This Time

Chapter 9

I stayed in the nurse's office through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, sitting with Yagi and Midoriya while Recovery Girl treated them. It was interesting when Tsukauchi came by and the way Yagi introduced him - I knew I wasn't his only friend of course, but it was odd now that I thought about it that he never talked about anyone else with me. Really, I still knew so little about him, but to be fair it wasn't my business either.

It was surprising that Recovery Girl didn't question my presence or comment on me knowing All Might's secret. Midoriya, however, couldn't keep his curiosity to himself. "So, Hara..."

"Hmm?" I hummed in reply, looking up from the news article I'd been reading on my phone.

"How did you know about All Might's second form?" he asked, confusion evident on his face.

I raised a brow and looked back and forth between the boy and All Might, silently asking him if he thought we should tell the kid or not. Yagi didn't look happy, but he didn't seem to be indicating 'no' either. Normally, I was opposed to involving anyone else, but the way I saw it, the teen was already involved - he just didn't know it. Besides, if the hero trusted him enough to literally give away his power, then I trusted him too.

Recovery Girl sighed loudly, hopping off her chair. "I'll give you three a bit to talk. Don't rile these two up any though please, Miss Hara; they both need to rest," she said before exiting the room. That woman was far too perceptive - I'd already decide that I quite liked her.

All Might grunted as he sat up in bed, and I tried not to stare at his chest. Earlier, when Recovery Girl had been stitching him up, I'd gotten my first look at the wound All for One had given him six years ago. It was ghastly, and the way the old injury bled freshly was enough to make my chest ache with sympathy pains. The hero had avoided my gaze the entire time, and the slight pink tinge to his sallow cheeks almost made him look ashamed - like this was something he never wanted me to see. He flinched slightly as her needle pulled the skin back together, and without thinking about it, I'd reached out and taken his hand. That was the first time since the USJ that he'd looked at me, and I saw surprise there mixed with something else... Was a bit of human kindness really so strange to him? Neither of us said anything, nor did the nurse, but he gripped my hand tightly as she finished patching him up, and I only stepped back once she was finished bandaging him. I'd taken a seat across the room where I could see both patients, and that's where I'd stayed the rest of the afternoon until now.

I sighed as I stood and walked to the window (really it was just an excuse not to look at Yagi's injury again), looking out and thinking about how to answer Midoriya's question. All Might beat me to it, however. "Today wasn't the first we'd heard of the League of Villains," he said. I turned around to face the man and his student, and I could see by the way Midoriya's brow was wrinkled he was trying to work out the connection. The blonde continued, "I first heard their name almost a year ago, when Miss Hara came to me with the information that this group was plotting against Yūei and the students who study here." The teen's eyes were wide, but he stayed quiet, waiting not-so-patiently for the rest of the explanation.

"We've been working together since then to prevent the League from kidnapping any students like they plan to," I stepped in, leaning back against the windowsill. "The truth is, Midoriya, I'm not a student at all - I'm a plant."

"A plant?" he repeated, and I nodded.

"Would you believe me if I told you I'm actually twenty-five?" I asked, smiling bitterly and twisting a lock of hair around my finger as I stared at the wall.

"Wa- so are you a hero then? Or a police officer?" he asked excitedly, sitting up so fast his curly bangs flopped in his eyes and I thought he might accidentally yank the IV out of his arm.