Everything was white: the light that hung above him illuminated a bright white light that reflected against dull plain walls. The multiple blankets that covered everything below his chest were white. His hospital gown was white. The bandages that were wrapped around his torso were off-white. Even the faces of the doctors, who wore white lab coats, seemed white...or at least their faces were blanched every time that they looked that him. But Toshinori did not blame them—he looked like the ghost of what he used to be so the all-white everything seemed fitting.

Time passed by slowly the first few days after he woke up from his third surgery in which the doctors had continued their attempts to fix his lung. They hadn't been any more successful than they had been the previous times which resulted in Toshinori being on bed rest with an oxygen mask covering his face. He would spend his entire day he just laid in bed either resting or staring at the blank white walls as doctors came in and out of his room to check on his condition.

"You're healing up very nicely; at this rate, you will be home soon," the doctors lied with a forced smile on their face every time that they came in.

Toshinori, though, was still bed ridden. He still needed a machine to breathe and he felt that the hospital was sucking the life out of him faster than any of his damaged organs were. He went through the same routine day after day: wake up, stare at the wall, sleep, wake up, checkup, stare, sleep, wake, stare, sleep and so on until someone came in and broke that cycle.

He was staring at the ceiling when he heard the door to his room open. He let out a small sigh as he prepared himself to hear the same bit from his typical doctors with their plain, dull voices. What he didn't expect was the sound of a high-pitched "hmmmm" followed by an unfamiliar female voice sounding out "To-shi-nori Ya-gi" as if they were saying his name for the first time.

'I guess Dr. Hang is out,' Toshinori thought as he turned his attention from the ceiling to where the unfamiliar voice was coming from, expecting to see a new physician clad in a typical white coat. However, he was surprised to see that the woman that entered the room was not a physician—or at least she didn't dress like one. Instead of the business attire that his other doctors wore, this woman wore a pair of light pink scrubs with yellow trimmings and a flower pattern. As she stared at Toshinori curiously, he couldn't help but think about how her outfit was typical of a children's nurse: colorful and warm.

"Oh, I know!" the woman gasped as she made her way towards the thick beige (the only non-white thing in the room) curtains that covered the window.

Toshinori watched her fiddle with the curtains. As she tied them to the side, he thought,'What's a children's nurse doing in my room?'

"Much better," she said with a smile after tying the curtains to either side of the window allowing sunlight to enter the room. "I don't know how those doctors thought you would get any better leaving you in this miserable room," she scoffed. "Everyone knows a little sunshine can go a long way."

"Ummm...thank you nurse," Toshinori began but stopped when he realized that she didn't have a nametag.

"Doctor," she corrected with a firm but gentle voice. "I didn't spend all those years in school to not use my title."

"I'm so sorry," Toshinori apologized. "It's just that your scrubs remind me of a children's nurse and all the other doctors wear white and—."Toshinori stopped mid-sentence when he felt his chest tighten causing him to cough. The doctor whom had performed his surgery, had explained to Toshinori that overexerting himself would cause him to cough violently and sometimes cough up blood, so after a few days of doing nothing a few words was all it took to send Toshinori into a coughing fit.

"I'm so sorry!" the female doctor exclaimed as she rushed to his side, placing a hand on him.

"It's fine," Toshinori gasped between breaths. When his cough subsided Toshinori heard her mumble.

"I didn't mean to make you strain yourself. It's all my fault."

"No, it's alright," he assured as he began feeling a small burst of energy after the coughing fit. "I shouldn't have called you a nurse, Doctor..."

"Dr. Mai Kaname," she said with a small smile on her face.

"Well thank you Dr. Kaname. Honestly, I do feel a little bit better."

Toshinori's words caused Mai to blush momentarily before she smiled at him from ear-to-ear.

"Well, that's what I'm here for," she said triumphantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check on some other patients."

"Wait," Toshinori said as she approached the door. "Are you going to come back?"

His question caused Mai to grin. "Considering how much progress I've made with your condition, I'm making it my job to come check on you again," she replied.

"I look forward to it," Toshinori replied with a small smile as he watched her leave the room to visit her next patient. Shortly after, he turned his head to face the window which had a beautiful view of Tokyo that he was now able to see with the open curtains which also allowed a little sunshine to enter the room.

'Wow,' thought Toshinori. 'It's amazing what a little sunshine could can do.'

The following day, about an hour after Toshinori's usual physician came to check on his condition, Mai showed up in his room clad in a pair of lavender scrubs that had small white daisies printed on them. She entered the room and made her way to the window as she had yesterday; but this time, Toshinori noted that she had a bright vibrant object with her.

"What do you have there?" Toshinori asked curiously as she gently placed the object on the window sill and adjusted it.

