Mind Games - Chapter 38

“-and I'm sure we'll all wish Shinso Hitoshi-kun the best in his endeavors at UA next year,” my homeroom teacher stated grandly, smiling widely.

The eyes of my classmates were wide, vacant with disbelief and shock, as they stared at me.

Which, you know... fair.

From their point of view, I was the weird kid with a villain's quirk that had no friends, barely said anything, and didn't even join a club. It wasn't exactly that I was anti-social, given I would entirely interact with other people when called upon, speak regularly to any teacher or staff that I needed to, and even occasionally hand out advice if I overheard someone with a significant life problem. It was more like I was asocial, in school at least.

I just didn't feel the need.

And, no, it wasn't because I thought of the other kids as 'Extras' or 'NPCs' ala Bakugo or Shigaraki respectively. In fact, I could list out the entire roster of kids I'd been going to school with for the last several months, not just my homeroom, and give details on their home lives, personal habits, and academic performance that they would probably consider extremely creepy.

And oh the things I could tell them about their parents.

Just... blackmail material for years. All sorts of interesting little skeletons buried back in those closets they'd done their best to forget about. Why, I'd even made the decision to refrain from telling two from entirely different households that they were half-siblings. I might yet let them know, though, given they were best friends and the knowledge might strengthen that bond instead of destroy it.

But, yes, the point was that each of them was a person in their own right. A slightly neurotic, self-obsessed, teenage person... but I tried not to hold that against them.

They just weren't all that interesting unto themselves.

Admittedly, I'd amused myself by playing a few games with them, here and there, shaking the rust off my manipulation skills by resolving an argument over a girlfriend that had been cheating on two boys at once and outing her and her girlfriend in reprisal, for instance. Another one I'd saved from financial ruin by discreetly hooking their single mother up with a secretarial job at another hero agency. Fuyumi had found that both endearing and a little frustrating given the boy wasn't even an acquaintance of mine. In fact, he'd been one of the ones to routinely tell me how awesome my quirk would be at villainy, but... well, this was middle school and social interactions were expected to be clumsy at best.

The only real instance of serious crime was a mid-level executive I'd found who was embezzling from his company, but... eh, they were one of the infamously awful 'black corporations' of Japan and I didn't really blame the guy. I'd actually sent him a GTFO letter before blowing the whistle on the whole thing by a series of anonymous tips at certain media outlets.

The entire thing had been an interesting experiment in how each one of them responded to corporate malfeasance.

“No way!”

“The class freak is graduating early!?”

“Whoa, that's awesome!”

“YOU CAN DO THAT?!”

“That's not fair!”

“How's that supposed to be okay! He barely participates in anything!”

“Lame! His channel's a joke, anyway.”

That last one was from someone I knew had their own internet side-hustle going on and was probably a bit salty over my success.

“But he's got a mind control quirk!”

The class went silent at that, eyes flicking between me and my accuser. It was one of the more popular girls in class, who was also one of the wealthier ones. She'd been – by far – the most interesting member of the group. I'd enjoyed throwing the occasional wrench into the gears of her plans to humiliate this girl or take advantage of that boy after screwing up his existing relationship.

Discretely, I reached into my pocket and activated my phone's recording function.

“There's no way he can be a hero!” Intelli Tenshi cried, slamming her hands on her desk as she stood up. “Think of the message that sends to aspiring hero students if they accept someone like that!”

Punctuating the declaration, she flipped the long curtain of lavender hair over her shoulder.

Yes, in case anyone was wondering? One of her cousins.

All the arrogance, twice the shallowness, five times the 'mean girl' attitude.

“You're free to take up your complaints with Principal Nezu at UA,” I stated bluntly, making her flinch back. The activation requirement of my quirk wasn't exactly a secret since I'd gone to primary school with most of these kids – or kids from other classes in my year – and word had gotten around.

“Don't speak to me, you freak!” She shouted back, her eyes narrowing. “You're lucky I've tolerated you even breathing the same air as me, but if you've forgotten your place, I'll be more than happy to show you!”

“Ms. Intelli! That's quite enough,” Mr. Suzuhara called out, recovering from his stunned state and – wonder of wonders – coming to my defense...

