I luv tally hall, the front bottoms, the flat Stanleys, and modern baseball!! my fav authors are Lemony Snicket, John Flanagan, Amanda Foody, and Tamora Pierce. I like 2 draw sumtimes and idk if I'll ever post :p
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During december 2023, I was in Sicily with my family and chapter 411 of mha had recently come out. We sat down at a restaurant and I started drawing on the paper mats we had under our plates. It turned out so good that I stole a few more sheets. Never ended up using them though, I still have to get to it.
Ok gng (I say to my sister and like 3 other ppl) I need an honest opinion ....
I'm tryna write a fanfic of Ze and Regect and like I'm gonna post it on ao3 but I'm pondering if I should post it here too .....
It no finished yet but still and here's the summary thingy
Ok so Ze and Regay r in the kitchen rite? And Regay is tryna teach Ze to make his fruit cake rite? Well Ze doesnât like Regayâs fucking gay ass fruit cake (but he does heâs just a tsundere hmmph!! \\>â<\\) and Ze starts trying to convince Regay to make a cheesecake instead cuz itâs the best dessert but Regay disagrees and yatta yatta Ze fucks Regay until he canât argue back :9
Also something I wanted to include here...
Regect and Ze spend several minutes having the sloppiest, most spit-sharing makeout known to man- and entity-kind.
I would stay in the hole for two years and fight everyday against your mimics just to get back to you two but thatâs too niche for you to understand apparentlyđđđ
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woke up and my nose was gushing blood and all of a sudden "i think your nose is bleeding" by the front bottoms popped into my head. my word association is genuinely so bad
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Enough to Go By (Chapter 35) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic
Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)
links to all chapters here
Chapter 35
When the heroes arrive, Tomura doesnât go to meet them. He sends Inada and Magne and Dabi instead, giving them orders to tell the heroes that heâs refusing to leave your side even though youâre already dead. Even though youâve been dead for hours by now. It was Tomuraâs idea to fake your death â the heroes did it first, so now itâs his turn â but that doesnât mean he likes pretending itâs true. Not when youâre on the other side of the glass in the operating room, still fighting for your life.
Youâre fighting. You want to stay alive. Tomura can only make himself believe that for a few seconds at a time. Then the truth creeps in. Then he remembers what happened on the battlefield and feels like heâs going to be sick.
Your injuries were bad. Worse than the ones you have now. You and Spinner took on Sensei together, using your quirk-canceling bullets to weaken him however you could, but you both knew it wouldnât be enough. Sensei had too many quirks, too many ways to retaliate. He targeted you first and used Rivet Stab to put five holes in your chest and stomach. By the time Tomura got there, Sensei was already after Spinner, and you were bleeding out in the mud.
Tomura knew you could heal yourself. He gave you Overhaul so you could save both of you, but your hands stayed at your sides, your eyelids falling half-shut, then closed. You were going to die. You were choosing to die. Youâre only still here because Tomura made you stay.
Itâs not even the only thing thatâs wrong. The first time Tomura took your clothes off after the first war ended, he couldnât believe how many new scars youâd picked up. At first he thought the heroes had tortured you. Heâs pretty sure you only told him the truth so he wouldnât run off and start the war all over again. Why would you hide things from him? Youâd be furious if Tomura hid things from you, so why do you get to do it to him? Tomura adds that question to the list of things he needs to ask you when you wake up.
He can hear the chaos in the rest of the hospital scaling up, and after a few minutes, Spinner comes back to report. âAll Mightâs here,â he says. âHe wants to speak to you.â
âWhy the fuck would I want to talk to him right now?â Tomura canât believe Spinnerâs even asking. âIâm not leaving her. And All Might canât see her, since weâre pretending sheâs dead. Tell him to fuck off.â
âTell â All Might â to â fuck â off.â Spinner pretends heâs taking notes. âAre you sure you donât want to tell him yourself? Youâd get more out of it than I would.â
Any other day, Tomura would love the chance to insult All Might to his face. He hasnât forgotten the way All Might treated him at USJ, belittling him and swatting him aside to protect a bunch of privileged brats. But the most privileged of those brats is on the bottom of the heap now, thanks to you and the bullets you made. The powerâs not in All Mightâs hands anymore. All Might didnât do this to you, so All Might doesnât matter right now. Tomura can deal with him later.
