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Random Moments from the To Be A Hero Universe
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Jessylane318
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A/N: This chapter is from Nemuri's point of view. This chapter comes to you because I'm struggling with the next four chapters! :D It takes place after chapter 60. I've had a reviewer ask me about the Forest Training, it is coming, I promise! So far, the 6th arc is 20 chapters, which is the longest of all of them I've written (at this point). We will get to the forest eventually, but there's also about 3 weeks of downtime between the final exams and the start of camp (which isn't that far off). This beach vacation takes place in the 2nd week of that downtime. This time is mostly skipped in cannon. For Rin, it's important for developmental growth.
Anyways, I think this may offer more information since Rin isn't quite aware of everything. Please leave me your thoughts! I always appreciate reading them.
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-Nemuri's POV-
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Shouta presses play on his phone and sighs, almost seeming to deflate against the couch. Nemuri watches him quietly as he does, the way he sinks to his elbow, the way the shadows seem to darken his eyes. He looks exhausted, overwhelmed.
When was the last time he looked this lost?
She knows the answer, though she purposely doesn't consider it. They listen instead, waiting until they hear the teen huff and the soft steps of movement.
"You've learned some new tricks," she says instead, offering a small smile. He doesn't smile back.
"She's worse than a kitten at times," he answers with a huff. "I've had to put up my capture weapon because I'm not certain I won't wake up and find her wrapped up in it. I sent you her 'Present Mic' costume."
"I don't think I've ever laughed so hard," Nemuri admits, giggling. She'd framed it on her wall in fact just so she'd have something to smile at. "You know 'Zashi printed the thing, right? He's got it on his fridge. He's so stupid proud it's hilarious."
This time Shouta does smile, it's a little thing. The kind she sees so rarely, the kind that she's seen so much more of since Hoki Rin was suddenly thrust into his life.
It disappears quickly. A shame since it makes him so handsome.
"I'm concerned about her safety," Shouta says quietly. Even with the music playing, he's careful to speak at a low volume. "Not so much with the trip, but everything else. Asp is in the city and he knows I'm looking for him. The bastard's tagging roofs with messages."
He picks up his phone, leaving on the music, and pulling up his pictures. She's unsurprised that he's password-protected them. What does surprise her is what he's captured. At least twenty of them, each illuminated by the flash of the camera with colorful graffiti, cement flat roofs, brick walls, and fences. They all include the same infinity sign, that sideways 8 he apparently carved into his victims, and some sort of message.
You can't hide her forever. I'm coming. Bitch is gonna die. Next time, you won't save her.
The rather graphic one of a naked, decapitated child with black eyes and a black braid makes her skin crawl.
"That day she went to the mall, he watched her for damn near ten minutes. You could see the mask follow her movements, and when she came towards him, it was Shigaraki that made him leave. You can see him hesitate."
Nemuri feels her stomach twist nauseatingly. She hands the phone back with a grimace.
"Any ideas why he's so obsessed with her?" she asks.
"Several, but nothing concrete," the man says, rubbing his face. "It could be anyone. Rin's been moved over a dozen times for losing control and assaulting her peers. If you consider the children and caretakers, we have a near-endless selection, police are investigating the first family she lived with, but nobody's seen the father in years. Still, that's only some of the suspects. Rationally, if you expand it to the facilities she was forced to rob, you double the number. I have no way to identify all of the stores either, which apparently went on for years. Nemuri, she started at five. It could easily be one of the owners or workers."
"At… five?" Nemuri asks, voice low.
Her stomach does a little flip. She remembers the giant smile, the bright, beautiful wings glowing with joy. The nervous grin. It was hard to imagine someone so excited robbing anything. Of course, it's also hard to match the girl today with the one she'd found in the bathroom what, three months ago?
"How long are we talking?"
"She entered the system at ten," Shouta says flatly. "So five years, and she mentioned at least once a month."
Nemuri grimaces at that, but Shouta continues, his own expression bleak.
