🌸🌸🌸🌸

That same evening, [____]'s grandmother sat calmly on a dining chair outside of the Amachi residence; Despite already renting an hotel room for the week, she invited herself into her daughter's mansion to keep her company throughout the ordeal. They were on the second floor's balcony, getting some fresh air.

For the last ten days, [____]'s parents and Kumiko had been staying in her hospital room, for as long as visiting hours would allow them; Dr. Shinso ruled out that only one person could spend the night at the hospital with her, they could even take turns if they wished to, but that could only happen once the patient was awake and moved out of intensive care.

Otherwise, it was best for [____] to remain in the comfort of her own, with doctors and nurses caring for her in even greater amounts during the night. They were, however, welcome to stay in the emergency waiting room since it was open 24 hours; but Manato convinced his pregnant wife that sleeping on the upholstered chairs in a cold, bright lit room with other ill people and their saddened loved ones was not a healthy setting for her to spend nights in, at the time.

So they went back to their home; where they reviewed their free time by not sleeping or eating and instead pushing back their work schedules and sharing their worries with one another.

"Eyecandy, I reckon you already know what kind of wine I'd like to have with my dinner on this night." Kumiko expressed to Kaito, who was in the middle of reading over her only daughter's newest contracts for modeling gigs.

"Mother, leave him alone." Himeko was sitting across the table; next to her personal butler when she answered for him. "He can't attend to your so-called 'needs' when you don't pay him. I do. He's acting as my manager right now."

"I thought the good-for-nothing husband of yours was your manager, raspberry."

Himeko took a peek inside her home, where Manato was walking idly back and forth whilst being on his cell phone. "...He is, but right now he has other matters to focus on, regarding his parents' business."

"Not putting you and your profession first but claims to be in love with you. This is not the man I wanted you to marry—"

"—Mother, can we not go over this again?! It feels like every hour..you're trying to make me upset bringing up Enji Todoroki and our forged engagement."

"I am just speaking facts with you, dear." Kumiko insisted; "I've spoken to that man during the live exam...Did you know he has a son, same age as [____]? Nice gentleman, is what he is..Isn't that right, Eyecandy? You've met him before. Oh, but you'll love him for [____], Himeko. He is very handsome."

"Mother, please, if what you're trying to say is what I think...Just don't. I'm not going to sign off [____]'s rights just to make you happy." Himeko pressed the bridge of her nose to tone down the headache her elderly mother always gave her. "She is too young to even be engaged to anyone! She does not even have a boyfriend, for starters!"

"I hear you, raspberry, and I understand—"

"— No, you don't." She cut the old woman off. "Please stop talking."

"Have you lost all respect for your own mother? Who birthed you, took care of you and spent her life doing what was best for you?" Kumiko questioned the lack of love between them. It was clear they had never been in good terms, ever since Himeko had her eyes set on a different man.

The man she loathed, who had just hung up his phone and walked over to their table, placing a hand over Himeko's belly as he informed to her, in front of everyone. "...My parents want to come to Musutafu to visit [____] when she wakes up."

"Absolutely not." Kumiko replied in case of her daughter. "I will not have loud and improper farm workers near [____] as she is healing. My strawberry needs her space; that is what she will get."

"Kumiko, you cannot ban my family from seeing her. She is their granddaughter, too." At times, Manato Amachi could act like a real man, instead of a simpered puppy who just followed his wife's orders. This was made clear when he glared at the woman. "I thank you for being there when [____] got hurt; and for paying for the damages, dealing with the press and everything else you've done but you have to realize that we didn't ask for none of that.

You are my mother in law, and I respect you solely because I respect my wife. You need to stop treating us like misguided teenagers. We are adults, we can handle the rest...Alright? ...No hard feelings? Come on, for [____]'s sake...For once, lets look past our troubles and agree to make peace."

He offered the woman half a smile and a firm handshake, but Kumiko did not take either one. Instead, she got up, looked over at her quiet, emotionally distressed daughter and her young butler; "I will not be disrespected by the likes of you. In front of the help, either. If you claim to be a man, then be one and let my daughter be with someone who can actually take great care of her and her family. I will be in the guest room for the rest of the evening. Goodnight, raspberry."

