Chapter 6: The price of receiving power.
Lying on the ground, Rimi is forced to helplessly watch while the villain rams his fist against different parts of Yuudai's body, snapping his limbs apart like twigs. He looks so satisfied, smiling like the many monsters Rimi has envisioned in her conscience; like her old self who she'd imagined murdering her sister.
'Why are you so happy?' Rimi's eyes begin to burn as she watches her friend get helplessly beaten by the villain. No amount of begging will help, nor amount of mercy can be given to help him. It'd be a miracle if he could be healed after the beating he's been given.
Yuudai's quirk is at its limit, Rimi can tell. She tries to shout his name, but her voice falls on deaf ears.
Hana eventually lost consciousness, from whatever the man had done to her.
'Is it that fun!?' Her eyes slowly accept the redness creeping from around her pupils. Rimi's body heats up as she watches the beating, and again, she tries to push herself off of the ground. 'Get up...' She tells herself.
'Get up!' Her arms shake and again, she collapses before she can stand, but that isn't enough to stop her. Tears stream down her face from sheer anger, the pure rage that she doesn't believe she's felt in many years, not since her old life. 'Get the fuck up!' Her friend, one of the loved ones she hopes to protect, is being beaten before her eyes.
The feeling is familiar, but she is unaware of where or when she's felt something similar happening before.
It's then that Rimi sees the man stop, finally noticing that there were still survivors from his attack. 'No...' Rimi watches as the man turns in the direction of the daycare attendant.
Without saying a word, the man raises his fist into the air, aiming, and Rimi sees a vision: Yuudai's head is popped by the punch.
From that point on, Rimi became a passenger in her own body.
The villain looks on in horror. His right arm is missing, and the distance between himself and the girl is becoming imbalanced. "S-Stay away from me!" The man doesn't even realize that the words left his mouth, and Rimi must not have either. She takes a step forward, and the distance between the two of them closes in an instant. There are some cracks that sound off, but they are not from the villain's body.
Rimi's small body, even with the curtain of wind around her, could not handle moving at such an intense speed. Somehow, she remained standing upright. No, she was never standing to begin with, not on her own. Something was holding her up, something was keeping her bones in place, even if they fractured, the fragments would return to where they needed to be.
The person in front of the villain was not the girl who he'd tried to kill with a kick. Instead, it was a monster.
'Shit! Good thing I didn't come alone!' In the building off in the distance, which Ringtune had taken notice of before, an older woman is standing in the window with a rifle in her hands. If it were not for Ringtune's frequencies, she'd have been able to take a shot sooner. It took a lot of work for her to get this rifle illegally imported into the country, now thanks to that brute (who's being dismembered by a child), she won't get to test it on a pro!
'Ringtune's dead and that kid's quirk is out of control. I'd let that bloater get hit a bit more, but it'd be bad if I lost my only business partner.' The woman looks through the scope, aiming at the child standing in front of her comrade. 'So, I'll have to put you out of your misery, kid.' There wasn't an ounce of sympathy in those words, though. She was just looking for a reason to kill.
Suddenly, her companion's position shifts again. He screams in pain as his other leg snaps, folds, and twists in on itself. He'd tried to push himself away from the girl, and somehow things only became worse.
The woman continues aiming, unbothered. Even if the kid could tear her comrade apart, there was nothing she could do about a sniper such as herself. Soon, the child will be dead, and she'll be unharmed. That is how she thought.
Once the child stood in front of her ally again, that's when she took the shot. She fired a shot that should've been aimed right at the girl's head. She'd noticed that the child looked in her direction a few times in the past, but there was always uncertainty in her eyes. This kid wouldn't know what hit her. 'You deserve some shut-ey-' The woman doesn't even finish her thought, realizing that something's wrong.
The bullet she'd shot at the child was suspended in mid-air. The girl was not looking at her, and the wind shouldn't have been enough to completely freeze a bullet in place. 'What the fuck just happened!?' Quickly, the woman stands up, gathering her rifle into her hand to move to a different position. There's no way that child pinpointed where she was so easy, there must've been a catch!
The woman runs up a single floor, stepping over the corpses she'd created to get to this position. It'd have been difficult sneaking into this building without some casualties, so she reached the higher floors and then made sure everyone was dead, that way nobody could stop her from getting into position.
She sits down again, aiming through her scope to see the situation.
The woman sees the back of her companion facing her, and there's a look of confusion at first. Her confusion is hushed once her vision goes black. '...what...?'
* * * *
"Hey," Rimi asks the man in front of her, watching the blood pour from his wounds. She couldn't help herself, she couldn't even think straight. She was so angry, she was so sad, she was so... Ugh! "Is it fun? Killing?" Rimi doesn't know herself at this point.
She'd killed many people before, but it was never a hobby. She didn't find joy in ending other people's lives. She'd try to make their deaths as painless as possible since that is the kindest thing she could do for them. She knew that one day, everyone would die. She knew that she did not have the right to take somebody's life away from them prematurely.