âYou tell him,â he says to Spinner. Spinner nods. âIâm staying here.â
A few minutes after Spinner leaves, one of the doctors exits the operating room. A moment later, the door to the observation room opens. âIâm here to provide an update on Saintessâs condition,â he says. âWeâll be closing soon.â
âWhat does that mean?â
âIt means weâve fixed the damage weâre able to through surgical means,â the doctor says. âWhen Saintess awakens, she can use the quirk you gave her to repair the rest.â
âSo sheâs going to make it,â Tomura says, and the doctor nods. Nobodyâs told him the plan yet, so Tomura has to. âThe heroes are here. They brought their healing quirks. I want you and everybody else to act like sheâs dead.â
âWhat?â
âAct like sheâs dead. Like she died at the scene, or like you couldnât save her.â Tomuraâs mouth tastes like bile. âPick what you want. Donât let anyone know sheâs alive. Tell your team.â
âYes, Grand Commander.â The doctor looks uneasy. âIf I may ask â why?â
âIf they think sheâs dead, theyâll stop trying to kill her.â Tomura means it, but itâs not even close to the only reason. Heâs faking your death for propaganda purposes. To enrage his own side. To scare hero Japan into submission. Heâs using you. It feels disgusting. âSpinner and the rest of the League know the truth. When you need to update me about her, tell them and theyâll tell me. Do you understand?â
The doctor nods and turns to leave. âWait,â Tomura says. âIf she makes it ââ
âI believe she will.â
âThen I owe you,â Tomura says. âDoctors, nurses â whoever. All of you.â
The doctor inclines his head. âAnd Chronostasis,â he says. Tomura grimaces. âWithout him, she would have died of her injuries before we could reach her.â
Tomura believes that. Heâs sure enough about it that it settles into his bones. He owes Chronostasis. No way around it. At the same time, thereâs no way in hell that heâs going to ask for Overhaulâs release from prison â but maybe that shouldnât be his call. Tomura adds another question to the list of things to ask you.
He should have asked the doctor when you were going to wake up. Where did he go? Tomura tries to go back through the door the doctor left through and finds that itâs locked. Fuck that. Heâs about to put his fifth finger down and Decay his way through when the other door to the observation room opens behind him. Tomura turns and finds All Might silhouetted in the doorway.
Either someone on Tomuraâs side slipped up, or All Mightâs rule about killing villains isnât quite as absolute as he wants everyone to think. âWhat are you doing here?â
âYour friends said you didnât want to see anyone, but ââ
âThey werenât kidding. Fuck off before I put another hole in your stomach.â Tomura waits a second, then another. âI know youâre old. Are you going deaf, too? Get out.â
âThis cannot wait,â All Might says, and actually takes another step into the room. âI wanted to express my condolences. Iâm so sorry about ââ
He says your real name, but Tomura blanks it right out of his head. âDonât call her that,â he snaps. âYou donât get to call her that. You donât get to start acting like sheâs a person to you now that itâs too late.â
âShe has always been a person to me,â All Might says. He shuts the door behind him. âI met her during her captivity. I was the one who argued for her release back to you.â
You told Tomura that. You kept a lot about what happened while the heroes had you quiet, but you told him who convinced them to let you out. âYou let her out because she was useful. Because she was a tool you could use to carve Sensei out of me. Thatâs not the same thing.â
âNo, itâs not.â All Mightâs a better actor than Tomura remembers him being. âI conducted research into the two of you while she was our captive. I wanted to understand what could lead a civilian to side with you, and in the process I learned that your suffering began well before you came into All For Oneâs possession. That shouldnât have happened to you.â
âNo shit.â Tomura grits his teeth. âIf youâre just going to stand here and tell me what I already know ââ
