? Chapter 19 ?
Kimitsuki pushed herself carefully onto her feet and held the back of her head, feeling the warm blood still flowing out. She grimaced at the feel and smell of it. She was starting to feel light-headed now. It was time for her to turn her Quirk off but she forced it to remain activate. She didn't want to chance any one of her friends or classmates getting hurt. Or be kidnapped herself by the villains.

"He's coming our way," Kimitsuki breathed when she saw the muscles in Tomura's body tense up and then release he headed straight in her direction first, hoping to get her as a hostage.

"Hey, we've gotta do this after all!" Eijirou said as they watched Tomura heading toward them for real, his hand stretched out for Kimitsuki's throat.

But just then, Tomura's trajectory was intercepted when All Might rushed toward the Nomu with his own superhuman speed, slamming his fist at the bioengineered beast. The punch caused great shockwaves that almost threw Kimitsuki back but she held her ground, skidding back slightly.

"Damn," Tomura grunted as he himself skidded back from the force of the shockwave. "Hey, you talked about his shock absorption yourself earlier, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did!" All Might responded, exchanging blows upon blows with the Nomu before going above and beyond with his power to punch the Nomu in a way that made the creature stagger back.

"A head-on fistfight...?" Izuku asked as they were all forced back from the sheer force of the punches. He reached to grab Kimitsuki before she could slip and fall.

"W-Wow...!" Eijirou exclaimed as he fell back.

Kimitsuki felt her long ponytail whip around as the air blew at them. She lowered her body to avoid being blown back and the four boys with her tried their best with it as well, all of their eyes upon the fight going on in front of them. Even with her Quirk on, Kimitsuki had a difficult time keeping record.

Her Quirk had the ability to see fast-moving objects and people but even with that she had a hard time following All Might and the Nomu as they traded blows with each other at inhuman speeds.

"I-I can't get near them!" Kurogiri said as he joined Tomura's side.

"If your Quirk isn't shock nullification but shock absorption, then there's a limit to it, right?!" All Might said. "Made to fight me? If you can withstand me at 100%, then I'll force you to surrender from beyond that!"

"This is... unbelievable," Kimitsuki breathed as she trained her eyes on All Might, watching the way his Quirk swirled inside his body. "Every single punch... is more than 100%... at this rate...!"

"A hero..." All Might said and they watched as he punched and kicked the Nomu far up into the air. "... can always break out of a tough spot!"

All Might grabbed the Nomu and spun around before throwing him down at the ground.

Kimitsuki, Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto and Eijirou were left staring with wide eyes as the Nomu flew down to the ground at a high speed and smashed deep into the ground, the force of it creating an enormous crater as the ground shattered around the bulky body. For a moment, it remained there.

"Hey, villain have you ever heard these words?!" All Might said as he landed next to the Nomu, who was getting back up and sent another powerful punch at his stomach. "Go beyond! Plus... Ultra...!"

The Nomu flew from the force of the immensely powerful punch, smashing right through the thick glass ceiling of the dome-shaped U. S. J. and Kimitsuki stared in disbelief as it flew off in the distance. She, however, wasn't the only one shocked – students, heroes and villains were all in absolute disbelief.

"Is this some comic book?" Eijirou questioned, shell-shocked by the showcase. "It's like he nullified the shock absorption. His brute strength is crazy,"

"What insane power..." Katsuki muttered, himself very shocked by this. "Does this mean he rushed at him so fast he couldn't regenerate?"

"That's right," Kimitsuki breathed as she pushed her hair away from her face. "All Might attacked him before his Regenerative Quirk could reach the location under threat..."

"You saw it with your Quirk, didn't you, Tsuki-Chan?" Izuku asked as he glanced toward her eyes to see that they were glowing. Kimitsuki nodded slowly in response.

"All Might..." Kimitsuki said, trailing off as she turned to look at the Pro-Hero a the smoke around him settled to reveal him. "You're injured... and your side is bleeding,"

"I really have gotten weaker..." All Might said. "In my prime five hits would have been enough," He looked at the students. "But it took more than 300 hits," He turned to look back at the villains. "Now, villains... I'm sure we'd all like to end this as soon as possible,"

Kimitsuki followed to where All Might was looking and saw that Tomura was muttering incessantly and scratching his neck with his long nails. She grimaced, rather disturbed by his strange behaviour.

