Eijiro

I woke up lying on a hospital bed in Fatgum's agency. Tetsutetsu and Fat were leaning over me, looking worried; Amajiki had his head against the wall.

"Did you get him?" I asked.

Darn - my arm is so sore…

"Thank goodness yer okay, red! And no," said Fat. "He got away."

"Crap. I'm sorry…"

"You were awesome against him!" Said TEtsutetsu. "You went unbreakable for a real long time!"

I'd run out of breath and had to drop my guard for a moment - and the wolf had got me then.

"We should - ow - be trying to find him. Before he hurts more people," I said, trying to get up.

"Rest, Red," said Fatgum. "You need to heal before you can go out and tackle another villain."

I couldn't really argue. I could only lie down and feel bad. Once again I'd gotten beat up, and ended up being useless in a villain fight.

As I lay there and tried to rest, while the other three headed out on patrol, all kinds of bad thoughts kept going through my head. I'm useless again, here I go holding everyone back once more…what can I even do?

Stop it, I thought. Don't go getting all maudlin. You'll heal up soon, and be there to help the others once you do.

I wonder what Ashido's doing right now? Hope her work study's going better than mine…

Ashido:

"You kids - stay here! With the van!" Said Splatter, and ran off into the woods. I stared at Aoyama and Hagakure; they were both looking terrified.

"They're gonna be ok, right?" Said Hagakure.

"Sure!" I said. "They'll be great. They're heroes, after all! Heroes face tough stuff like this all the time, and they'rejust fine."

"Ermph," mumbled Aoyama. I stared at him.

"What's up?"

"I am…leaking," he mumbled.

Sure enough, his quirk was starting to leak through the belt.

"Darn - can you fix it? We may need to fight."

"I feel so…useless," he muttered. "Le pros, they may need - assistance - and I am - what can I do?"

I glanced at Hagakure. Then reached out and patted his head.

"Listen, Can't Stop Twinkling. Everyone's got drawbacks. I mean, think about Midoriya! His quirk blows up his arms every time he uses it. And E-Kirishima's ultimate move makes it so he can't breathe! Even Bakugou starts cramping up his hands if he uses too many explosions, and Todoroki shuts down using one side too much. Everyone's quirks have drawbacks, even All Might's in the end. But you see how all of us just fight on through? And that's what you can do."

"That's right!" Said Tooru. "You can't go giving up on us now, Can't Stop Twinkling! Don't stop just when we need the twinkle the most!"

He smiled at us then.

—

Hours passed, and it got dark. We were finally starting to panic. No answer to any attempts to radio. And we were too far away to call anyone.

"We gotta go after them," said Tooru at last. Nobody wanted to admit it, but it was true.

"Ok," I said, though I really didn't want to try. "We gotta check on them. Aoyama, you stay here-"

"Non! I will go with!" He proclaimed, and despite the pain, he stood up. I nodded.

"OK. Let's go."

We made our way through the woods, Tooru using light refraction to light our way. I didn't want to use up any phone battery.

"I'll scout out," she said, as we came near what looked like the house they'd been investigating. "Go fully invisible."

She removed her gloves and boots.

"You gonna be ok? It's ice cold."

"I've been sewing socks and a cloak out of my hair," she whispered. "I've been working on it ever since Todoroki froze me in our first week of training. They'll insulate me enough to walk in the snow."

"Great thinking! But hurry back."

She nodded. Me and Aoyama were left in the near darkness.

"You'll light us up if we need it," I told him. "Like you did for Yaomomo."

"Mm -"

Suddenly I heard something. Footsteps in the snow. Someone was coming.

I tensed, getting ready -

And just pulled Toyama out of the way in time to prevent him from getting cut in half by the chainsaw!

As it was, he was still cut badly ,and seemed to be passing out.

I screamed. I couldn't help it. Freaky looking villain with a chainsaw for an arm!

Run.

I could maybe have got him with full acid, but Aoyama needed me to help him get out of there. Acid came from my feet - and I skated across the snow, with the sound of that buzzing chainsaw at my back.

Run - run - run-

I was carrying Aoyama, and he was blasting behind me - struggling to stay awake. - with naval laser.

The villain seemed to be immune to any attack. And he was chasing us still -

We had reached the house.

"HEY, GET OUTTA HERE!" I shouted as I threw open the door. "For your own-"

I stopped.

I would never forget what I saw.