Akemi's feet hits the cement with a dull thud.

Deactivated her skates, gravity took her and she drops to the ground. Gran Torino stands next to her, staring after the slowly shrinking silhouette of the no. 2 hero, as he left, with slight confusion.

" What location?" Finally, after several moments of awkward silence that made Akemi want to blow a raspberry, the elderly man spoke up, thankfully starting the conversation before she did anything, well, 'drastic'. And Akemi turns to address him.

" An address Izuku sent me." She tapped the side of her headgear and the visor changed to show a map instead of energy pulse graphs that erriely resembled heart monitor displays, " the address is an alley near 4-2-10 Ekou street, I'll take you there."

"Wait, what did that idiot do now? Why is he away from the train? I told him to stay there!" The old hero's voice was harsh and shrill, and her ears stings from the noise. Akemi winces a little and adjusted the headset, then beckoning the man to follow she began to make her way away from the city centre.

The man was still ranting, and Akemi smiles. She can understand why Toshinori-san thought they'd get along. Not that she don't think so, but right now there is a dark, uneasy feeling churning in her gut demanding her attention, and it's all she could do to keep her face not a passive mask but calm. The thick soles of her heeled boots hit the concrete in a steady jog towards the location, and Akemi had her headset sending out energy pulses to scan the area for any signs of trouble.

The nervousness grew worse as she neared the location, almost like wrathful snakes churning in her stomach, venom burning in her guts. What's going on? Her ears are starting to ring slightly, a sign that the tension in her is getting out of control. But this feeling is foreign, it's unlike the time at the USJ, where she could feel the danger even in her vines, this is different. They aren't warning her of a danger, but something else.

Toshinori-san's mentor's rant had fallen into a irritated mutter now, barely audible through soft static in her ears. She huffs and snorts through her nose, Toshinori-san is right. They would definitely get along like a house on fire. Better yet, they'd set it on fire.

They'd just turned a corner when Akemi finally got a hold of her nerves, reining them in like she does her quirk. Control is Akemi's strong suit, and it always will be. She takes a deep breath, and to further calm her irregular heartbeats, she does what she always do.

She talks.

" Frankly I'm going to put in my half of scolding when I get to Izu." She humms, and the man stops grumbling and raises an eyebrow at her, " mind me venting with my clipboard?"

He grins and barks out a laugh, " go on! But I'm going to put my feet in his face first, so you better get in line!"

She laughs, sometimes some people just needs a good capitalised Bitch-Slap to get some common sense in their heads, and she plan to make her point known before Izuku becomes something like an anime protagonist. And it would seems that Grand Torino agrees, and would like to join her.

She falls silent again, but this time it was much more comfortable, Akemi is a lot less tense now, after a good joke and laugh. The soles of her shoes hits the ground in a much lighter pattern, and she plays a song in her head as she jogs according to the tune.

" It's just round the corner." She speaks again, expression closing into a more serious look, " two streets away, in the alley just—"

She stops.

Akemi feels her muscles locks and freeze in place, nausea hits her like a wave and bile rise in her throat, the ringing returns tenfold, and she drowns.

No matter how faint, how far away and soft, she'd always recognize that sound. She will never not be able to recognise this particular soundwave, this pattern, this voice.

For an eternity and a moment, Akemi drowns in the panic and the terror that washes her, her head filled with cotton and her vision was white. But as soon as it came, it was gone and her bow hits the ground.

" Oi, what— where are you going!"

The call fade into background noise in comparation to the pounding heart in her ear the roaring adrenaline and rushing thoughts. Incoherent and tangled, so unlike her usually organised mind that it's almost scary, but there is one recognizable thought, a single word (a name) as her feet pounds against the asphalt and leaves behind melted patches blazing with fire, as her quirk flares like a raging tsunami or maybe a hissing coiling snake, spitting venom.

Hibiki.


As soon as Todo said the words, Hibiki's legs gave out.

