NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16 – The bane of one’s guilt.
'It's hard to hear. I can't see anything. I can't feel anything... But, I'm not back in the blank room.' Rimi's mind escapes into its own safe place.
She finds herself in an unusual lacuna between unconsciousness and the unknown. It is comparable to the mental space where Karma frequently harasses her for her mistakes. Only, this time she does not recognize the space in the slightest. On the outside, her body is moving, or so she hopes to believe. For some reason, she cannot retain any control over herself.
'I was at home last time I remember...' The blindness momentarily wavers, the image of the scene before she lost consciousness resurfacing in her mind.
'Ah... That's right, that woman kidnapped me. Mom's sister? I don't remember, I was too out of it.' The scene happened too fast for her to adequately recount how it happened. Infuriated and annoyed voices go through her mind, reminding her of the intense debate when the mysterious woman entered her home... 'She must be a lunatic. I doubt she'd related to Mom at all.'
* * * *
The door to her home went flying open. It hadn't been unlocked, it'd merely been broken from its hinges. Her father, Koji, was alarmed by the sudden appearance of a tall woman, someone more elevated than her own mother. The woman who entered had eyes that reflected the galaxy and purple hair that Rimi had rightfully assumed was covered in glitter.
"Do you have any manners, Katsuko?" Her mother, Kimiko, announces to the intruder who stomps across the wooden floorboards of their home. The woman wore little clothing, despite her large stature. She wore a tank top that anyone can see is too shrunken to fit. Her navel was perfectly exposed to the passing breeze, revealing her enticing shape. Her breasts did not help lower the undershirt any lower, as her cleavage nearly sprung out from the wide collar of the top. Her leggings, or yoga pants, were tightly attached to her lower half. If someone claimed that she was some sort of model, no one could say otherwise. In fact, it'd be even bolder for someone to claim that a woman of such exquisite quality was a simple prostitute!
Katsuko, the woman who'd entered their home, boldly retorts. "I don't need to give manners to you of all people, Kimi." Katsuko sneers at the end, referring to Kimiko by some sort of pet name. Uninterrupted, the intruder strides past both Koji and Kimiko until she reaches Rimi, who has her back against the wall on the far side of the room.
Towering over the child, Katsuko slants her head to the side, staring at the girl who was curled up, hugging her legs. "This is Yuuichi's killer?" Katsuko looks over her shoulder, speaking to Kimiko. Koji, the poor man, is unable to interfere with whatever personal affairs they're settling. "She's got Yoshiyuki blood running through her, alright." These words trigger a violent reaction from Kimiko.
Kimiko rises to her feet with ferocity, shouting across the room at Katsuko. "She is nothing like you!"
Katsuko is quick to respond. "So is she like you? I mean, how many people have you 'helped' while you were working with law enforcement? What happened to little Etsuko? Didn't your oldest arrest her? That's some real familial ties. I wonder where that blood she stole from you guys went. Nowhere good, I'd bet." Rimi is partially alarmed by the woman's words.
'How does she know about that...?' Within Rimi's daze of sorrow and insanity, a coherent thought is formed. 'No, more importantly, what is she talking about?' Her mind cannot recall more than one person having their blood collected by the intruder.
"Unlit Torches was something special, Kimiko. Do you know how embarrassing it was to hear that two of our strongest were both wiped out by my niece? She wasn't even in elementary school when she killed the first one!" Katsuko's words alarm Rimi, and the child's body moves on its own to retaliate.
Rimi rises from the ground, her hand searing through the air. Around her hand, the wind picks up, similarly to what she's displayed before. However, before she is able to send her hand flying through the woman's body, a sharp pain erects from her abdomen. "H...! Hhragh!"
The child collapses to the ground, paralyzed by the almost fictional pain that manifests in her body. "Your liver's just wide open, kid."
