Chapter 09
*BEEP!*
*BEEP!*
"Urgh…"
She curls in tighter, pulling the blanket over her head in a poor attempt to block the sound.
*BEEP!*
*BEEP!*
"Fuck…"
Why the fuck did she put on an alarm? She had never done it before. What makes her start now?
She forcefully pries her eyes open no matter how much they protest to keep close. She squints through the extreme grogginess, trying to find her phone.
She can't see shit. Why the fuck is it so dark?
Oh wait.
She pulls her arms apart and puts all of her efforts into rolling onto her back (Fuck, pushing boulders uphill is much easier than this). Her face scrunches into a deep scowl of displeasure before she pulls down the blanket
*BEEP!*
*BEEP!*
Fuck, that alarm is fucking annoying.
She opens her eyes again, still squinting. She looks around and, mostly through her eyelids, sees something bright. Instantly, she knows it's her phone. She reaches for it only to feel nothing.
Why is it so fucking far?
She releases a croak as she forces her body to move, rolling over until she thinks she is closer to her phone. When she feels something rectangular and metallic, she grabs it and quickly pulls it to her face.
*BEEP!*
*BEEP!*
The sudden flashing of the screen along with the loud noise causes her to jolt in surprise, almost dropping her phone.
Fuck, she wants to die right now.
She gives the inanimate object a squinty scowl before focusing on the screen, trying to find a way to shut off the alarm. When she presses a button on the screen, the sound finally stops.
She releases a sigh of relief as silence enters her ears. She closes her eyes as her arm flops onto the bed, with the phone now loosely in her hand. With the other arm, she flops over her eyes.
…
Yeah there is no way she can go back to sleep after this.
She releases a groan as she pulls her phone back to her face, turning the screen back on to check the time.
It's so early in the morning. The sun isn't even up yet.
She doesn't need to wake up this early in the morning. One of the many benefits of being an independent Hero is that she has her own schedule. That means she can wake up at whatever time she wants. Despite being known as energetic, she greatly prefers lazy mornings.
So why the fuck did she set an alarm at an ungodly hour in the first place?
Hold on…
She rubs the exhausting off from her eyes with her knuckles. Then, she forces herself to sit up no matter how much her body protests. Then, she begins to look around.
She's not in her bedroom.
Oh yeah, she's now living at UA's dorm.
And she's living exactly right next to Eraserhead's room.
"Fuck, why is he the first thing that comes into my mind?" she whispers to herself.
She sincerely hopes he didn't hear her alarm. She doesn't want to deal with his sass today.
…
She sighs and hangs her head.
"Fucking hell, I hate myself right now."
Since she's pretty much up right now, there is nothing else to do but finally get up.
She curses every single thing she can think of as she slides to the edge of the bed and puts her foot down on the floor.
This really reminds her of her high school days.
She's beginning to wonder if the real reason she went independent was just so she can wake up whenever she wants.
.
*Ding!*
She exits the elevator when the doors open. She carefully and unsurely enters further into the common area, looking around for a sign of life.
Much to her surprise, she finds no one.
Aren't the students supposed to have class in like an hour from now?
She sweeps the area once again, just to make sure, before her eyes land on the dining table.
She freezes.
Well, almost no one.
It seems the first person she sees in the morning is the whole reason she's here in the first place.
"G'morn, Eraser," she greets the man, approaching the table. Eraserhead briefly looks up from the paper he is currently working on.
Eraserhead wears glasses.
She swallows.
"Morning," he greets back before turning back to his work. There are a number of papers neatly scattered on the dining table, taking advantage of its size. There is a clear pile on his left side, and another one on his right but now littered with red ink. There is a stained half empty mug sitting between papers.
The thing that stands out the most is a pile of trash right next to the clean paper stack on his left.
What are those?
"Where the students at?" she starts.
"Sleeping," he answers, which causes her to frown.
"You're not going to wake them up?"
"They can wake themselves up."
"If they're late?"
"That's on them."
"Mean one, aren't ya?"
"They're Heroes-In-Training. They need to learn to set a schedule," he replies, just as fast as before. "Unless they decide to go independent."
He pauses in his work to glance at her over his glasses.
She feels the hair on her bobtail rise at such look.
Then, he returns back to his work.
She discreetly releases her breath and runs her hands through her hair.
Fuck, that look was hot.
It makes her hot and bothered.
She needs to calm down.
Then, she watches as he takes out something from somewhere she can't see. Then, he puts the tip to his mouth and squeezes whatever he is holding until it is all scrunched up. Then, he throws it onto the pile of trash. She quickly realizes that said trash contains the exact same thing.
"What is that?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Jelly pouch," he answers in a heartbeat, seemingly knowing what she is referring to without her mentioning it.
"Jelly pouch?"
"Hm."
She stares at him, waiting for him to add anything, but he just continues to work on the papers in front of him.
"O…kay…" she says awkwardly. He doesn't show any visible reaction. "I'll be going now. Got Hero stuff to do," she says, seeing as she will not be getting anything from him anymore. She lingers a little longer, keeping her gaze on him a little longer. Then, she turns around and heads for the elevator.
"Be back safe."
Her steps falter but she continues to march on until she enters the elevator.
It's only when the doors close where she lets her lips curl into a goofy smile.
.
It's right in the middle of her patrol when she finds a familiar face, one that she had seen earlier this morning.
"Well, look who we got here?" She approaches the man, who pauses after hearing her voice before turning around. His expression is still the same. "What are you doing out of UA?"
"Restock," he answers. She quickly notices the grocery bag in his hand. Curiosity peaks and she spies an eye at the content. She suspects that it might contain some food for his kids or plaything for Eri.
