Everything Tastes Weird

The next morning, Aya-chan looks much better. She isn’t as pale, and her dark circles are far less pronounced than yesterday’s, though she still has some from her frequently interrupted sleep. We ran out of the sleep powder from Garlic last night, so we will have to go to the training hall to collect more. It would be easier to collect it on those floors than on the carpets in these dorms. Just imagining cleaning it out of the carpets sounds so fucking annoying, and it reminds me of when we had to clean Aya-chan’s room that one time.

I beat her up today. Sir Floof was holding her with his ribbons and stirred awake by her tossing and turning. She gasps awake in a cold sweat and bolts up. I use the washcloth I have been using all night to dab the sweat from her forehead as I console her. I ask if she is ready to go get breakfast, and she silently nods.

We get dressed and go downstairs to the common area for breakfast. Kirishima is eating omurice, heavy on the ketchup, with ketchup around his mouth. Aya-chan sees this, gets up from the wheelchair, hops to the sink, and dry-heaves. I think she was trying to throw up, but didn’t have anything in her stomach. I hold her hair back while the rest of the class looks on in confusion and worry. I glare at Kirishima and say, “Wipe your mouth.” He looks confused and wipes his mouth with a napkin.

When Aya-chan is done dry-heaving, I turn her to face me and ask, in worry, “What do you want to eat for breakfast, Aya-chan?” She shakes her head. “I lost my appetite, but you can go ahead and eat.” Even though I would really like an omurice right now, I don’t want to accidentally traumatize her again like with Kirishima. I also don’t want to put any effort into cooking right now, since I don’t want to be away from Aya-chan’s side for too long. So, I prepare natto and rice for breakfast instead. I like it, and it is easy. I made a lot of extra for Garlic since he loves natto and rice, too. There was some leftover salmon in the fridge that I microwaved for both Squash and Sir Floof’s breakfast.

Aya-chan isn’t watching me eat like she normally does.

I still enjoyed my breakfast, but it didn’t hit like it usually does. Sir Floof finishes eating quickly and whines as he places ribbons on Aya-chan. I offer her my last bite in case she changes her mind, and she shakes her head. I start crying as I take my last bite.

We stay on the couch while the rest of our class goes to their respective work studies. I ask her, “After we get your leg back, do you want to restock on Garlic’s sleep powder? I figured we could go to the training hall.” She nods, and I pop a jawbreaker, grab two brooms and dustpans, and place them by the door so we can quickly take them when we return. The jawbreaker tastes weird today, but I can still use my quirk to get us to the hospital and training hall quickly.

Recovery Girl quickly restores Aya-chan’s leg, and she tells us to take it easy again today. We nod in acknowledgment, and I teleport us back to the dorms to pick up the brooms and dustpans for the training hall. We also bring face masks this time to make sure we don’t accidentally put ourselves to sleep while sweeping; we forgot some powder while cleaning up Aya-chan’s room that one time, and when I wiped down a shelf, I got knocked out temporarily.

When we get to the training hall, some second years are using it, so we sit to the side. Their instructor comes over and greets us, “Hey kiddos. Is there anything you need?” We nod, and I tell her, “We have a friend with a sleep powder quirk, and we were going to have them use it carefully so we could collect the dust to help us sleep. We were going to wait until you leave, so just pretend that we aren’t here. To be honest, we weren’t expecting anyone to be here during the break…”

The teacher sighs and says, “My students wanted to do more training, so I obliged. Don’t you have other things to do besides just sit on the sidelines?” I respond for us again, “Tsk. It is work-study week, and we finished ours early.” She has a flicker of recognition. “Oh, you are first years. Actually, how could I forget your face from that kidnapping incident? That hoodie of yours hides your scars and face pretty well.” Her expression turns concerned as she continues, “If your work studies ended early, that means one thing, and I am sorry to hear that. Be sure to get adequate rest with this sleep powder quirk you mentioned.” We nod, and we go back to watching the second-year students.

