Summer Break - Kamishin\Shinkami

12. Trauma

Shinso went to Aizawa's again, this time alone as well, Denki was still sick. Shinso was sitting on the floor, teaching Eri how to play chess. Aizawa and Yamada were sitting on the couch by them.

"So, Hitoshi, how's Kaminari doing?" Aizawa asked.

"Is he still sick?" Yamada asked.

"He's been having really weird nightmares. Most of them very vivid, and about the League Of Villains. It's worrying me." Shinso admitted with a sigh.

"I know he has some sort of anxiety disorder or something of the sort. Do you think it could've messed with his anxiety somehow when he was kidnapped, like, permanently messed with him?" Aizawa asked.

"Like trauma?" Eri chimed in, setting down her rook chess piece.

Shinso turned to look at Eri. He felt terribly sad for her, she's been through horrid things. She was the only young kid he knew who knew what trauma was, in depth. He patted her on the head.

"Yeah, like trauma. Denki got kidnapped by the League Of Villains, and I think he was really scared. Sometimes the memories, and the fear, never really go away." Shinso explained to her.

Eri nodded. "I know how that feels," she said.

"It took you a really long time to smile again, and be okay. Maybe it'll take Denki a while to get rid of the fear, too." Shinso said. "But, since you know what it feels like to go through something scary, maybe you can help me help him, how does that sound?"

Eri smiled brightly and nodded. "I would love to!" She said happily.

Shinso reached over the chess board and hugged her. "Thanks, sis. It means a lot."

About an hour later, Shinso took Eri to their dorm. Denki was awake, and reading a book. Shinso walked over, and looked at the book he was reading.

"Dude, I can't understand any of this, I think it's in Chinese" Denki said, his voice was hoarse.

Shinso rolled his eyes. "It's not in Chinese, it's upside down. It's in Japanese." He took the book and flipped it right side up.

"Ohh, that's better-" Denki said.

"Baby how tired are you, I- y'know what, it's okay, put the book down, I brought my step sister, we're gonna have a small chat with you." Shinso said.

Denki set the book down and looked at them. Shinso sat on one side of him, and pulled him into his lap, so that Denki's head was resting on his chest. He stroked his hair softly. Eri sat by them.

"Now, I've noticed that these nightmares you've been having are mainly about the villains you encountered when you were kidnapped, no?" Shinso asked.

Denki nodded slowly. "Yeah.. Why?"

"It's been bothering you, clearly. Do you wanna talk about it?" Shinso asked. "Eri and I are here for you. We've been through some stuff, so we wanna help you get through your stuff.

"When I was living with the yakuza, Chisaki experimented on me. He used my blood for drugs that he could sell. When I was at my breaking point, he'd.. Disassemble.. Me, and put me back together again. It was sick, I hated every moment there. It was like being kidnapped, which I know happened to you. So, I can say that, once you're free, it gets better. It can take a long time, but with people around you who want to help, it'll be okay," Eri explained.

Denki thought hard about what she said for a moment. He was so surprised at how much she knew about this cruel world, and he felt bad for being so shook up over something that seemed so unimportant compared to what she went through.

"I'm sorry, Eri. What you went through was way worse, he actually hurt you. All the villains did to me was scare me. I didn't mean to be dramatic." Denki said quietly, clinging on to Shinso. He began to tear up.

"Hey, shhh.. Listen. We aren't here to make you feel like that. No matter how insignificant you think your problems are, they'll always be important to me, because I care about you, sweetie. And Eri here, she doesn't want you to deal with this either. We care about you, Denki." Shinso said, still running his fingers through His messy hair.

"What someone went through isn't the only thing that should define how bad it was. It depends on how it made you feel," Eri said, putting a hand over her heart. "If you felt terrified, even if they didn't hurt you physically, you can still say that what you went through was bad. I think that's the first step to getting better." Eri said.

"You're the smartest seven year old I have ever met, I wish I was smart like you, Eri." Denki said, crying a bit harder.

"Well, you just learned something, and the more you know, the smarter you are," Eri said with a smile.

Shinso hugged him. "You're actually pretty smart."

"Before, you said 'we've been through some stuff', what happened to you, Hitoshi?" Denki asked almost out of nowhere.

Shinso paused for a moment. He set Denki down beside him, and lifted his hoodie up to reveal his scarred chest. Denki gasped sharply, and Eri looked shocked.

"I guess it's only fair I tell you two my little story. See these scars? You probably looked at the seven big ones across my chest, but under them, there's maybe thirty or so smaller ones. My mom beat me because she hated her quirk, which I got. I'm guessing her intent was to go straight for the heart, she threw glass, wood, and random junk we had lying around at me. All of it aimed right here." He pointed to his heart. "She took out her self pity on me, and then she and my pops booked it. Who knows where they are, and who bloody cares. Point is, I'm fine now. I've got UA. I've got these people I swore to never get close to, I guess I broke that promise. Not a bad thing." Shinso said, and put his hoodie back down.

Denki didn't know what to say. He wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"And just because we're better doesn't mean that pain ever fully just disappears, it'll always be there if you think too hard. If it just went away, it wouldn't matter. Eri and I aren't saying we're perfect now, nor will we ever be, but things start to look up. I promise, honey." Shinso said, hugging him back. Eri scooted in and hugged the both of them.

"Thank you, I'm seriously glad I know both of you."