As the woman left the three of them alone, Manato exhaled a great amount of air and sat down next to Himeko. "....Ah, she still scares me. I'll never forget the time she pulled that third eye on me while I was with my friends, in high school. She scared all of them off, and the only reason I remained seated was because I thought I had pissed myself and didn't want to get up and check—"

Kaito tried to hide his laughter, which ended with him apologizing to the man. "You never fail to lighten up the mood with your conversation starters, Mister Manato."

"That's alright; son. I'm glad I can make at least one of you smile. Honey?" He asked his wife, who seemed to be looking quite out of focus. "Are you upset with me that I spoke that way with your mother? I can always go and try to apologize. I know she means well, sometimes at least...although she can be controlling."

"No, that's not it." Himeko replied weakly. "I'm just not feeling well...My head feels light, and my heart rate feels faster than usual—"

The moment she let the men know of this, Hideaki let go off the pen he was using to sign the paperwork with and placed a hand gently on her forehead. "...No fever."

Manato got up from his seat to place another hand on top of her chest. "Heart beat sounds fine to me, but maybe you should lie down, love of my life. Let's call up a doctor to come see you and the baby."

Kaito moved aside so that the man could carry his wife back in their room. He tried to make do of the thoughts inside both of their heads— It was all a jumbled mess. Most of which, concerns for their firstborn child.

The Amachi family was clearly going through an emotional crisis; the young butler wondered if there was something he could do to help the woman he loved and her daughter, but reminded himself that as a mere employee, the only thing he could do for them was to do his job as if nothing was hurting him, either.

🌸DAY 11 — troubled thoughts🌸

On Sunday morning, at around 1:07 am, Hitoshi Shinso took the last train running to work. He would usually get a ride there from his mother, but given the hefty amount of hours she had been working lately, he did not want to bother her for anything.

Although he knew how to use a car already, it wasn't like him to drive around illegally at his age and get his parents in trouble. He also couldn't just take the keys to his mom's and hope for the best, since she too, worked weekend mornings and had to drive herself there. So for the next few hours, while he waited for his own shift to start, he decided to skate around the streets just for the heck of it.

He took a quick stop to a 24-hour small liquor store and purchased something he could drink; not alcohol of course, but a tall can of iced coffee to get some kind of energy for the day.

He carried a crossbody sling bag by the front of his chest, where he heard [____]'s cell phone notify him of more text messages. This had been going on at least once per hour since he received the item from Bakugo Katsuki. Hitoshi ignored the sounds for the most part, but thought about how rude it would be of him to silence a device that didn't belong to him in the first place.

More notification noises followed, this time at a much faster rate. He became a little irritated and got off his board to figure this out, "She is quite popular. Who keeps trying to reach her so much, at this time?"

Curious to figure it out, he checked her phone screen, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. This could only mean one thing, he pulled out his own device.

He told himself it was fine to let Kaminari Denki believe he was sleeping, maybe that meant he could sleep too and leave him alone for a while.

It's not like he truly disliked the guy, on the contrary he found his ridiculous nature one of a kind. He was just a bit too aggressive with his friendship offers and extremely socially-accepted for Shinso's own ease.

While he was checking out the comedic short videos and photos Denki kept using to spam his messages throughout the day, he received an unexpected call from a guy he had no issues with considering him a true friend.

The hesitation to answer his phone was less than how it used to be; by now, Hitoshi was fine with hearing Izuku's voice more often than his own parents'. "...Why can't we ever text, like regular people?"

"S-Sorry, Shinso!" Midoriya replied, "I couldn't sleep, I was just wondering if you were awake..?"

"No, I'm still sleeping."

Izuku gave him a weary laugh. "Haha...Was that a way of telling me to stop calling?"

"Sorry. I'm a tad sarcastic when tired."

