[59: Once Upon A Time…in A Little Café]
(A/N: For those who want more, here you go! You can thank England for this one! Once again, they fail on the international stage! WOO-HOO! A loss for England is a win for me! To celebrate the English loss, I'm releasing three chapters! Everyone, cheer for England!)
/\\//\\//\
(Shie Hassaikai Compound)
The entire area was cordoned off. Red and blue lights covered the entire area. Police units were all over the debris and ruins of the compound. Bomb squads conducted investigations, searching for any other potential unexploded ordnance. Sir Nighteye was looking at the scene accompanied by Midoriya and Mirio.
"Eleanor did this?" Midoriya asked. He could hardly believe it.
"Yes. I saw it with my quirk. She did this," Sir Nighteye said.
"What were the effects?" Mirio asked.
"The explosion was contained. No one in the immediate area was injured. Everyone inside the building, however…is dead. Overhaul is dead, and everyone part of Shie Hassaikai, at least in this compound, is also dead. She did all of this on her own. And we won't be able to find any evidence. The explosion destroyed everything useful. Though it doesn't matter anymore since Eleanor killed them all. I believe you all know what this means," Sir Nighteye said.
Midoriya clenched his fists. He knew, but he didn't want to. Mirio didn't interact much with Eleanor in the short time she was there, since she was a bit hard to approach, but from what Midoriya told him, she seemed like a good person with maybe some hard-to-agree-with ideas. But now? Not so much.
"She's turned into a vigilante. And if what she did here is any indication, capturing her and bringing her to justice for her crimes will be very hard," Sir Nighteye said.
"But you used your Foresight on her, Sir Nighteye. You've seen everything. What does it look like?" Mirio asked.
"I'm not sure. There are things I saw that made me angry. But there are things I saw that made me agree with her, as much as I didn't want to. We're going to be fighting Eleanor on more than two fronts. Physical combat with her will be the least of our concerns," Sir Nighteye said before turning to look at Midoriya. "You're her classmate. Use that head of yours and analyze her quirk."
"I have, Sir Nighteye. And…it's scary. She can do almost anything. The versatility and applications of her quirk are immense, and she can make things we haven't seen yet. The possibilities are almost endless. We'd need some kind of electrical interference to shut down her drones, but even that wouldn't help. She could sit kilometers away and still launch a devastating long-range strike. She could be halfway across the world and still be just as effective as if she were here. But…we can win, right, Sir Nighteye?" Midoriya said.
"I don't know," Sir Nighteye said.
"You don't know? But you saw the future!" Midoriya said.
"I don't know if what I saw can be considered a victory or a defeat," Sir Nighteye said.
"What do we do now, Sir Nighteye?" Mirio asked.
"You two return to UA. Many meetings are going to be held," Sir Nighteye said.
/\\//\\//\
(UA, Nezu's Office)
Nezu looked at Eri, who was feasting on food. After receiving the call from Eleanor, he rushed over along with some of the other teachers, but what they saw was only Eri and a dorm room with a few personal items. He saw the paper and read it. It explained everything. Who Eri was, what happened to her, her quirk, and a request to take care of her. It also explained what Eleanor did.
'So, this confirms you were the one responsible for the incident with Stain. Eleanor…what have you done?' Nezu thought in his mind. Concerning Eri, he would happily take care of her. In fact, after reading what she went through, it was decided that she would be raised by the staff to help her control her quirk and give her the life a child should have.
"Eri, let's play a game. It'll be fun." Nezu said to Eri.
He can worry about Eleanor, but he wouldn't let it affect Eri; she'd gone through more than enough to let other adults make her feel bad.
/\\//\\//\
Before news of what Eleanor had done could reach all relevant ears, there was someone who was confused.
Yuga Aoyama.
He had been doing his own thing when he received a message from Eleanor. It was an invitation. She…wanted to have a small chat in person? This was unusual. Eleanor never seemed like a person who liked him all that much. So why? Well, he would find out.
He went to the location on his phone. It was a little café in the city. It looked like something typical. It had chairs and umbrellas outside, some flowers and decorations, and a comfy setting. 'This is where she wants to meet?' Yuga thought to himself. He entered the café and looked around, but he couldn't find Eleanor.
He sent a message back to Eleanor, wondering where she was. When he got the message back, it turned out she was in a private booth in the back of the café. When Yuga went there, he saw her. Eleanor waved at him. The food on the table was a bit…much. There were baguettes, croissants, crepes, and other French pastries. It's like she was trying to pander to him and trying way too hard to guess what he liked.
"Monsieur Aoyama, veuillez vous asseoir avec moi." Eleanor waved at Yuga, signaling for him to sit with her. (A/N: Again, if anyone here knows French, and I know some of y'all do, feel free to correct anything or add additional context. I don't think anything is too wrong or messed up, but it should be accurate enough. I hope?)
