PAPER FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 36.5

' powerless and powerful '

━━━━━

Recovery Girl is the first person she sees. Sunlight flows through the windows and pools on the table next to her, highlighting the peonies next to it with golden accents. It's probably sunset, the sun dipping on the horizon and bathing the world with reds and oranges reminiscent of the palace where the gods resided.

"Good afternoon, Kaede," the person next to Recovery Girl says, a curvaceous woman with a third eye on her forehead. There is a stethoscope hanging on her shoulders and the typical doctor's coat with the first three buttons undone revealing grey cashmere clothes.

"Good... afternoon..." she whispers, her voice hoarse and it's still hard to speak and she feels a little tingly. Light like a beautiful white feather that floats on the air in a slow, spiraling dance. Only that Kaede would probably be a raven.

"Must be the excess effects of the drug," the three-eyed woman says to Recovery Girl and her voice is a dulcet that reminds Kaede of stars in operas singing melifluous arias that sway the crowd into emotions of unceasing halcyon. Then she catches Kaede's inquisitive gaze, sends her a sweet smile that reveals pearly white teeth that contrasts nicely with her midnight skin. "Hello Kaede," she says. "My name is Dr. Romilda Konno, I am a surgeon and a quirk specialist."

Kaede doesn't respond. But when she perceives the unnerving look Recovery Girl is giving her from the sidelines, Kaede replies with a curt nod. She's not in the business of being polite, but she supposes she must start doing so, since it's proving to be offensive toward benign personages.

"I was the one who did your operation," Dr. Konno says, indicating the part of her body where the spike laced with poison hit. "It was successful, but we encountered certain pressing matters."

The ravenette's eyebrows furrow at pressing matters, a combination of vex at yet another problem and confusion as to what it is. Dr. Romilda Konno's face remains that of an undisturbed geisha, the epitome of grace and beauty. Her head turns to Recovery Girl and she speaks. "It will be a lengthy conversation so I suppose we should take our seats."

"Yes, yes we should," the elderly woman says with her usual crooning assuage as they both take the sterile monoblock chairs next to Kaede.

There is an eerie discomfort stemming from the aura that surrounds the elder women as they pick and prod at her wounded stature. It's a cliche saying, but it really feels like the calm before a storm, grey clouds churning before the impeding strike of jagged lightning and thunder.

"Now Kaede," she says and more and more Kaede notices how artificial the perfect pearly peachy smile Dr. Konno is giving her. There is nothing that would cause her delectation in this state unless she's a total sadist, a prospect Kaede dismisses almost immediately as it is formed, because the woman is a doctor and doctors are meant to ward away pain, so why the smile? "I suppose you are aware of how quirks work."

"Vaguely," she says, her eyes narrowed in distrust. She is an intransigent entity when it comes to people with charming smiles meant to fool.

"Quirks are either from parents or ancestors passed onto their children, a combination of both or the rare instances where one ends up quirkless," Recovery Girl says, her voice grave. "This present situation has to do with that. Quirks are usually equipped with certain weaknesses and repercussions. Akihisa Yuko's for example, is the meager amount of air she can control and the progressive version of emphysema."