15:32. That is what my watch said, as I checked it again for what must of been the fifth consecutive time in my short walk from the train station. Swallowing hard, I stared on as the two transformed into a three. The trams had been backed up, something about some sludge villain attacking a kid nearby. It hadn't mattered to me at first but now here I am, standing outside the apartment, cursing myself for hoping that the case had been dangerous enough to have taken my father there. Briefly I thought of stripping down, depositing my bag and clothes somewhere, and sneaking in through the back so I could claim that I had been there all along. The only flaw in that plan being the chime necklace that I was forced to wear at home, would still be by the door where I had left it this morning. Unable to suppress a shudder at the thought of what may await me inside, I slowly reached out for the door handle and tested it, locked, I let out a long sigh of relief and began to rifle through my bag for the key. Sending my gratitude to whichever god blessed my travel home, I began to open the door.
"Oh, Are you just gettin' home now Tooru?"
Nevermind fuck that god. The thought was brief and did little to vent the dread and frustration that was slowly encroaching up throughout my body. Although the voice was soft and the question polite, I had felt my body stiffen at the first syllable, I quietly uttered a few more choice words at my accursed luck. Hesitantly, I turned towards the owner of the voice, my father. He and a group of his co workers stood a couple of doors down, watching me with curious looks whilst holding various bottles of different shapes and sizes, almost certainly filled with some sort of liquor or another. My father stood a good head taller than the rest of the group, he was broad and barrel chested, an appearance that no doubt came from his germanic roots. Jet black hair sat neatly on his head in a military fashion, befitting considering his line of work. Finally my eyes settled on the hard, venom filled expression my father was directing at me, so very contradictory to the tone of voice he had used to get my attention. Biting my lip I immediately whirled around and bowed to the group.
"Yes honored father! The trams were backed up due to a villain and I could not make it home at any earlier time. I apologize for my tardiness as well as my disheveled appearance I shall go in and make myself presentable and make a place for you and your companions."
Keeping my head down I waited for his response, trying to ignore the knot forming in my stomach. Once again cursing whatever god had blessed my travels this day.
"Ahhhh, yes, I had heard about that incident, alright then. It seems like it could not be helped. Set the dining room for us and then head to your room to attend to your studies. We will speak more on this tomorrow, you did eat before heading home like we discussed this morning, correct?"
"Of course honored father, no need to trouble yourself."
Bile pooled in the back of my throat from the mixture of fear, loathing, and hunger, as I saw a sneer flash across his face. Clenching my teeth I forced my eyes back to the ground in an attempt to escape his, focusing instead on mentally preparing myself for a dinner-less night. Doing my best to keep the contempt from my voice I dipped low into another bow.
"If that is all honored father I will attend to my chores and studies."
Ducking into the house before he could lord his power over me further, I swiped the chime necklace from it's resting place and did my best to quietly shuttle it to my room. The last time I had left it out in plain view of company had left me hurting for weeks and there was barely enough time to train for UA as it were. Somewhere behind me I heard the men compliment my father for how well behaved his daughter was and how great it would be if their children were more like me, causing me to almost choke on the lump of loathing that had started to form at the back of my throat ever since they had arrived. Slipping into my room I leaned up against the door and unsuccessfully battled the angry tears that were beginning to collect beneath my eyes. A bitter chuckle escaped me as I wiped the tears away on the back of my still gloved hand.
"Still? Why does this still hurt? It's not surprising, it's predictable even. Of course they don't see anything strange…..they never see it...or me"
Letting out a short haggard breath I dragged myself from my spot by the door, casting my clothing off into a small pile as I made my way across the room, towards the only other set of clothes I owned. The plain white evening wear gown hung on the opposing wall, directly across from my door, it was the only discernible object in the room barring a futon, which lay in the center of the room and looked more like a bundle of blankets than any mattress. Letting the necklace drop onto that small bit of worn bedding as I passed, I quickly got dressed into my proper visitor attire, It was honestly a rare treat. I did not get to wear it very often and the fabric was a touch finer than my school wear, not to mention a great deal more comfortable.
Satisfied with my change of clothes I withdrew from my room and began to make my way back towards the kitchen, hoping yet again that I had not missed any of yesterday's aftermath. As I approached my thoughts were drowned out by the men's talk of the incident that had happened downtown.
