Once More (My Hero Academia)

33: Eri

My name is Eri.

I like apples and sunshine.

She stared at the dim lights above her head. The lights were always dim, and sometimes they were just turned off altogether, deserting the room in a gloomy darkness. There were no windows. There was a lamp on the nightstand, but the color of its light was a sickly yellow, so she never turned it on. She wanted a little nightlight like the one she had before, but she learned a long time ago that it didn't matter what she wanted.

My name is Eri.

I like kittens and music.

A few toys were scattered on the ground, but she found no joy in them. She didn't have any energy to play with them, and all she wanted to do right now was to curl up in a little ball. Maybe she could draw, but her arms, wrapped in bandages, were always too sore.

My name is --

"BEEEEEP----"

The sound of the door sliding open made her look away from the ceiling lights to the doorway. The hall outside was brighter than the room, so she could only see the silhouette of the man in the lab coat.

Another blood test.

"Come on," the man said simply, knowing the girl would comply.

In the first few days, she would thrash and cry and scream when the adults dragged her to the labs. She had hoped that this was just a bad dream where the memories of her past came to haunt her. She had hoped she would just wake up in her sun-lit room, look out her window, and see the blue glassy building again.

But a long time has passed since she returned to the dim, windowless room. This was a real, living nightmare.

She pushed herself off the bed and walked slowly to the man at the doorway. No point in resisting; they'll drag her there anyway.

I like drawing pictures and eating candy...

She followed the man into another room further down the hallway. This room was dim, with a cold beam of light shining on the large reclining chair. She sat on the chair and placed her arms on the cold metal armrests, and the man started to remove her bandages.

Every time her bandages were removed, she thought about the Christmas party where the nice older kids let her slowly tear apart the wrapping paper and reveal the gifts. But like all the other happy memories before the nightmare, the Christmas party seemed so long ago, the details fading into cold lab chairs and dull white bandages...

But she didn't want to forget. She liked gifts.

My name is Eri.

I like gifts and things that make me smile.

"Everyone is always so happy to see you smile, Eri!" The person with yellow hair and blue eyes had said to her once.

What was his name again...

She barely twitched as the sharp needle punctured her arm. Red liquid flowed through the tube into a whirring machine next to her. The lab coat man, who had a long pointy mask, pressed different buttons on the machine and occasionally peered at the monitor. Then, he removed the needle and reached for the straps on the sides of the chair. Moments later, the girl was buckled and strapped to the chair.

The door opened again; the lighting made it impossible to see the person entering, but just by the sound of footsteps and muffled breathing, she knew exactly who it was.

"Boss," the lab coat man dipped his head.

Overhaul stepped next to the whirring machine and squinted at the monitor. He clicked his tongue in disappointment.

Her heart lurched. If the whirring machine didn't give him what he wanted, that meant he was going to cut her open.

"No..." Her voice was a soft whimper, and she wanted to leave this chair, but she was strapped down...

"No?" Chisaki's hoarse voice was an anvil striking down on her mind, "Your quirk is a curse. You are a curse. What makes you think you can just say no and walk away?"

She remembered what the nice older kids once told her: "Your quirk is a blessing, not a curse."

My quirk is a blessing, not a curse.

The sharp knife came down on her arm. The pain made her want to scream, but she was too exhausted to do so, and screaming never helped anyway.

Someone... Someone, please come and save me...

She remembered how the person with the yellow hair and blue eyes had held her in his arms. She remembered first meeting the older boy with fluffy green hair and wide emerald eyes.

What were their names again...

"Deku..." her whisper was so soft she could barely hear it over the whirring machine. "Lemillion..."

Since the day this nightmare started, she realized that she was living in a memory. Everything that was happening to her now had happened before.

She was reliving every torturing moment spent in this cold lab, with the needles injecting her with fluids she did not know, with the sharp blade slicing open her skin and blood welling out, with Chisaki's hand reaching out to her face, and with the terrible pain of being ripped apart like a piece of paper, then glued back together.

But somewhere in a protected corner of her mind, there was a small glimmer of hope. It was like a little nightlight in the darkness.

If she was experiencing all the bad moments again... Would she be rescued again as well?

Overhaul took off his glove and reached toward her.

My name is Eri.

I like apples and sunshine and things that make me smile.

Deku and Lemillion will come and save me.

The heroes will come and save me.