Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✩••••̩̩͙⊰•**𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑨 looked into the sunset, she could see what the next day would bring. It wasn't some secret quirk that her DNA had gifted her, another burden for her shoulders to bear. Instead it was a skill her mother had taught her so long ago.
"Raia, my darling," her mother had said once. The two sat on the porch. Life was very different when that porch was used. "How do you feel right now?"
"Upset," the young Shimazu frowned. Raia had only been... what, five? The prime age for innocence. Her mom nodded slowly, her lips pursing.
"Okay... now look over the horizon. At the sunset." The child did as she was told. "Now how do you feel?"
Raia cocked her head curiously. She felt the sadness from the trivial things in her life float away, and her once long hair floated in the soft breeze. "Good. I feel better."
She glanced back to her mom with adoration, eyes grazing over the angelic features she could barely recall without a photo nowadays.
"Brilliant, Raia. That's great."
"Why, momma?"
"Raia, I want you to remember the sunset. The sunset is a window into the future. When you look at it, and you feel happy, you will only experience joy the next day. When you look at it, and you feel despair, you will only experience letdowns the next day. Trust the sunset, my darling."
Raia didn't understand what her mother was saying back then. So she just shrugged, and tapped her thigh. "And what do you feel when you look at it, momma?"
The wistfulness in her mother's eyes should have been a warning sign. The way she stared at the fading star with determination was an omen.
"Freedom."
Raia had never liked sunsets, not after that day. They signified the end of an act, the final bravado. Her mother had proven that to her, even with her uplifting monologue. But on that specific afternoon, as she sat on the roof of the dingy motel with only the heavens above in her mind, she couldn't help but to look to the sunset for some sort of comfort.
She didn't feel anything.
Despair... it was numbing... wasn't it supposed to be chockfull of emotion?
"So depressing," she mumbled to herself. She leaned back, using a hand to support her weight. She relaxed her muscles, and let herself be. "What's your problem, Raia?"
She didn't get much more time to herself.
Instead someone came and sat to her right, slinging an arm over his knee and sitting as casually as possible. His shoulders were tense and his crimson eyes watched her carefully, but she didn't look back. She watched the colors in the sky slowly fade.
Soon after she felt footsteps behind the two. They didn't sit at first. They whispered. But soon enough they rested comfortably in their own spots. Interesting. The sunset's colors mixed, they blended perfectly. And there was a color for each of them. Pink, Yellow, Red, Orange, Blue, Black.
After minutes of staring and collecting herself, she let out a sigh from her straight lips. It was a quivering sigh, one that shook her chest and rattled the tear ducts that had been emptied like a ghost town.
"I'm sorry." Her voice was light, but solid so that the five knew her words were the truth. "I'm sorry. Thank you guys for everything. I can't even..." She stopped herself. The words held the desperation from the years of neglect she had endured. The years that not even she was supposed to care about.
"Raia Shimazu, I hate you," Bakugo scoffed. His shoulder bounced as Mina punched him roughly, but he ignored her. "I hate people who apologize for no damn good reason."
"I know," Raia nodded. She bit her lip and blinked back tears, glancing up to the stars that were beginning to wink hello. What was her problem? What fucking dam in her mind was bursting right now? What trauma had she repressed that much that it was all spilling onto this rooftop? On all possible nights, why this one?
"You don't know a damn thing," he shook his head. "I know I can't get you to open those stupid yellow eyes of yours, but something will. Then you'll realize."
"Realize what?"
"How many bullshit lies comes out of this dumb mouth of mine."
"At least he admits it," Kaminari mumbled without hesitation. The others let out muffled chortles.
Raia shook her head. "You guys mean so much to me—"
"We don't keep you around as a little mascot," Sero cut her off. "This is kind of a two way thing."
"I know. I know you guys care about me, I really do, I just—"
"Then shut up," Bakugo rolled his eyes, "there isn't anything to it." In a swift and uncharacteristic motion he swung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her head into his shoulder, where she rested in a warm embrace.
She had five of those embraces available for her whenever, and she wasn't afraid to accept them. Sometimes she just need a reminder, like anyone else.
Raia breathed in his scent and turned her head further into the side of his chest. Maybe if she listened to his heartbeat it would stop her damn sobbing.
It didn't.
As Mina lay her head in Raia's lap, the latter felt her fingers tremble in the former's pink locks. As Eijiro pulled a small energy bar out of his pocket for her, she felt her arms grow weak. As Hanta began stroking her back, she felt her chest tighten. As Denki rested his chin atop her shoulder, she felt her eyes start to droop with heavy tears. As Katsuki relaxed the most he ever had with his arm around her, she felt her whole soul mend itself in a way that her parents had never intended.
And as she looked deep into the soul of the sunset once more, she felt the freedom.
✩ • • • this chapter was very out of character for raia but that was quite obviously on purpose. the narrator mentions several times how it was out of character so i dont think that she be a surprise.
abandonment issues and the trauma from it are very real things and they change very real people, even if only for a moment. i feel as if raia is accurate of that in some aspects.
anyways, i whipped this out real quick for fash. i hope to god she's asleep because its bedtime but she deserved another (not so angsty) chapter and i hate making that shit last long anyways.
i also just wanted to warn you that this is the last chapter (besides the epilogue) of the book.
