A/N: Whoops, something I forgot to mention last chapter is that when sign language is being spoken, you can assume that it's NOT a literal translation of the signs they're using. Sign language has its own set of grammar and rules that is actually pretty interesting! However, I wanted it to flow as nicely as possible and be as understandable as possible, so I chose to write it more as though they were speaking. It's more of the 'feeling' of what they're saying, if that makes sense. Though I do try and keep it reasonably plausible and use as much of the sign language etiquette as possible.
Other than that, I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!
The first thing Hinami did in the practical exam was throw her arms out in front of her and clench her fists, sharply rotating her wrists. As always when using her Quirk, something clicked into place inside her chest like the last piece of a puzzle as thousands upon thousands of gallons of water shimmered into existence around her. It flowed from her in cresting, foaming waves and splashed as it touched down on the asphalt, the close, crowded cityscape made the sound echo and amplify into a roaring cacophony. Anyone unlucky enough to be standing close by got swept in and swirled around, helplessly yelping and protesting. She cradled the dozen or so students in the water, as if in her own hands, and righted them, setting them back on their feet with an apologetic pat. The initial rush of water was unruly and tended to get away from her. But the waves were no more than playful puppies with no concept of their size. They weren't harmful—no more than wading into the ocean up to your thighs.
Though the water was quite warm, perhaps warm enough to leave a tinge of pink on sensitive skin if they stayed in it too long. It steamed and glistened in the winter sun, light refracting through it as wisps coiled and rose from the surface. She paid extra care when withdrawing the water from the other students to leave them dry—she didn't want to be the reason anyone got sick running around in wet clothes in winter. Once the water stopped manifesting, she probably had maybe three or four Olympic pools' worth of water with her. She'd gather more once she got further away.
And then it was time to go. Her water swished around her like a cat's lashing tail, reaching out and trailing its fingers along her, paths of warmth dragging across her skin. It obediently gathered beneath her feet, lifting her until she was eye level with the second stories of the buildings around her, standing on a surface with the consistency of firm Jell-o. She leaned forward, riding the top of a wave like a surfer without a surfboard. Smashing robots was pathetically easy this way. Short circuiting them was even easier. All she had to do was flow over them and sweep them up into her grasp, the water frying them as it rushed into the seams and cracks. There was no use in even counting them.
Hinami grinned, whooping and laughing as she flooded through the streets like a natural disaster, consciously moving in a direction where she thought no one else would be. From her vantage point she could see the ridiculously gigantic Zero Pointer robot puttering around, which she studiously avoided. No reason to get tied up in that when it wouldn't even help her grade. Plus, it was much more fun to smash the little ones. She zipped through alleyways, gathering up debris and wreckage like an actual tsunami, which only made her more effective at dispatching the robots as the debris helped rip them apart. It was practically unfair with how much ground she could cover and how helpless the robots were to do anything about it. More and more water swelled underneath her, adding to her own personal ocean. More and more, she continued, pouring more and more into her Quirk.
It was rare that she was able to go all out like this, push past her limits. Had she ever held this much water at once? It was unlikely. Something inside her kept egging her on, as water continued to condense and materialize in waves. It flowed from her, lifting her higher and higher, until she covered a five-lane street in water up to the third story. Without anyone around, she could cut loose and be free. It was… amazing. Her heart had never been as full, as content as now. This was the way it should be, the way she was meant to be. Her chest heaved with sweet exertion, lips chapped and on the verge of cracking from the wild grin stretched across her dimpled cheeks as wind bit at her face and whipped through her hair. If nothing could reach her, nothing could hurt her.
"Stop! I'm down here!" a tiny voice yelled from in front of the foaming, cresting wave that Hinami rode atop.
Hinami yelped and pulled back against the tide, straining to halt her momentum, digging her heels in with everything she had. The water underneath her wobbled and pitched as it slammed to a stop. However, the debris inside the water didn't have to listen to her. And it didn't stop. It continued to hurtle through the water without a care.
It wasn't going to stop.
"Shit!" Hinami huffed, grabbing fistfuls of air and heaving to the side, commanding the water into a tight whirl, her only thoughts on stopping the debris from launching out and crushing whoever had yelled. The water obeyed, going from a dead stop to a ripping whirlpool in the span of a heartbeat, redirecting the path of the junk shooting through it.
This would turn out to be what the kids call a bad move.
The water under her feet de-stabilized with the chaos. And she dropped right into the eye of the storm, getting sucked down into the blood-warm, raging swirl of robotic limbs and metal cords and trash. She screamed as something tore into her leg, water flooding down her throat as she struggled to get her wits about her. Bright, searing agony flared from her thigh and she clutched at the wound, hot water boiling in her lungs. She tumbled through the riptide, bouncing through the wreckage like a ping pong ball caught in a garbage disposal.
In a moment of clarity, she flicked her hands out to the sides and created a bubble around her, affording her a tiny space of safety as the whirlpool raged outside. She dropped to the floor of the bubble coughing and vomiting, clenching a fist in front of her chest and commanding the water out of her lungs in a spraying rush of liquid. Even as she did, a hunk of metal tore through the side of her bubble, water gushing in from the tear. She snapped a hand at the rip and it sealed itself, fixing that problem for the moment. Though the pressure of the whirlpool was still weighing heavily on her control, squeezing the bubble tight in its grasp.
