Drop Your Act

Hagakure was an elderly (for a civilian, not a host) Japanese woman who acted as Ueno's medic. Her strict sense of propriety hung from her being like malignant tumors.

Daishi crouched down beside her. "(Hagakure, after Junpei, I would like for you to check Mia.)"

Hagakure laid her hand on Junpei's chest, and seemed frightened as she noticed he had a scar like Akira's. She had already seen what Mia left of the neighborhood and looked to Daishi. "(Daishi, I-I am not going to heal her.)"

"(I beg your pardon?)"

"(I refuse to heal her. Junpei, yes. Not her.)"

Daishi glanced to Matoi, who was listening beside Mia's bed, then told Hagakure: "(If you… refuse to perform your duties, then I'll have your Revenant transferred to someone who will.)"

Matoi waited until Hagakure began to walk over before enjoying telling her Marisa was already healing Mia. Daishi told Hagakure to leave the room once she healed Junpei, then went over to the four. "(Is she awake yet?)"

Marisa molded new Boudoir-fingers for Mia and sewed them to her, fabric turning to flesh.

"(Not yet.)" Matoi glanced to Daishi. "(It was good how you handled Hagakure.)"

Daishi sighed. "(…no, it was not. She has been at Ueno for much longer than I have. It was wrong of me to threaten her like that.)"

"(If you thought that was a threat, you should see how I discipline American students.)"

Matoi looked over him as he did not respond, seemingly almost distraught about it. Why this was she did not know. Matoi's general philosophy was that if someone disregarded your authority, it was best to smack them back ten times harder: even better if it were public. To a fault, she was loyal to herself and those she cared about, while Daishi seemed innately decent towards all.

To Matoi it made him better than most men she knew, who she felt stifled themselves then hurled invective at women for failings stemming from their own inadequacies, but there was a difference between openness and vulnerability. She remembered what he had said about Suzu, and wondered if he in some way was weak, and whether he would shirk from his weakness or if it would eventually do something fatal to him. What this was she did not know. He was likable and polite, but she found him difficult to understand.

Mia soon awoke, but was nauseated & infirm. It took a few minutes for her to recover enough to speak, when Matoi asked if she could relay what had happened: she did so, and Matoi translated it for Daishi.

"(What of the scar on Junpei?)"

"(Mia's Revenant has an ability that leaves a scar -- she's mentioned it in passing to myself.)" Matoi glanced at Mia. "(I would relay it to the Prime Minister; I assume the government has asked by now.)"

Daishi frowned. "(They have. They confirmed what I theorized to you earlier, as well: anything put in to that area begins to disintegrate. There doesn't yet appear to be any damage outside of it, fortunately, but they are still investigating.)"

"(Then it would be best to relay what I told you to them. I'll ask Mia about Junpei's scar.)"

Daishi nodded, then left the room. As Matoi turned back to Mia, Mia was now hugging Marisa and beginning to cry.

"Marisa showed her the photo after she asked to see what happened to the neighborhood." said Samuel to Matoi. "Just property damage, at least."

"…I-I just hope they'll let us h-help rebuild." mumbled Mia.

Matoi placed her hand on Mia's shoulder. "I want you to know that I'm entirely on your side for this." She glanced back to where Daishi had left. Earlier she had a conversation with him: later you shall learn more of it. "Some at Ueno may not be."

"…t-thank you." mumbled Mia. "G-God, I just feel terrible."

"Didn't hurt any civilians, though." said Samuel. "Just blasted eight hosts out of orbit."

"Yeah, Mia-Mia. Maybe it's like, better that way, since that's eight less hosts out there hurting people."

"M-Maybe." Mia pulled away and laid back.

"…I just don't get how it could have happened again, though." Marisa frowned. "You remember the first time, right? When you went to train with Matoi for a month?"

"Y-Yes, but that didn't e-entirely stop it." said Mia. "I-It's gone out of control more than that, but i-it's usually… in a few fights, it'll bite my fingers o-or burn me, b-but nothing like this. S-Serena asked about it at one point, after she needed to h-heal me."

"Wait, what? Mia, that's pretty serious."

"I-It's because of Ryumi." Mia wiped her eyes, and still spoke with some anxiety. "I haven't m-mentioned it to anyone, b-because there w-wouldn't be any point. It's because of how my R-Revenant was given to me."

