Red Ink

Part 27 - In Lovers' Meeting

2 YEARS AGO

Kirishima was no stranger to uncomfortable social events.

A large portion of hero work involved schmoozing with other Agency reps to strengthen alliances, and Bakugou realized early on that Kirishima was fantastic at it. As a result, Eijirou's job regularly consisted of making friends at these events. Dynamight Agency would likely lose all of its connections without him.

But this was different. This was an event in the Underground– his first event in the Underground.

Bakugou (and the rest of the hero world) warned of the unsavory characters under the surface. Murderers and cheaters, Katsuki had said. Don't get involved. They're all trouble. And yet, here he was, attending an event he personally had been invited to. If Bakugou ever found out, he would be livid.

But after their fight, Kirishima wasn't in a hurry to follow his partner's rules.

It's not like Katsuki had any way of knowing. Mei Hatsume, an engineer he knew from highschool, apparently conducted quite a bit of business here; her most popular product was her new line of customizable masks. It employed some kind of hologram technology and was able to warp the appearance of the wearer's head. There was a soft blue haze from inside the mask, but Mei insisted that future versions would be impossible to identify. Her invention provided true anonymity in the Underground and was already worn by nearly everyone at the party.

Kirishima opted for only minor alterations. The mask warped his hair color from his usual red to jet black and he added a soft red glow in front of his eyes to conceal them. Without a CC mask, he wouldn't have even considered coming back down here; but now he had an actual contract signed with the Event Sector and he was locked in.

It was thrilling, keeping a secret like this, but Kirishima felt wildly out of place at this event. It was only his third month in the Underground, and his first time outside of the Event Sector– what if these people were dangerous like Katsuki said? What if he was making a huge mistake? The boxing events didn't feel threatening, but for some reason, this place did.

The Commons, it was called. Run by some man named Ray that his boxing manager warned not to fuck with. "He's got connections with every part of the Underground and a daughter he wants to protect. He could kill you if he wanted to, and he'd get away with it," she had said. That was all Kirishima needed to hear to know he should stay away from the guy.

He was alone here. Most attendees seemed to know each other already, leaving Eijirou to sit at a table in the far corner to avoid stepping on toes. It could be dangerous to make friends here. All he was here for really was the boxing tournament, but the Event Sector insisted that the boxers show their faces in the Commons to "keep things on good terms." So here he was– apprehensive, in his full disguise, taking root as a wallflower and not planning to change it.

"So you're the new guy, huh?"

Eijirou looked up to see two men, also sporting Mei's CC masks and puffing out their chests with crossed arms. Their stances were meant to be intimidating: Kirishima saw the same posture regularly with his partner.

"Guess I am," Kirishima responded.

The man on the left scoffed. "Clearly," he muttered. "Not often we get a new recruit that wins every match. What's your secret, huh? You using?"

Eijirou frowned under his mask. "Using?"

The other man leaned his arm against the table, peering down at Kirishima. "You think we're stupid? No one makes it this far in the prelims first try. You got steroids from the Hassaikai?"