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Several knocks on the door wake him up. He barely gets out of bed when his bedroom door opens. The light from the hallway suddenly illuminates the room, causing his eyes to hurt.
“Eri.”
A single word. A strangled sound coming from the loud teacher Present Mic.
His breath catches and he jumps out of bed instantly. He doesn't even bother to put on his shoes or grab a sweatshirt, he just runs after the man.
“Shota isn't here. She's lost control.”
Hitoshi feels his heart skip a beat when he hears the fear in his teacher's voice. He's never heard him like this before.
They run to the building where the teachers live and don't stop until they reach the room. For a year now, Eri has also been living there, in Aizawa's apartment, a place where she can feel safe, where she can be restrained if her quirk gets out of control.
“I couldn't get in. I don't know if she's okay.” Mic trembles with fear and worry. He looks like a completely different person, with teary eyes and messy hair. Hitoshi tries to stay calm; someone has to, since his teacher seems to be in the middle of a crisis, although he can't help but feel afraid. Not for himself, but for the poor girl. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time he's seen her lose control.
“Has she talked to you?” He needed to know if Eri was willing to talk.
“She just yelled at me not to come in.” The professor shrinks, clutching the edges of an old rock band T-shirt. Everyone who knows Eri ends up falling in love with her, and obviously Mic was no exception, especially since this is also his home and living with her has brought them very close together. “Shota told me never to go in if something like this happens. To get help. I don't—”
A scream from inside the room stops them. Hitoshi rushes to the door and opens it slightly.
“Eri, can you hear me? It's Shinso.” An uncontrolled sob is the only response he gets. He opens it a little more, trying to peek inside, but he can feel the power of the girl's quirk vibrating everywhere, as if she were pushing the door with that same power. “I'm coming in.”
He's not going to do it, not if he doesn't want to be hit by the quirk, but he needs to stop her, he needs to do something to get her to answer him.
“No! Don't come in!”
As soon as she finishes speaking, Hitoshi manages to extend his mental control.
“Stop.” He says as he slams the door open.
It seems as if time stands still for a second, because suddenly there is silence. The atmosphere is charged with energy and even the lights flicker slightly. He searches for the girl with his eyes, amid the chaos of the room: the messy bed, cushions, plushies, toys, and papers on the floor, fallen chairs... as if a hurricane had swept through the room. Eri is in the corner furthest from the door, hugging her knees, trembling slightly, sobbing uncontrollably. She looks up at Hitoshi, her eyes rolled back, her mouth half open, waiting for more commands. Her horn has suddenly grown and continues to emit a soft light. She can no longer hurt anyone, but she is still not relaxed.
“Calm down, Eri, stop your quirk."
And that's exactly what happens. It's not the first time Hitoshi has done this. He has been with her before, training her quirk, so he knows what to say to make her stop. "Calm down, everything is under control. I'm here.“ He says as he slowly approaches her. He can see her sighing, still shaking, but her body relaxes and her eyes return to their normal color. She is still brainwashed, Hitoshi makes sure of that, but he frees her a little, so she doesn't get scared.
”Are she okay?" Mic asks in a trembling voice, peeking through the door.
“Yes, but very scared.” Hitoshi reaches the girl and wraps his arms around her. “You're okay, Eri, everything is fine, you're calm, relaxed. Everything is alright. You can move freely, but your quirk is still turned off.”
That last command makes the girl burst into tears, hugging Hitoshi tightly. Mic also runs over, breathing heavily after the scare.
“My girl, my poor girl,” murmurs the man, hugging her too. Being so close, Hitoshi can see tears in his eyes. “It's all right, Eri, my dear, don't worry, it's over now.”
“You can talk if you want to,” Hitoshi orders in a soft voice.
“I'm sorry,” she whispers between sobs, burying herself in Mic's chest, without letting go of Hitoshi.
“Shh, don't apologize, sweetheart, Shota will be here soon.” Mic's soft words, along with his stroking of her hair, calm her slightly. She barely trembles, though she continues to sob softly.
Mic helps Hitoshi up from the floor, without letting go of Eri, while continuing to whisper words to calm her down and getting her to answer his questions to keep her under control. She refuses to let go of him, she is still scared and because Aizawa is not there, he is the only one who could stop her.
“Will Mr. Aizawa be long in coming back?” Hitoshi asks. He tries to put the girl back in bed, but she continues to cling to him tightly. So he sits down with her in his arms, trying to catch his breath while keeping his quirk activated.
