"Just don't make a mess," Rina muttered as she finally let herself rest, curling up in the chair, her body aching with exhaustion. She could still hear the soft rustle of Dabi shifting on the couch, his movements slow and deliberate.
"Mess?" he scof...
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The afternoon sun was a harsh, washed-out grey as Rina made her way toward the corner shop. She kept her gaze low, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets, and headphones perched on her ears, though she wasn't listening to anything. The silence helped her keep her Echo Sense under control, but even with the headphones on, she could still pick up distant footsteps, the muffled sounds of voices from nearby apartments, and the hum of cars passing by on the main road. The ability to sense all this detail, even subconsciously, was as useful as it was exhausting.
She was halfway down a narrow street, the shop just visible up ahead, when she sensed them. Three men, shifting out of the shadows, their footsteps deliberate and heading directly for her. Rina's jaw tightened, her gaze flicking sideways as she caught sight of them closing in. She recognized one from the bar, a wiry guy with a pockmarked face who often hung out at the fringes of Midnight Ember, but the other two were strangers—both bulky, both with the look of people who'd picked too many fights and won too few.
"Hey, Nakamura," the wiry man called, a smug smirk sliding across his face as he and his buddies stepped into her path. "Just the girl we were hoping to run into."
Rina sighed inwardly but kept her expression calm, fixing him with an unimpressed stare. "What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing big," he replied, his grin widening as he glanced at his two friends. "Just heard about this little trick of yours. That... listening thing you can do." He leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a low murmur. "We need you to listen in on someone for us. Could be real valuable, you know?"
Rina tensed, her fists clenching inside her pockets. She didn't like using her quirk in front of anyone, let alone for some sketchy thug with a vague request. "Not interested," she said flatly, stepping to the side to go around them.
But they blocked her again, their expressions hardening.
"C'mon, Nakamura," the wiry man said, his voice taking on an edge. "We're asking nicely here. Just a little help, and we'll make it worth your while. No need to be difficult."
Rina kept her expression neutral, but her eyes scanned for an exit. She didn't want to risk using her quirk on them—not only was it a waste, but in the middle of the street, it would only draw attention. "I said no," she replied, her tone colder now. "Now get out of my way."
One of the bigger guys chuckled, crossing his arms. "Feisty one, huh? We're not leaving until we get what we came for."
They moved to close in, cutting off any escape. She could see their smug confidence in the way they stood, like they thought they'd already won. Her mind raced, weighing her options, and that's when she caught a shift in the air—a faint heat, subtle but growing, coming from behind her.
"Wow. Three against one?" a low, familiar voice drawled from the shadows, tinged with dark amusement. "Seems a bit overkill for a bunch of wannabes."
The men froze, their attention snapping toward the voice. And there he was—Dabi, emerging from an alley with his hands shoved lazily in his pockets, a casual smirk pulling at his scarred face as he surveyed the scene. The flames at his fingertips were faint, just flickers of blue, but enough to show he wasn't messing around.
