- TENKO -
"Wh-Who are you?" I asked, voice hoarse and scratchy. My throat hurt, my muscles aching as I stood in front of the two strangers.
The black-haired one stayed where he was. "I'm a pro-hero, Eraserhead." he introduced. He looked like a hobo, the black bags under his eyes a sign he was tired. I wondered if I looked like that, considering my lack of sleep over the past few days. He let go of his scarf, pulling a card out of one of his many pockets.
"H-How can I trust you?"
He held the card in front of me, the hallway light illuminating the space. Fortunately, I still remembered how to read basic words. It had basic information on the card such as his name, hero identity and birthdate.
I didn't know whether to trust it. He seemed like a genuinely kind person, but it could be the underlings pretending again like they used to do. "Y-You could've j-just made that u-up." I added.
I knew it was wrong to fight back, but I had to check. If it really was the underlings, they'd shout at us. Hell, sometimes they'd either leave us in the dark or separate us.
"I promise it's a real ID, kid." the hero assured. "I wouldn't waste my time on a joke like that."
"Um," I looked over, forgetting about the girl that had been with the man. She had purple hair that reached her shoulders, and these things that were hanging off her ears. "Sorry to interrupt, but is your friend okay?"
I looked down at Zu who was still crying silently at the noise. I held him tighter. "H-He's fine. He hates loud noises."
"Oh, I think I brought a spare pair of headphones with me if he wants that. It helps reduce the noise a little." she offered.
I looked at him before nodding at the girl. She fumbled in a back-pocket, bringing a spare pair of black headphones out. How big were her pockets? I kept the thought to myself, watching as she walked towards us cautiously. She stood awkwardly with the object in hand before she spoke.
"Can I put them on him? Your hands look full." she chuckled.
I tapped Zu with one finger for a moment before he looked up. "This girl has some headphones. Can she put them on you?" I whispered.
He nodded, looking towards her. His eyes were red and swollen, searching for any sense of trust in the girl. It was hard for us to trust anyone, due to our treatment in the lab. And yet, I felt as if I could trust her and the hero. It was like a gut feeling.
She slipped the headphones over his ears, adjusting them so they fit snugly. "There! Is everything better now?" she asked softly.
Zu nodded, attempting to smile at her. It was the wobbly type, yet it still didn't look right. It was understandable, considering most of our moments were spent in pain rather than joy.
He gave up trying, instead attempting to speak instead. "Th-Thank y-you," His voice was quiet, and cracked in some places.
The girl smiled at him, choosing to stay with us. "It's quite alright!" Her smile dropped, instead a shade of red appearing on her cheeks. "Oh, right! I'm Kyoka Jirou, hero name: Earphone Jack!"
"Thanks, Earphone Jack." I said.
The man coughed, as if on purpose. "As this is a rescue mission, we need to get out as soon as possible. Are you able to walk?"
I stammered. "Y-Yes but.." I looked at my hands. My quirk could destroy things, turn them into dust. My gloves had been taken from me a long time ago, but since this room had quirk suppressants, we were fine. But.. going out of the room without them.. I didn't want to turn him to dust.
"But?"
I looked up at him. "My quirk. I can turn things to dust with all five fingers and I don't want to harm my brother. Do you have any gloves or something?"
"Do bandages work?" He pulled out a roll of gauze, as if he had it restocked for every mission.
I nodded. He walked towards us, unwrapping some of the gauze. I held out my free hand, allowing him to wrap three of the fingers (including fingertips) since the quirk didn't work without all five fingers touching. I knew it'd be easier to just hold one finger off, but I didn't want to risk it. This was my brother after all.
After he did that, I switched Zu over to my other arm to allow him to wrap my other hand. It took a few minutes, but after a while, we were ready to leave.
Zu was nearly asleep, gripping onto my shirt as he rested against my chest. The hero, whom I learned was called Shota Aizawa (hero identity: Eraserhead), stood on my left while the girl, Jirou, stood on my right.
We were walking down the many hallways of this place, some looked weird which I guessed was the cause of a quirk. I didn't know who though.
My biggest concern was Overhaul, in all honesty. I knew how much he favoured Zu and me, considering how much he had used us over the years. He favoured Zu for being his number one lab rat, the child perfect for testing his new quirks and solutions. And me because my quirk was perfect for his plans, whatever they were. I knew my quirk could destroy things, but I didn't know what that could be useful for.
I decided to speak up. "Sir,"
Aizawa looked at me. "Hm?"
"Um," I stumbled over my words again. I took a deep breath. "Chisaki favours me and Zu so he might try to take us back."
"How does he favour you?"
