𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 || 𝐌𝐡𝐚

11

After last night, Reia had ended up crying herself to sleep. She had no idea how long they stayed outside, but by the time she woke up, the sun started to rise. Disregarding the slight pain in her neck, she brought Uraraka inside. She set her down on one of the other couches that Tokoyami and Shoji hadn't taken, and she draped a blanket over the girl before heading off to the kitchen to start on breakfast.

As the bacon popped inside the pan, Reia rubbed at her eyes lightly. She's a little surprised she was able to get some rest. But then again, it was only because the tears had tired her out. She could still feel the slight puffiness in her eyes.

Just as she finished plating the rest of the food she cooked, shuffling footsteps made their way towards the kitchen, causing the woman to turn. The students began to walk into the dining room. They greeted Reia as they passed, and Kaminari sniffed the air slightly before sighing in delight.

"I could smell that all the way from the theater! What'd you make?"

Reia chuckled. "I made some bacon, eggs, pancakes, tofu, and some vegetables. Hope you like it."

She placed the food on the table. While she was getting some glasses, Reia felt someone come up next to her, grabbing the plates from the cupboard. When she looked at who it was, she blinked in slight surprise. Uraraka gave her a small smile, though her eyes fell to the ground as her cheeks began to grow pink.

"Are you okay?" Reia asked the girl softly.

The girl looked up at her, then nodded, saying a small thank you under her breath. Reia smiled, placing a hand on Uraraka's shoulder and said "I'm here if there's anyone you want to talk to," then went back to the rest of the students and their teacher. After the plates, utensils, and glasses were set, Class 1-A and Aizawa said out a resounding 'thank you for the meal' before beginning to eat.

They all sat together in the dining room. The kids struck up conversations with each other, although it was mostly with whoever was nearest to them. Since the dining table only had ten chairs, a few of the other students pulled up some others, while the remaining ten sat on nearby couches or on the window sills. Reia and Aizawa chose to stand and eat on the kitchen island.

Mina rose an eyebrow, but disregarded the observation. There was something else on her mind that she wanted to ask, and now was probably as good a time as any.

"Uh, Reia-sama?" she asked. The woman looked up at the sound of her name. Mina continued.

"Can I ask you something?"

The room got quiet now. Swallowing the food in her mouth, Reia said a quick 'sure' before Mina spoke again.

"So, it's been about a week since we've been here, right? And you've been taking care of us this whole time. But we don't know much about you outside of your first name. We don't even know what your last name is."

Reia hummed in surprise at the statement. Now that she thought about it, Mina was right. While the woman knew a lot about the people staying with her, she hasn't exactly talked much about herself. Granted it was a good thing that she wasn't arrogant, but that fact itself probably isn't a good reason considering that she basically knows a lot about all of them.

Setting down her fork, Reia hummed again lightly.

"Well, for starters, my last name is Winters."

"Huh, that's actually a pretty cool last name," one of the students mumbled.

"As for everything else," Reia began, "what do you want to know?"

It went silent for a moment. The students glanced at each other, almost with a slight glare. In an instant, the whole class erupted into a loud mess, question after question overlaying the other, causing Reia's eyes to grow wide. She could only catch onto a few, like 'what's your work,' or 'what's your life like?' But before she could answer any, another question would soon replace the old one. It was a little overwhelming.