In an alley nearby, Sora could be seen hunched over and panting heavily. Feathers and blood gathered around her as she regained her human appearance and her halo.
" What should I do..." Her eyes were half closed and tired from the amount of blood she lost. " ... I was seen." The memory of the terrified Midoriya flashed in front of her eyes.
When her body had no strength to hold her, she fell to the ground. The last thing she heard and saw were the red lights and sirens of the ambulance...
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She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart before knocking and sliding the door open. " Morning, you reckless mob!" She smiled at them broadly.
" Shirogane-san!"
" Aren't you the same as us? Look at your hands and what you're wearing." Todorki pointed at her arms wrapped in gauze and the hospital pajamas.
" Ahaha, you got me." She rubbed the back of her head.
" Shirogane-san, you were hospitalized too?" Midoriya asked worried as she made it to the empty bed and sat by the side.
" It's nothing to worry about. Just a few scratches I got from the flying monster."
" Nomu?" Midoriya blinked.
" Yep, but fear not, it isn't as bad as it seems." The girl pointed before smiling awkwardly. " Also, I hope you don't mind but..."
" You listened in on our conversation earlier, didn't you," said Todoroki.
" Sorry!" She held her hands up and bowed her head. " I couldn't help it!"
" Right, with Shirogane-san's Quirk, you can't help what you can hear. Well, it's nothing much really," said Midoriya.
" But man, you beat the Hero Killer Stain! He has been running wild for a long time. And you guys stopped him! You're awesome!" She exclaimed.
Iida was crestfallen. " I didn't feel that way at all."
They all turned to the door as it slid open. " Oh, are you wounded kids awake?"
A rather young man in a blue suit with a helmet and a short old one in a yellow cape stood by the door before the older one walked to Midoriya, vexed about something. Then, he turned back to the door as a man with a large built body and a dog head walked in. " Hosu's chief of police, Tsuragamae Kenji."
A chief of police? Sora tilted her head. Why is he here?
She, Todoroki and Iida stood up in respect. Midoriya was about to do the same by was stopped. The girl could hardly hide her laugh at the way the chief ends his phrases with a woof.
The chief informed them that Stain had major injuries and burns. He reminded them once again that using Quirks as a weapon was prohibited except for heroes.
" But, they were-" Sora trailed as she looked back at the trio.
It was all drowned by the fact that they didn't have permission from their guardians. So the three of them and their supervisors should receive punishment for that.
" It can't be..." Sora's eyes widened in fear. It wasn't fair for them.
" Wait a minute!" Todoroki interjected. " If Iida hadn't done anything, Native-san would've been killed! If Midoriya hadn't come, the two of them would've been killed! No one realized the Hero Killer had appeared! Are you saying we should've followed the rules and watched people get killed?"
Sora was surprised to see him that angry for the sake of his friends. " Todoroki-kun..." Now Yuu's words made more and more sense to her, the boy was really such a kind person. She almost slapped herself for comparing him to Bakugo.
" Are you saying that as long it turns out all right, it's okay to bend the rules?" Tsuragamae stared at him.
" Isn't it a hero's job to save people?"
" That's why you're not a full-fledged hero yet. Goodness, what are you being taught by UA and Endeavor, woof?"
" You dog!" Todoroki made for him.
Not a wise insult! Sora panicked seeing him lose his cool.
" Stop it. He is absolutely right." Cried Iida.
" Calm down, Todoroki-kun!" Sora managed to halt him as she stood in front of him.
Gran Torino requested that they hear him to the very end. It appeared the punishment would be executed only if the whole incident was to be made public. They had a choice. Either to keep secret about it and say the number two hero saved them, and they, and only the trio, would escape punishment, or let people know of their heroic deeds and end up punished. The fact that there were very few witnesses played into their favor. Still, no one would know about their hard work and what they had done. On the other hand, the public may applaud their spunk and judgment, but that would leave a stain on their career.
The is underhanded for a chief of police to suggest. Sora sweat dropped.
" Personally, I don't want to be the one to find fault with promising young ones because of one big mistake, woof." He held a thumb at them. Sora's face beamed as she heard him and turned back to the trio who were slightly taken aback.
