COntRol

28

⚡COntRol⚡
Chapter 28

One week later...
[No one's POV]

Kaminari was healing up well. He wasn't taken to Recovery Girl, as he was promised by Kirishima, but only in exchange for information on everything - including why he'd stopped using his quirk.

There was tension between the two, every time Kaminari heard the door to their room open. Kirishima made sure to check him regularly, and brought the bed-ridden boy plenty of water and food, but he could feel Kaminari's anticipation. Waiting for the question to come.

'Tell me, Kaminari, who did this?'

Just thinking about those words made him shudder. He didn't want to continue going through that pain and wanted to start a recovery, but the pile of problems that he had was something that he didn't want to shove onto another person. He couldn't do that to Kirishima. Not when he had a better chance of becoming a hero than he himself ever did.

Kaminari had taken a whole week off. Kirishima did what he could to prevent Aizawa from storming into his room, or settle Recovery Girl's desire to check up on him. He felt guilty for lying so much to his teachers, but he couldn't lose Kaminari's trust. It was built on shaking ground and too much was at stake for it to crumble so suddenly.

It was exactly one week. One week since the incident happened. And in the last few days of that week, news had spread like a disease. Not of Kaminari, but of something else. This had just happened to catch the ears of Kirishima, the gossip between Ashido and another girl from the business course. He then asked a little more on the matter, to see if he could gain any further information. Unfortunately, before he could find anything else, Aizawa had walked in at that moment, telling everyone to head back to class.

The information given still gave him something to think about. It wasn't difficult for him to come to a final conclusion, and when lunch break had come around, he'd left the classroom immediately. He'd brushed past Bakugo, who gives an unreadable look to him; Kirishima was too anxious to notice him.

He doesn't hesitates as he slots his card in, barging the door open and pushing it shut behind him. In front of him was Kaminari, with his legs tucked in and his back leant against the wooden bedrest behind him. His eyes don't move to him, glued to the window that showed nothing but a blue sky and a few wisps of cloud. His left hand clutches his forearm tightly, and Kirishima would've gone to pry the hand off.

If he hadn't said what he needed to say.

"Do you know Miss Himeno?"

Kaminari freezes, his muscles impossibly tensed, irises shrunken and shaking in fear. His hands, which were wrapped around his knees, clench into fists, tremors jittering through his body, and what was left of the colour in his face was drained out, leaving him freakishly pale.

"Wh-Why?" he close-to-whimpers, cautiously turning his head to face Kirishima. Fear struck his face, his stomach twisting unpleasantly. All he could think of were the beatings, and the feet boring down on him, splitting and bruising his skin.

Weak... Useless... Pathetic... Selfish... Why can't you just kill yourself? It'll save everyone from the burdens you give them!

Red alarms are blaring. Sirens are screaming. Dread hits Kirishima like iced water, like gravity dragging him all the way down to Earth. To where he was. On that spot. Watching Kaminari almost drown from the blood in his own lungs.