Hina's careful steps on the sidewalk slowed their quick pace, stopping entirely as she reached the edge of the campus. The esteemed and grandiose UA entrance gateway lay above her, gleaming and bright as it always had been. Looking up, for some reason, she hesitated walking through.
Past the entrance, the campus was empty. Saturday morning would normally mean mingling students coming and going across the campus to hang out with friends or attend club gatherings, but there was no one in sight. Well, she supposed it was 7 in the morning. Most were probably still sleeping.
How long had it been since she'd been here? 2 months, perhaps. Much too long. Her weeks of rehabilitation had felt like an eternity. Hands-which no longer stung or burned from phantom cuts-tightened on the bag slung over her shoulder. An occasional dull throb would have her flexing her fingers, but nothing unmanageable.
Hina couldn't take her eyes off the metal arch and the school buildings beyond. To any passing citizen, she was simply another curious onlooker, in awe of the infamous UA campus. She nearly felt that way, such a disconnect between herself and her actual employment here. The swirl of emotions in her chest was indescribable.
Fresh out of the hospital's cotton shirt and pants, it felt strange wearing clothing that actually belonged to her. Shouta had been kind enough to grab her some from her apartment before her discharge. Even doing her makeup routine that morning had felt unfamiliar and clunky. She'd been anxious to get out of there, foot tapping impatiently through the release paperwork, but now that she was steps from the campus, something stole the impatience away.
Shouta noticed her hesitation and stepped up beside her, staring up at the sign. He'd been kind enough to bring her from the hospital back to the campus, and if he thought it strange that she was just staring up at the sign, he didn't say anything about it.
"Are we standing here all day?" He finally asked lightly, and she smiled a little.
"No. Just...taking in this feeling for a moment." She admitted.
"Of what?"
"Coming home."
The pro beside her nodded in understanding, hands tucking into his pockets to wait as long as they needed to. His patience with her was immeasurable, surely. Hina finally took a deep breath, steeling whatever it was that made her stop here, before stepping across the threshold and onto the campus grounds. Shouta was right behind her. As he always had been.
The moment she entered the principal's office, the small mouse-bear-dog broke into a happy smile.
"Scarlet Seer, it is very good to see you awake and in good health. Please, come inside." He gestured for the redhead to come closer, then looked at her companion. "You as well, Eraserhead. I imagine she would like your presence in this meeting."
With an affirmative nod from his partner, Aizawa stepped up alongside Hina across from the small principal. Nothing in this office had changed since her kidnapping, and the familiarity brought an unprecedented comfort. Nezu sat in his oversized chair, looking particularly happy and in a good mood.
"It is good to be back." Hina said truthfully. "I've been anxious to come back to work since I was admitted to the hospital."
"So I was told. I received your discharge papers from your doctor this morning. Everything appears to be in order." He said with a nod, tapping a manilla folder that sat on the corner of his desk. "They all had good things to say about your recovery, and feel confident that you are ready to return to work."
She nodded again, and Nezu folded his paws.
"However, I wanted to speak with you directly to determine that myself." He went on, and her smile faded a little. "While I have the utmost faith in the hospital's ability to assist in recovery, I am concerned that the unpredictability of your average day-to-day may prove to be too much too soon for you."
"I am feeling fine, I assure you." Hina pressed, frowning with worry that she still had one last hurdle to jump before being allowed to return for work. "The doctors evaluated my condition through various stress tests. I'm not going to flip out if someone accidentally scares me from around a corner, if that's what you're worried about."
"In fact, that is not what concerns me." He replied with a small shake of his head, watching her seriously. "If you don't mind me prying; when is the last time you activating your quirk?"
Hina winced, looking down at the floor with a mix of disappointment and fear. Really, the uncanny way that he could just tell something wasn't quite right was...scary. She could feel Shouta's own curious stare from beside her. "When I first woke up in the hospital..."
The doctors had suggested confronting the things inside her head, but she hadn't been entirely ready to open that can of worms at the time. Over her stay, she'd managed to get to a good place without touching her quirk. She'd been afraid of a regression should she attempt to address it too early in her healing. The doctors hadn't pushed too hard, and she'd managed to put off the issue. Now, though, Hina wished she hadn't.
"I understand time is a factor in healing, and no one is pressing you to speed up your pace of recovery," Nezu said with closed eyes, "but it does worry me that you are not comfortable using your quirk, yet still want to return to work."
