Archive of Our Own

As she walks deeper and deeper within, past broken lighters and shattered vials spilling Trigger on the ground, Himiko thinks it must have been fate. A red string wrapping around her neck and tying her to the only place where she could ever hope to belong. A place where no one asked her why she wasn't in school or did a double take when looking at the dried blood covering her skin. Dried blood that smells oh so sweet, even as the rain washes it away. Blood that has once belonged to her dear Saito. Blood that she used to transform, an instinct that has guided her in life without fully making itself known, to steal his skin and make herself at home inside it. Sweet red that almost refused to leave her body, the last host it will ever know, because it needed her just as much as she needed it.

In the end it left. Abandoned her. Saito's skin melting from her body and turning into distressing goo. All that was precious made its way out of her body and left Himiko alone with her blood that never tasted good enough, never satiated her hunger and her face that was too honest not to be off putting.

Himiko can feel herself smile despite it all, a wide smile that covers her whole face and brings forth her sharp teeth. It was temporary, but the memory of wearing Saito's body as her own was precious. A reminder that her quirk wasn't disgusting, that it was made for love.

Seeing her reflection in a puddle shatters her smile and all happiness she felt from the memory.

"I'm not sure if it was ecstasy or... But her face... It was so sickening."

She remembers hearing Yui's words on the news in a gas station. They hid her name, but Himiko was never one to forget a face or a voice, all details about someone important kept away safely in a corner of her mind. She recognized her former friend. Recognized the words she uttered too, similar to what her parents used to say. Himiko was a monster in their eyes. Rotten to the core. Wrong in a way that cannot be fixed. Something that should have hidden itself away better to make sure it never stained the family name and never ruined its parents' good reputation. Something that strained their smiles whenever it walked inside a room, a reminder that they failed. The smiles that fell taught Himiko that they too were playing a role, a happy couple with perfect children, but their mask swallowed them whole.

Saito Haruto was Himiko's first crush on a boy. She has always loved easily. After all, anything that moved had such beautiful blood flowing through it. Saito Haruto was the first time she felt like she could act on her feelings. He didn't have a temper, but he liked to fight. A bit of a delinquent, the kind of boy her parents would sneer at and would have told her to stay away from if they would have bothered to care about her at all. But he was also kind, helping her put posters for their school spring festival even though he didn't have to just because he didn't want a cute girl like her to have to get home too late.

He was pretty and kind, but also didn't mind getting covered in blood and bruises from a fight and for a second, a precious second after classes, a month or so before his death, Himiko considered asking him if she could drink his blood.

In the end, she didn't. She was too afraid. Afraid that if he heard she liked blood he wouldn't think she was cute anymore, that he would call her a freak just like her parents had once she drank from that pretty, pretty bird. That he would no longer see her as human.

Himiko doesn't remember killing Saito. All she remembers from that day is the hunger that always enveloped her. A cold feeling that reached forward from within her stomach, crawling underneath her skin, scratching the inside of her throat, begging to be satiated, begging for relief. It has followed her ever since she stopped tasting blood, stopped biting into even her own skin. By that point it became a weight she had to carry everywhere she went, just like the mask her parents forced upon her. Seeing Saito beaten up, his skin purple and yellow but his smile victorious is what sealed the deal. She hadn't intended to drink that much, to take everything that kept him alive for herself, to leave his body a hollow husk, but as she drank the hunger waned, the pain stopped, her body became warmer. She felt relief for the first time and wanted that feeling to last forever, to envelop her and never let go.

Yui's scream is what broke her from under the spell, a high pitched noise like a sparrow singing. It's what allowed her to escape, what reminded her legs that she could move and her mind she should. They carried her to Kamino while she was dressed in Saito's skin, a boy that could hide into a crowd without much problem, too common looking to attract any unwanted gaze. Even in death, her saviour.

The rain falls faster and faster, cleaning the last remains of Saito from her akin. His ghost will leave her soon as well, alone and cold. Himiko doesn't run to hide from the rain, but she looks around for a place that looks suitably abandoned for her to rest inside. She is a girl on a mission and that mission is survival. She will leave life the way she wants to, she will love the way she wants to, she will smile as wide as she wants and be as loud as she wants to be.

