It didn't take long for Hibiki to fall asleep.

And she's, of course, guilty about it. How dare she fall asleep, when Akemi's gone? How dare she do nothing and just lay around, when Akemi's somewhere out there, hurting? Hibiki's not in the Hero course, and she never wanted to be one before, but in this moment, she wanted nothing more than to go out there, join whatever the Heroes are doing, and burst down the villain's doors herself.

Her eyes hurts from crying, and she's pretty sure they're bloodshot now. As she curl up on her bed, hugging her knees Hibiki had never felt so helpless before, her entire life, even as she was writhing on the ground, sobbing and blank and begging no no no more please just s t o p—

The phone rings.

The sudden noise jolts her, because why wouldn't it? The silence was deafening just now, a subtle whining ring deep in her ears that just wouldn't go away, now all broken by a simple, cheery ringtone.

The screen flashed with the silly photo of Hitoshi-kun, with cat ears filters on. She still remember that day, they were just off school, and Hibiki just couldn't help herself, he nearly smothered her later on, but forgave her when she got him coffee.

This would usually make her smile, every single time when she picks up, every single time. But now?

She just feels empty.

Really, really empty.

Her phone shakes in her shivering grip, though that might just be the vibrations coming off it, but her arms are so visibly trembling that she's sure they're both involved. It took her a few tries too, just to press the 'accept' button, and when she finally does, she presses the phone to her ear.

"Shinsou?" She winced at the crack in her already broken voice, and took a deep breath before repeating. "Shin-chan?"

"Hibiki, are you..." From the other side of the line, she hear Hitoshi-kun sigh, "Nevermind, I'm on my way, to your house." There was a pause, then he spoke, hesitant. "do you want to... talk first? About it?"

"Hitoshi- I," Hibiki pauses, "Sorry, Shin-chan, I, I just-" Her voice cracks again, breaking, fracturing, hitching. "I— "

"Hibiki- hey, Hibiki— don't, don't cry-" Hitoshi sounded a little panicked, but Hibiki wasn't sure, as her tears drown her in another overwhelming wave. She can feel it coming, feel it nearing, and she could barely hold on. "Hibiki..."

A loud sob leaves her throat, wet and trembling.

"I don't know." Hibiki sobs, "Hitoshi I don't know, I don't know I don't know I don't know, Hitoshi I don't KNOW!" Her voice raises abruptly towards the end, gaining an odd two-tone quality that hurts her throat. "I wanna be there, I don't want- I Don't- I don't— " Her voice cracks and Hibiki feels it again, her voice swelling and filling and bursting in her chest and she gives in. She gives in and screams. Her phone still held to her ear as fingers tangles in the her white locks, gripping, pulling, yanking.

Her door burst open behind her then, and footsteps, two pairs of them, reaches her ears. Arms, arms pulls her into a warm hug. Her mother. Mum is here. Her phone drops from her hands as her mother tightens her arms around her, so tight it should be suffocating, but it's all Hibiki couldn't do anything, but sob, and bury her face in her mother's shoulder as her breath hitched and broke and shook with sobs. She faintly registers Hitoshi standing in the doorway, phone still in hand and looking helpless, lost as Hibiki's mother whispered repeatedly to her, frantic and panicked and in pain.

"Sweetie, sweetie, hush, hush- Oh, Hibiki-" She can hear the tears in her voice, "It's okay, it's okay-"

Hibiki doesn't reply, as her mother began gently humming a tone in her ear, the familiar rhythm easing the ringing in her overworking mind, as she sobbed what's left of her beaten, broken heart out into her mother's shoulder.

What did she do to deserve this? Why is life so unfair? They save her from her father, then they take Akemi away from her. They took her away from her, Akemi's gone. Gone, g o n e g o n e g o n e g o n e G O N E—

Her mother embraces her as Hibiki goes limp in her grip, slumping over and trembling and shaking like a leaf, whispering little white lies in her ear, little lies that she wish is true.

It's okay.

Akemi is going to be okay.

Everything is going to be j u s t f i n e

J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E J U S T F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E F I N E

And before Hibiki knew it, She wasn't sobbing anymore, she wasn't crying anymore. She wasn't screaming anymore.

In her mother's trembling arms, Hibiki goes mute.


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

Akemi's paring:

Todoroki Shouto: 23

Midoriya Izuku: 7

Ueno Hibiki: 7

Bakugou Katsuki: 4

Iida Tenya: 3

Iida Tensei: 1

Kaminari Denki: 1

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Others (Please state in review!)


Hibiki's pairing:

Shinsou Hitoshi: 8

Kimura Akemi: 7

Iida Tenya: 4

Midoriya Izuku: 0

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Todoroki Shouto: 0

Others (Please state in review!)


Alright! Sorry about the last chapter guys. So, I've mostly said what I wanted to anyway, but just a little more of the same topic over here.

I love angst, okay? I love exploring deep character backgrounds and their mentality and drive and stuff. Sonder started off as this slice-of-live humor stuff, but there are meanings I'm trying to bring out behind, there are little details I'm trying to let y'all see. Just look at the name of the fic, it's literally there.

Actually, out of all of the OCs I've added in, Hibiki, Akemi, and Kōki are the ones that I've plotted out the most. Little details things they like, their mentality and ideals, ext. Kōki and Hibiki's a lot deeper than what I've explored, I have individual profiles for them down to the details of how they react a to curtain events and the factors that affects them. But to be honest putting Akemi as the main character is a bit of a risk for me, because not only is she not as detailed as I plotted Hibiki, and at the core, Akemi is very different from her classmates. Akemi is not a traditionally heroic person.

I'll drop this right here for now for you to think over, I'll probably discuss more about it in later chapters, but If you want to shoot me a question, discord link right down there, I have a pretty basic server, shoot me a question in voice chat or the text channels, whatever, I'll try my best to answer.

Onto the comment(s)!

To darkpaladin89: Alright Marmy coming in soon~

Ree.Human: Of course I do digital art! *Gestures at cover art* I do loads of it. I mean I'm an art student! As for tips, practice. Practice a LOT. But of course, you need the right tools. What kind of tablet are you getting? I use an iPad and honestly I personally think it's one of the best. the Apple Pencil works well for me, but honestly it still takes time to get used to. For the program I recommend using ProCreate, which is a great app honestly, but I've heard that Clip Studio is also great. I don't know, I've used it but I'm just really not used to the settings and all. But really, first thing is to find the right brush. Establishe your digital style, then just, keep practicing. It took a long time for me to just get used to the pens and all, and really even now I'm not all that used to it. This is of course just my opinion, it's not professional and it might be wrong, honestly I'm more well versed with writing than I am with art. But here ya go, my tips.

I have a discord server where I share art for my fic and just chat, link here:

https/discord.gg/2S7Cy4R