“He's on a mission...”
That could mean he might arrive suddenly or not show up until tomorrow. Eri knows this too, because she tightens her arms around Hitoshi's neck and starts shaking again.
“I'll stay with you, Eri. Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm here.” Hitoshi doesn't really know if he'll be able to keep his mental control until Aizawa returns. He's never had someone under his brainwashing for so long. The longest has been an hour, and it wasn't controlling someone as strong as Eri. Not only is she strong with her quirk, but her brain also works differently. Children work differently.
It's a little more difficult, as anything can cut the connection. “I'll try to get her to sleep,” he says to Mic, who continues to watch them with concern. “But I don't want to force her, that could scare her and she might escape my control.” Eri whimpers at this and he wraps his arms tightly around her, whispering the clear command to turn off her quirk in her ear again.
“You can do it. She's always calm with you.” Mic still hasn't regained his composure. He stands next to them, hugging himself and still pale. Even so, he tries to feign calm. “I'm sure Shota won't be long.” He seems to be saying it more to himself, but Hitoshi nods anyway. “My sweet Eri.” The girl sighs as the teacher approaches and kisses her head. “If you need anything, call me.”
Hitoshi nods and settles in with Eri. Mic leaves the room, leaving only the light of a small moon-shaped lamp that barely illuminates them. He doesn't close the door, so the light from the hallway seeps in slightly.
The girl doesn't let go of him, so he lies down on the bed, his back against the headboard and the girl on his chest.
A tingling sensation in the back of his neck warns Hitoshi to use his quirk, so he takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to focus. It would be great if Eri could relax enough for him to free her, but she still seems too scared.
“You're conscious. You can talk and move. Your quirk is still off.” The girl sighs and starts sobbing again. “It's over now. I'm here with you. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
“I don't want to hurt anyone,” she says with a whimper that pierces Hitoshi's heart, causing him to wrap his arms around the girl and hold her close.
No matter how much he knows about Eri's life, he can never imagine everything she has been through. Aizawa, Mic, Mirio, Midoriya, even Monoma and himself spend the day telling her that she won't hurt anyone else, that her power serves the opposite purpose. But she finds it hard to believe, and despite all the help she receives, she knows it will still take time for her to fully recover.
“You're not going to do that. On the contrary, you're going to save lives.” Hitoshi says this as he runs his hand through her hair and makes sure to keep tightening his mental control. He needs to focus on it and relax at the same time.
He lowers his face to look at her; she is staring at a fixed point on the wall. Hitoshi wipes her tears with his hand, gently caressing her cheek, and realizes that she is clutching his shirt with her fist.
“Relax. Do it for yourself, I don't want to force you. My only command is that your quirk remains off.” In the year since he joined the hero course, Hitoshi has learned a lot about his quirk, although there are still things he doesn't understand, such as why the other person's brain responds to his requests. He used to think he had to give general orders or put the other person under total mind control. But that's not the case. He has learned to give specific orders and extend a fine, almost undetectable blanket of control.
Eri sighs and her hand slowly loosens. Hitoshi places his hand on top of hers, caressing it with his thumb.
“Do you want to sleep?”
“I had a nightmare.”
That's what happened. Something must have awakened her quirk without control.
“Do you want to tell me what happened? That will make you see that it wasn't real.”
It's something her mother always told him. One of the few things he remembers about her.
“I... I hurt Zawa.” Hitoshi hugs her a little tighter when she sobs and smiles slightly at the sweet nickname the girl has given his grumpy teacher. “I wanted to hurt him.”
Her voice breaks and he wraps his arms around her completely. He notices that she is crying and shaking again.Her body fights against the brainwashing, and Hitoshi has to concentrate much harder. It's been too long, he feels tired, and a sharp pain begins to pound in his temple.
“But you don't want to, Eri.” He struggles to speak. His control is weak, it could break at any moment, so he needs her to relax. “Your quirk is still off,” he repeats a couple of times. The girl sighs, and Hitoshi regains control. “It's just a nightmare. You don't want to hurt Aizawa, you don't have to worry about it.” She remains tense, and he can feel her own brain struggling to break free. The horn emits a faint glow that startles them both. She stifles a scream and tries to pull away, but Hitoshi holds her close. “Eri, I need you to relax. I'm not used to using my quirk for so long. You can do it. You're not going to hurt me.” It's not an command, it's an affirmation to her, a show of confidence. Eri suddenly looks up. “You have to relax for yourself. I'll be with you in case something happens again, but it's better if I can free you. I trust you, you can do it.”
