You're stupid, i tell you.

You gonna die in the most painful ways if you don't change.

She wonder why those words keep ringing inside her head at time like this. But when she thinks about, it's because it is the time like this, that the words she tries to forget resurface in her mind.

None will come for your aid. Is that what you want?

Otoha snorts. Another wisdom, or should she say, another verbal abuse she received years ago from her own father. It kinda make sense if she's hated and ended up dying alone. She chose this path knowing the risk. If she back out now, it will only put another shame on herself.

But... I want you to return, Otoha.

She halt for a split second.

That exact moment, Rai took the chance to slice her throat, which she managed to dodge just barely. She didn't move fast enough to avoid small graze, though, and another cut is painting her already bruised body, let another trail of blood is dripping out of her skin.

"What is it? Tired already? Your movement become sluggish."

She doesn't take the bait and back away from where Rai is standing. It's annoying, but she can't fight long distance. And as much as she hate to admit it, it's impossible for her to take Rai head on. Alone.

From the very beginning, attacking him is a suicide attempt.

I don't care what kind of person you've become, just... Please come back.

She grit her teeth in annoyance as the same voice from the one before ringing behind her head. The contrast between the first and latter voices makes her cringe in disgust. She left everything behind, yet still not be able to let go the voice of people in her past from haunting her, whispering into her mind like plaque. The way she remember her father's voice in between her fights, the way another voice--female ones--ringing right after, ironically is what almost putting her in live or death situation from losing concentration. Honestly now she's started to think that hearing her father mocking her is much better than... that.

Better than that girl's.

"You're dozing off, Miss."

Her blade flung in the air as she instinctively use it to shield herself from Rai's attack. He has been on the defensive side, but now he's coming at her with intention to kill. If she let her thought distracted her again, her head will be the one flying next.

She follows Rai's eye movement. Half of his attention is on her blade in the air. It'll be bad for her if he touches it, so she destroys the ground a little to forced him lost his footing. Not enough to forced him to back away, but gives her time to get her blade and more distance. Still, with such agility, it's not a hard thing for Rai to catch up with her. A little bit more prepared than before, now she managed to block his attack and push him away. Even if the table has turned and she's the one being defensive, it's far from unsatisfying.

"I thought you gonna try to steal my quirk around this time, but you're not."

Otoha doesn't want to reply nor engaged in any conversation with him. She hates conversing between a fight in general, but this jerk will not stop running his mouth whether she answer or not.

"I'm not that idiot."

"I guess you're not." Rai chuckles, Otoha can see the way his eyes curved as he smiles, "But only an idiot will fight me head on."

"Can't argue with that."

"Then why? Revenge? Because i betrayed you? When i don't even put on any trust on you since the beginning?"

"Only someone as stupid as a donkey will trust a rotten bastard like you."

Rai laughs openly.

"If it's not revenge, then what?"

Otoha doesn't reply first. She tightens the grip around her blades and steady herself.

"Sometimes, human just can't be satisfied without punching the bastard at least ones."

Rai blinks. Soon enough, his laughter filling the air, as Otoha expected. He laughs too hard, to the point of tears building at the corner of his sharp eyes. Mostly one will take this chance to attack, when he is distracted by his own laughter, but Otoha knows better. Rai isn't distracted. He never is. Charging without thinking, beside not her style, will only bring the doom faster.

"You really is amusing. Now i understand why someone like Overhaul took interest in you, even though you're weak."

Otoha shrugs and give no reply. Her energy is even more limited, and there's only a single potion in her possession. She can feel how the air surrounding him gotten eerie. This's the first time she ever see his power upfront, and he is obviously holding back. The fact annoys her more than she thought it would, but she has no right to complaint as what he said before was true.

She is weak.

Who knows if it's because Rai had a change of mind, or because he feel the doubt inside her heart, but the way he charges slightly different. It took all of her to block his assault. Matching his speed is another hell of work. To deal with his god-like technique, she really wants to just bang her head on his, which she didn't. The sound of wind being slashed through, the pressure, if she is in better condition, she can deal with such distraction with ease. It stings her ears just listening to it.

