Butterfly [ ON HIATUS/MIDORIYA ]

002. loss.

★

I hadn't imagined that it would've gone that way. After capturing the villain, I was so confident that I had done everything right. I went through every checklist, every analysis. Yes, he was a powerful villain, but nothing I hadn't faced before.

As I rode with the police chief to the hospital, I couldn't help thinking about everything I had done wrong. I saw her. She was holding children close to her body, protecting them from the flames. How could I have forgotten?

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Detective Tsukauchi said, pulling me from my thoughts. "You rescued so many people from that fire and you caught the villain. You shouldn't get too caught up on this."

"Yes," I said, looking out the window. "It's my job as a hero to be there, even if I don't need to."

"She's been in surgery all day, they had to put her in a medically induced coma. You won't be able to speak to her."

"I know, I just— I have to know if she'll be okay."

In the hospital, I was kept pretty under wraps. The news about the heroic woman was kept under wraps, not many people save a few knew about it. Everything was so sterile and white in the hospital. Doctors and nurses greeted me with a smile, and I stopped every so often to thank them if they didn't look like they were in a rush.

"This is it," the escorting nurse said.

"Can I at least have her name?" I asked quietly before entering.

"I cannot give you that information but, off the books, I'm sure the detective can."

"Thank you."

The nurse left us at the door of this mystery girl's room. I looked at the detective in response. He sighed. "Her name is Nishimara (y/n) and she's twenty-three. She's a kindergarten teacher."

I tried to hide the remorse on my face. A teacher? I had to hide my emotions, I couldn't let them get the best of me.

"Can I—?" I asked the detective, opening the door to the hospital room. He nodded and I entered, closing the door behind me.

The room was huge. I could hear the quiet beeps of the machines. I pushed back a teal colored curtain. The first glimpse was almost too much for me to take. She was hooked up to every machine possible, her hair tangled in blood and sprawled our on the pillow. Bandages and pins and everything you could imagine held her body together.

I walked over to the bed, getting on to my knees. "Hey, Nishimara-san. I... I..."

I could barely get the words out. I was always a sensitive kid, all the way through school. When I finally got older and started working as a professional, I bottled a lot of that up. I couldn't let everything all out. My emotions welled up, uncontrollably.

I wiped my face, never seeing someone like this before. Her small delicate hands were resting by her side, red nail polish blackened with soot.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." My voice was a hoarse whisper. I was known for my rescues. It was what I was best at, everything I wanted to be. People looked at me as the symbol of hope. That's how she looked at me before I left her.