âIâm telling you what I told her. It was my job to protect you and I failed,â All Might says. Tomuraâs throat slams shut. âShe protected you instead. As much as she could, for as long as she could. Iâm here to return the favor. Er â Kurogiri ââ
Before Tomura can ask what the fuck All Might thinks heâs doing giving commands to Tomuraâs friends in Tomuraâs fucking country, a warp gate opens and someone steps through. Someone small, whoâs clutching a toy that looks familiar. âIâm sure you remember Eri,â All Might says. âHer quirk allows her to ââ
âI know what it does.â Tomuraâs stomach rolls, twists. He curls his hand into a fist so he wonât rip it out. âWhy are you here?â
âYou were nice to me. She was nice to me.â Eriâs red eyes are tearful. She wipes her nose on the back of her hand. âI donât know if I can, but I want to try.â
âTry what?â
âBringing her back,â All Might says. âIf Eri rewinds the clock on Saintessâs body ââ
He trails off. If you really were dead, Tomura would jump at the chance. Heâd grab Eri and activate one of his speed quirks, tearing off through the hospital until he found your body so she could try to bring you back to life. But youâre alive. Youâre going to live. And because youâre going to live, Tomuraâs not going to hide the truth. âShe doesnât want to come back.â
Itâs silent. In the operating theater, someone comes into clear the mess away. Wipe up the bloodstains. Throw away the gauze and tools. Make it so you were never here. This was your job when Tomura was getting the quirks transplanted, what the doctor made you do. What Tomura made you do, because heâs the one who wanted you to be there. Just like he made you live.
Guilt claws at him, harder than heâs ever scratched himself, but Tomura canât be the only one who did this to you. He canât be the only reason. The real reason is standing right here. âThis is your world. The one that cares more about heroesâ feelings than villainsâ lives. The one where quirks are all that matter. Your world was so fucking awful that sheâd rather have died than keep living in it. I promised her Iâd make her a new one, but I was too late.â
Itâs All Mightâs fault. All his fault, just like Sensei always said. But the kidâs still standing there, tears running down her cheeks, and sheâs not the one who did this to Tomura. Or to you. Tomura wrenches his eyes away from the operating theater and crouches down to face her. âSheâd be really proud of you for wanting to help people,â he says. Eri nods. âSheâd want you to go help the people who can be helped. Those are the ones who need you.â
âSaintess ââ
âSheâd want to rest now.â Tomura knows youâre alive. Knows youâre asleep somewhere in the hospital, waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. Whyâs he still fucking crying? âI love her. So I have to let her go.â
âShe would never have let you go,â All Might says, and Tomuraâs guilt almost swallows him whole. âThatâs what love meant to her.â
âBecause sheâs a hero,â Tomura says. âIâm not.â
He knows youâd argue with that. You think Tomura is a hero, too. Your hero. And he really is just like a hero, because he let you down. âIf you want to do something for her, go save some people. Thatâs what sheâd be doing if she was here. Since she canât anymore, itâs up to you. Okay?â
âOkay,â Eri whimpers. She hugs Tomura, the corgi plush that looks like Mon-chan caught between them. âIâm sorry.â
âIt wasnât you,â Tomura says. He puts up with the hug for a little while, then pulls away. âGo.â
The door shuts behind them. Tomura takes a deep breath, then another, hating the way they get caught in his throat. Everything he said to them was true â but so was what All Might said to him. Youâd never just let Tomura go. Youâd fight for him, like youâve always fought for him, even when all you were fighting was his certainty that there was nothing worth living for. When did Tomura change his mind? How did you make him believe?
He needs to remember. When you wake up, heâs going to do the same for you.
