Fat. Beautiful. Tasty. Ravenous.

Chapter 33

"I'm so glad you're gonna be living here, Ai-senpai!" Ei says excitedly, practically bouncing as he and Tetsu bring my heavier luggage into my room.

I've been staying with Aizawa for a few days already but I've only been living out of a small suitcase until today. Taishiro finally got all of my clothes packed to send home with Ei and Tetsu. I haven't seen or spoken to him since that day in the ambulance.

"Me too," I say genuinely, a small smile coming to my lips. His excitement is infectious.

Teachers live in what can essentially be called row houses on the campus of UA. Each of them has three bedrooms and two baths.

Aizawa and Eri each take up a bedroom of their own and he's been letting me stay in his third room.

"We've missed you a lot at work," Tetsu says with a mournful expression, "Fat is-"

Ei elbows him, likely noticing how quickly my face has fallen.

"How are your wings?" He quickly rebounds.

Thankful for the reprieve, I gingerly extend them for the boys to see.

"They're still sore," I inform them, "But they're mostly healed. I should be able to get the stitches out soon."

My quirk yet again healed the torn pieces of my wings quickly after they'd been stitched back together. Now all that's left is the soreness and dark scar tissue spider webbing across the membranes.

"Have you tried to make them big again?" Tetsu asks interestedly.

I shake my head. "No. I'll give it a little more time before I do that, I think."

Ei sits on my bed, running his hand along the soft comforter. "You think you'll fly again? Suneater said you looked really cool when you were flying. I'm sad we missed it."

I sigh, ruffling his hair lightly. "I'm sure I'll fly again. Just give it some time. When I have this quirk completely under control, I'll show you."

His reaction isn't as energetic as I thought it'd be. He just keeps watching his hand as it moves along the comforter. "I hope... you feel better, Ai-senpai. I really am glad to see you here but..."

My wings droop at his loss of enthusiasm.

But he misses how things were at the agency. He doesn't have to say it for me to know what he means.

Despite Taishiro telling Aizawa about what happened between us, it's clear he still kept it a secret from the boys and Tamaki. Now they don't understand what's going on but they can see it's painful for me at least and they're always trying their best to cheer me up.

I'm always thankful for these sweet boys.

A gray, long-haired cat wanders into my room and jumps up on the bed as though it belongs to her, rubbing her face gently against Ei's arm.

"Grizzy!" Eri storms in carrying a ruffled bonnet, "We weren't done with dress-up yet!"

The tension in the room immediately breaks and Ei's easy smile returns as he lifts Grizzabella off the bed. Eri has that effect on people.

I've heard in vague detail about her past. So much trauma in her past and she still shines so brightly. It's like she's making up for all of the pain she endured by living her life to the fullest now.

I'm so glad Aizawa asked me to stay here. Not just because he can help train me but because of her. She's still able to smile and laugh and love after being through so much. It makes me more confident I'll get there too.

"Grizzy, was she torturing you with those clothes again?" Ei, coos at the cat, scratching behind her ears.

"I wasn't! She likes it! They all do!" Eri protests.