Fun fact, the main character was supposed to meet Himiko Toga at this point of the story. The brain juice wasn't flowing well so I tried to write different character instead, and ended up with one who was far more fun to write.
Waking up had never been a pleasant experience, whether it was due to the quality of his makeshift bed for the night, the cold, the bugs, or even the occasional rat that made his sleep less restful than it should have been. So to say Takuma was surprised to wake up feeling comfortable would be the biggest understatement of the century. Well, it was still as comfortable as his stinging bruise allowed him to be. It took some time for his eyes to focus, and when they did, he saw a ceiling, which meant he had been taken inside a house. Maybe a neighbor had taken pity on him. He was lying on a couch, bare-chested and covered in bandages under a blanket. He was relieved to see he was still wearing his pants.
The space around him was cluttered with gear, tools, and various kinds of gizmos that he couldn't even begin to understand the use of.
He was alone. The realization took some time to set in. His mind wasn't assaulted by the constant stream of human consciousness. No, not alone. There was someone in the room next to the one he was in. From the surface thoughts in their mind, he could glean some worry, but most of what they felt was some form of relief and a giddiness he could understand since she was one of the women inside the mechanic's shop he had helped to save.
Well, at least it helped answer why she had picked him up off the street. He was lucky it was such a secluded place; he could actually breathe and rest his mind here. He noticed the smell of oil in the air. Whoever this girl was, she didn't care much about appearance because this place looked like a frat house after a party, a complete and utter mess.
"Owowowow," Takuma whispered right after he tried to move his left arm.
His back and left side were a battlefield, his left eye was swollen nearly shut, and he could swear his tongue tasted like rubber mixed with sandpaper. Water sounded heavenly right about now. Slowly turning his head to look around the room that seemed to be the living room, he saw the kitchen in an open space right next to it, and he could see the sink. Stilling himself, Takuma inhaled and, holding his breath, tried to raise himself into a sitting position on the couch. He had to pause his movement midway through to choke back a sob; his body was telling him to stop, but he wasn't listening, so of course, he was paying the price. Being a baseline human in this world had some disadvantages.
It took him some time before he could finish his movement. Wiping away some tears that had escaped his eyes, he realized what he had thought to be a bloody rag was, in fact, his battered and torn hoodie. And he didn't remember where he had left his bag with his only spare change of clothes.
Focusing on the pain in an attempt to distract himself from how hopeless he truly felt, he slowly got to his feet. The lower part of his body was mostly fine; he was sore, it was true, but that applied to his entire body. This was going to take a long time to heal, and even with the money from his job for Nighteye, he probably wouldn't be able to afford a fixer for his injuries. He was well and truly screwed.
Walking to the kitchen, he grabbed one of the less dirty glasses on the counter and poured himself a drink. The water tasted absolutely divine. He forced himself to swallow slowly as the water wetted his parched throat. He needed to take a long breath afterward just to stop his head from spinning. He was exhausted and famished, but he wasn't about to steal food from the person who had just taken him in.
Checking the state he was in again, Takuma noticed some blood had seeped through his bandages and hoped the woman who had taken him in wouldn't mind changing them, as he wouldn't be able to do it himself anytime soon. His neck, shoulder, arm, and back were all throbbing with pain. He was doing his best to move as little as possible, but even then, he could barely handle the pain. Recovery would be a long road if he found a way to take it.
Focusing on his Quirk to probe the feelings coming from the woman, he found her deeply concentrated on something with a noticeable amount of glee. He didn't push into her mind to learn what it was, abiding by his rule of basic human decency, and returned to himself, leaving her behind the steel wall of focus that was his mind.
"Today has been a lot," he felt the need to say out loud.
Walking back to the couch, he sat back down slowly and with more effort than it should have taken out of him. He covered himself with the blanket and tried to warm himself back up. The woman was still in the middle of her task, and he honestly could use some alone time before having to interact with another human being again. So he took this opportunity to relax and stare at the ceiling for an undetermined amount of time, drifting in and out of consciousness a few times before the sound of a door opening suddenly brought him back to reality.
"You're awake!" said the living proof of his worst nightmare.
Because he sure as hell recognized her. The pink dreadlocks, the goggles, the green-yellow irises shaped like a scope lens, the black tank-top, and coveralls hiding a stocky, busty build. She was a canon character; she was from the show. If she was real, All For One was too. And that's why he did his best to stay away from anyone from the anime because, fuck, the thought of a centuries-old monster terrified him.
"I am," he replied lamely, still too shocked to think.
"Good, I tried my best with the bandages, but I kind of suck with those, and you were bleeding a lot, so I did what I could. By the way, do you want to eat something? I ordered take-out, and I didn't know what to order, so I grabbed things at random," she informed him in a rapid-fire of information Takuma was still too out of it to process quickly.
"Uh, yes, please, thanks?"
"You're welcome!" she shouted with a pleased grin. "Oh, and thanks for saving me back then."
Takuma mentally facepalmed; he needed to get his mind back in the game. "Not that I'm complaining, but where am I?"
She smiled widely, her hands curled into fists against each side of her hips as she loomed over him. "In my house."
That was helpful. "And why did you bring me here?"
