It was an even more awkward car ride to Ren's college. Mirko didn't say a word.

Shigaraki even tried asking her what Hawks had said, but all he got was a  "nothing" and a look that meant "shut up."

Must have been pretty bad, Shigaraki concluded.

Mirko was seething. Hawks had some nerve accusing her of something so dumb. Of all the things he could have said, that was the one she didn't see coming.

The college campus was pretty big, but at least it had guest parking. Mirko found Ren's dorm easily enough.

Shigaraki came because he didn't care to sit in the car and risk security coming by. He was hardly normal looking.

But on a campus full of people with odd quirks, he didn't stand out that much. Few people gave him a second look.

Mirko would have got more stares, but she'd put on a coat and jeans over her costume, so she only got the usual "she's hot" looks.

She banged on Ren's door when she got to it.

Ren answered it using his quirk... The lock was already tricked out.

"Quien esta ahi?" he asked. [Who's there?]

"Esta tu hermana, estúpido!" Mirko replied. [It's your sister, stupid!]

"Ah, Rumi, hola." Ren wheeled a spiral chair in front of the door. "And...you brought a friend."

Mirko shrugged. "This is our second stop. He didn't want to wait in the car."

"Wait, you have a car?" Ren had stars in his eyes.

"Rental, so don't even think about it," Mirko said.

Ren pouted.

"Well, come in."

Mirko glanced at Shigaraki. "Ren lost his driver's license for rigging his car to be like one in a superhero movie or that claptrap All Might used to drive around in America. Apparently, you need to fill out a form to do that."

"Which is just stupid," Ren said. "It's my car."

"Your junker, you mean."

"Hey, I fixed it up." Ren picked up a device. "I got the car for free. Someone was going to get it destroyed. I replaced all the internal stuff myself. I could have built my own car, but chassis are expensive."

Shigaraki didn't care about this subject. He said nothing.

"Real talkative today, are we?" Ren said. "Well, why are you in my humble abode? Don't tell me those pesky ninja are back."

"There is news about that but also," Mirko tossed him a box, must have had her gift in it, "feliz coupleanos."

"Ah, you remembered," Ren said, "three months later..."

"I'm early for next year."

"Right," Ren said. "So what's going on?... Although, this isn't the best time, because--"

"Hey." Kayla walked into the room. "Ren, your door is unlocke--Oh." She stopped.

Mirko gave Ren a look Shigaraki couldn't interpret.

Ren looked sheepish. "This is not what it looks like."

"Oh?" Mirko was smirking now.

Kayla reddened.

"No. Kayla and I actually had a project today," Ren said.

"Uh huh." Mirko was all skepticism.

"It's true." Kayla said. "I...wanted to work on my quirk."

Mirko tilted her ears. "Huh?"

"Kay's finally decided to start testing her quirk out," Ren said. "We were going to head to the nearest beach and run some tests. How long she can hold it and so on. I also want to see if her quirk works on animals, because how cool would that be?"

"Would it depend on if the animals understand words?" Shigaraki actually took the question seriously.

"You know, it might. If only I knew someone with a dog or a horse," Ren mused.

"It's kind of important though," Mirko said.

"Well..." Ren hesitated. "Why don't you just come with us, then? Less chance of anyone hearing you or spotting him," nodding at Shigaraki. "Some people here follow the LOV's actions after all, probably closet fans. And if you have a car, that saves us calling one, so it's a win-win."

"I guess," Mirko agreed.

"What?" Shigaraki said. "I don't want to go to the stupid beach."

"What? Everyone likes that," Ren said. "And on a day like this...it's probably crowded, but we can fix that. I'll just get on the website and make some kind of alert."

"No," Mirko said.

"Or Kayla could convince everyone to clear out," Ren added.

"I don't think I should." Kayla shook her head. "That seems like an abuse of power. I'm not even sure about testing that part."

"But it would be a good test, and at most you're just giving them extra walking time," Ren said.

"But what if it's someone's special day," Kayla said. "That would be selfish."

"I mean...well, yeah, but things aren't always convenient," Ren said.

Kayla still didn't want to try it.

"Well, then online it is," Ren said. "Would a shark alert do...? No, contamination is better..."

