Brainwash Time

Nagisa still couldn't comprehend how he let himself get into this situation.

He felt his skin tingle in discomfort, his shoulders bare and his thighs exposed. He felt… so vulnerable, he detested the feeling. The clothes itched him feverishly. Nagisa supposed he could be grateful they didn't force him into a bra… Dammit.

Even if they were actually blending in with the crowd around them, he still couldn't shake the feeling of prying eyes somewhere, sending a shiver through him. Were they… undressing him with their eyes?

"I don't like this," he muttered as the group of girls started ahead. They didn't hear him; that was okay, he supposed.

Well, it was until a sweaty hand touched his shoulder and he had half the mind to back hand whoever was touching him.

"Hey," a slurred voice turned the disguised boy around, meeting the flushed face of a less than attractive boy. Nagisa's stomach clenched with nervous energy. Nagisa felt the burning glares of the girls behind him, boring into the oblivious boy before him. "Where'd you come fr'm? How 'bout a drink? An'thin' you like—S'on me!"

The glares grew scalding.

Kataoka pushed him forward by the shoulder. "Go with him, Nagisa. Keep him company."

Ice shocked his stomach and crawled up his throat, and he felt his eyes burn with unshed tears. Really?! Really?! These girls were so much stronger than him; why were they throwing him out like meat to a lion's den?! What if something went wrong?! He tried to protest but Kataoka shushed him, whispering in his ear, "We have to act normal, remember? Besides, if something goes wrong or he gets to be too much, use your quirk without hesitation."

There was a buzz of relief that released the hold on his throat at that; at least they had enough faith in him to take care of himself… Swallowing the rock in his throat down, he hesitantly nodded, small lips pursed in dismay. How did it come to this?? Keeping his shoulders tense and his hands together and away from the boy , Nagisa followed the boy who introduced himself as Yuji.

Sitting across the boy—Yuji—Nagisa had to restrain himself from flipping the table on him. He set two glasses of questionable beverages for both of them on the table while happily announcing that the drinks were on him (Nagisa quietly noted that if the boy tried to come onto him one more time, the drinks certainly would be "on him"). He seemed very proud of his "catch," that was for certain.

Nagisa felt his insides curl, his snakes twisting in his hair and poking their snouts out just a tad. The boy seemed too drunk to notice.

"N-No, I, um, I can't drink," he quickly waved his hands about, ears heating up but not from any form of flattery. He didn't know how to deal with this, but he was managing—that's what assassins needed to do: Adapt. And that's what Nagisa was trying his hardest to do. But the social issue he faced was like a rope around his neck. He couldn't attract any attention; just stall long enough for the girls to get to their destination…

He caught their forms on the floor above, moving through the stream of teens. I've got to try to act natural until the girls reach their goal.

Deep breath.

You can do this, Nagisa. You're an adapter; you've got this. Just act.

"Ah, Y-Yuji-kun," he began nervously, making his voice smaller and more feminine. He just needed to stall; use a light-hearted atmosphere—conversation. Start a conversation. "Are your parents here?"

Yuji scoffed. "My parents? Like they have the time!" Yuji leaned in suddenly, making Nagisa flinch back. Nagisa's throat began to itch uncomfortably. "This's just between you an' me, but my old man, he's a Pro Hero, you know. You know him, believe me! He's such a big deal, he can get away with an'thin'." Yuji gave a laugh then. "He was braggin''bout squeezing one of his lady sidekick's butt for 24 hours straight!" his voice fell off in a cackle.

Nagisa felt his insides crawl in disgust at that but he tried to play it off as him being slightly unamused. Sure, he had to fit in but that didn't mean he had to let the guy off feeling great about that so-called "accomplishment." Geez, he felt for that lady… He half-hoped Stain could hear them. Unlikely. Unfortunate.

