I hit my head on an accident because I wasn't paying much attention to where I was walking. Nearly getting run over by a truck and then instead slipping over and falling wasn't one of my best of moments.
It wasn't a phone or a friend the reason why I was like that. Instead, it was because of them.
It all stared a few months back. It was a normal day back then. School just ended and the rain caught me at a bad time. It was pouring really hard and I had to take shelter at a bus stop.
That was when I first started to see them.
And ever since then, I would find them anywhere.
Filled classrooms, busy traffic, working streets and hallways, cabinets, sinks, boxes, lockers, even under my own bedsheets. From ones that can fit at the palm of hand to ones that can literally swallow me whole, those things can appear anywhere at anytime. I'm glad that there aren't a too many of them, but there are still a lot.
Those things seem to look for people that can see them. As scary as they look, I'm glad that I have a good pokerface.
Plenty of things happened since. Many of which are better left unsaid.
But not all of it was bad. At least I got a few more friends out of it.
That said, one of the things that happened was me hitting my head. It's only fine, I think. But because there were too many of those things during my doctor's appointment and I couldn't properly answer his questions, I was sent to this specialised hospital where I had to be further reexamined.
What's worse is that this place has even more those things.
It was hard enough to walk around, and just as hard to get some sleep. One of those I happened to wake up not because of loud noises, but because I had to use the restroom. Only problem was that I didn't know this place well enough and that I had to explore a bit to find it.
I tried to hold it in and just shut my eyes some more but I couldn't fall back asleep no matter how hard I tried. Begrudgingly, there were no nurses available nearby so I had to this by myself.
On the bright side, since it's the middle of the night, there are no people here so all I had to do when I encounter one of those is to ignore them completely.
Well, ignore the ones that I can. This place has the most amount of those things I have ever seen in one place at a time. Some of them are just too scary to approach, let alone circumvent. Others just block entire corridors or cluster around one.
I heard more noises just around a corner and figured a quick peek would be alright. The ones that fight are always dangerous so I figured that I should at least know what they look like so I can avoid them.
Instead, what greeted me as soon as I cautiously took a glance was red hair.
It was frighteningly humanoid, and life-like. It looked to be a kid fresh into puberty wearing a lab coat, a choker and a nurse's headwear. Glowing orbs shot out of him and decimated and entire horde by himself before he promptly ate(?) what was left.
I tried my best not to flinch when his red eyes flickered between me and the clipboard in his hands. "Yotsuya-san, you shouldn't be out of bed." He said as walked closer.
I flinched.
I know I did. I saw it in his eyes. He isn't scary. He looks normal so I can just power through with it and-
"... You're real?" I said before my mind caught of the situation as I just then clamped my hands over my mouth. It was shocking to know he is real and not one of them. There's also the fact that he did... Something, to get rid of it.
When I finally came to, he was gently pushing me along back to my room.
This is my chance, or rather, this might even be my only chance. The other few times that I asked for help were appreciated, but didn't have enough power. The one with enough strength that did, turned out to be some monkey's paw that I had to unravel just so I would not have to lose my life.
So I begged.
I'm tired of those things. I'm tired of being scared. I'm tired of being helpless. I'm Tired of only being able to ignore them and I'm tired of running away or circling around my problems. I want to be able to help. To protect the people important to me when the time comes.
And if begging this guy for help is the solution, then I'd do so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is bad.
Definitely not having a minor mental panic in the breakroom but I have no idea how to teach her. I'm barely able to help Kuroko in understanding the tomes I give her and now I have to teach someone from scratch.
Alright. Calm down. Think about it for a bit.
The bracelet wants to go with her so first up is to teach her about tsukomogami and the lik- no wait, maybe I should tell her about the other side first. It wouldn't matter much since her eyes are like that. She's already involved whether she likes it or not.
He said that she's had them for months now. A talent like that is normally awakened in early childhood so this means that she only developed the magical or spiritual energy requirements to use them because puberty gave her the boost she needed to fuel it's growth.
I could just 'close' her inner eyes and be done with it but that would be just cruel.
