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Himiko kicked her feet onto a rickety furniture piece that once was an ottoman, watching Shuichi and Tomura play some game they hadn’t offered to let her play (not that she had an interest in joining). After a little while, she leaned over to play with the remote, switching the volume up and down.
“Do you need something?” Tomura muttered, not lifting his eyes from his game.
Himiko groaned. “Today’s so boring! Don’t we have anything to do?” Shuichi finally paused the game and Tomura groaned, kicking his feet up despite her already laying there.
“Find something to do. We’re not in charge of entertaining you.” Tomura kicked at her when she reached out to grab at his ankle.
“But you’re entertaining each other! Play something with me too!” Magne and Jin were out today, which meant that Himiko had to figure out what to do for herself. If she’d gotten Shuichi’s attention before Tomura, they probably could have hung out, but now…
“Didn’t you say something about the hero kids going somewhere today? Thought I overheard that when we were setting up?” Shuichi questioned.
That made Himiko sit up. An opportunity to see the hero students?
“I wanna go!”
Tomura made a noncommittal noise, waving her toward the bar. “Kurogiri can take you. Don’t get caught.”
“Yay! I’ll disguise myself, don’t worry!” She had a few different vials of blood in her room still! All she needed to do was decide on the perfect disguise...
Oh…
Her fingers lingered on the tiny bit of Ochako’s blood she had left. That was perfect. She wouldn’t get to see Ochako if she was pretending to be her, but it would be so easy to hang out with Deku or Tsu.
She drank the blood quickly, letting Ochako’s form take over and smiling in the mirror. As soon as she’d changed, she rushed to meet Kurogiri.
He dropped her off in front of the mall, reminding her to text and meet him at specific coordinates. Himiko waved goodbye, skipping into the mall. Almost immediately, she saw one of the people she’d been looking for.
“Izuku!” Himiko shouted, running up to the green-haired boy. He looked at her in surprise, before smiling.
“Hey, Ochako! I thought you’d broken off with Yaoyorozu and Tsu?”
It wasn’t the most convenient that Izuku knew where Ochako was supposed to be, but at least that meant she knew what to watch for.
“I did!” Himiko replied, smiling at him. “But I decided to come see you. Good thing, since you’re all alone!”
“Ah, well, Iida is coming back in a few minutes. Something about wanting to get new shoes? I decided to just wait for him since I already got what I came for.” Izuku held up the bag in his hand.
“Perfect! Then I get to hang out with you all alone!” Himiko laughed. “Doesn’t that sound great, Izuku?”
“I— uh— yeah, that sounds great!”
Himiko grinned, skipping into a store and dragging him along with her. They walked through the racks for a few moments before they were interrupted.
“Midoriya! I see you’ve found Uraraka?”
“Oh, yeah! She ran into me while I was waiting outside, so we decided to come in.”
“We ought to head to the next store,” Iida answered, looking down at his watch. “We’re going to run out of time if we dawdle here for too long.”
Hmm. He was much more boring than any of Himiko’s friends in the class. Plus, Himiko had heard that he’d played an instrumental role in taking down Stain… She couldn’t say she was the biggest fan of that, knowing so little else about the boy.
As they walked from the store, Himiko kept a step ahead of Iida, outstretching her leg to catch his. Stumbling, he tried to right himself but fell to the ground. She gasped, playing off surprise as she leaned down next to him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Himiko grabbed a vial from inside her jacket and pressed it against the wound before covering it with her hand. “Do you have any bandages, Izuku? It looks like he’s bleeding.” The blood spread between her fingers, and a grin stretched over her face as she watched the drops gather slowly.
“Not to worry!” Iida pulled a small pouch from his jacket. He moved Himiko’s hand out of the way and retrieved a wipe from the pouch to clean his skin. Of course he was prepared. From what Himiko had seen, he seemed to care a lot about his classmates. Especially the classmates he was closest with.
She could admire that. She wanted to take care of them, too.
Himiko stood up, crossing her arms behind her back before looking off to the distance, eyes widening momentarily. Ochako was coming this way. Guess that was her cue to get out of there!
“I’ll go wash my hands! See you both soon! It was good to spend so much time with you, Izuku.” She leaned forward, looking over Izuku, before rushing toward a nearby store. As she ran in, she grabbed clothes that looked close to Iida’s size and slipped into a changing room.
She licked the blood off her fingers, putting a cap on the few drops she’d managed to gather into the vial. Once her hand was clean, she let Ochako’s skin fall from her body, stepping into the clothes she’d found. She carefully tucked the vials into the jacket and the old clothes into a discarded bag.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about Iida. He was friends with Izuku and Ochako, though, so she wanted to befriend him too. She posed in front of the mirror for a moment longer. This body would do okay, especially if it meant that she’d get to talk to Tsu or Ochako! Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d be able to see Izuku again before she left!
Himiko nearly ran into Tsu on her way out of the dressing room. She reached out to catch the frog girl’s phone before it fell, a bright smile on her face.
