Does a Doll Deserve to Live a Happy Life? (Patreon)

Chapter 27: Plans and Promises

Nighteye Agency — Two Weeks Later

A reunion of heroes was taking place in the Nighteye Agency that included both Pro Heroes and high school students doing their Hero Work-Studies. Most of them didn’t seem to know the reason for why there were so many heroes present, but the more keen could already tell that it was something big.

Among them included a few that stuck out from the rest: a woman with blonde hair with dragon motifs in her hair, a girl with long periwinkle blue hair, royal blue eyes and a sunny smile, a green-haired girl with black eyes and a face that somewhat resembled a frog, a brunette girl with brown eyes and a round face, a boy with spiky dyed red hair and red eyes, a middle-aged man with black hair and bags under his eyes, a tall blonde-haired teen with blue eyes with a face resembling an old cartoon, a teen with indigo hair and eyes that looked scared to be there, and finally a plain-looking boy with green eyes and hair.

They were all talking quietly amongst themselves before a man with green and yellow hair and glasses stepped forward, grabbing all their attention.

“Thanks to the information we received from you all, the investigation has moved forward substantially,” Mirai Sasaki, otherwise known as Sir Nighteye, began as he walked forward and addressed everyone.

“We will now have a conference to share what information we have acquired regarding what the small organization, Shie Hassaikai, is planning.”

At his words, several, mostly students, showed their confusion, not fully understanding what was going on, and turned to their mentors for assistance.

The meeting was then moved to a big meeting room large enough to seat everyone, as Kaoruko Awata, a sidekick of Sir known as Bubble Girl, began the meeting officially.

“Well then, let us begin,” she started, looking a bit nervous but continuing nonetheless. “Those of us from the Nighteye Agency have been conducting an independent investigation into the designated villain group known as the Shie Hassaikai for about two weeks.”

And so it went, as Bubble Girl explained the goings-on around the country that were all connected to the villain group Shie Hassaikai and how the heroes currently present were either involved somehow or it was close to their cities. They also found out that the villain group was seen interacting with a member from the League of Villains, increasing their threat level.

As more information was provided, some Pro Heroes showed concern as to the reason why students were involved in the operation, which garnered nods from a few others. Ultimately, in the end, due to some of the information that the students had, they were allowed to remain, to the grumbles of a few others.

Eventually, they got to the main topic of the matter: that the villain group was somehow producing a drug that destroys Quirks, alarming the others in the meeting hall.

As Taishiro Toyomitsu, otherwise known as Fat Gum, explained the findings on the drug that they were able to recover, he said something that put the whole room on edge.

“And after analyzin’ the contents, we discovered somethin’ that made me sick,” Fat Gum declared with narrowed and angry eyes. “Human blood and cells were inside!”

Immediately the temperature in the room dropped a couple of degrees as some of them caught on to what that might mean. In particular were the horrified faces of Izuku Midoriya, otherwise known as Deku, and Mirio Togata, or Lemillion.

“In other words, that effect came from a person… someone’s Quirk.” Ryuko Tatsuma, or Ryukyu, muttered with a disturbed face. “A Quirk that destroys Quirks…”

“Hmm… I’m not really sure I’m following this. How does this relate to the Hassaikai?” a random hero asked in confusion.

Fat Gum and Sir Nighteye then took over the discussion, explaining to everyone how everything was connected.

“The young head, Chisaki’s Quirk is Overhaul,” Sir Nighteye said, showing a picture of said man on a projector. “His power lets him disassemble and restore things.”

“Disassemble… A Quirk that lets him break things and then fix them. And a bullet that can break down Quirks,” Sir explained, making Mirio and Izuku practically tremble in despair in their seats as they came to a horrible realization.

“Chisaki has a daughter named Eri,” Sir continued, looking at his two Work-Studies students for a moment. “There are no records or details about her birth, but when Mirio and Midoriya encountered her, she had a large number of bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.”

“Don’t tell me something so horrific…” Ryukyu muttered with a look of deep sadness in her golden eyes.

“It’s a society of superhumans. If you can dream it, you can do it,” Gran Torino, also present, stated with a solemn look on his face.

“What?” Kirishima, the teen with red hair, asked, looking around in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you sure we need the kids?” Ken Takagi, or Rock Lock, one of the ones against students being present, responded while solemnly closing his eyes. “I’ll only say this once. We’re wondering if this Chisaki bastard is turning his daughter’s body into bullets and selling them.”

