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Darkness. It was the only thing Ayumu could see, it was the only thing she could remember. Being born without the privilege of seeing, darkness has not become a problem for her.
People often said when you block out one of your senses, the others are heightened and in Ayumu's case, it was way too heightened that it became overwhelming. She could hear everything around her, she could smell anything, everyone, all the other senses seemed to crash at her and it feels like she could map everything out despite the darkness, but it was all too overwhelming. The noises were so loud that it hurt her everytime and no matter where she was, she could still hear it. There was simply no escape.
Soundproof rooms were her haven as a child and when outside she was given noise cancellation ear pieces to help ease out her pain. As she grew up, she became accustomed to the noise that it no longer hurts her as it did before. Not until…
Ayumu decided to wear her earpiece in the duration of the test of courage as there were surely lots of screams that she'd rather not hear that well. She was near Kendo's group in the forest and her role was to simply alert them of any players passing by. Even though her ear pieces cancelled most of the noise, she could still smell people and feel certain vibrations on the ground.
As the Todoroki-Bakugou pair passed by the others laughed at their reaction to their scheme. Ayumu chuckled as well but felt something was wrong. It seemed as if there were additional people she could sense in the place that weren't part of their group. Suddenly an unknown smell flew in her nostrils and she panicked as she felt the heartbeat of her classmates slowly fall in a calm pattern.
"Itsuka-san! Don't inhale the smoke!"
Others were dropping, while the ones standing, including Ayumu, fled to a safe place with their group.
"Something's wrong! There's other people here in the camp with us!" She immediately informed Kendo as they put down their classmate who inhaled a bit too much of the smoke. Their other classmates came into view as well, but with gas masks at hand. Apparently, it came from one of the students in 1-A. The students were instructed to get back to the building, with the help of Mandalay's quirk, and was informed that one of the targets is a student from 1-A.
'This can't be happening…'
Before she could react to anything, Tetsutetsu rushed towards the smoke to confront the person letting it out.
"Itsuka-san let me go with you. Please take care of them." She left her fallen classmates to others as they chased on Tetsutetsu. Ayumu removed her earpiece to sense the villains better. As Kendo was scolding and informing Tetsutetsu about the possible whereabouts of the villain, Ayumu was locating its location. She tapped the two and informed them once she made sense of the location. Whilst this is happening, she's also trying to locate the villain's target's whereabouts hoping to rush to him after confronting this one. When Testutetsu was about to attack she sensed something else in the villain.
"Tetsutetsu watch out!"
Ayumu pushed Tetsutetsu away, but the bullet scraped her shoulder. She tried muffling her scream of pain as Tetsutetsu grabbed her and moved away from the villain.
"Kuroda-san are you okay?"
"It's just a scrape, be careful of his gun."
As the two were having the conversation, another bullet swooshed in the fog and hit Tetsutetsu's mask square on making it break. He shoved Ayumu away from him and started running in the opposite direction to distract the villain. Kendo came to her aid as she assisted her up her feet. The villain kept spouting out nonsense which enraged the girls. Kendo made use of her quirk to remove the gas and throw the villain off balance. This gave Tetsutetsu the opportunity to knock out the villain making the poisonous air disperse. The three let out a big sigh of relief.
"Come on let's head back to safety."
"I'll catch up, I need to find this uhh, this Kacchan person sorry." With that Ayumu dashed into the forest ignoring what Kendo was saying. She didn't have time for that, she needed to find him.
Knowing fully well the caramel scent of the boy, she tried to identify where he was as she ran. When Ayumu finally found the scent, she halted and ran towards that direction. Sensing the ones near the scent she could feel 4 other classmates with him making her sigh in relief.
'At least he's with his classmates…'
However, this relief was over too soon when she felt the scent going faint. Another classmate's presence felt like it as well while she felt a stranger's presence. She ran as fast as she could. The tingling sensation of her scraped shoulder no longer felt as panic coursed through her body.
'This couldn't be happening…'
She felt the presence of two other female students as she passed by them. They were shocked and trying to talk to her but all her focus is directed to the faint presence of the blonde boy. As she was near, she felt a relief feeling from one of the three students in the scene and heard how he got the two back, but she didn't feel the faint presence near any of them, rather it was still with the villains. As she appeared in the open space she was immediately confronted by the three men.
"They're not in there! They're still with him!"
Ayumu pointed at one of the villains where she was sure she felt the faint presence and at the same time a blinding light shot the villain's mask making him spit out the two orbs containing his victims. They all ran after it. Ayumu blindly (literally) charged through them and just guessed based on her senses on where the orbs were. When Midoriya tripped, she wasn't able to avoid him that fast, making her fall with him. There were still two people after them. Ayumu suddenly felt the strong presence of the caramel boy making her immediately stand up. But the presence kept being pulled away.
