AN: Hello! Here comes chapter 4! I hope you all are enjoying. Special thanks to geissel2002rivas for reviewing! I really appriciate reviews! Anyway, please enjoy the next chapter.

Shoko was alone in the bar area. It seemed that everyone had left, including the man who seemed to have been shrouded in black mist. Shoko had made herself the instant ramen, and taken out the noodles. She looked towards the door as she slowly drank the soup, and wondered if she could just leave. She didn't know if they'd have any security, though if they did, it would make the place hard to hide. Shoko didn't know how far she'd be able to get, but if she could find someone who'd let her borrow their phone, she'd be able to call the police or pro heroes.

Still holding the noodles, Shoko stood and began to walk towards the door. She was still a little unsteady. As she reached the door, she hesitated in front of it. After a moment, she opened the door. However, as she looked outside, she saw that the area looked completely abandoned. In the half light, she could tell she wouldn't be finding anyone easily. Shoko shut the door, and withdrew. She walked back to the bar and sat down again.

A few minutes passed before the door to the hallway opened. Shoko looked over as Shigaraki entered. He seemed a lot less upset, though Shoko noticed that the skin was torn at his neck from having been scratched at.

"Everyone left..." He sat down, "Well, except you. But I guess it's only right you'd be grateful enough not to just run off."

Shoko didn't look away, but remained silent.

"You don't talk very much," Shigaraki commented, turning away and leaning against the bar, "I know you can talk. But you don't."

More silence.

"You don't really fit the strong silent archetype, you know... You're not so strong anymore. I mean, look at you," Shigaraki said, "Well... I have something you may like to know. Do you want me to tell you?"

"What is it?" Shoko asked, not looking at him.

"You could find out. Do you want me to tell you?"

"Yes."

"Those guys who had you... They were human traffickers."

Shoko got still. Very still. She still held the ramen broth, and her gaze remained on it. Since they had been starving her, and keeping her alive, she knew that they had been keeping her weak. Even if she wouldn't have survived long without food, knew that they had probably been weakening her so that she'd be unable to fight back. She gritted her teeth, again wondering how she'd been dumb or weak enough to allow herself to be caught. Even if she couldn't remember how, she still knew that she should have been able to fight someone off.

Weak.

Shoko felt his hand on her shoulder, but at the same time, she felt nothing. She remained still.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" He said, his voice low, "Being abandoned by society, and thrown to people like that to be used..."

"... They didn't abandon me, they would have-" Shoko stopped herself. She realized she had been speaking through gritted teeth. His words rang true to her, and it unsettled her. How could he be right? She hated that he could be right, that it had just been more convenient for her to be gone?

"If you quit denying it, you'll be able to deal with it quicker."

"They wouldn't abandon me." Shoko's hands tangled in her own hair as she held her head. She didn't want to believe that he was telling the truth.

"I didn't think I would be abandoned either, Todoroki."

Shoko remained quiet this time. He had been abandoned too? The part of her that was telling her she shouldn't believe him was growing faint. She lowered her hands and looked at the man beside her. His expression was sad, something she hadn't expected.

"... They abandoned us. The world doesn't care what happens to us," He said. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked away, "Everyone just assumes a hero will do something about people like us. When we're dying, they just ignore us. And I hate it. I hate all of them, heroes, civilians, hell, even those people who follow that bastard Stain. This world... I want to watch it crumble and die."

Shoko looked at him. She saw how he glared at his hands, and prepared herself for him to lash out. Even though she was still too weak to fight, she hoped she could get out of the way if he grabbed at her. However, his words began to take root in her mind. Had nobody really gone looking for her? He had told her the day before that the place hadn't been very well hidden. She wondered if the had indeed looked for her, or if they'd given up. She had no way to know. She'd been locked in that room, with no access to anything.

Shigaraki had every reason to lie to her, and yet his words just then had felt honest. Had he actually shown weakness to her? She wasn't sure.

"Why would you tell me this?" She spoke up, keeping her gaze on him, "Why would you show weakness to me?"

"Because we're the same," He said, meeting her eyes, "We can't let them forget their mistake."

"... Their mistake..." Shoko looked down. She saw her skeletal body, and how the borrowed clothes made her look even smaller.

They would have left you to suffer.

Shoko tried to tell herself otherwise. She didn't want to believe such things. She didn't want to fall due to what had happened. She still wanted to be a hero.

You're too weak to be a hero. Look.

She looked at her hands. Even they were skeletal.

"You understand, then. They keep doing this. They let heroes do nothing."

"I..." Shoko hesitated. She'd been about to say she wasn't like him, that she wasn't a killer, but she caught herself before she made a mistake that could end with her as dust on the floor. At the same time, she couldn't help agreeing that the heroes had left her to die.

"It's going to change, you know." Shoko tensed as he got closer to her. She didn't trust him to get that close, "I don't care if you've lost your will to fight. But I know that you'll be there to watch this fucked up society fall. And... Because I've taken a liking to you, I'll keep you from being destroyed along with it, princess."