Love Overdose
Hiro leaned back in his chair, letting out a tired exhale as he watched Orochi leave the lab. Her bright red hair swaying behind her like a flame. The three snake-like heads sprouting from her lower back glanced around curiously as she walked.
"Thanks, Hiro," she said over her shoulder, her voice carrying a casual, almost playful tone. "All done for today. I’ve got some stuff to take care of, but I’ll catch you later."
"Sure," Hiro replied, keeping his voice steady, almost indifferent.
The door clicked shut behind her, and for a moment, the lab was silent. Hiro sat there, staring at the empty doorway, his expression unreadable. Then, suddenly, his face turned a deep shade of red, and he buried his face in his hands.
"Goddammit," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head. "No. Stop it. Not happening. Begone, impure thoughts!"
He quickly sat upright and started reciting principles of parabiology under his breath, as if trying to exorcise his own mind. "The quirk evolutionary trajectory is defined by—no, no, focus—autonomous manifestations are—" He groaned and pressed his palms into his face, leaning back in his chair with an embarrassed huff.
The sound of the door opening snapped him out of his spiral. He turned to see Inigo stroll in, his ever-present grin plastered across his face. Chris followed closely behind, his posture straighter and his expression calm but carrying a hint of exasperation, as though he were already anticipating trouble.
"Yo, man," Inigo said, waving a hand lazily as he walked in.
Hiro blinked, still somewhat flustered. "Huh? Didn’t expect you guys. You here for a check-up or something?"
Inigo jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the door Orochi had just walked through. "That bad, huh?" he said with a knowing smirk.
Hiro froze for half a second, his face flushing again, and then he scowled. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh you do. And I know that you know that I know!"
Chris sighed, glancing at Hiro with a faintly apologetic look. "Come on, cut him some slack."
Hiro shot Chris a look, his expression shifting from annoyance to mild betrayal. He stared at him, then at Inigo, then back at Chris, his gaze clearly saying, I expected this kind of bullshit from Inigo, but not you.
Chris, for his part, shrugged helplessly, his shoulders rising and falling in a slow, resigned motion.
Inigo, completely undeterred, clapped Hiro on the shoulder with enough force to make him wince slightly. "Alright, listen up, buddy. We’re here to help."
"Help with what?" Hiro asked, though his tone already carried a note of suspicion.
"Help you ask her out," Inigo declared, grinning ear to ear.
Hiro stared at him, deadpan. "No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes," Inigo repeated firmly, then gestured to Chris. "And this guy here is gonna help too. My best work at normiefying a friend—"
Chris rolled his eyes at the term but didn’t interrupt.
"—means he’s got insight. Plus, you’re both nerds, so maybe he understands your whole... 'awkward genius' thing better than I do."
Hiro pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath. "I swear, you’re an idiot."
"An idiot with a plan," Inigo shot back, undeterred.
Chris crossed his arms, his expression flat but not unkind. "Look, Inigo’s methods might be... questionable, but he’s not wrong. You’ve been mooning over her for weeks now. It’s not subtle."
"I’m not mooning over anyone," Hiro said quickly, though the slight tremor in his voice betrayed him.
Inigo grinned wider. "Dude, you went beet red the second she left. You’re not fooling anyone."
Hiro glared at him. "You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?"
"Immensely," Inigo admitted without hesitation.
Chris sighed again but nodded. "You might as well just go for it. The worst that happens is she says no."
"The worst that happens is I make a complete ass of myself and she avoids me for the rest of the semester," Hiro muttered.
Inigo waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, she’s not the type to hold something like that against you. Have you seen how laid-back she’s been lately? I mean, sure, she's been a little... intense, but she’s cool."
Hiro groaned, leaning back in his chair. "This is such a bad idea."
"It’s the best idea," Inigo corrected, crossing his arms confidently. "Now, here’s the plan..."
