Mystery from Another World

Part 51: Rejected and Ejected

[OP: "Dissolve"--Absofacto]

It took a minute for Shigaraki to get past his surprise.

Wally didn't know if he was going to kill them or if that was just his stunned face--it was pretty unhinged.

But then it cleared.

"His mentor? That's unexpected... I wondered why Maste--but who told you that?"

"Who do you think?" Shine raised an eyebrow.

His expression darkened. "If it was All Might, then I don't trust a thing he said. I'm sure it was just to throw us off."

"One, he didn't know we would repeat it to you." Shine held up her finger. "And two, we should test it then. See, we don't know ourselves if it is true. But if it is, then the mole at UA almost certainly knows about it too. So they didn't tell you. That could confirm they are secretly plotting to stab you in the back as well as us. Why else tell you all those whoppers about us?"

Shigaraki could see where that might make sense.

And he was very wary of backstabbers, since the League relied very heavily on trust to operate its innermost circle.

"How would we test the story?" he said, grumpy.

"Do you know the name of your grandmother?" Shine asked. "In fact, do you remember your father's last name?"

"Yes...it was Shimura," Shigaraki said flatly.

Confirmed then, Shine thought.

But would that convince him?

"Did you ever meet her?" Wally asked, trying to focus on this instead of the horrifying parts they'd just heard.

"No, of course not. She abandoned my father when he was a kid." Shigaraki actually remembered his father explaining this, strangely enough. "Pros are always doing things like that... They don't care about the people they crush, their own families, to pursue their aims."

"Did you ever see a picture of her?" Shine pressed.

"Yes, once." Shigaraki began to scratch at himself in a nervous manner.

Shine had saved a photo on her phone just in case this conversation happened, since she knew there would be no cell service down here.

She opened it and held it up. "Is this what you saw?"

Shigaraki's scratching got worse. "It...might have been."

"Well, this is who he told us about," Shine said, "and her name was Nana Shimura. So, it tracks. Seems like the story is true. To be honest, until you confirmed it, we didn't know if it was."

Shigaraki scratched himself more frantically. "Well, what does it matter? So what if she knew All Might? She was dead to me before she was even dead. In a way, it's her fault..."

But then he stopped. "So why are you telling me this now?"

Shine glanced at Wally, who shrugged helplessly.