Mind Games - Chapter 67

“Next time they let us iterate our costume designs, I'm adding a hood. Or a jacket. Or something,” Wonder groused, looking like nothing more than a soaking wet – and very irritable – kitten in her less-beautiful and now-sodden kimono.

“Same,” Moon Mirror nodded, his jester's cap bells ringing in time with the motion. “And they made us do the flood zone after we did the landslide zone. Even Bootstrap and Wildman got soaked through.”

I hummed in agreement, but refrained from grousing too much. I'd designed my costume with the expectation that I'd have to swim through mud, hike through fire, and all while fighting off people trying to kill me.

Wildman, for all the fact that I honestly found his fanboyism a bit grating, had apparently taken my design philosophy – and the early video I'd done explaining hero costumes – to heart.

“It hasn't been all that bad,” Stellar added, his voice lilting and distracted as he walked around in his shinto priest's robes, mostly unscathed. An animated umbrella of light was floating over his head, keeping off the last drizzle of the mountain zone we'd just finished.

The remainder of the team gave him the evil eye while I rolled my own.

“A quirk that versatile...” Wonder shook her head. “I don't want to hear that from you.”

“Hmm...” Stellar blinked slowly, seeming to lose the train of thought he'd had. “What'd I do?”

Wildman just chuckled, shaking his head. “Nothing Hitoboshi, nothing.”

All in all, it was a good practical experience. Running around in the varying temperatures, soaked to varying degrees, and getting progressively dirtier and sweatier... I could see why they did this exercise early in the curriculum. In fact, I'd be surprised if this slog hadn't forced one or more students to quit the course and drop into marketing, support, or general education classes instead over the years.

“Hi-to-shi-!”

I sighed and steadied myself.

Glomp.

“-and don't sigh like that!” Himiko huffed as she settled against me, the red cape of her costume riddled with stains and small tears as well as being fairly damp. “Someone would want to think you didn't want to eat lunch with your cute girlfriend!”

I chuckled as I loosened my facemask and popped my neck. “We wouldn't want anyone thinking that, now would we?”

“Ugh...” Wonder – Kitaru Kaguya – groaned in despair, her shoulders drooping as her head dropped. “Class President... please have a little more self-respect? It's demoralizing to see you hanging all over a student from another class like this.”

“Nope!” Himiko giggled, only hugging tighter against me as I looped an arm around her shoulders. “Hee~! Kan-sensei was a meanie and didn't pair me and Bootstrap together, so I have to recharge my boyfriend batteries while I can!”

“In his defense, he probably knew you'd just do everything I told you to instead of contributing to the exercise yourself,” I chuckled as we made our way towards where our lunches were being held. Apparently, Lunch Rush had pulled a catering van out of somewhere for those who hadn't packed one, the other half of the vehicle's back-end being loaded with packaged and labeled boxes.

“She's like this all the time, you know.” Kaguya informed me bluntly, turning a tired gaze towards me.

Another benefit of working us as hard as they did.

Students who were as mentally and physically exhausted as most of us were tended to lose the fire to hold a grudge. I didn't know if every class got the honor of being micromanaged as we were, but the overall team composition stunk of tiny panda paw-prints.

Who am I kidding, he probably looks forward to events like these just so he can play around...

It took another minute or two before we were all seated together. My team, plus Himiko's team. Which, naturally, included a member of my own class. In this case, it was Tatsuma Yoake, who perked up as she noticed me approach with Himiko. “Oh, Bootstrap!”

“Yo,” I gave her a nod, saluting her with the arm holding my lunch, since the other one was occupied with my girlfriend. “Everything go okay?”

The blond dragon-girl sighed, her cheeks red. “Mostly. Thank you for your suggestion to carry extra sets of clothing. It's really come in handy.”

“Tatsuma-chan has an amazing quirk!” Himiko grinned widely, showing off her fangs.

“She really does,” one of the 1-B kids in Himiko's group – dressed as a samurai – nodded as he pulled his helmet off. “It has inconvenient parts, obviously, but it was really great for covering lots of ground quickly in our searches.”

Yoake blushed and stared down at her meal, fiddling with her chopsticks. “B-but we got points deducted for missing some of the rescues in our area in the landslide.”

“Everyone missed something, even senpai's team,” a girl dressed in a convenience store uniform stated as she gestured to me.

“We're in the same year, you know?” I asked dryly.

Kaguya sighed in the background, shaking her head as she turned to speak with Ooishi.

“Konbini-chan is one of Hitoshi's super-fans,” Himiko giggled idly.

