Chapter 123: The Veteran's Rules! Pixie-Bob Takes the Reins!

Ren and Mina looked at each other at the same time while Pixie-Bob stood there, stunned. It was a half-second exchange, and the two of them nodded in unison.

"NOW!"

What followed was fast and completely clumsy. Ren shot up so quickly he almost slipped on the futon.

"Wha, what the hell are you two doing?!"

Mina got tangled in the sheet for a second before shaking it off, and the two of them, completely naked, stumbled across the room to grab Pixie-Bob, each by one arm.

"Huh?! Huh?! Huh?! Hey, hey, hey! Why are you pulling me?!"

The heroine tripped without being able to react, slipping on the wet floor while the two of them dragged her inside without an ounce of grace, bumping into each other on the way. She ended up sitting on the floor just as Ren reached the door to shut it, before anyone in the hallway could catch sight of the scene.

"Ow! What kind of disaster of a kidnapping is this?" She rubbed her butt. "Did your brain cells just short out or what?! And on top of it all you're both completely naked! Do you think first or act first, kittens?!"

"We acted first," Ren said, making sure the door was properly shut. "Thinking first would've given us away."

"That's not the right answer!"

"Phew." Mina leaned on her knees, out of breath. "We almost dropped her right at the door."

"And whose fault was that?! You got tangled up in the sheet!"

"You pushed me first!"

Pixie-Bob raised a hand from the floor, reconsidering what life choices had led her to this point, kidnapped by two naked perverts who were now arguing about kidnapping technique.

"All right, kittens." She crossed her arms, trying to hold on to some dignity. "Somebody's gonna explain to me what's going on here, and it's gonna happen NOW. Nyaa!"

Mina raised a hand, and all her energy drained out of her as she realized it was her turn to face the music. She turned red right up to her horns.

"I, it's just... this was all my fault..." she murmured, fidgeting with her fingers. "My Quirk got out of control... and by the time I tried to stop it, it was already too late. Then Ren came in and helped me..."

She bit her lip, completely red.

"...fix it. Yeah... that. Fix it."

"Well, it wasn't just Mina's fault either. I could've waited outside, but I decided to go in. A hero... I mean, a gentleman doesn't abandon a girl when she needs help!"

"AAH, LET ME HANDLE THIS, YOU GIANT IDIOT!" Mina pinched his thigh hard. "I'm having my heroic moment, owning up to my mistake with all the dignity, and you're ruining it!"

"Ow."

Ren rubbed his leg with a grimace.

"Quit being cute right when I'm trying to sound responsible!"

Ren leaned in and whispered in her ear, not even bothering to hide the gesture in front of Pixie-Bob.

"You don't look all that heroic naked, Mina."

Mina opened her mouth and looked down at her own body, having completely forgotten about that detail in the middle of her confession.

"...Ngh." She covered her chest with her arms, redder than ever. "That doesn't count! A girl can be dignified and butt naked at the same time!"

"Sure she can."

"Don't play along in that cute little voice! UWAAAH! You were supposed to help me, not make me even more embarrassed!"

Pixie-Bob watched them go back and forth, and even forgot for a moment that she was drenched in some unknown pink stuff. She raised an eyebrow, and her shock slowly turned into curiosity.

"Okay, okay, hold on there, kittens." She lifted both hands. "Are you telling me your Quirk makes something that forces you to...?" She touched her lip, where the sweet trace still lingered. "And this stuff that landed all over me is the same thing?"

Mina and Ren looked at each other.

"Uhh... yeah... well, more or less..." Mina admitted with a nervous giggle, scratching her cheek. "It's... complicated to explain."

Pixie-Bob wiped her cheek with two fingers and stared at the pink shine left on her skin, rubbing it between her fingertips.

"Let's see, let's see, and what is this sticky stuff?" She sniffed it, wrinkled her nose, and only then did she realize the sweet taste she'd already been carrying in her mouth since the hallway. "H, hold on. This got in my mouth when I opened the door!"

"Uhh... yeah." Mina shrugged. "A little bit."

