"Just don't make a mess," Rina muttered as she finally let herself rest, curling up in the chair, her body aching with exhaustion. She could still hear the soft rustle of Dabi shifting on the couch, his movements slow and deliberate.
"Mess?" he scof...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Rina leaned against the wall in the dimly lit hallway, the weight of the moment settling heavily in her chest. She'd only been passing by the storage room when she heard the murmurs—voices low, cautious. The door was ajar just enough for her to hear snippets of conversation. But as the words took shape, a cold, sharp sense of dread filled her.
"I've got someone who might be interested in her," Tat's voice, muffled by the distance but unmistakable. "Her quirk's valuable—real useful to the right people. You'd be surprised what someone's willing to pay for that kind of skill."
Rina froze. Her heart thudded, her breath caught in her throat. She hadn't expected this—hadn't even considered it. The thought that Tat might be so willing to sell her out, to treat her as nothing more than an asset, made bile rise in her throat. She shifted her weight, leaning closer to the door, instinctively straining to hear more, but the words that followed made her feel like she'd just been punched in the gut.
"Price doesn't matter," another voice said, more gruff and rasping. "If you're serious about it, I'll make sure it's a smooth transaction. She's got potential, but the trick is keeping her from being a liability."
A few more words were exchanged, but Rina couldn't bear to hear them any longer. The idea of being sold—treated like a commodity—was unbearable. The gnawing sense of betrayal mixed with anger, the kind of deep-rooted rage she rarely let herself feel.
Then, just as the conversation seemed to be wrapping up, she heard the creak of the door handle turning. Her pulse spiked, and her first instinct was to bolt, to run, but she knew that wouldn't help. She was trapped, and she'd never make it out of sight in time.
Before she could make a move, strong hands grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the shadows, just as the door creaked open. She barely had time to breathe before she was pressed against the cold brick of the wall, hidden in the darkness.
"Quiet," a voice hissed in her ear, the deep rumble unmistakable. Dabi.
She barely had a moment to collect herself before he released her arm, his sharp eyes scanning the door before locking onto hers. His presence was like a weight, and the anger she had been feeling collided with the uneasy tension between them.
"Didn't think you'd be eavesdropping," he said, his voice laced with amusement, but it was a dark, dangerous kind of amusement. "You're making a habit of this."
Rina shook her head, trying to push past the momentary confusion, but the anger still simmered beneath the surface. "Tat's... he's willing to sell me?" Her voice shook with disbelief. "Is that what this is about? I'm just another asset to him?"
Dabi didn't flinch, but his lips curled into a half-smirk. "Seems that way. People like him don't care about loyalty or relationships. They see value, and they exploit it. You should've known that by now."
Her heart pounded in her chest, the rush of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. She had worked for Tat for so long, trusted him in ways that felt foolish now. He'd known about her quirk from the start. She'd always known it was dangerous, that her power had the potential to be used for something worse than just overhearing conversations. But to hear that he was willing to sell her, to use her as a bargaining chip—it felt like she'd been betrayed by someone who, at least in her mind, was supposed to be a safe place.
