Chapter Text
Ever since the Naruhata Lockdown, 6’s body wasn’t the way it had used to be. Even subtle movements would trigger aches strong enough for him to feel, even with the years of pain-reducing alterations. Even when he wasn’t moving, phantom pains of the moment his body burned into plasma would wrack his limbs. It was a miracle he even survived the event. Koichi’s refusal to let 6 go had saved him, sure, but sometimes he regretted having let the hero keep him from death.
When he had awoken from his two month coma, Koichi was there by his side, ready to take 6 to America. Something about having to watch him so he didn’t pull anything during the recovery. Number 6 had been in New York since then, not being allowed to leave Koichi’s place, except when he had to go in for treatment on his new organs. He had a nice view, sure, but being cooped up was miserable. This was far from the free and untouchable lifestyle he had long dreamed of.
Someone whom 6 had desperately wished to forget was in New York as well, but he didn’t spend much time worrying about bumping into her. He rarely left the apartment anyways, let alone venture near a certain art university…
His sulking was interrupted by the sound of the door being unlatched.
“Six, I’m back,” Koichi called as he walked through the door, CC Corporation-branded briefcase in hand. He probably had to repair his hero costume or something. The hero plopped himself onto the couch where 6 was resting, briefcase on his knees. He pulled out his suit, which was clearly ripped off of 6’s O’clock II costume, and began mending the fresh tear on its arm.
“How’s the job ?” 6 asked sarcastically, his voice laced with jealousy. Koichi, not picking up on 6’s tone (as usual), beamed.
“Great! We took down a big bruiser of a villain today. He almost looked like a kai-“
He paused.
“You were being sarcastic, weren’t you.”
6, avoiding a relevant reply, pointed to Koichi’s thread and needle, asking “Hey, why’re you so insistent on fixing that thing yourself? Doesn’t the ‘ole Cap have a support department or somewhere to get it fixed- ya know, professionally?”
Koichi, needle moving fluidly through the fabric of his suit, replied
“It gives me something to do. I’d rather sew it here than sit at home and do nothing-“ he looked to 6 “-I can teach you if you want.”
6 blinked, half confused and half offended.
“And what makes you think I’d wanna learn?”
“Well, every time I come home you’re sitting here in silence. I know you can’t exactly go and do something, but maybe picking up a hobby would make you less… grumpy all the time.”
6 sat quiet. Koichi had a point, but he didn’t want to admit it. His daily life was spent bathed in an oppressive silence, aside from the occasional conversations with Koichi or a doctor. It reminded him of back when he first started working at Marukane, where nearly all his coworkers avoided him like the plague. Nearly all, sure, but definitely not all.
Koichi, attempting to break the silence, said, “Also, I uh found you something while on patrol today.”
6 heard him reach into his briefcase, but he still refused to look at the hero.
“I passed by a little record store, and they had some CDs on sale. I remember seeing that you had a few band shirts while I did your laundry a while back. They had a CD of one of your shirt-bands, so I grabbed it for you.”
6 had amassed a small collection of band T-shirts during his three years in disguise, so that hardly narrowed down what Koichi had decided to waste his money on. 6 put his hand out behind him, flexing it a couple times.
“Give it here, hero.”
He felt the smooth, plastic edge of a CD case be placed into his palm. He brought the CD into his field of vision to inspect it, but he felt his heart skip when he saw the band’s name.
Koichi was saying something, but 6 wasn’t listening. His vision swam, and he began to hear the drone of his own blood pulsing in his skull. He dropped the CD, using Overclock to accelerate towards the bathroom, locking the door behind him. When he decelerated, his whole body burned, drawing back the painful memories from when he’d explosively ripped apart his cells. His bones seared, his eyes were hazy, and as he faintly heard Koichi yell, “Six!” from the other room, he collapsed into the bathtub.
“…six! Six! SIX WAKE UP!” He snapped back to reality and found himself being shaken back and forth by a worried Koichi. When the hero saw that 6’s eyes were open, he sighed and exclaimed, “This is why the doctors told you not to use Overclock anymore.”
6 grabbed his skull and massaged his temples, trying to silence the new ringing in his ears.
“I know… just habit at this point.” He paused. “How did you even get in here? Didn’t I lock the door or am I hallucinating more than just pain?”
Koichi shifted his position so that 6 could see the door handle… or where the handle had been.
“I kinda took a page out of Master’s book.”
“That old bastard would break in.”