“Tsu! It’s so good to see you!” Tsu tilted her head curiously, and Himiko bit her lip. Iida had come with the rest of the class. It was probably best that she treated Tsu a lot more familiarly. But it had been so long since she had seen the other girl. Tsu shook off the confusion and nodded to her.
“Good timing. Have you eaten yet?” Tsu asked, setting her phone into her adorable lily pad purse. She had to know how cute she was, right? Himiko was super lucky she ended up friends with her!
“Not yet!” she answered. “We can go together, if you want?” She probably had enough money left in her bag and lunch seemed like a good use for it. She was bringing back a UA student’s blood. Tomura could cut her a little slack with lunch money.
“That’s why I was asking, ribbit.” Tsu nodded, walking in the direction of the food court. Himiko walked after her, trying to keep the skip out of her step. As excited as she was to see Tsu, Iida didn’t seem like the type to skip.
Maybe… during lunch… she’d get to see a little bit of Tsu’s cute blood. She could gather some up, be her. Maybe she’d even find Ochako! She covered her growing grin with a fake cough.
“Meet you at the table?” Tsu asked once they reached the food court, and Himiko nodded. She rushed off to get some food, sitting down at the table to await Tsu.
Before long, Tsu set down her food and began to eat in silence. Silence was… well, boring, but Himiko didn’t know enough about Iida. Still…
“Have you had a good day so far?” she asked. “I bet you’ve been having a ton of fun!”
“It’s been alright. I’ve gotten almost everything I came for. I need to find Ochako later; we were planning on trying on clothes together.”
“I bet you’d look super cute in whatever she picks out!”
Ah… that had apparently been a tad out of character for Iida.
Looking to Himiko, Tsu slipped while cutting her food. The knife grazing across her hand, making a small cut. Himiko’s hands darted out, reaching into her pocket to grab a few band-aids. She helped Tsu clean the cut and bandage it.
Trying not to draw any suspicions, she gathered as much spilled blood as she could into a vial, slipping it into her pocket. It was only a few drops, but...
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I must have misheard you.” Tsu frowned, her finger resting against her lip thoughtfully.
“I guess so! Well, I’d better be going!” Himiko laughed, waving to Tsu. She found a darkened corner of the mall, sucking down some of the blood she’d gathered. Then she stepped out in Tsu’s skin and ran to the clothing store to find Ochako before the real Tsu could.
“Tsu!” Perfect! Ochako was already waiting outside the store for her! Himiko grinned, rushing forward. “Ready to go in?”
“Totally!” Himiko squealed, following after Ochako. The store was packed with fashionable clothes, and Ochako held onto her arm as they wandered, talking about the best styles. They were there for new outfits for Tsu, apparently, though Ochako tried on quite a few as well.
And she was so cute. Himiko peppered dozens of compliments on the hero-in-training, her eyes bright with each new outfit Ochako tried on.
“Oh!” Ochako called out after a moment. “I think this would be really adorable.”
Himiko looked at the clothing Ochako gestured at, smoothing her hands over it. “This is it,” she agreed. Tsu would probably be confused about missing this trip, but now, Himiko had an outfit that Ochako had picked out.
“We’ve gotta head out soon.” Ochako glanced at her phone and frowned. “Pay for that, and I’ll see you at the front?”
“Sounds good!” Barely hesitating, Himiko threw her arms around Ochako. “Thanks for all your help. It was so much fun.”
“I’ll see you soon.” Ochako laughed, waving to her before leaving the store.
Himiko walked back to the changing room, letting Tsu’s skin fall from her body before changing into the clothes, tearing the tags from the fabric. She straightened out her skirt, spinning in front of the mirror and balancing the bags on her arm. Ochako was right. This was a super cute outfit… even if she’d been picking it for her other friend.
Himiko skipped out of the mall, turning when she heard familiar voices behind her.
She raised her hand in a wave to the class, walking backwards a few steps with a happy grin. “It was awesome to see you guys! Hopefully, we can meet again soon!” she called out.
“Is that…” Izuku spoke behind her. Had he recognized her?
Himiko pressed her hands against her cheeks happily. She waved one more time before vanishing into the alleyway, catching up with Kurogiri before the class could catch up with her. Unfortunately, meeting with the entirety of Class 1-A wasn’t in her best interest.
“Tomura!” she called once they’d returned. “I got you a present!”
“I don’t want it,” he muttered immediately.
“Are you sure? I mean, I guess I can keep them all to myself. They are going to be mine, after all!” She giggled, letting the vials tap against each other. Suddenly, he was interested.
“Is that…?”
“Ochako, Tsu, and Iida!” She spun around, clutching the vials close. “This means I get to see them again, right?”
“This is a lot better than intel.” Tomura took the vials, carrying them off with a grin.
She flopped onto the couch and over Shuichi’s lap, taking Tomura’s place in the game. See! Everyone had gotten something out of her exciting afternoon!