The unsteady ground she made earlier, now giving  her the disadvantage. Bushes and trees within at least 5 meters are cut short. Soon, she'll lost her stable landing zone. The more she thinks about the way out, the clearer it becomes that she's chasing after her own death. Sounds coming back into her mind, distracting her more, pushing Rai to corner her even more.

Am i not strong enough to protect you?

One.

You're not as bad as people think. They have no idea what you're trying to do.

Two.

If you ever strayed from your path, i'll bring you back.

Three.

Onee-chan, you'll return before dinner tonight, right?

Her eyes twitched, she ended up carelessly swing her blade. Not only it pierce nothing but the wind, Rai even managed to slip past her defense. The way he grin victoriously sent shivers up to her spine. His hand reached to hers. There's no enough time to save both her arm and blade.

She can't block him.

"If you're not ready to die, then don't bother trying."

She doesn't remember whose hand is holding which, but her own blade already moved from her grip. Rai hasn't touch her, not directly, but now had both hands gripping her blades. Having him so up close, she can feel his cold breath caressing her face. That mocking grin she hates so much, Rai obviously put on that expression to humiliate her even more. She's about to spat on him, but the numbness on her right waist followed by hot stings all over stopped her in her track.

Instead of spit, blood is what spilled out of her mouth.

"You look pretty like this. Too bad your red shirt kinda blur your blood."

Rai thrusts her blade deeper into her waist, even she can see the tip of her blade popped out of her body. The pain is unbearable she can't even stop the groans. There's a healing quirk in one of her blade, but the way Rai twisted her arm makes it impossible for her to touch the switch. And her legs couldn't keep her weight from crashing down any longer. Still, she doesn't want to give up.

Not until giving him at least a single punch.

========

"A fight?"

"There's no information yet whether it's a fight or not, but the smoke is too big. If it's not a battle between quirk users, then maybe there's something wrong with the forest."

Chizu and Shoto glance at each others and prepare themselves without another ado. They're just happened to rest at the same area after work, both are still in the middle of chasing after Otoha's traces even after years passed. It just happened that both managed to be in contact with Otoha couple months prior, at different time, around this area. Seeing how much she changed, only fuels them to take Otoha back. But now they realised they can't keep being lenient.

"Ogawa-san, if you can't make up your mind, i'll do it."

"It's okay. It's our responsibility as heroes to catch every villains. Even if the said villain is my best friend, and your ex."

"We never break up."

Chizu smiles a little and pat his shoulder before going out ahead.

On the other side of the city, Nao is sitting on the window while reading a book. The chilling night isn't stopping him from getting out of the bed and chose to sit near the window instead, even though Otoha keep telling him not to do that. His pale fingers flipping the page, smiling plastered on his face as each scenes from the book is dancing inside his mind.

The book itself isn't particularly has interesting stories. The fact that Otoha was taking so much trouble to bring, is the thing what makes it more precious. He glance at the books piling on the desk next to him, all untouched let alone read, excited to know soon his reading skill is high enough to read those.

His eyes shifts to the clock ticking on the wall. It's late, but he's not sleepy yet. Half of it because he was woken up late before, and half of it because he's waiting for Otoha to return. She promised to have dinner together tonight, after work. The way Otoha smiled ever so faintly before nodding her head, makes him smile as well. It's been a while. He noticed how Otoha is getting even more absent-minded in the past months, yet she never say anything to him. Maybe because she sees him as mere child, thus she doesn't share what's on her mind. As much as it frustrates him, he can do nothing about it.

It happened too sudden. He coughs violently to the point of forcing him on his knees. At the same time, he heard faint noise from outside, sounds like an explosion or something massive is broken. It doesn't sound like it's near where he is staying, but for no apparent reason, aside from his violent cough, his heart beating faster. From the window, he can see a line of smoke.

He moved without thinking, unlock the door and go outside. He didn't even put on his disguise and walk in the cold night towards the smoke.

========

The once solid ground is now breaking and split open, thanks to the fight. Blood are splashing, splattered everywhere; on the trees, the bushes, the rocks, the ground, including Rai's body. The blood, however, is not his, not even a drop. He casually playing with his knife in his hand, standing as if waiting for the one in front of him to make the move. His taunting seems like will no longer working, not because he runs out of words.

