My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 38: Tanso's Power

Akira tore out of the school grounds, her hand still covering her face. That little bitch! she thought, enraged. Sorrow filled her as she felt the raised skin of her scars. She stumbled slightly as she ran out into the light, the darkness of her blind eye already throwing off her depth perception.

Thankfully, she had mapped out a proper escape route earlier and knew exactly which doors were going to be unmanned and unfilmed. She burst out of the door and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air. No one was in the yard in front of her, everyone having gone in to watch the next match. She could hear the cheers from outside coming from the arena and let out a puff of air.

How long had she spent trying to get rid of those scars? How many years was she tormented because of them? How hard had she worked to gain enough trust that he would fix her, only for it all to be destroyed by some bratty little fifteen-year-old?

Akira's blood boiled, her nails digging into her palms hard enough to draw blood. She felt the warm liquid drip down between her fingers and paid it no mind. When I get my hands on her again, I swear--

"Took you long enough," a man's stern voice said from right beside her. She barely startled as she turned to see Tanso leaning back against the wall, his lightly scarred face mostly obscured by a black mask. His shaggy blond hair peeked out from under his dark hood, blowing slightly in the breeze. He looked at her face and whistled, a smirk drifting across his lips. "Well, well, well, looks like someone screwed up big time."

She hissed, her eyes burning with anger. "Shut your goddamn mouth!"

He rolled his eyes, his expression full of glee. "Oh, come on. You had to have expected something would go wrong. I don't even know why you insisted on coming here, today of all days!" He paused and looked at her more seriously. "You know he's not going to be happy if he finds out we came here."

"He won't find out."

Tanso shook his head. "He will eventually. He always finds out." He pushed himself off the wall and stalked over to her, full of more confidence than usual.

Akira hated the look in his eyes, like he had won something. Normally, he knew better than to antagonize her. Any other time, she would win an argument with him, but this time... This time she knew he had the upper hand and she hated it.

He chuckled and leaned in. "Dang, did the girl do this to you? I didn't know she'd refined her power enough for that... Yeah, she got you good." He pulled away and quirked his lips. "You know, this wouldn't have happened if you just knew when to quit." Tanso knew he was only making her angrier, but this was likely his only chance to get her upset about anything, and he was absolutely going to take advantage of that. After all the times she had done the same to him? After all the scars she had given him in the past?

She'd had it coming for a long time, and he was just glad he got to see the aftermath of it.

She shoved past him. "I know when to quit."

"The scars on your face say otherwise." He watched her take a couple steps away before shaking his head. "Are you really going to just leave like that? Now that she's seen you close up and can identify you not just by your face but now by your scars?"

Akira stopped in her tracks. Her fists clenched. How dare he question her. What made him think that now was a good time to go back against the hierarchy? What made him think he could talk to her like that?

"Kessho," he drawled. "You know I'm right. You can't just let her go like that."

She gritted her teeth. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right. "And what," she spat, "are you suggesting?" He shrugged, and she she immediately knew that he knew full-well what needed to be done.