Switcheroo \BnHA Various x Reincarnated!OC\

38 - Agony... Or Not

Nighteye came with Renka by car, Aizawa took the train (Renka asked for permission to avoid the risk of Monoma and herself getting in trouble with the school. Aizawa was done with his lesson plans and marking so he decided to come), Kendou hopped on the bandwagon and Monoma was having lunch. The meeting room isn't big by any means but it easily accommodates them. Monoma's mentor had every reason to close his doors to these interlopers coming without appointment but he generously lent the room when they asked for privacy.

Monoma's arm falls back to his side and his lips curl, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. The lingering warmth on Renka's hand that his touch left is offset by the chill in her heart.

Growing up under Senshiro Shida's teachings, information gathering is a matter-of-course. With her 1-B friends, Renka's privy to information about their classmates. There's a lot to extract from gossip; habits, character and Quirks. And this particular info came in handy: Monoma instinctively knows how to use Quirks he Copied.

Isn't that a godsend for Renka?

Life-giving or whatever has nothing to do with her. It can't. It mustn't.

Blue petals drift from Monoma.

※※※

Renka worked part-time as a relief worker since she was 11. They didn't accept kids that age but her father pulled some strings and she passed the test so they closed one eye. Who asked the relief workers to always be short on hands?

But relief work can be traumatising, more so for the young and inexperienced. So she was often dispatched to areas low on the Disaster Index... save for the episode after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake.

"Young... la... dy..."

"Stay with me, the ambulance is almost here!"

She held the woman's hand, hoping to pass even the smallest bit of warmth. The old woman was trapped by an overturned vehicle and crushed from the waist down. The ground was unstable and Renka couldn't move the truck recklessly.

"... Hur...ts..."

Renka couldn't get her out but she could relieve her pain. "Switch off!" White petals covered the pockmarked skin, "There! Better?"

The woman's lashes fluttered drowsily but the pain had retreated from her lined face. "Again... it hurts..."

"But," the white petals were stark against the asphalt. "Dad said don't overdo it..." Not the white petals.

"Please," the woman gasped, "make the pain go. MAKE IT GO!"

"Granny..." Her pained cry erased the last of Renka's hesitation. White petals covered the woman again and her expression turned peaceful, like a dead person in a coffin.

Renka's heart drummed against her ribs. A pale finger hovered under the woman's nostrils, then fumbled for her pulse.

"Granny? Granny???? GRANNY!!!"

First, it was an injured bird with a torn wing. It crashed into the bush next to their mailbox and was found by Renka. The small animal looked to be in such deep pain that she wanted to ease its agony as she ran to the vet.

But it stopped moving.

Her father had cooed, assuring her that it was the wounds. It had bled out and she did good, sending it off painlessly. It was a coincidence, it wasn't her. It didn't die at her hands.

It didn't die because of the white petals.

If she was afraid, she could use less of them. See? The petals didn't kill.

But Renka couldn't deceive herself again. Her fingers trembled on the woman's wrist. The pulse is absent. Renka's breaths came faster and faster. She was reincarnated to save people? Laughable. All that she was, was a scourge of the past.

The Renka that Senshiro Shida found was screaming at an old woman. Screaming at her to wake up. She screamed herself hoarse, screamed and lost her voice, but her lips didn't stop.

"Shh, Renka, shhh. Dad's here," darkness covered her eyes. She was tiny for her age and his palm swallowed the entirety of her face. It was warm. For once, the darkness was welcome. Hot tears fell from her eyes.

"Dad, I... k̷̢̢̩͙̼̳͍̙̬̇͗̒̔͗̿̀̈́̈́ĩ̵̛͓̬͔̟͇̹̜̙̼̎͑̏l̵̗̯̩̱̯͇͚͉̓̏̈͘͜ͅl̸̢̨̝̦̟͂è̴̳̓d̷̙̟͖̻̳̪̮͎̱̃̂̍́͆̕ her."

He rocked the small girl, gently humming the song of her childhood, "Shhh. Nonsense, the woman was on her deathbed. It wasn't you, sweetheart. It wasn't you."

Because her eyes were covered, she didn't see the ecstasy on the face of a man she called father.

※※※

Blue petals drift from Monoma.

Newborns don't have to be taught to breathe. They automatically know to take in air.

Renka automatically knows. Her white petals are the reverse of her blue petals.

So the blue petals mustn't be life-giving.

They aren't, the childhood song her father hummed assures in her ears. They aren't.

But she can't quash the sinking feeling in her stomach.