An abandoned warehouse is the place where she finds shelter. It's roof has holes and the ground is covered in old equipment that no longer works and empty crates. It's good enough for Himiko as she lowers herself to the ground, hiding between a wall and a wooden box, her knees pulled close to her chest. It's late march, but she feels a familiar cold stir within her, hungry hands searching for the right button to push that will guarantee a next meal. Her eyes feel heavy as sleep pulls at her. The place is lonely, without Saito's warm blood for company. 

The first thing Himiko steals is a soft beige cardigan. She took it from a woman that left it dry on her balcony, a pretty woman with strawberry blonde hair and big brown eyes that looked so cute when she wore it. It was too big for Himiko, almost like a dress and it was the prettiest thing she owned. The second thing she stole was a backpack, neon pink and covered in glitter, when she realized that the spring weather was a bit too hot for a cardigan and she couldn't just walk with it in her hands everywhere she went. A necessary crime, she thought, an important step for the new Toga Himiko to take.

Himiko didn't run after she stole it from the balcony where it was left to dry. She didn't run, but she walked a little bit faster, her eyes keeping watch for all possible threats. Like a game of hide and seek in a horror movie, hiding from heroes felt like a matter of life and death. Unlike the protagonists in those movies, Himiko did not plan on getting caught. It was almost an instinct, hiding, something in her mind that taught her how to disappear when needed, how to act in a way that made everyone around her not look twice in her direction. There were near misses, while she perfected the act. Times when a woman with cyan hair dressed in orange clothes with smiling faces looked at her a bit too long, when Himiko had to hide behind a wall and wait and wait and wait. Her heart would stop beating in her chest, her hands would get all sweaty and gross and she would have to remind herself that most heroes that saw her face patrolled in another prefecture. That she was as safe in Kamino as anyone could ever claim to be.

Walking deeper and deeper inside Kamino feels a bit like walking into hell, each step condemning her to a life of villainy that she didn't choose as much as fall into. A quiet reminder that her hands are covered in blood, that if she is ever caught she will have to pay for it. Toga Himiko is a villain, a monster with sharp fangs and claws, an aberration in human skin.

It's the sound of screams compels her, reaches towards whatever remained of her survival instinct and kills it. Her mind is compelled by the sound, a siren's call, and just like the sailors in the old stories, Himiko doesn't think of the danger that awaits her. Screams signal a fight, people covered in bruises and blood with broken bones and missing teeth. A laugh almost makes its way out of her, but she pushes it back inside with restraint that she is quite proud of. She wouldn't want to attract their attention, to stop the show before it begins.

"You think this is funny, you sick freak? Stop smiling! I'll fucking kill you!" says a voice filled with anger and hate as Himiko peers from behind a wall to look within the alleyway.

There is a pool of blood on the floor, fresh and beautiful. The angry man is holding a knife in his hand, a sharp beautiful blade that is wasted in his careless grip. The guy whose neck is threatened by the blade seems smaller, insubstantial, with pale anaemic skin and hair a light shade of blue. He resembles a corpse more than a living being, his smile filled with malice as he faces down the death threat. His eyes are the only part of him that doesn't look pale or washed out, a mesmerizing shade of crimson red that looks at his opponent without even a hint of fear. Himiko knows that he is responsible for the pool of blood, knows it deep within her soul, sees it acknowledged in the angry man that threatens and seethes, but seems too afraid to make a move, his grip on the knife weak, trembling. The living corpse moves faster than Himiko can follow, his hand reaching out as his opponent tries and fails to back down. It reaches his head faster than Himiko can blink and as his fingers touch skin it breaks apart, shatter, showing muscle and bone and then nothing. Just dust that falls into a pool of blood, the only thing that was spared in the carnage.

"Shouldn't have wasted your action on an intimidation check..." It must mean something to him, even if Himiko doesn't really understand what. She watches as his nails start to dig into his neck, familiar motions judging by the scars already covering it, aggressive fingers scratch and scratch until he bleeds, but even that doesn't seem to end the act of self destruction. Maybe they are still hungry, the two bodies they consumed not enough. Maybe, like Himiko's, his quirk also demands a sacrifice.

He reaches for his phone, one finger held painfully in the air in what seems to be a reflex, not a conscious thought. A coin falls from his jean's pocket to the ground, next to his black converse shoes that seem to be on their last breath, filled with holes that were stitched back together. The guy's crimson eyes look at it for a moment, his empty face gaining an emotion that seems to be at home upon his features: annoyance. "Fucking hell!" he says and his voice is rough and unused. He types something, aggressive sounds that shouldn't be possible on a touch screen, echoing in the quiet of the night. His phone is returned to his pocket as all emotion bleeds away from his face, his vacant eyes gazing into space. Is he, like, ok? Himiko almost reaches out to him, he is clearly going through something over there, that ugly wall doesn't warrant that thorough of an examination, but the air splits open and she stays in place.

