Smile for Me

Chapter 55: What now?

Emi POV

Emi awoke yet again inside the void of her dreams to find Madame Maniacal waiting for her. Except this time, there was another person with her. Emi recognized the woman as Ms.Joke in costume. Ms.Joke seemed a bit see-through and glitchy, but she was unmistakably there. She and Madame Maniacal had their hands locked together in a ferocious battle of force.

"Give up- you...stupid...smiley-loser!" Madame Maniacal struggled.

"No!" Ms.Joke cried.

Emi walked up to the two women in confusion.

"Guys? What's going on?" Emi asked.

They stopped fighting for a moment and let go, giving each other side-eye.

"Emi! I'm so glad to see you're remembering things!" Ms.Joke chirped, giving her a hug.

"This is sooooo weird." Emi said. "I thought it was just Maniacal in here?"

"She was, but now that you're remembering who we are, I'm here to help!" Ms.Joke said proudly.

"Don't go thinking that just because she's here that you're somehow a good person again." Madame Maniacal snarled.

"Will you please shut up?" Ms.Joke rolled her eyes.

The two continued bickering and fighting as Emi stood idly on the side until she woke up.

She sat up in bed and looked around.

"Well, that was odd. At least this means I'm getting better...Maybe?" Emi said.

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Aizawa POV

They had arrived at the school before any of the students to be sure that no one saw Emi walking in with Aizawa. She was in casual clothes; her black shirt, yellow jacket and orange dew rag,  so that helped. The pair walked into the conference room and waited for the other heroes from UA and Ketsubutsu to arrive.

"Hey, Shouta?" Emi asked after sitting in silence with her roommate for a few minutes.

"Hmm?"

"Um...the others that we're meeting to day know I'm alive...right?"

"Yes, they know." the tired man responded.

She smiled in relief. "Phew! I was worried we'd have to explain a bunch to people, like a few people at the Christmas party. But I haven't 'met' some of them yet, so I'm excited to do that!"

As if on cue, a few teachers from Ketsubutsu walked into the room, obviously keeping their eyes peeled for Emi. Then, a woman with red hair spotted her and squealed.

"Emi! I haven't seen you since the raid!" She jogged over to Emi, who was now standing. "I'm Kayleigh! I'm Vulca, the metal Hero!" she extended her hand to take it. Emi's eyes shone with excitement as she shook her hand with a grin.

"I heard you were my best friend at Ketsubutsu! It's so great to finally meet you in person!" she chirped.

The rest of the teachers that walked in with Kayleigh smiled at the reunion, then each took their turns shaking her hand and giving hugs to their friend. The rest of the teachers slowly filed into the room, taking their seats at the table, with Midnight next to Emi, and Present Mic on the other side of Aizawa. It looked like they weren't used to having so many people in that room, so some extra chairs were added to fit them all. Finally, Principle Nezu spoke.