Chapter 16 - A Helping Hand (Part 2)

I told Kendo's mother that I'll be back and that I'm just going to get some groceries and stationary for Kendo to use.

She nods as I walk out the door.

I see Rumi outside with a backpack and some drinks in his hand.

"What is this for?" I say, pointing at the items in his hands.

"Refreshments. Just in case you need to fight another villain again." Rumi slurps on his drink.

"You're very helpful Rumi." I say with sarcasm.

"I know. You always tell me that." He chuckles as we start walking to the destination in the text message I received.

"So...what's your plan?" Rumi asks.

"..." I stay quiet.

"Alright then. No plan it is." Rumi picks up on my silence.

"I mean, how am I supposed to plan for this? I don't exactly know who our mysterious messenger is." I say.

Rumi stares at me.

"What?" I look back.

"I bet you don't even have a weapon."

"Well...no, I don't actually." I look at the ground, feeling more anxiety build up in my stomach.

"It's fine. You have me here. I can use my rocks to fight the villain."

"That's only when rocks are thrown at you that you can control them."

"Nope, I can now control them at my will." Rumi smirks with pride.

"Wait. Seriously? Let me see."

"Well, well..." We hear a third voice speak.

We jolt our heads forward to find...

"Silverstone?!" Rumi and I shout at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" I ask  eventhough I may already know the answer.

"What do you think?" She says.

"Are you the one who texted me?" 

"Bingo!" She leaps up and does a little dance.

"What do you want from us?" I ask.

"Hmm...nothing much-"

"Liar." Rumi says straight away.

Silverstone stares at Rumi.

"Truth be told, I just want to learn more about you...for research purposes..." The last part wasn't loud enough for us to hear.

Rumi and I exchange glances.

"One question." Rumi takes out the lollipop out his mouth.

"Your voice has changed, are you sure you aren't an imposter?"

Silence dawns on us all.

"Ah right, yes, I am the one and only Silverstone.  No one can impersonate me!"

"Uh huh and about your voice? You aren't shouting and aren't whispering anymore like before." Rumi points out.

"Well, I actually went to my master in the underground caves who told me how to get a better hold on my quirk. The voice that you hear now is my original voice." Silverstone explains.

"Wait, so you wasn't born with your quirk?" I ask.

"Oh, no. I received it miraculously one day and was stuck with it ever since but after going back to my master, I have been able to get a hold of it and control how much I use up."

"Oh I see." I ponder about what Silverstone just said.

"Mhm, as nice as it seems I don't care." Rumi says and starts to walk away.

"Rumi!" I cry out.

"Sorry bro, I'm just not interested in small talk."

I sigh.

"I'm sorry about Rumi." I say to Silverstone apologetically.

"It's fine, I don't really care for her, I had business with you only anyway. Will you accept my proposal on me getting to know about the world in which you came from?"

"Uh yeah su-"

"Wait just a minute." Rumi steps in.

"Tenshi will need some time to think about your 'proposal'." Rumi stares at Silverstone as he stands between us.

Silverstone looks at me.

"Uh just give me 3 days to get back to you, okay?"

Silverstone sighs and nods.

"Alright. When you're ready, just come to my lair, it's the same place. I'll be waiting." Silverstone nods again and then gives a piercing glare to Rumi before turning around and walking off.

"So, uh, why did you-"

"You idiot! You should have given a week instead of 3 days!" Rumi shouts at me.

"Uh, well, usually you give 3 days before giving an answer right?" I tell him.

"That's the bare minimum! A week would have been better for us to think up a plan."

"A plan?" I repeat.

"Yes. A plan. To take down Silverstone." Rumi cracks his knuckles.

"But why..."

"Because they're sus!" Rumi wacks me in the head.

"Ow, that hurts."

"Well, that's what you get. C'mon, we have things to do and plans to make." Rumi stomps off.

I sigh, I really don't care about fighting Silverstone but I know that when Rumi gets into the zone, he can never get out of it until the mission is completed.