Despite all of her views, this man was the complete opposite. He took joy in killing and torturing children. The smile on his face meant that he would kill her if he had the chance. For some reason, he didn't have that chance. Rimi felt a familiar sensation that she hasn't felt in a long time—power.
When she towered over the men who tried to defend themselves, only to be felled by her knife, she'd felt this distinct feeling. It only surfaced during situations like this, where others had the power to fight. She was the one who stood taller than them; she was the predator and they were her prey. 'How pathetic can I be?'
A gunshot goes off, and in an instant, there is a bullet suspended in the air mere inches away from Rimi's head. The villain stares in shock, watching as the entire motion of the bullet comes to an end and the girl leans forward, taking a rock out of the ground.
"I'm sorry," Rimi speaks, not even turning in the direction of the building yet. "I won't let you shoot me." The child shakes her head, pitying the poor fool.
This was not the same child, it couldn't have been. Such a child would not be allowed to walk around freely—she was a danger! "What are you!?" The man repeats again, the last time he did not get an answer. The girl looks more annoyed now that he's repeated himself.
"Human?" Instead of declaring it, Rimi says it more as a question, "No." She shakes her head, believing this to be wrong. The voices in her mind were whispering for the first time in a long while, and they reminded her of what she was.
"I'm just a killer." There is a frown on the child's face. The man cannot see or hear what she can. He cannot hear the voices repeating their vengeful phrases in her mind. Not only had her quirk been awakened, but so had the voices that were locked away. They would not let the girl rest, they'd never let her rest, in this life or the next.
The bullet is sent forward, lounging into the villain's right eye. "You took the attendant's eye, you know?" The girl speaks nonchalantly, dragging the man with an invisible force. His back is raised toward the building, almost like he's supposed to be a human shield. It's just a coincidence.
"I don't want to be shot, though," Rimi recalls when she and Yuudai were throwing rocks at each other. She mimics his stance, rearing her arm back as far as she can with the rock in her hand.
Even after everything, the villain himself cannot help but laugh. There's no way that the girl plans to throw a rock that far! She'll never reach the marksman!
Then, Rimi throws the rock forward, and a powerful boom deafens the ears of everyone around. Wind blasts around, and before the marksman knows what happened, a rock had blown her head apart. It was a quick, painless death, for someone who hadn't wronged Rimi yet.
Though, if there were anyone alive on the upper floor of the building, they'd come to hate her.
The walls of the building cave in, glass bending, cracking, and shattering all over. A massive hole formed in the building that nearly split it in two, dust and smoke rising from its foundation as debris crumble to the ground.
Even if they aren't considering the casualties inside of the building before she threw the rock, there were bound to be many injured or killed by Rimi's throw. There was an ounce of sympathy in her eyes, but it was not enough to hinder her. They did not matter—they were not her friends or family—they were victims.
"Y-You'd kill-" Rimi's eyes silence the man before he can even ridicule her for her actions.
Rimi's body was acting on pure instinct, every memory of her past life helped her here. She was being shot at by a marksman who she had no hope of reaching. Something told her that her newfound abilities could not reach that far. She feels that her arm can't be used—it was broken by the force of the throw. It was all worth it, however, as Rimi is certain that the marksman is dead.
"You've killed children, right?" Rimi didn't need an answer from the man as she crouches down in front of him. He couldn't move anymore, she'd move him herself. "I don't know what to do, honestly, my head feels like it's splitting. The voices don't stop, I'm not myself, I want to sleep. I want mom to hug me. I want Yuudai to smile again. I want Madoka to keep her happy face." Rimi's words may mean nothing to the man, but they mean a lot to her.
Rimi's control over her ability is not of her own accord, but more like an instinct comparable to breathing. Every action she takes with her ability feels like a natural feeling as if she's moving many additional arms.
"You're worse than me, aren't you?" Was he worse than her, who was a mere serial killer? He killed for a reason, didn't he? He must've had a family somewhere... No, that'd be too hopeful. He most definitely killed for his own selfish reasons. Somehow, Rimi felt like she'd killed less than him. "You shouldn't be alive, but you are, right?"
Rimi's questions no longer held any meaning. She was talking to herself at this point, or maybe to the voices that sought her attention.
"You should die." Rimi nods in the direction of the man, and without a struggle, the man's stomach is pushed by an invisible force. He opens his mouth to protest, and he looks into the girl's eyes, pleading as his eyes start to turn red. It's too late, in the short moment that they locked eyes, the man earned no sympathy from the child.
A hole is blown through his torso, pieces of his spine and ribs shooting into the background like shrapnel. Shavings of his bone structure pierce nearby animals, as though an explosion went off. An exploding body was no joke.
A mist of blood floats into the air before the rest can rain down around them. The man gurgles, but cannot speak. His body quivers, and shakes, but cannot turn. The remainder of his innards all drop to fill the hole, allowing them to have a special display for all who watched. "You're dead." The child says with a nod, understanding that the man has now lost his life. He was still breathing, but the light in his eyes was slowly fading away until there was nothing left.