“You’re saying this like you didn’t blow a hole in the side of a hospital to get in-“
“Oh shut up!”
Koichi helped the other man out of the tub, giving him a shoulder to put his weight on. They walked back to the couch, and Koichi went and got a soft, blue blanket for 6; his favorite.
“Hey like I said earlier, you can’t go around using your quirks anymore, especially Overclock. Your body can’t handle it after you blew up.”
6, who had since burrowed himself under the blanket, mumbled, “Well, don’t go buying me crap you don’t understand.”
They sat quite for a second, Koichi staring at the CD case that was still laying on the floor.
“Six?” He piped up. “Why did that freak you out so much?”
6 sighed, his voice melancholy.
“Have you ever been in love, hero?”
- - -
6 had been working for the Marukane Department store for a couple uneventful weeks now. He’d made sure his paperwork and disguise was in order, and had been able to slip into the workforce relatively easily. Rokuro Nomura: a tall, sensitive man whose face was kind and approachable; naturally so, as it was stolen from little Koichi Haimawari. He quite liked this disguise so far, and hoped it would help his body-harvesting for the growing queen bee and her swarm.
She was almost matured at this point, so it was about time to stop gathering corpses and find a viable host. It’d be a few months before then at least, as forming seemingly-meaningful bonds doesn’t happen overnight. That was okay by him. It gave him plenty of time to work on the plan for his debut as a hero, running over the theoretical situation over and over in his head.
What he wasn’t fine with was how quiet the job was. He’d wake up, get ready, go to work, type up marketing plans in silence for hours, go home, and then go to sleep; all without as much as saying a word to his coworkers. He felt more anonymous and unseen than he had in a long time, and he hated it.
Today was one of those days, and as usual, 6 typed away at his desk, the only sounds he made being the clacking of his keyboard and the faint sound of his own breathing. He moved his long black hair away from his face to better see what time it was, only to realize that he should have taken his break half an hour ago. 6 got up and stretched his thin, lanky limbs a bit before making his way to the office’s break area. He’d made himself a sad excuse for a sandwich this morning and left it in the office fridge. 6 didn’t really get too hungry anymore due to some metabolism modifications the boss had done to him, but eating helped him lessen the boredom.
He wasn’t really paying attention, just going through the motions to get to the break room. As he walked, he was violently halted as he felt himself crash into something… no someone .
“Oh no no, I’m terribly sorry!” 6 squeaked as he realized what he’d done. Sprawled out in front of him and surrounded by dropped papers was one of his coworkers. She worked a few desks away from 6, but he didn’t know her name.
She groaned in pain as she picked herself up, and breathed, “You’re fine, don’t worry about it.”
6 quickly gathered the papers she’d dropped, being careful not to instinctively activate Overclock.
“I’m so sorry, really. I-I wasn’t paying attention I’m so sorry-“
She shakily took the papers from him and replied, “No really, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t really paying attention either.” She smiled a bit.
Then paused.
“Hey, aren’t you that new guy? Nomura, right?”
6 stiffened up at the mention of his new alias. He wasn’t quite used to this name yet, so it took him longer than he’d like to register that yes, that was him.
“Oh! Yeah, that’s right- I’m Rokuro Nomura.” He said that last part moreso to reassure himself than to help his coworker identify him. “A-and you are?” He added with a shaky grin.
“Reigai Nakagaī, but you can just call me Naka! I’m one of the graphic designers here in marketing. I make flyers and website layouts and such- I was working on some posters for a buy-one-get-one free deal on pastries at the food court, but haven’t been able to figure out the colors…”
She held up two of her papers in one hand so 6 could see them.
“I know I don’t know you, but I really need some help determining which variant looks better. The promotion goes into effect in less than two weeks and I’m running out of time-“
6 hadn’t really been listening to what the woman - Naka - had been saying. He was just taken aback by how much she talked. Especially to him, a man she’d never met before and had no reason to even interact with beyond simply accepting his apology.
“You okay? Was that too much?” She asked, having since lowered the posters, a concerned look on her face. 6 didn’t realize that he’d just stood there in silence, staring blankly into the posters without saying a word.
“Ah, sorry!” He exclaimed, raising his hands in the air apologetically.
He’d missed whatever question she’d asked while he was zoned out and quickly activated Overclock to better assess the situation. The woman in front of me’s holding holding two posters. They’re the same design, just different colors- she wants my opinion on the designs, surely! Yeah, that’s gotta be it!
