Carnivore

iii) Sanguis Opera

IF THE WINDS WOULD SWEEP HER UP OFF HER FEET, ZINNIA PRAYED IT WOULD NEVER LET HER TOUCH THE GROUND AGAIN. If anything, she wished for nothing more than to soar in the skies free as a bird, with her blood-soaked memories flickering away like the remaining frames of an analogue film against a projector screen.

Villains were villains, and Heroes were Heroes; Such clear-cut lines of socially-accepted reality was too perfect, too divided. In every sense of the world, there was a line that divided the world. Categorized like paper cut-outs, the world was doomed to fall to chaos.

And Zinnia was sick of seeing it standing center stage, as if no other truth mattered.

Like the ever-present form that was the Number One Hero, All Might, while he stood center stage, everyone was happy to turn a blind eye. Because All Might would fix everything, keep the lines in check and the villains at bay.

Because while All Might was around, nobody had to fear, and nobody had to rationalize with the fact that they could very well die at any given second. Because they had faultless saviours who would save them the very second fate went awry on them.

The days leading towards the end of January trailed on with exhausting force for Zinnia, who had decided to try for the scholarship route and took Seiya up on his offer. She was excused from school at once, seen off by a pleased and relieved deputy principal waving her off so enthusiastically, it was as if ten Birthdays and Christmases had all come at once. However, Zinnia wasn't the least bit fooled by what seemed to be a forty-something old woman gushing pleased for her.

No, it was glee for the fact that the school didn't have to worry about dealing with Zinnia's presence for an extended period of time, and in a twisted sense, Zinnia was fine with that.

Just like how society categorized the people in the world in perfect cutouts and the unwanted offcuts, in a school environment, Zinnia fell in the latter. And under no circumstances did her institution of education seek to hide that from her. They merely tolerated her while her parents paid the school fees, nothing more.

Zinnia's time at Seiya's disposal was far different to her volunteer work at the hospital, she honestly didn't understand what was going on at first, or even that she really was dealing with Seiya at all. And in truth, she wasn't.

Instead, the head doctor of Hosu General Hospital had called in a few favours, and brought in two associates of his from back when he had attended University just to help tutor her in a broader range of usages of her quirk.

Yamamoto Rin and Shoko, a married couple who were on-site doctors better known by their other name for outside of private matters; PsyCure. While Zinnia was confused at first when Seiya had brought the pair up for introductory talks, she soon learned that the two worked in the psychological world, most prominently as doctors caring for patients in mental wards. While Rin's particular quirk was a form of mind control that stemmed from manipulating the specific chemical production within a target's body, Shoko's quirk was a one-sided form of telepathy, where she could only receive from a target, not project onto. While their quirks weren't particularly beneficial in Hero Work, like Seiya, they used their quirks to help the afflicted who turned up on their doorstep.

And the reason Seiya had called them in, was because he believed they could help tutor her up in preparation for the Scholarships to the Hero Schools.

Needless to say, it was in a very different way than Zinnia had expected.

Throughout the first week, Zinnia was instructed to use her quirk to circulate blood out from one wrist, and have it flow back into her through her other wrist, and keep that going for as long as she could manage, before taking a half hour break, and resuming once again. She didn't understand the need of such a task beyond building up and improving her stamina and endurance. And if that was all it was, she guessed it was working.