hands had been balled into fists to prevent any sign of how much she ‘ d been shaking . it wasn ‘ t because of him , or fried nerves or anything of the sort . she was genuinely upset . at herself , for having to do this , for having to forcefully cut her ties and only hope torino ( she knew he would regardless of how this ended ) would keep training toshinori .
she actually winced when his tight grip turned from firm to painful , and reached up to grab his wrist to pry him off her shoulder . that would definitely bruise , but she would never hold it against him . she knew how hurtful this was — and it killed her .
‘ you ‘ re not listening — all for one , hes bigger than us , torino . you don ‘ t have one for all , you can ‘ t fight him like i can . he could look at you and you would die —- you ‘ re too weak against him . i ‘ m not . ‘
there was a pause as she mentally slapped herself for wording it so harshly , but it was the truth . nana wasn ‘ t sure what she would do if something had happened to torino if they went up against Him together . barely able to contain herself , she raised her fist up to press it against torino ‘ s chest .
‘ i ‘ m doing this to protect you , and to protect chiyo and toshinori , and everyone. it ‘ s a necessary evil , torino . i have to do this alone . ‘
He let her pry his hand off, he stood quietly, shaking as she spoke her words-- he wanted to hear it, he wanted to hear her say why but he wasn’t hearing it. not really. All he could understand was that she-- what? Saw that just because she had that given quirk, she was the only one that had to do this? As if this wasn’t all of their problems?
Torino slapped aside her offered fist and hit her across the face-- it was a quick punch, without much windup and angled to hurt more than damage, and then he was at her throat, gloved hands tightening over Nana’s collar.
“I’ll show you weak! Protect us? Don’t pull that kind of bullshit when you’re acting like you’ve given up!” There was angry tears in his eyes-- they’ve always faced everything together. Every danger, every challenge, and she’s always trusted him to watch her back before. “I’m a Hero too, damn it! I’m not afraid!”