Eri was beginning to wonder if her quirk was symbolic of her life. Like some kind of prophecy or something.

Because whenever she thought she was moving on, something would come and bring her mind back to those days.

Blood donations, the eight bullets showing up, more and more villain attacks, etc.

And now Tenko had Overhaul's quirk.

Not a quirk similar to Overhaul's, but Overhaul's exact quirk. Somehow.

Izuku had tried to explain it, but the whole situation just seemed so bizarre and convoluted, that Eri simply couldn't comprehend it at the moment. And so her current explanation was that there was some kind of higher power that took great joy in screwing with her, and she really didn't appreciate that.

Still, what could she do about it? It's not like she could ask Tenko to go back to being quirkless. No, she'd seen just how much pain and hardship quirklessness had caused Izuku, and she wouldn't wish that upon anyone. If anything she should be happy Tenko has a quirk now, even if it belonged to a truly evil man.

So should she just avoid him? Try to stay away from Tenko as much as possible?

A sizable part of her wanted to go with that option, but there were a few things that kept her from picking it.

The first was that it just felt wrong to avoid Tenko like that when he'd never done anything wrong.

Well technically Tenko WAS Tomura Shigaraki leader of the League of Villains, but he also wasn't anymore because SHE rewinded him so as far as Tenko is concerned, he's completely innocent…probably.

It was a very confusing situation, but Izuku said he was fine, so Eri would say the same.

And a quirk was just a tool. Just like her own Rewind, Overhaul(the quirk not the person) could be used for both good and evil. And Tenko wanted to use it to be a hero.

So there was no GOOD reason for her to avoid him other than her own fear.

This brought her to her second point, Eri was really, really tired of being afraid. She was tired of letting her fear of Overhaul influence her, tired of letting a dead man have power over her.

Tenko was her sibling now. And more than that, he was someone who was also going through his own hardships. Like the loss of his entire family. His family that also abused him. And the thought of letting her fear of Overhaul keep her from connecting with him and maybe even helping him somehow, genuinely made her stomach turn.

No. No more running away, no more drawing things out. She was gonna take care of this issue, right, now.

After consulting with Izuku and Kei, Eri figured the best way to do that would be to get to know Tenko and start seeing him as his own person. And the only way to do that was to spend time with him.

Which is what led her to being in Tenko's room right now. The two sitting awkwardly in pure silence.

Eri looked around the room and found it was…eerie.

It was clean. Too clean. Most people, even the neater ones, always had at least a bit of clutter. A small spot with a bit of dust. Something. Some small flaw.

But here, everything was clean. Everything was in order. It was like one of those fake bedrooms you'd see in a store, where everything was meant for display rather than for someone to actually live in.

Tenko even had her take her shoes off before entering.

He was definitely reminding her of Overhaul in that way.

But at the same time, the room was…colorful. Decorated in ways that Eri would never imagine Overhaul even considering.

The fact that it was so similar to a room Overhaul would live in, but at the same time very clearly not that, was throwing her for a bit of a loop. And it definitely wasn't helping her anxiety.

"S-So what do you normally do for fun?" Eri asked.

When she'd first asked the boy if she could spend the day with him, he'd been ecstatic. But now it seemed like he just didn't know what to do with her here. Like he'd never had friends over before. Which considering his history, might have been the case.

Another thing that was similar to Overhaul but different.

Overhaul didn't have friends. He had minions, and "the boss". He was very clearly not a social person. But unlike Tenko he made up for that with a kind of intimidation factor. Not even needing words to convey a message, his body language alone. And that message was typically, do what I'll say or I'll kill you.

Tenko didn't have any of that,

"Oh, I um. I play video games." Tenko replied sheepishly.

"Video games?" Eri repeated. She'd heard Overhaul voice his opinion on video games, but she couldn't imagine him being fond of them.

"Y-Yeah I play a lot of R.P.G.s uhh. They're not really two-player games. But um…I think I have a two-player action!" Tenko said. "Umm. Do you wanna play?"

"Sure." Eri wasn't a huge fan of most games, but it sure beat just sitting around doing nothing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lunchtime had arrived, and after getting their lunches from the cafeteria, the two decided to eat outside in the garden.

And once again Eri found herself feeling unsettled by how similar yet different Tenko was to Overhaul.

It was clear Tenko enjoyed his food. Overhaul never enjoyed eating, to him it was a messy process that was required to stay alive.

And although Tenko really liked eating, it was obvious that Tenko was comfortable with the messiness as well.

He ate slowly, and meticulously, with a napkin over his lap and around his neck to make sure if any food did get on him, it didn't get on his clothes.

