fear. || { bnha }

seventeen.

It wasn't until later that night that Valui's parents visited her.

Over the course of a few hours, Valui had regained more of her strength than she thought she would have. Every thirty or forty-five minutes, she'd be allowed another jello cup. And in between those thirty or forty-five minutes, she would progressively walk more around her hospital room — the nurses' reason was that it would help get her metabolism running correctly again, but Valui's reason was that she was getting incredibly antsy and uncomfortable sitting in her bed.

"Hitoshi?" she asked, craning her neck up to look at him. He had scooted his chair closer to the bed so she was able to lean against his arm — with some difficulty; the tubes connected to her arms were starting to really get on her nerves.

"Hm? What is it?"

"What time is it?" She yawned softly; she hadn't been able to get rid of her tiredness, though, no matter how many jello cups she ate or cartons of chocolate milk she drank. "I'm hungry."

As Hitoshi started pulling out his phone to check the time, the door opened. Having grown so used to nurses coming in and out of her room — checkups, changing IV bags, general cleaning up — Valui didn't bother reacting to the sound.

"Valui?"

Dad.

Valui's head shot up off Hitoshi's arm; he moved back as well when it dawned on him who had entered the room. She looked up at her parents, their expressions unreadable as they glanced between each other, then at Valui, and then finally Hitoshi, where their gazes lingered for what felt like eternities.

"Valui, who is—"

Her mother cut her father off, giving him a small glare — for that, the girl was partially glad; the tone he had been using scared her. "Valui..." her mother started, eyebrows coming together in worry. "Who's your...friend...?"

Hitoshi seemed to jump up from his chair. Though he masked it fairly well, Valui could see his face twitching beneath the smile he managed to fake and the worry in his eyes. "Hitoshi Shinsou, Class 1-C at UA High School." He held out his hand, though neither of her parents took it.

Valui watched her father's eyes narrow slightly — whether in thought or something else, she had no idea. "Shinsou," he repeated; slowly, sounding it out. "Your name sounds familiar."

Hitoshi let his hand fall awkwardly back down to his side, only to bring it up to the back of his neck. "I was in the sports festival."

That one single sentence triggered a response in both of her parents — all at once, Valui watched the realization dawn on their faces. They stopped speaking, now just watching Hitoshi as if he were going to do something. Hitoshi seemed to notice this quicker than Valui had expected; he turned away from them and smiled uncomfortably down at her. "I'm gonna go see if you can eat again."

Valui nodded. "O—"

"Don't answer him."

Her father's voice scared her.

Hitoshi glanced toward the ground, then mumbled something about being right back and left the room quickly.

Once the three were alone in the room, Valui's mother rushed to her bedside and started checking her over. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Valui immediately assumed her mother was referring to Stain, even though she wouldn't have any idea who kidnapped her. Just as Valui opened her mouth to answer, her mother's next question stopped her. "He wasn't controlling you, was he?"

...What?

"What?" Valui pulled her head from her mother's grip; it was getting annoying, having her head twisted in different angles when it was obvious she was fine. "No, he wasn't."