"It's a tulip," she grinned as she stepped aside to show him. It didn't look like much of a tulip. To Toshinori, it looked like three light green leaves were planted in a clay pot that had been splattered with various colors of paint.

"Umm," Toshinori mumbled, trying to find the right words and not to seem impolite. "That's a very interesting tulip, Dr. Kaname. I've never seen one like that."

"Well, of course you haven't," Mai scoffed as she pulled out a water bottle from her pants' pocket and began to water the plant. "It hasn't flowered yet so it probably looks like a bunch of leaves to you," she explained as if reading his mind. "But don't worry. They'll get stronger everyday just like you will. Heck, by the time you leave, these tulips will have already flowered so now you have something to look forward to."

Toshinori turned his attention to the plant. Like him, it didn't look like much, and he knew that it would take a while before it flowered and even longer for him to get better. With that thought, he asked himself, 'How long am I going to be here?"

He grew quiet and his face contorted slightly at the idea. It had already been a few weeks since that battled occurred. Who knew how much longer it would take for him to heal from this surgery—not to mention the handful of other surgeries that lay ahead. Negative thoughts swarmed Toshinori's mind as he thought about how long he would be in this hospital with its plain white rooms, bright white lights, and—

"Hey!" Mai said, snapping Toshinori out of his thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"I just," Toshinori began as he tried to come up with a quick lie. "I don't think that tulip is going to last long. I can't really take care of it since I'm pretty much bedridden." Mai scrunched her nose at his remark

"Well that's why I'm here," Mai exclaimed as she made her way to Toshinori's side. "While I'm helping you get better, I'll help you take care of your plant. At the rate we're going, you'll be able to get up and water it yourself in no time," she insisted as a huge grin covered her face.

Something about the way she smiled seemed familiar to him; it made him feel like he should believe her and that everything was going to be alright. Toshinori smiled softly at the thought before he turned his attention back to the window and asked, "Why tulips?"

"Well," she began. "I originally wanted to get you sunflowers because they symbolize sunshine, strength, and happiness, but they get way too big for hospital rooms. So I got you yellow tulips which also represent sunshine, as well as cheerful things which is exactly what you need."

"Well, you were right about the windows yesterday so I guess you know what you're doing."

"Of course I know what I'm doing. And I promise you'll start feeling better soon. In fact, I pinky promise," she declared as she held out her pinky and extended it towards him. Although it pained him a bit, Toshinori followed her actions and linked his pinky with hers. She lightly squeezed her pinky around his for a moment before releasing it.

"Now then, you keep getting rest, but if you have any energy later you should try to get some exercise."

"How am I possibly going to do that in a hospital bed?"

"Do simple things like wiggle your toes, pointing your feet, extending your calves," she explained. "I know you're in pain, but it will help a lot."

"Alright," Toshinori sighed. "If by some strange chance I have energy later, I'll do it.

"Wonderful," she grinned. "I'll leave you to rest for now, but I'll be back tomorrow."

"Thank you Dr. Kaname," Toshinori said as he lay back down. Although it had only been for a few minutes, sitting up to converse with Dr. Mai had left him tired. He closed his eyes anticipating sleeping, but sleep never came to him. In fact, not too long after Dr. Kaname had left,Toshinori felt a small burst of energy and so he found himself wiggling his toes, rotating his ankles, and stretching other small muscles he had not been using while on bed rest.

'Wow. Dr. Kaname really knows what she's talking about.'

As promised, Mai showed up to Toshinori's room the following day to check up on him; he was proud to announce to her that he was able to do the exercises she told him to do.

"I told you so," she grinned as she began to make small talk with him. However, instead of discussing Toshinori's condition and healing process, she asked him what his favorite color was (blue) where he would want to travel to (New York City), and other frivolous things that made him wonder if she was actually a doctor. She was kind-hearted, silly, and warm, and she l managed to actually make him feel better; for the third time in a row, Toshinori found himself having more energy after conversing with her than he had in a while.

"It was nice talking to you Toshinori, but I have a sick little boy to see," she stated as she made her way to the door.

"Of course. It was a pleasure seeing you," Toshinori replied. "See you again tomorrow?"

"Of course," she ensured him before she left the room while humming.

After the course of several weeks, Mai would check up on Toshinori, water the tulip, and converse with him. Unlike the other doctors, she never brought up his condition, pulled out his charts, or explained in great depth what to anticipate as he healed. She did, on occasion, ask him how he was feeling, but that was usually followed by a playful "I told you so". Instead, most of their conversations were about things that they had done or wanted to do, or about their interests, likes, dislikes, and such. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in a hospital—he always clad in a white gown and Mai in different colored scrubs daily—Toshinori felt that his and Mai's actions could be mistaken for two people on a coffee date.