The girl blushed as the samurai and a few other members of the group snickered. “Oh, shut up, Matsuda! Like you're one to talk! You've been watching his streams for longer than I have!”

“Yeah, but I don't have an imitation t-shirt that I've been working up the courage to get him to-” Matsuda – the samurai – started, before 'Konbini' pulled out a hand-towel and shoved it in his mouth.

I blinked as the boy choked and tried to clear his mouth.

“Pocket dimension quirk?” I asked, slightly interested. The girl blushed again, brushing back mousy brown hair from a full face.

“A-ah, yes. It's... not super-powerful in combat, but I've got a lot of tricks up my sleeves!” She grinned proudly as she pulled out a medical kit, a quarterstaff, and a portable radio in quick succession. “I actually wasn't going to try for UA until I listened to one of your podcasts about how you can develop weaker quirks with practice and put them to creative uses.”

“Hmm... I'm glad what little I could do inspired you,” I smiled, shoveling more food into my mouth. “And I'll sign the t-shirt you have or whatever, just not in public, okay? I really don't want to give people any more reason to think I'm trying to act like a celebrity.”

“Ah, thank you!” Konbini stated, ducking her head in the best bow she could manage while sitting.

I grunted around a bite of food. “Also, for combat ability, you might want to see whether or not you can store momentum as well as the item itself. Basically, whether you can 'shoot' something into your pocket-space and have it come out at the same speed.” What had first been confusion cleared up gradually as her eyes widened and she stared blankly at nothing. “C-can I, but... how would... no, wait...”

“Ooh, ooh, any tips for me, senpai?” Another one of the 1-B students asked, this one dressed like a baseball player, though with what I guessed was a personalized hero emblem in place of any team logo.

“Quirk?” I asked, pretending Himiko hadn't already given me a full write-up of their names and abilities. It was only polite to act as thought I didn't have a dossier on each and every one of them, after all.

“Home Run!” He grinned, giving me a thumbs up as he patted the bat leaning next to him with his other hand. “I make balls of energy that can do stuff. Red balls explode, blue ones freeze, white ones blow you away...”

I hummed as I drank my water. “You obviously use the bat as a delivery system, but have you tried controlling the shots after you launch them? Or splitting the shots once they're in the air? Turn it from a single ball into a series of smaller shots. Especially when you're dealing with weaker villains or civilians causing trouble, it can be useful to have a low-power move to disable someone. And knowing that you won't over-penetrate is good too.”

“Huh... I'll have to try some of that,” Baseball guy muttered, looking focused as he stared at his hand before he shook himself. “After lunch!”

“My boyfriend's so smart!” Himiko cooed, eating her own meal, before pouting. “It can get annoying, though, with how everyone in class wants me to introduce them to you. If I did, it'd eat up all my time with you.”

I snorted and flicked the last bit of my lunch into my mouth. “I'll always make time for you, Himiko. Don't worry.”

“And they're even on given-name terms...” Kaguya muttered in the peanut gallery. “Oh, um... if it's not too much, could I ask a question?” Konbini spoke up shyly, shifting as people turned to her.

I waved at her with a nod, grabbing at my water. Really, I wanted a soda, but... later. I was still – technically – recovering. Or, at least, that was what everyone around me believed. And the hero course especially was fairly health conscious. I could go back to guzzling sugar-water next week.

“I actually wanted to know how you two met?” Konbini asked, then blushed. “I-if it's not too much of an imposition or if I'm not prying too much!”

“Can we talk about that?” Himiko asked, cocking her head and tapping her cheek cutely.

I took my time with my water as I thought about it, then answered Himiko's question rather than Konbini's. “We should be in the clear. It was a pretty open-and-shut case. They didn't even need us to testify, really.”

The other discussions around us dropped off as curious glances turned our way.

“Hmm... right, right. Arupaka-chan messaged me the other day to make sure those meanie villains were in jail, you know?” Himiko asked.

“I think you mentioned something about it while we were on the phone during my hospital stay,” I hummed nonchalantly, the corner of my lips twitching at the increasing attempts around us to look like curiosity wasn't eating them alive. “Since you talked to them, are your friends from middle school doing alright?” “Mhm,” Himiko smiled around the last few bites of her own lunch. “They got into good schools, so none of them have much to complain about. I think Michiko's uniform is the cutest, though!”

I snorted, shaking my head. “Cuter than yours?”

Himiko pout-frowned and swayed back and forth, obviously in deep thought for a moment. “Yeah.... UA's uniforms should be better than a gray blazer. Maybe something blue? To go with the bottoms?”