Letting her suppress her eyes is like suppressing one's quirk. They are a part of oneself and are to be accepted and used. Purposely suppressing them would only end in a disaster. It's why quirk counselling is an actual thing. There have been far to many cases of children being forced to suppress their quirk one way or another and literally all of them would end up in varying degrees of disaster. One incident I could think of would be Himi-
Himiko Toga from the canon storyline. Ugh, I keep forgetting important things. Am I forgetting anything else?... Eri. There was also Eri. I feel bad that's she's an like an afterthought to me right now butt I should put a pin on that for later. I should focus on the stuff in the same city as me right now, let alone that's in front of me.
Now, where was I? Right.
Although I should see to it and write Nanna a letter to order one of those special glasses. They would help in training how to use those eyes of hers. After that maybe a history lesson. And maybe look for a babysitter... Somewhere.
I'm busy enough as is...
Oh right. That gives me an idea.
I took out my phone and dialed a number. 'Pick up. Pick up. I don't know how you do it, but I know for a fact that you have a shadow phone so pick up the call, Mugi...'
"Kii-ku-!"
"Got room for another stray in your group?" I accidentally cut her off in my- nope. I wasn't panicking.
"Good night to you too!" At least she didn't mind getting cut off. "Anyways~ another stray, huh? Can they fight?~"
"Ah, no. What I meant is that she's new to our side, a late bloomer." I shrugged. "Puberty is like that sometimes. Anyway, I just need help showing her the ropes."
"Humu humu~" she's probably nodding. Definitely. "I see. I'll take out the pamphlet and bring it over. Although..." She's probably tilting her head in a cutesy manner. "Aren't you already teaching your girlfriend?~"
"Not really, no." I ignored her attempts at teasing me. It's a losing battle after all. "I'm more of a glorified translator at be-"
"No self-depreciation!" She said in an awfully sharp tone all of a sudden.
"...Since when did we have pamphlets?" Losing battle, Kuzuki. You'd do well to remember that.
"Just now!" And she's back to her usual self. "It totes sound like fun to make, so I'm totally declaring this is a thing now!~"
"Right... Thanks again, imma hang up now."
At least that went well.
~~~~~~~~~
"Alright. I know you have questions, so ask away."
She just sat there on her bed and stared at me with half-lidden eyes. Not that I blame her, I barged in to her room at the crack of dawn. Considering whatever she was up to last night, she probably didn't have much sleep.
She continued to stare at me and we had a stalemate, maybe she's just half awake right now? "Ack!" Ah, not that it matters anymore since the bracelet jumped to her face. She reached out a hand and took it off, looking at it in disbelief before looking at me.
"That just means he likes you."
"'he'?"
"The bracelet."
"It's alive?!" She whisper-yelled in shock as she looked at the now vibrating bracelet.
"Technically yes, but actually not fully."
She just gaped for a bit before taking a deep breath. "Okay, not the weirdest I've seen but definitely the least gross."
"I sense a story behind that statement." I said as I say down at the foot of her bed.
"I don't wanna talk about it..."
"Cool. Moving on." I nodded. "So I know I said I'll teach you- let me finish." She slowly put down her raised hand. "As I was saying, I'll teach you what I can and help you out. But I'm not the best teacher."
"Last night you said you were a strict teacher."
"I am. But I can't exactly teach someone how to walk if they didn't have legs, now can I?" She was a bit confused but stayed quiet. "I just realised afterwards you see, you probably want to know about how I defeated those things right?" She nodded. "That's the problem, I can't exactly teach you Danmaku when even most others from my side literally couldn't do what I do."
"'You're side'? Like magic or something."
I gave a curt nod and proceeded to tell her what she currently needed to know. At some point during the explanation, Mugi-chan came along and brought the pamphlet she made and decided to stick around. She filled in on other things that she may or may not need to know, like supernatural gossip and the like.
After I finished explaining to her about the bracelet and Tsukomogami and how they can help her, I may or may not have gave her the shovel talk and told her about the responsibility of having one. I had half expected Mugi-chan to poke fun and tease me but she was surprisingly on my side for this one, which is nice.
After that, I let Mugi-chan take over teaching her common sense for supernaturals and a history lesson as I had to leave and do my job, both the one for this hospital and gathering evidence to put this place on an overhaul.
Either way, there's still time before I had to teach her for real. I still need to send that letter and wait for the package from Nanna. After that, training. I hope.