"Katsuki!"
Her senses were all over the place. She couldn't see what was happening but the moment she felt his presence disappear, all hell broke loose. The control she had over her senses through the past years seemed to break as all the noises and senses crashed at her like piles of rock. It hurt. It was overwhelming and she couldn't take it.
Ayumu crouched down holding onto her ears for her dear life, she was screaming as she couldn't handle the pain of all the senses overwhelming her. She couldn't see but she felt everything. The others were unsure what to do as she was still a stranger to them. Soon, she passed out.
Ayumu came to her senses and felt nothing. It's been a while since she was last in this room. She couldn't sense anything and she hasn't felt more numb.
Bakugou Katsuki was kidnapped and she wasn't able to save him.
Ayumu was informed that it's been two days since the incident and she hasn't felt any more numb. With communication with her being restricted (since she's still in a soundproof room), she was informed that her doctor advised her to stay inside the room till the next day.
This was always the protocol for her whenever this happens. The soundproof room helps in eliminating the overwhelming noises as she composes herself. Despite the lack of senses, it still doesn't shield her from the thoughts running through her mind. Visitors weren't really allowed inside the room, so nothing distracts her from these.
'Where's Katsuki…'
'I should've rushed to him first…'
'Why was I so slow…'
These thoughts kept haunting her and from the looks of it a day conscious inside the soundproof room isn't enough to calm and compose herself. She felt weak. She felt broken. She felt numb.
Ayumu resigned herself to a slumber in an attempt to escape from her thoughts, but was haunted by nightmares of the numerous replays of what happened that day.
A hand brushing hers jolted Ayumu awake making her shove the hand away in panic. Breathing slightly heavy, she tried to distance herself from the person. Visitors weren't usually allowed, so was this? Her family would've shaken her slightly or handed her cues or items to communicate with her if they needed something to tell her. The hand once more brushed her, this time slowly, probably hoping Ayumu would recognize it.
'The hand's a bit rough and big… whose is it?'
The person turned her palm and started tracing patterns on it. Ayumu was confused at first, but once she made out what the person was tracing her eyes widened. She took hold of the hand and gripped on it tight.
"Katsuki?"
Bakugou traced a yes in response to her question and she couldn't handle her emotions anymore as tears flowed out her eyes, hands clutching on his. She was shaking, crying, out of fear, out of being overwhelmed, out of relief.
"Oh thank goodness…"
She couldn't even hear herself but she's sure that she sounds awfully like a kid wailing at her parents. But she couldn't care less, not when she knew that her beloved Katsuki was there with her. She felt his hands on her face probably wiping the tears from her eyes. Ayumu reached out to just feel anything from him and there she felt his spiky hair, she couldn't be happier.
"Can I hug you?"
Slowly arms enveloped around her and was pulled towards his chest. Ayumu couldn't contain herself and almost tackled Bakugou as she hugged his chest. Resting her forehead on his shoulders, her tears won't still stop. She spouts out words of apology, of weakness, of all her thoughts to him, as she hugged him tighter. Not hearing herself, she wasn't sure if her words made any sense, but she just couldn't stop herself from talking.
Bakugou couldn't help but feel guilty. Knowing her since their middle school years, he hasn't seen her confined in a soundproof room and him being the reason for it isn't helping him at all.
"It's my fault…" He slowly traced it at her back.
"What do you mean? It's not your fault! It's mine! I could've done more and acted faster…"
"Let's talk about this when you're out here"
He just kept stroking her back while she still sob on his shoulders. He kept thinking what the hell did he do to deserve such a girl. Bakugou’s cocky and aggressive attitude was nowhere to be found and if you knew him you’re in for a shock. All the years he knew the girl, he knew when to hold back his attitude and when it’s okay and in that room, in the situation they both were in, he knew what he had to do.
After settling in his arms, Ayumu was able to calm her nerves. Her senses were still not functioning well, but she was calm, finally. Bakugou checked his phone for the time and saw that it was starting to get late, and he wasn’t still actually allowed outside (he was only allowed this time after a conversation between the parents). He traced at her back that he needs to leave, but he’ll talk to her soon enough. She was a bit reluctant to let go, but she thought that it might be starting to get late and he needed to get home. She unclasped her arms from him slowly as she settled to properly sit on the bed.
Bakugou could sense the reluctance in her actions, but he needs to go home or else his old hag would explode at him again. He raised his hands to pat her head, but eventually decided to ruffle it up making the girl complain in response. He chuckled at her pouting face as he stood up from the chair. Bakugou stroked her back one last time and placed a soft kiss on her temple whilst tracing a farewell greeting at her back and patting it twice before reluctantly leaving the blushing girl behind.