The following trilogy of chapters may be controversial, so I felt like posting a new chapter every 2 days for this week. Just let me cook, it'll be good.
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"You should have seen the look of her face! Man, I wish I recorded that! Haha." Deidara grabbed his sides and Sasori just swished around the alcohol in his cup with a smile. The pair sat at the same bar as people conversed around them and enjoyed the night.
"Good for you, what do you plan on doing from here?"
"I'll be in a good mood from that for the next week at least. Maybe I might go for the bird-brain next, but I'm not too concerned right now. How's your preparations going?"
"The immortal duo is in town. Kakazu is as stingy as always, but they'll be hanging around for a while."
"So that dumbass Hidan will be here? Shame."
"That dumbass in question could be a great help, but let's just enjoy the night," Sasori raised his glass, and Deidara returned the gesture.
"Can't argue with that."
The morning after the tragedy, it was raining with some light fog. Making the dreary atmosphere of the burnt home even worse. Multiple police vans were parked out front and yellow tape was set up for the crime scene.
"This is... just awful... immediately after the School Festival too," an officer grimaced. His name tag read Tsukiyama.
Tsukiyama leaned on one of the vans with Tsukauchi, who nodded, "Yeah, the kid of the parents still hasn't been found either."
Tsukiyama reeled back, "None of the bodies matched that UA student. Do you think that she might have been kidnapped?"
He shook his head, looking down, "No, the neighbors saw her out here crying after it happened."
Tsukiyama's mouth tensed, "I've always hated cases like these..."
"You and me both."
"Did UA say anything about how they'll respond to this?"
Tsukauchi sipped some coffee, "They haven't done much but put their students in lockdown. None of us know if this is an attack directed at UA or not yet. All we know is that her parent's home was bombed coincidentally around when she got there if her neighbors are to be believed. If I was to put in my two cents, this seems way too personal to be a UA targeted attack, but they're just being safe in this case."
"We don't have any other evidence to go off besides what some neighbors said?"
"There are some tire marks from a motorcycle and clay, but it can only take us so far."
The two officers eyed a raven-haired teen who trudged into the crime scene. Tsukiyama stood up straight, "What is this kid doing?"
Tsukauchi put his hand on his chest, "Wait. I recognize him. This is one of UA's students. I'll take care of this."
Sasuke slowly took in the horrid scenery in silence. His eyes glazed over when he stared into the obliterated home. He remembered the worst night of his life and clenched his fist, 'I've never wanted you to share the same pain...'
He stared down at a labeled piece of evidence. It was the Teflon block Mina once trained with. Although it was melted through with 5 divots in it matching the shape of a hand.
Not far away from it was a small, familiar white blob. It almost looked like clay. His hair overshadowed his eyes as a man walked up behind him, "Sasuke, right? Can I ask you some things?"
Sasuke didn't avert his gaze. His voice was rough, "What do you want?"
Tsukauchi paused, "I was curious if you knew anything about Mina's whereabouts?"
"If I did, I wouldn't be here."
Tsukauchi's brow furrowed, but before he could continue, a feminine voice approached them, "I'll deal with things from here."
"Lady Nagant?!"
Sasuke finally turned back as he saw the woman standing before him, sipping a milkshake in one hand while holding a Moche Frappé in the other. She stated, "Yeah. The HPSC sent me, we already have a good idea of who did this, so let me talk to Sasuke."
"... Alright then." He walked back to the van and Nagant turned to Sasuke, staring into his dark eyes that lacked sleep.
"Good to finally meet you, Sasuke. Jeez, you look ready to kill someone."
"I WILL kill someone. Where is Hawks?"
"Hawks is busy with spy work and the Hero Ranking today, but confirm something for me. This was Deidara, right?"
"It was... Sorry, but I'm not in a good mood for sitting around and chatting all day."
He turned away and Nagant said, "Neither am I. Which is why I came here for you. You don't know me, but when it comes to tracking people and espionage, I can do anything Hawks can do. On top of that, I've been briefed on your history with these guys already, and everything that's been happening. Do you wanna go see Mina?"
He turned back to her, "Yes."
"Then come with me. I've tracked her location based on her phone," she led him to a black car which they drove off in. While driving, he noticed the fast food bags in the back seat and she offered him the Frappé, "Also you gotta wake up."
He eyed it, "I don't drink coffee."
"It tastes really good, though. C'mon."
He paused before silently accepting it and sipping it once, before sipping it more. Nagant smiled, "Good, right?"
"... Yeah."
Back at UA, everything was painfully silent in the lounge. None of the students uttered a single word as most of them looked at the ground. Kaminari finally muttered to himself while playing with his hands, "What the hell man... I hope Mina is safe... shouldn't they bring some of our parents here? What if they get targeted too?"
"Iida quietly replied, "They suspect it was a personal attack."
Uraraka said with a shaky voice, "What could Mina of all people do to warrant a personal attack like that?!"
Hagakure nodded, "There's no way someone as sweet as Mina could warrant something like that!"
Aizawa strolled into the room slowly. His usual nonchalant expression was nowhere to be seen, "Time for a head count," he counted the students and his gaze hardened, "Where is Sasuke? Did he leave despite the lockdown?"
Tokoyami recalled seeing Sasuke leave this morning in a rush, "No. He left last night after Mina."
Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "Are you just covering up for him as a friend?"
