Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 124 - Second Chances

The police station had too many locked doors.

Peni passed through three security checks before Detective Tsukauchi led her into the visiting area. Every corridor ended at reinforced glass or a metal door that opened only after a green light appeared above it.

"You can end the visit at any time," Tsukauchi said. "An officer will remain outside, and the conversation will be recorded."

Peni looked through the glass panel.

The interview room contained a table and two chairs.

"Did he ask to see me?"

Tsukauchi hesitated.

"No. He didn't request a visit."

Peni tightened her grip around the strap of her bag.

For a moment, she considered leaving.

Then Tsukauchi opened the door.

She entered alone.

Otto arrived several minutes later.

An officer guided him into the opposite chair and secured his handcuffs to a metal ring on the table.

He looked thinner than Peni remembered. His hair had been cut, fading bruises marked one side of his face, and exhaustion had settled around his eyes.

Without his machines, he seemed smaller.

It did not make her feel safer.

The officer left.

Otto raised his head.

The moment he saw her, relief crossed his face.

Peni hated him for it.

"You don't get to look relieved."

Otto lowered his eyes.

"No."

"You thought I was dead."

"I didn't know."

"Would that have made surrendering easier?"

His cuffed hands closed.

"Nothing made it easier."

Peni sat opposite him.

She had imagined this meeting throughout the journey. In some versions, she screamed. In others, she walked away before he entered.

Now that Otto was in front of her, she only felt tired.

"Why did you surrender?"

"Because I ran out of excuses."

"You had excuses after everyone else got hurt."

"I know."

"You had excuses while you lied to me."

"Yes."

"Then I nearly died and you suddenly decided to confess."

Otto looked at his hands.

"I thought I had killed you."

"You almost did... And then you saved me."

The words stopped him.

Peni had remembered that part of the Faceless raid more clearly than anything else. Otto could have escaped. He could have abandoned her and protected himself.

He had saved her life instead.

That truth did not erase the rest.

It only made hating him more difficult.