Karma is a kid [𝐌𝐇𝐀] {DISCONTINUED}

Chapter 18 : The Other Side

Warning: mention of violence/burn/corpse and death, implied childhood abuse

Because the villain of the story depend on the point of view.

———

One of the reasons why Shouta Aizawa had decided to become a hero was to catch villains and make sure they would rot in prison. He had never thought about killing them, even if they were barely acting human. If they died, they might have a chance to not suffer — depending on whatever was after death — but, in jail, they would have plenty of time to regret their actions.

Because of that, he hadn't wanted Brainstorm to die, far from it. The guy had been the most powerful and influential mastermind in years, he was connected to hundreds of robberies, murders, felonies... Shouta couldn't even name them all, actually, he was persuaded that the police was far from knowing everything. He deserved to spend every single day of his life in Tartarus but, no, he got killed by Native.

A part of Shouta felt guilty for not noticing Dabi before he attacked. If he hadn't passed out, he might have been able to stop the arrow before it hit Brainstorm. At least, the police now knew how powerful Dabi's quirk was. Even if he was already wanted for arson — among other things — the police and heroes had never been able to tell if 1) he was using a quirk to create/manipulate the flames and 2) how powerful they were. Now they could answer both of these questions: 1) yes, his quirk allowed him to create devastating blue flames; 2) he was definitely able to kill someone in seconds with how hot the flames were. During his journey in the hospital, Shouta came to the conclusion that, if Dabi had wanted to kill him, he could have done it without any problem.

Shouta was now out of the hospital, however the doctors had ordered him to get some rest for at least one more week. He was okay though, more or less. Dabi hadn't really hurt him, it was mostly to make sure he would pass out so, despite a few first degree burns and a second degree one — that would leave a nasty scar — on his neck, and a headache, he was fine.

Tsukaushi had asked him if he could join him in his office with Sir Nighteye, so that they could talk about the updates of the case in person, Shouta obviously accepted without any hesitation, despite Hizashi begging him to refuse to get some rest at home. Shouta would have loved to spend the whole day cuddling under the covers with his husband and cats, but work was more important.

The Detective welcomed him with his usual serious face. Actually, something wasn't usual: Tsukaushi looked way more tired. After all, he was the most invested in the case, so he probably hadn't slept much in the last weeks. They greeted each other with a nod and a handshake, Shouta did the same with Sir Nighteye who was already there. Tsukaushi invited them to sit down at the desk.

"Thank you for being here, sirs. As I told you on the phone, there have been some advances on Brainstorm's case."
"Did the autopsy gave any results?" Sir Nighteye asked.
"The medical examiner hasn't called me yet, and I haven't received any autopsy report, however she is supposed to call me when she'll be done, which will be anytime soon."
"So I suppose it is mostly about what Native did." Shouta said.
Tsukaushi took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes. Exactly. As we all know, Native killed Brainstorm with one of his arrows. I interrogated him and he kept claiming that it was an accident. With my quirk, I conclude that he was saying the truth and that he had no intention to actually kill Brainstorm."
"Will this have any consequences on his career?"
"I exchanged with different employees of the HPSC, since I have no power in that kind of case, and they all told me that, no, Native won't have any charge against it. The worse that will happen to him is that he would have to make himself discreet if the public learn what he did."

Shouta hadn't expected Native to go to jail or lose his hero license, far from it, but this? Accident or not, villain or not, Native was responsible of someone's death. Did he even regret it? No one could know. If he didn't, he would probably never since he wasn't getting any backlash from it.