"It's okay...I just wanted to apologize on Kacchan's behalf, earlier today...Well, I mean yesterday, technically..It's been keeping me up. I don't like feeling guilty for merging you into this situation..."

"It's fine." Hitoshi reassured his timid friend. "I don't mind helping you out, Midoriya. You've done a lot for me already, allowing me to look over your class notes. You don't have to worry about returning the favor."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, but...The truth is that I actually called you to also figure out if there's anyway you can give something else to Amacchan for me, if this plan works— that is...It's something personal that I've made for her years ago...I never had the guts to give it to her in person..."

'A love letter.' could be the only possible explanation to his shyness. Hitoshi was in no position to question Midoriya and his feelings for anyone, so he kept his quiet as he got on his board again and skated towards an empty parking lot to sit on top of a concrete wheel stopper and finish his drink.

"Shinso, this might be a long shot but I need to get something off my chest. I don't know who else I can talk to about it...So can I be honest with you?" Midoriya asked him.

"I don't see why you shouldn't." He answered, taking another large sip of coffee and preparing to hear him confess his love for the girl he also found attractive. "Lay it on me."

"...I love my friends. I really do. I think Kacchan is admirable, I really want what is best for him and Amacchan...But, sometimes I feel like I'm a horrible friend for thinking that the two of them shouldn't be near each other, if Kacchan still acts hostile towards her and their friends..."

'That wasn't what I was expecting to hear.' Honestly, Shinso wasn't even sure what he expected anymore. Up until last week, he didn't even know [____] existed. So why was he suddenly in the middle of their love triangle, type of deal?

"I want Amacchan to feel better...and understand that we are all here for her. I don't want her to hate me if I tell her what I think of her and Kacchan...It's not like I don't support them, because I do.

I just wish she could see how great she is, and be happy with herself before jumping into a relationship— N-Not just with Kacchan, but with anyone...I mean..If you don't take good care of yourself first..It can potentially become unhealthy to care for someone else so much...You know?"

"I do not." Hitoshi truthfully answered. "But all I heard from this is that you're feeling in the wrong about being a good friend. Your emotions are understandable, you have a valid point."

"Is that the way you'd put it..? Haaah, I'm sorry I said all of this to you. I know you're neutral about this, so that's why I feel as if I can rely on you to say it...With others, I'll feel judged, I guess."

"It's not a big deal, Midoriya. I know you and the rest of class A are probably feeling more upset than others in UA...I promise I'll give your friend her phone back, before you know it."

💜💜💜💜

Hajime Shinso looked over his patients' logs at four in the morning, he sat on his computer chair, the desktop in front of him opened with countless windows, if one were to look inside they wouldn't make sense of it all.

A couple of knocks interrupted the tired-less doctor from his work, he didn't answer but the door opened regardless and a male nurse walked in. "It's patient #106– She has opened her eyes."

"That's great news. I will be there in a minute, thanks." He finished highlighting a few important suggestions for the evaluation sheets in [____]'s case, then checked his cell phone to see if he had any recent messages from his family. Just one from his son, Hitoshi, that let him know he made it to work safely.

🌸🌸🌸🌸

[____] had awakened from what seemed an endless nightmare; on Sunday, Oct. 27th at 4:07 in the morning.

Dr. Shinso wrote down the exact time, including seconds, on the wooden clipboard beside her bed. He then pulled out the keychain-sized flashlight to examine the pupils in her eyes very quickly as he introduced himself. "Miss Amachi. My name is Dr. Shinso, I am a neurologist. You are in Musutafu's general hospital. Can you blink for me?"

[____] had an endotracheal tube inside her mouth, traveling through her throat. It was the thing responsible for helping her breathe while being sedated; Yet as she slowly blinked once to show Dr. Shinso she could hear him, the sensation of being choked to her dismay creeped upon her.

She couldn't move her arms right away from her sides, like how she wanted to. They remained tucked next to her. [____]'s physical state had weakened to the point where she felt as if even a single one of her fingers was heavy as lead.

Despite this, she struggled hard and long to get her hands on the taped tube around her cheeks and began peeling off the medical tape.