"What's wrong?" All Might questioned. "You're not coming? You said you'd 'clear' this or something, right? Come and get me if you can,"

Tomura moved away from All Might and Kimitsuki glanced back to the Pro-Hero, now concerned because she knew that he really didn't have much in him before he turned back to his real form.

"He's... suddenly scared?" Kimitsuki mumbled as she stared at Tomura, so unlike his actions with her earlier. "Clearly, he's really just a child, too..." She swallowed slightly. "A crazy child,"

"All Might..." Katsuki said, trailing off as well.

"As expected, it looks like there is no need for us to fight," Shoto said calmly.

"Midoriya! Kuroyanagi-Chan!" Eijirou said. "We should get out of here now! It'll be worse if we end up getting taken hostage instead! The back of your head is bleeding, too, Kuroyanagi-Chan!"

Of course, Kimitsuki knew that her entire body was hurting but her eyes were stuck on All Might's steam-issuing body and the villains who just weren't leaving. She knew that if he moved one more time, his real form will be revealed and confirmed. Even though right now the dust covered it.

"Well, what's wrong?!" All Might shouted, clearly trying to intimidate the villains into leaving.

"If only I had Nomu!" Tomura said as he began to scratch himself with both hands now. "That guy would have been able to go up against him without thinking about anything!"

"Shigaraki Tomura!" Kurogiri said. "Please calm yourself. Looking carefully, I see he was damaged by Nomu's attacks and definitely was weakened. Besides, the children appear to be frozen in fear. We still have underlings who can be used. There are likely only a few minutes left before reinforcements come. If you and I work together we still have a chance of killing him,"

"Yeah... Yeah, yeah..." Tomura replied. "That's right... That's right... We have no choice but to do it. I mean, we have the last boss right in front of our eyes... make sure the girl doesn't leave,"

"All Might will do something about the main bad guys," Eijirou said as he and Katsuki turned to look at the thugs who were getting up from the ground. "Let's go help the others!"

"Kuroyanagi, Midoriya?" Shoto asked as he turned to look at the white-haired girl and green-haired boy, both of them stuck watching All Might's back.

Kimitsuki's eyes widened Tomura and Kurogiri rushed toward All Might, and she grabbed the scarf around her neck to levitate it and send it flying toward them to constrict them but she was unexpectedly interrupted when Izuku rushed toward them with the power of One for All.

"Izu-Chan!" Kimitsuki shouted as she went running after him, noticing that his legs were decommissioned from the use and that Tomura was reaching through Kurogiri to kill him.

It was an instantaneous reaction for Kimitsuki to redirect the scarf to wrap around one of Izuku's legs, jerking him back from Tomura's hand just as a loud, ringing shot rang through the air – the bullet going right through the decrept man's hand and causing him to recoil back rapidly.

The Pro-Heroes were here.

"Aw man, they're here," Tomura grunted as he moved toward Kurogiri. "It's game over now. Shall we go home and try again later, Kurogiri? At least get that girl for now –"

Tomura was promptly cut off as Pro-Hero Snipe started raining down bullets at him until Kurogiri created a portal ahead front to protect them and warped the bullets toward the students.

Kimitsuki saw the bullets coming in their direction and used her sword to swiftly throw them off course before they could hit them – leaving all the boys stunned at her quick and easy save.

Even Izuku, who had trained so much with her, had not expected her to work so seamlessly.

"Don't kill her, capture her!" Tomura shouted at Kurogiri. "Can't you even capture a single kid?! I order you get her and then get us the hell out of here!"

Immediately, Kimitsuki raised her defences against Kurogiri, ready to get out of the way by using the scarf as soon as he tried to use his warp gate or portal at her but she needed not to do worry –

"Shigaraki Tomura!" Kurogiri said but he was suddenly pulled away by Thirteen's Black Hole Quirk. "This is Thirteen!" He tried to take both Tomura and himself into the portal. "We have to leave!"

"I may have failed this time..." Tomura said. "... but I will destroy your protégé and kill you next time, Symbol of Peace All Might! I'll make you regret it!"

"Idiotic boy..." Kimitsuki mumbled, heaving slightly as she watched him disappear into the black warp gate with his second-in-command. "I'm no protégé..."

