Kapitel 40: Chapter XL: Platonic?
As a warning, I have no idea how court proceedings work, much less in Japan. So I'll do some brief research but don't expect the scene to not have flaws. I may just skip the majority of it.
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The next day, the guard Iruka, along with some others, went to Nagants' cell and opened it. "Good morning, come with us.
She sat up and exited her cell, "What's the occasion?"
They escorted her past all the other cells and prisoners stared, "You're being temporarily moved to the Tartarus courthouse holding cell."
Her eyes widened, "That means…"
The HPSC President and pro hero Hawks helped get a retrial for you next week. So you'll be staying there under supervision for the time being."
She blinked as her mouth hung open, 'Does that mean Hawks really did it?!' The gray walls of the prison briefly seemed more colorful, 'Is Danzo dead?'
Nagant felt Like hopping in the air but contained herself, 'Ok… calm down… Heh… he really kept his promise…' She smiled the whole way to the new cell, and waited.
Class 1-A walked the premises together, getting glares from the general studies students. "Class 1-A is throwing a concert... for our sake. Talk about conceited."
Some school girls gossiped, "Class 1-A is throwing a concert! That means Todoroki and Sasuke will be dancing on stage! Ahhh!"
Iida stated, "The School Festival is exactly one month away. With such little time, a number of decisions must be made!"
Sasuke slowly made distance from the rest of the class. Hagakure called out, "Sasuke! Where are you going?"
"This is stupid."
Mina ran after him, away from the class, "Where do you think you're going?"
Sasuke stayed turned so she wouldn't see his face, "I wanna see if I can opt out of this."
She frowned, "You can't opt out! You really wanna rob people of seeing a cool flashing Susanoo?! Come on, Sasuke, don't be like that!"
Sasuke stopped walking and sighed as he remembered the letter he read. Mina continued, "And I get that maybe you can't literally dance, but I still taught you some moves when we were younger. You'll learn fast!"
Sasuke took a deep breath, 'I guess I should try,' "Fine."
Mina smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the rest of the class to discuss their roles.
As the class prepared for the School Festival, an artistic duo hung out on a yacht wearing disguises. They both had on brown wigs and a fake realistic face mask as they left the boiler room and blended in with the crowd while making their way to a bar. As they sat together Deidara said, "My man... I'm sick of hiding out on this yacht."
Sasori side-eyed him, "AFO said to"—
—"I know what he said!" Deidara whisper-yelled. He thought back to the one mistake that started this all and gritted his teeth. "This damn wig... this face mask... I'm sick of it all! We should be in a penthouse right now! Hm!"
Sasori swished around the fluid in his drink, "You're right, but there's nothing we can do now… besides join Shigaraki's—"
"—I'm still never joining that kids club! He'll probably get caught soon anyway." Deidara felt the burn scar going up his arm, "... We can get revenge..."
Sasori stared at him, "What? Sasuke isn't an easy target anymore, we"—
—"I don't mean Sasuke... I mean the other ones." A sinister smirk spread on his face.
Sasori's eyes widened, "The kids that saved him? Don't turn this into something personal De"—
"—Of course it's personal! Hm! Have you seen the daily reminder on my arm?"
They stared at each other for a minute before Sasori turned back to his drink, "I'm not helping you kill random kids cause of a mistake we made."
Deidara scoffed, "Since when do you care about something like that? I don't need to kill the kids anyway. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"No comment."
Deidara gritted his teeth and sighed, "Whatever... I'm going after their parents... they may be protected by being on the grounds of UA, but their parents aren't."
Sasori didn't respond and Deidara asked, "Sasori, do you have my back?"
"I do... but I'm not gonna go out killing people if it isn't related to a mission."
A sinister smile brandishing his face again, "Good... I don't need you to. I just need you to have my back. I'll take care of it myself... first I'll go for that pink bitch's family, then the bird brain's, then the rest."
A week passed and Sasuke sat in the lounge by himself at night. He stared at the TV as the reporter announced, "Later tonight an inmate from Tartarus is getting a retrial to prove innocence after her life sentence that was given to her seven years ago. A similar retrial happened just last year with the villain named Pain, but he couldn't prove his innocence. If she succeeds, then history will be made for the first Tartarus prisoner to have their sentence dropped."
Sasuke spaced out thinking about his mother's words about friends and thought about the people he could consider friends. Most of all, Mina. 'Should I... reconsider putting things off? Is it ok?'
He pulled out his phone and texted Mina to help him with dancing. In a couple of minutes, he heard the elevator ding and blushed when he saw Mina walk out wearing the oversized Uchiha shirt. "Heyyyy."
She waved with a knowing smile and he raised a hand, "Hey." Upon further observation, he noticed the beads of sweat falling down her brow, "What were you doing?"
She paused briefly, "A lot of training; I have abs now; check it!" She raised her shirt halfway to show off the 6-pack. Not as defined as Sasuke's, but still clearly visible.
His blush got a little brighter, and he cleared his throat, "Very nice."
