Pariah || BNHA OC

Pretenders

Working with the Hero Public Safety Commission wasn't as bad as Yuta thought it'd be.

It was much worse. Torturous.

The strict schedule was fine. Hell, he already got used to the ankle monitor they forced him to wear. Everything was fine compared to her.

"This is the best you can do?" Harui's voice echoed in the room's intercom. "You'll be running this exercise again as punishment for disappointing me."

Stern, as usual, her voice was always overbearing. Yuta barely picked up on what she said. Even in the HPSC's expansive training facility, her voice made him feel cornered.

The exercise Harui decided to torment Yuta with, was simple in theory. In the hangar-like room, he had to fly to the other side, grab a dummy meant to represent a civilian, and fly back to the starting area to drop it off safely.

Simple.

Factor in the HPSC agents shooting at him with net guns, being forced to carry around a heavy dummy, and having to endure Harui battering him with her words, the exercise was anything but simple.

"You're getting slower. You'll run it again three times now." Did she forget it was his fourth try without a break? "Do I need to remind you to be more careful with the civilian?"

So what if Yuta was dangling it by the leg? It was a stupid test dummy. A heavy one at that. Weaving between the mock buildings in the training room, a net shot out from below.

Too fast. He dropped the dummy to lose the extra weight and gain more speed. Rotating mid-air to dodge, the net grazed his leg. Yuta grabbed it before it hit the ground. Of course, he had to stick his tongue out at the agent that shot at him.

The lights flickered on and off. Flying straight was already hard enough. He almost crashed into one of the mock buildings from the flashing. Between flashes, he missed the net flying towards his face.

Since when was the ground so close?

Slamming against it, the dummy pressed into Yuta's sore ribs. His wings twitched, bound at an awkward angle from the net tangled around his limbs. It took a whopping five seconds for him to give up on freeing himself. He panted for breath.

Hearing the approaching click of heels against the floor, he knew his fate was sealed.

"You have low stamina, low physical strength, and you get distracted easily." Walking up, Harui peered down. She jotted something on the clipboard she carried. "Another poor performance."

Each flaw she pointed out, felt like a knife stab. Her words left a bad taste. Yuta only wanted to help get rid of Trigger, not have the HPSC monitor and train him. The jerks hadn't held up the end of their deal. Each time he asked Harui about the investigation, she ignored the question.

The other HPSC agents helped pull the net off. Sitting up, Yuta kept his head down. It was impossible to tune out Harui. Every word that came out of her mouth was sharp. She kept going on about what he failed on and what needed to improve.

Yuta gnawed on the frayed fabric of his jacket's cuff in a poor attempt to relieve tension. Why couldn't she stop talking? Just long enough to catch his breath and to reign in whatever emotion was making his heart pound.

"God, shut up for once. Your voice is grating." The other agents muttered to themselves after a painfully long silence. The words didn't mean much, they slipped out. All he wanted was a second to calm down. Yuta bit his finger. Even that couldn't distract from the muttering. "Sorry."

The apology wasn't good enough. He knew that. It was hard to bring himself to speak more. It'd only make things worse.

If he upset Harui, her face, stony as ever, didn't show it. Then again, reading emotions was never something Yuta was good at. "Why are your wings glowing?"