Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

44: Settling Into Normalcy

Elise yawned as she meandered into the dark kitchen of her house, looking out the window to the slowly lightening sky outside. Sleep still evaded her and, at this point, Elise began to sympathize with her teacher. The footsteps of her uncle and brother alerted her before the overhear light switched on.

"Good morning, dear."

"Good morning, Mentor, Lucas!"

"Morning, troublemaker," Lucas yawned as he dumped the remnants of a mug down the drain. "How was your sleep?"

"It was normal," Elise replied without hesitation, reaching to pop some bread into the toaster for breakfast. She didn't have the heart to tell her uncle and brother about the rampant night terrors, knowing they'll worry and fret. "Do you guys want some toast?"

While Lucas agreed, Mentor said, "I think I'll have some natto with rice today. Thank you, though."

Elise smiled. "Alright."

Boy, I sure missed this routine.

***

Mina and Momo were waiting at the shoe lockers by the time Elise arrived at school with Katsuki and Mezo. Seeing the two girls, Elise felt her heart drop as a sense of awkwardness enveloped her as she waved her two other friends away. The males left, but not without some grumbling on Bakugou's end.

Seeing Elise free, Mina was the first one to rush up, not noticing the minute flinch from Elise when she took the brown-haired girl's hands as Yaoyorozu hovered behind the pink girl. "Wing!" Mina said, eyes earnest. "You rushed out really quickly yesterday and we didn't get to speak much with you after school. The girls and I just wanted to say... I'm sorry if anything made you uncomfortable earlier in the locker rooms."

Elise blinked, mouth parting in shock. Out of all the things she expected to hear, it was not an apology. Quickly snapping out of it, she grasped Mina's hand back. "P-Please don't be sorry!" Lowering her head in shame, Elise admitted, "I-It wasn't any of you. I was just... scared. Scared and afraid of what you'd think after seeing my scars."

"None of us would judge you for having scars," Momo softly said. "You know that, right?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she whispered hoarsely, "I've been told that they were ugly. I... expected to have the same reaction yesterday."

A horrified gasp came from Yaoyorozu. "Scars are none of that," she said hotly. "In the hero profession, scars are a common commodity, some of the heroes even admired for their scars. Please understand that none of us here judge a person on such trivial matters as scars."

When Momo finished speaking, Mina exploded, "Who told you that, Wing?!?! You shouldn't listen to them! Whoever it is is a horrible, no-good sucker. I'll punch them for you."

A strange feeling took root in her chest. Relief, happiness, melancholy. Blinking back tears that gathered in her eyes, Elise answered Mina's first question, "That's a story for another day. We should hurry and go to class before we're late."

Yaoyorozu, recognizing that Elise wasn't willing to speak more of it, urged Mina to part from Elise and set them forward to make their way to their classroom. Along the way, she asked, "Do they hurt anymore, Wing?"

"They don't hurt," Elise said. She made a face and admitted, "But sometimes they itch and pull. I don't particularly like that and it gets really distracting sometimes..."

"Oh!" Momo said. "I'm aware that moisturizing cream can help! Especially ones with Vitamin E in it! I'll bring some in someday."

Elise began to protest but Yaoyorozu clucked her tongue.