"I don't need it to teach the students my course material." She countered desperately with a shake of her head. "I have appointments with outside therapists even now, so I will eventually come to reintroduce myself to my quirk. It is something that I will address. But please...give me a chance to show you. I am ready to come back to work."
Hina and Nezu were locked in a staring match, her trying to put all the charisma and persuasion she could into her expression, and him evaluating with a careful, genius mind. Shouta cleared his throat.
"If I can add something...I've witnessed Hina's condition from the moment she awakened until now. Her progress is remarkable considering what she underwent." He said, and the principal listened intently. "Being around those she cares for was always a positive influence on her peace of mind and morale. Working with the student body again may provide another pillar of support in her recovery."
He was always there to support her. Hina gave him an appreciative smile, but turned back to Nezu when he gave a sigh.
"I do not doubt that..." He admitted. "However, I am aware that you continue to have panic attacks if presented with certain triggers. Wouldn't it be better for your health and safety to remain home until they pass?"
"They are manageable, and the triggers less influential by the day." Hina reassured. "I've been taught coping methods for if I do have one. Most last a few minutes at most, and even then, I would be in a place where help is not far."
Nezu hesitated, and she took that as a sign that somehow she was convincing him to allow her to return. "And if you have one of these episodes in front of a class of students? We don't want them to lose focus on their studies. Their instructor's health should not be something they worry themselves with."
"I think they've done that already, with her being away from work." Shouta added under his breath. "She's well-liked among them. Most students worried the first day she was absent."
"I can tell them beforehand of the possibility, and that they should not worry if it does occur." Hina said with a shrug. "I'll downplay it to prevent the most of their concerns."
"Eraserhead, you indeed have been there for Scarlet Seer's recovery in its entirety." Nezu said, and the 1-A teacher stood straighter. "Putting aside your personal relationship with her, and from a matter of what is best for both the students and herself, I would like to know if you feel she is indeed mentally ready to come back to UA."
Hina could feel her partner look her way, but she made it a point to stare at Nezu's desk instead. Two seconds passed without a word.
"Yes. I do."
Those words put another relieved smile on her face, and she gave Shouta a glance from the corner of her eye. He was looking at Nezu again, and didn't notice. The redhead felt like perhaps he still needed that final persuading piece, and went in for one last attempt.
She gave a small bow. "Please...I have waited two months to return. Being back on campus has lifted my spirits a great deal and...I wish to resume my employment to ensure that the students are as prepared for the future as they could be."
Nezu watched her for another moment, before sighing once more. "I am willing to allow you to return, on the condition that you temporarily cease outside hero work until you have completed your therapy. I don't wish for you to have to return to the hospital after having been discharged."
His agreement was a little shocking, as she'd felt that being the genius he was, he would not have allowed them to sway his decision. However, she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and rose from her bow. A cessation of hero work was a minuscule price to pay for her return to the academy.
"I understand." She said, smiling at the confirmation. "Thank you so much."
"You are welcome. And I truly mean when I say," Nezu said, his smile returning, "it is very good to have you back."
Sunday was spent calling the kind woman who had stepped in as a substitute to go over the course material that Hina had been absent for, coordinating the next lesson and the assignments that had been handed out and collected. It made her heart hurt, how many subjects she had not been there to teach. The school year was only so long, and she made it a personal promise to give it her all for the rest of the year.
When Monday morning finally did come around, Hina woke at a much earlier hour than usual. She showered, hoping that the noise wouldn't wake Shouta through the adjoining wall. The warm water did little to soothe the nerves that began slowly settling in the pit of her stomach. She practiced even breathing as the toweled off and dressed in her hero costume. What had once felt close to a second skin was now just a little too loose. Not quite a perfect fit. Had she lost weight? Hmm...
Putting on her makeup and brushing her teeth put her in front of her bathroom mirror, and she stared at her reflection as she got ready for the day. Her mind was so preoccupied, that for several minutes, she stood there with her eyeliner in hand, just staring at her face's features. Then, realizing that she wasn't getting anything done, shook her head and finished the rest of her makeup. It was a little hard to focus.
She gathered her purse and headed to her apartment door, but paused as her hand settled on the knob. Resting her forehead on the door, she closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath.
"You can do this..." Was her muttered pep-talk, a last valiant attempt to ease her frazzled nerves, before opening her eyes again and heading out onto the campus.
No one was out and about this earlier. There was still a solid two hours before class began, the sun barely rising up from the horizon. Another hour of sleep had sounded nice, but Hina knew she needed time to become comfortable in her own classroom again, and to prepare for the lesson she would present on her first day back.
