𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧' |𝐭.𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐢

43- dates, dates, and dates!

You remembered these. You'd sponsored them. But as your thumb brushed the edge of the box, a sharp, hollow ache bloomed in your chest, like grief without a name.

You stared at the soft lettering.

And for some reason... you couldn't let go.

It wasn't just a supply item. Not to you. It meant something.

You didn't know what exactly. But a whisper of a memory hovered just out of reach, taunting you from the shadows.

Your breath caught. Your chest tightened, like something vital had just slipped through your fingers and you couldn't chase it fast enough.

Carefully, almost reverently, you placed the box on the desk as if it might shatter. Then, without warning, without even fully knowing why, you sank to your knees and broke into sobs.

You didn't know why.

No pain. No memory. Just a crushing, invisible grief that hollowed your chest like a crater.

You didn't sleep that night.

The next morning, Aizawa found you in the staff room, bleary-eyed and silent. He said nothing. Just placed a cup of warm tea in front of you and sat beside you in silence.

He knew that you weren't okay.

They all knew. Even Class 1A could tell, no matter how many smiles you tossed at them, there was an empty look in your eyes , a tired kind of quiet that didn't belong to someone who once lit up the room.

Midoriya asked if you were sleeping enough. Uraraka offered to help with organizing your supply stock. Aizawa said nothing, but his gaze lingered longer than usual during staff meetings.

You kept brushing it off. "Just tired," You'd say. "It's nothing."

But it was never nothing. And they all knew that, too. But there wasn't anything they could do, but be by your side and hope time would heal.

⸻

A week after officially beginning work again, Hawks, Endeavor, and Aizawa were talking.

"She's not okay," Hawks said, his voice cutting through the low hum of voices.

Aizawa looked up slowly. "We've already discussed this."

"No," Hawks said. "You discussed it. You decided forgetting Tenko was for the best. But have you seen her lately? She's not sleeping. Her emotions are off the rails. She cries randomly, and she doesn't even know why."

"She's grieving someone she doesn't remember," Endeavor added from the corner of the room. "She looks at us like we're familiar, but distant. Like part of her heart is somewhere else."

"It is," Hawks said. "We're watching her grieve Tenko without even knowing she's doing it."

Aizawa's fingers curled around his coffee cup. "It's safer this way."

"Safer?" Hawks echoed. "She was the one person who saw Tenko for more than Shigaraki. She saved him. She loved him. You think ripping that memory away makes her safe? No, it just left her alone."

No one argued.

Because the truth sat heavy in the room, you were the best nurse U.A. ever had. You stitched the world back together one student at a time.

But no one could stitch you.

Because even now, even forgetting him...

You still felt him.

You still woke with the taste of ash on your tongue and the phantom brush of trembling fingers against your cheek.

You still walked past shadows and expected someone to step out, white hair messy, voice gravelly, eyes soft just for you.