—Tetsumaru-Kun!— Thirteen called out in an alarmed tone, throwing open the door to her intern's hotel room.
The black-haired young man lay on his bed, with a variety of books and a notebook in which he was taking notes, little surprised by the abrupt entry of the Heroine.
—Just Tetsumaru, Sensei— the shinobi repeated, as was usual between them. Thirteen's eyelids twitched, but she ignored the disinterest of her problematic intern while turning on the television.
—It's about your sister— she explained while increasing the volume, and scenes of the scandal in Hosu City were shown.
Small fires, shots of the Hero Killer's arrest, of Endeavor and his gang. The presenter explained what happened, but none of that caught Tetsumaru's interest.
Suddenly, the scene changed and showed a bloody Mei crouched in front of a fallen Nomu. The girl's hands rummaged in the Nomu's face, seeming to pull something until with a "pop," she pulled out one of its half-melted eyes.
Thirteen's jaw might have dropped to the floor if it weren't for her helmet. The presenter fell silent, as did everyone watching the scene from home, either on the news or on the internet.
Mei slumped her shoulders, apparently disappointed, and tossed her loot aside, completely discarding it.
—W-well, ahem, in other news...— the presenter professionally continued, pretending that hadn't happened.
Finally, Tetsumaru moved some sand and turned off the television. He wasn't interested in seeing more.
—T-T-Tetsumaru... What was that?— Thirteen asked awkwardly.
She had come because she stumbled upon the image of Mei bathed in blood on a random screen and believed she was injured. She hadn't expected something like this.
—Hm, Nezu hasn't returned the eye of the USJ Nomu to her. I guess she wanted to get another one, and I guess she used her Boil Release and melted it too much— Tetsumaru exposed his theory.
Thirteen blinked, incredulous at her intern's sincere and strange answer.
—A-aren't you worried about her condition?— she asked again.
—She's fine. If she were injured, I doubt she could move so casually— he shrugged.
The heroine decided it was better to leave the matter there. Honestly, the more time she spent with Tetsumaru, the less she understood him.
—I see... Ahem, rest for now, then. A busy day awaits us tomorrow— she said awkwardly before leaving the room, her still-stunned mind barely registering the fact that she had entered a boy's room without even knocking.
For his part, Tetsumaru's mind did not spend more than a second on the Hosu event. He trusted the capabilities of his other half and genuinely wasn't worried about her.
Instead, he concentrated on the material Thirteen had him studying.
They had left UA for a couple of days, as Thirteen needed to give a lecture on first aid and other topics related to her area of expertise. As her intern, Tetsumaru would accompany her and would have to actively participate.
Hence, they were staying in a hotel.
—I hope this is a wake-up call for Nezu. He better return that eye— the shinobi thought.
If Tetsumaru had to be honest, he didn't understand Mei's new obsession. He didn't care about that, he was never squeamish about blood and those things, neither in this life nor the previous one.
But it still seemed strange to him that the girl was so stubborn about that matter. In fact, the mere fact of being stubborn about anything was strange.
When they were one, they were never particularly attached to things. If they remained, fine, if they didn't, also fine. Is this a trait she acquired upon becoming a girl?
The idea made him smile. For him, who received the less emotional part of the complete soul and was interested in or cared about almost nothing, discovering the changes in his other half was a good pastime.
**************************************
Although it didn't affect Tetsumaru in the slightest, for the rest of Japan, the video of Terumi Mei playing with the half-melted eye of a monster was shocking in many ways.
In his UA office, Nezu scratched his head awkwardly, thinking that perhaps he should keep his promise and give the girl what she wanted.
Aizawa, who was out on a mission, sighed while slapping his face.
The kunoichi's adoptive parents were horrified.
For Momo, it was embarrassing having to answer Uwabami's incessant questions about Mei's mental state, and afterwards, she was forced to listen to an endless lecture about image, glamour, and so on.
Bakugo didn't know what to think about it. He was so shocked that, for once, Best Jeanist didn't have to restrain him to fix his messy hair.
Endeavor, who found out a few hours later, shuddered at his son's possible tastes. The idea of Shoto, his project for the next Number 1 Hero, suffering domestic abuse made him spit blood.
But the most intense reaction was seen on social media.
People were disgusted, people tried to protest for an explanation of such behavior.
After all, the image of a flirtatious young girl who was recently the center of attention for winning the UA Sports Festival was now stained, literally, in a bloodbath.
Even Burnin, who arrived on the scene shortly after the whole thing was over, was left speechless when she found a blood-soaked Mei wringing the hem of her blue dress, splattering dark red liquid onto the street as if it were nothing.
She couldn't even scold her because, in fact, she gave her permission to move on her own, and the Nomu's attack wasn't her fault. The creature chased her, and that couldn't be avoided.
And the one who was in the center of it all, Mei herself, could only pout because this Nomu's eyes didn't regenerate.
She really wanted an eye to decorate her room.
Why? Because, in her opinion, it would look great.