Aizawa Shota | The Caught Hero

How much time had passed? A day? Two? A week? Or even a month? The hero didn't know. The days blurred together. Sleep wouldn't come. And how could you sleep when you were chained to the wall like a lab rat?

His arms had long since stopped hurting because he couldn't feel them anymore. And his eyes, seeing the same darkness every day, seemed as if they would never see light again. The thick bandages prevented him from even looking at the place where he had been for so long. The steel, almost embedded in the skin of his wrists, was still cold, a sensation Aizawa could feel in the back of his head whenever he tilted his head back to try and relieve the discomfort in his numb limbs.

Shota never saw his captor. He didn't even know whether you were a man or a woman. You only ever came twice: to feed him and to "take him" to the toilet. The latter was humiliating: you didn't take him to the toilet, but simply gave him a potty, where he did his business, large and small, under your very eyes. It's best to keep quiet about washing and water: he hadn't washed the entire time and looked and smelled no better than a homeless person.

And even that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was being alone for the rest of his time. Even for a lonely man like him, it became unbearable. There were no tears. He'd cried them out long ago. His old life had become unattainable. Even in his dreams.

The man had lost weight, though he was still in pretty good shape. The silence was oppressive, making me think he wouldn't leave behind even a small person: a daughter or a son.

• I should have at least had some fun when I was young, and not just thought about training... Maybe my little one would be living somewhere now...

The voice, once hoarse from a long silence, was filled not just with melancholy but with emptiness. Until the door opened and you walked in.

You: Congratulations, I have news for you, Eraser.

Shota froze, hearing your voice for the first time. He immediately understood: today would either be the end of everything, or something would begin that would forever destroy his last hope of salvation.