The so-called strategy meeting had taken over a corner of the school’s common area, with Inigo at the helm like a captain steering a ship through stormy waters. He stood at the center of the mismatched group, gesturing wildly as he laid out his absurd plans. Hiro sat slouched in one of the chairs, his cane leaning against the table beside him, his face buried in his good hand. Across from him, Chris sat stiffly, his posture perfect but his face betraying a quiet resignation, as though he had already accepted that this would be a disaster.
Yui sat beside him, arms crossed, her sharp-toothed scowl aimed vaguely at the table. Next to her, Nene perched on the edge of her seat, her white tail swishing lazily behind her and her catlike ears twitching with every word. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands, enjoying all of this.
"No, no, no!" Inigo said, slapping a hand on the table and startling both Yui and Chris. "The confession has to be dramatic. Big. Memorable. We’re talking fireworks, a choir, maybe even one of those skywriting planes—"
"Bro, stop," Chris interjected, his voice low but firm. "This isn’t a movie. He’s not proposing marriage. He’s just—" He paused, glancing at Hiro, who was glaring at him. "...Okay, maybe he’s not confessing anything because he’s still denying it, but if he were, it doesn’t need all this."
"Exactly," Hiro muttered, finally lowering his hand. His messy orange hair was even more unkempt than usual, and the dark circles under his eyes were deeper than they had been that morning. "There will be no confession. Because there’s nothing to confess. Can we all just... stop?"
"Absolutely not," Nene said cheerfully, her tail flicking sharply behind her. "This is way too much fun to stop now. Besides, I think it’s cute. Don’t you think it’s cute, Yui?" She nudged the other girl with her elbow, her grin widening as Yui scowled harder in response.
"I think it’s dumb," Yui grumbled, though her cheeks flushed faintly pink. She kept her eyes on the table, her fingers tightening against her arms as though she were bracing herself. "Why are we even here? Isn’t this his problem?"
"Exactly!" Hiro said, gesturing toward her with a sharp motion. "Finally, someone gets it. Thank you, Yui."
Yui shrugged, her sharp teeth flashing as she glanced at him briefly. "Don’t thank me. I still think you’re an idiot for letting them drag you into this."
Hiro sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Fair."
Inigo rolled his eyes dramatically. "You’re both hopeless. Good thing you’ve got me here to help."
Chris let out a quiet groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You’re not helping. You’re making it worse."
"Helping is subjective," Nene said with a wink, her ears twitching. "Besides, this is way more entertaining than studying." She turned her attention back to Hiro, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "So, Hiro, what’s the plan? Gonna sweep her off her feet? Or are you more of a slow-burn kind of guy?"
"There is no plan," Hiro said flatly. "Because there’s nothing to plan. And if you don’t stop, I’m leaving."
"You’re not leaving," Inigo said confidently, planting his hands on his hips. "You make any suspicious move and I'm taking away your cane!"
Hiro glared at him but didn’t move, which only seemed to bolster Inigo’s smugness.
Meanwhile, Yui shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes darting between the others. Finally, she muttered, "Sorry."
Hiro blinked, glancing at her. "...What for?"
"I don’t know," Yui said, her tone awkward and defensive. She glanced at Nene, who was now whispering something to Inigo with an impish grin, then back at Hiro. "Just... seeing them like this made me feel like I should apologize for something."
Hiro stared at her for a moment, then let out a soft snort of amusement. "Yeah. I get that."
"Alright!" Inigo’s voice broke the moment, his grin wide and mischievous. "Here’s the new plan—"
Hiro groaned loudly, dragging his hand down his face. "Kill me now."
"Not before the confession," Nene chimed in brightly, her tail swishing with delight.
Chris sighed, his shoulders slumping. "This is going to be a long day."
Yui just shook her head, muttering under her breath as she tried to tune them out, while Hiro silently wondered if it was too late to fake a medical emergency and escape.
