SSD VI: Remus

153. White Letters

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ : There's a rather serious panic attack in this chapter which causes the character to scratch their neck as they try to breathe normally. The description of the event itself is brief, the aftermath and care is more detailed.

There's a chapter summary below for anyone who would prefer not to read the chapter or there will be warnings within the chapter text if you'd prefer to skip the specific section.

Chapter summary:
The start of the new term finds Silver talking to Jirou about an 'incident' over the summer in which Silver vanished and was presumed dead for a grand total of ten minutes. Silver promises she's fine but there are also scars on her body that appeared during those ten minutes that she has no memory of getting.
Mirio, his quirk returned to him by Eri during Silver's internship with Hawks, joins 3-A. Silver helps him put his desk at the front and on the right, where Keenan once sat.
The class talk about White Letters. These are letters many of those who regularly risk their lives write to those they would leave behind should they die. Hitoshi shares that he has already written ones for 'Silver, Eri, Dad, and Pops'. Silver confesses that she hasn't been able to, despite trying. Hitoshi tries to help her figure out what to say so she'll be able to write her own.
That night (or early the next morning), Shouta checks on his children to ensure they're sleeping soundly. He finds Silver having a nightmare and wakes her. When she's feeling steadier, he talks to her about what's bothering her. They talk about white letters and Shouta shows her where he, Hizashi, and Hitoshi now each keep their white letters, hoping she'll also keep hers there when she's ready.

Chapter 153: White Letters

"So I heard you had an interesting summer, huh?" Jirou asked, despite having asked all of these questions over text immediately after the incident over the summer occurred (the incident in question being that dealing with a villain had caused Silver to vanish from existence for a melodramatic grand total of ten minutes before mysteriously reappearing almost exactly where she was last seen). The entire class seemed to be doing exactly the same thing today so it wasn't the first time she'd been asked— it was getting kind of dull.

"Well, yes, I suppose you could say that."

"But you're ok?" Jirou checked.

Silver pressed her thumb into her lower forearm, just below the wrist, and put on a smile. "Completely, like it never happened." The small scar currently sat under her thumb— one of the scars she couldn't remember getting but had been there since those ten minutes— said otherwise.

The door opened. "Alright class, settle down." Everyone was already in their seats, silent as mice the moment the door opened and their teacher stepped inside. He blinked, a hum of approval escaping before he could swallow it down. "Good. You have a new student, again."

A series of clatters and bangs followed the declaration, and then, "Ow." The voice was familiar.

Standing at the front of the classroom, Shouta sighed with the pain of a man certain he would spend much of the rest of his life suffering. Silver guessed that meant the new kid was another problem child.

"I understand that this is your last year, but believe me when I say this student has worked equally as hard or more than each of you to earn his place here. And I'm sure he'll be inside in just a moment, he's still getting the hang of a few things."

Silver would've thought that someone joining the hero course with only two terms left would have the hang of everything he needed to have the hang of.

"Hey everyone!" Mirio greeted, grin bright and warm as he did up his top button. "Somebody mind helping me out with the extra desk?"