Chapter Text
There was a poster of All Might on the window.
Tenko had been staring at it so long he had memorized all the words on it. The Symbol of Peace! In Haku City 10/24~10/25, Autographs and Photos at Deji Plaza 13:00 to 16:00 both days, Reserve a Spot in Line Now!
10/25 was almost over, with an hour to midnight left, so this was useless information, now stuck in his head. Just what he needed. He rubbed a palm over his face, briefly warming his nose and cheeks. He felt lightheaded, while the rest of his body was heavy and dragging - it was like his empty stomach was trying to extend it’s bad mood everywhere, punishing him.
He rubbed at his face again, then refocused.
Across the street, past the poster and on the other side of the glass was a bakery-cafe, his target. Closed for an hour already, the employees were gone but the lights were still on; and the owner, a woman who was basically just a big, brown bear - her quirk, he guessed - was still tidying up. She had taken all the curry bread out of the heated display case, so Tenko won’t be eating a warm meal tonight, damn her.
But whatever. There was still lots of other stuff sitting out in the open for him to steal. He couldn’t be picky. In and out, grab as much things as he could that would fit inside his jacket, a drink or two, hightail it out of there, then sneak into the 24-hour internet cafe to sleep. The plan.
It was a good plan, he thought. A great one. He was like an adventurer in an RPG, having to strategize and move carefully through enemy territory to finish a quest. Retrieve an important item. It was almost thrilling, if not for the fact that he didn’t have any energy left for excitement.
Tenko scooped the place out yesterday, a cozy little shop with an old, rustic gimmick; chose it for the lack of security cameras and other tech. He took note of when everyone left and when the owner closed up. He found the backdoor in the alleyway next to it, a trashy narrow space that was almost always empty. He studied the lock, which he could destroy easily. Scatter the dust into the wind, erase the evidence of his quirk. Nothing left at the scene of the crime, like he saw on those Heroes and cops shows.
Frustratingly, he probably won’t be able to do the same with the cash register or safe, not without wasting too much time and effort getting rid of the evidence. Not without the police knowing it was him. They definitely had alerts and notices about him, his quirk, his history out by now.
He’d have to find money elsewhere. First, he gotta eat.
“Hurry up, you stupid bear,” Tenko muttered, curling up tighter into a ball. Too much wind was blowing through the dark alley he was sitting in, bringing with it the autumn chill that hurt his ears, his nose. He should plan a heist at a clothing store tomorrow. He needed better, cooler outfits anyways.
This wasn’t his first time on the streets, but it would be his longest, last, and super permanent stint at being a runaway. This was him breaking free. He wasn’t going back to the Watanabes, no way, and he wasn’t going back to the orphanage. No more suffering school, no more adults breathing down his neck waiting for him to do something wrong, no more having to act sorry for existing. He was going to finally leave this stupid place, travel to Tokyo, make a living there.
Tenko was already 12. He can do it. His quirk was powerful, he was pretty fast and he held out well in a fight - he could defend himself. There were sure to be things he could do, people who will find him useful. Shady people, criminals and Villains, yeah, but that was fine. He would handle it.
The future in front of him was murky and pretty much a dark unknown, but he knew what he didn’t see. Not high school, not college, not a proper job. He would be on his own when he turned 15, and the best he could hope for would be some lame menial job - like a garbage collector, that was what everyone, even one of the teachers, told him he should be, cuz then he can finally make himself and his quirk useful, hahaha, get it?
Screw them.
So he didn’t see a normal life, whatever that was, because kids like him just... didn’t. Born unlucky, try again in the next life.
Poster All Might smiled at him from across the street, a giant fake grin too wide on his small stupid head. The Number One Hero.
In this world with heroes and villains, kids like Tenko don’t become heroes. That was fine - he didn’t want to be one either. This life would him being a Villain. Maybe he could be a good one, become a gang boss or phantom thief. Be a badass and make money and ride a motorcycle and enjoy himself.
The lights in the bakery turned off, and Tenko sat up, attentive.
The owner walked out, locked the door, then reached up to pull down the steel storefront shutters, before locking that as well. Tenko scoffed. Should’ve focused more on the backdoor, he thought, watching the bear lady leave, watching her become smaller and smaller as she went further and further down the street.
Tenko stood, and flexed his fingers.
