Bloodthirst | BNHA x Vampire!Reader

34. a sad sight

You drew in a shaky breath, mustering up the courage to peer out from between the cracks of your fingers. Ugh. This felt absolutely awful. You wished it would hurry up and be over with already. This whole situation was shaving years off your lifespan.

Izuku was about to lose. He was just a few steps away from the edge of the arena, and once he crossed over, there was no going back.

But he didn't cross over.

You couldn't really make sense of it. One second, he was walking with that same zombie-like expression as before, and in the next, a strong blast of pressure suddenly ripped across the arena.

And the source? None other than Izuku himself.

"Midoriya?! What the... he's come to a sudden halt!"

Slowly but surely, your hands peeled away from your face, allowing you to take in the scene more clearly. A dust cloud had collected around Izuku's body, no doubt from the sudden gust of air just a few moments ago. When you narrowed your eyes so that you could get a better look, you realized that two of his fingers were broken, which could only mean one thing.

He must've used his Quirk-One for All. But you thought that Shinsou had completely brainwashed him. Did he break out of the brainwashing effect by sheer force?

Actually, did the specifics even matter at this point? Who cared how he'd done it? What mattered was that he did do it.

Izuku still had a fighting chance.

"You shouldn't have been able to move!" Shinsou spluttered, panic seeping into his features. He took several steps back, most likely out of disbelief. "I... I know I had you under my control. Shit. Is there another person who's immune to my powers...?"

He was obviously referring to you, not that anyone else could have known that. But in your case, it was because you weren't technically a human. You surmised that Izuku's reaction had to have been for some other reason, one that you weren't yet able to explain.

Whatever. You could save the thinking for later. Right now, you just wanted to see it with your own eyes-to watch Izuku win.

"Hey. Say something," Shinsou grimaced. He clenched his fists, and you could tell that he was trying to provoke Izuku again. "You've got that much power just from a few fingers, huh? Wow. Count me jealous. Things must have been so easy for someone as blessed as you."

Izuku didn't respond. He wasn't going to fall for his tricks a second time. It seemed like a miracle that he'd even broken out of Shinsou's control in the first place. No way was he going to squander this second chance he'd just been given.

So, instead of returning his opponent's words, Izuku gritted his teeth and rushed right at him.

"You don't understand," Shinsou kept on saying, and there was no denying how much his voice trembled with every word he spoke. "There was never any chance for me to succeed. Not with a Quirk like this. But you... people like you, who are blessed with perfect Quirks... it's obvious you live in a different world from the rest of us. Everything is handed to you, right from the very beginning!"

Shinsou was wrong. He didn't even know just how embarrassingly wrong he was. Blessed? Who, Izuku? The same boy who'd been tormented endlessly all his life, just because he'd had the misfortune of being Quirkless?

You didn't know Shinsou's life story. He hadn't gotten into the Hero Department, and you understood why, because his Quirk wasn't well-suited for the entrance exam. A Quirk that could control others... it sounded convenient on paper, but when you stopped to think about it, you realized that it must have made people wary of him. People must have been constantly on guard, out of the fear that he might use his powers for selfish, unsavory motives.