Mind Games - Chapter 59 (Patreon)

“The first thing you need to understand is that I'm not talking about religion or mythology or fairy tales.”

Fuyumi leaned back in her bed, the hospital having moved a second one into the room for security purposes. This room was in the secure wing of the hospital anyway and there was an on-duty hero from the Endeavor Agency partnered with a local support hero standing guard at the end of the hallway, but it'd been easy to argue that she and Bootstrap should be roomed together regardless of those details. It just made things easier all around.

“You'll have to explain what you mean by that,” she said, pleasantly full, clean, and warm. In the end 'story time' had needed to wait until they'd both eaten, showered, and properly changed for bed. With the help of Recovery Girl, Shinso was just barely able to use a seated shower stall.

But now Himiko was gone – off to a 'girl's night' – and they were alone.

The room was secure, the door was locked, and there was nothing to prevent her from learning the truth.

She was... almost jittery, at the prospect. And doubly-glad that they hadn't bothered to put a monitor on her given how fast she could feel her heart beating.

“Hmm... in traditional Japanese lore, monsters attack people because they're monsters. There's no grand design, no complicated logic to it, they're just... inhuman creatures. Kind of like animals, they'll attack you if you're in the wrong place during the time of day or night that they're active and they're hungry,” Shinso... Hitoshi, explained. “Religion has a lot of similar aspects to it. Gods just do things sometimes and you – as a human – either don't need to or can't know the answer.”

“And your Celestial Bureaucracy... doesn't work like that?” Fuyumi asked slowly.

“No, it doesn't.” He confirmed with a sigh. “You're better off imagining a giant government or corporate entity. An organization that appears monolithic at first glance, but is made up of writhing, constantly-shifting political alliances that are, themselves, made up of cliques, patronage networks, and clan-like families jockeying for positions of power.”

Fuyumi felt... odd doing that. “You know, when I thought you were going to be explaining the secrets of life and death, heaven and hell... I really thought it'd be more... more... mystical than this. Magical.”

Hitoshi snorted. “We can get to the wonder and horror later, if you're up for it, but it's better to go in understanding this first. Otherwise you're going to get a very wrong idea of who I work for.”

The hero frowned, then bit the bullet. “Who are you? I mean, really?”

He turned his head and stared her directly in the eye. “I'm Shinso Hitoshi.”

She blinked, feeling the doubt inside her paradoxically settle and surge simultaneously. “Really, because...”

“You're wondering if I'm some kind of body-snatcher wearing my skin,” he nodded, reaching up and tapping his chest for emphasis. “After all, it beggars belief that someone my age can be so strong, talented, handsome-”

“Alright, alright,” Fuyumi rolled her eyes. “You've made your point. Sorry, I was just thinking that you, well... you do seem a bit too capable in hindsight. Not completely outside the range of possibility, but...”

He coughed awkwardly and she froze, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Hi-to-shi...”

“You read science fiction much?” He asked, easing back into his sly smirk. The one she was starting to expect more and more often. Then one-

“It's not my favorite genre, but I know the basics,” she admitted.

“You ever run across the concept of people taking an entire skill, like say... martial arts, and putting it on a thumb drive, then uploading that into your head?” He asked, one finger at his temple.

Her jaw dropped open. “W-wait... you... huh?”

He just sat there smugly.

“You've been cheating?” Fuyumi asked, staring at him.

“Yes.” He nodded firmly, entirely unrepentant.

“You could be at least a little... I don't know! Sorry? Embarrassed? Apologetic?” Fuyumi hissed, fighting the urge to yell at the teen.

“If I expressed regret for doing what I did, you'd seize upon it as further evidence that I did something wrong,” he replied plainly, shrugging a bit. “Being unapologetic about maximizing my advantages and enhancing my performance in ways that are neither illegal nor traceable just means I'll never get caught.”

Her jaw dropped again, disbelief on her face. “And that's what's important to you? That you won't get caught?”

“Yes.”

Fuyumi stared.

Hitoshi stared back.

“Explain to me how you think this is okay.” Fuyumi took a deep breath and ordered her junior.

“It's entirely legal and expected for any family to support their child to the greatest extent they can,” he explained patiently. “A poor family will work extra hours, call in favors from relatives in occupational training, and offer what little they can to advantage their child over others in the hopes they'll have a better future.”

