Aesthete

Chapter 18.

Two weeks had passed.

I would cry every night, but I no longer felt the heaviness that wore and tore at my soul the way it used to before that day. I stopped hiding my emotions, I became an open book, not acting discreet towards my thoughts to my closest friends. 

That day changed my life. Izuku, Bakugo, Denki, and Kyoka surrounded me when I woke up under the pine tree at the top of the forest, they coerced me to confront the demons that had been plaguing my life since I was a kid. They personally saw to it that they hammered down any final walls of my defenses, ready to catch me as the fragments of my old self reveled in the dark, showing how shattered I felt inside.

As if it was natural, they glanced at my broken pieces and reassured me that I would still be their friend, still the same girl to them.

My relationships had changed with these particular classmates, but I didn't consider it to be a bad thing. Denki was still the same teasing flirt and jokester he's always been, but there were times where he was comfortable with sitting in silence, not trying to coax a conversation from me. Kyoka grew clingy, but that didn't bother me in the slightest, I was happy that the girl didn't feel pushed away, rather she would talk to me about anything that bothered her or anything that made her happy. Yaoyorozu and Mina had noticed it as well as they began to call us a musical note; we always seemed to be on the same page, playing the same tune.

Izuku remained as the kind and considerate sweetheart he is since the day we met, but there was an intensity about him now. He became more truthful about his quirk, One for All, and also spent more time with me than we ever had before. Katsuki Bakugo changed the most. He would actively seek me out to talk, he would insult me as his typical behavior, but showed no frustration or irritation about my presence.

If it was a trait that they all adapted, it was their fierce overprotection of me. They grew defensive when anyone made the slightest negative comment, even if it was innocent ones. I had to restrain Bakugo and Jirou several times whenever Neito Monoma from class 1-B neared me, his mantra was to demean our class but I couldn't be brought up without them wanting to use their quirks on him. Izuku and Denki hovered over me, glaring at anyone that I even seemed slightly distressed to be around, particularly Mineta.

I thought of these transformations as I headed to the locker rooms with Mina and Uraraka at my hips, they were discussing the sleepover that we'd be having in three days time.

When we began changing back into our uniforms, I would still drift to the last changing room in the corner, hiding the faded scars that became a singular trait in my appearance.

I stepped out, tucking my uniform shirt into my skirt as I saw my favorite girls crowding around the wall not too far from me.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, frowning since they just seemed to be staring at it, saying nothing. They didn't respond, only holding up a hand and signaling for me to still myself.

"Did I miss the induction ceremony into a cult?" I whispered, tugging at Kyoka.

She kept the same serious face, and I grew worried. "I think Mineta's trying to be a peeping tom. Look at this hole." She pointed to the barely noticed hole in the wall as we all began hearing the pervert's excited voice.

Oh, gross. Who's ever going to teach that nasty grape a lesson?

Jirou plugged the extensions of her ear into the wall, and Mineta's voice amplified slightly.