Metanoia

Setsunai

(n.) A complicated sadness that painfully creeps through the heart

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Pov Izuku

I caught Yama's fallen body. At the same time, Arisa pulls out her cardigan. I was ready to scream and close my eyes but it all stopped when I saw her body. "K-Kumiko-san..." I whispered. My guess is right. For the past few days, her body was moving strangely. For the past few days, she always went with them. And For the past few days, she was bullied... Kumiko immediately let go of the grip on my arm and tried to reclaim her cardigan. She knew that it was still hot right now but because she was trying to cover up all the wounds on her body, she wore a cardigan. "H-HEY!! GIVE IT BACK!!" Kumiko started to panic. Everyone in this room shut their mouths to see the real situation. It's worse than we thought. I saw Tachibana's angry face. "What is this?". She had every right to scold Kumiko... she was her best friend. She should have told Tachibana.

I could see how panicked Kumiko was. She didn't dare to look Tachibana in the eye. After talking to Kumiko many times, I realized that she was always staring at the person she was talking to. She always said that it was rude not to look at the person she was talking to. She also said that it boosted her confidence. "It's nothing, I just fell, okay? Give me my cardigan back!!" Kumiko answered. If Kumiko was in good health, she would have easily snatched it from Tachibana's hands. "Answer me." Kumiko retracted her hand and turned her attention. "I-I fell... I fell from the stairs, honestly..." she whispered. We know she's lying. From the shape of the wound she got. There's no way it was a fall from the stairs. "You got wounds like that just from falling off a stair? You can't fool me, Yama-chan. They look like blade wounds," said Tachibana. "I bumped on stuff multiple times along the way. So it became like this and you know I like playing with cats. This is a wound from their claws. Arisa, you're being way too paranoid," Kumiko explained.

"Me? Paranoid?".

"DON'T LIE YOU, DAMN WITCH! IT'S LIGHT AS DAY THAT THOSE SCARS ARE NOT FROM YOU FALLING OFF A DAMN STAIR!! DO YOU TAKE US AS IDIOTS OR WHAT?!".

Kaachan started to emit small explosions in his hands. Tachibana who usually has a sweet and calm nature emits a light mist around her. Her expression completely changed. Not like usual. We've never seen Tachibana like this before. "Not you too..." Kumiko sighed. "You think we wouldn't notice how you walk so weirdly and you got fucking limb now!" Kaachan yelled. "Please, you were the only ones who thought about that!" Kumiko refused. She just shook her head and laughed sarcastically. Kaminari spoke first.

"Honestly, it's not just them..."

Kumiko looked around her and stared at every expression of her friends. In our hearts, we were furious to see her behavior. She should have asked us for help or at least told us. But I know how much worse trauma is like that. Kumiko thought that it was all her fault. She's the only one who can finish it all. But she wasn't ready and instead sacrificed herself. "You promised to never hide anything from us again..." there's a disappointed tone in Ashido's voice. "We should all hit you on the head right now, but we can't exactly do that," Sero continued. "Yama... aren't we friends?" Kirishima asked. Kumiko looked at us one by one and finally saw her close friend. Tachibana Arisa. All feelings were mixed seeing Kumiko's current state. Angry. Sad. Disappointed. The atmosphere in the room gradually grew heavier and I saw Kumiko's frightened eyes. It's already too much for her. Her past which was always filled with people judging her returned to the present. Kumiko looked away and closed her eyes. Her hands were clenched and shaking. I approached her and held her cheek. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes.

"Who did this to you?".

Instantly she broke down and shook her head. All the tears she had been holding in for the past few days finally came out. "Why?! Why do you guys care about me like this?! It's not fair. I should be able to do this all myself. I always do it by myself. Why?!!!" She cried into my chest. I rubbed her back. Helping Kumiko to calm down and catch her breath. "I... I thought that I was ready to face all of this. In the end, I was still weak. Barong couldn't help me because of all the negative things around me. Until now I didn't know this was all my fault or theirs. They scolded, blamed, even hurt me. Said that I deserved all of this".