Well no, that was unfair. I'd never asked the man and I knew how hard it was to pay attention to more than twenty screaming brats at the best of times. Until I made myself his problem, he'd simply take my silence as a sign that at least one student in his class wanted to quietly learn instead of disrupting his lessons and starting shit.

“If you continue with this, you'll be sent to the front office!” The teacher threatened, giving a severe gaze around the classroom. “Honestly, I'm ashamed of this behavior! You were just informed that one of your classmates has been accepted to a prestigious school! You should be happy for them! Congratulating them! Not... this!”

I cleared my throat. “It's alright, Sir. They're probably just surprised.”

Suzuhara gave me a look like he didn't want to let this go, like he'd only just realized exactly how bad he'd done by me and wanted to make it up...

Or, well, that was me taking a peek behind the curtain, oops.

In the end, though, societal momentum quashed the momentary impulse and his shoulders slumped. “If you say so. Still, this was just meant as an announcement. The entire thing has already been finalized. Shinso-kun will be formally recognized at the end of year assembly-”

I kept the wince from my face.

Intelli's expression went slack with malice.

“-so that everyone will know why he won't be enrolling for next year's classes. Shinso's final examination scores have been nothing short of exemplary, as has his coursework for most of his scholastic career. His acceptance letter from UA was a glowing endorsement.” The teacher continued, driving home each point in my favor. “You should all strive to follow his example, not tear him down out of envy.”

With that, class continued and, during break, I jumped out the second-floor window to get away from the sudden flurry of attention directed my way.

Of course, none of that wore away at the feeling of Intelli's eyes boring into the back of my skull.

I didn't need to be a psychic and a mystic kung-fu guardian of fate to know she was going to be trouble at that point, that just helped confirm it.

…

And I was right, despite the amateur-hour bullshit she threw at me. Intelli Tenshi was a problem I'd need to deal with, if only on the level of a persistent pebble in my shoe.

She showed some basic-bitch cleverness, though, trying to get me alone with someone during the school day. More than once, I'd hopped out a bathroom window to avoid one of her male stooges trying to corner me to pick a fight or some other juvenile way to get me in trouble.

Honestly? I should have just let her have it. I really should have.

The guys she was using were low-performers with social problems she'd conned into helping her on the promise of getting them dates. Even with an arranged witness or two, their word against mine wouldn't be the silver bullet the girl seemed to think it would be.

Because the principal desperately wanted the bragging rights that came with a UA student emerging from his school.

Several years back, we'd had one end up at Ketsubutsu, and there were a few every year who made it to the second or third-string schools in at least the general education track, but we'd never had a UA graduate on the alumni rolls.

The absolute best case for her accusations would be for the principal to 'take them seriously,' order an investigation, mull over the evidence, and then-

Oops, Hitoshi's already left for UA! Too late to do anything about it now!

Then quietly bury the entire thing.

But if that happened, I'd have to sit down with Fuyumi and she'd give me that concerned expression, and I'd have to convince Himiko not to shank some bitches or ruin their lives, and that would be aggravating.

And I probably shouldn't mention that playing keep-away for the next few days was at least slightly amusing. But... the game had to end at some point, and I needed to clean up one last mess before I left the school anyway.

The first clue that the day wasn't going to be normal was when I received a mass email under the guise of a school notification. In it was contained a single picture of one of my juniors, sitting in a karaoke lounge with a number of other people around her. None of them were caught fully in the frame of view and the girl was obviously the target of the shot. For a picture shared between friends, it could be described as 'enticingly raunchy' given the way the girl's skirt was rumpled, a bit of panty was showing, and her blouse had been opened up to show she wasn't wearing a bra.

Nothing explicit, but enough to publicly destroy the reputation of the girl in the photo.

“Dude, Shinso! You see Megumi's pic?” Pikku asked, leaning back in his chair and looking over his shoulder at me.

“Yep,” I nodded, waving my phone slightly before going back to typing.

“Man, people are saying that was a party with some older kids that she got paid to go to,” Pikku grinned lecherously.

“Compensated dating isn't a crime,” I replied dryly, flipping back to the picture to double-check my analysis of it. “Though the karaoke place could press charges for indecent behavior.'

Which, again, not an actual crime in and of itself, but there were a lot of public statutes that prurient behavior in a public establishment would breach. I hadn't particularly made that a priority for my personal studies, though, so I couldn't quote you chapter and verse.