They spend a long time doing team exercises, “Heroes vs. Villains.” While they train, I hold Aya-chan’s hand and practice Observation haki with my eyes closed, focusing on their training. I feel like I am starting to get the hang of the environmental haki that Edgeshot was teaching me, just as the students ask to borrow us for one of their exercises. Though I can’t extend my spiritual energy that far yet, it seems.

​

They want us to be innocent bystanders that the villains capture and the heroes have to rescue. Their teacher says to her students, “I don’t think that is appropriate to ask of them at this time.” Aya-chan looks down and says, while clutching my hoodie sleeve with her hand that isn’t holding my hand, “It’s fine. It isn’t like they are real villains, so I think I will be ok.” The teacher pats us on the head and says, “Well, if it gets too much, just say the word, and we will end the exercise immediately.”

We nod and take our position in the blocked-off area. The scenario is that bank-robbing villains are on the run with two innocent bystanders as hostages, while heroes chase them into the space we are in. One of the ‘villains’ makes a dome of chains from his own quirk to give them more space. The ‘villains’ will win if they still have us at the end of the 5 minutes or if they incapacitate the heroes. The heroes will win if they rescue us within the five minutes or incapacitate the villains.

I hold her hand with my left hand, since my right arm is still in this damn sling for now, as we are guarded by the villains. The heroes try to communicate with the villains for show: “Release the hostages, and we may be able to negotiate for lighter sentencing!” The chain ‘villain’ who set up the barricade yells, “We aren’t stupid! We know that they are the only reason you haven’t attacked us yet!” One of the heroes says, “That is just your insecurities talking!” Another one chimes in, “We aren’t villains like you, so why would we bother to lie?” Most of the villains smack their teeth, getting into their roles, while another dude seems indifferent to the scenario and just seems to be present.

Time seems to be going so slow, but in actuality it is going fast. Near the end of the 5-minute exercise, webs infiltrate the chains and shoot out to wrap up a few villains. The chain villain grabs Aya-chan by the wrist and uses his chains to run away with her. She goes pale when he grabs her, and she starts screaming, “Get off me! Please just kill me! Please!” She squirts ink in his face, and he yells and crashes from midair. She starts freaking out and uses everything in her arsenal, throwing it at the ‘villains’ and ‘heroes’ alike, who are understandably freaking out.

I pop a jaw breaker, teleport to her side, and hold her while Sir Floof comes out and embraces her with his ribbons. Her quirks stop, and the class sighs in relief. Their class murmurs amongst themselves about Aya-chan, and one asks, “What is her problem?” The teacher takes over for us so we don’t have to engage with them. “She is a first-year student who had a run-in with a villain during her work study and has PTSD. We talked about this a month ago. Heroes, villains, and civilians alike get traumatized by events, so it is important to keep that in mind when engaging with anyone while you are heroes.” She looks at us while I console Aya-chan, and she tells her class, “Let’s call our training over for today. Go get washed up and change back into your uniforms to go to lunch.”

Her class leaves, and once they are gone, the teacher stays behind to supervise us while we are here. Aya-chan uses her quirk to put the boulders on her person to help clean up the training area. Then we let Garlic out to use his quirk while we step outside for a moment while the powder settles. The teacher only spectates from outside the training hall through the window and is astonished by the powder Garlic emits. Once it settles, we go back inside and start sweeping the powder up while wearing masks. Since Garlic is so much bigger now, there was a lot more powder.

The teacher asks why we are cleaning up while his back is pressed against the door, “Are you kids going to be alright cleaning all of this up on your own?” We nod, and Aya-chan asks, “What was your name again? I think I missed it, ma’am.” She facepalms slightly and says, “I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Since my quirk was stolen 10 years ago, I often feel like an extra, and I sometimes forget to give my name. My name is Sakura Chikoyoshi.” Aya-chan clutches her chest hearing her words and asks, “Was it All for One?”