"If this many Pro-Heroes have gathered here," Shoto observed as he looked around the Pro-Heroes making their way over to them. "Then, it looks like they did not attack the whole school,"

Tomura and Kurogiri vanished and the atmosphere slackened out of the tension. But Kimitsuki no longer had the strength to look around herself. She let go of the scarf and allowed it fall off of Izuku's legs. She herself dropped to her knees, grunting at the pain as her Quirk deactivated.

The back of her head filling up with a splitting pain, her eyes were on the verge of bleeding out from the constant use and dryness, and her body was burning and her legs were shot due to the Nomu.

"Kimitsuki?"

Kimitsuki tried to fall back so she would sit but the pain in her legs and head didn't want any more weight on them and she fell forward, groaning as her face contacted with the dusty concrete floor.

"I wasn't... able to... do anything..." Izuku muttered as he tried to push himself upright from nearby but couldn't quite get up, falling back down, grimacing.

"That's not true," All Might said, catching the attention of the two children. "If it weren't for those few seconds you two bought me, I would've been killed. You two saved me again,"

"All... Might..." Kimitsuki breathed as she stared at the Pro-Hero and his current condition – half of his real form was exposed to them. "You're..."

"I'm... so glad you're okay...!" Izuku cried out.

"Kuroyanagi-Chan!" Eijirou shouted as he started to rush toward where they were. "Midoriya!" Kimitsuki and Izuku looked over. "Are you two all right?!"

"Kirishima-Kun...?" Kimitsuki asked as she stared at him before her eyes widened when she realised that he would see All Might's real self if he came any closer. "K-Kirishima-Kun, wait –"

Suddenly, a wall raised out of the ground to keep Eijirou away from Kimitsuki, Izuku and All Might, and Kimitsuki turned around to see that it was Cementoss who had interjected Eijirou's pathway.

"We want to make sure that all the students are safe," Cementoss informed the redhead. "So, please gather in front of the gate. We will deal with the injured here,"

"That makes sense!" Eijirou agreed immediately. "Roger that!" He went running off to where Katsuki and Shoto were. "Hey, he said to gather in front of the gate!"

"He's... so simpleminded that I wonder if it is either cute or concerning..." Kimitsuki muttered as she, Izuku and All Might all let out sighs of relief.

"Thanks," All Might said to Cementoss as he walked over to where the three injured individuals were. "You saved me, Cementoss,"

"I am a fan of yours, too," Cementoss answered. "Let's get you to the nurse's office while keeping you hidden. But man, you act recklessly every time, huh?"

"If I didn't act recklessly, I would've been killed," All Might responded as he wiped the blood off of his face. "That was how strong the enemy was,"

Kimitsuki agreed with that as she curled up slightly, now feeling just how badly the Nomu had punched her in the stomach and how badly her legs were crushed. She couldn't understand how she had remained standing. She set her head down and closed her eyes slowly, wanting to go to sleep.

When her eyes opened again, Kimitsuki found herself staring at a ceiling where the waning light of the setting sun was being projected from the window to her left. She blinked slowly, recognising that she was in the Recovery Girl's Clinic, located at the U. A. School building itself. She let out a sigh.

Kimitsuki got her senses back together and found out slowly that both of her legs and arms, her waist and her head was bandaged up tightly. She also had several band-aids over her facial injuries.

"Because of the situation this time, I can't really scold you..." Recovery Girl's voice slowly came in.

Without turning her head, Kimitsuki peered to her right to see Izuku and All Might in the two beds next to her. And Recovery Girl was sitting on a chair nearby, watching them with a big frown.

"I'm not sure," All Might said. "But I think I might have shortened the time limit of my hero form again," Kimitsuki frowned. "I hope I still have at least an hour..."

"All Might..." Izuku whispered and Kimitsuki realised that he was awake, too.

"Well, it can't be helped," All Might said as he sat up in his hospital bed and Kimitsuki noticed that his abdomen was bandaged up just like hers was. "These things happen,"

"Excuse me,"

A new voice interrupted them and Kimitsuki glanced further behind Recovery Girl to see that there was an investigator standing there. Her eyes widened and Izuku jumped in his bed, shocked.

"All Might, it's been a while," said the investigator, Tsukauchi Naomasa, smiling at the Pro-Hero.