Eri is so intelligent. Despite her young age and the life she has lived, she is very smart. He has seen this hundreds of times since he met her. That's why she takes a breath and lets it out slowly. She does this a couple of times. Hitoshi smiles because he knows that Midoriya has taught her these breathing exercises.
“Good, much better,” he whispers as he loosens his hug and strokes her hair. He checks the control, still maintaining a small thread, thin enough that she doesn't notice it but firm enough in case he needs to reactivate it. That allows him to breathe too, although the pressure in his temples continues to pound.
“I'm tired.”
“You can sleep, Eri, I'm here. I won't let the nightmares hurt you.” She doesn't seem very sure, but she looks at him and nods softly.
He moves so she can lie down better, but she refuses to take her head off Hitoshi's chest.
“You want to know something? When I was little, I had a lot of nightmares, and I still do.”
“Still?” Hitoshi nods as he checks the brainwashing. “And what do you do about them?”
“Your quirk is still off.” Hitoshi repeats, trying to ignore the stab of pain running through his brain, yelling at him to stop using his quirk. Eri sighs and relaxes a little more. “I force myself to dream something nice.”
She looks up, the dim light barely allowing her face to be seen, but Hitoshi can see her frown.
That's not entirely true. The chronic dark circles under his eyes were caused by those same nightmares when he was a child. Doctors said it was because of his peculiarity, as they began when he woke up with it, but no one has ever been able to find the root of the problem.
“Can I do that?
“Well, it’s not easy, but it works. You just have to imagine what you want to dream about. That doesn’t mean you’ll actually dream it, but you will fall asleep thinking about something nice.”
“Something nice…”
“Yes, think about it, it doesn’t have to be very big. It can even be a memory.” Hitoshi clenches his teeth as he feels the intense pain in his head.
“A memory,” Eri hums. He looks down and sees that her eyes are closed and she has a soft smile on her face. He allows himself to let go of his mental control a little more to stop feeling like his head is on fire. Eri takes a deep breath and he imitates her. “Like my first birthday.”
Hitoshi nods, knowing she is referring to her first birthday here with her new family.
“Tell me about it.”
“You were there.” Eri giggles softly, and Hitoshi feels the knot in his chest loosen and the burning in his brain subside. Yes, Eri's quirk can heal, but he knows of nothing more healing than this girl's laughter.
“Never mind, I want to see it through your eyes.”
Eri begins to speak, a low murmur that relaxes not only her, but also Hitoshi, who feels increasingly tired. He doesn't want to let her go yet, he doesn't want to remove the brainwashing, but he can barely hold on to it anymore. He doesn't know how long he's been active, but the headache is almost unbearable.
Eri's soft voice gets lower and lower, she speaks more and more slowly, until she is completely silent. Hitoshi sighs and relaxes too. Carefully, he releases Eri from his mind control. The girl tenses for a second until she sighs again and breathes normally.
“Rest, Eri, I'm here with you,” he whispers to the girl, running a hand through her hair.
He feels exhausted, though he still feels the shock in his body. He doesn't want to fall asleep, he wants to make sure Eri is still okay, but he is so tired that he can't help but fall asleep too.
He is awakened by a soft whisper. The room is somewhat brighter, and it takes him a moment to realize that it is because of the light coming through the door.
A hand on his hair makes him open his eyes suddenly, to see Aizawa sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking both their hair.
“Thanks, Shinso.”
“It’s nothing,” he mumbles sleepily. “She's fine, she had a nightmare.”
The dim light allows him to see Aizawa's face wrinkle into a grimace.
“It's not your fault.” It's Mic's voice, although Hitoshi was about to say the same thing.
“I know, but if I had been here...” The teacher's eyes are fixed on the girl as he continues to stroke her hair.
“You wouldn't have prevented her nightmare,” says Hitoshi, trying to let go of Eri, who is still on his chest, so he can get up.
“She'll learn to control it, Shota,” Mic continues. “She's doing great. You are too.” Aizawa doesn't answer, but shakes his head slightly before getting up and reaching out a hand to Hitoshi to help him to his feet. “Shinso did great.” He smiles and feels his cheeks burning at Present Mic's compliment. “It took two hours for Eri to fall asleep.”
Aizawa looks at him with a soft smile and ruffles his hair tenderly, even though he is now taller than his teacher.
