Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I tightly grip the cuffs of my long sleeve as i pad down the stairs as quietly as possible. my palms line with sweat as i approach the red head, his gaze fixated on the couch.
"hey eiji, you wanted to talk?" my voice cracks slightly, throat dry from how nervous i'm feeling. his head snaps in my direction as he lets loose a breath. eiji doesn't move but instead brings his knees up to his chest.
we haven't talked for the last couple of days, not really anyways. it was always a short 'hey' or 'sorry i'm busy tonight' from him if i ever asked to hang out later that day. the uncertainty of where this conversation will lead tonight forces my muscles to tighten.
slowly, i make my way towards him holding my breath as i settle myself across from him. the silence between us is...unsettling. for the first time in our friendship, i'm uneasy in the silence i normally feel comfortable in.
i look up to find him fiddling with a strand of his red hair now falling around his face instead of it's normal spiked up place. knowing him for as long as i have, i know he does this when he's got something on his mind.
"i want to ask you something konomi, i've been thinking a lot and knew i just had to come right out and ask." his voice is low as he keeps his gaze fixated on the strand of hair he's fiddling with. i begin to tug on my fingers out of habit. their cracking filling the silence as i stare down at them, tracing the scars that wrap around them with my eyes.
"anything."
that unsettling silence fills the space again, only now it feels like it sucked out all of the oxygen in the room with it. anticipation and anxiety prickling the hairs on my arms under the long sleeve.
"what really happened in there?" it wasn't the question i was expecting but my body stiffens all the same. memories i've been attempting to lock away in the aftermath of the league begin to pound at that door, begging to be released.
his blue flames.
the scars he left behind.
the blurry bodies of mom and dad being turned to ash almost instantaneously.
futoshi and junko being there.
'it has to be lies,' i tell myself. 'they have to be.'
my hand unconsciously moves to my collarbone, grabbing onto the fabric of the shirt tightly.
i realized all at once i haven't told anyone what really happened, the only person that has a loose idea is bakugou.
guilt twists my gut, but the idea of reliving that nightmare makes me feel even worse.
i don't know if i'm ready to break the lock on those memories. uneasy with not knowing how my body would react, if they would awaken the dark voice whose lingering presence sends a chill down my spine.
