𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 - ʙɴʜᴀ

Chapter 64

Amane Suzuya

Eri and I stay in silence, for a while. Simply listening to the sound of each other's breathing. She couldn't help but feel comforted by my presence once she came to realise that I didn't come here to hurt her.

As far as she can remember, I'm the only person to ever come into her room without hurting her... in one way or another. I'm just being silent, and she likes it. She likes that we were 'friends', if this is what it means to be that.

"Quirk?" She mutters to herself, seemingly adding onto a thought she had. My brow raises as I turn to face her.

"Quirk?" I quote her, asking for clarification. Her face tints red as she hadn't realised she'd spoken aloud.

"Uh- I meant to ask... w-what's yours?" She murmurs with her head hanging low in embarrassment. I offer her a solemn smile.

Big ask there, little one.

I dig my nail into my thigh, trying to get my quirk to shut up as I open my mouth, intending to give her the answer I find to be the most simple.

"I can do anything in the world. I can punch bad guys, or make ice cream, or rewind things!" I explain to her. Her breath seems to catch in her throat as I finish.

"Rewind?" She repeats. I nod my head with closed eyes.

"Yeah; it's cool. What's yours? Or are you too young to have one?" I ask her with a comforting smile.

She takes a while to answer, her young mind trying to register what I had just told her. We have the same quirk. But she can only see her quirk as something dangerous, a curse that only leads to the pain of others.

"I- don't have one..." She says through a strained tone, her head hanging low.

Liar.

I sigh to myself subtly. Yeah, it is kind of obvious that she's not being honest. I may not the best the smartest person, but I know that Overhaul wouldn't have someone else's child locked up in this secured base for nothing. The bandages on her arms and legs, they tell another story from the one she wants me to believe.

It's okay if she wants to lie about it. I'm in no place to deny her words. It doesn't matter what Overhaul is using her for, it really doesn't, I don't care if it's cure the deadliest disease. She's a little girl. She can't consent to be used for experiments.

It's not right to prod and poke at her, not when she can't say no, even if she wants to. So, like I said, it doesn't matter what Overhaul has her for. I really only care about her, about little Eri, so I pretend not to notice her false tone.

"Well that's alright, my mama used to say that the longer a quirk takes to come, the better it'll be. That was true! I got a powerful one pretty late!" I explain to her, trying to seem approachable.

She brings her eyes up to me, never once cracking her emotionless expression. I though it'd out me off more, that her features never blur past the line of upset, but as I'm looking at her now, I don't find discomfort in my heart. I just see a little girl that I know won't smile any time soon, and that's alright.

I want to be the one who makes her smile, one day.

"How... how do you do it?" She mutters beneath her breath. I tilt my head to her, leaning my elbows on her mattress to hold up my head while conversing with her.

"Do what?" I hum.

The girl seems to be having a mental argument over whether to ask me something, not knowing if it's the smartest idea.