(Part One)
[Season 5-6]
◇
"Good. We're all here," Endeavour said, sitting on the couch while a police officer sat across from him on the other one. "What is it you wanted to speak with me about?"
Miyuki looked on, intrigued, as the police officer pulled a brown envelope out from his jacket and lined up a series of photos on the table between him and Endeavour, each one displaying a colour full piece of... odd, graffiti. The person who drew those must have had a unique imagination, she thought, tilting her head slightly to see some of the art in what she hoped was the correct way.
"There have already been fifty incidents," the officer explained while Endeavour leaned closer, eyes squinting as he looked at the photos. "Please, will you help us arrest the culprit?"
"You want us to catch a mere vandal?" Endeavour asked.
The officer nodded. "Please!"
"I refuse!" Endeavour deftly replied, rising to his feet. "The police should be able to take care of such a minor offense!"
"But the Quirk of the man who calls himself Mr. Smiley is so strong..."
"A strong Quirk?" Burnin questioned.
"What kind of a Quirk is it?" Kido asked.
"Anyone who looks at Smiley's face convulses in laughter for some reason," the officer explained, and Miyuki's brows furrowed in contemplation.
"What do you mean?" Endeavour inquired.
"They fall over in agony and laugh so hard that they can't stand up. On top of that, it lasts for two hours," the officer answered. "Whenever we try to arrest Smiley, he makes us laugh and then escapes!"
Convulse... in laughter, Miyuki thought, her expression easing a bit as understanding dawned over her. Huh. It sounds a lot like...
"Very well." Endeavour sat down. "We'll keep an eye out for the vandals on our patrols."
"Please do!"
After the meeting concluded, the officer left the agency, leaving the heroes and four work study students to ponder on the case brought to them. Miyuki moved closer to the chabudai table, leaning over as she got a closer look at the pictures of graffiti.
"Jeez, they're foisting such a trivial case on us..." Endeavour mumbled, aggravated, looking out his office window, the sky bathed a soft orange pastel as the sun descended on the horizon.
"The graffiti's pretty bad, though," Kido commented, surveying the pictures on the table. "Does this guy think he's Banksy or something?"
"He can force his opponent out loud," Izuku muttered thoughtfully.
"His Quirk is just like Ms. Jokes's," Miyuki stated, and the green-haired boy nodded in agreement.
"Can't we just arrest him without looking at his face?" Shoto pointed out, looking to the two best friends.
"Don't talk about this so seriously, damn scumbags!" Katsuki shouted. Miyuki rubbed her cheek, exhaling softly.
"You make a good point," she said, "but calm down..."
"I'm going home for a bit," Endeavour informed them. "I'll leave the patrols to you."
"Roger!"
◇
Earlier that evening, after Miyuki, Izuku, Shoto, and Katsuki returned from their daily patrol, the half-and-half girl went straight up to her room. Her muscles ached as she walked and she let out a soft yawn as soon as the door closed behind her, the fatigue of running up and down through Tokyo trying to catch a vandal finally taking its effect on her as she readied herself to take a shower.
Miyuki let out a quiet sigh, feeling the tension in her muscles dissipate slowly as the warm water cascaded over her. She ran a hand through her hair, grateful for the relief to her scalp as the headache that had been coming on melted away. Once she was done, Miyuki went back into her room wrapped in a cotton towel. She was glad she brought it with her as the wintery draft brushed over her, causing her to shiver slightly as she began putting on her grey hoodie and black trousers for the night.
It's cooler than usual today, she noticed, looking outside her window and she smiled softly when she saw light showers of snow falling from the night sky.
She hoped the boys were taking this time to relax a bit more, too, she thought as she lay down on her bed. She exhaled quietly, allowing the fatigue to fully take over her as she closed her eyes. But a minute didn't even pass before there came a knock at her door. They flew open and her eyes drifted to the door, wondering who could be there at this hour of the evening.
"I'll be right there," she responded, a small yawn passing from her lips as she got up and walked to the door. She opened it and her face morphed into one of quiet surprise when she met a pair of vermillion eyes. "Oh, Katsuki! Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," he answered, rubbing the back of his head. Miyuki looked at him curiously when his cheeks coloured a soft pink. "Are you busy right now?" Miyuki shook her head. He averted his gaze from hers, his palms becoming sweatier. "Then, let's... go do something. Together."
