A chance encounter (Otome)

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Perhaps it was because she put on her hiring notice that she had other obligations that prevented her from being in Nakano 24/7 that Otome found herself back in the familiar streets of Kabukicho that day. The family she worked for was surprisingly understanding. And if they would continue to maintain such a good and reasonable relationship, then she wouldn't mind doing more of their dirty work for them. This must be what it felt like for those 'professional' villains who did these things for personal gain. The pay was pretty fair too, though really that was just a bonus for the sadistic girl.

Thanks largely in part to the stream of work in Nakano, not even a stressful day at school could keep her feeling down. But perhaps out of habit, she was out there in the alleys 'looking for trouble' even though it didn't really matter to her either way. She had quite a hefty 'allowance' to spend and she figured for once, she could splurge a bit. A certain informant had shared with her details of a certain seller who had stocks of rare tea that wouldn't be sold anywhere else in Japan. And Otome figured that since she was in the area anyway, she ought to seek them out and possibly make a purchase.

The seller she was after wasn't too difficult to find. They weren't exactly selling contraband. Well perhaps they were. But illegally imported tea was hardly worth chasing after when drugs and the like ran rampant in these streets. In any case, cradling a big inconspicuous bag in her arms as she stepped out of their shop, Otome's mood had considerably improved. Now she just had to make it back home to have taste and maybe stop by for a fresh batch of tea biscuits along the way. Nothing could possibly go wrong today.

What cursed words those were. While she was momentarily distracted checking Villain chat with one hand on her phone, a runner had discreetly approached her from the side, snatching her prize from her arms and making off with it. In all honesty, he probably thought it was something else. Otome was holding onto it with great care after all, despite her slight absentmindedness. It took a second for what had transpired to really sink in but once it did, she didn't even shout. Not like it would do any good in this area. Someone was always shouting about something and no one cared. It was a silent minor fury, just a pinch above annoyance that took over her as she gave chase, reaching into her purse for the mask that she always carried.

The runner seemed to know these alleys well as he was efficiently keeping his distance from the pursuing Otome, who had now donned her Kitsune mask. But even the most talented of thieves wasn't immune to bad luck. While he was constantly looking back to check on his pursuer, one instance of bad timing would cause him to miss the approach of another girl coming from the opposite direction, setting him up for a collision.

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It would turn out that Otome's luck was still good after all. Saving her the time of chasing down the runner, a mystery third party went and stopped him in his tracks. Or rather she tripped him, causing him to fall hard on his shoulder and dropping the paper bag that belonged to Otome. And this was all Otome needed to catch up to the guy who was dazed and confused at what just happened. The girl responsible stepped back a bit to give them space and Otome nodded gratefully as she passed by.

As the fallen runner scrambled to get back up, he noticed that the package he had stolen had ripped open a bit from being dropped and a some of its contents, tea leaves to the untrained eye, had spilled on the ground. No it wasn't the drugs he was expecting. This actually made him rather furious.

'What the heck?!? This isn't... Why are you so misleading-'

His angry rant was suddenly replaced by the ugliest scream ever as Otome who was now looming over him had her tails in full display. One of them had just pinned the man on the ground by his right shoulder, except that she kind of went overboard and fractured his shoulder altogether. Three more of her tails went on to pin his remaining free limbs as she glanced around for her missing prize. Upon spotting the damaged bag and spilled contents however, she felt a slight tinge of annoyance again and a fifth tail began to bash in the runner's face mercilessly over and over and over again.

In the meantime Otome was back on her phone typing a message in Villain chat.

Vxn: My apologies for dropping off for a bit.
Vxn: Someone tried to take my package.
Vxn: He spilled some of it too. Such a waste.
Vxn: Currently punishing the perpetrator.

She wasn't enjoying this as much as she normally would have. She was really looking forward to having some of that tea. Still it's not as though she spent her entire 'allowance' but now she wasn't sure if she had enough to grab a second bag. For the first time in forever she was actually worrying about money. That thought just annoyed her even more and caused her to increase the intensity of her bashing. Was the guy even still alive? She didn't really care. She even momentarily forgot that there was someone else there present, but she figured no one in their right mind would stick around to watch a beating anyway. Such a person wouldn't be right in the head.

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The message that would appear in the chatroom might have saved the poor guy. Because as soon as Otome laid eyes on it, the bashing all but stopped and she started to glance around. It wasn't in a panicky manner but more an air of curiosity. If she was not mistaken this was the user who uploaded videos of a few other villains in action. Of course they had never met in real life, at least not to Otome's knowledge. And yet here was a message quite strongly implying that they were watching Otome right at that very moment.