“Nah, that's not the thing... it means she'll take money for doing stuff,” Pikku nudged my desk.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Prostitution is actually illegal-” Even if it was widely practiced in modern Japanese society. “-and as a prospective hero student, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear you conspiring to break the law.”

I raised my eyes up at his paling face.

“Dude.”

He jerked at my deadpan bruh-ism and nodded jerkily, chuckling as awkwardly as he could. “R-right! Sorry, man... I just – oh crap, I didn't finish my homework last night!”

It wasn't really the prostitution that bothered me. That would be an awfully fragile glass house to live in given my side gig. It was the predatory nature of his desire to take advantage of a girl who had suddenly become widely-known for being easy if you had money. Granted, the people I worked for were scum, that's true, and I was scum by association, but there were lines and limits of common decency.

I hummed as I received a text back.

'Hitoshi, what the hell?!'

I frowned for a moment and continued the conversation.

'Sorry, just have a bad feeling I'm about to be accused of sexual assault.'

'Are you going to explain that?!'

'Stream's up. Private, of course. Got Sato Kenji with you?'

'He's exactly as alarmed as I am, yes. He's here. What's going on?'

I snorted, then grinned. I knew I'd pay for it later, but still...

'I'd suggest popcorn and snacks with your favorite drink. Also have the principal's number ready for when I get done.'

Looking at Fuyumi's response, which was just shy of a real curse, I knew that I would indeed pay for that later. Still, I closed my texting app and moved back to finish my analysis before-

“Ah, Shinso?” Mr. Suzuhara asked, taking a step over to my desk with a concerned expression on his face. “The principal would like to see you in the conference room by the music hall.”

I smiled and tapped a few keys, sending the report off to a secure server.

Just in case.

“Of course, sir,” I nodded, rising from my desk. “He probably wants me to help him figure out who spread that picture around the school.”

There was a tense anxiety in the man that suggested a denial of my assessment, but he kept his suspicions private and the class around us began buzzing with subdued discussion. Walking me to the door, he caught me by the arm before I could leave.

“Hitoshi, before you go...” He began, looking down the empty halls in a paranoid fashion.

I hit the button to start the stream and slipped my phone into the outer pocket of my school uniform's blazer. The one good thing about these outfits, in my opinion. “Let me guess, it has to do with Intelli not being in her seat this morning?”

Suzuhara froze like a deer in headlights. “How did you-”

“Don't worry about it,” I waved him off. “Just understand that she probably won't be coming back to class today. That's what happens when you lie to the administration.”

The teacher seemed to buoy slightly, nodding. “If you think you have it under control, then...”

Deep inside, there was a ball of anxiety from the part of me that was tied to the original Shinso Hitoshi. I was essentially living his worst nightmare right now, after all. I hoped surviving it would put that to bed permanently, though. Or at least make the shouting voice of paranoia quiet down a few decibels, I could live with either outcome.

Nearing the door to the conference room, I tapped the lens of my phone's camera. “Remember, wait until my signal to call.”

I opened the door and slouched into the room, giving it a once over.

Intelli was sitting at the table, looking up to throw me a venomous look that was equal parts hatred and victory. Crying into her shoulder was the girl from the picture, Megumi. Next to them was a man who was doing his best to look utterly outraged, his arms folded over his chest, Mr. Kinosuke of the science department. Also on their side of the table was a police officer, in uniform, standing with a hand on the crying girl's shoulder, who snapped an angry and disgusted look at me the moment I stepped into the room, looking as though he'd like nothing more than to leap over the table and beat me down.

The principal sat at the head of the long conference table, adjusting his tie and mopping up his forehead with a tenugui – a traditional Japanese cloth rag one kept for just that task, among other things. In a society as cleanliness-focused as Japan, one always had to have something on-hand, just in case.

“Ah, Shinso! Just the young man we wanted to see!” The principal smiled anxiously. “Now, there have been some accusations-”

“Let's get this over with,” the cop snarled, stepping around the table and pulling out handcuffs. “Shinso Hitoshi, you're under arrest for villainous use of a quirk ability to-”

“Now wait just a moment!” The principal shouted, panicking as he saw his golden goose on the chopping block. “We agreed to discuss this matter first!”

Intelli's smile widened, vicious and victorious.