Kimiko tries to take a step forward, but Koji carefully stops her advance. His arms gently wrap around his wife, begrudgingly restraining her. "Dear," his voice trembles as she speaks, a mixture of sorrow and anger, "you know you can't fight her." Koji's actions might appear selfish at first, but even Kimiko can see the logic behind his decision.
Kimiko, who is pregnant, cannot risk the life of her unborn child, and Koji has remained the voice of reason.
Katsuko looks around the room. Her wandering eyes scan every crevice until they reach Rimi, who limply lies on the ground. "I'm going to take this one with me for a little bit." She unceremoniously announces. Crouching down, her arm wraps around Rimi's body and pulls her from the ground. The child offers no resistance; her consciousness quickly faded after the unbearable pain took a vice grip on her body.
Before Kimiko and Koji can protest, Katsuko has already sprinted past them with their child in her arms. "If you want to check up on her, call Mom!" Katsuko's parting words are not the most conventional, but they convey the message enough.
That is how Rimi found herself here, in a dark forest, well beyond her established bedtime. She was not alone with her captor either. In the distance, she spots two other associates with her captor whose appearances she couldn't make out through the thickness of the darkness around them.
"This isn't very ethical is it, Boss?" A nervous voice comes from the shorter of the two in the background. Judging by their voice, Rimi assumes that it is a young girl. 'Sounds like a teenager.' Her assumption cannot be confirmed, but if she is correct, it increases her chances of escaping once she breaks free; if such a thing is even possible.
"Quit whining. I'd bet she feels a sense of security now that she's heard you." Her captor, the tall woman in front of us, quiets the complaints of the younger person in the distance.
The kidnapper, Katsuko, leans over Rimi, who is bound to a wooden chair.
Her hands are held together by ropes and zip ties, guaranteeing that breaking loose isn't an easy task.
Shortly, the two are eye-to-eye with one another, quietly staring.
Katsuko's eyes look familiar to the child; eyes that hold no hope within them. Rimi has come to learn that within the eyes of all humans, there is some sort of shining light. Children have the brightest light of all, and they tend to become dimmer the longer that life goes on. It is identical to the light in people's eyes that symbolize their lives... the light that she's watched fade away many times.
With her immediate judgment, Rimi has a thin understanding of her current situation. Her captor has no hope left in her. She has surrendered herself to the harshness of reality. Acknowledging that she can be wrong, Rimi makes the first attempt at persuasion.
"Who are you? You know my mom, right? This isn't the best choice." Her captor only chuckles at her attempts at slithering out of this situation.
Any cracks in Katsuko's resolve would not go unnoticed by Rimi. The child has unconsciously become trained to analyze body language.
Throughout all of her analysis and words, Rimi cannot find a single crack in Katsuko's defense. The woman has completely blocked her out, despite responding to her words. There isn't the slightest response other than the faint chuckle that she let out. Only after allowing Rimi to stare in confusion for a few minutes does Katsuko take the opportunity to speak to the child.
"To answer your first question, I'm Katsuko. You can call me Auntie if you want." Rimi could've sworn some kind of sludge was caught in her throat after she heard the woman's words.
Boldly, her captor has claimed that she is her aunt, a relative; the sister of either her mother or father. While this so-called aunt's eyes are similar to Kimiko's, Rimi finds it difficult to believe that someone who'd break into her own sister's home and kidnap her daughter could be related to her.
Katsuko holds no care for her appearance, the way that she's dressing is easily classified as scandalous; perfect for a seductress.
"You've gotta be kidding me." There is the slightest disbelief in Rimi's voice. She believed that this woman must have been joking, she appeared to be a trickster judging by how she speaks and presents herself.
"Ha!" The woman laughs at Rimi's disbelief. "Believe it or not, I'd never joke about family. That's one thing you need to learn. Just like how you'd kill for your loved ones, right?" An ache spreads in Rimi's chest, a feeling of guilt pricking at her heart. Once again, the consequences of taking a life tear at her mercilessly at the slightest mention of her sins.
