Boba tea and Haunting Stuff

"You've been protecting them." A voice from behind Izuku interrupted his thoughts. Izuku whirled around, finding Nana standing behind him.

"Oh um, I'm sorry," he apologized. "Is um, that not allowed?"

"There's no ghost rules, but it's at least not looked down upon." Nana looked around. "But I would like to warn you to not interfere too much. This is their school, after all, and you might keep them from learning."

"Okay," Izuku said slowly. "I think I understand."

"And something every ghost should know is that there is a fine line between helping and haunting."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, following her as Nana started to follow the now-leaving class.

"Some ghosts that develop the ability to interact with the world of the living end up scaring the people they try to help, or end up being seen when they appear. The presence of a ghost also sometimes causes a chill of some sort."

"But why do they get so scared?"

"People are scared by the unknown and the unexpected. The living don't understand the dead, and when they see us or see something that shouldn't happen, they get scared. Some people respect us or try to understand us. Some people just aren't scared of death or the dead."

"Why don't we just help them understand?"

Nana shrugged. "It's too uncommon to have the ability to. Some ghosts can appear in the world of the living unintentionally or only for a short time, but it's not common enough to be considered fact. It takes focus and a strong connection to the world of the living. We're just fables. Ghost stories, if you will. Besides, people don't know if a ghost will hurt them or not."

"But I don't want to hurt them!"

"So many ghosts like you share the sentiment," Nana sighed. "The living don't understand that ghosts are pretty harmless." She bit her lip and paused. "Most of the time."

"What do you mean most of the time?!"

"Some ghosts are actively malicious and try to harm people. Some are evil spirits. Some are poltergeists who just want to mess with the world of the living and watch chaos unfold. But for the most part, ghosts aren't going to hurt someone living."

"What if I met those bad ghosts?"

"Be careful around them, but try to be polite. They can be dangerous." Nana's expression brightened, as though she were abandoning the serious conversation. "Anyway, how's your day been? Do anything interesting?" Her lips were pulled into a soft smile.

"I stopped a girl from juicing a kid."

"What?" Nana's smile fell.

"A girl. She was going to stick a straw into somebody and drink his blood like a capri sun."

"Why was she gonna do that?"

"Her quirk. It makes her obsess over blood so she can use it. It allows her to turn into somebody if she drinks their blood. Her parents made her suppress it."

"What did you do?"

"I promised her that I could get her some help," Izuku sighed. "Not sure how, though, now that I think about it. I'm dead, and even if I appeared in the world of the living it's not like her parents will listen to some scrawny middle school kid asking them to apply for help from a quirk assistance institution."

"I'm not sure either," Nana said. "But, all things considered, this has been an eventful day. What say we chat over some bubble tea?"

"There's a bubble tea shop in the spirit world?"

"Not exactly. But there is one in the world of the living."

As it turned out, there was a bubble tea shop near the school, just as Nana had said. "This place is beautiful," Izuku marveled. And it was beautiful, dear reader, just as Izuku said. The walls were painted in a warm honey yellow and the booths where patrons could sit were wooden with orange padded seats. Three-legged stools sat around wooden tables around the room, padded with pink cushions. At the front of the room where cashiers took customer orders was a brownish stone counter.

"What do you think?" Nana asked.

"I love it," Izuku said with a grin on his face.

"I knew you would, kid."

"But what about the bubble tea you talked about?"

"Here. Follow me." Nana walked over to a spot on the counter right next to the wall, almost hidden behind a pastry display case. There, where Izuku couldn't have seen unless he was looking for it or sitting in the shop at the right angle, was seven or eight glasses of boba tea in varying flavors. "See? Bubble tea."

"But isn't this stealing or something like that? And how do we drink it, anyway? Or pick it up?"

"It's not stealing, because it's ours."

"What do you mean?"

"The owner leaves drinks that aren't made exactly to the customer's orders or experiment drinks for the ghosts. It's a little offering, partly as a little gag or partly as a friendly gift. It's also an option on the menu to buy the cafe ghost a drink. The owner thinks it's haunted."

"Isn't it, technically?"

"Yes, but not for the reason you think. Ghosts frequent this place for the drinks and other offerings, but there's one ghost actually haunting the place."

"Talking about me behind my back, are we, Shimura?" A voice behind them startled Izuku, making him almost jump out of his skin, if he had any.

"Ah. Speak of the devil," Nana nodded. "Midoriya, meet Peter. He had a heart attack in this shop and never left."

Peter grinned. He was distinctively white, probably of Irish descent based on his ginger hair. He had soft blue eyes and a jawline so sharp it could probably grate cheese. He was around forty, with a speckling of gray hairs. He was a little taller than Izuku, enough so that he was eye level with Peter's nose. "Pleased to meet you, kid. Nana never usually brings a visitor. Midoriya, was it?" He took Izuku's hand and shook it. "Boba?" Peter reached over to the small collection of bubble tea and picked up a glass, but instead of picking up the actual glass, a ghost-looking copy of it was peeled away from the glass. Probably seeing Izuku's look of shock and surprise, Peter smiled and handed Izuku the cup. "Here. take it."

"What the heck?" Izuku asked, staring at the cup in his hand. It had the same weight as a regular one, and looked just like the other cup, except a little more transparent.

"Oh. He must be new."

Nana shrugged. "More or less. Died around ten months ago. I was around sometime before he fell off a roof."

