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"It's been five months since League of Villians member, Toga Himiko, broke out of the asylum where she was being kept and the government has decided to stop the search for her."
"Two months ago she was spotted in Musutafu hospital visiting her accomplice, Dabi,also known as Touya Todoroki who is in critical condition. She broke into the hospital transformed into his brother, Shoto Todoroki but Toga has been lying low since. Today, the government has announced that their search for the villain will be decreasing after having no luck in finding her. We go to Katayama who is outside the commission building."
"Thank you, Tanaka. Yes, the government and the hero commission has announced the defunding of the search. Their spokes-person said that as they had zero leads and no people coming forward wth sightings of her, there was no point in keeping the search going. They will not be halting it entirely, but lessening the scope and the amount of heros and agents involved. We have Hawks here with us for more insight-"
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Himiko glances towards the clock for the gazillionth time. Its handle remains stubbornly stuck at a three minutes to four.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
She looks again. Two minutes to four.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Still two minutes to four. Just a little longer, just a little longer -
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Almost one minute-
Two hands slam down on the counter and Himiko jumps, eyes darting away from where they were glued to the clock.
"You're making me antsy with all your staring. Go on, get outta here!" Yukito says, his face scrunched into a deep frown.
"You're letting me go early, Yukito-san!?" Himiko exclaims, grinning so hard it feels like her head is going to split in half.
"I told you to stop calling me that," he says, gruffly waving at the door. "Now get outta my sight! And don't get used to it!"
Himiko squeaks, throwing her arms around his shoulders and squeezing him into a hug. She dashes out the door barely managing to snag her bag on her way out.
"Buh, bye, Yukito-san!" She calls over her shoulder, cheerily.
"Yeah, yeah." She hears him grumble. "Don't come back until you can control your nervous energy!"
Himiko smiles to herself, bouncing down the stairs to the main square. It's summer now, or just verging on summer. The sky is a brilliant, deep blue and the clouds are blank puffs of white floating in it. The sun is just starting to set, she can see it just on the corner of the horizon, settling down for its rest.
There are a few late blooming sakura trees lining the stairs, their petals remind her of Ochako and she catches a falling one in her fist, rubbing it between her index finger and her thumb. Himiko smiles, she feels a bit goopy. And silly. Like a proper teenage girl.
She bounds into the open square, looking around at all the benches. A few people mill around in the late afternoon sun, catching the dregs of light before it all darkens. Himiko walks over to a bench on the far side, settling down onto it, her legs pulled up to her chest as she watches the kids have their fun.
The clean-up after the war is going well. Really well, according to Ochako - she helps out loads since her quirk is so useful - entire cities have almost been rebuilt, though its going to take at least a year for the whole of Japan to recover and probably another ten for everyone to mentally recover.
But people seem happy, at least here, they do. Theres a few kids scampering around, giddy as only children can be. Himiko smiles at a little girl who looks over at her, gives her a little wave.
She waves back beaming. The girl turn back to her friends, and they start another game - tag?
Himiko never played tag, or anything like it, when she was younger. The other kids stayed away from her, keeping their distance as much as they could. Sometimes, they would come up to her on a dare - "i dare you to go talk to the creepy girl over there!" - or they would make up stories about her to tell younger kids. - "Don't talk to Toga, she'll drink all your blood and then you'll be dried out like a sponge!" - so, she was alone.
She looks at the kids, their cute smiling faces. Happy, as every child should be.
She sighs, rubs at her eyes and turns toward the entrance she knows Ochako will come in through. This is the fifth time they're meeting up outside Himikos apartment, and the nervousness of getting recognised still echos through her bones. But people only see what they expect to see, right now, they're expecting sunlight and happy kids, ice cream and laughter. Not a A-grade villain sitting on one of the benches in the corner.
It helps that shes changed her hair now. Not a lot, she's just wearing it down more now, as well as dying the ends a dark crimson colour. Himiko doesn't look like she did as a villain, she was always pale, but after months of being in the hospital and after that, only being able to go out at night, she looks downright ghostly. Skinnier too.
She was always a little skinny, a little bony. And even after getting out the hospital, she still hasn't gained all that much weight back. It's fine, she doesn't mind, really. Its just that shes not the nicest to lie on right now.