Ms. Chikoyoshi looks surprised that we know and sighs and says, “Yeah. I had a quirk that allowed me to create barriers that contained gases and smoke. It couldn’t contain liquids or solids, but I was still able to work side by side with the Police Force, using my quirk to allow a concentrated field for support items like tear gas or sleeping quirks like your friend’s there.” She asks us while looking worried for us, “I take it All for One is involved in your incidents as well?” We nod, and she says while clutching her button-up shirt on the suit she is wearing, “Everything makes sense now. I’m sorry for making you relive any bad memories with my class. I recommend seeing a counselor to help you through this dark time. It helped me a lot personally.”

Ms. Chikoyoshi reaches into her pockets and pulls out her phone while she stays propped up against the open door, “If you are interested, I can give that counselor a call for you.” Aya-chan says as she clutches her broom tightly, “I don’t know if it will help, but I guess.” Miss Chikoyoshi replies with a warm yet worried expression, “I will give the counselor who helped me a call to see if they can come on campus for you. I will pass any information through Eraserhead.” We nod, and she walks away having an indistinct conversation. I focus briefly, and I hear her say, “...remember me? I’m a teacher at UA now and have some students who ran into that same villain…”

When we finish cleaning the training hall, my stomach is growling. We go to the lunch room, and Aya-chan becomes pale and faints practically immediately. I keep her from falling by catching her under her arm with my left arm. Miss Midnight was in here sitting at the faculty table, and she bolted up and came over and asked with no quips, in full teacher mode, “What’s wrong with Kubo, Mochizuki?” I tell her in a whisper, since I know Aya-chan wouldn’t mind her knowing, as she is her favorite hero: “She saw heroes being eaten alive yesterday on work study while they tried to save her, and she gets triggered seeing people eat.” I left out the other bit, since that seems too personal for me to share on Aya-chan’s behalf. That and it is not related to this particular issue.

Her eyes water while getting under her other arm, and she says, “That isn’t pleasurable at all. Let’s take her to the nurse’s office to lie down.” I nod, and we carry her carefully to the nurse's office. Recovery Girl is at the hospital, so someone else is here today. I forget her name since she feels like an extra to me. We lay her down on a bed, and the nurse asks, “Why is she unconscious?” I tell her how it is probably a mixture of not having eaten anything in probably 24 hours and her recent trauma with eating.

The nurse responds while taking Aya-chan’s blood pressure, “Have you tried giving her a liquid meal? Like a protein shake or something like that?” I shake my head, and after she gets Aya-chan’s blood pressure, she writes it down, and then she gets up and opens up the refrigerator here in the office and comes back with a protein shake in one hand and a bottle of water in the other and hands them to me, “She has low blood pressure, or what we call hypotension. When she wakes up, have her drink the water first, then give her the protein drink.” Aya-chan starts to stir and asks groggily, “Give me what?” The nurse says, “Speak of the devil. Your friend here told me about your problem eating, and I wanted you to see if you could stomach a protein shake, but you have to drink this bottle of water first.”

I open the bottle of water and pass it to her as she slowly drinks it. While she drinks her water, I shake up the protein shake per the instructions before opening it. Once she finishes drinking the water, I pass her the protein shake. She slowly sips, and I look worried as she sips. I hope and pray to whatever deity is listening to my inner prayers that she can stomach this. She seems okay, and I sigh in relief. Miss Midnight says, “Try to drink it all, Kubo.” Aya-chan nods as she continues to drink slowly. When she is done, I find myself crying tears of relief that she has some form of sustenance.

The nurse, while taking the now empty protein shake container and empty water bottle, says, “If this is the only way you can survive for now, drink these protein shakes at meals. Keep in mind that this is only a temporary fix. You will need proper nutrition, and you can’t live only by consuming protein shakes.” Aya-chan responds in a depressed tone, “I understand.” I ask her, “We have protein shakes at the dorms, but is there a specific type she needs to drink?” The nurse says as she throws the empty bottles away, “That is a good question. You want to avoid ones high in sugar or fats, and she needs to drink them slowly to prevent her from further lowering her blood pressure.”

