Osaka - Street Level - 9:47 AM
"You're in Osaka?"
"Since this morning," Suguro confirmed. "I want to meet tomorrow. To discuss and see the bullets and what a working arrangement between us might look like."
A brief pause.
"Tomorrow works," Overhaul said though Suguru could hear what sounded like frustration in the man's voice "I'll send the location."
"Fine."
Suguro said, and ended the call, a subtle power move letting this Overhaul know he is the one dictating this meeting not him.
The two then began walking their way back to the hotel.
He was looking at this soft city and its spoiled people, when Ivy walked into someone.
Izuku Midoriya had been in the middle of explaining to Mirio that he wasn't nervous about patrol, specifically, it was more that he'd missed some foundational elements during his internship with Gran Torino due to circumstances, when a green woman in a leather jacket walked directly into him.
She recoiled immediately, her expression shifting from surprised to disgust.
"Sorry," he said in Japanese, to which the woman just yelled at him in english.
Mirio appeared at his shoulder. "They're probably tourists," he said quietly. "Good chance to practice English."
The man with the woman had stepped forward, closing the distance. He was tall, dark-haired, and foreign clothes that told Izuku nothing useful except that whoever he was, he wasn't from here. There was something about him though that felt unnerving wrong in a way Izuku couldn't immediately identify.
Izuku switched to English, which he'd been working on. "I'm very sorry, it was my fault, I wasn't watching where I was walking."
The woman looked at him, then at Mirio, reassessing. The irritation downgraded into something more neutral.
"It's fine," the man said. His English was American-accented, flat, carrying no particular regional markers. "She doesn't like being touched by people aside from me don't worry about it."
Ivy smirked at that.
"Of course, I'm sorry." Izuku paused, "are you enjoying Japan?"
"Well I can't say yet but I can see it's very different than where we're from."
Mirio stepped forward now a little intrigued at the mysterious couple. "Oh yeah? Where's home?"
The man looked at him for a moment. "Across the ocean."
Mirio received this with his characteristic good humor. "Fair enough. Well, welcome anyway!"
The woman had been looking at their costumes with an expression that was somewhere between confused and interested. They certainly were different from Gotham's last heroes, remaining they looked bright and not made for combat first . "What are you supposed to be?"
Mirio gestured at himself expansively. "Heroes in training! We're students, so the costume situation is still a work in progress."
"UA students?" the man said.
"That obvious?"
"Lucky guess." The man looked at the woman briefly. Something passed between them that Izuku couldn't read, the particular shorthand of people who'd been in each other's company long enough to communicate without words.
"We should go or are you going to keep bothering the foreigners?" the woman said in a tone that made it clear she was done with the conversation.
The man nodded and they began moving, the woman taking his arm again as they walked.
Izuku watched them go,
Then the man stopped.
He didn't turn around though he was still facing away from them, the woman a step ahead.
"One more question," he said. "Is Midnight one of your teachers?"
Mirio blinked. "Midnight? Yeah, she teaches at UA. Why?"
The man didn't answer, he started walking again, and the woman matched his pace, and within thirty seconds they'd turned a corner and were gone.
Izuku stood on the pavement and looked at the empty corner.
"That was weird," Mirio said.
"Yeah," Izuku agreed.
"Nice couple though. I think."
"I'm not sure they were tourists," Izuku said.
Mirio looked at him. "What makes you say that?"
"Just a feeling," he said.
Mirio studied him for a moment, then shrugged with his characteristic ease and started walking. "Come on Deku, you can't be suspicious of them just because they aren't Japanese. Anyway, we've got the rest of this patrol section to cover."
Izuku followed, and they were two blocks further along when the girl came running.
She barreled around a corner and ran directly into Izuku.
She was small, maybe six or seven, with silver hair and wide red eyes and bandages wrapped around her arms and visible at her ankles.
Whoa, I'm sorry. You took a tumble. Are you okay? Can I, uh, help you up? Izuku said, crouching down.
She whimpered, very quietly, and didn't move
Izuku thought to himself
(Why is she trembling?)
"You should be more careful, we don't wanna cause trouble for the heroes…"
Mirio and Izuku looked up and saw the man…
Overhaul
"I hope you'll forgive my daughter, hero. I don't know what to do with her. Always playing rough, bumping into things."
"I know that mask! You must be from the Hassaikai, right?" Mirio stated making sure to not show weakness.
"You guys are famous around here."
"Yeah, please don't mind the mask. It keeps out the filth. I don't believe I've seen you two in the area before?"
