It took him a while, but he finally got Rumi to stop following him. That she was worried was sweet, but it's hard to be discreet with her trailing after him every time he steps outside. Let's just say her ears are a skosh too flashy. She also asked to be fucked several times during the week, but as planned, she was grounded for repeatedly kicking him in the balls, which would teach her to be a little gentler and compliant. That said, for the time being, she was giving him the cold shoulder and calling him a homo eunuch.
—Well, once she wakes up, she will be hella pissed... again.
Going away after putting her to sleep with some meta-melatonin was his only last-moment solution if he wanted to meet up with the Utsushimi household undetected. Aware of the risks, he nevertheless warned Mrs. Utsushimi and hatched a plan to escape the likely vigilance of a third party.
Daphne's daughter would apparently help them go unseen, although he had no idea why; the girl seemed to listen to her mother's instructions without blinking an eye. He was a tad wary.
Needing to navigate the dark alleys where he sensed he was being followed and observed every time, he walked silently, even if the night was still a few hours away. After all, he had to watch every step to avoid the CCTV cameras… and maybe something else.
A car was reportedly parked in a disused parking lot behind a villain's squat provided by Giran, the man he'd met at the end of the gala evening, but to access it without walking through the main streets, only Old Tokyo's back alleys provided cover.
After a long journey through alleys reeking of piss, booze, and sometimes blood, where he crossed paths with a drunken homeless man with long black hair asking him if he had a bottle of brandy on him, he finally reached his target. A black car with tainted windows was parked in the corner furthest from view.
Looking carefully around first, he knocked on the window but got no answer. He tried to call out, but a robotic voice cut him off and asked him to type in the code needed to open the car's door. Fortunately, he had all the necessary information, so this wasn't a problem. The front seats were empty, and only one of the back seats, the one he'd gone to sit in, was taken.
A girl with semi-long fawn hair in a black high-school outfit lay there, her eyelids closed, mouth agape, head tilted back on the seat cushion, snoring softly with her black hat hiding most of her face.
"Huh… You must be Camie?"
No answer. She took naptime seriously.
Not wanting to be rude, he snuck around to the other side and sat beside her, keeping his distance. Anything to avoid drama. He certainly didn't need that. It might turn sour if he touched her and she pretended to be asleep.
On another note, he'd never seen a car like this. Everything was state-of-the-art. It looked neat, from the leather to the technology involved in the circuitry. Even for a guy like him who didn't give a damn about cars, he had to admit it was pleasant to be inside…
"Noo... Hng… Not that... Not the yolks...!"
Suddenly waking up, the girl straightened up, still groggy, and was struggling to remember why she was there. She put her index finger in front of her pulpy lips before covering her squinted eyes with her arm. Her gaze shifted to the left, where she stared momentarily at Felix, who was eyeing her, eyebrow raised.
"KYAAA!"
"Hi...? I'm Fe-"
"Tall, muscular, intimidating Onii-san in sight! Evacuate the area!" She tried opening the door, but it didn't budge because she didn't type the code, a strange car, more like a cell. "Not cool, Mum…"
"Am I that scary?"
"Eeeeh… Naaah." She exhaled, putting her index finger once again on her lower pulpy lip. "I… Um… got a bit overwhelmed. You're way too hot for me not to feel flustered. I mean, yeah! It's totes, definitely that! You look like someone whose body count reaches multiples of twelve!"
"Haha! Are you hitting on me now?"
"Totally. For real, I mean, your voice rocks a part of me that's never clicked before. Tingly and all."
—Eh. All the women I meet have loose screws. That's fine by me.~♫
"Oh! By the way, Mum asked me to tell you that she apologizes "profusely," whatever that means, for not being there, but since you had to rush off early, there was no way she could be there."
"Where's she at then? Who's gonna drive?"
"Onii-san can't drive?"
"Nope."
"Eeeeh… No way. You're lame."
