Hold It In

part 5 Dazed and Confused

Hey guys! Here's a lighter chapter inserting Hitoshi (*^^*) and Bakubro getting offered All Might's quirk. Buckle in, though. It's a long one. Enjoy!

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"What happened to his face?" Hibuki's new commander, only looking past the papers on his desk once, asked the low ranked Lieutenant in command of a different company division.

"It needed some cosmetic updates requested by the Captain, it now sports a fully functional prosthetic eye with a camera and sensors that will alert us of any unordered behavior. Lieutenant Sir. We can also send warnings to 13's brain through the device as it is connected to their nerves, sir." the under-ranking officer debriefed diligently, after which being dismissed. The remaining Lieutenant skimmed through the papers on his desk for a while, testing to see what his newest specialist was made of.

However he was soon to be displeased after hours ticked by coming to the end of the day, the boy hadn't moved, not even a twitch. This child held still in his position better than most of the men in his ranks, it was a tad bit scary and concerning. His papers listed his age as 14... the same age as his own son but he looked no older than 10 and stood like a statue unblinking, his dull eye giving no recognition that he was seeing anything. Despite the man's successful reputation for turning out good soldiers he treated his lot with kindness. Yes he was in charge but he didn't need to be a dick about it.

"What's your name kid?" The man asked, getting up to pour himself a drink from his ice bin.

"...Subject 13, Sir. Operation name given, Hibuki, Sir," the boy spoke in such a feeble way, slow and robotic. Practiced, yet still a struggle for him to form on his chapped thin lips. Like it was the only thing he knew how to say. His sunken eye that wasn't covered by bandages stared ahead blankly and lifeless as he spoke. Have they transferred this kid to try and re-teach him some human emotion? The Lieutenant didn't know.. but the one thing he did know, was that he was going to treat this boy like a person. He did not like how everyone spoke as if he was an object... or the mentions of building a human weapon... Was this kid the one from that project? Something didn't feel right to him. It made sense to use a kid but at the same time, to essentially program a child that doesn't know any better? The Lieutenant didn't sit well with that.

"Juice box?" The lieutenant spoke, looking at the boy as he asked. The only response he got was a small head tilt. That was the first time the kid broke his stance. It soon dawned on the man that the kid didn't know what a juice box was, and that..is just not right. "Would you like one? You may sit or walk around," the Lieutenant watched his reaction while grabbing two of his son's juice boxes he kept for whenever his family visited, hoping that said son wouldn't be upset with him for sharing or choosing this moment to walk into the office. Hibuki hesitantly began walking to the chair, The lieutenant not missing the way the boy's eye became calculative, flicking around to every possible exit. Hibuki stopped looking up at the purple haired man before hesitantly sitting down stiff as a board and ready to vacate at any minute.

"So..Hibuki, I'm your new Lieutenant, Hajime Shinso is my name. I don't know what you've experienced before, but I run things here a little differently," the violet haired Lieutenant spoke soothingly, trying to lure the boy into a relaxed state as he handed the boy a juice box before continuing. He wasn't lying, he'd only been given little, yet specific knowledge on the kid and his past. "Have you gotten a tour yet, or been shown your room?" Hibuki merely shook his head, wondering why, why was this man being so kind to him? Holding his juice box carefully, he didn't know what to do with it but hoped that just holding it would be enough to please the older of the two.

With a sigh Mr. Shinso took the juice box back, opened it by poking the straw in and told the kid to drink. As expected Hibuki held the straw to his lips as told, taking a sip before coughing softly. His nose and eyes scrunching up not having tasted anything this powerful since his life before the lab that he couldn't even remember. But just as fast as he reacted Hibuki's face changed back to an almost blank canvas. He seemed to shrink in on himself, cowering slightly before his new master before hearing laughter. This laughter seemed different though, it wasn't like any laughter he had heard from anyone in a long time. It was raw and joyful and pure. It was genuine, not like the laughter of his other masters and guardians. This laughter wasn't taunting or evil, nor was it filled with malice or dubious motives.