“Uhh...” Matsuda interjected, clearing his throat as he cautiously raised a hand. “Wh-what was all that about villains and testifying?”

“Oh! Hitoshi and I got kidnapped!” Himiko replied cheerfully.

At volume.

Almost immediately, there was the standard flurry of questions, a number of students from other groups who'd been standing, stretching, or throwing their containers away snapping their heads towards us. In particular, I noticed Sakae and Sakura both sudden paying us more attention, though the rabbit-boy's tells were more subtle than the wide-eyed staring of the intersex teen.

I held up a hand for silence and sighed.

“What happened was that, basically, there was a villain group kidnapping people with specific quirks for wealthy buyers overseas. Himiko's friend has a heteromorphic quirk that someone wanted for...” I made a vague motion with my hand. “His personal collection of young women like that. I shouldn't have to explain further.”

There were various and assorted faces filled with disgust, a few of the girls going pale as the yen dropped and they realized what I was hinting at.

And, yeah, it was a pretty uncomfortable topic. The sidereal part of me had been more than a little involved in setting up zoo-like harems to keep the nobility of Creation fat and happy instead of going on campaign and slaughtering entire cities to sate their lusts – blood or otherwise. On the one hand, I could entirely look at that part of society and acknowledge it, then move on with my day as a conscious choice.

On the other hand, that didn't stop it from being abominable.

And, unlike Creation, there was no 'good' justification for it, either.

People in power seldom had the kinds of quirks that would allow them to attain their positions. Instead, high ranks and prestige were often a result of inherited wealth and the accumulation of power over generations. Granted, one upside of the Dark Age had been to upturn much of those old systems and establish new, fresh lines of descent that were generally more competent and less complacent.

But there were always those who wanted to be a problem, rather than part of the solution.

Of those people who lived within or near Japan, I now had a good idea of who they were and how to get at them. The former Yakuza head who now served as my brainwashed butler had been instrumental in helping me create a nice long list of targets to quietly remove over the next few months. A few would be more problematic than others, but I was banking on the ever-so-helpful press corps to aid me in that little endeavor.

I cleared my throat and pushed thoughts of Grand Scheme Number Two to the back of my mind. There would be time enough later to kick my feet up and cuddle with my hot wife while I giggled at the unknowing idiots digging up all of the bodies they were going to find buried. Both figurative and literal.

“Himiko was with her friend at the time and got taken as an incidental victim so she wouldn't sound the alarm that the target had been kidnapped,” I continued explaining the entire affair. “My own abduction, on the other hand, was actually because the villain in charge of the kidnapping ring had a personal grudge against heroes-”

Or, possibly, because All for One noticed my content and decided to make an example out of me, one way or another. Either I gave in and went villain or disappeared permanently and became a cautionary tale.

A scarily-plausible possibility that had occurred to me only after the fact.

“-and wanted to force me to turn villain so that he could use my quirk to pacify targets for easier abductions.” I took a moment to take a drink of water, which is when Himiko struck.

“But then Hitoshi fought back! And beat up the guy trying to take him!” Himiko leaned in, her posture that of a girl scout telling a spooky story around a campfire. “Hitoshi almost got away, but got sucker-punched by another one of their gang! The one Hitoshi beat up was sore about it, though, and when they threw us in the cells they had at their base, he came in to beat Hitoshi up as revenge for being embarrassed for getting his butt kicked!”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as my girlfriend exaggerated the story. “I managed to stall him long enough to almost get away.”

Himiko continued on as if I'd said nothing, glazing me more thoroughly than a professional potter. “So then! Then when he came into Hitoshi's cell, Hitoshi riled him up and got him to lose his cool, transform using his quirk, and blow a hole in the side of the building!”

“I kicked him in the balls and poked his eyes out,” I drawled, sighing at the impressed stares I was getting.

“My friend and I – Arupaka-chan – were in the cell next door and it took some of our wall with it! So we were able to get out and escape into the forest while the heroes arrived and started taking down the villains!” Himiko finished explaining.

I opened my mouth.

“Oh, and that villain even found us in the forest, but now that he was all wild and grr-y, Hitoshi was able to take him down like that!” My girlfriend snapped her fingers and nodded firmly.

I took a deep breath and sighed as all of the accumulated attention she'd been farming turned to me. Taking out my phone, I flipped through to a special bookmarked stream's recording. “When it all went down, the villains forgot to take the phone I used for my HeroTube stuff... so I was able to set up a private stream and tagged a bunch of heroes all over Tokyo for help.”

