"Recovery Girl!" Nejire exclaims brightly, bursting into the infirmary. Nariko glances around the room, cursing internally when she sees two other students.
"What's the matter dearie?" Recovery Girl asks worriedly, getting up from her desk.
"Kaminari-chan has a dislocated cheek! She won't say how she got it though..." Nejire says cheerfully, tugging Nariko over.
"I really just tripped and fell on the corner of a table, Hadō-senpai!" The yellow haired teenager lies. Recovery Girl narrows her eyes, making her avert her gaze.
"Sit on one of the beds. I'll get it healed up, dearie," The old lady eventually says. Nariko sighs and nods her head, making her way to the closest cot.
"Thank you Hadō-san. Can you go find Aizawa-san and tell him his student is with me?"
"Yep! See you later, Kaminari-chan!" Nejire exclaims, walking out of the infirmary.
"See you later!" Mirio waves goodbye, leading the still incredibly shy Tamaki out of the room.
"Please don't talk until after I heal your cheek. It will only make your injury worse," Recovery Girl says, bringing over a stool. Nariko messes with the sleeves of her cardigan, keeping her gaze on the wall whole tilting her cheek towards the old hero.
"Have you eaten breakfast?" Recovery Girl asks, touching Nariko's cheek. She whimpers in pain, trying her hardest not to flinch away from the cold hands before shaking her head. Recovery Girl pauses, staring at Nariko for a few seconds.
It's not a food day for her.
"Were you able to eat dinner last night?" Nariko pinches her fingers together and shrugs, flinching away when the old hero touches her cheek again. Recovery Girl sighs and mutters about problem children under her breath.
She barely had enough for one and a half meals. Luckily, today's a shopping day.
Nariko worries her lip, feeling guilt build up in her chest. She continues messing with her sleeves, ignoring the whispers from the two other students.
"It's not fractured, luckily. Healing face injuries can hurt a lot, dearie," Recovery Girl warns before kissing the yellow haired teenager's cheek. A sharp, searing pain zips through her cheek, making her hiss.
"Ow..." Nariko says, touching her cheek. She sighs when the pain fades into an ache as her cheekbone pops back into place.
"I'll be right back, dearie. I need to call Lunch Rush and have him bring you some food. It's dangerous for me to heal someone when they haven't eaten for almost 24 hours," The old lady says getting off her stool and walking to her desk. Nariko quickly stands up, ignoring her small dizzy spell.
"That's not necessary, Recovery Girl-san! Thanks, by the way! I really have to go though," Nariko says, quickly making her way towards the exit. "Aizawa-Sensei will be so mad if I'm late! Have a nice day!"
"Wait–Kaminari–damn these problem children!" Nariko rushes out of the infirmary and sprints down the hallway. She takes the stairs two steps at a time and glances at a clock she passes. 8:23, two minutes.
Nariko trips on the last step and falls to the ground, harshly banging her knee. She hisses in pain and scrambles back up, continuing her sprint. Her classroom's door was open when she slides in, stumbling to a stop.
"Kaminari-kun! I applaud you for coming to class on time, but please be aware that you were almost a minute late!" Tenya Iida, a 15 year old boy with dark blue hair, dark blue eyes, and fair skin exclaims loudly. Nariko forces a smile on her face and laughs sheepishly.
"Sorry, Iida-kun! Had to go to Recovery Girl-san for something," Nariko says with a shrug, taking off her satchel and walking to her desk.
"Oh! Are you okay?" Tōru asks worriedly, making Nariko blush in surprise. She nods her head and hums.
"Mmhmm! Nothing serious, Hagakure-chan." Nariko jumps up and sits on top of her desk. "You all escaped the harpies alright?"
"Harpies?" Eijirō asks with a small head tilt. Nariko plucks a peppermint out of her cardigan pocket while nodding.
"The reporters," She clarifies before popping the peppermint into her mouth.
"More like fucking vampire harpies. Goddamn fuckers." Nariko slides into her seat right before Shōta storms in. The class goes quiet at how angry he looked.
"You all will be figuring out who will be the class representative. Kaminari, outside," Shōta says angrily, making Nariko frown slightly.
"Why?" The yellow haired teenager asks before flinching at Shōta's angry glare.
