"What kind of coward runs away from a fight that they started?" Shigaraki slouched at the counter in the bar, itching at the side of his neck as he replayed the encounter in his head. When a warm, gentle hand gripped his wrist, he turned his head to look at Kohaku through his messy blue hair.

She offered him a half-smile and gave his wrist a reassuring squeeze before she lowered his arm to the countertop. "Well, you did disintegrate his bike," she commented. "He probably thought he was next. I really owe you one now. That guy must've been stalking me for a while; I wasn't even wearing my costume today."

With Kurogiri running a quick errand, they had the bar to themselves. This was definitely not what Shigaraki had planned for. He had set up an encounter that would put her in just enough danger to force her to use her quirk to really hurt someone, but now that plan was ruined. The biker wannabe had messed everything up for him. He might as well have kissed Kohaku in front of Shigaraki.

That thought made him scowl and he lowered his head. "If he wasn't such a loser, maybe I would've played with him for a while, but he would've been next. I can't stand people like him. Teasing me like I'm some kind of scrub. He has a defensive quirk so all he can really do is run away or push people. What kind of a loser has a quirk like that and still acts all high and mighty?"

Kohaku was resting her chin in her hand, head cocked to the side as she listened to him grumble. Her eyebrows slowly rose as it started to sink in. "What did you say?"

Realizing that he had just bluntly told the girl he liked that he had every intention of committing real, actual murder, Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. "He was going to kill you. I would've been doing you a favor," he argued.

"You can't just kill people, though!"

"What are you even saying? It would've been self-defense. He wanted to run over you with that bike so I destroyed it. He wanted to take you out with his quirk so I was going to destroy him. It's like strategizing in a game. It's just taking precautionary measures, right? Without him, you can keep patrolling and shaking things up like you want to."

Kohaku shook her head. "This isn't a game, Shigaraki! We're talking about a real person! Real life! If you kill him-!"

"Why are you getting so upset? Isn't he getting in your way? Didn't he just try to kill you? Do you think he cares?" He turned his head to look at her. The girl's face was normally pale, but looked even paler now. Her warm, amber eyes were wide as she leaned back from him. Her lips twitched into a frown as she suddenly seemed almost afraid of him.

Of course, he had no idea why she would be afraid. He would have killed for her; that should have seemed romantic to her. In every dating sim he ever played, the girls always fell even harder for the main character if they made such a big declaration of their feelings. How else am I supposed to make you realize it? I need you to be next to me. All the time. Every time you leave, I get so pissed off that I don't even know what to do.

Kohaku crossed her arms on the counter in front of her, lowering her head a little so her dark teal hair fell around her face to hide her expression. "Obviously, he didn't give a shit about killing me. He would've run over me with his bike or repelled me into the wall until my bones broke apart. But, I mean, I want to be better than that. I'm a vigilante. I save people so even just thinking about killing that guy. Or anybody. It's fucked up."

"You think I'm messed up?" Rage leaked into his tone as he turned in his seat to face her fully. Shigaraki leaned in closer, his crimson eyes narrowing as he peered at her through her hair. "That's really what you think? You think I'm messed up because I wanted to keep you alive. I just wanted to do what I could to protect you, but I guess that's not good enough. My quirk does one thing; it decays. I was doing what I was capable of doing, but you just don't appreciate-"

"Shut up."

"I just didn't want you to die! I'm sorry that's such a disgusting thing to you! Maybe if I had a different quirk, you'd like me more and actually appreciate-!"

"Just shut up! When the hell did I say that I didn't like you?! You idiot! I like you! I just don't like what you're saying! I don't like the idea of just killing whoever pisses you off! Do you even know how immature that sounds?! Like getting mad about breaking a toy so you break it even more! Like some kind of spoiled toddler! You can't just get rid of the stuff you don't like!"

If she was anyone else, he would have grabbed her by the throat. All it took was one look at her face to remind him, though. This was the same warm, sweet girl that always talked to him in the game store or over the phone, whenever he wanted to talk. She always made time for him and she always looked so happy to see him.

If he was anyone else, he probably would be able to just tell her how he felt. Unfortunately, this socially-inept gremlin of a man did not have such fancy phrases as "I love you", "I want to game with you forever", or "please don't leave me again because every time you do, I feel like all of the goodness in my life is being ripped away like a thick scab off of a wound and you're leaving me to bleed out" in his vocabulary. All he could do was lower his head and glare as he tried to ignore how she called him immature and how she looked so disturbed by what he had said.

Why is she being so difficult? I just want this stupid argument to end so we can go back to how things are supposed to be. Shigaraki got up from his seat and nodded toward the door to the back. "Come with me. I want to show you something," he muttered.

Kohaku stood as well, but instead of stepping closer to him, she inched toward the door behind her. "I'm going home. I need to cool off and think this over," she argued. "I don't like being mad at you, okay? I just…I don't know how to make you understand."

"I don't know how to make you understand," the villain countered. "Don't leave. Just come with me so I can show you-"

"I can't. I just can't do this right now. Look, I'll call you later, okay?"

He stood there as she hurried out the door and he felt his heart beating faster and faster. Shigaraki gritted his teeth so hard that it hurt and he remained there for a while. Glaring at the door as his anger only rose more and more.