"Ren," Mirko said sharply.

"Well, we have to clear it anyway so Kayla can practice. I'll just find a little cove or something, so hardly anyone will have to leave. It's fine," Ren said. "Ah, I know, a Villain alert--that always works."

"And the Heroes will show up," Mirko said.

"I can fix that later."

Mirko face palmed.

"Ren really can do anything," Kayla commented to her. "He can get a reservation anywhere."

"He can get one in jail one of these days," Mirko muttered.

"Oh, don't have a stick up yours, Sis," Ren dismissed her concern. "It's not hurting anyone. What's got you tripping all the sudden?"

Mirko gave up. 

Maybe she'd just learned to be a little more cautious in the last few months with thinking that things will go as smoothly as you plan them to.

* * *

But the beach, which wasn't that far away, didn't seem too crowded, all things considered. And the spot Ren had picked out was pretty secluded.

Shigaraki, again, only came out of the car because too many people were around the parking lot, but he kind of wished he'd just gone back to the house, but it was a long way to warp--and warping was such an unpleasant experience, even for him, that suffering it out seemed better.

"You want to help?" Ren asked Rumi. "Or we can talk about that thing first."

"I think we should," Mirko said.

She filled him in.

Kayla was not able to provide any more answers either, but she said it sounded spooky. 

"Uncanny things like that, we heard rumors about them in the lower ranks, but I never saw it," she said. "I had some issues with dreams and things at first. Likstar and West walked me through how to deal with it, though."

"Why would that even surprise me? Of course they did," Mirko said. "How do they always know when someone needs help?"

"Probably because people tell them," Ren observed. "They're approachable."

"But them taking a kid like that," Kayla said. "I mean...if he were dangerous, but he didn't know all that much from what you say. It seems a little strange to me. And I never thought Stain was much of a target for them, so...are you sure it was the Originals?"

"But who else would target Lethe?" Mirko said.

"I don't know, but he must have had other connections before he joined them, from what you've said. It's possible," Kayla said.

Considering this that it was not the Originals had not really occurred to either of them. And it wasn't a nice one, because that meant it was something they couldn't account for...but they had no reason to be sure of it.

"They could just not want someone to find Lethe," Mirko said.

"I guess." Kayla wasn't convinced. "Well...it's not much to do with me. I can't help you there. Could be his connection to Hantai too. Whoever killed that b-----d did the world a favor, if you ask me, but either way, I have no idea where he'd be taken anymore. That base was the last I knew of." She shook her head. "Let me know if you do find a lead though--if it links to them after all."

She pulled off her cover dress. "I think I'll just get started... You have the timer?"

"Right here." Ren held one up. "Could use my phone, but this one can get closer."

Kayla climbed up on a rock and dove into the water with the grace of a professional diver.

"I hate swimming," Mirko remarked.

"No one's asking you to swim," Ren said, "but if you're jealous of her ability, just remember, she can't jump for s---."

"Ren!" Mirko rolled her eyes. 

"Right, well, about tu problema," Ren grew serious, "es a hard one. I don't know what happened to that kid, either of them, but it's downright spooky, like Kay says... We can get on it, but it could take weeks to get a good lead if it's just the street network. I'd have to call in some different connections. If there was an online link, it'd be easier, but you don't have that. So many Pros are on so many different cases, I'd think your resources could be better, Sis."

"I can get on that, but involving them closely in it isn't really a possibility," Mirko said.

"And they don't like you," Ren reflected, "so they'd probably ask you a lot of questions."

Ouch. Even Ren, Rumi thought to herself.

"Ah, cheer up." Ren noticed her expression. "We'll find some way out of this. And at least Stain is one less problem to worry about, right? He almost got you."

Mirko put hand to her face. The scar was long gone thanks to Shine's suggestion, but she remembered.

Ren realized he'd probably not said the right thing.

"Let's do something fun for a bit," he said. "Kayla will be busy testing her endurance for a while. Want to build a sand castle?"

"A what? How old are you?" Rumi said.

"I'll have you know, there are very prestigious sand castle building contests for adults," Ren said. [This is actually true. Look it up, it's pretty cool.]

"That still sounds juvenile," Rumi said.