“And wealthy families offer their children more advantages than others,” Fuyumi interjected. “Yes, that's fine Hitoshi, but this isn't that. They aren't the same thing.”

“Yes they are,” he replied, his voice perfectly level and his tone relaxed as he reached for... a can of soda? Where had he...?

“No they're not,” Fuyumi refuted. “You're trying to compare getting into a better cram school with just... downloading calculus. That's not the same thing.”

“You're obviously unaware of the educational black market where tutors with quirks that enhance learning potential are paid obscene sums to give a CEO's child a leg up,” he stated.

Fuyumi blinked, feeling her world tilt to the point that she was momentarily glad she was lying down. “What?”

“They're nothing on what I've got, admittedly,” Hitoshi shrugged, “but you're still looking at a massive advantage the wealthy elite pay millions of yen per hour for. That's in excess of what they already contribute to their children by sending them abroad to gain more worldly experience and fluency with a second language-”

“Are you cheating with that, too?” Fuyumi asked, the sense of offense fading and being replaced by simple emotional exhaustion. “Is that really part of your quirk or just another lie?”

Hitoshi sighed tiredly, and Fuyumi blinked at the sudden change. “It might be hard to believe, but I do get tired of lying all the time, you know?”

“Could have fooled me,” Fuyumi grunted, taking the sidestep as an admission of guilt. “Why do all of this, Hitoshi? You could have just... just...”

“Told the truth?” He asked with a derisive snort. “Walked up to a hero or government office and explained – then proved – I was some heaven-sent agent? I'm sure that would have gone over well, yes.”

Fuyumi hummed grumpily, irritated by the reasonableness of the reply. It wouldn't have gone over well, no. She took a soothing breath in and out. “Then why? Why lie to everyone around you, why deceive the government, your school, your father-”

“Ah, I actually told my father,” Hitoshi interrupted, and Fuyumi blinked. He raised an eyebrow. “What? He's my father. Granted, I haven't told him everything, but he has a standing offer to ask any reasonable question about my work – hero or otherwise – and receive an honest answer. At the very least, I'd tell him that I can't answer if something is classified, just like I'd do if he wanted to know the inner workings of the Endeavor Agency.”

That... helped, actually. It helped a lot, to know that Hitoshi was honest with at least one adult in his life. “Okay, fine. But why everyone else? Why lie to everyone like this? What's so important?”

“Saving lives,” he replied simply, bluntly.

Fuyumi took a moment to process that, staring at him blankly. “...what?”

“If I wanted to infiltrate the government or climb to a position of power and authority, there are easier and less dangerous ways of doing it, Fuyumi,” he replied, quite reasonably, damn him. “I chose to be a hero, to make people's lives better. That's what makes all this worth it, at the end of the day.”

He paused, took a drink, and continued. “I've previously stated a goal to become an underground hero, you know that. I'm going to spend my life operating in the shadows, doing the thankless task of keeping the world safe from lunatics, cultists, and power-hungry monsters. If, at the end of the day, the cost is virtually every relationship I have, then I accept that as the price of doing business.”

Fuyumi had heard things like that before.

Pretty speeches given by people pretending to be heroes for fame or glory, but they didn't mean any of it. They'd made those promises in front of crowds, received standing ovations for them, and gone on to make a commercial the next day. By the afternoon, they were on the arm of a celebrity.

Todoroki Fuyumi didn't lie to herself about what the job of 'Professional Hero' actually consisted of. A significant portion of it was was PR, another was paperwork, and a third was politics. Actual heroism was – if you were lucky – only about a quarter of the job.

Charitably, her classmates at UA had graduated with the best of intentions, though many of them had already signed with high-profile agencies by that point. Two of the girls she'd known had used the reputation they'd gained as a hero in order to pivot to profitable modeling careers. Oh, they still had active licenses in the system and kept in shape to use them, but it was a rare bit of chance that saw them respond to a crisis or save a civilian.

But all of that was exactly why she didn't trust it when Hitoshi said that.

“What's in it for you?” She asked. “Is the... Celestial Bureaucracy... you made them sound like a government. Governments don't do anything without a good reason. So what's in it for them that they told you to do this?”

