Dabi thought back to the way Mesmer had fled from him the other day. He couldn't get the broken expression frozen on the teen's face out of his mind. The sound of her sobs echoed in the back of his mind. He kicked at an empty soda can on the glass strewn alley as he thought back on Mesmer's breakdown. She'd plagued his thoughts ever since he'd run into her. Was she okay? Why did he care if she was okay or not? It was frustrating. Most frustrating of all, he wanted to see her again.

The can skittered across the glass strewn alley startling some strays that took off at a run away from the brooding young man before coming to a stop. There was a soft pop sound as if something came into contact rapidly with the can before it was sent skittering back in his direction. It landed at his feet. He glanced upward and his gaze fell on a beautiful teen with long pale hair and strange pale grey eyes with a faint mauve undertone. She was wearing another frilly black dress complete with her eerie plush bear backpack with the red stitched smile and red button eyes. Her lips twisted into a smile and she waved at him.

Dabi felt the corners of his mouth turn upward as he waved back at the strange girl, "I was worried about you." The words spilled from his lips before he could stop himself.

Mesmer tilted her head curiously to the side, "why?"

"You ran off last time." He pointed.

"So?" Mesmer tilted her head to the opposite side.

Dabi shook his head, he should have known the strange girl would be difficult. He approached her slowly and felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips as she spun around in place and let out a cute giggle. The skirt of her frilly dress fanned out around her as she spun. Once he got within reach, he placed a hand atop her head causing her to stop spinning abruptly. She looked up at him curiously. "You were upset."

Mesmer shrugged her shoulders before reaching up and putting a hand around his wrist. She pulled his hand off her head before slipping her hand in his and pulling him after her with another cute giggle. Dabi sighed as she raced off ahead of him, dragging him along behind her. The eerie plush backpack stared back at him with its dead red button eyes. He allowed himself to be dragged out of the alley and followed the eerie teen with a sigh as she skipped along the sidewalk ahead of him.

Night had fallen, the streets weren't too busy as they weren't in a very nice part of town. The streetlights up above encased the sidewalk in a patchy glow as some of them were out. Some of the shops on the street gave off a little light but most had boarded up windows and offered no warmth or glow. Dabi noticed some well-known criminals standing at the entrance of a frozen yogurt shop. It wasn't a legitimate shop; it was a front. He tightened his grip on the teen's hand and held her back not wanting to chance crossing their path.

Mesmer turned to him curiously wondering why he'd stopped her. "What are you doing?" She asked him softly once she realized there was no one else near enough to hear her.

"Come on, let's cross the street and avoid those guys." Dabi indicated the unsavory men standing in front of the shop.

"But I want frozen yogurt." Mesmer pouted.

"We can go somewhere else." He tried to pull her in the opposite direction but paused as he met resistance.

Mesmer offered him a smile and clasped her other hand around his using all of her body weight to wrench him toward the frozen yogurt shop. Dabi reluctantly let her drag him closer deciding if the men bothered the teen, he'd cremate them.

"Oh, if it isn't little Mesmer." A man with pale greasy grey hair, and pale eyes hidden behind a pair of small circular framed glasses greeted the mysterious teen. His somewhat squinted eyes glanced in Dabi's direction, "You've brought a friend today?"

Mesmer smiled in greeting and nodded her head. Dabi started to relax as he realized the unsavory men seemed to know her and meant her no harm. "You don't speak to them either?" He asked the teen.

Mesmer shook her head.

The man with the greasy hair chuckled, "don't take it personally, little Mesmer doesn't talk to anyone." He extended his hand in greeting before realizing Mesmer had his right hand captured and offered him his opposite hand with a chuckle, "I'm Giran."

"Dabi." He replied as he awkwardly accepted the hand offered to him with his free hand. "And she does talk to me, just apparently when no one else is around." He pointed.

Giran's usually squinted eyes grew wide at this, "really? That's interesting." He looked thoughtful, "Mesmer, you planning on scouting the boy?"

Mesmer didn't seem to be paying them any mind as she looked through the barred door at the various flavors they were serving today.

Giran chuckled used to the teen's strange behavior, "I guess not. Why don't we have a chat sometime." He extended a business card to him with only a number on it.

Dabi accepted it with a frown but offered him no response.

"Have fun, kids." Giran offered them a polite bow and opened the door for them.

"We're closed!" A gruff voice shouted as the bells tinkled overhead as they stepped into the small frozen yogurt shop. "Oh...Mesmer, it's you." A large man who appeared to have had his left eye gouged out poked his head around the corner of a hall that appeared to lead to a stockroom. His single good dark brown eye focused on Dabi, "who's your friend?"

