To the outsider, this had to be a slightly….
Odd scene to be watching.
Heroes were known for fighting Villains and protecting people, and that was what the were most famous for, but it wasn't news that they were also like civil servants. Something akin to the police, only they felt larger than life. They helped out people who needed it, be it of life saving importance, or just helping out for simple convenience. They helped out in all things. That was the point of Heroes.
The key term in that sentence though, was Heroes.
Not interns.
Interns had a different role to play in the Hero aspect of their superpowered society. They were supposed to be learning how to do all these things that Heroes did, so they could become better, and be better Heroes. They were supposed to be training to become Sidekicks. In fact, an intern could almost be considered a Sidekick in of themselves. They were supposed to be studious.
They were not supposed to be in pairs, looking after a child.
Yet that was what the passers-by saw when they looked at Izuku and Mina.
Well, okay, it wasn't that unusual, Mina knew. Heroes did unglamorous jobs too. Painfully mundane jobs, even. But it wasn't what they were known for and what people expected when they saw one. It was a bit like seeing a policeman sorting out the recycling – Not unusual to he point of absurdity, but unusual enough that people would stop for a moment to take a look, before carrying on with their day.
"Y'know, I think I liked it more when people looked at us like they were interested in us," Mina muttered to Izuku, so the young girl didn't hear her, "Rather than looking at us like we're complete and total weirdos."
"…I kind of feel you get those sort of stares all the time." Izuku muttered back, a small smile on his face. "For… Various reasons." He let implication do the rest.
"Ouch!" The pink girl feigned offense. A genuine grin came to her lips. "You wound me, Izu! And here I thought you liked me."
"You're the one who taught me to tease."
"Yeah, but you're not supposed to use those tricks and quips against me!"
An act.
Well, only a little bit.
Izuku had gotten more comfortable with his girlfriend after the kidnapping incident – And he was still discovering just how comfortable he would allow himself to be with her. He was getting snippier and more sarcastic with her, which was apparently how his sense of humour was developing – At a snail's pace, granted, but he was getting there. It never failed to make Mina smirk whenever he got a good jab in. It actually made her smile more than when she managed to get a good one in.
But right now, that wasn't…. Exactly what was happening right now. Not entirely.
What was actually happening was kind of…
Complicated. Probably needlessly so, and Mina couldn't help but feel a bit slimy for it.
The child they were with had been quiet – Over the night she had stayed with the Pussycats, she still hadn't said a word. She was just silent, and seemed to sit in the room she'd been given, and do and say nothing – Just sit there, and stare at the ground. Like she was waiting for someone, or something, to happen to her. In spite of the Pussycats' best efforts, she only reacted when Izuku and Mina both came to see her – And even that was just moving her head to see them.
Her red eyes seemed to flicker brighter for a brief moment, but then it seemed like she had restrained herself.
If the Pro's and the interns hadn't been concerned about her before, they were now…. Though Mina had been right in what she had said the previous evening.
Even if they suspected that this child had…. Some kind of home trauma, or… Something, they couldn't just keep her locked up in here, or take her to some kind of orphanage. She reacted intensely negatively when total, complete strangers tried to take her with them to find her parents. The only reasons she seemed to be even remotely okay staying with the Pussycats had been because Izuku had sworn to her that they were trustworthy. She barely said a word to anyone. And she seemed to cut down whatever childish optimism one would expect from someone her age.
No record of her existed in the Quirk database – Or the regular civilian database either. As far as official documentation was concerned, this child didn't exist.
They had to find her carers, if for no other reason than to figure out those answers.
And that was why Mina had found herself wandering the city with Izuku, feeling sort of slimy for it.
The kid wasn't going to tell them anything about their parents. They had no way of finding out, either – Unless the parents or carers came across them with their child.
Hence their 'mission'.
Take the girl around, see if anyone recognizes her. Try to make her comfortable enough that maybe she'll talk, and see if there was anything they can learn about her.
At first glance, it seemed convoluted, and kind of pointless. One of the sticking points in particular had been the choice not to tell the child that they were seeking out her parents – Given her sheer, visible anxiety over the mere subject, The Pussycats' had told Izuku and Mina not to tell her that was what they were doing. Instead, as far as the kid knew, they were just going on a walk so she could get some fresh air and exercise. Essentially, they were lying to her, almost. If they weren't, then that was going to have to be argued on a technicality – They and the Pussycats' knew exactly what they were doing.
