Saiki's Hero Academia

Chapter 7 - Teruhashi

Back in Saiki no psi nan! 
"Game?" Teruhashi looked at Kusuke who clicked his tongue. It annoyed him that she even still stood in the doorway, she had nothing to do with him or Saiki. 
"Yes, a game." His tone suddenly changed. "I don't want to repeat myself, get lost."
"What kind of game makes someone miss a few days of school? That's irresponsible!" Teruhashi almost pounced on Kusuke with hidden claws, but she restrained herself before her personality would show. "How many times do I have to say it, it's none of your business. Unless Kusuo beats the challenge in that world, he will stay in it!" 
"World? What world?" Before Kusuke could deny an answer to her question again, he got alerted by the phone in his pocket. All the information gathered from Saiki's behavior, his feelings, problems, and actions gathered on the screen in front of him. But as red warnings quickly filled his phone to the brim, coating his eyes with a red light, Kusuke suddenly feared his brother actually being in great trouble. His mother who had been standing at the side, not interrupting the argument suddenly stole Kusuke's as she noticed the distress in his face. "What's going on?" As she read warnings about emotional pain, dangerous fights, and behavior changes, her body suddenly froze. "Mom, he's going to be fine, but I think something backfired. I have to find out what exactly is happening and if Kusuo is in danger of dying I can simply pull him out."
'Dying?! So what Aiura said was right?'
Forgetting about Teruhashi, Kusuke grabbed his coat and flung it over his back before he rushed outside to his car. As he grabbed the doorknob to the driver's door he stopped in his tracks and started looking back at the confused Teruhashi. "You're Kusuo's friend right?" She just nodded. "I think you can help me and him out. Come with me, I'll explain in the car." Everything he said confused her even more, but it also scared her to some extent. 
"What? How would I help?" It was going way too fast for her. Kusuke sighed, but he understood her over secure behavior, she simply didn't know him. "Think about it, if you help Kusuo he'll be in your debt. That's something every friend wants, right?" 
"I don't think you understand how friendship works-" Not listening to her, he got in the car and started the engine, but left the door open. He turned on his seat towards Teruhashi and pointed at her. "You have ten seconds, decide." The pressure she felt coming from his eyes made her feel like being pinned to a wall, no way to escape. 
"Dear." Suddenly his mom stepped in. "I think Kusuo will be happy if you join him in that game." She giggled.
'It is just a game like she said, still scary as hell though. But this will get me closer to Kusuo, plus if he's in my debt, I can force him to say offu!' She shook her head in disbelief of the thought of agreeing to something this suspicious, she could be kidnapped, raped, killed, but the simple thought of her being in the favor of Saiki made her heart jump in happiness. In her head, the 'game' was a simple video game she didn't know, she did know that boys were obsessed with that kind of stuff, she just didn't think of Saiki that way. 
Her thoughts went by quickly as Teruhashi saw Kusuke slowly close the door, before she would miss her chance she rushed towards the car and opened the back door. As she sat down and closed the door Kusuke started driving off. After a few minutes of silence in which Teruhashi just stared out of the window, he suddenly started explaining the whole challenge to her. It took a while for her to understand anything, but Kusuke told her that he made a virtual reality game where he could add powers to a person before they enter. This way his brothers' secret was safe, it would stay to be an in-game thing. 'But whatever happens, happens' Kusuke smiled before he continued explaining how to beat the game, the time he spends in the game and the time outside and the general structure of the world. He knew Teruhashi would be confused fairly quickly, she can't read minds and put pieces of a puzzle together, she's just human after all.
"I can also add powers to your character, do you have anything in mind for this game?"  Kusuke asked as he took a turn to a dark forest road, making the ride much more uncomfortable as it already was. Furthermore, Teruhashi still didn't know what kind of person she was dealing with, his delightful expression but empty eyes just like Saiki's, but unlike his brother, Saiki always had this kindness in his emptiness, which was a thing only Teruhashi believed to see. Thinking about it now, she decided on a quirk that she wanted, it fit her perfect personality but also had been impactfully influenced by her feelings for Saiki. 
"I want the ability to heal someone's body and soul, make them stop the fight in the case of a conflict. I don't want it to mind control, I just want to help." 
Kusuke put on a fake smile and with a simple response ended the conversation.
"We're here, this is my lab in which I and Kusuo had a few fights in, ah, brings back some good memories." He got out of the car and so did Teruhashi.
'Good memories? There are holes scattered all over the building' A tear of sweat rolled down her face as she looked at Kusuke, expecting some kind of safety measurements for her. Surprisingly he simply went inside the building and waved his hand in a little gesture and made her follow him. Now all they saw was a huge hallway, no doors, no lights, just pitch black scenery in an almost infinite setting. As they went through she started questioning her decisions more and more. Suddenly she could see a faint light coming from the end of the dark hallway, there was an end to it. As Kusuke went through first, the light blinded Teruhashi, squinting her eyes she tried to make out anything in the room. Though what she saw froze her completely. There was this huge machine, a pod, it was closed off, had no lights and looked horrifying. The glass on the front was fogged up and there was a small handprint on it, this didn't help the other parts of the room either. To the right wall was a huge console with observing screens, many blinking lights and next to it hid a small table with syringes and broken hairpins like Saiki's on it. Kusuke was standing in front of that console,  clicking levers and changing screens, it just didn't seem right, it was as if she was suddenly dropped into a horror movie. Still frozen in fear she folded her hands, praying to not end in a room like this, 'god' she hoped would still love her enough to make this a dream, but after she got ripped out of her trance by the squealing noise of another pod opening, she simply just stood there.
"You don't have to be afraid, Teruhashi, I know it's scary but I'm not interested in hurting humans. Also, look, Saiki is here to greet you!" He pointed at the pod while still being focused on his console. Teruhashi looked closer and was immediately shocked, there he was, Saiki, trapped in this... machine, life-less, dead but also sweating as if he had been tortured by Hairo. His eyelids were closed as if he was sleeping, but his eyes were moving around quickly as if he is having a bad dream. To put it simply, he was struggling deeply. 
Teruhashi slowly strutted towards him, her hand reached out and as she touched the glass, a tear ran down her face. She couldn't stand seeing him like this, it hurt her soul. Her head slowly dropped onto the glass, her gaze going to her right, focusing Kusuke. 
"Get him out." Her voice and glare were intimidatingly strong, it was like a lion staring at his wounded prey, but her prey was smiling at her. 
"Oh? What happened to that acting you were doing?" He broke her out of it almost instantly, her eyes widened as she realized what happened.
"I-"
"Don't worry, Kusuo is fine, the movement you see is all monitored right here if there's ever anything wrong, I'll get alerted right away."
"I-"
"Get ready to join the game, I have prepared everything."
"Will you let me talk?"
"No. Now get in." 
As if she had been captured by a trap she walked towards the next pod without saying a word, all she could think about was get Saiki out of this whole mess, save him. Almost unconscious she entered the pod, there was no thinking, no feeling, everything was focused on this fear that was crushing her insides. She had to see Saiki now, she had to see if he was okay, only then she would be able to calm herself. Consequently, she didn't realize when the pod closed, she had already seated herself and was slowly starting to fall into a deep sleep. Trying to keep her eyes open she looked at Kusuke, expecting a devil to look at her, but he was smiling and as his right hand rose he formed something simple to clarify everything.
"Jerk." Teruhashi said as her eyes fell shut, and the picture of a 'thumbs up' faded into darkness.