She knows Ochako doesn't mind having Himiko rest on her, but she'd just like to return the favour, y'know? Ochako has done so much for her, and even if the girl says she doesn't need or want "repayment" Himiko still feels bad. She'll make up it to her one day. She will.
Speak of the devil (angel, really) she comes clattering down the stairs, baseball hat pulled firmly over her eyes, dark brown hair secured in a knot at the base of her neck. She's in a long jean skirt and a white top with pink around the seams. She spots Himiko, a smile comes to her beautiful face and she starts into a jog.
Himiko stands up from her table and meets Ochako in the middle, pulling her arms around her neck and into a warm, tight hug. Himiko grins where her face is presses into Ochakos shoulder.
"I can feel you smiling." She murmurs, voice warm. Himiko replies but it gets lost in Ochakos shoulder, so it sounds more like "hmphur hur herrmuh."
Ochako giggles, high and light, a bell being rung, a windchime dancing in a breeze. Himiko feels her laugh run through her body - like her blood had that night - it shakes at her heart and she raises her head, if only to see Ochako smiling.
"How was the shop?" She asks, poking Himikos nose with her index finger. "Good!" she answers, snapping her teeth at it playfully.
"Yukito-san let me leave early, that's why I got here before you."
"Ohh, yeah, I was wondering about that."
"Or maybe, I'm just, like, really fast."
"I don't know about that!" Ochako says, her mouth parting into a brilliant, beaming smile.
Himiko sticks out her tongue. Ochako does it back. They interlock their fingers and start to walk to Himiko's bench.
She feels giddy, drunk off sunlight and Ochako. Their hands linked together, perfect. Together. Her fingers are rough against Himikos palm, her well-earned callouses rub against smooth skin, her short nails painted a light, metallic pink. Himiko's a sharp, dark red.
This, Himiko thinks, looking at the brilliant, golden yellow of the setting sun, this is living.
They settle on the bench, pressed together, they fit perfectly. Ochakos head nestled into Himikos neck, her head resting on top of brown hair. Ochako chatters about her day, what Tsu did, how Bakugou is recovering, what exercises Aizawa has put them through this time.
"-ugh, Himiko, you would not believe what Mina can do with hair! Like, she doesn't even have long hair, but she can do, like, every braid On. The. Planet! It's so not fair!"
"You jelly 'Chako?" Himiko chirps. Ochako flushes a pink, grumbling something at the table. "Cute!" She says, pinching her girlfriends cheeks.
Girlfriend, she takes a second to revel in that word. Ochako and her. Himi and 'Chako, together. It feels as good as blood when she says it, thinks it. It rolls off her tongue far too easily for a girl who never dated anyone, let alone seriously. Sometimes, that fact makes her nervous. Why would Ochako want an inexperienced girlfriend? But only sometimes. The thoughts disappear as soon as she sees Ochako in real life.
"Tell me about Aizawas training." Himiko says, a smile tugging at her cheeks.
"Don't even get me started!" Ochako bursts out, throwing her hands up. Her cheeks puff out when she gets angry, it's super cute.
Though Aizawa - wasn't Tomura obsessed with him? - does sound like a maniac. Himiko thanks whatever god there may-or-may-not be that she never went to UA and settles down to listen to Ochako rant about school.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
When Ochako runs out of things to talk or ask about, the sky is a deep orange, so bright and colourful it almost looks artificial. Himiko smiles at it, feels her fangs rest against her lip.
"Wanna come back to mine?" Himiko asks Ochako, tilting her head in question. Ochako frowns, looks disappointed.
"I can't tonight. Sorry, Himi. My friends wanna have this meal together and Bakugous cooking..." Himiko giggles.
"Don't be silly, 'Chako. Go, hang out with your friends!"
"If you're sure...?" Himiko elbows her.
"Yes I'm sure! Shoo, shoo!" She says, pushing Ochako away towards the stairs she came from.
"Okay, okay! I'm going!" She says through a laugh, waving goodbye as she jogs up the stairs. Himiko waves back too, standing on her tiptoes and doing it so hard her entire body moves with the motion. Ochako climbs to the top of the stairs and waves back at her, grinning.
Himiko watches until Ochako fades from sight, her brown hair and baseball cap no long visible in the suns setting light. The kids and their parents are packing up too, saying goodbye to each as the kids finish up their last game. One of them, the girl Himiko had waved too, starts walking in the same direction as her.
