GLITCHED (A BNHA X OC)

{21}

Blade after blade rushed through the air, counter after counter sang afterwards. Nagisa had Ushio working to the bone the next day as the rest of Class 1A worked on their quirks. Everyone was continuously using their quirks, conditions altered to be unfavourable for them and encourage their growth. For Ushio, it was no different. She spent her day sparring with Nagisa, enduring relentless attacks and occasionally dodging a random one set up earlier by Aizawa.

  "We should take a break." Nagisa said as she reeled in her blades.

  "No...one more...just one more time..."

Nagisa looked at Ushio, whose skin was near steaming. The sclera of her eyes seemed ready to bleed out, the pads in her palms near crimson, red lines had even began to worm their way from underneath her headpiece and further on to her face.

  "Hey, the whole point of training your quirk is to see you far past your limits you can go, but it does no good to us if you end up dead." Nagisa stated with her hands akimbo, "The determination is great but where'd it come from all of a sudden?"

  "I just... I just..." Ushio said between pants, "I just wanna beat the game..."

Game...?

  "Ushio... if there's something bothering you, you could tell me, you know that right?" Nagisa asked but Ushio didn't reply. She sighed and fished something out of her pocket, throwing it to Ushio, who caught it.

  "What...?"

  "It's a little something I got from Recovery Girl before we left. It should help with your... cool down." She stated before turning, "Your friends are getting started on dinner. You should join them—"

  "Why won't you tell me?!"

Nagisa stopped.

  "Tell you what—?"

  "What happened to your sister; to Choseki?"

Nagisa sighed, "You just never asked—"

  "You always dodge it."  Ushio said quietly, "Is it because I remind you of her?"

  "... Where's this suddenly coming from?" She asked Ushio, who seemed more desperate than she'd ever seen her. It was as if she could hear her thumping heart in her own ears, her colour changing eyes pleading for an answer. Why was this so important to her?

  "I'm sorry." The teen interrupted her thoughts, "I don't know what's wrong with me or why I—"

  "Choseki wanted to be a hero, but she wanted to be one that owned an orphan home." Nagisa said simply, gaining Ushio's attention, "I promised her when we escaped that it would be the first thing we worked towards. She asked me if dreams could come true. I said yes. Then they killed her."

Ushio knew one of the reasons Nagisa was so hellbent on helping her was because she looked like her sister—acted like it too. Stories of the Sabitos were whispered behind closed doors at the at Blackmark headquarters, she had initially thought it was because they were so scary, so dangerous. Looking at Nagisa now, maybe that wasn't the case anymore.

All they did was have a dream... Ushio thought.

  "Welp, you should get going." Nagisa said, all chirpy and bright as if nothing had happened, "Otherwise your friends will eat everything there is."

Ushio nodded hesitantly before leaving and Nagisa watched her, silently. Once she was completely out of sight, the waves crashed down on her; hard. Her breathing increased, but her nose blocked up. Then her throat; slowly suffocating. Then she just stopped, counted to five, and let out a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, there was Choseki, sitting on the ground looking up at her with a smile.

Don't fail either Neechan...

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

  "Ushio?"

  "Hm?"

  "Are you afraid of spiders?" Ashido asked her and Ushio shook her head, "What about roaches?"

They were in their room, most of the girls were already asleep, in preparation for the test of courage the next day. Ushio thought for a bit before turning and looking at Ashido.

  "I don't think so."

  "Is there anything you're afraid of?"

  "The dark... I guess." She muttered and Ashido laughed a bit.

  "How are you going to sleep if you're afraid of the dark?" She laughed and Ushio threw her pillow at her before retrieving it again.

  "Not that kind of dark you dumb dumb..." Ushio muttered with a faux frown as Ashido continued laughing.

When the pinky calmed down, she whispered back, "It's okay. I get afraid of the dark too—"

  "And I'm afraid to ask why you're still awake." Came Jiro's sleepy mutter.

  "I'm also a bit excited that I can't sleep myself." Uraraka whispered from her futon.

  "Guys... Come on; we want to be rested enough for the exercise tomorrow." Momo whispered, "It would be convenient if we sleep already."

There were a few mutters before they started drifting off to sleep one by one, and Ushio smiled for a bit.

Game or not, she could get used to this.

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

  "Ushio-kun, take Kota and run!"

  "Midoriya, what about you—?"

  "Just GO!"

She couldn't refuse, grabbing the small child in her arms and running as fast as she could. Kota was near screaming, asking to go back for Midoriya, but Ushio had blocked everything out; focusing only on getting him back to the camp.

  "♪Stop♪"

She suddenly fell forward, twisting her body so that she landed on her back and not Kota.

  "Ushio-kun...?"

  "Run, Kota..." She yelled angrily, shoving him off her while her veins going red, "RUN!"

As he disappeared into the trees, a black and purple warp gate opened up fully, a person emerging while lazily staring after Kota.

  "It's not like we needed him to get our job done but..." She looked at Ushio, who was struggling to get off the ground, working so hard it looked her eyes were going to bleed out, "Why did you do it Ushio♪?"

Ushio decided to not answer, being angry and hating herself for falling prey to the villain's quirk. Trus, in turn, kicked Ushio in the side, forcing a grunt from her.

  "Stehen, Schnitter♪*" she sang, "The game's over; time to go to work."

✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧✧◝◜✧

Stehen Schnitter; Stand reaper.