"You want us to... hang out?" Miyuki asked, her tone filled with surprise, her eyes widening as she blushed. "Just the two of us... Alone?"
"Don't sound so surprised," Katsuki told her, his face turning an even darker red when her lips stretched into that smile he enjoyed seeing so much, and his heart beat picked up the longer he stared at her. "It's what two people who've reached a certain point in their relationship do with each other. C-Call it what you want, but...!"
"Ah," Miyuki said, closing her eyes as her smile widened. She reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she stepped past the threshold of her door. "I see..." Blushing harder, she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek, causing his eyes to widen at the gesture. "I would like that a lot. Let's do it!"
He squeezed her hand gently, her soft apple scent filling his nose as she pulled back and he was pulled back to the moment a few days ago when he kissed her - his first kiss. Probably hers, too. It beat all his expectations - if only for one thing, and that was the fact that he wished he'd gone more prepared to actually do it. Maybe then it would've lasted longer. Even so, it was an experience with her he didn't want to forget. It was their starting point. The beginning of this part of their journey with each other...
It made him excited for the future and what was to come for them both.
"Then, we'll -" Katsuki started, turning to go down the corridor with the half-and-half girl but paused, groaning internally when he saw Izuku making his way towards them, a weird box under his arm.
"Yuki-Chan, Ka-Chan!" He exclaimed cheerfully, his eyes trained on their faces and not their hands connected to each others. "Are you two free right now?"
"Actually, we were just about to -"
"Go away, nerd! We're busy!"
Izuku flinched a little from his childhood friend's harsh tone, his hair blowing back from his loud volume. Miyuki sighed, squeezing Katsuki's hand to get him to calm down.
"Really? Oh, I see..." Izuku said, looking down at the box he carried. Miyuki's eyes widened when she saw the words 'MONOPOLY' written on its lid. "I found this game just now, though, a-and I was wondering if you guys would be... interested in... playing..."
He trailed off, body quivering slightly under Katsuki's harsh glare which intensified the more he spoke. Izuku sighed, shoulders slumping with defeat until -
"Midoriya, Bakugo, Sasaki," Shoto greeted, walking up to his three friends, dressed down in his casual clothes. His gaze drifted from their faces towards the board game Izuku held. "Oh, Midoriya, you found that game? I thought you might eventually. I hear it's pretty difficult to win at. I tried it myself and lost quite a few times to Burnin..."
Katsuki's hold around Miyuki's hand tightened, and the half-and-half girl knew without looking at him the next words that were going to fly out of his mouth would be -
"...Fine!" He blasted, causing both Shoto and Izuku's hair to fly back from his volume. Katsuki marched past the two boys as he held Miyuki's hand. She followed right beside him with a quiet sigh and an amused smile. "We'll play your stupid game! And beat you at it, too, in less than three seconds...!"
◇
It lasted far longer than that. In fact, Miyuki thought, yawning as she got dressed in her hero costume the following morning, her and the boys had played the Monopoly game well past midnight. She found it interesting in the first few rounds and very exciting, more so after getting a proper understanding of the rules since Katsuki started making his own.
Until...
How... Miyuki shuddered slightly, lips wavering as she stepped out of her room to make her way to Endeavour's office where she, Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto had been instructed to meet. She pursed her lips.
How is he... so good at landing himself in prison?
"Good morning, Yuki-Chan," Izuku greeted his best friend as soon as she entered the number one hero's office.
"Good morning, Izuku," she responded happily, going to stand next to her best friend just as he let out a soft yawn. "You're still tired, too, huh?"
"I feel like I barely got to rest last night..." Izuku said, a sheepish smile on his face as he remembered the intense game they played. "Who knew Ka-Chan and Todoroki-Kun were such a formidable team...? I didn't see it ending like that at all... or going the way it did, either..."
Miyuki giggled lightly as she, too, recalled the course of the game. But the door to Endeavour's office opened once more before she could answer and Shoto and Katsuki strolled into the room, the latter looking grumpy with his hero mask pulled back over his head.
