Mirko and I returned to the cabin as the sun was setting.
Mirko had a few superficial cuts on her skin and outfit, with a layer of sweat and dirt covering both her body and costume.
My outfit was much worse than hers, it had turned into rags, full of holes and completely dirty with dirt, blood, and sweat.
'Good thing I followed Aizawa-sensei's advice…'
He had told me to get at least one spare costume. I could do that since my outfit was quite cheap to produce.
I was sore all over, covered in bruises that I hadn't fully healed to save my regeneration. At the rate things were going, I would need it.
Mirko walked past the living room, carrying a towel and a change of clothes.
"I'm going to take a shower. Try to peek and I'll kill you."
'Ha! Like I would…' My thoughts are interrupted when a new figure hops into the room.
It's a brown bunny. It wiggles its ears cutely and turns toward us, sitting on the floor and then… waving with its paw?
'So cute~'
"Ah, that's Daisy."
I slowly approached the bunny, who watched me curiously.
I extended my hand, and to my surprise, she offered her paw for a "handshake."
"She's one of the rare animals with a quirk, which makes her quite intelligent…"
I gently petted her head.
Daisy tapped her foot on the ground a few times and purred, which was more like a soft chattering of teeth in contentment.
Mirko placed a hand on her chin, observing her rabbit's reaction.
"Hmm… She's not usually this friendly with new people."
A smile appeared on my face. Mirko didn't see it since my back was turned to her.
"You said she has a quirk?"
"Yeah, it's called DOOM."
"..." I froze for a moment, looking at the extremely cute rabbit with a terrifyingly named quirk.
I shrugged and went back to petting her.
"DOOM?"
"Yeah, show him, Daisy."
Daisy reluctantly left the petting and took a few steps back.
She stomped her foot twice, and then…
A guitar sound began to echo from the small rabbit.
[Music: Doom Eternal OST]
Daisy tapped her feet and bobbed her head to the rhythm of the rock music.
"..."
The whole performance unfortunately only lasted a few minutes.
Daisy then made a little bow and hopped over to a bowl of carrots, starting to eat casually.
"..."
After a few seconds of silence, Mirko spoke again.
"She plays rock."
"Pretty badass, right?"
"Yes…"
"Anyway, I'm going to take my shower." And then she went into the bathroom.
I took out my phone and snapped a picture of Daisy, who even posed for the camera before going back to eating her carrots.
'It's a crime for something this cute to exist…'
I sent the picture to Himiko.
I had already told Himiko that I arrived, I sent the message when I went into the bathroom to put on my costume, but I had also sent one earlier on the dirt trail just in case there was no signal here.
My phone vibrated with a message notification.
[Himi: "SO CUTEEE!!!"]
["Her name is Daisy, she has a quirk that lets her play rock music"]
[Himi: "NO FUCKING WAY *Sticker*"]
["YES FUCKING WAY *Sticker*"]
[Himi: "I won't call because Uraraka-chan is already on a call and I don't want to bother her"]
[Himi: "Hehe guess who she's talking to, hint: it's a boy from our class"]
["Midoriya?"]
[Himi: "YES! You're good!"]
[Himi: "I think they're almost a thing, it's the second time she's called him today"]
'Damn, Midoriya's a striker? Who would've thought.'
["How was your day?"]
Himiko talked about how her first day of internship had been. Apparently, Gunhead is a very friendly and laid-back guy.
On this first day, he showed them how some things work in a hero's daily routine, promising to take them to the dojo tomorrow.
[Himi: "And yours? That woman didn't try anything weird with you, right?"]
I felt a drop of sweat run down my forehead.
["No, actually she's been beating me up all day in some kind of training, she's not right in the head"]
[Himi: "Ah, did she hurt you?"]
["Just some bruises"]
["Actually, she's really good at holding back. I think I can really learn some things, I feel like I'm improving"]
[Himi: "That's a relief"]
Himiko reacted to my "Just some bruises" message with a: 🤤.
[Himi: "I'll only believe it when I see it ^-^"]
["Control yourself, it hasn't even been a day since we've been apart"]
[Himi: * 😫 *]
'Hehe.' I can almost see her pouting on the other side of the phone.
'I miss her too…' I let out a sigh.
We've been practically glued together for so long that it feels very strange to be apart.
Mirko then came out of the bathroom, wearing more comfortable clothes, with a towel wrapped around her hair and ears.
She saw me typing on my phone and asked:
"Texting your mom?" Her tone was casual, not sounding like a tease or anything like that.
"My girlfriend."
"..."
"Pfft... Hahaha, as if you had one." She walked out of the room laughing loudly.
A vein popped on my forehead, something that's been happening with concerning frequency lately.
I grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom.
When I finished my shower, I found Mirko lying on the couch with Daisy on her lap, watching the news on TV.
I finished organizing some of my things and sat in an armchair nearby.
"Mirko-san, what—"
"My name is Rumi Usagiyama. Call me by my name when I'm not in my costume."
"... Right, Usagiyama-sa—"
"Just Rumi is fine. Honorifics annoy me."
"..."
"Okay, Rumi. My name is Ken Kaneki."
"Hm, Ken sounds stupid. I'll just call you Kaneki."
"..." Okay, take a deep breath.
"Tsk, I thought that would get a reaction out of you."
"... That's just how I am."
"Anyway, what were you going to say?"
"I was going to ask what we're going to do tomorrow."
"For now, I'll keep beating you until you learn how to move properly."
"..."
"After that, we'll probably go into the city to beat up some villains, hehe."
"..."
"Yeah, works for me."
"THAT'S IT!!! I knew it was a good idea to take you as an intern!!"
Rumi almost jumped off the couch, startling Daisy, but she didn't leave Rumi's lap despite the scare.
"By the way, feel honored! You're my first intern!"
'Probably because you're terrible at teaching.' Obviously, I wouldn't say that out loud.
After a while, we had pizza for dinner with a bottle of soda each. The pizzas had been frozen in the freezer.
Rumi showed me a guest room in the cabin where I would sleep for the week.
And just like that, my first day of internship came to an end.
─── ◆ ───
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