Colors in the Dark

[35] Enigmas

No matter how much her friends hounded her to go to Recovery Girl's office, Ayami didn't budge from her stance. Instead, she wordlessly walked into the dorms and instantly pulled out a kettle and filled it with water.

Subconsciously merging her auras, she put both palms facing toward it and allowed jets of tiny red-orange-hued flames to come out, biting her lip as she painfully waited, full aware of the strain on both her palms and her mind it was doing.

Finally, when steam was flying out and she could see the water bubbling, almost frothing, inside, she let up, returning to normal as she slid on an oven mitt, lifted the kettle by the overarching handle, and poured it into a mug alongside a bag of marshmallow root tea.

Stirring the liquid and the herb-filled paper with one hand, Ayami opened the cabinets, nearly grinning as she pulled out a bottle of honey and began pouring it in.

"Do you want any tea with your honey?" A voice came from beside her, nearly making the ginger jump, though she was relieved to just see Kaminari.

She shrugged, blowing to cool it down as she inhaled some of the steam. Ayami didn't want to upset her throat more by trying to speak, so she just gave him a small smile and waved him over.

"Heard you messed up your throat, had a run-in with Gang Orca?" He prompted, happily walking over and hoisting himself to sit on the counter next to her cup of tea. "Can't talk?"

Ayami shook her head, pulling the tea bag out by the string after she was sure the tea was finally ready before lifting the mug to her mouth. The tea burned her lips at the first sip, but luckily not her tongue, allowing the warm, silky-smooth liquid to glide seamlessly down her throat.

"That's too bad," he considered, waving the air. "I can't believe everyone in class passed except Bakugou and Todoroki!"

"Definitely," she thought. "Though it makes sense when you think about it. Todoroki and Inasa fought with each other instead of focusing on the task ahead of them, and Bakugou doesn't really know how to do something calmly or kindly. Two things that can easily break a hero under pressure. They need more time to understand what being a Pro means."

His golden eyes glanced at her amber ones. "Funny of me to try to talk when you can't respond, huh? Oh well, sometimes talking to someone without pressuring them to respond is nice. You can say whatever pops into your head and keep going with it instead of trying to organize your thoughts into neat little sections; rattle off anything you feel like. I rant all the time, but it never really feels... what's the word, genuine? Like it doesn't feels like anybody takes me seriously since I'm usually not, so they assume I never am. But sometimes I'm serious too, even if nobody wants to listen."

"I'll always be open to listen," she thought with a pang of sympathy. "I feel just the same; I'm just glad my quirk allows me to never truly be alone."

Perhaps this was conveyed in the way she glanced up at his goofy self on the counter, or how he smiled down with a wide grin and met her eyes without fear of her, that he understood exactly how she felt.

"Thanks for listening, Ayami. I'll leave you to your tea now; get some sleep soon!" He exclaimed, hopping down and fist-bumping her shoulder. "If more people could be like you, the world would be a pretty sweet place! Ba-bye!!"

A smile appeared on her face, which soon turned to a small, strangled chuckle, which was infectious to the rest of her body. She set her mug down and- though her throat felt like fire all over again- she doubled over in laughter.