Still, the heroes will be holding responsibility for letting them go off on their own like that.
Iida steeled himself and walked off to Manual, apologizing for his mistake, getting a mild rebuking for that. Midoriya and Todoroki also lowered their heads, apologizing.
" Because of the unfairness of adults, you will not be able to receive the praise you would probably have gotten, but at least," he bowed at 90 degrees. " As someone who protects the peace, I can say thank you."
Todoroki was the most surprised out of all of them. " You should have said that from the start."
" Thank God. " Sora breathed out in relief. She wouldn't want their struggle to end in such a way.
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" So it really was an SOS." Whisper muttered as all three of them huddled on Uraraka's phone.
" Is everything alright, Midoriya-san?" Yuu asked, concerned.
" Yeah. We just got a few wounds. It was all thanks to Endeavor."
" I see, well, I'm just glad you and Iida are both okay. When I got just the address, I got really nervous." Uraraka waved her fist anxiously.
" Sorry, Uraraka-san. There was a lot going on, so I couldn't contact you."
" Man, who couldn't think the internship would turn out like this." Sora groaned.
Whisper smiled softly at her words. " You're going to be a hero. Hold yourself together. If you're going to complain now what are you going to do in the future soldier?"
" Understood!"
"Eh... She really... Saluted..."
They laughed for a moment before Uraraka spoke again. " I know you went through a lot, so get some rest! And tell me more about it later."
" Okay."
" Uravity-chan, Tsukai-Kun, we're starting basic training," Gunhead told them.
" Oh, right, sir!" Uraraka waved at him.
" We'll see you at school then," said Yuu.
" Sorry to bother you while you're busy! Bye!" Uraraka finished before cutting the line.
" Your significant others?" Said the hero with a blush visible through his mask.
" N-No! That's not it!" Uraraka was fluttered.
Yuu merely blinked in confusion, not getting the hero's implication much to Whisper's annoyance.
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" Jeez, it's really hard to lie to Yuu." Sora sighed before she glanced at the boy by her side, taking a spit-take at the way he seemed to overheat and shiver just at the thought of talking to Uraraka on the phone. He is too obvious.
Her gaze dropped down for a second as she thought carefully before addressing him. " Midoriya-kun..."
The green head stopped shuddering and looked back at her. His eyes widened slightly at the sad smile she had. " I know... There is no need to tell you but..." Her lips trembled and a sweat bead run down her face. " Could you please not tell anyone about what you saw yesterday? I beg of you!" She said bowing deeply.
Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest, dreading his reaction. What if he refused? What if he too thought she was a monster, finding her unsightly? No, Midoriya-kun won't think that way.
" Fine..." Her eyes shot wide open as she bolted upwards, looking at him. He seemed to wear a concerned air. " If that's what you want, Shirogane-san, I shall not divulge your secret. But..."
His green eyes locked with hers. " If it's okay with you, do you want to talk about it?"
" Eh?" She was taken aback by that.
" It just... Seems to be a heavy lift for you." Midoriya trailed. " It's okay if you don't want to talk about it though!" He added when he realized he might have pried too much. Sota looked away, pondering his words.
" It's ok, it would be fair." She fiddled with her fingers under his befuddled look. "... 'cause I kinda know yours."
" Eh?" He blinked twice at her.
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Sora retrieved the two cans from the vending machine and tossed one to Midoriya before settling next to him. " I see... Back from when I told Kacchan." Midoriya murmured, his face pale upon hearing it.
" I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I swear."
" It's fine." Midoriya's smile made her feel even guiltier.
She inhaled deeply and looked down at the ground. " From that, and based on your reaction whenever someone mentioned that your Quirk and All Might's are similar, I somehow figured it out."
" It was that obvious..."
" You're a terrible liar I guess." She laughed and he took note to better handle his reactions from then on.
" Oh, but rest assured. I don't intend to tell anyone about it. Even Yuu doesn't know. It's your secret, who am I to go spreading it around."
" Thank you..." He breathed out.
" I don't know the details. And I don't intend to pry as well, so rest assured." She trailed, rolling the canister in her hand. " Still, I'm worried about the multiple consciouses thingy." She flicked her eyes at him.
