Her hand misses.

Rose falls.

As she falls, she closes her eyes and thinks about all the things she's lived through. How any dreams she'd ever had were probably unachievable from the beginning. How much she regrets those dreams if it led her to this. How much she loves heroes, which led her to UA in the first place. How Midoriya-kun would be in good hands with his amazing friends and all the people who cared about him… How it'll finally all be over, and she'll finally be free.

Until she feels a hand.

Her eyes snap open to see Uraraka falling with her. "…Uraraka-san? What are you…?"

"What a hero does!"

Just before they hit the ground, Uraraka activates her quirk. The two float for a moment before she releases it and they plop to the ground. She grabs Rose by the shoulders, shaking her madly, tears in the brunette's eyes. "What were you thinking?! You could've died!"

Rose knocks her hands away and slowly clenches her fists as tears well up in her own eyes. "Why… didn't you let me die?!" Uraraka gawps at her uncharacteristic screaming. "You… love Midoriya-kun, don't you?" The brunette blushes. "Wouldn't you want me out of the way?" Rose isn't looking straight at her, but at the ground. She doesn't know where to look or what to do anymore. She's just screaming. She couldn't die, so all she can do is scream as her tears plop down. "Are you stupid?! You could've died too! Then Midoriya-kun would be sad! Is that what you want?!"

The police, Aizawa, and Bakugo all arrive at once. "Uraraka!" Aizawa calls out.

In a split second, the police handcuff Rose. "Rose Omoda! You're under arrest for attempted assault!"

"…No!" she sobs, "…Please… just kill me already…"

Bakugo, upon hearing that, remembers what he had accused Rose of earlier, that she had a death wish. "You…" He hauls her up by her shirt. "From the beginning, this was your plan, wasn't it?!"

"Bakugo!" Aizawa tries to pry him off of her.

"You lied to me! You… You're really not gonna fight him?! You're not gonna do anything?! You think you can just give Deku back his memories and that'll solve everything?!"

Aizawa pauses. Who is Bakugo talking about? Did Rose Omoda tell him something that gave him an idea of the culprit?

"…No." Her voice is almost a whisper. "I just wanted him… to have them back. If I die, they'll all disappear, all the memories, so I wanted him to have them back before…"

Losing his patience, he shoves her into Aizawa. "That's not gonna fix anything, moron! You… Fine! If you're not gonna help, we'll do it ourselves! You better burn this into that suicide-lovin' head of yours!" Indeed, his eyes were burning through her. "That asshole boyfriend of yours is goin' down!"

They all pause. What did he just say?

Rose's response is weak as her head drops. "…I'm sorry… It's impossible… Taka is…"

"We won't know until we try! We don't all wanna give up and kill ourselves like you!" he mocks her shamelessly. Bakugo has no patience for types like her, types who don't even try to put up a fight when it really counts. He'd always grown up believing that even if you fail, there's a merit to trying. And anyone who doesn't try will never accomplish anything. So bottom line, if they want to convict Taka Nobita and make him pay for his crimes, they have to do something about it.

"Bakugo," Aizawa stares discerningly at him. "Explain. You know something, right?" He tries to be patient.

"…Yeah. She didn't admit to it or anything, but the culprit is her boyfriend."

"Nobita-senpai?" Uraraka balks.

Of course Aizawa is going to press him for more questions, but in that moment, all he can see is the certainty in his eyes. Bakugo wasn't a fool. As his teacher, Aizawa knew that. So even if there's no proof, the chances that his student is right are high. And so he tells the police they should investigate Taka Nobita again more thoroughly.

"There's a chance that Rose Omoda is just a decoy to throw us off… Although the fact remains that she did take Midoriya's memories and lie during questioning." He stares down at her, ready to use his quirk if necessary.

Uraraka stands up. "Omoda-senpai! Why? Why did you do it? If you just tell me why, I'll understand!"