I looked down, calming myself at the sight of Zu, asleep. I looked back up. "He used to use Zu as a lab rat, like a test subject for all his new quirks and solutions. He's always favoured him for that aspect since we got here."
He nodded. "And, you?"
"He used to take my blood every week, sometimes every three days. He kept saying my quirk was useful, that it was going to make him a lot of money. I never understood what he meant."
"What do you mean, 'he used to'?"
I stammered. "Uh, well, a few days ago Overhaul stopped coming to our room and taking us to our experiments. They had stopped for a bit, giving us time to rest. I didn't know why. His underlings wouldn't tell us either."
"Hm," he hummed. "He might've known about our attack. Although.." he thought for a moment, "did you know about Eri?"
"Eri?"
"Yes, she's a little girl we met a few days ago. She bumped into Mirio, a hero-in-training, which led to our discovery of Overhaul's base." he explained. "Did you not know of her?"
I shook my head. "No.. he never mentioned another subject."
"That might have been why he left you two alone. He had a back-up. What did you say your quirk was?"
I looked down. "Decay. I can destroy things when I touch them with five fingers."
He hummed again. "He could have manipulated your quirk to destroy the quirked parts of cells. Though, that's only a theory. But, he could have left you two alone if your quirk wasn't working like he wanted it to or if he wanted to hide you two away from society." he said.
"He's always kept us hidden. We had to change bases a few years ago because the heroes were too close to finding us. I wouldn't be surprised if he still wanted us hidden." I explained.
Jirou tapped me. "Is he okay?"
I smiled. "Yeah, he's just asleep. He gets exhausted with these kinds of things."
"What things?" Aizawa asked.
"Um, things.." I trailed off.
The hero didn't pry, accepting the answer. I was grateful for that. I didn't know if I'd be able to explain the things that Overhaul had done to us over these years without going into panic mode.
The things they had done to me weren't even that bad compared to Zu. Some things were too difficult to talk about, others causing him to break down and cry for hours. I felt bad for him. I felt bad that I couldn't protect him. I felt bad that I couldn't help him.
"You okay there, uh.. I hadn't gotten your name." Jirou rubbed her neck awkwardly.
I looked away. "Overhaul calls me "One", but Zu calls me "Tenko"." I thought for a moment. "Call me, "Tenko". I feel more comfortable with that."
"Alright, Tenko." she said, testing the name on her tongue. "Yeah, that works. Anyway, are you okay?"
I nodded. "Just.. anxious, I guess." I smiled at her. "But, I promise I'm fine."
"Great," she smiled back.
We made it out.
Eraserhead fought one of the underlings, using that scarf (which I learned was his capture weapon) and his quirk. It was similar to mine in a way, and yet it wasn't at the same time. He could make quirks disappear for a period of time by looking at someone. It ends when he blinks though.
The Jirou girl was super cool too. She could use those things on her ears (which I learned were called "earphone jacks") to listen for sounds. It was like enhanced hearing, in her own words. She said it was how they discovered us.
She was really kind as well. She said Zu could keep the headphones for now as she had spares in her dorm. She apparently also suffered from sensory issues concerning sound, as she couldn't handle loud high-pitched sounds.
I don't know why but I really liked these people. Aizawa was like a father to me, checking up on me and Zu consistently on the way back and not prying too much. I honestly wanted to thank him for that. If he did pry, I probably would have broken down.
Jirou, however, was like an older sister to Zu. She was constantly checking he was okay, and the way she acted with him in our room seemed really gentle, compared to how the underlings treated us. She was really sweet, and I'd have to thank her for that at some point.
Zu had been asleep since we left the room. I guessed he was recovering from the newly-injected quirk, which seemed to be taking massive tolls on his body. I made sure he was okay the whole time, anxious that he'd be in pain without me knowing. All I could feel though was a sort of high temperature.
I looked up at the sky, differently-shaped clouds dotted about. Different heroes were walking back and forth, some on stretchers due to the lengths of the fight. Aizawa and Jirou were still beside me, refusing to leave my side for some odd reason.
"Even though Overhaul is being restrained, he could escape if he had good physical strength. We're just making sure that he can't take you back." the hero told me when I asked.
I nodded, resorting to sitting down. Zu still had the headphones on, sleeping soundly against my chest. He had gripped my shirt tighter since we escaped that room, probably needing the reassurance that it was me and not another person.
I was glad we escaped. Now we could be free from that hellhole, from Overhaul, from the pain, just like we wanted. Now I could tell Zu that we really did leave. That we managed to escape his grasp.
I smiled at the boy in my arms.
We were finally going home after so many years.