She hums to herself on the walk back to her flat, some song that was playing at the shop. Something poppy, cheerful. Yukito-san has the radio on everyday, though he complains about every song that comes on. Himiko tries to tell him that he can just put his own music on but he just says 'but then I'd have you whining in my ear about it.' Himiko giggles at the memory.
Yukito-san is a tough, rugged old man. Stocky, but short. His face so thick with age, the lines look gouged in. His quirk - at least Himiko thinks it's his quirk, she hasn't asked - is something memory based. Sometimes when she comes in from the storage room, attic or basement, she catches him holding an antique between his thick, calloused hands, his gaze unfocused. Distant. An invisible aura around him, thick and cloying.
He's gruff. Abrasive. Almost rude, but Himiko knows it covers up something else. He cares about her, even if he's absolutely terrible at showing it.
And he loves antiques. Like love-loves them, his shop is two stories tall, the shelves almost toppling over with how many plates and cups and old clocks are piled onto them. It's cosy, dark. Himiko can get lost in the backroom, wading through old-old things. Things people used to live but left, forgot about. The shop is a haven, Himiko adores it.
She smiles up at the sky, orange blending into pink and blue. A cacophony of colours, all dancing together. She does a little skip, since no-ones watching. Well, she'd probably do it if people were watching anyway.
Himiko rounds a corner, seeing the girl she waved at, holding onto her mums hand as they pass under a bridge. She swings it, chattering excitedly about this and that. Himiko smiles, cute.
They're halfway under the bridge, shadow coating their bodies and Himiko is just about to pass under it when she hears a - ?
A shift of metal on metal, a screeching, a squeaking. She looks up, toward the sky and -
The bridge is collapsing in on itself, one of the poles keeping up has fallen, and everything else is falling and crashing to the ground. For a moment, Himiko stands there, her hand clamped around her bag, her eyes dinner-plate wide. For a long-short moment, time turns sticky, freezing in place and Himiko can see the slow-mo fall of every brick, every piece of rubble, the dust billowing up, silt on land.
Then.
Then her feet start to move, a yell unleashes itself from her throat, calling out. Her feet skid against the pavement, every step jolts at her ribs, her heart. Himiko runs straight into the collapsing bridge.
And a heavy lump of foundation slams directly into her head.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
"Breaking news! A bridge on the south side of Musutafu has collapsed. At this time we do not know of anyone stuck under the rubble but there are Heros already out on the scene.
This bridge was a 'substitute' as the original had been destroyed in the war, manufactured by a off-shoot of the commission and built in only four weeks, we don't know why it collapsed but we have Suzuki on the scene."
"Thank you, Tanaka. The scene here is horrible, several houses have been brought down and the bridge is in pieces. Thirteen and Kamui Woods are here helping to move the rubble and more Heros are being called in as we speak. No other building were damaged other than the ones brought down by the bridge, but if you live near this area please come and volunteer, we need all the help we can get.
To- hold on, I'm getting an update. There is someone trapped under the rubble. A - a little girl, her mother has just come forward with information about where she might be, Tanaka-"
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
Everything is so- so...
hnngrhh.
There's a pain pulsing deep in her head, like someone's in there trying to get out. It hurts worse with every throb, a deep, angry pain. Hitting against her skull with everything it has.
She groans, it's dark under - ?
It's dark and it hurts and everytime she tries to breath she breaths in a lung-full of dust that makes her cough. It racks her chest, rattling and wheezing. Is this what Touya feels like?
Himiko tries to focus, but everything is blurry and doubled. There's two of every pile of rock, of every metal pole. She groans again, why can't she just go back to sleep? Her entire body aches, sharp concentrations of pain on her back and neck.
There's a sharp scent of blood in the air, and it's this, that brings her back.
Ochako, the bridge, the girl, the rock, her head-
The thoughts come syrup slow and sticky, Himiko has to open her mouth to catch them and they only drip in a slow, unsteady flow. But - the girl. She makes herself move, sit up, even as she feels acid brew in the back of her throat.
Her movements are slow, unsteady - it feels like her bones are shaking - her vision seems to dance, everything is blurred and doubled.
She hears a cry, something small and pained.
Shit, Himiko says but it comes out more like "s'it."
