Continuation Shota Aizawa x Akemi Yuriemoto (Aizawa)

Chapter 257: A kitty named Muffin

Hitoshi read the next page and his eyes dimmed in sorrow.

"Whoa..."
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Miyu took a deep breath and began her story.

"I had always wanted to be a hero, ever since I was a little girl. I was so happy when I got my quirk... I thought it was an awesome quirk for a hero. I could work at night...when crime was at its highest, sneaking around and getting the bad guys before they even saw me." She smiled weakly at him and blushed as his face also turned pink. He abruptly turned to grab his own tea and drank it.

"Guess I ended up doing the same thing, but as a thief in the end...but over time my dreams of becoming a hero slowly fell apart."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a photograph, of her as a little girl and a young couple. She placed it on the table in front of Hayato.

"One day, my parents went out shopping. I was having a flare of horrible stomach cramps so I stayed home... They ended up being c-c-casualties in a hero-villain fight, but on the heroes' side. I can't tell you more about it-it's to painful!"

She closed her eyes and bowed her head to fight her tears. She felt Hayato's hand hesitantly touch hers. He cautiously laced his fingers between hers in a tight grip it grounded her. She turned to him with tears slowly falling down her face. He stared at her with so much painful understanding in his eyes it hurt. She turned away and squeezed his hand and then rubbed away the tears with her right hand.

"Thank you..."

He nodded but didn't remove his hand...she was grateful for that. She sighed heavily and continued. "In summary, my parents were dead and it was a hero's fault. I couldn't be a hero anymore-I would be a disgrace to my family's name! And I hated myself because I should've been there, and I should've been dead too!" She looked to him and found he was stone faced and staring at the coffee table. His grip tightened slightly and appeared to be shaking over her words.

"G-Go on..."

"That's when I started to use my quirk to steal. My inheritance couldn't pay for my home and after I regrettably punched a wall in anger and broke my hand the money went straight to the hospital bills. I was broke. By then my dream was dead." She continued in a serious tone, the words leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

"As you can imagine, both the physical and emotional trauma I endured also landed me poor marks in school. I barely graduated. I had no options for college so my only choices were long-hour minimum wage jobs. I maybe could've managed part-time with my condition, but again, that wouldn't cover my costs. And after I got injured I went broke and lost my home I had been fighting to keep. So, I turned to being a thief. Only a couple of hours a night, once or twice a week. That's my story of how I became Nyx." She gave a tight smile to Hayato.

"I always remember my parents. They always supported me wanting to be a hero. What they would think of me now haunts me. I'm sick of hiding in the shadows and living day to day...suffering! I want to do something with my life besides leeching off of other people!" She looked directly up at Hayato's eyes.

"Nothing is black or white in this world. Everything is tainted by varying shades of gray. Even though everyone and everything: the media, the government, hero agencies... will try to pretend that everything is fine, to make the public feel safe... it's just not true."

She sighed.

"I realized that my hatred for heroes wasn't real... it was just a childish delusion because I wanted someone to blame! If those heroes hadn't had stopped those villains, there would have been double, maybe even triple as many deaths... and I had known this all along. For the second time in my life, I was just... unlucky. Or perhaps people will tell me, like they did before, that I was lucky. Because my monthly pain in the ass period saved me from dying that day..."