And he was trying very, very hard not to look at her when she ate.

Overhaul always ate alone, and made a rule not to have anything eating anything near him. And any that broke that rule would receive a nasty glare at best, and at worst, they'd never be seen again. It depended on your rank and Overhaul's mood that day.

And while Tenko didn't glare, or even say anything, she could tell that the less careful way she ate bothered him.

It didn't leave her with much of an appetite. Despite the wonderful food.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenko was starting to think that Eri had some other reason for deciding to hang out with him today.

When she'd come up to him, she seemed…determined. Like she was about to do something extremely difficult.

It had struck him as odd at the time, but he'd shrugged it off.

What was harder to shrug off was the fact that Eri was clearly uncomfortable around him the entire time.

At first, he thought it was just because the two of them didn't really know how to talk to each other. Then he thought it was because she didn't really like action games all that much. Then he assumed it was because she knew that the way she ate made him uncomfortable, and felt uncomfortable herself because of that.

And then this happened.

"Hey, why don't I show you what I can do with my quirk?" Tenko asked.

Immediately Tenko saw mortal fear flash in her eyes. Like someone had just pulled a weapon on her or something.

"Ummm. S-S-Sure." Eri stuttered, very clearly forcing herself. Sweat starting to trickle down her face.

"...Hey. Did I do something wrong?" Tenko asked, finally working up the nerve.

"No!" Eri shouted, immediately making both of them flinch with the volume of her voice. A regretful look quickly followed. "N-No. You haven't done anything wrong. Why?"

"Because of that!" Tenko pointed out. "You've been acting super weird all day! Looking at me like I'm a bomb about to go off."

"O-Oh," Eri said dejectedly. "I um…ok. Do you know about me…past?"

Tenko grimaced. "...Yeah."

"Your….Your quirk is similar to…that man. The one who hurt me." Eri admitted.

"..." Tenko was left speechless. Now everything made sense.

Well, almost everything. Although the rest would make itself clear soon.

"It's not your fault! You can't control that!" Eri added quickly. "I just…it makes me feel…I didn't want to be afraid of you! You haven't done anything wrong and I just thought that if I spent time with you I'd be…less afraid."

"But why didn't you tell me?" Tenko asked.

"I didn't want to make you feel bad," Eri explained. "I thought I could just…get over it."

"Yeah, I don't think it works like that." Tenko sighed. "I really wish it did though."

After that, they sat in silence. Neither one is really sure what to say.

They both wanted to fix this problem, but by now they both understood that it wasn't really that simple. And neither of them knew where to start.

That was until Tenko had an idea.

"I always thought that…heroes were cool," Tenko said.

"Huh?" Eri said.

"I mean, who doesn't? People who risk their lives to help others. That's just the coolest thing ever." Tenko explained, a fond smile appearing on his face as he talked. "I would imagine being a hero, going on adventures, saving people, making friends, and doing it all again. That's my dream."

Suddenly his smile vanished, and a more…mournful expression took its place. "But my dad always hated heroes. I never knew why. But he always gets angry whenever I talk about being a hero. Sometimes he'd even beat me. Eventually, I started to wonder, why wouldn't the heroes save me? I…I know it's not that simple. They probably didn't even notice anything was going wrong. But I think, I want to be the kind of hero that does notice that kind of thing, so that's why-"

Tenko got up and gave Eri an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry!"

"Wha-but you didn't do anything wrong!" Eri repeated firmly.

Tenko shook his head. "No, I knew you were uncomfortable and I didn't ask why. You were suffering and I didn't do anything about it. And that's not the kind of hero I want to be! I want to be the kind of hero who saves people that nobody else will! So this kind of mistake. Is unforgivable! But I um…I hope you do forgive me. Because I want to help you be not as afraid of me and my quirk. No matter what. It's a promise."

Eri looked up at him, in shock and awe. Frozen for a few moments, before a small smile graced her face. "You're not like him. Not at all. And I think we'll be really good friends."

Tenko's eyes went wide. "Wha-Really? Just like that?"

"Well, I'd like it if warned me before you used your quirk. I'm still a little afraid of that, but not you." Eri explained. "One day I hope I can watch you use your quirk just fine but…not right now."

"Oh! Sure! Of course!" Tenko happily agreed. "We just gotta work on it, one baby step at a time."

"Yeah, baby steps." Eri did a little fist bump as she felt determination flow back into her little body. "Let's do our best!"

"Yeah! Let's do our best!" Tenko repeated.

Alright, please review and have a nice day.