PLASTIC FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 27

‘ girls trapped in towers ’

━━━━━

Late night conversations with Tomoe, learning video games with Tomura, sparring exercises with Kohaku, adding things to her knowledge cache with sensei, turning down alcoholic drinks offered by Kurogiri, the spike of adrenaline at the beginning of every mission.

She saw it all flash in one two three seconds.

"Your weakness is that you are far too invested in pain," Kohaku tells her once. "You have won too many times that your only goal now is to see suffering, to relish in that moment, but some enemies do not have the same goal and luxury like you."

"There will come a time when the most unexpected things come and without quite realizing it, you are already losing, and you cannot rise anymore."

Kaede doesn't listen. That time will come, she knows, but when it does, she guarantees that she will drag down the enemy with her.

"You're on a special quest for EXP," Tomura says at the beginning. "If you succeed, it will help increase our level and if you fail, the league won't be getting points but it would be Game Over for you."

He scratched that neck of his, and any other time, she would have reprimanded him for the obnoxious habit. "Of course, you can respawn if you're strong enough to win over the enemy, but it will be better if you win."

Kaede rolled her eyes. "Stop with the game speak. I'm aware of my task, just tell me how I can achieve it. Heroes are selfish, most of them are," she looked at him and saw all that hate in thousands of nerves in a man. "But they're not stupid so how do I exactly succeed? They will be suspicious. Tomoe and I have been in public unlike you."

She shouldn't have asked. Because the moment All For One told her the answer, she knew what was going to happen. The moment those words escaped his lips, her nerves coiled and tightened and she felt that rational fear drowning her again.

Faraway, she can her those promises breaking, but she's not entirely hurt, because she's known that promises in her world are as fragile as the glass heart she wore on her sleeve in lighter, brighter times. It's over, she doesn't even miss the ashamed expression on Tomoe's face as he tries to apologize through crimson eyes.

He knows that she will not stop, even if this is the risk, even if she drowns. Because Kaede will conquer, she always does.

"Tomoe will use his quirk on you."

━×━

For the first time, Kaede forgets to count. She forgets the seconds, minutes and hours all swirling in her finger tips. It's like heartbreak. There's nothing poetic or beautiful about it.

It's losing total control and only flashes of memories and whispers of wishes that could have beens.

It hurts.

She remembers one night where she spent a day trailing a couple. The number 18 pro-hero with her husband and she was getting so close- so damn close- to finding one of the major drug cartels protected by All For One so Kaede had to kill her. She had to kill the three of them.

The husband, the professional hero... and the baby inside of her.

But she couldn't do it, because Kaede was stupid idiotic weak moronic sentimental idiotic stupid dumb foolish dumb sentimental so Kohaku shoved her away, aimed the gun against the unconscious hero's stomach and shot. Three fucking times.