My Hero Academia: The Radiant Ones

Chapter 35: Break Through

As of right now, there was no leads on Eri, or the Hassaikai in general. And while the pros were searching, the work studies students were sworn to secrecy. We couldn't talk about what we were doing to anyone. We couldn't even tell them we were sworn to secrecy, so it was really hard to hide my frustration and worry to Mina and the others. If Shina were here, I would ask her to help me relax, but brother told me that she dropped out. She left a note at his door a few days ago talking about it.

I couldn't believe it. I know about her relationship with the villains, but I didn't think she'd choose them over us. I mean, do they even treat her well? Is she safe? Are they hurting her? These questions just kept swirling in my mind on loop over and over again, and I can't help but think that this was my fault somehow. Maybe if I had talked to her about this, I could have prevented her from leaving. If something was different, then maybe...

"Noelle?" I hear YaoMomo's voice above my thoughts, and I look up from my food.

Oh right. It was lunch time at school, and I was eating with YaoMomo, Mina, and Jiro.

"Oh, sorry YaoMomo. Were you saying something?" I asked, putting on a fake smile.

"You haven't eaten anything yet. Your food will get cold." She says.

"Oh, yeah, I-I'm not hungry." I stemmer with my words.

"Are you sure...?" Mina asked next, and leaned in close to my face. "You have some serious bags under your eyes too. Are you not getting enough sleep?"

"I've just been studying a lot." I let out a lie to my girlfriend. The truth was that I haven't been able to sleep well since Shina's dropping out. She was my first friend when coming to U.A., so I was worried about her. I didn't plan to bring her back, since she made this decision on her own. But I just wanted to confirm she was safe. So every night, I would leave the dorms without anyone noticing and search the city at night for her. But I couldn't find her. Not yet, anyway...

"You've been spacing out a lot more than usual. And I don't think they're just your usual daydreams either." Jiro says.

"I'm fine, really..." I lie as I look back at my food.

Silence. I didn't think they'd believe that, and I was right. YaoMomo speaks up. "Noelle. If you ever need support, want to talk, or anything else, I'm always here to lend a listening ear." She gives me a smile, basically mimicking what I told her a few months back.

"YaoMomo, those words..."

"I know. You said those to me when I was feeling down. But I mean every word of what I said. That's what friends do, after all." She says.

With some deep breaths, I manage to clear my mind. I love these people so much... I start crying a bit, and begin to stuff my face with food.

"Woah, careful, Noelle...! You could choke...!" Jiro says as I eat.

I finished my entire sitting in only a few minutes, and I wipe my tears away from my eyes.

"Thanks guys... I needed to hear that." I say, and stand up. "I have to go. My Quirk won't train itself." I rush out of the building after putting my lunch tray away. Today, I planned on mastering Amajiki-senpai's Manifest Quirk. This will be the first Transformation Quirk I'm copying, so I needed to start now if I wanted to use it and be useful for the eventual fight with the Hassaikai.

And now, after a week of waiting and training, not only did I have a perfect grasp of Manifest, without having to eat anything, I get a text from Nighteye Agency. I grab my phone that was resting next to a tree by making my finger an octopus tentacle, and check it. They located Eri. I smile, and grab my things. We leave first thing in the morning.