BNHA is not mine, only the characters that are my own.
Chapter 37: Attack At Hosu City
"Good work today, Chiharu," I hear my boss, Saito compliment me as I'm wiping down the counter.
I flash him a smile as I say, "Thanks, it was busy today,"
He nods as he sits down on the stool that he keeps under the counter.
His back bothers him a lot, so the stool is always there when he gets tired.
"You know," he starts as he takes off his round glasses.
Cleaning his glasses off with his shirt, he goes on to say, "I overheard your conversation with that boy today,"
I pause at hearing how careful he was of his words, but hum in acknowledgement as I continue throwing away the used paper towels.
"You never told me you were a student at UA," he notes and I scoff.
"Yeah, well, you never asked," I reply with a shrug as I pull out the second stool on my end of the counter.
As I sit down with a huff, he decides to change the subject.
Saito gives me a smile before saying, "I also noticed the way you two look at each other,"
That one got me.
My heart flutters at the statement and I nod again, trying to keep the smile off of my face, but can't.
"You two would be cute together," he says and I shake my head as I tuck my hair behind my ear.
"I don't know, I doubt he sees me like that,"
"Nonsense!" Saito objects as his hand comes down to slam against the counter playfully.
"I saw how he didn't want to leave the store, he was scared of leaving you here with all of those men,"
I shrug, "He can't be concerned for a friend?"
Saito shakes his head, "Friends don't look at each other like I do with my wife,"
"I didn't know you were married," I say in hopes of changing the subject, but he catches on fast.
"Don't try to change the topic, young lady. Now what's the hold up with you two? Do you like him?"
Well no use in lying now.
"I do," I admit with confidence, "A lot," I add and he nudges his head towards the door, "Does he know?"
I nod, making him shrug, "So why wait?"
I sigh, "Well, it's complicated,"
"What's there to be complicated about? It's obvious that he likes you too,"
A dark chuckle leaves me as I say, "He's what's complicated,"
He makes a noise of understanding as the store grows quiet again.
It's hard to make someone admit their feelings when you aren't talking to said person.
After a moment of silence, I look out the glass door at the night sky. The typically bustling city is quiet, but that doesn't stop the odd vibes I'm getting from it.
"Chi?"
I look back at Saito to see him looking at me with concern, "Are you okay?"
Before I can tell him that I was fine, I see something with a light on it flashing as it rolls towards the door.
My eye grow wide as I scream, "GET DOWN!"
Just in time, I yank on Saito's wrist towards the floor, covering his ears in the process, when the explosion goes off.
Glass flies everywhere, Saito looks like he's yelling, but all I hear is a ringing in my ears.
Shit, my head.
I try to shake off the blurriness from my eyes as I scan the room for my suitcase.
I need my weapons.
Unfortunately for me, I'm pulled out of my thoughts as the collar of my shirt is yanked on roughly.
Falling on my back with a short, but painful thud as I land on broken glass, I groan.
Tapping on my ears a bit to hopefully hear sound again, the ringing fades as I hear rustling of debris.
Looking up at the ceiling, I see two villains staring down at me. One is a man wearing a torn white scarf to cover his dark and menacing red eyes.
His body is covered in either armor or wraps, like my own, and his sword is peaking out from around his back as he stares down at me.
The villain next to him on the other hand, is a woman. She looks similar to him in terms of her eyes being the same shade of red, her hair black and messy, but she looks more like an enchantress than anything.
The female villain is wearing a dark dress that falls just above her knees. The fabric is tattered and worn with holes covering the dress.
There's specks of dark red stains on it and my stomach wretches at the thought of it being blood.
She smiles down at me, making me instantly want to vomit. Her teeth are rotten with holes and black plaque showing obvious signs of decay.
Leaning down, she pinches my chin between her first finger and thumb, "What a pretty little thing you are," she cooes mockingly and I twist around to bite the first finger.
With a sudden jolt, she reels back and I take that as my chance to escape.
Rolling onto my stomach, I start crawling towards the back room, but am stopped as a boot collides with the top of my head and pushes it down against the floor.
Crying out in pain, I try to reach up and hit the ankle of the villain to no avail.
I can't see where I'm aiming and either hit my own back or the air around their leg.
The male villain gives a dark and low chuckle as he digs the ball of his foot more, shifting it side to side to rub into the back of my skull.
Pain erupts from my head as the hair that clings on is pulled this way and that way, making my entire head follow its lead.
I can feel my skin threatening to peel apart from my hair and I groan at the intensity of the pain.
"Leave her for me, Brother,"
His foot halts as a pause is exchanged between the two.
I don't move, I don't dare to speak as the male villain says, "What?! THIS is the body you want to use as your vessel? Have you fallen ill? She's just a kid,"
"But she's strong and I could use someone like her to my advantage. Her pitiful fighting spirit alone is enough to make me want her. Besides, if she doesn't work out, then all I have to do is toss her,"
Using me as a vessel? Tossing me aside if I don't work the way she anticipates?