She slid to the ground, slumped and silent and trembling with unrecognised emotions, as the rush of the adrenaline ebbed and faded she sagged and the weight of the situation hits her.

She'd almost died.

She'd almost died.

She'd almost...

Her ears rings, her head spin and then went blank. The corners of her vision turns white and more static fills her ears, then her head hits the ground with a dull thud.

She'd almost died.

The thought was quiet but heavy, her body aches and exhaustion screams at her, but her limbs wont respond. Is she paralyzed? But her hands her arms all the way from shoulder to the tip of her fingers are trembling too much, though it feels as though she is frozen.

Her throat is closed, but a silent sob attempts to force it's way out, she can feel the small streams of blood from her arms ebbing, she can hear the impossibly loud ringing in her ears, but she can't see.

Then a voice slashed through the silence, a scream, desperate and horrified, and somehow she managed to catch it through the ringing.

Her name.

Someone is calling her name.

Hibiki didn't move. She don't have the strength to. The trembling is easing, but her nerves aren't responding. She can feel several stray tears escaping her wide eyes, but she knew she isn't blinking. More gathered, and she felt herself being lifted.

Warmth.

Warm arms cradled her and the tiredness seemed to fade slightly, ebbing away as energy seeps into her. Something came into view despite the whiteness. Amber eyes. She realised, bright, amber eyes.

It was almost instincts. She knows those eyes, and she trusts them. Somehow she still couldn't put a name to those familiar, beautiful eyes, but she knows she can trust their owner, and so, using what strength she has, she grips the fabric near her hands, and falls deeper into the soft, comforting cradle— almost an embrace.

The voice cut through the ringing again, clearer. But she still couldn't make out words. It's not soft, nor was it smooth, but it was warm, it's familiar and comforting, and Hibiki wanted to hear more.

The voice continued, and incoherent words faded into a soft, musical humm. A familiar tune, which cut through the white noises and she felt her body relax.

The ringing is starting to ebb, and the voice turns clearer. She takes it back, the voice is familiar, it's clear, and soft and smooth when singing. Though wet with chocked tears she began to recognise it. Familiar, so familiar. Her voice, Akemi's voice.

The tune she recognised. It's a song they really liked. The lyrics came to her head almost naturally, and she tried to sing them out loud. It ended up as a little more of a mumble, but she kept going, the ringing is only a dull whisper in the back of her head now, and the noise of dripping pipes and shuffling clothes reaches her ears, and slowly her mind clears.


Despite being a lesser known hero, he is by no means incompetent. So Native know a panic attack when he sees one.

His limbs was slowly begining to unlock. He had stared with wide eyes when the Hero Killer fell, slowly getting up through strained muscles and preparing to throw in his punch if he is still up and going, hoping to lend those brave interns a hand. They'd fought hard enough, and Native is the pro here, he had gotten them in this mess, and he will damn well get them out of it.

He relaxed when the villain did not move, and slumped on the ground in a heap, much like how he was for most of the fight. Just thinking about it makes him a little embarrassed, here he is, the pro hero, saved by high school interns. He sighs, but was startled out of it when a soft rustling of clothes sounded, and he turns. He looked towards the direction of the sound and found that the girl, the one who took his wounds, a civilian, had slid to the ground, almost soundless with her body slightly shaking. As she stared on ahead, her eyes were blank and unseeing, and Native knows a panic attack when he sees one.

The girl is a civilian, he was trained to be a hero and when he first got his life-and-death experience the first thing he did after was puke, so he really couldn't blame her. So he sits up, ready to have to talk another trembling mess through a panic attack. But before he could do so, the girl freezes up, her eyes went wide and her jaw drop open in a silent scream, and as if possessed, she drops over like a marionette with its strings cut, then the trembling returns tenfold.