She stood up shakily, her head brushing the top, hair getting sucked out into the swirling chaos. Throwing her hands out to both sides, she sunk her fingers into the hot water and closed her fists, calming the water and bringing it to a gentle stop. The debris continued to swirl through it, though much lazier and it too eventually came to a stop. Huffing and puffing like she'd just run a marathon, she carefully dispersed the water, this time paying special attention to the way she handled the debris flowing through it. To the outside eye it seemed like the water evaporated, shimmering like a mirage, as she carefully set down the weight.
She dropped. Her booted soles thumped back onto the pavement and she stumbled, clutching the wound on her thigh, which bubbled and pulsed blood. Other than the blood, her clothing was bone dry, as well as the piles and drifts of trash and robot parts that had previously been suspended in her water. Not a puddle in sight. Though the junk was heaped in strange expanding swirls with Hinami's location being the epicenter, the origin point. Stupid. She shouldn't have played around with that much water without knowing what effects the debris flowing through it would have. She deserved it. How could she expect to get into UA with such a gross misunderstanding of the physics of her own Quirk? She only controlled the water, not anything that happened to be inside it.
"Are… Are you okay?" a small voice asked.
Oh right. She had stopped for a reason.
"I'm fine," she snapped, coughing as her eyes scanned through the wreckage for the speaker. "What the hell are you doing here, anyway?" she asked, her voice tight and rough with pain. Her lungs rattled wetly, making her breath wheeze as every muscle in her body screamed in unison, pain flaring the brightest in her ribs and thigh. But that was like saying the North Star was the brightest star in the sky. Yes, of course it was. But it didn't mean the other stars, or numerous tiny cuts and bruises littering Hinami's skin, weren't also bright. And annoyingly painful.
"I-I was trying to… to find one by itself," the voice replied timidly, as Hinami's eyes suddenly locked on a small, furred figure. Iridescent, oil slick black eyes stared at her, no whites and no pupil visible at all, out from under a pair of fluffy antennae. A ruff of dusty grey fur surrounded the student's neck, fluttering grey butterfly wings behind them. "W-Water is… is b-bad with my wings," they explained, said wings folding down along their back, shedding dusty powder. The only color on them was the light blue top. It reminded her of old timey newspapers, down to the short fluffy grey hair which stuck out in tufts like a dandelion. A moth, then? No wonder she had a hard time finding them contrasted against the asphalt and wreckage.
Hinami grunted wordlessly, wrung out and exhausted from the unexpected mishap. 'Almost funny how fast that went to shit, just like the rest of my day,' she thought bitterly as she started to limp away.
"Wait!" the moth cried, scrambling after Hinami. "A-Aren't you going to say anything?"
Hinami glanced down at her elbow, where the top of the moth's head was. Damn, they were short as hell. And Hinami wasn't a tall person, either. "No," she said curtly, picking up the pace as she broke out of the spiraling maze of leftover, heaped scrap metal. Her eyes flicked up and down the cityscape, piles and piles of broken robots littering the road, the distant sound of what she assumed was Quirks activating and the screaming, rending of metal playing in her ears. Gotta catch up.
She blinked uncomfortably, eyelids feeling like straight up sandpaper against her poor eyeballs, and summoned as much water as she safely could. Which was only a couple bathtubs' worth, after she'd seriously overdone it earlier. Probably shouldn't have unsummoned it all either... Too late now. She picked up a brisk trot, heading for the commotion. She only paused long enough to seal the wound in her thigh with a glob of water. When she pulled her hand away from the slash, the water clung to it like a dew drop on a blade of grass. It would stay there for a while unless she did something stupid. So approximately five minutes, give or take.
"Wh-What's your name?" the moth asked, struggling to keep pace at Hinami's elbow.
"Todoroki," Hinami said, spying an alley up ahead that looked like it would bring her closer to the action.
"I'm Yamamai," the moth said, to which Hinami only grunted again.
Up ahead she turned a sharp corner, eyes snapping from side to side as she examined the new terrain. This road was wider and more open than the others, filled with faux business fronts and, just as she hoped, enveloped in utter chaos. Students darted to and fro, wild Quirks smashing and flashing, as robots beeped and died, lights fading from the red lenses. One kid had a giant hammer which she swung with indiscretion, cackling like an absolute loon as she shattered concrete and robot alike. Chunks of pulverized concrete flew from her rampage, sending students scattering.
"Hey!" one kid shouted after getting beaned in the head with some shrapnel. Oh hey, wasn't that Kirishima? "Watch what you're doing!" he yelled, his face all sharp and rocky and thankfully unharmed. Quirk, maybe?
Hammer girl moved like a video game character, Hinami observed after watching for a couple moments, always in straight rows and using the same repetitive motion over and over. So she wisely chose to move in the opposite direction of the destruction.