"Says the ex-delinquent," Ren said. "You're just saying no because you know I'll do it better than you."

Rumi gave in less because she didn't know that was a trick, and more because she figured Ren needed to do something to break the awkward... All these things she was noticing now that she was actually attempting to be aware of other people.

Shigaraki didn't participate in this and was kind of sulking about the whole thing with Hawks...and he was never happy, anyway, so it wasn't his habit to enjoy things.

But after a while, even he had to be surprised by how detailed Ren could manage.

[This is just a sample of the things people come up with.]

"Eat my sand, Sis," Ren said smugly.

Mirko didn't really try that hard.

[Probably still better than I would bother to do.]

"I don't like sand that much either," she said. "Gets in the fur." [Obligatory Star Wars reference.]

"Boy am I glad I'm not a rabbit, then. I happen to dig the beach," Ren said.

Mirko shoved him into his sand castle for that.

"You're not gonna give it a shot?" Ren asked Shigaraki, after brushing sand off himself.

Shigaraki shot him a look of disbelief. "Making stupid things out of sand? What a waste of time."

"I bet you've never done it," Ren said. He definitely had the family gene of taunting people into doing things. "Probably just afraid you'd suck at it."

"Ren," Rumi said.

"What?" Ren gave her an odd look.

Well...why was she stopping him exactly? It wasn't that much to get upset over.

She forced a smile instead. "Let's try something more my speed. Last one to that dune has to sit in the back of the car."

"But you'll easily win a contest of strength," Ren said.

"Sounds like a you problem, loser." Rumi took off, kicking up sand and covering both of them in it.

Shigaraki didn't appreciate that.

"D--- cheat!" Ren said.

But his shoes turned into...some kind of hover boots? The frick did he bring those to the beach?

Maybe to avoid stepping on sand.

He sped after Rumi.

Kayla popped out of the water in mermaid form.

"How long--?" But seeing only Shigaraki, she bit her lip. "Where's Ren?"

Shigaraki pointed sullenly. Then said, "It's been 42 minutes."

"I don't feel tired at all." Kayla shoved blue hair out of her face.

Shigaraki had not seen this form before. Why was her hair blue now? And she had scales even on her arms and neck.

"Quit staring, ey," Kayla said. "I know, I look like a freak." She lowered herself back into the surf more.

Shigaraki shrugged. "It's no difference to me. I was just wondering how it worked."

"Uh...well...just...full immersion in water...or even semi immersion," Kayla said sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm still not used to people seeing this form. Ren says it's hot, but I think he's a little weird... That whole family is weird."

"Wouldn't it be cold if it was in water?" Shigaraki missed the point.

Kayla gave him a strange look. "What? Is that a joke?"

"No..." blandly.

Kayla snorted. "You're a bit new, then, aren't you? I guess a busy man like you doesn't really have time to learn social cues, huh? Just as well. I don't need more reason for this to be awkward... Real question though--did you ever meet Ren's sisters...like, all of them?"

"Some." Shigaraki grimaced.

"Aren't they a little...much??" Kayla said.

"Very." Shigaraki shuddered.

"Yeah, I thought so." Kayla's scales were disappearing. "His mom is...interesting too... I guess I'm just thinking about it since Ren wants to date, and we kind of are dating, but thinking about becoming part of that family, it's a little smothering... There're so many of them."

Well, to someone who ran a sizable League, the number seemed less important than the level of crazy.

"I don't even think they like me that much," Kayla said. "Or if they do, I wonder if it's just my quirk. But even if it's not in use, I don't know... They're so violent. I'm not like that at all--I'm from Canada for goodness sake!...I don't know. Is Rumi-san any different in private?"

"Why are you asking me that? Ask Ren."

"Ren is biased. She's like his hero," Kayla said. "Of course he's going to say she's really nice deep down, but I was hoping someone who'd be unbiased would be able to tell me. I mean, the others Ren could handle, but if I don't hit it off with his favorite sister, I feel like it's a bad omen or something."

"I think it's a matter of taste," Shigaraki said something Compress would probably have said, "and what is useful. Being violent is useful trait to have around people who are trying to kill you."

