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36. Lash

WARNINGS: Homophobia, transphobia (Aki), discrimination (quirk discrimination, Shinsou). Flashbacks/triggering (not on purpose). I've put an in-chapter warning around the worst of this but I have not been able to do it around all of it. So please be careful.

Also grieving/depressive behaviours. But that winds through the whole chapter so I don't have the ability to do in-chapter warnings for that.

There's a chapter summary below if you feel the best option for you is to miss this chapter. It's perfectly understandable to choose this option and I admire your decision to protect yourself. If you'd like some further details on what happens before you make your decision, please don't be afraid to contact me directly and ask. It's really important to me that people are safe while their reading my work.

Chapter summary:

Otsuka is reminded she can't tell anyone about her old school or what happened to it.
Aizawa and Yamada try to convince her not to go into UA on Monday morning. She goes anyway. Her guardians speak to Nezu about what they learned yesterday. When Otsuka identified Mags, the name she wrote was Otsuka 'Mags' Margaret which would imply some kind of relation. Nezu says they are not related by blood but their shared name is not a coincidence before he dismisses the two heroes.
Shinsou, worried about Otsuka from how things ended on Saturday, goes to find her early before class. Grieving and drained, she's unable to speak to him and tries to sign. He doesn't recognise the sign and thinks she's not speaking because of his quirk and is upset. Otsuka leaves the 1-A classroom before lessons begin.
Aki (they/them currently), seeing Shinsou unhappy, goes to figure out what's going on with Otsuka for themself. When they eventually find Otsuka, they know something is wrong and hug her. Quite some time later, they tell Shinsou to get the chip off his shoulder.
Bakugou finds Otsuka in the gym. She's feeling a little better than this morning but not all the way, just enough to see there's light at the end of the tunnel even if the journey will be long. He knows sign language due to hearing difficulties.
Yamada tries and fails to talk/comfort her.
Hoping to talk (write) with Vlad King, she goes to 1-C when she should be heading for her first appointment with Hound Dog, the school's counselor. She hears rumours in the corridor. People are being homophobic, transphobic, and quirkist. Things come to a head when she hears someone call Shinsou, Midoriya, and Aki monsters. She's caught between what's being said now, and what her parents said to her on the day they disowned her. With no TT here to stand for her friends as he stood for her, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Chapter 36. Lash

Rule 26: Sometimes, people just need someone to hate.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but you will be arrested should you tell anyone about this attack."

What?

"That includes friends, family. Your teachers shouldn't even be aware but it's too late to change that now."

And he glared at Nezu. This officer who clearly didn't give a damn about her or her loss sighed and glared at Nezu. She decided he had a death wish.

"Just keep your lips clamped and it'll all be ok, 'right sweetheart?"

A death wish. Because if Nezu didn't do something, she would. But she held herself together, because she knew if she let herself hit him once, nothing would stop her from the second, the third, fifth, hundredth. Once she let the tiniest bit of anger out, the dam would break and so would bone.

So she took out her little hand-sized notebook and the same pencil she'd used to write out the names of the dead, and wrote a small message for the lovely officer who'd brought her such a cheerful message on this sunny day of her life.