"Tsukauchi-Kun!" All Might said, realising who it was as he turned to have a look. "You're here, too?" Kimitsuki wondered if they were friends.

"All Might!" Izuku said, and asked the question that was on Kimitsuki's mind, "Is it all right to show that form...?" She looked over at All Might for answers.

"Yeah, it's fine," All Might assured the white-haired girl and the green-haired boy. "Why? Because he's Tsukauchi Naomasa-Kun, my best friend in the force,"

"What's with that introduction?" Tsukauchi said with a chuckle. "Sorry to cut to the chase. But All Might, can you give me details about the vill –"

"Wait!" All Might interrupted quickly. "Please, wait! More importantly, are all the students okay? What about Aizawa – Eraser Head and Thirteen?"

"Other than that girl and that boy," Tsukauchi said as he looked at Kimitsuki and Izuku. "Only a few students had light injuries and the two teachers are in stable condition for now,"

"I see," All Might replied as he, Kimitsuki and Izuku all let out long sighs of relief at the news.

"If you three heroes had not risked your lives," Tsukauchi told the Pro-Hero. "Then the students would not have survived,"

"You're wrong about one thing, Tsukauchi," All Might replied. "The students also fought and risked their lives. Experience a real fight so soon... survive and learn of fear and the world of adults, have there been such first-years before? The villains did something dumb. This class is strong. They will become strong heroes. I am certain of that,"

All Might gave Kimitsuki and Izuku thumbs-up.

"I understand," Tsukauchi said. Kimitsuki looked over when she saw him turn to look at her. "As far as I've been informed, you directly interacted with the villains at U. S. J., and if it's alright, I would like to talk to you..."

"It's no problem, sir," Kimitsuki answered quickly, pushing herself to sit up and bowing her head as Tsukauchi walked over with his notepad. "I think I have a good understanding of them... and the Quirks I have come across..."

"Um, how long would I have to keep these dressings and crutches?" Kimitsuki inquired as she and Izuku were finally discharged from the Recovery Girl's clinic later that evening. "Would I have to come in for that or I can take them off myself later?"

"Keep them until the following morning," Recovery Girl replied, looking over at her. "You've suffered some comminute fractures in your legs – I don't know how you've been up and around,"

"I'm not quite sure myself," Kimitsuki admitted, blushing slightly. She only remembered intense pain. "I just... felt like I had to keep going on and on,"

Izuku stared at Kimitsuki – he had never seen her like this. This taken with a fight to not back down.

"The bruising on your arms will go away in about a day," Recovery Girl continued. "The back of your head is also heavily bruised but there doesn't seem to be any serious brain damage. You'll have a scar there for a long time, if not forever,"

Kimitsuki reached to feel the back of her head, frowning slightly as she felt the bandages.

"Your ribs are also bruised but they'll be okay by the morning," Recovery Girl said and held out some candies to the white-haired girl, and she gratefully took it from her.

"Thank you very much," Kimitsuki said quietly and bowed deeply before slowly pushing the candies into her mouth. "I'll take care of myself,"

"Well, then, thank you very much!" Izuku said as well, bowing next to the girl and Recovery Girl nodded at the two childhood friends approvingly.

"Sure," Recovery Girl replied. "Be careful on your way home,"

"Yes, ma'am, we will," Kimitsuki said as she bowed deeply and then carefully walked out of clinic behind Izuku, using her crutches to aid her. She fumbled around a bit but got used to it.

"Will you be okay, Tsuki-Chan?" Izuku asked as he walked next to Kimitsuki slowly. "Do you want any help? Do you want to me to carry you?" He blushed.

"No, it's okay, Izu-Chan," Kimitsuki said and turned to look over at him, giving him a closed-eye smile. "I'll manage..." She looked over at the moon behind him. "I wonder if Ka-Chan is home..."

"I'm sure he is, Tsuki-Chan," Izuku replied, reaching to take her schoolbag from her anyway. "Don't worry! I saw him and he was okay! You know how he is..."

"Yes..." Kimitsuki trailed off thoughtfully. "Ka-Chan's really natural at this, isn't he? He always amazing... he always comes on top, doesn't he? Without even getting a scratch on himself..."

Izuku stared curiously at Kimitsuki's face as the moonlight reflected off of her face and she continued to talk about Katsuki, telling him about how they ran into each other in the ruins zone. However, as they came out of the school building, they found Tenya and Ochaco waiting for them.