Mirio held the back of his head playing it off friendly.
"Right! Well, we're still pretty new, but you probably already guessed that much. Now, on your feet, partner. Can't do much hero-ing from down there."
(His guard's obviously up. I can't tell him Sir's name.) he thought to himself.
Overhaul though kept asking questions
"So, what agency do you belong to?"
"We're only students! Far too lowly to be claiming association with an agency. We're just using our internships to get some experience, speaking of which, we need to finish patrolling this division by lunch. Come on, let's go."
He began moving away and gesturing to Izuku to follow him
"Right!"
But Eri grabbed onto Izuku not letting him go
"Please... Please don't go."
Izuku awkwardly stayed on the ground as the little girl held onto him "Um, excuse me. I'm sorry, but your daughter seems scared."
Overhaul looked at the two coldly "A reaction to being scolded."
Izuku then began to look at the girl closer
"Wait, but… This girl... She's grabbed me and won't let go, she's got bandages all over. Those are just from playing rough?"
Overhaul began to get tired of this facade and his tone began to change into annoyance
"Eri's an exceptionally clumsy girl."
But Izuku kept going "Her whole body's shaking, but she's not making a sound. Does that seem like it's normal to you?"
"It's dangerous to make assumptions about what's normal for other people. Yeah, everybody's different, am I right?"
Mirio realized that this is bad
(Chisaki obviously doesn't want us to pry. If we spook him now, he'll be even less likely to show himself. We have to let it go.)
Deku then began looking at the Yakuza man in front of him with increasing anger.
(Togata wants us to leave, but that would only make him more suspicious. What hero would abandon a frightened child?)
He then began to hold her protectively like a hero should.
"Tell me. What are you doing to this girl?"
Overhaul sighed, gesturing a faint surrender.
"You heroes really pick up on the subtlest things, don't you? Very well. This situation is embarrassing. So I'd prefer to discuss it where we won't be overheard."
He began to lead the two into the alley.
"Hard to admit that you can't control your own child, but lately Eri defies me no matter what I try."
Then paused for a moment not looking back yet while Mirio kept keeping up his air of confidence.
"Parenting, man. Sounds rough, that can't be easy."
Overhaul sighs "Yes, children are tricky. So determined to do whatever they want... that sometimes they just don't listen."
He began to remove his glove then-
Eri gasps, and runs over to him away from the hero students
"Oh, good. Done with your temper tantrum?"
Eri slowly nodded yes while balling her fists...
"Uh. Eri, are you sure?"
Overhaul began leading her away though by this point. "She's always like this, sorry to involve you in our family drama. I'm sure you have better things to be doing, good luck with your internships."
Deku then took a step forward "Wait—"
Until Mirio grabbed him, holding him back.
"We're not going after them. Didn't you notice? He was ready to get violent. That's why she went back. If we keep pushing him, he's gonna be even harder to catch. For now, let's report to Sir."
Overhaul's Base - Osaka - a few minutes earlier
Overhaul stood in the center of the main room with one hand at his side the other ready to destroy the phone he was holding.
"She is a six-year-old child and she just somehow escaped, and now of all times!"
.
"Find her now!" Overhaul said, and left the room starting to search for her on his own.
League of Villains Hideout - Simultaneous
Shigaraki was in the middle of explaining to Toga when his phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
It was Garaki.
I have a stable location established and I am making more Nomus but don't forget that I serve All For One not you.
He set the phone face-down on the table.
But right now he was still thinking about Overhaul's offer and the insult of it
"Are you going to meet him or not?" Dabi said, from the corner of the room with the group.
"Ill go when I want to probably tomorrow" Shigaraki said.
Later that night Overhauls Compound -
Overhaul walked through his compound with Eri secured behind him her eyes on the floor.
"You have to stop disobeying me,"
"You're the center of everything we're building here, Eri. The plan depends on you."
She didn't respond.
"I'd hate for this to become more unpleasant than it needs to be."
He stopped at the door to her room and looked at her for a moment. She stood and looked at the floor and didn't make a sound.
"Kurono," he said.
Kurono who was next to him answered
"Sir."
"Double the watch on this corridor tonight." Overhaul looked at Eri one more time as the
door closed and he began to leave when Mimic walked over to him holding a phone
"Overhaul, got a sec? It's Shigaraki from the League of Villains."
"He says that he's got an answer for ya."
Overhaul nodded and Mimic left confirming with Shigaraki to meet tomorrow
"Lets see who comes first" he muttered to himself, smiling under his mask
"Ill win either way"