There was something about it being put like that that Mina didn't like. It made her feel like they were doing something… She wasn't sure. Unethical? Disingenuous? Unfair?
A Heroes job was to help people, right? Not try to coax things out of them. Yet that's what they were doing here. Something about it just felt… She wasn't sure. She just was sure she didn't like it.
She could tell Izuku wasn't happy about it either. He'd developed quite a concern for this girl. It was obvious he wanted to see her put into the best place for her, and for her to be able to give as comfortable a life as possible. He wanted to see this girl be okay. But he wasn't sure about this either.
This was what being a Hero was though. Doing things that weren't pleasant, that didn't feel right at times, to make sure that eventually, the right thing was done. And Mina wanted the best for this girl as well – Maybe it wasn't as deep as Izuku's concern, but she did want to see this girl well. She was concerned about her.
Did they have an alternate choice though?
Mandalay had argued that it would be impossible to get the child to leave the building if they were up front and honest about trying to find her parents, and it was hard not to see that logic and agree with it. The girl froze up and grabbed hold of Izuku the last time her family was brought up. To get her to willingly go out, and into areas where plenty of adults would go but children wouldn't, the only way would have to be some excuse, or lie.
In this sort of Hero work, did that mean that the ends justified the means?
"You've taught me too well, I – I guess." Izuku responded. Mina didn't miss the stammer in his voice. He was getting better at thinking on his feet when it came to his quips, but he was still the same awkward boy she loved underneath that.
His job was to make this girl feel comfortable, and they had decided that the best way to do that was to try to make her laugh, as they bounced off of one another while they wandered the city. So far it wasn't working, but the efforts were genuine. The jokes were real, and the heart behind them were too.
So… Was it technically an act?
It was a fair bit more boisterous than it would be if they were behind closed doors – Though they would still gently poke one another if they saw the opportunity, Mina especially. Izuku was still more awkward but he was doing his best to make sure he did his bit, even if this effort was a complete waste of time and a complete failure. But their barbs and laughter were actually completely genuine. Mina wasn't forcing herself to come up with responses to anything Izuku said. They just came to her, and she didn't hold back. And Izuku was giving as well as he was getting.
Most cases, anyway.
Mina couldn't help but debate this in her mind. To her, being a Hero hadn't ever been about looking after lost children. She knew Heroes did that, like everyone else knew it, but she never really thought that she'd end up doing it herself, and certainly not with the heavy burden of the current context on her shoulders.
Was this an act she should feel slimy about taking part in? Could she feel fine about just bantering back and forth with her boyfriend? Or was there some sort of middle-ground she was supposed to be inhabiting?
Suddenly, she shook her head.
If Izuku was getting better and better at cracking jokes, then she had to be getting more and more used to overthinking things.
Did it really matter? It was better than doing nothing, wasn't it? At least this was sort of productive, and it did help them with their internships in a way. Sometimes Heroes had to do things they weren't comfortable with – That was part of the life that she had chosen for herself. She wouldn't change that choice for anything.
Was she still uncomfortable? Yes.
Was she still unsure? Certainly.
Was she still trying to figure everything out? Absolutely.
Had anything she'd thought about made… Any sense?
Probably not, she summarized. She was probably putting in way, way too much effort into what she was thinking about. She was probably confusing herself – The more she thought about it, the more uncertain everything became.
Right now, they had a job to do – Find out who the girls' parents or carers were, if possible, and find out anything about her.
Mina chose to focus on that. And she'd take anything else that came with that choice as it came.
Being a Hero wasn't always going to be clear cut. Right now though, it just felt like a rude awakening.
She just hoped it wouldn't get any ruder.
It was honestly harder not to notice how quickly people went back to normal after Villain attacks after having fought against several herself.
She was used to seeing that when she watched Heroes take down Villains, but being that Hero herself, Mina couldn't help but notice how quickly people got back to their normal lives. It was honestly kind of impressive that people were able to get back to living their lives as fast as they did.
Villains and regular attacks though, people just had to. If society came to a standstill every time there was an attack, nothing would ever get done. It was just something that people were used to doing in a world full of superpowers, but being one of those people who brought those attacks to a close made Mina see how, if nothing else, efficient people were at resettling back into routine. That wasn't something that anyone could really appreciate until they were the ones combatting those attacks.
