Awkward Energy - MinaDeku

Honest Forthcoming

If Izuku wanted to get through to this girl, or get her to open up, he needed to find the right words.

He was convinced of that, and he'd never been more aware of the fact that he needed to choose his words carefully more in his life. He, Mina, and the Pussycat were running out of non-direct options. They were dealing with someone who, by all legal definitions, didn't even exist, so there was barely anything they could do when it came to finding out more about her without asking her directly. Given she didn't speak...

...What would be done to coerce her if she didn't speak of her own accord to them?

"Seriously Izu, what d'you think they're gonna do." Mina asked him, her eyes half closed in mild exasperation. They followed him as he walked. "Tie her town to a chair and strap a lie detector to her head or something?"

"No, no..." Izuku shook his head. He looked at her, his eyebrows curled upwards slightly as he did. "I just... We don't know. That's what concerns me."

For the last three hours, Izuku had been pacing back and forth, trying to mentally construct a few sentences together for what he was going to say to the girl upstairs. Nothing he put together felt right, or seemed to make any sort of sense, or was too overly eloquent for a child who couldn't be older than six to understand.

Knowing nothing concrete about her made finding out what to say harder. It wasn't like it was when he had spoken to Kota. He at least had an idea of what to say to him, since he knew what the situation was with him. Why he hated Heroes. Why he hated everyone from Yuuei. It was something that Izuku could relate to – At least, to a certain, minor extent. It was hard not to feel a certain degree of resentment when he had grown up how he did, even if it was irrational now. He understood where Kota was coming from, if nothing else.

It wasn't all that likely he could relate to this girl – He could try, but he doubted he'd be able to. That much was all but confirmed by now. But he could listen – If only she spoke. Which he was trying to make her do.

"You managed this with Kota." Mina pointed out. "I mean granted, you got punched in the crotch for it, but you didn't pace like this."

"I... If I never got through to Kota, the worst that would have happened was he would have had to stay with the Pussycats." Izuku explained to her, his hand now resting on his chin as he nibbled into the skin of his thumb. "He would have still been angry, but... It's not like anything too horrible would have happened there." His bit harder. "This is... A lot more serious."

Failing here meant more, he felt. Kota was bitter. He had a broken heart. He was angry at the world.... But anger subsided. Anger dulled.

Trauma didn't. Not always. Trauma was trickier.

Sometimes it stayed. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it came back. And sometimes you'd think it was gone, only for it to come back at the worst time possible.

And this girl was traumatized – He'd put any amount of money on that. But she was also legally non-extant. And there was only so much that the police could do with someone that didn't even exist. And even if they did care just as much, or even more than he did, the Pussycats where Heroes. If they couldn't make any progress, they were legally obligated to report that to the police, and who knew what would carry on from there.

The police weren't bad people – So many reforms over the centuries had made sure that they couldn't abuse positions of power that they had in the past – but Izuku worried about the way they would treat her. It wouldn't be intentionally hard on her, of course not.

But he couldn't help but wonder what they might inadvertently do. What they might say to get her to talk. If they felt like what she knew was important for whatever reason, they might try to be more forceful than they were being. They might not step on the eggshells the Heroes were. And who knew what that affect that might have on someone with this level of trauma? It could make her situation... So much worse.