It was the next morning, and right before I went to Gang Orca's agency, I stopped by the local bread shop to get one of the sweet-smelling melonpan I'd been craving since yesterday. I hadn't a taste of the bread yet and was craving it, as I didn't get a chance to stop by the bakery after training. It was hard to find confections as good as that in Musutafu, and I doubted my mind wouldn't be itching for one every moment of the day if I didn't get one. Besides, I had a light breakfast for this.

Upon entering the shop, I was greeted with the warm scent of freshly baked bread and spices, the two fragrances strong, but not at all unpleasant to my olfactory. I walked towards the melonpan stand and grabbed one, then headed to the cash register, ready to pay. 

As I was exchanging my money for the bread, however, I didn't notice a figure pointedly staring through the window, eyes clearly trained on the back of my head.

"Alright dear, you're good to go," the cashier said with a smile. I nodded, said my thanks, then headed towards the door. As I exited the shop, a strange feeling overcame me. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and a chuckle come from my left. Turning to see who it was, I quietly gasped as I saw the magician from yesterday, his complexion and expression still as bright and cheery as ever. 

And though I didn't want to seem to squeamish, I couldn't help but notice that there was something off about his grin.

"Oh, hello?" I spouted an instinctive greeting, as I presumed it would've been rude for me to pass on by without at least saying something. The magician said nothing for a few moments, and just stared at me, blankly looking on into my irises with a straight face. Assuming he spaced out for a moment, I tried to pry his hand off of me but to no avail, as he snapped out of his trance the moment I touched him.

"(L/N), it's so good to see you again!" he gushed, "It's such a coincidence that we ran into each other like this!" Trying to pull my lips into a small smile, I subtly rolled my shoulder, attempting to rid the joint of his grip on it. The magician was unexpectedly strong, so much so that I suspected something was up. However, I didn't want to draw unwanted attention, so I opted for a more neutral response.

"Uh, yeah..." I mumbled, "Good to see you too." Right after the statement, my pupils dilated as I felt the man dragging me backwards by the shoulder, in the opposite direction of where Gang Orca's agency was. I resisted the urge to flail my arms and swallowed an oncoming scream, but whipped my head around with panicked eyes. I struggled a bit more than before, causing a few pedestrians to notice that I was in discomfort. The magician, once realizing this, shot them a friendly smile to deter any suspicions. While he was busy with shooing people away, I attempted to slip out of his grasp.

"H-Hey, I need to go to-" I was cut off with a squeeze from the magician's hand, which had now threateningly moved to grip the area near my collarbone -- and closer to my neck. I gulped and remained quiet as he turned to glare at me, forcibly moving my head with his thumb to connect his gaze with mine. Those round, almond-colored eyes now had a darker coloration, as if a storm was brewing inside his irises.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," he said smoothly, as if that was enough to suffice, "Just come with me, and nobody will get hurt." The danger was imminent, but I couldn't bring myself to run. Was I really in danger, being abducted by him? Of course, I didn't know who he was, which elevated the risks of running away, but I had no other choice. My mind raced for viable options of escape, like hitting him and calling for help, possibly even dialing Gang Orca for his assistance. But then again, I didn't know his quirk, which could've been something pertaining to magic, and I didn't want to risk others getting hurt. So I just allowed him to sweep me away into the alley without any trouble.

Perhaps it was a bad move in retrospect, but as far as I could see, the cons were outweighing the pros, and I didn't want to endure the consequences. My train of thought broke as the magician came to a halt, and stopped me along with him. We were in a dark alley, the only place where the city's cameras weren't stationed. I cursed under my breath as I wrung my hands together, my nerves taking control of all rational thought.

"Who are you?" I whispered. The magician laughly airily at the question and gave me a brief hug from the side. I jolted as a shiver raced down my spine, enveloping my body in goosebumps and an odd, unsettling feeling.

"Perhaps you don't remember our little bout from before." He got behind me and clasped my shoulders, then leaned in so his mouth was next to my ear. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to crawl out of my own skin. The feeling of his breath grazing against the side of my head was nothing but uncomfortable. I was too preoccupied with being squeamish that I couldn't brace myself for the shock that came next.

"Surprise."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

The sensation of dread haunted every single muscle inside of my body and turned them into lead.

