NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: You, who murdered in cold blood.
Rimi finds herself in a dark space, vast without an end. There are two chairs, across from each other, and that is all. Besides the wooden chairs, in what she assumes is the center of the space, it is barren.
"I take it I'm supposed to sit there?" Rimi speaks to the void, only to gain no response. The girl shakes her head.
Her body is bigger than before. She cannot see herself, but she is aware of her featureless appearance. Her body is shining white, with bits of static within that added a texture—otherwise, she was a white humanoid. She could make out hair over her shoulder, but barely enough. Her body is small, she could tell by the way she barely stood taller than the chair. The height matched her former, 11-year-old, appearance.
"I guess I don't deserve to amuse myself," the girl says, her attempt at roughly joking failing.
Rimi takes a seat in one of the chairs, and she just sits there. Time goes by, and nothing changes. The space remains empty, besides the vacant chair in front of her.
That is until she hears the sound of screaming—enraged screaming—forming in the distance. The voices that she'd neglected were growing closer, more clear. For once, she can make out what they were saying, unlike when they spoke in unison.
"My daughter! How could you do this to my daughter!?" The last words of a single mother. She'd slit her daughter's throat in front of her before plunging a knife through her eyes.
"Why did you do this to me!? What did I do wrong!? What did I do to you!?" The voice of a man who she hang from a tree outside of city hall. He attempted to use his position in politics to unveil her father's wrongdoings. Her father personally requested that he suffer before he dies.
"Please! Please stop! He's had enough, just spare him! He was drunk, I'm begging you-!" The voice is cut off, but Rimi recognizes the voice of a crying wife. Rimi beat the man to death with her fists during an interrogation. She did not get anything from him; not an ounce of information. In the end, she merely snapped the wife's neck. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"You thought you were 'merciful', didn't you? Because you gave people a 'painless' death, or 'as painless as possible', right?" A voice appears much closer, and Rimi looks up at the seat in front of herself. It is no longer vacant, now, a figure that matched her appearance—with the exception of their color being red—sat before her.
Rimi is silent as she takes in the person's words. Was she truly merciful, or was that something she told herself? "What does it matter?" The child defensively retorts. The crimson humanoid across from her just laughs, delighted by Rimi's response.
The humanoid continues, the feminine voice doing nothing to hide the condescendence in their tone.
"You tortured men, women, and children alike. You watched as many begged for mercy, watching as you ended their loved ones in front of their eyes. At times, you indulged in the most torturous methods of murder; you allowed some to burn to death. Others bled or froze to death—fuck, you really were a monster in human form."
Rimi is silent once again. Even if she hoped to deny the humanoid's words, they were true. Rimi thought of herself as merciful because she provided people with the most painless deaths she could. Defying her mother and father was not an option—she had no choice.
"Just now, you were thinking that you didn't have a choice, right?" As if they'd been reading Rimi's thoughts, the crimson humanoid spoke and startled the girl. "You may be right. You might've actually had no choice and were forced to murder so many innocent people, with no retribution."
Rimi opens her mouth to say something, but the intense wave of pressure that pushes her back against her seat silences her. "But now, after everything you've done, you think you can live a just life? That you don't deserve to experience the same pain as your victims?" The humanoid leans in, and the gap between them feels like it's disappeared as if the figure is right in Rimi's face.
"You're hilarious, killer. You're a damn comedian!" The humanoid claps their hands together, applauding Rimi for her foolishness.
"No, your friends and family will all pay the price for what you've done. Even if you're willing to take the brunt of everything, your family will never be exempt. It'll be you who kills them too, I'll make sure of it." These words seem to strike Rimi heavily.
"Who are you?" Rimi asks, the immature tone in her voice shifting to a former, nostalgic cold one. The voice of a cold-blooded killer that she'd left behind, now seeping out during this discussion.
The crimson humanoid raises a hand to their chin, crossing their legs in an act of feigning deep thought. "I'm the culmination of your sins. The combined existence of every victim you've ever slain. Your karma. Yeah, that's a good one: I'm Karma."
"That ability, the 'quirk' you unlocked, it's strong. The more you use it, the more I'll assault your mind, body, and soul. Even if you're using it to save a life, even if you're using it to 'redeem' your past crimes; I will keep consuming you until you can no longer control yourself, just like before. Just like when you nearly murdered that woman and those innocent children, just like you murdered a few dozen in the building you knocked down."
Rimi is silent again, unable to think of anything to say. What can she say: 'Please, forgive this cold-hearted villain'? In her mind, she'd ignored the cries of innocents, thus she had no right to beg for anything here. Instead, she asks a question.
"Is there any way to make what I did right...?" Rimi is not hopeful, but for the longest time, she's subconsciously wished for a way to right her wrongs. The countless sins she'd committed could still be rectified, she thought.
Karma bursts into a fit of laughter, barely keeping themself in their seat. Their hand slaps violently against their knee, creating a shockwave that spread through the room with just as much liveliness. "Y-You...! Pahaha!" Karma tries to speak, but that feminine, high-pitched laugh does not subside for what feels like hours.
"Haaa..." They catch their breath, lifting a hand to swipe invisible tears from their face. "You want to make things right?" They ask, needing to confirm that their ears were working. In their eyes, Rimi asking the question again would be just as funny as the first time!
Reaffirming the humanoid's beliefs, Rimi nods her head, yes. "So you're serious? Then I'll tell you." Karma leans in again, tilting their head sideward to gain access to Rimi's ear as the distance between the two clearly closes this time.
"If you want to make things right, then die. Kill yourself, or be killed." Karma's shape changes before Rimi's eyes. Now, the humanoid figure becomes much more feminine but still remains crimson. This time, Karma seems much taller, more 'perfect', like the silhouette of a model. Rimi can make out a grin of sharp white teeth aligning Karma's mouth. They—she was smiling.
Rimi would be lying if she didn't consider it. If she told you that she didn't have the thoughts of ending her own life to make up for her sins, she'd be lying. But, her family remains the pillar that keeps her standing.
Somehow, though, when faced with the proposition for the first time, Rimi feels compelled to follow through with it. Originally, it was just a thought in her mind, but now she was 'directly' told to end her own life to atone for her malfeasance.
For the last time, everything goes silent before Karma speaks up. "You're a disappointment. Whatever, if you don't kill yourself, I'll just slowly creep up and take control of you again. I'll make you kill your loved ones and those around you," Karma raises to her feet, the black space around the two slowly twisting and warping, allowing whiteness to blend into newly-birthed cracks. "and then you'll have no choice but to kill yourself."
Rimi attempts to stand as well, but before she can, her vision fades fast.
For once, Rimi was truly startled and unsure of what to say. It is because even with her past life taken into consideration, it was the child's first time ever truly being confronted about her misdeeds—her first time being told how much she'd hurt others.
The child only made assumptions, baseless assumptions that she assumed were true because she could never openly tell someone that she was a murderer.
With her resolve crumbling, Rimi knew one thing: her assumption was wrong.
The chatter in the hospital is unmatched, countless parents have stormed into the building after hearing about the events at the daycare. Other worried family members hurried when they discovered that there was an incident in the building across from that daycare.
Law enforcement was quick to confirm whether a 1-year-old child, Rimi Yonamine, was responsible for the deaths in the building across. As it turns out, a villain, 'Hitmiss', was the one responsible for countless deaths in the building, as seen by the remaining footage. However, due to the attack used by Yonamine, it's confirmed that a few dozen perished.
As a child, they could not imprison the girl or truly punish her. Thus, they kept the fact that it was her anonymous and awaited her quirk's evaluation.
The only people that knew were her family, who gathered around the child's bed.
Across the room from them, a doctor sat in the corner nervously. The aura the family emitted collectively was horrifying, like predators who'd pounce on their prey as soon as they saw an unwanted response.
Clearing his through, the doctor finally speaks. "Firstly, thank you for comin-" He is cut off by the glare of the tall woman standing beside the child. He'd noticed it when they'd entered, but the woman is taller than her husband, which makes her even more intimidating when he remembers who she is.
Skipping past the introductions, the doctor quickly explains. "Your daughter's quirk manifested due to the trauma of the situation. We've seen through the footage, that she was kicked in the head, which may have caused considerable damage to her brain and psyche. We're having difficulties pinning a nail on her quirk, but we have examples of how it was used."
The doctor flips the paper on the clipboard in his lap. "First, she seems to be able to control winds at an alarming scale. She created a barrier around herself that was potent enough to block a bullet."
"Though, thanks to Mr. Yonamine's quirk, we have a rough idea that your daughter's quirk isn't related to wind at all—but something similar to trajectory. She unconsciously shielded herself from the concussive wave that came after a rock was thrown so fast that it broke the sound barrier only a few feet in front of her."
"For this reason, though it is farfetched, we believe that her quirk may be-" The man doesn't get to finish before Kimiko chimes in.
"Vectors." The woman says, confident in her answer. The doctor looks surprised but nods.
"Yes, precisely. Though, now we'll delve into the problem at hand—the insanity that comes from her using her quirk." Everyone around the room seems to look surprised, except for Kimiko. She looks more disheartened than surprised.
"After unlocking her quirk, Rimi's personality took a complete turn. Rather than a 1-year-old child, she behaved like a calculated killer. She tortured the villain by wringing his limbs, severing his arm, and even lodging a bullet in his eye. In the end, she blasted a hole through him and let him die slowly, however, we cannot say for certain that the last part was intentional."
Koji shudders after hearing about the actions of his daughter. At the same time, he'd covered Madoka's ears. With everything happening, they didn't have time to shield their oldest from the gruesome descriptions of violence.
"According to witnesses and you, yourselves, she has always been smarter than other children her age, capable of speech. Her capabilities doubled. She spoke full sentences, though still broken, the words that came out were incohesive. The attendant couldn't make out what she was saying exactly, but it appears that the attacker heard her fine and reacted in many different ways. I'm not a police officer, so I won't go further into this topic."
Koji speaks up, "So what do you recommend that we do about her quirk? If using it will cause her to go insane, do we have to restrict our daughter from using her newfound gift?" Koji did not like the idea of stopping his daughter from using an ability he can imagine her being excited to have.
"Of course not, we are recommending that you begin to train your daughter's psyche at a young age. Right now, she is impressionable. She is young, and it's good that she developed it now instead of later. It is thanks to the presence of you, Mrs. Yonamine, that I believe we can help teach your daughter to stop the side effects of her quirk, or at least lessen them. As things are now, she will not be able to use her quirk without hurting those around her. You happen to be the only person in this room who can handle this child's rampage."
Kimiko didn't retort, because the doctor's words were true. If she were present at the scene, even without the rising star, she likely could've stopped the villain, 'Man-Balloon', from hurting the kids. There was nothing she could've done against the marksman, though.
The woman nods in the direction of the doctor, "I won't use my quirk on my daughter, but I will try my best to get her quirk under control. It's standard for children her age anyways, isn't it? Every child has to learn how to manage their quirk somehow."
She wasn't wrong, but the real problem came in the form of how she'd teach this child to not give into her insanity at a young age. 'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I need to pray that my child wakes up in the meantime.' It's been 3 days since the event happened.
Even Yuudai, who'd been beaten to a pulp, managed to wake up yesterday. The poor boy's quirk barely managed to assist in the healing process. His adaptation is the only reason that he survived, so it will be a long time before he can even think about moving his arms or legs.
* * * *
After a few hours, Kimiko is in the room alone. Koji opted to take Madoka back home.
Rimi's been in a deep sleep for too long, the woman was growing nervous. She wanted to use her quirk to wake her child up, but she was scared. It took her a long time to get comfortable using her quirk on Madoka to alleviate her pain. 'It'd be better if I just let her recover naturally as a child should.' Kimiko nods, deciding that her quirk was unnecessary.
There was no need for her to alter her child's mind. When Rimi was ready, she'd wake up.
Looking down at the child, Kimiko notices her body shaking, almost like she's cowering. "Rimi?" The woman calls out as the shaking turns into squirming. Quickly, Kimiko pulls a seat beside the hospital bed. She sits down in it, getting closer to her child. "Rimi!?" Her voice sounds more concerned this time.
Before Kimiko knew it, tears were streaming down her child's face. Her mouth was slowly growing agape, drawing in sharp breaths.
The woman thought back to a year ago, on the night that their home was broken into. Rimi had cried louder than ever before on that night from a nightmare. It was so bad that Kimiko feared Rimi would hurt her own throat. This scene, though Rimi is now bigger, is very similar to that one.
Gently, Kimiko takes her daughter's hand and presses her forehead against the child's. She doesn't say anything, but instead, she just holds the girl.
Her squirming and trembling continued for a few minutes, but soon enough, the child calms down. Slowly but surely, she returns to her peaceful rest.
'Even if the world were to stand against you, Rimi, your mother will always stay by your side.' The woman thought, not even realizing that she'd whispered it to the resting infant. Her words were enough to bring a smile onto the child's face, and at times like these, it reminded her just how young her daughter really was. Her daughter who hadn't even enrolled in school; the daughter who hadn't done her first math problem...
Kimiko looks at her daughter and smiles back. 'If it means that you'll continue smiling, Rimi, your mother will never leave your side.'
In the room across from Rimi's, Hiroko sat beside Yuudai's bed, watching as her son helplessly rested in bed. His body was bandaged greatly, so much so that if he woke up, he wouldn't be able to move.
Hiroko lifts her head up when the door clicks open, and Kimiko enters the room, her purse over her shoulder.
Neither say anything to the other, but, Kimiko steps beside the woman and places a hand on her shoulder. Kimiko gently caresses Hiroko's shoulder, attempting to comfort her.
After half an hour, Hiroko breaks the silence. "How's Rimi?" The woman asks without turning her eyes away from her son.
"Better, but still not awake yet," Kimiko answers, but unlike how one would expect, she didn't frown this time. She was happy that her daughter was alive, and that was enough for her. "I'll need to help her properly when she wakes up."
Kimiko was relieved that her daughter wouldn't be branded as a criminal or a monster before she even had a chance to mature. She'd never let them take her daughter away, not when she can do something.
"You know, I saw the footage as well. The girl that was with those two, the one with the radio head? They barely managed to save her life. The villain completely crushed her transformation state, now they're doing surgery on her. They don't think she'll be able to fully recover from it." What Hana experienced was the same thing as having a chunk of your skull crushed. Her real skull suffered major damage, and the only way her transformation will recover is if her head manages to heal.
"Poor girl, but it isn't just her. There are many parents whose children were killed in that attack." Kimiko shakes her head. The fact that dozens of other parents lost their children is the reason that she's grateful.
"Have you heard from your husband?" Kimiko asks the woman, only to see her shake her head, disappointed. "He's always busy with his work. Maybe it's because he's so young, but Yuudai doesn't even realize how rarely he sees his own father. Maybe twice a year, for the few days he's here... I don't even know what he does anymore."
Kimiko knew that Hiroko's husband wasn't around much after Yuudai was born, but she didn't know it was that bad. She'd only met her husband once in the past year, and there was something about him that made her dislike him. It was an odd instinct, to immediately resort to hating someone the moment you see them, but that's just how she felt.
"I'm sure he'll visit. Even if he's busy with work, a father will always make time for his son." Kimiko tries to give the woman hope, but it's probably hopeless. Hiroko knows her husband far better than Kimiko does. Her husband will not be coming.
Somewhere in Tokyo, a man stood in an alleyway with a mask on his face. He sighs as many vicious creatures walk past him, approaching the pile of corpses that are stacked up in the alley; a buffet for animals.
The man looks down at his phone, the light from the screen making his unordinary, black-striped mask visible in the darkness.
[LoveOfMyLife: Please, Yuuichi, just come see your son. I know you're busy with work, I know you'll make up an excuse. Just... Please. Yuudai needs us together.]
He stares at the screen for a bit before sighing. Slipping his phone into his jacket's pocket, the man turns in the direction of the last, living person in the alleyway. "Yeah, sorry. I'll need to cut this interrogation short, man. My wife keeps nagging me about my little monster, I've got to go visit them."
The man he spoke to was cowering against the wall of the alley, too terrified to even speak. His entire group, his gang of thugs, was wiped out as soon as this man took one step into the alley.
Above the man, a creature began to make itself known on the roof. Crimson eyes beam through the darkness in the alley, and the man on the ground tries to gather strength in his legs to move.
He isn't able to move fast enough, and the creature moves in a blur, eviscerating his body quickly.
Yuuichi leaves the creatures to their feast in the alleyway, turning into an empty street, located in the 'slums' of the city.
"I can't believe that fatass made a move so quickly, and on my son too? How un-fucking-lucky." Yuuichi rants, running a hand through his hair in annoyance. How could his own ally brutalize his son like that? Well, he couldn't ask now anyway, since the man was dead. He was killed by the daughter of that woman as well.
"Now the clock is really ticking. He won't stand by idly now that those idiots acted so recklessly." Yuuichi didn't even need to say the man's name.
With the sudden rise in villain activity, presumably, all connected to the same group, that man will make his appearance to cleanse the darkness as he always has.
All Might.