A Life Worth Living (Aizawa x OC)

50 - The Truth about Gravitas (1)

In about an hour, there would be a meeting in the conference room, mandatory for the entire U.A. staff – a meeting Nezu had specifically called on her demand, but right now, there was something else Himari had to deal with first.

The last days in the hospital up until her discharge today, the former heroine had spent all of her time that hadn't been occupied by her treatment or therapy with wracking her brain on how to tell everyone the truth about herself. She had already played with the idea to finally open up for a while now, but every single time overthinking and endless what-if scenarios had caused her to eventually abandon that idea again.

In the hospital, when Chiyo had informed her that the students as well as the teachers had started to ask questions about her after what had happened at the USJ, Himari realized that this was the perfect opportunity – now or never.

It was basically impossible to come up with somewhat decent lies to explain why a civilian that "never had anything to do with hero work and had absolutely no experience with all of this whatsoever" had thrown herself in like that. Knowing that there was no way to talk herself out only reinforced her decision to just get over and done with it. This time, the circumstances she found herself in wouldn't allow her to chicken out, no matter how much her anxiety urged her to.

The only thing she hadn't been entirely sure about was how to break the news to everyone. Obviously, she'd to inform everyone from the U.A. staff, but Himari wasn't exactly eager to repeat that story times and times again. Even if it had already gotten easier to talk about how Kai had died by now, it surely wasn't her favourite story to tell.

However, after a lengthy discussion with Chiyo during one of her treatments, her mentor had suggested a conference where everyone would be present. Evidently, this was the most uncomplicated way to approach this uncomfortable situation. Yet, the thought that she'd have to tell her story in front of all her colleagues while they stared her down caused her to grow increasingly nervous with every minute she got closer to the meeting.

Although Himari was aware that there was no way out of this right now, she couldn't help but let her thoughts repeatedly explore in absurd what-if scenarios how her colleagues will react, especially her friends – even more specifically, Aizawa.

That day in the hospital she'd been incredibly close to finally tell him about her feelings, but right now, she was more than relieved that she hadn't done it. He deserved to know the truth first. For a moment, she'd even considered to separately talk to him about everything there was, but the thought that his reaction might be a negative one caused her to immediately withdraw that idea out of pure anxiety.

The mere thought that he might turn his back on her or that he might end up despising her because of what she'd done caused her heart to ache. Thoughts like these were haunting her mind lately, making her realize that she'd already gotten way too attached to him, even though nothing had happened between the two of them.

The ringing of the school bell tore Himari, who was nervously running circles in front of class 1A, from her thoughts.

The door to the classroom opened and revealed Ectoplasm who was about to take his leave. "Oh, Ishihara? Have you already fully recovered?"

"Courtesy of Recovery Girl", Himari answered truthfully, sending him a friendly smile.

Ectoplasm nodded in agreement, "We're really lucky to have someone like her here. I'm glad you're alright – we've heard awful stories from the students. So, you're here for the conference?"

"Uh, yeah. That's why I'm here. I just need to talk with the students before I'm heading over to the meeting room", the brunette said, nervously brushing her hair behind her ear.