It's not something appearing as much as it is a disappearance of colour and light, a dark swirl of nothingness surrounded by purple smoke. A black hole that eats away at its surroundings, hungry and ever growing. Himiko wants to shove her hand inside, a little bit, just to see what happens. It's swirling movements almost enchant her, but Himiko blinks and steps away before they can convince her to abandon her religion common sense and step inside. She looks at the guy, wondering if he sees whatever this is as well (a quirk, maybe?), but his face betrays nothing as he approaches the dark cloud, steps inside without a hint of worry, like the darkness that consumed him was a friend (maybe it was).

Once he disappears from view reality snaps back into place, the remains of the two bodies her fellow witnesses to whatever that was.

A villain? He seemed familiar with killing, didn't even blink when blood stained his clothes and shoes further. Definitely a villain, then. Himiko hasn't been a villain for nearly long enough, but she was confident in the knowledge she gathered, certain that she could recognize a fellow dubiously legal person. Would he find her smile sickening? Her admission that she wants to drink blood disgusting? Himiko doesn't think so. A villain wouldn't care. She doesn't know much about villains, but she is one and she did not care that he scratched his neck and spoke like he was in a video game so she is sure that he wouldn't care about the way she loves either.

Himiko reaches for the coin that fell to the ground, like a cat following a red dot, except she catches her prey and cleans it with her hand. It's an arcade coin, Saito used to play games and he showed her one before. Himiko passed by that arcade a few times, an almost empty place, but she has never noticed the guy before. Maybe he was like her, good at hiding, at making himself disappear when necessary. A ghost walking unseen among humans. Maybe he would help her understand more about being a villain, about hiding from heroes. Maybe next time he spill blood she will be there to take it. After all, his quirk seems to leave behind exactly what her quirk needs.

The next day Himiko is sitting inside of an arcade for the first time in her life, her hair braided and her eyes covered by heart glasses. She is wearing a hoodie with Minecraft on it, a master of disguises and blending in. The coin sitting inside her pocket isn't heavy, but it drags her down, keep her in place, her golden eyes scanning the area for any sign of the other villain. It's her only chance to see if the worst society has to offer will embrace her, accept her like her family and friends never did. 

Toga Himiko traded her old life for a taste of Saito's blood. Another villain might be able to understand that.

The villain enters, dressed in a black shirt with long sleeves that has seen better days and a pair of dark jeans that she's certain weren't ripped when he bought them. In daylight his pair of deceased sneakers manages to look even worse, with parts missing and parts stapled together. The villain looks at his fellow gamers for a second, then heads in the darkest corner of the arcade to play "ULTIMATE COMBAT V". The title is a promise of blood and gore so Himiko follows, certain that if all else fails she could ask him about the game. Himiko moves, inelegant (gamers are supposed to have poor posture), but filled with certainty that this moment will define her life. She doesn't know what she will say, but she doesn't need to, not anymore. Old Toga would plan a conversation in her mind, think about ways to put less of her personality into it, to make herself appear more normal, but Himiko is free, like a pretty bird flying in the sky.

"Hey!" Himiko says with enough energy to materialize a "☆" next to it even if they aren't texting.

The villain turns towards her, irritated, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He is studying her, crimson staring deep into her soul. Like a scientist encountering a rare specimen in nature, Himiko decides to study him back, her golden eyes mapping all the details they can see. His pale face is covered in scars, most of them around his eyes, like he scratched and scratched until his skin couldn't remember how it looked like without wounds. His lips are chapped, cut by a small line on one side and marked by a beauty mark on the other. Himiko was right to observe that he looks more like a corpse than a living being, his bones almost visible in the places that aren't covered by clothes. He must think that they stared at each other enough or he worries about his game because he turns towards the screen without saying anything back, leaving her on read in real life.

"Hey! You can't just ignore someone when they talk to you, you know? It's rude and not cute at all!"