"You good?" Hinami asked brusquely, sparing Mini-Mothra a quick glance.
"Y-Yeah, I'm good," they stuttered, their huge dark eyes impossible to read without any sclera.
"Cool," Hinami muttered, leaping into the fray and jetting a concentrated cannon of water at a three-pointer. Its head snapped backwards and Hinami attacked the exposed wiring, sending water through the opening to flood its insides. Sparks flew from the joints of the robots, smoke curling away from the seams. Water flooded out the bottom of the three-pointer, which she collected and gathered back up as she passed. She panted harshly, a deep whine rising in the back of her throat as she continued to run, pressure mounting on her injured leg. It was so much harder now that she couldn't just submerge them completely and overwhelm them, she had to be strategic.
Moving as quick as possible, she flung every drop of water at her disposal at a fragile one pointer, smashing it up against a concrete fence. It slumped to the ground in a heap, sparking despondently. She withdrew the water and pooled it under neath her feet, gliding along the ground to her next victim. This version of surfing felt kind of like riding a giant snake, as opposed to riding the tsunami from earlier. Up ahead, her next victim lumbered through a graveyard of its fellows. She hopped off the water-snake, leg quivering under her weight, and punched forward, water following her movement in a thick whip. The water whip crashed into another one pointer and formed a bubble around its abdomen, robotic limbs still sticking out. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough to immerse it fully. It didn't matter. She rose her hand, fingers curled like a puppet master, as the one pointer lifted into the air in tandem.
Once the robot was a couple stories off the ground, she snapped her wrist upwards while simultaneously releasing the bubble, launching it higher. The idea was that the force of the fall would shatter it, but that wasn't the reality.
"Sorry, but that one's mine now! Consider it payback for earlier!" a laughing voice called, thick strips of white ribbon shooting out and bundling up her prey before it crashed down. A black blur swung several dozen feet above her, the ribbon that stole her robot connected to his elbow. He swiveled to face her, giving her a cheeky grin and flashing a peace sign. Then he threw his arm out to the side and swung the one pointer into the skyscraper next to him. The robot shattered the windows and exploded into pieces, raining shrapnel down on Hinami, which glittered and tinkled as it fell.
"Get back here, asshole!" Hinami screeched, throwing her arms up to protect her head, water racing to shield her as chunks of smoking robot corpse and skyscraper thundered down around her. The thick mushroom-shaped umbrella of water bounced and jiggled as it was assaulted, wild light refractions and flashing rainbows emphasizing the chaos. Her weakened leg shook violently, buckling under the pressure of the onslaught and dumping her to the ground. Gasping, she flung her hands out in front of her, forced to materialize a cushion of water to break her fall, all the while keeping her water shield up above her. Finally, the rain ended, sparing her a moment to catch her breath. Exhausted, she flopped backwards into a beanbag shaped glob and let it cradle her, soothing away her aches with its warmth. Damn, she was wiped. She hadn't wanted to summon anymore water, and she felt the aftermath keenly in her aching temples and burning eyes. How many points was that now? Would it be enough?
"Three minutes remaining, listeners!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the city, vibrating the skyscraper windows so violently that she was afraid they'd shatter and rain even more glass on her. Good thing she stubbornly kept up her water umbrella.
She started slowly inching away from the road, letting her water ooze across the ground and drag her along like she was the shell on a slug. Or snail? Did slugs have shells? Whatever. All she knew was that she had to get up right now, if she wanted any chance of completing the exam. But the water was so relaxing… and her body hurt so much.
The water underneath her started to jiggle like a shaken bowl of jelly, nearly bucking Hinami off. "The hell…?" she muttered, head snapping up at the deep rumbling groan coming from the direction she had just left. Students stampeded away from the towering Zero Pointer, flowing through the rubble and torn up concrete like a flood over a previously dry riverbed. She thought she even saw the hammer lunatic in the crowd.
"Th-That's a really big o-one…" Yamamai squeaked, bracing their hands on their knees as they gasped for breath, apparently having just caught up with Hinami.
"You're still here?" Hinami groaned, though the knowledge that the little moth had seen her fall was embarrassing enough that it inspired her to weakly scramble to her feet.
"Yo-You're hurt," Yamamai said, though the effect was somewhat ruined as they still couldn't catch their breath. The last of the students trickled past them, quickly evacuating the area. Which was the smart thing to do.
"I know," she huffed, using her water to help lift herself to her feet. "We better get going," she said, the rumbling increasing as the Zero Pointer lumbered their way. She took up an easy jog, periodically glancing over her shoulder to check on the robot pursuing them. (And Mini-Mothra, though she didn't want to admit it.)
"You've…" Hinami wheezed, head swimming as she stumbled and slumped over. "You've gotta keep up," she finished, pressing the heel of her hand into her eyes to smother the stars that danced in her vision, a piercing headache pounding through her skull like an icepick to her brain. Somewhere along the line, the water she globbed on her thigh wound disappeared and it bled lazily, oozing down her leg and soaking into her sock. Wow. It's only been like… two minutes, she didn't even last half of the predicted five minutes without doing something stupid. As if it wasn't bad enough already, she had to deal with blood squishing between her toes and congealing sickeningly. Ugh! Those were her favorite boots, Natsuo gave them to her for her birthday. She'd probably have to toss them now.