Yuji's expression turned grim then, but Nagisa didn't react much, only a tad concerned what that change in attitude could mean for him. He shivered inside. Then the raven brought out a pack of cigarettes and Nagisa's brows curled together in alarm. "Those...aren't cigarettes, are they? Those are pretty dangerous for you, you know…"

As expected (but Nagisa was still surprised they would let minors in here to smoke , and, okay, he mostly didn't want to suffer any second-hand smoke inhalation anytime soon, thank you), the boy gave a pitifully smug smile, once again proud of his "gain."

"Yeah, I just got into it. At my age, if you know about these, you're cool!"

Nagisa took it upon himself to—act more civil inside and out. His hand reached for the cigarette, plucking it out of the boy's hand. Korosensei's lesson on cigarettes floated up in his mind. The snake haired boy found words fumbling out of his mouth without a second thought, saying, "Our teacher says he doesn't know if smoking these will make you cool, but it definitely makes your life harder…" his voice trailed off, recognizing that unpredictable look of negative emotions smogging up the boy's face. An icy feeling of uncertainty bubbled in his stomach and climbed through his throat, squeezing tightly.

Yuji's fist came down on the table, nearly knocking the drinks over and making Nagisa flinch back. Yuji flushed face turned away. "Life's already hard for us men!" he all but shouted.

"Excuse me," a dry voice came from behind Nagisa, and he spun around in alarm. A tired-looking boy with purple hair glared at the capped boy across the table. "Is there a problem here?"

"Oh- uh, n-no," Nagisa immediately started but the boy raised his hand.

"Is this guy making you uncomfortable?"

Nagisa hesitated in answering, stealing a look of utter despair from Yuji. "Oh, n-no, we're fine! I'm- I'm fine. Thank you."

He didn't believe Nagisa if the look on his face said anything. Nagisa felt Yuji riling himself up behind him. The raven shook when he stood up and began yelling at the concerned stranger. "What'd'ya doin' gettin' in our business like that, huh?!" he slurred loudly, walking beside Nagisa and slamming his hand on the table again.

Mother trucker, this is the opposite of 'don't attract attention.'

Swallowing thickly, the blue-haired boy tried to calm himself while he stood up, putting a hand on Yuji's shoulder. "Y-Yuji-kun, please don't yell," he muttered. The boy seemed to calm down just a bit, but was still steaming and didn't look at his "date." Bad. Bad, bad vibes.

The stranger huffed, smirking smuggly with his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, 'not uncomfortable,' huh? I heard what you were saying about your father, bragging about such a gross thing. You really think talking about groping to a girl is that effective? Tch." The boy scoffed and turned his dark eyes to Nagisa, a flinch nudging the blue-haired boy's body at the sudden shock the other sent through him. "Come on, let's go."

Nagisa felt his tongue heavy in his mouth, making him sputter stupidly as if his brain was short-circuiting. The other boy didn't seem fazed by his hesitation in the slightest, an offered hand knocking Nagisa out of his stupor and he took it, looking at Yuji regretfully. The drunk teen seemed to grow even more agitated at this, rushing for Nagisa and having an iron-grip on his thin arm while exclaiming, "Hey get your hands off'a her!" The assassin-in-training yelped in surprise.

Crap, this is DEFINITELY the opposite of 'don't attract attention'! He could feel the unsure stares of some around them, and he felt his face heat up at the unwanted attention but moreso at how desperate Yuji looked.

The stranger kept his expression calm as he looked at Yuji. "What're you going to do?"

"I'll--"

Nagisa blinked his eyes wide, watching as Yuji's eyes fell half-lidded and blank. Was this the work of a quirk? Surprised, he tilted his head up to see the stranger smirking. "Let go of her."

To Nagisa's surprise, Yuji complied, his sweaty hand releasing from around the assassin-in-training's arm. Curiosity made Nagisa relax.

"Sit."

Yuji sat on Nagisa's previous seat behind him.

A mind control quirk?

"Pour your drink on yourself."

Wait, what-

And sure enough, Yuji reached behind him to Nagisa's untouched drink and drenched himself. The sudden change made him gasp and he appeared to have snapped out of it. Nagisa cringed, noticing all the attention they were drawing in.