Quietly, at a casual pace, he walked across the street, trying to look like he belonged right wherever he was at. The streets were dark and mostly empty with only some stragglers about, salarymen and other workers, some high schoolers fooling around with friends. All in all, this was a quiet area, the more suburban part of the city, with hardly any Heroes on nighttime patrols. Tenko couldn’t think of any memorable weirdos, or even remember if an agency was set up around here, so this was a great place to commit a crime.
He slipped into another alleyway, dodging trash cans and piles of cardboard, making his way to the bakery’s backdoor. It smelled gross, and Tenko hoped that the stench wouldn’t steep into his clothes. Going to sleep smelling garbage all around him sucked, then waking up smelling garbage again sucked even more. Yeah, he was definitely going to rob a clothing store.
At the door was a simple combination lock and some chains wrapped around the handle and a pipe next to it. Five fingers on the lock, then the chains, and in seconds they were nothing but dark rusty sand. He did the same with the handle, and watched as a hole formed in the door, the bolt disappearing. A clean break in. It should look as if someone just dismantled everything and took it with them, or something like that. The door easily swung open when Tenko pulled at it.
He kicked the dust pile at his feet, swept out the dust that landed inside, spread it around the area. Gathered up a handful, toss it into a nearby drain. Hopefully the wind would pick up most of it, though he knew some would remain. Still, by the time the police got some nerds to snoop around the area and figure out what quirk did that, he won’t be in this part of the city anymore. After that, he’d be on the train to Shibuya or Akiba or wherever and they’ll never catch him.
Stepping into the bakery made a shiver travel down his entire body, but it was a good shiver, like a sort of excited relief. The warm air inside felt so good against his cheeks, and it smelled amazing, a very welcomed change from the alley. He could smell bread, could smell the fluffiness and warmth, and along with it another aroma of some other food that was fruity and sweet. Tenko paused and allowed himself a few moments to soak it in.
He wouldn’t have minded at all spending the night here. But he couldn’t, and there was work to do. He dug out a tiny keychain flashlight from his pocket and, after a few hard shakes, got it to turned on, the light showing him that he was in the kitchen.
It was neat and clean, but there was no visible food in sight. A brief walk around showed him the place was much bigger than he expected, and filled with metal carts and cabinets and strange equipment, all of which made him hesitant to poke around and rummage through. It wasn’t worth it to search for food there, Tenko decided, so he crept to the doorway that lead to the front of the store. He slipped through the beaded curtains and found himself behind the counter of the one room shop. Against one of the walls was a large fridge filled with drinks, the interior light of the machine glowing enough for him to see okay, enough for him to put away his flashlight.
Part One, breaking and entering: success.
Carefully, with the pointer fingers on both his hands lifted as high as they can go, Tenko climbed over the counter. Landing on the other side, he noticed a glass case next to him, also dimly lit, displaying fancy-looking cakes. When was the last time he ate a cake? Definitely not for his birthday - that was last month and nothing happened. Shiina made one for the orphanage for Christmas every year, so had it been that long? Tenko eyed them longingly - vanilla, chocolate, one covered with colorful fruits. It took serious willpower to fight the urge to just touch the glass and steal one, but he did, and directed his attention at the bread and buns and pastries on the shelves lining the walls.
The first thing he grabbed, he quickly ripped open the package to take a bite. Bread crunched lightly in his mouth, buttery and flaky, and chocolate goo coated his teeth.
It was delicious. He barely chewed before he swallowed, and he could just feel the bite of food sliding down his throat and into his stomach. A weird feeling, but it brought a small, immediate relief from the hunger. Another bite, this one way too big and it made his jaw useless, but it’d dissolve eventually.
As he gobbled down the pastry, Tenko wasted no time grabbing one of each thing, not even trying to read the labels. He stuffed them into the pockets of his large jacket, as many as he could. All of it was getting squished, but it was still food in the end; plus it meant more space. All this could last him three or four days, if he rationed them right.
When his pockets were close to bursting, Tenko grabbed something else to eat. This time, it was a large cookie, matcha flavored, easily crumbling and making a mess - but it would melt in his mouth, soft and sweet - and he devoured that and a second one as well.
With that, he was feeling much better.
Turning to the drink fridge, Tenko opened it and considered the options. Two bottles of water, he took and held in his arms. A bottle of barley tea, a can of milk tea—
White blinded him.
Tenko jumped, almost dropping everything, wanting to cover his eyes. The world had flooded with light, and his vision stung.
He heard, from somewhere, what sounded like a growl. Blinking furiously, he forced his eyes to see, forcing them to make out, behind the counter, a large figure.
