Freeze Frame

Chapter 33

Third person pov

It was Monday morning, and Lillian was a little jittery. The prospect of returning to school was nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time. Ochako was excited to see her, and though Tsu wasn't as exuberant in her expression, Lillian could tell the blunt girl was ready to see her too. Lillain was glad. She really wanted to meet up with them. She'd been so worried these last few days, even just texting them. One of her last clear memories of Tsu was of her with that villain's hand on her face.

Purble meme Lord:
Are we still walking to school together?

Lillian:
Only if you want to!

She hadn't had much to do these last few days, so she and Hitoshi had been texting back and forth nonstop, sending memes, links to vine compilations they'd pulled from the deepest corners of the internet, and various photos of Present Mic and Eraserhead. Finding pictures of the latter was hard, him being an underground hero and all. But Lillian had time to kill and a hell of a lot of determination.

She was a little sad to know she'd have to give Hitoshi back his hoodie. She'd been wearing all day, everyday, and had grown semi attached to it. She hoped he didn't mind the smell of peppermint and rose, because that's the air freshener her mother had been spraying through the house for the past two days. The woman had an obsession with scented thing, let it be perfume, candles, or incense.

"I-I'll see you later, mom." Lillian stopped to hug her mother with one arm, the hoodie folded neatly over the other. June wrapped the girl up tightly, placing a kiss on the top of her head. A part of her was paranoid, and didn't want her daughter to go, but she trusted in UA, and in her little girl.

"Be safe." The woman demanded worriedly. Lillian gave a smile and a sure nod before bouncing off towards the door. Being cooped up in the house wasn't so bad. Being cooped up in the house with her parents? Another story. She was almost glad her dad had already left for work. It meant she didn't have to fend him off while trying to drag herself through the front door. She hoped her parents would be a little calmer after today.

Hitoshi was waiting for her outside her house. She lit up immediately upon seeing her friend. She tried to stab down the embarrassment that lingered from being caught shrieking the words to 'Bitch Lasagna' at the top of her lungs by his mom. Sure, he'd been doing it too, but it didn't diminish the horror she felt any less.

"Morning." He grumbled, looking just as exhausted as usual. "You look too happy. It's Monday."

"I-I'm just excited to see everyone again." Lillian shifted a little. She knew none of her classmates, excusing Izuku, had been extremely injured. They were all fine now. Midoriya had been patched up by recovery girl, and everyone else had scrapes so minor they didn't need much but disinfecting and maybe a band-aid. Lillian shivered as she recalled how close herself, Tsu, and Izuku had come to death. Had the others almost lost their lives as well?

Hitoshi watched the expression on Lillian's face change. It was subtle, but enough to tell him she was remembering what had gone down. He couldn't help but gulp at the thought. Seeing Lillian pulled from the USJ on the news was horrifying. While her classmates didn't have any life-threatening injuries, it had been abundantly clear that they were all in shock as they filed out of the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

The memory of the thing the police had captured, the creature deemed "Nomu" that All Might had defeated, sent a shiver down his spine. Had... Had Lillian encountered that thing? Did she know it was caught?

"O-Oh, you're hoodie!" Lillian exclaimed, and they stopped walking for a moment. He blinked down at her as she held it up timidly, an awkward smile on her face.