I nod in understanding and ask her, “Can I take her back to the dorms now?” The nurse responds, “Yes. Please monitor her condition and if she feels faint again, make her drink salt water and something with electrolytes. After drinking those, she will need to lie on her back while you raise her legs to help blood flow. She might get cold often, so make sure to keep her warm. If she can handle it, I also suggest drinking seasoned broth of some kind.” I nod, and I help Aya-chan sit up, and I hold her hand as I help her up. The nurse asks, “Would you like to borrow a wheelchair?” Aya-chan shakes her head and says, “I think I will be fine with Kai-chan’s help.”

​

My stomach growls again, and Miss Midnight hears it. She asks me, “What were you wanting to eat? I can go grab you food from the cafeteria and bring it to the dorms.” I respond, “Anything off the menu is fine for me, but we need to feed Garlic, Squash, and Sir Floof, too.” She asks, “What do they normally eat?” I respond, “Sir Floof loves meat, but is particularly fond of chicken; Garlic loves his veggies and rice, and Squash loves fish. Since Garlic is very big now, he needs a lot. LunchRush is familiar with his portion sizes.”

She says while opening the door to the nurse's office for us, “Go straight to the dorms, girls.” We nod, and I hold Aya-chan by the hand and pop a jawbreaker that still tastes weird, teleporting us back to the dorms. I take Aya-chan to the dorm sofa and ask her, “Do you want another protein shake?” She shakes her head, and I gently squeeze her hand as I grit my teeth. I want to ask her what to tell our classmates, but I don’t want to reopen recent wounds.

I call out Sir Floof so he can have his ribbons on her, and I tell her, “I think we should tell our classmates about the food aspect of your trauma so they can avoid triggering you. We don’t have to tell them about the sexual assault at all. I can tell them if you feel like you would have a hard time.” She squeezes my hand gently back and leans her head on my shoulder. “Could you? I don’t think I could say what happened to me again.” She shivers as she rests on me, and Sir Floof whines as he tries to comfort her.

I think she needs a distraction while we wait for food. I ask her, “Do you want to play games to distract yourself from what happened yesterday?” Her voice breaks a little bit as she says, “I don’t know how much fun I will be to play with.” I gently bop her on the head, and I side hug her with my unslinged left hand. “Shut up. We aren’t talking about me right now. We are talking about you.” She chuckles as she sniffles and says, “S-sure.” I kiss her on top of her head and get up and go browse Kaminari’s game collection he has in the communal space. I skip over any violent games that could trigger her, and I find a cute one about village building that should be fine.

We start a new file, and while she is playing, I go upstairs to grab her a fuzzy blanket and a fuzzy pillow to cuddle with. I get back downstairs, hand her the pillow, she wraps her arms around it, and I drape the blanket over her. I stroke her hair gently as she plays, and I hear Miss Midnight wheeling a cart with food for everyone down the walkway to our dorms. I kiss her on top of her head and tell her, “I will be back after I eat and feed our friends.” She nods and continues to play while I go meet Miss Midnight outside to help her.

We ate outside to prevent triggering Aya-chan, and it is even less pleasurable without Aya-chan here. The food tastes almost tasteless. I continue eating as if it were a chore while Garlic, Squash, and Sir Floof beat me. Miss Midnight takes their empty plates and puts them on the cart, and she waits for me to finish my food. As I am taking my last few bites of food, I drop my fork and gasp in a terrible realization. Miss Midnight asks me, worried, “What is wrong, Mochizuki?” I respond, clutching my uniform as tears form in my eyes, “I can’t use my quirk with food anymore.”

Later that evening, when our classmates returned, I sat them down and told them that Aya-chan had witnessed heroes being eaten alive in front of her.