"Deku-Kun!" Ochaco exclaimed when they noticed them. "Kimitsuki-Chan!"

"Uraraka-Chan? Iida-Kun?" Kimitsuki asked, surprised to see them there. "You guys waited for us...?" Tenya nodded with a resolute smile that made her smile, too. "We didn't know... Thank you..."

?
? Chapter 20 ?
Kimitsuki sat next to the Chabudai in her apartment, carefully working on the cocktail hat for Mikoto, trying to get rid of the boredom that was creeping up on her nerves. It was the day after the attack at U. S. J. and the students all had the day off to relax after that unexpected attack by villains. She had already took apart and put back together all the electronics she had.

It was difficult, however, for Kimitsuki to relax. Even though she felt like she held herself up against those villains, she was still bothered by how powerful that Nomu was and the injuries he had given.

Her body hadn't fully recovered but Kimitsuki was sure it'll be okay by the time tomorrow came by.

"Almost done..." Kimitsuki breathed and concentrated on the beads as she held her tongue between her teeth to concentrate on her work. She let out a sigh and looped the needle around.

Using her embroidery shears, Kimitsuki gently clipped off the extra thread off to finish the work. She set it down and slowly fell back to relax herself. Her head hit the soft mattress behind her and she closed her eyes for a moment until her phone vibrated. She reached to grab it to see what it was.

Izu-Chan: Tsuki-Chan, check the news! [read]

Kimitsuki: Okay [read]

Kimitsuki pushed herself back up to sit and quickly switched to a livestream of the local news channel to have a look at what was being reported. It seemed like there was a follow-up finally.

Follow-Up Report: U. A. High School Attack:

"According to police investigation, the criminals call themselves 'The League of Villains' and have been plotting to kill All Might, who has been a teacher at U. A. since spring of this year. Police have arrested 72 villains, but they still do not know the whereabouts of their ringleader,"

"So, I was right about that..." Kimitsuki mumbled as she continued to listen to the anchor talk. "They were all just everyday thugs... except for Shigaraki Tomura, Kurogiri and their Nomu,"

The more Kimitsuki listened to the speculations, the more agitated she felt stuck in the little apartment. She got onto her feet slowly and gathered some stuff into a bag before leaving.

"Oba-San," Kimitsuki said as she slowly approached the elderly lady in the lobby. "Um, I'm going out for a while..." Granny Haruna turned to look at her with a frown. "Please give this to Mikoto-Chan,"

"Where are you going?" Granny Haruna inquired as she received the cocktail hat packed up in a box from Kimitsuki. "You show be resting! You're still hurt... where are your crutches?"

"I can walk without them now," Kimitsuki replied. "Recovery Girl's healing finally worked," She gave a small smile. "I'm going to get some fresh air... I feel suffocated. I'll be back home by dark,"

Kimitsuki bowed her head deeply to Granny Haruna and slowly walked out of there. She threw her hoodie over to hide her face and stuffed her hands into her pockets as she set off down the ground. She avoided looking around too much but her eyes were out in case someone tried to attack her.

Even though she had lived around thugs like them all her life, Kimitsuki was suddenly feeling all anxious again. She felt like she had left that behind several years but the anxiety had returned.

And the only people to blame for all of this were Shigaraki Tomura and Kurogiri, for sure.

"They're definitely going to attack again," Kimitsuki whispered to herself. "That League of Villains... is it even a League? Do they have more thugs sitting around to use? Would they after all this...?"

This failed attempt to take All Might's life by the League of Villains, then ditching both their hordes of thugs behind and even their trump card the Nomu. Unless they had more Nomu-like individuals around, then that would be a problem. But how did they even get someone like that from?

It was something Kimitsuki had seen in Todoroki Shoto – the swirling of two different Quirks. But she had never seen something like the Nomu before. It seemed like he was created with more than two.

But how was that possible? How could a man like Tomura with a childish sense of omnipotence create a beast like the Nomu? And if she wasn't mistaken, Kurogiri had something going on with him, too... Where were these strange individuals coming out of? Was there an army of such people?

Unless there was someone else working with him. Could it be that they were experiments being performed around here somewhere? Underground doctors or did someone have a Quirk like that?