Eventually she would remember that there was that other girl who tripped the thief earlier and so she turned around to see if they were still there. The rest of her tails had released the man with the exception of one tail still wrapped around his left leg, his lifeless body just dangling there. Spotting that the other girl was indeed still watching, Otome tilted her head to the side, as though projecting a questioning vibe. Was it her? The girl had a phone on her hand too. Otome decided to respond to the chat message to confirm.

Vxn: I do actually.
Vxn: I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or honored.
Vxn: I don't think I've ever met anyone from the chatroom in person before.
Vxn: Come say hello?

For a moment she wondered if she should make herself look less intimidating. A person with multiple tails, one of which was holding a bloodied unconscious guy might have made her look difficult to approach. But they had stayed to watch the beating earlier. Perhaps they didn't mind at all.

Anyway her curiosity at meeting someone from the chatroom had momentarily overcome the feeling of annoyance she had earlier. No that didn't mean she was going to let the guy go. At least not yet. She was still holding on to him after all. But the rest of his punishment would be postponed for just a bit later.

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The girl had a sense of humor. Otome would give her that as she saw the words 'hello' appear on the chatroom right after she posed her question. Waving back and showing her phone however would confirm to Otome that she was indeed the mysterious admin, though why she didn't seem to want to speak out loud remained unexplained. Maybe she was shy too. In that case Otome would approach her instead.

"Good day Ms. Admin. Fancy meeting you here."

Otome would slightly wave back too as she drew close while making sure her tails stayed behind her and not in any position where it could be mistaken as her being ready to attack. She had no reason to. This was the admin of the villain chatroom and not anyone that she particularly held a grudge against. Though she wasn't really sure what was the appropriate etiquette for real world meet ups, it's not as if she was particularly close to them in the chatroom either. Otome mostly just lurked anyway with today being one of her rare talkative days.

"You're not filming this are you? It's not one of my best days."

She would put her hands up to the front of her face as though feigning shyness. It was just a silly attempt at humor herself, being unprepared for all this. She knew that everyone in the villain chatroom was of course a villain, but she had never really taken the time to get to know just what sort of business each and everyone of them were up to. Despite being around for at least a month or so now, she still considered herself to be a newbie in those parts. Well maybe a few exploits in Nakano will finally put a little fame to her name, though she wasn't sure if that was a good idea either.

The man she was carrying continued to remain motionless. It was likely that if they just stood there for too long, he would just end up bleeding out and kicking the bucket even if Otome didn't bother doing anything else to him.

"I should probably get back to that shop before this man succumbs to his injuries. I still need him to point out who exactly put him up to this. They deserve a bit of punishment too."

She didn't really think that through too well. An unconscious man wasn't telling her anything. But perhaps someone from the shop would still recognize him despite his bloody state. She thought that was worth a shot.

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The admin introduced herself as Lady Lavande as well as her preference to be called that irl. Villain names was probably the standard in this situation and so when the question was returned to her, Otome was perfectly fine with giving out her own name. Now that she had thought about it this was probably only her second time making an introduction like this. Encountering other fellow villains who were friendly enough to exchange names with was truly a rarity.

"Yes, Vxn would be me. But irl I would go by Megitsune. Which honestly means the same thing."

It was something that Otome never really made an effort to think about too deeply. Given her motif, a name that referenced foxes was all she was going for. Her lack of seriousness and devotion to the craft was apparent. But she believed that by coming up with this persona at least, more opportunities for relieving stress would become available to her. That was what mattered most.

Lavande confirmed that she wasn't really out filming today which was a relief. Otome wasn't sure if she wanted the first video of her villainous deeds to be picking on someone who tried to steal from her. It was rather embarrassing that she got stolen from in the first place.

When Otome explained that she had things to do, she was surprised to hear an offer of assistance from Lavande. Were villains always this helpful? The admin spoke in such a playful tone that it made Otome wonder if she was just looking for something fun to do. Well, she didn't mind sharing her fun at all. Not many people appreciated that sort of thing. As long as Lavande didn't get in her way the admin was free to do as she wished.

"To be honest I'm not so sure. This guy reeks of 'small time' so I doubt whoever is behind him is anyone to worry about. You're free to come along though. It's been a while since I've had a nice chat with a peer. Unless you counted guys like this. I don't. Speaking of which..."

It was probably not a good idea to walk around with an unconscious bloodied body. With a simple shift in positions though, her tails proceeded to wrap around the runner concealing him in what appeared to be a ball of fur made from her tails. Well she still stood out by having a large ball of fur at her back but at least the body was out of sight.

"The shop is this way. Since he went straight for my package he must have been watching me ever since I entered. I'm not sure what he thought was in the bag though. It doesn't seem like he was a tea connoisseur."

"Do you like tea by the way? I was looking forward to having a nice cup at home. But someone had to ruin things."

