Portal Panic

GHOST! Well, Close Enough, Anyway.

Just a reminder that I'm currently on chapter 10, so I'm just catching wattpad up to chapter 9.

All scenes with only MHA characters will be written in English, for ease of reading, but the characters are actually speaking Japanese to each other.

"This sentence is in English, but shhh." This is for when the scene is from a Japanese character's POV and they don't understand English, or, if they understand some words, those are not underlined.

Tuesday September 4th,

3:35 pm

Toru's feet were starting to hurt so much it set the girl's eyes to watering. Tear tracks started on wind-bitten cheeks but were quickly wiped off.

At least she'd made it to the edge of town.

Grey and taupe buildings of western-style architecture closed in. Most were one to two stories tall and had a distinctly residential feel.

A violent shiver wracked Hagakure's body as she traversed a shadow cast by a rather tall apartment complex. The sunless section coveted the girl's heat like some jealous yuki-onna.

Coming to a stoplight at the end of the first block, Toru surveyed the area as a blue Prius passed on the left. A glowing white stick figure lit up on the far side of the street and the invisible girl crossed at a set of painted white lines.

Casting a curious glance at an excessively large truck parked at the side of the road, a flicker of resigned dread teased at the Japanese teen's mind. She'd only ever seen such large vehicles in satirical depictions of the United States.

Movement at the girl's periphery had her looking back to the sidewalk. Two people approached from the opposite direction, Hagakure's first encounter since dropping through the portal. Heart rate speeding up, she side-stepped quietly then held still longer than was strictly necessary. The duo passed, ignorant of several red smudges that decorated the cement at even intervals.

Toru's feet weren't bleeding a lot. Just enough to make her nervous about being noticed.

When the pair remained oblivious, laughing and openly holding hands in public, Toru let out a breath. Then sharply inhaled when the woman spoke. It was not only in English, but it was fast.

"So are you free Saturday night? I heard the mall here carries Halloween stuff all year long because of 'ghost attacks'."

Toru could tell the tone was lighthearted, but the guy stiffened a bit. An awkward laugh blended in discord with the girl's carefree one as they drew further away.

"Yeah...there are some really....kooky people here in Amity Park." The man avoided his date's gaze as the two made their way to the truck Hagakure had just marveled at. The insignia across the front grill read R-A-M.

Okay. So it was confirmed. It wasn't just the signs; this town was English-centric.

And unless there was a magic way to slow everyone's words down, the conversational skills Toru had learned in school were a moot point.

Which meant she was much worse off than originally believed.

Mind racing, the UA student continued to vacate the suburbs, ambling toward the city's heart.

Hagakure passed recessed doors framed by large picture windows. Beyond the glass, clothes and other odd items were displayed. There wasn't anything wrong with them, per say, they just felt....off.

It was in passing the sixth storefront Toru finally figured out what bothered her so much. The mannequins on display all had exactly two arms and two legs, and the technological items seemed almost....old.