It all felt like the first day she'd been hired, funnily enough.
The school halls were empty and silent, save for her footsteps on the linoleum. From the window above, she passed by the school's courtyard gardens and spotted Cementoss meditating, eyes closed in intense concentration. She smiled, tempted to go down and say hello, but figured he wouldn't appreciate the interruption. Hina passed the window by, turning down the hallway to where the Life Skills room was situated.
Her classroom door slid open with an easy push. Reaching inside, she flipped the light switch to fill the room with light.
Dozens...no, hundreds of cards piled on her desk, and on the student desks as well. The redhead stopped, taking in all of the colorful pieces of paper. Her eyes eventually tracked to the chalkboard, which was decorated in a beautiful scrawl of the words 'Welcome Back, Hitagawa Sensei!' Drawings of flowers and other cute depictions surrounded it in random patterns, each with a different style of art. Many different students had worked on it, she knew.
Stepping closer to her desk, she dropped her purse on the chair and picked up the closest one. It was crafted from light blue paper, with the words 'We missed you so much!' drawn crookedly on the front page. She opened it to reveal the name of a student in the business department, as well as a short message on how they had worried about her during her absence, and that they were glad she was ok.
Hina smiled, picking up another to read the contents. Another well-wishing sentiment, from yet another student. This one in Class 1-C.
The sheer number of them...this was practically the whole student body. Had they all written her a note wishing her return? Had they all...really missed her so much? Shouta had mentioned that she was well-liked among them but she had...never realized just how far that went.
There was too much to feel all at once, and it sent an ache through her chest.
Vision blurring, Hina wandered over to one of the desks and sat, reading through each small card one by one, trying her hardest not to break down into a bawling mess. Well, tried was the key word. Her makeup she'd spent so long putting on that morning was definitely ruined. Not that the redhead really minded.
The first class of the day was the general studies class. After an hour of reading the cards her students had written for her return-then spending another ten minutes moving them from the student desks to a box in the corner of the room for her to look at later-Hina managed to prep for that day's lesson, somehow. She hesitated before erasing the beautiful message on her chalkboard, and finally decided to set the eraser down. It was fine to leave up for today.
The students filed into the room when the first bell rang to indicate class would begin shortly, breaking into bright smiles when they saw her standing in front of her desk.
"Please take your seats. I'll address my absence in a moment once everyone is here." She prefaced as they filed inside and took their respective seats. There was a sort of buzz among everyone who entered, this electric feeling in the air. Hina didn't know how else to describe it.
An outward calm hid the elation of facing her students again, and as the second bell rang to indicate the beginning of their lesson, the pro hero offered everyone a deep bow. Her hope was that it masked just how close she was to bursting into happy tears in that moment.
"I want to first thank you all for all of the welcome cards. They did so much to lift my spirits coming into work today. I am very thankful to be back here teaching you again."
And in an expected flurry of curiosity, the questions began all at once.
"What happened?" "Why were you gone so long?" "Are you really ok?" "Was it actually a family emergency that made you leave?" "Please tell us why you were gone!"
"Quiet down, all of you." She requested, hands held up to stop the endless and enthusiastic questions from overwhelming her. Thankfully, their voices died down until it was silent again. "I know you are were all very concerned about me while I was away. So I will tell you what I feel comfortable saying now.
"While I am fit to work again, I am still healing." She stated simply, twining her fingers together and relaxing her posture. "What I experienced caused me to go into a coma for about a week, but with the help of my quirk I was able to awaken. However, there is still damage and things that need to be addressed in the coming months. For instance, there may be moments where I have a small panic attack, but if this occurs, please let me work through it myself. They last a few minute at most. Saying that, I do not feel comfortable talking about details of what caused my injuries."
Hanging on her every word, she saw 20 heads nod in somber understanding. Their excitement had been replaced with worry, however, and she wasn't about to let that go.
She smiled, hoping to relieve some of their fear. "But do not worry about me, please. I really am fine. I have many people supporting me, all of you included, so I will get through these small setbacks and come back stronger than before. That I promise you."
Thankfully, her words seemed to get through their worry, and they nodded again. Satisfied that she had halted their endless amount of questions, she gave a small sigh and turned to walk behind her desk.
How she'd missed this feeling...
"Now, for today's lesson...Please grab the worksheet that your substitute handed out last week. I want to address a few things that she told me you were confused about."
"Hinaaaaa!" Mic's enthusiastic and loud voice startled her from her seat on the couch, and she dropped the dumpling that she'd picked up with her chopsticks. The voice hero strode into the teacher lounge with determination, heading in her direction. "Come here and let me hug you!"