"Okay...I might be able to take that, if she was nice at other times, but isn't she kind of mean?" Kayla said.

Coming from the ex-cult member/spy? Good thing Shigaraki didn't have much of a sense of irony.

"I don't know about nice," he said flatly. "The League cares more about fair."

"Fair?"

"Someone has to be fair, so you know where you are with them and what they'll do. Mirko is fair."

"Fair...that's a start, I suppose," Kayla said. "I mean...considering the source, that's high praise... Honestly, I would never have stuck around the family if she wasn't working with the LOV."

Shigaraki couldn't help but wonder what that meant. "And why is that?"

"Oh, are you kidding? A top Hero? I wouldn't have put myself that close to someone whose whole job it is to take people like me down. Especially after the Originals attacked her first," Kayla said. "Plus, all I heard about her, she was terrifying. People say she laughed while beating people up. That's scary, isn't it? But, when I learned about the deal with the LOV, I figured all that had to be trumped up for the views. And I saw she was on good terms with all of you...so maybe it's okay. Maybe she would just let it go. And she seems fine with me." She pulled more out of the water, and her clothes reappeared out of the scales. "As long as it's the same when she's not around Ren."

"If anything, she's more wild around Ren," Shigaraki said grumpily.

"Oh...really? Then that's okay, then." Kayla looked relieved. "Well, thanks. I just needed to know if there was a chance."

"Chance for what?" Ren asked. He and Rumi were back.

Judging by Rumi's grin, she'd still won.

"A chance...to do something fun," Kayla lied. "It's still early, right?... I went for 42 minutes and nothing... I'm not sure I have a limit. I don't have a limit as a human. Though I always did get dehydrated very easily. I have to carry a 2 liter bottle of water with me everywhere."

"I guess it's like an animal quirk, then. It's just a part of you--can't max out," Ren said. "I do envy that a little. I get a headache if I overdo it on machines."

"Ha," Rumi said.

"Well, in that case, want to test out the Siren part of it on some fish or birds?" Ren said. "You can aim it, but it wouldn't hurt to get better at it."

"Sure..." Kayla said.

"And after that, we should do something more fun," Ren added. "You two will be fine alone for a bit, right? Or we'll risk you getting affected. I brought ear plugs."

"Like I can't handle being alone," Rumi sniffed, sitting down on the sand, despite her earlier complaints. "Could just leave without you though."

"Don't be mean," Ren said. "We have to get food after this."

He and Kayla went off to the rocks where some seagulls were, and fish were probably below it.

"Fish don't have ears," Shigaraki said dully.

Mirko twitched hers. "Maybe she's got some weird sonar thing... That quirk is terrifying, if you ask me."

Silence.

Nothing much but sun and wind blowing.

The quiet was actually weird and made him uneasy. He was never out in the open like this, seeing nothing but sand and open air for so many kilometers...and water... He couldn't really swim.

No buildings to hide around or even trees...it was unsettling...

He didn't like the beach, he decided.

Mirko was staring at the water, shielding her eyes.

"Not even a boat...Ren is too good at this."

"Why was it necessary to do this?" Shigaraki griped.

"It wasn't, but sometimes it's okay to change plans a little," Mirko said. "I mean, I'm flexible. And it is at least secluded... Easier to make sure no one is following us. It worked out."

Silence again.

"Never let yourself enjoy things, huh?" Mirko said.

"The only thing I enjoy is destroying things," Shigaraki said rotely.

"Maybe you should broaden your horizons," Mirko said. "Not that smashing things isn't fun, but having one interest is lame. Getting out isn't so bad once in a while... I don't even remember the last time I had a real day off though, and I'll probably end up night patrolling after this to make up for it." She shrugged. "But still."

[Art by Onerose, original template by original creator-- love this picture.]

"There's nothing in it," Shigaraki declared.

Mirko rolled her eyes. "Typical. So you hate the beach."

"Yes."

"The water?"

"Especially that."

"Eh, fair enough. What about the animals?"

"Don't care."

"What about--" Mirko got that gleam in her eye that told you she was about to do something you weren't going to like, "--the sand?"

She kicked sand at him. A lot of it.

It was worse than the snow had been.

Shigaraki coughed. "Stop that!"