"Dabi." He replied carefully.

The man looked like he was going to question him further but Mesmer dragged him over to a wall where several frozen yogurt machines sat. She grabbed a bowl with her free hand and gave it to Dabi before getting her own.

"It's going to be difficult to do this one handed." Dabi pointed.

Mesmer let out an adorable giggle but didn't release his hand.

Dabi sighed, "of course you're going to make this as difficult as possible, should have guessed."

Mesmer giggled again and they both struggled to operate the machines one handed and get frozen yogurt into their bowls. The one-eyed man chuckled as they made a mess and went to find some mops for them to clean up after they'd had their fun.

Dabi couldn't help but laugh as he looked over to see Mesmer pull one of the levers down then try to hold it in place with her chin and stick her bowl under it in time. Frozen yogurt covered her hand and spilled down the side of the bowl before she finally managed to get it into the bowl. She turned to him with a giggle to see if he'd try her method.

"This is ridiculous." Dabi chuckled and mirrored her action but managed to avoid making a mess.

They managed to fill their bowls with frozen yogurt before making their way to the small topping area. Dabi shook his head as Mesmer stood on one foot and tried to balance her bowl on her knee so she could dish out toppings one handed into her bowl. He was tempted to tug on her hand to make the bowl topple but then realized he'd be stuck with her as she went through the tiring process of filling another bowl. After they got their toppings, the one-eyed man set the mops and mop bucket out for them and waved them off to go enjoy their frozen yogurt first. He brought them some spoons and a damp towel for Mesmer as her free hand was covered in yogurt.

"Can't ever do anything the easy way, can you?" He laughed as he toweled off her hand before walking away back to the stockroom.

Dabi looked to the hallway warily as he heard what sounded like a muffled voice screaming in agony. "Should we be concerned?"

Mesmer shrugged, "does torture concern you?"

Dabi realized they were alone enough for her to feel comfortable enough to talk and smiled at the sound of her soft sweet voice, "depends on who's being tortured."

"Not us." She pointed with a smile.

"Then I guess I'm not concerned." Dabi smirked. "When you letting go of my hand?"

Mesmer looked down at their interlocked hands laying atop the table and shrugged, "dunno."

"Anymore schools you need to set on fire today?" Dabi pondered as he struggled to eat his frozen yogurt with his off hand as Mesmer had captured his dominant hand in hers and didn't seem to have any intention of letting it go. He didn't really mind.

Mesmer giggled softly, "not today." Her pale grey eyes with the faint mauve undertones flicked upward meeting his gaze. He felt his heart stutter in his chest as she stared intently into his eyes, "do you have a list too?"

"A list?"

"Of people who need to pay for what they've done?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Ah," her strange rambling about the boy she'd used her quirk on to burn the school down made a little more sense, he must have been on this list of hers. He remembered she'd said he'd witnessed 'it' and lied about it. He was curious about what 'it' was but had a feeling he wasn't going to get a straight answer out of the strange girl, "I suppose I might."

"I can help." Mesmer offered him a bright smile.

"Well if you never release my hand, I think you'll have to whether you like it or not." Dabi poked at her. His heart stuttered again as he noticed a faint blush spread across her pale cheeks.

"Well now I never want to let go." She giggled.

Dabi shook his head trying to hold back a laugh, "well that'll be problematic at some point."

Mesmer smiled.

"What did Giran mean about you scouting me?" He asked.

Mesmer looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. She offered no further comment and Dabi let out a sigh. She was difficult.

They finished their frozen treats before Mesmer dragged Dabi back to the mops and mop bucket the one-eyed man had left them. The pair struggled to mop up the mess they'd made one handed. Mesmer's childish giggles filled the small dining area as they struggled amusingly. Dabi couldn't help but smile down at her as she nearly slipped on the slick floor. He tightened his grip on her hand and dropped the mop from his other hand as he reached out to catch her.

Mesmer glanced up at the TV in the corner, a breaking news broadcast flashed across the screen. The words running across the bottom of the screen indicated there was an incident in Hosu. Smoke and burning buildings flashed across the screen before the camera landed atop a water tower to two familiar figures. Mesmer froze as she spotted Kurogiri and Shigaraki on the screen. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw a deep gash spilling blood in Shigaraki's shoulder. He was hurt! Her thoughts immediately went to the mean man who'd threatened him the day before.

"...Tomura..." She released her hold on Dabi's hand and bolted for the door.

"Mesmer?!" Dabi called after the teen as she flew through the door and took off at a run down the sidewalk. He tried to run after her but she was too quick and he lost her after a few blocks. Sighing he ran a hand through his unruly dark hair and looked up at the dark sky. Mesmer was quite the anomaly.