The Plague

Test Run

Coralias shift practically flew by, and once Overhaul arrived, she wasted no time in locking up for the night, scouring the surrounding area for any stray heroes or blonds.

All clear.

The two lingered in the buiding for a while, exchanging small talk; Chisaki casually asking about how her schoolwork was going, using her limited answers to lure her into a deal. From the sounds of it, her grades weren't so great in the heroics department, and with the job she worked it didn't take a genius to figure out she could do with a little extra cash. Bringing up those benfits appeared to do the trick. After a few hours of company and hesitant consideration, she finally agreed to join his cause, and set to work cleaning the place over once more seeing as it was closing time.

 "Looks like somebody's eager," he pointed out, his narrow eyes following the girl as she darted back and forth for a while, finishing up. 

She nodded despite her eyes being fixed on the streets rather than him. "Mhm! I wanna see everyone's quirks."

Somehow, he didn't believe that was the only thing on her mind.

The constant tapping of her fingertips against her palm sounded amusingly familiar to the sound of bare feet hitting the concrete, and Chisaki didn't bother pointing it out. If it was some sort of nervous tick, he didn't want to alert her and have her cover it up. The more he could read her, the better- especially after the childish show she had made of reading his organization. After all, he knew all too well that knowledge and power served hand in hand...and it wouldn't be fair for only one of them to have an upper hand, now would it?

"You missed a spot," he noted instead, and once she had cleared it up properly he held the door for her.

The return to the Shie Hassaikai base felt...longer than it should have been. 

"If you're as certain about joining our organisation as you say you are," he stated, pushing the door open, "you'll need to prove it. Can't trust anyone these days."

"I could say the same about you. Meeting somebody one time and then having an entire gang lurk around when you revisit isn't very friendly, y'know."

"Then why'd you agree to it?"

The question twisted her gut like some kind of stab wound, a sickly sensation spreading from the venom in his tone. It sounded more like an accusation that a question, and it absolutely didn't sit right with her. In truth, she couldn't quite tell, not yet. But some subconscious detail seemed to be urging her forward, so forward she went.

"Well?" He asked again after a minute or two of silence.

She rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward laugh. "A bunch of reasons, really. Greed being the main one."

"Is that so?"

Coralia nodded her head and shifted her gaze aside. Coming up with an explanation without revealing anything serious or important was a task akin to skinning an elephant without drawing blood, and yet...and yet! If he didn't feel as though he could count on her, then what was the point of all this? What she was doing here, all the sneaking around, conversing with a dangerous criminal, and worse still, negotiating with him, even going back to his hideout, preparing to join a yakuza group based on a single whim, on a feeling...all of this, even just one of those actions could get her permanently removed from the hero course, and that was if they decided not to be too harsh on her. The fact that she had gotten this far was incriminating enough. In fact, although she had known the dangers and consequences beforehand, now they sunk in a little deeper.

"My family is really badly in debt," she finally murmured.

Overhaul turned his face from the light and stared back down at her, his shadowed figure relaxing slightly.