Much to her surprise, it's neither.
"Why are you buying a lot of those?" she asks, squinting down at the jelly punch or whatever they're actually called. She really doesn't like the quantity he bought.
"It's good enough sustenance," she hears him answer. She doesn't look at him. Instead, she quickly shoots her hand out and inside the bag and pulls one out. She straightens up and checks the labels at the back.
Immediately her face grimaces at what she read.
It's something akin to an energy drink and protein bar mixed together.
"This thing is shit," she says to him before tossing the pouch at him. He catches it easily.
"It's good enough," he replies as he uncaps it and puts the tip to his mouth.
He stares at her directly in the eye as he slurps up the entire content in one go. He then throws the empty pouch over his shoulder, landing perfectly in an open trash bin.
Fucking show-off.
"Why can't you just… eat normal stuff?"
"Too much effort. This is efficient."
"It is fucking not."
"It is efficient enough."
"It is fucking not enough."
"It has sustenance."
"A fucking IV bag has more sustenance than that shit."
She sees him freeze and eyes slightly widen.
"No, do not-"
.
*Ding!*
The first thing that greets her when the doors open is the delicious aroma. Almost immediately, her mouth salivates. When she enters the common area, the room is bustling with students. A good number of them are moving around, mainly towards and from the kitchen and dining table.
"Ah, Miruko! Welcome back!" one of the students, one with pink cheeks and a bobby haircut, greets her while holding a steaming pot in the air.
Heavy emphasis on "in the air" because said pot is literally floating in the air right above her.
"You're just in time for dinner!" another of the students adds, this time with that lightning bolt in his hair. "You can wait at the table!"
"Need any help?"
"We got it all covered!"
"Alright then."
Following as instructed, she approaches the dining table. The seats are considerably emptier now than the first two times she was here. Those times, she was among the later to arrive. Now, she's earlier.
One of the seaters is none other than Eraserhead himself. And lo and behold, the orange pouch is hanging by his lips.
"Don't you have anything else to consume beside that shit?" is the first thing she says to him as she approaches the table. She sits down in a chair that is very offset from his, making sure she is not really in his direct line of sight this time.
The first time she had dinner with everyone, she sat next to him because it was the seat left for her. "Adults should eat together!" said his kids.
She couldn't eat properly that night.
The second night was more bearable, being only sat directly across from him.
Still, both times had made her pretty red and she rushed back to her room very quickly.
She's making sure it will not occur this time around.
"Now you sound like Recovery Girl," Eraserhead replies around the tip of the pouch.
"Rightly so! You need to consume proper food!"
"Now you sound like everyone else."
"Motherfucker."
"Language. At least not around the students."
"Dinner's ready!"
She can't continue the conversation as the table quickly fills up with the students finding their seats. The rowdiness she's feeling brings a smile on her face. She still remembers the first time she had dinner with them, aside from the obvious (aka, a man). The impression still left an imprint on her.
She glances at Eraserhead.
She finds herself frowning.
Out of all the food that is placed and readily available on the table, he only drinks a single mug of coffee.
Just like the last two times she had been here.
When dinner is finished, she is set on one thing.
.
What the fuck is she even doing…?
That is the most burning question that is currently running in her mind as she sprawls on the counter, face planted.
Surrounded by cracked eggs.
And the smell of burnt foods.
And spilled egg yolks.
It finally, finally, dawn on her that she is absolutely fucking terrible cook.
Thank fuck she did it when everyone was asleep or else she will not be able to stand the humiliation that she, an adult, grown woman, and one of the top five Heroes of Japan, cannot cook.
She groans out loud into the counter, caring very little if it wakes any of the students up.
And she was only trying to make an omelet.
A fucking omelet.
Since when flipping eggs can be so fucking hard?
"Miruko?"
She straightens up so fast she gets lightheaded because…
Eraser stares at her from the other side of the counter, frowning in confusion.
"E-Eraser! Wh- uh… Why are you here?" she asks, stuttering in awkwardness. She didn't even hear him returning.
"I just finished my night patrol," he answers, still frowning. He just finished his patrol? She quickly looks around for the time and…
It's an hour before her alarm goes off.
She didn't realize she had spent the entire night trying to cook something edible.
Now the exhaustion is finally kicking in.
Fucking hell, no wonder she feels like absolute shit.
"Why are you here?" Eraser asks her.
She quickly looks away as her face flushes red, out of pure embarrassment.
"I uh… I was trying to cook."
"I am very well aware of that."
Her face reddens even more.
Yeah, it would be very obvious.
But had really been trying so hard. She just wants to cook for someone.
She stares at the plate right in front of her, at the sorry excuse of an omelet.
She cringes at the sight of it. It looks like someone regurgitated it out, twice.
Yet, it's her most recent and best attempt yet.
Then, out of nowhere, a fork stabs into the omelet. Her eyes widen and she looks up at Eraser, who lifts the fork up to his mouth.
"No- Wait- Eraser-" She freezes in horror as he puts the food into his mouth.
Dread pools in her stomach, watching him eat and morbidly waiting for him to keel over and die from food poisoning.
"It's a little burnt," he says.
…What?
"It is to be expected," he adds, putting down the fork on the counter. "It needs some improvements but not bad overall."
She continuously switches stares from Eraser and the omelet he had taken a bite off.
Then, as if he didn't just put her in a stun, he turns around and walks away, towards the elevator.
"I wouldn't mind eating this every morning."
Her face flushes again, this time over a completely different reason.
She gazes down at the omelet, staring at the part Eraser had taken a bite of.
She finds herself grinning in self-satisfaction.