Chapter 33 – Pain Relief

Mika could barely hold herself up anymore.

After her hands got crushed, she realised that she couldn't soak up any more shadow energy, she had been fighting without any boost and with her arms behind her back. It had not gone well. As soon as Tokoyami was upon her, all she could do was dodge and try and land kicks to him. Yet the more and more she dodged and kicked the closer and closer her was pushing her towards the white line.

"YAMADA IS OUT OF BOUNDS"

Her eyes dropped from where she was bracing for another swing from Tokoyami when she heard the call and there it was. The white line of failure. Mika immediately crumpled down onto her knees, her hands coming to rest on her thighs as she tried to catch her breath. She let the adrenaline fall out of her system and all she was left with was utter disappointment, frustration, and agony. Now that she was starting to recover from the surge of adrenaline, she could feel every millimetre of her hands throbbing and pulsing causing her to squeeze her eyes shut to stop them from tearing up again. There was no way in hell that she would cry anywhere near a camera.

She looked like a right state. Her hair had long since fallen out of its ribbon, of which was laid strewn on the other side of the pitch. Her hands were causing red stains to seep into the thighs of her uniform, bits of gravel and dirt staining the blood and bone.

No no no no… damn it!

"Yamada-san, can you move?" Midnights softer voice called from her side.

She slowly lifted her head and her eyes locked with Midnights and she shook slowly, she couldn't even feel her legs any more the pain was clouding her head. Midnight took her shaking as a no and started to help her up to her feet again. Whilst Midnight was turning her to head to the tunnels, she spotted that Tokoyami was just kind of stood hoovering around.

Pull yourself together, baka… I would have done the exact same thing, he just beat me to it, you're getting slow Mika.

She pulled herself out of Midnights hold and turned to face him, the crowd going quiet.

"Good match, Tokoyami-kun" She called out shakily to him and bowed as she cradled her hands to her chest.

"Good match" He replied, bowing back to her even lower. "Can I help?"

He offered, raising a brow at her as he did so. Mika merely nodded and thanked him under her breath as he moved forwards to replace a now blushing Midnight. He slung an arm around her waist to help her walk and started to lead her back down towards the tunnels that would lead her to Recovery Girl.

Both of them walked in complete silence as a few camera's followed them and the sound of her Brother and Midnight gushing about how much of a good sport Tokoyami and Mika were, and discussing the use of the tactic of rendering her quirkless in effect. They reached the tunnel and wound their ways through the halls till they rounded on the Infirmary.

"Thanks, Tokoyami-kun" Mika huffed as she pulled away.

"I am sorry…"

"Don't be sorry… you won fair and square, nothing you did was below board ok?" She turned and flashed him pained smile as that was all she could manage. She didn't hold any of it against him, she was beating herself up in her head not him.

"Are you sure?" He tried.

"Congratulations Tokoyami-kun, give em hell ok?" She stammered as her body shook and turned to enter into the infirmary.

"If you are here to gape at Midorya… LEAVE!" Came a shrill elderly voice.

"Uhm…" Mika hovered in the doorway, feeling like she was about to get told off by a grandma. "No, I need some help?"

There were curtains drawn all over the room, all Mika could really see was Recovery Girl's temporary desk which was littered in folders and sweets. There was a slight corridor running down the centre of all the drawn curtains and she jumped a little when one of the curtains was flung back, giving Mika a view of a very crumpled looking Izuku and Recovery Girl herself. The old woman gestured for her to come forward and Mika shuffled over, holding up her hands.

"Oh dear oh dear… that's not good at all" Recovery Girl sighed, and moved out to open the curtain for the bed next to Izuku's.

Mika offered the green haired lad a shaky smile as she stumbled round his bed and onto the one Recovery Girl had offered to her. Once sat down she gently placed her hands on her lap, wincing as they made contact with her blood-stained trousers.

"Mika-chan… who did that?" Izuku gasped as he finally caught sight of her hands.

"I lost my round to Tokoyami-kun… I don't think Dark Shadow likes being called 'pet'" Mika tried her best to make her voice strong, but it wavered through the pain none the less; eyes fixed on her hands.

