Mystery from Another World

Part 59: Dabi Hesitates

The day after Christmas, the semester for the other classes was still on a break for the holidays. The UA hero course only got 2 days off for it.

But perhaps the atmosphere around the school was too chilly for Shine because she told their little group that she thought an outing would be a good idea.

"For more of what we talked about." She nodded at Momo. "I want you guys to understand... and it's occurred to me, the only way for that to happen is to show you what we see around here."

Todoroki lacked context, but he was all for more information. "Is it more training?"

"It won't be training like you're used to," Shine said vaguely, "Of course, getting Aizawa to agree will be the hard part."

But it surprisingly wasn't. Wally told him it was for Christmas stuff, and Aizawa didn't even ask questions about it. 

Wally wasn't going to come, though, because someone needed to stay with the other students.

"It should be fine with just us," Shine told the three, "I can get us places, and if we did run into any mild trouble, I'm sure you could handle it just fine."

"I thought you didn't like us doing that," Todoroki said.

Shine shrugged. "It's unfair expectations that grind me, but I'm not taking you to fight villains-- that would be ridiculous. I'm just concerned about the occasional street thug."

"That's nothing," Bakugo scoffed, "They're more afraid of us."

"Probably," Shine allowed.

Momo didn't really want to fight a thug either. Where was Shine taking them that they needed to worry about that? Then again, anywhere in the city could have criminals these days

* * *

But none of them could have even conceived of where Shine actually had in mind. It was the same place Dabi had showed her... and she didn't even know how to get there by train, so she had to portal.

"Where is this?" Todoroki took one look at the neighborhood (if you could call it that) and thought it looked most like where he'd encountered Stain.

"Hell," Shine said, to Bakugo's amusement/annoyance, "or to be more accurate, something a lot like it for many people. A friend of mine brought me here. I haven't been able to forget about it since... I thought you all should see it."

"See what? It looks like a dump, probably with rats." Bakugo eyed one street where he was sure he saw... human waste at the corners.

"Why did you bring all that?" Momo pointed to a large bag Shine had lugged along with them.

"What? Don't tell me you brought us here to do some d--- charity work!" Bakugo raged, "That's the lamest reason ever! You said it was training."

Shine gave him a long look that made him feel small.

"Ah, well, if you don't want to learn something, you can wait here," she said carelessly, "Too bad. I thought you were up to any challenge I could dish out. Of course, if this makes you uncomfortable I understand. It makes me uncomfortable too, but c'est la vie."

They looked at her oddly.

"I guess you're into this, but I don't see why you brought us here," Todoroki said.

"I don't actually know if I'll use any of this, but I wanted to look around again, without a tour guide this time," Shine said, "I won't make you accompany me. You've seen it, so I guess that's your end. Just look sharp."