"Yes," Katsuko leans in, closing the gap between the two. Their eyes lock, granting Rimi access to the insanity that lies within those hopeless eyes. The celestial eyes that this woman shared with her mother held stars more crimson than any she's seen before. From the distance, they'd appear white; beautiful on a canvas. The blood-colored stars in her eyes create an eerie atmosphere around her once you've finally noticed them. "It's in our blood—the Yoshiyuki blood—which has continued to grow."
"You've never met your grandma, have you?" Katsuko asks; although the question is needless. The confusion that's furthered its growth on Rimi's face speaks for her. She is clueless. "Of course, you haven't. I've never seen you in person until now. You haven't a clue how terrifying that woman can be. Did you know that none of her children can use their quirks against her? Isn't that ridiculous?"
Rimi hardly followed the conversation, too much information being thrown out for her to know how to respond. She can only ponder on what her grandmother has to do with any of this. As far as she's concerned, Katsuko is spouting nonsense.
Even after she's concluded that Katsuko's words are meaningless, she still feels anxious. Not just from the mention of her sins, but also from the mention of a name that she didn't recognize. "Yoshiyuki?" Rimi finally speaks up, asking the question that's been irking her conscience.
"Yep, Yoshiyuki!" Katsuko reiterates. "We're a family of monsters if you didn't know. I bet you've heard someone mention your grandma every once in a while, right?"
On several occasions, Rimi recalls hearing people speak ill about her grandmother. She nods her head. Reluctantly, she nods. "I have."
Katsuko continues her explanation. "The Yoshiyuki Family is generally known for our Emitter Quirks. What's rarely spoken about are the mutations that we're born with which cause our bodies to develop much faster than normal. We don't necessarily age faster than average, but physically..." The woman chuckles as she recounts the details that were given to her as a child.
"You're not going to finish?" Annoyed, Rimi presses the woman further. She'd just stopped explaining to chuckle about something that she didn't know about.
Instead of getting the response that she'd hoped for, Rimi was struck with something far more surprising.
"How many people have you killed?" Such a random question isn't what you'd expect a sane individual to ask you. Katsuko is by no means sane. She holds no concern for Rimi's emotions or personal feelings; this much has become dangerously clear to the child.
Rimi's next set of words is caught in her throat, she cannot formulate a sentence. Her mind cannot think of words that can describe her actions or alleviate the stress that she feels building in her core. "W... Who? No..." Responding with stiff lips, Rimi's answer does little to calm Katsuko down. Her face shows more clear signs of annoyance than ever before.
A smack erupts through the forest. "Christ, this can't be the little killer I saw." Redness grows on the side of Rimi's face, a restless burn rising on her flesh. Katsuko slapped her across the face, leaving her dazed.
She cannot say that she wasn't deserving of this vicious treatment. Even accounting for her lack of an answer, Rimi has taken the lives of many innocent, undeserving people in her pursuit of a happy life. At just the age of 2, she'd caused the death of dozens within the building across from her daycare. A mistake that stemmed from her carelessly using her Quirk.
"I don't care how guilty you feel about what you've done. You're as bad as the rest of us. It's in your blood to be a killer." Apathetic, Katsuko rains harsh words down on the child. It's as if she was capable of reading Rimi's thoughts—or the child was just too easy to read altogether.
"Ramifications? Do you even think those exist for people like us? The strong can go unchecked as long as they're stronger than the forces of justice." Katsuko no longer waits to hear any sort of rebuttal or answer from the child. Her speech continues.
"In the real world, the strong can do whatever they desire. Someone like you will be strong enough to overthrow a country once you're old enough. Your mother could get anything she wants with just the slightest touch."
"Your old man..." Katsuko laughs. "Nevermind about him, he's weak, yeah." Koji has unfortunately never faced any respect outside of his occupation.