"I don't care, brat." Himiko wants to glare at the back of his head, but a sound from the game pulls her attention. FATALITY! It sounds so final, golden words covering the screen as his character, a woman with long blue hair dressed in black walks towards her enemy. She is confident, a smile on her face that resembles a shark more than a human being. Her opponent is dressed in a sharp suit, kneeling on the ground. He looks up at her just as her hand reaches for his head an pulls. Pulls hard enough to remove his skull and spine, leaving what is left of his flash to fail in a sad heap upon the floor. There is blood everywhere, falling like sakura petals. The villain smiles, the same smile she had when he killed that man last night, like an open wound.

"It's so pretty!" The words come out of her mouth before she could even think to utter them and she smiles, happy that the rest of her body seems to catch up to her new freedom.

Reminded by her existence, the villain turns towards her once more. He seems to search for something, a calculating look on his face. Himiko doesn't move much, but she fiddles with her braids. He pulls two coins into the machine, finding the answer to his question, and points toward the slot reserved for "Player 2".

"Do you want to play?"

"Yes!" she almost yells, then quieter: "Can I also remove spines?"

"Depends on who you play," his hand reaches towards his neck, "and if you can win."

"I can do that!" says Himiko with the confidence of a seasoned gamer. Reality catches up to her as she stares at the buttons. "What are the buttons for?"

The villain groans, looks a bit at the ceiling, probably asking for patience from a higher power, then points towards buttons. His tone is flat as he speaks with the energy of a Wikipedia article. Once buttons are taken care of (and quickly forgotten, Himiko will wing it) he explains combos and secret cheat codes that sound neat, but only confuse Himiko further when she starts forgetting what each button is supposed to do. After that unclear tutorial he decides that she also needs to know the lore of the game (it's bad, he says, not worth investing time into) and explains to her that while it is an obvious Mortal Kombat rip off (an old pre-quirk game, he explains after she asks "What's that?") she should never voice that opinion online unless she wants to get doxed by some basement dweller.

"Got it?"

"Yes." Himiko copies his earlier smile as her hands imitate his on the controls, pinkies raised for some reason (maybe a secret gamer thing, needs further study). "Prepare to lose!"

Himiko loses all twenty games they play. The first time she lost he laughed in her face, but still put in two coins for the next round. The other loses passed mostly in silence, he didn't seem that fond of speaking unprompted, but it still felt like the most meaningful moment of Himiko's life. It's fun, playing games with a potential friend that doesn't mind when she smiles at the gore and the fact that she likes seeing blood and thinks it looks pretty.

He takes another two coins out of his pocket when his phone rings, a metal song that makes a few people look at them with recognition in their eyes (it's from a game, then). It says "Sensei", but Himiko is willing to bet money this guy has never seen the inside of a school before. Her maybe-friend answers it in a heartbeat. His sleeve falls as he holds the phone to his ear, just enough for Himiko to see a blue bracelet that looks like it was made by a 10 year old or a teenager with 0 bracelet making skills. Cute.

"Yes, Sensei?" His voice sounds small as he answers, a bit worried.

"Is everything ok?" There is a pause, while Sensei guy answers his question.

"At the arcade." Her potential friend looks a bit annoyed by whatever else is said, fingers sctatching at his neck.

"Fucking useless NPCs."

He groans, asks: "Do I have to?"

Apparently, he does. "Fine, tell Giran I'll be there in twenty minutes and to just kick the guys out of his party if they're this incompetent."

He places the phone back in his pocket and leaves without saying anything to her. Himiko takes this as a sign that he has no manners, not as a sign that he has no friend potential. He rushes out of the place before Himiko can tell him she had fun and maybe ask him for his name, so she decides to just wave and yell "Bye!" as loud as she can. That Sensei guy is such an asshole for sabotaging her communication attempts. Does he know how hard it is for teenagers that commit murder to rebuild their social life?

She's alone in the arcade. She didn't really learn much about being a villain, unless looking like a sad wet cat and knowing way too much about video games is part of being a villain (she hopes not). Maybe it's a him thing. Maybe villains are free to look tired and have hobbies that they are way too passionate about, even if they are useless for society. Maybe villains can also have friends, she thinks, even if he seemed unfamiliar with the concept. He talks to at least two people. That's two more people he's on speaking terms with than Himiko has right now. That blue bracelet looked like a friendship token.

Himiko decides that she will be his friend. His bestie, even. Decides that she will track him down and lose hundreds of arcade games (not a hard task because she still does not understand what the buttons did exactly) just for this goal alone.

Learning more about her future bestie proved to be quite easy. He seemed to be a touchy subject among the criminal underbelly, every mention of him quickly shut down, followed by paranoid looks around. He was a ghost story for them, one that haunted every criminal and left the shivering in fear, a myth more than a human being, but Himiko had seen him. He was human enough.