"Ca-Can't," Yamamai squeaked, tiny legs pumping as fast as they could, even with the excellent motivation of being smashed into chunky salsa if they fell too far behind. The moth was about 20 feet behind Hinami, and the Zero Pointer was looming about 40 feet behind them, much too close for comfort.
"Are those wings just for show?!" she growled, gathering her water up around her and trying to steady her shaking hands. Unable to do anything else, she slung a huge glob of water at the moth, scooping them up in her embrace and yanking them to her. She greatly overestimated the weight of the little person, the blob of water yoyo-ing back harder and faster than she accounted for. Hinami spat a curse as the water slammed into her chest like a battering ram, knocking the wind out of her. Instinctively, her arms snapped around the moth, holding their little body close as she was tossed ass over teakettle by the collision, her shoulder jarring harshly against the pavement and bearing the brunt of it. Though she did manage not to smush the bug cuddled to her chest.
They finally rolled to a stop, crumbled in a heap of shaken bug and broken girl. She panted raggedly, struggling to refill her lungs. But the roar of crunching concrete consumed her every thought. Adequately inspired by the sound of impending doom, she heaved herself to her hands and knees. Only barely succeeding to stay up as her elbows shook and threatened to give out. Next, she checked on Yamamai. "You okay?" she gasped, grabbing the soggy ruff of fur (or feathers? She didn't know what the hell it was now that she was closer) around their neck and hauling them to their feet, as though they weighed nothing.
"I'm okay," the moth confirmed shakily. They looked like a drowned rat, all skin and bone with soaked, drooping antennae and wings that dripped dusty silvered water.
Hinami squeezed her burning eyes shut as the asphalt vibrated violently beneath her, collapsing her shaking arms and crumpling her like a used tissue. Her chin banged against the ground, cracking her teeth together. She choked, muscles contracting and seizing up as she forced them to cooperate. "I'm gonna—" she hissed sharpy, pushing back up onto her hands and knees, wobbling like newborn baby deer, "I'm gonna do that again, okay?" she said, gathering all the water she had, leaching it from her clothes and the ground, and pooling under her in preparation.
"M-My wings! The dust is—" Yamamai protested weakly, but it was too late. Hinami blobbed them up and flung them away, striking a delicate balance between power and control. If she held the bubble too tightly, it would forcefully flood water down their lungs. Too loosely and it would splash apart on impact. She held it together, walking the thin line between too much and not enough as she pushed it further and further. She pushed until her control started to fuzz out, like a toy helicopter at the end of its range.
"Th-There," she panted as her muscles locked and spasmed, dropping her back down to the ground. Several blocks ahead of her, just before she hit the end of her limit, she slowed the bubble to a stop and, with no other choice, dismissed the water completely. Anything less than that, and she couldn't guarantee that Yamamai would be dry. It was no use to go through all that trouble to save them if they were too weighed down with water to get away. "So-Sorry about your wings," she muttered as her vision danced and spun, the earth bucking wildly underneath her palms.
First, they neglected to get Tatsumi an interpreter, and now they're going to let a giant robot squish Hinami. Maybe UA wasn't worth it after all. 'I should've applied to Shiketsu,' she thought, pitching forward to faceplant into the concrete (again) as her body went completely numb (how many times was that now?). 'Move!' she commanded, but her body only twitched uselessly as the Zero Pointer rumbled closer and closer. Her clothes were damp, but only slightly, as if she pulled them out of the drier five minutes too early. Not even enough water to fill a glass with. If she wanted more, she was going to have to create it. With that thought in mind, she reached deep inside herself, trying to find any last vestige of her Quirk, anything untapped that she could squeeze out, even though she felt like a dried-up sponge.
A white-hot firecracker exploded behind her eyes as she yanked on her Quirk, coming up empty handed and getting strongly rebuffed. Her breath began to gurgle in the back of her throat, thick and coppery, as her nose started to bleed sullenly. There was nothing left. She used too much, asked for too much.
Worthless, pathetic, weak.
Failure.
Hinami gave up. Her body untensed and she went limp, passively waiting for the Zero Pointer to crush her and turn her into abstract sidewalk art. Her nose continued to bleed slowly, drops pattering onto the concrete. Father would be so ashamed of her if he saw this pitiful display, she thought, stomach clenching and blood becoming ice in her veins. And still, she could do nothing when it mattered the most.
"One minute remaining, kids! Make the most of it!" Present Mic shouted, his voice echoing through the faux city, shattering windows. It was simultaneously too much time, and too little as she waited for death to roll over her, starting feet first and giving her plenty of time to suffer. Wonderful. What a wasted existence.
"Todoroki!" a voice shouted, heavy footsteps racing towards her. That stupid moth? Why didn't they keep running? They couldn't do anything. No… if she could hear the footsteps then it wasn't the moth. They didn't weigh anything. And the voice was wrong. Who then? "Let's go, Todoroki!" the voice called again, a hand fisting in the back of her jacket and hauling her off the ground by the scruff of her neck like a kitten.