Inigo leaned forward, gripping the edge of the table like a commander addressing his troops. His spiky blonde hair seemed to stand taller, as though animated by his unrelenting enthusiasm. "Alright, this is tougher than I thought," he declared, his voice laced with mock urgency. "Good thing I called reinforcements!"
Hiro’s expression twisted into one of pure horror as the door swung open and the so-called reinforcements arrived. Leading the charge was Bobby "Yo, what's up?" he greeted.
Behind him, Hifumi followed. He gave a cheerful wave, his optimism practically tangible. "Heard you needed some help, so here we are!"
And then Sally brought up the rear. She walked in with an air of rough-edged confidence. She cracked her knuckles and gave Hiro a thumb up. "Well, this is gonna be fun. You’ve got quite the team rooting for you, huh?"
Hiro slumped further into his chair, his cane clattering softly against the floor as he buried his face in his hand. "They’re multiplying," he muttered in defeat. "They’re actually multiplying."
"So it seems" a voice said beside him, startling Hiro so badly he nearly fell out of his chair.
His head snapped to the side, his one good eye catching the blurry outline of someone he hadn’t realized was standing there. The faint silhouette sharpened as he adjusted his focus, revealing Hoge. Her glasses caught the light as she pushed them up her nose.
"How long have you been there?" Hiro asked, incredulous.
"Long enough," Hoge replied simply.
Hiro groaned, leaning back in his chair as if gravity had suddenly grown stronger. "This is a nightmare."
"Alright, people!" Inigo announced, ignoring Hiro’s despair. He pumped his fist in the air like he was rallying a battalion. "Let’s make this a triumph for love!"
The room erupted into a cacophony of agreement, plans, and far too much enthusiasm for Hiro’s taste. He was certain that this was going to end poorly.
Hiro stood at their designated meeting spot, his cane tapping lightly against the ground as he shifted his weight. The city bustled around him, crowds weaving through the streets and filling the air with chatter and movement. He exhaled slowly, grateful that, for once, the others weren’t here to complicate things.
It wasn’t a date. Not really. Under pressure, he’d caved and asked Orochi to hang out, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for them. They’d done it plenty of times before. Just another day. Nothing weird. He was determined to treat it like that and forget about the ridiculous spectacle the others had tried to make of it.
But then he caught sight of someone in the crowd. A figure with suspiciously familiar spiky blonde hair sticking out of a cheap black wig that didn’t even fit properly. The figure wore sunglasses and a trench coat, as though they were trying to blend in—but the overly conspicuous disguise had the opposite effect.
Hiro’s eye twitched. No way.
As his gaze darted around, he spotted more of them. Bobby, towering over most of the crowd, looked utterly out of place in a traditional Japanese yukata and a wig that was somehow even worse than Inigo’s.
Hifumi wasn’t much better, looking every bit the part of a shady thief. His black tracksuit was just slightly too baggy, and his beanie barely covered his distinctive pompadour, leaving the rebellious tips poking out. The facemask and oversized sunglasses completed the look. He was pretending to lean casually against a lamppost, but the effect was ruined as he kept glancing in Hiro’s direction like a lookout for a heist.
Sally had at least tried to look casual, wearing an awkwardly draped kimono, but her black wig at least fit her. The fact that she was wearing a leather jacket over it was the dealbreaker.
Further down the street, Nene and Yui were an entirely different spectacle. Nene, who had dyed her hair black, was wearing a skimpy goth outfit that showed far too much skin and had just enough fishnet to make Hiro deeply uncomfortable. She looked far too pleased with herself, twirling a parasol she didn’t need and chatting animatedly at Yui, who looked like she wanted to die. Yui’s white gothic lolita dress—complete with lace, ribbons, and a frilly skirt—clashed painfully with her expression. Her sharp teeth were visible as she muttered angrily to Nene
Then Hiro’s attention was drawn to the most baffling sight of all: a mascot costume of a giant bird standing awkwardly near a vending machine. The costume’s head turned slightly, the exaggeratedly cheerful face staring directly at him. Despite the absurdity, Hiro could tell immediately who it was. The defeated body language, the way the shoulders slumped—there was no mistaking Chris.