I held up a laminated card in front of the cop, stopping him in his tracks. “I'm afraid you'll have to contact the HPSC and get their internal affairs division out here to do that, officer.”

The noise in the room felt as though it was sucked out through a straw, everyone stopping in place.

“That can't be real,” the officer stated, looking from the ID to my face repeatedly before snatching it out of my hands. “It's fake. It has to be!”

“What's going on? Just arrest him!” Mr. Kinosuke stated, slamming his fist on the table.

“Police officers can't arrest an individual with an active duty hero license in good standing with the HPSC,” I told the teacher, Intelli and Megumi freezing as I revealed that tidbit. “As a matter of Japanese law, the arrest of a hero requires either another hero to attend and verify the charges or an HPSC IA personnel field agent.”

“So what? It's not like you're a hero! You just got into UA!” Intelli cried, pulling away from Megumi to lean over the table.

I shrugged. “It's not a field license. I can't use my quirk in combat with a villain in public or anything, no. But I'm a certified hero for classified research purposes, behind the scenes stuff, and acting as support personnel.”

Kinosuke and Intelli's eyes widened, both opening their mouths to shout at once while the principal looked a constipated mix of relieved and confused.

“Enough!” The officer shouted, looking up from his smartphone as he slid the laminated card back to me in disgust. Looking around to the rest of the room, he held up a hand. “I have to make a call to get someone down to arrest this bastard, his license is in the database and you can't fake that.”

Before anyone else could speak again, I began. “You sure you want to do that, officer? It'll look even worse for you when an HPSC rep gets here and you have to tell them you wasted their time with an innocent person and a false accusation.”

“A false accusation!?” Kinosuke shouted, waving a hand towards Megumi. “We have ample evidence that a crime has occurred and multiple witness testimonies that you were responsible for it! You used your quirk to force this girl to prostitute herself, admit it!”

I sighed and walked around to the conference room's wall mounted TV and turned it on before taking my phone out and hitting a few buttons to link the systems, then putting it back in my pocket.

“Okay, so here's the problem with your assessment of the situation, Mr. Kinosuke,” I began as images popped up on the screen. “Officer Nasu,” I addressed the policeman, “I'm guessing they told you that your niece's photograph was taken sometime in the last two weeks, correct?”

“How did you-” He began, but I waved him off.

“You have the same hair color, facial structure, a similar enough build even accounting for sexual dimorphism, and there are a number of other indicators. It was either uncle and niece or cousins, I went with the higher-probability guess,” I replied. “Now, photo. Last two weeks, correct?”

He nodded dumbly as I saw Intelli stiffen in alarm while Kinosuke went cold in the corner of my vision.

“Right, so – pro tip here – if you're going to use a photo like this, clip the metadata before sending it out,” I advised them, reaching up to point at that part of the television. “You can have this independently verified at your leisure, but this was taken over three months ago. For the sake of being abundantly clear, they probably also said it was taken nearby. Presumably I lured her to a local karaoke bar from either school or a train station or conbini, correct?”

The officer nodded again, his anger cracking as he looked over the other evidence on the screen before turning to his niece. “Shiori... what's the meaning of this?”

Panic blossomed across her face as her mouth opened and closed. “U-uncle I-I didn't mean to-”

“Shut up!” Intelli hissed, turning to scowl at me. “Don't think all these fancy terms and computer stuff will convince anyone! Everyone will know you're guilty when they hear what your quirk is!”

“Bigotry doesn't become you, Intelli,” I stated, then turned back to the television's big screen. “Okay – location. So, whatever happened took place three months ago and two prefectures over. Nowhere near here. I'd have to check for an alibi, but since this happened on a Sunday, I'll probably have something. I'm usually at home with my dad or streaming on-camera during that entire day.”

“So this entire thing was just an attempt to frame you?” The principal asked, looking around the room with a scowl. “Kinosuke! I thought you said these allegations were credible when you brought them to me!”

“He lied to cover up his part in things,” I interjected, keeping the teacher from speaking. “Mr. Kinosuke is the faculty sponsor for a popular social sciences club. The membership of which is exclusively female. He's been cooperating with Ms. Intelli to operate an off-the-books compensated dating ring using his club to select appropriate candidates. Ms. Intelli leveraged her fast-learning quirk to handle the coordination with the clients and Mr. Kinosuke uses his quirk – Image Alteration – to create the initial blackmail material for those students who are uncooperative.”