Behind the counter, stood the bear woman. The owner. Her hand - paw? - on a light switch, her face twisted in a vicious snarl.
Burning fear flooded every inch of him, making a mess of his nerves, and Tenko barely stifled a scream.
The bear growled again, even louder than before, much more harsh and rough but he heard her clearly. “Thief.”
Damnit.Damnit.damnitdamnit--
He threw the can of milk tea. Chucked it as hard as he can at her, and dashed towards the door, not even looking back to see whether he hit his target or not.
Letting all the drinks slip from his grasp, he started kicking and pushing at anything within reach. All the chairs he could see, pushed over-- a table or two flipped over-- a magazine stand crashing onto the floor-- a potted plant in pieces and dirt everywhere--
At the glass entrance door, he slammed his hand down, heart pounding insanely hard and fast as he willed the cracks to spread faster. Glass shards cut into his palm, but he felt no pain, not really.
Stealing one quick glance back - the bear was behind the mess he made, roaring as she swiped at a table - Tenko slammed his other hand on the now-accessible shutters, then both hands. Under his touch, the metal rusted and weakened, and he threw himself against it--
He hit the ground hard. Pain spiked up his left elbow, and his right hand was wet with blood. No time to even think about that. Tenko scrambled to his feet, stumbling as he took some steps.
He ran.
Where to go? Where to go? He had no idea. Behind him were more roars, this time the words being stuff like “I need a Hero! That kid’s a thief! Villain!”
Shit.
He was going to get killed. A Hero was going to punch his head off, smash his body into pieces. Drown him, electrocute him, whatever those bastards could do. No, no, no!
Tenko turned a corner, onto another street, shoving some old lady out of the way with his elbow. Cries rang out, someone yelled at him, and none of it slowed him down. Better pushed over than getting dissolved, he was being careful.
He kept running, his lungs burning, burning all and any air he took in. It hurt. His arm was still hurting. He had to keep running, had to find a place to hide, a tree to climb, a dumpster to jump in. There could be a Hero coming for him any second now, so he had to keep going. Down this road, turned another corner—
Tenko slammed into what felt like a brick wall.
As he fell backwards, he vision filled with red, white, and blue.
Faintly, through a numbed haze, he thought they seemed familiar, and even more distantly in his shambled mind, he wondered why.
Then.
Too close, and too loud, and too much, was an explosion of sound.
“I... AM HERE!”
Huge yellow boots in front of him. He was on the ground, and his butt hurt.
Another deep boom. “I have caught the thief!”
His ears was clogged and muffled with the leftovers of that boom, and his heart was trying to burst from his chest. Maybe it already had. Was he breathing? He didn’t know.
“Young man, you are in big trouble,” said the deep voice, even closer to him now--
--and then he was standing up, a giant hand clasped firmly on his shoulder, the touch bringing him slowly back to reality.
Tenko raised his head and saw him.
That face on the poster. That hideous yellow antler hair and too wide smile. Of all the heroes that caught him, it was All Might.
All. Stupid. Might.
Tenko tried to yank himself away. “Let go!” The hand on his shoulder prevented him from moving at all. Like a boulder trapping him, completely immovable, it pinned him to the spot. And All Might was looking down at him, dark blue eyes staring and staring, and Tenko tried to twist away again, tried to drop to the ground to pull himself down out of the clamp.
Nothing worked.
“Young man,” said All Might, but Tenko didn’t let him finish. He continued trying to pull away, his hands making jerking motions in the air. He couldn’t be caught, he couldn’t. There was a bear after him, this was All Might, he had been stealing, this couldn’t be the end--
He could use his hands. He could touch— five fingers--
Tenko yelled instead, as loudly as he could.
“What? Go away! Get off of me!” He heard the tremors in his voice and hated himself for it.
“Hey, hey there. Calm down, calm down.”
“Fuck you!” The worst, rudest, most vulgar thing he knew how to say. He was only making this worse for himself, but who cares. Who fucking cares. “Let go of me!”
“Please, don’t--”
“Just kill me then!” Tenko snapped. “Kill me, or I’ll—” He spread out his fingers.
There was still glass in his palm. He could feel the skin there tearing a bit.
It would be so easy. It would be so, so easy. One touch and he can just get rid of his problem. Get this stupid man off of him. Destruction, like always; all he hated, gone. And it was familiar, the warm wetness on his hand, dripping off his fingers. He could smell the iron. He could feel his throat closing up.
