Eraserhead and Scribe IV

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

For the next few days, Shigaraki did his best to settle back into a routine. He kept Scribe's phone on him in the hopes that Eraser would at least text him an update. He found the solution to the stray girl, surprisingly, in Ichika. The young nurse examined her when Shigaraki brought her in. "You seem to be picking up a lot of strays."

"Not voluntarily." Shigaraki folded his arms and leaned back against the counter, trying to exude an aura of confident indifference.

Ichika shrugged. "Well, she's fine. Nothing a good bath and sleep won't cure. What are you going to do with her?"

"That is a good question." Shigaraki studied the girl. "Her parents are in custody. Whole family, actually. But this is no place for her."

"I can hear you." The girl glared at him.

"And you know what I'm saying is true. Still don't want to go to the police?" Shigaraki gave her a dubious look.

"No way. And you promised me I wouldn't have to."

"If you don't piss me off."

"What's your name?" Ichika interrupted their glaring contest.

"None of your business." The girl folded her arms stubbornly.

"Answer her or I'll take you straight to the cops." Shigaraki took a half step toward the girl.

Ichika held up a hand to stop him and turned to the girl. "We are only trying to help you."

"Hina." The girl answered the nurse reluctantly.

"Mr. Shigaraki is not wrong, Hina. This is not a good place for you." Ichika shot him a cautious look. He shrugged and she continued. "I can offer you a place to stay. You can go to school and make friends. And when one of your family is free, they can come find you."

Shigaraki blinked in surprise at the generous offer. "Are you certain?"

"I live at home with a large family." Ichika shrugged. "Some are my brothers and sisters. Some are not. My mother will help her."

With that taken care of, Shigaraki spent the next couple of days hoping for word from Eraser. But he kept remembering the scarred feeling of her brain. The best he could gather from Hina before she left, her quirk was erasure. Not like Eraser's, though. It wasn't temporary, and it didn't affect quirks. It affected the memory.

Somehow when HIna erased her real memory, Scribe got stuck in the alternate reality the doctor created. Possibly because of what he did, possibly because of her own quirk.

Either way, HIna honestly didn't know of a way to reverse the effects of her quirk. She'd never used it alone before, only, as she explained it, through the interconnected quirks of her family. Shigaraki had thought about notifying Eraser of what he'd found out, but he was afraid it would lead the hero to the girl. And from what Ichika had told him, Hina was settling into her new home well. He didn't want that disturbed, and he didn't really think Scribe would, either.

He was back to the training regimen the doctor had prescribed. Three hours in the gym, fighting, training, running. It should have left him exhausted by the end of the day but instead he couldn't seem to stop thinking, and the physical exertion helped him focus on something else. More than anything, he wanted to know Scribe was going to be all right before his appointment with the doctor.

Two days before the appointment, the phone he'd made sure to keep charged and nearby at all times buzzed in the middle of his workout. Meet me. Same place.

He stared at the screen, hardly able to believe it. He typed back. When?

Eraser replied. ASAP.

Be there in 30. Shigaraki peeled off the boxing gloves and tossed them aside. He gritted his teeth. Either Eraser was going to tell him Scribe was better...or that he'd given up.

***

Eraser stood in the parking lot. Shigaraki could tell he was alone. He had left his car parked a few blocks away, so he approached the other man on foot. Eraser remained standing quietly with his hands in his pockets, making no move at all that would seem threatening, even as he watched Shigaraki walking toward him.

Shigaraki stopped ten feet away. Far enough so as not to be threatening himself. "How is she? Scribe?"

"She's recovering. We found a way to fix the damage." Eraser paused. "Eri did it."

The girl? Shigaraki considered. Of course. Her quirk was rewind. He knew that from the intelligence he'd gathered on Chisaki and the quirk-erasing bullets. If she rewound Scribe to a point before Hina used her quirk on her, that could work. He nodded. "That's good. Thanks for letting me know." He started to turn away.

"Shigaraki." Eraser's voice stopped him.

"Yeah?" He glanced over his shoulder.

"Eri's quirk. It's rewind." Eraser looked uncertain.

Shigaraki gave him a half smile. "I know that."

"Yeah. I figured you did." Eraser looked down. "To heal her...Scribe...Eri rewound her."

"To the point before the damage was done." Shigaraki nodded.

"Not exactly." Eraser actually looked a little uncomfortable. "Look. I know how much we owe you, that's the only reason I'm here. And I know Scribe would want you to know. Rewinding her to the point where she was hurt didn't do it. There was existing damage. From whatever happened to her before. And whatever her own quirk did... Eri had to rewind her further. To the point before she rewrote your quirk."

Shigaraki remembered that day. That was when everything started to feel screwed up. When visions of the hero in the forest had snuck into his thoughts. When he'd stopped being able to think of her with only hatred. When I fell in love with her. He nodded slowly. "And?"

"She won't feel it anymore. The connection. It was caused by what she did that day. But rewinding her won't affect your feelings for her."

Shigaraki turned completely around. "You offering to help me, Eraser?"

"The connection she had with you won't be there anymore. And the feelings. I'm certain she would want me to offer you the same." The hero straightened. "To be fair."

"Right." Shigaraki drew the word out into a drawl. He knew he should jump at this chance. Honestly, his love for Scribe crippled him as a villain, so he should want to let it go. He imagined his life as it had been before her. Nothing but hate, pure in its simplicity. When love came into his life, he hadn't known, at first, what to do with it. He still didn't. But he wondered. I'm not sure what's going on, but I do. I love you. Maybe the connection would be gone, but he didn't think the feelings would. No matter what else had been lost, he didn't think Scribe would be leading any offensives against him. He smiled a little. "Good. Then you can help me. Don't tell her."

"Don't tell her?" Eraser looked confused.

"Don't tell her what you just told me. That rewinding her didn't rewind me, too." He shrugged, turning away again.

"Are you certain?"

Shigaraki paused, shoving his hands further into his pockets, his shoulders slumped. "I can't imagine not loving her." He glanced over his shoulder. "Sometimes it's all that keeps me sane. But I don't want her to suffer because I can't let her go."

Eraser's forehead crinkled into a frown, but he nodded understanding. "I get it."

"Good." Shigaraki started walking away. "Then keep your little brat away from me."

He rounded the corner and walked two more blocks before he turned down an alley and leaned against the wall. He wondered if Eraser was right and rewinding Scribe had wiped her memory of their time together, her feelings for him. He hoped so. But he didn't really have time to worry about it, either. The doctor was waiting.

And Tomura Shigaraki didn't really know what the future on the other side of what the doctor had promised him would be.