Expect the Unexpected: Mei Hatsume x reader (BOOK 2)

Chapter 49: Of Saltwater and Parchment Paper

"Hitoshi-kun, really isn't going to make this out alive," you sighed as the two of you got into the car, the conversation with Aoyama over. "I'm not one to make doomsday predictions, but we all know what happened with you and Oboro."

"For that, he would have to be befriended with someone as reckless as Oboro," Aizawa glared.

"You won't be able to protect him, he doesn't want you to and he won't accept it from anyone else," you scoffed. "You really think he'll survive the second wave of the war without a combat quirk?"

Your eyes widened instantly as you realised what you'd implied, as you clamped a hand over your mouth.

"You were surprised I even made it out alive?" Aizawa asked, voice breaking as he remembered you throwing yourself around his shoulders just to keep him alive.

"Shota-" you stammered, though your mentor's ice cold glare silenced you.

"And then you wonder why the class cast you out," Aizawa remarked, lips pursed in a thin, straight line, disapproval evident.

Your eyes, which lacked emotion since a long time, suddenly lit up to form a pool of molten grief and pain. Everything that you'd attempted to conceal since your status had been confirmed and you'd been reunited with the class that estranged itself from you, suddenly resurfaced, all your insecurities clearly painted as you took a deep breath.

"Yeah, you're right," you laughed ruefully, sinking into the car seat. "After all, I'm just the disposable classmate."

The rest of the drive was spent in silence as you gazed out the window, buildings and parks passing by, a scenery you'd seen multiple times. Nothing had changed in your near 17 years of living in the district, yet the area seemed much dimmer than you'd remembered it.

Naturally, the war had an effect on the surroundings, as many of the buildings had crashed and rubble littered nearly every inch of land available.

But even then, the citizens attempted to liven up the area, to give them some sense of stability and normality.

Too much had changed.

"Thanks," you mumbled, eyes downcast as you got down with Aizawa's help, instantly buckling into your chair as your legs gave out.

You sighed in annoyance though wheeled yourself in anyways, as Aizawa was returned to the hospital.

"Y/N, you're back," Midoriya nodded, seeing you at the door.

"Yeah, anything you need or can I continue isolating myself from the rest of the world?" You asked sarcastically, though both of you knew there was some truth behind it.

"Y/N you can't just run," Midoriya argued, annoyed as you shrugged and wheeled past him.

"Watch me," you shrugged.

"You promised to stay by my side, by Eri's side!" Midoriya yelled. "Are you really going to go back on your word?"

Your breath hitched as you instinctively looked down on your right hand, where the silver band you were gifted lay wrapped around your finger.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've broken a promise," you stated shakily, tears pricking at your eyes as you realised that the one you loved most had left you again.

She was the person who knew you since you were children, who'd grown up with you and whom you'd grown to love. Though it seemed she didn't love you anymore. Not like you did at least.

You headed to your room, realising that you'd dug yourself to deep a hole to get out. Your class would never speak to you again, and Mei had probably moved on already.

"And to think you were the one who asked me to stay with you forever," you whispered to yourself, looking through your shelf for parchment paper and ink.

You may be rebellious and rather standoffish in the majority of your mannerisms, however you were still old fashioned and traditional when it came to your relationships.

And so you sat, a board on your lap with the parchment and ink on it, your room dimly lit as you began writing.

First to Shinso, then to Kaminari and Bakugo. Next were Midoriya and Kirishima followed by the rest of the class. Each receiving personal anonymous notes of their own good qualities that you never got to tell them before.

That part was easy, you knew them all well.

But the most difficult part was writing one for the girl you loved - no, love - as no matter how well you seemed to know her, she always managed to surprise you again.

The girl you wanted to marry, to adopt children with. The girl you wanted to live a happy life with, both successful in your careers.

But life wasn't that simple.

It wasn't a storybook in which everyone got a happy ending handwritten just for them. Some did, while most others would suffer. You tried to work your way up to your own happy ending, for Mei, yet you fell back down in an even more pitiful state than you started off with.

You sighed and picked out your favourite book, one that Mei had gifted to you when you were in middle school. It was fully annotated by both of you, as you'd both read it cover to cover multiple times.

Now, as you picked it up, you realised the weight you carried on your shoulders. Weight that came crashing down as soon as you saw Mei's messy scrawl and sarcastic remarks.

"I'm sorry Mei," you whispered, tears pricking at your eyes once more. "Sorry I could never be enough."

The salty tears dripped onto the parchment, staining it slightly, though you didn't notice until you picked up your pen to write once more.

In middle school Mei would often ask you why you rushed things so much, why you constantly wrote as if you feared to forget something.

'Why do you write so much, it's like you think you're running out of time!' Mei laughed, aged ten at the time, pulling your wrist to follow her.

She was the one who got you to stop writing in your diaries constantly, yet she never even found out why you did so.

They say time will eventually run out and people will regret not spending their days as they wanted to. But time is something that merely is, it is not the determiner of life and death, time is a concept far more complex than that which man unknowingly created.

'We'll live long, we won't run out of time anytime soon!' Mei protested as you continued to sit and right. 'You have time, you won't die anytime soon!'

You looked up at her, eyes wide, shoulders relaxing as someone for the first time had told you so.

'Promise?' You asked innocently.

The moon glinted against your hands as you hid all the notes you'd written in places your classmates would find them before you made your way up to the roof.

'Broken Promises'

A/N: this was mostly a filler chapter which will lead us to the final part that I'll try and publish asap!

QOTD: thoughts on the Aizawa interaction?

Have a great day/night!