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53. Escape From I-Island

No, I did not watch the movie back to get correct dialogue or perfect flow of events. Sue me.

Rule 51: And do try not to be late.

Her classmates were meant to be here. They were not here. She'd left their company a fair while ago because she wanted to make sure she got back to the hotel room in time even if she managed to get herself lost. She could only assume they'd agreed to meet together before this event started and she hadn't been there when they did. Now they were late and she wasn't.

It meant, unfortunately, she was currently navigating a room filled with unfamiliar adults all having grown-up conversations that she didn't want to be a part of. She wasn't even sure she knew how to take part in a grown-up conversation. What did adults even talk about? The weather? But it was always sunny at the expo. That would be a very short conversation.

It wasn't like Otsuka could discuss pop culture, she'd sort of missed all of it over the last eight years. Though she had read some books recently, maybe she'd get lucky and anyone who tried to start a conversation with her would also have read one of them.

Lucky. Otsuka had never been lucky in her life.

"Mufiko?"

And naturally, that was why she was being mistaken for her sister. She turned to find herself faced with a man.

"Um-" Not just any man either because he was familiar, familiar in the same way Melissa had been familiar. Fluffy hair of honey brown stood up a little messily over his head, a warm smile gradually fading from his lightly-wrinkled face.

"Oh, sorry," he said, blue eyes narrowing as he frowned. "You look just like a family friend. Just like her."

"Oh." He had a short goatee, the same colour as his hair and square-shaped glasses. She tilted her head, the memory of a man with slightly longer hair but those same glasses fluttering behind her eyes. "Mr David Shield," she muttered before she could stop herself because yes, this was Melissa's dad, the man who used to chase her and his daughter and Mufiko around this very tower, into this very room where Otsuka found a secret way out. Even as she said the words, she knew she'd pronounced his name wrong, but it felt right, like it was the only way her mouth could shape his name. It rolled off her tongue, like the moment she'd decided to say Mr Shield, she couldn't help but put David first and pronounce every part of it badly.

The man's eyes widened, his smile coming back immediately. "Emiko? You finally finished your boarding school, huh?"

Aizawa and Yamada were in this very room. Right now. She could not handle those two meeting David Shield. "Yes, yes, boarding school, I finished, yes." That was the lie suggested to parents of all controlees to avoid awkward questions of where their child had disappeared off to.

"Is the whole family here? I'd love to see your parents."

Otsuka glanced around the room, anxiously looking for the Doctors Ogawa. She knew them being here was a distinct possibility, she'd actually considered talking to Aizawa and Yamada about her maybe not coming to this reception on the off-chance they were around. She hadn't managed to get the courage to so much as mention it.

All she wanted was a few days away from all the crushing anxiety of what was now her day-to-day life. Instead she had TT and her parents. Admittedly, spending time with TT had been a lot of fun once she got past the fear of him getting caught and her having to explain why she was hanging out with a villain. Her parents though, not fun.

"Um-" And there they were, over on the other side of the room- "they're over there," she said, pointing over in the right direction while also trying to figure out some way to make it so she wouldn't feel socially obligated to go with him.