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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
---Japan, 11:30 PM…
"I already regret agreeing to this," Mina says through her chattering teeth, barely able to think past the cold rain pouring down onto her. "You could have atleast let me keep my raincoat, jerk."
"Your bright pink raincoat for a stealth mission, great idea," Juzo rolls his eyes as he continues peering through the binoculars.
Both he and Mina were dressed in all-black tactical gear, with accompanying masks.
Mina's mask even had one-way glass to hide her distinct eyes and the pink skin around them.
She and Juzo were currently standing on a crane, three stories up, hanging over the dark ocean waters below, and a few hundred feet away was another dock, with a large ship docked, currently being loaded.
"The last one was more comfortable, just saying," Mina says."Are you going to complain all night?"
"Yes."
Juzo grumbles, "I'm starting to question why Horizon asked me to start including you."
"Because I'm cute, obviously."
"Whatever, you've done well so far, just don't let a little rain and cold get to you," Juzo says. "We'll be back in Horizon Tower by sunrise."
"And I'll be back in the hot tub, oh, is your girlfriend coming over?" Mina asks. "I've been dying to go shopping. I think I deserve a little break after all the Hero Work we've done, and only half the summer is done."
"A little more than half, but no Tokage won't be here tomorrow," Juzo says. "And she's not my girlfriend."
Mina scoffs, "You're the only one who thinks that. Honestly, you really should have brought her, isn't she stealth and recon-trained?"
"Yes, but Horizon said to start including you, so you're here, it's that simple."
"Yeah, but why?"
"Probably because of all the girls in our class, you're the closest to being actual friends with him."
"Oh, that's kind of sad," Mina says.
"Also the press loves Pinky."
"Oh," Mina narrows her eyes at Juzo. "So this was a publicity thing, is that it?"
"I'm sure there is more to it than that, hell, maybe he does just think you're cute," Juzo shrugs.
"Yeah well I still think he's a jerk, I mean he ruined my high school romance arc!"
Juzo lowers the binoculars for a moment to give her a confused look, "You liked Ho—"
"No you idiot," Mina sighs, clearly exasperated. "He mentioned something about my um…down here, being a potential acid fountain. And you'd bet teenage boys who eventually want to do that with their girlfriends don't want to take that risk."
"I was there, and he was just genuinely curious, like when he asked Asui if she ever had the urge to eat bugs," Juzo shrugs and goes back to stalking. "He also tried to test if Tokoyami would eat birdseed."
"I know he was being curious, but it still sucks…but did—"
"Yeah, he likes the bird seeds," Juzo says. "But don't tell him I said that."
"That's pretty funny."
"Did you become a Hero just to get a boyfriend or something, to be a celebrity like Toru wants to be?"
"No, I just don't like seeing people scared, so I wanted to help," Mina says.
"Well if you want to keep coming along on these missions, don't tell Horizon that sappy stuff, he doesn't take it seriously as motivation."
"But, isn't that why you came to UA?"
"No," Juzo says. "Pro Heroes are the only ones encouraged by society to train their Quirk to its maximum potential, haven't you always been curious about what you could do at your absolute best?"
"I've been scared of it my whole life," Mina says with a bitter frown, staring down at her gloved hands. "With a Quirk like mine, sometimes other kids get hurt when you get excited playing, and that was enough reason for me to not want to use my Quirk at all."
"I see, must have been hard, especially since you don't have many traditional human cosmetic traits."
"Yeah, but that's just all the more reason to be a Pro Hero, to show them that monsters can be cool too!" She says with a bitter, forced smile. "Pretty cool huh?"
"That's why Shoji does this stuff too," Juzo says. "And if you really want a boyfriend, try Kirishima, I doubt anything scared him, especially not a little acid splash."
Mina lightly punches him on the shoulder, "Don't joke about that, jerk."
"Sorry sorry, but it is kind of funny."
"Only for you," Mina says. "Besides I've known Kiri' since middle school, so dating him would be weird. Also, I don't think putting the two people with the lowest theory scores in class together is good, what if we got married and our babies turned out to have rocks for brains?"