Okay, okay. She crawls over towards the girl, as fast as she can with everything careering in front of her. She reaches the girl a little while later, though the crawl felt like years, the sharp rock and metal digging into her knees, every breath she took clogging her airways.
When the world stops it's spinning in front of her, Himiko takes in whats wrong with her it's-
From her shoulder, down the inside of her arm, and steadily spreading out, is a dark stain. It smells metallic, iron-y. Salivia fills Himikos mouth but she ignores it. With trembling hands, Himiko pulls down ther sleeve and sees the deep wound in her shoulder. Its gotta be at least a centimeters deep, Himiko can see the white flash of bone underneath all the blood and bone and muscle.
The girl makes a hitching sob, tears streaming down her cheeks, making track marks in the dust. Clumsily, Himiko reaches for her hand, patting it. The girl grabs onto it, curling her fingers around Himikos palm.
"I-" she starts, cuts herself off with a harsh, heavy sob, "i- w-want m-m-my mum-m-! Hurts-" she stutters out through harsh, heaving breaths. Himiko wants to say something gentle, something soothing, but her tongue feels like a bone in her mouth, dry and unmovable. She just weakly squeezes the girls hand, hoping to bring her any comfort.
She looks around their little air pocket, it's not long, probably seven feet across total, and impossible to stand up it, though Himiko can sit back on her haunches to look around the space. There's rock everywhere and parts of the metal framing sticking out of that.
Looking back towards the girl, Himiko smooths a hand over her forehead. She looks on the verge of passing out and something in Himikos gut clenches. She can't die, something whispers to her. She's only nine. Think of all the life shes got left to live.
She never thought like this when she was in the League. She didn't consider what would happen to the civilians, to the other people. When she was on the run, she didn't think about what the people she drained of life would want. She never thought of their lives, the people they would leave behind. There are countless people shes killed, by herself or inadvertently. Himiko was set on the Leagues goal, on Stains vision, she didn't think about the impact it would have on anyone else.
It was selfish, it was wrong. She doesn't regret her time with the League, but every night she wonders about the people lost, killed by her and her family. The hatred they must feel for her, they must feel the same as she did when she lost Jin. Himiko would do anything to have him back, to relieve herself from the pain of his death. Tomura, Magne, Touya. She'd do anything to have them here with here, and so, would her victims friends and family.
They had lives, they had loved ones, they wanted to live. How different does that make them at their core? Everyone just wants to survive this stupid world, everyone has stuff they need to get through, people they want to say hello to, one last time.
She'll never regret the League, you can't regret loving people, she can't regret family, but she regrets the lives lost to their mission. To OFA, who wanted one thing and it wasn't their happiness. Himiko can't be redeemed, there are some things that will stick with you, but she can save other people. She can let them see their friends, their family. Just like she wants to, just like everyone wants too. She can take some of herself and give to to others instead of taking, taking, taking. She's never been a giver at heart, but there's always time to learn, and shes got the rest of her life.
Faintly, she can hear the scuffle of people outside, of Heros arriving. It shouldn't be long before they're rescued, especially with the multitude of rescue heros with x-ray quirks, but Himiko doesn't know if the girl has got any time at all, she looks pale, her eyes weak. Ochako-chan? She looks the same as her. Cute, all covered in blood, but on the verge of death.
There isn't much Himiko can really do apart from what she did that night. Bow her head to the girls wound, sip at the blood there, take the tube she carries on her at all times and slide it into the deepest part of her wound, where Himiko knows there should be a vein. It's not the best, it's ramshackle at best, but it's what they've got. She transforms, shorter, larger eyes, darker hair.
Himiko bites into the skin at her wrist, where the vein glows blue under her skin, and shoves the tube into it, trying to ignore the sting and hiss of pain. It isn't as bad as her head, so she'll cope. Her blood flows red through the tube, dipping into the girls veins. She feels dizzy, well. Dizzy-er than she did before, everything starts to swim in a way it hadn't before. Wiggling and doing a dance in front of her eyes.
Maybe she will die here. It wouldn't be a bad place to die, better than her friends, but... but she doesn't want to. Himiko has never been good at doing things she doesn't want to do, and she doesn't want to die. She wants to go on more dates with Ochako, she wants to keep mourning Touya, Jin, Shigaraki. She wants to see the sunrise, she wants to keep on hating the colour white. Himiko wants to keep on going, wants to keep regretting the lives she lost.
