statement earned a smile from the strange blond girl who didn’t bother to wipe the blood off of her mouth. “If that’s what you like to do, it doesn’t matter if it’s weird or people don’t like it. We should all just be allowed to live the way we want to, y’know?”
That caught Mei’s attention enough that she grabbed the broken computer mouse someone had thrown away and climbed out of the dumpster. Catlike eyes watched every movement. Cross-hair like eyes took in the blood and dead mouse.
“Does that mean you live the way you want too?” Something dark flickered over the other girl’s face.
“I do,” the girl stated softly, almost questionly, “Just as long as no one sees.”
“Well that’s dumb! You should be able to like the things you like,” Mei paused as an idea seemed to cross her mind, as though she were puzzling through one of the great mysteries of the universe. “And I should be able to like the things I like.”
The two stared at each other, one with shock and the other with determination that would only grow stronger in the years to come.
“I’m Hatsume Mei, the girl who’s going to do what she likes doing, even if people think I’m weird.”
A shy, bloodstained smile met that statement.
“I’m Toga Himiko...I can try to do that too.”
And that’s how Mei met her best friend.
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From there, they fell into a steady routine. At least once a week after school (but often more than that), they would hang out by the dumpsters. Mei would rifle for anything that could be used in her creations while Toga would try to find a rodent or other small creature to feast off of. The two, despite Toga being a year above Mei, fell into easy companionship. Even so, it wasn’t until about a year after they first met that they talked to each other somewhere other than the dumpster.
Mei had been trying to play with dolls with all the other girls, but they once again turned her away, especially after seeing the doll she brought to play with. The girl’s parents had noticed her odd behavior, and while they generally supported the idea of her scientific ventures, they were more than ready to do anything that might help their daughter fit in better. So, Mei’s mother had bought her an expensive plastic doll to play with.
The pink haired girl only had the doll for a week, but, when she went to play with the others, it was no longer standard issue. For some reason, the other girls had screamed and run off when the head of Mei’s doll detached to act as a grappling hook. She didn’t understand . With the upgrades she had made, the doll was so much cooler! The wire connected the head to a mechanism in the torso that would pull the two pieces of doll together once the wire had stretched all the way out. What were the other dolls going to do if they were falling off a building?
Still, none of this was very comforting to a ten year old who just had people run away from her as if she carried the plague. Tears spilled over her eyes as she numbly threw the doll’s head and watched it come back, dragged by the wire. She probably would have sat there, stewing and wondering why being different made her so lonely, when someone walked by.
“Hatsume? What’s wrong?”
“Toga?” The younger girl sniffled and turned to see a concerned smile on the blond’s face. The tears came faster. “I was going to play with everyone else, but they didn’t like my doll, even though I made it better.”
Rage flashed across Toga’s face before the girl moved to lay on the grass next to her friend.
“How’d you make it better? Can I see?”
And just like that, Mei felt better. As she explained how the grappling hook head worked, her tears dried. She then went on to talk about the trials of attempting to build a taser, which apparently involved a lot of electrical fires.
“Man, you’ve put so much work into this, and you brag about it like a parent would their kid,” Toga said with a giggle.
Mei laughed in kind. “I guess it is kinda like my baby.”
The two sat in comfortable, friendly silence for a few minutes. Both were lost in thought.
“Hey, Hatsume,” Toga interrupted.
“What?”
“Just...never stop being you.”
“Well who else would I be?” Toga just smiled sadly back at her.
It wasn’t long after that before Mei’s father came to pick her up.
“Bye, Toga! I’ll see you tomorrow and show you what’s left of that taser I tried to make.”
Instead of going home, the older girl decided to wait there a little longer and avoid the suffocation that she always felt at home. When she finally moved to stand up, something caught her eye.
“Oh, Hatsume left her doll.” The girl carefully brushed the dirt away from her friend’s toy. As she did, she noticed that the doll had blond hair. The eyes were sloppily painted over to be gold, and little fangs had been doodled on the mouth.
Toga’s face turned an embarrassed shade of red as quickly packed the doll into her bag. She’d give it back if the younger girl ever asked about it.
Mei never asked.
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Mei had considered Toga her friend for a while, but it wouldn’t be until a year after the event with the doll that she would realize how lucky she was to have the other girl in her life. It had been a hard year. As Mei learned more and more about how small pieces fit together to form bigger, more complex machines, the other kids drifted further away, becoming crueler in their judgement. Especially since Toga was now in middle school and they didn’t get to hang out nearly as often, the middle schooler needing to make the trek to the elementary school to hang out with her friend. Even so, Mei kept up her scientific pursuits. Until she didn’t, until the exclusion of others got to be too much for her.