"I-I can't!" she cried, coughing weakly on the blood dripping down her throat. Though thankfully it seemed to have mostly stopped for the moment. Her legs were numb and boneless beneath her. Then she caught a glimpse of soft black hair and red eyes as Kirishima threw her onto his shoulder. She gritted her teeth, biting off the scream that rose into her throat as his shoulder dug harshly into her ribs.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, but don't worry! I got you now!" he promised, bracing one arm across the back of her knees, the other coming to rest on her mid back to stop her from bouncing too much as he took off in a quick jog.
"How...?" she asked, a torrent of emotions flowing through her all at once. Two seconds ago she was calmly accepting death, and now she was slung over a cute boy's back. Which… was kind of embarrassing, too. He probably thought she was weak. "Kirishima!" she shrieked, the robotic arm catching a glint of sunlight as it streaked towards them, giant pincer open.
"Damn it!" he huffed, sprinting for a nearby alleyway and jostling her around worse than a wagon speeding down a dirt road at 80mph.
Too slow. They weren't going to make it.
Hinami's eyes snapped shut as the pincer closed in on them, cursing her rotten luck and any deity that would claim this disaster as their making.
But then… it didn't come.
Her eyes opened slowly, ribs absolutely howling in agony as she bounced on Kirishima's shoulder. And her jaw fell open, heart dropping into her toes. There, flitting around in the Zero Pointer's face like a… well, like a moth to the flame was her newest favorite pain in the ass. "Yamamai!" she yelled, lurching as if she could snatch them out of the sky and bring them into the safety of the alley.
"Whoa!" Kirishima gasped, teetering as her lurch nearly threw him off balance. "Careful there, Todoroki!"
"Yamamai!" she cried again, cursing her stupid, useless body as the tiny moth defiantly zipped around the Zero Pointer's face. How worthless could she be? Here she was, getting carried away to safety while Yamamai distracted it.
"Hey, hey!" Kirishima said, thumping her solidly on the back. "Take it easy, I thought the moth person said that you were paralyzed," he laughed. "I'm sure they're fine," he said reassuringly, slowing to a stop once they were far enough into the alley.
"Paralyzed…?" Hinami sniffled miserably, uncertain if she'd heard him right.
"Well, yeah? Something about the dust in their wings, I think?" Kirishima replied, shrugging his shoulders easily, as if he weren't hauling her around like a feisty sack of potatoes. "They were pretty worked up."
"Oh…" Hinami murmured, her head resting against his midback. Not that she had a choice in the matter, her neck muscles felt like those of a brand-new infant. Soft and floppy. "The exam, Kirishima!" Hinami gasped. She coughed and struggled, though she was only able to twitch her fingers. "You have to put me down or you'll fail!"
"No worries, I took down a crap ton of those robots earlier," he explained, slowly kneeling and sliding her off his shoulder—being extremely careful to keep her head from smashing into the brick wall he was sitting her against. "Sorry for tossing you around like that," he apologized, his warm hands helping her stay upright. Somewhere along the line he'd lost the sleeves to his jacket, turning it into a vest. She vaguely wondered how, though it was hard to focus.
"Thank you," Hinami swallowed thickly, forcing the words out through her wounded pride, "for… saving me," she gritted, eyes shut as if refusing to look at him would make it easier. But also, she kind of felt like she took a joyride on a unicycle through an alley filled with woodchippers. Pain was an old friend to her battered body.
"Oh shit," he breathed out, his voice going soft and almost squeaky, "you're bleeding, like… a lot."
Hinami's eyelids slid open, scraping over her dry eyes like a cheese grater. You know, the kind for grating parmesan and zesting lemons? The one with tiny, sharp holes? That kind. That's what her eyelids felt like against her eyeballs. "Sorry for getting blood on your clothes," she mumbled, head tipping back and knocking against the brick wall.
"What?! Don't apologize for that! Hey—Hey!" Kirishima yelped and leapt to steady her as her eyes slid closed and her body untensed, slumping to the side.
"TIME'S UP, LISTENERS!" Present Mic announced. But Hinami didn't hear.
Snuffed like a candle in a windstorm, she blacked out.
Hinami whined as her consciousness returned, slowly at first. And then with a punch in the face. The pain came back ten-fold, aches and bruises and cuts and burns waking up with her. Yup, looks like every one's in attendance. The gang's all here. She breathed slowly, twitching her fingers just to see if they responded. They did, wonderful. So next she tried to wipe the sleep sand out of her eyes. Easy, right?
No. Instead she slapped herself full across the face.
"Ow! Fuck!" she cursed. But hey. It worked and her eyes were clear now, though the slap kickstarted her headache. The skyscrapers from the cityscape loomed above her, showing just a sliver of blue sky beyond their reach. Good, great. She was still in that godforsaken exam. Just where she wanted to be.
