red cherry blossoms // ochamina

|3| metallic tastes

ashido, 1:07 pm

mina had no idea where she was running to, but someway or another, she ended up slouched on the inside of her dorm door. the door was locked, as it was only a matter of time before staff began a search for her. the cold and metallic taste of blood lingered in her mouth as she coughed. confused, scared and all too alone, she reached for her phone to call her mother, kowareta ashido. after three rings, the older woman picked up.

"sweetie? what happened, you're supposed to be in class, aren't you?" kowareta asked, panicking. mina could no longer form words, she instead cried and coughed up blood and flowers.

"honey, mina sweetie, are you okay? please say something!" mina's mother pretty much yelled into the phone, making the teenage girl take a deep breath and try to form words.

"i-i love some-" she tried, being cut off by tears.

"oh sweetie, why are you crying then? love is beautiful you know, like a freshly picked rose!" mina let out a loud cry of both anger and sadness.

"n-not flowers! anything b-but fucking flowers!"

"huh? but you love flowers..." the teenage girl was about to say something before her door was pounded on. mina quickly hung up and went to hide, but she was too late. midnight burst into the room, seeing mina immediately.

"okay young lady, what is even going on with you?! running away from class to cry in your room? even i wasn't this pathetic as a teenager!" mina quickly stood up and wiped tears, confused as to why midnight wasn't trying to drag her back to class.  

"y-you're not mad?"

"you think i can be mad at a crying teenager? hell no sister! what's wrong?"

"well i- no, you're a teacher, i-i can't..." she was calming down more, but not enough. mina still wiped tears and took deep yet shaky breaths.

"well i'm not just a teacher. right now, think of me as a cool lesbian aunt. call me auntie or kayama, either work."

"okay, kayama, well i-i'm in love with someone..."

"well of course, but what's - oh...oh sweetie!"

"i can't breath, and i only taste blood, and flowers are everywhere, and she's everywhere and-"

"hey, hey calm down. you'll be okay. we'll call your parents and get you some medication, okay? i promise everything will be alright."

ashido nodded, though she knew kayama was lying. hanahaki was deadly. and mina's studying showed that only 25% of victims who choose to not get surgery end up surviving, and surgery wasn't an option. and even with surgery, it was new medicine with 40% of tests resulting in serious injury or death of patients.

"you can't say that!" ashido yelled in nemuri's face, taking the woman back.

"well who says i can't!"

"the science! the numbers! i may be stupid but i do my research!"

"well do you know who caused it?"

"..."

"ashi-"

"it wa-it is...it's not her fault, that's what it is." mina said firmly, making kayama rub her temples.

"for fucks sake kid, who was it?"

"why do you need to know?"

"well i- here at ua we-"

"exactly, now drag me to class, detention, whatever just-"

"you're staying here, i'll tell nezu what's happening. you cry as much as possible now kid."

"thank you mi-kayama," midnight sighed and stood outside the door, still facing ashido.

"you're welcome sister," and with that, mina was alone again. a feeling of dread washed over, the familiar feeling of thorns. now she didn't have to see ochaco to get sick, great. the pink-haired girl stumbled to find a bathroom, and when she did, the same thing happened again, pink flowers stained blood red floated in the toilet water. mina grimaced a bit as she flushed it down.

ashido wandered back to her bedroom, flopping down face first into her obnoxious bed, crying more into the pillow. after hours of this, she passed out, in her school clothes and shoes with tousled hair and no food in her stomach.

ashido, 2:37 am

great, superb, perfect. another day of waking unbearably early. she rolled out of her bed and onto the floor with a loud thump.

"ow..." she mumbled, slowly getting up. she checked her phone, she saw several missed calls and text messages from her mother.

from: mom!

please text me as soon as you can. i'm very scared for you right now. 

i love you, mom.

from: mom!

hello mina, please call or text asap, i'm getting very worried. you can talk to me.

i love you, mom.

from: mom!

the school called, they told me what's going on. please, please say something. i care about you sweetie, and you could die. please, let me do something, medication, homeschooling, hell, i could even try to get you surgery if you really want. just please tell me what i can do.

i love you, mom.

ashido scowled at the messages, instead opting to find something else to distract her, settling on scrolling through instagram. a selfie uraraka had taken was the first thing she saw, it was in midoriya's account. mina felt it and followed the same routine, rush to the bathroom, lose herself, and then run from it. but seeing, even thinking of ochaco not loving her, but someone else, made ashido's stomach do a flip and not the good kind.

just the idea made mina thankful for being knelt in front of the toilet. after the blood and flowers were flushed away, it was 3:00 am, so ashido went to try and sleep, knowing she'd fail. she did, instead laying down staring into space with no emotion. she heard footsteps come by her door after hours of doing nothing, she tensed up, then went to investigate. she saw a small note taped to her door.

"get well soon. the staff won't make you attend class today, kirishima eijiro will deliver your classwork.

-auntie kayama"

ashido chuckled a bit at the letter, bringing it in with her. she set it on her bedside table and went back to her useless attempts to sleep with a rumbling stomach.

-

1021 words. i love you all so much! i just wanted to say i've been taking a short break from bubblegum in order to bring this, which i have alot of fun writing.