"If I could use my Quirk, I would freak out." She got a headache from the images in front of her. Thousands of images flashed before her eyes. Memories where she was happy and bad memories made beautiful. She saw her parents celebrating a birthday with her that she had actually spent alone in a coma. But she had forgotten that. She had forgotten everything. All that mattered was that she was happy here. She didn't have to fight here, she could just be here and look at the pictures. Pictures with Aizawa, how they had trained together, pictures with Eri, how they watched films together and pictures with Katsuki. Everything repeated itself, but she still couldn't get enough of it. She didn't even notice that the pictures were no longer forced on her, but that she herself maintained them. Her gaze remained fixed on it because she was afraid in even one second of carelessness that she would lose it. She felt she had to protect something. Surely it had to be the pictures, what else could she want to protect? Perhaps time passed more quickly in her mind, for Kaede had seen the images a thousand times before the headache came. They greeted her like an old friend. The next moment she knew her Quirk was back, and that the pictures weren't real, at least most of them weren't. The pain reminded her that most of it was not real. A pain that haunted her even when she was awake. She heard voices. Too many voices at once. In her ear she heard all the time.... "North team? Are you there? Kaede? What-" "Fuck Deku, stop talking in my ear and just go there if something's wrong you idiot." Opening her eyes she looked into the faces of the rest of the villains. Golden streaks wafted around her legs. "I told you we should give her another dose, but you had to argue." She didn't know what was going on, but in one leap she kicked the legs off the six villains beside her. She stood up, but only stumbled a few steps away. Over comm she passed on. "It's okay here, only six villains left." "Can you handle them?" "Yes."
"Take care of Todoroki and Yaoyorozu first, we need to know their condition." The boy nodded to her as Kaede continued to Areza. "Are you alright?" The girl wiped sweat from her brow. "I'm fine. Thanks to the management department, the healing is going really well." "I'm glad to hear that. Let me know when you're done with everyone or need a break." "Will do." Kaede left the infirmary and went in search of Izuku, but he seemed to have been looking for her too. In the corridor, he hurried to meet her, already mumbling while she had not yet reached him. She interrupted his mutterings. "They are playing with us. They were just sidekicks, with no important or strategic quirks. Shigaraki, Dabi, Kurogiri, they weren't even there." "They are waiting. They want to drain us and hit us with all their might when we're down." "Then we must not go down to the end." Kaede was actually going to look for Eri, but she was stopped. Did Katsuki have nothing else to do but ambush her in corridors? He pushed her against the wall and didn't question why she flinched when her back hit the wall. He put a hand around her waist, but pulled it right back. "Fuck, what-" His hand was slightly reddish. His eyes flashed as he looked back and forth from his hand to her side. He tried to lift the shirt, but she held his hands. "Don't." He pushed her against the wall again, causing her to clench her teeth hard. "You're hurt. Show me the wound." "No, it's nothing bad." He pressed her wrists against the wall. She was about to kick him between the legs, but her side suddenly pulled violently, forcing Katsuki to suddenly support her. He took advantage of her moment of weakness and pulled up her shirt. He stared at the wound in disbelief before yelling at her. "You idiot. You are the stupidest person I know! How stupid are you? Why the hell weren't you in the infirmary!!!" "The infirmary is full. Areza has to take care of everyone else first, then I can have my turn." His eyes flashed angrily again. "You've lost loads of blood, there's a hole Kaede, a hole! The other extras have scratches, you've got... there's blood everywhere!" "I know, but it's okay. It doesn't hurt at all." He put a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed hers, but he betrayed her. Quickly he took her in his arms. "Put me down!" "You're bleeding to death." "Put me down idiot." "Tch." When she didn't stop wriggling, he stared down. "I'm not arguing with you." Strangely, she was silent in response.
"What's wrong?" Areza came rushing up to them as Katsuki set Kaede down on an table. "That idiot was hiding her injury." He pulled up her shirt to prove it, causing Areza to suck in air sharply. "Take care of her." He turned to Kaede. "You're an idiot." Without another word, he left the infirmary. "Yae, can you take a look at this?" The other boy came running. "Oh." He put a hand over the wound and drew his brows together. "Did you pull the arrow right out?" "Yes, it disturbed me." Yae shook his head. "The flesh is torn open, probably more so because of the fighting. You lost heaps of blood. You need healing so that the wound at least stops bleeding. But you also need lots of food and sleep to survive the blood loss." "Okay, I'll start the healing right away." Areza sat down next to her and put her warm hands on the wound. "Bakugo seems worried about you." "And you know this because he called me an idiot?" Areza rolled her eyes with a smile. "I know that because in the crash course on Katsuki Bakugo's personality, it was never mentioned that he would drag someone into the infirmary." "There are many things you can just say about him without knowing him and there are many things you can only say about him after spending time with him." Kaede was surprised herself that she said that. "You do spend a lot of time with him. What don't I know about him?" Kaede didn't think twice. She talked and talked until her throat was dry without knowing what she was saying. When she stopped talking, she looked around in confusion. "Did you give me something?" "I gave you an anaesthetic." "Ahh that is why. Did it numb my rational thinking?" Areza laughed out loud. "Your rational thinking was already numbed before."
Kaede insisted on being allowed to leave the infirmary. Unfortunately, Areza only insisted if Kaede went to bed immediately. Kaede could not yet walk by herself because she was still dizzy and the anaesthetic was still working, so Katsuki was to carry her. "I can't believe I'm doing this." "You're my taxi." "How much of that stuff did she give you?" Kaede smiled innocently. "Veeeeeeery much." He just sighed. "Sleep," he spoke as he dropped her into her bed. "Where are the others?" "They didn't fuck up like you did, they're still allowed to walk around." He stood up but she clutched his arm. "Stay here please." He stared at her, then pulled up a chair. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on you." SIe smiled tiredly, her hands still clasped around his arm. "Just like last time." He remembered when he had sat by her bedside a long time ago, waiting just like now for her to fall asleep.