Meeting

The situation was quite different from what I thought it would be.

Instead of a room filled with beds, medical devices and people recovering from their injuries, it was just a wide room. Mostly empty, with the exception of where her bed is and a corner furnished with quite elegantly.

While quite a shocking surprise, it was quite a welcome one, wouldn't be it for that one glaring, obvious thing.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗺𝗲?

I know there isn't a particular reason to panic right now. A clean smelling, vast, empty, clean-smelling hospital ward, where I could feel the warm sunshine hit my skin softly.

𝗔𝗺 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄?

Despite my blood pumping gently through every corner of my body and the hot summer sun hitting my face, my body shivered as if I was out in a cold, winter night. With nothing but rags, without anything that could warm me up.

No, I experienced cold like that before and this somehow felt worse.

I am panicking. That is the only conclusion I can come to and it's a bad one.

My heartbeat that was previously regular started accelerating, cold sweat started to pool around my forehead and my body was unable to stand still.

The clean disinfected smell, having only one room for myself, a person directly watching over me...

...𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹?

Once that thought ran through my head, my Super-Ego left, my Id ran wild and my Ego was unable to supervise any of them...

----------------------------------------------------------

Of course, the person beside the little girl is Seigi Fumio. Lawyer extraordinaire and most certainly really sleep-deprived right now.

But now wasn't the time to care how she felt.

No, whatever her concerns, worries, or even her feelings were right now, all of them didn't matter. The priority was to deal with a girl that was clearly showing all signs of a panic attack.

...

And so, she took the remote button to notify a nurse about a situation!

What?

She was a lawyer, not a medically trained professional. No matter how much she knew about any field that was out there thanks to her involved line of work, dealing with a child was something she was very unfamiliar with.

And now giving her a child with a panic attack to deal with? A task that was just a 6 or 7 difficulty previously suddenly turned into a 13 difficulty one.

To say the least, she wasn't confident in dealing with this situation herself, so of course she called help. There is nothing shameful about calling help when you need it.

So, she pressed the nurse call button.

Yet, she couldn't. Before she was able to use the remote, Fumio's arm was gripped. Quite violently at that. It was surprising how much it hurt. No, it really hurt right now.

Fumio suspecting that a hero who couldn't control his strength quirk properly was gripping her, looked at the hand holding her arm as if it was something it couldn't let go off and...

...no, it was no hero. It was the little girl.

...

Wait, it was the little girl?

...

Wasn't her body in a state where she shouldn't be able to move and if she did, each and every muscle fiber inside of her would scream to stop?

...

Blood. Quite a lot of it at that.

Once Fumio realized that her gaze slowly wandered upwards, towards the girl's face.

Nothing having changed since the start of the panic, the girl's face was still painted in a deep shade of panic, with sweat tracing the shape of her forehead to the point where you would worry about dehydration.

There was only one thing that she now noticed, which she didn't before.

The lips of the girl were moving slowly, or that's what it seemed like, since her entire body was trembling to the point where you would think you are inside of a refrigerator and not a warm hospital room.

Anyways, the girl's lips were slowly forcing the words...

"ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ɴᴏ. ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ I ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴛʜɪs. ɪᴛ's ᴘᴀɪɴғᴜʟ. ɴᴏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ. ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ sᴛᴏᴘ. ᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘ. ᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘᴍᴀᴋᴇɪᴛsᴛᴏᴘ-"

Once Fumio saw the girl in a state of such weakness, all thought flew out the window.

There was no point in fancy actions, hesitation or fear of the consequences of her actions. Once she saw the girl, Fumio already instinctively embraced the girl in a big, warm, gentle, hug.

At first awkwardly raising her arms around the girl, barely even having any contact with her, before slowly closing in more and more, the more the intense trembling of the girl lessened. At the end of the hug, Fumio was squeezing with a bit of strength, but her instincts told her that that's what the girl needed right now.

Holding that position for a while, Fumio was starting to get tired and wondered what the right moment was to stop, but when she looked down again Fumio saw how the girl was breathing in and out in a slow rhythm, with her body relaxed to the point where Fumio could easily pull her arm out of the girls vice-grip and a peaceful expression.