"Ease up on the volume, Mic." Shouta chastised with a wince from beside her on the couch, but she ignored her grumpy boyfriend and stood to accept his request.
"How are you?" She asked, her face stuffed in the collar of his leather jacket. He gave her a big squeeze before releasing her and stepping away to the fridge to grab his lunch.
"Great! The best!" He shot her a finger gun and sat on the opposite couch to her and Shouta, setting his bowl of rice on the table between them. "It's good to have you back, you know."
"I feel like I've said this a hundred times now, but it's good to be back." Hina smiled, picking up her dropped dumpling and popping it into her mouth. "Though it is a bit exhausting to keep answering the same questions each class period..."
"Are you doing ok?"
"Yeah, it's not anything I can't handle." She went on to quickly say. "I knew it would happen. But I can tell that the students want to know absolutely everything and they are disappointed not to be given concrete answers."
"In this case, their feelings don't matter." Aizawa said with a shrug. "It isn't their business."
"I know that."
"Well, hey! Now they'll stop asking the rest of us when you'll come back." Mic said flippantly. "I can't count the amount of times me and Midnight have been hounded with that question. I'll be fighting against any extended vacations you have in the future."
She laughed at his joke, then grasped onto something he'd said.
"Speaking of..." Hina trailed off, unconsciously glancing at the door to the teacher's lounge. "I haven't been able to catch up with Midnight since I was discharged. Is she doing alright?"
Mic's expression fell a little and he sighed. "Sort of...She's alright, but I know there's a whole lot of guilt swirling around that head of hers. Still won't listen to me or Eraser when we say it isn't her fault."
"Hmm." Hina looked down at her nearly empty plate thoughtfully. Blinking once, she quickly ate the last two dumplings and stood from the couch to put her dish back in the fridge to bring back home later.
"Going somewhere?" The erasure hero asked, and she gave a nod.
"I'm going to try to find her. Maybe she just isn't sure how to approach me about it." She summarized with a shrug, before giving a quick wave to Shouta and Mic. "I'll see you later. We should have a get together soon."
Aizawa silently gave his agreement with a nod, while the blonde shot her a toothy grin, and a flashing thumbs up. "Right on!"
'I'm sorry, Hina. I just...I can't see you right now. Please understand.'
The redhead sighed, staring down at Midnight's text. Hina had stopped by her classroom during her earlier lunch hour, but she was nowhere to be found. The thought that the woman was avoiding her hadn't quite settled in until the redhead sent her a text and had gotten a reply the next class period. It hurt a little, truthfully.
The reply left little question that Midnight wasn't in a headspace to meet. It was disappointing, misguided for sure, but she could understand the sentiment. Similar to Shouta's desire for space after the training camp attack, she supposed.
Students began to filter in through her classroom door for their next lesson, and she stuffed her phone away without replying, focused on explaining herself to another round of students.
Several hours later, after endless questions, a few tricky starts to her lessons, and several close calls with her rising anxiety, Hina flipped off her class lights and closed the door behind her. It certainly hadn't been the smoothest day of teaching ever, but it had been manageable. A start.
Exhausted and in desperate need of a nap, Hina began trekking down the hallway towards the elevator with the box of cards in her hands. A pair of students passed her by, waving with smiles as they saw her approach. She replied in kind but rounded the next corner hefting the box up a bit more so it wasn't so awkward in her hands.
Shouta stood by the elevator doors, hands stuffed in his hero costume's pockets in wait. Not for the first time, she wondered how he always managed to look so handsome. He looked up upon hearing her footsteps.
"Walking me home?" She guessed, reaching past him to hit the call button for the lift.
"That, and to ask what you'd like for dinner tonight." He said, watching her carefully. It was clear that he noticed the way her eyes felt heavy. "Or, we can just relax if you're not hungry."
"I'm starving, actually." She said while rubbing away at the exhaustion, stepping inside when the door opened. Her gaze settled on the contents of the box, a few colorful illustrations jumping out at her from those on top. "Plus, I wanted to read the rest of the cards the students wrote for me."
He followed after her and took up the space beside her in the elevator car, pressing the button for the main floor. The door shut with a soft thud and they began to descend.
"Good day?" He asked out of the blue, and she looked up at his curious expression. She saw the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Hina smiled back and leaned closer to rest her head on his shoulder. She felt him press his mouth to the top of her head. "Yeah...good day."
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