PUPPET // KATSUKI BAKUGO [1]

Chapter 60 // Thoughts and Talks

You knocked on Chisaki's office door to make your presence known before stepping inside. You found the man sitting behind his desk with his colleagues scattered around the room. He seemed to have been discussing some sort of plan before you entered.

"You called," you stated, reminiscing when Mimic found you minutes ago and informed you that Chisaki needed to see you.

"Yes," Chisaki hummed. "Please go entertain Eri," he gestured toward the girl standing beside his desk, "elsewhere, so I can discuss our plans in further depth."

You wordlessly walked over to Eri, who stared up at you in fear as you grabbed her arm and began to pull her toward the door.

"Gentle," Chisaki said. "She is a child after all. We don't need her complaining about anything else."

"I don't think your little puppet knows the word gentle," one of Chisaki's employees, Tabe, joked with a chuckle. You glared at the man, taking offense to his comment.

You made eye contact with him, simply saying, "pain."

You watched with no remorse as Tabe dropped to the ground, screaming as he clutched at various parts of his body. The phantom pain clawed at every vein and muscle of his body until Chisaki grew annoyed enough with his screaming.

"Stop," you creator stated, which immediately caused you to break eye contact with Tabe and, therefore, relieving him of any pain he was feeling.

"You asked for it," Chisaki told Tabe, dismissing the terrified looks of his other colleagues. Setsuno helped Tabe off the ground silently.

You turned back to Eri, who was still looking as afraid as ever, and, this time, you grabbed her arm with a much gentler grasp and led her out of the room.

"Where are we going?" the girl eventually asked in a shaky voice.

"Elsewhere, like Chisaki ordered," you replied.

"You're new here. I haven't seen you before," Eri stated. "What's your name?"

"Era," you replied shortly, noting how your names sounded similar. Could she be the person who was so dear to him?

"Why are you here?" Eri asked. "Are you here to help with the bad plans too?"

"I..." you began, and then you realized you couldn't answer.

Why were you here? All you knew was Chisaki was your creator. He told you what to do, and you listened. You couldn't think of a reason why you were here or what your exact purpose was.

"I don't know," you eventually said. "Why are you here?"

"He wants my quirk," Eri answered quietly. "He hurts me a lot. I've tried to run away, but he always catches me."

"You ran away yesterday," you remembered. "Chisaki had to go get you."

"Yeah," the girl nodded. "I met these two boys though. I've never gotten that far before. They were heroes."

'Heroes?' you thought. If these boys she ran into were heroes, what was Chisaki? What was Eri? What were you?

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As the final bell of the day rang, Bakugo stood up and tossed his bag over his shoulder. He was eager to get back to the dorms and work on the evidence board.

"Bakugo, stay after," Aizawa said, causing the boy to shoot his teacher a look of confusion, yet he still stayed.

After everyone else had flooded out into the hallway, Aizawa closed the door and turned to face his student.

"As you know Midoriya started his work studies yesterday afternoon," the hero began. "He was with Mirio when they ran into a little girl. She was in rough condition, scared, and had bandages all over. Overhaul made an appearance, saying she was his daughter and she was just throwing a tantrum because he scolded her."

"Was [L/N] there?" Bakugo asked quickly.

"No," Aizawa shook his head. "However, this does give us something."

"Like what?" the blond questioned.

"That girl couldn't have run far in her condition," the hero began, "meaning wherever Overhaul is hiding out must be somewhere close to where Midoriya and Mirio ran into them. We at least have somewhat of a location now."

"But still no [L/N]," Bakugo noted with a deep sigh.

"That doesn't mean we won't find her," Aizawa said. "We're getting small clues as the days pass. Hopefully we'll get a big enough piece of evidence that we can actually act on soon. Until then, just keep this stuff to yourself and whatever that little project is that you've got going on."

"Evidence board," Bakugo specified.

"Right, your evidence board," Aizawa corrected himself with a small side smile, both amused and proud with how determined his student was. "Go on, and head back to the dorms."

"Thanks, Sensei," Bakugo nodded with pursed lips as he made his way toward the door.

"Bakugo," Aizawa said, stopping the boy in his tracks.

"Hm?" Bakugo hummed as he slid open the door.

"I'm proud of you," the hero stated. "You've grown a lot since the beginning of the year."

Bakugo looked over his shoulder at the man and released an amused huff, saying, "you can thank [L/N] for that when we find her. It's all because of her."

[EDITED]