#mhaiff

“Iro!”

Akuriru groaned, his eyes struggling to open until he managed to force them to stare up at the plain coloured ceiling above him. He wasn’t certain where he was until his hand knocked on a railing of a hospital bed. At first he thought his heart stopped, that he was in an actual hospital. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of the school nurse’s voice lecturing someone on the other side of the curtain separating the room.

He let out a sigh and laid back, feeling somewhat at east before the urge to launch up kicked in. He had just gotten upright when he spotted a note on the small bedside table.

Went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Will be back soon, Momo.

The quick to rise panic that had clogged up in his chest faded now that he knew that his cousin was alive and well, or at least well enough to be moving around outside the nurse’s office.

He blinked. Did this mean that they won? It had to be. If other students had been injured, or more than a couple, then he would have woken up in a normal hospital, wouldn’t he? Maybe his injuries hadn’t been so bad, so they decided to send him to the school instead? He made a mental note to ask Momo when she returned.

“You can’t keep doing this,” Recovery Girl’s voice became clearer from the other side. A minute later he found out who she was talking to.

“I know,” All Might said, not sounding happy in the slightest. Had he arrived during the attack and taken care of the villains? That had to be it. Akuriru felt like kicking himself for passing out during it and missing out on an opportunity to see All Might in action, up close and personal.

“It wasn’t-” Izuku tried to protest, only to be shut down by Recovery Girl. Akuriru smiled softly. If Izuku wasn’t careful, the rest of their class was bound to tease him over constantly getting injured by his own quirk.

“Don’t interrupt me, young man,” Recovery Girl scolded, and not in her usual, cheery voice. Yeesh, however badly Izuku had injured himself, it had to have been bad to get on her bad side.

“Ah! S-Sorry, ma’am!” Izuku practically yelped. Akuriru knew that he wasn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t take not knowing what had happened after he passed out. It wasn’t the opportune time to pull the curtain away either.

“All Might, you, better than anyone, know the consequences of what your quirk is capable of. If this boy is truly to be your successor then you cannot be so lenient on him. What will you do if he gets hurt even worse next time?”

Your quirk? Your successor? What was she talking about? Frowning to himself, Akuriru tilted his head some as if that would somehow help him to hear better.

“I… understand,” All Might said.

There wasn’t much natural light left in the room from the sun already descending in the horizon, but there was enough of one to reveal the shadows of three figures. Two of them he instinctively knew belonged to Recovery Girl and Izuku, but the third one was far too skinny and short to be All Might.

Akuriru wondered if maybe he had been mistaken when he thought he heard All Might’s voice, but Recovery Girl had said his name – well, his hero name to be precise. There was no way the school was going to tell them their teacher’s actual name. Maybe it was the way the light shone that just made him seem distorted?

Knowing that he wouldn’t appreciate being eavesdropped on, Akuriru reached for the curtain to pull it away and announce his conscious state, but before he could, a knock sounded on the door. He recognised it as Momo’s but the next minute a pop-like sound echoed in his ears, drawing his attention back to the curtain. The skinnier figure from before had suddenly gotten larger pretty fast.

“Come on in,” Recovery Girl said, and with an apology for possibly interrupting their conversation, Momo indeed entered the room. She made sure to ask both Izuku and All Might how they were feeling and with a rattled excuse, Akuriru felt the aftermath of the speed All Might used to get out of the room.

“Oh, is Akuriru awake yet?” Momo asked as if being snapped back to her current reality.

“He should be. Oh, do me a favour deary. When you and Iro leave, please make sure you take Midoriya here with you. If I see him in here again this month, I will take drastic measures.” To anyone else it would have sounded like an innocent joke, but Akuriru was certain that Izuku viewed it as nothing less than a threat. Despite her size and demeanour, the old lady wasn’t one to be taken lightly.

“I will,” Momo reassured, and must have smiled at Izuku, because the next thing he heard was Izuku thanking both women for taking care of him. Even if Momo’s grades weren’t as good as they were, Akuriru knew that his cousin would make a pretty good nurse given her natural friendly personality.

A moment later Momo pulled the curtain away with a plate containing a muffin on it. From the looks of it, Izuku was eating one too. She had probably thought it best to help the two boys regain the stamina they lost from the nurse’s quirk healing them.

“My, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Momo smiled, taking a seat on a nearby stool that he hadn’t even noticed before.

“I could say the same for you. Thanks,” Akuriru said, feeling his own lips pulling into a smile as he accepted the plate. It wasn’t until the plate was in his hands that he saw how Momo looked. Every part of her still seemed normal, save for a band aid or two. He had always thought of his cousin as someone was pretty, so it hurt seeing any part of her freshly wounded, even if it was something their homeroom teacher had warned them of being an all too real possibility if they intended on completing the hero course.

She must’ve noticed him staring because one moment she was sitting patiently, and then the next she had her fingertips gently brushing alongside one of the band aids. The playful colours and patterns led him to believe that they were of her own creation.

“Oh this? It’s nothing, really. You had it far worse I’m afraid.”

He wasn’t sure if it was fear or just general unease as he swallowed back the lump that had formed in his throat as he looked at his cousin and asked the one thing he should have been conscious for.

“What happened?”

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, All Might, Recovery Girl, Izuku Midoriya and Momo Yaoyorozu © Kōhei Horikoshi