“Oh, they didn't tell me to save people and be a hero,” he chuckled suddenly, amused by the question. “That was entirely my call.”

“So then, why?” Fuyumi pressed, her eyes narrowed.

Hitoshi stared back at her silently for a long moment, his eyes glinting as she tried to pierce the whirl of thoughts inside his head.

“My primary mission is observation,” he stated. “My secondary is evaluation. Both of which are easier if I have hero credentials and the legal protections that a hero license allows you.”

A cold chill ran down her spine at the way Hitoshi put that. “Observation? Evaluation? For what... some kind of invasion?”

Hitoshi gave an amused huff and rolled his eyes. “An invasion? That's... no. I suppose you have every reason to legitimately consider that a threat, but no. Nominally speaking, the Celestial Bureaucracy already considers this world under its larger umbrella, so any sort of 'invasion' would be beyond pointless.”

Fuyumi nodded slowly, not liking the logic, but understanding it. “Okay, so what are you 'observing and evaluating' for, precisely?”

Another long pause, the kind that made Fuyumi progressively more nervous.

Finally, Hitoshi seemed to come to a decision. “If I told you ghosts exist, would you believe me?”

Fuyumi chewed on the thought, then nodded slowly. “Provisionally, at least. You bought a lot of trust between saving my life and stopping the villain from injuring or killing that man, which is why I haven't called someone to throw you in a cell – padded or otherwise – until I get to the bottom of what's really going on.”

“Hmm... more proof is available whenever you want it,” Hitoshi sighed. “If you're in this deep, denying you that will only antagonize you. But... ghosts. They're real.”

“Okay,” Fuyumi sighed. “Ghosts are real.”

“It follows, naturally, that souls are real,” Hitoshi continued.

Fuyumi nodded. “Alright, sure. Ghosts are souls that don't have a body. Sure.”

“Ghosts are souls. Souls are people. Just like you said, they don't have bodies, though,” Hitoshi explained calmly. “Bodies are physical. They're made of matter. Atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, etc... following?”

“I hope you're going somewhere with this,” Fuyumi sighed again, then nodded. “But, yes, I'm following.”

“Souls aren't made up of matter. They're made up of energy. But not the kind you find in a standard physics lesson. I'm talking about meta-physical energy. For ease of explanation, you can imagine them as... soul particles, if you want,” Hitoshi continued. “The particles build upon themselves into more complex patterns that, after enough iterations, hold a consciousness. That's a ghost.”

“Alright...” Fuyumi drawled out the word slowly, taking the information in and trying to predict where he was going with it.

“Now, look around us,” Hitoshi instructed to her, waving at the hospital room and then directing her gaze at the windows. “There's chairs and beds, floors and ceilings, buildings and streets. All made up of matter. None of it is alive, though. But there's also plants, animals, birds...”

Fuyumi leaned back as Hitoshi trailed off. “You're saying that, just like matter forms our bodies, the word around us, and living things that aren't humans... that these 'spirit particles' can coalesce and create other things, too.”

“Things that, like ghosts, people wouldn't be able to see,” Hitoshi explained. “But... bears, lions, sharks, hawks.”

“Animals that can hurt or kill people,” Fuyumi took a breath. “So you're saying that there's something out... there-” Fuyumi waved her hands at the windows nebulously. “-that can kill human souls, basically?”

“That's the very simplified explanation, yes,” Hitoshi replied with a nod. “But, yes... basically, my job is primarily to keep an eye on things and make sure... well, you're familiar with Dark Age Phenomena?”

Fuyumi flinched, hardly able to help herself.

Mentioning Dark Age Phenomena to your average citizen was one thing. They knew that weird things had happened during the societal collapse at the Dawn of the Age of Quirks. Some quirks went out of control, some governments tested inhuman experiments to create living weapons. In a kind of vague and ominous way, a random person on the street knew that they were bad news.

Otaku with too much time on their hands tended to know more. The ability of failing governments to control information about major catastrophes was limited. That meant there were a lot of hard-copy files out there that particularly devoted investigators of the paranormal had dug up in the last century and posted online as the internet came back full-force.

That isn't to say they knew much.

Just that the containment zones, quarantine areas, and exclusion blocks were incredibly dangerous in ways no one was really equipped to deal with. No one. Not even their governments.