Why would you do something like that to a human being anyway? There have been many theories that when a child was born with more than one Quirk, they inherited some mental anguish as well.

It was very difficult for Kimitsuki to imagine what more than two Quirks would do to your body.

But just yesterday, right in front of her eyes – there was a living evidence. A creature... a person with more than two Quirks... and he had absolutely no conscience or the ability to think for himself.

Kimitsuki looked up ahead when the sweet scent of flowers invaded her nose, indicating to her that she had finally made her way out of the slum area of the town and toward the pretty residences.

Katsuki's house appeared to her right and Kimitsuki looked over, hoping to catch a sight of the ash-blond boy but she didn't. He must be inside or off on his own somewhere. She looked away, taking small steps as she inhaled the flowery fragrance and noticed an orange butterfly fluttering over.

"You're pretty," Kimitsuki said softly as she reached her finger up to let it sit down on the tip. She smiled gently, stopping to peer down at it. "So frail... but that's just your appearance, isn't it?"

In Japan, of course, a butterfly was always considered to be the personification of a person's soul. Whether they were alive or dead – or even dying. Kimitsuki wondered what this butterfly meant.

"I don't have a guest room, and my home is a bit darker," Kimitsuki said quietly, watching the butterfly move around on her finger. "But please come visit me someday... somehow..."

The butterfly fluttered off of her finger to join the rest of its family in the Bakugo residence garden.

Following the butterfly's light movements, Kimitsuki noticed a curtain fall in the living room window and she quickly turned around to walk away from there, walking as fast as she could with her healing legs. She felt embarrassed that someone must've seen her talking to the butterfly on her own.

The rest of her journey was silent as she took the train to the city, heading to the hospital to meet –

"Aizawa Shouta-San," Kimitsuki informed the man behind the counter. "Um, I'm a student from his class," She held out her student card to confirm her identity. "May I see him? How is he doing?"

The nurse stared at the bandaged-up student in front of him and then nodded slowly, looking down at her student card to make sure that it wasn't someone suspicious before leading the white-haired girl with him down the hall to the elevator. Kimittsuki hurriedly followed after him, listening in –

"Aizawa-San received comminute fractures in both arms and a facial fracture.
Fortunately, there does not seem to be any serious brain damage.

However, his orbital floor has broken into small pieces, and his eyes may suffer from its aftereffects,"

"That's... terrible," Kimitsuki whispered as she processed what had happened to Aizawa. It wasn't that different from her, but that... his eyes had been injured. "Thank you... I'll go on from here,"

Bowing in gratitude to the nurse for leading her over to the hospital room, Kimitsuki reached over to knock on the door and then slowly slip inside. It was empty except for two beds partitioned from each other. She noticed Thirteen first, seemingly asleep. She walked over to her bed first, bowing.

Rather than disturbing the Pro-Hero from her slumber, Kimitsuki just left the bouquet of floors she had gotten for the Black Hole Hero and trudged on to where Aizawa's bed was and stifled her shock.

Aizawa was bandaged up completely. Of course, one of his arms had been twisted horrible by the Nomu and the other had been hurt by that Tomura's strange Quirk. His head been smashed in...

"Um, Aizawa Sensei...?" Kimitsuki asked as she slowly crept closer to his bed, peering over to see whether he was awake or not as she clutched onto the bouquet of flowers in her arms. "Uh..."

"Kuroyanagi," Aizawa said and Kimitsuki jumped slightly. "How many times do I have to tell you to be more assertive?" She flushed red, embarrassed. He glanced over at her. "What brings you here?"

"I was in the city and decided to visit," Kimitsuki answered. She held out the flowers to him. "I got some flowers, too... and I wanted to return your capture weapon, too..."

Placing the flowers onto his side table and unzipping her waist bag to pull out the capture weapon.

"I was careful with it, but it got a bit injured – I mean, damaged," Kimitsuki said, her cheeks turning pink as she placed it down on the table next to him. "I'm sorry,"

"It's fine," Aizawa replied. "It was damaged before you acquired it," Kimitsuki nodded. "I was impressed by your showcase yesterday. Once you've started practicing, you'll get better,"

"Thank you," Kimitsuki said, bowing deeply. Aizawa motioned her to sit down and she did so. "I heard about what happened to you. Is it true that your eyesight has been impacted?"

