-Recap-

He stands in the middle of the field and acts as if we haven’t been fighting for a couple of minutes.

"Don't you think your parents' death was suspicious?"

-Recap End-

I stood there thinking about what Overhaul just said. ‘No way,' I think, as I start to consider what he’s getting at.

‘Are they still alive? The police did say that their bodies were beyond saving, so I just said to cremate them. Maybe? I was so impulsive, I should have asked to see their bodies no matter what, even if I was ten at the time. ’

I feel hope. Hope that they're alive, hope that my parents aren't dead, hope that I'll be able to walk home to a warm meal again, hope that I'll be able to see her big warm smile and arms that reassure me that everything will be fine.

I know that the chances are low. I know that this feeling of hope could only lead to my suffering. I know that as I continue to feel hope, I'm on a pedestal that is only rising higher and higher, and if I fall, I might not be able to recover. But I don’t care. I lost my parents at 10. If there's even a possibility that they're alive, then I’ll chase it.

"What are you getting at?" I ask impatiently.

"I’ll tell you about me first." 

I get frustrated that he won’t just directly answer the question, completely not caring that I lost my composure.

"The little girl in the corner that you were trying to save was helping me achieve a great goal. See, her quirk is dangerous, and as I said before, I will get rid of this ‘disease." Five years ago, I needed money to fund our little ‘project’ so I participated in trafficking items.

One of these items was called a "trigger," which increases the effect of one quirk at the cost of one's sanity. I distributed these things for only a short period of time, so nothing big happened and nobody knew that I distributed them.

But for you, this is a big deal…Hey, stop with the glaring. I’ll get to the point. I don’t keep track of everyone who buys our drugs, and five years ago, one man bought our drugs. You see, a small side effect of this particular drug is that it makes the consumer lose their rationality. So, when this man bought our drug, he was near the mall, and that's when the effects started showing. 

Under the effects, he lost his rationality and just gave in to his desire to kill and become the strongest. In the process, he killed many civilians, including someone you might know. Hero rank 39: Eagle. Does the name Great White ring any particular bells."

*3rd Pov*

Overhaul knew that this would infuriate Azure, and that was the goal. He saw a glimpse of Dante on the cameras through his office before it went out. When he knew that the perpetrator was Azure, he already expected that his eight bullets would be defeated. 

What was unexpected was the time it took for him to defeat them. He severely underestimated him and he realized that with Azure's quirk without special means, a frontal battle would result in both sides suffering. When looking at the replays of the sports festival, he had a good grasp of Dantes' personality.

 Smart, level-headed, cunning. Seeing how he helped his classmates with their strength and personality problems with his words while achieving the goal of suppressing the villains with mere words, he made Overhaul raise his evaluation of Dante and Dante's chances of affecting his 'plans.'

So, he decided to change his usual nice personality and adopt a slightly playful one. He chose to utilize the information he discovered about him and get rid of some of Azure’s most dangerous traits.

When Azure first entered the room, he saw how Azure looked like he was going to fight a long distance, which was in contrast to what he showed in the sports festival, which was close combat, where he could easily burn the enemy with his flames.

Overhaul guessed that his opponent knew about his abilities, making him decide to make him decide that he would make him so angry that he wouldn’t be able to think properly. ‘It’s time. With him dead, the prestige of the Yakuza would rise, allowing the Yakuza to make a comeback in this world. ’

Meanwhile, Dante was in a trance, his worst fear came to light. His parents weren’t alive. All that hope that filled him only moments ago turned into sadness, then despair, and finally, only fury remained. 

Dante instantly flew into a paroxysm of rage. "You're the reason my parents were murdered! You bastard! I’ll KILL YOU!"

(A/N: I apologize if this is cringe, and the answer to your question is yes, it is hard to write. Paroxysm sounded fancy, so I put it there. (Bonus points if you didn’t need to look it up and know what the word was.)

As his thoughts were muddled with rage, Azure instantly dashed towards Overhaul. Keeping a certain distance away, he sent flames at Overhaul, who just jumped back and used his quirk to make a wall in front of him.

Azure couldn’t think straight and only had one thought in mind and that was to kill Overhaul. Subconsciously, he still always maintained a distance and relied on his instincts. Whenever an attack came near him, he would either doge or burn it.

*Overhaul Pov*

This continued for 10 minutes straight, but because I kept using my quirk, I’m exhausted. It is a fact that my quirk was very strong, but there were two very fatal flaws. My quirk was only accessible through my hands, so if my hands were cut off, I would be deprived of access to my quirk.

Also, because my quirk allows me to disassemble and reassemble objects, this makes them both my core and my crux. Disassembling and reassembling objects makes me tired easily since it takes a huge amount of stamina to do that.

Fighting enemies like Azure, who just keep a long-distance and force me to use my quirk continuously, are the worst enemies since I will just lose due to my stamina. Well, that was if I didn’t have a backup. 