She screams. Knocking her fist against the rock, hard enough to slice a cut across her knuckles. "We're here!" She shrieks, as she feels her body grow cold. "Save her!" Himiko yells, life draining out her body.
She scrabbles at the rock, disrupting a few pebbles and scattering dust into her eyes. She coughs, thinks of Touya, keeps going. Hitting against their prison. Save her, she thinks, get her out.
A rumble, yelling, a beam of light so strong Himiko feels her retinas being burnt. She covers her eyes with her hand, shaking.
"We've got them!" A voice calls. You saved her, Himiko, She thinks to herself, a smile curving at her lips. It's a start.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
Isamu will never forget this sight, never, he thinks, staring down into the air pocket, not in this life, not in the next.
Two girls, almost identical apart from the fact that one of them has sludge melting off her body. A quirk, obviously, but a quirk very similar to Toga Himiko, one of the leading villains in the war. Someone who murdered countless people. A fact very similar to that girl, eyes very similar to that girl.
He finds himself speechless. Words caught in his throat, in fact, it's her that moves first, lurching forward, like she's about to attack, but instead dragging the other girl closer to her, holding her, lifting her up with shaking arms to where Isamu stands. He takes the girl, mostly because of instinct, and keeps staring.
"S've h'r." She says, words slurred. She's pale, shaking. His eyes land of a bloody tube pressed into a cut on her wrist. It's almost like - a. A makeshift-blood transfusion.
Did Toga Himiko try to save this little girl? It sounds ridiculous, he could almost laugh. He doesnt.
Isamu swallows, glances around at the other paramedics and Heros around them. He shifts the girls weight to a single arm and reaches down to pull Toga up by her hand. She wavers as she stands, unsure about gravity. There's a bloody mess on the back on her head. Concussion.
He leads her towards a medic van, looks Aki in the eye and without saying anything, she starts wiping at the cut as Isamu hands the girl over to an ambulance.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
Pain, sharp and stabbing ripples through her body as the paramedic dabs at the cut on the back of her head. Some kind of disinfectant. It stings, burns. Himiko relishes it, letting it sit on her tongue, rolling it around her teeth, swallowing it.
It goes, leaving faint aftershocks, and someone slides antibiotics into her hand.
"C'mon," they say, voice low. Hands, gentle at her back, as they push her forward. Himiko realises with a start that's she's in a clean shirt and shorts. "You need to go." Another small shove. Himiko turns back to look at them, to say something. A thank you?
But her eyes reflect off someone elses. A woman, hair messy, eyes red and swollen for crying. She sniffs, their eyes locking together. It's the girls mother.
"Go." She says, turning away. Himiko goes.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
She doesn't know how she gets home, but she does. Her feet are covered in mud and gunk, the rest of her is dusty, little cuts a bruises marring their way up her frame. The back of her head pounds, throbs. She takes painkillers dry, coughing into the back on her hand when they snag in the dryness of her throat.
She feels vauge, unreal. A mirage, a dream. Something see through, like you could stick your hand through her body. A ghost, maybe she really did die there, stuck in a hole, rock and dirt and metal piled atop her. A make-shift grave. The best she'll ever get.
She coughs again, feels like Touya. Her body is distant, far away. Her hand twitches at her side, clutching for something not there.
"Himiko," A familiar voice says, wet and choked. There are hands on her cheeks, she realises. A forehead pressed to hers.
"'Chako?" She murmurs, blurry. "Y'r...?" The words lose themself somewhere in her throat. Ochako breaths in, sniffs.
"I -, I almost lost you. You could've died, Himiko." She says choked, her hands are shaking where they're plastered to her cheeks, clammy.
"S'rry." Himiko takes in a breath, trying to calm the acid brewing at the back of her throat. "Third times t'e ch'rm?"
Silence.
"B'd joke."
"Bad joke." Ochako agrees, her lower lip trembling. One of her hands moves from her cheek and twirls a strand of hair around her finger. "You should have a bath." She says, "and then go to bed."
"C'n..." The words lose themselves somewhere in her mouth, stuck under a molar or a canine tooth. "Can y' stay w'h me?" Himikos voice is small, she feels small, achy.