"Good morning, Shoto-Kun, Katsuki!" Miyuki greeted enthusiastically.
"...Morning," Katsuki responded, shoulders slightly hunched as he came to stand beside her.
His gaze travelled over her face, checking for any signs of distress given how things went down with the game the night before. Miyuki turned to him when she felt his gaze on her and she smiled. His face warmed up almost instantly, and it didn't help any that he noticed how well-fitted her new hero costume was on her.
Feeling his gaze on her once more, Miyuki looked at him from the corner of her eye and it was then she realised how close she stood beside him when she saw the vague outline of his collarbone beneath his hero costume. When she looked up and met his eyes, she and Katsuki realized they'd been checking each other out and quickly looked away, their cheeks a bright red.
"G-Good morning, Ka-Chan, Todoroki-Kun!" Izuku greeted - and he shrunk back slightly when Katsuki responded with a scathing glare.
"What do you want, stupid nerd...?!" He yelled, causing the girl standing beside him to place a hand on his shoulder while Izuku sweatdropped nervously.
"I-I was just... greeting you..."
"You talking back to me?!"
"It's too early for this, Firecracker," Miyuki sighed, giving his shoulder a light squeeze. "Rest your voice - after how things went last night, especially..."
Shoto paused beside his friends, surveying his father's empty office before asking, "Where is everyone? We were told to meet here at this time, right?"
The doors blew open, startling the half-and-half girl as she held her hair down under the billowing breeze that swept over her and the boys when Endeavour marched into his office, his sidekicks rushing in behind him.
"All hands on deck to capture Mr. Smiley, the impudent vandal!" He shouted righteously. "Got it?!"
"Roger!" The Flaming Sidekickers replied, getting into a lineup.
"Did something happen to Endeavor?" Izuku asked Shoto as his father walked away.
"Apparently, there was graffiti on the wall at home," Shoto explained.
"What, a personal grudge?!" Katsuki exclaimed.
"It's kind of like how you were last night," Miyuki pointed out, smiling teasingly at him. "You know - when Izuku and I took away you and Shoto-Kun's hotel." A vein throbbed on his forehead.
"It was my hotel...!" He grumbled, feeling his body warm up with slight embarrassment at the memory of the heavy loss. "Anyway, the two aren't similar or related at all!"
"Quiet!" Endeavour shouted. Just then, his earpiece beeped with an incoming message from his sidekicks informing him the vandal had been located and they gave him the address. "Let's go!"
"Roger!" "Yes, sir!"
They left the agency promptly after that. As they made their way towards the location the sidekicks gave to Endeavour, Miyuki caught something from the corner of her eye as she ran beside Katsuki. Turning towards it, she saw a piece of unusual graffiti on the wall.
The vandal was this close to the agency? She asked herself, brows furrowing in contemplation. I wonder why... First Endeavour-San and Shoto-Kun's home, now this?
What is it that he wants, exactly...?
While she pondered this, she pulled out her phone and paused for a moment to snap a picture of the graffiti.
"Hey, Miyuki!" Katsuki called over his shoulder when he noticed she wasn't beside him anymore. He slowed down. "What're you doing over there? Let's go!"
"Yeah!"
Pocketing her phone, she ran to catch up with him and the others and it wasn't long before they reached their destination.
"He should be around here..." Endeavour mumbled, surveying the intersection they stood in. "Hikari, have you found him yet?"
"Not yet," the half-and-half girl replied from her vantage on top of a building, her Transpara Goggles covering her eyes as she used her Quirk to look around at the streets below her. "Wait - there are people just around the corner, to your right. And... I can hear something like laughter coming from there."
"Those voices...!" Endeavour said, following the teenage girl's directions. Miyuki followed him alongside the others, and her eyes widened when she saw two of his sidekicks laughing uproariously on the ground. "Get a hold of yourself!"
But there was no stopping their laughter, Miyuki realized, as did Endeavour when he ground his teeth in irritation when his sidekick only managed to respond with his laugh. He whipped around to face the rest of them.
"Split up and find him!" The number one hero ordered.
