"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"
"Yeah, actually."
Horyo looks up for once, staring into Midoriya's eyes.
"Fuck you guys."
Shinimi stands up, his chair clattering to the ground. "Midoriya, grab him! He's going to—!"
And then, the room bursts into flames.
❧
The smoke is almost immediate, stinging your eyes and filling your lungs. Coughs rip from your throat as you scramble for the door, looking around for Shinimi.
You see him the moment you grab the handle; he's on the floor, clutching his head, coughing and screaming as if he's on fire.
You can't see past him. You can't see Horyo. You can't see Midoriya.
You fling open the door, hoping the smoke might flow into the hall instead of clogging the room.
You bring your shirt up to cover your nose, your lungs feeling as if the fire has found a home there.
How did the fire spread this quickly? It's everywhere!
"Hey!" You shout, grabbing Shinimi and dragging him, "Hey, get up! Come on!"
He only screams, his voice shrill, piercing your ears like daggers.
"What's wrong?" You cry, shaking his trembling body, "Hey! We have to get out of here!"
You suddenly feel an arm push you forward.
"Here, I'll carry him!"
"Midoriya!" You sob, still covering your face, "What's wrong with him?"
He shakes his head, pushing you out of the room alight, and scooping Shinimi up in his arms. Once you get out, you scramble for a fire alarm, pulling it immediately.
The alarm rings out, barely louder than Shinimi's cries of agony.
You follow Midoriya down the hall, getting far enough away so the smoke can't reach you.
"What's wrong with Shinimi?" You cough, searching his body for burns, "What the hell happened?"
You can hardly hear Midoriya's answer over the teen's wails.
"I think," he sucks in a breath, "it has something to do with his quirk. He's obviously not hurt, though he probably inhaled a lot of smoke from screaming so much."
You cup a hand around Shinimi's cheek, brows furrowed. "Hey! Hey, tell me what's wrong! We can help you!"
"The . . . " he winces, still clutching his head, "The fire. H-Horyo . . . I-I'm on fire!"
His sentence trails off into a sob, and another scream escapes his throat.
"It burns!"
Midoriya looks over at you. "Can you carry him?"
"Wh-What?"
"I said," he asks again, "can you carry him?"
"Probably. Whatever it takes," you answer.
"Alright, then get him out of here. Both of you need to get out," Midoriya tells you, "I'm going back in."
"Why?"
"Listen to me, whenever the room caught fire, Horyo was the origin. I saw it with my own eyes. I think, somehow with his quirk, he combusted into flames. This might've affected Shinimi, since his quirk has to do with the mind, correct? And he was controlling him when it happened."
You nod slowly, wrapping your arms around the teen and putting him on your back.
"I trust you, Midoriya," you choke out, "do whatever you need to do."
The green-haired man nods, then runs off, back in the direction of your hotel room.
❧
Shinimi's screams are relentless.
You're out of the hotel now, along with all of the other residents. You can tell the fire has spread, and smoke rises from the rooftops. But where's Midoriya?
You sit across the street, hugging Shinimi as he cries out. No one pays any mind to his despair, instead booking it and running to save themselves.
You can hear sirens on their way, and you're not sure if it's a good or bad thing.
You wipe your wet eyes as the boy trembles in your arms.
But then, he stops, his screams melting into whimpers.
"Shinimi?" You say quietly, "Are you okay?"
"It felt like," he whispers, clenching his eyes shut, "I was dying. And then it stopped."
"How?"
"When I control someone, I can feel their anger. Everything feels like it's my own."
You shut your eyes. "So does that mean . . . ?"
"Horyo must be dead."
You're both quiet, not saying anything. He must be used to death, but you can't say the same.
Someone you were speaking to moments before, who you saw living, breathing. A child. He was just a child.
Dead in less than twenty minutes afterward.
"Midoriya," Shinimi gasps, "Where's Midoriya?"
"He went back in. I d-don't know why I let him," you curse under your breath, "I shouldn't have let him! Damn it!"
You stand up, letting go of Shinimi and rushing to the front doors of the hotel.
"Come on, Deku," you whisper to yourself, "You're a hero. You've survived worse than this."
The sirens you had heard before are closer now, and you watch an ambulance pull up to the hotel, with a hero hopping out of the back.
"Shoot, that's bigger than I expected," he says, running to the steps, "Is there anyone still inside?"
You nod. "My f-friend. He has black hair and freckles. Third floor. He hasn't come out yet."
Why would they send this hero? You think to yourself, He can't put out fires.
But as you watch his skin become rock, you realize: he can't burn.
The hero puts on a special anti-smoke mask, his bright red hair matching the intensity of the flames in front of him. Despite this, he doesn't cower.
"Don't worry," Red Riot says, his voice void of fear, "I'll save your friend."
And with that, he heads inside the building.
❧