"You-!" Yuji started with a growl as he recollected half of himself, and he shot to his feet. Nagisa's heart clenched at the tears in the boy's eyes. He didn't mean for things to escalate like this. "You freaking- !"

"Nagisa?"

The boy jumped, turning around to see Kayano squinting at the scene with both concern and exasperation. Nagisa gave a grimacing smile, embarrassed to be caught in this...mess.

"O-okay, um, I, uh, have to go now," Nagisa quickly said, embarrassed his voice sounded a bit more desperate than he wanted. Hastily, he bowed to the red-faced Yuji and then to the kind purple-haired stranger. "Ah, thank you for your time, Yuji-kun! And- thank you too, sir."

The two quickly left the scene without waiting for a response. Nagisa let out a sigh and sagged his shoulders a bit. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you. That was...ugh."

Kayano grinned lopsided at him. "What happened there?"

"F-boys are real, Kayano-chan. They terrify me."

Kayano merely laughed before they caught up with the other girls.

"Don't leave me alone like that…"

Kataoka smiled. "Sorry! We hammered out a strategy."

Nagisa sighed. "Great. I can't wait to get out of these clothes." He swore, one more minute in this skirt and we was going to use it to murder someone.

He felt a shiver.

Someone was behind them—"Hey! Wait up ladies!"

Oh, frick no.

Nagisa turned his head. Why is Yuji here.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Aaaand he's dancing.

Welp, Nagisa knew who was going to go down via skirt-hanging first.

Oh, man, he wanted to throw up on him or something. And then Yuji hit… a man's drink onto him. Nagisa almost felt sorry for him. Then the man grabbed Yuji's shirt—that was when the blue-haired boy actually felt bad for the other—this was escalating too quickly. What happened to staying in incognito?!

"This is a ten million-yen jacket. How're ya gonna pay?! Huh?!"

"Hey, how about you leave him alone?"

"Huh!? Wh-"

The man turned his head before he went slack. Nagisa blinked, noticing the same purple-haired stranger behind the two, looking rather bored yet amused at the same time, hands in his pocket.

"It's you!" Nagisa bounced.

The boy scoffed, his attention drawn to Yuji. "You just can't keep yourself out of trouble can you? Whatever. Drop him." The man released his grip on the frightened boy.

That's when Okano took her chance to knock the man out while he was in his mind-controlled daze and he dropped like a rock under her swing kick.

The impromptu plan began to play out flawlessly, two of the girls dragging the man to the side and into a position that suggested he merely passed out while Yada called to the attendant at the door.

And just as quickly as it started, the plan ended with the guard leaving the exit to tend to the unconscious man. The girls took their chance to complete their assignment. The quick-pace of it all was amazing to watch.

Yada turned back to the stunned Yuji and other nameless boy. Smiling sweetly, she started, "Back to the dance floor with you! And don't tell anyone about this, okay?" She winked and turned to leave.

Nagisa was the last to leave. He approached Yuji, still feeling a bit salty but softness found its way into his heart. This boy was annoying and insufferable and a bit overwhelming but… Nagisa could tell he was only misguided and had a bit too many bad influences. The need to nudge him in the right direction was too strong to ignore, and in that moment he forgot he was supposed to be playing the part of a girl.

Sighing, he started, "Even when girls pull off something so effortlessly cool, you still have to chin up and act cool… So, yeah, it is hard, being a guy." Despite how badly their interaction went, Nagisa couldn't bury the curiosity and desire to help. The need to help. He smiled at Yuji. "I hope if we meet again, you're still acting cool. Anything but dancing or drugs… They really are bad for you."

He turned to the stranger and bowed. "Thank you for your help. I can imagine it was rather… inconvenient for you, but it was appreciated nonetheless. I hope we meet again. I… never got your name?"

The boy nodded, looking still a bit stunned. "Shinsou."

"Shinsou… I'll remember that. Bye for now," Nagisa smiled to them both and left.

Nagisa's never changed out of clothes so fast in his life.