"Yeah," Aizawa said. Kimitsuki frowned, noticing the slight annoyance in her homeroom teacher's voice. "What's with your bandages? And the rest of the class?"

"Oh, I'll be okay by the end of the day," Kimitsuki answered quickly. "The Nomu hurt my legs, ribs and head a bit... but Recovery Girl said I'll be perfectly okay, soon..." She smiled weakly.

"Get your head checked out in case," Aizawa grunted. "That head injury shouldn't translate into impacting your Quirk," Kimitsuki nodded lightly.

"Everyone else is okay, aside from some minor injuries," Kimitsuki continued. "Only Izu-Chan – Midoriya – and I got hurt..." Aizawa sighed at Izuku's habit of decommissioning himself.

"You need to be careful with your head," Aizawa said, looking back at the white-haired girl. "Us optical heroes need to be extra careful,"

Later that Day, Mountains:

Evening was descending down over the city and Kimitsuki found herself lingering around on top of one of the many mountains in the city. She had spent some time around Aizawa, discussing Optical Quirks, got her head checked out at the hospital by herself and then decided to go for a long walk.

The mountains were silent and Kimitsuki didn't find many people on her way here – which was great for two reasons. One, she got the solitude and two, no one saw her bandaged self as easy target.

Her phone in her jacket pocket buzzed a few times, but Kimitsuki ignored it, watching the sunset.

There was no need for her to pull it out – she had already sent her whereabouts to Granny Haruna. And there was only one other person who texted her: Izuku. She could see his texts later on.

The sun slowly but surely descended and flocks of birds returned home over her head, and the hole in her heart grew larger and larger with the arrival of darkness. Kimitsuki leaned over knees, resting her head against her arm, frowning as her thoughts trailed off to the image of her late family.

Kuroyanagi Katsuhito, Kuroyanagi Tsukichiyo, Kuroyanagi Kimihiro.

Deceased. Deceased. Deceased.

The emotions in Kimitsuki's heart swirled uncomfortably and she felt her throat constrict. She felt suffocated as she clutched her chest harshly, trying to breath as her body began to heat up and her stomach jolted, causing her to throw herself forward, almost falling off of the side of the cliff.

Kimitsuki emptied her stomach onto the ground, choking and crying as she beat her chest with a fist, trying to open her airways. She laboured her breathing, trying to relax herself and reach for her bag.

Shaking, shivering and sweating profusely, Kimitsuki fumbled around with the zip of the waist bag, opening it to look around for her medicines, nearly tearing the cap open as she quickly ate the medicines to relax herself. Kimitsuki wiped her forehead as she slumped against the nearby tree.

As the panic attack slowly diminished, Kimitsuki wiped the sweat and her tears of fatigue, feeling numbness sweep through her body. She looked around, squinting at her surroundings.

Where was she?

Was she in the real world, or was she... in a Genjutsu?

The world around her was closing in on her, and the tree branches were leering down at her, reaching to wrap themselves around her throat. Kimitsuki slowly pushed herself onto her feet.

If this is an illusionary world... then you must always walk...

Don't stay in one place at all.

Feeling tired and detached from her cold surroundings, Kimitsuki blinked and frowned to herself, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets as she trudged down the dark mountain slope.

For the most part Kimitsuki was surrounded with dead silence and her thoughts until –

The sound of boots against rubble entered her ears and Kimitsuki slowly turned around, fearing it to be a creature of her illusionary world but she was even more stumped to see that it was Katsuki.

"Ka... Chan...?" Kimitsuki asked, instantly feeling embarrassed when she heard how raspy and rough her voice had become. "Y-You're here, too..." She flushed but Katsuki didn't seem to mind.

In fact, Katsuki minded it so little that he ignored her and casually strolled past her and ahead of her. Kimitsuki swallowed slightly, staring at his figure for a few moments, trying to assure herself that it wasn't her imagination. She had never imagined him or people she knew in her illusionary world.

Once she was assured, Kimitsuki started her way back down as well. She walked slowly due to her injured legs and gently swayed herself from side to side to comfort herself, her eyes on Katsuki.

He must've been training out on the mountains again, huh...?

It wasn't the first time that Kimitsuki had run into Katsuki in the mountains. He enjoyed mountain climbing and she enjoyed spending long walks in the silent mountains. But they always left alone.