The girl was with no doubt asleep right now.

Seeing the girl's calm expression, Fumio felt relieved to the point where the strength in her legs almost left her.

But it was still not the time for her to care what state her body was in right now. Carefully moving the girl's body, Fumio tried to make sure she wasn't aggravating the wounds of the injured child any more than necessary.

That took a few minutes, but once she finally managed to get the girl in a comfortable and safe enough position, Fumio just fell down on her knees.

"Gasp. Gasp. What the hell!"

Barely processing the events that just transpired, the effects of the adrenalin that her body released weakened and Fumio could feel the consequences immediately.

The arm that was gripped slowly gained feeling again, before it was immediately lost again, instead it was replaced with a scream of pain and right after noticing that she realized that random parts of her torso were also in pain.

Realizing that, Fumio took of her suit and looked inside the mirror, seeing bruises on exactly on all the areas that were in pain and those who didn't have bruises yet, Fumio could feel that they will come in a minute or two.

Fumio sighed. Now that she thought about the situation again, the girl at first flailed around when she wrapped her arms around her, wasn't she?

That pretty abnormal strength for a young child like her. Was it her quirk?

Still, right now that wasn't the time for things like that. Those can be dealt with later. They wouldn't run away and disappear after all.

Right now, was the time to...

BEEP.

...finally call a damned nurse.

The moment she pressed the button, she could hear the hurried steps of a nurse coming.

"Sigh. Why do I have to walk so much, wasn't there a nurse closer to the area? Seriously, we are quite understaffed-"

As the nurse stepped into the room, she started to analyze the situation. Seeing the blood in areas where they didn't belong, she didn't need a second thought to react.

"This situation needs a doctor; I'll return in a sec."

Before Fumio could stop her and try to explain the situation that looked a bit wrong, the nurse already turned around and this time ran.

Fumio couldn't help but chuckle a little bit.

"Wow. The professionalism."

----------------------------------------------------------

A familiar feeling, distant, yet so close.

They feel...

...far away, even more distant than the vague memories that manage to instill fear that deep inside of me, that even though my mind forgot, my body would still react to.

But, even though those memories are even more distant than whatever traumatizes me, they were also stronger.

That memory, that feeling. It was warm. Was it...

...the warmth of a mother embracing her child?

That was the moment when I woke up.

I woke up to a now familiar ceiling. This time not caught off guard, as I hear the sound of two voices holding a conversation.

From what I could make out, it was the voice of a mature woman and a serious man.

"Miss Seigi. What did I say about being careful and not hurting the girl when she wakes up?"

"Give me a break. I tried to call a medical professional, but I was stopped before I could do so. What was I supposed to do?"

"Really, stopped by who? A 6-year-old girl, injured, blind girl?"

"Wait, she was blind? No, that doesn't matter right now. This is my ward, so I know for sure that there is a security camera in that corner there. We can bring it to court if you insist about arguing my actions."

"Miss Seigi... what did I say about acting like a Karen?"

"Alright, I'll admit that me threatening court was a bit much. But me explaining my actions and trying to come to an understanding is the complete opposite of being a Karen!"

The two adults were seemingly arguing quite intensely, yet it never gave off an impression that someone would need to interfere.

No, it more seemed like a conversation between two close friends who are comfortable enough to talk shit with each other. Though, the contents of their conversation sounded quite like the opposite of just random bullshit between friends.

"There. We are done. I mean, there wasn't really a point in insisting like that. I had all the evidence in front of me. An arm doesn't break by itself, but even though I can't think for a better course of actions right now, I am sure there is one."

"Let's not talk about what if's. We have a girl in need of medical attention here, so I think you should pay more attention to her."

"Well, before that. Your arm is broken, make sure to..."

It was the most serious contents ever, about a person's health. The only way this could be more serious, if we increased the quality or quantity of the topic. Either concerning the health of multiple people or the health of a person being in jeopardy, yet they were talking about it as if that was just a random topic someone came up with during a talk over coffee.

Seeing the contrast, the little girl couldn't help but...

"Fufu~. Hahahahaha."

