Technical Support

Chapter 44

He looked out one of them to see if Ayano was in the courtyard. No such luck.

He passed through the rest of the floor, searching the mess hall, laundry room, and others. He even silently waited outside the girls' baths and bathrooms, listening for any sounds. They were unoccupied.

He was getting more antsy when finally, he saw the back of her head. Her characteristic, uneven, brown hair just visible above one of the couches in the lounge. From the moonlight, he could see wisps of steam rising in the air above her.

She couldn't possibly be working on something here, could she?

He slowly walked in her direction, coming up behind her. Looking from above her, he saw that she was sitting wrapped in her covers and holding a mug filled with some white liquid. "Warm milk? Really?" He asked rhetorically.

Unsurprisingly, Ayano was not surprised by his sudden appearance. "Drinking warm milk can help one's body to relax, which aids in the sleeping process. It also has tryptophan, the essential amino acid for making serotonin that gets converted to melatonin, which is the hormone that aids in maintaining our sleep cycles. Although, a regular serving of milk does not have nearly enough tryptophan to produce a notable effect on sleep. So, I added some supplements to the beverage. Would you like some?" She asked, motioning to the small kettle placed on the coffee table.

Bakugou ignored her question, choosing instead to comment on her habits. "You've never had sleeping problems before." It was a well veiled and subtle accusation.

She took a sip from her mug. "...I suppose there is a first time for everything."

His eyebrows furrowed. She still hadn't turned to look at him, so he took a seat next to her. He left a little bit of room between them on the couch.

He stared at her profile, seeing just how tired she looked. He started at her hair. It was unkempt, revealing that she had just gotten out of bed and hadn't bothered to fix it.

The skin beneath her eyes was darker than the rest of her, revealing how little sleep she was getting. Her eyes looked so empty.

His eyes travelled further down, resting upon her cheeks. He just barely saw the tear stains on them. Upon closer inspection, he saw that her cheeks were slightly hollowed. She had been losing weight, and a significant amount too, it seemed.

His concern for her only increased, but now that he was here, he had no idea what to do. What could he do? The two of them sat in silence with Ayano quietly sipping at her supplemented warm milk.

"I had a dream...or rather, a nightmare." Bakugou's eyes widened, not expecting her to be the first to speak. Especially not about something like that. She wasn't supposed to be the type to have nightmares.

"It took place here...well, not here as in the dorms...but here, as in Musutafu." She explained, referring to their current city. Bakugou's eyebrows furrowed further, never seeing her thoughts so disorganized before.

"The city was in shambles. Everything was broken...burning...and I was at the center of it all. The screams...the cries...I heard all of it, but I could do nothing." Her hands tightened on her mug, preparing herself to say the next part. "The next thing I knew, there were bodies all around me. It was our classmates. Our teachers. Our family. All of them were on the ground, beaten and bloody."

She visibly shuddered. "Their eyes...they were dead, but they were all looking at me. Staring. As if I were to blame." Bakugou wanted to protest at that, but she clearly wasn't finished.

"I noticed that the only one missing was you, so I went searching. I heard your quirk in the distance. I followed it, rushing through the broken buildings and the flames, passing by more and more of our fallen classmates. Each and every one of them staring at me as I ran towards you. I found you fighting the League of Villains by yourself. All of them."