He froze. When the girl was sitting up he thought that was the worse of it, but he was wrong, so horribly wrong. The girl twitches on the ground with her mouth opening and closing like a gold fish and body trembling and weak, streaks of red lines her arms as they draw on them with freash blood leaking from the still slowly closing wounds, and the speed they were healing is slowing down worryingly quickly.

The pounding of footsteps reaches his ears, and a figure skid around the corner with speed his eyes almost couldn't follow. The figure slid dangerously close to the wall but stops in time to stumble and turn, and Native stared with wide eyes at the girl at the mouth of the alley, her eyes growing wider by every milliseconds and overflowing with horror, gazed not anywhere near the villain, the boys or him but locked dead at the trembling girl a little away from him.

" HIBIKI!" her voice was hoarse and almost an embodiment of fear as she screamed, she dashed forwards and almost in an instant she has crossed the distance and crashed into the ground, the headgear she was wearing slipping off. She slowly cradled the girl on the ground into her arms with a almost loving gentleness, and brushes away several strands of her white hair.

The fear on the brunette's face was staggering. Heartbreaking as she sways and her eyes overflows with tears like the worry in her body. And as Native watched, the priviously limp and trembling hand grasps at the front of her hooded vest, making the other girl let out a sound that is a cross between a relieved laugh, and a strangled sob.

The three interns have now turned around, and are staring at them with a almost awkward sorrow. The one in the white armour glanced aside with what looks like pained shame, and turns away from the scene.

"Hibiki, hold on, just hold on." The girl's voice was trembling and soft like a whisper as she spoke, shifting her position to hold the other in almost an embrace, and Native don't need to be told to know that the two are close. Very, very close. He moves to his feet, and was debating with himself whether to interfere or not when a sudden glow catches his eyes, not blue or white, like that Ueno's, but golden.

He looks back up, and saw that the brunette's arms were glowing. Her eyes were closed as she whispered things he couldn't catch in the other's ears, she arms, where in contact with Ueno, lit up with a gentle golden light, and the bleeding dwindles, the wounds began to stitch up faster and finally, not a single scratch was left on the trembling girl.

A soft whine escapes her, and the brunette's face twists with a pained expression.

" Shuu... Sh..." Her voice fades, and one of the two that stood next to him, who he realised with a jolt, was Endeavor's son, took a step forwards.

" Akemi..." The teen began, but the girl, who now he knows is called Akemi, doesn't reply.

Instead, she began to sing.

It's more of a broken series of hum, slowly smoothing into a comforting tune that he recognizes as a song that was quite popular just a while back. She kept humming, and didn't stop. Slowly Ueno stirred, and began to mumble. The relief on the brunette's face was immediate, as she continued to hum, even louder than before. Ueno's trembling began to ebb, then the mumbles reaches him.

"... your faults to..." He catches, " can... again..." It fades into a hum, in sync with the other's, before they both stop and Ueno slowly blinks, then sat up.

"...Akemi...?"

" Hibiki-"

Before Ueno could react, the other had lunged forwards and pulled her into a tight hug, not letting go until she choked and gasped, wheezing " Air, air, " while waving her arms around wildly, apparently not as tired as before. She released her, held her by her shoulders and looked at her for several long moments and then pulled her close and rubbed their foreheads together, and the two chuckled, sounding relieved.

Native felt as if intruding on something private, so he moved to looked away. But the green haired teen, Midoriya, stepped forwards and cleared his throat, " A-ano... Akemi..."

The girl stood, pulling the other up with her, who stumbled and groaned about spinning heads before moving upright.

" Izuku, Todoroki," She spoke out loud, it's the first time he heard her speak normally. The girl's voice is now in a dark, almost thretening tone, " you better have a good explanation for this."

The boys gulp, then moves out of the way to let her see the villain, still hanging from one of the many ice spikes, and her jaw drops slightly. But then her eyes caught the one in the white armour, and her face changes.


Izuku winced slightly as Akemi's eyes locked onto Iida's hunched form. The teen straightened, and opened his mouth slightly as if to speak, but then stopped. And Izuku watched as Akemi's face began to change.