...chuckle. Which started to turn into laughter.

Noticing that. The two adults realized that the little girl just woke up. At first, they were almost tempted to laugh alongside the girl, when...

"Hahaha-. Hnnng-! Ow."

...they remembered that each movement of the girl would still be pretty painful.

Giving a nod to each other. The two of them ended with their conversation and Dr. Mori started to look over the girl's general state again.

When all of a sudden...

"Dr. Mori-, oh! Miss Seigi? I am sorry to inform you, but visiting hours are over."

...hearing that, Fumio gave an understanding nod.

"Yes, that would be for the better."

Fumio stood up. Ready to leave, but just as before she was about to leave the room and then the building...

"Miss Seigi, before you leave. Just know that you don't need to do that tomorrow."

Hearing that, the nurse was confused at the doctors words.

"But Dr. Mori..."

"There is a general exception that family members and close friends can stay past visiting hours. Since this girl is an orphan, I am sure she would be delighted if someone like you were around her to keep watching over her. After all, you are her life's savior. Isn't that right, little girl?"

Hearing that, she hastily nodded, or at least moved her head up and down as much as she could, before whispering.

"I don't mind."

Hearing that, the nurse couldn't help but put a warm smile on her face. The little girl is cute.

Fumio also smiled. It just seemed natural.

"Well, I'll take you up on the offer, but for now I just want to get home, recover this broken arm of mine and take a long, nice, relaxing sleep in my bed. See you tomorrow..."

That's when Fumio realized that she didn't know the girl's name.

"Akane. Ai Akane."

Just before she was about to awkwardly ask, the girl already revealed it. For a second, Fumio thought she could read minds. But that was a silly thought. If she could, what would explain her superhuman strength?

Having two quirks isn't unnatural, but it was still quite rare.

"Uhum. See you tomorrow, Ai-san."

But as always, those were things to deal with later and not now.

----------------------------------------------------------

Same day, later in the hospital:

"Hey, do you know where Dr. Mori is?"

"Dr. Mori? Oh, you mean the handsome stud of this hospital. Sorry, I don't really know, the last thing I heard about him, is that he is examining one of his patients."

"Right, right. I also heard that. Hmph, that girl is quite lucky for getting a guy like him to examine her. You don't know how I wish to be in her place."

"Are you serious? In your place, I would be careful what to wish for. Especially since the girl is blind, wouldn't even be able to appreciate his handsomeness even if she wished to, I am more surprised that you didn't know that. Considering the state in which she arrived in this hospital. Hell, I even take care of her for a bit today and the state of her injuries is no laughing matter!"

"..." (sweat drop)

"..." (confused expression)

"I am sorry, but can you tell me about it? I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I didn't come to work."

"Oh! That's why I didn't see you yesterday. You should have said that first silly. Anyways, the situation was quite serious. The girl's left hand was completely broken, while the right one was seriously fractured, to make matter worse, her ribcage was half destroyed, six poking a bit out of her torso and the other six piercing into her organs a bit. As if this wasn't already bad enough, it seems like the girl also had a severe head trauma, glass shards stuck in her abdomen, multiple fracture all over her body and massive internal, as well as external bleeding, as well as a couple of burn marks.

I don't know how much is exaggerated, or just plainly not true, but I was also there during the operation and from what I have seen, I honestly would believe that this was only the surface of her injuries."

"Gasp, really? That sounds bad. It almost sounds like you are lying to me."

"Right? In my opinion, she didn't look like she was internally dying, but externally."

"Pffft, externally dying? You and your sense of humor, you might as well just say dying at that point, but seriously. What kind of atrocious villain would do something like that to a child?"

"Right? Only a villain who is sick in his head could do something like that, I hope he gets caught soon by some heroes."

"Well, and I hope something like this won't happen again. Didn't you feel nauseous looking at her?"

"I did, but it's our job, so I just held it in."

"Right, it's our job huh?"

...

...

...

...

"Uhhh. I am bad with this kind of stuff, what's the point about worrying. We are just some random nurses, as if we could change anything! Let's talk about something else!"

"Well, if anything goes. Did you hear about that new skincare product? I heard..."