Anyone might mistake Iida Tensei for a corpse for how still he was on the hospital bed, death only kept at bay from the beeping machines around him. The oxygen mask dug into the skin on his face, but he didn’t have the energy to adjust it. The constant flow of pain meds made him feel too floaty to sleep despite the lights being turned off and it being dark outside.
He simmered in misery until a soft breeze kissed his face.
It whisked away the horrors whispering in his mind, of his mother’s cries and baby brother’s heartbroken expression. A presence lingered at his bedside, but there had been no footsteps.
He forced his bleary eyes open at the soft crinkle of paper.
It took him a moment to comprehend the beautiful horned goddess floating serenely, her long golden hair weaving in moonlight as if she were underwater. Her hand, as delicate as a freshly bloomed lily, placed a card on the bedside table. The goddess’ expression of calm tranquility soothed his soul and would make any painter weep
She opened eyes like liquid aquamarines and spoke in a voice of velvet. “Take heart, Iida Tensei. The Trickster has found you worthy of Salvation.”
The goddess floated over him until her body was parallel with his own. She cupped his face and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. He gasped as an ice cold torrent ripped through his body like a typhoon, but…
It didn’t hurt.
The energy fizzled away his pain and cleared the haze of drugs from his mind, and he felt the snap as the energy flowed down and out his legs.
The goddess smiled as she floated away, her touch tracing his face before it was gone.
“W-wait!” He shot up, pulling on numerous wires, “What’s your name?”
She bowed and disappeared into a cloud of fluttering cinders.
He sat there, stupefied. With shaky hands he reached for the red and black card with the insignia of a flaming top hat and mask.
“Take your heart?” Tensei flipped the card over, “To the heroes whose livelihoods were unjustly taken by the King Of Wrath, who’s reign of bloodshed has been put to an end, we return what was reaped. Beware, what was given can easily be taken away again. Use this gift wisely. From, the Leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts - Joker?”
Tensei looked to the sticky note on the bottom.
‘Tell your brother I said hi. :)’
…What did this mean?
He stared at his legs, which weren’t numb anymore. His vision blurred when he could move his toes with no pain. He removed the oxygen mask and various other wires attached to him, then tore off the blanket. His tears fell freely as he swung his legs over the side and stood to his full height, the machines’ shrill cries were deafened on his ears as he walked across the room.
He reread the card again with gentle sobs.
The doors burst open and a medical team rushed in, but they froze when they saw him, standing, in front of the open window.
“Iida-san!?” The doctor gaped at him like fish out of water, “What… how…. how is this possible?”
Tensei looked up from the card as more tears fell, “I was kissed by a goddess.”
~*~*~*~
Three U.A. students sat on the edge of their hospital beds, plunged into their own thoughts. They were kept overnight for observation despite being uninjured, but none of them had been able to sleep.
