Controlee

56. Deep End

Rule 63: Anyone who knows anything about poker knows that it only takes one win to change the whole night.

It was the first night of the training camp and all the girls were sharing a room. Mina, knowing she wouldn't have much time to do so for the rest of the week was desperate to get some 'girl talk' in while she could. Unfortunately, everyone else disagreed. Today had been exhausting enough and tomorrow would only be harder— they all knew that with grim certainty. It was best for them all to get some sleep now.

Unfortunately, Otsuka's quirk disagreed.

It felt odd, shifty, but it came in waves that ebbed and flowed. One minute she'd be fine, drifting off at last, then she'd snap her eyes open, the need to let a spark fly across her fingers so strong she had to jam her hands under her knees. So she gave up on trying to sleep for now and tried to meditate instead.

After the attack on the control school, Otsuka had found herself unable to reach her mentalscape. Being honest, she wasn't entirely sure when the ability had returned. She'd never stopped reaching for it. At some point, she'd started feeling like she'd made it there but hadn't seen it, then one time she saw it but didn't feel like she'd got there. It returned to her in patches. But now it was back for good. The water was murky, though clearer than it had been in a while; her reflection was in a similar state. The stones at the bottom of the pool— hard to see through the murk but she could just about make them out— were unusually mismatched. Some appeared smooth as sea-tossed glass while others were sharper than the shards of a mirror.

Odd.

Another wave of the anxiety hit her and the reflection in the water rippled. Right before her eyes, the smooth pebbles sharpened and the sharp stones smoothed over. When the water stilled again, the reflection she faced wasn't her.

She snapped out of it and tried not to breathe too loudly as her heart tried to pound its way out of her chest. She gave up on that quickly. Using her quirk to light her path, she stumbled through the sleeping girls and slipped out the door.

She was going to go outside for a few minutes, listen to some forest sounds— she'd been told nature was meant to be soothing— and then she'd go right back inside to actually sleep. If her quirk wasn't calm by then, well too bad. Tomorrow was going to be hellish, she needed to sleep.

With a heavy sigh that knew all too well her quirk wasn't going to be affected by a late night stroll, Otsuka set off. The corridors were eerily quiet but the lights were still on. In her opinion, it was waste of power but she wasn't about to argue; if Otsuka had to navigate this place in the dark, she'd almost certainly end up with a concussion and probably a black eye to boot. Plus, she'd get lost. Even with the lights on, she was probably going to get lost.

Another wave hit her and she let her quirk dance around her fingertips but succumbing to the urge hadn't freed her of the feeling, it hadn't even lessened the intensity. She whipped around only to find herself faced with the same empty corridor. The quiet rang in her ears.

She was so very alone in this corridor. Yes, it meant she wasn't disturbing anyone else, but she suddenly wasn't so sure it was good for her to be alone right now.

Her quirk had never done something like this before. It writhed under her skin sometimes, often when she was excited, but recently also in the moments before things went wrong. Like it somehow recognised that an enemy was close. But how would it know that? And why would it think that now? Why would it come and go? It didn't make any sense.