“I'm so proud of you, Shinso. Thank you.”
He says nothing, simply nodding with a smile.
“I'll walk you out,” Mic says quickly as he heads for the door.
“No, I know the way back. Stay with her.”
“Are you sure?” Aizawa asks. “You look exhausted, you can stay here if you want.”
Hitoshi shakes his head, even though he feels so tired that his legs can barely support him. Although he hasn't used his physical strength, mental exhaustion makes him feel as if he's been crushed by a giant.
“I need some fresh air.”
Before walking out the door, he turns to watch Aizawa pull Mic into an hug, as the two whisper to each other.
Hitoshi staggers out onto the street. The cold hits him; he is still barefoot and wearing only his pajamas. He walks quickly to his room, though he is grateful for the cold on his brain, as it calms the burning sensation. He can barely walk; he feels exhausted, so as soon as he reaches his bed, he simply collapses.
The day is turning out to be completely awful. Hitoshi can barely keep his eyes open, let alone use his brain for anything other than staying awake. That's why at lunchtime he simply collapses into his seat at the table with a long sigh.
“What's up, man? Bad night?” Kirishima asks with concern.
“You look terrible, and you seemed to be having a really hard time in class,” adds Kaminari beside him.
“Your dark circles are bigger than usual.” Bakugo's comment is what makes him sigh.
“Don't be hard on him,” Jiro scolds them in a calm voice without looking up from his phone.
“Did something happen? Are you okay? Do you need anything?” Mina quickly moves to sit next to him, gently nudging him and watching him closely.
“Wow, Shinso, you look worse as the hours go by,” Sero hums as he arrives at the table with his tray, sparking a small argument at the table.
At other times, he would enjoy watching his friends start to fight, talking over each other, but right now, Hitoshi needs them to shut up.
“Eri.” He knows perfectly well that mentioning the girl's name will make everyone pay attention to him. He doesn't really want attention; he wants them to be quiet, but it has the same effect. The table falls silent and everyone looks at him.
“Is she okay?” Bakugo asks quickly, leaning forward.
“She lost control of her quirk. Aizawa wasn't there, and Mic came to get me. I had to use my quirk because I was really scared. She's fine, she just had a nightmare, but I had to keep her under mind control for two hours, and it was exhausting.”
“Two hours?” Hitoshi nods toward Kaminari. “Have you ever been in control for that long before?” He shakes his head in response.
“Man, that's a long time! You're amazing!” Kirishima stands up to slap him on the back to congratulate him, and since he's in the seat across from him, the table wobbles slightly. Hitoshi nods with a smile, even though Kirishima's slaps are reverberating in his brain.
“Don't be so rough!” Bakugo pulls the redhead back down to his seat.
“Look, here she comes.” Sero's voice makes them all look toward the door.
Eri is in Aizawa's arms, looking around for something. It's Mina who raises her hand to wave, and Eri quickly points them out. He can't help but get up from the table as she runs toward them. The girl throws herself at him to hug him.
“Thank you,” she whispers so softly that it's barely audible above the noise of the cafeteria. Hitoshi leans down toward her and pinches her cheek gently. “Thank you for helping me.”
“You don't have to thank me, Eri, I'll help you whenever I can.” She nods sadly. “But you did great. You're getting stronger every day.”
“You both are,” says Aizawa, who has also approached them. Hitoshi looks at him for a second before feeling his cheeks burn. He's not good at receiving compliments. "You should have taken the day off today. In fact, you're going to take the afternoon off.“ Compliments quickly turn into scolding, as is usual with their teacher.
”I'm fine.“
”I didn't ask how you are. I don't want to see you in class this afternoon, or at practice either. You all,“ he points to his friends at the table. They all stand up straight when they receive attention. ”make sure he obeys, or I'll expel you.“
No one believes Aizawa's threat, but they all nod anyway. Eri takes advantage of the fact that he is still bent over to wrap her arms around him. Hitoshi returns the hug with a smile and then watches as she runs off, probably to say hello to Midoriya, who is a few tables behind. Hitoshi stands up as the teacher walks past him.
“Thanks,” he murmurs. The boy wants to tell him that he doesn’t have to thank him for anything else, he’s already done enough, but he says nothing when he receives a squeeze on the shoulder and a gentle look from him. He just stands there watching as he calmly follows the girl.
Eri is laughing and talking to Midoriya as if nothing has happened, and Hitoshi knows he could stay awake all night as long as she keeps laughing like that.