"No way, uh uh." Hizashi flatly refused to listen to his friend and colleague who was trying to talk some sense into him. The scruffy homeroom teacher followed him back to his apartment in a desperate attempt to reel the Voice Hero in.
It wasn't working.
"I'm <i>going</i>." He threw random pieces of clothing in a battered duffel bag as he spoke, not really paying attention to what he was doing.
"Hizashi!" Aizawa reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"No!" He wrenched away, his spiraled pupils thick in his anxiety. "There's a good chance the villain was luring all the Wonderland Heroes out. You saw what happened to her friend. I read the <i>fucking book</i>. That's not gonna happen to her!"
"Your girlfriend will be fine," he insisted through clenched teeth. "If you go barging in there it might throw her off."
"Then I'd better have a plan, hadn't I?" He grimly checked his equipment case, making sure his gear was intact and wrapped securely. He could fix it himself in a pinch, but it was a pain to do so and could take a long while, depending on which part was broken. "'Sides, I can meet her family. Not a plus, I know, they're not nice to her, but this way we can get a hotel room or something instead."
Aizawa ran a weary hand across his face. "You're going, then?"
"I've got a three o'clock flight."
"All right." He took Hizashi's duffel bag and started to dump the contents out on the bed.
"Wh - Shota! I told you I'm going!"
The scruffy man nodded and set half the underwear aside. "You need to pack wisely."
"Oh." He watched numbly as his friend thrust more calculated pieces into his carry-on. "Sure."
"I care about her, too," he grunted. "Both of you," he added sourly when Hizashi coughed. "You know that. You be careful when you're in America. I know how you get where she's concerned and you need to <i>think</i>."
Hizashi nodded, rubbing at the back of his head. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."
"Taking a cab to the airport?"
"I'm not gonna drive." He looked horrified at the idea of taking his antique car and parking it, left for days by itself with airport security.
"You're not all gone in the head, then. Good."
"I got the first flight I could. Text ya when I get there, and every other day. That way y'know we're all right. Ya get radio silence, something happened."
Aizawa nodded, scratching his chin scruff. "Even better, 'Zashi."
"Yeah, yeah." He picked his bags up and plodded out the door. "I gotta hurry, cab's waiting at the gate."
It wasn't a long ride to the airport, but he grew more and more anxious sitting still. His legs vibrated restlessly and he drummed his fingers on the car door until the driver spoke.
"You all right back there?"
Hizashi blinked down at his restless body and stilled himself with a mighty effort. He returned a weak smile at the burly woman, a humanoid with an extra set of arms. "I, uh. Yeah. Sorry."
The woman raised one free arm and waved it off. "Ahhh, it's alright. Get a lot of folks going to the airport that're filled with emotions. I always wonder what my next one's gonna be. You look pale, though. Not scared of flying?"
"No." He picked at the beads on his bracelet, spinning them as he thought. He wasn't about to tell everyone the reason he was flying, but there was something else that stood out. "I'm going over to America to meet my girlfriend's parents."
Technically true; he would meet them. At least he thought so. Elly was staying with them when she first got there, but he hoped to take her with him to a hotel. He busied himself during the bag check and boarding by scrolling through hotel sites, choosing a very nice one by the ocean that was close to a few locations he had heard her speak favorably about.
Hizashi barely managed to sit patiently in his seat until the plane was in the air and electronics allowed again. He quickly unlocked his phone and stared grimly at the article that Toshinori had shown them.
<b>Wonderland Heroes Become Targets of new Villian</b>
<i>It began with America's own Mad Hatter, attacked while on route for a little girl's birthday tea party. But what authorities first thought was a random encounter has turned into a thorough investigation as the violence spreads.
The White Rabbit and Dormouse flew from England to offer support to their injured colleague, only to be attacked at the very hospital Hatter is recovering in. Authorities are contacting the other members of the storybook Heroes to make sure they remain safe. No details have been released about the villain, save for what a bystander saw at the scene of the second attack. The witness said that playing cards were scattered all about, and from what they could see, there were no red ones.
After the attack, they lay on the ground splattered with bright, red blood in an eerie depiction reminiscent of Carroll's 'painting the roses red' scene in the book.</i>
Hizashi bit his lip, sweating as he mentally calculated how many hours she would be alone before he arrived.
"I'm comin', baby," he choked.
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