"Roger!" "Yes, sir!"
From there, Miyuki took to the rooftops while the boys and Flaming Sidekickers dashed down the different alleyways with their Quirks. Miyuki's eyes squinted from behind her goggles as she ran on the rooftop, streaks of light surrounding her body as she used her speed to leap onto the next building.
As much as she needed to keep an eye out for this vandal - Mr. Smiley, if she recalled well - she needed to listen out for any telltale laughs that could indicate his closeness. It was why she did her best to keep her footfalls light as she ran, and her gratitude doubled when she easily heard the roaring laughter coming from the street below her. In the next instant she heard a loud crash come from a section down the street and she heard another voice laughing. It sounded a lot like -
"Izuku!" Miyuki called, spotting the green-haired boy laughing on a pile of debris, blood dribbling down his forehead.
She turned, ready to sprint towards him, but she paused when her eyes landed on a blonde man wearing a red hat, two paint brushes on either side, a pink shirt and maroon pants rapidly hopping away on spring-like shoes.
Miyuki pursed her lips. She didn't want to leave her best friend injured, but if she was going to trust her instincts on this, she couldn't let that suspicious-looking man get away.
She didn't have to, it seemed, when she saw Endeavour flying towards the man -
Only to fall to the ground, laughing, when he turned around and the two came face-to-face.
"Mr. Smiley!"
That's too weird, she thought, deactivating her Quirk as she continued chasing after the vandal, Mr. Smiley, from the rooftops and hearing Endeavour's laughter slowly fade out behind her. But it looks like I just have to keep from looking at him, so...
"...I'll get him from above!" Miyuki said, increasing her speed as she vaulted off the top of the building. A bright lasso manifested out of her right hand and wrapped around Mr. Smiley. "Sir, please stop right there! -"
"Mr. Smiley!"
He looked up. Miyuki's eyes widened when she saw his grinning face, and she lost her trajectory almost immediately, her muscles weakening as a laugh bubbled within her chest and erupted from her mouth in a boisterous yet twinkling giggle.
"Ooh...!" Mr. Smiley gasped, his eyes enlargening with awe as he watched the teenage girl descend in slow motion, his gaze fixated on her wide grin. "This... this voice...! This smile...!"
"Miyuki!"
A loud blast sounded within the area as Katsuki emerged from around the corner and his breath hitched in his throat when he saw the half-and-half girl about to smash into the ground. Miyuki lurched to a stop when he caught her before landing on the ground with his Quirk, eyes closed.
"Oi, you okay?!" He questioned the laughing girl as he carefully set her down, her hands wrapping around her midsection. "Pull yourself together. In the meantime, I'll deal with him...!" He faced forward, scowling. "You petty villain!"
"Th-That young woman...!" Mr. Smiley exclaimed, backing away from Katsuki while staring at Miyuki. "I've never seen a smile as exquisite and imaginative as hers... in such a long time!"
"Keep your eyes off of her, damn pervert!" Katsuki shouted hotly, a vein on his forehead throbbing in irritation as he stood in front of Miyuki and fired his explosions at the artist. "Take this - A.P. Shot! How was that?!"
"She shall..." Mr. Smiley hopped towards Katsuki with his springy shoes and flipped over him, grinning. "...become my muse!"
"What?! -"
Katsuki's eyes snapped open upon hearing the vandal's declaration -
"Mr. Smiley!"
Giving him enough time to smile in his face, giving him enough time to disarm the ash-blonde boy as his mouth wobbled, laughter rising in his throat. He tried to push it down, but it proved futile when he felt something he'd never experienced before burst out of him in an explosive laugh, causing him to fall to the ground and allowing Mr. Smiley to hop freely towards Miyuki.
Damn it...! Katsuki grit his teeth, quickly turning around. His heart squeezed when he saw the vandal restrain Miyuki with her own lasso before hefting her onto his back. He tried crawling towards them, hand reaching out. Don't take her! You pig-faced nobody...!
Something dropped from her hand and cluttered to the ground but he paid it no attention, pushing past his weakening muscles as he crawled on the ground only to fall completely, the strength seeping from his body with each chuckle.
