Chapter 3: Stray
Ignoring the sheer ludicracy of someone not recognizing the concept of money, Takumi decided to offer her a response, looking for a way to end the conversation with some modicum of decency. The faint flickers of humanity compressed underneath the countless layers of Battle Algorithm's datasets taking pity on the girl's condition.
"Like I said, there's a soup kitchen nearby if you're hungry. I can write down the address for you or show you the way if you need."
Everything about the girl's outward body language suggested confidence. She stood up straight, her chin raised, and voice steady.
However, Takumi's quirk concluded her 'confidence' didn't match with the data it interpreted underneath her haughty exterior. If anything, the micro-inconsistencies suggested the complete opposite: an elevated heart rate, shoulder tension which implied defensiveness, the orientation of her feet angled for escape, and an increased blink frequency.
Her fight-or-flight response was triggered at full capacity.
The girl was scared. The primary target of that fear didn't appear to be Takumi himself, but rather something that was on her mind beforehand.
At least, that was the interpretation Takumi's humanity wanted to make. His quirk's true perception was much colder, it labeled the girl's state of being as a 'bluff'. A flaw he could take advantage of, if he pushed her verbally there was a 32% chance of her lashing out at him. If he softened his tone, her tension would drop by 41% and open up a window to build up trust.
His quirk wanted him to corner her with verbal provocation and end her with one of the many objects scattered around the dumpster area.
"Foolish human! My rescue mission is of utmost priority! Yet you'd have me dilly-dally with a meaningless voyage? Good grief, you humans truly are obtuse!" She bellowed with crossed arms and exaggerated head-shake.
This was the second time she had used the term 'rescue mission'. The chance of someone or something she cherished having been stolen was now at 100%.
Takumi pulled out his phone. "I can contact the authorities, I won't lie and tell you the police around here are all that helpful. But it's better than nothing."
"Hmph! Once more you waste time with unrecognizable terms! Human, do you wish for me to have you surrender your belongings by mine unrivaled hand?"
"You're physically withdrawn and mentally perturbed. Your words are an intimidation tactic. There's only a 0.3% chance of you following through." The absolution in his voice sent tremors through the girl's hands. Her jaw tightening with reluctance to confirm the callout she couldn't even begin to comprehend the basis for.
"Foolish human! Don't bother trying to reassure thyself with your outlandish claims! I, the mighty Power, am perfectly capable of taking you with both hands tied behind my back—!"
"Enough." His fed-up tone hushed her with ease. It wasn't that he was particularly mad at her per se, but the more weaknesses she displayed, the louder his quirk became. "Here's what's going to happen. First, for the sake of allowing you to retain some dignity, we're going to go to my apartment and find some spare clothes for you to adorn. Second, you're going to properly explain your situation to me. And only then will I consider offering you some food from my limited budget, understood?"
'Power', wasn't sure how to describe it, but those steel-gray eyes of his looked at her in a way she couldn't help but despise. A mere glance from him felt like a thousand centipedes were crawling under her skin.
It was horrifying.
"V-Very well… I'll abide by your wishes, creepy human."
Her bare figure shivering in the clutches of Naruhata's biting cold, she followed Takumi into his unheated apartment. Her budding fear of the part-time cashier blossomed into a rose of instinctual dread. Every micro-movement she performed in his presence felt like a near-death-experience.
There was no doubt in Power's mind that something was off with the bespectacled human she had attempted to mug.
"Take a shower first. You'll only dirty them as you are." Lord knows she was in desperate need of one.
"Show-er? Creepy human! You're using unfamiliar nomenclature again!" She flared her noticeably sharp canines with faux-intimidation.
'You know what nomenclature means but you don't know what a shower is? Though I suppose you'd have to be completely ignorant of self-grooming to smell worse than a Naruhata dumpster.' For the sake of managing his stress, Takumi decided to simply go with the flow.
"Wait here, I'm going to prepare the bath. Don't touch anything."
"Bath?" She tilted her head.
He rolled his eyes at her, stepping into his bathroom and turning the tap on. Thanks to her malnutrition, it was highly likely she'd experience reduced water temperature tolerance. It was best to keep the water between 38-40°C, the ideal temperature for someone under stress. It'd also keep the risk of dizziness if she got overheated to a minimum.
'Steam density rising. Oxygen displacement negligible. 1 minute and 20 seconds remaining till filled.'
He stepped out of the washroom, ignoring Power's startled stare and opening his wardrobe. His quirk took her exact measurements into account and determined the most suitable piece of clothing he could offer her: a pair of washed briefs, a loose shirt, and sweatpants which he folded up and set down beside the bathroom's sliding door.
"Get in the water. Squeeze the bottle with the word 'soap' labeled on it and lather it on your body. Use the one with the word 'shampoo' for your hair. Rinse it off after, and use the green towel to dry yourself."
"Creepy human! For the umpteenth time my divine self does not recognize these nonsensical syllables you insist on throwing my way!" Power stomped her foot, grinding her teeth like a disgruntled mutt.
"Then you'll have to figure it out." He replied passionlessly. "Or I'll have to wash you, which I imagine is an option neither of us are keen on."
"..."
Power said nothing. She pressed her lips together with palpable agitation, the fear of the unknown written all over her face.
"Seriously?" Takumi deadpanned.
"..."
She was virtually giving him puppy-eyes.
"Good grief, does the world expect me to become a single father on top of everything?" He wiped his palm down his face. "Fine then, let's go." He ushered her inside, aware that she wouldn't clean herself unless he used the signature 'monkey see, monkey do' tactic.