" That's... I think it's because of my Quirk. But any further details..."
" As long as it's not dangerous then it's fine."
He nodded while mumbling making her sigh. " You could have said so earlier." She closed her eyes for a moment and then stared away at nothing specific. Midoriya saw she was lost, sad and full of regret.
" Our Quirk, you know, has a special feature for it. Usually, we keep most of our strength sealed away for safety reasons, around 70%. However, the more strength we bring forth, the more our bodies change, reshaping to handle it. You can think of it as some kind of transformation in desperate times."
" Eh? So for the whole time. You were mostly using 30% of your power?" Sora nodded.
" When taping onto that sealed power, it gives us more wings, a larger form and an even brighter holy ring. That final form is truly what you would call an Angel, so bright and so beautiful... It's dazzling..." She looked longingly at the sky. For a moment, Midoriya thought he saw her red eyes glazing over with tears.
" Mine is different. You see..." She hunched over again, moping her eyes. " In our family line, in addition to the holy ring, it's either you have white or blond hair and blue or green eyes. It's the norm for our Quirk."
" But... Shirogane-san's eyes..."
" Are red..." She looked up. " It worried Papa and Grandma too. They didn't understand how did that happen. For you see, our Quirk is dominant. So there is no way the side characteristics wouldn't appear. It has been like that for generations. And the only exception..." Her hand tightened on the can of cola, cramping it slightly.
" Shirogane-san..."
" Even when Papa and Grandma saw my horrible transformation for the first time, they were terrified. Can't blame them... it was quite monstrous." She trailed with a rather forceful smile.
The girl thought back to the times she stood before her mirror, trying to transform, only to be met with the same sight time and time again. A mess of grey feathers that looked nothing like the bright angels her father and grandmother were. Every time she saw those bloody red eyes looking back at her through the blackness of their scleras, she began to hate them. She hated everything about herself in that form. In her own eyes, she was looking more and more like a monster. Her father's efforts to comfort her were futile. She swore to never transform again, to not allow a soul to see her like that. She knew what she was then. She was no angel, she was a monster, just as she was once told...
" I can't raise a monster..."...
There was a moment of heavy silence before Sora threw her hands up, smiling widely. " But I've learned to live with it. And just tried to not use my transformation. But as expected, that Nomu yesterday was really strong I couldn't beat him with just 30% of my power."
Midoriya pursed his lips. He knew it was a lie. There is no way you could just stop thinking about it that easily. Even when she was telling him, she was shivering. She was feeling excluded. Out of her whole family, she was feeling like an outcast. She was the same as him.
" I understand you..." Sora blinked and turned back at him. His eyes were cast down, trying to figure out the best words to reach to her. " I'm sorry... It was rather a rude act of me back then..."
" Don't. I told you even Papa and Grandma were terrified-"
" Still, I need to apologize." His eyes wandered back to her. " Shirogane-san, I want you to know, that whatever form you take. You're still a friend of mine. And I'm deeply sorry for hurting you back then." He lowered his head.
" Stop it..."
" I won't." He didn't want to do the same mistake as with Iida, so he was going to tell her everything. " Shirogane-san, that appearance. It was proof of you getting hurt and fighting for everyone. Even if it's not today. Even if it's not in a long time. But I want you to be proud of it. For me..." He rose two glimmering emerald eyes. " It was the appearance of a true hero."
Her eyes widened slightly before she clapped a hand to her mouth, turning away from him. " Are you... Being serious right now..." Her shoulders were shaking.
" I am."
She drew a deep breath. " Be proud of it... I don't think it's possible...but..." She murmured before rearing her head at him, tears perched on the corners of her eyes. Her face beamed with a smile, a true one. " Thank you, Midoriya."
The freckled boy smiled mildly at her as she wiped her tears and held up her can of cola at him. " Cheers for sharing our secrets."
" Eh...oh, yeah." He hit his can on hers before she popped it open, only for the soda to come frothing up, blotching her clothes.
" Whaaa!"
" You were holding it too tight earlier!" Midoriya searched his pocket for a handkerchief.
" Way to end a dramatic scene!" Sora laughed out.