Chapter 58: In the Hospital Room
"Excuse me—"
Kira said as he opened the door to room 505. The first thing he saw was an empty bed. The other side was curtained off, and he could only vaguely make out the silhouette of someone sitting on a chair there.
Just as Kira was hesitating whether to walk in unceremoniously, a slightly surprised female voice came from behind the curtain. "Is that you, Class President?"
Soon, the person sitting on the chair stood up, pulled back the gauze curtain, and revealed the beautiful face of a girl in a U.A. uniform.
"...Yaoyorozu? So the receptionist was talking about you..." Kira quickly agreed with the receptionist's "great beauty" assessment. Come to think of it, in his class, only Yaoyorozu could live up to such a title.
Asui was a cute, common type of girl. Jiro was always cold and aloof. Ashido seemed full of... mischievous energy. Uraraka was the friendly type. Hagakure could be completely ignored...
Of course, these were just his own thoughts. He didn't know what would happen if he said them out loud.
Did the front desk say something? Yaoyorozu was taken aback for a moment, but she didn't dwell on it. Instead, like a young lady of high society, she gave Kira a deep, formal bow.
"Kira-kun, thank you so much for arranging for Ojiro-kun to come and save us!"
Hearing this, Kira instantly understood why there had been no response from the Mountain Zone. They must have been in danger at the time.
"That was Ojiro-kun's accomplishment. You should be thanking him."
"No!" Yaoyorozu stubbornly kept her head bowed. "Without your arrangement, Kira-kun, Ojiro-kun wouldn't have been able to come and save us. We could have been taken hostage and used as a tool to threaten All Might!"
"Alright, alright, I accept your thanks..." Kira was at a loss with people who were so insistent on etiquette. He replied helplessly.
"Kira, are you alright?" Aizawa, who had been a background character until now, suddenly spoke up, interrupting their mutual deference. "To be honest, I should be the one thanking you."
"I was just doing what a class president should do," Kira said, looking at Aizawa. "I'm fine, but you, sensei... you seem to be seriously injured."
Aizawa was leaning against the wall at the head of the bed, wearing a blue-and-white striped hospital gown. One of his hands was in a cast, and the other was stretch out from under the covers with an IV drip. His messy hair looked like it hadn't been washed in a long time, and his face was wrapped in several layers of the same type of bandages that had been on his neck before. His entire face was wrapped up like a mummy, and he was relying solely on his hearing to listen to the conversation between Kira and Yaoyorozu.
"It's not that serious. It just looks scary," Aizawa's lazy voice came from the bandages. "My eyes aren't blind, I just can't open them for a while because I overused my Quirk. The fracture in my arm will heal soon."
"Sensei, you're already seriously injured!" Yaoyorozu turned and began to lecture him. "It's a good thing this is a private hospital specializing in heroes. If this were a regular hospital, an injury like yours would have you laid up for dozens of days, and you still might not recover!"
"Yes, yes..." Aizawa was getting a headache. This female student of his was great in every way, except for being surprisingly naggy in situations like this.
Aizawa quickly changed the subject, turning his head toward the door. "Kira, you probably don't know what happened after that. Let Yaoyorozu tell you."
"Sure," Kira said, placing the tangerines he had bought downstairs on the small, sunlit round table. He had heard that this fruit could supplement calcium, which should be good for Aizawa.
He sat down on the end of the bed near the window. Although he had already heard the outcome from Asui, since this was Aizawa's way of changing the subject, he didn't mind hearing it again.
"Honestly... sensei, you don't mind hearing the beginning again, do you?" Yaoyorozu sat down on the chair, sighed, and then said to Kira gently, "Then I'll start from my experience..."
"So it was Iida who went to inform the school..." Kira wasn't surprised by this. He was the most suitable person to deliver the message, and he had made the right choice.
But in another part of Yaoyorozu's account, he had a question—why did All Might just stand there, waiting for the League of Villains to attack? That was completely out of character for All Might's flamboyant, proactive fighting style.
But Kira glanced at the expressionless Aizawa and resisted the urge to ask. Now is not the time.
"After the police came, we all went to the infirmary. After some simple treatment, we were questioned by the police in an empty room next door," Yaoyorozu said, glancing at Kira. "I wanted to stay and look after you at the time, but Asui insisted that she should be the one to take that responsibility..."
Is it because she feels bad that I got hurt? Kira didn't think too much about it and asked, "What about Thirteen? Has he been discharged?"
From her account, he learned that Thirteen had been ambushed by Kurogiri's warp gate and, in the heat of the moment, had turned his own "Black Hole" Quirk on himself. Fortunately, with his Pro Hero instincts, he had subconsciously held back and didn't fully unleash his Quirk. Otherwise, with a Quirk as powerful as his, he wouldn't have just torn his back; he could have very well lost his life.
"Thirteen went for a physical examination," Yaoyorozu replied, a troubled look on her face. "I don't know why, sensei, but he still hasn't taken off his spacesuit..."
"He'll take it off when the doctor examines him. He just doesn't want to take it off in front of the students for the sake of his dignity..." Aizawa replied. "He always says that if you saw his real face, you wouldn't admire him anymore. He's such an awkward person..."
"Aizawa-kun, talking bad about me behind my back is not a heroic thing to do!" Thirteen said, still in his spacesuit, as he was wheeled in by a nurse. Seeing Kira, a cheerful voice came from his speaker. "Yo, Kira-kun is here too! As you can see, we're all recovering quickly!"
"That's great," Kira said with a smile. "The U.A. students are all waiting for you to come back to class soon."
"You're too kind, Kira-kun. There's no need to use such polite language with me," Thirteen said cheerfully. "You did a great job this time, living up to your responsibilities as class president... I've decided! In the next rescue training, you'll be the one to play the victim!"
"Are we still going to be training at the USJ?" Kira asked in surprise. "The enemy just appeared there..."
"That's my baby! If there are no students learning there, I'll cry!" Thirteen's current demeanor was not at all like the serious gentleman he usually was. Instead, he gave off a sense of friendliness and humor. "Besides, with Cementoss-kun helping with the repairs, the damaged buildings will be fixed soon!"
"And..." Thirteen's smiling voice gradually lowered. "...if we don't do the rescue training at the USJ, wouldn't that mean we've lost...?"