"I don't need a driver's license in a city with lots of public transport-"
"Laaaame." She provoked with a cute movement of hands only gyarus made while closing her eyelids and clapping her hands together. The screens in the car came on as the robotic voice called again. Camie gave it a few instructions about what route to take before going home and put her hand in front of her mouth. "I've been asked to hide you, so I gonna do my chore! And no biggies, I'll keep a tight rein on my tongue."
Opening the car's windows as it drove off, she blew with the tip of her lips and let out a sort of colored mist that gradually transformed their surroundings and appearance. Felix metamorphosed into an old, fat dude, an ugly bastard would be the most appropriate term, and Camie into a random businessman.
"Haha! Your face!" Not only did her appearance change, but also her voice, from female to male. "Hahahaha!"
"Pfff—!" Scoffing after looking at himself in the rear-view mirror, he shook his head and looked at the gender-bent Camie. "I'm lovely."
"Lovely! Hahaha!"
On the outside, in a few dozen seconds, the squat turned into a love hotel, the alleyways into a lush green stream, the parking lot filled up with other cars, and their own car became a decrepit old Peugeot.
—What the fuck is this overpowered quirk…?
"We're good to go! I'm quite psyched out about doing my best today, you know! So don't do anything crazy, or I might have problems."
"Sure, you have my word."
Of course, it was a lie. Doing crazy things was his trademark, so he couldn't fathom a life without taking a few risks. Besides, Daphne, her daughter, and her husband took risks by taking him into their home. The proposal they had in mind for him had to be important, or at least, they considered it of great benefit to them.
Bearing in mind that the couple worked for the Underground Masquerade, as reported by Rappa after he and Mirko had "defeated" him, and by taking into account that the data would be consistent with Mt. Lady and Kamui Wood's info, it probably had something to do with that.
Remaining wary due to what Rumi and Kaoruko warned him about, he occasionally glanced out the window, thinking he saw a winged hero following the car in the distance, but it was nothing of the sort. In truth, following the protests earlier this week, former Vigilantes reappeared after some villains and parents wanting justice had put a bounty on the #3 hero's head. Hawks wouldn't risk being spotted by thousands of people flying around, yet something was afoot.
The situation was ludicrous but catastrophic for those in command. Wanting to control and monitor everything, they'd doomed one of their finest talents.
For once, for the first time in years, Felix could smile. Luck was on his side.
"Onii-san, why the creepy smile...?" She asked with her eyebrow raised now that her quirk had ceased to work. "You ain't up to something nasty, are you?"
"I'm just glad about a recent event."
"Meeting me, I'm sure. Couldn't be anything else."
"Are you in the habit of flirting with older guys?"
"Naaah, only onii-sans with something extra."
"Extra?"
"Extra... money! Looks. Muscles. Popularity. Respected and-"
"Chromosome?"
"...?" Her brain lagged as she puckered her lips, slowly understanding the joke. "Hahaha!"
"Finding a dude with at least two of these extra character points is hard, you know."
"Eeh? Mmm... You look like someone who ticks at least three boxes, though."
"Pfff! You're trying to flirt too hard."
"I'm in my prime, so Mum always told me to take advantage of my feminine assets. Check out my body. Come on, come on.~♪ How do I look?"
"You look like someone I'd fuck and get pregnant, then treasure before giving you another kid. Cute face, pulpy lips, long legs, sexy frame. Alright. Are you happy?"
She widened her eyes, her mouth hanging open, readjusted her jacket, and closed the buttons of her shirt that were still open. Making sure she sat up straight, she looked out of the window, her face flushed, as the car entered a spacious garden through a wide black gate.
However, now, he was pretty sure Camie's mother, Daphne, somehow knew something like that would happen. Maybe she thought even more would happen.
She knew about Felix's lustful nature after literally hearing him being sucked off by Mei on the phone, while she also knew about her daughter's flirtatiousness. No mother in their right mind would have let these two together alone with nothing in mind.
"I-If dad heard that... he..."
"The flirtatious one gets played at her own game and becomes a goody-goody. A true classic among women."