Hiro’s jaw dropped.
Just one normal day. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, it was.
Hiro scowled, pretending to stretch his neck as he whispered under his breath. "What the hell is wrong with these people?"
A flicker of movement caught his attention, but when he turned his head, there was no one there. That had to be Hoge. Her quirk made her practically invisible to most senses, both a blessing and a curse. Hiro couldn’t see her, but he knew she was around, probably observing everything with her usual diligence.
Just as Hiro was about to blow his top, he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Hiro!"
He turned and immediately froze. Orochi was walking toward him, and for a second, he forgot how to breathe. Her long, wavy red hair swayed as she walked, and her hydra-like snake heads bobbed lazily behind her, looking around.
The so-called "reinforcements" were scattered throughout the bustling square in a parade of absurdity. He dragged his cane against the ground, trying to focus on the rhythmic sound to keep himself from blowing a gasket.
She stopped in front of him, grinning. "Sorry if I kept you waiting."
He shook his head quickly, trying to regain his composure. "No, not at all. I just got here."
Orochi put her hands on her hips, her bright red horns gleaming. "Good! I’ve been looking forward to this. I was thinking about inviting the others, but they all seemed busy today, so I’m glad you were free."
Hiro’s eye twitched. If only you knew. He forced a smile. "Yeah, lucky me."
As they started walking, Hiro tried to focus on Orochi’s cheerful chatter, but his attention kept drifting to the shadows trailing them.
Inigo was now sitting on a bench, holding a newspaper upside down like a caricature of a spy. Hifumi was poorly pretending to tie his shoe near a street vendor. Bobby and Sally were following at a distance, clearly uncomfortable in their respective disguises—Bobby’s wig was crooked, and Sally looked seconds away from tearing off her kimono. And then there was Chris. He couldn't see his face but the kill-me-now aura was palpable.
Hiro clenched his jaw, his cane clicking a little harder against the pavement as he walked.
"You okay?" Orochi asked, tilting her head slightly.
He looked up quickly, forcing a neutral expression. "Yeah, just… lost in thought."
She smiled. "Well, don’t get too lost. I need you to help me pick what snacks to buy later."
"Right. Snacks. Got it."
Orochi’s hydra heads occasionally darted toward store windows, drawn to colorful displays or interesting smells. Hiro managed to keep up his end of the conversation, though he was painfully aware of the group tailing them. They weren’t exactly subtle. Nene’s parasol twirled in the corner of his vision.
The worst part was knowing that Orochi hadn’t noticed any of it. Somehow, despite their collective lack of discretion, she remained blissfully unaware. Hiro, however, was very aware, and it was taking everything in him not to explode.
As they stopped at a street vendor selling taiyaki, Orochi turned to him, holding up two choices. "Which one do you think is better—red bean or custard?"
Hiro stared at her for a moment, her expectant expression softening his frustration. He sighed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Custard. Definitely custard."
"So," Orochi said, breaking the silence as they strolled through the park. "I’ve been thinking about that paper you mentioned—the one about quirk synchronization during awakenings. I’d love to help you test that out sometime."
Hiro nodded, trying to focus on her words instead of the knot tightening in his chest. "Y-yeah, sure. That’d be... great."
Before he could say anything else, movement caught his eye. Near the fountain ahead. It was Hifumi, unmistakable despite the ridiculous disguise. He was pretending to feed pigeons but was clearly keeping an eye on Hiro and Orochi.
Hiro gritted his teeth. What the hell is he doing?
Hifumi, oblivious to Hiro’s growing frustration, pulled out a paper bag and scattered breadcrumbs in an arc. The pigeons flocked to the trail, leading them away from the bench Hiro had planned to sit at with Orochi. It was obvious he was trying to clear the area of potential distractions, but the execution was so absurd it made Hiro’s head hurt.