In her mind, the tape was part of her skin. The sensation of scratching it off was almost ticklish, her cheeks were just soft pieces of paper-thin tissue and she was only removing a layer of it to help her breathe normally again.

Dr. Shinso took a gentle hold of her wrists to stop her from forcing her nails into her face, "No, no. I understand you're uncomfortable but for the time being, this is needed. There is nothing to worry about, you are safe. It will be removed soon, just please try to bare with us. There is more testing to be done."

His voice was low and soothing, but his tired eyes and unkept hair screamed 'STRANGER! LOOK OUT!'

[____]'s racing thoughts were heightened to the point where she began to panic, it showed on the heart rate monitor beside her. Hajime figured out she felt endangered by him, so he backed off and asked a nurse to take over her minor anxiety attack while he searched for a licensed physician on shift to continue the examination, preferably a kind looking one to make the girl feel more calm.

"Hello, Miss Amachi. My name is...." The female nurse began to introduce herself in the same way the neurologist tried to do it. "This is a hospital room you're in, do not worry. You must feel so tired, Miss Amachi. It's okay to fall asleep, you will wake up again. I promise, we are right here watching over you. You can fall back asleep if you need to, alright?"

Hajime turned his back on the patient and listened to the monitor go back to a better set of heartbeats per minute before walking out of the room. He told the nurse sitting by the front desk that he would be going to the emergency care unit to find an unoccupied doctor to cover for him on his 15 minute break.

"I could call one for you, Dr. Shinso." The nurse reminded him of this, getting a hold of the hospital phone, but he insisted he needed the walk. After all, he was in his office reading paperwork for seven hours straight prior to this.

💜💜💜💜

Hitoshi clocked in to work four hours before breakfast time; at around 3:45 am. It was just him and the cook in the kitchen, getting ready to open the cafeteria. He was in the middle of stocking up fresh sandwiches in the bakery display when his father greeted him. "Hey, son. Where is my hug, huh?"

"Not in here." He was quick to reply.

"Hahahah, stop messing with your old man and come on." Hajime only loved three things in his life— That was his son, his beautiful wife and dark coffee. In no particular order, it appeared. He invited himself inside the kitchen to give a side hug to his son. "And your mom?"

"At work by now, most likely." His mother worked as pastry chef at a small but reputable bakery outside Musutafu; without traffic it would probably take her a good 45 minutes or so to get there and another 45 back, if she's lucky. "She brought groceries yesterday to prepare your lunch but fell asleep on the couch from so much exhaustion. I decided not to wake her up."

"So then that means I won't get to taste her cooking again...." Hajime frowned after noticing his son smiling at the chain of events. "You think that's funny, Hito-chan?"

"..Don't call me that." A sour expression took over his contented one. "I actually think it's about time you request some days off. Same with her. If the two of you miss each other that badly, why not just go out on a date once in a while? You know..Act how a married couple should act instead of a pair of workaholics."

"I'm impressed, since when have you become such a love guru, eh?" Hajime enjoyed teasing and bothering his only child, these seemed to be the only father-son moments they were able to share, lately. "Tell me, is there a special lady in your life, now that you practically live alone and reached the same level of hotness as your old man?"

"It's strange that you call yourself hot." Hitoshi mentioned with a hint of revulsion in his tone. "I'm too busy with school work to think about dating."

"Then what about friends? Surely, you have tons of those, right?" His parents used to be around a lot more during his youth, that's when Hajime was still in the middle of reaching for his degree and his wife was a stay-at-home parent. After Hitoshi entered middle school, they started seeing each other less and less.

His mother ended up searching for a career as well when the medical school debt started piling up and Shinso's dad was only working as an intern. So at some point, they payed for nannies to watch over their son. Usually their elderly neighbors with time on their hands.

Obviously at his age, though, he no longer needed to be watched over when all he ever did was go to school, get home and study during weekdays and then work on the ends to earn his own money.

In reality, Hitoshi didn't want to tell his father that just like relationships, he also didn't care much for friendships; this would just make Hajime feel like some sort of failure as a parent. So he just went with it. "...Sure, dad."

