I've got no Strings

Epilogue~Akuto

Groaning, Seiji rolled over, not wanting to wake up.

“Well look at that, you’re not dead.” Toga grinned as she looked up from her seat, watching in amusement as Seiji forced their eyes open.

“W-What? Where am I?” Seiji looked around the white rooms in confusion. This was definitely not the bar.

“Welcome to the hospital! I saved you!” Toga swung her opens open, not bothered by the chain that wrapped around her wrist and kept her chained to her own bed.

“I don’t understand. Why are you here? What happened?”

“Shiggy saved you, or rather, refused to kill you. I brought you here and the heroes chained me to the bed. Super rude, especially when I helped them.”

Seiji had many questions. “Why did they chain you to the bed?”

Laughing awkwardly, Toga rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in over two weeks at that point and just skated a good 50 miles in about two hours so they were a little worried I would die on them but they don’t trust me enough to leave without precaution.” Toga tapped the chain as she huffed. “Still super rude!”

“You helped the heroes?”

“Yep, but to be fair, I was trying to save Zuku and Toshi more than anything else.” Toga laughed as she leaned back. “Did you feel like this when you turned yourself in? I don’t know what they’re going to do with me but… I don’t think it's good.” Toga turned over, pretending to go to sleep as Seiji stared up at the ceiling, biting their tongue in deep thought.

~~~

“Evening Mineta,” Seiji nodded to the purple head who was sitting on the nearby chair. He held a book in his hand, a soft smile on his face.

“Evening Seiji. How are you feeling?”

“Like someone drained every drop of blood from my body,” Seiji smirked as Mineta snorted. Over the time they had been trapped in that cell together, Seiji had slowly converted Mineta to their sense of humour. “How is he?” Seiji nodded at the only other person in the room.

Mineta sighed, putting down his book as he shook his head. “He’s conscious and seems to understand what's happening but whatever the LOV did to him damaged his speech production. He can only get a few words out if he really concentrates and usually they’re focusing on the same thing.”

“Izuku?”

Nodding, Mineta walked across the room, pulling the blanket to cover all of Shinso. “Other than that, the new quirk he has is playing havoc with his body heat making him freezing cold. They’re trying to keep it under control but it's proving difficult.”

Seiji hummed, glancing over Shinso. The poor boy had even larger bags under his eyes. His arms were wrapped around a small bear with a green coloured heart wishing him better health. He looked so fragile.

“Hello, my defiant hostage!” Toga waved excitedly, making Seiji stare in shock.

“Evening semi pleasant kidnapper,” Mineta greeted, used to Toga’s daily walks. The hero guarding Toga sighed heavily, having already expressed his deep wish for them to not greet each other like that.

“Awe, what a cute bear.”

Mineta smiled, nodding. “Akuto. Shinso’s become quite attached to him.”

Toga grinned, chuckling at the name. “So cute. I’m glad Zuku was here.” Toga smiled at the fluffy bear, confusing the others.

“No, he wasn’t?” Mineta raised an eyebrow, curiously looking at Shinso as Toga snorted.