───

     "K-KAACHAN?!"

the blonde tenshi stirred awake with a soft groan as he noticed midoriya's group surrounding them with concern.

     "what happened to you guys?! you're all wounded!", uraraka worried, helping ashido sit up, as the others gently rubbed their bruises.

"we met this group of demons that escaped from this man who took care of them", kirishima eijiro — the redhead — stated.

"they were being led by this beautiful woman though...", kaminari denki — a slight flirt — dreamily smiled.

     "ugh, no one cares, kaminari", ashido stated, wobbling upwards, as she received a cup of water from uraraka.

     "but she was really beautiful! it's such a pity that she's with the demons...or maybe, she's being held hostage by them!", sero hanta — who apparently has a plain face according to bakugo — chimed in.

     "RIGHT?! HOW CAN A WOMAN SO PRETTY BE WITH THOSE—"

"ARE YOU GUYS STUPID?!", bakugo intervened.

"there's no way that she's being held hostage if she's the one that let them go. and plus, she had no visible scars on her face or arms, and neither was she shaking in fear. she even commanded one of those fucking birds to go somewhere", the blonde boy deduced.

     "oh damn! and here I thought that you were just trying to fight her this whole time", kaminari chuckled.

     "I WAS!!"

     "was she really that pretty? what'd she look like?", uraraka questioned.

     "ah, where do I even begin?! not only is her skin like porcelain, but her jade green eyes and ruby red lips contrasted with her ebony black hair", kaminari sighed.

"wow, sounds like someone's in love", sero snorted.

"jade green eyes...", midoriya softly repeated, catching the attention of bakugo.

"what? you know her or something?"

midoriya flinched, immediately shaking his head in denial.

     "n-no!! at least...I don't think so", the boy awkwardly laughed, adverting his gaze, as he could feel bakugo's suspicious glare on him.

     "agh, whatever! I'm going to hunt them down after I figure out the riddle to this fucking exam!", bakugo exclaimed.

     "speaking of which, have you guys gained any sort of clues yet?", kirishima asked.

     "no", todoroki simply responded, causing bakugo to scoff.

     "tch! as if they'd tell us even if they did find something".

     "w-we would!! I promise, kaachan. it's just that...we really haven't had any luck, especially since we don't even know what the riddle's referring to", midoriya explained.

"yeah!! and plus, we've been occupied by something else!", uraraka spoke up.

"oh yeah? like what?"

     "like—"

"HAHAHA NOTHING!!", midoriya anxiously lied.

"midoriya accidentally set free this being who we don't know the name of nor the appearance of...except for maybe midoriya himself", todoroki explained.

     "TODOROKI-KUN?!"

     "relax, midoriya-kun. I believe that it'd be beneficial if we had others on the lookout as well. especially since bakugo-kun and the others are well trusted amongst us", iida stated.

     midoriya sighed, as the other five — who didn't know what was going on — all shifted their gaze into the broccoli-looking boy.

     "it kind of all started when we were chasing a demon that day..."

     when nighttime had hit, it was a given that dabi was the designated one to start a fire.

though the flames were blue, it had only given the others more heat to roast the hog that kurono had caught with toga that evening.

with there being a small nearby lake, everyone took turns dipping their bodies in the water, as some haven't washed up since their detainment.

"what should I refer to you as?", mikoto questioned, taking a seat beside the blue-haired demon who was the most distant from everyone.

     it was no surprise that he would be so cautious of those around him when he's been betrayed and left to fend for himself for the majority of his life.

     after all, all of them have learned that they should trust no one but themselves.

     "I...don't have a name", the oni lied, about to scratch his neck out of habit — from the emotional stress — before mikoto had carefully slapped his hand away.

     mikoto was a powerful woman, but she's also seen what the demon's hands have done, so she wasn't taking any chances of being disintegrated.

     "then how about I give you one? I also plucked some mints that I found in the forest earlier. I crushed them up so that the menthol will provide a cooling sensation when applied to the skin", the dark-haired woman softly explained.

     with her gaze flickering up to the demon's, she leisurely attempted to apply the medicine to the male's neck with her gentle fingers.

"why're you helping me?", he croaked out, too tired out to fight back; and unused to the compassion — especially coming from a complete stranger.

"no particular reason", mikoto mumbled.

after all, being benevolent was part of her angelic nature that she was conditioned to display since the day that she mounted on the path of becoming a goddess.

while she has fallen off that track, it was simply just a habit.

mikoto could feel his bloody red eyes squinting at her, analyzing and calculating; trying to hypothesize what benefits she could possibly obtain by her supposed facade.

though nothing came to mind.

"shigaraki tomura", she suddenly said.

"what?"

"that's your name...if you're alright with it", mikoto said.

shigaraki was the last name of a man that mikoto had once served, and though he wasn't a pleasant person, his words sure did have an appeal to people.

shigaraki begrudgingly accepted it with a short grunt.

"I take it that it's your new name then", mikoto slightly smiled, wrapping a new set of bandages — ones that she had asked kurono to retrieve before the escape — around the demon's scarred neck.

"yeah whatever", shigaraki grumbled, feeling the coolness of the menthol pressed against his wounds that he had inflicted on himself.

the blue-haired demon casted an odd glance at mikoto, who had swiftly tied a small bow, brushing her thumb against the edge of the bandage — near shigaraki's throat.

"medicine won't do much, it's more so how you control yourself from scratching it", the woman informed.

before shigaraki could give any verbal response, mikoto had shifted her attention to eri and toga, who had finished taking their baths.

"that was probably the best shower I've ever had!!", toga happily exclaimed.

"b-but you just told me t-that it was the only shower that you've had...", eri mumbled, though that didn't go unheard by anyone.

"heyyy!! I told you that with confidence!!", toga playfully whined, causing eri to crack another rare smile.

mikoto then excused herself, as she too needed to indulge in the sweet waters to cleanse herself.

     "are you sure you don't need me or eri to accompany you?", toga repeated.

     "I'm sure", the woman replied, walking off, as it didn't take her long to find the glistening river that was lit beneath the waning moon.

     with it being mid january, mikoto didn't waste time stripping down and entering the lake hastily, as she could've easily caught a cold with the chilling breeze.

     though demons and heavenly beings were more powerful than humans, they weren't immune to sicknesses nor infections.

     the deep river rose to mikoto's waist, with the lower half of her hair dipping into the waters as well.

     the solemn woman then parted her hair in half and brought the two sections towards her front, revealing her bare back.

     "it's still there", she mumbled to herself, staring at her reflection that proved slightly difficult with her head tilted to the side, leaning backwards.

right above her tailbone was the cursed remembrance of her dreadful past: subject 5050.

irritation and hatred had abruptly taken over, causing the woman to aggressively lash out at the water and momentarily ruin her reflection that sent ripples many feet away.

"I will kill him! I will murder him for all the wretched things that he's done to this body of mine", mikoto violently muttered.

▃▃▃▃▃

     AUTHOR'S NOTE: hello my darlings!! I hope you're all enjoying this, as I've recently gotten back into my bnha (shigaraki) phase.

     I know it's going a bit slow now, but I promise that it'll get better soon!

     if you enjoyed it, please vote + comment. it means a lot; thanks! <3