So This Is Love

Chapter 12

Eventually, after a month had passed, Dabi caved. He purchased a laptop.

Abi had been acting slightly differently around him, 'she knows something. I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it, and I fucking hate it.'

He decided it was finally time to put more of his effort into figuring out what her real name was. The nagging at the back of his mind, especially the fact that both Hiro and Evette knew, and wouldn't tell him, was the most agitating.

'It wasn't like I didn't try,' he grumbled to himself, sipping some Georgia coffee, eyes scouring over the records for Shiketsu, 'Hiro only confirmed her last name to me. Evette literally refuses to disclose anything else. She might be an airhead, but she's not stupid. Whenever Abi is with her other friends, she always comes to me, and since I still want to break Lin's neck, I'm not gonna' fuckin' risk going near them when Abi's around.'

A snide voice chimed in, 'because you don't want her to hate you, so you are actively avoiding doing anything to make her dislike you. Just like you kept telling me you wouldn't. Fucking pathetic.'

Dabi ignored the other thoughts, sighing. Of course Shiketsu's records showed her as "Abi Chika".

'If what Hiro told me is true, and her last name is Kenka, then somebody, somewhere, has to have inside access to codes. How else do you change someone's name on internal systems like a record site... Deviore,' he set down the can and leaned against the table, 'Deviore is her hero name... Deviore.'

"Deviore... Deviore... Dev... Devour? No... maybe? Devour sounds like Deviore..." he raked his hand through his hair, "Dev... what would make the most sense? What other English words even start with 'dev'? Deviation? Develop? Devoted?"

He leaned back in his seat, groaning, "where the fuck is the 'iore' from then? Fucking French?"

Fire flickered over his fingers as he stewed in frustration. How in the hell was he supposed to figure that out? Just like the rest of her names, aside from Kenka. Abi? Definitely not Japanese. Deviore? Absolutely no fucking way that was Japanese. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Abi kept the company of people who had names that were far outside the norm from most people in Japan. Perhaps her parents had preferred the idea of her having a name that was difficult, and of different origin. If they had something to hide, then Dabi felt that made sense - but at the same time, having a name that was foreign would draw unwanted attention on its own.

'So, no, it makes no fucking sense,' he groaned loudly into his hand, 'Hiro said that if I can figure out what makes up her hero name, then I can figure out her full name. He gave me the confirmation that Kenka was her true last name over Chika,' he exhaled heavily, staring at his ceiling as he thought it over again, and again, and again.

The words had to go well together. Some heroes were obvious with their names - like Endeavor. Obvious. Straight forward. Some were more subtle, like Edgeshot. One was more of an inference to personality, while the other was more of an inference to the quirk.

'Abi leans more subtle, in my opinion,' he mused, leaning back over the laptop, 'or... subtly obvious. I feel like it's obvious, it's staring me in the fucking face, but it's subtle enough that I can't see it. Pisses me off.'

What about the meanings then? He knew why he called himself Dabi, 'cremation. Exactly what I can do with my quirk. Turn any living thing to ash.'

Dabi's thoughts whirled, "Kenka... 'fight'? No, that's not the right Kenka... has to be a different one... think dumbass, think - what doe Chika mean?"