I Am Not Number Seven (TUA/MHA Crossover)

17. Vanya: Birds of a Feather

The next day, as Vanya was cleaning the solidified candle wax from the floors and scrubbing the tea stain out of her couch, her phone rang.

"Yes?" she grunted, rubbing the stain as hard as she could with a cleaning brush and the phone tucked between her head and shoulder.

"I presume you know why I'm calling?" Fukuda's voice rolled like molasse from the speaker.

The girl paused the scrubbing and hung her head, "Yeah."

There was typing from the other side of the phone, "Luckily, the noise dampeners managed to stop most of the sound from reaching the other apartments. No other tenants reached out to me about last night, I would never have even known something happened if our sensors on that floor hadn't picked it up either."

Vanya zeroed in on one word, "'Other'? He called you about me?"

Fukuda hummed, "Yes, your neighbor reached out to me this morning. He wanted me to set up a time for you two to meet today so he could talk to you."

The girl held the phone away from her head and groaned, after the shit sleep she had last night she was so not in the mood to get lectured. Her head pounded at the thought.

Vanya took a deep breath and calmed herself, "What time does he want to meet?" she asked, hoping her voice was pleasant enough.

There were a few clicks from the phone's speaker, Fukuda was on the computer as she talked to her, "This afternoon, if possible. He was kind enough to clear his schedule for you."

The girl sat back on her haunches, back resting against the coffee table, "That's fine, should I just go knock on his door?"

"Oh, no, no, that won't be necessary," the woman assured her, "There's no need to have a conversation in the hallway, and I doubt you would feel comfortable talking in either of your homes. I'll reserve a small conference room for you two to meet in an hour, the name and directions will be sent to your phone."

Vanya slowly lowered the brush in her hand, that was... really considerate of Fukuda to do. She appreciated it, and with a soft voice, Vanya thanked her. But then a thought came to her.

"Hey, Fukuda-san?" she started, "You don't have to tell my father about this, okay?"

The typing on the other side of the phone paused, the woman's voice, normally so smooth and gentle, was uncertain, "Vanya-san, I don't think I should keep this from him-"

The girl spoke up, "He did say he only wanted to hear updates concerning my hero career. This would just bother him. And besides," she bit her lip as she calculated the consequences of what she was about to say, "Think about how bad this would look for you."

Silence from the phone. "I'm- Excuse me?" the woman asked, flabbergasted.

"Well, you are a trusted acquaintance of my father's. He obviously thinks highly of you if he placed me in your care. This incident would only serve to splinter the trust that he has in you, it would make him think you can't handle me." Vanya's voice went from cautious to comforting, "But if we keep this quiet, nothing changes and you will still be in good standing with him. It's mutually beneficial for us."

The girl held her breath as she waited for the woman to speak, every second of silence feeling like hours until she heard a soft laugh, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Vanya-san." the woman conceded, "Keeping quiet helps you as much as it helps me. Then, this incident will remain between us. Be sure not to be late for your meeting." Fukuda said voice strained as she still remained polite but Vanya could still hear the relief when she spoke. The woman hung up without another word.