"Then, you've got the heroes like All Might, the man who stands at the top of the world. His power is nearly unmatched: The Symbol of Peace."
All Might's mere presence has proven to be enough to keep villains under control. They wouldn't dare surface if they knew he was around. His existence has placed an abeyance on crime. That isn't to say that there aren't even greater heroes lurking around every corner.
Ringtune was a fine hero when he was alive. He fell victim to a group of villains, a group that Yuuichi Yokota was associated with. Judging based only on assumptions and the words that she's heard used, Katsuko also has some kind of relationship with that group; Unlit Torches.
"I saw what you tried doing back then too, squirt." Rimi flinches when Katsuko uses her hand to squeeze her head, grinning wickedly. "You tried to cleave All Might apart out of pure instinct, didn't you?"
The child shudders. In her fit of fickleness, Rimi made an attempt at testing her power on All Might. She tried to chop the hero apart with subtle gusts of wind, only for him to continue with his steps completely unbothered. He had not even taken notice of her actions. She doesn't know what led to her attempting this, but it'd happened nonetheless. She'd tried to tear the Symbol of Peace from the world.
"I'd bet after killing so many people, you thought that it'd be reasonable to kill someone again." Katsuko's words were spot on, and she knew it. Her expression was euphoric; every twist and contortion of Rimi's face told her that she was getting closer and closer to cracking the egg.
"You abhor the consequences of your actions as soon as they affect your family. Jumping straight into the action, you'll kill so many people that your hands are caked in blood, you won't even be able to see your digits through that thick layer of intestines." Katsuko's disgusting description furthers the bane of Rimi's guilt. The child truly did believe that it was necessary to kill to maintain peace. In her fit of selfishness, she was willing to kill as many people as she needed to, just so that she would not feel the same amount of loss as her victims.
The feeling of remorse from her killings has never been enough to bring back the dead.
Nightmares have never compared to the burden that the families of her victims have felt from their deaths; something that cannot be undone.
Even if she spent the rest of her life apologizing, she could never atone for the crimes she'd committed.
"Pfft!" Katsuko's cheeks puff up when she sees the look of horror gradually twist onto her niece's face. It is just as humorous and endearing as she'd predicted. "I can't say I blame you, really. You're a sweet, innocent thing for the most part, aren't you? I mean, they say that children are innocent." Katsuko peeks over her shoulder at the two accompanying her in the shadows before, then turns back to look at Rimi. "An eye-rolling notion."
Closing the distance between their faces, Katsuko can feel the increasing strokes of air that Rimi rapidly released grazing against her skin. "Now that we've got a better understanding of each other, I'd like to ask you one last time."
They understood each other more than ever before. Katsuko understands that Rimi is a selfish child who is capable of killing; it didn't matter if it was right or wrong.
Rimi also understands that Katsuko is far more intelligent and calculative than her—it was like she could read minds.
"How many people have you killed?" The question strokes her eardrums again, threatening to peel them apart while tunneling in for the cords of her heart. It's an inquisitive question with an obvious answer to it: "More than you can count." Katsuko did not want Rimi to answer, she did it herself. It was already too obvious how the child's mind worked. Rimi would not be able to process the number of lives she's taken because she never kept track of her casualties in the first place.
The streak of brain-picking comes to a pause when the last figure in the distance voices his opinion. "I do believe that's enough, Yoshiyuki."
If Rimi were in a sane state of mind, she might've taken note of how two things. How familiar the man's voice was, and how he and Katsuko must not have been on a first-name basis. Paralyzed by the dour thoughts of her previous crimes, Rimi finds it hard to think correctly.
This is a consequence that's weighed on her shoulders for a long time now. It's nothing new; only something that she was able to suppress with hopeful thoughts. Now, there is little room for wishful thinking after her fight with Yuuichi.
She'd killed her best friend's father.
She'd attempted to kill the Symbol of Peace, All Might: an imperative character to the world.
