Chapter 49: Red-Hot Hospital Night! The Vampire, the Dominatrix, and a Suicidal Request!

Izuku let out a sigh and sank into the pillow, feeling for the first time in hours that his body was finally relaxed. The room had gone quiet after a nurse managed to convince his mom to head down to the cafeteria, and that silence tasted like heaven.

"Aaah… peace and quiet at last," he murmured, settling in among the bandages while negotiating a truce with his own ribs.

Recovery Girl had been crystal clear: observation all night long, no arguments and no last-minute heroics. In short, he was forbidden from going home until the next day.

Well, not that I'm complaining. Mom would kill me with her motherly love if I went back with her.

The mere thought of going home and not being able to go to the bathroom on his own without his mom insisting on tagging along gave him chills.

Luckily… he had good company. Or well…

"Neee neeee, Izuku-kun." Toga leaned in close to his face, pressing a finger to her lips with total innocence. "Tell me, tell me… how long are you gonna stay hurt?"

Her cheeks turned a soft pink as she looked him up and down.

"You just look sooo cute like this… all covered in bandages and smelling like blood. Red really suits you!" She giggled, inching a little closer. "It almost makes me wanna give you a new little wound so it doesn't fade so fast…"

Okay… let's redefine "good company." Because if this is the best the room has to offer, all of a sudden I'm starting to miss the highway monster.

From the bed next to him, Nemuri raised an eyebrow. She'd asked to be transferred to the same room under the excuse of "keeping a close eye on her student," and for a while now she'd been silently watching the blonde girl invade Izuku's personal space without the slightest hesitation. Izuku glanced away with an uncomfortable smile, and that was all the answer Nemuri needed.

"Well, that's an intense little confession," she remarked, turning her head toward Himiko with her smile still in place and her eyes much sharper than they'd been a second ago. "Sweetheart, telling a boy you wanna open up another wound on him isn't usually the best way to show him affection."

Himiko tilted her head, completely puzzled.

"Ehh? And why not? Red really suits him."

Nemuri let out a low, amused laugh.

"…Yeah, you and I definitely have very different ideas about romance."

Then she looked back at Izuku. Her expression was still warm, though there was a hint of concern in it.

"And you? Are you okay with all this, Izuku?"

"I, I think so…" he answered, scratching his head.

"That 'think' doesn't reassure me at all."

She turned back to Himiko, still smiling kindly but pulling on the firm tone of a teacher.

"And you, young lady… hands to yourself. Recovery Girl was very clear: total rest. And, as far as I know, that also means no poking new holes in my student while I'm watching."

Himiko puffed out her cheeks a little and looked away.

"Hmph. So boring."

"Thank you, it's one of my many talents," Nemuri replied, settling back against her pillow with all the dignity a splinted leg would allow.

Himiko didn't give up that easy. She turned to Izuku with huge eyes and her hands clasped under her chin, in full begging mode.

"Neee, Izuku-kun, just one teeny drop, yeah? A tiny little drop, you won't even notice. You're all banged up already anyway, so, ummm… it doesn't even count as a new wound. It's more like… taking advantage of one you already had."

"Toga, what the heck are you even talking about?" Izuku shot back, scooting a bit toward the opposite side of the bed. "Anyway, I'm not about to start handing out drops of blood with a teacher watching my every move."

"Listen to your friend on at least this one thing," Nemuri chimed in, unable to hold back a laugh. "I'd never heard her explain the word 'vampire' so clearly."

"I'm not a vampire!" Himiko protested, crossing her arms. "Vampires are boring and scared of garlic. I can eat garlic just fine, and I'm way cuter, too."

"Not gonna argue with you on that last part, sweetie."

Great, now they like each other, Izuku thought, a bead of sweat sliding down his cheek. Just what I needed, the two most dangerous women in the hospital forming a team. Combine their powers and they could conquer a small city before breakfast.

This is surreal, he kept thinking, glancing from one to the other. A villain who wants to drain me dry out of love and an R-18 hero debating romantic etiquette while I'm here, mummified, unable to escape. If I ever write my memoirs, nobody's gonna believe this chapter.

Himiko crossed her arms and frowned, determined to ignore the meddling teacher… until something caught her attention completely.

"Oooh!"

She leaned toward Nemuri, forgetting about Izuku in less than a blink.

"Your nails!"

Nemuri blinked, thrown by the girl's sudden outburst.

"My nails?"

Himiko took her hand with surprising care and held it up, staring at it wide-eyed, delighted by her discovery.

"They're red! They're so pretty, they're super shiny! Did you paint them yourself? Do you always wear them like this? I love them, seriously, red is the prettiest color in the whole wide world."

Nemuri started laughing, letting the girl turn her hand this way and that.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a compliment on tonight's manicure."

"They came out gorgeous!" Himiko was admiring every finger with sparkling eyes. "They're the same red as blood when it's still warm, all warm…"

Izuku felt a chill crawl up his spine as he watched the sweet homicidal girl drop that line with the same calm she'd use to eat her spinach salad.

No wait, Himiko hates spinach… hey, idiot, get back to the point! I knew there was a trap hidden in the compliment. With Toga there's always a trap hidden in the compliment.

Nemuri kept her smile, though she withdrew her hand gently and rested it on the sheet.

"Thanks… I guess. Though I'd rather think of them as just elegant."

Himiko tilted her head again.

"Elegant?"

"Mmm. Red can be a lot of things, sweetheart. Not everything has to revolve around blood, you know?"

Himiko watched her for a few seconds in silence, considering the idea with an unusual seriousness, and then smiled with complete naturalness.

"I think both options are pretty."

Nemuri let out a resigned laugh and shook her head.

"You're definitely one of a kind."

She rested her cheek on her hand and stayed there watching the two of them in silence, her smile fading little by little as curiosity gained ground.