If he used his quirk on All Might, would it work? Would even the Symbol of Peace crumble before him? Nothing more than blood, this great, big man, human like the rest of the world. He’d be able escape and get away with it, before anyone saw—
(he already felt nauseous)
He could-- His quirk—-
(stop)
...
Tenko slowly curled his fingers into fists, feeling the pain dig deeper into his flesh. He lowered his arms. He inhaled shakily, exhaled completely.
No. He couldn’t.
He let go of the fight inside of him, and stood limply. He lost. He got caught.
Game over.
“May I have your name, my boy?”
Tenko ignored that, remaining silent, focusing on getting his lungs to work properly. On making his brain think.
Getting caught meant that he probably won’t be given back to the Watanabes. Maybe back to the halfway house for a few months? Which was going to be absolute torture, but doable. He could come up with a new plan, he could prepare better.
For now, time to see what was gonna happen to him.
Heavy thumps approached, and Tenko looked up to see the bear lady on all fours.
Had she chased him like that, on all fours like a dog? ...Like a bear?
As if to compound that fact, she made a strangely high-pitched rumble-groan as she was crawling up to them.
He had stolen from a real life talking, pastry-making bear, like in some fairy tale, and had to run for his life. Defeated by the good guy, the main character of this dumb world, All Might. What a story this could be, a story about a stupid brat, some bread, a bear, and a blond-haired, blue-eyed superhero that saved the day.
It was absurd.
In spite of everything, Tenko smiled sardonically, disgusted with himself.
“You little thief,” the bear lady hissed, raising to stand on two legs. She was a giant, maybe the same size as All Might, and Tenko had to look up at her. “You think this is funny?”
No. Yes? Sorta.
...There was nothing else left to lose. Tenko smiled wider, bearing his teeth. Animals did that, didn’t they? Showed off their teeth to be threatening. Which is what the bear lady did too, exposing her fangs and taking a step forward.
“Now, now, you’re being incredibly rude,” said All Might to him, squeezing his shoulder. “You should apologize, and return what you stole.”
“He trashed my store too! Destruction of property. I want him arrested.” The bear lady jabbed a clawed finger in his direction. “I called the police. They’re on their way.”
Destruction of property. He hadn’t meant for that, it wasn’t part of the plan. If she hadn’t scare him--
“If you hadn’t come back, the store would‘ve been fine,” Tenko muttered. “What’s a few buns and bottles of water? Less than the cost of repairs you’ve got now.”
The bear sputtered. “Are you— Are you blaming me?!”
“Miss.” All Might raised a hand in a pacifying manner. “No need to exert yourself. You’ve been through a lot already. I can handle the boy.” He looked at Tenko, for some reason still grinning. What, All Might can smile while he can’t? “Young man, apologize to her. And do give back what you took.”
He was not apologizing, no matter what All Might said or would do to him. As for the food, well…
Reluctantly, Tenko reached into the pockets of his jacket, carefully pulling out the packages of bread. His right hand bleed over them, smearing blood on to the packaging. Even if she took them back, they were ruined. He mushed it all together too, partly so he could be able to hold it all in his hands, partly to be an ass. The bear lady glared at him, but said nothing.
When he got everything, Tenko held out the deformed stack of food to her, pinkies sticking out from his grip.
“You are a rotten little brat,” she said, but reached out anyways.
Tenko dropped his pinkies, all five fingers onto the first of the pastries.
He watched her face as plastic disintegrated, as his fingers dug into the bread, destroying that too. The bear lady took a step back, fur bristling, but her gaze remained on his hands. Layers of bread and filling and plastic, slowly decaying away, the dust drifting into the ground. He had planned for this, had squished it all together in a way that would allow his quirk to just eat away at everything.
Silence fell onto the street around them as they all watched Tenko’s quirk. It was only seconds, but long enough. The lady didn’t do anything, and Tenko could see what he thought was fear, in how her ears flattened against her head and the way her nose twitched. Even All Might didn’t stop him, though he was frowning and the grip on Tenko’s shoulder felt tighter.
So he stood there with his arms out, nothing left in his hands, fingers covered with blood and fillings of all sorts, jelly and chocolate and mushy vegetables. It was gross, but he had thoroughly ruined everything and felt a little better. Something inside of him had dissolved away with all the food, and now there was satisfaction. A bitter peace. Tenko grinned, in a way that he knew looked unpleasant.
A small win for him. Meanwhile, the bear lady looked like she wanted to rip him to shreds.