*3rd Pov*

As Dante was close to beating Overhaul, who was physically exhausted, the door busted open and Shin Nemoto and the rest of the Eight Bullets ran in. Although their muscles felt sore, they ran here to help their boss, showing their dedication and loyalty. Unfortunately, their dedication might not be replicated.

The moment Overhaul saw the door open; he used a great portion of his remaining stamina to erect multiple walls that would take Azure a second to get through.

Running towards the door, the Eight Bullets all thought that they would have to fight together while Overhaul took a break. However, his orders surprised them.

"Put all your hands together and then put them in front of me." Overhaul shouted while running towards them. He saw Azure breaking through his walls.

They put their hands together like they’re doing a team cheer, with both Hekiji Tengai and Kendo Rappa's hands being the last two under. The moment Overhaul got to them, he put his hand on top of the pile of hands and he put his hand on his own face and activated his quirk.

The hand directly under Overhaul’s was Shin Nemoto's, and he got absorbed into Overhaul’s body while the other 7 got stuck to the ground. Overhaul used his quirk to rearrange their feet so cement could connect them to the ground.

When Overhaul absorbed his subordinates' bodies, he felt re-energized and ready to fight another round. He did, however, leave the quirk factor in their bodies out when absorbing the subordinates, since too many quirks would make his body weak, and he only needed the stamina anyway. He then built more walls to block Azure’s incoming attack.

Overhaul then began fighting Azure. Azure would occasionally get some piercings and cuts, but the damage would either heal or the attack would burn before it got near him. Every ten minutes, Overhaul would use up his stamina and need to ‘replenish’ it. However, Azure kept losing stamina every time Overhaul ‘replenished’ his stamina, so he could last longer and longer. 

When he absorbed the 6th subordinate, Azure couldn’t keep up his flames and in a second, Overhaul used that opportunity and sent a huge piece of cement towards Azure, who couldn’t burn it and got sent into a wall.

Looking at his last two subordinates, Hekiji Tengai and Kendo Rappa, Overhaul showed a rare smile, as if things had finally gone his way. 

Using his quirk to make a stone column, that lifted Eri into the air with that Overhaul started walking over to Azure, who was slumped on the wall.

"Eri, this is all your fault. You know, your cursed, every time you try to leave, someone dies, whether that be the mailman who tried to buy you some new bandages, or the aunt who tried to fight me, or even the police officer who happened to see me. 

All of it was your fault. See your curse. You need to learn that being here with me is the only way to fix you. Each and every action you take kills people. You are the monster and the reason that these people keep losing their lives. "

As Overhaul was taking small strides while saying this, Eri on the platform had tears dripping down her eyes.

 ‘Is it really my fault? the nice Obasan and Ojisan's are their deaths really my fault. I’m cursed, aren’t I? If nobody can stay around me, then that means that this nice man here will die because of me.’

As Eri kept thinking these things, she kept getting sadder and sadder. Nervously, she uttered some words which she thought might save the man.

"S-s-stop…I’m sorry, please stop, Mr. Nice Man... I’m perfectly fine, so you can just l-l-leave. I-I’ll just get hurt since me getting h-hurt is better than others getting hurt for m-m-me."

As Eri was talking, Overhaul had a grin that went from ear to ear like everything was going the way he wanted. While Azure, who was a bit disoriented from getting thrashed, woke up to hear her words.

‘I can’t even protect a kid. What kind of savior am I? The name Azure Phoenix means nothing if I can’t even save one kid. I have to be that beacon of hope for her. Even if I might not make it out of this alive, I’ll make sure that I defeat this guy and, most importantly, save her. ’

With his newfound determination, Azure got up and steadied his balance, then, with the most hero-like smile he could muster, he mustered up courage from someone else. He used a speech he had heard before, words that were the entire reason he chose to save people.

" Eri, you don’t have to put up a brave face, FIRST I’ll kill this bastard. SECOND I’ll save you. There will never be any need for a third because that's it. You are not cursed. You are not a monster either. Nor are you the reason that others died. I know you might have never heard this before, but don’t worry, I WILL BE YOUR ‘HERO’, I’LL SAVE YOU."

The moment Azure put up his thumbs, it reminded Eri of a certain big, muscular man with two yellow bunny-like strands standing up, that she saw one time she ran away.

*Eri Pov*

Looking at the pleasant man who is speaking, I can't help but wonder, 'Why?' Ever since I was young, nobody has shown any kindness towards me. Not after I ‘Killed’ my papa. 

My mama even gave me away to that ‘man’ who told me I was a curse. Everyone who tries to help me dies because of me, so why do they keep trying? Papa died because of me and many others.

Mr. Nice Man knows this and that I’m a monster, so why does he keep trying? As I got out of my thoughts, I heard, " -HERO, I’LL SAVE YOU."

As I start running around the edge where his arms are, I start wondering why my legs refuse to stop.

I don’t know why they keep trying, or why I continue to run even though I know that there is nowhere to go, even if I die, even if we both die, I’ll be selfish just this one time, so please-.

"PLEASE SAVE ME!!"

 

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Definition

Paroxysm: a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity.

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