Out of spite, Hiro decided to move towards a different bench. When he turned around to look for another one, he saw Chris, still in his costume, sitting and staring right at him.
Hiro steered Orochi away before they got too close. "Let’s check out the lake instead," he suggested, hoping to avoid whatever chaos they were planning.
Do they really want us to sit there that badly?
"Want to stop for ice cream?" Orochi asked, nodding and pointing towards the nearby cart.
Hiro’s stomach dropped. "Uh, sure, I'll go get some, you wait right here."
Hiro stood in front of the ice cream cart, but was left speechless when he saw who was selling them.
He had to do a double take, his stomach sinking as Ian locked eyes with him. The tied hair, skirt, the glasses, the subtle makeup—it all worked a little too well thanks to Ian’s naturally pretty face. But Hiro knew him, and it was impossible to unsee the truth once he recognized him.
Ian’s expression was pure mortification. The dead look in his eyes spoke volumes, as if he was silently begging Hiro to just pretend he didn’t see anything.
Hiro’s lips curled into an incredulous scowl. He mouthed, “Inigo roped even you into this?”
Ian’s shoulders slumped, his defeated posture saying everything he couldn’t.
From behind a nearby trash can, Hiro could hear Inigo’s muffled voice, likely muttering to himself. "Originally, I wanted Noah to take Ian’s place, but his wings make sneaking around harder. This works, though. Ian’s got the face for it."
Sally cut in from behind a tree. "As expected of the glowie," she muttered, using her favorite nickname for Ian. "He’ll stoop to any lows for the sake of some subversive mission."
Ian barely reacted to her jab, his soul clearly long gone.
"Do they think I’m deaf?" Hiro muttered under his breath.
Hiro slouched on the bench, trying to keep his composure while his nerves were slowly being ground into dust. Orochi sat beside him, swinging her legs slightly as she finished her ice cream. She looked as carefree as ever, her hydra heads coiling lazily behind her, occasionally snapping at the air like they were tasting the sunlight. Hiro, meanwhile, felt like his brain was overheating from the collective idiocy happening around them.
Orochi stood, dusting waffle cone crumbs from her hands. "I’m grabbing drinks. You want anything specific?"
"Uh…" Hiro blinked up at her, her silhouette framed by the bright midday light. "Water’s fine."
"Got it. Be right back!" she chirped before walking toward the vending machines.
Hiro exhaled as soon as she was out of earshot, slumping further into his seat. His free hand fidgeted with the end of his cane as he tried to ground himself. It’s fine. Just a normal hangout. Totally normal. Nothing weird going on—
Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. At first glance it looked like tiny black dog trotting around. Hiro blinked, his fried brain processing the sight slowly. Something about the scene felt… off.
It took a second, but then it clicked.
The “dog” wasn’t a dog—it was Chris’s dragon construct, Hitomi, awkwardly shape-shifted into a stubby canine form.
He locked eyes with the shapeshifted construct. It looked happy and smug. Even you?!
Hiro pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath. "This is beyond stupid."
Before he could stew in his frustration any longer, Orochi returned, holding two cans of soda. Her hydra heads perked up slightly as she handed him one. "Here you go! I figured you’d like this one better than water."
Hiro glanced at the can. It was some obscure fruit flavor he hadn’t tried before. He nodded, mumbling a quick "Thanks," as she plopped back down beside him.
They stayed in relative silence after that, withf Orochi being the one breaking the quiet. Hiro was hyper-aware of her presence, the way her hydra heads curled around her, the subtle bounce of her knee as she talked about random things. She seemed so casual, like this was just another day for her. Meanwhile, Hiro felt like he was going to combust.
As Orochi reached for her soda, she fumbled with it for a moment, trying to drink without realizing she hadn’t opened the lid. She froze, her cheeks tinting just slightly pink before she hastily twisted the cap off and took a sip, her hydra heads twitching in unison like they were flustered too.
Hiro blinked. Wait… is she nervous too?