A Life Worth Living (Aizawa x OC)

29 - Patching Up

Himari was sitting at her kitchen table, repeatedly tapping on the table in front of her as she was waiting for Aizawa to return.

The second he had entered her house, he had made clear that he wouldn't leave until her hands were patched up. She wasn't exactly in the mood to discuss with him. That's why she had silently accepted her fate and told him where he could find her first-aid kit in the bathroom upstairs.

Well, she had wanted to get it herself, but when she had spoken up, he had immediately shut her down – again - and told her to accept a little help now and then. That's how she ended up sitting at the kitchen table, impatiently waiting for his reappearance.

At first, Himari was irked that she wasn't alone yet, but then again, the brunette scolded herself as she considered that she should actually be thankful that he had offered to help her after all. This wasn't something that should be taken for granted. He could have dragged her to Nezu to talk about what had happened. He could have forced her to Recovery Girl. But in the end, he just wanted her to be honest with him and he was supportive in his own weird and annoying way. She had to genuinely thank him for that.

For her, this day already felt like a whole damn week. All she had planned to do when she had left her house in the morning was having a chit-chat with Chiyo about Kaito.

She had successfully managed to get that scary talk done, even feeling a bit proud of herself that she had finally overcome her crippling anxiety to open up and speak freely about it. It even turned out half as bad as she had expected in the beginning. It was easier to accept that all of this was real and had truly happened. After four months of numerous attempts to escape the reality, it felt like she had ultimately achieved some progress.

For a moment in Chiyo's office, she had even felt something like confidence. It was like she could spot the silver lining on the horizon. There had been this strange feeling that was leading her to believe that she could actually handle everything. It had been a while since she'd felt like this.

Naturally, she wasn't granted to enjoy her moment of bliss for a long time. Who could have known that everything would be heading south in an instant again? This only confirmed Himari's recent perspective on life. Every time things got better, something else came up to crash her. She silently berated herself for not expecting shit to hit the fan in the first place.

But what had happened after receiving the news was different. She had been heartbroken. The words she had picked up from her medical record had left an extremely bitter taste in her mouth. Still, despair hadn't been the prevalent emotion taking control of her. This time she'd been completely fuelled by hatred and wrath.

Something in her had snapped. Why should she be the pitiful widow who was sitting idle? Nothing of this was fair, definitely not. Nobody deserved to experience something like this. Why should she just willingly accept everything that was presented to her?

Himari was still clueless why all of this had happened, but she was convinced that there was a connection between everything. As she had vividly narrated their encounter with the masked guy in the alleyway, she recalled that he had known about her identity. He had addressed her as Gravitas. This hadn't been a random assault. He must had targeted her. And Sugimoto? He had also spoken about her being a former pro-heroine. Had these two worked together? How did they learn about her identity?

The more she thought about it, the more questions popped up in her mind. Himari mentally swore to herself that she would no longer stand on the sidelines. She wanted find answers to all of these open questions. She had to try at least.

She was aware that this would take some time. At first, she needed to get some basic research done. She required all the information she could get – the police report from Tsukauchi and everything there was about Sugimoto. It would be even better if she got the chance to visit Sugimoto and question him herself. The easiest way to achieve all of this was probably through Tsukauchi.