"Well, you were bleeding everywhere; it was kind of easy to follow. And I guess if you ran away from a hero, you must have a good reason, so I thought bringing you home was the best I could do," she explained more helpfully this time.
"Oh," he mumbled, while so many reasons not to do something so reckless popped into his mind. "What time is it?"
"Oh, you were sleeping for like a day, so maybe early morning. Let me check," she said while walking to the door and opening it, revealing it was, in fact, the middle of the night. "And the food is here, perfect!"
It had probably been there for a few hours, but Takuma wasn't about to complain; food sounded divine right about now.
"The painkiller are right next to you on the table," she told him, pointing at his torn hoodie.
Takuma raised an eyebrow in confusion before moving his feet slightly to the left so his right hand could reach the piece of cloth and move it. The painkillers were indeed under it, and the packaging was smeared with some of his blood, but he didn't mind, as painkillers were a luxury he could rarely afford. He popped two pills and swallowed after building some saliva in his mouth, only then did he remember he had access to running water for once and he didn't even need to bother. Before he could stand up, the girl came and sat on the ground next to the table and started to lay out the items in front of him. The food was already cold, but Takuma didn't mind; he hadn't had so much food in front of him in years.
"Isn't that a bit much?" he asked; there was enough food for a family of four, and he would have expected some leftovers for the dog.
"Nah, I always buy more so I have some leftover for tomorrow. At least we won't have to wait for food next time!" she said, still somehow finding a way to keep bouncing her leg while sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Takuma could admit he was relieved he wouldn't be immediately kicked out. He probably still had a night or two to get back on his feet. "I'm sorry; I'm kind of messing this whole thing up. I'm Takuma. Thanks for helping me."
She was halfway biting through some chicken when she tried to say something and then promptly started to choke. Takuma felt extremely bad as he couldn't do anything; moving was his least favorite thing to do right now, and he was helpless for the few seconds she fought for her life until she downed a can of soda in four harsh gulps. She was close enough he could pat her on the back as she coughed and got back her breath. Guess he could now say it was the weirdest set of interactions he had ever had with someone he'd just met.
"My name is Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume Industry!" she declared with a proud grin. "Call me Mei!"
Takuma felt like he had heard that one before, but it wasn't something he could pinpoint perfectly. Deja-vu was something he had gotten used to over the years. "Nice to meet you. Name's Takuma, and thanks for the bandage. I'm probably gonna need help to change them, if it's not asking too much."
"I'll do it after we eat; you need some food in you. It can't be good to look so thin," she commented while handing him a burger.
It wasn't his first time being called out on how he looked, but it was the first time someone did it while actually handing him food, so he didn't mind the comment as much as he usually would.
He nodded in thanks and unwrapped the cold burger and took a bite. It was at this moment that fighting some mutant on trigger became worth it; pain is temporary, food is eternal. And he was done. He didn't even have time to taste it after the first bite.
"Ah, I knew it!" Mei said with a self-satisfied grin as she handed him some kind of fried rice and what seemed to be a pork cutlet inside a plastic bowl. "Eat up; those bruises won't heal themselves."
Oh, wow. Takuma realized he couldn't remember the last time he ate food that actually looked like food and not a sandwich or something from a fast-food joint. Maybe having a moral compass wasn't worth it; that way, he wouldn't feel like crying when someone handed him a bowl of stupid rice. Now that he was getting emotional, he needed something to distract himself with so he stopped focusing on himself and allowed his Quirk to guide him to the surrounding minds. There was still only one, which was surprising since he could count on one hand the places where so few people gathered that he didn't need to raise his defense just to keep his sanity.
And that's when he noticed the guilt and sprinkles of fear oozing from the girl right next to him. It was so much he had to take a second to parse through what she broadcasted. It was a jarring switch from the one he had felt from her earlier. Outwardly, she was still an excitable bundle of good humor, but in truth, she was ridden with guilt and barely holding it together, and he didn't even start on how exhausted she truly was. Only now did he notice the bags under her eyes and the way her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
It was obvious she felt guilty for how hurt he was, which was obviously stupid since she hadn't done anything to get him in this state. He knew emotions were sometimes chaotic, and other times, just plain bullshit, like crying over rice kind of bullshit. So he just needed to find a way to help her lessen her guilt. Every human being was different in that regard; emotions were universal to more than just humanity, but how each person dealt with them could fill an entire book. He just needed to find out how to help her stop her unearned guilt from eating at her spirit.
He stabbed open the plastic lid of the bowl and took a bite, deeply thinking about how he could manage to do something he rarely had to deal with. He took a bite of the still-steaming rice, which had seemingly been spared from the cold outside. A low moan broke out of him when the mix of fried rice and fish touched his tongue, and in reaction, Mei's negative emotions slightly lessened in intensity.
"I don't have to ask you if it tastes good at least," she teased him with a chuckle he knew wasn't genuine.
"It's been a while since I had some good food in me," he quipped back with a shadow of a smile.
He took a second bite, and the same effect on her psyche applied, meaning feeding him was her way of feeling less guilty about herself. So the more he ate, the less she was going to beat herself up. That was easy. Takuma could say he had a worse deal in his life, and taking into account the amount of food on the table, he realized something else.
'I'm about to stuff myself sick, aren't I?'