章節 15: The Missing Girl Himiko 01: The Quirkless Epidemic

She was twelve years old when she was given a new life, a new purpose.

No, she couldn't call it that… This place was a hellhole. Experiments every day, needles, scalpels, sleep quirks, white, white, white, white, white… At least they had time to hangout with other kids. The few left that is.

Her parents always told her never to talk to strangers. Oh, how she should have listened. Now, every moment she spent in this place, her memories began to fade little by little. She has no idea how long she's been here for. What day or year it is—not even how old she is anymore. She asked once and they said she was still twelve… She just didn't know anymore.

She used to be loved, you know? Her family wasn't terrible, they loved her just like any other parent. Sure, she was usually the only one at home most of the time, but she always chalk that up to her parents trusting her to be on her own. And she was alright with that. Maybe it was because she was quirkless. Maybe they paid someone for this. To take care of her. Maybe she was pawned off to some science company.

No, wait. Her parents wouldn't do that. They loved her too much… Right?

Her parents were always busy. They were busy when the smokey man came to the door, promising her a chance to become great, to have a quirk, and took her away to meet Mr. Yanagisawa.

Daddy was a businessman, the CEO of some agency. Mommy was a film director and a part-time actress. It felt perfect for her shape-shifting quirk. She can't remember what it was called, but she knew Mommy had to look at a picture of someone before she took their form. Daddy's quirk was a mutation quirk, some sort of bat mutation. She remembers his sharp teeth and big, pointy ears and black, round eyes. She always thought it was cute, and Mommy liked it when he did this trick with his teeth and a piece of fruit, sucking it from red to gray.

He called it Red Drain.

Oh, and she was quirkless. She remembers the doctors were so baffled at her. She had the pinky toe thing, the one that indicated a quirk? But the only thing she showed for anything was two sharp canines just like her father.

"Number Four, Himiko," came the calm voice of Mr. Yanagisawa through the glass panel. "You're up next for checkup."

Himiko nodded and waited for the loud vrrm'ing in the next room to stop.

She shared the waiting room with five other children around her age—the only kids her age anyway. All the others her age she knew were taken to a different section after their doctor visits and all that were left in this section was her, two others her age, and two older kids. The doctor was in today, checking them for any signs of their quirks showing up or not. They had all gotten their injections a couple of days ago—the injections were new, actually. Before they were having different sorts of treatments; some smelly stuff, medicine, pills, once they were given gummy bears too. But even still with the new and strange injections, none of them have had any reactions yet—Well, she supposed one of them did yesterday, 'cause he wasn't here today.

She wondered what happened to him? Huh, oh well.

The vrrm'ing stopped and the thick door slowly screeched opened by itself. Himiko stood up.

"Number Four, Himiko."

Rubbing her arm, she waved at the peach-haired boy among the row of children waiting for their turn as she passed by. He waved back shyly.

Once she passed the two giant doors, they closed behind her, leaving her in a small little room, like another waiting room. The grey doors loudly clicked shut before the doors in front of her slowly began to open outwards. There, the quirk doctor stood waiting next to the doctor's examination table, smiling sweetly.

"Hello, deary," the doctor greeted. Inwardly, Himiko cringed for his voice was just so grossly strained despite his (forced) smile. Instead of responding, she instead just meekly smiled and half-waved. The doctor showed no sign of caring for the response and began to usher her to the table right away, to which she did not hesitate in obeying and quickly sat herself on the covered table.

"So, er… Number Four, have you experienced anything unusual since yesterday's treatment? Any pain or discomfort in your head?" The doctor had a clipboard ready.

She hummed, thinking. "Um… I did ask to go to bed earlier because I was having a headache."

He wrote that down.

"I see. Anything else?"

"There's, um, a pressure on the side of my head, here," Himiko pointed to the back of the left side of her head.

He wrote that down too.

"Pressure, you said?"

Himiko nodded with a hum, and the doctor mimicked her in his own way, writing more things down before setting his clipboard off to the side as he moved the stethoscope around his neck. "Alright, now Number Four. I need you to lift the back of your shirt just a bit and turn around, now. I'm going to listen for your heart."

Swallowing, she nodded and did what she was told. She tried not to flinch at the sheer cold metal touching her warm skin but the doctor ignored it and instead told her to take some deep breaths and hold, then again. Then he checked her eyes, shining lights in them that made her see everything white for a couple of blinks.

It felt like every other doctor's checkup she's experienced, except she wasn't prepared for what came next.

The doctor coaxed her to lay down on her back, her arms and legs splayed flat on the table before some metal held her down by her wrists. She tried to ignore the sudden pounding in her chest and the dull throbbing in her head, something pushing against her skin and just threatening to come out.

"Um… wh-what's happening?"

"Don't worry, dear. This is going to tingle a bit, but don't scream okay, darling? If you're extra good, we might give you extra play time!" The doctor was behind a big computer.

Something lit up around her, electric blue, and the loud vrrm'ing started up again, vibrating the world around her. The sound felt like it was punching her brain through her ears and she shut her eyes.

The blue lightning-looking energy crossed over her arms from the table, raising her hair up and burning her to her bones, then she felt it throughout her brain and she screamed.

Squelch.

Something ripped from her head, and her screams went quiet, head lolling to the side.

The Vrrm'ing continued.