Because the blood dripping from Otoha's ears is enough proof to show she lost her hearing.

"Gonna give you an applause for standing still after all of it." He says, even though he knows Otoha can't hear him, "It just mean you're much more an idiot than i thought you were."

Rai walk closer. He knows what makes her still standing is the boulder behind her, holding her weight from falling. He can see her shoulders heaving up and down trying to match her erratic breathing. As he standing right in front of her, found her eyes are still staring at the distance with that hollow he knew best, he wonder what kind of things helped her strong will. The forest now turned into an open field, thanks to their fight. Soon the police and heroes will come to check the commotion.

He leans forward to have proper look at Otoha. When he ended up touched her before, he can see a glimpse of her past. No wonder she ended up strayed from her path. In a way, he can see the similarities between them despite she's much luckier than himself. Still, she's not lucky enough to met him. He truly think it's a shame to lose her, but he will always get another pawn. Until then, he'll play with her.

"Oops."

Rai stepped back as Otoha's leg moving slightly. Ten minutes passed, means the effect of his quirk has wear off. He destroyed her potions beforehand, so she won't be able to replenish her energy to fight against him. And even if he didn't, she won't be able to win seeing how much blood she lost.

She forced herself to stand, ignoring the blood splurt out from her cuts and holes. He doesn't think she's still conscious as she charged, casually blocked her hits by one hand. As he thought, there's no actual weight on her attacks. His eyes following her movement, curious to see what kind of face she's making. Her long bangs kinda covering her face and makes it hard for him to peek.

Faintly, Rai can hear some noises heading to where they are. Seems the police is on their way. If he can even hear the police's sirene, then the heroes must be closer. He doesn't want to tiring himself to run away from their chase. He swipe his knife, reaching out to touch Otoha. Yet out of his predicament, Otoha is reaching out to him first, touching his finger first. The surprise caught him off guard, and he accidentally hold Otoha's arm longer than he intent to. At the same time as his quirk activated and sent the curse to her, strange heat burned his hand along with what seems like hundred needles coming out of her.

Within seconds, fire blast, ice crystal, and what seems like thorn bushes running wild out of her body.

========

There's no way none of the police force and heroes heading to the forest don't see that giant ice wall engulfed in scary looking thorns. Seiji noticed that strange color. The pink crystal he knew the best, which he hasn't see for a few years, brings back this nostalgic feeling as well the surge of wary. He sure it's the power of his little brother who has been missing, but it doesn't seem like it's entirely his. That ice, mostly belongs to Shoto, as well the first fire blast. But that thorny branches, who's the owner? And for such great power mingled into one like that, is it belongs to single person?

On another road from the opposite direction, Shoto and Chizu getting impatient. The moment they saw that ice wall, they knew it's Otoha.

"Shoto-kun, did you meet her recently?"

"I did, but not close enough where she can touch me."

"So she has it in store all this time?"

"Maybe. Thank pink crystal isn't mine. And those thorns, she released more than one at a time."

Chizu bite her lips. It never a good thing when Otoha uses such big scale power. Even though she's rather impulsive, but she's not an idiot who will endanger herself by releasing the quirks she has in one go. And she did now?

Otoha, please be safe.

========

Nao had to stop walking because his coughs hitting him again. The cold air surely put more strain in his body, but the uneasiness push the thought of resting to the back of his head. Is it premonition? He isn't even learn the meaning of the word yet, but he can't shake this ill feeling bugging his mind.

Loud sound of something exploded almost deafening his ears. As he shakes his head to regain his hearing, what seems like crystal shards are falling from the sky. Some of it big enough for him to see it clearly.

It's his own quirk, used by someone else.

His expression changed into horror. He only knew one person who can do such thing. His legs moved by instinct, runs deeper into the forest despite no idea where he's actually heading. He's close, he knows. It's dangerous, he knows. But even he knows the bad omen is not mere premonition. Something terrible is really happening.