"A LITTLE?!" Pixie-Bob half stood up, pointing at her face. "You got it all over my face!" She stopped, took a breath, and lowered her voice, trying to sound like the responsible adult in the room. "Okay, okay, calm down, Ryuko. You're a professional hero with years of experience... WITH AN EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD'S HEART, SURE! Breathe! Don't panic... Look, Ashido-chan, tell me one thing with total honesty: this thing that got out of control a while ago... is there any chance the same thing could happen to me?"

Mina fidgeted with her fingers, avoiding her gaze.

"I, it's just... honestly, I'm not really sure," she murmured, scratching her cheek. "It's my Quirk and even I don't fully get it! I'd never done it to anyone else before... well, aside from the pervert who's in this room..." She cleared her throat. "Ahem! I mean... I don't know how strong it'd hit someone else."

"Aha, aha! And how long does it last?" she pressed, moving a little closer. "You do know that one, right?!"

"Well..." Mina curled in on herself even more, red down to the tips of her horns. "I, I'm not really sure, but... for me it always passes when... when..."

"When WHAT?! Just spit it out already!"

"W, when I get to the end! There, I said it!" Mina covered her face with both hands. "It doesn't go away until I finish all the way! And I don't know why! My body's just weird like that, don't ask me anything else because I'll DIE!"

Pixie-Bob froze for a second.

"...Wait."

Mina lowered her hands.

"Huh?"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Pixie-Bob's voice got higher and higher. "Are you telling me this isn't gonna go away until I...?!" She didn't finish the sentence, put her hands on her cheeks and let out a strangled squeak. "WHAAAAAAAT?! And you're telling me this like it's nothing?! What kind of pervy Quirk is that?! NYAAAA!"

"I didn't invent it!" Mina protested, raising her hands. "It just happened to me!"

And to top it off, Pixie-Bob was already starting to feel the effects. Her skin was hot, her breathing picking up on its own. It didn't help at all having Ren right there in front of her without a single piece of clothing, with that thing pointing straight at her.

"D, don't look, Ryuko! Don't look!"

But then she looked again.

"Oh, dammit!"

"What's wrong?!" Ren asked, confused.

"What's wrong?! You're still asking what's wrong?!"

Pixie-Bob grabbed the pillow off the futon and threw it right at his face.

"Cover that thing up right now, handsome! What kind of surprise attack is that?! I've got enough with my own problems as it is without you standing there pointing at me with... with that thing!"

"Huh?! And how's that my fault?!"

"All of it, for walking around naked at midnight!" Pixie-Bob shot back, still with a hand covering her eyes and peeking through her fingers without meaning to.

She got to her feet as best she could, wobbling, and started walking in circles around the room trying to think, which was getting harder with the heat crawling through her whole body.

"All right, Ryuko, think, think..." she muttered, fanning her face with both hands. "You're a professional hero. You've survived avalanches and entire forest fires... This is nothing! It's just a small... inconvenience. Nyaa!"

She stopped dead and raised a finger.

"First option! I go back to my room and lock myself in there until it passes."

"I tried that," Mina commented, raising her hand like she was participating in class. "I held out for like an hour and it only got worse."

Pixie-Bob turned her head toward her.

"HEY! Don't take my options away, kitten! I'm barely on the first one, nyaa!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Mina raised her hands. "You go ahead! I'm just contributing useful information."

Pixie-Bob bit her thumb and looked at the door.

"All right... that option's out."

A shiver ran through her body and forced her to squeeze her legs together for a moment.

"Ngh... Second option: I head out to the hallway, make it to the bathroom, and handle this by myself like the responsible adult I am."

With all the determination in the world, she headed for the door. She put her hand on the lock...

And froze.

Hold on.

Mandalay slept close to the bathroom, Ragdoll not far from her own room, and she'd have to cross half the corridor in this state, trembling and biting her lips to keep quiet, with both of them one bad moan away from waking up.

She pictured Mandalay opening her door in the middle of the night and finding her sneaking off to the bathroom in this condition. The mere thought sent a shiver worse than the one from the liquid.