"Yo-You might still be a little… numb," Yamamai said, their head popping into Hinami's line of sight with their giant oil slick black eyes. Numb was putting it pretty damn lightly, in Hinami's humble opinion. Her entire existence felt like the snow on an old timey television, fuzzing and cold and sharp like a limb that fell asleep.
"Are you okay?" Kirishima asked, his face appearing above her as well.
"Mmm," Hinami grunted, clenching her eyes shut as the pounding icepick in her brain started back up. "Probably," she said, neck straining as she tried to pull her shoulders off the ground to roll over. And just like every other thing she tried to do in this cursed exam, it didn't fucking work. Big surprise. Her head thumped back onto the ground, but… softly. Someone had wadded something up under it, felt like cloth.
"Can I… help you up?" Kirishima asked hesitantly, his hands hovering anxiously over her.
"Don't!" she snapped immediately through gritted teeth. Kirishima recoiled, a flash of surprise coming over his face. She thumped her head back again, eyes shut tightly, as guilt washed over her. "Please… don't," she repeated, softer. How much more damage could her pride take today?
On second thought, she didn't want to know.
"I'm sure the medics will come this way soon!" he said optimistically, easily recovering from her outburst. Good dude.
"It's okay," she said, struggling to rise herself up on her elbows. "You two can go ahead. Don't wait on me." Maybe if they weren't watching it would be easier to get herself pulled off the ground. And less embarrassing.
"No way!" Kirishima denied immediately, "We don't mind waiting here with you, right, Yamamai?"
"Y-Yes, of course," Yamamai agreed, "I-I feel kind of re-responsible, after all…" they muttered sadly, twiddling with their fingers. They had a point, though Hinami wouldn't agree out loud. They were the beginning of all the bullshit that happened in the exam.
And… maybe it was a little bit Hinami's fault for getting out of hand and arrogant, too. But just a little.
"How long does this shit last, Yamamai?" she asked, trembling from head to toe with effort of rolling over. And still failing. Kirishima winced and looked as if he were about to open his mouth again but thought better of it.
"Oh, er… I-I've only ever timed the effects on my… my younger siblings," Yamamai said hesitantly. "B-But it lasts about thirty minutes on them, and fif-fifteen minutes before well… before they can even t-twitch."
"Oh good, then I must've been out a while," she said, finally managing to roll onto her stomach. And collapsing onto her face instantly, landing on something squishy. "Why aren't the medics here yet?" she complained, face smothered in cloth. It smelled like… citrus laundry soap, smoke, and something sharp and coppery, blood maybe? Her blood, most likely. Speaking of blood, it began to drip from her nose again, having re-started again from the face plant. Fuck. She dragged her hand up to pinch her nose closed, though didn't pick her face up just yet.
"Er…" Kirishima hesitated, eyebrows pinching together, "it hasn't really been that long, you were only out long enough for me to move you out of the alley…" he said sheepishly. Oh good. Hinami groaned, glad that her face was still mostly hidden in the jacket as she felt the traitorous blush coming on. "Sorry, Todoroki," he said hastily, "I shouldn't have moved you without asking, but I was worried they wouldn't find us there," he apologized, sincerity practically pouring off him. Damn, this dude really ran around with his heart on his sleeve, huh.
Ugh. He was just so nice. It was hard to be upset. Hinami swallowed the harsh words that leapt to her tongue, even though she was mortified at the thought of him moving her while she was unconscious. "It's okay," she said at last, nasally and thick. "Thank you."
"Heh, no problem!" he said, a smile evident in the tone of his voice.
Hinami took a moment to gather her strength before heaving herself up onto her hands and knees, the pent up blood dribbling out of her nose as she did so. Gross. But at least it hadn't congealed into blood slugs yet. That was always the worst. Her body tremored softly with effort. But she held. Her elbows locked in place, however shakily. But at least she was off the ground. Finally. She cautiously reached for her Quirk, hoping she could at least use a little bit of it. Just a smidge, enough to rinse her face. A drop, please?
The answer was an enthusiastic 'no,' a sharp electric pang shooting through her temples for having the audacity to even ask.
"You're bleeding again," Kirishima pointed out, kneeling next to her.
"Yeah," she coughed, tasting it on her tongue. She shakily reached up to wipe the blood off her face with her jacket sleeve. "I used my Quirk too much. It's fine."
"Can you…" she paused to take a deep breath as fingers clenched around… a jacket? Her eyes flicked up to Kirishima, his white shirt smudged with blood, conspicuously missing the exact same black jacket she'd been using as a pillow. The same one she'd smothered her face in. She viciously shoved that thought down, deep down. And buried it. "Can you help me up… please?"
"Sure!" he agreed without a second thought, extending a hand down to her. Hinami steadied herself and picked her hand off the ground, reaching to out to grasp his wrist. He followed her lead, wrapping his fingers firmly around hers in turn, "Ready?"
"Not yet," Hinami shook her head, using his support to help lift one knee off the ground so she could plant her boot down on the asphalt. Her breath wheezed in and out, as discreetly and quietly as possible since she didn't want them to hear her gasping for dear life. Though she was positive Kirishima could feel her shaking like a leaf, unfortunately there wasn't much she could do about that. She probably looked ridiculous. All he'd gotten to see of her so far was so pitiful and embarrassing, he had to think she was weak. How could he believe anything else? Even little Yamamai had been more useful than she had. He was just taking pity on her, he probably resented having to wait for her. The thought stung deeply, more than she wanted to admit.