The first thing she learned about him wasn't about him at all, but a random family that died almost fifteen years ago. A documentary is being made about it. They were related to a hero that apparently died in mysterious ways long before the tragedy, whose husband was also murdered, Nana something. One drunk guy said that the picture from the scene looked like decay and Himiko googled it. A gruesome sight of a cracked house and bodies ripped apart. The quirk looked similar, but her future friend was probably a toddler back then, so unless he tripped and caused a massacre Himiko decided to ignore the rumours.

The second thing she learned about him came from a woman with an arm missing that, when asked, said that the "passion project" of the "Emperor of Darkness" (cringe name) did that to her. She had to cut the arm off before her whole body turned to dust.

The third thing she learned was his name, Shigaraki Tomura, oddly fitting for someone that seemed to be followed by rumours of death and violence. Of tragedy and mourning. She knew it must be him because the man that mentioned him said that "the fucker" had creepy demon eyes that seemed to stare into his soul and rip it to pieces (very dramatic) and light blue hair. Also something about corpse hands covering his body, maybe a metaphor?

Now that she knows his name finding him is almost easy. He's in the echo of every story about someone disappearing, leaving behind only a pool of blood, about a warehouse that turned to dust over night. A legacy of destruction that Himiko followed into the darkest pits of Kamino, her smile never wavering, excitement animating her movements with each step. She knows that she will ask the first shady person she sees about Shigaraki Tomura (preferably his location and if he is open to new friendships).

The first shady person Himiko sees is a man with grey hair, glasses and cigarette hanging lazily from his mouth. He is wearing a tacky purple suit that shines every time he moves and a pink scarf that resembles tinsel. Zero fashion sense and Himiko recognized him as a villain on sight, this guy is bad at disguises.

"Shigaraki Tomura, huh? Can't say the name rings any bells, but a few yen might help me remember."

"I'm broke."

Himiko decides to leave before the guy can make fun of her. A small bump in the road. After weeks of being a villain she forgot that money were a thing, that shoplifting wasn't a thing she could do forever. Should she steal some yen? Would her bestie be bothered by the lack of money? She decides that he wouldn't be. He did pay for her to play games with him without a question about her non-existent finances.

The sound of air getting cut open reminds Himiko of her surroundings, an abandoned alleyway filled with trash. She reaches for her knife, but the mass of swirling onyx stops her. She knows that purple mist. She knows who will reach out of it. Her smile reaches her eyes as she tries to stile her buns a little bit. It's only a matter of time before her friend appears.

Shigaraki Tomura crawls out of the portal, his body covered in embalmed hands. They cover his face, reach for his neck and arms like vengeful ghosts. Not a metaphor, then, he really wears hands as accessories. His hand was reaching for the kill before he saw her face, but once he recognized her it moved towards his neck, scratching and tearing at already sensitive skin. He was difficult to read before, with his empty eyes and smile that looked painful and devoid of any real joy. The hand makes it even more difficult. He seems confused, he was expecting to have to commit a murder, after all, the change in plans must be very confusing.

"Tomura-kun!☆" says Himiko, jumping from excitement. He takes a step back, almost falls through the black mist before steadying himself.

"Arcade girl?"

"If you're going to give me a nickname at least pick a cute one..." Himiko pouts a bit, to show her displeasure. "I am Toga Himiko!" Her smile widens even further, her arms moving up and down in excitement. "Let's be friends!"

"Friends?"

"Yes! We can talk about blood and gore and paint each other's nails!"

Tomura seems to contemplate her words, looking at his nails for a bit. "Can we do black?"

"Sure!"

He turns towards the portal for a bit, then looks at her again. Almost like he is trying to remember something. Himiko waits as a good friend would.

"Do you want to join the League of Villains?" 

"What's that?" Her question seems to confuse him even more and he already seemed plenty confused.

"My villain guild. Our goal is to kill All Might and end hero society." What is a guild? Maybe it doesn't matter...

"Sounds fun!"

"What's your character sheet?"

Himiko looks at Tomura. His crimson eyes narrow behind the hand, then he moves closer towards her.

"Your skillset and other relevant information," he translates.

Himiko thinks that he probably should have asked this before giving out the name of his super secret villain organization.