Spinner doesnât come back to report, but Magne and Inada do. âThe heroes are scared shitless. They donât buy that youâre not going to retaliate.â
âI never said I wasnât going to. What else?â
âTheyâre really going plus ultra, from what I can tell.â Inada makes air quotes with red-painted fingernails. âTheyâre terrified of patients dying on their watch. They donât see this as just saving people here. Theyâre trying to save Japan.â
âOur lives only matter when saving us means saving someone else.â Dabi slunk into the room when Tomura wasnât looking. âSame old, same old.â
Tomura wonders if youâll see it like that. Or if youâll just be happy that lives are being saved. âI told you to keep an eye on the heroes, too. What are they doing?â
âShitting themselves in terror,â Dabi says. âAnd theyâre getting a lot of angry phone calls. Apparently All Might made that offer without asking the civilian government first. Get a load of this.â
He takes out his phone and shows Tomura a video of some civilian politician bitching All Might out for assisting a hostile power, while All Might keeps trying to point out that hero Japan and Japan Nova arenât actually at war. About forty-five seconds into the video, All Might loses his temper, and Tomura gets to watch the former Number One hero and Symbol of Peace tell a government official to shove it where the sun doesnât shine. Magne cackles at it. âIâve never seen him get riled up like that outside a battle. Heâs committed.â
âHe brought the kid here. Eri,â Tomura says, and they turn to look at him. âHe thought Rewind could help.â
âYeah, I saw her running around. She regrew somebodyâs leg,â Dabi says. His gaze sharpens. âHe brought her here for Saintess. To bring her back to life. What the fuck?â
âYou said no, right?â Inada demands. âTell me you said no.â
âOf course he said no. Sheâs out of surgery, and weâre pretending sheâs dead.â
Tomura doesnât think thatâs what Inadaâs talking about. Inada has a good read on you even when sheâs not using her quirk, which means you wanting to hurt yourself or die didnât come as a shock. She knows you, like Tomura does. Enough to know that you stopped wanting to live at some point. âItâs good that the kid is helping. Nobody else on the heroesâ side can do the stuff she can.â
âAgreed, but â holy fuck. Theyâre pulling out all the stops,â Magne says. âSaying sheâs dead was the right call. Theyâre going crazy.â
âNo, they arenât,â Inada says. âTheyâre acting like her.â
Right. You healed people during the last battle. Heroes. You helped heroes during the ceasefire, too. The world thinks you died trying to help people, and because youâre dead, theyâre trying to take your place. Save the people you would have saved. Prevent the war you would have argued against. Follow your example. Inadaâs right, but Tomuraâs with Magne. The heroes have lost their minds. Stain would be proud.
A high command meeting gets called at some point, hosted in the hospital because the hospitalâs full of heroes and not even the Freedom Alliance would be dumb enough to bomb All Might on purpose. Your ex tells everyone that the Freedom Alliance expected Tomura to attack hero Japan in response to the bombing, which would have provided justification for an expansion of the war. As it is, the bombing isnât playing well in the court of public opinion. A bunch of countries have issued condemnations, saying that bombing nonmilitary targets is never acceptable, not even if the civilians are citizens of a country full of villains. The Freedom Alliance has an answer to that, too.
âItâs a military target because Saintess was there?â Re-Destro repeats. âIs this a joke?â
âSheâs a member of our leadership. Theyâre also saying that thereâs no such thing as a civilian in Japan Nova, because weâre a rogue state and they all chose to live here,â Spinner says, scanning the statement. âBasically, they didnât do anything wrong.â
âAccording to my reading of the Geneva Convention, they committed multiple war crimes,â your ex says. He looks tired. âBut weâre discussing the most powerful nations in the world. International condemnation means nothing to them.â
âNeither does the Geneva Convention,â Re-Destro snaps. âWhat are our options for a response? Our allies ââ
âWhat allies? No one is going to challenge them ââ
Japan Nova doesnât have any allies. Itâs got some nonaggression pacts that you were able to negotiate, and some trade deals with countries that care more about their bottom line than they do about the Freedom Alliance being pissed at them, but thatâs about it. Thereâs nobody whoâs going to jump to their defense. Even hero Japan â
Thatâs it. Tomura and his friends might not have allies, but hero Japan doesnât, either. The people who claim theyâre helping hero Japan deliberately risked the lives of every person who lives there, just to give themselves an excuse to broaden the scope of the war. Hero Japan just learned the same lesson Tomura and his friends learned a long time ago: Their lives donât matter. The people with power can just throw them away.