"Of course I'll stay." She murmurs, stroking her thumb under Himikos eye. "I'll always stay." Lips to her forehead. Warm, soft. Himiko could drown in them and never regret it.
"Let me run you a bath?" Ochako asks, hands back to cradling her jaw.
"Yeah." Himiko says. "I l've y'."
"Love you more."
"Nooooo," Himiko whines, Ochako giggles, Himiko swallows it all up greedily, she could live off of Ochakos laugh, suck it up for breakfast lunch and dinner. Her blood tastes like her laugh, light and bubbly. A snort mixed in, if Himikos lucky.
She leans into the warmth of Ochako palms, her eyes fluttering shut, lashes brushing the tops of her cheeks. Think, this is one step closer to saving people, to saving herself.
🌸˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧🩷˚⋆‧₊˚💛✩ ₊˚🌼⊹♡
Vision still blurry, guided only by Ochakos calloused, warm hands, Himiko maneuvers her way to the bathroom, and eventually, into a bath. It's so good. The water is so hot it almost burns and she welcomes it, the heat lapping at her legs and arms, soothing the aches and cuts.
There's a smooth slide and change in the water as Ochako slides in. The bath isn't small, but it definitely isn't big. Somewhere in the middle of the bath-bigness-scale. Facing eachother, their legs form a tangle of limbs, a knot, almost. It's nice, being so close to someone, so warm with someone. It's a lot like drinking someone's blood, really. That hot, fuzzy rush washing over Himiko, filling her body from head-to-toe with static-y sweetness.
Himiko sighs, leans so far back that's she's submerged up to her neck, though her heads at a strange angle, pressed against the bath wall. Ochako laughs, grabs her hand and pulls Himiko towards her gently. "Turn around?" She asks. Himiko does, nestling against her, back pressed to front. It's so warm here, she could just fall asleep.
"Please don't fall asleep." Ochako murmurs, breath ghosting over the shell of Himikos ear. She mumbles something incomprehensible in reply, forcing her eyes to say cracked open. Just for Ochako.
Calloused hands smooth over Himikos skin, soap scrubbing over the dirt caking her body. Ochako scrubs at her until Himiko feels fresh, but not raw. Ochako is good at finding balances like that. She rubs shampoo into Himikos hair, rinses it out with warm, warm water. She relaxes into it like a cat. The pain is fainter now, a dull throbbing at the back of her mind. Himiko closes her eyes and ignores it, melting into Ochako like they could really become one.
What would we be called if we did fuse together? Himiko thinks, thoughts soft and syrup-slow. Himiocha, no. Ocaimiko? Nah. Togachako? Hmh. That could do.
"C'mon Himiko," Ochako murmurs, voice a blanket. She wants to hide away in it and not come out until everything feels real again.
"'M coming," Himiko groans, wrenching her eyes open - when did they close? - and sitting up from where she'd slowly sank down in Ochakos hold. She hears something, a bell chime? No... she can't place it, but it's a nice sound. She'd like to hear it again.
It's a bit of a struggle to get out the bath, mostly because Himikos limbs feel like actual, literal jelly, but they (Ochako) manage it. Soon, she's tucked into a towel, scrubbing water off her body and sliding into furry pyjamas. Everything right now feels liquid, like magma. Himiko dozes off staring at Ochako as she snuggles into bed next to her.
"Hey," Ochako says. Her breath kisses over Himikos face. They're lying nose-to-nose, breaths tangling into one.
"Hey." Himiko replies, her voice low with sleep.
"I was really scared when I heard the bridge collapsed. Like, really scared."
"Mhm."
"I had just got to UA when I saw the news report. I think I almost threw up. Mina - you remember Mina, right? She helped get you out there - took one look at me and forced me to sit down." Ochako laughs - so that was the bell noise - but it sounds sad.
"M sorry." Himiko says into the space between them. "I didnt want t' w'rry you but - there was th's little girl and, I. Just. Hm."
"You don't have to tell me yet," Ochako tucks a strand of damp hair behind Himikos ear. "Tell me in the morning, yeah? I wanna hear all about it."
"Yeah," Himiko replies, feeling herself slipping down the rabbit hole of sleep. "It was cr'zy, 'chako. Y'know I think i figu'ed out what 'm gonna... d...o n...o...w."
Ochako presses a kiss between Himikos brow, there'll be time for this in the morning. Because they have that now - time.