“I.. I like the yellow one,” he said softly.
Naka looked back at the posters, and her face lit up again. “Yeah, you’re right! The yellow background makes the pinks and blues show up better, along with the text. Thanks!“
“Why are you asking me out’ve everyone here? Shouldn’t you ask someone else in graphic design?”
She turned, and faced the refrigerator behind her. She replied, her voice tinged with sadness. “You were already talking to me,” she said. “That’s why.”
She a bit squeamishly changed the subject. “Y-you were going to grab something from the fridge, yeah? Here, let me grab it for ya-“
“No that’s okay-“ 6 tried to protest, but Naka was already at the fridge.
“It’s the least I can do, for ya after you helped with my poster conundrum. So which one’s yours?”
6 sighed and said, “bottom left.”
Naka was saying something else but abruptly went silent, aside from the sound of a ziplock bag crinkling.
“This is your sandwich?” She asked, while holding up a bag with ‘Nomura’ scrawled on it in thick sharpie. The sandwich within was depressing, with discolored lettuce, slimy turkey, and stale bread.
“Yes, thank you, now I should-“
“Nomura, I’m sorry, once again I don’t know you but, is this all you have? If it’s a financial issue I could buy you a fresh sandwich from across the street. I won’t mind, I promise-“
6 paused to think. Why was this woman so insistent on helping him out? He was the one who ran into her. She didn’t owe him anything. Yet somehow, she hadn’t left yet.
The man took his sandwich from her, and kindly rejected her offer.
“It’s okay, uh…Naka. I’m perfectly fine, but I appreciate it.”
He began to walk away, whispering a final thank you, before turning and quickly returning back to his desk.
What was THAT? He thought to himself. What was WRONG with that chick? Couldn’t she just let me grab my sandwich and go…
He sat at his desk perplexed for a few minutes, his forehead in his palms. He side eyed the woman as she went back to her desk, observing as she sat in front of her computer, holding the yellow poster in front of her like a trophy.
6 hoped he’d never have to interact with Naka again, as although she seemed nice, she was talkative and cast unwanted attention his way.
Unfortunately for him, that wouldn’t be the case.
His attention was jolted away from the computer screen by the characteristic ‘THWACK!’ of a paper bag hitting his desk. He swiveled his head to figure out the source of the noise, only to find Naka looking back at him, a bag branded ‘Jerry’s Italian-style, New Jersey Subs’ resting in front of her. It’d been a few weeks since their last interaction, and 6 had nearly forgotten her face.
“What’s this for?”
“You keep eating those stale, slimy sandwiches and it’s painful to watch. I can’t keep going to the fridge and finding those things in bags with your name on them!”
“…so you bought me a sandwich.” He stated, a bit annoyed at this current predicament.
“Why’d you say it like that? The deli’s right across the street and I pick up a salad there every day. Getting something that keeps you from eating the god-awful excuses for food that you subject yourself to is hardly out of my way.”
6 brushed his shiny black hair away from his face and said, “I appreciate it, really, but please don’t do this again. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Consider this me repaying you for giving your opinion on the posters.”
“Nono, I distinctly remember that I knocked you over! If anything, my opinion was me repaying you after I ran into you!”
Naka raised an eyebrow at the man she knew as Nomura and asked, “So you think that helping me with the designs is as bad as you knocking me over?”
6 made a light, high-pitched sound in his throat at her comment, squawking, “ No of course not!! Just you- you -“
He stuffed his face into his hands, trying to hold it together in case it melted off.
Naka giggled at his sputtering and chimed, “I’m only joking! Y’know, you’re funny, Nomura.”
6 poked his eyes up from behind his hands and asked, “funny?”
“A little bit silly even!”
“Okay, I draw the line at silly!”
His retort was playful, and he found himself giggling quietly to himself. 6 had to be honest, this woman was annoying, sure, but nice to be with. A few eyes being drawn his way weren’t as bad for his disguise as he originally thought, as becoming close with Naka could provide a convenient alibi if he ever needed one. Or better, she could potentially play host for his growing Queen Bee. Granted, the animation quirk he noticed that she had wouldn’t work for the kind of flashy villain he wanted to take down, plus he was at Marukane to see if he could lure in Natuhata’s resident idol, Pop☆Step. If push came to shove, and 6 couldn’t get in with the Narufest crew, he wouldn’t hesitate to insert the bee into Naka’s brain.
That’s what he thought.