Mind Boggled

Chapter 59

Merry Christmas! A Child of Many Secrets will still be coming out, so don't worry!

Third person pov

Harper's quirk was an odd, almost living entity that had bonded with her. It was good at picking people out of a crowd when needed, but seldom did it ever recognize someone right off the bat based on their mind's structure alone. There were only a few like that. Kurogiri and Aizawa, for example. They had such unique mindsets and ways of functioning that there was no possible way she could ever forget them. She wouldn't need them to think of anything for her to know it was them. Their minds were too prominent to be mistaken for anyone else. Right off the bat, she'd always know who they were. 

This was rare in the fact that Harper could only do this was a handful of people. People's minds were unique, but most bore regular similarities that would prevent her from knowing who they were without a bit of digging or without hearing what they were thinking about. But this man in front of her... he was someone she would never, ever forget. Not because his mind was particularly unique or special, but because she'd found it engrained in her after that night. She had tried numerous times to forget what Atsuhiro Sako felt like. And she had failed at every attempt. 

His mind was smug, polite, and sticky. That's the only was she could describe it. He was a nefarious person with bad intentions. He displayed himself to have good manners, but his neat visage hid what was underneath. He was responsible for the deaths of dozens of children. He'd probably still be at it if they hadn't stopped him. Hell, he could still be at it right now, since he clearly wasn't dead. Him popping up had sent a shock through her. One unlike anything she'd ever felt in her life. This grim coil that had been waiting to unspring itself inside of her bounced forward, shooting through her painfully and causing her heart to bleed. Harper had never been optimistic, but right now he'd never felt more dreadful.

The fear that invaded every part of her was unmatched in every aspect. She couldn't move. She could hardly breathe. Harper was positive she'd killed this man. She'd been there. She'd done it! Harper had watched them take his body away, and had felt the crumbling relief that came with knowing he was dead and couldn't hurt her or anyone else anymore. They'd had to pry her from what remained of her brother's body. They'd had to put quirk-canceling bracelets on her to stop her from hurting anyone by mistake, because she was too hysterical to control herself or her quirk. Things had felt so empty with them on, she could recall. So quiet that she'd been sick to her stomach. Not even her parents could calm her. Without her quirk, things were simply too quiet.

Kota only vaguely knew of what Harper had gone through as a child. That her brother had been taken and killed, and that Harper had found him somehow. No one dared talk about it aloud outside of that. Harper became fiercely angry when the topic was brought up. The longer she looked at the man before her, the more her rage grew. Even with how angry she was getting, she doubted anything could overtake her fear right now. The shock factor was too much. Atsuhiro Sako was alive. He was fucking alive! Harper hadn't killed him. She... She didn't know how to feel about that. What to think, or do. 

"He's got Kacchan!" Midoriya exclaimed, realizing just what that marble was ad where Katsuki had disappeared to. Harper's teeth ground together painfully at the sight of it. Those marbles were one of the reasons she was so afraid of small, enclosed spaces. She could feel it like it was yesterday. The empty, tight feeling that came with being inside one. Your quirk didn't work, and you couldn't move. But you were conscious. You could still think. It felt impossible to breathe. Dark, tight, and suffocating. Just the thought of being in one again made her eyes water. She tightened her grip on Kota unconsciously. 

"Harper." Shoto put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her. The girl didn't budge, her eyes never leaving the man in the top hat before them. "Harper. Snap out of it. What's wrong? Do you know this guy?"