"You know damn well. Outside, now." Nariko sighs heavily and stands up, walking out of the class.
"I hear that you all get too loud, I'll expell you all," The tired man says before walking out after Nariko. He slams the door closed.
"Did running out of the infirmary really make him this mad?" Nariko thinks glumly, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.
"The infirmary. Now," He orders, grabbing Nariko's wrist. She flinches in pain when he grips the bruise and instinctively pulls her wrist out of his grip, pulling it to her chest.
"Please don't grab my wrist," She says calmly, taking in a deep breath. "Why do I have to go to the infirmary?"
Shōta's glare softens a bit before he gives the yellow haired teenager a deadpan. She blinks up at him, even more confused.
"...you ran away after being healed. I got there a bit after you did and found Recovery Girl livid, because you left before you could eat food since you haven't eaten in the past twelve hours," Shōta explains eventually, making Nariko sigh. She moves the peppermint around with her tongue.
"I can't–my–my fam–my parents can't pay off anymore bills... I've gone longer without food anyway. Today we aren't doing any physical activity, so I don't see what the big problem is," Nariko says tiredly, scratching the corner of her eye and staring down at her shoes.
"Why do they care now?" Nariko asks bitterly, thinking of her past teachers. She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes.
"You would have passed out physical activity or no," Shōta states dryly, making Nariko scoff disbelievingly. Sure.
She silently follows Shōta, frowning slightly. Nariko ignores her own lightheadedness.
"Kaminari, late again I see," Furuhashi Yūya, Nariko's middle school homeroom teacher, states again. He doesn't glance away from the chalkboard. 13 year old Nariko pants heavily, running a hand through her disheveled hair.
"Sorry, Furuhashi-Sensei! The hallways were so crowded and–"
"Please stop with your excuses. I honestly don't care," Yūya interrupts coldly before pointing at one of the empty seats. "Sit. Preferably in silence."
Nariko's smile falters and she hesitantly nods her head. She walks over to a desk and sits down, worrying her bottom lip.
"I hope you actually learn something, but with your low intelligence, I doubt it. Here. Look up the answers for all I care, just finish it as quickly as possible," Yūya says, tossing a packet of remedial work towards Nariko. She flinches at the insult and catches the packet, fidgeting in her seat.
"I–um–I have to leave in ten minutes... Can I take this home?" Nariko asks nervously, getting to work.
"Wanting to be lazy, again?" The male teacher asks.
"No! I have work and I don't want to miss–"
"Lying again, Kaminari? Please stop trying to be the center of attention. It doesn't suit you."
"N-no, I'm not! I just–"
"Bruise makeup too?" Yūya glances at Nariko, seeing the horribly covered bruises on her face. Nariko touches the bruises, curling in on herself.
"It's not makeup! I got jumped last night and–" Nariko flinches under Yūya's glare and stops speaking. She puts her head down and gets to work, sniffing quietly.
A few tears fall from her eyes, making her quickly rub her eyes. Nariko sniffs again and pushes down her sadness and anger.
"Peace and quiet. Finally!" Yūya sighs in relief, kicking up his feet and leaning back in his chair. Nariko resists the want to electrocute the man and forces herself to focus on the remedial work.
"None of them ever care."
Hey! Hope you like the new chapter! So, the flashback is just a quick teaser into what school was like for Nariko. I will go further into it in future chapters, so I won't say much here.
Also, I've never had a dislocated cheekbone before, but I know it's incredibly painful. Most of the time when Nariko is injured, she pushes through it and ignores it. She does this, because if she is injured right before one of her visits with any of her family, she hides it, and she absolutely despises hospitals. Nariko did the same with her dislocated cheekbone out of habit and because she associates anyone in the medical field with bills and debts.
MysteryAgain: It is excessive, but I planned for this stuff. It's all relevant to the story and yes, it is incredibly excessive, I've loosely planned the plot and where all of this will lead to. And with Denki, he'll won't be shown much right now, but he does play an important part of this story in the future.
Thank you for your comment and your criticism! I hope my explanation cleared up a few things! I know it's vague, but a lot of the explanation is directly affected by what I have planned and would spoil a lot.
Hope you guys enjoy the story so far! Bye!
WhovianWhoudini