Yes, apparently someone had ‘Photoshop, The Quirk.’  I know, I’d needed a moment, too.

“A very creative story,” Kinosuke stated, scowling at me and trying to hide the panic I could feel swimming behind his eyes, “no doubt one designed to take the pressure off you given you’re in such a compromising position.”

I gave the police officer a look.

This fucking guy, right?

I sighed and pulled up a new set of information. “Okay, if you insist. Here's another pro-tip for an aspiring criminal. Make sure all of your co-conspirators and blackmail victims have their social media profiles set to private.”

The man locked up as several group chats were highlighted with his name as a recurring feature, some of them talking about who he was getting Intelli to set them up with, whining about the take he was collecting from their pay, and others cursing him and trying to find a way out of his schemes.

I looked him in the eyes. “Teenage girls do not practice the best data security, I've come to find out over the past month of this investigation.”

A heartbeat passed and he jerked to stand, his chair shooting back across the floor with a squeal.

“Please, try to run. You'll make my day.” I grinned at him. “Or you could tell everyone exactly who enabled the use of the school’s mass email system to send out that photograph in the first place?”

“What's wrong WITH YOU PEOPLE?!” Intelli shouted, standing up with a deranged and manic gleam in her eyes. “Who cares about those stupid girls! They were just stepping stones! The real criminal is right there!”

Obviously, she pointed at me as she shouted, already breathing harshly.

“He's just like his Mother! She puppeteered an entire group of people to rob a bank back when we were in elementary school!” Intelli continued to shout. “Do you have any idea what it's like going to school with a monster like that!? Waiting, day in and day out for him to finally snap and make us all commit crimes for him!? He should be locked up right along with his villain mom!”

It was one of the few times I leaned on Ranma, my soul icing over as I refused to let the reaction from that leap out and turn this petty little child into a spray of red paint on the wall.

“Megumi,” I stated instead, looking to the shocked girl who was staring at Intelli like she'd never seen her before. Her eyes snapped to me. “Lying to a police officer is a serious offense, especially with a false accusation like this on the line. My advice would be to get your uncle to help make a deal. I saw your posts. You're just as much of a victim in all of this as I am.”

She took a breath, nodding. “Okay, I-”

“Don't say a word!” Intelli screamed, clamping a hand over Megumi's mouth. “That's his trap! That's how he uses his quirk! If you say-”

“Unhand my niece this instant, young lady!” Officer Nasu finally snapped out of it, storming over and yanking the lavender-haired girl off her feet before beginning to cuff her. “I've heard more than enough! You're both coming with me!”

Intelli gave one last keening cry, then went limp and collapsed against the officer, her eyes going vacant. I nodded at the man. “I'll have my agency send you a copy of my report in full by the end of the day, officer. Ultimately, it will be my superior's decision on whether or not to pursue disciplinary action over jumping the gun like that, but I'll recommend they go as light as possible. Manipulation like this isn't something they train you for, I don't believe.”

The cop took a shuddering breath, then looked to Kinosuke with another pair of cuffs. “Thanks kid. And... sorry about that. I bought into the story, you know? Certain types of quirks.”

“Just be more careful next time,” I assured him, making a note to look closer at his career now that he was on my radar. My real recommendation to Fuyumi would depend on what I found there. I turned over to the principal. “You'll be receiving a call in just a few moments from Hot Ice, the Endeavor Agency. She'll be discussing the proper procedures with you when a student is accused of a serious crime, sir. I'd recommend listening to her very attentively, because this was one hell of a hatchet job you just set up.”

Thankfully, Fuyumi managed to pour most of her anger into that conversation and could only muster a tired exasperation and disappointment for me afterwards.

It probably didn't help that I'd properly filed the investigative paperwork with the agency and no one had apparently noticed.

But at least my last week at the school ended with a bang.

~~~

Last chapter with Hitoshi at middle school.

Shit goes down.

Next chapter will be some Himiko/Hitoshi shenanigans and then we're at UA! Woo!

Hope everyone enjoyed this one. Next up is... I'm going to try and get that New Ron chapter out again. No promises, but I'll have something out over the weekend, at least.

Thank you once again for your support!