"That kid was really somethin' eh? Explosive quirk! He's gonna be a hero for sure!"
"That, or he is gonna make one hell of a demolitionist."
"I still can't believe All Might showed up! The way he destroyed that villain with one punch was amazing!"
Trying not to alert the men to my presence, I went to preparing their tea and fetching their cups, I froze in my tracks and nearly dropped a teacup due to my surprise.
All Might? Here!? In japan? But he usually is headquartered in america….. What brought him here?
As if to answer my silent inquiry, one of my father's co-workers spoke between deep draughts from his drink.
"I hear he is here to teach a class at UA. You know he's a graduate himself so I bet he wants to have a hand in-
"TOORU! Stop gawking about and bring my co-workers their tea!"
Startled by my father's abrupt outburst, my hand slipped as I went to place one of the teacups on the tray. Causing it to fly from my hands and tumble off the counter, I watched in horror as it seemed to fall in slow motion towards the ground before shattering into a multitude of tiny shards across the floor.
Crap.
All I could do was look down at the many fragments of the cup as the silence that settled over the room became deafening.
Crap!
The silence dragged on, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and still it did nothing to lessen the suffocating silence that permeated the room. I drew my arms inward, hugging them close to my body trying to quell the tremors before they had a chance to begin.
CRAP!
Suddenly a rough hand clapped me on the shoulder and dragged me out from the kitchen away from the mess.
"Tooru! Are you hurt anywhere? I'm sorry if I had startled you I thought you were still in your room!"
The tone of his voice was soft, laced with a warm sweetness that to anyone who was looking upon them it probably looked as if he was really concerned for her well being. In fact, if I hadn't been looking up into his hate filled eyes at that moment, I may have even believed it myself. No, those eyes of his told a different story, a promise of a torment and grief filled night. But with his back facing his co-workers he must of appeared quite the doting father, resigning myself to my fate I shook my head.
"No honored father, I'am not."
Not yet anyway…..
Smiling in the worst possible manner he released me from his hold, I shrunk back from it as quickly as I could, not wishing to spend any more of the time I had between now and my impending 'lesson' in his grasp.
"That's good to hear. Why don't you head to your room and begin your studies? I'll take care of the mess so you don't have to worry about it."
Nodding my head, I slunk away. Back to the relative safety of my room and tried to calm my quickened heartbeat.
Maybe he won't drink that much….maybe he will drink too much and pass out…..
The wounds from yesterday had not yet even begun to heal, I was scared, yesterday's 'lesson' had been terrible but manageable, and at least then it had been sometime since the last so I had gone into it without any prior injuries. But now? My legs were still bruised, I had a cut above my eye that stung still, my ribs felt close to breaking, my labored breathing doing them no favors at the moment. Shuddering, I carefully removed my clothing, folded them, and hung them back in their place, collapsing into a nervous heap on top of my bed when I finished the task. Desperate to take my mind off of what awaited me, I thought back to my encounter with Amari.
The way she looked at me and spoke to me had felt so warm, so kind. Like she had actually cherished the time she had spent conversing with me. She had noticed my limp….
After an indeterminable amount of time of pondering what my next encounter with her might be like, I found myself being lulled to sleep. Lying there in that half-awake state, before sleep finally claimed me fully, one last image of her warm smile flashed through my mind before everything settled into darkness.
Amari restlessly tapped her foot watching the classroom door, Tooru was late. That wasn't like the girl, for as long as she had been watching her, and it has been a while, she had never been late. Suddenly the classroom door slid open and a bundle of bandages wearing a ruffled uniform walked in.
"Woah Hagakure what happened to you?! What's with all the bandages?"
The bandages waved noisily through the air in a dismissive manner before a gloved hand went up and scratched the back of where Amari guessed her head was.
"Oh don't worry about this, I was just careless with some tea yesterday and burned myself. It's really not that bad I can barely feel a thing!"
A light hearted chuckle emanated from the girl before she skipped over to her desk and took out her school supplies. The other students apparently satisfied with the answer went back to their previous conversations.
"Pfft Hagakure is such a clutz! She's always injuring herself. Last week she came in like that after falling down some stairs and the week before that she had nearly cut a finger off from cutting vegetables!"