For the first time in years, Mei didn’t go to the dumpster after school. Nor did she go the next day. Or the next. It would have been much longer before she went back, perhaps never going back, if it wasn’t for a certain blond dragging her away one day after school. They both stayed silent until Toga made it behind the school, finally releasing the pink haired girl’s arm.
“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you here in a while. Did something happen?”
Mei just stood there for a moment, looking more muted than she ever had before. It was like some critical part of who the girl was just...wasn’t responding anymore. “Why would I come here?”
Toga rolled her eyes in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Maybe for all of those parts you find and squeal over. Don’t you need them for your ‘babies’?”
“Not if I’m not making them anymore.” At those words, Toga froze. Thoughts ran amok in her head. The girl had spent so long hiding who was, only finding acceptance in one person, and now Mei was about to make all of the same mistakes.
“No, you can’t do this. You can’t let them change you!”
“But why not?” Mei practically spit the words at Toga’s feet. For all the rage in that statement, she looked as though she was about to burst into tears. She looked worn down, broken. “It’s never made me any friends. My parents don’t say anything, but I know they don’t like how I act either. Face it, no one likes me like I am. The only way I’ll make any friends is if I’m someone different.”
“But I liked you as you were,” Toga whispered desperately. “I’ve played that game, hiding who I am so people wouldn’t hate me or call me a monster. But you’re the only one who’s never looked at me like that. You were this crazy, awesome, weird girl who just lived life and did what she wanted to. The truth is, I wish I was more like you.”
Mei hesitated. Toga really admired her that much? “But what if it’s too hard? What if I end up all alone?”
“I’ve seen you build a taser out of things that everyone else wrote off as junk, nothing’s too hard for you. Even if you end up all alone, you’ll be happier doing what you like instead of faking it. Trust me, I know.” Toga noticed Mei’s wavering resolve and decided to push a little harder. “What happened to the girl who does what she likes doing, even if people call her weird?”
“That’s me. I’m Hatsume Mei, and I’m going to make the best babies ever!”
“So, Hatsume, you gonna keep inventing?” The pink haired girl nodded, eyes alight with determination once more.
“I’m going to grow up and make so many cool things! Maybe I’ll start my own Support Company. Our teacher told us about those, how they build things for heroes.”
“I think you’ll make the best Support Company ever! I can see it now, Hatsume Industries, sought after by every hero!”
The two girls laughed, Mei’s sounding like something more akin to a cackle, before the pink haired girl spoke. “You can call me Mei.”
“Okay, Mei. You can call me Himiko.” The girl flashed her fangs in a smile before suddenly coming to some sort of realization and digging through her bag. “I almost forgot, I got you something!”
A moment later, Himiko found whatever it was while Mei looked on curiously. Out of the bag came a pair of odd, antique looking steampunk goggles. The sides were red, a brassy trim complimenting them nicely. A crosshair design decorated the glass of the eyeholes. When Mei turned to look back at Himiko, the girl shifted nervously and turned red.
“The crosshair thing is to match your eyes. Do you...like them?”
“I love them,” Mei replied honestly. “These will make it so much harder to get acid in my eyes.”
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Time passed and Mei entered middle school, making it much easier to hang out once more. After all, a dumpster was a dumpster. Neither girl was particularly picky, just glad to be so close to the other again. It wasn’t awkward in the slightest, the two falling back into easy patterns.
“Hey, Mei, you ever tried blood?”
“I’m always open for more input, but I don’t think it would be an ideal lubricant for these gears.”
Himiko laughed a little, sitting off to the side and eagerly scanning for anything she could drink from. “No, silly, I meant to drink. Have you ever tried drinking blood?”
Mei tilted her head at the other girl questioningly, eyes zooming in. “I only drink water because my parents make me take the time to. There’s no way I’d have enough time to find blood to drink. I have to finish this project!”
“Oh? Whatcha workin’ on then?” Usually, Mei would jump at the chance to explain everything she was working on. Honestly, most of it went over Himiko’s head, but it was always fulfilling to see the other girl so happy. This time, though, Mei was strangely tense, defensive.
“Just...something. I can’t seem to get it to work. Every time I get close, it explodes!” She fiddled with her goggles and glared at whatever project was hidden in her backpack like it single handedly caused every problem in her life. “I’ll get it eventually, failure is the mother of progress. Once I’m done, I’ll show it to you.”
Himiko accepted this easily enough, leaning back to rest against the wall.
“Well, if you don’t have enough time to try blood yourself, I’ll just have to tell you how it tastes.”