"I'm not quite sure what my quirk is," says Himiko and it's true enough, the quirk counsellor was more focused on fixing Himiko than on what her quirk was doing, "but I think that I can transform into someone after I drink their blood." A good enough guess, that's what happened after she drank from Saito, after all. "But once the blood runs out I end up covered in this weird goo. Yuck!" She pauses, to show exactly how disgusted she is by the random colourless goo that melts away from within her skin.

Tomura is still looking at her, head tilted a bit to the left, like an owl, but his eyes are no longer narrowed, filled instead with a cold calculating look.

"I love blood! It's so pretty and it seems to sing to me. Whenever I love someone I want to become like them. I used to wear the same clothes, a similar hairstyle, but it never seemed enough..." Himiko pauses again, figures out how much she should share.

"There was a classmate I liked, Saito Haruto. I killed him and drank his blood and my body turned into his. I think that is how I was always supposed to love! I was so happy! But I had to run away so I won't get arrested..." Himiko pouts a little, she would have liked more time to drink Saito's blood, a chance for her transformation to last longer, to spend more time as her dear Saito instead of as herself.

Tomura nods, says something about stealth and dexterity, more to himself than to Himiko.

"Sounds useful," he then points behind him, "this warp gate will take us back to my base, you can meet the other guild members and get the tutorial."

"Yay!" Himiko jumps on the spot. Mission friendship seems to be a success.

Tomura steps through the nothingness without even a hint of hesitation. Himiko follows, trusting that if her friend is safe so is she.

It feels like blinking a bit. She was in a dirty alleyway, closed her eyes, then woke up in a bar of all things. It looked warm and clean. The design seemed over 200 years old, with those red spinning chairs Himiko saw in movies once and a retro music box.

Sitting at the bar, cleaning a glass, is a man covered in the same dark mist that brought them here. Tomura's friend (?). He looked at them, maybe with curiosity, maybe not, Himiko couldn't understand the change in the patterns of his fog.

"Hi!" says Himiko, waving with enough excitement for all three of them. "I'm Toga Himiko!"

The mist guy doesn't smile, he doesn't have a mouth, but his eyes shift a bit, maybe in fondness (Himiko hopes it's fondness). 

"I am Kurogiri. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Tomura groans, then says something about introduction cutscenes. Kurogiri's yellow eyes narrow a bit, he would probably like to say something, but he doesn't have time to before the sound of static fills the bar.

It's a small sound at first, coming from the TV that Himiko didn't even notice, but it grows in intensity. Himiko thinks the air gets colder, an unseen pressure that acts as an omen for the things to come, like creepy music before a jumpscare. Kurogiri seems to be frozen, glass held in the air, looking forward with an emptiness that wasn't there before. Tomura turns towards the TV fully, his posture stiff. Is it admiration? Terror? A mix of both? Himiko herself reaches for her knife, but doesn't touch the hilt.

"Ah, Tomura, I wasn't aware we were going to have a visitor." The voice is smooth and practiced, an almost perfect imitation of what a human is supposed to sound like. There is warmth in it, fondness, directed at the only person in the room he bothered to address. Himiko doesn't trust it.

"Sensei," he says with the devotion of a man whose prayer has been answered, "this is Toga Himiko, she wants to join the league."

"Wonderful to hear." He must be smiling, even if Himiko can't see his face. "You can stay here if you want, Himiko." They are not on a first name basis, she would like to clarify, but the creepy man keeps speaking. "I have heard what happened with poor Saito Haruto," From whom? "and I think it would be such a shame if heroes gave you trouble over such an unfortunate situation."

"Thank you!" she says, more of a desire to bring an end to the conversation than out of any real gratitude for this physical manifestation of rancid vibes.

The sound of static disappears taking with it the oppressive atmosphere. Kurogiri puts the glass away and takes another one, before putting it down, rethinking his life choices, saying instead that he will go make dinner. Himiko didn't notice when Tomura stopped breathing, but she can hear the sound of his soft breaths once more. It calms her down, helps her smile return to her face. He turns towards her and blinks for a bit, like he needs time to remember who she is and where they are.

"I'll show you where the spare rooms are, you can choose whatever."

Himiko follows after him, listening half-heartedly to his version of a tutorial on what a criminal organization is supposed to do and how they will achieve the goal of killing All Might and all other heroes (maybe?). It's a bit unclear, something about a Doctor (she feels like it's capitalized) and corpses and decay, but Himiko asks follow up questions.

It's good to show interest in the things your friends care about, after all.