Solstice and Eclipse: Part III

Chapter XIX: Relapse

The massive oakwood doors of the 1A Heights Alliance dormitory were thrown open with a force that betrayed their weight, swinging inwards with a thunderous crash that echoed through the empty building. Opening as far as the hinges would allow, the force then caused the doors to violently recoil and swing back shut with an equally loud slam. One of the couches was thrown to the side by an invisible force as (L/N) raced through the common area for the door leading to the building's sublevel. Nearly falling down the stairs in his haste, his shoulder hit the wall at the bottom of the stairs where it left a sizeable indentation in the drywall. Stumbling the short distance of hallway, (L/N) threw open the door to his room and immediately dove on his stomach as he began blindly fumbling for something underneath his bed.

After a few panicked seconds, he retreated with a small cardboard box in his hands. Inside it were his few meager possessions that he'd saved from his childhood. Emptying the box's contents, he scattered the items across the floor, hands crushing several paper cranes in his desperate search for the small stuffed bear Kendo had given to him in her first few months at Shonien's. A few seconds later he had the bear in hand, his shaking hands fumbling with the zipper at its back. Meant to be used to replace the cotton innards of the stuffed animal, it also served as an excellent spot to hide something small. Something about the size of a pill container.

Storing a reserve bottle was something he had started doing some years prior after he had one day ran out and it took the orphanage several days to receive another shipment. Every three months he replaced it with a new refill. When he'd first arrived at the dormitories, having suffered for a week to free himself from the hold of the blue and white capsules, and realized the stuffed bear had been brought to his room and that his stash remained undiscovered, he had considered flushing them down the toilet. He was thankful now that he hadn't.

Throwing the bear to the side, (L/N) tore the cap off the small glass bottle with unsteady hands and impatiently shook loose half a dozen of the blue and white capsules into the palm of his hand. Briefly, he wondered what the dosage might do to him. But then he thought back on the events of the past few hours, and with only the slightest hesitation he pressed his hand to his mouth and swallowed. Forehead damp with sweat, he fell back against the floor and eagerly awaited the haze to bring him release.

[My Hero Academia]

He couldn't stop thinking about it. Even though the drugs had set into effect some ten minutes ago.

The reappearance of Kazahana Akiharu had shaken him. Everything seemed to warp around him. His senses melted together until the world was lost in a distorted blur. Yaoyorozu had found him hiding away in one corner of the room, air coming to him in rapid and abnormal gasps. Even her soothing presence was unable to pull him from his trance.

The rest of the provisional license exam was lost to the stupor. It was like a dream. A dream that immediately began to wilt the moment you woke up until the details had all but vanished and you could no longer remember any of it.

By the time they were released the sun had already begun to set. The last remnants of daylight were quickly fading behind the horizon. Class 1A staggered out of the front doors, exhausted but invigorated by the day's success. Gathering by the buses that were parked at the curb waiting to shuttle them back to UA, they lingered for a few minutes as they bid farewell to the allies they'd made that day. Ketsubutsu's Yo Shindo gripped Midorya's arm in a firm yet friendly handshake, and Inasa Yoarashi ran up to Todoroki and shouted a rather confusing farewell before racing off again with a wave of his arm.

As the darkness of night finally began to set in, the students of Class 1A tiredly filed onto the bus, boarding in order of their student number per the class president's instruction. (L/N), the last in line, had his foot on the bottom step and was just about to follow behind Yaoyorozu when he felt a light tap on his shoulder before a hand came to rest there.