With a Strum of My Heart Strings

Ready or Not, Let's Begin

"Denki!"

Kaminari's head instinctively flew up at the sound of his name being called. A throbbing pain immediatly shot through it and he lowered it again, whining.

But he had seen what he needed to: Hitoshi was there.

Relief flooded him. Shinsou could help. He tried to call out to him, to tell him that he was okay, for the most part, but his speech was muffled from the gag and it just sounded like he was groaning again.

His ears were ringing, and he couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but he did hear sounds of yelling, and he was pretty sure a punch was thrown at some point. So desperately, Kaminari wanted to get up, to help, but he was rendered useless at this point in such a delirious state. His limbs were weak from all of his previous strugglings and his hands were still tied behind his back.

Kaminari hated feeling this useless, hated feeling like he couldn't do anything to help, or like he had no control. He desperately continued to struggle. He had to do something! He needed to try. Every one of his muscles strained and burned, but he still pushed through it.

Slowly, using some of the strength he was starting to regain, Denki lifted his heavy head again, forcing his eyelids to stay open. His body shook from the sheer amount of effort it took, and he had to push the hazy fog engulfing his mind away.

It was Shinsou who had been punched, his jaw already starting to bruise and nose bleeding. He wiped away some of the dripping blood, glaring at Kaminari's captor with fire in his eyes. Monoma just smirked.

Denki knew exactly why.

He tried to yell through the gag, tried to warn Shinsou. But it was too late for that because by then Monoma was already extending his hand.

Crap.

Electricity shot from his hand, dancing across Hitoshi's skin before he absorbed it. Shinsou let out a pained shriek, grunting as he fell to the floor. Kaminari kept pulling at his restraints, kept screaming through the gag, but to no avail.

Shinsou managed to start to stand up, bringing himself to his knees with shaky limbs. But Monoma wasn't going to let him get up, and he sent another shock of lighting at him.

Crap. This was bad. Really bad. What the hell did Monoma even want? Why go through all of this? What was the point? This wouldn't change anything.

Shinsou looked back up at Neito. Kaminari, even from his spot on the floor across the room, could see how much pain he was in. Denki's electricity wasn't something to take lightly. Hitoshi could be killed if he wasn't careful! Though, Monoma didn't seem to be using too many volts. Only enough to weaken his opponent. Kaminari started to wonder how he knew how to use Denki's quirk like that, as to not hurt Hitoshi too much, but quickly pushed his thoughts away. He didn't have time for them right now.

"Giving up already, Hitoshi?" Neito asked, that malicious grin never wavering. Kaminari had never wanted to punch someone so much in his life. He was normally more of a pacifist himself, but this just sparked a fire in him. Is this how Bakugou felt all the time?

Kaminari was finding it hard to focus. Every moment, his thoughts would wander. He had to snap himself back to reality so many times. He didn't know how long he could take this. He felt like he might pass out at any given moment.

Shinsou spat out some of the blood dripping into his mouth. He didn't say a word. Kaminari kept on screaming into the gag, and Monoma shot him a fierce look before sending a bolt of his own electricity his way. The pain coursed through his veins and did absolutely nothing to shut him up. It just made him cry even louder.