Rimi walks away from the man. His limbs were gone or broken, there was no chance of him recovering.
Instead of going in the direction of Yuudai, the girl goes in the direction of her attendant with the barrier up. 'Why are you guys standing around? Didn't you see it? What he was doing to Yuudai?'
The woman holds the infants behind her bubble, refusing to drop it, even for Rimi who slowly approaches. "Rimi..." The attendant speaks, but her voice doesn't even seem to reach the girl who's lost in her own thoughts. 'Why aren't you protecting Hana? She was crying so loudly, but you didn't do anything...'
Rimi raises her hand over her head as she looks at the crowd inside the bubble. The attendant had done everything in her power to gather all of the children, whether they were dead or alive. She wanted to protect them—it made her question—why was Rimi targeting them now?
The wind begins to build up in her small palm, spiraling enough for the air to become visible.
"Rimi!" The woman cries out again, hoping to snap the girl out of her trance. Her golden eyes were glowing, but blank. There was no sign of consciousness behind them as if the child were a puppet.
A transparent, violet mist starts to surround the child as she stands there. "You-" Rimi doesn't even finish her sentence before she stumbles. Her vision blurs, and sudden fatigue forces the wind in her hand to disperse, though that is not the only factor. The child felt tired, and before she can do anything, her consciousness fades.
Before she can hit the ground, a hand lands on Rimi's back, a woman with dark hair crouching behind her. "Safe..." The woman says with a sigh, pulling the child into her arms. The woman standing there was quite young, wearing an outfit that you could only call scandalous.
The two black pouches she had were the closest thing to a bra visible in her functionally nude form. A jacket with a high collar barely did much to conceal the rest of her body. The closest thing to pants that the girl wore was a mere belt, leaving it up to one's imagination whether she wore panties beneath.
"M-Midnight!" The attendant says out loud, seeing the young girl arrive. The trainee was not the only hero arriving. Behind her, many Pro-Heroes were arriving at the scene, awestruck by the carnage.
* * * *
When Midnight arrived, she could barely keep the food she'd last eaten inside her stomach.
The rising star, Ringtune, who'd only recently graduated from U.A. was on the ground, divided into different pieces.
Children were spread around widely, some dead, others wounded and struggling to live.
There was a building with a hole in it, slowly leaning to the side the longer that time went on. Corpses were dropping out of the building, screams coming from the survivors inside that other arriving Pro-Heroes were aiming to save.
There, off in the distance, a young student with protective goggles on watches with his eyes trained on the child in Midnight's arms.
"Did she really do all of this, Kayama?" Midnight was the first to arrive, so she should've seen what happened for the most part. Behind her, a man with pointy blonde hair approaches with a face of disbelief. "Yamada..." Midnight turns in the direction of her classmate, shaking her head.
"When I arrived, she was about to attack the daycare attendant." As per her instructions, Kayama could keep the child close, and off in the distance, Aizawa, or Eraser Head, would keep watch in case he needs to use his quirk. "The attendant and other kids should be able to explain, or we could use the camera footage—this is all just a lot to take in." Kayama could barely believe that the child she was holding was the one responsible for the defeat of that villain.
By the time the heroes arrived, they were stepping in pools of his blood with his intestines mixed in.
There were many heroes who couldn't stomach the scene, vomiting somewhere in the background. Kayama couldn't blame them. There were dead children all around them. Even Ringtune's former classmates were staring at the scene in disbelief, unable to produce a cry for their fallen friend. They didn't even know where they'd start... Would they cry at his head or start at his feet?
Suddenly, Kayama feels a pair of eyes staring at her that she could not ignore. Quickly, she turns in the direction of the gaze, and what she saw quickly made her tension disappear. "Rimi!" One of the police officers on the scene has jumped over the yellow gap that'd been spread out. "Rimi!" The man repeats as he runs over. The streaks in his hair were nearly identical to the child's, though they were far more prominent.
"Yonamine, wait!" One of the man's associates shouts, trying to dissuade him. Eventually, the man does stop, but only when he's a few feet away from Kayama. His body is trembling, his hands reaching out, as though he expected her to hand the child over to him. "M-M-My daughter...!" The man could barely contain his trembling voice, and Kayama can't help but sympathize with the man.
She gives him a smile, the best that she can muster. "Don't worry, she's just asleep. I can't give her to you now, though." Midnight reassures the man, and it seems to put his mind at ease.
He collapses to his knees, breaking down into a fit of sobs. "Thank goodness! Oh- Thank god!" The man can barely keep himself together, sniffling at the relief of his daughter's wellbeing. The same cannot be said for some of the other parents, who'd yet to discover what happened here. They soon would, as a helicopter flies overhead. This would soon be broadcasted, and parents would soon take a gamble on whether their children were among the deceased.