Dammit...! Katsuki thought, his heart twisting with rage inside despite the smile on his face. Bring her back here!
Mr. Smiley hopped down the street, carrying Miyuki in his arms, but he didn't make it far before ice blocks appeared in his path. He hopped over them, moving away from the half-and-half boy behind him until the ice finally caught onto his shoes, stopping him from making any further movements.
"Sasaki..." Shoto muttered, his eyes narrowing when he saw his teammate laughing hysterically in the vandal's hold, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't know what it is you intend to do with my friend, but I'll have you let her go." He pulled out his phone. "It looks like his Quirk can't reach this far... I've captured the vandal, but he's taken Sasaki hostage, too."
Yet Shoto soon realized how untrue his words became when, in the next instant, Mr. Smiley tossed a glistening pink ball at him, splitting wide open when it came in front of him with a picture of -
"Mr. Smiley!"
Shoto doubled over, clutching his abdomen in order to keep himself from laughing out loud. Through her laughter and as the vandal broke free of her teammate's ice block, Miyuki managed to look up from where she was and, with a trembling hand, send out a spurt of light towards the item she dropped before Mr. Smiley disappeared with her around the street corner.
◇
Miyuki was grateful, at the very least, that Mr. Smiley had taken off the springy mechanism from his shoes. It already hurt her throat and gut to be laughing this hard, and she didn't enjoy the rough pressure his shoulder applied onto her gut whenever he hopped up and down away from Katsuki and the others.
Her watery eyes drifted down to her gloved hands which clutched onto the back of Mr. Smiley's pink shirt, her fingers still warm from having just used her Quirk.
I hope they receive my message in time, she thought, clamping a hand over her mouth and keeping her laughter in. Her cheeks dusted a deep red. This is... so embarrassing! Not only did I let my guard down, but I've been kidnapped, too...!
And she couldn't think of a good reason as to why he would do such a thing. Miyuki concluded, from what she saw of his art, that he didn't seem like the average criminal who would hurt others, not even for ransom. Pushing herself up with what strength she managed to gather, it didn't seem like he had any intention of doing so, either, as Mr. Smiley ran with her onto an empty street, only coming to a stop within a dim alleyway.
"I apologize, young hero," Mr. Smiley said, frowning. He set Miyuki down, carefully propping her up against the wall. "I didn't mean to startle you and I understand... you were trying to do what was right to you, correct? I don't wish to harm you. It is only..." he pulled one of his paintbrushes from his hat and brandished it over his head like a trophy, smiling again. "...you've encouraged me, so much!"
"H-Hm...?!" Miyuki managed to get out, her brows creasing in deep confusion. Despite the rope binding her, she still managed to reach up to her face and wipe away the tears of laughter falling down her cheeks. "Mh... Mhmm...!"
"Inspiration comes to me fairly easily, you see," Mr. Smiley explained, a cool expression coming over his features. He turned to the wall opposite her, took his other brush, and began painting. "Even so, I'm not a man who would let a monumental beauty of art pass by me, not even the idea of it, without capturing it within the stains of my brushes forever. Yes... My name is Mr. Smiley. I'm a genius wandering artist. The art world is full of hacks who don't even try to recognize my talent. In order to show the world my art - true art - I create art day and night - an aloof genius."
"Hand that girl over to us safely!" Kido shouted just as he, Onima, and Burnin raced around the street corner towards the vandal. Mr. Smiley turned around, his smile dropping in alarm when he saw the heroes. "And give yourself up quietly -"
"Mr. Smiley!"
Oh no! Miyuki thought, knots forming in her gut when she saw Burnin, Onima, and Kido rolling on the ground in laughter. Shoot...! If I weren't laughing so hard right now, I could -
"No one can keep me from creating my art," Mr. Smiley continued, a cold chill to his voice. Miyuki looked away from the laughing sidekicks, slowly, and her gaze fell upon what he had drawn. "Do you... get it, young hero?"
Her eyes widened in shock. A shiver rippled throughout her body, darting straight into her heart in icy trepidation.
"No one will stop me from doing that which I love..." Mr. Smiley continued, and it seemed like a dark cloud fell over his eyes.