"We don't know each other much, and Onii-san already says that kind of embarrassing stuff..."
"I should be the one flustered about having a high-schooler lick-booting my balls for more than thirty minutes."
"W-We're not even four years apart, though."
"Huh? How do you know my age?"
"Eehh... Well, I'm a pretty good guesser, hehe."
Coming out of the car after parking it in an oversized garage with space for four other vehicles, he clicked on a contraption in his vest before arriving on the other side of the large mansion. A swimming pool, a large deck, a plot of woodland, all this on the outskirts of Tokyo, just a 20-minute drive from the major heroic-inclined schools. Felix couldn't help feeling slightly envious of Camie's childhood but put that feeling aside.
This family was living the dream. Let them enjoy it while they can.
"Here we are. Come on in. Mind you; there's nobody here. Neither Mum nor Dad arrived, so I'm gonna get started on the grub, and you can kick back in front of the telly for a while."
"Nah, I'll give you a hand."
"You?"
"Yeah, me."
"Really now?"
"Yeah, I know. I don't look like a guy who likes to cook. Thank you."
"Oh, is Onii-san pissed?"
"What if I am?"
Jokingly speaking, they started working on a chicken curry with carrot and pea supplement. From his point of view, Felix believes cooking with a woman is the best way to approach someone. You're kind of forced to be close without being creepy, and you actually work as a team if your goal is to progress quickly, so it gave him many opportunities to touch his desired target.
The arm, the shoulder, no more. That would do for now. He'll settle with that. It's not as if he could be picky anyway. With the hormones he'd pumped into her bloodstream, she'd start to feel hot before long.
—Starts the mayhem by seeding doubt in one's mind and gradually dig the hole until the prey falls into the trap. Now, both mother and daughter are done.
The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house, keeping Felix waiting to see who would sneak into the kitchen.
"Oh, look who it is, Mr. I-Hit-On-Others-Wives."
"Hello, Mr. Utsushimi."
"Yeah, right. Hello."
"Am I really welcome here?"
"If it were only up to me, no."
"I guess your wife has a lot of authority then."
"As much as I do. We live in a world where they bust our balls about equality, after all."
"You don't seem too thrilled about it."
"Shut up and get the food ready. If you wanna play the housemaid with my daughter, get it over with."
"Eh."
—He who laughs last laughs hardest.
Deciding to finish the meal without answering the father, it now seemed evident that Camie wasn't exactly at peace with her old man. She didn't speak or make much noise and just did her task without batting an eyelid. He knew this type of behavior. He had the same one with his own father.
Soon after, Daphne came back from work with a big cake she'd bought the cake in a French patisserie. Her warm and petty smile gave a breath of fresh into the mansion, which till now, was just plunged into silence with TV noises in the background. A shiba inu followed her steps, its tail wagging frantically after seeing Camie.
"Yo, it's my doggy Burrito!" Camie exclaimed, doing a little dance that made the dog spin on itself. "Who's a good boy? Who?"
"Oh my god, keep this farce of a dog away from me." Grumbled the old man from the sofa. "Enough noise..."
"Oh, dear.~ Don't tell me you're jealous of the love this dog receives." Daphne teased him, raising her chin with a self-satisfied, amused expression. "Look, I've even brought you a Paris-Brest for you since you like almost no cakes."
"Are you putting on a brave face because someone's home?"
"Do you ever feel like being nice?"
"During leap years."
"Hm, we've got two years to wait." Switching her gaze to Felix, her eyes sparkled with a mischievous gleam. "Mr. Tremblay, I see you haven't failed to make friends with dear Camie. Do you like her?~ Is she to your taste?~♪ Would you marry her?~♫ Hm?~"
"—?"
"You heard me." She assessed with another smile. "So?~"
"Woman! What the shit is coming out of your mouth now?!"
"Uh-oh, I do wonder. Maybe I'm a little tipsy."
"No, you're not."
"What would you know?"
