Second Chance

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"Magnet-face, I-"

Suddenly, the door to the roof opens. 'Shit' I think, thinking a police officer found us. I calm down when I realize that it wasn't a police officer. Frankly, I think a police officer would've been better.

"Katsukiiii~" Kaniko says as she walks over to us. "What are you doing up here?" She practically purrs.

'Am I invisible?' I think as I watch her latch onto Katsuki's arm. 'Rather be invisible than be trashed.' I think with a sigh.

I get and brush off my skirt. "I think the bell is going to ring in a moment. I'm going to head back down." I say, avoiding Katsuki's gaze. I smile weakly and head to the staircase.

As I push open the rooftop door and walk down the steps, I can't help but think about what those two are doing up there. I know Katsuki hates her, but I can't help but feel the pit in my stomach grow. Without thinking, I had walked all the way to the empty classroom I had once practiced my quirk in with Katsuki. The desks and chairs were still jumbled up near the wall. 'Guess this place is useless- Like me without my quirk.' I frown as I remember pinning down Ryuusuke in my living room before falling asleep and letting him escape. 'Speaking of him, I totally left him in my room!' I mentally facepalm. 'Whatever. He probably has left by now.' I think.

Suddenly, my head gets slammed into the desk in front of me. I groan in pain and try to lift my head, only to find that I'm being held down.
Kaniko snickers behind me. "Did I catch you off guard there, you quirkless loser?"

"Not calling me 'Traitor' anymore?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"Hmmm..." She hums, "Nope. I don't think you understand that term. How can a filthy traitor like you walk around this school, not having a care in the world, even though you're the scum of this school." She hisses.

"What about Katsuki?" I ask. "If you're here, where's he?"

"Oh, that hothead? I don't know, wherever angsty teenage boys go to these days." She says.

My eyebrows furrow at her sudden change in demeanour. 'Such gap moe.' I think.

Kaniko takes my silence as a cue to start talking again. "I'm honestly impressed at how happy and calm you are when you've hurt your fellow classmates and now are a quirkless deadweight. Scum like you deserve to rot in the depths of Hell!"

All of the mockery in her voice has disappeared. She genuinely means what she's saying.

"You say people deserve a second chance, but I disagree. Do you know how many chances a person can give before they've had enough? Do you know what it feels like to lose everything and go through that pain again? Do you have a single idea in that puny brain of yours how much agony you put other people through?" Her voice wavers ever so slightly, that you'd have missed it if this room wasn't as quiet as it is.

A heavy silence fills the room, carrying such a thick tension you could have cut it with a knife.
"No...you don't!" She exclaims.

"Why?" I manage to say and her grip on my head loosens a bit. I hear her stutter, taken aback by my question.

"What do you mean, 'why'? Do you not understand how much pain and suffering you scum cause?" She replies.

"No." I respond. "You know what I mean. Why don't people deserve a second chance? Why do you think that the mistakes a person makes is the be all and end all?"

She doesn't reply, but her hand drops. I stand up and rub my neck as I turn to face her. Her face was downcast and her bangs overshadowed her blue eyes. I spot a drop of water land by her feet, followed by another, and another. Soon, her silent crying had turned into quiet whimpers of pain and sorrow. The way she talked and the way she cries, I can tell her words are from the very depths of her scarred heart.

"You know, when I was four, my father told me my mom didn't make him happy anymore and nothing I did could make him stay." Kaniko states. "My mother cheated on my dad and spent all our money on alcohol. She got drunk on the day my father was supposed to move out and murdered him. While I was at school the next day, she lit my entire house on fire and burned it with everything inside to ashes. My mom brought me to a river in the forest about a year later and hit me. She told me that I look too much like that disgusting loser of a father and decided to push me into the water. I would've drowned since I didn't know how to swim, but I'm a quick leaner and figured out how to stay afloat once she'd left." She looked up to face me and her eyes were stoic and emotionless. "You'd be insane if you think my mother deserved a second chance." She hisses out with so much venom in her voice, it feels like a fresh bite of a snake.

Speechless I watch as she throws her head back and gives a laugh. My eyebrows furrow as I stare into her empty, soulless eyes. Her laugh would've have been almost villainous if not for the pained and heavy weight her voice carried.
"I don't need your pity!" She exclaims. "I see the way you're looking at me. It's different! It's different than how you looked at me earlier! Don't look at me like how they looked at me with their eyes screaming 'I'm sorry for you'! Look me in the eyes, you scum, and tell me 'you're a loser'!" She shrieks.

I bite my lip. "You're a loser!" I exclaim with as much force in my voice as possible. "You're a loser who grew up in an unfortunate place. You're a loser who has these ideals drilled into your mind by your bitch of a mother. You're a loser who feels like she has no choice but to act this way. You're a loser who despise filthy traitors. You're a loser who deserved better, but we all deserved better." I say. "You think people shouldn't be given a second chance? Well, what about you? I could have stormed out of this classroom, thinking of all the things you've said to me and Mina, but I didn't. I didn't know the full story, so who am I to judge if you get a second chance or not? The only one able to judge whether or not one deserves a second chance is themselves. You are the only one able to take that opportunity to improve. I decided that I'm going to try a second time and fix whatever mess I left behind, because I know that I can improve," I put my hand on her shoulder and smile weakly. "And I know you can too." Her eyes widen and her mouth hangs agape.
"We all deserve a second chance, but you're the one who has to take it and I hope you realize that."

——-
A/N:
This book is coming to an end! There's less than a third left! This chapter is unedited so don't mind the typos. I will go back and edit each chapter once the book is complete.

-Bora 🌌

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