EFFLORESCING EDELWEISS ( s. todoroki )

1; tansy

THE TOWN IS QUIET.

It was when Hanako brought her favorite purple hyacinths to the makeshift grave she made for Papa after the cold man with the cold smile told her that Papa was sacrificed to the demon (Papa, what are demons? Papa looks at her sadly and shakes his head). The cold man told Hanako that the demon needed sacrifices to be worthy of the master's trust, and she succeeded. Seven year old Matsushima Hanako could not understand the words slipping from his velvet lips because what is success if you have burnt others to achieve
it? Is it still success as sweet as nectar or a regular curse that tastes like blood (someone made fun of Hanako's dark skin in the sandbox yesterday, she drew blood with her teeth)? And most importantly, where is Papa? Where is he? Papa promised to come back and because he promised he will because promises aren't meant to be broken he will come back so where is Papa now, Papa Papa come home!

Hanako doesn't know who she is. Who that girl named after maple leaves was (Kae-de, the man had said, the person who killed your Papa, her name is Kaede), but Hanako absolutely hated her.

Underneath the waning moon and its milky iridiscent glow on the gloomy surface, Hanako discovered her quirk.

Hanako liked flowers, she loved loved her purple hyacinths so much, but that night when the cold man visited her and red petals screaming of ruin flew from his mouth as he gasped desperately for air (Hanako watched with a smile throughout it all because you admire beauty with bright smiles), Hanako admitted that those flowers were the prettiest she'd seen, she admitted that perhaps the flowers that bloomed in flesh and scattered in lips were the best.

Papa didn't have a corpse, he was absolutely and hopelessly gone, Hanako realized as the cold man's corpse, his glassy eyes and purplish skin lay on her feet. So to create the makeshift grave, Hanako buried the cold cold man (fingernails collided with the muddy soil and earthworms slithered on her stubby seven year old fingers) and put Papa's name in the wooden plank with her shaky handwriting. Hands stained with soil, she pressed them against each other and inclined her head downwards to show respect.

Now, Hanako brings pretty flowers to the grave every Wednesday.

"Hanako..." a finger pokes at her cheeks and Hanako turns toward one of her bestfriends, a placid expression on her face. Cold as ice, impassive as stone. "You're too distracted. Make sure you take note of the mirror equation, okay?"

Hanako nods to shut her up. Hanako doesn't speak too much.

After all, nobody plans a murder out loud.

That day was a Tuesday with vanilla cotton candy clouds hung on the sky with golden yellow sunbeams filtering through the thick foliage of trees. The students of the Yuuei General Academics Course were already dispersing inside the cafeteria and Hanako was seated together with her tiny group of friends. Hanako's friend, Mei was too flustered to mutter a single word so Hanako ignores her as per usual and it's only when Momoka, another one of her friends with threads of sunlight residing in her pearly white teeth raises a penciled eyebrow at Mei who puckers up her carnation lips and points toward the stars of Yuuei.

The prized heroes-in-training of the academy are seated with each other, their faces stricken with something dark and Hanako watches them closely. It's barely been a week after the loss of the Symbol of Peace and more than that after their summer training camp was attacked by the League of Villains but it almost feels like a year of subsequent disasters has been plaguing the majority of the planet.

"What's happening?" Hanako mutters,  interested in those heroes in training that produce energy by means of nuclear fusion reactions and turns to Momoka whose busy balancing a sordid metal spoon with her freckled nose.

The spoon clatters easily on the tabletop as Momoka sets it aside. "Her crush is on that table." She points the table where the heroes-in-training sit and Hanako watches the table closely. They really are stars, she concludes,  self-luminous gaseous spheroidal celestial bodies of great mass. Ones that are too dense to notice the intense attention a fourth of the population present in the cafeteria was giving them. Even among the famed Hero Course, they're special, being the class to stumble upon the most horrendous series of unfortunate events.

"Todoroki Shouto?" Hanako asks again, her voice soft, and Mei and Momoka love reminding her of how much her voice is so mellifluous and mysterious since she uses it sparingly, then Momoka shakes her head.

"The plain one," Momoka answers and finding someone with that description is easy enough. Although Hanako doesn't really think the boy looks plain. He has pretty celadon hair and cute freckles.

"Midorima Izuku?" Hanako asks again, her non-existent eyebrows furrowing.

"Midoriya," Mei corrects, a rosé blush spreading on her cheeks.

"Whatever." Momoka is quick to dismiss Mei's crush. "Todoroki Shouto is hotter. Literally and metaphorically."

"No!" Mei squeaks, and it almost catches Hanako's attention because Mei never ever disagrees with Momoka because Momoka does not favor it when people disagree with her. "Midoriya-san may look timid, but he's really really nice and capable."

Momoka visibly rolls her eyes and from there on out, the conversation blurs. Hanako is more interested in their conversation. The heroes-in-training who fill other people's hearts with hope. The empyrean boys and girls of Yuuei. Hanako likes bright things, likes ruining them. It's an indelible habit.

Wordlessly, Hanako stands from her seat, careful as always. Even though Hanako's dark skin would give her away most of the time, here at Yuuei, Hanako is practically invisible. Even when she stays half a minute somewhere near the chattering heroes, listening, gathering information regarding that girl, no one notices her.

Hanako hears them argue. Hears them talk about that girl who had sunshine in her teeth and had them for fools. They were talking about her. The girl whose name meant maple. They were talking about the demon in Hanako's childhood. Mizuki Kaede.

Hanako hates that name.

Hanako's fingernails dig into her calloused palms and for a second there she almost losts herself. She almosts screams at the bustling cafeteria that Mizuki Kaede should die! Should be incinerated because she is a demon, she is a monster! She doesn't, she shouldn't.

Hanako will wait until she discover's Kaede's Achilles Heel, for the apt oppportunity to strike then she will strike with strength and the pent up aggresion from years and years soaked with fury.

It is Hanako's purpose.

° ° °
t a n s y ;
hostile thoughts