Strings and Buttons

Chapter 22: I Swear

"How do i know you aren't lying."

She grins happily.

"I promise you on my dead mothers grave!"

Katsuki narrows his eyes and watches her closely.

"Do you even have a mother, you hag."

He says spitefully. This only gets a bubbly laugh out of her. She must be in a very good mood.

"Oh yes Katsuki! Everyone has one. I put her in there myself, and when she tried to crawl back out, i hit her with a shovel and put her back in."

"Swear on something else."

She sighs and looks around the dining room, before finally landing on her hand. She holds it up, moving her fingers slowly.

"I swear on my right hand."

Katsuki stares at her before looking back at the plate of food. He slowly eats, trying to ignore the rumbling of his stomach, begging him to scarf it all down as quick as he possibly can. He won't give her the satisfaction of seeing him like that.

Especially when she's staring at him the whole time. Katsuki catches a certain look in her button eyes. Hunger. But she isn't looking at the food on his plate or the liquid in the cups. Shes just staring at him, waiting.

Katsuki finishes everything as slow as possible, and when he's finally done, he drops the utensils on the plate with a clink.

"Where do i start."

"Wherever you want Katsuki."

She says nonchalantly. Katsuki decides to just stay in the house. After all, why would it be outside, where she didn't even bother to make trees for? The other mother watches him silently, the ghost of a smirk over her lips as she does. Katsuki wants to slap it right off of her face.

"How big are the ghost souls anyway."

She walks behind him, and he shivers. He hears her leaning against the wall, her fingernail tapping at the side of her button eye.

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

"Fine, fuck you too then."

She didn't answer, just continuing to tap at her eye. It was so steady, so continuous, that it sounded like the small water droplets falling into the porcelain sink. When he turns around to look at her, that's all he finds. He's alone in the dining room now.

He would prefer if she stayed where he could see her, or at least in one single location. If he couldn't see her and if he couldn't find her if she didn't want him to, then that added extra stress to his already shit mission. It meant that it was not only the rats watching him, but the boss herself.

He walks out of the dining room, the stone with the hole in it safely in his grip. He wouldn't let her take this away from him again. It must be pretty fucking useful if she went through all of the trouble to take it from him, and if Deku fought so hard to get it back for him.

He holds it out in front of him, examining the smooth texture and the weight of it. Now in the hall, his eyes catch the mirror again. In the reflection, he sees himself, eyebags under his eyes that his real mom at home would surely bitch about, saying something like

 'Eyebags are terrible for your skin Katsuki, do you even know how shitty they are going to come out in photoshoots?!' 

to where his father would comfort her, holding her hand,

 'Honey, they can edit out the eyebags. The designs will still look perfect.'

He grimaces and his eyes trial down to the stone in his hand. In the reflection of the mirror, the stone is an emerald, green color. A color he knows very well. The stone glows and a thin line of green mist appears. 

Katsuki watches it flow up the stairs and towards the other Katsuki's bedroom. He walks quickly, following the mist that disappears right when he gets to the door. He opens it up and begins to look through the room. 

He shoves pillows and blankets off of the bed, throws books onto the floor to search the bookcase, and even slams his desk onto the floor. Honestly, he does most of it to take out some of his growing frustration. 

Though it doesn't turn up anything and all that's around him is the mess he's made. He looks at the stone in his hand, wondering if he has to find another mirror for it to work again, or maybe search in another room completely. But something stops him.