Bakugo chipped in, not looking at Aizawa, "He left last night. I saw him."
Aizawa stared at him for a minute before sighing, "Alright then. He'll be excused." Tokoyami silently thanked Bakugo.
Kirishima asked, "Sensei, do you know where Mina is?"
"Currently, no, but she's alive. Witnesses confirmed she wasn't in the explosion. We'll deal with everything in due time... I'm sorry that I can't provide much comfort, but this is very sudden for all of us. The HPSC and police force are both working to close this case as soon as possible. In the meantime, I just need you all to stay here where it's safe. Alright?"
Most students slowly nodded, but Kaminari shot up and blurted out, "How do we know it's safe here?! Couldn't this place get bombed too?!"
"This is one of the most secure facilities in the nation, and we have twice as many pro-heroes here as normal. No one is getting to you kids, trust me."
Jiro grabbed Kaminari's arm and he looked back at her before slowly calming down and sitting. Aizawa soon left.
The car Sasuke and Nagant traveled in parked next to a beach as the rain got more intense. Through the raindrops, Sasuke could see a small pink form sitting near the ocean. His hand rested on the door handle, and Nagant silently handed him an umbrella. "I'll wait here."
He accepted it and nodded, slowly approaching Mina while opening up the umbrella. A thousand thoughts ran through his head while getting closer to her. His blood boiled, and he clenched his fist imagining Deidara, but all that rage faded as he reached her, and she turned to him.
He held the umbrella over her wet form as she held her legs to her chest. "Sasuke..." her voice was dry as if she was dehydrated. Her hair hung low, drenched from the rain, and patches of her skin suffered discoloration from the normal pink color. Sasuke was sure she had cried, but he couldn't tell the difference due to all the rain pouring down.
He sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her in silence. She returned the hug in mutual silence, and they stayed like that for a while. Soon enough, Sasuke slowly picked her up and took her to the car, sitting in the back seat with her.
Nagant stared back at the two before handing a water bottle to Sasuke and wordlessly driving to UA. Sasuke observed Mina. Her lips were dry and she had bags under her eyes. All the normal energy that radiated from her was nonexistent as her eyes stared down into nothing.
He felt pain in his chest as he offered her the bottle, "You should drink some."
She accepted it and slowly sipped the water. "I... was helpless... he... laughed at me!... I couldn't do anything..." he felt her twitching like she'd cry again and he pulled her into a tight hug.
He felt tempted to say something comforting, to deny her uselessness, but his own memories of the same experience flashed through his mind.
Police officers stood around Sasuke in a police station as he stared wide-eyed at nothing. "You'll be alright kid. No one would expect you to be able to do something in this situation. It's not your fault."
The words had no effect on him, and he hadn't felt like it would work on her either. They stayed quiet as she sunk into his chest and Nagant occasionally glanced back with a grim expression. She gripped the wheel harder seeing the signs of anguish that were all too familiar to her. She thought, '16-year-olds should never have to go through stuff like this… These are the kinds of tragedies we have to prevent…'
Eventually, they reached the school, parking out front. Sasuke opened the door and helped Mina out. Before shutting the door, Nagant stated, "I'll find those two, and when I do I'll let you know."
Sasuke nodded and they parted ways. The rain and fog subsided, but the cloudy sky remained as Sasuke and Mina entered the residence building. One of the students saw him coming inside, and most of the students ran from the lounge down the stairs to the previously empty lobby.
Hagakure shouted first, "Mina! We were so worried about you!"
Mina meekly replied, "Sorry..."
Kaminari yelled, "Where have you been?"
"I was..."
Sero said, "Will you be alright?"
"I..."
Mina winced at everyone asking her questions and looked down. She tried to speak, but every voice overshadowed her. Sasuke frowned and shouted, "SHUT UP!"
Everyone fell silent and reeled back and Sasuke looked at Mina, "I just want to be left alone right now."
Without giving anyone time to process her response, Sasuke helped guide her to an elevator to take her to her room. Momo was the first to recover, "We're sorry. We'll leave you alone."
The elevator ride and the walk to her room were dead silent. As they reached the door, Mina walked in, but didn't let Sasuke in, "Sorry, I need more alone time."
She didn't make eye contact and spoke barely above a whisper. He opened his mouth, wanting to reach his hand out, but he stopped and replied, "... That's fine."
She slowly shut the door, and Sasuke stood there for a minute in dead silence. A constant discomfort ate at Sasuke as he recalled all the teasing and other things Mina would say. Her voice was so hollow compared to what he was used to, all that he had left to listen to was the white noise around him that consumed him more than any concert could. It was just too quiet.
'... I'm supposed to be the quiet one!' He gritted his teeth in a mix of sadness and frustration as he stomped his way to the training room.
That same night after the hero ranking ended, Nagant called Hawks. "Hey, Nagant. What's up?"
"Hey. I was just gonna mention. I think you should try to get help from that Hakari kid again to find these two."
"Going to the last resort that fast?"
"I'm sure I could find them in due time, but by then they may do something else devastating. I want to get rid of them as fast as possible,' her tone was firm.
"... It was that bad, huh?"
"Yeah."
"I'll see what I can do. I'll have to convince his mom, she was understandably protective last time."
"Thank you."
That same night, the artistic duo prepared to enjoy another night of partying as the Yacht left the docks. And just as Sasori asked, the Immortal duo boarded the vessel as it departed.