Hello? Are you there? || Haruto

Regret sank into Haruto's stomach like a pit. He had failed, he was useless... The imagined eyes of that man bore through him, laying clear all his insecurities. He didn't even know that doctor's name, but... As long as he lived, he would never forget those eyes. Those despairing eyes, begging Haruto to save him- Only to glaze over with the finality of death. The blood he had coughed up was still on Haruto's shirt, the boy never having had the chance to change.

They praised him as a hero, saying that they'd all have been dead without him. But that wasn't true. He, he hadn't been able to do anything at all! He wanted to tell them, but his mouth wouldn't move. Nothing would. He wanted to vomit, but his stomach had long since been emptied. It may have been over, but it didn't feel that way. Was it that it had ended too easily, or was it something else?

Somebody else brought Haruto his bag- He didn't know who it was, or how they knew the bag was his. He didn't want to see them, either. Didn't want to be told how well he had done, how many people he had saved. They thought they were comforting him, but... Why! Why hadn't he been able to do anything!? He... It wasn't him who saved anyone. It may have been his quirk, but it was Rin who used it, not him! The only thing he'd done.... Was watch a man die in front of him, while he did nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye, however, something caught Haruto's eye. His bag had never been closed, and it's contents were exposed- Including a simple bento box. That box... "Chise..." Haruto would whisper. That was right, it was the lunch Chise had made for him, before they went their separate ways. Wait, Chise. A gleam appeared in the otherwise dulled eyes. A gleam of fear.

The boy made the most rushed move he had made since being rescued from the basement of the Venus Boarding School. He took out his phone, which had been turned off since the start of the presentation. His heart felt like it would stop in his chest as he watched it turn back on. Time felt slow, too slow. Was Chise okay!? If anything... If she had... He couldn't even bear to think about it. And seeing no notification since then, his heart felt like it might stop. With trembling fingers, he typed, and prayed.

Chise

Please

Are you okay

It was the only thing he could think to say.

His phone beeped. Three lines of text on the screen. Eight words to keep Haruto sane. She was coming. She was alright. Suddenly he coughed- Red blood and black blood. He had pushed himself too far inside that death chamber, and still he could feel the repercussions. But even the pain in his chest could not compare with that in his heart. The pain of failure. The memory of the cold, dead eyes of those he had failed to save. He needed to see Chise, to know she was safe. And yet, at the same time, he did not want her to see him. To see this useless failure, who could not save even a single person by himself. He wiped the blood from his face and held the blanket tighter.

It was a painful wait. Not knowing how far away Chise was, seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. He wanted to see her. He didn't want to see her. He was useless. She was safe. He tried to focus on the positives, but his head always returned to the same place. Those eyes. The blood. His failure. His empty stomach churned again.

Just as the boy felt near insane, he heard it. A voice in the distance, one he knew so well. "Chi... Se." The name escaped his lips. His whole body shaking, the boy rose to his feet. Stumbling forward, "Chise," he would say, slightly stronger this time. Another step. "Chise!"

At last the two faced each other. For just an instant, Haruto felt as though the horrors of the night... Were all in the past. "Chise, I... I... I'm so glad, that... You're okay..." Haruto nearly fell to his knees, then and there. But if he did, he was sure he wouldn't be able to get back up. "I'm... So, so... glad." Haruto cried, the tears pouring down his face. From the blood on his shirt, it could be told that the boy had, had a rough night, to say the least.

Chise's voice was like a light at the end of a tunnel. It was hope, hope that even after all of this, that things could turn out to be all right. She was safe. Chise was safe. As long as Chise was safe, Haruto felt like he could pull through, no matter what happened. No matter... How many people he failed to save. However, as the girl moved to help him, Haruto would unexpectedly push her away. The last of his strength giving out, the boy fell to his knees. "Don't... Don't touch me.... I'm... So, dirty..."

He wasn't exactly talking about the physical filth on his body- Although there was plenty of that. Sweat and tears, mucus and blood. All that was missing was the black blood formed by his quirk, which had long since dissipated as though it was never there, and taken the toxin in the room with it. The blood didn't belong to Haruto, of course- Though at a glance, it may appear to be so. However, the truth was, the boy simply felt as though these hands of his, which could not save anyone, were unworthy of touching Chise. The dead man's eyes still burned in Haruto's memory- Judging him. These hands had touched his dead body so recently- He could not bear to stain Chise with them.

"No, no, I, no... I,,," She didn't understand? How could she understand? It wasn't just... His body that was dirty. It was... Everything. But despite his best efforts, the girl insisted on approaching- And the white-haired youth lacked the strength to repel her once more. "Please, no... I... You don't... I..."

It would be a miracle if she understood half of what he said, so incoherent and mumbled were his words. But even so, the girl was not discouraged. "You... Don't? But, no, I..." However, gradually, the boy's meager resistance fell to none, allowing Chise to hold him as she wished. Tears rolled down the boy's cheeks as he finally was able to let out what he had been holding in for so long.

"Ch... Chise, I... I failed. I... I failed. I couldn't. I couldn't, couldn't, save him. I... I couldn't, save anyone. Why, why do I... Why am I... What am I, if I, I can't. Can't save. Anyone... What... What should I do?" Between his sobs, Haruto babbled, more coherent before. Coherent enough that Chise could understand, at least in part, what had happened. Of course, his was only half the story. No one else who was in that room would call him useless. In fact, when asked, many of them would point to him as their savior, among the other students who had been present. But that wasn't how Haruto felt in the slightest. All he knew was that he had tried, and he had failed. And in the end, he had only been able to force Rin to push, even farther than she could handle. The sight of her, hair as white as his own... Proof that his own worthlessness had pushed everything to her shoulders.

But Chise's continued ministrations would prove valuable. The more she held him, the more coherent the boy would sound. "Ch-Chise. You, I'm, so, so... Glad. You're safe." So saying, the boy's eyes would droop. The night had been altogether too long, and tiredness began to override all else.

Chise Ishihara 21 exp

Shimizu Haruto 12 exp