Marble and Pearl, her beloved pets, were dead—killed in the most grotesque fashion.
"Aw, Mr. Pinnley. You've decided to join us?" Katsuko speaks sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
His name pulls Rimi from her stupor. "...Pinnley?" Pinnley is the name of the old man who she'd seen joining her in the fight against Yuuichi. He is also the same old man who came to rescue her at the zoo and successfully saved countless lives by efficiently dismantling the hordes of amalgamations generated by the villain.
Kindly, the old man speaks. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Yonamine. I'm sorry that we had to meet on such unfavorable terms once again."
When Pinnley steps forward, he holds another cane in his hand. This cane was far more extravagant than the one he'd been carrying around prior. Rather than a somewhat plastic-like appearance, it looked like it was coated in luxury steel and gold, enlightened by the prestigious decor with his name carved into every adornment.
"I hope you can forgive your aunt's roughness. It's become like second nature to her, I presume." Pinnley and Katsuko momentarily glare at one another when he passes her. It isn't a secret that she does not appreciate the insult that he's thrown at her, but she is not able to protest at all. She knows that even if she wanted to, she couldn't lay a hand on this veteran.
"Rest assured, beyond the unnecessary violence, you are safe. I've informed your mother about where I'll be taking you. It was just in my best interest to have Ms. Yoshiyuki here retrieve you, since you two are related by blood." Rimi cannot help but feel insulted by the man's words. This woman broke into her home, assaulted her, and then tied her to a chair and slapped her. For Pinnley to behave as if this weren't a big deal is nothing short of disrespectful.
"Consider it payment for the cane that you used for a monolith." If she could, Rimi would fall out of her seat at the pettiness of the man.
"You kidnapped me so that you could get revenge for your cane?" Questions the child, pondering what could lead this man to kidnap a 7-year-old girl.
Pinnley shakes his head. "I didn't kidnap you, little one. The means that you were transported here were not what I had in mind at all. However, I do believe you deserve to know why I took you."
"You're dangerous, my dear. You're a danger to not only yourself but the world around you. Your emotions and your quirk can cause catastrophic damage, just like you've witnessed firsthand. You, more than anyone else, should know how powerful you truly are."
'I can't say I'm clueless. I broke a few of my bones using my quirk on myself when I was younger. I even tore down that building...' Rimi cannot disagree with Pinnley's comments. Her ability is undoubtedly both powerful and dangerous.
Pinnley continues, "I've decided to take you under my wing and personally train you to use your ability."
Rimi searched for reasons to be skeptical. This man is responsible for her kidnapping, even if he didn't know that it'd happen. Furthermore, he is associated with this woman claiming to be her aunt...
Her suspicions are warranted. Nevertheless, Pinnley could've already harmed her by now. She's technically vulnerable, even taking her quirk into account. The last time she tried to use it, Katsuko struck her down before she managed to attack the woman. Rimi has never had her ability stopped like that, not even in her fight with Yuuichi. She was certainly slower and weaker than him, but her showcasing proved that she was easily a better fighter than the man who only struck out wildly and mostly unorganized attacks.
"Why should I trust you? You're not trustworthy." Letting her bluntness slip again, Rimi cannot hide her true feelings about the man. Even if he hadn't killed her, that didn't mean that she could trust him. In Rimi's mind, Pinnley could easily be aiming to get something from her like an item from her home, or her family's secrets... whatever those might be.
Pinnley, unable to present a fair case, agrees with the child. "Yes, I can't be trusted." Rimi didn't expect the man to be so open about it. "However, I don't think you have a choice but to come with me now, do you? You'll either accompany me, or I'll have no choice but to leave you with Ms. Yoshiyuki here." Pointing his thumb over his shoulder, Pinnley is conscious of the obvious answer.
The aggressive captor or the kind-hearted butler?
He didn't have to say it out loud for Rimi to get the point.