But Miyuki paid no attention to that. No, not at all, for her gaze was transfixed upon the graffitied art of her sitting on the tongue of a grinning mouth dressed up in something between a cross of a warrior and an angel, a heart cuddled closely in her arms while a man in a hat, his whole body pale as paper, splashed her with a bucket of colourful paint, the substance dripping down her smiling face.
Miyuki gulped, goosepimples rising all over her body.
Mr. Smiley turned towards her, that maddening grin of his still on his face.
"No one."
◇
2 hours later - Endeavour Agency:
A dreary silence as that of a tomb encapsulated the number one hero's office. One might've thought it was empty were they to go inside at that time, but they would have been shocked to find the exact opposite of that. They would've been greeted with the sight of Endeavour sitting hunched at his mahogany desk, fingers steepled together, Izuku looking down disappointedly, fists clenched at his sides, Shoto in much the same stance as the green-haired boy, and -
"Dammit!" Katsuki cursed, furiously kicking the leg of the table in the middle of the room, causing it to jostle and Izuku to flinch at the sound of the impact. "I'm gonna make that smiley-faced pervert wish he was never born...!"
"I-I won't forgive him..." Endeavour said angrily. "Mr. Smiley!"
"I'm gonna kill him!" Katsuki continued, clearly infuriated as he glared at the floor. "He snatched her out from right under my nose...!" Shoto and Izuku sweatdropped when a flaming aura surrounded him. "That two-faced... scumbag...!" He kicked the table again.
"Ka-Chan...!" Izuku exclaimed, his face turning a vivid blue in fear when the wood broke and the table split right down the middle.
"Bakugo, I failed to protect her, too," Shoto tried to reason coolly. "But that guy's Quirk was too powerful, just like the police said. Breaking stuff won't bring Sasaki back here. We have to figure out a way to save her, stop him... and prevent ourselves from being humiliated like that again."
"Shut up!" Katsuki yelled in the half-and-half boy's face, a vein throbbing on his. "I'll bring her back how I want, idiot! I've got no time to be sitting here with my feet up!"
"I've disgraced myself in public..." Burnin lamented, bowing her head deeply from where she sat between Onima and Kido.
"I'm glad my face is covered..." Kido muttered dejectedly.
"Mr. Smiley..." Izuku whispered, looking contemplatively down at the cracked screen of Miyuki's phone, recalling the bright, shimmering pointing towards it when he caught up with Katsuki and Shoto. For some reason, Denki's contact number was open. "He's got an amazing Quirk."
"His Quirk worked even through an image," Shoto stated. "If he were to get on TV, it'd be a disaster."
"How do we catch him...?" Izuku thought out loud. "Yuki-Chan tried to get him from afar using her light, so..."
"We have to attack from a distance with my ice or Endeavour's fire," Shoto finished.
"If we do this in a place where people gather, there will be damage to the city," Izuku pointed out. "We need to get close to him without laughing somehow... I know!"
Turning back to Miyuki's phone in his hold, Izuku quickly went through her contact list until he found the one written 'メイサn' ('Mei-San') and speed dialed her. The pink haired girl picked up after three rings and Izuku quickly explained the situation to her, asking for her and Power Loader's assistance when he finished speaking. She cut the call before he got a reply, causing him to look down at Miyuki's phone in confusion, before his eyes widened in surprise a few minutes later when Mei and Power Loader stood in the number one hero's office.
"You called and we came!" Mei announced excitedly. "I'm Hatsume Mei from the support course!"
"You said you wanted to borrow a stand-alone rescue robot?" Power Loader asked.
"Yes, Power Loader-sensei," Izuku replied. "Because of the culprit's Quirk, we can't get close recklessly. He has Yuki-Chan, too, so we need to be prepared in case he may try something again when we take her back from him."
"That's what I thought! So I came prepared!" Mei stated, and motioned towards her masterpiece - a white robot. "I've been saving this one - the capture robot Power Loader-sensei and I made together! It's baby number 280!"
"I look forward to working with you and completing the purpose for which I was made," The robot greeted in its mechanic voice, "the rescue and safe return of hero course candidate, Miss A."