If Ka-Chan is here with me, then I'm not in an illusion.

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder at the slowly walking female, pale as a ghost in the moonlight cascading through the forest canopy above them. He rolled his eyes, not quite impressed at her decision to be so leisure in her walk. He slowly slowed down his own pace until a few feet remained.

It was frustrating Katsuki that not only was she walking around in the mountains when she knew how quickly night fell in spring too, but she was doing it in her own good time, so ploddingly.

Of course, Kimitsuki's an idiot.

Anyone who hung out with Deku was an idiot.

Ten minutes – it took them ten minutes of pure silence to make their way down the mountains and down the streets to where the nearest train station was located so they could head back home.

Kimitsuki kept her pace slow as she followed behind Katsuki, but she was no longer staring at him. He couldn't feel her penetrating gaze on the back of his head. He glanced over his shoulder at her –

"Are you insane?" Katsuki demanded as he reached out to snatch Kimitsuki's arm, roughly pulling her back onto the footpath. "Are you that desperate to die?"

"Hm...?" Kimitsuki asked, dazed as she looked over at him before looking ahead of her to see that she had almost walked into the oncoming traffic. "I'm sorry..."

Katsuki watched, incredulous, as the white-haired girl extracted her arm from him and tiredly bowed to him in apology. He looked down at the hands folded over her stomach to see that her arms were bandaged. His eyes darted further down to see her exposed ankles also bandaged up to her legs.

Is that why she was walking so slowly earlier?

Did she keep it from me to drive me crazy?

Blowing angrily through his nose like a charging bull, Katsuki turned away from her and started to make his way back to the train station. He hadn't realised that she wasn't only hurt over the head.

Kimitsuki straightened back up and slowly began to follow Katsuki again. She was numbly tired due to the medication for her panic attacks but kept her eyes on Katsuki so she could get home safely. She was sorry that she had almost walked into traffic in a daze, but she was only sorry that Katsuki might've seen her demise. Otherwise, she had no objections on walking into the traffic like this.

The train station was brightly lit and Kimitsuki squinted around to keep herself sane and she hurried to take the same car as Katsuki, wincing at the slight pain but was glad she managed to get on.

However, Katsuki ignored her as he went to sit down on the crowded subway bench – something he hated – but there was no way he was going to let the girl sit down next to him like a lost puppy.

"Excuse me," Kimitsuki mumbled as she bowed to the people sitting on the bench across from Katsuki's and sat down with them. It was a bit more spacious than the one Katsuki sat on.

The train soon started its journey to their town and Katsuki was forced to stare in front of himself with a grimace. He watched as Kimitsuki sat there silently, her eyes far away with her thoughts and he noticed that she was rocking herself back and forth in some sort of effort to placate herself.

What is she, a baby now?"

Katsuki stared at her strangely bloodshot eyes, and pink nose and cheeks. Could it be that she was catching a cold? Or had she been crying? Katsuki shook his head. Whatever it was none of his concern. It's not like Kimitsuki was a little child who needed any sort of saving anymore.

... but if she was crying, why was she crying?

Even though he had promised himself that he didn't have to worry about her anymore, there was something pulling at him. If there was something that he hated seeing, it was crying people. It frustrated and annoyed him. And Kimitsuki was the last person he wanted to see cry like that.

You should stop crying.

Was what Katsuki wanted to tell her. Was what Katsuki would tell to any crying person. Was what Katsuki would even tell himself. But something in him told him that he couldn't be cruel to her.

Shouldn't. Couldn't. Wouldn't.

Gently, the train came to a stop at their designated spot and both Kimitsuki and Katsuki got up simultaneously. Kimitsuki looked over at the ash-blond as they exited the vehicle together.

"Ka-Chan," Kimitsuki said, trying to smile but she felt it was rather feeble – Katsuki didn't look at her as he got onto the platform. "Um, I wanted to say, thank –"

Kimitsuki watched as Katsuki just walked off from there, leaving her in the middle of the platform, no longer keeping himself in a pace that would be easy for her to reach. She knew without being told that she had overstayed her welcome and that the rest of the journey was on her own conscience.

"Thank you," Kimitsuki finished her sentence anyhow, staring at Katsuki's figure as it disappeared off ahead of her. "Even though you didn't have to do all that..." She bowed her head in gratitude.

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