Yuga sat down across from Eleanor, feeling nervous for some reason. This was not what he was expecting at all. He knew that Eleanor knew French, but why was she speaking it? She was eating a strudel, which Yuga found a bit out of place among the other pastries and snacks.
Eleanor took another bite of her strudel before sipping on a smoothie. "Tout va bien ces derniers temps ?" Eleanor asked before she continued. "Ne sois pas nerveux. Régalez-vous avec ces petits en-cas, c'est moi qui vous les offre."
Yuga started to eat. It would be rude not to eat after Eleanor had already paid for the food. It didn't seem so bad; maybe Yuga was just overreacting. He started to eat a crepe before responding to Eleanor. "Je vais bien. Je me concentre sur mes études. Je ne savais pas qu'on allait parler en français ; tu le parles mieux que je ne l'aurais cru."
Eleanor laughed a little bit. "Bien sûr qu'on parle français, c'est moi qui t'ai invité et je voulais m'exprimer dans ta langue maternelle. Mais je dois avouer que mon français n'est peut-être pas parfait."
Yuga also laughed a little; the mood felt lighter. He could finally interact with Eleanor in a friendly way compared to the less-than-friendly interactions he'd had with her before. Time passed by cheerfully between them. They ordered more snacks and drinks.
Everything was going fine.
Eleanor took a sip of another smoothie she ordered before she spoke again. "Monsieur Aoyama, j'ai le regret de vous informer que j'ai atteint les limites de mon français. Continuer à m'exprimer de manière aussi approximative ne ferait que me mettre dans l'embarras. Cependant, je crois savoir que vous parlez également très bien l'anglais."
Yuga nodded. "Oui."
Eleanor smiled and clapped her hands lightly. "C'est bien. Évidemment, je parle aussi assez bien anglais, puisque c'est ma langue maternelle. C'est moi qui t'ai invité, mais on pourrait peut-être poursuivre notre conversation en anglais ?" Eleanor asked with a smile on her face.
"Bien sûr." Yuga said.
Eleanor let out a sigh of relief. "Wonderful." She went back to eating again.
Yuga noticed how much Eleanor seemed to change in that instant. While the conversation was cheerful and genuinely nice, after speaking English, she seemed much more relaxed. 'Was she doing that just for me? To help me fit in? How kind of her,' Yuga thought to himself. He liked his class, but seeing Eleanor put in so much effort for him, even if the food options were kind of stereotypical, made him feel a certain way. A sense of belonging.
"It's been kind of crazy at UA, hasn't it? The villain attack at the USJ and then again at the forest camp; it's almost like they know where we'll be sometimes. It's kind of interesting really," Eleanor said while eating another snack. "We've all really gone through some stuff, Aoyama. I hope you've been fine through it all. I know that you kind of have a hard time fitting in." Eleanor was very casual about it as she kept eating. She was a concerned classmate reflecting on what had happened.
Aoyama smiled. 'So she was trying to make me feel like I belonged! I was right!' Aoyama thought to himself before responding. "Yeah, I guess we all have. I'm just glad no one got seriously hurt or injured. It'd make me feel bad." Even though he didn't realize that he unconsciously adjusted his posture and seating, a bit of nervousness, but it was drowned out by his thoughts.
Eleanor glanced at him for a split moment from her food when he said, "It'd make me feel bad." Eleanor smirked a little. The politeness was already making him slip up. "That's true. Though, from a certain perspective, it has given us experience that most people in a hero course don't get. So, there is a bit of a silver lining in all of this, I suppose," Eleanor said before getting a cup of tea.
"It only means we'll be better heroes once we finish at UA," Aoyama said.
Eleanor smiled. "Of course. And all of Class 1-A has gone through it together; we can have more trusting relationships between all of us. As well as the teachers. Trust is one of the foundations when working with heroes and when working with our class, Aoyama." The sound of a spoon swirling the tea and hitting the cup suddenly seemed louder than usual in Aoyama's ears.
"Uh…yeah, it is, Eleanor." Yuga said, hesitating just a little bit.
Eleanor blew on her tea before sipping on it a little bit. Eleanor tilted her head side-to-side as she judged the tea. The silence slowly dragged on Yuga. "I still don't get why people like tea. I think it's overhyped. Or maybe I'm not English enough. What do you think, Aoyama? Do you like tea?" Eleanor suddenly asked, changing the topic completely.