'I would have a vanilla latte and she would probably have a caramel macchiato while we talked about our favorite books,' Toshinori thought as he recalled their previous conversation about beverages. The more he thought about it, the more he could see it happening which caused his to blush lightly. 'What is it about her that makes me feel this way?' Toshinori pondered as Mai went on about street art she had seen.

"Same time tomorrow, Toshinori?" She asked with the same small smile she always gave him.

'Beautiful,' he thought as he nodded in response as he watched her leave, humming the same tune she always did before she went to see her next patient.

"The soil to your tulips is damp," Mai noted out loud as she observed the plant. The once small plant now consisted of several long, elongated leaves and a long, light green stem with a small green bud at the end.

"I watered them earlier," Toshinori replied nonchalantly. Mai's eyes widened at those words and she immediately turned to face him. Toshinori may have tried to act casual about the situation, but Mai could see the small smile playing on his lips. It caused her to smile.

"So how long have you been able to walk?" She inquired.

"Just the last few days. I've been taking a few steps here and there until I finally felt comfortable."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't push yourself too much and chose to ease into it. Now, what's your quirk?" She asked, quickly changing topics. Mai often did this when the two conversed so Toshinori was not surprised by her action. What had caught him off guard was the question.

"W-why are you asking?" He questioned.

"The little boy that I always visit after you manifested his quirk yesterday when I went to check on him. It made me realize that you never told me yours," she explained.

"I-I," Toshinori stammered, unsure of how to respond. He had been honest with her about everything so far and he didn't want to start lying to her, but he knew that he couldn't tell her about One for All.

The room fell silent as Toshinori debated in his head if he should tell her that he was quirkless, which was semi-true, or say that he had something like enhanced strength which she may not believe considering the condition that he was in.

The silence was finally broken when Mai said, "It's okay. You don't have to tell me." Toshinori let out a small sigh of relief as she continued.

"Most people that hesitate to tell others about their quirk are usually quirkless or have a quirk that they don't like. For example, if they think that their quirk is nothing special then they'll hesitate to say what it is because they don't want to be told that their quirk is useless. On the other hand, if they have the same quirk as a villain or a quirk that is viewed as 'villain-like', they'll hesitate to tell others in fear of being stigmatized. It's only those that have 'strong quirks' or are proud of their quirks that are quick to answer."

"So which are you?" Toshinori pondered aloud. "Hesitant or quick to answer?"

"I'm usually quick to answer, but I'll let you guess...I've used it in front of you before."

'She's used her quirk in front of me before?' Toshinori thought as he tried to recall her using it but could not distinctly think of a particular moment. Instead, he recalled how many times she had said 'I told you so' to him after he would get a burst of energy. It was almost as if she knew it was going to happen. As if—

"You can see the future," Toshinori stated confidently. Instead of a reassuring "yes", Toshinori heard a soft chuckle come out of Mai.

"That would be cool, but no," she chortled. "What gave you that idea?"

"I-" Toshinori stammered. "But you're always right about me having sudden bursts of energy. How could you know about that without knowing the future? Unless…"

"Unless I can transfer my energy to other people," she interrupted as she stuck out an index finger to poke Toshinori's cheek. Shortly after, Toshinori, who had originally wanted to rest after having watered the flowers, felt that he could sit up and possibly walk some more in his room. Mai smiled as she watched Toshinori shuffle and sit up right, indicating that her quirk was in effect.[W4]

"Using it sometimes makes me a little tired, but I have energy to spare."

"That's amazing of you, Mai; you really go above and beyond your duties as a doctor. I can't imagine the amount of people you've been able to help during your time here."

"It's nothing really," Mai shrugged off. "I've only been here for a year and I'm only giving people energy. It's not like I'm a hero and saving people's lives."

Her statement made Toshinori think about his situation. He was a hero. He saved thousands of people's lives and now he was stuck here with his condition slowly improving. Mai had admitted to selflessly giving him some of her own energy every time that she touched him; even without touching him, he would get a burst of energy when she entered the room. She made him feel a type of happiness he hadn't felt before her in that miserable hospital. She may not have thought of herself as a hero, but she was something to him: his saving grace, his angel, his—

"Sunshine," Mai grinned, breaking Toshinori out of his thoughts causing him to send her a confused look.

"The sun broke through the clouds," she explained as she gestured at the plant at the window. "That little guy is going to get plenty of sunshine to blossom, so...do you want to ask the next question or should I?" She asked, redirecting the conversation.

"I have a question," Toshinori began, "Aside from the standard quirk biology classes for medical students, did you take any other quirk related classes?"

"I took a few more quirk classes than your typical medical student. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?"

"...Corndogs," Toshinori admitted, causing Mai to chuckle.

As she did, Toshinori watched as the tulip stood up after being exposed to the sunlight and that's when it hit him. She was his sunshine.