ENTER: INIGO's messy apartment. It's early in the morning. A flush is heard. INIGO MYOGA comes out of the bathroom.
INIGO, relieved: I don't see what I was so worried about.
He sees rays of light coming through the blinds of his apartment. Gigan chirps and hovers over his buzzing phone.
INIGO: Nope. I'm not going to class today. Inigo- I mean, I skip class all the time. At least I wrote him that way. It wouldn't be weird, so the school has no reason to be suspicious.
He shrugs and goes to check the fridge for no reason.
INIGO: It's up to the others to go. It'll definitely set off alarm bells if we all skipped.
Gigan isn't happy with him and lets off a dissastisfied squeak. A sharp vibrating noise fills INIGO's head.
INIGO: Hey quit it! Ugh, I should've picked a better quirk compulsion.
Grabbing two bars of the chocolate he bought, he checked the ingredient labels out of habit before pausing. Inigo could probably eat anything. He sat down in front of the computer, and started browsing the web. Gigan hovers over him worriedly.
INIGO: Look, It's Inigo who's a social butterfly. Me, I'll have a panic attack if I have to stay in that penthouse with all those people. I need some alone time to recharge.
Click. Click.
INIGO: It's not like we're friends, anyway.. It's just anons..
Gigan pats INIGO's back.
INIGO: I'm not sad. This whole thing is just... intense, y'know? I'm sure the others are going through their own shit right now. I'm not gonna risk bothering them with mine.
The past few days had been exciting but stressful. And he was used to going through life in a much slower pace. Guess this is just like being in cosplay. But all the time.
He snaps off a square of chocolate and eats it in two bites.
Click. Click.
Doing something normal felt oddly comforting. It's weird how the future internet is almost exactly the same. They didn't really establish much about that in the writefags. He did know there were image boards though, which meant there were cyoas and such.
Click. Click. Click.
(...)
Cat (5)
Need a companion or I'll go insane.
Hygiene (3)
Brush my teeth, put on deodorant, etc.
Pizza (0)
Unlimited pizza? Deal.
Definitely would choose the Smart option with Youth, and choose FTL travel. The sheer advancements humanity could make with that alone would be worth it, and you'd likely be compensated for those 10 years.
He finished typing his reply, cleared the captcha, and clicked Post. He waited for a moment and just scrolled the thread. That's five builds done and not a single (You). Good. The internet is exactly the same in the MHA world.
BZZZ! BZZ! BZZZ!
He turned around and looked at his buzzing phone. He sighed and closed the browser revealing a Popsy desktop wallpaper, before checking his messages.
Can't ignore life forever. At least not in here.
INIGO flew through the sky. He was getting used to the rush, but he's definitely not gonna get over his fear of heights anytime soon. Also it's intensely cold up here. He made a note to say something about that in case he gets out of here to start writing fics again.
He was supposed to meet the others at the park, but - INIGO stopped his flight just above HOGE NYORO's apartment.
Why do I keep ending up here? It's not that kind of story, dude.
INIGO shook his head and kept flying.
ENTER: Valiant Park. The park is empty. Gray clouds filled the sky as INIGO flew forward in his green dragon armor, large wings glittering in the air. CHRISTOPHER CAIN comes into view, arriving from the other side of the park in his own set of black dragon armor.
INIGO: All clear?
CHRISTOPHER, frowning: Yeah. No signs of anything weird.
INIGO, relieved: All that government-sponsored stuff is probably being kept under wraps.
The two of them found themselves sitting down on one of the park bench.
INIGO: I'm just saying it makes narrative sense for Sandy-anon to leave. He's a villain, so he might've been worried we'd turn on him next. At least he did us a favor by taking care of Mio.
CHRISTOPHER: His actions put us all in danger. It was dumb to be that hasty.
INIGO: Dude's probably freaking out. He still has his compulsion to deal with and now he's on the run against the government.
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah.
INIGO: Things just seem a lot easier when you have a metaview of the story. I hope Pregfag-anon gives him lots of plot armor. We still don't know what happens if we die here.
CHRISTOPHER: Why weren't you answering your messages?
INIGO: I dunno. I had my own stuff to deal with.
CHRISTOPHER: I get it. Just warn us next time.
INIGO: How're you getting by? Y'know, with Chris' memory thing.
CHRISTOPHER: It's fine. I know a trick on how to stop it.
INIGO: Really?? How?
CHRISTOPHER, smirking: Ha, I got you. Wouldn't you like to know?
INIGO, chuckling: Tch. It's probably spoilers anyway. Just let me know if I can help with anything.
CHRISTOPHER pulled out a deck of tcg cards and started shuffling through the deck.
INIGO: Bro, did you go to a gaming store?
CHRISTOPHER: I did.
INIGO: What the fuck is Yogi-uh?
CHRISTOPHER: It's called Magic: The Togethering here.
INIGO: Yeah.... We were never that creative when it came to renaming stuff.
The two of them started laughing as they named brands in the MHA world. As their conversation ebbed and flowed, the gray clouds above them started to disperse, revealing slivers of a blue canvas. A hush fell upon the park as the winter air became still, and both instinctively turned their gazes up. The sky was ablaze with hues of orange and yellow, the sun was setting on the horizon.
INIGO: So uh.. I don't know if you noticed that Pregfag-anon's not writing anymore.
CHRISTOPHER: What do you mean?
INIGO: As in, this dialogue and writing style. It's my own. I recognized it when I was in Inigo's apartment. If anyone writes something interesting it's only a matter of time until I chime in with my own writefag and this is it. The soft conversation, the SoL-type vibe, hell there might as well be VN music playing right now.
Recommended music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH2G8V8zv80
CHRISTOPHER: I felt like something was going on.
INIGO: Quick! Tell me something I don't know about you.
CHRISTOPHER: Uh...
INIGO: See! You can't. Cuz I'm the one writing this and I'm too scared to make shit up about other characters.
CHRISTOPHER: ....I warned you about talking with Jugo and Kaylee.
INIGO, standing and looking up: Trust me bro. Listen! Writer me. If you're out there, just put in something that can get us out. Not for my sake but for the others. You know, that I know, that you owe them one!
CHRISTOPHER, concerned: This is getting too meta for me. What are you talking about?
INIGO, sitting back down and leaning in surreptitiously: You remember the old MHA Isekai 2.0 or whatever?
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah.
INIGO: I kinda continued it on my own in secret. Course, it was too bad and cringe to actually post. I fucked up that timeline so badly, that I feel like the isekai gods are after me.
CHRISTOPHER: But this is pregfag's pet project.
INIGO: I know, but now I'm chiming in too. So I dunno. Maybe pregfag was just bored and started it again in the middle of MHA's 22nd revival. Or maybe the isekai gods cursed us.
CHRISTOPHER: We'll never be certain. So why bother figuring out the temporal mechanics in a work of fiction? You're going to end up depressed and suicidal.
INIGO: You know I should be, but I think Inigo's quirk has a way of filtering that.
CHRISTOPHER: I'm glad I have a way of forgetting this conversation.
INIGO: Ooouch. Bro!
CHRISTOPHER: I'm just kidding, dumbass.