With that revelation, the rest not in the know, which were the students, broke out into a cold sweat as the awful truth was made known to them.

“N…No way…”

“We don’t know if he’s actually selling the bullets.” Sir retook the conversation. “At their current stage, their efficacy is still too uncertain. However, if they’re at the test stage, and he’s using them as samples to gather more to his cause… There is no hard evidence. But he’s gathering people and funds across the nation… If the completed drug would be able to completely destroy someone’s Quirk…?”

“I’m sure they’ll have many ideas for crimes using this.”

“Just imaginin’ it makes my blood boil!” Fat Gum exclaimed in anger as he clenched his fist. “Let’s go find him right now!”

Seeing as tempers were flaring, with none looking more ready to storm the villain group than Izuku and Mirio, Sir continued with the projector, showing two photos this time.

One was of a tall teen of about 17 years with brown hair and crimson eyes, dressed in a white and black outfit. The other was a girl of about the same age, with three fox tails swaying behind her and two ears at the top of her head, casually dressed in a striped pink-and-white sweatshirt, a black skirt, black stockings, and black shoes.

“There’s more to say,” Sir announced, pushing up his glasses with his index finger and grabbing everyone’s attention. “The same day that Midoriya and Mirio encountered Eri, she apparently had another encounter with the two individuals shown on the screen.”

Mutterings broke across the meeting hall as the group digested the new information, until Shota Aizawa, or Eraser Head, spoke up.

“Why bring them up? What happened?” Aizawa asked with narrowed eyes.

“…See for yourselves,” Sir eventually muttered. With a look at his assistant, a video began playing for everyone. “We managed to recover several angles from a few bystanders at the time.”

While the footage didn’t show the beginning of the confrontation, it clearly depicted the brown-haired teen holding Eri protectively against his chest. The angle switched to reveal the still form of Kai Chisaki, frozen in a thick sheet of ice that had been released by the pink-haired girl, who quickly rejoined her companion, both of them looking on with contempt at Chisaki.

The video then showed Chisaki freeing himself from the ice with his Quirk. The teens exchanged a few words between themselves before coming to a decision: the boy casually leapt up to the roof of a 20-story building while the girl rained fire and lightning down on Chisaki to keep him from following. She then rejoined her partner, displaying physical strength similar to his own, and together they made their escape before the feed abruptly cut off.

The looks around the room varied. Some were relieved that Eri had been taken from her possibly abusive father, while others frowned at the final scene, the teens ignoring repeated calls from the heroes to stop.

“Wait!” Izuku shot up from his seat, relief shining in his eyes as a huge smile broke across his face. He turned to Sir desperately. “Does that mean that Eri-chan is now safe and sound?”

“Life ain’t that simple, kid,” Gran Torino said with a shake of his head, causing Izuku’s hope to waver as he turned back to Sir.

“It is as Gran Torino said,” Sir replied solemnly, making Izuku slump back down in his seat. “Unfortunately, we don’t know anything about these two, or where they could have possibly taken Eri.”

“Anything?” Ryukyu asked with a raised brow, picking up on his careful wording.

“That’s correct,” Sir confirmed with a nod. “Even after contacting several agencies around the world, no information at all was found on these two individuals. Everything we know is that they suddenly appeared out of nowhere a day before meeting Eri in Musutafu, and then earlier on the day of the incident were seen in a local amusement park in Tokyo, apparently out on a date.”

“…That’s it?” Aizawa asked skeptically.

Sir nodded with clear frustration. “Correct. No identification, no birth certificates, no medical records, no police records, no immigration records. We don’t even know their names.”

“That’s a bit disturbing,” Ryukyu said with a frown, sighing as she slumped back in her seat. “So even if we don’t know anything about them, I’m guessing we’re still going after the Shie Hassaikai then?”

Some wanted to protest but couldn’t find the words. None looked more shaken by the revelation than Mirio and Izuku.

“That’s correct,” Sir said with a solemn nod. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll obviously do everything in our power to find out what we can, but for the moment, our focus will be on the Hassaikai.”

The room settled into silence as they went over plans to take down the villain group, but at the back of everyone’s minds, they knew that a confrontation between them and those who took Eri would happen eventually.

=====

Back With Sieg and Co. — Demiplane

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ready or not, here I come!” I called out to the empty living room in a loud voice as I opened my eyes and turned around from the corner where I had been counting.