"Haha yeah my dad on the force says her father is always really worried about her and even takes days off whenever she injures herself in order to take care of her"
Turning away from the kids Amari turned her focus on Tooru, eyes softening in concern at the injury. The bandages seemed to begin at her right wrist and wrapped its way upward covering all the way up to just below her neck. Frowning Amari took her place at her desk as the teacher quelled the other children and began discussing the day's lesson, she resolved to ask about the injury after class.
"Pfft Hagakure is such a clutz! She's always injuring herself. Last week she came in like that after falling down some stairs and the week before that she had nearly cut a finger off from cutting vegetables!"
The words kept echoing in my head causing me to halt my unpacking, hopeless frustration swirled in my chest, I couldn't help but clench the wood of my desk.
Clumsy? What did they know!? What do they know of my life!? Looking down at the bandages on my arm I relaxed my hold, feeling slightly fatigued from the effort. Last night after he had left, I had checked the arm, It was bumpy and ugly feeling it would most likely never heal completely and even now throbbed painfully, as if it was still burning. Like hell I don't feel a thing.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught Amari looking in my direction, forcing myself to return to getting my things ready for the lesson that had already begun, I pretended to not notice her gaze.
Does she know? Did she see that? I can't let anyone know! I can't let her know! What if father convinces her of his lies? She will treat me like the rest do, I can't let that happen, I'm so close to my goal!
I continued to try and focus on the lesson for the remainder of the period but I kept feeling her eyes boring into me from the side, examining my every move. Once the class was out I quickly gathered my things and ducked out of the classroom. From the way she moved it looked like she had tried to follow me but I managed to lose her in an oncoming crowd as the hallways filled with other students.
Tucking myself away at the bottom of the least used staircase, which doubled as my favorite place to relax between classes, I checked my bandages. Gingerly I unwrapped my wound and felt the inside of the bandage. Feeling a chunk of skin I tried my best to not release the contents of my breakfast onto the staircase. Setting my jaw, I grimly finished removing the bandage and went to work at replacing it with a fresh one with a lightly applied ointment covering the underside to prevent against infection.
"That wasn't an accident"
I froze, my mind going completely blank as I mechanically turned towards the owner of the voice, Kosu Amari. She crouched there at the top of the stairs looking down at me in an decidedly unfeminine pose, an accusatory look pointed in my direction. Recovering a bit from the initial shock of being found, I drew my arm behind my body so it was obscured from her view. The way she said that made my cheeks heat up in shame, while my heart began to pound in fear.
This was it, this is how it ends. She will go and tell someone, my father would make it go away using his connections in the force, and they would move into another city while I will be declared a mentally disturbed child. Barring me from entering UA and getting away from him.
Turning my eyes away from her I focused on the bandage in my hand, not even trying to stop the tears as they fell freely onto it. My lips stammered together once before being able to form some semblance of a sentence.
"I-I don't s'pose you can just f-forget this happened, can you?"
Instead of an answer I felt soft hands take the bandage from me and brush lightly across the length of my arm as if to find where it was. Flinching slightly from the pain her touch initially caused I glanced up to see that Amari had closed the distance between us and was concentrating intently on dressing my burn.
"Sorry, must be hard to make a proper knot by yourself though."
Turning to give me an apologetic smile for causing the pain Amari finished the wrapping with a bow that hung along my shoulder.
"There, good as new! Plus a cute bow to add to your always adorable style!"
Hearing the cheer and warmth in her voice left me in a state of mute awe as I watched the raven haired beauty jump up from her sitting position. Amari's smile faltered as she looked down away from me.
"Tooru, it's not my place since I don't know you that well, but..." Spinning around to face me, big sorrow filled eyes searched for mine. "If nothing else maybe you could just talk to me about it? After school? I won't say anything, but I do think you should."
I tried to say something to her then but all that came out was a small squeaking sound barely loud enough to reach my ears. Clamping my open mouth shut I simply nodded my head, hoping my headband would convey at least that much to her. Giving me something of a half smile Amari nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"Okay then I'll see you after school. And don't try to ditch me this time, baka!"
With that she threw me one last smile before gracefully whisking up the stairs and disappearing down the hallway. Left alone, I dried my eyes on the back of my uninjured arm, watching the wetness stain my white gloves, a ghost of a smile crept onto my lips.
Maybe this can all still work out….