I didn't say you could leave. Who said that you could leave me?! Come back! Don't leave me like this! Who do you think you are?! I did so much for you and this is the thanks I get? I said one wrong thing and that's it? You must think you're really something special, don't you? Little hero wannabe Kohaku! I didn't say you could leave me!

Kurogiri returned to the bar about twenty minutes later to find it in disarray. Broken bottles, a portion of the countertop cracked and the remains of a chair laying in a heap of splinters and metal. The other seats had been destroyed; evident by the surplus of dust around that side of the counter. It was like someone threw a tantrum and decided to take it out on Kurogiri's area of the bar instead of destroying his own stuff because he was a spoiled, angry man-child.

The shadowy, misty villain knew the source of this mess immediately. He found Shigaraki sitting in his room with the lights off. Holding his handheld console in both hands with his pinky fingers lifted. Grumbling and keeping his head bowed as he angrily clicked buttons.

"Shigaraki Tomura, judging by the mess you left in the bar, am I correct in assuming that Okabe Kohaku has broken up with you?"

The words were like needles stabbing into his chest. The blue-haired villain glowered at Kurogiri from across the room with the ferocity of a rabid raccoon. "I don't owe you any explanation. Just get it cleaned up." He saved his game and followed Kurogiri into the bar, picking at the chapped skin on his lips as he walked.

"She just needs to understand. I just have to do something to make her understand she needs me. You'll help me out with that, won't you? It's your job, isn't it? You're supposed to get me whatever I want." Shigaraki scowled at the lack of seating, as if he was actually annoyed about it despite being the one who destroyed all of the seats.

"Shigaraki Tomura, you can't always get what you want. You need to learn to accept rejection," Kurogiri spoke as he began sweeping up the broken glass. "This is only the first connection that you've made. You will make more. It's for the best-"

"You're supposed to get me whatever I want," he repeated. The villain walked over to the door and paused, glaring at it as he remembered watching Kohaku leave. He scratched deeply at his neck with both hands, gritting his teeth and feeling a pain in his chest. "I want her. So you're going to help me."

Shift P.O.V

Between the physical fight with the "repel guy" and her argument with Shigaraki, she was beyond exhausted. Kohaku fell onto her back on her bed and covered her face with her hands. She was shaking a little and it made her grimace.

Come on! Get it together! He didn't really mean it, right? He wouldn't have actually killed that guy…right? I mean, that's murder. He knows I'm a vigilante so why would he want to kill someone in front of me? Why would he want to kill anyone at all? He had to have been joking, right? Just some kind of sick joke.

Sitting up, she pushed her hair away from her face and sighed in frustration. She decided that it had to be some sort of mistake. There was no way someone could just casually talk about homicide like that. They would have to be pretty evil and she knew Shigaraki. He was just kind of weird sometimes, but in a cute, awkward way. That was it; this had to be an awkward attempt at a joke.

Kohaku walked to her little kitchen area and grabbed a bottle of tea from the fridge. Sipping the cold green tea, she tried to calm herself down. Joke or not, what he said was pretty messed up. Of course, she had snapped at him like an annoyed grandparent screaming at their granddaughter in a grocery store parking lot at nine o'clock in the morning because their coat's buttons were lopsided.

Too accurate, she thought with a sad smile and a shake of her head. Sitting on her bed again, bottle of tea in hand, she took a deep breath. Okay. I yelled at him. Kind of a lot. I'm not really mad at him, though, right? Because there's no way in hell that he was really serious.

Leaning back against her wall, she nodded to herself. Yeah. I mean, sometimes guys blurt out some pretty dumb stuff. And he might've just been upset that I got so mad at him right off the bat, right? So he got defensive. It's just a misunderstanding. Besides, he was worried about me, right? He was…really worried. Wow. Now that I think about it, he put himself in the way of that motorcycle to save me and I thanked him by screaming that he was acting immature! Shit!

Rubbing her face with both hands, Kohaku released a heavy sigh. Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach. He had put himself literally in the direct path of danger so he could save her life. He could have been killed by her nemesis. Just the thought of that made her stomach twist into knots and made her chest tighten.

Great. So how can I make it up to him? He probably doesn't want to talk to me. Not after everything I said to him today. Should I just give him a day to cool off? Should I surprise him by showing up at the bar tomorrow night with a present? Maybe a new game and some snacks and then we can hang out together.

Kohaku had so few people she felt close to. Misora and Kita from the coffee shop and then Shigaraki. Of course, her closeness with him was on another level. He knew things about her that no one else did. He saw the real Kohaku and he seemed to actually like what he saw. Losing a friend like him would be devastating.

She let her hands fall away from her face and she sighed yet again. Feeling like a moody teenager, she closed her eyes. I have to do something to cheer myself up, the girl determined. Kohaku grabbed her handheld console and began playing an RPG by herself.

As she was about to face a dungeon boss, her phone started to chime. She answered it in a hurry, hoping it might be Shigaraki so she would be spared having to make the first move to apologize, but it was the game store owner. It seemed that they needed someone to make a delivery to one of their shut-in customers, but none of the other employees agreed to the task. She took down the address and the name "Iguchi", feeling happy she could at least get out of the store for a while the next day. Maybe even avoid Shigaraki until she was ready.