Zero Hero || MHA ||

21. Anguish of the Quirkless

"What? Are you gonna cry? Your big brother isn't coming! If you tell him about this, I'll beat you up!"

        I was back with Bakugo again. I was on top of him, his shirt inside my palms, screaming my heart out.

"Midoriya shouldn't have saved you that day."

        I think I wanted to hurt them. No, I think I did hurt them. After that, he fought back and that's how Hiro got roped into my mess.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

        I felt Hiro's grip on me grow tighter. He stared straight into my eyes. I wanted to look away but I couldn't. He spoke to me so quietly that I barely heard him.

        "I need to you remember what happened by the river that day. And what you..." Hiro stopped midsentence. He flickered his eyes down. "Forget it. I...shouldn't force you to remember that. There's a reason why you forgot about it in the first place."  

        His hand fell from my shoulder and he stood up, ready to face Ruby. Ruby had gathered all of her metal orbs now, and they filled the sky. There was no way that this flimsy food stall was gonna shield us long enough. Despite that, I knew Hiro was hell bent on fighting until the very end whether or not he had my help.

        "Rin. You need to get out of here."

        I shook my head. "B-but you--"

        "I'll be fine! You don't need to use your Quirk because I am here. You just need to concentrate on getting out of here, alright?" He gave me a smile to reassure me, but it only made me feel worse.

        "You're only delaying the inevitable!" Ruby called.

        She sent an onslaught of metal orbs at us. They slammed into the stall making wood chips fly. Meanwhile, Hiro tried his best to find an opening so he could attack, but there were too many of them.

        "Fine! I'll force you out!"

        Holding both her hands toward the metal pole, a loud creak echoed in the air. I watched in shock as the metal pole by the road begin to bend. The top of it snapped in half and levitated above the ground.

        No, I had to remember! I had to remember to help Hiro! I knew that but when I tried, my head started to hurt. My chest kept tightening the harder I tried, and I didn't know why. Hiro's gonna die if I don't do something!

        I squeezed my eyes shut, doing my best to ignore the loud metallic creaking in my ears.

       The image of three high school boys standing next to a river flashed in my brain. They were standing in a circle, pounding away at someone...pounding away at Hiro. I ran up to them, my short fingers trying to pull one away. Hiro was getting jumped because of something I did. I remember trying to help but I got taken away...

"This is what you get for messing with little brother."

        That's right. His little brother. I should've stopped after I defended myself that one time, but I kept going. I kept going and going and going until I became just like him. I became the very thing I resented. It wasn't long until he turned into me and became the one to retaliate. If only Hiro wasn't there to see that then he wouldn't have gotten jumped by his brother. Hiro wouldn't have gotten hurt, he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

        Hiro got thrown into the river. I haven't felt that angry since I beat his brother up. I remember feeling angry, so angry that I could explode. Actually, I think I did. I exploded. The boy let go of me and I scrambled to the river. I remember his buddies running to him, yelling in a panic but I can't remember what they were saying. All I know is that was I was happy that I hurt him, but when I saw that he wasn't moving anymore...