𝑫𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 | 𝟓𝟓

Even as she stepped out from the brush and back onto the main path, Rio could still feel the imprint of cold fingers tightening around her throat. Her pulse hadn't settled. The night air felt heavier now, like it was trying to crawl into her lungs and root there.

She walked faster.

Her hands trembled as she pulled out her phone, needing some kind of anchor to reality. Notifications lit up the screen—Class 1-A's group chat was popping off again, arguing about what sauce belonged on yakisoba or some other nonsense. Her thumb swiped past the mess of messages without reading.

One new text stood out.

Shinsou: U alive?

She stared at it, heart twisting just a little. She wanted to answer. Wanted to say something normal. But her fingers hovered over the keyboard and never moved.

Her mind flicked back to the villain—that villain.

The shadows.

His voice.

"You're not from here. You're an anomaly. You don't belong."

She stopped walking.

Maybe she should  tell someone. Aizawa—at least. He'd believe her. Probably.

But then the villain's last words rang in her ears like a death sentence.

"Tell anyone we met, and I'll tell them the truth of your existence."

She swallowed, throat still sore.

"They'll hate you. And when they hear you've been talking to me in secret? Your career will be over before it starts."

So no, she couldn't tell him. Not about that.

But she should at the very least give him a heads-up. He was probably still out on patrol, and still assumed she was with Vlad King. No one had told him she'd been sent home early.

The least she could do was fix that.

Her thumbs moved quickly this time, drafting a simple text.

A sudden weight slammed into her back, crashing her forward into the stone fence that lined the path. The phone flew from her hands, clattering somewhere out of reach. She let out a yelp and winced at the pressure against her shoulder. 

Her reflexes revved on immediately. Light flared from the port in her elbow, her leg twisted back to lash out—

"Rio!" a voice barked. "Stop."

She froze mid-swing.

Aizawa.

Her eyes snapped up to see him—half in shadow, half in the streetlight's glow, hair slightly wind-blown, capture scarf still trailing faintly behind him.

Breathing hard, she sagged against the fence, adrenaline crashing all at once.

"What the hell?" she choked out, still half-shaking. "You scared the crap out of me—"

Aizawa didn't let go. He was still holding her firmly in place, expression unreadable.

He kept her pinned, one arm braced against the fence beside her head, the other hand still on her shoulder—not rough, but not gentle either.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, low and tight. "You're supposed to be with Vlad."

She blinked. "I was just about to text you about that—literally just now."