When Tomura realized that, he was furious. His friends were furious, too. And he saw that same fury on someone else today. Tomura gets up and leaves the meeting. Once heâs in the hall, he calls Kurogiri. âCan you get me Present Mic?â
Last Tomura heard, Present Mic is in charge of the new Heroesâ Public Safety Commission, which still makes up most of the government. âI have a plan.â
âZashi makes good plans,â Kurogiri says. It still weirds Tomura out to hear Kurogiri talk about heroes like theyâre his friends. âOne moment.â
Tomuraâs never talked to Present Mic one on one. Sometimes when heâs bored he daydreams about torturing Present Mic, since thatâs what Present Mic wanted to do to you. Right now heâs got something else on his mind, and once Kurogiri sets Mic down in front of Tomura, and Tomura gets right to the point. âThey want us dead, and they donât care if they get all of you killed to make it happen. That means weâre on the same side.â
âNo, it just means weâre fucked,â Mic snaps. âTheyâre going to go through us to get to you. Thereâs nothing we can do about it. If we do nothing, theyâll wipe us out. If we attack you, youâll wipe us out. If we help them, theyâll still wipe us out. Thereâs no way we come out of this alive.â
âThereâs one way,â Tomura says. âHelp us instead of them.â
Micâs jaw drops. His mouth is fucking huge. âHelp you?â
âWe helped you before,â Tomura says. âYou couldnât have beaten Sensei alone.â
âYou stole half the country and ran away, and now you want our help?â Mic laughs. âYouâre out of your mind. She really was the brains of the operation, huh?â
âI should kill you for that,â Tomura says. He probably would, if you were really dead. As it is, he sort of appreciates it. At least Mic is being honest, instead of pretending that you matter to him as anything more than the reason why Tomura didnât murder everyone in hero Japan. âSometime today, the Freedom Alliance is going to ask you to send heroes to help them. I want you to tell them no.â
âWhy would I do that?â
âThey fucked you over pretty hard. Did they even warn you about this strike ahead of time?â Tomura sees Micâs eyes flash behind his stupid sunglasses. âIf Iâd retaliated right away, you wouldnât have even had time to grab your support gear. Why would you want to help them after that?â
âThat doesnât mean I want to help you.â
âIâm not asking you to fucking help me,â Tomura snaps. âIâm asking you to stand down. Our ceasefire is still in place. Do you really want to be the ones to break it?â
Mic doesnât answer. Tomuraâs not as good at reading people as you are, but that doesnât mean heâs bad at it, and he can see Mic thinking things over. âWhat are you planning to do to them?â
âWhy would I tell you that?â
âBecause itâll change my answer,â Mic says. âAre you attacking or retaliating?â
Tomura rolls his eyes. âWhatâs the difference?â
âWhat youâre hitting. Are you fighting a war or punishing them for killing your girlfriend?â Mic asks. âI thought for sure youâd be the vengeance guy. You ripped Japan apart the last time you thought she was dead, and now that sheâs actually dead, youâre ââ
Mic interrupts himself. A slow smile crosses his face, one that Tomura would deck him over if he didnât need someone to carry his message back to hero Japan. âYou know, maybe sheâs not the only brains of the operation after all.â
Shit. Tomura keeps his expression blank. Heâs not giving Mic a hint one way or the other. âThis is what she fought for. Somewhere people like us could be free of people like you. Iâm not burning down the world she wanted just so I can have revenge.â
Tomura wonders how heâd feel if you were really dead. If youâd been stiff and pulseless and cold when he found you in the wreckage. Thinking about it makes him want to claw open his throat. Â âThe Freedom Alliance is going to ask you for help. Turn them down. Or Iâm coming for you when Iâm done with them.â
âSo thatâs what this is,â Mic says. âIf we donât help them, youâll leave us alone.â