"Make me!" Mirko challenged, hopping to her feet.

She kicked more sand. "Come on, Pansy!"

"I said stop!"

"I don't feel like it," Mirko shrugged. "Always do what you want, right? Change my mind."

Shigaraki wouldn't have given in just to that, but after a few more times of her doing it, he lost his cool.

But having, of course, no quirk to help in this--how do you destroy sand? It's already crumbling--he resorted to picking up a shell and throwing it at her.

Mirko dodged that missile and started running from it--not hesitating to kick more, though.

Shigaraki chased after her to try to hit her with something hard enough to make her knock it off.

Mirko was just laughing like this was the best joke ever, which made him madder.

He swore at her.

Mirko then faked him out by pretending to slow down only to bound away as soon as he got close enough to throw something at her.

[Why does this sound familiar? I feel like this is a movie or something.]

Shigaraki finally imposed a bit more strategy to the whole thing and ended up backing her up to the rocks so she had nowhere to run.

{Editor's note: It's Bambi. You're thinking of Bambi.}

Which he was smug about.

Mirko hopped onto a higher rock to be more out of reach.

"All right, all right," she called. "I've had my fun."

Shigaraki came up to the rock, hand out.

"What...? Oh no," Mirko said. "No, you don't... I swear--"

Shigaraki disintegrated it anyway.

Well, it more of broke up.

But of course Mirko went tumbling into the water head first.

She bounded out of the water, now soaked.

"Wow...that was cold... Hey!" she said, mad now. "I got water in my ears! Do you know how bad that feels?" She hit the side of her head to knock the water out.

Shigaraki was smirking. "Serves you right!"

"Hah, there, you see? That was fun." Mirko was triumphant.

"No, it wasn't enjoyable. I'm just smiling at the revenge."

"That's fun still," Mirko said. "I win."

"No, I won! You're in the water."

"Oh, well, if that's all it takes." Mirko got a crazy gleam in her eye again and kicked the bank, making the sand all give away.

Shigaraki slid into the water before he could stop himself... It was cold.

He sputtered angrily. Mirko was just laughing.

"See? Doesn't feel good, huh?"

Shigaraki dissolved the part of the gravel she was on so that she slipped back into the water.

"Oh, you want to start that!" She splashed him dangerously.

Shigaraki splashed back out of pure spite...or maybe competitiveness.

This led to getting deeper out though, kind of by accident.

Mirko, being much shorter, realized first that she was going almost up to her chin.

"Okay, hold up." She held up a hand. "How did the shore get so far way?"

Shigaraki glanced back. "What...?"

"Oops..." Mirko said. "Wow...this is a shallow strand... good thing too. I think there're sharks in this area."

Shigaraki was less afraid of sharks than of stepping off the sand shelf and sliding down the ocean shelf. He didn't know that much about the ocean, but he thought it just dropped off suddenly. Probably saw it in a movie or something.

There were fish out here too, and one suddenly brushed up against his leg.

"Ah!" He jumped.

"What's wrong with you?" Mirko said, shoving hair out of her face. "It's just a fish... I wonder if they're sting rays out here...or jellyfish... That's why I never go in this far. Not worth it." She wasn't helping.

Shigaraki was, quite literally, out of his depth right now. He would have preferred being in one of those creepy labs to being out here. What had possessed him to go farther in? It was all Mirko's fault too! Stupid rabbit!

"Jumping is such a pain in water and sand too," Mirko muttered to herself. "Better to just walk back... Where's Ren...? I don't see him anymore..."

Shigaraki was nervous about moving at all, after what she said about jellyfish...

"Oh, there he is." Mirko finally saw him. "He got in... I'm going to go sneak up on him."

And leave him here alone!

"Wait a second," he snipped. "This is your fault! Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"Uh...and what do you want me to do? You started it with the water," Mirko said. "Just walk back. Sheesh, quit being such a sore loser."

"What if it's dangerous?"

"There's nothing out here. Please. It's just the shallow part... Wait, have you never been to the ocean before?"

Dead look.

"Oh..." Mirko said. "Well...geez, why did you come out this far?"

Glare.

"Right, right...fine. Just follow me, then, sheesh. Big baby." Mirko rolled her eyes and started moving more easily.