"Teasing your opponents… well, at least you know where that lands you now… huh kid!" Recovery Girl admonished, flicking Mika's shoulder lightly.

"Sorry Sensei" Mika bowed her head. "… Dark Shadow slammed my hands down into the concrete to crush them so I couldn't absorb any Shadow Energy!"

"Cutting off your quirk… that's actually a really effective way of fighting quirks like yours, although I wonder if you were to train your absorption maybe you could spread it to…" Izuku sat further up in his bed, mouth muttering a mile a second. Mika and Recovery Girl just looked at him and then to each other. Mika shrugged and hissed in pain as the movement pulled at her hands.

Recovery girl wasted no time in setting up a stool before her with a sterile tray full of tools to pull the shards of concrete out of her wounds. Izuku spent the whole time watching her over the old lady's shoulder.

With every piece of concrete that Recovery girl pulled from her wound she winced, sucking air in to try and stop herself from crying or yelping out in pain. She was completely void of adrenalin and even with a pain killer working its way into her system and numbing antiseptic spray she felt like her hands were on fire. It had been a really long time since she had experienced pain, and even then, she reckoned this was one of the worst injuries she had ever received. Her mind flashed to the dead stare of the Nomu from when they were attacked at the USJ. He would have injured you worse than this if All Might had not of been there… you wouldn't have been here for a start. She reasoned through clouded pain fuelled thoughts.

Every now and again she would catch eyes with Izuku and his frown and worry made her look away once more. She had never had someone apart from her Brother look to her with such worry. It was nice, but she also felt incredibly embarrassed by it all, she hated people seeing her in pain, it made her look weak, and that was not something she wanted others to think she was.

Mika had fallen asleep the second the pain relief had kicked in and had not woken up until recovery girl rouse her. Not once whilst her hands had been smooched back into to the land of the living and bandaged did she even move she was so heavily sleeping. It was a good thing though; Recovery Girl was happy with the progress she had made on her hands although they were apparently still not so pretty to look at.

She was given a slip of paper with instructions for care and the dates and times Recovery Girl wanted her back in for the next few sessions of healing. She was also explicitly told not to use her hands and to not even dream of trying to use her quirk. Not that she was going to able to anyway, her hands were so well wrapped that it looked like she was wearing two thick white mittens. Her arms were also strapped into slings to make sure her hands stayed elevated.

She still felt slow and sluggish as she pardoned herself and thanked Recovery Girl for her hard work in helping with her hands. Her body felt like she had been hit by a truck and that she also had not slept in about three weeks. Every step felt like it was through a few foot of snow, but never the less she made her way slowly up through the corridors towards the sounds of cheering and shouting.

She was slowly shuffling down the hallway to where her classmates were sat watching whom ever was fighting in the arena. Upon making it to the seats she sighed and shuffled her way down to sit next to Izuku.

"Hey" She muttered as he intently watched the fight below them.

"Oh Mika-chan!" He gushed as he jumped at her appearance, a few other classmates jumping up to come over to her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Are your hands gone?"

"Nice fighting though, you almost had him"

She blinked at her friends as they gathered around her, a surprised smile pulling at her lips.

A part of her had thought that she would be able to just sit down and join in like nothing had happened, that they would not be that bothered either way. Yet she should have known better by now, she had friends that cared for her and wanted to know that she was ok. She had friends that she wanted to make sure were ok.

"I'm alright thanks guys, Recovery Girl said they were looking ok, but I will need a few more sessions with her." She breathed to them whilst fighting off her smile. "Although… can someone tie my hair up for me, I can't do it and it keeps getting in my face…"

"ME!" Mina shouted and bounced over an empty seat and round behind her. "Where is your ribbon!"

"Oh… it's in my pocket" Mika sighed standing back up and looking round helplessly at Mina. There was no way she was able to fish into her pocket to get her ribbon out of it.

"Let me help…" Mineta stammered as he inched closer to her.

"Touch me and I will skin you alive… I might not have my hand's, but I will find a way" Mika growled at him.

"I can get it, if you don't mind?" Uraraka offered, placing herself between Mika and the grape perv.