My words came out in a quick low-tone murmur designed not to carry over distance, unlike a hissing whisper. "My name is Shinso Hitoshi. I was kidnapped walking home from school today in East Saitama prefecture, knocked out, tied up, and thrown in a van with a bunch of other people. It's been six hours, my ears have popped over the course of the drive so I think we've gone up in elevation. My best guess is that we're in the foothills near Mt. Fuji, in either Shizuoka or Yamanashi. I don't know where the other captives are. Please help, this is not a stunt or a joke."

"Well, well... if it isn't the boy of the hour, Bootstrap-kun! Or, would you prefer Hitoshi?"

"Either's fine, I guess," I replied, my tone dry as a desert as I stared at him with a professional insomniac's gaze. "So, you know me, but I don't know who you are. Any clues on that front?"

He chuckled, "You can call me Wolfram. Not much to look at, even if you are starting to get a little muscle on you. At least you've got work ethic, judging from those streams of yours."

"Is that why you kidnapped me?" I asked bluntly, my voice and posture still non-aggressive.

"In your situation? I prefer the term, 'aggressive recruitment.'"

"Your men weren't prepared to face my quirk when they got me in that alleyway. Between then and now, I'm guessing you somehow accessed the public registry regarding my quirk."

Wolfram chuckled again. "See? This is why we're talking. You're smart enough to put things together. Just like you're smart enough not to make a go at using your quirk on me."

“I figured you would have someone watching. Also, I recognize-"

I coughed harshly, covering the words at the end of that sentence, sending the group an apologetic look as I reached for my water, but they were too enthralled with the recording to be irritated at the interruption.

"Good catch. Yeah, you were a surprise catch, to be honest. We had a shopping list put together and just happened to be in your area. Decided to pick up the little wanna' be hero who thought he had a quirk valuable enough to get into UA."

"Which would explain why I was able to catch your men unawares," I sighed. "I never talk about my quirk on my streams.""Because you know you'd lose at least half your subscribers if they found out you had a villain's quirk which raises the question of why you want to join the white hats in the first place.""Mostly spite."

A number of my audience started in surprise at that, looking between me and the recording like they had no idea what to think. Still, the conversation continued.

"Hah, spite! That's a good one," Wolfram chuckled, inhaling deeply before exhaling in a long breath. "Is committing yourself to the life of a middle-income public servant where you'll never receive the due you're owed really worth the satisfaction for that spite you feel?""That's the thing, it's not about me," I replied, "It might look like that, and I'll admit there's a certain level of visceral satisfaction in achieving a heroic career after being told my entire life that I have a villainous quirk.""Then if it's not about you, what is it about?""It's about the next dozen kids who need to know that they have an option other than a life of crime," I replied honestly. "You can call it altruism if you want, but it's deeper than that. This life I've had... as good as it is compared to other peoples', I want the kids who come after me to see me as an example of what they could be, rather than letting some inborn ability define their destiny." Wolfram chuckled again, a slow rolling sound with a current of darkness under it. "You know... I told the boys that we should pick you up because you had a valuable quirk if you were trying for UA of all schools," Wolfram finally spoke up, sighing. "But the truth was... watching your little Hero How To videos? They really got under my skin, how you'd talk up all those assholes in the spandex-wearing crowd." "I probably don't need to ask why you have a negative opinion of heroes," I replied evenly. "That why you switched over to kidnapping? Whatever business you were in before getting stomped by someone in a unitard?"

The sound of warping metal filled the recording, several students twitching at what was almost certainly the sound of a quirk being used. I remembered the spikes forming, the threat in the man's eyes.

"Watch your mouth, brat," the villain replied shortly. "What would a little shit like you know, anyway? Someone too stupid to know a good offer when he sees one.""Even if I can respect the steel in your spine, Bootstrap, I'd hoped you'd have been smarter than this."

I didn't play the entire recording, obviously.

There were too many gaps between important bits and, besides, some of it wasn't really relative. Still, I skipped here and there and let them hear all the important parts.

When the final scene of Himiko, Arupaka, and I in the forest was over, I cut it off before the asshole who'd chased us could come into things again. They didn't need any more hints about what my quirk was capable of than I'd already given them. Inevitably, it would come out, but I could delay that date for as long as possible, and I absolutely would.

Finally, I snapped my phone off and tucked it away, draining the last of my water as I did so. “So, yeah. That was how Himiko and I met. It's also why I get so many heroes on my streams, for those who've been curious. Apparently Best Jeanist, Hawks, and a few others stayed subscribed to my feed after everything was over and pop in to comment from time to time.”