Just remembering that triggered her feeling of annoyance again. It was fortunate that she was wearing a mask so her expression of mild disdain and disappointment could not be seen. On the other hand, this led to an encounter with a fellow chatroom frequenter. It was hard to say if she should be happy or mad about today.

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They must have looked like the strangest pair. Otome was aware of this and so she intentionally stuck to a route using the alleyways instead of stepping out into more crowded streets. The few undesirables who did hang out in the vicinity gave them odd looks but thankfully didn't bother messing with them. There was probably something intimidating about two masked young women talking casually while taking a stroll in one of the more dangerous avenues in the city.

Lavande mentioned not having any particular strong feelings about tea. Looks like today wouldn't be the day that she would find a new tea comrade. That was fine. Otome decided not to go in too deep in that particular conversation because it might lead to something that would not be helpful to her mood. For example Lavande mentioning that she loved coffee instead. Otome was trying her best not to let her usual hateful self out especially in the presence of someone who seemed cooperative.

"I do love tea actually. That bag was supposed to be a special kind you couldn't buy anywhere else in Japan. I need to make sure they take responsibility for it."

Some villains valued money. Some villains valued jewels. Some villains valued power. Otome must have seemed strange going so far for tea, but this was one of her few pleasures. Well it was that and the fact that she had quite the revenge complex. She wasn't letting these people go without at least sending them a message.

Lavande would go on to bring up her quirk while they walked in an attempt to start a conversation. As she was in villain mode, Otome actually didn't mind this sort of topic. There was nothing left to hide about it anyway. It was also a quirk that she was rather proud of. Being a villain wouldn't have been possible without it.

"It is isn't it? I'm quite fond of it. I only use it for deeds like this so I tend to make the most of it when I get the chance. Otherwise in my daily life it almost never sees any use."

That might have sounded weird to someone who was unaware of the mechanics of her quirk. How could you not use such convenient tails in daily life? Part of it was because it helped maintain her secret identity. Another was that it acted as sort of a switch for her. Having her tails out like that meant she was dropping the good girl facade to be the villain.

"I'd ask about yours, but I suppose there's no merit for you sharing something to a stranger."

And Otome didn't mind if Lavande really chose not to comment. She knew better than anyone how secrets kept one safe and out of trouble. She had been living a life of secrets ever since she was just a small child. That way of life allowed her to get away with many many things. If she had been anyone else, Otome might have taken measures to keep her quiet. But based on what she had seen in villain chat, most of the members seemed pretty respectful of people's privacy. She figured the admin of all people was the same.

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Despite their unusual first encounter where neither of them spoke in the beginning, Otome had come to think that Lavande was surprisingly easy to talk to once the conversation got going. Of course Otome was pleased to hear that she wasn't much of a coffee drinker. Otome didn't have any particularly strong feelings about juice or soda either so they were even there. As for milk, it was great with some variants of tea but there weren't many occasions that she drank some by itself in recent memory. The closest was probably milkshakes from when she was invited by a few people in her class to 'hangout' for a bit. She could tell that the admin was trying to be polite and she could appreciate that. Being villains didn't mean they had to act villainous all the time. Otome nodded in agreement at Lavande's comment at not being a douche for the lols.

Talking about quirks, Lavande brought up an unusual topic about people hating their quirks. At least for Otome it was unusual because in all honesty it wasn't something that she thought about a often. She kept mostly to herself and she liked her quirk. She didn't care much about anyone else. The worst part about keeping a good girl image in public was that her 'friends' or 'adoring fans' would sometimes come to her with their problems and pour their heart out on things that Otome didn't care for one bit. Unfortunately she would have to deal with them 'kindly' to keep up appearances. Even so, problems about quirks were still a rare topic to come by in her daily life.

"I can't say I've heard that many on my end. I guess the people I'm normally around with aren't too comfortable talking about quirks. Most of society avoids using them if they want to stay in line after all, so there's not much point discussing them."

Continuing the trend of being easy to talk to, Lavande was nice enough to give a hint about her own quirk which Otome didn't need to think too hard about to figure out. It's not as though she was especially interested. She was just returning the question to keep the conversation going and the admin looked like she enjoyed the topic.

"Armory? I suppose that means you can store or produce weapons from somewhere."

She gave Lavande a quick glance and couldn't really determine any obvious spot where a weapon might come out. Her gaze briefly lingered on the lower half of the admin's face which was covered by a mask. Surely it wasn't there was it? She could only imagine the inconvenience of a quirk that let you pull objects out from your mouth. Was that what she was getting at when she talked about people whining about their quirks? That she was speaking from experience?

"You mentioned something about quirks that suck earlier. That doesn't apply to yourself does it? I don't think I want to try guessing where you pull your weapons from. No offense meant."

Well it would be a lie to say she wasn't just a little bit curious.

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