"Hot!" Power yelped.
"That's just a bit of steam, calm down." He dipped his hand in the water. "The water won't scald you. The temperature has been perfectly adjusted to suit your needs. You'll be fine."
Anxiously, she lifted her foot, dipping her toes in the water to confirm Takumi wasn't deceiving her.
"See?"
"I don't understand, do all humans submerge themselves in such a large volume of liquid? Is this some kind of ritual of your species?" She asked while slowly entering the tub.
"Yes, we do it daily so we don't bother the people around us with an unbearable stench." He picked up a sponge and handed it to her, pointing at the soap bottle. "Squeeze that onto the sponge, and then rub it on yourself."
He wasn't going to actually touch her himself, the girl's circumstances were clearly odd, but that didn't mean she should be denied the same modesty anyone else would receive.
Step by step, he led her through the motions, advising her on how much pressure to use on certain areas to avoid bruising while his mind simultaneously began forming a meal plan for that'd be safe for her to consume.
"You can soak for about thirteen minutes, I'll knock on the door when it's time. You know where the clothes are once you're done drying yourself."
He returned to his kitchenette, letting out a heavy sigh once he realized he'd be cooking dinner twice today.
'Didn't I say I'd make her explain her situation first before feeding her? Oh well, I doubt she'd have the energy to get her thoughts in order with her ribs poking out her skin.'
For someone in Power's malnourished condition, his mind suggested he prepare a bowl of oyakodon. A meal that his quirk already knew how to cook efficiently, and one that required minimal preparation time.
The rice would provide the necessary carbs for energy, the chicken a decent serving of protein for recovery, the eggs would offer easy-to-digest nutrients and the warm broth would help her hydrate and balance her sodium.
The meal would take a total of 9 minutes to make. The moment he finished it, it'd be at a temperature of 68°C which would be too hot for Power to consume. But in the four minutes left for her to finish her bath, it'd have lowered to 60°C, the ideal eating temperature for the dish.
Once Takumi's quirk informed him Power's soak time had elapsed, he walked to the bathroom door and knocked.
"Remember, use the green towel. It's fresh."
"One as intelligent as I has no need for your constant meddling! Creepy human!" Her voice bellowed from the other side of the door, water splashing from the tub onto the towels Takumi had prepared on the floor in advance as Power stepped out.
Damp hair cascading down her shoulders, Power opened the sliding door and put on the clothes Takumi arranged for her to wear. The part-time cashier's eyes not sparing her so much as a passing glance, completely focused on the stream rising from the bowl of oyakodon he plated on the table.
"Sit," he pointed.
Power's nostrils twitched, her expression brightening with excitement.
"Oh! That's quite the pleasant-smelling offering you've presented me! Not bad! Not bad at all, creepy human!" She plopped onto the tatami floor, Takumi's quirk immediately warning him that she not only planned to grab at the meal with her hands, but wolf it down at a speed her body clearly couldn't handle without choking.
Fwick!
He picked up a chopstick and whacked her on the forehead, stopping the girl before she could make an absolute mess of his dining table.
"Ow! How dare you strike the mighty Power! Thirteen generations of your family shall be struck by ill fate as—!"
"Use this," he handed her a spoon. There was only a 0.2% chance she knew how to use chopsticks, if she even knew what the utensil was in the first place.
Terrified by Takumi's direct gaze, Power made no attempt to retaliate. Obediently using the spoon to eat with her deflated posture, like that of a scolded kitten.
"Delicious!" The instant the first bite hit her taste-buds, her eyes lit up in pure ecstasy. "Creepy human! I demand you identify the offering you've bestowed upon me immediately!"
"Don't talk with your mouth full," she flinched at his reprimand. "It's called oyakodon. It's a basic dish you can find at any half-decent restaurant."
"Oyakodon?" She closed her eyes, nodding with some kind of understanding. "I see! I shall grant this object the honor of having its name remembered by mineself!"
Until Power was done with her meal, Takumi didn't utter a word. Content to let her recuperate as much of her energy as possible before he began his questioning.
"This 'rescue mission' you mentioned, elaborate." He asked while washing the dishes, his back turned to Power.
The horned girl's face morphed into a sharp scowl. "Tch! Those bastards took Meowy from me!"
"Meowy? They took a cat from you?" He exhaled, his quirk going through the probabilities as she spoke.
"Not 'a' cat! My cat! I have to get her back before they do something to her!" She slammed her hands on the dining table.
Takumi couldn't help but shake his head. He had just seen the girl diving through a dumpster a few minutes ago, smelling like she emerged from someone's septic tank, and her first priority was finding some cat? 'Strange', didn't even begin to do the girl's thought process justice.
"I don't suppose you happen to know who 'those bastards' are?" Now that the conversation had started, he thought he might as well just see it through.
Thoughtfully, Power leaned back and looked up. "Uh, I don't know their names or anything. But I know what they were wearing! They had like these black and white stripes on their clothes! And they were all tatted-up too!"
For a moment, the sound of Takumi's scrubbing came to a halt as a conclusion he could make without his quirk's processing entered his mind.
"Black and white stripes? Like a tiger?"
"Huh? Aren't tigers black and orange?" She positioned her hands at either side of her head like claws.
A heavy sigh left Takumi's mouth.
As it would seem, Power had run into one of the countless minor Yakuza gangs operating in Naruhata.
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