"So far, I've learned that outside of the child exploitation, her mother physically abused her both to activate her quirk and then again as emotional manipulation if she cried. On top of that, she starved for four months before she was removed, which explains her size. Even with the muscle we've put on her, she's still underweight. She saw her father beaten by a hero, which has some unknown link to All Might—who she's terrified of. Her family emotionally manipulated and mistreated her, constantly telling her their lot in life was her fault because she was born with a quirk. In the last group home, she was sent to, she was neglected and physically and verbally assaulted. They were the reason for those scars on her neck and chest, and who knows what else. Nemuri, when I took her in, I knew there was trauma, but this? I don't even know where to start. Every time I think I've gotten all of it, there's more."
Nemuri sighs and scoots closer. Unlike normal, he doesn't stiffen at the contact or even shy away.
Rin's influence no doubt.
It's another of the small things, but it's warming. It gives her hope.
"That's a lot," Nemuri admits, trying to take in the whole list. No wonder he's so exhausted.
"I don't know what to do," he says, voice quiet. "I've considered sending her to a therapist, multiple times. But this villain, whoever he is, he's good. He's gotten into records and changed things, destroyed things. Nearly all records of the old homes she's lived in are gone, including her original address. I'm reluctant to put my address on anything. I signed her guardianship papers as Eraserhead and it's likely the only reason he hasn't found her, because even those documents have been accessed."
"That's creepy," Nemuri says, swallowing. "I'm guessing she has no idea?"
"Of course not," Shouta scoffs. "She knows he's still at large and that she can't leave the house alone, but beyond that she's clueless. She just accepts the things I tell her at face value, which is terrifying in itself. She's far too gullible. I'm also fairly sure she's repressing most of her memories, I got a glimpse of it when she talked about her family."
"I have no doubt about that. There's no way she's that well-adjusted without burying a hell of a lot of issues. But she's talking," Nemuri says, smiling. She runs her hand across the man's back, pulling her chest flush against his arm. He glowers at the contact and she smiles, leaning her head against him. "Even if she's only giving you little glances, that's progress. Honestly, it's amazing that she's giving you that much. The fact that she's even willing to try and trust you is amazing. And you're making a difference. You're breaking down walls she's had for a decade, and the closer you get to her, the more difficult those walls are going to get. This stuff takes time, Shouta."
He sighs and she rubs his shoulder.
There's no doubt he already knows that. He's far too logical to not have come to that conclusion himself. But Nemuri also knows that there's strength in acknowledging it.
"I think you should let her come," she says softly. Shouta grunts and she knows without a doubt she has his attention. "You're absolutely amazing at what you do and she is making progress, but those shadows of hers are nothing but fear. I think you're thinking about all of this a little too logically, her quirk isn't just a physical extension of herself, it's a manifestation of her emotions. That child isn't ready to face her fears. If she's repressing them, she's not ready, and she's not going to make any progress—which is going to have the opposite effect on her self-esteem. On top of that, I'm still not certain she has the executive function to regulate her emotions anyways. Young children are often extremely moody until they learn different ways to cope. If she's been repressing emotions like she's been repressing memories, it'd make much more sense why her fear and anger are so powerful. It'd also explain why she has so little control over the glowing happiness."
Shouta's quiet for a long time and Nemuri sits quietly as he mulls over her words.
As brilliant as the man is, he'd spent the least amount of time studying child psychology, too busy in his push to be better, faster, stronger, and more capable of dealing with villains. He'd learned it, but that had come after, after he'd rescued child after child from the depths of the underground.
He used to have nightmares about them, those faceless children.
She wonders if he dreams of a certain, dark-haired girl now.
She hardly wonders at all, considering the resolve in his gaze.
"She may go."
"I figured," she answers smirking. She moves away, giving him space and he rolls his eyes. "Does it feel real yet?"
He gives her a strange look and folds his feet under him.
"What?" he asks obstinately because she knows he's aware of what she's asking.
"Having a child," she says, reclining. "You know I like to joke about it, but she really is yours, Daddy. Absolutely and totally. Yours to mold, to protect, to love, and keep. I know while school was in session, it hadn't yet. But you're calling her Rin now, she's not quite in the student category anymore, huh?"
"She asked me to call her that," he grunts, his expression bored. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."
"So we're not going to discuss how the villain targeting her pops up again and you go back to hero work?"
"No, we're going to discuss how during this trip you will need to restrain yourself. And how she will need to be monitored, constantly, or else she will get into anything and everything. Do you want your list of rules on paper or through text."