"You gotta let me meet them one day, promise me." Dr. Shinso gave his son a hard pat on his back, then asked for a coffee to be sent up to his office whenever someone in the kitchen had the time. "Here, take this."

With him, the neurologist had a folded piece of office paper with a series of codes for locked doors to get into the fourth floor— the intensive unit for patients. This was information not anyone from the cafeteria should know, unless there was an emergency. For Hajime, his coffee being freshly brewed was just as urgent. "Ask the nurses to guide you to my office. Oh, by the way, the girl from your school's hero course opened her eyes not too long ago.

I'm sure her parents are going to be very glad to hear the news. Hitoshi, if your father accepts a well-made tip from those people, just for doing his job and looking over their daughter...Would you consider him a crook?"

"You're her assigned doctor?" Shinso was very surprised to hear. "....Huh. What a small world."

"Don't know what you mean, but what about my question? You know, I could buy you a car for your 18th birthday with the money they were offering me—" Hajime was far more interested in hearing his son's opinion on his morals. "— It's a bad idea to take it just like that, right?"

"Dunno, dad. You're the adult who knows best..." While saying this, Shinso hid the paper inside his pocket, thinking it couldn't possibly be this easy for him to accomplish the pledge he had given to Midoriya. "I'll bring your coffee as soon as breakfast is served."

🌸🌸🌸🌸

The female physician established that it was alright to get rid of the extra tubing in [____]'s body by 7:35 am. Her hands had to be firmly held down by a pair of nurses as they removed the long tube from her mouth, to ensure she wouldn't try to fight against the doctor or activate her quirk out of pain or fear.

The nurses kept reassuring her that she was safe, everything would be alright and that it was okay to feel slight burning sensations from her throat to her chest. "If you feel as if you cannot breathe, please know that we are monitoring you carefully. We will be the firsts to find out if something is wrong, try to relax Miss Amachi."

[____] was dazed, tired and mentally quaking from paranoia. To her, nothing seemed alright. She wasn't sure if she was imagining all these people surrounding her, grabbing her hands or inspecting parts of her body were real. She couldn't recognize anyone and that frightened her the most. She couldn't come up with words, or thought that she could be heard.

'Am I dead already?' She wanted to ask someone, anyone. 'Is this all a dream? Can I please wake up from all of this?'

"...Y—...." [____] opened her mouth, with her throat feeling achy and dryer than the atacama desert, she was able to make a few noises at most. "...Yuu."

The assigned neurologist hid behind a white curtain so that [____] couldn't see him while writing down important information the kind physician and the anesthesiologist let him know while he was away.

"Her vitals are fine, she goes through small periods of increased heart rate, but it's not much to be worried about given the circumstances. I would opt for more bloodwork to be made once she is fully aware of her surroundings. Otherwise there could be a potential risk of an uninvited heart attack if we're not careful."

"Nurse," He heard both of them out before calling one of the professional assistants for their help. "Replace her feeding tubes and catheter, please. Let's try to keep Miss Amachi in the most mentally-calming state she could be. Please watch over her."

💜💜💜💜

Minutes after leaving [____]'s room, Hajime Shinso decided to call her family members to let them know of her bettered, but still unstable condition.

He called her parents first, unfortunately there was no answer on either of their personal phones; he then tried calling her grandmother, who answered after the first ring. "This is Kumiko speaking."

"Hi. This is [____] Amachi's neurologist—" There were a few knocks on his office door that didn't really surprised him. "I have great news about your granddaughter's state. She is awake, but still needs to remain monitored for at least another 48 hours before visitors could— One moment, please."

Hitoshi entered his father's office with a meal delivery cart from the cafeteria, he had a bit of a fight with the door to keep it open as he rolled the wain in, but in the end managed on his own.

"Coffee." He told his dad before noticing he was on a call.