"Will something like this really work?" Katsuki grumbled, walking up to the machine. "The damn thing can't even get her name right!" He kicked it. The robot responded by capturing him in a net, sending him to the ground with a loud thud. "What the hell? Damn it!"
"It was a performance test, foolish human," the robot said. Beside him, Miyuki giggled softly before crouching down at Katsuki's side.
"Technically, it didn't get my name wrong, Firecracker," she said, smiling. "Hatsume-San calls me that all the time, so she must've programmed it that way."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, Yuki-Chan," Izuku said, nodding. Then, his brows furrowed the longer he looked at the half-and-half girl. "Yuki-Chan...?"
"Yes?" She replied, still smiling.
"Yu..." Izuku said again. "Yu... ki-Chan...?"
"Yes..." Miyuki responded, more uncertain this time.
"..."
"...?"
"...!"
"...?!"
"Y-Y-Y-Yuki-Chan...!!" Izuku shouted, jumping back in shock, as did Shoto, Power Loader, and Mei. "W-W-What...! How! -"
Katsuki's eyes widening with surprise to see her there beside him, and his heart rate picked up. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his hand through one of the net's holes and reached out to her -
"Sasaki!" Shoto exclaimed, taken back, for Katsuki's hand slipped right through hers and smacked the floor.
"What... what the hell...?!" Katsuki asked, his eyes wide with shock just as much as Izuku's when he walked over to his best friend.
"Yuki-Chan, w-what's going on...? Why did Ka-Chan's hand pass..." he trailed off when his own hand passed through her face, and it shimmered slightly when he pulled it back. "D-Don't... tell me...! Yuki-Chan, are you...!"
"A ghost?" Shoto finished, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Katsuki paled instantly at hearing that. Miyuki shook her head and opened her mouth to speak -
"You're dead?!" Mei exclaimed, paling with shock and Katsuki rolled his eyes in exasperation. "That can't be possible! Who will I test out my babies on?!" Miyuki rubbed her cheek.
"She's not a ghost, idiots," Katsuki stated, still struggling to free himself from the net. "This must be an illusion from her Quirk, that's why we can't touch her."
"I didn't know it was possible for you to communicate through illusions, Sasaki," Shoto said, eyeing her slightly glowing figure. "How are you doing this?"
"Who cares about how she's doing it? Tell us where you are!" Katsuki demanded, looking up at her. Miyuki hummed thoughtfully.
"...I don't know where we are," she finally answered, much to everyone's surprise and disappointment. She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "But I'm fine. Sorry, I can't speak with you all like this for very long. I only came to tell you that I'll get back to you guys soon."
"You really do sound like a ghost when you talk like that, Yuki-Chan..." Izuku said, mouth wavering.
"'Soon'? What the hell's that supposed to mean? Why don't you get back here now while you can use your Quirk?" Katsuki questioned. His mouth curled into a snarl. "Is that pervert holding something over you? What's he doing to you?!"
"Nothing. Well, actually..." Miyuki stood up and her form began to flicker, her Quirk starting to give out. "It's more of what I'm doing to him. He's planning to strike again soon, but I want to see if I can talk him out of it. Izuku, you should consider giving Kaminari-Kun a call as soon as possible, too. Hatsume-San's robot looks like it'll definitely be able to get the job done and catch him, but I think we have to... go beyond that right now, and help him."
"Help?" Shoto and Katsuki chorused, taken aback by what she just said.
"You saw that, too, Miss A?! It's impressive, isn't it?!" Mei gushed. "My baby captures criminals just like that!"
"Yeah. It's really cool, Hatsume-San," Miyuki agreed, her form fading before the illusion dissipated entirely from the room. Katsuki pursed his lips and Izuku frowned.
"Yeah, it's amazing. Can we borrow this robot?" He asked, a sense of urgency in his tone.
"Of course! That's why we brought it," Power Loader said.
Just then, an alarm blared throughout Endeavour's office.
"Team D has found Smiley!"
"Midoriya!" Shoto said.
"Right! We're counting on you, Robot-Kun!" Izuku said, nodding at the robot.
"Leave it to me," It assured.