Shigaraki did feel kind of pathetic doing this, but it was her fault for starting that water fight to being with...

It only took about 5 minutes to get back up the beach line.

Mirko found a large shell on the way. "Hmm...I wonder if something lives in this still."

Shigaraki snatched it out of her grasp and disintegrated it.

"Hey, what the h---?!" 

"That was for kicking me into the water!"

Mirko shoved him onto his back in the water. "That was so petty."

She got kicked in response. She sent water and wet sand at him. "You really want to start this again--? Ah!"

Shigaraki had made kind of sink hole beneath her feet, and she plunged forward--but it backfired because she fell onto him instead.

"Jerk!" She shoved him down again, almost all the way under.

"Quit that!" Shigaraki shoved back at her.

"Uh..." Ren's voice suddenly cut into this fight.

They both looked up.

Ren and Kayla were standing in the water also, Kayla mostly human in form, and Ren was in swim trunks...holding a camera.

"We were going to ask if you wanted to climb the rocks over there, but something seems to have destroyed part of them and you look busy." Ren was smirking evilly. "So I guess we can just leave you here."

Kayla was just staring with huge eyes and looking kind of freaked out.

Mirko scrambled up really fast.

"We had a bit of a tiff," she said, beet red. "Put that camera away."

"A tiff, is that what they call it now?" Ren said.

She knocked him into the water, camera and all.

"Hey!" Kayla said. "He's more breakable than you!"

Shigaraki fished Ren's camera out of the water and destroyed it.

"Dude!" Ren was mad. "I'll have to rewire a new one now. Do you know how hard it is to install night vision in a camera? You owe me yen for that."

"Shut up," Shigaraki said. He brushed himself off. "I'm all wet now, and it's cold. Thanks a lot."

Mirko cringed.

Ren started to say something, and she punched him.

"Shut up."

"But--"

"Shut. Up."

"Bien, bien...let's change the subject. Are you guys hungry? I'm starving."

"I think there was a food place just up the beach," Kayla said.

"Yeah, whatever." Mirko stalked away.

"So did it work on birds?" Shigaraki asked.

Kayla looked up. "Huh?... Oh...it kind of does, but not as well. Seems like it sort of works on fish too, but...I just made them come and go, nothing special. I guess animals can't understand higher thought enough for that."

"But it's still cool," Ren said.

Kayla reddened. "I'm going to go grab our stuff..." She went off.

Ren glanced at Shigaraki. "So, what was that?"

"What?" Shigaraki said.

"I guess you're clueless, huh?" Ren said. "Well, good thing, because--" He lowered his voice little. "--I'd totally kill you otherwise. Older or not, she's still my sister. Don't forget it."

What was he talking about?

"Good talk." Ren rubbed his hands together like he was brushing the situation off. "Let's go."

Shigaraki was left thinking Ren was really scarier than most Villains...yikes. And Kayla was worried about the girls in the family. 

* * *

After a quick lunch, Mirko and Shigaraki went back to the house. They didn't talk about the day much.  Mirko didn't seem as tense, but she had to do a lot to of thinking and didn't feel like talking.

Shigaraki had plenty to think of also... So many things he felt had gone over his head that day, and it was bothering him more than it usually did, because it seemed like they revolved around him not getting something everyone else did...and that was just annoying.

Also...he was starting to suspect he was kind of having that thing called fun while fighting with Mirko, and that didn't make any sense...but afterward he hadn't felt irritated at all, which he really should have if his anger was real... Very strange.

Mirko had less issue with having fun, but she didn't like how often people were implying certain things to her...and why did those situations keep happening? She shook her head to herself.

Ren had said to her too, before they dropped him off, "You know, Rumi...you should do what you think is right, but, if you're getting in too deep...you could drown...just trying to keep your head above water, comprende?"

Whatever that meant.

[I wonder.]

* * *

It was just the day after that when Shigaraki got quite the shock, because Ujiko actually showed up at the house. No warning. No one even heard him come in. He was just sitting in the living area with his small nomu.

"Hello, Tomura Shigaraki," he said. "Today is the day."

[Oh...no....🤬😡😱🚩]