"— Thank you, son." Hajime covered the phone to mouth the words to him. "Miss Kumiko, I understand your previous statement, but it is important we keep your granddaughter secluded until her alarming heart rate lowers. Yes, I know, it sounds quite scary but she will be alright I am sure. Well, as I said—"

Hitoshi zoned out for a moment, just focusing on the sounds of the keyboards clicking and doctors and nurses walking past each other to get to other rooms or their own offices. He was not the nosey kind, so he starting thinking of ways to get the heavy cart out of the room on his own again until his father got up from his seat.

"Yes. Yes. Alright. We will keep you updated, of course. Have a nice day." The neurologist finally hung up the wired hospital phone and grabbed the only white coffee mug from the cart that his son was still gripping on the sides of it. "What is it, Hito-chan?"

"...Were you arguing with someone?" He only asked because that's what it sounded like, at first.

"No, son, just the patient's grandmother persists on visiting when it's best if the patient doesn't see much of others. Hallucinations and heart palpitation problems are most common during this stage, in a way it seems logical to let [____] Amachi see people she recognizes, but given that her blood vessels are in such a weak state, I—"

The doctor stopped himself halfway to comb his messy purple hair back with his fingers and bleat, "Why am I telling you all this? This is closed information."

Hitoshi gave half a grin at his exhausted father. "..Because I'm your son?"

"Come on, speak to me. I have a few minutes to spare. Why are you suddenly so curious about my work?"

"I..." The guy began to process an answer that could make sense to both of them. "I don't know. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

"Is it that you know the girl, personally? Is she one of your many, many friends from school?"

"We've spoken once or twice before, is all."

"So the time for us to finally have the man-to-man conversation we've been pushing back for so many years is now? You know, the one about the penises and vaginas—"

"I don't wanna talk about this, I've decided." Hitoshi said, tiredly.

"Great, because neither do I if I'm being honest." His father let out the smallest chuckle. "Well, if you're worried for the girl just know that you can trust the medical process your old man is working with. After all, I believe everyone has to go through at least one near-death experience in their life, it just seems mandatory nowadays in my opinion."

"Yes, because this hospital needs that kind of positivity coming from a professional."

"Hahahah, you just trust me. I know what I'm doing. I can safely say that girl is going to be a-okay! Is that how you want me to sound from now on?"

As Hajime laughed at how silly he made his voice change just then, Hitoshi pondered on how he was going to fulfill the promise he made to Midoriya regarding [____]'s cell phone. He asked his dad, "...Doesn't she need to eat something?"

"No, she's been having a feeding tube for a week, now. It's not until she is moved to the second floor, where most regular patients reside, when she will be able to eat that delicious food you help prepare."

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at his dad. "You know...you're the only one in the world who finds hospital food delicious, I'm sure of it. You should go out to eat at different places more often."

"I'm too busy with work, what can I say?"

"Take a day off. With mom." He insisted again.

"Alright, I will do something about it. Son, will you go out to eat with us, if we do?"

"I rather you two spend time together, alone. I see the both of you just as often as I should..." Once he said this, Shinso began to push the cart out of the room with his father's unannounced help. "...Hey, one last question."

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you in her room? If she just woke up...Shouldn't you be looking after her and such?"

Hajime was almost embarrassed to tell him the truth. "See...She seems to be scared of my face, hahaha...Anytime I am nearby, her heart beat increases. I have to look out for that so for now, our outstanding nurses are handling her case."

"How'd you know she's scared? Didn't you just said hallucinations and heart palpitation issues were normal?"

"Yes, but...It only happens when I'm there. So it's either that, or she finds me very attractive, hahahah...Hey, maybe that means she'll find you—"

"— I'm leaving." His son wouldn't let him finish his joke.

He left the floor unit and pressed on the button to get into an elevator. 'Can't go in there now...Maybe I'll have to wait until they change her room, like dad said.'

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

[an; QUICK WHATS UR FAVORITE SONG rn?!?! WHATS UR FAVE BAND/ARTIST??! WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO U THINK BAKUGO LISTENS TO?!!??? I'm so curious I'm dying I haven't slept sorry if this is trash dhdjdhdh]