Ultra Blue Violence (Dabi)

Chapter Nineteen: Cosmic String

Miya came through her front door with a big great sigh of relief to be home. She closed and locked the door behind her, zipped off her new spiked boots, free'd them of her phone, and the USB she stashed. She dropped her keys and devices onto the counter and unzipped the front of her hero suit.

She stopped.

In the sink was a used butter knife, a cup, and several utensils, which she could have sworn weren't there before. "Did I eat, and forget?" she picked up the knife, examining the product on the blade. "How can I forget when I eat? I love food."

On the counter was the opened bread bag.

Miya picked up the plastic bread bag, which she could have also sworn was brand new and unopened. She placed down the bread in utter confusion, looking around the apartment. Nothing else seemed out of place.

"Hm?" she hummed, curiously, making her way to the bedroom.

She pulled her arms out of her suit and left it to hang around her waist. Miya stepped into the bedroom, rolling down the suit, and stepped out of it, kicking the suit across the floor to the closed bathroom door.

(Closed?)

Miya turned back. "I could have sworn that was open." she said to herself, running stressed hands through her hair. "Am I losing my mind?" she approached the door, and hesitated. What if someone is in her apartment? Shut up. She tells herself.

Miya's hand closed around the cold handle and she twisted it open, giving the door a nudge. Light from the bedroom poured in through the door. Inside was dark, and she could see no immediate figures. She dared step over the threshold, stepping onto cold tiles, and fumbled around the wall feeling for the switch.

Her fingers caught the light, and flipped it up.

White light flooded the bathroom, and Miya gasped, stumbling out. The white curtain hanging above the tub was drawn closed. But there was a shadow of a person behind it, laying in the tub, and their black boot hanging over the edge. She was unsure if the figure laying in the tub was real.

(There's someone in my tub?)

Miya's mouth was open as she crept forward, stunned by the sight. Her arm extended outwards, and grasped the curtain. The rings scrapped viciously across the rail, and Miya yelped, slapping a hand over her mouth.

Dabi was laying in her bathtub, passed out. He was laying flat in the tub, arms folded, and one leg resting over the edge. His face was contorted with grief.

(He's asleep.)

Miya knelt by the tub, and reached in to nudge the sleeping villain. "Dabi?" she called softly, and got no reply. She studied his patched face. His jaw wound tight, fists balled, and eyebrows pulled together. She poked the shoulder of his new stitched black coat, and metal cuffs at each end of his elbows.

Dabi remained unmoving.

Miya put the pieces together. He somehow got into her apartment, ate her food, and crashed in the tub. The question was; why? They haven't gotten along from the moment they've met. What was he even doing in Shizuoka?

"A whole bed." she says, moving her hand to brush the rough purple skin of his arm, wanting to feel the texture of the dry bumpy skin. "And you chose to sleep in the tub?" her fingers trailed to his wrist, where the grafts met his normal skin. She ran her finger over the staples wondering if they hurt.

"Dabi?" she called, a little loudly this time. "Dabi, wake up!" she nudged him more forcefully.

His blue eyes shot open to met her leaning over him, and in a state of panic, he sat upright quickly. Their foreheads connected. His boots knocking over bottles of soap and shampoo, and Miya fell back onto the hard tiles holding her forehead. "Whoa!" she held up her hands in defence as if to calm a panicking horse.