Atrocious

- Chapter 22 -

I must have dozed off, because Shouta touched me gently on the shoulder.
"They're here."
"Who, the students?" I asked, and he nodded as he put on his costume.
"Follow me in five minutes. It might look strange otherwise. Vlad and I will already be outside."
"I can do that, but how should I behave now?"
"How?" he asked, putting on his ribbons, "Nothing's happened..."
He opened the door and left.
'Nothing happened? The statement hit me hard and I swallowed. I was lying under his comforter, naked and helpless. We had sex, intense sex and he meant something to me. He meant the same thing - and then nothing happened?
'Did he wrap me around his finger? Just to satisfy his lust?'I felt sick at the thought and decided to change the subject in my head and think about the students. As I wrapped my half-wet towel around me and left the room, a certain kind of anger arose subconsciously towards Shouta and a lack of understanding as to why he would say such a thing.

"You're late," Shouta said, crossing his arms. I got out of the door in time and stood next to the Pussycats.
"That was never three hours - as promised!!!" came from the crowd.
"Well, we could have done the three hours," said Mandalay, the leader of the Wild,wild Pussycats.
"Do you have to rub your skills and our failures in our faces like that?" shouted Denki. He had a nosebleed and a few scratches. I glanced quickly through the crowd and realized that no one was unharmed. I quickly fetched the emergency kit from the entrance area to give the class first aid.
Tiger put a white bobble hat with a red cross on me and grinned cutely. I only knew them all from a phone call, but I knew they were nice and Tiger in particular had a lot of love to give. So I didn't blame him for putting such a funny hat on me and smiled back.
Tenya's exhaust pipes were no longer working, but only needed cooling. A few blobs of cooling cream could help. Besides the nosebleed, Denki only had minor scratches and could speak to some extent, so I left him untreated. Izuku had a small laceration, which I cleaned roughly and put a plaster on.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Hayami," he said and smiled.
"No problem. I've grown so fond of you. Seeing you like this hurts a lot."
He looked past me, lost in thought, and I knew he was in his mind's eye.
"You are the perfect combination of a teacher, because you are motivated...", he began to mumble,"...healing...and social...always food there...specialty upper middle range..."
I decided to pat him on the back and let him stand. Ochako took care of him.
Shoto had open cuts between his fingers. I bandaged them and he watched my every move:
"I'd need to talk to you again."
"Any time."
Shoto kept coming to me over the last few weeks, hinting that he wanted to talk about his relationship with his father.
Most of the time, however, he just sat in my little chair opposite the desk and looked at the floor, lost in thought. He was able to say a few excerpts, but I gave him the option of simply saying nothing. The main thing was that the meetings and the opportunities were always within reach for him and the others.
The last one who needed treatment was Katsuki. He avoided eye contact and I stood in front of him: "You have bruises - let me at least look at them."
"I don't need your help."
"Katsuki..." my tone became harsh.
"Why don't you let her fix you up," Shoto said, looking at him emotionlessly.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU SUCKER... and don't talk to me from the side! What's your fucking problem?"
"Sorry," came the monotone reply.
I held out my hand and pushed my eyebrow up. Involuntarily, he showed me his blistered arm and I carefully checked the marks with my index finger. They looked bad, but they should remain nothing but bruises and not cause much damage.

'They're coming'.

My heart stopped.

'They're coming'.

"Shit damn...", Katsuki said and I realized that he was still standing next to me. The surroundings clouded over and I looked around.
"Not again," I whispered and I tasted blood. Warm and smelling of iron, the blood flowed from my mouth and ran down my body. My clothes were torn and wet and I staggered back a few steps.
Katsuki touched me by the arms and shook me gently. "Anna...stay calm...stay calm." His clothes became wet with my blood and I tried to speak. All around us it was loud and pounding and stomping and smacking.
He stood protectively in front of me and held me by the waist.
"I'll protect us and no one will come here. No one. No one will come!!!"; he shouted loudly into the void and it seemed to me as if he was reciting it to himself like a slogan to calm himself down. He turned his head back and repeated his words quietly: "No one is coming. No one will come."

- "Get your bags from the bus and go to the dining hall, then take a bath and go straight to bed" -

That voice. It penetrated loud and clear through the thicket of murky fog.
It was Shouta. Katsuki let go of me and looked around. It was getting lighter and the outlines of the students were slowly becoming visible. Shocked, I looked around, but was reassured that no one had noticed the situation.
I looked down at myself and my clothes were dry and clean, as was my face - only a few drops of sweat were running down my forehead.
Katsuki ran her fingers through her hair and looked around: "What are you looking at, you fucking nerd?!"

'Fucking nerd...wait - Izuku?'

Izuku stood in the front row, staring at us. His face showed confusion, fear but also...pity?
I couldn't quite place it and decided to ignore his gaze.
'What just happened couldn't be swept under the carpet,' I thought and closed my emergency kit.
I quickly made my way forward to the Pussycats and Aizawa.
A loud groan went through the crowd: "Oh man, it's still so early"

"Don't argue, get in there".

Disappointed, they trotted to their bus, took their bags out of the storage space and went into the building. The staff assigned them to their rooms and I was damn glad I didn't have to put up with the chaos. The Pussycats were preparing the dining hall and I was about to follow to talk about the healing cuisine during the meal when Aizawa surprisingly held me.
"What was that?" he asked worriedly, looking at me,"...Like that time in front of the bar?"
I nodded and looked over his head.
"Anna..." he continued.
"I don't want to talk about it. You don't care anyway," I said, not responding to his confused face. I pulled myself out of his grip and walked towards the bus to see that it was completely empty and not have to talk to him, when Vlad came around the corner.
My anger and my feelings were too much for me at that moment and I avoided looking at him. I ignored his greeting and walked past him.

I didn't know they were looking after me. I didn't know that Aizawa was very worried.