They hung around a while longer, Himiko explaining all the subtle flavors different types of blood had. When it was almost time to seperate, Mei voiced what had been sitting on her mind.
“I’m really glad you’re my friend. You’re the coolest person I know.”
The other girl turned red and looked shyly at Mei. “Heh, that’s really nice of you, but the truth is I’m nothing special.”
Something more conflicted flashed over the blond’s face.
“I could be anyone.”
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Eventually, the two faced an argument they weren’t sure they could come back from. It happened towards the end of Mei’s first year of middle school. It had been going on for a while, but Mei didn’t notice. And then she did.
The future CEO of Hatsume Industries was always hyper focused at school. Granted, it was often about whatever baby she was tinkering with rather than school itself, but still took most of her attention. It distracted her from noticing the whispers or the way everyone avoided the girl who always smelled like grease and smoke.
Then one day, when the communications device she had been fiddling with short circuited early in the day, Mei ran into Himiko in the hall. The blond girl was...much different from when she was hanging around a dumpster. More reserved and less free, she was hanging around a group of second years that were considered the ‘cool clique’. The smiles she gave were fake, her laughs forced an empty. Himiko looked wrong, like an actress playing a part in a poorly written play.
It was nothing like the girl who drank rat blood behind the school. But now that Mei thought about it, it had been a long time since the other girl had done it, instead opting to just gaze longingly at whatever creature scampered their way without taking action. Regardless, they were friends. If anyone would appreciate the horribly mangled mess of metal and wires in the pink haired girl’s hands, it would be her best friend.
“Hey, Himiko, it’s not even lunch yet and I’ve already busted this beyond repair. The teacher almost had to get the fire extinguisher again . But I know I now not to-”
“Toga, you know this freak?” The upperclassman looked annoyed, gazing scornfully at Mei, as though she were a piece of gum he had stepped on.
Mei waited. She waited for Himiko to say something like “Of course, this is my best friend.” But she didn’t. Even though her golden eyes were apologetic, Himiko did something unforgivable.
“Hatsume and I went to the same elementary school, I bumped into her a few times.”
“Whoah, and she’s trying to call you by your first name? Not cool.”
“Was she always this weird.”
“Yeah, Hatsume has always been Hatsume.” Even though it was said in a fond tone, a tone that only Mei noticed, it didn’t change the betrayal that was happening. Crosshair eyes filled with tears as the pink haired girl stormed past, stewing about what had happened the rest of the day.
It wasn’t until the end of the day that she saw Himiko-no, Toga-again. She reluctantly let herself be dragged behind the school after Toga’s eyes begged not to make a scene. Once they were out of the way, Mei’s eyes zoomed in on the other girl with a hostility she rarely showed.
“So, all that about doing what you want to do was just a lie, huh?”
“Mei-”
“No, I’m sorry. I heard what you said in the hallway. I’m Hatsume now apparently.”
“I didn’t mean it! It was just that the others were around-”
“That doesn’t matter! You’re my friend . It shouldn’t matter that someone else is around, you should never say those things about me.”
“I told you,” Toga shrieked in an increasingly unhinged voice. “I told you that I could only be myself when I was alone, and then I found out I could be myself around you too.”
Tears spilled down both of their faces. The blond growing more and more desperate to make her friend understand before things were broken beyond repair. “I just...no one likes the real me, who I am, my quirk, all I’m good at is pretending. The only thing I can do is become someone else.”
For a moment, Mei was shocked by a realization. In all their years of friendship, she had never once asked what Toga’s quirk was. It had never mattered. All that had ever mattered was who the other girl was, not something as trivial as a quirk.
“I liked the real you,” Mei whispered, “But you apparently aren’t willing to be who you are.”
And then, Mei walked away.
“Mei, please…” Please don’t walk away. Please don’t leave me behind.
She didn’t look back.
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Mei kept going throughout life much the same way, just without Toga. She didn’t go behind the school anymore in case the other girl was waiting there. Instead, she made a very informational and professional presentation to her parents about her plans to build Hastume Industries. It impressed them enough that Mei got an allowance to buy materials for her babies.
Mei herself changed. She became more withdrawn, but just as energetic as ever. Inventing was all that mattered. Friends were unimportant. Ever since that day, the pink haired girl doubled down on all of her peculiarities. She lived her life the way she wanted to, not bothering to care what anyone else thought. No longer was she oblivious to the whispers and mutters that seemed to pop up wherever she passed, criticizing her. Mei just didn’t care anymore. There was something freeing in letting go. So, she worked on projects, perfecting babies, and giving in to her desire to create.