âRight now I donât have a reason to kill you. You can decide if youâre going to give me one.â Tomura stares Mic down. Mic stares back. âYour choice. Kurogiri?â
Kurogiri doesnât even have to show up to create a warp gate, but he does anyway. âHizashi ââ
âIâll tell Shou hi from you.â Mic steps through the warp gate, but not before firing back at Tomura one last time. âOh, by the way. My condolences. If you need them.â
The warp gate closes, and Kurogiri looks to Tomura. âDid you tell him?â
âHe might have guessed. I didnât tell him.â Tomuraâs limbs are starting to hum with anticipation. âStick around. Iâm going to need you.â
He heads back to the conference room, Kurogiri behind him, and gets right in the middle of the argument between Re-Destro, Skeptic, Spinner, Magne, and your ex. Your ex is the one he needs, but if you wake up and find out that Tomuraâs forced him to overload his quirk, youâre going to be pissed. âHow many more searches can you handle today?â
âIt depends on the size of the search. For a large search, three.â
Which means one. Tomura only needs one. One and a half. âFind out what theyâd use for a first strike,â he says, and your ex nods. âThen find out exactly where it is.â
Your ex raises his hand to his temple right away. At least you didnât date an idiot before you dated Tomura. Tomuraâs friends arenât idiots, either. They pick up on his plan without having to ask stupid questions. âHow are we going to do that?â Spinner asks. âKurogiri and Toga for transport, obviously, but we donât have anybody else on your power scale.â
âWe still have Nomu, donât we?â Re-Destro doesnât wait for an answer. âIâll gather additional forces. Strike teams of eight to twelve should do, depending on the target. How many targets can we ââ
Your ex shakes his head sharply, interrupting the question. Heâs writing things down. Tomura sees at least two sets of coordinates. âWhat about the heroes?â Skeptic asks. âIf we send our best to attack the Freedom Alliance, weâll be vulnerable to hero Japan.â
âShigaraki spoke to Present Mic,â Kurogiri says. âI believe they will stand down.â
âEven if they donât, weâre not exactly defenseless.â Magne cracks her knuckles. âYouâve been hogging all the glory, Shigaraki. Itâs our turn to get some.â
âHeâs going after the Allianceâs nuclear installations. Heâs still going to get most of it,â Spinner says. His eyes narrow. âYouâre really going to go? What about Saintess? If you get hurt ââ
Tomuraâs stomach twists. âI wonât.â
Youâre in recovery right now. Every doctor whoâs worth anything is keeping an eye on you. Tomura can leave instructions with somebody â Toga, maybe â to go grab the Rewind kid if it looks like youâre starting to go downhill. And this canât wait. The Freedom Alliance thinks they can do whatever they want. They think Tomuraâs going to pick the easy target, not the right one, but Tomuraâs done playing their game. He wants you to wake up to a world where you have a second or two to breathe. Where Tomuraâs hands arenât tied by the threat of getting fucking nuked. This has to happen now.
Your exâs hand falls from his temple. âThere are fewer sites than I expected. The countries with first-strike capability are still reserving most of that capability to use against one another, and it will take time to reorient. In order to remove the enemyâs first-strike capability against Japan Nova, you will need to target two aircraft carriers, two silos in the nearest allied countries, and three nuclear submarines.â
Seven targets. It could be worse. Tomura looks at Re-Destro. âHow fast can you mobilize?â
âWithin the hour.â
âMake it half an hour.â Your exâs nose is bleeding. âIf theyâre made aware of a shift in our strategy, it wonât take long to respond.â
Tomura hands over planning the attack to the others. Heâll show up where they tell him to and destroy what heâs supposed to destroy. Between now and then, he wants to spend as much time as possible with you.
