Red and White, Black and Blue

Chapter 19: Recovery

A few hours into the night, well after all four of them have been stitched up and properly bandaged, Ryumi wakes suddenly in her bed. She has enough sense not to bolt upright, thankfully, but a panic grips her all the same.

Slowly, as she stares around the plain hospital room, reality reasserts itself in her mind, though the haunting image of the hero killer lingers. She carefully sits up, causing herself only a small amount of pain, and looks out at the other three beds where her friends are presumably sleeping. Though the room is lit only by a few small lights set just above the baseboards, she can make out each of them well enough. The hospital staff offered Ryumi a separate room from the boys, of course, though she politely (but adamantly) declined. She prefers to be with her friends.

Or more accurately, she prefers not to be alone.

Iida is on her left, a fresh pair of glasses set on the nightstand between their beds. He lies on his back, the blankets and sheets somehow perfectly square. She wonders how he could have managed that with his arms both heavily bandaged and held in a sling, and yet it seems a natural state for the surroundings of the ever-precise class president.

She worries about how his scans will come back in the morning. She hasn't said anything beyond her outburst right after the battle, but there's a real chance he could have suffered some serious, potentially permanent damage from those wounds. Probably not enough to end his hero career before it can even start, but she wouldn't be surprised if he lost some function in at least one hand.

Midoriya is directly across from her, laying on his side. His sheets and blanket remain tucked in neatly, but not perfectly aligned like Iida's. As she watches, he turns over onto his other side, though it's hard to tell if he's actually awake, even with her night vision. It's not a surprise, though. With a likely fracture in his right arm, and cuts on his left arm and leg both, it must be hard to find a comfortable position.

Shoto is in the opposite corner, the farthest from her, and the hardest to see. His sheets and blankets have been pulled loose from the end of the bed, and he's curled almost into a ball on his side, the blanket wrapped close around him.

She wonders how well any of them are sleeping, as her eyes drift to the large windows on the far wall, past Iida and Shoto's beds. The smoke over the city remains clearly visible, though not as thick as it was during the attacks that evening. A few places are still lit by the unnatural, eerie glow of uncontained flame, and occasionally she thinks she can see the brief flash of emergency vehicle lights somewhere in the distance.

Ryumi closes her eyes, only to see that leering, demonic face yet again. She shivers, pulling the blankets closer. It's chilly in here, but she didn't want to complain too much earlier. She knows the hospital staff will have their hands full with other patients after an event like this.

She waits another moment, trying to prepare herself to reach for the pill bottle on the nightstand. Though Manual obviously left to continue aiding in fire suppression throughout the night, he did make time to deliver a couple things from the office for her and Iida. She's grateful for that, especially now. Even if she likes to think they would be understanding about it, she'd rather not risk waking the others if her dreams were to continue to worsen.

Finally, she leans over to grab it, pressing her eyes shut to focus as she does, to keep from being too loud as the pain in her side returns. Uncapping the small bottle, she tips it until a single small oval falls into her palm. She pops it into her mouth, swallowing it easily without even the need for a drink of water.

She carefully recaps the thing and makes the agonizing reach to set it back on the nightstand. It'll still be a few minutes before the pill takes effect and it's worth trying to sleep again. Normally she would grab her phone and try to distract herself with browsing the news, but she knows what all the headlines will be already, and it certainly won't help her feel better.