A kind of open-air market had cropped up, Various stalls selling various wares were littered along the main street. People were clustered up, talking, buying and selling. Young children either clung to their parents, or ran off in groups. There were even one or two Heroes, wandering amongst the crowd, and there were probably one or two watching from afar, just in case someone lost control of their Quirk, or whatever else might happen. It was almost like the attack yesterday had never happened.
These sort of markets, Mina adored.
"Haha! Hey Izu, check these out!"
The pink girl could just feel her lips morph into the iconic Ashido grin as she held up what had caught her eye – A pair of stuffed toys that pretty much no one else seemed to be paying attention to. One of them was of Xeno-Mistress, from the old cartoon she watched when she was a kid. It wasn't the most accurate replica – It wasn't factory made, but very obviously handmade - That gave it more charm.
Izuku recognized the second one, Mina noticed, and that made her smirk grow even bigger. It was a replica, slightly more accurate, of that really, really old alien horror movie she'd gotten him to watch with her. He seemed to shiver slightly as he remembered the movie – Mina knew she shouldn't have laughed, but she couldn't stop herself.
"They're good, aren't they?" She hugging each one of them underneath her arms.
"Um…"
"Hm?" Mina blinked. "What's up?"
Awkwardly, Izuku pointed towards the stall vendor, who seemed to be two parts amused, and one part confused. From his perspective, a fully costumed Hero had just run over, picked up some of his wares, and squealed about them to another Hero, whilst the pair of them were with the shiest child in existence.
Equally as awkwardly, Mina apologized and put the stuffed animals back where she found them, before energetically complimenting the stall owner on them.
A marketplace was bound to have plenty of people there, so it had seemed like a logical choice to take this girl here to see if someone recognized her. It wasn't all that far away from where they had found her either. They had gone up to various stall owners and citizens, asking if they recognized the child. None of them seemed to know who she was though.
While doing so though, they had tried to make the red-eyed girl come out of her shell a bit. Trying to get her to take part in the games some of the stalls offered, to get her to react to anything the stalls were offering, but each effort came up flat.
Either she didn't understand what they were supposed to be doing, or she had absolutely no interest in them.
Not that it was all bad though. The girl did at least seem to be looking around at her surroundings, watching people go about their business, and watching vendors and look at the many stalls. When Mina had shown Izuku the stuffed toys, her eyes had been just as on them as Izuku's had. She just didn't seem to know how to react.
Or how to act in general.
It would have been sort of adorable if it wasn't so concerning.
The girl seemed to be far more comfortable with Izuku, since he was the one who saved her. That made sense, but it meant that she was virtually dependent on him to feel even the slightest bit comfortable. The only reason she seemed to be even okay being around Mina like this was because the girl seemed to know that Mina was important to Izuku. But it was painfully obvious to Mina that the girl didn't trust or even seem to like her all that much. Understandable, but still, kind of worrying.
"I haven't seen her before." The vendor of yet another stall told her.
Each time she hear that answer, it became harder and harder to keep up a façade of calm understanding. "You're certain of that?" She asked, more desperate than anything.
The vendor shrugged. "If I did, I don't remember. I see lots of people every single day, I can't remember all of them."
Mina sighed. That was a fair point. The same probably applied to just about everyone else they had asked today. "Thanks anyway."
She returned to Izuku and the child. Izuku was watching her, while the girl seemed to just be watching something in the opposite direction. She was still in Izuku's line of sight though. As she approached them, Mina shook her head, to indicate her lack of luck.
Every time she'd done that, she'd seen his shoulders drop in disappointment.
"I don't know." Izuku said to her when she came up to him, quietly as he looked around. "I'm starting to think no one's seen her."
"I mean, it is kind of a longshot." Mina said. Her lips were curled into a one-sided frown as she spoke though, understanding Izuku's frustration and disappointment.
"Yeah… I know." He sighed, and rubbed his eyes. Clearly, he was tired. They had been at this for hours at this point. "I uh…. I'm going to go ask another one of the venders." He pointed vaguely in the direction he began to walk in.
Rubbing her own eyes, Mina then turned to look towards the girl. Following her line of sight, Mina tried to hazard a guess as to what she was looking at.
Her eyes fell onto a fruit stall - One of those that brought both mundane and exotic fruits from all over the world. Oranges and lakoocha shared a shelf. It wasn't a particularly busy stall right now. In fact, the vendor seemed to be seeing off the last of his current customers.