"Mia, I... are you *sure* you shouldn't have Xenocyclin used on it? Like, I'm sure we could find some way where you don't lose *that* much strength, right?"

Mia rapidly shook her head, flabbergasting Marisa. Matoi looked over to Samuel, and noted that both her protege & herself understood why Mia would not. Most likely she wouldn't have taken it even if it meant no loss in strength.

Matoi also saw Hagakure still faking attending to Junpei, purely so she could glare at Mia from across the room.

"Mia, are you feeling better?" said Matoi. "Emotionally, obviously."

"…n-not really. B-But I know you're asking that for a reason."

Matoi nodded. "When I was speaking with Daishi, he told me the government had tested the... area, and found that anything placed within it begins to disintegrate. I assume you're not aware of any reason why."

"I- no, unless it's… I-I don't know, no."

"Would explain why it was so bare." nodded Samuel. (There had been no soil left in the neighborhood.)

"H-How did I get here, also?"

"Um, Junpei called us up, and he was collapsed when I got there." said Marisa.

"But I thought Tyrant can't m-move hosts."

"He said he carried you out." said Samuel.

Matoi glared over at Hagakure again, and told Samuel to relay Junpei's scar to Mia as she walked over to the medic. "(Are you finished? Leave the room.)"

"(Excuse me? I'm still attending to Junpei, and this wound your American over there caused on him.)"

To translate to wimpy civilian: Matoi thought of peeling off Hagakure's face.

Junpei stirred and held his hand out. "(I-It's fine, Hagakure. G-Go ahead.)"

Hagakure looked between the two, frowned, then slowly walked out. Junpei waited until she was gone to sit up and say: "(H-How'd you know to get her to leave? Man, every time I get wounded, she never shuts up about how it was m-my fault and I gotta take care of myself and shit. Damn, she's always lecturing us to do our job like her's isn't the easiest one.)" He glanced down at his chest scar. "(Ah, shit... she missed a spot.)"

Matoi brought Mia over and helped her explain, in-between apologies, that Junpei's Solar Beam scar likely would not leave and had permanently weakened Tyrant. Junpei tested & confirmed his top speed was slightly slower, but it did not significantly affect his ability; so per his usual demeanor, he had no animosity towards Mia for it. He even thought the scar cool.

Daishi soon came back and told them that the government had arranged for Mia to be interviewed on a Japanese news network as her de-facto statement on the matter, and that she should expect to be questioned on Worldwide's origins. As none knew of the multiple hearts aside from Mia's close friends & Hirogane, Matoi in private went over with her what they would say publicly that would not sound unrealistic.

Later that night, she sat across from her interviewer with Matoi and Daishi, and the interviewer spoke in Japanese for a few minutes. Eventually, he asked Matoi something, who then asked Mia: "Swarm, explain how you first came to host Worldwide."

Mia nodded. "Worldwide was... er, first given to me after I was kidnapped in early August. I was dropped outside of Urasaria Academy's front gate, and it was eventually determined that I had been given Worldwide by my kidnapper. This turned out to be a man named Magnus Egashira."

Matoi relayed and told her to continue.

"Magnus was the leader of a local gang who committed acts of terrorism, around and near Urasaria for my first months there. He bombed a nearby hospital, and as I was attempting to investigate why he had given me Worldwide, we often fought. It often felt like he was testing me if I were able to properly use Worldwide, and over the semester, er, I did grow its other elements. During this time, I trained with my girl-"

"-your partner?" said Matoi.

"…my partner, yes."

The rest of Mia's interview followed what has previously been established in the first arc, sans the more ludicrous elements, and what had occurred in the neighborhood. Yet life is no listing of events, but instead the tempest of thoughts brewing within oneself at any time; so too did she wonder why Matoi had told her to deny Aimee. It reminded her of Aimee's lunatic religious family, and she felt guilty for it.

Yet she also felt at ease, for all she needed to do afterwards was occasionally answer questions relayed from Daishi or Matoi. She had no desire to be put on trial and repeatedly pardoned by the media, and Matoi agreed it would be prudent to only do one appearance so as not to risk any potential inconsistencies. Mia had no like for the media as previously shown, for she could also remember how they had treated her father; many local papers had argued he should have been put to death, and she worried some student would exert their legal immunity by doing so. None did so, and she found in conversations with them later that many were sympathetic to her family.