A Lost Creation

Aunty Aiko

You wake up in Uncle Giran's bed alone, covered in multiple blankets.
Your head still feels foggy and confused, like you're awake, but not really. You half-decide to go back to sleep, but crashing and clattering from downstairs begins to fuel your anxiety.

You know that really, it could be Uncle Giran, but he was never usually this loud in the mornings. And with all the police, fire engines and ambulances that passed last night, you were a little worried that it could be something more serious than that, maybe a burglar, or worse, heroes.

So you cautiously get out of bed, trying to ignore the insistent itchiness on the side of your face and the twitching of your lip as you walk quietly along the hallway and crouch at the top of the stairs.

There are a couple of large bags at the door, full of clothing, and you just about make out the sight of Aiko's hair tied up as she walks into the living room.
A little less nervously, knowing that Aiko was here, you go down the stairs, immediately getting Aiko to peer back around the doorway at you.

"Hey Star." She greets, gesturing loosely to the bags in front of the door. "Those are for you."

"All of them?" You ask quietly.

"Yeah." She shrugs. "Don't worry, there's no colours or patterns in them."

Your face heats up, kind of just standing uselessly in the middle of the staircase, watching her duck back into the living room.

"Um, Aunty Aiko?" You call.

"Yeah?" Is the grunt back.

"Where's Uncle Giran?" You ask, continuing to walk down the stairs.

"In his office." More clattering from inside the living area. "Gone to get some of his stuff. The looting's started."

You walk into the room too, watching as Aiko picks up some of Giran's little nick-nacks and begins to wipe a cloth over them, and then the surfaces before putting them back down neatly.

"You can thank your dad for me by the way. Six of my stores got looted last night." She huffs.

You listen, and take note of that, but your curiosity gets the best of you.

"Okay, but what's a looting?" You ask, watching her wipe down Giran's TV screen.

She pauses, but runs the cloth over the TV stand quickly before turning to look at you with an unreadable expression.

"Looting is when people break into stores and take stuff without paying." She explains. "It usually happens during riots, and civil unrest."

You don't know what that last bit means, but you do understand what rioting is, but it still doesn't really make sense why you'd need to thank Dabi for that.

"But why do I need to thank Dabi for you?" You ask, confused.

She looks a little exasperated, but explains it to you anyway. "Because he, and his little boytoy, have caused an uprising."

"What's an up-"

"They've taken over the government, Star." She explains tiredly and then turns back around to continue cleaning.

You think about this for a second, about how much work that must have taken to do, which explains why Tomura and Dabi must have been so stressed and fighting a lot.

"But Uncle Giran only has paper and paintings in his office." You say, still a little confused.

She sighs a little, continuing to dust the sideboard, carefully lifting up the pictures of her and her dad and taking more care cleaning them than the rest of his belongings.