"I—I can enjoy it at times, I guess," Yuga said. Why…did he feel so anxious and nervous all of a sudden? He couldn't explain it. He adjusted his seating posture again and scratched his head. The sound of Eleanor sipping on her tea became louder and louder. Even small sounds he never noticed became louder, grating on his ears. The sound of a ticking clock, the muffled sounds of the other patrons in the café, and the cars that passed by outside. Sounds that the café and the secluded booth should've minimized as pointless background noise didn't seem so pointless anymore.
"What were we talking about? Oh, yeah, trust." Eleanor playfully smacked her head. "Man, I got so caught up in the café that I'm forgetting. How silly of me!" Eleanor laughed a little. "Right, so, we know that trust is one of the main pillars in working together as people. But there's also the definition of a hero. What makes a 'real' hero? There's also many variations of the question. So what about you, Aoyama? Do you think heroes are defined by what they want…or by what they're forced to do?" Eleanor asked the question in a lowered voice, kind of deep.
Yuga scratched his head as he thought. He felt a small amount of sweat forming. "I think…heroes are defined by their hearts."
Eleanor nodded as she took another sip of tea. "That's quite a popular answer." Eleanor started cutting into another pastry, the clinking of a knife and fork on the plate the only sound between them. Eleanor didn't follow up. The silence of any of their voices stretched long enough to be uncomfortable.
"You know, when I think back on the encounters we've had with villain attacks, it's one thing for them to know where we are, but their timing was kind of good as well. At the USJ, they attacked at just the right moment when the entire area lost all kinds of signal. At the training camp in the forest, they attacked on the last day when we were all supposed to be tired and exhausted from training all week and in the middle of eating and relaxing," Eleanor said in a curious tone. She wasn't smiling anymore, but she was thinking.
"Well, uh, villains are clever, you know? They're intelligent.'" Aoyama laughed nervously, and his body unconsciously became tense.
"Sure, yes, of course. But being smart doesn't explain timing. Or access. That's something done by an information leak." Eleanor sipped on her tea, looking directly into Aoyama's eyes over the teacup.
"Uh…but information leaks are dramatic, aren't they? An information leak gets on the news all the time." Aoyama's heart beat faster. His breathing got heavier and tenser.
"That's true, but most information leaks don't get on the news. And the ones that do are mostly because they're forced or because they wanted to. It's not hard to keep it hidden. And it's not dramatic at all, you know? People think that information leaks are all done by some kind of dramatic hacking. Stolen files, broken encryptions, intercepted calls, and things you'd see in a dramatic hacking movie or novel. And while that certainly can happen, most times it's a lot simpler. Conversations, a moment of fear, a moment of nervousness, a moment of anxiety, or maybe someone who just wants the pain to stop. Intentional or not, these are where most information leaks happen." Eleanor let the silence stretch again as she continued eating. Her tea was finished, and she switched to another pastry. There was more than enough to last this entire conversation.
Aoyama couldn't be more tense or stiff. When his hands moved, he tried to stop them from trembling. Aoyama swallowed. His face was forced into a calm look, clearly tense. A bead of sweat rolled down behind his ear and onto his back. He didn't feel so hungry anymore. He just wanted to stay still, his body retreating into itself.
"And given what happened to us, the information leak came from UA. That's something I would've liked to investigate. Given my quirk and skills, I think launching an investigation and search of the school would be easy. If there were any irregularities to be found, and trust me, there would be. Unless, of course, someone told me something that would make the job a lot easier," Eleanor said.
"You…you kind of sound like a detective looking for answers, E-Eleanor." Yuga struggled to speak clearly. He was trying, truly trying, to look calm and composed, but if he was, he would've noticed when Eleanor said: "would've liked to investigate."
"Well, detectives look for answers. I already have them," Eleanor said calmly.
Aoyama's eyes widened. He felt fear. His brain released adrenaline and norepinephrine. He felt the sensation of butterflies in his stomach. 'No…no…she can't know. She couldn't know. Does she? Does she know?' Aoyama's mind raced with thoughts. He could barely meet Eleanor's eyes, but what he saw scared him. She changed completely.
Eleanor's eyes darkened. Any signs of positive emotion were gone. Eleanor looked at him gently, but it felt like a glare. Her mouth stayed still, no smile or frown. She only blinked a few times as she looked at him. By all means, it should've been a neutral face, but Aoyama felt completely seen through.
"You're working as a spy for All For One, are you not?" Eleanor's voice was calm, but to Aoyama, it was a guillotine straight to his neck.
Aoyama's body trembled. His eyes darted away from Eleanor. His eyes teared up. His nose started getting runny. Aoyama swallowed.
…
"Yes," Aoyama said in a shaky voice as tears fell from his eyes.
/\\//\\//\
(A/N: She didn't have to do all that now. She tortured the poor Frenchman. I wonder who wrote it like this.)