Only Red

Chapter Twenty

She looks at me sadly as I just sit in shock for a moment with Aizawa Sensei. She shakes her head solemnly after a moment, seemingly having deemed that she'd given us enough time to process.

"I really am sorry kid. It's almost a 0.0006 chance that the people who I use this on have met their soulmates, so generally it's just deemed a weak physical quirk used only for escapes."

I feel tears fall down my face as I think of what this means.

Was this the reason for my breakdown in the dorm the other day when Denki offered me homework? Why I had a panic attack just thinking of my mother?

'Slowly loses the will to live'?

Shit if anything was slow it sure as hell wasn't this.

Aizawa stands up.

"Thank you... I guess." He sighs. "I really think it's a bad idea for any aspiring hero to kill but from the options provided it seems a lot better than the other one." He pinches the bridge of his nose as he mumbles.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this..."

"Wait!" The woman says moving suddenly. The guards point their guns at her when she does this, but she doesn't seem to care.

"The least I can give you is some advice. I don't know which option you'll take but if you ever want to try the first one,... well- all I can really say to try and explain it is- it's-" She seems to pause for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase her thoughts.

"It's not a red string that you need to love the person enough to see, or some magical spell that lets you write to each other on your arms, or see their dreams... it's... well... it's really just as simple as: Your soulmate is whoever you love. -Don't get me wrong I know that people date a lot of people, do a lot of hookups, have a lot of friends, but... it's not really any preordained thing.

"Circumstance matters yaknow? All I can say to help you find them is that... whoever you find yourself, really, truely, falling in love with... well it's probably them. People change, and relationships change so it honestly might be pretty hard but... you should be at least a little happy-or a little less sad anyway. It's not too common to meet someone who can click as your soulmate."

Aizawa's face softens a bit as he gestures for me to stand up. Once I do he gently leads me out the door and away from the cell. The guards give us the same run down of the password-code-thing as before but I don't even remember saying it.

We get into the black car that we drove here in, as I stare out the window blankly.

Do I tell my friends? Is Aizawa going to tell the other teachers? What about Dad? How on Earth will he be able to take this?

A chill runs up my spine.

Will he be able to take this?

Then a different thought crosses my mind, something that I care a whole lot more about than the broken pieces that are left of my father.

Katsuki