'Anomalous' sneak peek, pt2, probably the start to chapter 2
Izuku is gone by the time he returns to his apartment with a few packets of Mei's little surveillance devices. He'd expected this, but he's feeling a little weird about the fact that Izuku hasn’t returned by the time night falls.
When midnight rolls around and there's still no sign of his new obsession little mystery, he decides to do a little snooping.
He steps out onto their shared balcony and peers into the darkened apartment. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done a little breaking and entering to find answers to questions he hadn’t realized he’d had.
For this little anomaly to have shown up at his door begging for sugar of all things and be apparently immune to his quirk? There has to be some kind of setup going on here.
Maybe a commission plant? (Unlikely, but assuming everyone’s a potential threat has served him well for the last several years.)
Maybe a test from his benefactor to ensure he hasn’t grown lax in his awareness? It makes more sense. He’s been overseas in a variety of countries with much less stringent rules and regulations for nearly two years, now. It’s been a veritable vacation of assignments, and upon his return, the only thing he’d found in the assignment safety deposit box had been the address and keys to the nondescript safe house.
His first two guesses are that it’s either just a safe place to stay that’s not Mei’s couch, or it’s some kind of test by his shadowy employer that-is-definitely-not-Nedzu. But now that he’s been directed to live next door to someone that coincidentally has a natural immunity to his quirk? There’s a third possibility teasing at the edge of his thoughts, but he’s not sure what it might be just yet.
(Hitoshi has found that there are rarely true coincidences in his line of work.)
His neighbor’s apartment is utterly still.
Shi weaves back through his open balcony door, up through a vent, and across into the neighboring apartment to unlock the window leading into what he assumes is Izuku’s bedroom.
His eye twitches with mixed amusement. It’s too easy.
He doesn’t drop his guard as he slips through the silent interior. He’s adjusted Shi's volume to pick up the faint hum of any powered devices, but the home is nearly silent save for a quiet rumble in the distance as the building AC cranks up.
There’s a sleeping laptop atop a small stack of paper. He eyes the ports on the side of the machine, contemplating if it’s worth wasting one of his piggyback chips to break into the device.
Maybe later, depending on how much information he can get out of him without resorting to more intrusive methods.
Shi lifts the laptop so that he can peek at the printed paperwork. He thinks it might be French. He takes a photo and runs it through a translation tool, and it turns out to be a really dry reading about poor (and easily exploitable) employee habits at a European company.
He narrows his eyes with consideration.
This kind of intel is pretty tame to most anyone that might come across it at random, but to someone in Hitoshi’s line of work, it’s the stuff he likes to know about prior to infiltrating a target's base of operations.
He carefully sifts through the closet and drawers, looking for anything hidden or potentially incriminating. There is a concerning number of long-sleeved shirts and hoodies when compared to the three short-sleeved tees he finds, two of which appear to be used for sleeping.
Tucked away in the very back of his closet, he finds two button-up shirts and a jacket, which indicates that he probably has a pretty low-key place of employment. It’s doubtful that he meets with anyone important in person, but if that employee report tells him anything, it's that he probably does remote reporting for international clientele.
He doesn't find any secret compartments in either the closet or the drawers, but he does happen upon some private items he expects Izuku probably never intended another living soul to ever see. In various shapes and styles.
Perhaps he shouldn't be so excited by the sight of someone's sex toys, but the idea of keeping this little mystery around on a more long-term basis is starting to take root.
He contemplates the merits of seducing this person that's drawn his interest. If his quirk doesn't work on him, then he has a chance of trying a real, safe, and normal(ish) relationship.
(Normal-ish? Who is he kidding... There cannot be anything normal about being in a relationship with someone like him.)
At least he won't ever have to worry about accidentally catching him with his quirk. He's intrigued by the possibilities, but...unfortunately has no idea how to go about enticing a potential partner.
Obviously, he can't go the usual route and pay for his services.
He eyes the pile of innocuous reporting. Maybe he can pay for services, just of a different sort.
Request some similar work, pay him for services rendered, and ease him into a more physical relationship?
There already seems to be a perfectly functional chemistry between them.
He eyes the lines of notebooks along two shelves. He sidles over and picks one at random, flipping through pages of coded entries. He runs the tip of his tongue along his lip, feeling a surge of growing interest.
First, French intel on a company's weakness?
Now these notebooks absolutely packed with content that's written in a manner to discourage nosey snoops?
There are tables and calculations scribbled in the margins alongside a few illustrations of vaguely familiar support items with labels pointing to what he thinks might be weak points.
His heartbeat ticks up as his excitement grows. He's found something big. He snaps a few photographs and sends one to Mei, curious what she might say.
There's a beat of ten seconds before she blows up his phone with replies:
Mei: WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU FIND THAT
He chuckles and sends a few more photographs her way.
dededos
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
baratheonpilled
ellievsbear
izzy806
2087
