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“I’m sorry to tell you this, Principal, but I won’t be able to come to work today,” Recovery Girl says, her voice thick and nasal.
She holds the telephone away from her ear as she coughs, spitting up phlegm and groaning. It feels like admitting defeat, but she can’t do this. Recovery Girl genuinely can’t get out of bed. She hasn’t had a chest infection like this in years.
Holding the phone back to her face, she says, “I apologise for that.”
“You don’t need to worry about it,” Nedzu says, and she knows he is making himself tea. “Everyone becomes ill sometimes, and I trust that you’ll be feeling better and back at work after a few days of rest.”
“But what if I need to heal anyone in that time?”
“We shall just have to cope in our own way. People will have to go to hospital if their injuries are severe, or just use first aid and deal with the pain until you are better,” Nedzu says. “It isn’t ideal, but we will have to make it work.”
“Thank you, Principal.”
“Now now, none of that,” he says. “Just focus on getting better. I hope to see you soon.”
And he puts the phone down. Recovery Girl rolls her eyes and lays back down, pulling the blankets right up under her chin.
She just hopes he is correct. Can they all cope without her?
---
“So she’s sick, huh?” Yamada says, reclining his seat in the staff room. “The poor thing.”
Aizawa puts his hand on the back of Yamada’s chair to make him sit upright, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure the last thing she would want is our sympathy.”
“Good point,” Snipe says. “I wouldn’t want sympathy if I was sick. No one likes a pity party.”
“Okay, I get it!” Yamada says, hands raised defensively, and Snipe laughs. “Oh shut up.”
“Both of you shut up,” Aizawa says.
“What did I do?” Snipe says, and it is Yamada’s turn to laugh.
“We’ve got thoroughly off topic here,” Nedzu says, smiling.
“Yeah, so shut up both of you and let the principal speak!” Blood King says, shooting Yamada and Snipe glares.
A loud thud can be heard as Aizawa slams his head on his desk.
“Anyway,” Nedzu says. “We shall need to take some precautions to make sure we don’t have too many injuries in the time Recovery Girl is absent. I suggest the Hero Course teachers choose some less dangerous topics for their practical lessons.”
“Is that a complaint about my teaching style, Principal?” Blood King asks.
“Not you specifically,” Nedzu says, smiling. “Just try to be careful. We don’t want to have too many trips to the hospital. That concludes our meeting.”
“Yes, Principal,” the rest of the teachers say, Present Mic, Blood King and Snipe still looking like they want to have an argument.
---
Recovery Girl awakes when someone knocks on her door.
“Come in!” she calls, her chest hurting.
To her surprise, half of the teachers at UA walk into her bedroom, all holding flowers and food and drinks and tissues and other gifts.
“We just wanted to see how you’re doing,” Blood King says.
“Yeah, are you okay?” Midnight says. “You look pretty rough.”
Aizawa rolls his eyes at her comment, but doesn’t say anything.
Seeing this, Midnight adds, “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Recovery Girl smiles. “I know what you mean. And thank you for the presents. I really appreciate it.”
---
When Nedzu brings up the lack of Recovery Girl in assembly, mumbling breaks out throughout the sea of students. He explains the details of the plan discussed with the teachers, ending his speech by telling the students that Midnight will be the temporary first aid officer (Mineta can be heard saying, “Yes!”).
And then he goes back to his office, and sets a timer to see just how long this school can cope without Recovery Girl. With his powerful puzzle solving skills, his theory is the place will fall to pieces in an hour. He just hopes he is wrong.
And then he hears a very loud scream.
---
When Blood King enters Class 1-B’s classroom for their homeroom, he sees that Monoma is missing.
“Where is Monoma?” he asks. That boy seems obsessed with annoying Class 1-A, so he dreads to think where he is.
“Uh, he’s in the medical room, sensei,” Tetsutetsu says.
“And why is that?”
Kendou blushes, staring down at her desk. She raises her hand. “Um, he was annoying the kids from Class 1-A on our way out of the dorms earlier and I hit him over the head like I quite often do, but I hit him too hard and cut his forehead and he’s got an awful concussion.”
Blood King stares at her. He doesn’t know why, but he barely has the strength to teach today. So he simply gives her detention, before giving them all a simple exercise and pulling an Aizawa – by which he means lying on the floor and trying to sleep.
How does that man sleep on this floor?
---
When Yamada walks into Class 1-A’s classroom, everyone notices his limp.
“Sensei!?” Iida shouts, standing up. “You’re injured.”
“I certainly am, my listener,” Yamada says, wincing with every step. He looks at them all. “That’s what happens when you get hurt on a day without Recovery Girl. You’re stuck like this.”
“But what happened, Yamada-sensei?” Uraraka asks, most of the students looking concerned.
Yamada grimaces, not wanting to talk about something so embarrassing. But this lot are known for being nosy, so he sighs and says, “I tripped going down the stairs and fell. Badly sprained my ankle.”
“Oh so that’s what that scream was,” Sero says.
“You heard?” he says.
“We all did,” Midoriya says.
“We were in the common room when we heard this incredibly loud scream, ribbit.”
“The common room… Was I that… I activated my Quirk by accident, didn’t I?” he says, humiliated.
Most of the students nod. Yamada nods.
Not only has he got hurt, but he’s going to have to stay like this, in pain and getting nosy comments, for goodness knows how long.
“Now can we actually start the class? I’m actually here to teach you English.”
“Yes, sensei.”
---
It is only lunchtime, and Midnight already feels close to having a breakdown. Monoma from Class 1-B is curled up on one bed, moaning about having a headache. Mineta keeps trying to come into the room, but she knows he isn’t injured. Yamada was half carried in here with an irritated Aizawa helping him walk, and she had to give him painkillers and give him a bandage to wear around his sprained ankle. And just now half of Class 2-A came in with burns on their hands and faces, one of them having caused a fire during a training class.
How does Recovery Girl cope with all of this? It’s a nightmare.
---
After four days, Recovery Girl is well enough to return to the school. She expected to have lots of smiles directed her way and people saying, “Glad to have you back,” but nothing too big.
Which is why it is such a shock to be swamped with hugs my Midnight and Yamada as the rest of the teachers smile, followed by the students having made banners that say:
Welcome back, Recovery Girl!
So she was right. They really can’t function without her.