“I’m going to take him to the police station immediately,” All Might said hastily. Maybe he also thought the bear lady was going to kill Tenko. He pushed Tenko forward, making him walk, sidestepping the woman. “Miss, sorry for what happened to your store. I’m sure the police are there by now, and they’ll need to take your statement.”
She didn’t reply. She only looked at Tenko, who stared defiantly back.
“I hope they lock up you for a long, long time,” the woman said, voice dark and low, like a rumbling from hell. “We don’t need monsters like you here.”
That made a breath got caught in Tenko's throat, as if a bubble of solid air was blocking everything. Vaguely, he heard All Might say, “Miss, please, that’s enough.”
Fuck you too, he thought. He should say it out loud, have the last word, but he couldn’t get his mouth to open. It was already taking a lot of effort keeping his expression carefully blank.
All Might moved, blocking Tenko's view, breaking off the eye contact. Tenko dropped his gaze to the ground, and allowed himself to be marched away.
Tenko recognized where he was, recognized the buildings and signs of this area, which was only like three blocks away from the bakery - meaning he barely gotten anywhere before All Might stopped him. There was a small neighborhood police station close by, and it looked like All Might knew where it was too, leading Tenko in that direction. They would be there in a matter of minutes.
Where had All Might even come from? Was he patrolling? Keeping even the streets of Haku City safe on his last night here? Thinking back, Tenko was lucky All Might didn’t really do anything. All he did was knew exactly where to stand so Tenko would run straight into his hands, no need for one of his smashes. What a hero indeed.
After a while of walking, All Might cleared his throat. Tenko tensed, all his guards up.
“Young man,” All Might said. “You’re hurt. We should go to the hospital.”
“I don’t need one,” Tenko bit out, and shoved his bleeding hand into a pocket. “It’s just a scrape. Just take me to the police. You heard the lady, I need to be locked up fast.”
“You are young,” All Might sounded almost gentle, and Tenko felt anger boiling inside his guts. He didn’t need pity or concern. He didn’t need people to play at being sympathetic or caring. He especially didn’t need All Might pretending to give a crap about stupid people like him. “Whatever you have done, there is still repentance. You can choose the path you want to be on. It’s not too late.”
“Do you give this talk to every Villain you capture? This lame goody crap?”
“You are not a Villain,” All Might said firmly, and Tenko snorted. He committed a crime using his quirk. No sense in denying it. “My boy, what is your name? How old are you?”
“I don’t need to tell you. I know my rights.” And he did. The right to remain silent, the right to a lawyer. No idea what to do with the second one, but he could do the first.
A soft chuckle. “Reading up on the law? Quite the intelligent youth.”
Tenko gritted his teeth. “Shut up. Shut up. I know what you’re doing. I don’t care. I’m not going to be magically inspired by you. And anyone can look up anything online, so just shut up.”
I could kill you right now, the thought came wildly, suddenly, and queasy ghosts of memories drifted into the peripheral inner vision of his mind until he pushed them away.
Dammit. Shit. He didn’t need that again.
He tightened his injured fist and focused on how it hurt. The sharp, electric bursts in his hand, the jolts up his entire arm. When there was that to take over most of his attention, he won’t have to think about anything else.
“It’s past midnight,” All Might was speaking again. So talkative. So annoying. “Your parents must be worried.”
“They’re dead.”
That shut him up quick. Tenko relished the few moments of silence, before he got the usual boring, useless words when All Might eventually responded.
“My apologies. You have my condolences.”
Darting a quick glance upwards, Tenko saw that All Might had a grave expression on his face. He wasn’t smiling anymore, and that made him more human.
TV had these endless PSAs and children’s specials with All Might in them, him telling kids to be good and study hard and brush their teeth and follow the rules. Then they too can be a Hero like him! Tenko watched a bunch of them growing up. Still did - just last week he saw All Might explaining environmentalism one afternoon after school. Same as every kid in this country.
The other kids at the orphanage, at school, everywhere, they loved All Might, but Tenko never understood it. Part of that was because he used to be terrified a Hero would come for him, but also All Might just seemed… fake. Real, but as plastic as the action figures he sold. Caricature, that was the word.
All Might smiled and laughed nonstop, was charming, was brave, was as pure and compassionate as a Buddha. He had more muscles than a tenth of the population combined, and his quirk seemed to be everything: super speed, super strength, flight, whatever. All he did was Heroing. At least other heroes like Endeavor got married and had kids, or did stuff like being a DJ like Present Mic. Had a life.