"You-" I breathed, not believing what had been under my nose this whole time. Compress chuckled and backed away from my head, satisfied that I finally recognized him.

"Oh, sweet, naive, little (L/N)," the magician chuckled, a gloved hand covering his mouth in delight, "I'm terribly sorry, but your level of recognition is beneath a toddler's. The kids I performed for even recognized me the next day I went to the park." Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath in with furrowed brows and tried to stay calm as the villain spoke. He knew how to infuriate the hell out of me, that was for sure.

Regardless of his taunts, I knew that I needed to find a way out of this. By now, I didn't even care about the negative consequences -- it was already bad enough that I willingly followed him, and I didn't intend on staying for longer.

As Compress was rambling on, I took the chance to think of any possible escape routes. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice my eyes wandering about the confined space, spying on the skylight and lurking around to see if there was any scrap metal I could use as a melee weapon. As I was trying to be discreet as possible, I could only roll my eyes up so high, and so far to the side as to not be noticed by the villain.

Thinking long and hard, I considered every factor that prevented me from escaping. I was backed into an alleyway, so that wouldn't work, and Gang Orca's agency just had to be blocks away from the location I was currently stuck in. Doubting that I could best him in hand-to-hand combat in my position, and seeing as there were no tools lying around, the only viable option seemed to be calling for help, based on the hope that people would still be around. It still remains a mystery to me as to why he didn't trap me in a blue pearl, but if I proved to be too difficult for him to handle, I guessed that would've been the last resort. Maybe he just wanted to bask in his sadistic tendencies and see my pain for a bit longer.

As I opened my mouth to shout like I'd planned on doing before, my brain didn't even have time to register the fact that the villain who was previously a couple of meters away from me was now directly in my face, our noses only centimeters away from touching. His fingers clamped my lips shut and muffled my oncoming yell.

"I would advise against screaming or making a fuss," Compress chuckled, his almond-colored eyes creasing as he smiled, "After all, you wouldn't want the people around here getting hurt, now would you?" Biting the inside of my cheek, I could only look into his irises with an indignant glare, my pupils burning with the intensity of small fires. I wanted to shove him back, but was afraid of what he might do to the innocent, as he threatened -- he was affiliated with the League, after all. Those sick bastards never knew when to stop.

"I asked you a question." Compress's stare suddenly turned cold. His eyes lost their usually bright shine and it was instead replaced with a dull, yet ferocious glow. Thickly swallowing the saliva that pooled in my mouth, I felt my throat getting drier and more parched than usual. I shook my head as a response, but even that didn't seem to be enough.

"Use your words. You have a tongue." Though his tone became lighter, it still didn't completely shake off the murderous intent that lingered behind every word the magician spoke. My calmness was now being drowned out by the inescapable feeling of fear, like prey caught in the maw of a predator. I was helpless, twitching, and oh so frightened.

"No." Thankfully, my voice didn't waver, despite the onslaught of emotions filling my system. Compress's grin held steady, seemingly satisfied with my answer, and patted me on the shoulder. As his hand curled around the joint, I now noticed that the material touching the top of my arm wasn't quite flesh. It was harder, colder, and seemed a bit heavier than a normal human hand. I peeked at him, curious to know what this was all about, and got a glimpse of shiny silver just in between the separation of his glove and sleeve.

What had transpired in the League that led to his arm becoming replaced by metal?

I wanted to know, but I couldn't force the words out of my mouth through the blockade of trepidation -- the clusters of letters were stuck, caught in the middle of my esophagus. Compress looked me up and down then chuckled, maintaining a firm grip on my shoulder. He could smell the fumes of dread that radiated off of my body.

"Something came up, so I had to get a prosthetic," he said politely, "But for now, let's just walk." When Compress started to move forwards, I stayed put in my spot, begrudgingly staring him up and down with a scowl. The magician smiled and flared his nostrils, clearly getting more riled up. He grabbed my arm and squeezed so that a red mark appeared on the spot he held.

"I'm being nice now, but if you make it look like this is an abduction, I will hurt you, which you might not be so concerned about, but as for the people that just so happen to be around... Kyoto is very crowded and I'm sure nobody wants to be in the middle of trouble." Feeling my limbs start to quiver, I nodded slowly as the villain dragged me along. 

