Eri's Hero Academia

The Gap in the Door

Chieko shifted on her bed as the doctor collected her tears; she grew accustomed to the eyedrop ritual done afterward. Her face was roughly wiped as the doctor moved on to compile the paperwork and samples that she had collected. The doctor was a thin, tall woman with a staunch face and short, curly hair, and Chieko always knew when she was around due to the sharp clicks of her heels. The doctor turned to her sharply, "I'll be back."

It was a promise, a promise of trouble if Chieko ever thought of running again. This was the routine. The doctor would come in, sometimes with assistants, sometimes alone, and take vials of her golden tears for testing before they left her alone. What they were testing for, Chieko wasn't sure.

But it was what was needed.

But something was off today. The doctor was in a rush and nearly fell down as she stumbled her way out the door. The young girl stared at the wall as the door shut behind her, and glanced back, as the soft thump wasn't the same as the usual loud thud it made. Chieko had to do a double-take.

The door was just ajar, bright light bled through the crack and she could hear faint footsteps trail away.

She flopped off her bed and crept towards the gap, curiosity seizing her in a way it rarely does. Bit by bit, Chieko slipped past the door, the glare of the light forcing her to blink away the pain until the room came into focus. She was met with a stark white hallway and looked around, unsure of what to do next, when she spotted a glimpse of the doctor's lab coat vanishing around a corner. Chieko followed, using the click-clack of the doctor's shoes to lead her. It may not have been the best idea to follow her, but it was better than waiting around to be caught.

The hallways around her changed from bleach white to wooden floors and beige walls when the doctor opened a heavy door that Chieko just managed to slide through to follow more closely. Ducking behind chairs, desks, and fake plants, she hoped none of the office workers would look up from their computers.

Luck seemed to be on her side today though, as no one in the building bothered to notice the doctor's little shadow.

Chieko slowed down, and sweat ran down her back as the doctor reached a final room at the end of a dead-end hallway, and entered the room with a special key card, and closed the door with a deafening lock. Looking behind her, the young girl figured the coast was clear before she hid behind a nearby plastic plant and crouched onto the floor, ears strained to eavesdrop on the conversation happening on the other side of the door.

"I got the new samples," the doctor's voice, clear and crisp, rang out from the gap under the door.

"Good," a male voice responded, gruff and raspy, "Any progress?"

"It's slow, but-" the doctor didn't get to finish.

"But what? You've been saying that for the past six months!"

"I'm not able to just snap my fingers and have the result you want appear into the air!" This sounded like an old argument, "I said when we started that this was going to take time, what's the big rush anyway?"

A pause dragged out as Chieko strained her ears again to pick up even a pin drop.

She heard a soft creak, maybe a desk being leaned on? "The deadline's been advanced..."

"Advanced?" The doctor sounded genuinely confused, "By how much?"

Another, longer pause.

"We have ten months. Ten months and she wants the final product," the male voice answered.

"Ten months?! Our previous deadline was five years!!-"