He was All Might, no one else like him in the world, a dazzling godlike entity too bright for this world. Other people found it inspiring, somehow. Tenko tried, once, and only got more confused and unnerved.
(was it because he was bad at his core?)
Now though, All Might just seemed tired. Tenko was tired too, and that was probably why the two of them didn’t say anything else for the rest of the trip.
When they arrived at KOBAN #8, Tenko saw that the door was open, spilling out light onto the street. In that block of yellowish-white, a person-shaped shadow moved; then someone poked their head out. At the sight of All Might, the police officer made an audible gasp and jumped out, saluting.
“All Might! Wow! I— What can I do for—” His eyes fell on Tenko and he paused. Tenko scowled. Officer Nishizawa. Of all officers doing night shift, it had to be him.
The policeman wasn't happy to see him either. “Finally got caught, huh, Shimura?”
Tenko’s shoulder was squeezed again, and he jerked away, as much as he could. What now? Was it his being rude? Was he supposed to greet Nishizawa? Not a chance.
Nishizawa gave him a brief look over. “And not wearing your gloves, I see.”
“I lost them,” Tenko said, and it was half true. Those gloves were lost somewhere in the river that Tenko threw them in.
“Shimura…” All Might said, and Tenko looked at him. The Hero looked thoughtful, or something. “Your name is Shimura?”
“That’s Tenko Shimura,” sighed Nishizawa, running a hand through his hair. “He’s...a ward of the state from the local orphanage. Well, he was being fostered, but--”
“I’m not going back,” Tenko growled, ready to throw a fit to back those words. “I won’t. Throw me in jail, I don’t care. But I’m not going back to them.”
Nishizawa grimaced. “You’re in luck, if you can call it that. The Watanabes gave you up. They called your social worker the night you left. This is the second time you’ve run away from them, and... they decided not to give you a third chance.”
...
It took a second to process that. When he did, a weird chill rolled down Tenko’s spine, freezing him still.
Oh.
Well, fine. That’s good. He knew this was how it was gonna be, didn’t he? Tenko swallowed, feeling a disgusting mix of relief, no, triumph and… something else. Anger, he decided. Cowards, he thought, for throwing in the towel so easily. Good, they should be afraid of him.
Nishizawa looked at All Might. “Thank you for bringing him back, though I apologize, All Might, for whatever trouble the kid has given you.”
“Worry not, it’s my duty,” All Might said, but without any of the bravado he usually had. “Unfortunately, he was involved in theft and destruction of property. There’s police on the scene.”
“Theft and…” The policeman snapped his gaze to Tenko. “Shimura. You’ve really-- You can’t… Don’t tell me you used your quirk too.”
“So I did,” Tenko mumbled, turning away, not caring to see what kind of face Nishizawa was giving him. “So what.”
“You’re 12 now,” Nishizawa stressed the number. “This isn’t-- You can be tried as an adult, classified as a Villain. Is that what you want?”
The ground felt unsteady. He really was tired. Tenko imagined going to court, going on trial, going to jail, bound in an actual straitjacket and left in dark cell. Did they still do prison tattoos?
Reaped what he sowed, he wanted to be a Villain, right? He would handle it. Tenko forced his mouth to work. “Maybe it is.”
Silence, stretching out for a few seconds, then Nishizawa sighed again. “Just get in the station and sit down. Put your hands where I can see them.”
“Ah, that reminds me,” All Might spoke up suddenly, and Tenko started. “Yes, Young Shimura injured his hand. He was bleeding. Officer, please get him checked out immediately.”
“I’m fine,” Tenko grounded out. “It’s not bleeding anymore. Why are you still here.” That was a big lie. His right hand was throbbing steadily, like a heartbeat, and still wet. How much blood had leaked out already? Maybe he’ll bleed out and finally die.
“You know where the first aid kit is,” Nishizawa said, pointing at the station. “I’ll call main. We’ll go to the hospital once a car arrives.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Tenko shrugged and All Might finally, finally let go of his shoulder. Yet, now he felt totally weightless. Hollow. Still hungry, and absolutely exhausted.
He messed up so bad.
As Tenko trudged his way to the small building, his name got called out again by that loud bellow.
“Ah, Young Shimura!”
He stopped, and debated whether he should dignify that with a response. He glared over his shoulder. “What?”
All Might didn’t do anything for a few seconds, like he hadn’t expected Tenko to respond, like he didn’t know what to do next. Then he smiled, teeth glistening, as fake as ever.
“...Would you like an autograph?”