For a short moment, her expression was a blank mask, smooth, almost like a doll's, then her eyes widens with realisation, darkens, and she storms forwards, raised her arm, and slapped him across the face with a resounding smack.

Iida's head whipped to the side with the sheer force, and he didn't move to look back towards his friend. Akemi's hand remained held in the air for several moments, before she finally let it fall to her side, and spoke.

" Sometimes," it was soft, almost a whisper, but dark with unspoken feelings, "some people just need a good capitalised Bitch-Slap to get some common sense in their heads."

The words lowered into a growler as she ended the sentence. And at that point, Izuku thought she looked somewhat animalistic.

" Do you remember what happened last time one of us tried to suppress their feelings, in our group, Tenya?" She spoke again, this time softly, almost gentle.

The look on Iida's face was one of pain and guilt, Izuku wanted to interuppt, but he darnt. Iida opened his mouth and closed it, but couldn't get a word out, he winced, and tried again. " I..."

" You guys found me in the girls's bathroom, bleeding from my wrists." Akemi closed her eyes " Tenya, how could you? How could you forget? How could you-" her voice was getting more and more forceful by every word, and she raised her hand again. Iida flinched away, but Akemi stopped, and lowered her hand, shaking her head.

" Tenya, Hiroi was so worried when the news reached." She continued to speak, " he gave up the interview for his internship to get to the hospital to find you. Father kept me home, and wouldn't let me out because of the punishment sections but I was so worried I couldn't sleep. And Hibiki—" she swallowed a sob, and Izuku couldn't start imagine how she wasn't crying, but realised that he was wrong, because there was silent droplets of tears rolling down her cheeks, " you know what she did." She said gently.

" Even after Hibiki got better, we were so worried." She took Iida's hands in her own and gripped them, " but we trusted you that you can handle it properly, or to come to us, Tenya, so how could you?" She looked up and the pain on her face was staggering. " I'm not mad you got Hibiki hurt, I'm not mad you went after Stain, Tenya I'm mad because you betrayed our trust."

Izuku turned away and shared a look with Todoroki, then walked back towards the Hero Killer with the pro in tow, hoping to give the three long time friends some privacy as they moved to tie the villain up, snippets of the trio's conversation reaches them, but Izuku knows better than to listen in.

And he trusts them to be able to work it all out.


Current Poll Results~ (from both the poll and the reviews)

Akemi's paring:

Todoroki Shouto: 16

Midoriya Izuku: 1

Iida Tenya: 3

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Ueno Hibiki: 3

Bakugou Katsuki: 3

Iida Tensei: 1

Others (Please state in review!)


Hibiki's pairing:

Todoroki Shouto: 0

Midoriya Izuku: 0

Iida Tenya: 4

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Kimura Akemi: 3

Shinsou Hitoshi: 6

Others (Please state in review!)


I'd bet on all my Muji stuff that none of you saw Native's POV coming.

I don't know why, but I seems to love writing about panic attacks. I love reading others writing about it, I like writing about it, but I'm sure noone would like to go through one.

As I said, the tone of a lot of the chapters coming will be a bit lighter. No neae deaths, and a lot of diving into the past stuff. I want to explore on Kōki's character so I'll be putting in some OCs (4, actually), whose role might have an impact on the plot later on so watch out.

there will be more chapters that're like the first few, antics and fun facts, just drabbles. Some flash backs before I move onto the exams and the mall incident, then well... we'll get dark and all plot again.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now onto the reviews!

To darkpaladin89: Yeah. I mean, I understand his ideals and where they come from, but the 'nothing but a fake' part just didn't make sense. And when I went through the episode again with Hibiki's mindset, I was so pissed I threw the phone.

To HarukoSuzaku: Votes received! And no worries about being split between the two, everyone has two votes! If you have a solid answer, feel free to change it. Just tell me what your privious vote was!