Even so, there was one project she had started almost two years ago, a particularly tricky piece of gear she had been making for Toga. Ever since their argument, it had sat and collected dust. If she had been in a more hurt place, Mei would have just dumped it into a bin and moved on, but now Toga didn’t matter. All that mattered was making babies and then improving them.
Mei toiled over the contraption, facing several explosions and other incidents before completing it. It was finished the night before the last day of her second year. It was so exciting! A piece of support gear made for a specific person, it was a big accomplishment. She reluctantly took off her steampunk goggles and settled down to get some sleep.
The next day at school, Mei wandered around, looking for Toga so she could test out her latest baby. When the blond haired girl was finally in sight, the situation was something gruesome.
Toga was sitting on the bloodied corpse of a third year boy. The girl looked demonic, coated in blood and clearly unhinged. Most people would have screamed. Would have run away and gone for help. Mei was not most people.
Toga smirked, some deranged look that predator gives prey, as the pink haired girl stepped forward. “Hey, Meichan. I’m actually really glad you’re here, y’know?
This wasn’t her, this wasn’t the Himiko Mei used to know, or even the Toga that was presented to everyone else like a mask. This was someone else, someone she didn’t know.
“I was looking for you…this wasn’t how I expected to find you,” Mei replied, none of the horror she felt managing to creep into her voice.
“I took your advice! Finally decided to just be me, no matter what anyone else thinks. Now I do the things I love, and I love blood. It’s so cute! And I can be anyone now. Anyone I want to be.” She giggled and licked more blood off her hand. A predatory, challenging gaze examined Mei. “But you were looking for me. Why?”
Mei pushed down the horror she felt at the scene before her, going back to the place where she didn’t care about anything but making babies. It wasn’t that much different from watching the other girl suck on rats. Besides, the machine was much easier to focus on than the crime scene surrounding her. She could deal with that later, just focus on her baby for now. Mei stood numbly before digging the creation out of her backpack and handing it over. “I started building this for you two years ago. I’m finally finished and wanted you to test it out.”
The contraption was somewhat complex, but most of its intricacies were hidden inside the teddy bear backpack. Inside the backpack were various mechanisms meant for pushing fluids into and out of the soda bottle sitting in the main pouch. A mouthpiece from a beer hat was attached to a tube, allowing the user to drink any blood collected from the wicked looking syringes attached to their own thin tubing.
“It allows you to collect blood.” Despite the gore surrounding them, the familiar excitement of explaining how something worked filled Mei, making her words come faster and faster. Toga smiled, something that might have been mistaken as something sweet in the past, but could now only be interpreted as predatory hunger.
“I love it, Meichan!” She squealed, taking the contraption and plunging one of the needles into the boy’s corpse. Red flooded the tubes. A scream from somewhere further down the hall had Toga scrambling to her feet. “It would be fun to keep talking, but I don’t want to get caught here. Bye!”
And just like that, Toga was gone.
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The other student, whose name Mei couldn’t remember, shook her out of the memories. The steampunk goggles were fixed now, just the way they were and good as new. Oh yeah, the kid had some sort of repair quirk.
“These goggles must be important to you.”
“Someone gave them to me. She used to say that there was nothing special about her, that she could be like anyone, but I’ve never met anyone like her. She taught me a few things that I’ll use to become the CEO of Hatsume Industries!” She threw the other student a somewhat maniacal grin before looking for her opponent.
As she tricked the robot boy into advertising her gear, Mei didn’t even feel a little bad. Ever since that day, she’d lived in the space where making babies was more important than anything else. On any given day, it might be the only thing that mattered to her. The way to her future was never more paved. Mei shoved thoughts of Toga out of her mind and embraced the excitement of showing off her babies. It was freeing.
Maybe they were both set free that day.
Mei adjusted her goggles and started presenting her babies.
Midnight called for the match to start and Mei was pulled out of the way of Iida’s charge.
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Himiko giggled as she stood in the burning forest. The giggles soon cut off as she remembered the need for stealth to catch her prey. Slim fingers felt the smooth plastic of the doll she kept up her sleeve, face flushing slightly as she did so. It reminded her of someone super cute.
Someone she loved very much.
Himiko hoped she would see Meichan again. It would be so fun to make her bleed and see her get even cuter. Then Himiko could become Meichan. She wouldn’t kill the other girl, it would be much too sad if Meichan wasn’t around to get all excited about the things she made. Still, it would be super fun to hang out like they used to, a reunion of sorts. Maybe it could be a sleepover!
Voices reached Himiko’s ears, making her grin in anticipation of what was to come. She adjusted the mask across her face. Giran gave her the contraption after she showed him what Meichan made her. This one was so not as cute, though.
Himiko stroked the doll once more and started stalking her prey.