•Manipulation• [BNHA × Male!OC]

Chapter 178: I'm just like you! You're just like me! We take RESPONSIBILITY!!!

The space arounds us turns white, blank.

Nora pushes away from me, turning away as he speaks.

"That's all I have to show you," he says simply, trying to hide the sobs choking his voice and the fact that he was wiping his tears away with his sleeves.

My heart aches.

The person who'd gone through all that was a child.

In every memory, there was not a single point where that child did not suffer.

Somehow, it started to make sense why Nora was the way he was.

His life had been nothing but suffering, he had to cling to that one person who'd given him hope.

But when even that man turns out to be making use of him, what can that child do but just smile and nod.

And do every despicable thing asked of him.

I reached out and pull the boy back before me.

His eyes were red, face twisted into a silent cry.

How many times did this child have to hide his tears.

I lean over and wipe the wetness under his eyes.

"You did good," I smile as Nora looks at me, startled.

"No... I did horrible things!" Nora sobbed, "for that man who used me, I killed, I stole, I-"

I silence the boy, pulling him to my chest.

"You survived," I whisper.

"You did well."

The child sobs into my arms, it seems it was long overdue as we stand there for a while as he cries. He wails like a child, mourning his life. I wonder just how long this kid had held it in?

I gently rub his back as his pain turns to water and flows from his eyes.

After a while, the wailing turns into soft gasps, and eventually, he goes silent.

"Aren't you... going to ask why I showed you this...?" he whispered.

A smile spreads across my face.

I could already guess.

"It's because I'm you," I grin down at the boy.

He looks at me incredulously.

"It's because I want to give the body over to you, you idiot!" he hisses and I laugh, falling onto my ass.

'It seems he really hasn't fixed his nasty way of speaking.'

He seems to get even more flustered as I laugh.

"What?! Do you know how big of a deal this is?! I'm telling you to live as Ryo!" he screeched.

I wipe at my eyes, sighing.

"Yeah, I know, we'll live together," I look up at the boy.

He blinks.

"Together? Wait you-! You really don't know anything!" he splutters.

I reach up and drag him to the floor with me, him landing on his butt beside me.

"Hey-!" "I know you, you're me," I smile.

"And we have great friends and a good guardian waiting for us," I lean back on my hands, reminiscing.

I had really missed them.

"So we'll live happily," I turn to the boy, amused with his slack jawed reaction.