The doctors have closed off one room on every floor to use as a makeshift morgue, and theyâve banned the heroes from entering them. Youâve been hidden in the one on the maternity floor instead of the ICU, in case any of the heroes ignore the rules and go looking for your body. Tomura picks his way through a sea of nurses and balloons and flowers and crying babies until he finds the fake morgue, already dreading what heâll see inside. He steels himself and opens the door.
Itâs not as bad as he thought. Youâre still hooked up to a lot of machines, but thereâs not a tube down your throat any longer â just one under your nose, linked to an oxygen tank. One of your hands is visible, lying at your side with an IV sticking out of the back of it. The otherâs under the blanket, out of sight. Tenko lifts the blankets and sees that your hand is resting on your bare stomach between multiple rows of stitches. He wonders if youâre healing yourself.
Your face isnât bloody any longer. Someoneâs wiped it away, although Tenko can see specks of it drying in your hair. Your face is ashen and youâre lying still. But youâre breathing on your own. If it wasnât for the bandages and the heart monitor and the IVs, Tenko could convince himself that you were only asleep.
He wants to climb on the bed with you, but now he gets why you were always so hesitant about it when he was the one having surgery. Thereâs not that much room. He doesnât want to damage anything you need. Tenko settles for pulling up a chair instead, picking up the hand outside the blankets and holding it carefully. Your fingers are limp, but your handâs warm. When Tenko presses his fingers against the underside of your wrist, he can feel your pulse.
âI told everybody you were dead,â he starts. âTheyâre all losing their minds. Especially the heroes. Theyâre so scared Iâm going to kill them that they started acting more like you.â
Tenko imagines you laughing. Heâll hear you laugh again soon. Maybe even by the time he gets back from this mission. âThe thing is, nobody needed to scare you. Saving people no matter who they are is just what you do. Youâre a better hero than the rest of them will ever be. You were even before you had quirks.â
Getting quirks just made it easier for you to be a hero. Tenko knows you would have kept doing it anyway, no matter how hard it was. He didnât think you were scared of hard things, but maybe he doesnât understand whatâs hard for you. âWe have to talk about some stuff once youâre awake,â he says. âWe can save some of it for when youâre better, but we have to talk about it.â
Youâd be looking away. Changing the subject. âNone of it is bad stuff. Just not easy stuff. I mean, some of it might be easy.â Tenko sounds like a moron, even to himself. âSome girl this morning asked if we were getting married. That part should be really easy to talk about.â
For a moment, Tenko thinks he feels your fingers tighten around his. But your eyes arenât open. You donât speak or even turn your head. âI promised we could play a new game, but I have to finish this one first. When I get back, we can do anything you want. Even if you want us to be farmers.â
The door opens slightly. Twice squeezes through, followed by Compress â followed by Chronostasis. Tomuraâs temper flares. âWhat is he doing here?â
âContingency,â Compress says. âIf Saintessâs condition takes a turn for the worse, heâll slow her down again ââ
âAnd Mister will Compress her, too. That way sheâll be easy to move, and nothing worse will happen until the doctors can get here,â Twice says brightly. âDonât worry, boss! Sheâs safe with us!â
Tomura trusts them. He doesnât trust Chronostasis. âSheâs the only one who can give Overhaul back his arms,â Chronostasis says. âI need her alive.â
âTomura-kun?â Togaâs in the doorway, dressed in her mission gear. Sheâs holding Tomuraâs, too. âWe need to go. Kiyohara says itâs time. Like, now.â
Tomura wants to say something else to you. Anything. He wants to kiss you, even though there are people watching. But thereâs so much he wants to say to you that thereâs no way for him to sort through it all in time. Heâll have all the time he needs after he ends the war. Tomura pries himself up from the chair at your side, squeezes your hand once, and lets go.
He thinks he feels your grip tighten around his hand as he pulls away, but thereâs no time to turn around and check. All he has to go by, as he gears up for the mission and finds out where his first target is, is the phantom sensation of you slipping through his fingers.