What a strange girl. She's completely unpredictable. She goes from wanting to open up a wound on Izuku to getting excited about nail polish in a matter of seconds, and doesn't even seem to notice the difference between the two.

Her eyes moved from Himiko to Izuku and back. Ever since the girl had walked into the room, she'd been circling him with a familiarity that caught Nemuri's attention. She invaded his space, touched his things, talked to him with the confidence of years, and he barely reacted, resigned and comfortable at the same time. Any normal person would've already called a nurse the second a blood-obsessed girl got that close to their face.

These two don't act like two kids who just met not that long ago. She narrowed her eyes slightly. There's way too much familiarity here for it to be recent.

Her gaze settled on both their faces. Their hair couldn't have been more different: Izuku's green was impossible to ignore. And yet, the two of them shared those discreet freckles scattered across their cheeks, and now that she was really looking…

She tilted her head.

Or am I just imagining things? Maybe it's just the exhaustion from fighting half the night and having a leg smashed to pieces. Yeah, it's probably just that.

Still, the more she looked at them, the more she got the feeling that the kind of trust between them wasn't something you build in a few days.

"Hey, you two," she said at last, breaking the silence.

Izuku looked up.

"Yes, Kayama-sensei?"

Nemuri smiled elegantly and settled better against the pillow.

"I'm curious about one little thing."

Himiko stopped fondling someone else's nails and turned her head, alert as a cat.

"Mhm?"

Nemuri glanced back and forth between the two, keeping her tone light.

"You two… how long exactly have you known each other?"

Izuku and Himiko answered at the same time.

"I found her in an alley."

"Since foreveeeer!"

The two of them looked at each other, and there was a brief silence in which neither one really knew what had just happened.

Toga, we're in front of a teacher who interrogates villains for a living. I gave up the moment she asked the question.

"Well, Kayama-sensei, the truth is we met by accident," Izuku cut in with a nervous laugh, giving Himiko a couple of quick pats on the head. "You know, life stuff, you go out for a walk and suddenly you meet people. Toga's a good girl… deep down, deep, deep down, even if she has this teeny tiny obsession with blood, but I swear she wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Ehh, that's a lie!" Himiko protested, puffing out her cheeks. "I wouldn't do anything to a fly because a fly barely has any blood and it's not worth it, but if you were a cute person like Izuku-kun, that's when I would…"

"Good girl, see?" Izuku cut in immediately. "The best, the best person in the world, incapable of killing anyone."

Nemuri arched an eyebrow, more entertained than worried.

"Uh-huh. Sounds convincing."

"Izukuuuu!" Himiko suddenly exclaimed, bringing her hands to her head like she'd just remembered a tragedy. "Now that I remember! I left my knife at your place!"

She opened her eyes wide, on the verge of panic.

"Aaah! What do you think? Did Inko-san hide it from me again? She always does that when she finds it!"

"…"

"…"

Nemuri, for her part, propped her chin on her hand and looked at the two of them with a smile that didn't bode well for Izuku's peace of mind.

"Well, well, so Mrs. Midoriya hides your knives. What a… domestic little detail. You'd think that for something like that, you'd have to spend quite a bit of time at somebody's house."

"It's because Inko-san is really nice!" Himiko replied. "She cooks delicious food and she always saves me a plate, even if she takes the sharp stuff away from me afterward. She says I'm a bad influence on Izuku-kun, but I think deep down she loves me a whole lot."

"Kayama-sensei," Izuku said loudly, feeling the conversation heading toward much more dangerous territory than last night's battlefield, "I'm begging you, please don't play along with her."

"Me? I'm having a great time," Nemuri replied, enjoying every second. "It's the most entertaining conversation I've had since I broke my leg. Go on, go on."

"See, Izuku-kun! Sensei does like me!"

"Although, if you really wanna know why I asked to be brought here instead of resting somewhere else…" Nemuri added, propping her chin on her hand and dropping her voice to a conspiratorial tone, "let's just say that after a student risks his neck to save a hero, you end up feeling a certain soft spot for him."

"I really like seeing him when he's hurt, too!" Himiko piped up, oblivious to the implication of her words. "We're the same, sensei!"

"No, honey, I'm afraid we're talking about very different things…" Nemuri answered, her smile never fading. "But I admire your energy."

Izuku let out a sigh and decided the only way to save the situation was to change the subject entirely.

"The important thing right now," he said, clearing his throat with all the formality he could muster, "is that last night there was a monster that wanted to turn both of us into decoration, and yet here we are, alive and breathing. That's something worth celebrating, don't you think, sensei?"

Nemuri glanced at him sideways, and for an instant her expression softened.

"Hmph… You've got a point there, brat," she murmured, giving him a sidelong look while a tired smile settled on her lips. "Out of everyone present, the two of us were the ones who ended up a total mess… and still, here we are, wasting time on ridiculous conversations."

She settled a bit more into the bed and let out a short laugh.

"I guess that's not such a bad ending for a couple of survivors, huh?"

"I'd say it's practically a small miracle," Izuku replied with a tired smile. "Last night I thought more than once that I wasn't gonna live to see a hospital ceiling, and now look at us, complaining about bed rest and arguing over nail polish."

"That's the right attitude," Nemuri said. "A good hero laughs first and worries later."

"Exactly." Izuku smiled. "And since we're alive and we've got some free time, there's one thing I'd like to take the chance to check, if you don't mind."

Nemuri raised an eyebrow, still relaxed.

"Depends. What kind of thing?"

Izuku looked at her with the purest, noblest heroic determination he could gather on his face.

"Would you let me touch your breasts?"

"…"

"…Izuku-kun ecchi, and you say I'm the pervert."

*****

All I'll say is, if you want more, look me up as Shurazero. See you soon!