Not that anyone would admit it.

“Tell me you aren't even thinking of going near one of those deathtraps!” Fuyumi hissed in alarm, once again grateful that she wasn't hooked up to monitoring equipment.

“Not for the foreseeable future,” Hitoshi replied, as if he wasn't casually admitting to a death wish.

“Those places are on complete lockdown, Hitoshi!” Fuyumi growled. “They don't just let people in! And the ones who do need government approval at the highest levels! Anyone who tries to make it past the guards and the defenses is gunned down!”

“Hence why you'd need to be a top-level hero with impeccable credentials and a network of connections to get access, yes,” Hitoshi stated. “That way I can ascertain whether or not they pose an elevated risk.”

Fuyumi opened her mouth to say something, risking drawing someone to their room with an offended shout, but... stopped abruptly, when Hitoshi's words registered. “You... know what DAPs are?”

“I have several educated guesses on the subject, none of which imply anything good,” Hitoshi stated, then paused. “But there are levels of bad and some of them are more sustainable than others.”

“Dark Age Phenomena are one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the science behind quirks and metahuman powers,” Fuyumi stated, her voice toneless and blunt. “Hitoshi, if you know anything about them, you need to tell people.”

“Hmm... once I give people information, though, they'll inevitably start poking at them to evaluate my findings,” he replied. “And – assuming my primary guess is right – poking at them would be... extraordinarily bad. Not turning the evidence I've gathered over to the government was, in fact, one of the major motivating factors behind operating in secret.”

Fuyumi took another deep breath, reaching up to massage the bridge of her nose. “Okay. How bad is 'extraordinarily bad.' What does that mean?”

“End of the world,” Hitoshi stated.

Fuyumi, if pressed, would be forced to admit that she was fond of Hitoshi's favored bland nonchalance. It was the kind of no-shits-given attitude that she – at various stressful times in her life – wished she could affect to defuse the tension. Especially after she'd attained a position of authority. It also helped that the teenage boy, for all of his lowkey bravado, actually did care. The attitude was just an ablative shield to distance himself from the emotional complications of caring for other people.

See, Dad, the psych component to my degree was worth something!

Other times, though, it made her want to fucking strangle the little shit.

“The end of the world,” Fuyumi echoed, some distant part of her wanting to break into manic laughter at having finally achieved the same dull tone devoid of emotion as her current conversational partner.

“Yep.”

Deep breaths, you don't have panic attacks anymore. You're in control.

“I need you to explain that, Hitoshi,” she ordered calmly. “When you say 'end of the world,' is it one of those metaphors for another societal collapse like the Dark Age or...”

“Oh, no,” he shook his head, taking a pull from his soda and draining it completely. “Bare minimum, humanity is thrown back to the stone age and driven into a state of warring – possibly cannibalistic – tribes that live in a perpetual state of rapine madness.”

“That's the minimum?” Fuyumi asked, horrified and appalled. “What's worse than that?”

“Total extinction event,” Hitoshi replied. “Somewhere between only humanity ceasing to exist and the entire planet being scrubbed of all life down to the bedrock. Non-zero chance of that, but I personally consider it unlikely.”

“Oh, I'm glad you consider it unlikely-!” Fuyumi began, her voice involuntarily rising.

BAM-BAM!

“Everything okay in there, Hot Ice? Heard you shouting,” A gruff voice from beyond the door echoed out.

Fuyumi opened her mouth to snap out a reply and forced it back down. She took another breath. “We're fine. Just... having a spirit discussion about something, Charcoal.”

“Spirited discussion? Awful spirited for past twenty-two-hundred,” the voice rumbled.

“She finally confessed to me and I'm trying to talk her out of eloping, Coal,” Hitoshi replied with that same damn smirk.

Fuyumi glared at the little shit.

A deep rolling laugh came through the door. “You live dangerously, Boot. Alright, settle down, though. Don't wanna' haveta' deal with security makin' a call to the boss-man.”

A few heavy steps, the presence at the door leaving, and Fuyumi dropped back against her bed with mingled irritation and relief.

“I really need to teach you how to lie, don't I?” Hitoshi asked thoughtfully. “'Spirited Discussion?' Really? That was the best you could do?”