It had been two weeks since Tamamo and I rescued Eri from her sorry excuse of a guardian. Thanks to the combined efforts of everyone, even Lancelot, we had made real progress with her. While still a little reserved, Eri no longer flinched every time we touched her, proof that we had slowly but surely wormed our way into her heart and that she now saw us as people who wouldn’t harm her.

The first few days had been rough. Honestly, I didn’t know who had lived the harsher life between Eri and Sakura. But having already helped Sakura gave us experience on how to handle little Eri. It had only been a few days since she stopped waking up in the mornings wondering if everything so far had been a dream, which was great progress.

I’d even taken to learning how to play an instrument with her, after she had finished watching an old Disney movie—The Little Mermaid, I recall—and taken an interest in all the singing and music. So far she firmly believed that everything we watched was real and I did nothing to disprove that thought, after all they were truly real since I could visit said worlds.

For myself, I had always wanted to learn how to play the piano, while Eri had chosen the guitar. Since she was only six, though, she started with the ukulele. Artoria had even gone out into the city with Kiara and bought what we needed before coming home and surprising Eri with it over dinner.

Other than bonding with her over music or watching movies, I had also taken to playing various games with her, feeling oddly excited since I’d never played kids’ games before, given my past. Just yesterday, I even took little Eri out flying in my dragon form around the island, much to her joy. Little by little, we were tearing down her walls, and I had even seen her truly smile for the first time while we were up in the clouds.

Ever since then, smiles came more easily, and we were all delighted, because she had the most adorable one. Sakura didn’t smile easily, and when she did, it was only around me. Rin smirked more than she smiled, and whenever I caught her smiling, she would run off in embarrassment. And Illya… well, she only had rude gestures for me, which didn’t really say much since I had only spent a few days with her.

Now, we were playing hide-and-seek before lunch, even managing to rope Tamamo and Artoria into playing. Though embarrassed, Artoria had agreed after just one look at Eri’s cute face.

Walking around the living room, I searched various spots, pretending I didn’t know where they were, even though my enhanced sense of smell made it obvious.

“Are you perhaps hiding under the table?” I called playfully, crouching down and looking underneath, only to find nothing.

“Hihihi, nope~ You’re cold, Sieg-san,” Eri giggled in response, giving her position away.

Still pretending, I searched two other spots, not finding her, and was rewarded with more of her giggles.

“Hmm…” Finally heading to where I knew she was, I approached the window. A small pair of feet peeked out from behind the curtains. “Are you perhaps… behind the curtains?” I teased as I gently pulled them back. Sure enough, Eri’s amused face peeked up at me as she giggled, while I looked down with my hands on my hips.

“Found you~” I grinned before scooping her up into my arms. “Another victory for Team Dragon~” I declared playfully, ruffling her hair.

“Cheater! How come I’m always the first one you find?” Eri pouted cutely before hugging me around the neck with a grin.

“My nose is just especially sensitive to cute girls, that’s why,” I joked as I turned around with her still in my arms.

“See! So you did cheat.” Eri pouted harder.

“Hmhmhm, you know how it is, Eri, use every advantage to your benefit.” I nodded proudly before booping her nose. “Now, help me find Tamamo and Aunty Arty.”

Forgetting her previous pout, a mischievous smile spread across her face. “Okay~ Leave it to me, Sieg-san! I saw where they hid. Forward!”

She somehow maneuvered herself onto my shoulders, holding onto my head as she pointed ahead like a little commander riding her steed—or, in my case, a dragon.

“Aye, aye, Princess,” I said with a smile, holding onto her legs to keep her steady as I followed her directions.

‘I’m glad the Company managed to erase most of her trauma,’ I thought with relief. ‘Otherwise, it would’ve taken far longer than two weeks to get her to this point.’

It didn’t take us very long to find the two, Tamamo being a good sport about it and playfully rubbing Eri’s hair in praise for a job well done. Artoria, on the other hand, being the sore loser that she was, just pouted like Eri had earlier and called us cheaters, which only made us laugh harder.

As we sat down for lunch, I made eye contact with Tamamo and Artoria before giving them a subtle nod. The signal was clear, we would soon be going out to take care of the ones who had tormented Eri, while Kiara and Lancelot stayed behind so Eri would have someone to play with.

‘Just you wait asshole.’ I thought silently.