Aesthete

Chapter 28.

- Third Person P.O.V -

Shota Aizawa entered his doorway, slamming it open. He rushed to the kitchen, eyes searching for Florence Reyna.

When she called, his chest felt like someone took a hammer to it and cracked it open. He prayed over and over, he was never a man for religion, but he would become sacrilegious if it meant Florence Reyna's protection.

He distinctly remembered the way every bone in his body stilled, the way it seemed like Florence had stuck her hand in his sternum, draining the oxygen from his lungs. Shota's eyes stayed glued to the screen, he was certain that every Japanese citizen, maybe most of the world, was watching what happened on the live broadcast of Kamino Ward.

The entire population of this country was stunned at the events, they saw the hefty exchange of blows between the villain known as All for One and the number one hero, All Might. What pulled at the heartstrings of the public was the young teenage girl, the student from U.A High that got kidnapped by the League of Villains. The crowd and gatherings of people watching the event were filled with hopeful screams, cheers, and applause. Everybody longed for her to escape, to fend for herself, to seek freedom away from the disaster surrounding her. They watched as she took blow after blow from All for One's quirks or attacks from the villains, she still rose each time.

Nobody's reactions mattered to Shota Aizawa except for her classmates and her family at home. He didn't care what the U.S Quirk Assessment Personnel thought of him, but how could he look Reyna's mother in her eyes and explain that he failed her child? The child he grew to love, to adore so fiercely, how could he tell her biological mother that she slipped through his fingers? He was pacing back and forth at the room of the press conference in Musutafu. Vlad King tried approaching him several times to no avail. He would say a word or two every now and then to Principal Nezu, but Shota was infuriated. They didn't allow him to join the raid group that would infiltrate the League, they forbade him from being in Yokohama, from being there when they recovered the girl.

All he was betting on was calls from the heroes, updating him on her well-being. He didn't expect to see his phone ringing with Florence the Best Kid Ever as the header for his contact name. His heart dropped, he answered and pressed the phone to his ear, running out of the building and to his home.

He knew. She had gotten there somehow, she was waiting for him.

My kid, he thought, using his years' worth of stealth and agility to fly through the different buildings and subdivisions.

She sobbed, begging for him to come home, showing the terror and trauma of a child who was far too young to experience what she had. Her voice was laced in pain, but there was an underlying tone that he refused to accept. No, she's gravely injured, but that doesn't mean... He let his thoughts trail off, he couldn't even think about the implications of his words.

"I love you so much, Shota." Florence whispered, as he nearly flew into the window of a building, her words caught him off guard.

I don't doubt her, but she would only express it so blatantly if she felt.. no. He ended his thoughts, knowing that Florence Reyna was saying goodbye.

"I love you too, kid." Shota choked out, furrowing his brows as he only ran faster, refusing to think about anything else but reaching his destination.

It felt like eternity, he was starting to believe that the universe must've really had it out for him and her. Especially for her. He remembered how she was when they first met. Her face was adorned with a constant frown and furrowed brows, she was tense, always on edge as if someone could hurt her at any second. She would speak in a low and clipped tone, as if the girl spent her entire life being told she couldn't express herself, like if her opinion never mattered. The transformation between the first day he met her, when she stared at him with indifference versus the days at training camp always astonished him.