She tilted her head, still jolly, "Just very nice?"
He stood up and pulled her shirt back down, "I needed help with dancing."
She blinked at his action before rolling her eyes, "Sure, but why not just wait until normal training times? You almost have it down anyway."
"The sooner I finish these lessons, the sooner I can help with the stage crew."
She giggled, "You just don't want other people seeing you dance more..."
He lightly snapped, "Will you help me or not?"
She raised her hands, "I'll help, I'll help, hehe.
After going through the moves for a while, Sasuke sat on the couch. Mina put her hands behind her back, "Alright, see ya. I'll go back to what I was doing."
She turned, but Sasuke called out, "No, stay."
She blushed and turned around, "Huh? Did you need something?"
He side-eyed her, "I didn't... need anything, but I wanted you to stay. Hawks organized a court case for Lady Nagant tonight."
She didn't respond at first, then murmured to herself, "You wanted me to..." She smiled and hopped over the couch, sitting right next to him. She raised a brow and playfully asked, "Are you sure you're Sasuke?"
He turned to her, "What kind of question is that?"
"You're like... not usually this social."
He stared back at the TV, "Things happen."
"What kind of things?"
He didn't respond, and she tried to piece things together on her own as she recalled the day they all fought Danzo and his guys. She said, "Does it... have to do with the letter Hawks gave you?"
"Yeah..." The images of the day played through his mind, and he asked, "How come you weren't phased?"
"Huh? By what?"
They made eye contact, "I thought you would be scared seeing me like that, but you didn't seem like you cared."
"I cared... some of that blood was probably yours..."
She looked down and he chuckled. She playfully slapped his shoulder, "Don't laugh! I... I don't know why it didn't bother me. I guess I've known for a while now that you've wanted to kill some bad people. When it finally happened it's just... something I expected." She played with her curls.
"I understand... but you still looked bothered by something."
She clenched her heart, "What's been bothering me... is my own weakness."
He paid close attention as she continued, "While I feel like you train too much... I've felt like I haven't done enough. I'm catching up now but... it's slow..." She pulled the Teflon block out of her pocket, "I still can't even melt this... Ever since AFO kidnapped you it's just felt like the outcome of all our battles wouldn't have changed if I wasn't there."
Sasuke looked up in thought, "Yeah, you're probably right about that..." She bit her lip and turned away, but he grabbed her shoulder and continued, "But I have noticed your efforts. Despite increasing my Susanoo's durability, your acid potency always keeps up and melts right through it. If I had to make a tier list of whose quirk was the deadliest in 1-A at its full potential, you'd be in the top five. You just have to keep training to reach that."
She rubbed the back of her head and couldn't help smiling, "Do you mean that?"
"I have no reason to lie."
She smiled and played with her hands before pulling him into a tight hug, "Thank you."
He slowly returned the hug and allowed himself to smirk. In the middle of the hug, the TV showed a courtroom as the trial was about to begin.
Mina took this as the signal to separate and released the hug, but Sasuke kept one arm around her waist, keeping her close. She stared at him and blushed while he kept looking at the screen.
She wrapped back around him and leaned on his chest, 'No idea what was in that letter... but thanks Sasuke's parents!'
Nagant entered the courtroom with her hands bound in a metal device. Journalists were taking pictures on either side of her. Nagant winced at all the flashing lights but continued onward. Hawks and Madam President already sat at the Counsel Table waiting for her. Hawks waved and the two smiled at each other. Once she sat next to them Hawks said, "I told you so."
Madam President cleared her throat, "It's not over just yet, Hawks."
He waved her off, "It might as well be with all the evidence we have stacked."
Nagant asked, "What's with all the journalists?"
Madam President answered, "With the significance of this case, on top of the recent controversy you were involved in, a lot of people are watching this tonight."
Nagant scanned the room, noticing some of the cameras on tripods filming. "So what was your plan for proving my innocence?"
She answered, "I'll be presenting most of the evidence and go up as a witness."
The Judge walked into the room and hit the hammer, calling attention to himself. The three of them stood and he asked, "I'm ready to proceed with the case. May you present the evidence?"
The case lasted around an hour. They reviewed the previous case from seven years ago and compiled a bunch of evidence of Danzo's plans. It was explained that Nagant's supposed assassination of the previous president was framed by Danzo as part of his plan to put himself in power in the future. Madam President presented most of the evidence and posed as a witness to certain events while affirming her trust in Nagant. By the end of the trial, the Judge was quiet as he reviewed everything he was given while the trio and all the viewers waited in silence for the results.
A bead of sweat fell down the brow of Hawks as he tapped his foot. The Judge cleared his throat and picked up his hammer. Nagant drew a deep breath. "I have come to a decision. With all the evidence presented to me of the framing of Kaina Tsutsumi, along with the shady dealings of the short-term late HPSC President Danzo Shimura, I declare the defendant innocent and cleared of all her previous charges," his gavel hit the sound block, and the journalists cheered and took photos.