“At least I didn't imply that I was in a romantic relationship with a minor!” Fuyumi hissed.

“It was a humorous deflection,” Hitoshi waved her off. “We don't live in a television sitcom, Fuyumi. He obviously didn't take it seriously and, even if he did, no one else would.”

“That's not...” Fuyumi began, then shook her head. “No, we were discussing the end of the world. You can't just tell me something like that and leave it there. What the hell, do you think I wouldn't care that the world could end?”

“Do you care about nuclear missiles launching and wiping out humanity?” He asked with a shrug.

Fuyumi felt her jaw clench, her next words seeping out through them so she didn't start screaming in frustration. “This and that are completely different things, Hitoshi.”

“By method, sure. By result? Not so much,” he replied, still frustratingly calm.

“But humans control the nuclear stockpiles,” Fuyumi stated. “You're trying to tell me that some crazy ghost-monsters might destroy the world. We have no way to control that.”

“The complex inbred cabals of class-based political power which control weapons of annihilation might as well be incomprehensible monsters for all that it actually matters,” he replied, then had the gall to shrug. “But, even if you care more about sudden and inexplicable destruction by cosmic forces as opposed to the arcane geopolitical webs of intrigue spun by world governments in a bid for global domination... well is panicking about either one actually going to make the situation any better? Or allow you to deal with it more effectively?”

Fuyumi stared at him for a long, wordless moment.

She slowly pulled a pillow out of the stack behind her and pressed it to her face.

Then screamed.

The sound muffled to the point it didn't alert anyone outside the room, Fuyumi nevertheless flopped back against her remaining un-screamed pillows, breathing harshly.

Another moment of silence.

“Feel better?”

No guesses about which little shit asked that question.

“Much, actually,” Fuyumi stated, staring at the ceiling of their room. “At the earliest available opportunity, you are going to show me the evidence you have to support your claims about the Dark Age Phenomena being potentially apocalyptic. I will read through whatever you have and, if it truly isn't urgent, we'll go from there. You don't make any sort of move without running it past me, though, clear?”

“Sure, one minute,” Hitoshi replied, throwing off his covers and gingerly leveraging himself out of bed.

“Bathroom?” Fuyumi asked, snorting at the sudden mundane issue.

“Nah, going to get the files. I'll be right back,” Hitoshi stated, smirking again and walking towards the wall.

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but the words died in her throat when he disappeared through the wall.

She felt the last shreds of doubt crumble beneath her. The forming plan to have Hitoshi sit for an intensive psych evaluation and possibly medicated or committed... it would be difficult, but she couldn't let a crazy person run around with a hero license. Not that kind of crazy, anyway.

“This is really happening, isn't it?” She asked the empty room dumbly.

There was no response.

“Fuck.” The word rolled off her tongue in astonished and horrified disbelief. “Fuck.”

Hitoshi wandered back through the wall a few minutes later, handed her a thick color-coded binder of documents. Fuyumi accepted it numbly.

“How'd you do that?” She asked, unable to work up the emotional energy at this point to be outraged at his bullshit.

“Pocket dimension,” he replied casually, holding up a book as he made his way back to his bed. “I picked up something to read for myself, by the way. Hope you don't mind.”

“Not at all,” Fuyumi sighed, looking down at the binder and reading the neatly-printed label aloud. “The End of the World: A Tabletop Roleplaying Game Setting Background.”

“Just in case anyone picks it up and reads it by accident,” Hitoshi hummed, already leaning back with his book open. “Just don't let Nezu have it, he'd be able to tell the entire thing is real in under a minute.”

Fuyumi opened her mouth to argue, then shook her head.

Beyond the fact that she agreed with him, she now had better things to do than argue with Hitoshi.

She turned to the index and began to read.

~~~

Update's done!

Recovery continues in the hospital, but drama ensues as Fuyumi and Hitoshi grapple with his deception and crazy bullshit!

Next chapter will feature a focus-shift to Himiko and her night out with the gals! Specifically, Mina and Kyoka as the latter two try to take her mind off her boyfriend getting shot by villains.

I'm sure that will go splendidly.

But that's next week.

This weekend's update will be more Paldean Knights!

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and thank you again for all your support!