We made our way out of the alley and into the open street, where the pedestrians didn't seem to notice my aura of distress. I could feel Compress's stare bear into the side of my skull, which was a feeling that I didn't enjoy at all. My subconscious was screaming at me to turn towards the presence that seemed to dig holes in my head, but I couldn't will myself to do so -- as it would mean immediate dispatchment.

"This is a little bit reminiscent of our old times together, don't you think?" the magician chuckled, waving hello to a small child walking in the opposite direction as us with his mother, "Except you're not in a blue pearl anymore." I wanted to laugh to make it seem as if I was relaxed or nonchalant about the whole situation, but I just remained silent, intimidation spreading throughout every inch of my body. The sight of children in the proximity made my anxiety skyrocket, as I didn't know what the magician was capable of doing with the kids. He had already earned their trust by performing in the park, a smart decision on the League's part, but a hindrance to any chances I had of running away.

As the magician and I rounded the corner, we ran into a group of toddlers, accompanied by what seemed to be their guardian or supervisor. The woman leading the small cluster of tots recognized Compress and started to push the kids in his direction, obviously pressing the fact that he seemed to be the mysterious magic man that they ran into at the park.

"Shiboru, I didn't realize that you'd be here!" I grimaced at the unusual nickname, but soon realized that Compress was just hiding his alias inside another code name. 絞る, or shiboru, meant to squeeze, a synonym for compress. Of course, a normal person couldn't detect it right away, as the villain Compress never revealed his face, so nobody knew what he looked like. And the name made sense for a magician, especially one like him, being able to squeeze objects into the blue pearls he carried around, and suddenly produce them by shattering the pearl.

The League must've put a lot of thought into this. But why?

My thoughts came to a standstill as the woman turned her attention on me, pausing her chat with Compress.

"Oh, and who's this?" she cooed, big eyes staring pointedly at me, "Your kid?" The almond-eyed man next to me squeezed my shoulder tighter whilst laughing innocently. His grip seemed to demand for me to cover for him while he acted like a regular pedestrian. I obliged, as there seemed to be no safe way out of the predicament I was in -- all the risks were too high.

"We get that a lot," I laughed, leveling my voice, "I'm actually his brother's kid. My uncle and I were just out shopping, that's all." The woman nodded in understanding and looked back at Compress with sparkling eyes, resuming the conversation. This went on for about five minutes until the group of kids that accompanied the woman started to whine about wanting to get something to eat. Of course, she had to oblige to their pleas and said one final goodbye to the magician and I before hurrying the kids across the street to a nearby cafe. I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding and started to relax, but it didn't take long before I noticed that a small, gray-haired toddler was latching on to Compress's coat.

The child's eyes lit up as he looked on at the man, then flashed a big, toothy grin in his direction. Compress met my gaze and flared his eyes as if to say "stay put" before finally lifting his hand off of my shoulder and latching onto the arms of the toddler. The magician beside me chuckled warmly at the kid, completing changing faces before guiding him across the street, to his caretaker. Once they successfully reached the other side, the gray-haired toddler hugged Compress tightly before scurrying away to catch up with the rest of his group. Forcing a smile as the magician returned to walk alongside me, I folded my hands and sighed gently as the air grew tense.

"The car's just behind this building," the magician said, his tone devoid of all signs of fun and games, "So it won't be long. There's water in the back, too." Originally planning on just humming in response, I wasn't anticipating my mouth moving all on its own to form a word. It was instinctual, so much so that I didn't even put a second thought into it, as much as I should have. Perhaps I just spewed it out because he'd offered me something, and I was always taught to express my gratitude towards those who were willing to give.

"Thanks."

Oh no.

Immediately, I bit my own tongue in regret, wanting to gasp at the word I just uttered. It was revolting how I could still thank a man who'd done such horrible things to me. Feeling bile rising in my throat, I quickly swallowed it, not physically nor mentally ready to throw up, and just kept walking. Warily glancing at my abductor to see what he might do next, my pupils shrunk as I saw the expression on his face.

Compress's lips were splayed into a wide grin, yet his eyes still held that innocent sheen to them, which only added to the unsettling nature that he already carried. As his hand slipped off of my shoulder, my insides squirmed around uncomfortably. I refused to believe that he finally started to trust me, so I kept my guard up, but nothing could've prevented him from disgusting me more than what he said after releasing me from his grip.

"Look at us, we're finally becoming pals, aren't we?"