Uproar // Villain Deku // Book 2

Chapter 4: Remember The Monsters.

Tamaki Amajiki's P.O.V

    Tears streamed down my face as the words I'd least wanted to hear erupted throughout the room. Although I had already known of what had occurred, it still burned me to have it properly announced.

"This was a terrible act of violence, but we'll need to move forward with our studies as per usual. It's what he would have wanted." My teacher's voice rang out in my ears ― playing over, and over, and over as if on loop.

    The world had become a much more dangerous place with all the crazy things that had been going on recently, and if even someone as strong as Mirio would succumb to such a gruesome fate, I didn't want to know what would happen to someone like me.

    At first, I didn't think it was real ― I didn't want to think it was real. I hoped ― prayed ― that this had all been solely a sick joke until I was proven wrong.

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    It started off to be an average day. Nothing had really happened ― and anything that had occurred wasn't important enough to be memorable. I remembered waking up, eating breakfast with my classmates, and going to class as I did every weekday.

    I remembered the scent of the air ― sweet and fresh, filled with the few cherry blossoms that had started to bloom. I remembered the way my hair had felt as the wind picked up ever so slightly ― making me feel alive. I remembered the way everything felt; I remembered the way everything tasted; I remembered the way everything looked; I remembered everything.

    Only little details were crystal clear ― little details being that Mirio hadn't been present during breakfast, nor was he there during class. Little details being how I felt and what I had eaten. Little unimportant details that didn't matter anymore.

    After school had let out, I decided to go on a walk, in hopes of clearing my head. Walks had always helped me when I was stressed or anxious. Whenever existential thoughts that illustrated the point that we were only living to die would creep into my mind, I'd take a walk ― preferably by a stream or lake. Watching the water flow was calming.

    I remembered feeling the sun as it hit my face ― blinding me but ultimately consoling me. I remembered the soft breeze of the river as it rippled and flowed. However, most of all, I remembered the horror I felt as my pleasant walk came to an end.

    Stopping under a bridge, I let myself fade into the cool shadows by the river I had been walking along to sort out my thoughts. I thought about Mirio and the way he hadn't shown up to class ― which was unlike him. I thought about life and the fact that in five hundred years, no one would remember me anyway, so why should I do anything. I thought about Hado, and how strangely she had been acting. I thought about a lot of things.

    As I stared out to the river, though, I noticed something. It was oddly shaped and seemed to reek of bad omens and dangerous vibes. Regardless, I thought as a hero in training I should investigate to see what it was ― in case it was a dangerous substance or biohazardous waste that had been accidentally misplaced in the river.

    Pushing myself up from my place on the ground, I remembered how it felt when my fingertips glided off the concrete that made up the bridge. I remembered the feeling of each step I took ― from planting my feet on the ground, one after another, to the weight of lifting my feet. I remembered how the air smelled ― filled with salt from the river. I remembered every detail as if I were reliving the experience over, and over, and over again ― stuck in that one moment for eternity.

Stuck in the moment my eyes laid upon his corpse.

    I gazed upon a figure in the water ― floating down the stream to where the water collected by the bridge. Seeing the decomposing corpse as it bobbed made my stomach churn and twist as if it were a winding river, and when the scent of the body hit my nose abruptly, my swirling stomach only spun more.