Chapter 6: Komachi and Ueno
Seeing that the girl wasn't speaking, Yoshikage Kira glanced at his watch. The lunch break was only fifty minutes long; if this dragged on, he'd run out of time.
Kira walked over to her and crouched down, bringing himself to her eye level. "Since you're not going to talk," he said with a sigh, "how about I ask, and you answer? Can you do that?"
She gave Kira a timid glance before quickly looking away and giving a slight nod.
Kira started. "What is your name?"
"Shouldn't you state your own name before asking for someone else's...?" she responded in a tiny voice. Seeing the sharp look in Kira's eyes, she looked like she was about to cry. "Isn't that a basic principle of conversation...?"
"You're the one who was following me, and you want to talk to me about principles?" Kira looked at her with some surprise. He had assumed she would at least know who he was, but the fact that she didn't even know his name was... interesting.
His interest piqued, Kira stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned in and spoke softly into the ear that was partially hidden by her hair. "My name is Yoshikage Kira, a student in Hero Course Class 1-A. And you are?"
Feeling the weight on her shoulder, the girl trembled but still managed to stammer out her name. "Tsukimi Komachi... Management Course, second year, Class J."
"And your Quirk?"
The eyeball behind Komachi circled around to her front. Glancing at it, she said quietly, "My Quirk... allows me to solidify the forces acting on an object, as long as it's under five kilograms..."
Kira didn't quite understand the explanation. "Does this eyeball move because of your Quirk?"
She immediately shook her head. "No, that's not it. My Quirk can solidify the forces, but the object itself still needs its own power source to move."
"Hmm..." Kira thought for a moment. "Can you show me?"
She reached out, gently took the eyeball in her hand, and it stopped moving. Kira took a few steps back to observe what she would do.
She made a motion as if she were lifting something with both hands, rising onto her tiptoes for a few seconds. Then, her arms dropped limply to her sides, but the eyeball remained suspended in mid-air.
Kira had seen Uraraka use her Zero Gravity Quirk before and had some understanding of these things. Every Quirk had a scientific basis. He stared at Komachi thoughtfully. "So your Quirk essentially applies a continuous upward force to an object out of thin air, right? How long does it last?"
"When I use my Quirk, I can feel the object's weight in my hands. It's as if the gravity acting on it is transferred to me. As long as I can bear the weight, it will continue to float."
Komachi no longer seemed as shy as before. While she was still a bit flustered, she managed to explain everything clearly. She obviously knew her own Quirk well, and Kira's understanding of it was correct.
"So your Quirk only makes the eyeball float. How does it actually move? In other words, what's its power source?"
Her Quirk was amazing, but since it had no direct combat applications, it was no wonder she was in the Management Course. The construction of the eyeball itself, however, was quite peculiar. It was smaller than his palm, yet it could perform all sorts of rotational movements. Its perfectly spherical and seamless design didn't look like it could house a battery.
"Do I have to talk about that too?" She looked conflicted and took off her glasses, revealing her small face. "This eyepiece is equipped with a receiver that picks up a signal from the eyeball. I can control its movements based on how I move my own eyes. But the power source... that involves Ueno-san's Quirk. I can't talk about that."
Kira's eyes lit up in understanding. "So, this was a group crime committed by you and Ueno..."
"Eh!? How do you know Ueno-san's name!?" Komachi shrieked. She grabbed onto Kira's arm and squeezed her eyes shut, steeling her resolve. "She didn't do anything! It was all me! If you're going to arrest someone, arrest me!"
So she's already confessed to the crime? But I still don't even know why she was spying on me...
"Komachi, I'm back!" Just as Kira was about to speak, a cheerful girl's voice came from the doorway. The door was yanked open, and the person immediately screamed, "AAAAAHHH! What are you two doing!? You damn pervert, let go of Komachi!"
At that moment, Kira's arm was locked in a death grip by Tsukimi Komachi, whose tears were soaking his sleeve. Because of the height difference, it looked like a small koala bear was clinging to his arm. To an outsider, however, the scene probably looked much less innocent.
Kira turned his head. A girl with the same petite build and second-year uniform was standing in the doorway. Her orange twin-tails were standing straight up towards the ceiling with rage. After her sharp scream, she blushed furiously and charged straight at them.
I probably spent about ten minutes talking to Komachi, Kira thought. The faster eaters are probably already heading back to their classrooms. This girl must have run here right after finishing her lunch...
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Kira raised his other hand and blocked the girl's head as she rammed into him. Because she was so short, even when she started flailing her arms wildly after finding her head blocked, she couldn't get anywhere near him.
Komachi, her eyes still squeezed shut, was still shouting, "Ueno, run! I won't let him catch you!"
"Listen," Kira began with a sigh, "I don't know what you think you saw, but could you two please calm down..."
Before he could finish, the girl's twin-tails seemed to take on a life of their own. They dropped from the ceiling, contracting to the perfect length to act as a substitute for her arms, and began whipping at Kira's face like a pair of wind-and-fire wheels.
The move was a complete surprise, and the twin-tails slapped him squarely across the face for a full rotation. Ueno panted, looking triumphant. "How'd you like that!? Felt the power of my twin-tails, huh!? If you know what's good for you, pervert, you'll let us go! I'm telling you, we're not to be messed with!"
"..."
"Hey, pervert! Why aren't you saying anything!?" In the brief silence, a bead of sweat rolled down Ueno's face as a sense of foreboding washed over her.
"Ah... I was just thinking," Kira said, his face darkening, "perhaps I've been a little too gentle..."
With the large appendage still attached to his left arm, he raised it. In mid-air, Komachi, looking more like a koala than ever, tightened her grip. With his right hand, Kira easily gathered the tips of Ueno's twin-tails, wrapped them around his fist a few times, let go of her head, and lifted her into the air as if he were grabbing a rabbit by its ears.
"...Eh?" The obstacle in front of Ueno's face was suddenly gone. Just as she thought she would lose her balance and crash into Kira's stomach, she suddenly felt as if she were being lifted by Komachi's Quirk...
Her feet left the ground, and the Aqua-virus that had infected her brain instantly shut down. She froze, unable to put up any resistance.
On the other side, Kira's now-free right hand grabbed Komachi by the collar and yanked her off his arm. He held them both dangling, one in each hand, like a pair of scales.
Komachi suddenly felt the support under her vanish. She opened her eyes in confusion, spun halfway around, and met Ueno's dazed stare.
"Now," a demonic whisper sounded beside them, "can we have a proper talk?"