"Okay, okay, there's gotta be another way out." Pixie-Bob grabbed her head, pacing back and forth. "I stay awake until dawn. I distract myself. Count sheep... or kittens! Think about horrible stuff, like... like taxes, paperwork, Mandalay's face when she gets mad. Something to shake this feeling off!"

"So... you're gonna stay?" Mina asked, with a smile that already sensed the answer.

Pixie-Bob turned around and leaned her back against the door, looking at the two of them, resigned and completely red. And then, little by little, the resignation transformed into stubborn veteran pride that wouldn't let anything beat her.

"Fine. I'm staying." She raised a finger. "But let's get one thing straight: I'm doing this out of responsibility to the team, to avoid a bigger incident."

"Of course, I believe you," Ren said, still with the pillow in his lap.

"And one more thing." She crossed her arms, recovering her attitude. "I'm a professional hero with years of experience! Toughing out a little bit of heat is nothing for me, got it, kittens?! For Pixie-Bob this is a piece of cake, nyaa!"

Mina and Ren looked at each other. Neither of them said a word.

"Huh?... Why are you looking at each other like that?" Pixie-Bob narrowed her eyes. "What?! What does that look mean?!"

"Nothing," Ren said. "We wish you lots of luck with that."

"Oh, forget it, you know what?! WHATEVER!" She dropped her arms and laughed. "Look at the mess you two made! A Quirk that goes out of control, two rookies with no idea what they're doing!" She ran a hand through her hair. "And you know what the worst part is, kittens? That you two were doing everything the dumb way."

"HUH?! That's not true!" Mina protested, pointing a finger at her. "We were handling it super well! Well... more or less. But it was working!"

"Yeah, sure, that's why you ended up here with a professional watching the stupid stuff you're pulling! What lovely aim!" Pixie-Bob stepped closer. "Listen up good, kittens, this is coming from a hero who's spent a lot of years mixed up in real trouble. If that Quirk only stops acting up when you get to the end... then you can't keep improvising like a couple of headless chickens."

She raised a finger with a teacherly air.

"You do this with strategy, with patience, and by using your head. And, as it happens... the only cat in this room who's been through enough craziness to know how to handle something like this... is me, nyaa!"

She smiled, completely delighted to be taking the reins of the situation.

"So, for once, listen to the veteran. Meow?"

Ren raised an eyebrow.

"Are you... offering us sex lessons?"

Pixie-Bob huffed and gave him a little tap on the forehead with one finger.

"I'm offering you a way to stop making a mess of things, silly kitten! If you keep improvising you're gonna wake up Mandalay and then we really will have a problem."

She dropped to her knees in front of the two of them. For an instant, the heat running through her body made her tense up.

"...Tch."

She exhaled slowly before continuing.

"Listen up, kittens. I have to handle my part of this mess and you two have yours. But there's a huge difference between us: I know how to keep a cool head when everything's going sideways. You don't."

She crossed her arms with a confident smile.

"So we're doing this my way. I set the rules, I set the pace, and you two do as I say. And if anybody misbehaves... I pull their ears! If you're gonna get into this mess, at least do it the right way. Are we clear, kittens?"

"Aha, you gave yourself away!" Mina laughed. "So you DO wanna join in! I KNEW there was something there!"

"Don't twist my words, kitten!" she shot back. "I'm taking charge of the situation, which is exactly what a professional hero does when she finds two rookies about to crash and burn! And, sure... I take care of my own problem along the way, because thanks to your pervy Quirk I don't have many options, all right?"

"But don't forget one thing: the one holding the reins here..."

"Is you," Ren said, encouraged by where this was heading.

"CORRECT, handsome, it's me!" Pixie-Bob replied with a feline smile, pointing her thumb at her own chest. "See? The bald kid pays attention when a hero gives him an order. Ashido-chan, learn from him!"

Mina huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah... you're so insufferable."

"Rule number one." Pixie-Bob raised a finger, taking command again. "No scandals. Whoever makes too much noise deals with it or covers their own mouth, I don't want anyone knocking on the door. Rule number two: nobody gets left half done here, we're getting this stuff out of all three of our bodies. And rule number three... when this is over, tomorrow it never happened. None of the three of us ever brings this up again... Now get over here, kittens!"

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