"You don't drink at work. It's one of your stupid rules."
"Oh no.~ Seems like I've been busted.~"
"Tsk! Whatever."
—What is this family...?
Their living room was the size of his apartment, so it was more impressive than comfortable, but he managed to overlook it and focus on the task. Strangely enough, the father actually came up with an exciting topic to discuss, but it kinda seemed to bore Camie, who preferred talking about the current event shaking the top 3 heroes.
"Let's see if you're more interesting than the two ladies here." The father grumbled, looking at Felix. "What do you think about the current state of global cooling and the Japanese society centered mainly on heroes?"
"...This is the most random question you could have asked me."
"That's why Dad is lame."
"I'm not lame. You're just stupid."
"You know, Haruo, being nice wouldn't hurt you."
"Don't care, didn't ask."
"Oh, my, god, DAD!"
"Shush, let the man talk. He may have something in his head despite you two."
Seeing they were all waiting for his answer, he hurried his brain to weave an overall, nice, and wordy response to please Haruo. The more allies, the merrier. Not that he wanted an ally like him, but still.
"I think it's not only a problem occurring in Japan. Western culture is also corrupted by this "hero syndrome," but I think it's both a blessing in disguise and a curse in disguise. Without this, society wouldn't be as advanced… Even if technology didn't progress that much during the century, at least we now have real clues about how to cure most diseases, how to solve global warming and cooling, etc. It may create new issues people need to consider, but quirks can solve this if given enough time, so…"
"Maybe if there weren't an ass-ton of activists in the past, the world would be warmer now," Camie added, trying to take part in the conversation before leaving to take a shower. "But at the time, everything had to be cooled down for the world to improve... Our ancestors were kinda strange, not gonna lie."
This whole talk made him remember conspiracy theorists from back then—who weren't wrong—who said that these climatic disturbances were due to the many heroes and shadowy figures who used their quirks against global warming.
Whether it was a quirk that could change the atmospheric pressure, like the German twins, or the Greenlandic group of scientists, they controlled different characteristics that affect the temperature or weather, such as hectopascals, dry ice, liquid nitrogen, water control, ice control... It sounded absurd, but these scientists, heroes, and civilians forced to act by government order for the greater good succeeded and are still succeeding in gluing huge chunks of Arctic or Antarctic ice together, reforming glaciers, and maintaining a temperature sufficient to prevent the melting of the ice.
—All the issues of the last century aren't settled yet... But nature does things well...
The overall temperature of the globe had dropped by more than 8 degrees Celsius in fifty years, 12 degrees in some parts of the world, reversing the situation of some countries near the equator to a completely different future, switching from a tropical or arid climate to a temperate climate.
As a result, African nations entered the food, drug, and hero markets with intensity over time. Creating a new great world power far more dominant than America, Russia, Europe, or China could have imagined... and no major country or continent wanted a new competitor.
It also caused mass migrations of animals and the disappearance of certain species and plants… Most of these things were already forgotten. People are only interested in the present and what awaits them in the future. Past mistakes are good to repeat as long as people gain something from them.
"Deep in thought, dear?~"
"I'm trying to understand why I'm here tonight in the first place."
"Well, since my dear husband hates to explain it, I'll do it.~" She hummed, clapping her hands together. "We need you to give us information on the progress of the police and heroes regarding the Underground Maskerade and our actions. We know you're working closely with them, but reluctantly for some unknown reason, thanks to Rappa, so we'd be grateful."
"Rappa...?"
"Yes, yes.~ You two would make a great pair. Two double agents.~ Oooh...~ It rocks my heart to fantasize about a romance with that kind of man."
"Wife, stop talking if what came out of your mouth is dumb."
"Hehe.~ Of course, we'd give you money and access to our underground network." She changed her expression to a more mischievous one. "And my daughter's hand and mine. Fufu.~"
Silence filled the room as the two men raised their eyebrows, one in anger, the other in surprise.
"So, Mr. Tremblay, what do you say?"