Worthless Necessity [HitoZuku]

Chapter 22 - In the silence

Ever since he met that vigilante that eventually led to him being rescued from his former abusive household, Shinsou had always wished that he could see Void again, to thank him for giving him hope and another chance. To thank him for everything that he had done.

He had searched all over the internet for anything about Void, skimming through forum posts, scanning through pretty much any article he could get his hands on to see if Void had popped up in it, and had even hammering his parents with questions about the mysterious vigilante, only to find out that he had more interaction time with the vigilante than both Yamada and Aizawa combined. In fact, Aizawa hadn't even met Void before, and had heard about Shinsou and Void through Yamada.

And Shinsou had gotten even more curious about Void. He still tried to find out more about Void, and was hoping that anything he found out about Void was true. He had seen the article about Enji trying to attack him, and Enji's second attempt on the boy's life through Iida and Todoroki. He was glad Void still seemed to be doing fine, and hope that he would one day get another chance to speak with the boy who had changed his life.

But that one piece of information, Shigaraki's words about Midoriya being Void, was one piece of information that he hoped was utterly wrong.

Because that would mean that the boy that had saved his life once had saved him once was saving him again, by literally getting tortured by Shigaraki right in front of him.

Once again, Midoriya was saving him while he was sitting back uselessly.

Guilt pooled in Shinsou's stomach as he watched Midoriya get torn apart mercilessly; as he got up, time and time again, only for Shigaraki to rip him apart over and over.

It was cruel.

And yet, Midoriya's expression didn't even change, besides from the occasional wince in pain. He continued to fight on, despite the fact that his broken body was leaking blood and dyeing the ground red.

It was as if he was used to pain being inflicted on him, as if he was used to being torn up and left for dead.

He didn't care that Midoriya was able to fight.

He just wanted them to stop. He wanted the fighting to stop. He didn't want his friend to get ripped apart, to self destruct, to tear himself apart from the inside out simply to protect someone else.

And then the Nomu struck.

And he felt like his heart was getting ripped apart as the monstrosity smashed Midoriya into the ground over and over.

That was all he was able to process until All Might tackled the Nomu away, and Ectoplasm herded him away with the rest of the hero course students. He just followed along blankly as the teachers coaxed him to get the multitude of cuts and bruises that he had obtained from the USJ checked.

He rubbed his eyes, but couldn't erase the image of Midoriya's broken body, lying still in a puddle of his own blood that seemed to be growing bigger as time ticked by, and the weight in his chest only grew heavier.

And the fact that he actually liked Midoriya, despite the younger's lack of emotions, didn't help at all. He felt like his heart had gotten ripped out of his chest and doused in acid.

Midoriya wasn't even in the hero course, and yet, he sported injuries much, much worse than all the hero course students combined. Shinsouwas the closest, and yet, Midoriya had to put his life on the line to save his once again.

Shinsou felt like he had utterly failed Midoriya.

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