Hinami bowed her head, staring at the asphalt and… was that another jacket? Wrapped around the wound on her thigh? Which, thankfully, seemed to have stopped bleeding sometime while she was out. By pulling harder on Kirishima, who didn't move an inch, she managed to lift her other hand off the ground. She ran her fingers over the soft grey jersey knit fabric, shooting a glance at Yamamai. The moth's antennae swiveled this way and that, but it was impossible to tell where they were looking with their endless black eyes. And they were missing a jacket, as well. She owed the two of them so much already. When would it end? She was on a roll with the whole 'ruining jackets' thing. Though… to be fair, Kirishima's jacket was pretty roughed up before she got involved.
"Okay, now," she said, body tensing in preparation. Kirishima dug his heels in and pulled, heaving her up to her feet with maybe just a little too much enthusiasm. She nearly went flying, crashing against him and bouncing her head off his chin—which was hard as rock, holy fuck ow.
"Sorry!" he said, steadying her and holding her at arms distance. "You okay?"
"Y-Yeah," she breathed, blinking the spinning lights out of her eyes and rubbing her forehead. Once she was mostly recovered, she started slowly shifting her weight onto her own two legs, which quivered with the effort. But held. "I'm good," she said, hastily shrugging his hands off and standing on her own by force of will and sheer pigheadedness. She wobbled a little, but overall, it felt okay. Her headache was certainly there to stay, though, after a knock like that.
And then her injured leg folded like wet paper underneath her.
"Whoa!" Kirishima gasped, catching her by the elbows so that she didn't fall completely.
"Damn it!" she spat, panting raggedly. It hurt so much. Blinking, breathing, swallowing. Everything either felt like the intense pins and needles sensation of being numb, or pain. There was no in between.
"Here, let's try this," Kirishima said, hunching down a little so that he could pull her arm around his shoulders, while his other arm arm went around her back to wrap around her bicep. "Is this okay?" he asked once they were settled.
"I-I think so…" she sighed, experimentally taking a step forward with his support. Yeah, that could work. It took most of the weight off her injured leg, and it allowed her to retain some semblance of pride. He even held onto her upper arm instead of her waist, which would've been perfectly acceptable in this situation. In terms of compromise, it was one of the better ones she'd faced.
Kirishima faithfully matched her pace without complaint as she limped along. Though after a couple blocks worth of hobbling, Hinami's head was starting to dip forward and her vision blurred at the edges. Kirishima brought them to a slow stop, waiting for her to catch her breath. "You're doing good! We're almost back to the entrance," he said encouragingly. It was a lie, of course. But it was sweet that he tried. She hummed in acknowledgement, too wiped to even reply as she wheezed, quietly, to refill her lungs. She sluggishly dragged the sleeve of her jacket across her nose, smearing more blood onto it. It was gross, but way better than letting it drip down her throat or get into her mouth even more than it already had. She knew from experience that if too much blood dripped into her stomach, she'd get nauseous. That was the last thing she needed.
"L-Look!" Yamamai gasped, wings fluttering and sending little swirls of dusty powder along the ground. Oh yeah, they were still here. More witnesses to her shame. Even better.
"It's the Med-bots!" Kirishima exclaimed, prompting her to finally lift her head. Just as he said, there were two little Med-bots carefully picking through the wreckage and torn concrete with a stretcher between them. Oh thank goodness, she was about ready to die of exhaustion and she was tired of pretending she didn't feel like death warmed over.
The Med-bots beeped as they came to a stop in front of them, the simple white cot, which at any other time would've been spartan and uncomfortable, now looked ridiculously soft and inviting. As if it were woven with fresh snow, marshmallows, and clouds.
"Alright, easy does it," Kirishima said as he withdrew his arm from around her back, his palm sliding over her shoulders. Hinami followed his lead, disentangling herself from him and gratefully accepting the arm he held out for her to hold onto as she limped over to the stretcher. Slowly, carefully, he took her hands in his and lowered her down until the back of her knees hit the side of the stretcher, then her thighs and butt. She gingerly laid down, head falling back against the little pillow with a tired sigh. Realizing she still had a death grip on Kirishima, she blushed and slipped her hands out of his, which were slightly calloused. He's probably glad to be rid of her. All she's done is burden him this entire exam. It must be relieving for him to hand her off to someone else. Her battered body sank further into the stretcher, her eyes clenching shut at the pessimistic thought.
He was just too nice to tell her that he thought she was annoying.
"Oh, wait!" Kirishima exclaimed, kneeling next to the stretcher. "Your hair's hanging down, it's going to get tangled in the wheels," he explained, carefully gathering up the pink strands and laying them next to her, apologizing when his fingers accidentally hit a snarl and tugged. "Now you're good to go," he said with a grin, combing his fingers through her hair one more time to smooth it out before standing up and dusting off his knees.