"Then you'd know for sure they're yours."
"Ugh, talking to boys about this stuff is the worst," Mina groans, dramatically. "Especially you Team Horizon people."
"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means, Horizon is Horizon, Shinso broke up with his girlfriend before any of us even got to meet her because 'Romance got in the way of Hero Work', Sero is decent enough, but ogles other girls when he's Cellophane, and you…Tokage is clearly in love with you but you still won't make it official. You're practically her boyfriend already."
"Things are perfect as they are, no need to change them," Juzo says. "If Tokage has a problem I'm sure she'd just tell me."
Mina folds her arms under her chest and rolls her eyes, "Smart with the Hero stuff…but you're still such a guy."
"Well, I'll think about whatever that's supposed to mean later, right now we need to start swimming," Juzo says as he puts the binoculars away. "They just finished loading the ship, so we've got an hour before the engines start."
"Ugh, this is gonna suck."
"Yeah, no arguing there," Juzo says as he leaps off the crane, into the dark, cold, choppy water below.
Mina takes a few deep breaths to hype herself up, "Horizon owes me a shopping trip for this," she says before leaping after Juzo who was already swimming toward the ship.
---Minutes Later…
Quietly crawling over the edge of the ship and joining Juzo in the shadows between the shipping containers, Mina is shivering so much she has to actively stop her teeth from chattering.
"Next time, call Sero as your backup for stupid shit like this," Mina says as she crouches behind Juzo.
"Since when do you swear?"
"Since you had me jump into ice cold, pith dark, scary ocean water, now hurry up so I can get warm and give Horizon a piece of my mind."
Juzo waits for a moment until all the ship's crew is inside before getting up and searching for a specific container.
Mina follows closely behind him.
"For the record, normally this kind of thing is a solo task for Sero," Juzo says. "But since his dad is in the country for a few days he's spending tonight over there."
"I thought his dad lived in Japan, isn't he a construction worker or something?"
"He's retired, and moved, they came into some money so things are looking up," Juzo says as he's picking the lock to one of the containers.
"Oh," Mina gave it some thought. "So, his dad has, or I'm guessing 'had' back problems, right, did Horizon fix that too?"
Juzo pauses for a moment, then continues. "Yeah. Perks of being part of the team, and a friend."
"That's…a lot, even for a friend, don't you think?" Mina asks as Juzo uplocks the container, revealing a stockpile of green and purple vials secured within. "What is that?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Juzo says as they both step inside and pull the door closed behind them. "Stay close to the door and listen for anyone coming, I'll get some sample."
"Got it," Mina says, leaning against the wall as Juzo looks around with a flashlight.
After a minute of looking around, Juzo speaks up. "Does it really surprise you that much?"
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"That Horizon would do that for Sero, that stuff."
"I'm surprised Horizon cares about anyone really, atleast beyond his Pro Hero persona," Mina says, then remembers all the quiet conversations she's had with him since the video call at Horizon Tower. "Well, I know he has his softer moments, but still."
"Yeah, he invested a lot of money and effort into keeping Sero's dad safe, but, you should know by now Horizon doesn't care about money. And Sero is his friend, so eliminating Sero's vulnerabilities by getting his dad out of danger was necessary."
"So it's just business," Mina mutters.
"Mina, Horizon has said he'd sacrifice everything for his parents if they were alive, his friends aren't that far behind," Juzo says. "Normally we see the side of him that makes that clear, but when you're on his good side, it's like having a guardian angel."
"I guess I never really thought about it like that before. So, are there any other perks?"
Juzo collects the samples he needs and then places a tracker in a few hidden places, which she notices.
"Trackers?"
"Interpol wants to track these new variants of Trigger to find the source, which is why this isn't an official operation," Juzo says as he walks to the door and slowly steps outside. "And as for other perks, our unlimited credit cards are pretty nice."
"Damn, now I'm jealous," Mina says as they lock the container and move back to the side of the ship. "Don't suppose you can let me borrow that tomorrow?"
"I'll think about it, if you help me get a gift for Tokage."
"Deal," Mina says as they both jump overboard…
END CHAPTER---