Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 72: At the Beginning

She awoke gradually, fading in and out of sleep. It felt so comfy in her bed that she didn't want to get up. But as the light slowly started to fill the room from her window she reluctantly began to rouse herself. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and yawned, doing a little stretch as she did so. She checked the time and saw it was eleven o'clock. She got out of bed and debated changing her night clothes. After a moment she shook her head and just went straight to the kitchen for breakfast. It wasn't like she was allowed to work, and she had no plans of going out. Even if someone came to call, she had no intention of changing. They'd have to deal with her as she was.

As she waited for the tea to boil, she checked her calendar and sighed. A week and a half and not a word from Izuku or even any indication he had been in the city. The bar was mostly destroyed so he couldn't stay there, and Bakugo had checked the other apartment since his mother still had a key to the place. Nothing, not even the dust had been disturbed and Ochako and Ahmya were starting to worry. She suspected Bakugo was concerned as well, but he'd never show it if he was. Bakugo seemed sure that Izuku was alive, and not dead somewhere on the mountain. She had to admit, she envied the faith he seemed to have in Izuku. She just couldn't help but worry about Izuku though.

She rubbed her face and took a deep breath, reinvigorating herself. When the tea was made, she poured herself a cup and sat down on her sofa, but almost immediately stood back and up and started wandering around her apartment aimlessly.

She hated not being able to do anything, everything from the wait felt weak and she couldn't move very fast. So had started pacing around her apartment, not sure what to do, or else she'd just sit on her balcony and just stare across the city, watching as things started moving again. The government had put all its power into trying to curb panic and boost spirits by advertising the capture of Zeus and declaring that any remaining threat from the League was now over. It had actually started to work too. Despite the damage to the city, people didn't seem as depressed as she would have thought. Support from all over the country had been pouring in, as well as outside assistance from their allies abroad, or as much as they could spare anyways.

She had to admit, things were actually looking up despite everything that had happened. She also felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The League was over and done with, every lieutenant was dead, and what remained was practically non-existent.

She debated what she wanted to do, she couldn't even exercise since she was still recovering. As she sat thinking, her thoughts turned to Mina. She could empathize with the guilt she was feeling, and the worst part was that she knew that Mina knew that it wasn't all misplaced either. There would be hell to pay for this sort of failing, it was only a matter of time until it all came crashing down. Yet, something still bothered her about Mina outside of her breakdown. Mina and Kirishima had both looked thoroughly shell-shocked even before Toru had come up. Whatever had caused it, had probably been a contributing factor to Mina's breakdown. Even if this conflict was over, its aftermath would be felt for a while yet.

Her doorbell going off made her jump, and she looked at the door in surprise. Tsu usually knocked and let herself in since she had a copy of the key. She put her tea aside and slowly made her way to the door, unlocking it and opening it to reveal Bakugo.

"Bakugo? What are you doing here?" she asked utterly bewildered by this sudden turn of events.

"Everyone else is busy with shit, so I went for a walk, thought I'd stop by on my way back since you're likely to go stir crazy otherwise," he said, coming inside.

Once the surprise had worn off, a faint smile formed on her face. It was easy to forget just how much Bakugo had changed over the years. She easily saw through his excuse and felt her fondness for him grow somewhat.