𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 63 - Purple Calm

"How difficult is it for you to recount your trauma?"

Hina stared at her clenched hands in her lap; eye contact wasn't always the easiest when someone was poking through your past, let alone the trauma you faced.

"Not difficult to recount, rather than..."

"Saying it out loud?" The woman in front of her answered.

Hina nodded yes, glancing up to peer into her eyes a second time for the day. She had completely purple eyes with no division between her iris and sclera; despite the unnerving difference of her eyes compared to many others, there was a calming quality every time she saw them. Like peaceful purple clouds during twilight at dusk and dawn.

The woman's name was Dr. Nodoka Nishiyama, a therapist specializing in hero rehabilitation and PTSD with a quirk called Dulcifying Gaze—one is overcome with a deep sense of calm and relief when they stare into her eyes.

Regardless of her specialization, she took civilians as patients as well; especially those who suffered at the hands of villains. Turns out most victims—heroes, civilians, or anyone in between—responded the same way to the torment they've faced at the hands of individuals unstable like many villains were.

"Would you like to try?"

A sharp breath left Hina's lips as she fidgeted in the overly soft seat. As though it was meant to give a sense of false security. She wished it helped; just the thought of her time one the island piercing through her gut.

"Not today."

The scribbles from Nishiyama's pencil scratched in Hina's ears. It was too loud.

"That's okay. Can you tell me how you feel when you recall the traumatic events?"

Another sharp breath, her eyes reluctantly tethering to the endless purples she saw in front of her.

"I used to feel anxious and nervous. Like they would come behind me any day to take me back there." Her eyes fell down on her hands before returning back. "And now I just feel cold. Numb."

The doctor tilted her head, her hands laying atop one another and on her clipboard with her pencil tipped between her fingers. "Since when did this change happen?"

"Yesterday morning. After my nightmare."

She scribbled some more; the sound etched into Hina's mind as though taunting her emotions. "Nightmares. You mentioned it earlier. Do they revolve around what you went through?"

Hina shook her head in affirmative, holding her index finger while shakily rubbing a thumb up and down. "That and... Katsuki in his uniform. As Dynamight."

The scratches stop. The pause was unnerving. And then Nishiyama clipped the pencil along the bottom of the clipboard before keeping it on the table beside her.

"You have nightmares of Bakugo-san as Dynamight?" She asked cautiously, delicately, as though she was trying not to startle a kitten. "Can you elaborate on that?"

Katsuki's remorseful smile came into view, the gun pressed on his temple, the sparks that flashed when the trigger was pulled and his final breath fluttered in a wheeze. Next, his face morphed with the scars carving darker shadows into his skin, his glassed-over eye, his snarl deepening with vengeance. And his hand outstretched to her, an explosion rippling from his palm and into her.

She flinched from the remembrance, catching those purple eyes, kind ones, startle in surprise and then empathy. A wash of calm soaked into her bones and she somehow found her voice.

"I- he becomes someone else entirely... Not Dynamight nor Katsuki. He's colder and callous. Vengeful."

Nishiyama hummed in understanding. "Vengeful how?"