Chapter 201 - Senseless
For a while he, confused, tried to sit-up, metal chain clanking against the bed's rods. Tear-filled eyes, he blinked, gazing at the room while he was trying to recall his whereabouts.
A white door stood before him.
There were no furniture, no windows.
Neito groaned and propped himself on one elbow, left arm stretched out behind because of the handcuff.
The sheets covering his knees fell to the floor, revealing an ugly blue hospital gown riding up his thighs.
His throat was on fire, and a throbbing pain - as if someone were punching him repeatedly - shot up from the left side of his skull and thundered down his face to his jaw.
Something was strangling his throat.
Groping awkwardly, Neito's fingers worked their way up from his torso to his neck.
A hard but slightly spongy surface encircled his neck : a cervical collar ?
He tried to look down, but a new wave of pain stabbed him from top to bottom.
Neito flinched, grimacing.
Simultaneously, the door opened.
A woman entered, walking purposefully over his bed.
Neito turned his head to ask for water, but another flash of pain struck him.
The woman's lips moved : Neito heard nothing.
She waited a few seconds, her hands on her hips.
Neito noticed that she was dressed in green.
What kind of nurse dressed in green ?
She grew impatient and spoke again.
Neito frowned.
She was tapping her foot - Neito knew this because he could see her leg twitching - yet she made no sound.
Was it the sleeping pill they'd administered him ?
"I can't hear you", Neito said.
The woman winced and drew her head back, yet she remained quiet.
She grabbed him by the chin and gently turned his head to the side ; Neito flinched.
He thought she was speaking because he felt her warm breath against his ear.
Neito, bewildered, watched her as she left the room, mumbling a few words to him that he, again, could not hear.
As the door slammed behind her, Neito absentmindedly noticed that she was wearing fatigues.
A soldier ? Why would a soldier be looking after him ?
And where was his uncle ? How long had he been there ? Why couldn't he hear anything ?
The woman soon returned with two more medics in fatigues
They were all talking lively and Neito watched them bustle around him, puzzled.
One of them grabbed his left bicep, while another forced him to look into his eyes before pointing a flashlight at them.
Neito jerked back, eyes burning.
They kept going through their lightning-fast checks without a care in the world, their mouths opening and closing rapidly whereas his anxiety grew.
The door opened again and a new man entered, carrying white sheets and a large black marker.
He smiled kindly at Neito, sat down at the foot of his bed and scribbled on them.
Neito watched him quietly, feeling increasingly as if he were pranked on national TV.
The man turned the sheet over to him.
It read : 'You are Neito Monoma, 16, a student of the Heroic course at Yuei, right ?'
Neito nodded.
The man withdrew the paper, making room for the next one.
'Do you remember what happened last night at Tokyo?
Last night ? Neito had the feeling that he was talking about what had happened before he fainted.
"I do"
The man pulled his head back, grimacing as if Neito had screamed.
He raised his hand, then lowered it three times in a row ; Neito understood what he was getting at.
The man turned over to the next page.
'Martial law has been declared in the capital : the military has taken full control of Tokyo'.
New paper.
'You are now under our jurisdiction until further notice'
Neito frowned and jerked his head back again : a new surge of pain ran through his head.
"Jurisdiction ? Why ? I haven't done anything"
He had whispered ; no one flinched.
The man scribbled on the paper.
'You confessed to pro Hero Mirko yesterday that your classmate was a traitor allied with All for One, didn't you ?'
Neito confirmed.
'Mirko has disappeared, just like your classmate'
"Mirko was eaten by three Nomus", Neito said. "And Uraraka tried to kill me"
He barely paused for half a second.
"Then the Nomus killed her"
The man seemed to consider his answer.
He wrote something else.
"What's wrong with my ears ?" asked Neito. "I can't hear anything. Is it a tranquilizer ? And my uncle, where is he ? When can I go out ?"
The man seemed to examine Neito for a bit before he crossed out his first sentence and wrote something else.
Neito watched him anxiously.
He turned the paper over to him.
'It seems you've become deaf'
*
The first thing that crossed Nezu's mind when he saw Aizawa was the word 'waste'.
He was sitting on a hospital bed, his back supported by bouncing pillows, a bright window behind him.
The room was spacious, luxurious, the best one could afford in a hospital.
Bands of white gauze were wrapped around his eyes and head, running through his hair. Two large cotton pads covered the empty cavities that acted as his eyes ; this was to mop up any pus leaking out.
The nurse busied herself around Aizawa.
He followed her movements with a second's delay, catching on the sound of her shoes clattering on the tiled floor.
"I've put a new pillow for you," she said, her voice trailing off.
She cut off every words as if talking to a child, her voice perky in a way that had no reason to be.
Nezu watched her, gaze blank, inwardly assessing her every move.
Aizawa gave an embarrassed, disparaging smile.
He nodded in her direction.
"Understood"
His face was tilted too low ; it was as if he were talking to her stomach.
The nurse smiled brightly, placed her hands on her knees, and leaned forward.
"If you need anything, you only have to push this button"
She took Aizawa's hand and led him to the top rung of the bed, where a big red button protruded.
"It's a very big button so it's easy for you to find, ok ? Press it once and somebody will come right away. But don't play with it, ok ? It's only for emergencies"
Aizawa's face tightened: Nezu expected him to get angry.
But his features smoothed out and he answered calmly :
"Alright"
"You're a good boy. I'll bring you a treat tonight"
She left the room, beaming, shoting Nezu a big smile as she walked past him.
Nezu, standing at the foot of Aizawa's bed, watched him quietly.
Aizawa clenched the blanket between his fists, frustrated.
The door slammed shut.
He remained motionless, head down, petrified by his weakness.
Nezu, gaze sharp, couldn't help but wonder what he was feeling, he who had had the power to make men powerless and now was nothing.
Nezu wondered what it felt like to have been a god among men and to now be worth less than the weakest among them.
Shota had dedicated his life to being a Hero ; what did he have left now but misery and self-scourging ?
Without his Quirk, he was worthless.
Would he spiral downward ? Would he drown his impotence in alcohol ? Would he try to destroy himself ? Did he hate humans, now, now ? Did he resent them ? Would he try to make them pay ?
Would he kill himself ?
Suddenly - as if moved by a sixth sense - Aizawa raised his head.
"Is anyone there ?"
His eyeless face swept over the room from right to left, foolishly, as if he hoped to see someone.
His voice lowered until it was but a whisper.
"Nezu ?"
His voice, weak, wavered.
He sounded like the child he'd been when Nezu had rescued him from the orphanage.
What use was he to Nezu now ?
Aizawa waited.
Nezu didn't answer.
Then, slowly, Aizawa lay down on the bed, turned on his side and pulled the blanket up to his nose.
Then he cried.
Silent sobs shook his shoulders, waterless tears rolled down his cheeks, the blanket folded over his face muffling his moans.
Nezu watched, his scornful mask crumbling in spite of himself.
When he couldn't stand it any longer, Nezu silently stepped outside, his face twisted in fury.
*
A/N : This is Sunday chapter. Monday one is coming tomorrow
If you like the story and want to support it, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG
And see you in the next update everyone !