MHA Chaos' Whims: Similarities (Extra) (Patreon)

(A/N: Roughly takes place at the same time as the end of chapter 51. Toga paying a visit to Hatsume while Katsu is in the training rooms with the teachers.)

Dark and empty.

Stopping her hums, Himiko narrowed her eyes as she stepped into the darkened room, some light pouring in behind her. She’d expected to find that Hatsume girl hard away at work based on what she’d heard about her but all she could make out was gears scattered across the workshop’s tables, wires and tubbing running along the ground, and different labeled equipment that looked half finished, either still being taken apart or put together.

The lights suddenly turned on.

Himiko blinked and was immediately faced with cross marked yellow-gold eyes similar to her own.

“Here to help me test out some gear?” Hatsume asked, holding up some kind of gas mask. “This baby can-“

“I’m here to pick up the stuff for my costume.”

“Your costume?”

Himiko raised a brow. “Yeah, my costume…you did finish working on it, right?”

Hatsume stared, dead silence taking over the darkened room.

“You do remember who I am, don’t you?”

“Not at all.”

Himiko nearly face palmed.

After their first meeting, she’d kept an ear out whenever she passed Support Course students and picked up on quite a bit about this girl. Whether they thought she was strange, were jealous of the attention her talents were getting her, or flat out disliked her, no one that talked about her sounded like they were friends with her.

“Toga Himiko? Class 1-A of the Hero Course?” Hatsume tilted her head, blinked then shrugged. “I came here with my boyfriend last week? He caught you after some kind of explosion then you tried to feel us up? Is any of that ringing a bell?”

“Oh! The both of you had those nice muscles and quick reflexes!” Hatsume declared. At least they were getting somewhere? “You’ll be perfect for some of the equipment I want to test. If they can keep up with someone as fit as you, my babies will work with everyone.”

That was one way to be remembered. Screw it, she was just going to take the compliment and keep things rolling.

“My gear first.”

“Right.” Striding through the dark room, Himiko following behind, Hatsume led them towards one of the corner workstations. She picked up and handed over a black face mask with red tinted lens that’d match the rest of her costume. “Here’s your stuff. Come on, put it on.”

Despite saying that, Hatsume took it upon herself to quickly place the new piece of equipment on Himiko, the face mask itself a bit thicker than other one on account of the lens but more comfortable than expected. Pushing some of her hair out of the way, Hatsume turned what sounded like a small dial of some kind near its edge.

The room lit up, taking on a greenish tint that did away with the dark.

“Night vision like you asked.” Hatsume said, still twisting the dial. The green disappeared and the darkness returned, Hatsume herself lit up as a mix of black, yellow, red, and all the other colors of a heat map. “I threw in thermal vision and x-ray. I couldn’t get everything else I wanted in something so thin, but this has got all the best parts of my baby. No one’s going to see you coming!”

She sounded so excited anyone would’ve thought the gear was for her.

“Thanks.” Himiko said, smiling herself.

Forgetting people so easily after more or less harassing them. Dedicating so much time to her creations and work. The total lack of concern for personal space or other social ques. She could see why so many people were quick to dislike or at least keep their distance from this girl.

The typical way to treat someone who strayed from the norm.

“Alright, what’d you want to test out?” Himiko asked as she adjusted the dial herself. Hatsume, who’d started walking away, did a 180, once again disregarding personal space and stuffing her face in hers.

“You’re really going to help with me with my babies?” Himiko barely nodded before Hatsume was dragging her across the room. “There’s no backing out! I’m going to use you to collect a bunch of data! Heh-heh-heh.”

That laugh at the end left her paranoid, but Himiko didn’t have a problem helping out someone who went above and beyond, putting extra stuff she didn’t even ask for into her request. Besides, the unhinged lack of social awareness aside, Hatsume kind of reminded her of Katsu with that earnest hard work.

It’s not like there would be any more of those explosions from testing out some equipment, right?

That turned out to be horribly wrong, Himiko narrowly pulling the both of them away from some nasty explosions that Hatsume didn’t bat an eye at, jumping back to work on equipment before the smoke cleared.

The two even had the same disregard for their own health, Katsu’s recent training taking on a far unhealthier turn recently in her opinion. There was a massive difference between watching him run his body ragged putting in hard work and for him to be testing how much heat he could handle from those flames he could make.

At least they both found enjoyment in things others would never do.

(A/N: Just Himiko getting acquainted with Hatsume and taking somewhat of a shine to the girl. How will this effect things in the future? Who knows.)