"Thanks…" Hinami breathed, unable to meet his gaze.
"S-Sorry about everything," Yamamai said, popping up next to her.
Hinami flinched in surprise, gasping at their sudden appearance. Damn, they were sneaky as hell. "When I see the two of you… at UA," she murmured, fighting to keep her eyes open, "I'll get you both… a new jacket."
Kirishima laughed, pumping a fist in the air, "I'll hold you to it! Maybe we'll even be in the same class."
Hinami grinned despite herself, cheeks dimpling, "I'd like that…" she agreed, closing her eyes as the med-bots beeped and zipped away. She was only half-conscious as they bustled through the mock city, fading in and out. Eventually they came to a stop and she heard people fretting over her, and an elderly woman's voice tutting. Something about going too hard on herself, maybe? She tried to open her eyes, but they just wouldn't budge. Someone pressed a kiss to her forehead, and it zapped her remaining strength, knocking her back into a deep, heavy sleep, which was mercifully free of nightmares.
When next Hinami came to consciousness, she was incredibly warm, almost uncomfortably so. And it was windy. She could feel her hair whipping around, as if she were caught in a tornado. She whined softly in the back of her dry throat, wiggling against her constraints. She felt… strangely weightless. Her aches and pains were mostly gone, replaced with bone-deep exhaustion. The numbness seemed to be gone, too. Her eyes sluggishly peeled open, crusty and gummed up. She blinked several times to clear them, baby blue and bright red mixing and swirling together in her vision.
"Who…?" she rasped, struggling against the hold on her. But her body was as heavy and unresponsive as a bag of sand. And then her stomach flipped as if she dropped a great height, hair flying in her face. She gasped and cuddled closer to whoever was carrying her, nausea rising in her throat. Gravel crunched, and her breath whooshed out as they landed hard, boots skidding.
"You're awake," a deep bass voice rumbled under her ear.
Hinami's breath snagged in her throat like lace on Velcro, adrenaline flooding through her veins as her face went cold. "F-Father?" she whispered, finally understanding why she was burning hot. She was cradled in his arms like a little doll. "You… came to get me?" she asked, sorting through her vague and jumbled memories. Why was he here? She hadn't spoken to him since…
"I should've just left you there," he growled, "you're lucky it was on my patrol route." With that, he took off in a heavy-footed run, leaping off the edge of the rooftop they were on. And then they were airborne again. Hinami's eyes streamed in the wind and she snapped them shut, pushing her face back into her father's chest. He knew. He knew how pathetic she was. Shame, sick and slimy, coiled in the pit of her stomach. Almost, she wished that he would just drop her so that she didn't have to feel the disgust rolling off him. But… he'd never been held her like this before. He didn't do hugs. Ever. The only physical contact she got from him was when he sparred with her and Shoto.
It was… almost nice.
Before too much longer, they landed next to a familiar train station and she knew they were only minutes away from home. Apparently, she'd woken up near the end of the ride. It was the only mercy she'd get from the universe today. Without preamble, father took off with dizzying speed, so much so that her eyes watered as if they were still flying. Probably eager to wash his hands after touching her, if she had to guess why.
They came to a stop a short while later, Hinami's hair softly fluttering back down around her face. She blinked her eyes open, greeted with the much-appreciated sight of their front gate. The same distance that had taken her just under six-ish minutes this morning had taken less than one minute for her father, while he was carrying her. And who's to say that was even his top speed? Her respect for her father grew, though grudgingly. She had so far to go until she was able to stand up to him. But that didn't matter right now since she was home. Her heart leapt, relief overwhelming her. Finally, she'd get to take a shower and crawl into bed. And father could go back to pretending she didn't exist.
He shifted her into one arm, as though she weighed nothing, his other reaching to open the gate. As soon as the gate was open, he stepped through and pulled her away from his chest, holding her by the armpits like a naughty puppy. "Bring your acceptance letter to my office when it comes," he demanded, voice low and serious as he dangled her feet off the ground. "If you make it into UA, then I'm going to have to teach you to be less of an embarrassment to my name," he growled, her hair floating away from the heated currents of air coming off his fiery beard.
Then he dropped her. It was only about a foot or so to the ground, but her feet stung at the impact and her weak leg shook under the strain. She instinctively reached out and grabbed her father's arm to stabilize herself but knew immediately that she'd made a mistake.
"Stop being dramatic," father snapped, roughly shaking her hand off his arm. Without his support her leg collapsed under her and she landed hard on her knees and palms, paving stones biting deeply into her flesh. She desperately choked back the yelp that rose in her throat, teeth viciously sinking into her lip. "If you were hurt that badly in a practice exam, then I was right not to recommend you. You didn't deserve it," he snarled, deathly quiet and menacing. His flames snapped back into place on his suit, washing over her in an intense wave of heat that forced her to shield her eyes and face. She heard a soft, whispery thump next to her, along with the clinking of metal hitting the walkway.
And then he was gone.
Hinami sat there, dumbly, knees wet with blood. Cheeks wet with tears.
He was right.