Now that she thought about it, when they picked her up, Mina remembered seeing a plate on the inside of the room, virtually untouched. It had a full breakfast on it, already gone cold. "Hey," she said to the child, "Haven't you had anything to eat today?"
The child seemed to jump slightly and looked up at Mina. It was hard to figure out what expression was on her face, but she shook her head, ever so very slightly. How long hadn't she eaten for, then?
"Come with me then." Mina told her with a smile. She held her hand out for the child to take hold of.
For a second, the child seemed to hesitate. Her hands hovered in front of her chest, and her eyes held onto Mina's hand, like she was debating if she should take it. She blinked, and then looked up awkwardly at Mina.
Mina gave her another soft smile.
Then the child took her hand.
By the time Izuku got back, Mina had gotten the child a large apple that she had already taken a huge bite out of. Mina had a big smirk on her face.
The sight made Izuku smile.
"So... No luck?"
Izuku shook his head. "Nothing. No one seemed to recognize her."
Pixie-Bob's arms folded, and she turned her head towards the now closed door leading to the child's room. "Well, it is a large city. Lots of people live here."
"Literally millions." Tiger pointed out.
More or less the whole day had been spent searching for someone who recognized the child. Whilst Izuku and Mina had gone around with the girl herself, Mandalay, Tiger and Pixie-Bob had been going around with an image of the child, trying to cover more space. Ragdoll had been going through police channels, trying to see if there was anything that they had missed.
No one had had any luck though.
"And no one has filed a missing person's report either." Ragdoll added.
Somehow that made the whole situation seem even worse. Like no one cared enough about the kid to even report her going missing. How messed up of a situation was that?
There were no files. No reports. No nothing.
They couldn't even figure out her name.
Mina felt had hands ball up into fists. That irritated her. Maybe it was because of the fact she had her own siblings, and that while they might drive her up the wall, if any of them went missing, they'd have to call up the Japanese Self Defense Force before she stopped tearing up the place trying to find them. And here was this young, innocent kid, who didn't seem capable of hurting a fly, and no one was even bothering to report her gone. It ticked her off.
She'd told Izuku that they could really judge the parents sight unseen. Right now, she was starting to feel she had been too lenient on that stance.
"So... What're we supposed to do?" She asked, between the Pro Heroes.
Mandalay sighed. "There's nothing else we can do. Just keep on repeating this process until either we find something, or the police do."
"There has to be someone out there who knows her..." Izuku said, though he sounded more like he was praying than he was making any kind of logical assessment. It spoke to his frustration. And Mina couldn't agree with it more.
All they could do was keep repeating the pattern until maybe they found something, somewhere. And that didn't feel like enough. Not even close to enough. That felt like...
...Like nothing.
"Surely there's something else we can do in the meantime?" She asked the Pro's, feeling her teeth biting against the inside of her lip as she spoke. Their eyes feel onto her. "There's gotta be a... A - A forum or something! What about other regions of the country - What about abroad? Is there a chance she's from another country and got left behind or... Or something?"
None of them said anything. Mandalay looked away, and towards the room once more. Their expressions exhibited empathy and understanding. They knew why Mina was so upset. They understood it perfectly well.
Answering her would only upset her more - There was nothing on those fronts, and even though they didn't say it, Mina knew it just from looking at them. Nothing at all came from a single lead - They had no leads at all.
Nothing.
Tiger broke the silence. "This is... Not an easy case to deal with. Even for a Pro, never mind new interns. It's a heavy situation no matter how you look at it." His arms folded up, and her expression seemed to narrow. "But this is part of what being a Hero means. You'll find yourself in situations that are heavy and depressing like this."
Izuku sighed. "It's just... Frustrating. Not being able to do anything."
"We're just running around and hoping to God someone recognizes her!" Mina exasperated. "We can't even talk to her..." Her hand ran though her hair from the front. "It... It feels like a waste of time."
"Lots of Hero work does." Pixie-Bob told her, trying to put on a reassuring smile. "Patrolling for hours on end... Chasing ghost leads. Things like this..."
Both Izuku and mina glanced towards one another, and then back to the room that the girl was staying in. This was part of what a Heroes job was... It was better than her being out on the street, they supposed. But it just felt unfair somehow. Wrong, even.
"Maybe we should talk to her again." Izuku suggested. "It's... Not like we've got anything to lose at this point."
"What would you say to her?" Tiger asked.
"...Anything."