Hawks shot out of his seat and pumped his fist with a smile, 'It's finally over... there's nothing left of him now!'
Madam President smiled and Nagant let out the breath she didn't know she was holding as she smiled and looked down. A guard walked over and undid her cuffs. She felt her wrist and couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm free..."
Hawks replied, "You're damn right you are! I told you I'd keep my promise." He gave a thumbs up and she hugged him.
He returned the hug, but they separated as the flashes of cameras rapidly increased, "Heh don't want them getting the wrong idea."
She looked down, "It's... hard to believe, but here I am."
Madam President asked, "What do you plan on doing now?"
Her gaze briefly met Hawks as she remembered what they discussed a couple of months ago. "I wanna enjoy the freedom, but after a while... Maybe I'll come back to the HPSC and see how things have changed."
Madam President's eyes lit up, "Really?"
"Yeah," she pointed in Hawks's face, "I know you guys had to pull some strings to orchestrate things this way, considering I really did kill him. I get it, but I hope it was a one-time thing."
He smiled and scratched his head, "Of course! We won't suddenly become a shady organization again. I always keep my promises."
She retracted her finger, "Good... now let's get out of here. I wanna get some fresh air for the first time in 7 years."
Back in the Student Lounge Mina asked, "Huge W. Do you think they'll be a couple?"
At some point during the showing, she slipped her legs over his own in the middle of the embrace. "I doubt it, it seems purely platonic."
In the corner of Sasuke's eye, he noticed a floating pair of gloves moving erratically. He noticed them pulling out a phone for a picture and glared with red eyes. The gloves held up their hands in defense and ran out of the room. He turned back to her, and their eyes locked. She asked, "Do you... still consider us platonic?"
Momentarily, he zoned out and tuned out the noise as he took in her appearance and the feeling of her. Her thighs over his own, the oversized Uchiha shirt, her curly pink hair and skin, her toned body and he couldn't deny himself any longer. "... No."
It felt like the temperature in the room increased and she felt a huge surge of emotions. She reacted on instinct by pulling him into a kiss, which he slowly returned. After they separated, she caught her breath and giggled, getting on top of his lap and settling her arms around his neck. Both their hearts beat hard enough for both to notice and he weakly protested. "Mina..." Despite the protest, his hands settled on her hips.
She put a finger on his mouth and spoke in a sultry tone, "Just enjoy the moment... I know I am..." Before he could reply, they kissed again and closed their eyes, just enjoying the moment.
At the same time, Nagant drove across the bridge connecting Tartarus to the rest of Japan with a smile. She stared out the window at the city at night. All the lights and their reflection on the water was something she hadn't thought she'd ever see again.
Hawks looked in the back seat, "What do you wanna do first?"
She scratched her chin, "I want something... sweet. I've been eating dull slop forever."
Hawks pulled out his phone and entered a location, "Let's get you some tasty slop then. Madam President, to McDonald's please!" He showed the directions on the map to her, and she lightly pushed the phone away, "I'm driving! Just tell me where to turn. I don't get how you can look at two things at once when driving."
He chuckled and asked, "So Nagant, how isolated do they keep you in there?"
"We aren't allowed to watch TV, but we usually kept up with news through stuff the guards would say. I heard about All Might's retirement and AFO's imprisonment, but not much besides that."
"Heh, I'll help you catch up later then."
They pulled into the drive-thru and they ordered food and drinks. Nagant's mouth watered as she accepted the vanilla milkshake and brought it to her lips. The other two in the car observed as she sipped it and instantly cringed, "MMM! Ah! Too sweet!" She covered her mouth and Hawks laughed.
"Don't like it?"
"It's good but... Jeez, that's strong. I think that one sip had more flavor than every prison meal combined," she uncovered her mouth, revealing the huge smile she couldn't suppress.
Hawks couldn't suppress his own smile, "You'll get used to it."
She snickered, "Maybe... but I won't take it for granted this time… Thank you, both of you."
Hawks nodded and Madam President smiled while eating fries. She parked their car and replied, "Of course. Hawks couldn't go a single hour the past week without nagging about your case. I think I know how my husband used to feel now."
They chuckled and Hawks rubbed the back of his head. He thought, 'Itachi, what would you say if you were here now? Are you proud?' He gazed out the window up at the sky and they enjoyed their meals; the night ended as a great night for everyone.
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Thank-you for reading, depending on your perception of Mina this chapter could either be a good Christmas gift or a bad one, but hopefully a good one. I wanted to spend as much time as I could to get 2 chapters out for you all on Christmas as a gift, which I surprisingly haven't done yet. I must have been lazy back in 2022 and 2023 lol. I love writing Mina, which is why it's sad that… anyway, I'll post the next chapter some time a year from now😜
(p.s. Hawks and Nagant are just good friends. I don't currently have any plans for any other relationships besides Mina and Sasuke. Except maybe an earlier DekuxUraraka than canon, but that's up in the air. In case I need to clarify, don't worry this isn't becoming a romance story, the action is still front and center, it'll come back very soon)
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein