Chapter Text
Inko Akatani thought he was fine.
Large, muscular, prideful (almost arrogant). Loud, if not a bit short-tempered.
Overall, Inko kind of liked him, and wanted to get to know him more.
They had a few drinks, and talked for a while. The man bought her a few more, and she drank to keep the night going. The two ended up talking the night away, and Inko was enthralled by their long conversation.
Feeling a little bit daring, she brought him back home.
Later on that night, in her apartment, the two drunk adults had sex.
Inko woke up the next day, naked in bed, with the man from last night, Haruto, lying in bed next to her.
The sunlight filtered through the window and into her room, covering her and the man next to her in bright light on the large, comfortable bed.
Her head throbbed with a painful hangover, and her lower half ached from last night’s activities. She spent the better half of the next few hours lying in bed, trying to regain feeling in her legs.
Finally, she was able to stand on her feet, albeit shakily. Clumsily, she stumbled over to the bathroom to get a few pills for her hangover, swallowing them, and then going to take a shower while sitting on a stool.
She freshened herself up, then went into the bedroom to get a few fresh clothes, passing by the still knocked out Haruto, who was snoring loudly in bed, his short blonde hair a mess.
She saw him drool onto her pillow, and grimaced, before mechanically walking over to her closet and picking out a few clothes for work.
Just because she felt like shit doesn’t mean she can skip her shift, no matter how tempting it seemed. She’d just have to hide her... predicament from everyone, not that they paid her much attention at work anyways.
As she put on some perfume to mask the smell of sex, she turned around to look at the snoring oaf on her bed. She sighed, wondering what she was going to do with him.
Should she wake him up? Or should she just leave him be? She was already late as it was, and she really shouldn’t give her boss a reason to fire her.
Ultimately, she sighed, deciding that the least she could do was wake him up and tell him to leave. She walked over to the man, poking his cheek slightly to rouse him awake.
Haruto snorted in his sleep, pulling away from the mysterious disturbance. Inko, however, did not let up. “Hey, you need to wake up,” she whispered softly.
Haruto groaned, shutting his eyes tightly, trying to go back to sleep. “What?” He growled roughly, irritated by her attempts to wake him.
Inko huffed. “You need to wake up is what. I’m leaving for work now, and I expect you to be gone by then.”
Haruto grumbled something incoherent in response, and Inko decided to leave it at that.
Before she left, however, she grabbed some of Haruto’s discarded clothes and put them in the dryer, if only to be polite, even if it hurt her to walk.
She grabbed her car keys and walked out of her apartment, wincing as she went down the stairs and to her car, ignoring the logical voice in her head that told her driving right after having sex and recovering from a hangover was not the best idea.
Luckily, she made it to work without incident, apologizing to her boss as she stumbled past him. She sat down in her cubicle, and got to work, filing reports and punching in numbers, checking spreadsheets and talking with her fellow co-workers.
The usual day at work.
Until lunch, that is.
She slowly stood up, holding onto her desk for support as her legs trembled. She stood up fully, and unnaturally walked to the vending machines to buy something. She reached for her purse, only to pause.
She forgot it at home.
Groaning internally, she walked back to her desk in the same awkward manner as she had left it, ignoring the confused and suspicious looks she got. She sat down silently, and leaned back in her chair.
Not wanting to spend the rest of her lunch bored out of her mind, she opened her phone and began browsing through her socials, liking posts from any of her friends and smiling at any pictures of cute animals from the accounts she followed.
Suddenly, she scrolled past an article that caught her interest.
Shiketsu Hero Intern Found Dead After Rampaging Villain Attack!
It was a relatively recent article, from around a month ago. Hesitantly, she clicked on the article.
Musutafu Daily:
Shiketsu High student Suru Shimasu, AKA Catch n’ Release, found dead in the aftermath of a devastating villain attack.
The tragic incident occurred on July 12th, when, in the middle of broad daylight in Fujinoyima, eyewitnesses reported seeing a large villain covered in what was described as “huge, red muscles” barreling through Yakana Avenue at dangerously high speeds, chasing what was seemingly a nondescript vehicle.
The young hero student was on patrol in that area, when she received the call of a runaway villain near her coordinates. The police, however, failed to offer specifics as to who exactly the villain was and what they were capable of, which would ultimately lead to the young woman’s tragic passing.
The Hero-in-Training arrived at the scene and attempted to apprehend the villain with her quirk, but failed to do so. Her attempt, however, captured the villain’s attention, and an all out battle ensued.
Suru Shimasu, age 16, passed away in the most noble and most honorable way. Against a villain that far outclassed her in strength, speed, and, most importantly, experience, she fought valiantly, with more heart than even most Pro’s do nowadays. By keeping the villain’s attention solely on her, she halted his chasing after his goal, and stopped him from rampaging somewhere else, preventing dozens of civilian casualties.
Shortly after the battle, her body was found buried underneath the rubble, and all of Japan mourned.
Unfortunately, the villain was not apprehended, fleeing shortly after he took the life of the young heroine. In honor of her memory and great sacrifice, the Mayor of Fujinoyima, Odu Tadahide, called for the construction and placement of a statue in her image in the heart of the city.
According to Tadahide, “It is the absolute least we can do for someone who fought so bravely, and helped this city to the best of her abilities by giving it all she had, with every ounce of willpower, wit, and courage that I think puts many Pro’s to shame. I sincerely hope that she will be remembered not as a student who died helplessly, but as a heroine who sacrificed her life against a dangerous villain, for the sake of this city. We, and I trust everyone else across the country as well, will do everything in our power to apprehend this savage monster, who took such a wonderful, kind, and brave soul from the world.”
Furthermore, Shiketsu High School held a school-wide mourning for Shimasu, and promised to use her as an example for what all students of their school should strive to be. A true textbook hero.
A public mourning will be held on the 31st of this month, with Shimasu’s own family and the mayor himself attending.
Inko had a hand on her mouth, deeply affected and saddened by the news. She had heard about a new statue being constructed somewhere in Fujinoyima, but she had no idea what it was about or who it was for, nor that it was something so sentimental...
Inko noticed there was more to the article, and continued reading.
Fortunately, media outlets were given express permission from the authorities to show the police sketch of the villain, in order to maximize the chances of his capture.
If you see this man, do NOT engage, and instead report to the nearest Hero and/or police officer. This is a highly dangerous and capable individual, so the police in your area advise you once again to NOT engage with this suspect.
Inko scrolled down, and clicked on a link to the sketch.
She choked on the air.
She almost dropped her phone in pure shock.
Staring back at her, was the grinning form of a man.
That smile practically radiated mania and bloodlust, and Inko felt shivers travel up her spine. But what made her heart stop was the rest of the man’s face.
Short hair colored a pale yellow.
Blood-red irises, and a sharp nose.
The face was too familiar.
Too unmistakable.
It was Haruto.
Inko felt her stomach churn, and she suddenly felt... filthy.
She... she had sex with a murderer.
She let him... touch her.
She let him play with her.
Suddenly, she could feel his hands. Grabbing her, caressing her, toying with her.
Suffocating her.
She rushed to the bathroom, ignoring the looks of concern directed at her as she stumbled through the door, and into a random empty stall. This time, however her janky movements were not just because of her aching legs.
She hastily shut the stall door behind her, fumbling with the lock and not bothering to check if there was anyone else present in the room. She fell to her knees, retched, and vomited into the toilet.
The bile stung the back of her throat as she panted, trying to clear her mind, trying to think logically.
But all she could feel were his rough hands all over her. Exploring her every crevice, violating her, whispering dirty, disgusting words in her ear as he-
She vomited again.
Oh god, what had she done?
Why on earth did she get drunk that night?
Why did she ever think having sex with a man she knew nothing about was a good idea?
Oh god, were they safe? Were they protected?!
She retched yet again.
Sweat dripped from her forehead as she moved away from the toilet, leaning against the wall.
She stayed there for a few minutes, feeling her heart hammer painfully against her ribcage. Her heartbeat was the only thing she could hear, blood pounding in her ears as she closed her eyes. She took took shaky, deep, rhythmic breaths, trying to imagine her mind slowly unscrambling itself.
Finally, she had calmed down enough to try and think about her current situation rationally.
Last night, she had sex with a wanted murder.
Is that terrifying? Yes.
Was she lucky to be alive? Definitely.
She only now realized just how big of a risk jostling him awake was. If he had taken that as a threat then he would have...
She stopped that train of thought before she threw up again.
She still didn’t know if they were protected. She didn’t remember taking any pills, and she doesn’t have condoms at home. Maybe he had one? She didn’t know.
God, she prayed she didn’t get pregnant, especially not with the son of a villain. That poor child would have a target on their back from the day they were born.
The question now is: What does she do? She told the man to leave her house, and she both hoped he took her order seriously, and didn’t at the same time. Because while him leaving would mean that she didn’t have to worry about him being close to her, there is also the fact that she’d be letting a serial killer loose on the streets. At least with him in her house, she knew where he was.
She considered calling the police now, but doubts plagued her mind. What if he was already gone? What if they didn’t believe her? What if she was arrested for calling the police out for a false alarm? What if he found out she had called the police? He knew where she lived.
Oh god, he knew where she lived...
She felt bile rise up in her throat again, but she shut her eyes and pushed it back down again.
She’d wait for her shift to finish, then go back home. If he wasn’t there, then she’d call the police and tell them what had happened. There was probably some... DNA... left over from last night.
She slowly slinked out of the stall, going over go the sink and washing her face. She took a shuddering breath, before steeling her expression. She tried to make herself as presentable as possible, and walked back outside, trying not to make it too obvious that she had just been having a panic attack.
She went through the rest of her shift without any more problems, saying a few small goodbye’s to her coworkers as she left to her house. She got in her car and drove off, clutching the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white as she tried not to crumble underneath the stress.
She reached her apartment complex, and exited her car. Slowly, very slowly, she walked up the stairs to her apartment.
Inko felt like she was moving in slow motion, like her legs were filled with lead, and each step led her closer and closer to either overwhelming relief or crushing terror.
She felt dread claw through her body like a disease, and she felt her vision swimming in her eyes. The air felt colder and colder around her as she reached her apartment door.
Despite every instinct and every single nerve in her body telling her to run, to run as far away as possible from this door, from the person she could encounter behind this door, she reached her hand out.
With trembling fingers, the door flew open.
The sound of the TV caught her attention first.
Her heart stopped in her chest.
Every single fiber in her body seized, and her mind blanked.
Cold, ice cold dread froze her to the ground, and her blood went still.
She wanted to run.
She needed to run.
Run run run run run run RUN RUN RUN RUN!
“Huh, you’re back.”
A man’s voice snapped her into reality, and her head snapped towards him so fast she felt like she would have whiplash.
There, leaning back on her sofa, was the shirtless form of Haruto (Was that even his real name? He’s a wanted villain, it’d make sense to have a fake name). He had one muscular arm draped over the couch, while he flicked through several channels on the TV absently.
Hesitantly, she replied, “H-Hey..”
She cursed herself for the not-so-subtle tremble in her voice, as Haruto turned his head to look at her curiously.
“What’s got you so worked up?” He asked, looking at her with narrowed eyes. Inko felt like she was winded under his gaze.
“I-I... I-I-I almost got i-in a... c-c-crash...” she said slowly, trying to exaggerate the wobble in her voice and play it off as “still being in shock”, and not “currently terrified out of her mind”.
To his credit (Inko didn’t think he deserved a shred of it), Haruto raised his eyebrow in slight surprise. “Shit,” he said, staring at Inko with wide eyes.
Inko nodded, and the blonde man didn’t elaborate further, going back to flicking through channels on the TV.
Inko took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do and praying to any god that would listen that she didn’t sound too weak while doing it.
“YoU-“ she coughed into her hand, blushing at the fact that her voice had cracked. Haruto looked at her out of the corner of his eye. So much for trying to be intimidating.
“I-I thought I told you to l-leave..”
Haruto turned to look at her with a confused expression. “Hah? When?”
“W-When you woke up. I-I told you to leave b-before I left for work...”
She knew she wasn’t lying, but Inko was sweating bullets all the same, she knew it. Haruto gazed at her with squinted eyes, as if trying to remember something. “Did you?”
“Yes.” Inko gave herself a mental pat on the back for keeping her composure that time.
Haruto stared at her for a moment, before he shrugged. “Hmph. Musta forgot,” he admitted, before stretching and leaning back into the sofa with a groan. “Ugh... can’t you just let me stay a few more hours? ‘S not like I’m bothering you or anything.”
Yes, yes you are bothering me you murderous psycho.
“I-I’m sorry, but I-I-I must insist you leave now,” Inko said quickly, still trying to be as diplomatic as possible, despite feeling herself getting more and more desperate to have this man out of her house immediately with each passing second.
Haruto glared at her, ruby red eyes narrowing in her direction.
Inko had to resist the urge to vomit again, the man’s mere look putting an indescribable pressure on her entire body.
“What’s the rush? You took me here, we fucked, now I’m helping myself a bit and relaxing,” he said, not breaking eye contact with her.
Inko wanted to scream, to get this man out of her house Right. Now.
She racked her brain as fast as humanly possible for any sort of excuse, any sort of reason she could give that would make him leave without angering him too much.
For the first time that day, luck was on her side, and her excuse came from what the man said next.
“You waiting on someone or something?” He grumbled, going back to watching TV, smirking slightly at something that showed up.
“YES!” Inko yelped, prompting the man to whip his head towards her, surprised at her outburst. Inko coughed, embarrassed, and said, “I-I mean, y-yes. M-My husband should be back from work soon and it would be.. u-unpleasant.. if he found us like this.”
She prided herself on her fast response, looking at Haruto for any sort of reaction.
To her panic and fear, instead of Haruto looking shocked and hastily getting up to get his clothes and leave, he looked surprised for just a moment, before he snickered. Then, he threw his head back and howled with laughter. He laughed uncontrollably for a solid minute, before looking at Inko with a feral grin.
Inko felt her blood freeze all over again at the sight, and she froze like a deer in headlights.
“So, you’re telling me you’re married, and still went out and fucked a random guy in a bar?! You’re kidding!” He laughed loudly, slamming a hand over his eyes as he lost himself in hysterics.
Inko watched as he finally calmed down enough to sigh happily, chuckling a bit at random intervals. He turned to her with a vicious look in his eyes. “You must be some sort of slut, eh? How many other guys you take home and fuck in that bed?” He jeered shamelessly, not caring what kind of effects his words caused.
Inko flushed in shame. She wasn’t a married woman, but she still knew what she did was completely unbecoming of her. Especially considering just who she did it with.
“T-T-That doesn’t matter! He’ll be back home soon and you need to leave!” She yelled, glaring at the man with every ounce of courage she could muster in her petite body.
Haruto stopped laughing, instead looking at her with the same vicious grin that sent shivers down her spine. “Y’know, how about we both wait for your husband to come back home? Then, we both take turns explaining what happened, and see who he believes!” He cackled, standing up and walking towards her.
Instinctively, like prey caught in a predator’s sights, Inko stumbled backwards, staring at Haruto with eyes filled with terror.
She had to think. Think now!
What could she say? What excuse would work?
He’s getting closer!
What would throw him off? Shock him?! Surprise him?!
Hurry up!!
What would catch him off guard enough so you could escape?!
HE’S ALMOST HERE! SAY SOMETHING!!
What would a killer be afraid of?!
“H-H-HE’LL BE HOME FROM THE STATION IN 20 MINUTES!!” She screamed, covering her face with her arms as her back was pressed up against the wall, both literally snd figuratively.
She suddenly felt Haruto’s thundering, heavy footfall pause.
“Station?” She heard him mutter, and she moved her arms from in front of her to stare at his surprised expression.
Acting on pure adrenaline, she answered, “Yes! He’s, uh, a, um, a police officer!” She clarified quickly.
Haruto’s face went from surprise, to shock, and then to panic.
Despite her overwhelming fear, Inko indulged in small satisfaction at Haruto’s frightened look.
“Fuck,” he swore quickly, rushing to her bedroom to presumably grab his clothes. Inko stayed perfectly still until the shuffling stopped, and she heard her window open.
She slowly and quietly tip-toed over to her room, on the off chance Haruto had changed his mind.
The door was flung open, and she hesitantly peered inside. The man’s clothes were gone, and the window was wide open, the man who escaped obviously not bothering to close it behind him. The wind billowed into her room and filled her curtains, ruffling them and blowing them about.
With no regard for grace or dignity, she dropped like a stone to her knees, and then onto her side, collapsing on the floor.
She sobbed for the next hour.
After she was done crying, she shakily got up and made herself some tea, trying not to spill it with shaking fingers as she tried to recover from shock.
The only thought that pervaded her mind was every single way she could’ve died in that encounter.
How if, for just for a moment, the man had gotten bored or too suspicious, he could’ve snapped her in half easily.
If he had seen through her bluff, how easily he could’ve overpowered her.
Even if he hadn’t seen through it, what if he had deemed her a witness and killed her?
She called in sick the next morning, saying she was feeling dizzy and nauseous, which wasn’t entirely untrue. She almost forgot to phone the police, but she decided to do it later. She needed a while to recover from this whole ordeal.
One thing she hadn’t been expecting was how accurate her sick excuse would be a few weeks later.
Holding her breath, she uncovered the test with trembling fingers.
She was catatonic for the next few minutes.
Haruto had left her one final goodbye present.