========

Otoha can barely feel the cold ground. Even the chill haze from that giant ice wall, blocking her surrounding, she can no longer feeling. The massive pain from all over her body has long gone, replaced with unstoppable numbness taking over her whole being.

Before she fell to the ground a few moments ago, she managed to released all the quirks she had in store. Stupid bet, now leaving her in a mess unable to be fixed anymore. Still, she didn't regret it. The look on Rai's face when she managed to graze him back then was too precious. He left with such displeasure on his visage, because he had no second spare to pay her back without ended up being caught. Just a graze, but it feels like one of her long time wishes finally fulfilled.

Now lying on the hard ground with nothing she can do, for some reason, her past playing inside her mind like a broken record. Some things she tries to forget, things she thought had left forgotten, things she doesn't want to forget, strangely play in order. Is this what they call, seeing your life as yours about to end?

Some faces she doesn't want to remember, those she loathes all her life, those she barely cares about.

Those she misses the most....

Her tears rolling out of her already empty eyes. Her regrets, there's no way to fix it anymore. Things she done, the sins she bears, her struggles, her sadness, even the happiest moments in her life, she wonder why she can forget the important essence which makes her.... Her. She doesn't even think about proving herself. She just wants to be where she feels needed, to have someone see her as herself no matter how much she derailed from her path, someone who's too pure to see the blood staining her body. She was far to blinded by her own sorrow to believe that she can return. That's why she left.

That's why she took Nao with her.

Nao, i'm sorry... I broke our promise.

Her eyes closed.

Face of people she cares about in her life, one by one popping in her mind.

Tamaki....

Nao....

Chizu....

Shoto....

I'm sorry....

"Onee-chan?"

Nao drags his legs to where her body is lying still. He sit down, ignoring the red pool now dirtying his pants. He touches her face, feeling how cold her skin is. He never see such wounds before; the bruises, the cuts.

The holes.

"Onee-chan, don't sleep here..." His voice trembles as he shook her lifeless body, "It's cold here. Let's go home, okay? You promised we'll have dinner together..."

Of course, he knew she's no longer here. He's old enough to know what death means. His tears he has been trying to hold, breaks out in the end. He hold her hand, struggles to keep himself from sobbing out. He wonder if it's his fault, because Otoha did so many bad jobs to buy his medicines. He started to regret his condition. If he's much healthier, maybe she didn't need to work so hard for him.

When finally Chizu's group arrived, it's already much to late. The police quickly set a perimeter and some spread around to look for anything they can find. As Chizu come closer, she recognised this little kid as the one disappeared from hospital the same day Otoha left. She has no idea who he is, or what kind of relationship he had with Otoha, but if he's here while crying and holding her hand, it means Otoha did something good for his life, isn't it?

It's just an instinct when Chizu hugs that kid. His body in her arms feels so small and fragile, she kinda understand why Otoha trying to protect him even though Otoha is no longer in the bright path. Even when she turned away, she really can't close her eyes from protecting others. Otoha's hand in his grip, Chizu hold it along with his, gently rubbing in calming manner.

"You did a good job, Otoha..." Chizu says softly, the cold feeling rolling down from her tears wetting her face isn't enough to numb her broken heart, "It'll be better if you.... Stay and keep protecting him..."

A warm hand now joined them. Chizu lifts her head and see Shoto's face, the top half covered by his own bangs, buy she doesn't need to actually see to know what kind of face he's making. She knows, none want this to be happened. Every single one of them now bearing a guilt or two, for letting Otoha left years ago.

Chizu stares at Otoha's face. She wonders if it's also their fault for didn't try hard enough. The look on Otoha's face, despite doesn't seem to be in gruesome pain, still shown no trace of happiness like she had years ago, when everything was still fine. The way Otoha laughs, her crude words, her voice, her smile, feels like a distant memory. None of them--not Chizu herself or Shoto, not even this kid--wants to remember this pale feature with no soul left. Still, none of them able to look away. The way Shoto warms their hands, doesn't seem to have any effect. The three of them sit still on their spot, nonetheless. Despite not voicing it, they're all having the same thought.

Sorry for leaving you by yourself...

==========================

Chapter art by Lychee Syrup