A Song to Come Home to

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Do you have the papers, Giran?" Rei asks, glancing over to the broker that had just arrived. He takes off his hat, running a hand through his grey hair and offers her a polite grin.

"Jumping straight to business, I can appreciate that." He digs through his jacket pocket and takes out a slim cigarette from his pack. Rei patiently waits as he strikes a match, lighting the cigarette, she wrinkles her nose at the smell. Rei had always hated the smell of smoke. It had nearly driven her crazy, smelling the smoke on her eldest son's school uniform when he would come home from middle school.

Giran sits across from her, clasping his hands on top of the table as a cloud of smoke swirls around the two of them.

"Of course I have your papers, that would be rather... unprofessional of me if I had shown up without the documents." Giran replies, his smile never leaving. "I must admit, Rei, though I do enjoy our budding friendship... I am a businessman first and foremost. My business is one that relies on the kindness of my clients and by kindness, I mean money." Giran takes out a manila envelope, contently studying it before looking back at her.

"Giran, I-" Rei starts but he cuts her off with a wave of his left hand. He sets the envelope down on the tabe and slides it towards her but doesn't take his right hand off of it. To her curiosity, that hand is missing all the fingers and has five glimmering silver prosthetic fingers instead.

"Do not get me wrong, I am fully aware of your current position. I am a businessman, not an idiot. Demanding money from you would be like the church squeezing donations from its parishioners." He pauses, taking a drag of his cigarette and shakes his head. "Though I suppose they already do that. That was a rather bad analogy on my end. Let's move past that, shall we? I've an offer for you. One I think you'll be quite eager to accept."

"And just what is that offer, Giran?" Rei asks. She's been around the League of Villains enough to not let others walk over her anymore. "In case you might have forgotten, I'm considered a terrorist by the government. I won't really be any use for you." Her hands drop to her lap but she doesn't look away from the manila envelope that's still under one of Giran's hands.

Rei only looks up when he chuckles. He gives her an amused look, a dangerous light glints in his eyes. Exhaling, a fresh wave of smoke wafts up and creates a halo around him.

"My dear, that's exactly why I have an offer for you. You have a story that many hardly think would be real. That story, believe it or not, is an inspiration to the underground community. I do recall bringing this to your attention already, I was not joking and I am not the sort to joke. With the knowledge that three of the Todorokis have more or less 'switched sides' on top of Dabi releasing that video, detailing the horrors of what it truly means to bear the surname of Todoroki..." Giran gives her a sly smile. "Let's not delve into that, I'm not here to talk to you about that. What I am offering for you is to take you under my wing. You'll be able to live a... mostly normal life." Giran taps one of the prosthetic fingers against the envelope, creating a muted ringing sound.

Rei looks from the envelope to Giran, still unsure. He seems to see her uncertainty and chuckles.

"Of course, you'll have both the protection of the League of Villains and from me as well. I understand your reluctance but trust me, you are very important to our cause and we won't let you fall into harm's way." Giran finally withdraws his hand. Rei brushes a lock of dyed black hair behind an ear and she tentatively takes the envelope. Opening it, she scans over the papers and then looks back to Giran.

"Do we have a deal?" He asks. Rei's fingers tighten around the envelope.

"Yes." She answers, Rei decides that she will do this for her children so that they can stay safe as she works from the shadows. Giran's smile widens.