"Hina."

Aizawa typed her name into the quirk database and filtered it to the area that he always met her at, and her age range.

54 results

After a quick scroll, he was only barely able to narrow it down–mainly crossing out the children that didn't match her age, looks, or had a mutant quirk.

None of the quirks even mentioned anything about nightmares or dreams, and a couple of them were so vague that he was sure that they were categorized incorrectly. Not that he was surprised–it wasn't uncommon for quirks to go greatly mislabeled, especially in areas of poverty.

Aizawa rubbed his temples. His eyes hurt.

Her quirk might have nothing to do with nightmares. Maybe some other kid just called it a nightmare. She might not even be in the database.

She's such a…

A warm drink pressed against his cheek.

"Headache, Eraser?" a bemused voice said. He peeled his eyes open only to be met with a face full of leather and obnoxious blonde hair. Hizashi set down a few pills on his desk. "Tylenol and black coffee. I'm sure it'll fix you up real quick!"

"Thank you, Mic." Aizawa downed the pills and sipped on his coffee. "Is it time for class already?"

Mic blinked at him with a disgusted look on his face. "Ugh, man, you seriously should take a break. Your eyebags are getting worse by the day. How many hours of sleep did you get last night? When's the last time you had a proper meal?!"

"I get my required nutrients in. And you gave me coffee. It's basically sleep in a mug."

"Sleep in a– Shouta." Mic shook his head. "One day I'm going to replace the coffee machine with a sleeping bag."

"You wouldn't."

"OH yes. It's going to be bright yellow, front zipper, meant for-"

Aizawa's scarf shot out and covered Mic's mouth, but even the bondage couldn't completely block out his laughs.

He gave the tied up male a hard glare, tightening his scarf until Mic raised his hands in surrender. The scarf fell against his shoulders.

"Remove my coffee machine and I remove your speaker," Aizawa said darkly.

"Do you not see my hands up?!"

Aizawa glared once more, but then fully retracted his scarf. He sipped his coffee while looking directly at Mic.

Mic rolled his eyes and then nodded to the computer. "Is something picking up underground? You don't normally look up quirks."

Almost instantly, Aizawa's headache returns.

You're new around here sir!

They're not villains.

My name is Hina.

"It's nothing. Just someone being a little…" Aizawa sighed, "nuisance."

The bell rang.

Mic laughed, "More than your kids?"

"The brats are angels compared to this one."

That night, when Aizawa reached the roof, Hina wasn't there.

His lips quirked downwards underneath his scarf.

Maybe he was early?

He made his way to the ledge to do his nightly check, although not fully focused on the job. A beer bottle rolled on the ground, and a couple was making out behind the bar two blocks down.

Nothing new.

Aizawa combed his hand through his hair, sighing.

Maybe her parents finally decided to take better care of their child. Or she decided to get some sleep for once.

He moved himself to the other corner of the roof. Looking around, there was only a cat on the floor eating a rat.

Perhaps she realized that giving her information to a hero was a dumb move. I should look her up in the villain database when I get home.

…

She better not be in there.

Aizawa retreated from the ledge, and made his way back over to the other ledge.

The same couple was still making out–but was getting progressively more handsy.

Maybe 'Nightmare' didn't mean that she's nocturnal? That crosses off at least one of the people from the database. Couldn't she have a less common name?

He left to check the other side again. He glanced at the rusty fire escape–noting how surprisingly stable it looked–but scanned the ground again. The cat was gone, and only a few drunk stragglers littered the streets.

Hina's nine. She looks nothing like a nine-year-old. Too frail, too skinny–malnourished?

Aizawa grimaced.

He was in an impoverished area.

What are the laws concerning food stamps again…

It had been well past 15 minutes before Aizawa left the rooftop, and well past the time he was supposed to spend there. It was only when the couple was starting to make their way home did he realize–

Ah… Hizashi would make so much fun of me if he could see me right now.

He shook his head, almost hoping it would rid him of his thoughts of her.

She's probably just asleep.