She can't respond. She doesn't know anymore. Was it because she loved Midoriya-kun and didn't want him to suffer? Or was it because Taka told her to? Or was she just selfish enough to believe she could save people by taking their memories? What was it all for? If all she can do is hurt the one she loves, the one person who means the world to her, what's the point of her existence? Had she been right all along? That her life had just been worthless all along?

Then she hears a voice. "Senpai!" It's different than she remembers, but it's his voice.

Everyone's heads whip around to the source. "Midoriya!" Aizawa and the others are all shocked to see her out of bed, out here on the bare ground, an arm each slung over her mother and All Might. They hobble towards the group desperately.

"Senpai! Wait! I have some questions… I have to ask you!"

Midoriya had thought it all through in a matter of minutes. Obviously, she doesn't need to ask who the culprit is; she finally remembered. What she really started to think about after the trauma set in was Rose. If Taka Nobita's story was true, that after his first victim, he went on to assault more women, this girl, Rose Omoda, is the reason why he hasn't been caught.

"The victims! I wasn't the only one, was I?!"

Tears continue to fall down Rose's face as she looks down and shakes her head.

If the previous victims suffered from amnesia, not only could they not remember the culprit, they couldn't remember if they were attacked at all. And even if they felt strange, like they had the odd feeling something had happened to them, they wouldn't talk to anyone about it, because there was another factor:

The shame. The humiliation, not knowing who to turn to, who would understand, and what they'd think about you. Would they think it was complicit? If you didn't get hurt really, was it even a crime? Could you accuse someone of it? And without proof? Isn't it easy to lie about this kind of thing? Would anyone believe you? And if the culprit can lie too, what's the point of telling anyone? Could a monster like that do whatever he wanted to innocent people and get away with it simply because no one would believe the victim? If he wasn't stopped, he would do the same thing to someone else. He wouldn't stop, because he'd know no one could stop him even if they tried. How many more people would be forced to feel that kind of fear because of him?

Midoriya can't bear the weight of it, of all the sins that her attacker would continue to commit if she'd stayed silent.

"How many?" Midoriya is much closer to her now. They can see the tear stains on each other's faces. "How many people did he hurt like that?!"

How many people did Rose Omoda have to watch get hurt like that? Midoriya remembers Rose's eyes that day, the eyes of someone who had faced the same decision, someone who had been hurt and given the choice between two evils: either tell the truth and be condemned a "liar" or tell no one and become an accomplice.

"I… Somewhere over ten…"

Midoriya stares at her in horror before scrunching her face in bitter defeat. Over ten people Midoriya couldn't save. Then a thought occurs to her.

"…Were you one of them?"

"…Yes." Now Midoriya-kun knows the whole truth, that Rose is dirty, that she allowed a monster to play around with her, defile her, tell her to do awful things for him. She knows Midoriya-kun will be just as disgusted and disappointed in her as she is in herself, that he'll hate her like she's come to hate herself.

But instead of disgust, her face twists in frustration. Just minutes ago, and for the past several days, all Midoriya could think about was how badly she wanted the whole incident to blow over, so she could go back to school, so she could continue her training, so she could become a hero! But if she had done that, she could never call herself a hero. Because someone right in front of her, someone she could reach, would've been left to suffer because of that monster.

Some hero you are, she thinks bitterly to herself. No more. I won't let it happen anymore. I won't let her cry anymore! She remembers the moment they met, the moment Rose cried, apologizing to her over her helpless body… all because Midoriya hadn't been strong enough.

"Omoda-senpai!" Her voice cracks. The tears won't stop. She lifts her arms off of her mother and All Might and falls to her knees. The two try to help her up, but she refuses, shaking her head and forcing it to the ground in the lowest of bows. "I humbly apologize!" To her superior, not just in school, not just in life, but in suffering, to the person who suffered on her behalf, doing all she could by herself, waiting all this time for a hero, "Thank you so much!"

This time, I'll protect you.

Ano hi "mamoru" to kimeta... Yakusoku wa kono mune ni... ;)