Eri's Hero Academia

Honor Amongst Thieves

Chieko knew there would be consequences. She knew there would be pain. But she didn't regret helping Hayashi.

She missed the next day of school for her punishment. Spending nearly half a day in a cramped, pitch-black room was dismal, and the four hours spent running until she collapsed was hell on earth. But afterward, her caretakers told her that she could go back to school after her 'punishment day', that they were kind enough to let her go back, she just had to be very careful and not run away again. Chieko, after all, was a good girl, and good girls don't run away from people who need them.

Everything hurts.

Her arms swathed in new bandages, Chieko dressed and grabbed her schoolbag with her unfinished homework crumpled inside, completely untouched since her first school day. She slowly turned the front door's handle, careful not to wake the caretaker sleeping on the couch, and slipped out of the apartment. She padded silently to the complex stairwell, hoping to go unnoticed in the mid-morning, but when she checked if any heroes were on the street, she was met with a startling discovery.

Hayashi stood on her street corner, waiting for her.

Chieko continued on her way down the stairwell, and, once on the sidewalk, approached the boy cautiously, unsure of how or why he was here.

He spoke first, "Hey, Kanemaru," he scratched the back of his head and gave her a pained grin, and the girl noticed immediately the large chip missing from his top set of teeth, taking a chunk out of his far-left incisor and canine.

"How do you know where I live?" Chieko got right to the point, still on edge.

The boy flushed in embarrassment, "Well... I may have asked Aiko to show me the way here."

Ah, I guess that makes sense. Aiko was Hayashi's older sister, and she and the mother escorted Chieko home after everything settled. The Hayashi's originally wanted her to stay over, as it was late, but after the girl became quite distraught at the idea, Ms. Hayashi and Aiko both decided to bring her home, 'safety in numbers' Ms. Hayashi said.

"I see," Chieko eventually said, wanting to end the conversation there, but as she continued on her way to school, she noticed Hayashi trailing behind her. The two children were silent for a while, but the boy, like before, broke the quiet.

"Thank you, again, for what you did. I really don't know what else to say..." he paused.

"Don't mention it," Chieko tried to end the conversation short yet again, but to no avail. Hayashi just kept talking and talking, and she just couldn't stand it. She couldn't understand it. His mouth was moving and sound was coming out but she couldn't understand any of it and it was simply infuriating.

"Stop! Just stop!" she cried.

"What? What'd I say?" confusion spread across the tall boy's face.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you suddenly being nice to me?" her anger bubbled, "Two days ago you barely noticed me, now you suddenly act like a nice person. Why?"

Hayashi looked troubled, "I mean... I know I treated you badly, but since you saved my ma and all, I thought that maybe I could make it up to you."

Chieko glared at him, "I don't need people trying to repay me for something that doesn't need repaying. And I really don't want people trying to get favors out of me! Just leave me alone!" She ran off down the street to the nearest crosswalk, still in view of the boy.

But Hayashi didn't leave her alone. In fact, he ran right up to where the girl stomped off, and Chieko reasoned that the boy's stupid long legs must have helped him catch up to her. But she didn't expect what he was about to say to her next.