Several of those gathered around were left staring at Himiko and myself, the crowd noticeably bigger than it had been when our little show and tell started.

“And that's how we met!” Himiko cheered, throwing her hands up and making the entire group around us jerk like they'd just had a horror movie jump scare. “We didn't start going out juu~ust yet, though. That was later.”

“What she said,” I shrugged, tilting my head towards my girlfriend. “And again, for those of you who are curious, this is also why I'm so nonchalant about getting shot. This stuff just kind of... happens to me, so I got used to it a while back.”

“I think that's a good place to stop,” Eraserhead's droning voice rolled over everyone as he took a step around the crowd.

“Indeed,” Vlad King stated, looking around at the group and then his watch. “You've got five more minutes on break, then it's back to the next zone. If anyone needs to use the restroom, I'd recommend getting it done now.”

Several students stiffened and started making their way towards the public toilets at that.

Combined with a few pointed looks, soon Himiko and I were left standing alone with our two teachers, who were visibly scrutinizing us.

“I mean... I did tag you when I put the stream up,” I pointed out.

“I was involved in a drug bust, sadly,” Aizawa sighed, raking his long black hair back with one hand. “I only found out about the entire thing after the fact.”

“I'd have to check my schedule to see what I was doing that night,” Vlad King hummed, rubbing his jaw. “Though I wasn't on the list you sent it to initially. I only learned about what had happened when Toga became part of 1-B.”

“Sorry, I'm an Eraserhead fanboy,” I smirked. “He was the only hero at UA I really knew of at that point, anyway.”

Kan snorted and nodded, seeming to reevaluate me. “Any particular reason you felt the need to disclose that story right now?”

I groped for an answer that didn't involve 5D chess and probability matrices. Thankfully, I had one ready.

“I plan to ask to be excused from the sports festival,” I told them bluntly, making both teachers blink in surprise. “I'm essentially already a hero. I have a part-time career with a full – if limited – license, and... frankly, I have better things to do with my time than participate in an event where everyone will learn the limitations of my quirk just through observing my capabilities.”

I paused to let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “The purpose of the sports festival is to advertise your abilities to entice internship offers and build a portfolio and contacts to get hired as a professional hero or sidekick one day. More than the fact that I just don't need any of that, I'd be taking it away from students who do. It's just not-”

“Logical,” Eraserhead snorted, giving me a mild glare as he anticipated my argument's conclusion. “So you're laying the groundwork for none of your classmates to complain about the fact that you're receiving 'special treatment' by allowing you to exempt yourself from the festival, then?”

“I mean, I'm not exactly the principal, but... I like to think I can get a few steps ahead of most of the kids here,” I nodded unapologetically. “All of 1-A and 1-B knowing that I've not just had a single run in with actual villains, but multiple? Well... it just wouldn't be fair...”

I rolled my hand in a vague gesture.

“He's got a point,” Vlad King grunted, chewing on the thought.

“Personally, I'd like to see how he does against them just to shake them up a bit more,” Eraserhead snorted in amusement, looking around at the students. “Alright, I'll back your play, Bootstrap, but you're going to have to take a private exam against your classmates after we get back from Golden Week. To justify our decision to allow you to excuse yourself.”

“And Toga still needs to participate,” Vlad King stated firmly.

My girlfriend's shoulders drooped and she made a whining noise.

The hulking hemokinetic snorted and crossed his arms, unmoved. “You have less documented combat experience than Bootstrap does and I think you'd benefit from the experience. Besides, with your boyfriend off the field, maybe a 1-B student will take the gold for once.”

Eraserhead rolled his eyes and turned away, even as Vlad King seemed to get more fired up by the idea.

I didn't burst his bubble by pointing out that needing a handicap as large as the one he was already playing with was a pretty sad state of affairs.

~~~

Here we go! Had a little bit of a medical scare, but things are mostly okay now.

More Mind Games!

This brings to a close the two chapters I have planned for Hitoshi at school. Next one will be some weekend vigilante activities as Perspicacious Mauve Avenger. Also, a quick chat with Hot Ice too.

Next update will be more The Hand We're Dealt.

On the subject of the special extra-long chapter I usually do each month... my top-tier people decided to be comedians and stall things out with a three-way tie and the people on that tier on Subscribe Star chose to abstain from the vote this time around. Results are:

Entrepreneurial Spirit: 5

Industrious: 5

The New Ron: 5

So what I'm probably going to do is write an Entrepreneurial Spirit chapter as the winner and sneak in a regular-sized update for the Marvel Industrious. The New Ron had a chapter last month, IIRC, so I'll get to it when I have some time, later.