"Aw man, that sucks," Peter said sympathetically. Izuku would have blushed if he had blood. Peter looked at the bubble tea for a moment or two more, picked up a different one, and held it out to Izuku. "A rough way to die, especially at such a young age. Here, I'll trade you. This one's a little better." Izuku awkwardly took the cup, handing Peter the other one. "We ghosts can take stuff offered to us if we want. Everything in the world of the living has a form in the world of the dead, something like a spirit. Like, say if a dog dies, it lives in the spirit world with the rest of us. But for offerings, we can just take its spirit-form, and it's tailor-made just for us. Perfectly fine to hang on to or eat and use. At the end of the day, the owner gives those offered drinks to people for free. It's a sweet deal. At least I don't have to go the rest of eternity without boba."

"So I can just take it if it's a gift? Just like that?" Izuku asked.

"I would say it's kind of slippery, like picking up a dish that's all wet and soaped-up, but yeah. Go ahead, kid. Try it for yourself."

Izuku pursed his lips and reached out to the glass. With a slow movement and a light touch, he pulled the ghostly image out of the cup with ease. He grinned, proud of himself for accomplishing something like that. He handed the cup to Nana, then turned to Peter. "That was cool!"

"It was, wasn't it?" Peter nodded. "Take a sip, tell me what you think." Peter stabbed the cover of the drink with a boba straw. Izuku sipped the drink and smiled.

"This is great! I love it." Peter smiled, crow's feet crinkling at the side of his eyes.

"I've got kids your age. I think you'd like them."

"Peter," Nana half-chuckled. "Just because they're his age doesn't mean he'd like them."

"You know how it feels, you had a kid when you were alive. You get a sixth sense for kids."

"I didn't, because I can't sense people's potential futures, unlike you."

"Right, you just punch things," Peter teased.

"You had a kid?" Izuku said, a little surprised.

Nana smiled wistfully. "Ah yes, my little Kotaro."

"That's amazing," Izuku smiled. "It must have been interesting taking care of him."

"What, you think heroes can't be moms?" Nana teased. "Yes, the busy schedule was awful, but I gave everything to take care of him." her smile faded. "Even him."

"Oh, she hates this story," Peter sighed.

"I do. Always makes me feel all sick."

"A villain by the name of All For One has been the enemy of the holders of One For All since it was created. Her son was in danger because All For One was going to do everything in his power to destroy her and her loved ones in an attempt to get One For All. So…" Peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I had to put him up for adoption," Nana said softly. "It was the hardest thing I ever did."

"Oh, that's terrible!" Izuku said. "But… Why tell me this?"

Nana laughed humorlessly. "I don't really know." She shook her head. "Maybe because it's not really a secret. I hung around him after I died. Watched him grow up. His adoptive parents took good care of him. I just wish I could have given him one more hug before I died." Her voice cracked, and she rubbed at her eyes.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Not a clue. I spent time around him long into his adulthood. He had a son and a daughter. One day I came back to his house and it was just rubble and dirt. I found the spirits of his daughter, wife, and adoptive parents, but I couldn't find him or his son, Tenko."

"So, he could still be alive?"

"No. I saw his spirit a month or two ago but he ran away. Tenko, however, I know is alive."

"Have you ever tried to find him?"

"Once."

"Did you find him?"

"Yes."

"Was he okay?"

"Yes and no," Nana said, running her fingers through her hair. "He wandered the streets for a time and was picked up by someone who would take care of him."

"That sounds like he's safe then," Izuku murmured. "So what do you mean by yes and no?"

"My grandson, Tenko Shimura, was adopted by All For One."

"What?!"

"He now goes by the name Tomura Shigaraki. All For One nurtured his trauma and forced him to sit in his misery and pain and groomed him into a villain."

"That's terrible!"

"And there's nothing I can do about it," Nana sighed. "He's gathered together a host of thugs and other villains and calls them the League of Villains. Tomorrow, Toshinori, Eraserhead, and Thirteen will take class 1-A to the USJ, a special training center for rescue training. It's owned by U.A. And Tenko and his gang will attack the USJ while the class is there."

"They want to kill Allmight," Peter nodded. "Nana told me yesterday."

Izuku was speechless, so while he thought, he took a sip of his bubble tea. "Can we do anything about it?"

"I can't appear in the world of the living, at least at will, and as far as I know, Toshinori doesn't know you're dead. So if you appeared, you would cause a scene more than anything."

"What about Peter?"

"I just haunt the place. I can't really leave," Peter said, shaking his head. "Besides, I couldn't appear in the world of the living even by accident."

"So we can't do anything to help them?" Izuku asked, becoming increasingly frantic. "Your student is there, your grandson is there, heck, my friends are there! We can't let them get hurt!"

"How do you propose doing that?"

Izuku pursed his lips, drinking more of the bubble tea. "Fine," he said after a last sip. "I guess I'll have to take the risk of scaring somebody."

"Huh?" Nana said, a little surprised.

"Stay safe, miss Shimura. I'll see you some other time."

"Hey, Midoriya!"

Peter pretended to wipe away a tear. "Baby's first haunting. I'm so proud."

"I hope this goes well," Nana sighed. "I guess I know where I'm going tomorrow."

"Where?"

"The USJ. If Midoriya fails to convince Toshinori that there's a danger at the USJ, I'll need to see what I can do to protect the class, or failing that, Midoriya."