Fuck this shit, I'm not doing any of that.
I undo the alloy wraps from my wrists before flicking my wrist.
The wraps coil around a piece of debris and I swing the wrap, hoping that it would hit him.
The villain groans above me, lifting his boot from my head.
I quickly get to my feet as I grab a broken brick and turn back to the male villain.
He drops his hand, looking down at the blood that stains his skin, before returning my gaze with a wicked grin on his face.
"Maybe you aren't such an unworthy hero after all,"
"Oh gee, thank you for noticing," I snap at him before hailing the brick his way.
Easily evading it, he dashes over to me with an incredible speed, sword at the ready and I brace myself.
He swings the sword towards my left side, which I dodge, quickly needing to jump as he goes for my shins.
The sword changes directions by swinging down towards my face.
Leaning backwards, I watch as the sword nearly knicks my nose, but the action is slow enough for me to grip his wrist.
As my right hand grabs him, I use the heel of my left hand to strike the villain in the nose.
While I'm successful, when I try to bring my hand back to strike his face again, he bites me instead.
I cry out in pain, letting him go as I stumble backwards, putting as much distance as possible between us.
Craddeling my left hand to my chest, I try to calm my breathing. I watch in disgust as the villain licks his lips, cleaning off my blood from them.
I grimace at the action as he just grins, "Not too shabby, kid," he says happily, but I suddenly start to grow numb.
"Shit!" I exclaim as my lower half drags me down, crushing my legs against more broken glass.
Eventually, I feel my entire frame collapse to the ground and I can't even get my fingers to move on command anymore.
"What the-h-Hell IS this?!" I stutter, writhing in pain at the heaviness of my body.
"That's my brothers quirk. A small drop of blood and he can keep someone in place for a certain amount of time," the female villain kindly elaborates for me.
She kneels down to turn my palm over and expose the blood running down my wrist. Grinning micheviously, she brings my hand closer to her as she speaks.
"Do you want to know what MY quirk is?" she asks, a little too eagerly for my liking.
I want to shake my head, but my body won't let me and I struggle against the nonexistent shackles that hold me in place. I just need to look at her so I can stop her quirk, but I can't move!
"I can take control over any human I want, as long as I have-," she pauses to bring her face closer to my wound, "Some blood,"
"NO!" I shout as I feel her tongue drag across my clammy skin like sandpaper on glass.
It scrapes against my hand harshly and I scream as whatever residue on her tongue sinks into my bloodstream.
Finally, I'm set free from her brothers spell and I yank my hand back from her grasp.
Sweat gathers at my forehead as I feel myself heating up and my arm starts to jerk in painful and sharp directions.
The muscles tense up as this starts to occur throughout the rest of my body and my mind feels hazy, as if a thick fog is entering my conscience.
"Chi!" I hear exclaimed and I look to my right and see Saito staring at me with horror in his eyes.
"How interesting," her voice echos in my head and my heart rate picks up at this sudden realization.
She's already in my head.
Soon enough she'll have taken over my body.
I have to get Saito away from me, away from here.
He needs to go get help.
Forcing myself to flip over on my stomach, I crawl over to Saito as he bends down to help me.
I smack his hand away as I cry out, "Run! Please! Be-fore..." I squeeze my eyes as I feel the villain pulling on the last bit of conscience I have.
"Before you're too...late!"
Staggering to my feet, I hear a chant in my head being repeated over and over again.
'Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him!'
I shake my head to try and drown out the noise. Saito stands his ground though as he looks down at me, "I'm not leaving you!!"
"Y-y-you don-t...have a...ch-h-oice!" I force through clenched teeth. A stinging sensation builds in the back of my eyes and I use the last bit of my strength to push him.
I face plant the ground, my arms stretch out to catch the fall, but I still hit the floor with a resounding thud.
Stiffly, I lift my head to see Saito right at, what used to be, the entrance and I choke out, "R-r-run!"
Without any hesitation, he takes off down the narrow street and I let out a sigh of relief.
He'll get help.
I'll be okay.
My soothing thoughts are cut short as I'm kicked in the side.
Rolling onto my back, I clutch my side as I try to take shallow breathes.
Fuck! Bastard knocked the wind out of me.
Suddenly, I'm lifted off of the ground and find myself face to face with the female villain.
Her cat like grin is ever so present as she speaks, "You're still in control? Fascinating!"
Her claw like nails reach up to grasp my chin and although I struggle against her, I'm kept in place as she finishes her sentence.
"Don't worry. I'll fix that," she says menacingly. Looking over her shoulder at the second villain she says, "Brother, go kill some time else where, I want to have a heart to heart with my new puppet,"
I blink back tears as fear starts to set in.
Please be fast, Saito.
A/N
Thank you for reading, leave a review if you'd like and I'll see you guys next week with a new chapter!!!~